The fourth season of the Elysium was originally intended to just be in one continuous twelve-episode run, much like the third season, however, due to Doctor Who’s production issues and new scheduling, the Elysium was split into two halves and its premiere was brought forward from September to June, to assist with the BBC’s scheduling of Who-related shows. As a result, the first half of Season 4 was an especially rushed production, as it only started shooting in January and had to have the first 6 episodes delivered in June and July. Toni Graphia was brought on as a full-time co-showrunner, to help out Espenson, as she had taken over as Acting Showrunner on Doctor Who, and both Doug Petrie and Scott Reynolds joined the team as Co-Executive Producers. Also, a mid-season finale was written in, by Toni Graphia, to make full advantage of the two-month gap between episodes 6 and 7.
SOMETIMES WHEN IT RAINS
Season 4, Episode 1
Written by JANE ESPENSON
Directed by JESSICA HOBBS
TX Date – 17 June 2018
The first episode of this season splits all six main characters into (mostly) separate plots, and for ease of understanding, like before, I will go through each one separately, but in the episode, these would all be interspersed and cut between one another.
Firstly, we find Julie on a political based comedy panel tv show, from SWN, whereby we see that their much more independent of the government now, with as much content criticising them than there is promoting them. We find out, through what is said on this show, that a new broadcaster has been set up called ‘The Wave’ by Claude and Dani, and it’s the new independent broadcaster the ruling of the trial commissioned. We see the host of the show mock the new channel and calls their content mind-numbingly dull. After the show, which we see some of our other characters watching throughout, Julie runs into a woman at the exit of the studio. Julie thinks she’s going to be hassled by her, but instead, the woman, who introduces herself as Jayne, tells her that she has some vitally important information, that will be of great interest to her. Later on, we see Julie go out for dinner with Jayne, whereby she tells Julie that she thinks she’s discovered Ajacos’ dirty little secret and hands her a dossier, filled with top-secret information (although in this episode, we don’t find out what it is).
Richard’s storyline sees him come out of a stint at a rehabilitation hospital, following the events of the last season, whereby he is met by Lea, who comforts him and takes him back to her house. We see a stark difference in Richard in all these scenes, he seems less stressed and much calmer than ever before. Lea tells him that he needs to get back to what he’s good at – teaching and that it will be good for him. Richard smiles and says that’s exactly what he’s been planning to do. We later see Richard walk up to the building where Ramaunjuan High had moved into, in the months after the landing, and he sees that the building has been finished, and it looks almost utopian. Richard smiles, as he sees what his school has become, but then as he moves closer in he notices that the school has been renamed and taken over by Ajacos’ new Government Education Service, and the school is now called ‘The Scallatti Academy, Hortus Campus’. Richard looks disapproving, as he enters.
We see Raleigh at a massive press event, holding a book called ‘Raleigh Baker-Mitchell, the Life and Times of a Hero’, her autobiography which is about to be released and is creating a lot of criticism, as it reveals everything – and by everything, it means everything. She reads the first page, at the event, and already the future of the Scallatti and the Doctor are mentioned. We see Utnpahistim at the back of the event, looking on, in furious anger. After the event, we see Raleigh meet with Eddie, who she is in a relationship with. They’ve kept it relatively secret, much to Eddie’s annoyance, as he thinks Raleigh is too embarrassed about him to tell anyone.
Eddie’s plot sees him firstly meeting with Dani, at the D.E. Investigations building, whereby he hands over a briefcase of a great sum of money, in an attempt to buy her 50% of the company off of her, as it turns out she’s left the company, to run ‘The Wave’ with Claude, but is still getting 50% of the profits. Dani rejects the offer, smugly, which causes Eddie to lash out at her, and the two get into a huge argument until they are interrupted by Jayne (note this scene is before when she first meets Julie in the episode). After Dani leaves, Jayne hands Eddie a dossier, much like the one she later gives to Julie and asks him to keep investigating it for her. During the scene, later on, whereby Jayne and Julie have dinner together, we see Eddie approach a shanty town, full of starving and malnourished people, hundreds of them.
