When we last left out intrepid heroes in “Salvation,” the oddest and yet most endearing science fiction show to appear on TV in a long time, it looked like that a nuclear holocaust might beat the asteroid to wiping out the Earth. A group of people chosen to survive the end of the world, no matter in what form it comes, is dancing in an underground bunker to “Fly Me to the Moon.” Meanwhile, Liam, the young genius who discovered the asteroid, has gone outside to tell Darius, the Elon Musk-like commercial space mogul who has chosen to die, something that will save the world after all.

That synopsis doesn’t even mention the hacker terrorist group called Resist, the coup that overthrew the legitimate (and female) president of the United States and the love triangle between Darius, a DOD official named Grace, and her boss Harris.

‘Salvation’ has a second season

The wonder is not just that ‘Salvation’ has a second season is that it even had a first one. The show, which uses an asteroid on its way to hit the Earth as a McGuffin, contains elements of a techno-thriller, a spy adventure, a romantic drama, an inside Washington intrigue, and a common of age tale. Most TV series wait until the eighth or ninth season to jump the shark. “Salvation” not only jumped the sucker from the very start but rocketed into deep space over it.

The plots were implausible, the characters strange and ridiculous, and the technology hard to believe.

And yet, strangely, the show worked. It’s very shameless excess made the thing work. “Salvation” was one of the pleasant surprises of the summer of 2017 and will, it is hope, make the long, hot summer nights of 2018 just as entertaining.

The second season, by the way, bows on CBS on June 25.

The one, tiny problem

On the other hand, a tiny problem has developed concerning a critical piece of technology that the show depends upon. Something called the EM drive is propelling the mission to stop the asteroid. The propulsion technology is alleged to use microwaves to create thrust in a way that modern physics suggests is impossible.

Since NASA and a number of other organizations tested the thing and could not find any flaws and since some theoretical physicists postulated ways the technology might work, the EM drive seemed at least plausible.

However, a recent experiment has cast doubt on the whole technology, suggesting that unshielded cable is interacting with magnetic fields actually created the thrust that others have seen. The tests are inconclusive, according to the New Scientist, but the idea of a propellerless space drive has taken a hit. No doubt Darius has already addressed the problem and will make a snarky comment or two.
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