The Seduction

Earth Final Conflict Episode Review

In which there is some cast turnover.

What Did I Think?

Some shows are adventure versions of sitcoms: the situation and characters are static from one show to the other, only the details change. Another series will tell stories in multi-episode or multi-season arcs, each episode feeding into another. Even the seeming unrelated bottle shows often contribute by illuminating something unknown about one of the characters that will be important later on. The key to this method, however, is movement; the story and characters need to actually go somewhere, not present an interesting situation and then stall. It's also important to remember that there's multi-layered, and then there's needlessly murky.

Compare, for example, the character of Sandoval of the first four seasons with Sandoval of the first three episodes of the fifth season. Always one of the more interesting characters on the show, he lost his impact as his motivations become fuzzier and fuzzier. The full story behind his actions has never been explained, or if it was I missed it.(When and how, for example, did he hook up with the Jaridians?) It's an example of how EFC's arc story has always been frustratingly uneven.

He started off as a human intimately involved with the Taelons, apparently willing to do whatever they wanted. The presence of the motivational imperative, forcing his loyalties to the Taelons, added the first layer. "Sandoval's Run" worked that for what it was worth, explaining the way he isolated himself from his humanity by putting his wife in a mental institution. He became a powerful opposite for Boone and the revelation that he had full knowledge of the Taelons' agenda made him a character to watch.

Sandoval's tentative relationship with Beckett opened up the possibility that his loyalties might be divided at some point. After her death, however, she was never mentioned again.I was particularly intrigued by Sandoval's connection to Liam, but the series never did much with it. There were any number of shows where the truth could have come out, but nowhere outside of "Thicker Than Blood" was it used as motivation for either Liam or Sandoval's actions.

Ha'gel, when he took Sandoval's form, intimated that Sandoval had "secrets." If I had any faith in EFC's ability to carry an arc, I might call this the first hint of his connection to the Jaridians or of the breakdown of his motivational imperative. Absolutely no follow-up happened on either front, however, until season three, when Sandoval sent Lili off to Jaridia, and that wasn't picked up again until season four.

Throughout season two and three, Sandoval degenerated to Zo'or's flunky. In episode after episode, Zo'or would have a plan, he'd send Sandoval to do his dirty work, Liam would stop him, Sandoval would salvage some little bit and Zo'or would flutter his fingers and gloat.While this was going on, Sandoval's attitude towards Liam and Zo'or remained disturbingly vague. Liam was constantly getting in Sandoval's way, but he never seemed to take it personally. Whether that was because he was working with the Jaridians or if it was because he just didn't care was never clear.

Sandoval's emotional state seemed to become more and more fragile. His habit of hanging out in a whorehouse while off-duty was odd. He occasionally appeared disgusted by himself, but his trademark dispassion covered many signs of what was going on internally. The lifted eyebrow expressed disdain and perhapsknowledge of more than was being said. The follow-through on that suggestion never materialized, however, and there was simply too much time and not enough connection between the obvious bouts of self-loathing.

Season four finally picked things up, plot- and character-wise, with the revelation that Sandoval was in league with the Jaridians, even though none of the details were clear. In "Atonement," Sandoval talked about how he blamed the Taelons for his wife's death, and loosed some pretty impressive venom regarding how he had been made a scapegoat for the evil committed by the Taelons and how Earth's government would rather blame him than examine their own actions. It finally explored why he might still be working with the Taelons because he felt he had gone too far to regain a life on Earth.

In "Dark Horizons," Sandoval also weaseled out of outright betrayal, this time nearly feeding all the Taelons to the Jaridians. Zo'or made noise about "understanding" Sandoval and his motivations and that he could control the human that way. It was nice to know someone understood Sandoval.

He hated Zo'or, but continued working for him. He had originally been Da'an's protector, but then tried to assassinate him. Liam kept getting in his way, but that rivalry seemed tepid at best. Greedy human? Taelon flunkie? Jaridian spy? Contemptuous of his own species? Yearning to rejoin it? It seemed that the more reasons the writers piled on for Sandoval going one way to another, the duller he became.

Season five is, in theory, the last one for Earth Final Conflict, so they really have to pick up the pace. They've pretty much started over with a whole new alien species and a new heroine in Renee Palmer (vs. William Boone and Liam Kincaid). There are good and bad things about that, since they are jettisoning an enormous amount of backstory and the investment the audience has in several characters. On the other hand, any number of empty repetitive episodes can be forgotten. As all this goes on, Sandoval has retained his place as the primary human working for the alien wannabe overlords.

Season five's premiere "Unearthed" did the character a favor by stripping him down to the basics. No mention has been made of the CVI, motivational imperative or the Jaridians, just the basic statement that Sandoval worked for the Taelons against the human resistance. In place of his ill-defined double agent act is clear self-interest. Physically scarred by a nuclear blast and exiled from his own species, Sandoval's decision to throw his lot in with the Atavus is easy to understand.

His initial confrontations with the Atavus onboard the Mothership were marked by the same old subservient routine Sandoval used on Zo'or, albeit taking his appreciation for their savagery into account. With the realization that the Atavus can't feed on him, however, Sandoval is becoming more bold. Guessing that Juda's attraction to him is partly a ploy, but he is still was willing to play Juda and Howlen against each other. Three episodes, three steps forward with the character and plot.

Sandoval's new feud with Renee is also superior to his relationship to Liam. No longer impassive, Sandoval is expressing his anger at being an outcast. His conversations with Renee are vehement and passionate on both sides, even containing a little humor. Instead of a relationship based on smirks and stares, the dialogue is forging a real bond that could come into play in a significant way in future episodes.

It's sad to see some favorite characters go, but with fewer characters to keep track of, more attention can be paid to the ones that are left. Sandoval will benefit from that. It might have been nice to have a series hero to match Sandoval as the series villain, but Renee will do. The ticking clock of this season will hopefully cause the writers to move it along, keeping this momentum going.