Syfy’s “The Ark” has taken an intense turn in the last episode where we see certain mysteries to be unfolded. Finding out the truth about Lt. Sharon was not the most intriguing part. The most striking part was the hallucinations of the crew. However, we are not new to the daily challenges that the people on the ship are facing – from unexpectedly waking up from their cryo-sleep to a murderer on board to the possibility of someone attacking them, the crew has seen it all. Unfortunately, most of the crew are unaware that there is yet another group on board along with them that has a that has a mission of its own and is actively observing and carrying out its mission in secret. The fifth episode, titled ‘One Step Forward, Two Steps Back,’ drops a fair amount of stress about ‘Ark 1’s’ journey in the upcoming days.
Spoilers Ahead
True Concern Or Fake Concern?
As we have seen earlier, Lt. Lane identified that Dr. Kabir has not been getting enough rest and has not slept since she woke up from her cryo-sleep. At the beginning of the episode, we see a stressed and sleep-deprived Dr. Kabir trying to pop up another medicine while Lt. Lane interrupts her. He thanks Kabir for her help in averting the previous crisis. In the conversation, Lane finds out that Kabir hasn’t been resting and asks her to rest for a while as there are no tasks at hand. Kabir is convinced, and as she goes to rest, Lane searches through the med bay’s data to look for information about Lt. Sharon Garnett. Lane is shocked to find out that Garnett is a clone and decides to use it against her. So, he confronts Garnett, and she is furious at him for sneaking around and finding out classified information. Lane calls for a meeting, where he tries to convince everyone that Garnett is a risk as she might snap as her clone did. His differences with Garnett were not unknown, for he challenged her authority at every step. However, everyone decided that Garnett should not be replaced and voted for her, which made Lane immensely irritated with the council. However, Dr. Kabir snaps at him for breaking her trust. Garnett decides with the team on the course of action and firmly reminds Lane of his place as the second commander on the ship.
Fix The Lightspeed
Garnett asked Eva to fix the speed of the ship as they were moving very slowly. Eva warns that there are certain risks to forcing the engine’s speed, but she says she would risk it. In the engine room, Eva asks Gregor, her second commander, to fix the issue and clearly instructs that in any case of emergency, he must pull the emergency stop lever. However, nothing ever runs smoothly on the ship, and the situation gets out of hand for Gregor when a chemical oozes out and kills him in the radiation emission. The moment Eva learns about it, she runs towards the engine room to find that the radiation is spreading widely. Thus, a few unit doors were shut and the rest were in lockdown. The only solution is if someone would risk their life to physically go into the engine room and lower the lever.
One Mystery Solved, Another Surface
While Gregor is being instructed by Eva, Felix approaches her for investigation. Felix was tipped off with enough information to consider him a suspect in the murder of fake Malcolm by Cat (remember what she saw in her hallucination). When Felix pulls away and accuses Eva of the murder, she gets furious and locks Felix in a chamber, lowering the oxygen level enough. She says if she had to kill the fake Malcolm, she would suffocate him and was not stupid enough to throw the weapon in the water pipe, whose maintenance is Eva’s responsibility. Felix was convinced that Eva was not the killer, but on further investigation, he found the source of the message, which took him to Alicia. Alicia and Angus, in the meantime, were trying to weaponize the unknown element that attacked the ship. Felix interrupts them by arresting Alicia.
Felix calms Alicia down, however, by saying that he knows Alicia wasn’t involved in the crime, but her tab was used by someone else. Alicia recalls that during the comet incident, she left her tablet behind with Baylor. After quite a hustle, Baylor was arrested. He admitted to the crime and said he was doing it for the greater good.
The Ending: A Heroic Sacrifice Or A Silent Threat?
The situation gets out of hand with the radiation. The council meets again, and Sharon announces that someone has to willingly accept the suicide mission to save the rest of the crew. Baylor hears this, too, and sends something to Lt. Lane. Lane leaves the meeting and goes running to Baylor. Baylor says that he is willing to sacrifice his life and says that he considers Lane to be a part of the secret mission he is on. Lane carries Baylor to the chamber of the council and vouches that Baylor will risk his life.
In the final moments, we see Baylor fighting his way into the engine lab and pulling the lever down to stop the spread of the radiation. Lane and Sharon shook hands on good terms. But, soon, we see Lane entering the secret room that Baylor told him about. There he found two pods, and in one lies William Trust, the designer of the ship, who seems to be plagued with a god complex. The scene ends as Lane looks away, probably outside the ship.
Lane’s reality was a massive blow, for so far, no matter how power-hungry he appeared to be, we were sure about his heart being in the right place. Although, we cannot deny the harrowing hallucinations that he had in the previous episode. The ending has left us wondering about Lane’s true motive. Is Lane, like Baylon, capable to commit a murder? As we have seen him hallucinating about harming Sharon, we cannot be sure if he would not be any threat to her. With the plethora of questions that we have now, we need to wait for the next episode.