#genlock miranda

Hahahahahahahahahaaaaaaa YES. What a finale! What. A. Finale! I refuse to get over this what a freaking redemption arc this show had. Thoughts in semi-chronological order because I can't be bothered to structure my excitement.

Yaz! Yaz character development! Yes!!!! She said things! She *did* things!!!

I VERY much like the route they've gone with our heroes. This is such a thoughtful reimagining/interpretation of the G:L technology from season 1.

Oh poor Henry....

I really appreciate how they did not try to play to both sides in this series. They did not "meet in the middle," so to speak. Yes both sides had valuable input to the overall good outcome, but as Dri said: Sinclair gives people a choice to make. That's the third option.

Speaking of, Sinclair knocked it out the park this episode. I appreciate that he doesn't hesitate to do what needs to be done, even if what he did kinda....messed things up. All of the characters' actions this episode felt so...in character.

Marin's death was tragic in that she actually had good reason to keep those Holons alive. She made her choices, and in the end it didn't matter, but she did what she felt was right until the end of it all. I appreciated that. Also her final scene with Holcroft while Sinclair is mercing her command central was hilariously timed and also really well written.

Holcroft suuuuuuucks. I mean we knew that but he suuuuuuuuuuuuuucks.

Dr. Jha??? Queen. Royalty of the highest order. Absolute monarch. The reigning champ. "You don't have the grace to be a martyr." !!!!!! None of you can touch.

HE RECLAIMED THE NEMESI! THE SCENE REVERSAL OMG

GIANT MAGICAL GIRL MECHA???????? GIANT MAGICAL GIRL MECHA??????????????????????

Odin looks uggo I'm so sorry. Did he need toes??

Despite the fact that Brother Tate was the world's largest cult leader/technological innovator (kersplat) he was really right about some things (still went kersplat).

Val x Yaz? Are we all getting the vibes? Just me?

I've seen alot of complaints about this show not doing anything to address climate change and instead opting for a digital solution to all their problems but there's two things to remember here:

Season 2 introduces Earth to be already "beyond saving (which I think the show bucks a little bit but I'll get there). The world is not being "threatened" by climate disaster. This is dystopia.

The nano can be injured, and it survives by eating organic matter, so even if everyone is uploaded with Un:Lock, I think the answer to their problems will be a little more complicated than just letting the planet die. But if this season has taught me anything it is that people will, without a doubt, come up with the least favorable interpretations of things they do not like possible. We've all been guilty of it. But I'm so glad I kept warm by this dumpster fire. I never wanted it to be perfect. I just wanted it to be authentic. And personally I think that despite the numerous gaping potholes in the road? These writers? The animators? This team of individuals, they got there.

There truly is something spiritual about the process of becoming the nano. Chase's resurrection is one of this show's most impactful scenes. He is G:L tech. He is Twilight. He is everything. But most importantly, he is real. And he does not "earn" ascension through suffering, like Brother Tate or even Weller believed. He received it through love, and acceptance, and commitment. And I mean, for as much grimdark this show went through, that's a truly hopeful message.

I said it at the start of these reviews and I'll say it again: I'm glad this show exists. It should not exist lol. But I'M GLAD that it does. Thanks for reading.

Final Ranking: 10/10

you only live but once

LOVED this episode. Very needed. I finally feel like this story is going somewhere. Let's get into it.

There's finally enough on every front to to divide sections into plotlines instead of characters!!

Gen:Lock Team

YES. YES. YES. YES. YES. Everyone is going through it still, but I love the way it is being presented in this episode as a loss of boundaries. Delicious content. The ways it manifests range from funny to depressing, sometimes even both. I really like the example where Chase walks in on his ex doing the naughties because he's literally got door knocking trauma now. Absolutely hilarious. There's also hologram discrimination now? I mean Chase is the only living hologram there is. I guess it only really applies to him. The entire universe is gaslighting him.

I appreciate the fact that Yaz is now getting some more time to develop. She's been vulnerable about her position, but I don't think she can bear anyone else committing the world's most cynical suicide, which I think makes Cammie in this chapter suuuper interesting.

