Colonization

Colony has been canceled after three seasons. Too bad.  The final episode will air on Wednesday.  You've probably never heard of it, which would help explain the cancelation.

Ever since Lost left the air (in 2010!) I've been looking for a replacement. Lord know there have been a ton of knock-offs, but nothing's really compared.  Still, Colony was better than nothing--a show that had a decent mix of action, sci-fi and mystery.  No surprise that one of its creators was Carlton Cuse, who ran Lost with Damon Lindelof.

Colony wasn't deep, but it kept moving forward.  The premise was aliens have colonized Earth and cordoned off various cities, appointing human collaborators to keep citizens in line--partly by threatening lawbreakers with a trip to the "Factory," whatever that is. The first season is set mostly in the Los Angeles bloc.  It centers on the Bowman family.  The father, played by Lost alumnus, Josh Holloway, works for the bloc authority hunting down members of the resistance, while his wife, played by Sarah Wayne Callies of The Walking Dead, is actually in the resistance.  Among the costars was Peter Jacobson--who I know best from House--as the weaselly but cunning governor of the Los Angeles bloc.

Every week featured plenty of activity, and there were a lot of questions that needed to be answered.  Who are the aliens?  What do they want?  What and where is the Factory?  What are the other colonies like?  Was the whole alien invasion just a cover story to explain the occupation? Who really runs the resistance?

There were answers along the way (provided faster than in Lost, I'd say).  By the third season, mom and dad Bowman, with their three kids, had escaped from Los Angeles with valuable information on the aliens.  They end up in a resistance camp and later in Seattle, a new sort of colony.  And as the season is ending, it looks like the aliens' plans are finally coming to fruition.

But now we'll never know.  So I'll miss the show.  It didn't have the poetry or depth of Lost (which perhaps was provided by partner Lindelof--his post-Lost show, Leftovers, which I loved, had plenty of poetry and depth, if less overt action), but it could do until the real thing came along.

PS  I just watched the season finale, which turned out to be the show's finale.  Pretty much every character is left hanging as the big war commences.  Oh well.