Loveday Writing

Ivan and Matteo start to pull hoses out of the tubs that are keeping the bodies alive, which set off alarms. Nora points out to them that not all of the people being stored would be bad, but they don’t listen to her.

Meanwhile, Viv and Nevaeh are in a Horizen store getting ready to visit Lakeview for Family Day, where the families of uploads can visit. Shortly before getting there, the digital babies that Craig pitched to Lucy earlier in the season are being distributed to Lakeview residents who want them, which includes Ingrid.  Viv and Nevaeh show up and things are immediately awkward between them and Ingrid, the latter insisting on calling Viv “mom”.

While they are outside, Nathan sees Nora from a distance, believing it’s Tinsley using her avatar. When Nora clears up it’s really her, he tells her that he thought he’d never hear from her again. The conversation turns awkward quickly when he tries to explains what happened to him since they last spoke and why he’s still with Ingrid, only for Nora to tell him that she’s also seeing someone. Matteo then calls Nora and tells her to meet him in the Grey Zone at noon as he has a surprise for her.

Meanwhile Batia tells Aleesha, who’s sitting in Lucy’s office, that there is a strange hack happening at the tennis courts. When Aleesha goes there to deal with it, she finds Luke and his army buddy, Jesse, playing tennis with two AI Guys. Moments later, Luke tells her that they’re actually playing “teanis”, a new game where the only way to score points is to hit the other guy in the crotch. Aleesha points out to him that he is the only one who can get hurt as Jesse’s crotch is safe in the real world. When Luke hits a ball at her, she ends up joining them.

After a brief fight with Viv, Ingrid sees Helen, a therapist in dog form. Helen suggests that she’s angry because she’s lonely, which Ingrid immediately dismisses by being nasty to her. When Ingrid tells Helen she wants to be a mother, Helen tells everyone in the Horizen office and they all laugh.

Whilst Nathan and Nevaeh are playing, Nevaeh sees Oliver Kannerman walking by and tells Nathan. Nathan goes to find Nora and tells her that he thinks Oliver may have partnered with the Ludds, as he wouldn’t be coming to Lakeview to see Ingrid. Nora dismisses his theory and tells him about Matteo, but she does offer to text him if she finds out anything about Oliver.

Matteo finds VR glasses and meets Nora using the Boris Netherlands avatar. He gives her a backpack with a hyperworm and tells her to leave it at the concierge desk. Nora tries to tell him that Horizen is the enemy not the uploads, but he doesn’t listen, telling her that the AI system will be infected with their propaganda message. He also, essentially, emotionally manipulates Nora into infecting the system by telling her that her father and Pastor Rob think that she can’t do this. Nora ends up leaving the backpack on the concierge desk.

The hyperworm quickly infects the system, with Aleesha finding out through the infected AI Guy playing with her and Luke, and she leaves. Nathan, Viv and Nevaeh find out whilst they’re in the memory parlour and he tells them to leave for their safety. On their way out, Viv tells him that maybe the digital baby isn’t such a bad idea, as she believes he would be a good father as he’s changed for the better. Nora tries to suggest the problem to the IT guys but they dismiss her, so she ultimately gets rid of the virus herself.

Afterwards, when Aleesha returns to Lakeview, Jesse comes to see her. When she asks him where Luke is, Jesse tells her that he’s helping out kids that were freaked out by the virus. Aleesha doesn’t believe him until Jesse informs her that Luke was his commanding officer and never showed stress, he kept morale high and everyone smiling, which he attributes to why most of them made it home. He also informs her that Luke is always saying nice things about her, but leaves before explaining further, much to Aleesha’s chagrin. Meanwhile, Matteo calls Nora and she ignores him.

Meanwhile, an exhausted Ingrid makes her way back to her room. In the elevator, the AI Guy comforts her by hugging her, echoing Tinsley hugging him earlier, and she accepts the hug. She also opens up and admits that she tries so hard and nothing works, and her sadness that Nathan’s only in love with her when she’s not herself. She asks him if she’s lovable and he says he loves her, but as he’s an AI Guy and there’s millions of him in Lakeview, his gesture is unfortunately meaningless.

The episode ends with Nathan agreeing to have a digital baby with Ingrid someday.

Overall I felt that this was a weak episode, mainly because the way that some of the characters were acting left more questions than answers. For example, when Ivan and Matteo set off the alarms in the biomedical lab, why did no security or police show up? How did the Horizen staff not hear Nora talking to Matteo about his plan? How did the IT guys not manage to trace the virus back to Nora or why didn’t they? Why did no-one question Nora casually talking to Matteo (as he was using Boris’ avatar) by the Grey Zone?

While I appreciated the reappearance of Dylan, I was honestly disappointed that he only had two lines of dialogue and he didn’t interact with Nathan and/or Luke. I also thought that Aleesha was sitting in Lucy’s office because she did end up blackmailing her about the videos, but it turned out that wasn’t the case and now I want to know why she didn’t (as well as where Lucy was when the virus showed itself)?

On a positive note, I did like seeing Nathan and Nora finally unite, even if it was awkward and their issues were bubbling underneath the surface. I also enjoyed the reveal of Luke’s character from Jesse, although I would have loved to have seen Luke calming the kids down.

It will be interesting to see what happens next, now that Nora essentially sabotaged Matteo’s and the Ludd’s virus attack plan.

Stray Observations:

-One of the tubs that Ivan and Matteo pull the hose out of contains the body of Jake Paul, an American boxer. Nora puts the hose back in before reading his name. Once she does read his name, she pulls the hose back out of the tub.

-Dylan (Rhys Slack) made his first appearance this season. To accommodate for Slack’s growth, it was written into the episode as Dylan still being a kid but just 20% taller. According to Dylan’s mother, the full adult update was too expensive.

-Ingrid had her tongue lengthened.

Best one liners and interactions:

• “Family Day is huge, so make sure that your angels get superstar results.” “Got it…how do I do that exactly?” “You yell at them with simple words because they’re stupid cows, and cows respond well to a good kicking.” (Lucy-Aleesha-Lucy)
• “Whose dick do I have to suck to get some chest hair around here?” (Dylan on still having the avatar of a child)
• “Millennials are so lame!” (Nevaeh to Viv when she hears a Millennial struggle with VR masks in the Horizen store)
• “You will become human before that woman ever does.” (Tinsley to the AI Guy, hugging him after Ingrid chastised him)