Welcome Science Fiction Lovers on The Ark!
There is no doubt Arksters and Arkoholics that The Ark is the finest scripted science fiction series currently being broadcast in the United States, Canada, as well as around the world on streaming services including Electric Entertainment’s cool Electric Now App. We hope that The Ark is renewed for a third season shortly after the conclusion of the current season. In that spirit, we will be using the hashtag #RenewTheArk on all on posts on X and Facebook renewal status is known.
Our heroes have faced devastating circumstances since leaving Earth to find a new home for humanity among the stars. The loss of crew members including Lt. Spencer Lane (Reece Ritchie) was heartbreaking. Lane died a hero in the last exciting episode “Cycle of Violence” saving Ark-1 from war in deep space.
Ark-1 plans to continue to planet Trappist-1D after making peace with the Eastern Federation ship EF-2 to rejoin the other Ark’s at the colony that is being built there.
Captain Sharon Garnet’s (Christie Burke) heart as well as the entire crew is heavy with the loss of her close confidant Spencer Lane that many hoped would become lovers. A bright spot in the ongoing scripted science fiction story saga is that Eva Markovic (Tiana Upcheva) returned to good graces on Ark-1 when she played a critical role that helped avert war between the GSA and the Eastern Federation. Eva is restored to her position of Engineering Chief, recognized as a trustworthy individual subsequent to peace talks onboard Ark-1.
With only two more episodes left in season two of The Ark, a pivot point in the series has been reached. Raw emotions are expressed by the entire crew over their loss of Lt. Spencer Lane, especially Captain Sharon Garnet as we learn at the end of the episode.
It Should Have Been You:
The episode opens with Captain Garnet stating “We are entering a new era of peace, an era of hope and change, but sometimes at a cost” as she speaks at the eulogy of Lt. Spencer Lane who is given a space burial with full honors with the majority of the crew in attendance.
Captain Avega (Daniel Fathers) of the EF-2 stands with Garnet during the speech with the help of a cane after his near death experience. in an episode written by Madeline Hendricks Lewen, directed by Sandra Mitrovic, the two captains emotions are genuinely expressed by both as they share memories of deceased Lt. Lane. As they prepare for the journey to Trappist-1D, the two shake their hands in a bond of peace paid for with the blood of Lt. Lane.
As the burial ceremony breaks up, the scene shift to Angus Medford (Ryan Adams) and Alicia Nevins (Stacey Read). They are discussing the emotional loss that everyone is feeling.
Angus states “I can’t imagine what Garnet must be feeling right now” with Alicia responding “It makes you want to live in the moment and not waste any time”. Both agree to meet in their cabin quarters after their work shifts to take advantage of each other!
Next we are in the Command Center briefing room with Garnet, Eva, Alicia, Security Chief Felix Strickland (Pavle Jerinic), Dr. Sanjivni Kabir (Shalini Peiris), Lt. James Brice (Richard Fleeshman), and Kimi Joma (Díana Bermudez).
Dr Kabir says “I can’t believe that he’s gone” referring to Lt. Lane who was respected by everyone on Ark-1. As they stare at the empty chair of Lt. Spencer Lane, it is tragically clear that the emotional impact of his loss is only now hitting everyone.
A toast is offered as the Command Team prepares to move on without Lane. Lt. Brice is promoted to Second in Command stating “that’s what that wee bastard would’ve wanted anyway”.
Subsequent to the toast to their deceased crew mate, Captain Garnet informs the team that they will leave for Trappist-1D “within the hour” with EF-2.
Ian the clone (Reece Ricthie) confronts Captain Sharon Garnet in the hallway begging for a title and an assigned position. Sharon agrees but tells Ian to talk with Lt. Brice since he is now in charge of assignments on Ark-1.
Dr. Marsh (Jadran Malkovich) breaks up the tension between Sharon and Ian by arriving in the hallway wanting to speak about Dr. Kabir who Marsh says is blaming herself for Spencer Lanes death. Dr Marsh asks if Kabir “could take a few days off?” Dr. Kabir will not get the chance to take time off with what is about to happen!