Calem’s plot sees her trying to forge a new path for SWN, and commissions a whole host of new factual programming, but she faces criticism for SWN not really showing any sort of Entertainment. Calem meets with Dani (off-the-record) and asks for advice, as the Wave has launched as an entertainment and drama network, first and foremost, with the News only taking up a couple of hours of programming throughout the day. Dani tells Calem that SWN is known for its factual programming, so let it focus on that, and do what it’s best at and leave the entertainment to the Wave, so they aren’t stepping on each other’s toes, but satisfying audiences for their different wants. We see that Calem knows Dani is talking rubbish, and that they absolutely should be competing we eachother which leads her to then visit the nearest Rhaighr village, and meet with their leader, about the possibility of producing a Rhaighr-led TV Drama series.
Finally, Lea’s storyline sees her saying farewell to Richard and then we see her arrive at her new lab, which we find out she managed to persuade Ajacos to give her, and she begins running some tests on the Kheqren again and again, as she’s still trying to harness their temporal properties. However, she keeps getting incoming calls from Meithekk, who requests for the Scarlatti’s help, with a Rhaighr skirmish. Lea goes to see Ajacos, who sends down a task force with Lea, as they help defend the village. After the skirmish finishes, Lea snaps and says enough is enough and that this can’t go on forever, and she is going to make it her business to sort out some sort of compromise between the two.
THE WASTES OF SOCIETY
Season 4, Episode 2
Written by DOUG PETRIE
Directed by STEPHEN DALDRY
TX Date – 24 June 2018
Julie’s plotline this episode sees her mull over the information in the dossier Jayne gave her, while we intercut with seeing Eddie discover the homeless shantytown. The following day, Julie goes to the government building to confront Ajacos with the information, as, although she is no longer Vice President, she figures that Ajacos might still listen to her, however, she is stopped at reception, as Ajacos has revoked her access to the building and has ordered that she be removed from the site, if she ever tried to see him, again. Julie then visits Calem at SWN and shows her the information, however Calem, worried about the future of the channel, and also the fact that she was to broaden SWN’s content, beyond news, says she won’t air the story. Julie tells Calem that she’ll just bring it up on live TV then, but Calem tells her that she simply won’t book her on any SWN shows anymore. We then see Julie go to see Dani at the Wave, which seems far more glossy and expensive than SWN and seems very ‘Hollywood’, but again Julie is unsuccessful. Finally, towards the end of the episode, we see Julie pick Jan up from school, and lurking behind a corner, watching the two of them, we see Jayne.
Richard’s storyline sees him teaching at the Scallatti Academy, and finding it far different and much stricter for pupils and staff than it ever used to be. Only a few of the original teaching staff remain, who Richard chats to, and they too express their concern at the changes being made, but they say it’s all part of Ajacos’ new scheme to unify the Scallatti and remove any traces of the original ships. However, his biggest shock is when the new principal of the school asks to see him, and Richard comes face to face with Keo. Keo says that the Three essentially don’t exist anymore, and Ajacos granted them all amnesty, and he’s chosen to go into the career of giving their kids a good future. Richard, naturally, finds this hard to believe.
Meanwhile, with Raleigh, her book is about to be released, and we see the vans leave the warehouse, for the shops, however, we follow a raid, carried about by Tena, and several, seemingly active members of the Three, who hijack the vans, including killing the drivers, and dumping all the books at a wasteland, before setting fire to them. We then see Raleigh, as she finds out that all her books have been stolen, and it doesn’t take long until she works out who did it. She visits Ersiah, confronting her, but she isn’t having any of it, and Ersiah pushes Raleigh out of her house, calling her a spoilt little brat.
