diff --git a/src/components/continuous/continuous.js b/src/components/continuous/continuous.js
index 71febccb..55299f3e 100644
--- a/src/components/continuous/continuous.js
+++ b/src/components/continuous/continuous.js
@@ -29,9 +29,16 @@ import {
   const ranges = state.cells.cells && state.cells.cells.data.ranges ? state.cells.cells.data.ranges : null;
   const metadata = state.cells.cells && state.cells.cells.data.metadata ? state.cells.cells.data.metadata : null;
 
+  const initializeRanges = state.initialize.data && state.initialize.data.data.ranges ? state.initialize.data.data.ranges : null;
+  const initializeMetadata = state.initialize.data && state.initialize.data.data.metadata ? state.initialize.data.data.metadata : null;
+
   return {
     ranges,
     metadata,
+    initializeRanges,
+    initializeMetadata,
+    color: state.controls.color,
+    continuousSelection: state.controls.continuousSelection
   }
 })
 class Continuous extends React.Component {
@@ -41,7 +48,6 @@ class Continuous extends React.Component {
       svg: null,
       ctx: null,
       axes: null,
-      parallelExists: false,
       dimensions: null,
     };
   }
@@ -56,12 +62,16 @@ class Continuous extends React.Component {
   }
 
   componentWillReceiveProps(nextProps) {
+    this.maybeDrawLines(nextProps);
+    this.maybeDrawAxes(nextProps);
+  }
 
+  maybeDrawAxes(nextProps) {
     if (
-      nextProps.ranges &&
-      !this.state.parallelExists
+      !this.state.axes &&
+      nextProps.initializeRanges /* we assume if this is present, everything else is too */
     ) {
-      const dimensions = createDimensions(nextProps.ranges);
+      const dimensions = createDimensions(nextProps.initializeRanges);
       const xscale = d3.scalePoint()
         .domain(d3.range(dimensions.length))
         .range([0, width]);
@@ -70,16 +80,10 @@ class Continuous extends React.Component {
         processedMetadata,
         processedDimensions
       } = processData(
-        nextProps.metadata,
+        nextProps.initializeMetadata,
         dimensions
       )
 
-      const _drawCellLines = this.drawCellLines(
-        processedMetadata,
-        processedDimensions,
-        xscale
-      );
-
       const axes = drawAxes(
         this.state.svg,
         this.state.ctx,
@@ -88,20 +92,62 @@ class Continuous extends React.Component {
         xscale,
         height,
         width,
-        _drawCellLines,
-      )
+        this.handleBrushAction.bind(this),
+      );
 
       this.setState({
-        parallelExists: true,
-        dimensions,
         axes,
+        xscale,
+        processedMetadata,
+        processedDimensions,
+      })
+
+    }
+  }
+
+  maybeDrawLines(nextProps) {
+    if (
+      nextProps.ranges &&
+      this.state.axes /* this may cause things to never render :/ forceUpdate? */
+    ) {
+      if (this.state._drawCellLines) {
+
+        this.state._drawCellLines.invalidate();
+      }
+      const dimensions = createDimensions(nextProps.ranges);
+
+      const {
+        processedMetadata,
+        processedDimensions
+      } = processData(
+        nextProps.metadata,
+        dimensions
+      )
+
+      console.log('draw cell lines', processedMetadata, processedDimensions)
+      const _drawCellLines = this.drawCellLines(
+        _.filter(processedMetadata, (d) => { return nextProps.continuousSelection.indexOf(d.CellName) > -1 }),
+        processedDimensions,
+        this.state.xscale
+      );
+
+      this.setState({
+        dimensions,
+        _drawCellLines,
       })
     }
   }
 
+  handleBrushAction (selection) {
+    this.props.dispatch({
+      type: "continuous selection using parallel coords brushing",
+      data: _.map(selection, (d) => { return d.CellName })
+    })
+  }
+
   drawCellLines (metadata, dimensions, xscale) {
     const _drawCellLines = renderQueue(
-      drawLinesCanvas(this.state.ctx, dimensions, xscale)
+      drawLinesCanvas(this.state.ctx, dimensions, this.state.xscale)
     ).rate(50);
 
     this.state.ctx.clearRect(0,0,width,height);
diff --git a/src/components/continuous/drawAxes.js b/src/components/continuous/drawAxes.js
index d64210ba..7cf33795 100644
--- a/src/components/continuous/drawAxes.js
+++ b/src/components/continuous/drawAxes.js
@@ -13,7 +13,7 @@ const drawAxes = (
   xscale,
   height,
   width,
-  render
+  handleBrushAction,
 ) => {
 
   /*****************************************
@@ -23,7 +23,7 @@ const drawAxes = (
   ******************************************/
 
   function brush () {
-    render.invalidate();
+    // _drawCellLines.invalidate(); /* this should be moved up */
 
     var actives = [];
     svg.selectAll(".parcoords_axis .parcoords_brush")
@@ -48,15 +48,15 @@ const drawAxes = (
       }
     });
 
-    /* Reset canvas */
-    ctx.clearRect(0, 0, width, height);
-    ctx.globalAlpha = d3.min([0.85 / Math.pow(selected.length, 0.3), 1]);
-
     /* send the selected cells to redux */
+    handleBrushAction(selected)
 
+    /* Reset canvas */
+    // ctx.clearRect(0, 0, width, height);
+    // ctx.globalAlpha = d3.min([0.85 / Math.pow(selected.length, 0.3), 1]);
 
     /* pass the result of the filter above to a fresh canvas, using RAF */
-    render(selected);
+    // _drawCellLines(selected);
 
     /* text beneath */
     // output.text(d3.tsvFormat(selected.slice(0,22)));
diff --git a/src/components/continuous/util.js b/src/components/continuous/util.js
index 79f6e054..788fc3d0 100644
--- a/src/components/continuous/util.js
+++ b/src/components/continuous/util.js
@@ -77,7 +77,7 @@ export const project = (d, dimensions, xscale) => {
 
 export const processData = (metadata, dimensions) => {
   // shuffle the metadata! - or not, this is a visual effect
-  metadata = d3.shuffle(metadata);
+  // metadata = d3.shuffle(metadata);
 
   metadata.forEach((d) => {
     dimensions.forEach((p) => {
diff --git a/src/components/graph/drawGraph.js b/src/components/graph/drawGraph.js
index 30afb2c0..95bc5dfe 100644
--- a/src/components/graph/drawGraph.js
+++ b/src/components/graph/drawGraph.js
@@ -59,7 +59,8 @@ export const drawGraph = (
   expressionsCountsMap,
   color,
   ranges,
-  metadata
+  metadata,
+  continuousSelection,
 ) => {
 
   /* clear canvas */
@@ -82,8 +83,12 @@ export const drawGraph = (
   //   .domain([0, expressionsCountsMap.maxValue])
   //   .range([1,0])
 
-  /* shuffle the data to overcome render order hiding cells */
-  data = d3.shuffle(data);
+  if (continuousSelection) {
+    data = _.filter(data, (d) => {return continuousSelection.indexOf(d[0]) > -1 })
+  }
+
+  /* shuffle the data to overcome render order hiding cells, & filter first */
+  // data = d3.shuffle(data);
 
   data.forEach((p, i) => {
     context.beginPath();