The Elysium Season 3 would’ve aired from 15 October to 17 September 2017 and would’ve lasted for an increased episode count of 12, double what the show had in it’s first two seasons. The biggest change this season was a new cast member, in the form of Raleigh Baker-Mitchell, a former Doctor Who companion, who was stranded on the planet in the Season 51 finale. Production wise, changes were few and far between, with all the Execs and Co-Execs staying onboard. The season did, however, receive a slight update to its title sequence, including an increased length, in contrast to Doctor Who’s new titles.
THE FORESEERS
Season 3, Episode 1
Written by JANE ESPENSON
Directed by METIN HÜSEYIN
TX Date – 1 October 2017
This episode opens with a shot of Hortus, the Capital City of the Elysium, where it’s nice, peaceful and tranquil. We hear the sound of a news reporter’s voice welcoming everyone to the Scallatti Worldwide Network, the Scallatti’s new state broadcaster. Not only does he recap some events of Series 2, but he also tells us that the appeal trial, in the Senate, around the issue of the closure of Callista Daily is due to take place in about 3 months’ time. We then cut to Calem, in a large office, and we see she’s been appointed as the Chief Editor of SWN, by Julie. We then see Julie have a conversation with Roddy, whereby he tells her that everything is going according to plan, and soon they will have their revenge on Ajacos, the worst president in the history of the Scallatti. We then see Eddie, in an old cargo ship, which he’s converted into an office, which is now standing on the outskirts of Hortus. We see the sign on the front of the building which reads: “DE Private Investigators”, before we see Dani walk through the door and she begins bossing Eddie about. It turns out that through their own fortunes, Eddie and Dani have ended up working together in their next business, as Private Investigators, although there’s still a lot of animosity between them. We then see Richard and Syd, and they are living in a cottage, in a farm, many miles away from the city. Richard reveals to us that after the Season 2 finale, Ajacos put the two of them under a Citizen’s Protection Scheme to protect them from the Three. We also find out that they are being looked after by one of the locals, a cheery old woman, who is essentially their housekeeper, Ersiah. Finally, we see the backstreets of Hortus, which already have become a place of crime and villainy, having such a stark difference from the utopian-like centre of the town. There we see Raleigh Baker-Mitchell, walking through the dingy streets with a parade of dodgy-looking people around her, she speaks to them almost like a messiah and tells them tales of what will become of them. One member of her ‘cult’, we see is Tena (in disguise) observing what’s happening.
So that’s the set-up of where everyone is now, but Lea (but I’ll get onto her in a moment), so I’ll go through each plotline that happens in this episode, one by one.
Julie’s plotline sees her mainly in meetings with Ajacos, as their trying to steady the launch of SWN, the conversation briefly turns to Julie going behind his back to close down Callista Daily, but Julie takes control of the conversation, as if she’s trained Ajacos in a way. Later scenes with Julie see her with Claude, who she knows seems to have become good friends with, as they strategize about how to deal with the impending trial.
Richard’s plotline keeps him out of the action for most of this episode, but we mainly see him and Syd with Ersiah here. All that really happens is that they notice something odd is going on with Ersiah, before they begin to investigate and then, towards the end, they see Ersiah talking to Shamash outside.
Now, Lea’s plotline is interlinked with Raleigh’s, so I’ll begin with what the hell is going on with Raleigh. So, a following has been built up around Raleigh, among the lower classes of Scallatti society, as she uses her knowledge of the future to be seen as some sort of prophet. Tena infiltrates it, and then confronts Raleigh, asking if she’ll explain who she really is. Tena then blackmails Raleigh with that information, unless she’ll help her gain Time Travel, as word is their top scientist is very close. Tena points her along to Lea’s way, where Raleigh ends up going, leaving the cult, who are known as ‘The Foreseers’. Raleigh spends the rest of the episode, looking at Lea’s findings about the Kheqren and exploring theoretical possibilities. She’s introduced to Lea, as an expert from one of the lower-class ships, with only Ajacos, Tena, Utnapishtim, Shamash and Ersiah knowing her real identity.
Eddie’s plotline sees him and Dani investigating the disappearance of a 17-year-old girl, Kharli, who is the daughter of a man called Remi, who was the old head of Callista Daily. They track her back to the Foreseers, where we see she has been indoctrinated by Raleigh and her cult. Once, Raleigh leaves with Tena, to work with Lea, Eddie and Dani properly explore the cult, where they confront Kharli, but she is adamant she wants to stay as she really believes in what she’s doing, and she hates her whole family.
Finally, Calem’s plot sees her dealing with the first day of the SWN’s transmission, as well as coordinating with Julie and Claude, as well dealing with an argument amongst the staff, mainly between all the new staff and some of the old Callista Daily staff, who were brought on board as well.
