This Friday on 'TR 2070' ep 13 'Burning Desire'

Rekall Promo circa 2070: (In loud, bold voice) “Having a rough day? Pressure getting to you? Relax in a Rekall Sublimator, and enjoy happy memories or wonderful fantasies. (in a fast whisper) “May cause spontaneous combustion and death.” Oh, and their customer service department is second to none – in this case, meaning that “none” would be preferable. This is proven as their service rep goes to the widow after her husband was burned alive by their machine and claims she is in violation of her lease agreement by having the nerve to let the CPB look at her machine after it turned her late husband to toast.

That’s the exciting start to this week’s episode and there’s lots more fun ahead. David and Ian try to get some data from a Rekall server only to have the surveillance camera start taking laser shots at them. David gets hit first in the arm, then Ian steps in front to shield him from multiple shots that would have killed any human. And it’s that same sleazy sales rep running the controls. He shows up one more time for the grand finale, but I’ll get to that later.

Besides Rekall, this episode has a sinister dating site called Nexus, which is the only link between three different people bursting into flames in their sublimators. When they confront a man from there named Kroczek about the whole sublimator incident, he tries to sneak off to Mars using a fake ID. Turns out that’s a NNSOY in the future. (That’s a Naughty, Naughty, Shame on You, in case you were wondering – though I think Ian called it something ordinary like a Class 2 offense.) They haul the guy in and he admits that there is a secret organization at work within Rekall. Well, to be honest, I don’t remember all the details of what it was all about. No time to go back and check – time crunch and all.

Turns out there’s some hidden part in the sublimator that didn’t cause the spontaneous combustion but helped focus on the user. Rekall used it to literally "turn up the heat" on those three people. Later, they find a way to focus their special rays on Kroczek to heat him up even without the sublimator. They turn his ice water bath into a hot tub and par-boil him.

This week’s android humor: Ian poses as a Nexus client. The perky female rep does an analysis of him that is so impressive, she asks if he is doing anything later. Ian later asks David if she had been asking him out on a date. When David advises against it, Ian tells him not to worry, “I am fully equipped to handle all levels of male/female interaction.” David replies that no one is equipped for that. LOL. How true.

Some of you have complained about Hume’s violent interrogation in the past. I noticed it in his dealings with Korczek this week, slamming him around and then telling him he wouldn’t leave the room alive if he didn’t give him the information he wanted. Very disturbing. But’s it’s only gotten worse in today’s TV shows. In one HAWAII FIVE-O episode, Steve left the room and let Danny beat the crap out of someone (granted they were looking for a missing child, but that’s no excuse). In another show, a cop shoved the edge of a table into a guy’s groin. Makes Dave’s antics here look almost tame.

David and Olivia: Olivia had a bigger part this week. Korczek tries to manipulate David by telling him that Olivia is involved in the Rekall conspiracy and that the sublimator is proof. David swallows it, and finds 3 e-comms from Nexus on their computer. (Big deal. Check our e-mails and I’m sure you’ll find stuff from Match.com or similar; those twits send their spam to any addresses they can find.) When she comes home and finds the place looking ransacked, she calmly asks, “Are we moving?” Later, when she finds out the whole story, she is amazingly forgiving to him – even before he can make any kind of apology. She’s a keeper, David! She also decides to get rid of the sublimator and – uh, oh – there’s that creepy sales rep again. Guns are knocked out of hands as David manages to knock one guy out, but then is cornered by the evil sales rep. And then – Blammo - Olivia takes out the punk once and for all. David assures a shaken Olivia it’s all over. But she isn’t buying that; neither am I. No irrelevant shot of the city to end the show this week; it breaks to closing theme on that dramatic note.

So, despite the fact I don’t remember all the details (and may have gotten one or two things wrong) this episode held my interest all the way through and had lots of action and excitement. I’m giving it 9 understanding wives who can handle a big gun!

There was a significant improvement this week. By the way, I loved brimfin's review; it was quite inspired, and I'm afraid I won't be able to match it. Anyway... The fact that Kroczek involved Olivia in his plot and manipulated David also made me care more about the plot, since it seemed a character we know was deeply involved in the issue and would suffer lasting changes from now on. Was Olivia plotting against David behind his back? Did she take part in a secret research team, and then had her memory erased and give a new identity?

But it turned out that the writers were playing us like Kroczek was playing David. It was nice to see the villain have a small victory against the CPB besides the usual legal maneuver, when a high-paid lawyer usually strong-arms the cops claiming there's proprietary technology involved in whatever it is that they don't want the police to look into.

Olivia's reaction, on the other hand, was a little inconsistent. She was ultimately accused of lying, but she brushed it off like it was nothing like in fact David was having too much pressure at work. The least she should have done was have a serious talk with David and said something like "next time trust me!" or something along these lines.

Just one question. Who killed Kroczek? I thought Kroczek was leading whatever rogue faction of Rekall was involved. So, it had to be Rekall management who "microwaved him by wi-fi," right? I'd say at least that would warrant an investigation of its CEO and Board, at least to shake things up a little, even if in the end no charges would stick.