Of course she just wants to know more about the tech. Of course she's curious about how it works and how people live when they're not lonely. In many ways the mind-share is just Cammie's way of coping (also no more nightmares). Her inability to stand alone is an issue that's been foreshadowed since the very beginning. I appreciate this direction. She's been trying to develop the G:L program to look exactly like the Union's Nirvana in a sense. But the space she refuses to provide anyone else is beggining to cause...problems, speaking of which:

KAZU. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. All of the privacy he wants, all the things his subconscious has been burying? He can't do that on the cloud. All of his thoughts are everyone else's. But I'm obsessed with the fact he put on a robe in a dreamscape instead of like...actual clothes. Hilarious.

Val doesn't have much outside of Kazu, but what he gets is still cute.

Migas is gay. Sorry. He is.

Polity

Marin is a ❤️piece of garbage❤️ . Also, again, nothing in G:L has good security like this is sad. Also also, are the other Chase's not on the G:L network anymore? Also also also, these new Holons still have no reason to exist. I still don't know what the point of them is. Also also also also, does anyone know Leon is dead yet?

Miranda is great in this episode. She's such a realist it hurts. It's not necessarily a mindset bred from logicality either. Everything she does: the promotion within her ranks (can she really, just do that???), the passionless sex with Jodie, all of it is just her taking a deeply cynical control over her reality in order to keep moving forward. Just because she's not angry at Chase anymore doesn't mean she's over him. He's everywhere. She literally can't escape him. And ironically enough, Chase wanted Miranda to be his escape. She's still the first he went to with new info. Still where he goes when he can't be alone. They both want to move on, and they want to do so separately, but they can't. At the very least, they don't know how. Boundaries!!

Union

Who is giving Brother Tate this information about the Mars thing??? I can't side with the Union, obviously. But their motives are as pure as they are...bad, and I think that's what I really like about them.

Also I'm still unendingly grateful that this faith has some merit to it.

The Proletariat

A TERRIBLE name. What does this have to do with Marxism? I mean in opposition to the Polity, I guess (I truly cannot stand capitalism Holcroft makes me SICK), but I don't see Sinclair's faction as the working class at all. He is destroying the two party system at least, as he should. Although, I don't know why exactly helping people escape the warzone is something neither party likes. Like what exactly is wrong with that in the eyes of Brother Tate or Marin?

Also, if not the Anvil, where is the base of operations? Is it just RTASA? I mean I'm fine with that, I guess.

Other

World building on TEN in this episode Las Vegas is so cool and terrible.

"I hear Australia still has trees" wow.

Sinclair's lil grappling hook thingie is so much fun.

The sex scene wasn't that bad -- or at least not offensively so -- and it's now all anyone is talking about and that angers me because the schadenfreude is drowning out actual discussion of the merit of this show as a show and not "what HBO did to it." Like I can both hate a corporation over a show and still have respect for the artists' direction. It doesn't have to be the same. If I don't like the direction on its most basic level (like the literal content rating) then the show doesn't have and never will have anything to offer me. Making such a fuss about cookies I want to be cake is beneficial to none and detrimental to everyone trying to actually engage with the thing. I'm generalizing here but it's the common sentiment I see reflected in G:L spaces and it's tired.

Meh. I'm meh on this one. I don't even think it's worth a full post honestly but here I go. Spoilers ahead:

Val and Kazu

I appreciate them for really going the distance this episode with these two. Gender is WEIRD, especially in digital space, and it's super wrapped up in societal expectations and child rearing, and the exploration of gender presentation under that lens as well as the psychological is cool, albeit clunky. But somehow, the surrounding conversation (on the 280-character-post website so I guess it isn't that much of a surprise) has less space than the show for this topic.

Oh he's dead? Uhhhhhhhh well??? I don't think Kazu's (ambiguous) identity takes precedent over his story, but I also don't particularly like his story? So uhm. I think I've already explained my misgivings with the attitude of a portion of this show's remaining audience, but there's some points to be made about the handling of this.

Chase

Oh he needs therapy BAD.

Miranda & Marin

I have literally no clue where this girl's character is headed.

Union

Same sentiments as before, really.

Final Thoughts

This show's micro pacing is just EVERYWHERE. You can tell that these are COMIC writers. This season does not understand timing in the slightest. The fighting was boring, the Kazu death came out of nowhere, and while I think I understand what they were trying to say about "vulnerability" being a struggle, this chapter didn't have the gravitas nor artistry of the past two episodes to make that work.

This chapter made me feel burnt out, mostly. Maybe next week can renew my interest.

Final Rank: 5/10