The whole episode builds up to Raleigh and Lea coming to see Ajacos, in secret, telling him that they believe, from their findings, that the fleet’s old ships, used to be capable of time travel, and they want his permission to explore this possibility, by tracing back the fleet’s journey, to find out exactly what happened, and why they aren’t capable anymore, and if there’s a way to make them capable again, with help from the Kheqren. We see clearly that Ajacos is not keen on the idea at all, before we cut to end credits.
TO WALK THE STARS
Season 3, Episode 2
Written by JANE ESPENSON
Directed by METIN HÜSEYIN
TX Date – 8 October 2017
This episode, like most, cuts between several plotlines, so I’m going to go through them, like always, one by one. So firstly, let’s start off with Ajacos as he is persuaded to let the mission go ahead, but only after he’s spoken to Utnapishtim, who’s okayed it, as long as he’s part of the crew, to oversee. We see Utnapishtim and Ajacos secret handshake.
Lea and Raleigh become good friends and start assembling a crew. Lea goes to visit the Cizzaurans and tells them about what’s happening, she asks Begass if he’ll come aboard, as she wants someone with his talents, who she also trusts to be there with her. Raleigh is confronted and threatened by Utnapishtim and told that this mission isn’t for Lord Hanson to profit from.
Julie is live on Taoter Today on SWN, where she and Captain Hurati are both being interviewed by the host, and live on air, Hurati reveals that he has founded a new political party, PACIFA (The Party Against Control and Independence For All), which advocates the independence of each Scallatti region, on the planet, as most of them have been divided up, by Ajacos and Claude, based upon the former ships, and Hurati’s argument is that each should be separate and independent as the government is already failing them all, not even 18 months after they landed. Julie has to publicly say that she disagrees as they are all stronger together under the Scallatti Government, but she later tells Calem not to repeat that interview.
Eddie and Dani bring Kharli’s father, Remi, to the cult, so he can try and talk some sense into her. This fails, but they do find out about Raleigh and Remi pays Eddie and Dani to investigate her, and find out if his daughter is safe, under her. They spend most of the episode investigating Raleigh, finding out most of the events of ‘False Prophets’, bringing the Elysium audience up to speed, on who she is, before they find out about the ship, which is taking off, secretly, which Raleigh is heading up. Dani tells Eddie that he has to be on that ship.
Richard and Syd’s plot sees them confronting Ersiah, and they find out that she’s a member of the Three and not just the organisation, but one of the three founders. Ersiah tells them that she doesn’t want to kill them, she doesn’t even want to harm them, she says that she’s protecting them from Utnapishtim, and that the two of them don’t get on. Syd begins to trust Ersiah, but Richard is hesitant. Ersiah tells Richard that she can keep Utnapishtim away from these parts, if he wants to go ahead and live a normal life again, but she insists that he must stay away from Hortus, as the Three’s claws are all over it.
The preparations are underway for the Ramanujan to secretly launch, with a crew now assembled of Raleigh, Lea, Utnapishtim, Begass and Claude, who will be the Captain of the ship. Claude asks Utnapishtim what’s the deal with Syd, as he trusts her a lot, but when trying to track her down, to try and get her on the crew, he can’t. Utnapishtim simply says that she’s a traitor. But Ersiah shows up with Syd, to which Utnapishtim grows furious, and she tells Claude that she’s here and ready to be a member of the crew. Ersiah and Utnapishtim have a private word with each other, with us just hearing “Fine, but I won’t pretend to like it”. During this, we see Eddie, sneak on board the ship, and stowaway in the bowels of it. We then see the launch of the ship, with only Ajacos, Julie and Ersiah present, as they wish it a safe journey, as we cut to end credits.
THE LOST OUTPOST
Season 3, Episode 3
Written by ANNE KENNEY
Directed by DOUGLAS MACKINNON
TX Date – 15 October 2017
This episode sets the course for the rest of the season, with its format, split into two main sections: firstly, the crew of the Ramanujan on their secret mission, and then secondly, the going-ons in Scallatti society back on the Elysium. Episodes would usually alternate between which setting gets the A and B plot, but in the case of this episode, the Ramanujan gets the A plot, so I’ll go through that plot first.
It’s been one week since the ship left the Elysium, and they have just cleared the Taoter Solar System. We get a lot of scenes of the general life on the ship, for the first 15 minutes or so of the episode, as we see the set up. Claude is the captain, but Raleigh is the Executive Officer, in charge of the mission in general; Lea is in charge of the scientific aspect of the mission, while Syd is in charge of the crew and maintaining order; Utnapishtim doesn’t have a specific purpose other than watching over the mission, and making sure that it doesn’t stray too far into uncomfortable territory for the Three, and Begass is there for his expertise but also to other a different view point of the mission, as a Cizzauran. We also see Eddie, hiding out in the cargo decks, and watching events unfold over the security office, which all the CCTV cameras are connected to. He’s also got some sort of radio transceiver, which he’s making coded (like Morse code) contact back to Dani with, telling her information.