With Eddie, we continue to see him investigate this homeless town, and he speaks to one of the inhabitants, who says that ‘The Warden’ brought them here, and that they were cast out by society. We then later see him handing further videos and pictures over to Jayne, in return for payment, which we then see Eddie having to hand over half to Dani, however, he lies and says Jayne paid him less than reality, in order to give Dani far less.
Apart from the bits of Calem’s storyline in Julie’s, we see Calem begin to make preparations to launch the Rhaighr led television drama series, called Harrdebhr City, a soap opera about the most successful and affluent Rhaighrs. As the plans for the show come together, we see Dani here word of it, and as she talks with Claude about the Wave needing something equally as powerful and innovative.
Finally, Lea’s plot gets caught up in a Keratherion attack upon the Horretz village, at the same time as she’s trying to sort out a way of striking peace between the two warring races of the Cizzaurans and Rhaighrs. After the attack, Lea pools together with some of the most intelligent and strategic Cizzaurans and works on making some strong defences against both the Rhaighrs and all the new Keratherion threat. It’s touch and go, as these defences are put into place, but as the Rhaighrs engage to attack again, they are successfully countered, and for one day at least, the Horretz village, is free of them.
KNIFE OF THE PAST
Season 4, Episode 3
Written by ANNE KENNEY
Directed by JESSICA HOBBS
TX Date – 1 July 2018
Julie’s plot this episode sees her teaming up with Eddie, so their plots will be covered together. So, Julie, Eddie and Jayne enact a plan to expose the homeless town to the Scallatti public, by engineering a state visit to the town, by Ajacos, although they mask it, as a state visit to a new town which has just been built. Using their skills of espionage, the three of them manage to, by the halfway point, get Ajacos inside the town, with several live cameras trained on him from both SWN and the Wave. However, things don’t exactly go to plan, as Ajacos, manages to stay calm and takes control of the situation, making it look like the whole thing is a publicity stunt for him to announce his new (actually made up) rehousing the homeless programme, and he promises, by the end of the year, to give every single person, in the town, a home. Back in their shuttle, Julie, Eddie and Jayne watch these events unfold, and Julie is furious. She begins to blame Jayne, saying that she deliberately wanted everything to go wrong, and she’s probably an agent of the Three. Later on, we see Julie pick Jan up from school again, and we see Jayne following her. Jan grabs Julie’s hand tighter and asks why there’s a lady following them. With that, Julie jolts ahead, leaving Jan outside the school gates, and chases after the woman, eventually pouncing on her and seeing that it’s Jayne. Julie pushes her up against a wall and saying that she knew she was an agent of the Three, sent to spy on her. Julie pushes her onto the floor and tells her to stay away. Jayne begins crying as she tells Julie she can’t because she’s Jayne. Julie isn’t phased, but Jayne repeats that she’s Jayne, Jayne Yannis Karter, her sister…
Richard’s plot sees him continuing to teach at the Hortus Campus, but he can’t seem to concentrate there and goes to see Lea for advice. Lea tells him that maybe he’d find it more suitable if he moved into the private sector, as Ajacos has no power over them. Richard follows this advice and goes to interview for a job at Black Spark High. It goes very well and leaves Richard very hopeful.
Raleigh starts the episode with Eddie, in bed, before she goes for an interview for a documentary the Wave are making about the fall of PACIFA. While she’s there, she bumps into Ersiah, who warns her that she better be watching her back, or else.
Calem’s plot sees her at the press launch of Harrdebhr City, alongside Ajacos, who is very happy about the new bi-weekly show, as it’ll dramatically help improve relations. At the press launch, Calem spots Dani and Claude. She goes to confront them, whereby she learns that the Wave are planning on producing a very similar, and rival soap opera, set in Horretz, featuring Cizzauran characters. Calem hits the roof with anger, but Dani just laughs and says that television is a tough business.
