Loveday Writing

The job of a season premiere is to establish new story arcs and subplots for the season, as well as expand on story arcs and subplots set up in the previous season’s finale. This premiere did its job perfectly.

The end of the second season left us with Nathan being downloaded and seemingly starting to die, Nathan and Nora finally getting together in the real world, Ingrid becoming completely unhinged, Nathan discovering that Choak had him killed, that Freeyond was established to sway political elections in favour of the rich, and Tinsley starting to restore Nathan from a back-up. This episode touches on all of this and more.

The episode kicks off with Nora dreaming about Nathan’s head exploding and then waking up in Ivan’s apartment, where Nathan is very much alive to her relief. Matteo then gives Nathan a burner phone for him to use and it’s clear as a day that he’s jealous and resentful over Nora choosing Nathan over him, which Nathan himself points out.

Meanwhile, back at Lakeview, Choak knocks on Nathan’s door, only to find Luke in his suite. Choak asks Luke where he is, but he doesn’t tell him, instead calling Nathan to warn him. Whilst Nathan is on the phone to Luke, Nora calls Aleesha to ask for her help, only for Aleesha to refuse as she feels used.  

Whilst Nathan and Nora walk in the park, Detective Sato, the Detective investigating Nathan’s murder in the previous season, approaches them. Nora tells him to investigate the connection between Choak and the assassin who tried to kill her, rather than the fact that Nathan is in the real world. Back at Horizen, Tinsley activates Nathan’s back-up, just as Ingrid leaves his suite, and when Nathan calls for her, it’s revealed that the back-up version of him only has memories up until the dinner party (which was held in season two’s second episode).

Later, Nathan and Nora sneak into Choak Tower disguised as cleaners to access Freeyond’s customer service department and computers, so he can access their code. He goes inside Freeyond itself, only to discover he can’t edit the code as it’s air gapped and he’ll need to edit it through the servers, which are in New Jersey. On their way out, they notice a meeting taking place where Choak is present, albeit via a hologram.

Meanwhile, Ingrid, in the real world, receives a call from NeckGen, letting her know that they got enough DNA from the hair strand she found in the previous season’s finale to create a clone of Nathan. Ingrid initially turns them down, however she starts to change her mind when she receives a call from Nathan unaware of what has happened between them and rushes to a VR suit store to get into Lakeview.

Back at Choak Tower, Nathan and Nora realise that the bosses of other upload companies, Horizen’s competitors, are in the meeting with Choak. When Nathan accidentally activates ambient noises, Choak spots him in the bathroom, and tells everyone that he wants trucks filled with drives and going to the server farm tonight, so more Freeyond stores can open immediately. The New York store opens with Viv in line and running into Mauricio, the man who gave her the tour of IR afterlives in the first season.

Nathan and Nora go back to Ivan’s apartment and discuss the fact that Choak is in bed with the upload companies who control Freeyond, which is the proof they need to take him down. However, Matteo counters that they don’t know for sure it’s true. Nathan sends the recording he and Nora took of the meeting to Detective Sato. Matteo convinces Nora to go with him to talk to the people waiting in line at Freeyond to stop them from uploading, and Ivan to go with Nathan to the server farm. When Ingrid returns to Nathan’s suite and hears his sweet words to her, she goes back to the real world briefly and tells NeckGen to grow the clone.

When Ivan and Nathan go to the Freeyond data farm, Nathan discovers that they only have one server, which is not enough storage for a digital afterlife. Meanwhile, Nora and Matteo witness Horizen staff disposing of the bodies of uploaded people into a garbage truck. Nathan also finds a Freeyond video blaming the Ludds for destroying Freeyond, Nathan realises that Freeyond doesn’t need to work, the upload companies just need to lose 10 million votes. Nathan releases the video as part of a press release, making it public. Viv and Mauricio see it before they are uploaded.

When Nora sees the video, she and Matteo rush in to the upload room. When they try and stop the staff, they walk towards them, only for Matteo to force them to leave at gunpoint. Nora and Matteo collect the drives left behind when Detective Sato arrives. While Nora convinces them to lower their guns, Sato shoots Matteo anyway. Nora texts Nathan to let him know about Sato before he takes her phone away from her.

Just as Sato is about to shoot Nora, she fires the upload machine on Sato, killing him, before Matteo dies in her arm. Nathan and Ivan arrive to pick up Nora and the duffel bag filled with drives, and they drive away before the police arrive.

Overall, this was a solid season premiere firing on all cylinders and establishing plenty of story arcs and subplots. The main story arc will of course involve taking down Freeyond, which was established in the previous season’s finale, but the premiere takes it one step further with the reveal that Choak and the other companies don’t need Freeyond to actually work, rather they need to just lose the votes. I appreciated the twist that Sato was corrupt and that Matteo ended up becoming collateral damage, further raising the stakes and brutality.

Other story arcs for the season include Nathan’s back-up roaming around and Ingrid deciding to have a clone made of him in the real world. It will be interesting to see where this goes.

I’m looking forward to reviewing the rest of the season and seeing where it takes us.

Stray Observations:

-Apparently, male avatars being able to experience pregnancy in Lakeview is a thing.

-Apparently, Luke and Nathan had a conversation about co-parenting together.

-Aleesha’s last name is Morrison-Downey.

-Luke is left-handed.

-Ingrid had a custom-made, sexy fisherwoman’s outfit in her closet that consisted of arseless waders.