The plot kickstarts when Raleigh tells Claude to change the ships course, to which an argument breaks out, but Raleigh says that there’s somewhere they need to go. When they get there, they see nothing, just the vacuum of space, but Raleigh counts to 8 before a small space station appears in front of them. She tells Claude that the ship was built by the Scallatti in the far future, on top of a Space-Time rift, and every few hours, it falls back in time, and now they can scavenge it for parts. They spend the rest of the episode doing just that, taking the futuristic equipment and lining the Ramanujan with it. Utnapishtim confronts Raleigh about it, but she manages to shut him up. By the end of the episode, the equipment is installed, with the help of Lea, doing some reverse engineering and working it all out, before she and Raleigh triumphantly announce that the Ramanujan now has hyper-spacial travel.
On the Elysium, we focus on two main strands Julie’s plotline, which ties into Calem’s and then Richard’s. So, we mainly focus on Julie’s continued appearances on SWN, as Ajacos has decided he wants to keep his face off the media, so any failings that happen are pinned on Julie, instead of him, especially after he’s still upset with Julie over the S2 cliffhanger. She’s mainly talking about the new plans to create a rail network, to link up the different areas of the planet, and create unity among the Scallatti. This plan has of course been rushed by Ajacos and Julie, to combat PACIFA and the Independence movement. We see Calem organise the behind-the-scenes angle of this, making sure that the television coverage and interviews from SWN is satisfactory and conforms to Julie’s new broadcasting standards. During this, Calem also promotes one of the few former Callista Daily employees, Wyne, to the position of Deputy Editor, which angers Julie, but Calem persuades her that he is the best one for the job. Richard’s storyline, on the other hand, sees Ersiah take him into the Three’s archives, whereby she says that she’s letting him have a look at their history, but as long as he keeps it to himself. Richard is overjoyed, but is horrified as we see him reading…
GANATLAI
Season 3, Episode 4
Written by KEVIN MURPHY
Directed by ANNA FOERSTER
TX Date – 22 October 2017
This episode focuses mainly on the events happening on Taoter III, with the Ramanujan taking a backseat, as the B plot. We follow Julie as she receives an invitation to visit the Satachha assembly, the Cizzauran parliament. She takes Dien with her, as well as Calem and a team of SWN journalists to cover the event. After the pleasantries are over, and Julie’s formal introduction to Addaho, the Great Chief of the Tehaddah Village and the formal leader of the Cizzaurans, in general, things don’t go smoothly, as Julie gets into an argument with the deputy of the Satachha, Basthiall, who blames the Scallatti for the Horretz massacre, and raises questions over the miner’s strike. He says that he thinks the Cizzaurans should keep themselves to themselves, as it didn’t exactly go well with the Rhaighrs. This turns into more of a row as other Cizzaurans get involved and argue the opposite. The news crew, led by Calem, walk through the village, which is more like a middle-ages city. While the crew records some coverage, Calem goes off and talks to some of the market traders, who are extremely prejudice against the Scallatti, and they seem to hold the view that the Scallatti have stolen the Kheqren from the Underworld and say that the Danadaskagi will be angered. Dien interrupts the two of them, as he wants to buy some clothes from the traders before he goes onto visit the Cizzauran holy grove, where he finds a plaque which says in Cizzauran glyphs (which he translates): “Danadaskagi, Lord of the Underworld, Proprietor of Kheqren, Master of Ganatlai”. This is also intercut with Julie in the Satachha, whereby another argument breaks out about the Scallatti industrialised mining process which turns into a discussion about the lack of respect for nature they have, which leads to some Cizzaurans saying that it would anger the Danadaskagi, to which a senior Cizzauran says is just a silly old superstition. However, a quake hits, shaking the entire village, and people start panicking and losing it. Calem comes in straight away with the film crew, getting it all on the news, before she comes to Julie to quickly comment for the Scallatti audience at home. Cizzaurans start crying over and over again, though, “Ganatlai, Ganatlai!”. Addaho decides to evacuate the village, as it is believed, even by Dien’s assessment, that the quake wasn’t of natural origin. As the Cizzaurans leave the village, Calem, Julie, Dien and a few senior Cizzaurans remain, as a vicious beast burst up through the ground, covered in horns and spikes. Again “Ganatlai” is spoken. A small army force tries to stop the Ganatlai, but no good comes of it. However, as they try to defeat it, it just stops, and leaves back through the way it came, after causes a lot of destruction on the surface. That creature apparently came from the Underworld, and Dien gives it the name Keratherion, and Julie promises the Cizzaurans that the Scallatti will help them if it comes back, however this sentiment isn’t shared with a lot of them, as they believe that it only came because of the Scallatti, as a warning.