Lea comes to the conclusion that if she’s to solve the Keratherion problem quickly, she’ll need help. She organises a team and recruits both Begass and Ghavett into it. However, she feels Rhaighr perspective might be of use as well since they are born warriors and never had a chance to show how they would approach fighting with Ganatlai. Remembering Calem’s report about Rhaighrs, she decides to check if her kind guide Lybhrrthyrr would be eager to help. The team passes the control at the border of Maurihrr’s district and are led to Lybhrrthyrr’s house. Before they can knock though, they are accosted by a female Rhaighr flying down from the roof, who’s very intrigued to meet a Scallatti and gets even more excited when Lea introduces herself. The Rhaighr kindly asks her to reveal the purpose of her visit, and when she hesitates from telling it to a stranger, she points out that they are surrounded with traps ready to be activated whenever she wants to and they’re forced to do what pleases her. Lea evaluates this as impressive, which causes the Rhaighr to get euphoric, as she might be accepted by the famous Lea herself. Lybhrrthyrr comes out of his hut, alarmed by the noise, and to the team’s surprise, the female Rhaighr refers to him as ‘darling’. All the necessary greetings and introductions occur, including Lybhrrthyrr introducing the female Rhaighr to everyone as Ambhrr, his fiancee. Lea is surprised that Rhaighrs have formal relationships at all and Lybhrrthyrr responds that until now they didn’t, but he likes to borrow good ideas and invites everyone for Rhaighr equivalent of tea. Inside, he explains how he met Ambhrr, as well as tells us more about her. Then, Lea explains everything about her team and asks both Rhaighrs to join them, which they are thrilled to do. Satisfied, Lea hands them, team communicators. Later in the episode, Lea gets alerted about Keratherion attack near Plinnae village. The entire team heads there, only to be completely confused by what they found; between hundreds of Keratherions, there is a winged Cizzauran, commanding the beasts and shooting blasts of energy from his golden pieces at Cizzauran militia fighting him. Team Lea joins the fight while trying to understand what is going on. Fortunately, their enemy is quite talkative: he introduces himself as Fliivian, one of the seven terrifying Janissaries, elite guardians and superior creations of The Great Scientist. Asked by Begass whether they were sent by Danadaskagi, Fliivian remarks that the true name of their boss won’t tell them anything, so they can very well call him that, though he prefers to call him the Great Scientist. As the battle continues, Lea and Begass uncover their newest idea; a couple of large mirrors they brought with themselves. With their help, they can condense the light into shiny rays. While it doesn’t make much of an impression on Fliivian, who simply reflects the rays at them, this strategy seems to work on Ganatlai, who starts to drill back into the ground, terrified. Fliivian finds this troublesome enough to call a tactical retreat but warns Lea that this is not the end and that his boss will have its way sooner or later, no matter what stupid trick they attempt.
SINS OF TIME
Season 4, Episode 4
Written by SCOTT REYNOLDS
Directed by STEPHEN DALDRY
TX Date – 8 July 2018
Julie’s plot for this episode begins with a flashback showing her and Jayne as young children, in the year 522DE, when Julie was 2 and Jayne was six. We see Jayne kidnapped by a common criminal, onboard the Valkyrie, and taken away never to be seen again. Then we cut to Julie and Jayne, now, speaking to each other as the memories Julie had long since suppressed, come back to her. Their plot this episode, mainly just sees them growing closer and getting to know each other more, as well as finding out what happened to Jayne, as she was taken by a crime lord and sold to the highest bidder, falling into a life of private slavery (and other such things) onboard the Hades, another mining ship in the fleet. She later escaped and made her way onto the Fionnuala, whereby she started a new life for herself.
Richard’s plot sees him quit his job at the Scallatti Academy, after getting into another argument with Keo, and he goes straight to Black Spark to get a new job, however, they pass him up, as they discover he was a leading member of PACIFA during the siege, last year. Richard is angered by this and goes to see Calem and tries to tell her all about the Three, and how they still exist, though more subtle means, but Richard is stopped by Tena, who shows up and threatens him, however, Richard uses a historical analogy on Tena to show just why she’s a terrible person, and why the Three has to end. Calem watches Richard and just slyly smiles.
