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Playtime is the eighth episode of Season 1 of Continuum.

Synopsis[]

When Kiera and Carlos investigate two mysterious murder-suicides they quickly realize that both may have been the result of a lethal computer program that turns video game programmers into killers.

Recap[]

Kiera and Carlos investigate a pair of murder-suicides that are seemingly unrelated. With no apparent connections between the victims, they discover that both murderers were beta testers for the game company, Tendyne Systems. Betty sees a rare moment to get her geek on and tags along on their investigation.

While Carlos questions the CEO and other employees of the company, Fred Nettinger, the company's lead programmer, escorts Kiera and Betty to a game testing area. There, they try out a hyper realistic immersive first person simulator. While in the game, Kiera experiences a glitch that short circuits her CMR, causing her to collapse. Upon awakening, she discovers she's lost all native connection to Alec. He scrambles to get her back online.

Elsewhere, Kellog tracks Lucas to an underground boxing club. Kellog buys Lucas drink after drink and gets him drunk and talking, plying him for information. In his drunken haze, Lucas lets slip that Kagame has something planned that will rewrite history. As Lucas leaves, Kellog follows him, unseen. Kellog follows Lucas to an abandoned building where he watches Lucas meet with Nettinger. In exchange for running the infected mind control beta program on Kiera, Lucas provides Nettinger with technology research and code that won't be developed for decades.

As Alec works to repair Kiera's CMR, he finds a system restore file that allows him to manually reboot her CMR. He also finds a series of encrypted, hidden files buried within the hacked code, but focuses the immediate task of getting Kiera back online.

While Carlos follows a possible lead on connections between the victims and the CEO of Tendyne, Kiera meets Alec at her apartment to proceed with the manual reboot of her CMR. He explains that it will take about an hour for her system to fully reset itself.

Kellog waits for Kiera outside the police station and is spotted by Carlos, who offhandedly recognizes him but can't quite place from where. With his masterful silver tongue, Kellog manages to remain nameless while assuming a classified Section Six identity like Kiera. They agree to meet and wait for Kiera at the Tendyne office.

Lucas and Kagame seek to gain access to Kiera's CMR by exploiting the glitch that short circuited her system. Lucas begins the program to take control of her mind, which will take effect once her CMR reboots.

Alec hacks the Tendynes files where he discovers hidden executable code that renders him without memory for nearly a half hour. On her way to Tendyne, Kiera's CMR reboots, granting Lucas full access to her mind and actions. Seeing and hearing the world through her CMR interface, they can hear Kiera talking to someone directly patched into her system, not realizing it's Alec. Kagame orders Lucas to track this mystery companion at once.

Alec describes the hidden code that zonked him out and deduces that the lead programmer must have had something to do with it. Listening in and realizing that Nettinger has now become a vulnerability, Kagame instructs Lucas to program Kiera's CMR to assassinate Nettinger. Now under Lucas' control, Alec is locked out of Kiera's CMR. When she arrives at Tendyne, she is programmed to go after Nettinger. As Carlos wrestles her to the ground, Lucas begins to hack into Alec's computer system.

Kellog confronts Nettinger and hides in the testing lab as Kiera continues her brainwashed rampage as Lucas and Alec battle for control of her CMR. With a gun drawn on Carlos, Kellog tries to talk her down. At that moment, Alec pulls the plug on her entire CMR system, shutting out Lucas and Kagame. Kiera collapses and wakes up, remembering nothing.

Infuriated, Kagame and Lucas come to the logical realization that there's only one person who could anticipate their advanced hacking skills: Alec Sadler. While Nettinger confesses for his role in the murders, Kiera is devastated that she nearly killed Carlos.

Alec informs Kiera about the hidden files and she asks him to crack it – right after she gets a good night's sleep. As he works through the encrypted code, he finds a file labeled "Read Me First" in the hidden files. Intrigued, Alec moves deeper into Kiera's code to learn more about her past. – and potentially, his future.


~ Special thanks to Syfy for providing the recap.

Credits[]

Main Cast[]

Guest Cast[]

Quotes[]

Kiera: I thought maybe you called because you wanted to return something you stole.
Kellog: Your heart?

Trivia[]

Goofs[]

  • When Carlos Fonnegra talks to Matthew Kellog who is sitting in a taxi, the level of the window glass is lower when viewed from the outside than it is when viewed from the inside.

Featured Music[]

  • "Move On Me" by Fink
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