Loveday Writing

The job of a penultimate episode is to act as a springboard for the season (and in this case, series) finale. Whilst it was rushed, this penultimate episode provided some decent springboards for the finale.

The episode kicks off with Real Nathan’s captivity and torture at the hands of Horizen being shown, with the reveal that Horizen’s new MRI technology that they are testing, to see whether uploading without the loss of a human’s head can work, is being tested on him. They have scanned him, uploaded him and downloaded the scan back into his body, repeatedly, and he is losing memories as a result. When the Horizen employees realise that Backup Nathan is on his honeymoon with Ingrid in Apple Cove, where they are uploading scans of Real Nathan, they can’t go any further. Ingrid later tells Aleesha that the Apple Cove AI have been odd around Backup Nathan, as if they’ve seen him before, which leads to her and Nora realising that’s where Real Nathan is being uploaded.

Aleesha and Nora plan to go to the Elysium Spa to save Real Nathan, with the plan to exchange him for David Choak’s hard drive, which Ingrid has been hiding in her underwear drawer. When Aleesha, Nora and Ivan go to the Spa, Nora decides to have a body scan to scope out the place and find Real Nathan.

Meanwhile, as the Horizen staff leave for lunch, leaving long-suffering but kind employee, Dennis, with Real Nathan, they bond over his memories of Nora, some of which have been corrupted due to Horizen’s experiments on him. Dennis fixes the memories to make them clearer and he admits that he has never been in love or lived life, and expresses his admiration for Real Nathan’s ability to take risks. Real Nathan tells him that none of the risks he took mattered until he met Nora. He asks Dennis to save his memories of Nora, and Dennis saves them on a ring drive that he took from Scan 2, so they should be clear. Dennis then sets him free and locks himself in the machine in his place.

Meanwhile Nora wanders the hall and finds Oliver Kannerman in one of the treatment rooms, walking in and just missing Real Nathan wandering the halls himself. Nora uses the machine giving Oliver a stem cell infusion and teeth whitening against him, to demand he meet her for an exchange at the wooden bridge on Route 9. She then leaves him in the machine to suffer.

Meanwhile, during their honeymoon, Backup Nathan notices that Ingrid is in pain from constantly lying in the bathtub in the hug suit. Wanting to enjoy their honeymoon in real life, Backup Nathan arranges for a Ride Gerbil to pick Ingrid up and take her to the beach, which she appreciates and enjoys, sending him a selfie as he is on the beach in Apple Cove. AI Guy and Luke then forcefully take him back to the Grey Zone, at Nora’s request, thinking that he is the Real Nathan.

Aleesha, Nora and Ivan meet at the wooden bridge. Aleesha tells Nora that she called the police, but Nora doesn’t want to wait for them as they’ve turned on her before (referencing Real Nathan’s arrest at the end of the previous season). Nora gives Oliver and his men Choak’s hard drive, and they provide her with “Real Nathan,” only it’s revealed that it’s one of his men pretending to be him, when Choak’s drive is switched on and he tells his men about Aleesha, Nora and Ivan and demands they detain them. The police arrive, and one of Kannerman’s cronies throws Choak’s hard drive into the forest. They are all arrested, with Babatunde showing up, revealed to be a police officer, telling Oliver to give him everything he knows on Choak and the Upload Council. Oliver asks what’s in it for him and Babatunde tells him he can send him on a long “scuba diving trip.” Oliver refuses and is taken away. Aleesha, Ivan and Nora walk away and go home.

Meanwhile, the AI Guy has a subplot of his own throughout the episode. We’re introduced to the Black-Haired, Executive Level, AI Bartender when Aleesha and JB are having drinks at the Executive Level bar in Lakeview. JB wants the AI to only serve Horizen and make profits, not the uploads, and the Black-Haired AI Bartender agrees with him. Throughout the episode, it’s revealed that the Black-Haired AI Bartender is absorbing the other AI Guys.

The episode ends with Real Nathan finding the van that Kannerman’s men left behind in the forest and driving off in it, running over Choak’s hard drive in the process. Shortly after Aleesha, Ivan and Nora return home, with a defeated Nora going to her room to retreat to her VR goggles, Real Nathan arrives, asking Aleesha if Nora is home.

As I mentioned in the beginning of this review, for a penultimate episode for not only a season but a series, I felt it was a bit rushed. Real Nathan being set free by a kind and compassionate Horizen employee was a little too convenient, Babatunde being a police officer was a good but unsurprising twist, and I appreciated that Choak’s comeuppance and demise ultimately came through Real Nathan’s unwitting hand, especially as Choak was complicit in his murder. It was a good full circle closure to the series-long story arc.

I also appreciated the AI Guy subplot, especially with their development over the last season or so, an AI Guy going rogue was a subplot that the series has explored in multiple ways throughout the show, however I believe this is the first time the writers have explored the possibility of it becoming sentient and borderline evil.

I’m looking forward to seeing how the finale uses the springboards of Real Nathan and Nora reuniting, and the Executive Level AI Bartender absorbing the other AI Guys and becoming evil. I’m also looking forward to seeing how the finale will bring the show to a (hopefully) satisfying close.

Best one liners and interactions:

• “Hey girl, what you’re doing, grieving and stuff?” (Luke to Nora on the phone)