Dark Matter season 3 finale review: Who survived a shocking showdown?

On the Dark Matter season 3 finale Friday night, things got crazy almost right away. After all, we saw Two make the decision to keep Ryo alive! While she wouldn’t kill him, there were other things that she, Three, and the rest of the team wanted from him. In part, he was a key cog for what is an ever-growing corporate war. Almost many characters past and present were over this episode, which was intense and certainly mind-bendy as you questioned almost everyone beyond the members of the Raza crew.

Let’s make the mission at the heart of the episode this pretty simple, given how complicated many other things are: Ferrous needs to be stopped. The Raza crew has known this for a good while, just as we’ve all known it as viewers. This just started to be the point where the resources started to come together in order to make a move. Truffault turned up, and even offered up some sort of “assistance” in order to take part in the mission. We also do have to thank her for, in one way, saving both Three and Six at around the midway point of the episode when Mikke managed to flip over Portia’s former assistant Wexler to their cause. The thing here is that she in some way helped with Wexler, but that doesn’t mean she can be trusted. That doesn’t mean that Wexler can be trusted, either. He just helped the team get out of one precarious situation, but for Three in particular this episode, there would be other problems.

Structurally, a big part of this episode played out similar to some others this season: A few select Raza crew members found themselves in impossible situations, and we then spent the bulk of the remainder of the episode trying to get themselves out of it with both their lives and hope for the future. Luckily, there were also many twists along the way. For one, Portia did show up at one moment after capturing Three (and this is the aforementioned “other problem” we mentioned in this past paragraph), and that was bad news given her ties to Ferrous and Commander Nieman.

Let’s return now to Ryo for a moment, given that he was able to arrange a deal with Two in order to better ensure that she got what he wanted. She wanted to use some of his ships, and an arrangement with Mikkei, in order to stop Nieman and Ferrous once and for all. This sound great, but it was after this deal and a quick strategy session with much of the rest of the Raza team that the next twist was clear: Two had the goo. Consider this your next major twist.

The lucky news? Three, despite being taken by Portia, was going to be okay mostly because she realized that there was no need for her to die for someone else in the end. That lucky news is traded off with the unfortunate news that Goo Two, in the midst of her own plot against the team, neutralized The Android. Meanwhile, Six decided to potentially sacrifice himself right in the middle of the battle against the Ferrous Ships. We were almost without hope, and with very few people capable of saving the day. This is where Five had to make a shocking decision: Relying on Ryo for help when The Android’s mind (which was still operational) warned her that Two was not herself. He listened to Five’s message, and then took a moment neutralizing Goo Two. Five them did her part to warn Six against activating the Drive, knowing that the entire plan was constructed by Goo Two in the first place. Six was set to die, and there wasn’t anything that could be done about it — also, he would die effectively for nothing.

The aftermath of everything

So what did Six’s apparent sacrifice lead to? Ryo, Five, and Wexler were in for a discovery, and in the closing seconds, we saw a surprising arrival: The Black Ships. That’s a problem … for everyone. It’s the icing on the cake where there are SO many possible deaths elsewhere. (Hey, at least a lot of people can have a common opponent now, right?)

What we now want to comment more on one of the finale’s central themes: Identity. Every character, even The Android, craves it. They want to understand themselves, and they want to better realize their future and what they want it to be. By the end of the finale we saw some additional evidence that they want to find it. Portia wants to be independent, Five is ready to be more of a hero, and Six realizes a larger purpose.

Unfortunately, we’re now forced to wait a LONG time (potentially forever, depending on what Syfy decides) to figure out what’s next.

Overall Take

Dark Matter came out Friday night hoping to deliver a fast-paced and fun finale. Did they deliver in the end? We do very much think so. This episode was intense, fascinating, but also terrifying given what now awaits the Raza Crew in the future. Grade: A-.

What did you think about the Dark Matter finale? Share now in the comments!

Why should the show get a season 4?

If you head over here, you can get a much greater sense of what we have to say on this particular subject! (Photo: Syfy.)