The plot on the Ramanujan, doesn’t take up much time, and sees the heightened emotions of the crew, as the journey wears on, especially as they are all starting to notice how secretive Raleigh is, and they really don’t trust her. But, we do see Begass, comfort Raleigh, at one point, which coincides with when the Keratherion comes up from the underworld by the way, as we see him feel something odd, during that moment. We also get more scenes of Eddie, reporting back to Dani.
DUST IN THE LIGHT
Season 3, Episode 5
Written by SIMON ASHDOWN
Directed by ANNA FOERSTER
TX Date – 29 October 2017
This episode again shifts the focus back to the Ramanujan. The set up to the episode, sees the Ramanujan detect a Scallatti transponder in the sector, which of course, Raleigh, Lea and even Claude are very eager to investigate, as it means there’s a Scallatti ship still out there, but Utnapishtim isn’t happy, and he goes off down to the lower decks to make a transmission back to the Three on the Elysium, to let them know what’s happened, before they cross into a nearby nebular, which will block out all signals, for 28 hours. When Utnapishtim is down there he of course, finds Eddie, and things do not go well at all.
The majority of this episode is an intense hour of drama between the crew of the Ramanujan and Eddie, which begins with them just interrogating him, but it spirals out of control as they all begin to turn on, and argue with, each other. Stuff from Claude lying to Eddie in the first series, to Utnapishtim’s resentment of Claude, to Syd and Raleigh knowing about the Three but trying to keep it secret, all the while they call Utnapishtim out on his hypocrisy when he moans about corruption, to Claude’s hatred of Eddie and Callista Daily, after the events of the last season. While with some writers this episode could have just been boring filler, Ashdown elevates this concept, so each and every character is dissected, including more mysterious characters like Utnapishtim, and hints to their secrets, are made apparent, as well as the constant feeling in this episode of rising tension, constantly rising and rising until the kettle bursts as the Ramanujan exits the nebular to see a Scallatti ship sitting in space before them… they all can’t believe it, all recognising it (apart from Raleigh)… it’s the Barrac, as we cut to end credits.
The Taoter III scenes we get in this episode, involve Julie discussing the events of the last episode with Ajacos, Ersiah telling Richard of her home planet, with a description matching that we know of Gallifrey, Dani trying to contact Eddie, not knowing about the comms blackout from the nebular, and then trying to make a story about it and Calem gets a moment where she stands up to a former Callista Daily journalist, as he wants to criticise the government and she puts a firm stop to it.
THE DORMANT VESSEL
Season 3, Episode 6
Written by TONI GRAPHIA
Directed by PHILIP JOHN
TX Date – 5 November 2017
We begin with Ajacos receiving a transmission from Lea explaining the situation, we can see as an audience that he is uncomfortable and can probably infer that he knew that the Barrac wasn’t destroyed but fearing Lea will work that out (which she does anyway), he tells her that they can explore it, but as long as Utnapishtim leads the group. Utnapishtim is not happy, as they put together a boarding party and board the ship. Again, the plot splits into two from here on out, so I’ll describe each one separately. So, the crew of the Ramanujan, apart from Eddie and Begass (who is guarding him), go to explore the Barrac, which doesn’t just look in-tact and operational, but more than operational, it looks brand new, as if it’s just stepped off a conveyor belt.
Mainly we get a lot of exploration, not unlike the Ark in Space Part One, as Utnapishtim carefully guides them through the ship. However, Claude, who is the only one there but Utnapishtim to have set foot on the Barrac, begins pointing out large differences in some of the design, since he was last on board. This continues for the first half of the episode, before the plot escalates as another smaller ship, docks… As the crew board the Barrac, Claude, Utnapishtim and Raleigh recognise them immediately, they’re Tolians. Immediately, they draw arms, and Claude, Utnapishtim and Raleigh do the same. Also, we see the other side of this, from Eddie and Begass point of view, as Eddie keeps trying to tell Begass that they need to board the ship, to save the others. A stalemate arrives, as Utnapishtim and the leader of this group of Tolians, Buruzial, who Utnapishtim already seems to know, begin to talk and lots of information is picked up, including the fact it seems like the Scallatti and the Tolians were in a secret (well publicly secret) cold war, in the last 10 years or so of the voyage to Taoter III, and the Barrac played some sort of part in it. The plot continues, as they are about to be killed by the Tolians, before Eddie and Begass come up behind them and knock them out, before they are tied up, and Utnapishtim begins to threaten them, not interrogation, as Claude wants, and expects, but he tells them to stay far away, but they refuse, instead sending a secret transmission to the Tolian fleet. Buruzial tells them that, also, as the cliffhanger draws, that “they” are still alive.
