Continuum (I) (2012–2015) User Reviews

There aren't "good guys" or "bad guys" here. That's the point.

[jeff-cusack · 8/10 · 11 July 2012]

A lot of reviews here have argued that Continuum show advances a pro- corporate, anti-democracy viewpoint. It doesn't, but you could be forgiven for thinking that. Most American shows have a clear good guy (the protagonist) and a clear bad guy (the antagonists).

This show, however, follows the Canadian tendency to operate in shades of grey. Continuum presents two opposing factions, and asks the viewer to make up their own mind whether they agree with the protagonist or the antagonists.

I'm not speaking from my own interpretation, but the official stance of the people behind the show. The "choose your side" mentality has been presented repeatedly in an explicit manner, most recently on the Continuum Facebook page, where a post recently asked, "Which side are you on? Team Kiera or Team Liber8?"

The show doesn't choose a side, but instead presents an interesting challenge to viewers which some won't be ready to meet:

The Freedom Fighters (antagonists) use brutal methods to accomplish their goals, but their cause is just.

The protagonist character Kiera operates within the law, uses non- lethal force, does what she thinks is right, and tries to protect people... And yet she champions the cause of despots.

Do you believe in the righteous champion of despotism, or the brutal champions of freedom? ...Or do you side with neither?

Really good show

[kdupes-1 · 8/10 · 14 September 2020]

If you like both detective shows and time travel/alt. reality, then this show is for you. > I knew nothing going into this and I liked it a lot. I even watched it again after awhile passed and I kind of forgot details, and enjoyed it even more. Good story, likeable characters, action, drama, and some comedy.

One of the Best

[melcher-2001 · 8/10 · 17 November 2014]

This is one of the most creative and imaginative shows on television. It honors the sci-fi genre by actually addressing the questions we must ask ourselves about the future and how our actions in the present will shape it. This is what science fiction, at it's best, is meant for. Instead of depending on elaborate sets and overblown special effects (almost everything is filmed on location in Vancouver) the show leans heavily on good writing and performances and a plot that twists and turns without coming off as totally implausible or absurd.

Although it draws one in with the familiar vocabulary of a police procedural, Continuum isn't a western or a magical fantasy in disguise, but a sobering look at very contemporary questions. Much like the superlative Battlestar Galactica (only with a much smaller budget) it isn't afraid to address scary subjects. And yet it's still fun.

Best performances are by the leads Rachel Nichols and Erik Knudson, with a cast of great supporting actors. Nichols, as Kiera carries us with her admirably through all of the twists and turns. I believe the key here is an admirable restraint that keeps performances focused on creating convincing characters while opening the doorway to a dazzling array of narrative possibilities. Rather than relying on formulas the show gets more interesting as it goes along.

One of my favorite shows

[tranat71 · 10/10 · 31 August 2020]

Continuum is such an awesome show.

1. Great plot. I love the time travel/ change the future vs destiny plot. 2. Beautiful lead actress. Rachel Nichols is pure eye candy. Not only is she beautiful, she is a great actress. 3. Great character development

The plot gets more and more intricate.

The characters get more and more depth.

I wish there were more seasons.

Continuum top series

[ronforbes-40759 · 10/10 · 20 February 2020]

Brilliant totally addictive, watched 4 seasons in 3 weeks. Rachel Nichols is awesome, would like to see her in more main stream lead roles.

Continuum - A Great Idea That Works

[bobprice101 · 9/10 · 7 September 2012]

Continuum is very well acted thanks to a host of established actors from other series. The leading lady Rachel Nichols is thoroughly convincing in character and has the on-screen ability to keep viewers wondering and watching what she is going to do next. The overall plot has lots of room for development which is significant if the series is to continue. Best of all viewers will want to watch episode after episode because the storyline is that good. Special Effects are very good too as should be expected today but the show obviously has been awarded a fair sized investment because there is a sophisticated gloss to the entire production other shows don't have. The first series is very good and I am currently looking forward to the second. If the second is as good as the first this could develop into a long-term show. I sincerely hope so.

Best Canadian Show Ever

[amy-reyneveld · 10/10 · 16 July 2012]

This show is better than any Canadian show I've seen so far. I'm actually surprised it's Canadian, we normally see extremely low tech and odd plot structures.

Continuum is amazing for so many reasons: the writing, the cohesive nature of every episode, the technology, the visuals, the editing, the flashbacks, the graphics, the acting, the music, the speed of action. I look forward to the rest of the season because I feel like, while other TV shows play at being high tech and futuristic, this show doesn't play around. This show IS high tech, it IS awesome! Watch this show because you won't be disappointed.

