Please be aware of spoilers!

2021-01-10

To be to able to understand the setting of Colony, here is an “Introduction to the setting of Colony” (I have taken this from Wikipedia, couldn’t have written it down better myself) – After that my blog of Season 1.

In a dystopian near-future Los Angeles, residents live under a regime of military occupation by an organization known as the Transitional Authority. The Authority serves an extraterrestrial group referred to as the "Hosts", about whom little is known until later in the series (an alien robotic race finds themselves hunted, who came to Earth to use humans as allies and labor in their own battle). The symbol of the collaborating forces features stylized birds of prey, or raptors, which gives rise to their nickname, the "Raps". The Authority enforces Host policy via militarized police called Homeland Security and nicknamed the "Redhats" for the red helmet cover of their otherwise black tactical attire.

The Hosts took control on a day known simply as the "Arrival". That day began with massive worldwide communication interference and jamming, which came after a weeklong hunt for relevant key figures around the world. Late that day, massive rectangular blocks descended from the sky, linking together to build walls dividing the city. One of these walls, 20 to 30 stories tall, many meters thick and many miles in length, surrounds the central part of Los Angeles, where the series is set. Other similar walls have been constructed around neighboring urban areas, called "blocs", with the whole referred to as a "colony". Traffic passes through the walls at heavily secured checkpoints, called "gateways", which allow the Authority to strictly control the movement of people and the distribution of consumables, such as food and fuel, which are rationed. The geographical extent of the alien invasion is unclear, but later scenes in the series shows Authority members from all over the world - hence making the invasion scale worldwide.

A privileged class of elites, drawn by the Hosts from the local population, are denigrated by some bloc residents as collaborators. The ruling forces maintain control through the separation of family members, shoot-on-sight curfews, forced disappearances, random checkpoints, frequent electronic identity checks, limitation of motor vehicle usage (most people walk or ride bicycles), pervasive visual propaganda, slave labor in a place called the "Factory" (later revealed to be located on the Earth's moon to mine radioactive materials), and massive continuous electronic surveillance with both hidden cameras as well as Host-provided drone aircraft that launch from hangar bays inside the wall and capable of killing humans by extremely lethal high energy weaponry. Some medical problems, such as diabetes, have been "deemed unworthy for treatment" by the Hosts, to cull the population.

A resistance movement is referred to as both the "Resistance" and the "Insurgency". An informal barter-based black market has also sprung up, trading in surplus materials and home-produced goods.

Season 1:

Earth is occupied by an Alien force for a year now and we follow the Bowman family living is Los Angeles. This family is not complete, on the of arrival they lost their son Charlie who was on a school sports trip that day and got separated. And a year after they still haven’t been reunited. So Will devices a plan to go and find him, which means he has to cross a section. But he gets caught and ends up in prison. Due to his law enforcement history, Will is recruited by Governor Alan Snyder to infiltrate the resistance. If he does not accept, he and his family will all go to the factory. This gives Katie an opportunity she's been waiting for. She now lets the resistance know they have someone on the inside…herself. Snyder tells Will he will be the commanding officer but he did not tell the whole truth, Will reports to a certain Phyllis. Before this Will worked in a garage and his old boss Carlos helped him trying to get to his son and is getting arrested for it. Will tries to get him out but Phyllis reminds him that they live in a different world. Only thing he can do is bringing Carlos’ wife and kid to safety. Carlos goes to the factory. Meanwhile Katie commits herself fully to the resistance and they immediately make full use of her. Maddie, Katie’s sister, reconnects with an old acquaintance but something more than sexual isn’t there because he’s too afraid to lose his cushy job. Will knows there is someone who leaks information but he does not yet realize it’s his own wife.

Katie is getting deeper into the resistance, she’s doing an operation with them. They want to know the response time of the Red Hats and the investigators. But it does not go smoothly, they lose one of their men as they start shooting at each other. Katie is panicking. She goes home still panicking and the tutor, dispatched from Homeland security, sees her coming home in a highly emotional state. Katie still has blood on her hands but she manages to put them away in her pockets on time. Through means of a dB, used by Phyllis and her alone, Will and his partner go to a location what turns out to be the resistances current home base. They find a lot of weapons. A big blow for the resistance. The leader of the resistance wants more results from Katie, otherwise it’s not profitable enough. The Yonk re-opens (Katie’s old café). Katie wants Will to stop working for them but Will says he’s learned a lot and he learns more every day.

Will earns the respect of his new colleagues. A Resistance attack comes to the home front and brings the Bowman family together. Katie gets to know Will's team. Maddie finds a new job that makes the most of her talents in the Art business. Katie let’s her house get firebombed in order to get more intel on her husband’s co-workers and to find out who is Will’s boss.  In the search of their home the RedHats find the tapes Bram has been making of the Geronimo’s broadcast. Phyllis decides not to report Bram and thereby helps Will keep his job and his life with his family. They catch the one who broadcasts but Will is almost sure he’s not Geronimo, the big mastermind behind the resistance. Phyllis finds out about Katie’s involvement with the resistance but gets killed in her own home by Broussard. Her husband, who is ill, has had a seizure of some kind, is shot too.

