#genlock s2

I think this is the best episode in the season so far. I really enjoyed the characterization in it. Let's get to it.

Cammie

Okay so it seems obvious that they're pulling a Rogue One situation. If this is meant to be the definitive end to the Gen:Lock story, alot of what happened before now makes alot of sense.

I absolutely LOVED Cammie's story. I don't think it had the time it needed to breathe, but for what it's worth they made it work. Given all that we've learned this season the progression of her character from moment to moment seemed very plausible to me. She summed it up pretty well with the idea that she needs an "us."

Here's my thing with the discourse from this week:

This person (who I'm anonymizing for obvious reasons) would be right if what the Union was planning on doing was "genociding humanity." Let's break it down.

The Union does not think they are genociding humanity. They think they are giving humanity a new home in the face of climate collapse. We can call it a lie or a fantasy, but so too follows for all religions because the Omnifaith is literally every religion. It's obviously not a 1-to-1 because the real world doesn't have magical glowy nanobots to yeet your body away, but like if we're willing to suspend your disbelief that far to separate these fictional circumstances from the real world ones, I just don't understand how a person could come to a conclusion as if they aren't.

There is already proof that they are not just murdering people. Gen:Lock as a concept is just temporarily killing yourself to pilot a mecha. It's why one can't "exceed uptime," if one does, their brain will literally be unable to revive their consciousness. They never explicitly say this but I think it's pretty clear. They are not just "falling asleep," their entire person is moving from place to place. And if all it took to "die" was uploading their consciousness into a digital framework, disregarding your body, Gen:Lock is a weaponized, repeated and voluntary suicide they've been participating in since Day 1. If anything Gen:Lock exceptuonalizes the concept, making martyrdom of it. I don't think there's too much here to there for Cammie, who helped develop the thing.

But okay fine. Fine. Maybe the Flow is worse because it's not reversible. There's no returning to your body when you ascend like in Gen:Lock. Two things: the flow literally brought Yaz back to life (although I don't know if she's aware of it), and Brother Tate -- who wholeheartedly believes in his message -- was brought to and fro as well. But even beyond that, Chase cannot return to his body. And moreover, he chose to be stuck in his bot brain forever. Does that mean Chase committed suicide? I think it's more complex than that.

And you might be asking "why doesn't the show just show what it is like in the Flow?" Because the Polity is based on science, which is a necessarily evidence based field. But in contrast to that, the Union is based on faith. Evidences of faith are not literal. It wouldn't be an interesting story if we just got to saw whether or not they were right or wrong. Showing all these people that believe in it is the evidence. But in case that wasn't enough there's alot more i.e. them actively developing it to be more sustainable.

I don't think the show is saying Cammie's suicide was a "good" thing. I'm not down for ascribing moral quality of any kind to suicide. But I don't think the show is glorifying, but the show's characters definitely are. I think the show is simply showing that Cammie did what felt right to her. Why she did what she did and the coercive qualities of the Omnifaith are all important in this conversation! And I think ultimately Cammie didn't even think she was committing suicide, or at the very least she wasn't in a place to acknowledge it. But I think this rough discourse is what makes her story work.

Other G:L

Chase please go to therapy.

Val please go to therapy.

The fact that Yaz mindshared Kazu's DEATH is soooooooooo interesting and should've been way more than just a "talk." Girl's been paid dust.

...oh yea Kazu yea I guess we don't care about him anymore lol

Polity

Marin's characterization this episode was absolutely flawless. Her little speech gave so much context to her as a character. I can finally get behind watching her now that I know. She's not paranoid or cold. She loves her nation and its people. But she values their lives over their choices, and that leads her down a dark path. She's just got a bad case of "tough love." I feel like I've met the exact type of person her character is hyperbolizing.

Union

Wash rinse repeat.

No Man's Land

The gays keep winning. I don't have much to say about Sinclair, but his conflict is nice. Even they struggle with helping others when it's at expense to themselves. I think what Chris says in response is the theme of the whole episode:

"You give people a choice. That's your third option. And she's made hers."

Conclusion

I'm so ready for this show to end. In both a "I wanna see where this is going" and a "if I have to look at one more discourse I'm gonna explode" kind of way. I'm excited for next week though, which is at least better than the last.