The Taoter III plot of the episode, focuses on the growing PACIFA movement, as a massive rally is held, just outside Hortus, by Hurati, and Julie, Ajacos and Calem are having to deal with the effects of it. Julie begins the episode by issuing a ban on SWN covering the rally instead and they have to pretend it isn’t happening, but privately between her and Ajacos, she says that she’s not against the ideas that Hurati is imposing and thinks independence, or at least devolution, isn’t a bad idea. This angers Ajacos and begins more of a feud between them, especially as Ajacos is hell bent on maintaining that he will not be the last President of the Scallatti. However, we also see that Richard has bought into the movement, and Ersiah has been actively encouraging him, and we get a lot of that plotline from Richard’s point of view.
CHARIOT OF SECRETS
Season 3, Episode 7
Written by TONI GRAPHIA
Directed by PHILIP JOHN
TX Date – 12 November 2017
While the main focus of the previous episode, was on the Barrac and the Ramanujan crew, this episode shifts it back to Taoter III mainly, with it being split about 60/40, overall. So, I’ll do it in that order.
On the Elysium, we see Julie consulting with her lawyer, Rachelle, who’s putting together her case for the trial upon the closure of Callista Daily. She says that the accusations about her, which she fully denied, will hold a large part of the prosecution. Julie says that she thinks they should just carry on denying it, but Rachelle makes the point that the prosecution has ‘video evidence’ if needs be, and maybe it’s better if they give them the truth, but the controlled truth, so they can control the narrative. The rest of Julie’s plotline sees her meeting with Rachelle working this all out and deciding on getting Calem to do a one-on-one hour-long TV interview with her, on SWN, where she’ll give her side of the story. The PACIFA plotline, mainly stays with Calem and Richard this time, as Calem breaks rank and starts covering it (only as a small story and not in detail) on the news. This angers Ajacos causes him to cut SWN’s news budget, as a sanction, which frustrates Calem, but makes her more subservient to the rules. Finally, Richard is within PACIFA and we see Ersiah continue to pull the strings, as Richard becomes more and more prominent in the Scallatti Devolution and Impendence Movement.
On the Barrac, the Tolians tell the Scallatti that they have 33 minutes until the Tolian fleet arrive, and in that time, for the first half of the episode, we get a lot of exposition, but with flashbacks from 4 years earlier, of the explanation from Utnapishtim on what happened to the Barrac. He explains that the trouble from the Tolians was getting increasingly worse, and so the Three were brought in to sort it out. He explains that their top scientists were tasked with creating a biological weapon to get rid of the Tolians, and the Barrac was used to deliver that weapon behind enemy lines. He explains that the mission failed, and apart from one survivor, they presumed everyone died. The official line was that the ship was destroyed, and as they evacuated the ship just a week earlier, they just said that they were worried about a gas explosion, and that’s what ended up happening. However, due to this, the Three is explained to everyone, and it’s made clear that Ajacos knew about the Three, which leads up to the revelation that Ajacos is a member himself. Utnapishtim smiles as he says all of them are members of the Three, anyone who holds power, is one of them. He says the Three were at least, until recently, everywhere. For the last half of the episode for the ship crew, the Tolians arrive, and there’s a little skirmish, but everyone but Syd and Claude escape back onto the Ramanujan. We end with Syd and Claude being shackled, as the Barrac flies off into space.
TALE OF MIGHT AND PEACE
Season 3, Episode 8
Written by EMER KENNY
Directed by ANNA FOERSTER
TX Date – 19 November 2017
This episode is focuses almost entirely on the Rhaighrs and the Cizzaurans, with the Rhaighr plot being shown through the eyes of Calem, after she’s invited to produce a report for SWN about Rhaighr culture, on suggestion from Berzhrr who is trying to win the Almighty more popularity with the Rhaighr people, and Julie on the other hand, is our eyes and ears for the Cizzauran plot, as she’s put on an investigative taskforce to find the cause of some strange goings on, which the Cizzaurans think might involve the Scallatti. Calem finds out a lot about Rhaighr culture, and that they aren’t anywhere near as bad, as she once thought. She finds out that they don’t even have concepts such as greed and sadism, as everything for them is built around the idea of might, and the preservation of the natural order. She visits a beautiful ancient Rhaighr city, which takes her away, as it’s a hive of culture. Julie instead, with the Cizzaurans, uncovers some sort of cult, lead by a crazed Cizzauran called Thralsai, who has brainwashed the youth into basically trying to tare down their system and establish a new order, including poisoning their caretaker. Julie however is horrified when the Cizzaurans express interest in using the death sentence, and freaks out, giving them a moral dressing down.
The episode ends with the SWN report being broadcast, and Calem essentially says that the Rhaighrs are different, but they certainly aren’t all bad, it’s just their exterior, especially when they first arrived, was, understandably, quite confrontational. She says that they need to ask themselves the question: how much should they value might but also peace?