The rest of Calem’s plot sees the filming of the first and second episodes of Harrdebhr City. However, Calem is interrupted when she receives a copy of the Wave’s new Women’s Magazine, Together, and she sees Dani has made herself the cover star and an ad for the Wave’s new five-times-a-week soap opera, Horretz. Calem is enraged, especially as the Wave’s copy-cat programme is one every weekday, whereas hers is only on two-nights-a-week. Calem goes to see Dani and gets into an argument with her, which Dani wins, saying that SWN needs to modernise or it’ll just get drowned out by the competition!
Raleigh’s plot sees her meeting with the Foreseers as she makes a speech about how Scallatti society needs to evolve to survive and the speech is so warmly accepted, chants and applause start off in the crowds of her followers, and more come in, from far and wide to watch. None of this is being covered on either broadcaster, but people in the crowds are capturing recordings themselves.
Eddie’s plot sees him get a new case to investigate, which focuses on the murder of a young girl, who Eddie finds out was killed by the Three, and more specifically Tena. Eddie does some digging and also finds out that the girl and her father were both members of the Three, and now it seems like they are trying to kill off anyone with any knowledge of the dying organisation.
Lea continues her plot where she encounters another Janissar: Sporrkhs, a Rhaighr on spider legs that has a mallet and a mixer instead of hands and a fork, knife and spoon launcher built into his chest. Lea manages to defeat one of the Keratherions and based on this experience, she develops a universal method of fighting them.
THE RATINGS WAR
Season 4, Episode 5
Written by SIMON ASHDOWN
Directed by STEPHEN DALDRY
TX Date – 15 July 2018
Julie’s plot this episode sees her continue her political activism, appearing on both SWN and the Wave, mainly talking about the broader political and cultural implications of Harrdebhr City and Horretz, as both are starting that evening. Julie is very enthusiastic about the fact that these programmes will help dismiss prejudices some Scallatti may have about both the Rhaighrs and CIzzaurans and bring them closer. We also see some scenes of Julie and Jayne together, throughout.
Richard’s plotline sees him meet with Calem, at her request, whereby she asks if he’d like to accept the offer of a job at SWN. Richard initially refuses, saying that journalism isn’t quite his thing, but then Calem clarifies saying that she saw the way he spoke the other day, and he is also one of the most distinguished teachers in their society. She says that she wants Richard to present his own show, and describes, in concept, an educational magazine show, aimed at children between the ages of 8-17. Richard smiles and says he’ll think about it. We then see Richard discussing it with Syd, who encourages him to go for it, however, we later see Syd with Claude telling him about the show, and says that the Wave should try and snap him up before SWN gets him.
Raleigh’s plot sees her seemingly bumping into Ersiah. Ersiah threatens Raleigh and tells her that she needs to reign it in and keep her big mouth shut… or else. Raleigh dismisses this and walks into the main Hortus square, grabs the attention of the SWN camera’s and begins telling everyone about the Three, Utnapishtim, Shamash and Ersiah and how they come from a planet called Gallifrey. We then see Ersiah hit the roof and meet with Utnaphistim and Shamash who are freaking out. Erisah eventually calms down and tells the other two that she has a plan.
Eddie’s plotline sees him confront Tena and threaten to expose her and the Three to the public, he meets up with Raleigh, just before she does, and he gives her the edge to take action, after expressing his experiences with Tena and the events of the last episode.