Just then, Captain Garnet is called to Engineering by Sasha Novak (Milos Cvetkovic) where an argument is in progress. The argument was of course started by William Trust (Paul Leonard Murray) whose ego is bloated, to say the least. Trust refuses to take orders from Eva who has been reinstated as the Chief Engineering Officer on Ark-1. Suffice it to say, William Trust is a PITA (Pain In The Arse). Garnet makes it clear that Eva is in charge so he is a subordinate assistant to Eva. Trust’s ego tantrum reaches the point where he says “I don’t assist” and storms out of Engineering.
Captain Avega calls to advise Ark-1 they are ready to depart for Trappist-1D. Captain Garnet confirms they will enter FTL together for their journey. Suddenly, the FTL Drive on Ark-1 fails as the EF-2 is observed leaving the area. As they are investigating, Ian, Dr. Marsh, Ian and Captain Garnet are struck by an energy surge that emanates from the FTL Drive equipment hitting Marsh first but bouncing to Ian and Garnet.
Dang it! Just when we thought that everything would be fine, all three are knocked unconscious on the floor!
The three are taken to the Medical Bay with Jelena Griff (Tamara Radovanović) helping Dr. Kabir who says “They’re all unconscious, I’ll know more soon” if they will survive. Lt. Brice arrives in Engineering as he looks on in astonishment realizing that he is now in command of Ark-1 as acting Captain. Brice orders Eva to figure out what has happened with the FTL, then heads to the Medical Bay where Dr. Kabir says it’s “too early to tell” if she can help them. Brice asks if she can do the job with Kabir snapping back “Being that I am the only conscious doctor aboard this ship, we don’t have much choice!”
In a lightening of the mood in the episode, we segue to Angus and Alicia who have just made love, or tried to, apparently for the first time. Alicia says “that was fun” while Angus says “was it?”. The two geeks look a bit uncomfortable laying side by side in bed. Alicia follows up with “the first time is tricky”. Angus blames himself. Alicia breaks the ice like tension by heading to Engineering to help Eva. Later, Angus asks Lt. Brice for a few pointers (pun intended) telling Eva he learned a “few things” from Brice. Alicia says “what kind of things”. Viewers will never know because they close the door to have intimate relations hiding what was said!
Next we are with Captain Garnet, Dr. Marsh and Ian who wake up in the Medical Bay but no one is there! All three do not remember anything after the order to take Ark-1 into FTL. They search the ship but nobody is responding. Ian, an engineer, informs Garnet an FTL power surge triggered what happened.
Garnet, Marsh and Ian seemingly shift time to months later. The three are in some sort of limbo, that we learn is an induced coma connecting them. As they meet for dinner, a surge of energy strikes Dr. Marsh when he is picking up a plate. Marsh suddenly wakes up in the Medical Bay with Dr. Kabir informing him that he has only been unconscious for “about an hour twenty minutes” confirming that they were in some sort of perception altering dream. Unfortunately, Garnet and Ian still trapped in the coma in an unconscious state.
Acting Captain Brice notices that Dr Marsh several has scars on his back. Marsh reluctantly admits that he was an experimental human subject of Evelyn Maddox (Jelena Stupljanin) before she experimented on poor Kelly Fowler (Samantha Glassner). Will we ever be rid of the crimes of Evil Evelyn? Doesn’t look like it Asksters!
We then learn that Dr. Marsh’s last implant is malfunctioning requiring brain surgery that Dr. Kabir says she is not qualified to remove! Thankfully the surgery is a success and Marsh returns to consciousness.
We are back with Sharon and Ian who now has a beard in the time shifted coma with each thinking that many years have passed. On what is apparently the Ark-1 Bridge, Ian says that the only way back is by going through a nearby wormhole, not aware they are really in a coma. During the intervening coma driven years, Ian and Sharon have fallen in love, kissing each other to express their feelings. Sharon says that Ian must shave his beard, however, it is at this point we are happy for Sharon and Ian who in all likelihood will have a stable relationship IF they can get back to a conscious state. In their coma induced state, they enter the wormhole but since it a coma induced fantasy, things do not return to normal.
