As a space survival sci-fi series, Syfy’s The Ark juggles a number of topics ranging from interstellar travel, the future of humankind’s existence, planetary colonization, cloning, the corporate ratrace, and even a murder mystery, and at the same time handles a multitude of character arcs that are distinctively unique. Despite having a seemingly complex premise at hand, The Ark manages to keep it really simple, as the series maintains its focus on the overarching theme of survival by unifying all the differing plot threads into a single, main objective. Even with a plethora of similar narratives being abundant on streaming services nowadays, The Ark manages to stay afloat by its sincere willingness to present familiar yet innovative ideas and explore themes of psychological struggle pertaining to the quest for survival.Â
The first season of The Ark sets things off by focusing on the journey of the survivors boarding the interplanetary spacecraft Ark-1, and the scores of problems faced by them while moving towards their destination, an exoplanet, which is humanity’s only hope for rebuilding civilization. With the second season of the series already running, let us take a brief look at every major plot point from the first season itself.
Spoilers Ahead
Ark-01 and Its Major Crews
A century into the future from the present timeline, the global climate crisis has culminated to the point that earth has become near uninhabitable, and a coalition of the world’s space agencies, known as the Global Space Administration, has decided to send a selected bunch of people, adept in different fields of academic, administrative, scientific, and agricultural disciplines, on colonizing missions to far-flung depths of the cosmos. On the first of its kind, massive carrier spacecraft Ark-01, which functions with Nuclear Electronic Propulsion technology, a crew of 400 spacers are on their way to the nearest habitable planet, Proxima B. After spending more than five years in the cosmic void, Ark-01 gets hit by an unknown object, which results in the destruction of the craft’s sleeper pod bays and the death of at least 250 spacers, which included top scientists, officers, farmers, teachers, and architects whose presence was imperative for the success of the colonizing mission. Lieutenant Sharon Garnet, who was seemingly a last-minute entry to the crew, is quick to take up charge of the status quo in the absence of the overseers who were intended to handle the mission. This doesn’t sit well with Lieutenant Spencer Lane, who, along with Garnet and the daredevil Lieutenant James Brice, take control over the bridge.
Among some of the other major denizens of Ark-01, viewers meet Alicia Nevins, the quintessential teenage genius techie, and Angus Medford, a teenager with proficiency in horticulture, the only surviving major medical professional – Doctor Sanjivni Kabir, the chief of security -Felix Strickland, the chief of engineering and maintenance, Eva Markovic, and lastly, Dr. Catrina Brandice, a social media influencer who was secretly assigned for Project Juno, which was planned to maintain genetic diversity in future generations of the colony. Brandice is later assigned by Garnet to join as chief of overseeing the mental health of the survivors. Aside from them, Ensign Trent, who was able to secure a place in Ark-01 due to his connection with the late Lieutenant Commander, Susan Ingram, appears to be an intriguing character. Working together, the team tackles a number of perilous situations, right from coping with food and water shortages, restarting the shuttle engine, and averting an oncoming comet, to cabin fever induced by water harvested from the comet, etc. Trouble arises anew when Malcolm Perry, a miscreant who was pretending to be a technician, gets exposed, and this identity dilemma results in the deaths of a number of spacers due to the oxygen shortage crisis. As Garnet apprehends Malcolm, he threatens to expose one of her secrets, and later on, Malcolm is found murdered, which prompts Felix to begin an investigation to find the killer among the survivors of Ark-01. It should be mentioned that Eva had lost her lover due to Malcolm’s identity-switching troubles, and initially she is suspected as a perp after Dr. Brandice’s psychiatric assessment indicates so. Lance comes across a video in Malcolm’s belongings, which leads to a series of clues, which eventually reveal Garnet to be a clone who possesses certain enhanced physiological properties thanks to having Tardigrade DNA enhancements. Felix’s investigation reveals Trent to be the culprit, who eventually dies while saving the spacecraft from a possible nuclear meltdown. Putting their differences aside, the three lieutenants patch up while taking turns leading the survivors. Dr. Kabir gradually finds herself way too overworked, which results in her secretly getting addicted to amphetamines, and later on, she finds caring guidance in Felix.
Another Ark and the Arrival of Trust
Before getting captured, Trent had revealed the true purpose of his presence on Ark-01, which was to protect the creator of the Ark program, William Trust, a billionaire inventor whose decarbonization attempt upon earth’s atmosphere had resulted in a Klampkins disease outbreak—and as a result, had earned the hatred of a major portion of the population. Lance, who was able to get recruited into GSA thanks to Trust’s scholarship, initially decides to stay loyal to him as he finds the cryopods of William and his wife, Helena, in a secret compartment of Ark-01. Meanwhile, Garnet and co. find out that the accident of Ark-01 was caused by a seemingly alien material with corrosive properties. Felix is disheartened to find out that his husband, Robert, is among one of the deceased members of Ark-03, and he starts worrying about their daughter, Kathryn’s fate back on earth.