Calem’s plotline sees the broadcast of the first episode of both Harredbhr City and Horretz. She meets with Dani, in a bar, to watch the first episode of both shows, and they exchange friendly bickering throughout. The critics’ reviews come in soon after the broadcast, while Calem and Dani are getting hammered, and Calem is ecstatic as Harredbhr City is far more popular with critics than Horretz, however, soon after the ratings come in and it turns out that Horretz had millions and millions more viewers, and Dani proceeds to taunt Calem, causing the two of them to get into a bar fight, which results in both of them being arrested and spending a night in the cells. The two, while extremely drunk, still, begin to reconcile, while in the cells, and find the funny side.
Lea’s plotline sees her meeting two new Janissaries: Naggho, a Cizzauran with legs replaced by tank tracks and additional arms ended with blades, and Drrekhrr, physically enhanced Rhaighr able to suck things around him into his stomach and throw them out, as well as spit fire. Lea and her team are now able to beat Keratherions, much to Janissaries’ dissatisfaction. This is also where the ongoing question of “can Cizzaurans just please Danadaskagi” gets resolved, as The Janissaries confirm their death warrant has been signed the moment the first Keratherion died, and even before they couldn’t care less.
The episode, however, ends with everyone, in every plotline, suddenly looking up into the sky, as they hear the sound of engines. And then fighters from above, start raiding and attacking Scallatti, Cizzauran and Rhaighr settlements. And then – a man appears in the sky, like a hologram and he proclaims that Taoter III is now his property, and any resistance will be met with execution.
HOSTILE ASSAULT
Season 4, Episode 6
Written by TONI GRAPHIA
Directed by METIN HÜSEYIN
TX Date – 22 July 2018
This episode continues directly from where the cliffhanger from the last episode left off and acts as the midseason finale. This two-episode story arc was added into the season when it became clear that the season would be split into two parts.
We begin in chaos, as Ajacos sends messengers out to gather both Addaho and Threodhrirr together, as the three races decide what to do next. The Janissaries quickly flee underground, afraid of what has just happened, leaving Lea to return to Hortus, along with several Cizzaurans. She meets with Richard, straight away, to see if he’s okay. However, Lea is quickly summoned to Ajacos’ war room, which also consists of Ajacos, Addaho, Tythoss, Threodhrirr and Berzhrr. They decide to call all available troops, across the three species, to arms, and they don’t even consider surrendering. Lea asks why Claude isn’t there, and Ajacos just says that he doesn’t work for him anymore. Lea argues that Claude’s expertise might be needed, but Ajacos forbids involving him. Meanwhile, we see what the other characters are doing. Raleigh tries to calm everyone down and organize the supply line for the army, but she doesn’t know what is needed or where to evacuate civilians, as authorities distrust her. Julie, who takes care of Jan and some other children, gives us a civilian perspective on the events. Richard decides to join one of the units of soldiers to try and defend the planet. Calem, of course, becomes the war correspondent that tries to get every scrap of information, while Claude and Dani try to produce some motivational programming. Claude eventually gets so angry, he storms into the war room, leaving Dani, as he knows he’s needed there. He gets into an argument with Ajacos but he is eventually allowed to stay “for the good of the Elysium”. Claude dispatches Eddie in a shuttle to infiltrate the aliens’ ship. Eddie does this and finds a large freighter, which looks like a mismatch of hundreds of different ships, in orbit. Eddie boards it and hides out in the lower decks, where he sees hundreds of different races on board, including Poplne, Metatraxi and… Tolian. A lot of this episode is everyone preparing for battle, and many of the main characters think that they probably aren’t going to make it and are going to die, and therefore we see their emotional farewells to many of the supporting characters.
While on the pirate ship, Eddie discovers that a signal was sent to this ship, a few hours ago, from Taoter III, telling them of a rich natural resource on the planet, and inviting them in, to invade.
Finally, the episode ends with all three armies gathered, awaiting battle, as Ajacos makes a roaring speech, saying that they will fight for their planet, as their ancestors did for thousands of years, to get here. And the episode ends, as the Pirate Ship descends on the planet.
To be continued…
WIDWWA 