A Sci-Fi Treat

[delightful-life · 28 May 2012]

The premise - A cop (Rachel Nichols) is accidentally sent to 2012 from the year 2077 along with a very very potent terrorist group, a group that the present league of police/crime fighters are just not equipped to handle.

By 2077 governments have been replaced by corporate rule and the terrorists are trying to bring back democracy by a revolution, so they have decided to go back to the past. Unfortunately though they wanted to go back just 6 years they are accidentally taken back 60.

I have just seen the pilot episode, and this was just brilliant. It was almost like a big budget movie and the quality is about 90% that of Fringe. Plus the novelty and the tech part exceeds Fringe! The main girl in the show is the pretty girl they introduced in the last season of Alias, and she was sort of the only disappointment. Its just like from Alias, she looks good but her acting is too artificial. Jennifer Garner would have just rocked this role. :-).

The Sci-fi is super good, and 'that' is the main attraction of this show. I am not sure if they would be able to keep this up, but I really hope they do, as right now there are very few good shows.

Is it recommended? Yes, definitely worth our 45mins. :-).............

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Addendum:

After reading a lot of the negative review of this show, yes, I too agree to many of that. The quality is not 90, but about 75% that of Fringe. But this show left me really excited and surprised right after seeing it. A majority of the TV shows are just mediocre/silly and this one definitely is 'not' mediocre.

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Review after seeing the 2nd and 3rd episodes:

The 2nd episode was pretty awful compared to the pilot and was disappointed. I decided to give it one final shot and see the 3rd episode, and it was good (relatively). I think I should give this show some time before making a final judgement. Some character development started happening in the 3rd episode and they have removed some of the cheeziness from the 2nd. It seems as if they are learning from their mistakes, but they didn't go back to edit out their mistakes from the previous episodes (aren't these shows shot continuously over a period of time and then aired months later, or maybe even a few weeks later, so doesn't it give them ample time?).

The sci-fi aspect is making me stick on. :-).

Check it out if you have some extra time and make your own decision.

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Review after 2 full seasons:

The show became significantly better after a few hiccups. I had thought that this show would loose steam, but no, they have greatly widened the story line, more characters and good character development.

Thank You for reading. Cheers!

Good, Yet Unfulfilled

[ashtonlc · 7/10 · 20 March 2019]

The acting was solid throughout the series. Season 1 was good, season 2 started only okay and became really great, season 3 was somewhat diffuse and muddled, and season 4 was too action-oriented for my taste. I was really excited to see where the story would go after season 2 and it never really went anywhere, certainly not in the many awesome directions it could have which has left me feeling disappointed. Instead of continuing to develop the solid plotlines they started, they spent time on new elements that did not enhance the established plot and actually distracted from it. Worth watching, but could have been much better. Had it been completed as well as it should have I would've rated it 8.5/10.

Recently rewatched....and I still love it to this day!

[awesomexxxgirl · 9/10 · 26 January 2022]

I wish I could give this show a 10/10 but the ending ruined it for me can't lie I still think It was 100% worth the rewatch because I absolutely loved this show years ago and to this day find it a one of a kind show. It was in that era of shows that was just top notch.

That ending thooo like I get it and it definitely made sense but it still suckedddd.

Guess I thought there were smarter people on IMDb

[blanche-2 · 7/10 · 27 November 2017]

Continuum is a show about time travel -- a woman from 2077 is inadvertently sent back to our present. In the future, the corporations run the world, and she's one of their soldiers.

Okay, corporate rule is part of the definition of Fascism; and truly, the world she lives in with her family seems Big Brother-ish, intrusive, and restrictive.

On the basis of this, a bunch of people on IMDb decided to write off the show, sometimes as early as the first episode, because the lead character, Keira (Rachel Nichols) is on the wrong side.

The wrong side. I really don't know what that means. First of all, I was intrigued that she was a soldier in the future and wondered if, seeing the seeds of the future planted now in the past, if she would change sides.

I'm now watching season 4. While I'm not big on sci fi, I am enjoying "Continuum". The acting is a little all over the place - Victor Webster was a soap star known as a young man for being drop- dead gorgeous and unable to act. He gets by. Rachel Nichols is better. I also like Erik Knudson, Ian Tracey, Stephen Lobo, Luvia Peterson, and Omari Newton. It's a young, attractive cast.

I can understand giving up on a show after the first season, the first ten episodes, but come on -- the first episode? Must everything be pegged right or left wing? I guess so. Today a woman is sexually assaulted and it's politicized. So I'm not surprised.