Back in the Medical Bay, Jelena Griff studies their brainwaves with doctors Marsh and Kabir confirming that Ian and Sharon are indeed in a coma. The three notice that Ian and Sharon have matching brain wave patterns.
This proves that Ian and Sharon are still in a coma induced dream, not in another reality, they compare Dr. Marsh’s coma brainwaves that turn out to be an exact match!
In the coma induced fantasy world, Ian has shaved his beard and Sharon is in a white dress that could serve as a wedding gown since in their minds ten more years have passed and they get married in their coma. Next we see that Ian and Sharon have entered old age in the coma driven world. The aging aspect of the episode is a bit like the final episode of Stargate SG-1 episode “Unending” except in this episode it’s all a coma induced dream.
In a quick scene switch, Dr. Kabir says that they are unable to stay in this state because their elevated brain patterns will soon kill Ian and Sharon. How can they get Ian and Sharon out of the nightmarish brainwave conditions?
Dr. Kabir develops a potion to inject into Ian and Sharon to try and snap them out of the coma before it is too late.
The injection only partially works with Ian and Sharon almost regaining consciousness in the Medical Bay. Instead they fall back into their coma where they decide they must somehow do something themselves to help resolve the situation.
Seeking to help solve the coma enigma, Kimi finds a computer chip file developed by Maddox Industries that she shares with Felix Strickand.
Yep, you guessed it! Evil Evelyn is behind this nightmarish situation!
The research reveals that the symptoms Ian and Sharon are experiencing are part of an experimental mind control protocol implant developed by Evil Evelyn that was triggered when Ian, Sharon and Dr. Marsh’s implant were all struck with FTL Drive energy affecting all of them putting them in a mind control coma.
William Trust is called to the Command Council to explain. While Dr. Marsh was freed from the coma when his implant was removed, Ian and Sharon don’t have implants, meaning they could remain trapped in the coma forever until it kills them!
Acting Captain Brice shares a story about Parkinson’s brain probe therapy that could be rigged to the implant ship removed from Dr. Marsh to hopefully wake Ian and Sharon from their comas.
Thankfully the procedure works with Sharon waking up in the Medical Bay momentarily. Marsh and Kabir theorize that they need to perform the procedure on both simultaneously. In the coma Ian and Sharon realize they have been living in a coma, but theorize that if they die in the coma, they’ll hopefully wake up in the Medical Bay. In the coma they go to an airlock and kill themselves.
Waking up in the Medical Bay at the same time the implant probes are activated, Ian and Sharon learn they have been in the coma dream for only “thirty-six hours” but they have experienced a lifetime of memories.
Sharon asks Ian if they cannot talk about it for the time being. Ian agrees to let it go for now.
The question we wonder about is did they develop a relationship in the coma that Captain Garnet and Ian will be able to enjoy later? We shall see.
As the episode winds down to a conclusion, Brice confronts William Trust that his help is needed to finish repairs on the FTL Drive. Trust is at first recalcitrant but eventually agrees rather than be responsible for everyone being trapped in deep space.
In the last scenes, ego maniac William Trust does indeed decide to go to Engineering and help Alicia and Eva referring to himself as “an old asshole”. It is a nice touch that William Trust has finally become a functional member of the crew as a human being. Trust, Eva and Alicia fix the FTL Drive to return it to normal working order.
On the Ark-1 Bridge, Captain Garnet returns to duty thanking everyone, especially Lt. Brice for taking over during her absence. Captain Avega of EF-2 returned to check on the situation with Ark-1. For the first time in the series, nothing goes wrong and both ships enter FTL, finally headed to the Trappist-1D colony.
The final scene finds us with Sharon who is crying alone over the loss of Lt. Spencer Lane saying to herself “It Should Have Been You”, the title name of the episode. Sharon updates Spencer’s personnel file to “Deceased”. As the screen fades to black, we witness Sharon sobbing.
The eleventh episode next week is named “It Will Soon Be Over”. We certainly hope that it does not mean that the series will end with season two. We suggest everyone add #RenewTheArk to their social media posts to encourage SYFY to renew The Ark.
We will be back soon to continue reporting on our analysis of The Ark as well as completing our adventures from 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
