The Ark - The Painful Way & Hoping for Forever - Double Review

The Ark gets better and better with every episode, especially as the political intrigue deepens and the enemies of the season begin to reveal themselves. I will miss the more contained survival story centered entirely around Ark One and their personal conflicts but I will admit that's probably not sustainable for long term television. 

'The Painful Way' focuses on a mutiny started by Trust and Helena which almost threatens to pull the crew apart entirely when Brice, Garnet and Felix are drugged by Eva, Jelena and Cat and thrown in a holding room. Obviously they weren't going to kill off characters like Brice and Garnet like that but it's interesting to see where people's loyalties can lie after the chips have fallen - and I'm relieved there's a glimmer of redemption for Lane who fought alongside Garnet and the others after their release. 

We also learn what Project Juno entails which turned out to be a lot creepier than I thought it would be. It's essentially a dating service, matching up the crew members with the best likelihood of creating genetically perfect families. It sounds nice on paper but in reality, it is a sinister level of control and playing God.

The episode ends with Kelly's reveal as a member of Ark Fifteen and 'Hoping for Forever' shows her shooting Helena and taking Trust, Angus and Lane hostage over to her ship where it's revealed her mother - coincidentally Trust's enemy - is in charge and obsessed with procuring some DNA from Ark One. 

The DNA turns out to be spider venom that can be used in curing Klampkins, Brice's disease though they don't have any of the other ingredients. It's good to see a spark of hope for Brice who's turning out to be the best character on the show as we see more of his anger towards Trust and his fear of the Ark One crew getting hurt. 

The episode ends with Garnet sneaking on board of Ark Fifteen to procure the other ingredients from Ark Fifteen while the trade for Lane and Angus is taking place. It's going to be interesting to see how well her mission shakes out and what else she might encounter on the enemy ship. The conflict between the two Arks is certainly going to heat up as we head into the final episodes and I look forward to learning about the motivations of certain characters.

 What did you think of these two episodes? Sound off in the comments below!