The Ramanujan plot of this episode includes one conversation between the remaining crew about what to do now Syd and Claude have been taken prisoner, whereby they decide to go out and rescue them. Most of it, however, sees Syd and Claude arrive on the Southern continent of Tolia, whereby they are put into a workcamp, with hundreds of other Scallatti, the crew of the Barrac, still alive.
IN HER OWN WORDS
Season 3, Episode 9
Written by ADRIAN HODGES
Directed by DOUGLAS MACKINNON
TX Date – 26 November 2017
This episode is the interview with Julie, and the vast majority, apart from the opening and closing of the episode, is that interview, as we’d see it on SWN, as an audience. We do get brief moments of pause, as we cut to our other characters watching and reacting too. Roddy also notably puts an earpiece in Julie’s ear at the beginning of the interview.
Calem interviews Julie and the conversation begins with her being asked about the Miner’s Strike, and she answers very gracefully and very vaguely, not wanting to criticise the government she’s now a part of. But then the conversation moves onto the allegations made by Callista Daily last season, and especially the real father of Connie. Julie admits that she was a prostitute, after some prompting from Calem, but she justifies it, saying that if the Scallatti government had paid the workers, and given them safe conditions, then the crime syndicates would not have thrived, and she wouldn’t have had to earn money in such away just to provide for herself, and later on for her children. She almost breaks down as she says she had no other choice, everyone was a slave, with no means of providing, and everyone had to be involved in some sort of ‘shady’ business, it’s just she fell into that one. The conversation then moves onto PACIFA and Julie’s real position on them, Julie begins by saying that she believes in Scallatti Unity, but Calem can see she’s lying, then after ripping the earpiece out, she comes out saying that she does believe in Scallatti Independence like PACIFA, as she thinks it’ll encourage a power vacuum and the mob taking over, but she does believe in severe devolution, just with a central government overseeing everything. But things go even further as throughout Julie realises that she’s sold herself out, by becoming Vice President, and has managed to represent everything she’s stood against. She announces that she won’t remain in the position of VP much longer, and after a suitable replacement is found, she will step down, but only when the state is in a better place. The final question is asked, by not by Calem, by Dani, who arrives in the studio. She asks why she suspended the operations of Callista Daily, when it turns out everything they accused her of, was true. Julie simply says in response: “It was convenient”, but then, after a pause, proceeds to blame it, falsely, on Ajacos, saying that everything was his fault and his idea. She then calls not just for an election, as Ajacos was elected President in the old world, under very different a context, but also for a two-part ballot with a referendum on whether there should be devolved governments in all Scallatti regions, across the planet.
THE INEVITABLE DOWNFALL
Season 3, Episode 10
Written by SIMON ASHDOWN
Directed by DOUGLAS MACKINNON
TX Date – 3 December 2017
This episode shifts the focus back to the Ramanujan crew, as they mainly mount a mission to rescue Claude and Syd from the Tolians, and, as they soon find out, the entire crew of the Barrac. So, we cut, often between the going ons on the Ramanujan and on Tolia with Claude and Syd. However, the episode begins to go crazy, as the crew, one by one, start to lose faith in Raleigh, starting with Utnapishtim, who never really trusted her, then onto Eddie, who Utnapishtim had begun the seeds of doubt a few episodes earlier with, then because of them two, Begass starts questioning Raleigh’s orders, and the choices she’s made along the journey. Lea stands by her though, as she says she trusts her, but the course of the episode, and some bad decisions Raleigh makes throughout, coupled with the crew getting paranoid about the mystery surrounding Raleigh’s past, eventually turns Lea, as the crew relieve Raleigh of command. They commit mutiny and lock her in the cells on the ship. Under Lea and Utnapishtim’s command, they rescue the crew of the Barrac from Tolia, however, casualties are high, and barley three quarters of the prisoners make it aboard the Ramanujan before it escapes Tolia, more damaged than ever, after being continuously shot at. The cliffhanger draws near, as a fleet of Tolian battlecruisers chase after the battered Ramanujan. We then see Lea try and use one of the computer consoles, but with the computer system now more damaged and devastated, on all the screens, one message begins to flash: “Convalesce Gone”.
On the Elysium, we get mainly the fallout from the last episode, as Ajacos announces that he will not be calling for an election or any sort of referendum, as there is no desire for one but a small minority speaking very loudly. Ajacos does say that he is very happy to accept Julie’s resignation and it will enter immediate effect. Julie is angered by this and orders Calem to produce a smear report against Ajacos to play on SWN, but Calem refuses and says that goes against the entire purpose of SWN. Julie in anger goes home, back to Jan, and just sits on her bed and hugs him.