Loved this series

[kanedena · 10/10 · 27 April 2018]

Watched it twice and it was even better the second time around. You can't skip any scene or storyline. Rachel Nichols gives the show its heart and soul.

Fresh new sci fi series

[zeetoddy · 7/10 · 28 May 2012]

Brand new sci fi series that looks promising. I saw the pilot (and yes IMDb helped me make the decision). In 2077 rich corporations rule the North American Union. A group of criminals slated for execution instead travel back in time (2012)to terrorize the past. By accident a cop from the future also gets sent back in time where she helps the Vancouver police to bring the baddies to justice. I'm really interested to see if it is actually the criminals who are bad or if it is the corporations. What side will morality and freedom take? I think that will be interesting to see in this new series. If you remember Charmed, Coop Phoebe's husband plays the good cop. I wonder if I can take him seriously in this role. Ha.

Great Premise, Poor Execution.

[bewareofthecow · 5/10 · 28 May 2012]

The concept for this show is great. You have a dystopian future setting in 2077, time travel, some interesting technologies. A corporate congress that has taken over the government. Terrorists that are fighting for liberty by any means necessary. A story that treads the line between good and evil and moral quandary. The special effects are pretty decent for a TV show, and I was impressed with the production value. All of it seemed like an amazing setup for a show until it devolved into a cliché crime show drama with really poor dialogue catch phrases. The actors feel really stiff, but you can tell they are trying to make the most of very poor writing. It is almost like they felt the need to make it more like CSI or Law and Order to please a mass audience. Maybe they are right, but I found it dry and it left a bitter taste in my mouth because the premise had so much potential. If you are looking for a real SciFi show you will probably be disappointed, maybe even angry that a show that could be so much more has been diluted down for mass appeal.

First impression

[swiper001 · 8/10 · 28 May 2012]

**minor spoilers only for the first episode for explanation of the series**

This Canadian series caught my eye on a trip up north to Vancouver (where it's actually being filmed), and I'm very glad it did. I was surprised to see a very good cast anchored by Rachel Nichols and sci-fi fans will recognize a lot of faces from other series. This review is only after the pilot episode, so obviously I don't know how the series will turn out, but it looks like a very promising cyberpunk/cop hybrid series.

It is a time travel show in which future corporate "Protector" Kiera Cameron (Nichols) is unwittingly zapped back through time from an evil corporation-run 2077 to present day 2012 when trying to prevent a group of freedom fighters (or terrorists depending on your politics) from escaping execution through some kind of wormhole.

Not realizing the situation, Kiera tries to call for backup using her implants' encrypted transmission but instead reaches young computer genius Alec Sadler who happens to be inventing the future technology in his step father's barn. The escaped prisoners realize that instead of being transported back the six years they were supposed to be in order to stop the evil corporations from taking control, they've been sent back over sixty years.

Unfortunately, when they realize they can't strike against the future evil corporations, they decided the present ones will do just fine! Kiera realizes she must bring in the escapees before they start an all out war in present day Vancouver! Problem is she hasn't been born yet and hence has no jurisdiction. While investigating the transport site, she meets up with Detective Carlos Fonnegra and passes herself off as a Portland detective and the series begins.

It has a lot of cool near future tech like augmented reality eye implants, as well as recording and memory implants. To top it off she comes back wearing her Protector issue smart chameleonware body armor that not only deflects bullets, but provides invisibility cloaking, can interface with computers, and also deliver electric shocks, making Kiera a bit of a super spy in the present day.

Continuum

[justin-kruger-412-905885 · 9/10 · 2 July 2012]

What make Continuum different and interesting, isn't the central plot to the show, it's the characters and their motives. It's a bit more nuanced than your typical good cops vs. bad guys.

The show starts off in a distant but possible future where governments begin to fail to repay their debts and Corporations bail out the governments, to what extent we don't know. You do learn that the government very close with these corporations, and that not everyone enjoys how the corporations are running things.

A group of terrorists are constantly trying to disrupt the corporations and bring them down with any-means necessary, or so we are lead to believe, and this is where the show get's interesting. The terrorist are really just terrorists, but rather they are revolutionaries that are trying to build an honest society without the corruption of the corporations.

As the series unfolds. I like knowing that the core 'good' characters want the world to be a better place and are fighting for what is right, while the other characters each have their motives and their means. They each make their own decisions and don't have simple 'bad guy' motives. In fact several times I found my self rooting for the revolutionaries because heck I don't want a corrupt government in place, and some of the characters when given the option of fighting without violence opt for it.

If you give this show a chance I think it's one of the most compelling scifi shows out there. If you liked Caprica, or Battlestar Galactica you will like this show. The characters are very strong and compelling.

