When Mole and Joshua are involved in a car crash, they are revealed to bystanders in broad daylight. Chased towards Jam Pony, they hide inside and a siege begins, with White hoping to turn the event into a bloodbath with thanks from an elite team.

Now, direction alone doesn't make something good, and the fact that series co-creator James Cameron directed this is only a part of the reason this is so good. The other reason is it presses all the right buttons for a season finale being big, fast, explosive and involving the entire cast, and that's down to the writing. Although it doesn't finish with a cliffhanger, this episode proves why the show should be brought back for a third year. When things are firing on all cylinders, it's difficult to beat.

From a story by the show's creators Cameron and Charles Eglee, Rene Echevarria has brought in his former incredibly talented Deep Space Nine co-scribe Ira Steven Behr to work on the script, and the result is electric. By bringing the action to Jam Pony, Max's two worlds finally collide with comedy (Normal suddenly discovers that he's been running transgenic central), emotion (a baby is born amidst the chaos) and plenty of tension. It needs a talented director to marshal all the actors, extras and stunts and Cameron does some great work here, making the sets look gigantic and bringing us a truly incredible fight sequence with people flying everywhere, through windows, smashing pillars. Particularly satisfying is what happens when Joshua finally gets his hands on White for a bone-crunchingly nasty beating in vengeance for the death of his girlfriend.

Playing the tolerance card as well, it makes a good case for not being prejudiced, with even Normal being converted by the end of the episode. Aside from the hard-hitting message the episode doesn't really wrap up many of the season's ongoing plotlines, but it does deliver an effective closer to the year and resets things for next season as the transgenics fight for acceptance in a society that shuns them. Plus, quite how Max and Alec are going to be making their money is anyone's guess…

I really hope it comes back; you get the feeling that there are many more places for Dark Angel to go yet, and it still hasn't tapped its full potential.

*****

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