HANDS OF THE FUTURE
Season 3, Episode 11
Written by JANE ESPENSON
Directed by METIN HÜSEYIN
TX Date – 10 December 2017
We begin where we left off, with the crew of the Ramanujan, and Utnapishtim freaks out, seeing the message on the screen. He starts smashing up the monitors, and the crew begin freaking out. With the ship, extremely close to being destroyed, Lea makes the executive decision to see Raleigh. She asks for help, but Raleigh isn’t interested. Lea then stands up and orders Raleigh to do something for the sake of all the souls on board. Raleigh then goes to the engine room and to the hyper-spacial drive. She inputs a piece of code into it, and it broadcasts out, and then… everything goes dark and everyone falls unconscious. They wake up to find a bunch of soldiers walking through the ship, and a tall man walks up to Raleigh and smiles… Lord Hanson, and he tells Raleigh how happy he is to see her again, as we cut to the opening titles.
Before I return to that plotline, I’ll detail all the going ons on the Elysium first. So, it’s the day of the Callista Daily trial and a lot of the episode, obviously follows this. Callista Daily, who are being represented by Dani, are the plaintiff and the Scallatti Government, represented by Julie, are the defendants. The trial ends up bringing in questions of where Eddie is, as he is wanted as a witness, which the government use the official secrets act to cover up, which again brings into question the government, and their censorship. Eventually, at the end of the episode, the judge decides that Callista Daily did break a number of broadcasting regulations, but it should’ve been allowed to continue, but under revised management. The judge instead suggests that a third broadcaster is started up, in place of the former Callista Daily, in competition to SWN, which adheres more strictly to broadcasting regulations, but is still an independent organisation. Julie is relieved by the end of the trial at the end result, but Ajacos is angry, as it may have created more problems than it solved, including a multitude of heavy financial sanctions laid on the government.
Richard, again gets his own plot this episode, within PACIFA. A plan is concocted, within PACIFA, through Richard, led by the influence of Ersiah, to take siege of the government house, and demand their referendum, with Ajacos at gunpoint. The majority of this episode sees PACIFA prepare, and the cliffhanger sees a mob of PACIFA members walking into the Government House, with Ersiah watching, laughing.
So, the Ramanujan plot, sees the whole ship, with not just the crew on board, but also the survivors of the Barrac on board, arrive in 1752DE, on the Elysium. Hanson seems to be very happy with Raleigh, and delighted that she’s fulfilled the mission, but Raleigh seems to have had a change of heart and is upset, and angry. A lot of this, we spend with Raleigh and Hanson as we find out a lot of information, but during this, we do see the rest of the crew explore the future and especially see the delight and wonder of Lea, and Eddie, as they discover what 1000 years does to their planet. However, Lea is horrified to find out that both the Cizzaurans and Rhaighrs were massacred by the Scallatti, and a further war with the Keratherions ravaged the planet’s ecosystem. We then find out that Hanson gave Raleigh the mission, years ago, when she was part of the taskforce, to make the Barrac mission on Tolia fail, but it wasn’t enough, and at the end of the Season 51 finale, Hanson ordered her to finish the job, and get all of the Barrac survivors out of the way, but by the time it was up to her, Raleigh had changed her mind and decided to do what was right, but the secrecy caused the rest of the crew to mutiny and rescue them. We continue to find out that one of the Barrac crew, Marie Annetta Saran, led a right-wing rebellion, under the name of PACIFA, in their timeline and caused the genocides and wars, and destroyed the planet, and Hanson wanted to stop that, however, history is still heading that way, as Ersiah has ensured that, by using Richard in Marie’s place. Hearing about this, Lea takes charge and leads the crew, back through a time portal to their time, to prevent the PACIFA movement from succeeding. Raleigh doesn’t go with them, and stays behind as she doesn’t want to die, as it turns out Marie, was one of her ancestors, and if the timeline changed, then she would never have been born.
VOLTA
Season 3, Episode 12
Written by JANE ESPENSON
Directed by METIN HÜSEYIN
TX Date – 17 December 2017
The finale of the series, begins where we left off, and we see Lea, Eddie, Utnapishtim, Claude, Syd and Begass arrive through the portal, with the survivors of the Barrac and Raleigh, still in the future. We then see, PACIFA launch their siege of the government building, as they soon take control, led by Richard. The crew see it on SWN, and Lea says that they need to get in their and stop it now, but Claude stops her and says that 6 people, swanning in, won’t make a difference, they need help, as we cut to the opening titles.