I'm hooked!

[markimel1 · 10/10 · 21 January 2013]

Let me tell you…I watched the final episode of season 1, and…I can't wait season 2!!!

Canadians sure know how to make a great TV show! I've always liked Canadian TV movies, high quality „products" by all means…and „Continuum" is just like a fresh breeze on your face. Why?! Because it's mysterious, very well made, smart, intelligent, and it puts your logic to a test! If you loved „The X files", liked „Millenium", watched „Fringe" and love mystery and suspense with a smart and refreshing story, „Continuum" is the way to go!

It explores theories… time travel, history, future…it questions today and its impact on tomorrow, and how yesterday's decisions become today's reality. It also brings a healthy dose of nice special effects, and just the dosage that can't hurt and make the show too „virtual".

Acting is superb! The characters are slowly being developed, the backgrounds seem to perfectly fit…all in all…exactly what fans of sci-fi and mystery need(ed)!

Loved this series

[johnnyreevesbass · 10/10 · 13 October 2019]

First off most series get canceled or just try to piece together an ending. Continuum did an amazing job ending the series and it was some what heartbreaking in a good way. Don't want to pass off any spoilers but if you love time travel and want to be blow away by a series that story does an amazing job at keeping you interested Continuum is for you. Beyond that Rachel Nichols is beyond beautiful so if you don't like the story line you get some eye candy as well.

Decent, thats all..

[askan-168-561902 · 28 May 2012]

I remember when the first episode of Terra Nova came out..Close story, a family living in the year 2562 (just making the year up) got separated and so much graphics and effects have been introduced to the viewer which made high expectations on us ended after the first episode.

Same story with Continuum, they introduced us with high technology amazing graphics with the ideological future expression but somehow that end after 10minutes. A hot mother got separated by her family and jumped back in time..

I am afraid that we will watch "good cops trying to catch bad criminals" on each episode where the only story will be the woman's "I wanna go back my to my son" phrase.

As a conclusion, I am not sure Continuum will be a huge hit but lets give it a shot.

If Ayn Rand wrote SciFi, this would be it.

[ivko · 6/10 · 12 June 2012]

Basic plot; in the future the world is run by corporations. A group of terrorists (or freedom fighters, as you will) commit a 9/11 style crime and are captured/sentenced to death. However, just as they are to be executed they manage to smuggle in a time machine and slip away into the past with a cop unwittingly coming along for the ride. Now in their past, our present, they have weekly bad guy trying to destroy the world, good guy trying to stop them hi-jinks.

The production values are decent but not amazing. The acting is unspectacular but not awful. There are numerous plot holes here, but none worth getting too upset about. The real thing worth talking about with this show is the extreme conservative viewpoint. Not only is the corporate control of the future not challenged, it is actively championed by the writers. Lack of privacy, restraints implanted into suspects that deliver electric shocks until they report to the courthouse for hearings, a total lack of anything resembling a bill of rights; not only are these "realities" presented as matter-of-fact for the future, but no one in the future is shown as having any problem with them whatsoever except lowlifes and blood thirsty murderers.

To sell this view the show has cast a pretty, sympathetic police officer as the main protagonist. Her sense of justice is unswerving, her bag of technological goodies apparently bottomless. She is the only one who understands how crazy these terrorists are. Well, her and a teenage boy (and future corporate titan) designing technology 60 years ahead of it's time in his barn. Together they push past the red tape of the bleeding heart laws and legal system to stop the villains.

I have never seen SciFi this skewed before. I forced myself to watch the first three shows with gritted teeth, waiting for the show to present the opposing view, but it never happened. The only people on the show shown to be opposed to this vision of the future are literally murderous sociopaths. At some point it hit me. The worship of the industrialists, the complete lack of sympathy for the downtrodden, these are the exact views of Ayn Rand. This is SciFi for neo-cons.

Now, personally I find this show so offensive I can't even begin to describe how much I hate it. At best I think it's thinly veiled propaganda with a pretty leading lady and plenty of guns and explosions thrown in to draw in the brain dead. But my conservative friends are always very earnestly upset about what they see as the liberal bias in the media. I don't agree, but I suppose that it's fair that neo-cons get their own show. Bottom line, while I REALLY don't like the philosophy espoused here, I suppose it's decent middle of the road SciFi fare. Watch it to get your weekly fill of jokes about how bad government is and what unpatriotic jerks people who talk about personal liberties are.

Well........

