Welcome Back The Ark fans,
This second season continues with this exciting episode as another disaster befalls our heroes who cannot seem to catch as break! The fabulous fourth episode of season 2 is one of our favorites since it deals with an alternate reality likely caused by a quantum entanglement as a result of an unstable wormhole when Ark-1 was exiting Faster Than Light (FTL) travel at the end of previous episode “Anomaly”.
This excellent episode written by Madeline Hendricks Lewen is fantastic not only because the writer does a superb job, but because the story in this superb episode provides the main cast an opportunity to portray alternate versions of themselves that highlights their awesome acting talent.
In that last sequence of the previous episode, Lt. James Brice (Richard Fleeshman) disappeared after Ark-1 had been traveling to Ark-3 to obtain spare part to fully repair the FTL drive. Due to damage suffered at Proxima B, Ark-1 needed parts for their longer journey to rejoin the remnants of humanity now headed to a new life at the Trappist 1D solar system.
In modern science fiction television, the 1967 Star Trek original series episode “Mirror, Mirror” set the stage for alternate reality versions of the main characters. Viewers will recall that the Enterprise was sent to an alternate reality where it is in the service of a brutal evil Empire with a equally barbaric crew.
In “Mirror, Mirror” the Enterprise encountered an ion storm sending four crew members including Captain Kirk (William Shatner) to an alternative reality universe after they were negotiating with an alien race for Dilithium crystals that are the warp drive energy source for the Federation Starship fleet.
Similarly, the fabulous Fringe series (2008-2013), and as depicted in many other science fiction series, viewers know about an alternate version of characters between universes, even observing both versions of the Olivia Dunham character in many episodes of this beloved science fiction series.
Fringe fans will recall that a murdered Alternate Inspector Broyles (Lance Reddick) arrived in the “prime universe” when his dead body was transferred from the “alternate universe” as an exchange with Alt Livia (Anna Torv) who had been on a spy mission in our universe after she was returning to her own alternate universe.
The Other You:
As mentioned above, the episode wonderfully written by Madeline Hendricks Lewen, directed by Milan Todorovic begins where we left off with Lt. James Brice disappearing right in front of Captain Sharon Garnet (Christie Burke), Lt. Spencer Lane (Reece Ritchie), Eva Markovic (Tiana Upcheva), Sasha Novak (Milos Cvetkovic), and Jelena Griff (Tamara Radovanic).
However, what actually happened is that Ark-1 and an alternate universe version were exiting FTL at the exact same time, causing the quantum entanglement that traps the two ships in a starless void. As for the vanishing of Lt. Brice, that is precisely where this fascinating fourth episode of season two begins with a number of events that delighted the viewers at an X party the night of the broadcast!
Alicia Nevins (Stacey Read) runs in to the Ark-1 FTL engine control room to alert everyone that something “weird” is happening.
The ship did not drop out of FTL near Ark-3 where they were supposed to.
Alicia also notes the weirdness is further accentuated in that there are no stars that are visible outside Ark-1 because they are in a starless black void!
We are then apparently with Cat Brandice (Christina Wolfe) who had died during the first episode of the season in “Failed Experiment”.
As science fiction admirers know, characters come back to life in SciFi series!
I for one was happy to see Cat again!
However, viewers were at first left scratching their heads over this development until the reason for her apparent survival becomes clear.
We witness Cat getting out of a stasis pod calling for “Will”. Cat is referring to her lover William Trust (Paul Leonard Murray). We then see Cat walking down a hallway where she sees a flabbergasted William Trust and runs to hug him.
Captain Garnet and the prime reality crew soon learn that Cat is actually a duplicate from another Ark-1 in an alternate reality timeline. We learn that Alternate Cat must have switched places with Lt. Brice during the quantum entanglement exchange with the alternate universe.
The scene switches back to the Ark-1 control room where Captain Garnet, Eva, Lt. Spencer and Alicia are struggling to comprehend what has transpired and why they cannot see any stars.
Captain Garnet suspects that the ships cameras are not working while Alicia says they are in a black “void”. Garnet, Spencer and Alicia run to Captain Garnets room which has exterior viewing windows. When they arrive they confirm that there are in fact no stars!
Security Chief Felix Strickland (Pavle Jerinic) and Kimi Joma (Díana Bermudez), former head of Ark-15 security now serving with Felix on Ark-1 as a security officer, urgently call with an urgent message to meet them in the mess hall.
Sure enough, William Trust and Cat are sitting at a table together. To make matter stranger, Cat refers to Lt. Spencer as Commander Spencer, and Cat, an American in the prime universe, now has a decidedly delightful British accent proving she is not the same Cat who was killed in “Failed Experiment“.
Events continue to bear out that Cat is from another alternate universe when she states that William Trust is her husband and that James Brice died in her universe some ten years ago when he thwarted a terrorist attack on the lunar colony that no one survived, including Lt. Spencer’s father.
Lt. Spencer demands answers believing that Cat is not who she claims to be. Captain Garnet on the other hand, realizes that something odd has happened and that they must investigate to get the answers they require to explain this alternate reality manifestation.
Prime universe genius Alicia provides a credible explanation that Ark-1 never dropped out of FTL and became quantum entangled between the versions of reality that Cat and our heroes are experiencing. Felix if such a phenomena is possible. William Trust confirms that it is not only possible, but is the only logical explanation for what has happened. Alicia is asked by Captain Garnet how they can be “quantum untangled”. Alicia admits that she does not know, but will work on the problem.