Geronimo's identity is revealed. Will begins to question his wife's loyalties. Katie struggles with the weight of her choices. Bram is resisting in his own way, trying to find out everything about the oppressors. Snyder sees an opportunity to improve his standing in the colony. Snyder makes a deal with Geronimo to make him a scapegoat, he promises him he will be transported to another Colony but instead he hangs him.

Will and Snyder get ambushed when the Resistance infiltrates the Redhats. They find shelter at the Yonk, where Katie is also hiding, after coming back from her little escapade with her Resistance friends. When alone with Snyder, Katie questions him about the Government and the existence of other colonies. She also tips the Resistance off about Snyder's location, but when Will returns quickly she tries to push Snyder outside but Will stops her. When Snyder promises Will and Katie to bring their son Charlie back, Katie questions her allegiance to the Resistance. According to Snyder's answers, it would appear that Earth has been invaded by aliens. Katie saves Will life when he is out of ammo and a resistance operative dressed a RedHat is about to shoot him. Quayle suggest to Broussard that Katie is a double agent, feeding them false information.

The RedHats know Broussard's face and are on a manhunt, but find a few obstacles in tracking him down. Katie tries to connect with the resistance, but they have gone to ground. Madeline has gotten herself into a 3-some, sex with the man while the woman watches. And Quayle has a disturbing theory on who can be trusted. Quayle tells Broussard to kill Katie, he takes her to a place to kill but doesn’t do it. He thinks Katie is not a traitor. She warns him Will is coming, he narrowly can escape. Snyder gives Will a recent picture of his son, he shows it to Katie who tells him they’re just leading Will on.

Quayle wants to make a deal, he wants to give up Broussard so that he can go behind the fall, go free. If Will doesn’t comply, Quayle will give up Katie. Will tells Bram and Gracie about Charlie, more because of spite towards Katie because she’s in the resistance and she keeps that secret. A set up goes wrong, were Broussard would have been caught. Katie is also there and sees her friend from the resistance get shot down. Will kills Quayle because he doesn’t trust him. When he tells Snyder a lie about what happened to Quayle, Snyder knows Will is not telling the truth and threatens him and Beau to be sent to the factory. Snyder is in a tough spot because Helena puts pressure on him, that he is the only one who rules like he does and if he fails to get results… Bram visits his teacher friend who he gave the telescope lens. On the roof they watch to the moon and see some kind of buildings there. Turns out that’s where the factory is, Carlos is up there.

Katie and Broussard join another resistance team, they plan to bomb the railway so that they can kidnap a high representative of the new order, which turns out to be one of the aliens dressed in an apparently impenetrable suit. Will and Beau mislead Snyder further after Will kills Quayle that the resistance is settled behind the wall. Will has a plan to move his wife and kids there to a place Beau owns where they won’t be found. Maddie sets up her boss Charlotte Burgess so that she will be taken by Snyder’s men, Maddie alone with Charlotte’s husband Nolan.

Katie and the resistance team bring back the alien to their hideout. Will asks Maddie to take the kids to the green zone, Maddie intends to take them to Nolan’s house but during sector crossing, Bram takes off. Will got the phone number from Bram to call Katie in case of an emergency. Will realizes that Jennifer McMahon knows his wife is a member of the resistance but she keeps that for herself. Will has 20 min lead start to get his wife out. But first Broussard and the others escape before Katie opens the door for Will. Snyder is on his way out because of the situation with the host. But because he’s found, the violence from the hosts return to normal. Snyder gives Will a free pass to move blocks so he can get Charlie. When Katie comes home alone, the audience sees she’s being watched by a camera.

End of Season 1

Finally:

Best episodes? Well that’s very hard, after the pilot, which is okay episode it gets better and better and you never get a moment to catch your breath, anything can happen at any time. Still the best 3 for me are “episode 6 Yoknapatawpha”, “episode 8 In From the Cold” and the season finale “Gateway”. Although this is an Alien Invasion show, you rarely see an alien. In fact you haven’t seen any except one in a suit but you could not make out if it even was an alien. Funny thing, it’s okay, the show set up is so that you don’t need to see an alien. It lets you know they are there, you see those drones in the air, those huge walls to divide sectors, you are constantly reminded there IS an alien invasion. I really enjoyed it the first time watching and this hasn’t changed with the 2^nd time rewatching it. You get an uneasy feeling while watching this, if this would really happen, how would you cope with that.

Sreencaps taken from - Blog has been written with the help of IMDb.