[slboyd-85801 · 10/10 · 11 October 2020]

The worst part about this show is it not being on air still. Rachel is/was great in this role, again the show being cancelled is what makes this show terrible. You become attached and involved with it and then you're on the last episode and don't even realize it. The network failed on letting this go

First two seasons 10, third 6, fourth - ONE star

[nemesis-88 · 7/10 · 5 May 2020]

Canadians have been making great show's recently. Travellers was amazing. This is... NOT Travellers. The first two seasons are very good with lots of twists and turns and plot lines, which, I must say, they kept amazingly simple without adding any additional characters. Third season was less interesting but still acceptable. Fourth season, however, was a meltdown. Lots of "it's-all-my-fault--oh-no-it's-not" kerfuffle, lots of loooong meaning-of-life dialogues, and almost no plot development. It's a great binge timespend for the lockdown, pretty fresh and charmingly naive.

Awesome series

[mikedbrown76 · 10/10 · 16 March 2021]

I really miss this show. Fantastic writing & acting. You never get bored from episode to episode. Would LOVE a reboot!!

Solid series.

[xTkAx · 7/10 · 18 March 2021]

This is a decent sci-fi time-travel series and i enjoyed it. It was mostly set in the present, but increasingly told the story of the future. Lots of twists and turns, but there are times when it's a bit slow, and a few things could have been better thought out as there were a few loose ends and some inconsistencies. For the most part it's decent, but i don't think I'll watch it again. In case you're wondering it does have a conclusion so your commitment isn't wasted.

Propaganda or critical?

[peoplecart · 4/10 · 28 May 2012]

The pilot of Showcase's new TV show Continuum, featuring the stunning Rachel Nichols, seems at first like a cookie-cutter Terminator-type plot where goodies and baddies time travel to hunt each other in the past. However, it may have more depth than it first leads us to believe.

It's unclear what agenda Continuum is pushing. As the documentary Operation Hollywood shows, the state uses movies and TV programming ...well... for programming people to their particular perspectives.

Continuum seems at first to push the status-quo line of the evil terrorist 'freedom fighters' committing a 9/11-type event killing 30.000 people to kill 20 members of the corporate congress. They escape into the past and decide to cause a revolution, but are chased by the valiant supercop Nichols - who seems unphased by being propelled 700 years in the past and keeps on performing her professional duties regardless. Of course, the contemporary cops embrace her immediately in her fight against the evil terrorists.

Other clichés that reinforce our current statist status-quo is that the terrorists are cold blooded killers that kill a bunch of cops to get their weapons and free their comrade. We can see they are baddies because they throw knives at each other, have scars, dodgy hairstyles and decide to wear anarchist-militia-type outfits to 'blend in'.

Contrastingly, the future they present -although high-tech- does seem somewhat despotic as well as very familiar. The 'corporations' bailed out their failed and bankrupt government and the population lost their freedoms as a result, making them 'slaves to corporate congress'. Their future democracy was replaced by a corporate dictatorship. This seems like an exact description of what we have today - except maybe that the bailout was the other way round where corporations were bailed out by the governments.

So this would point that the future world seems to be a metaphor for our current situation, with government bailouts and the rising police state. They describe the future USA as the 'North American Union' which is a term associated with the globalist agenda. It is run by the corporate congress, which again is appropriate for our current congress.

The writers of the show probably don't want to be too blatantly critical of the status quo so they target their criticism at the 'future' society which is a caricature of our current society. The cop chase in 2012 seems pretty standard where the cops are the goodies and the baddies are our familiar terrorists. I'm hoping these covert criticisms of our current society were used by the writers so that the show would be approved by the censors and networks. We'll see in future episodes which side they are really on.

A few things that trouble me are that the Liberate freedom fighters seem to blame the corporations for the corporate dictatorships. This appears to be the standard socialist viewpoint which blames corporations for subverting democracies, resulting in fascism. To some extent they are correct in that corporations -like any other special interest group - uses state force to impose rules that benefit them. The real problem is the presence of the state's monopoly on force which becomes a magnet for special interest to take control of it for their own ends. Without the state, corporations are nothing more than voluntary associations of people. Actually, without the state, there are no corporations as it is a statist construct that shields its members from personal liability - something which would not exist in a free society.

Also, the parents of the geek Erik Knudsen can be heard saying that the government bailed out the banks and that Erik is not 'ready' yet. Are they freedom fighters too? Why is Erik blindly helping this supercop Nichols? Why does it seem like they've taken current fears of the rising police state, Muslim terrorism and conspiracy theories, blended them together and spewed out a very confusing resulting story that seems both pro- and anti- establishment? It's not clear to me which way the writers are leaning at this point. Maybe this could be an interesting vehicle to criticize the current status-quo, or maybe it's just using the plot as a device to show that fascism is the way forward.