The majority of the first half of the episode, sees PACIFA, led by Richard, holding the Government Building captive, as all the staff there, including Ajacos, as President, and Julie, still as VP, are held hostage. Richard says he’ll only let them go when Ajacos makes an announcement live on TV, giving them independence. It becomes intense, as Julie tries to talk Richard down, but filled with the indoctrination from both Ersiah and Hurati, Richard is so angry, he’s a loose cannon. Meanwhile, we see the crew try and form a plan and gather allies. Utnapishtim goes to see Shamash and gets her soon onside, as well as the rest of the active members of the Three, which are now few and far between. Eddie goes to see Dani, and the two manage to reconcile and put their differences behind, as Eddie tells her of the journey he’s been through, and what will happen in their future. He shows her a lot of the footage, he’s managed to record as well, which delights her. The two of them go to see Calem, as they want her to broadcast the truth about the future, so PACIFA see the error of their ways, but Calem says they won’t, as she’s had loads of them on SWN over the last few months, and they’re all brainwashed. Calem says what they need is a cavalry. We then get two intercut scenes with Calem going to the Rhaighrs, and Begass going to the Cizzaurans, for help. Both take a lot of persuading, the Rhaighrs, more so, but Calem persuades Thrreodhrirr by explaining that PACIFA aren’t just a Scallatti problem, but they will affect the natural order of the planet and change the Rhaighrs forever.
By the halfway point, an army of Cizzaurans, Rhaighrs and the Three, led by Lea and the rest of the Ramanujan crew, march up to the Government Building and begin the battle. The battle for the future. The next 10-15 minutes is very action heavy, as we see this epic battle, of Three races standing side by side. Eventually, the battle is as good as won, as Lea and Richard come face to face. The two siblings face off, and Richard is full of unrepent anger, but Lea just cuts through it all and talks Richard down, causing Richard to break down and then hug his sister, as he wallows in guilt. But then, Hurati manages to take a Rhaighr’s pike, and manages to put it to Julie’s head. It tense, as over the next few minutes, Hurati with nothing to lose, goes on a massive rant about his beliefs and the evils of the Scallatti government, which Julie says she agrees with, but this isn’t the way to do it. Hurati will not change, and Thrreodhrirr says the only way to deal with him is to kill him, but none of them have the opportunity, otherwise Julie will also be killed. But then, Hurati falls face flat on the floor, as someone shoots him the in back, the camera pans up, and we see, as the smoke clears, Raleigh standing there, with the entire crew of the Barrac behind her, hand in hand with Marie, as Raleigh says, there is a better way, together, as a planet, all three races.
Finally, the episode, and the season, ends with a huge celebration, the Festival of the Elysium (as the Scallatti call it), as all three races celebrate, although a good proportion of the Rhaighrs, including the Almighty reject the invitation. All are celebrating as they have only saving the planet, from the future they’ve seen, which Lea confirms has changed now, as she analyses the artron signatures from the time portal, but also the fact that all three races buried the hatchet for the first time and came together. During the celebration, Claude walks up to Ajacos and tenders his resignation, as he says he cannot, in good faith, continue serving him. Claude, however, ends up spending most of the night with Dani, as the two get to know each other. Dani mentioned that waves have been made today, that will last a lifetime, to which Claude smiles and says that he has a proposition. We also see Raleigh and Eddie talking to each other, and she says how useful he’s been on their journey, even though he, along with everyone else did betray her, Eddie laughs, as the two chat. Raleigh walks off to talk to Lea, but she then turns around, just as a firework goes up, and kisses Eddie. We then see Roddy, on his own, and Julie walks up to him. Julie says that she’s sorry, and Roddy says that he forgives her, but it’s a strange new world that they’re in and he doesn’t know quite what to do. Julie asks him to start with ‘The Three’, as she said that Syd said he was a member. Roddy looks shocked, and says he doesn’t know what she’s talking about, before Julie storms off, angry, at Roddy for not taking the opportunity to become honest for once. We then see Ersiah, standing on a mountain, overlooking Hortus, furious, at what has happened. Julie then walks over to the huge fire in the middle, where she sees Jan, playing with Kalagisah, and she smiles, as the fire twinkles in her eyes, as the end credits begin to roll.
So, there we have it, the third season of the Elysium, and this is the one that cemented it as a hit. It managed to stay at either #1 or #2 on Netflix for all of it’s run, internationally, and reached significantly larger viewing figures than Doctor Who’s latest season, in the UK.
During the time of the Elysium Season 3’s broadcast, Doctor Who Season 52 was in production, and the production was becoming… troubled. The day is the 19th December 2017. It’s been just 2 days since the Elysium finale, and it’s only 6 days until the Doctor Who Christmas Special airs. Two full blocks of Season 52 have been shot, and the third is part way through production. The BBC then release this announcement.
Doctor Who’s production is stopped. Ron Moore has been fired. Jane Espenson has been made Acting Showrunner, and to accommodate for the newfound production delays, with the final three blocks being shot many months later than originally intended, there will now be a mid-season break, after episode 6.
So, why has Ronald D. Moore been fired? What made the BBC and CBS so angry that it was there only option? What will Season 52 look like? Well, you’ll find out next time, but until then, goodbye.
WIDWWA 