Suns & Shadows

Sci-Fi Friday Presents - Space : Above and Beyond ; Level of Necessity

“After experiencing a vision of a soldiers death during a combat mission, Damphousse is investigated by a Psi Corps Colonel who is convinced she possesses psychic powers.”

We are back this week with one of the more interesting episodes of the second half of Space Above and Beyond. It's an episode that is a bit overdue featuring Lt. Vanessa Damphousse. It's a bit fantastical with some psychic tones, described as anomalous intuition.

Where do we even start with this episode? The fact the Lanei Chapman finally got her crack at carrying an episode. Overall, she did very well despite being balanced out by a psychic storyline. Her character took an interesting development. It could be argued the psychic stuff wasn't really needed, and to a point I agree. However, I see it as a way to give her character something to grow with. I appreciated her character and the drive to tackle confidence in her. This was much needed for her character that has long been a side character. This was a good time to step-up, we can just hope there is a follow through eventually.

The story-line is pretty straight-forward and meanders a bit in the middle of the episode before the crew gets back to Daedalus. The themes of loss, fear and responsibility play strong but don't hit as hard. This is likely from the use of psychic themes and devices. There are only so many different ways to visualize and feel empathy from. I feel like the episode would have been more poignant if focused more on Damphousse and her relationship with Vansen. There was already backstory between them and good character interplay. I won't take points off this because of the appearance of Richard Kind.

The show stopping moment for me was seeing Richard Kind as Col. Matt Burke. Richard put in a terrific performance, reminding me and anyone else that he has talent beyond incredible comedic timing. Richard plays a stern, tough investigator who seems to have strange motives in working with people who have special abilities. The concept of the Psi Corp is interesting, but not exactly unique to the world of science-fiction. The Psi Corps were given a good backstory and given a decent setup for future story-telling.

Other small, but great points of the episode come as well. The Chigs played the part of a slasher villain in this episode. It serves well to be seen only when needed; when a death happens. The design of the short sword is pretty sweet. The character Lubin is a stubbornly faults Damphousse for her fear and faults her for the death of his squad. The score is on point and well placed.

In the end, Level of Necessity is a good episode with an emphasis on Damphousse. Also, we start exploring a different facet of the world with psychic abilities and the Psi Corp. It's not without some real drawbacks, but the strengths of the episode carry the story forward in a unique way. If I were to say anything, it feels like we're catching our breath with this episode with a basis for future episodes. Only time will tell, if it circles back around. I'll give this a solid 7/10 Hammerheads.