We make a stop in the medical bay where Dr. Sanjivni Kabir (Shalini Peiris) is helping Dr. Marsh (Jadran Malkovich) diagnose patients much to his annoyance. Kabir says she is bored while Marsh says she must get more rest before she can return to duty.
We shift to Kelly, who although locked up, is hearing voices, including Lt. Brice trapped in the alternate universe. Kelly is released by Captain Garnet, Fleix and Kimi who leads them to a wall where she says the voices of William Trust and Lt. Brice are emanating from, Alt William questioning Lt, Brice asking who he is since he died a decade ago in their universe.
The episode focuses on the Ark-1 in the prime universe is about finding a solution to fixing why Lt. Brice and Cat switched universe realities. There are many enjoyable bits by Alt Cat who goes by her full name of Catrina and sports a British accent. The crew are dealing with the Kelly who Alt Cat is able to figure out since artificially enhanced humans, called “Post Humans” in this episode, were her specialty in the alternate universe. Alt Cat decides to help Kelly which will be revealed at the end of the episode. We also learn that Helena (Mercedes De La Cruz) was a manipulative bitch in both realities, and that William Trust is a good person in the alternate reality.
Prime universe Alicia shares that the only way to break the linkage between the two realities is to move Ark-1 to physically un-entangle the two versions of Ark-1.
We then are in the alternate universe with a stark naked Lt. Brice and the alt Ark-1 crew members who are shocked to see him. Not the naked part, but that in their alternate reality Brice died saving the lunar colony from an attack by Eastern Alliance soldiers. Alt Eva then smacks prime Lt Brice for being naked while making provocative statements as Alt Sasha enters the FTL control room.
A fun series of alternate antics begins to take place with Alt Sasha calling Brice a pervert for exposing his “junk hanging out” and chases Prime Universe reality Brice around the Ark-1 FTL engine control room.
Alternate Felix and his security assistant alternate Angus Medford (Ryan Adams) are alerted. They decide to separate to find the intruder, Prime Universe Brice, now trapped in the alternate universe reality version of Ark-1. This sets up several more enjoyable scenes with the cast performing alternate versions of themselves in humorous scenes.
Brice, now dressed and calmed down finds a disheveled Alt Sharon Garnet Prime Brice. She starts gushing over his eyes that she has missed. Alt Sharon tells Prime Brice that they were to be married before he was killed saving the lunar colony. Prime reality Brice finds Alt Alicia Nevins, chief of waste management in the alternate reality, to figure out how to fix the quantum entangled mess they are in! Alt Alicia says she’s a only a genius about garbage and “purifying urine” and that prime reality Brice needs Alt William Trust to figure it all out. Alt Angus shows up and calls Alt Alicia his “babe” thereby proving that some things stay the same in either of the entangled universes! Prime Brice makes the mistake of calling Alt Angus “Plant Boy” who then beats Prime Brice to a pulp with his stun baton! Alt Alicia, who believed Prime Brice, knocks out Alt Angus with his own stun baton because Alt Angus cheated on her last week, and they should “hook up to even the score” before kicking At Angus.
Meanwhile Prime Brice seeks out Alt William Trust who still has Klampkins disease, is still in a stasis pod while his Alt wife Cat’s pod is empty proving the mass displacement quantum entanglement theorem. Alt Trust explains that both Ark-1 ships dropping out of FTL caused the quantum entanglement. They go to see Captain Oliver Lane (Howard Saddler) who is Spencer Lane’s father in the alternate universe. Prime Brice and Captain Lane begins to develop a plan to set things right once again by stopping Alt Ark-1 and sending a binary signal that both Arks must move in opposite directions to send Prime Brice and Alt Cat back to where they belong! During the flashes we briefly see Naomi Spencer (Jessica Yemi) in the Prime Reality.
We move to a conclusion finding a heartbroken Alt Sharon outside the Alt Ark-1 bridge to say goodbye to Prime Reality Brice. Alt Sharon who lost her future husband in the alternate reality gives Prime Brice a kiss.
Despite Alt William Trust not including which direction to move each ship, Prime Alicia figures it out and Lt. Brice returns to Prime Ark-1 (stark naked) once again this time getting a huge hug from Eva! Then we see William Trust sobbing over Alt Cat’s empty clothing knowing he will never see the woman he loves again.
The last two scenes of the episode begin with Kimi sitting down with Lt. Brice questioning him about the lunar colony mission Brice was a hero of in the alternate reality, and if he was involved in this reality.
Lt. Brice says no, but if he had been, no one would have died. Here we find out what Kimi’s mission in this reality, obviously Brice didn’t go on the lunar mission as he was supposed to, and someone Kimi loved perished there, so it appears Kimi is seeking revenge!
We end the episode when we are with Kelly who is being returned to captivity. Inside her cell, Kelly finds a computing device with message from Alt Cat that she is now in control of her “POST” human enhancements.
Will everything else be okay on Ark-1 now that we know about Kimi’s secret and Kelly having the ability to control her POST Human implants?
Find out next week in the scary fifth episode of season two named “Museum of Death” that will likely deal with the lunar mission and the casualties that became reality in our universe!
We will be back soon to continue reporting on our analysis of The Ark and our adventures in San Diego for Comic-Con 2024, including exclusive interviews! In the meantime, please feel free to share this article with your friends, co-workers and or your family!
We look forward to you visiting our dedicated review and analysis web site here in the future! Or as many of our readers and visitors often do, visit TeamWHR on X, or visit me on Twitter by clicking the text links or images avatars in this news story. I and TeamWHR look forward to Seeing You on The Other Side!“
Thank you. 
Best Regards,
Kenn of #TeamWHR