Almost at the same time, the team comes across Ark-03, which had met with a similar accident like theirs, where spacers have mysteriously perished, and rescues the only survivor of the craft, Kelly. As the team gets stuck inside Ark-03 due to a system malfunction, Lance wakes up Trust and learns the backdoor code of the Ark to bring the team to safety. The team learns that Ark-03 was able to implement FTL (faster than light) travel, thanks to a mechanism created by Trust’s rival, Evelyn Maddox, and Eva successfully installs the tech into Ark-01. While searching for Lance, who got himself stuck with Trust and Helena inside the secret compartment in Ark-01, the team rescues them, and disappointed in Lance for keeping a secret, Garnet and Brice decide to demote him from his position. Brice is especially furious with Trust, as he is suffering from Klampkins, something he has shared only with Eva, as the duo have started a relationship. Brandice is revealed to be a longtime friend of Trust and Helena, and Trust was cheating on his wife with her as well. Kelly, in the meantime, had started a relationship with Angus, much to Alicia’s dismay, who had feelings for the dorky horticulture expert.
From the surveillance footage of Ark-03, the team learns that Ark-15, which is now being run by Evelyn Maddox, was responsible for both the Ark-01 and Ark-03 accidents as it had attacked them using the previously found synthesized alien mineral in blasters. Realizing that using FTL, Ark-15 has already reached near Proxima B, Garnet and co. decide to reroute to venture to a much safer option, planet Ross128B, to save the survivors from an impending crisis. However, Trust theorizes that FTL travel can allow the craft to shield itself against Maddox’s attacks and remains adamant about following their original course, but Garnet refuses to entertain such an idea. As a result, Trust and Helena manage to sway the minds of Lance, Eva, and Brandice to join their side and attempt a successful coup, which fails later on thanks to the bravery of Alicia and Angus. However, by then Trust had already implemented FTL travel, and Ark-01 has reached the space sector where Ark-15 is present—in front of Proxima B. Maddox wanted to take over Proxima B before Trust or GSA even got close to the planet, but now with the opposing sides confronting each other, a conflict for dominance seems imminent.
Was Human Civilization Set Up On Proxima B?
Kelly turns out to be Maddox’s daughter, and secretly a spacer from Ark-15 who killed the crew of Ark-03. She allows successful infiltration of one of their crew members to abduct Trust, Lance, and Angus to take a genetic sample from the genetic library of Ark-01. However, Kelly flees with her hostages as her accomplice gets killed by Felix, and from the intel recovered from him, team Ark-01 learns that Maddox is searching for a possible cure for Klampkins from the venom of a unique Mediterranean spider. Alicia and Dr. Kabir try to synthesize the cure on their own to save Brice’s life, while Garnet infiltrates Ark-15 to rescue the hostages. With Angus betraying Kelly’s trust, Garnet is able to bring the team back, except Lance, that is, who stays behind to allow them to successfully escape. Eva manages to remotely destroy the weapon system of Ark-15, aiding the team’s escape in the process.
As Alicia and Dr. Kabir manage to cure Brice’s Klampkins by directly injecting the spider venom into him, the team now decides to make a bargain with Maddow to coerce her into handing Lance over to them in exchange for the cure. Maddox disgruntledly agrees and shows an appropriate response to Garnet’s trust by handing Lance over peacefully. However, Kelly makes a ruckus by trying to get revenge on Angus by nearly killing him, prompting Alicia to knock her out by hitting her in the head and putting her into a coma in the process. Maddox still chooses not to disrupt the peace, realizing that, as the last remnants of humankind, it is a wiser choice to put enmity to the side and coexist together instead. Garnet manages to convince Maddox to coexist in Proxima B along with them, but in order to do so, they need to implement Trust’s magnetic planetary rotational protocol as Proxima B turns out to be forever stationary in its axis.
However, Trust tries a last-ditch attempt to hurt Maddox by positioning Ark-15 closer to the gravitational pull of Proxima B, but Garnet and co. manage to save their craft at the last moment. Unfortunately, as the magnetic rotational program is implemented, the stored methane in Proxima B ends up igniting the entire planet at once, resulting in a severe explosion in the process. Even though both the Arks manage to retreat to safety by then, stray space debris hits Ark-01, resulting in a severe catastrophe in the process. Evelyn Maddox decides to return Garnet’s favor at the end, and showing a gesture of goodwill, she sends a rescue team from her Ark to help the survivors of Ark-01.