Another part that was well developed was Farve's interaction with the Nexus perky sales rep and everything that related Farve, dating and sex. Farve and sex are always a recipe for humor and good character development.

A couple issues linger...
- There seems to be only two places in the world(s): The City and Mars. Olan could be in a video conference with London, Paris or Rio de Janeiro, but no, she was talking with someone on Mars, of course. Where else? Also, people who try to flee always go to Mars. I bet if the guy went to, say Mexico, it would never occur the CPB to look there.
- It must be nice to be married in 2070, as the wives are always hot, and usually blonde. On the other hand, you may spontaneously combust in a sublimator.
- Olivia, can't you stay away from that *beep* sublimator for five minutes? You have a problem, girl. On the other hand, she looks very pretty when she's using it. Or should I say, she looks very pretty, period.
- Apartments in the City are usually roomy, at least of those people who are murdered. Or at least those murders the CPB care to investigate. Only roomy apartments could fit that clunky sublimator model. When will they come up with portable Rekall appliances?
- When the first victim's pretty wife was describing how her husband died in the sublimator, and given all the problems David has had with Olivia and her machine, I wouldn't have been surprised if Farve had said something like, "And people still think Androids are the problem." Because really, finally an incident that had zero to do with an android. We didn't even seen one as an extra.

All in all, a good episode. The show has, again, fallen in my good graces. "Burning Desire" gets 8 sublimator-induced smiles.

This week was pretty good ,very good in fact. Many enjoyable strands
1 the rekall within rekall idea
2 Hume marriage seemingly heading into trouble but by the end it's probably stronger than ever
3 Favre with his Nexus interview was a laugh. I wonder if he kept the Friday date?
It's about time Rekall came to the fore , they've been in the shadows for too long.
Hume getting shot was interesting,,he took a direct shot on the shoulder but the medical treatment he got meant by the end of his shift the only evidence was a hole in his shirt. There was a also a good pace to this episode that kept the attention throughout.
10/10

The lovely Olivia and Recall are back for this installment. We start the episode as some guy spontaneously combusts on his sublimator chair. Hume and Farve are called in to investigate. They go back to the guy's apartment and Recall isn't giving any refunds because there was some lapse in his payment plan. It ends up the guy was some kind of sumblinator addict. I guess having a hot blonde wife and an awesome apartment in this world isn't enough?? The wife gives them a clue to the Nexus dating site where they first met.

After the first death a second death is recorded by Olan. She surmises that "overuse" my be the culprit. It's not specifically said but it sounds like these guys use the sumblimators as masturbation devices? A third death is then quickly announced by Martin.
This time it's a fairly powerful CEO. The CEO is also linked to the Nexus dating service. In a funny scene Farve goes undercover to get secret information about Nexus. He and Hume go a data center to get information about its clients. They go to the center and are ambushed by a guy who tampered with the system. There's kind of a cool system as Farvre protects Hume by jumping in front of the shots.

Hume goes home and finds his wife engulfed by her sumblimator. Hume warns her and actually gets aggressive and angry.

Hume and Farve meet with a Mr. Kroczek who is a rep for Recall. Kroczek basically gives them the standard company line about being concerned and told them he will be investigating thoroughly. He seems totally sleazy so Farve and Hume follow him. They finally catch him as he's about to go to Mars. They arrest him for using a false name and i.d.

Kroczek tells Hume that he has important information about Olivia. Hume interrogates Kroczek and he tells him that Recall was killing those men because they had special implants installed by Recall. I watched this scene 3 times and I still don't fully understand what the hell Recall was doing or what was the point of implants. It ends up that Olivia's name was on the disk so Hume freaks out and goes home and investigates her. He thinks that his wife was cheating on him by using the Nexus service.

David goes back to the CPB and finds Kroczek basically boiling alive in a tub of ice. It ends up that Kroczek made up all that stuff about Olivia just to save himself.

David comes back home to apologize and 2 men from Kroczek attempt to kill him and his wife. He's able to dodge the lasers and kill one of them and then Oliva surprisingly kill the second.

Random Thoughts:

*This show never allows a scene to breathe. I feel like the writers get paid by the word of the technical jargon. It's like they can't stand a second of silence so every moment is jammed with dialogue. If you miss Seemingly little bits of trivial dialogue you'll be lost 5 minutes. later.

*Jamming every second with technical jargon is about as dramatic as reading the technical specifications of blu ray player.

*I still don't understand what was the point of killing those people or that list? Why did Recall install those implants? Is this a leftover from the episode about the brain implants? And what did Kroczek have to gain? And who killed Kroczek.

*I guess they have androids, total recall chairs, and lasers in the future but not cell phones?? It's almost comical when Hume calls his wife at home only to find she's not there and then has no way to contact her.

Interesting episode but gets bogged down by the technical jargon and a confusing plot during the middle. I give it a 6/10.