Loveday Writing

Now that the premiere has come and gone, the season can really get underway.

The episode kicks off with a teenage boy watching a news cast revealing that Freeyond has shut its doors permanently (effectively ending Nathan and Nora’s mission to take them down), and trying to find information about Ludds online. We then hear Nathan and Nora approach the house with the drive of Elijah Bennett. The teenage boy’s (Logan) parents are immediately hostile and threaten Nathan and Nora, only for Logan to stop them with a facemail from Elijah of his plan to upload. Nora then gives his mother the drive. The parents, Bill and Cheyenne, immediately apologise and invite Nathan and Nora (going by Ferdinand and Sally-Anne) to stay for dinner.

We then cut to the Horizen office, where Lucy reveals that the AI have outgrown line-by-line coding and they will be trained by Aleesha, who has been promoted to the Manager of AI training. In Lakeview, Ingrid calls for Tinsley and asks her if she copied Nathan. Tinsley tells her that she rebooted Nathan from a back-up copy of him saved a month earlier, which is why he is excited for Family Day. Ingrid blackmails Tinsley over it, as copying uploads is illegal. Meanwhile, Aleesha goes to Lakeview to tell Luke that he is being assigned another angel.

Back at Bill and Cheyenne’s house, they, Nathan, Nora, and Logan have dinner together, where discussion quickly turns to the Ludds and their allegedly violent streak. Nathan and Nora try and fail to educate them on the Ludds’ real nature. Nathan and Nora try to leave, but Bill and Cheyenne insist that they stay the night, albeit in separate rooms because they’re not married. Meanwhile, Aleesha tries to train the AI Guys in tone, but doesn’t get anywhere.

The next morning, Bill and Cheyenne put Nathan and Nora to work on their farm, milking their large mutant cow, Strawberry, that is not only full of milk but soft cheeses. Meanwhile, Ingrid tells the AI Guy about Nathan’s back-up copy as he’s doing her hair, and Aleesha discovers that Luke is replacing good memories of his time together with her and Nathan with episodes of Dragon Tales. When Aleesha finds out Luke is tripping on the Dragon Tales episodes, she replaces the memories with the originals, and Luke reassures her about her AI training.

Whilst Nathan and Nora are milking Strawberry, they end up having a cheese fight that starts off fun, but ends with Nathan getting angry and leaving. Back at Lakeview, Choak spots the back-up of Nathan walking around and confronts him about noticing him in the Choak Tower bathroom, but Backup Nathan has no idea what he’s talking about. Ingrid then appears, with short hair and dressed like Nora. Choak later asks Ivan about the scans degrading, telling him about seeing Nathan in the real world, but Ivan tells him Nathan hasn’t left and even makes Choak question his own lucidity.

Nathan and Nora make amends, with Nathan revealing he doesn’t like her keeping score and Nora revealing she is sensitive about her serving him, as she did so for the first year they knew each other. Nathan tells her that they are now equals. Nathan and Nora leave Bill and Cheyenne’s house, getting a ride on the back of a truck.

Back at Lakeview, Ingrid reveals to Nathan that she’s making changes to please him, but when he compliments her on who she is as a whole person – good and bad – she tells him the truth about her not being an upload and apologises for not being honest. Nathan tells her that he’s not mad as she’s glad that she’s still alive, and she agrees not to lie to him anymore. Ingrid then tells Tinsley to save the back-up copy.

Overall, this was a solid and relaxed second episode, exploring the next step of Nathan and Nora’s mission, which is returning the drives of those who uploaded through Freeyond, as well as Ingrid trying to start fresh with Nathan, only to end up telling him the truth, which results in a different outcome, due to the back-up being a different version of him. This episode showed growth in all three characters, with real Nathan and Nora working on their relationship and the changes coming with it, as well as Ingrid slowly becoming a better person by choosing to be honest instead of continuing the original lie that led to her becoming unhinged last season.

With the Backup Nathan being saved for good, it will be interesting to see where we go from here now that there are definitely two Nathans roaming around.

Stray Observations:

Episode title – the name of Bill and Cheyenne’s large mutant cow.

Running gag – Bill constantly calling Nathan different variations of ‘Ferdinand.’

-Some of the celebrity wardrobe collabs in Lakeview include: Snoop Diorg, Balenciaga Gaga, Comme de Fieri, and Bieber Reebok.

-The different tones that the word ‘okay’ can be said in, according to Aleesha: “fine,” “I have a question,” “I’m excited,” “I’m going along with it but I think you’re wrong,” “not okay,” “shit’s about to go down.”

-The different shades of blonde hair available in Lakeview: “Barbie,” “ice queen,” “I want to speak to the manager,” and “no, I will not lower my voice.”