D-Day
Episode 10 of Another Life begins this finale with William and Eric absolutely fine. Because of course they are. The Achaians have been destroyed though and that prompts Niko and the others to confront Seth and try to negotiate terms once more.
What are the Achaian terms for peace?
Through Seth, we learn that the Achaians are not actually peaceful creatures after all. With 59 Achaian Rings zeroing in on Earth, the Achaians have some steep terms to avoid all-out war. They not only want multiple Artifacts on Earth, they also want humans to accept their “gifts.” Those being the spidery implants. Finally, they also want the Salvare destroyed, along with the Neutrino weapon they’ve created. Just to prove how serious they are, the Achaian implant inside Seth explodes, leaving the remains of this official splattered across the room. Oh, and they have 24 hours to decide. The President of the United States decides they should agree to the alien terms, not bothering to ask the United Nations for their thoughts. However, Niko and the other crew members decide to ignore this and essentially undermine the governmental rule, determined to fight back.
How do Niko and the others defeat the Achaians?
With the neutrino weapon able to fire off a shot every few minutes, the gang realize that there’s not enough time to kill the aliens before Earth meets a nasty demise. William though, comes up with an alternate idea and decides to check out the debris from the destroyed Achaian ring. There, they stumble across a stray Achaian, which William brings aboard… somehow?
William manages to isolate the alien to prevent it from attacking. Checking through the coding, the gang learn that this is actually an artificial creature and could well be man-made. There are teases that these light particles aren’t who the Achaians actually are but there’s not much elaboration on this so we’re none the wiser over what this really means. The group take inspiration from Independence Day and decide to infect the docile Achaian aboard with a computer virus. They’re going to use this as a Trojan horse, allowing the Achaian to intentionally infect one of the crewmates and then bring that infected member aboard the Artifact to stop the Achaians in their tracks.
Does the plan work?
As the plan gets underway, Cas decides to volunteer as tribute. Well, not on Niko’s watch she’s not. Niko steps up at the sacrificial lamb instead, deciding to let the Achaia infect her, given she knows more about the species than anyone else. Niko stands in the loading bay as the Achaia light particles absorb inside her. Eric shows up too, poetically the one to press the button and activate the virus in Niko’s SOMA implant. As Niko’s face droops and her speech slurs, Cas drags her Commander across to the Artifact where they head inside, subsequently extracting the Achaian into the atmosphere. With the virus planted, the Achaian Ava shows up again to taunt Niko, throwing Cas around like a ragdoll. According to her, peace has always been on the cards – but on their terms. Interestingly, Ava goes on to mention how the Achaian have a maker and have been carrying out their wishes all this time, making sure humanity don’t spread. In essence, they’re like the Reapers from Mass Effect, destroying everything in their wake. The virus works perfectly though, destroying the Artifact on Earth and the Achaian inside. With the threat thwarted, the other 59 ships leave and head back through the wormhole.
How does Another Life Season 2 end?
The Salvare also manages to make it back to Earth as well, with William using an “old Achaian trick” to do so. He has big news, feeding back that there are hundreds of different voices calling out; greetings from alien worlds saying thank you for stopping the Achaian threat. Niko decides against staying with Jana and Eric after all, itching to go exploring out into the galaxy instead.
The Episode Review
Another Life mercifully comes to an end with a surprisingly conclusive final chapter, one that manages to tie up everything while at the same time leaving enough in the pipeline for a possible sequel – and plenty of big plot holes. We won’t dive too deeply into this but given there are 59 other Achaian ships out there, and only one has been destroyed, then it doesn’t seem as conclusive an ending as this show would have you believe. The first season was somewhat of an enigma in itself; a show that felt written by an algorithm in what can only be described as a hilarious mishmash of different influences that felt jarring. This second season though has taken that framework and amplified the problems, taking inspiration from The Expanse, Mass Effect, Independence Day and Star Trek, blending them together whilst failing to understand what makes any of those stories tick. In the end, Another Life bows out with the Achaian threat defeated and a hodgepodge montage of different moments from the two seasons stitched together hurriedly to bow everything out on a feel-good high. On the plus side though, at least we didn’t get the dreaded Netflix cliffhanger treatment this time around!
