Alright after some reflecting, rewatching the episode with a friend, and scrolling through twitter, i feel a lil better about the episode !
But i do have a few things that's been bugging me that I wish didn't make things way more confusing than it already is
I'll be mentioning TPOT 23 spoilers under the cut so be warned:
I'm gonna go in a little bit of a tangent here but I'll basically be talking about Fifteen's death, what death actually means to the Algebraliens specifically, and why Three hasn't been fixed yet for how many years.
So firstly, the main things that's been bugging me for this episode was Fifteen's sudden death.
Girl finally got to star in an episode for the first time ever since she appeared in the subcount specials and then dies in the very same episode.
And what bothers me the most was how the zeroes,, barely had a reaction?? I mean, they did look terrified in the background but the one zero in particular was brushing it off like it was just something that just. Happens.
From what's been established so far, the Whole reason why the algebraliens split up and sealed One away was because of what she did to Three. That Three DIED. At that time, recovery wasn't even a thing for them so of course it was traumatizing, even worse so when One attempts it and brings back Three wrong.
And its making me wonder like, what's the difference between Three and Fifteen's deaths? What make's Three's death so impactful that Fifteen's was just, wasn't?
Both of them got disintegrated and killed, and both of them were witnessed by others who probably don't even know that recovery is even possible. So why was the usual BFDI logic applied to Fifteen's death when the Zeroes probably don't have the knowledge that recovery was even possible?
You're probably saying "But wait! At this point in time, Four was able to recover X multiple times before! So recovery for Algebraliens is possible!"
Right but the question is, do the Zeroes know that? Does anyone back on their Algebralien planet even know that they could recover anyone at all? What about Seven, Eight, or any of the others who went on their own to live on their different respective planets, did they ever tinker with the idea that a successful recovery for an algebralien is possible with their powers?
So far, the only kind of recovery that's been demonstrated thats possible for Algebraliens is the use of their powers, so it's not like they have any recovery centers that works for them on their planet.
Right now the only person who has shown to be the most capable of recovering both algebraliens and objects at the same time is Four.
Did Four visit the Zeroes and Fifteen and told them about recovery? I would think not, with how he basically treated Two like a stranger in TPOT 21, which proved that he and X completely disconnected with their past along with everyone who was involved in it.
(I was gonna make another point here but i think i'll save that for another post cuz it honestly opened a whole nother rabbit hole that I'm personally confused about too)
So like, what gives?
With all this being said, it's clear that only Four is insane enough to experiment with the idea of trying to properly recover people, seeing as how easily he recovers X. I think that at some point in time, Four had to use X as some experiment by killing him and trying to successfully recover him in an attempt to do the same for Three. Whether that'd be because Four asked X or if X volunteered himself, we don't know, but what happens is the same. Four kills X, and makes attempt after attempt to try and bring him back to normal. This might've been a painful process for Four as it did involve someone he considers as his closest, which would probably even be one of the reasons why he's so desensitized about death and recovery currently, or even treat X being killed in BFB presplit so casually.
But anyway, i'm sure at some point he had gained mastery over recovering people after doing so successfully with X, and tries to do the same with Three. But from what we've seen in the current episode, it doesn't seem like Three wants anything to do with Four or any of the others.
With the behavours she's displayed, she's definitely developed a distrust towards Four or any of the others after what happened that day. She was killed, then brought back wrong and doesn't even have the right value. But before any of that happened, when Three was trying to reason with One, no one stepped up to help her. Not a single one of her friends, all they did was stand by and watch it happen.
Sure, they helped her when she got brought back, but it was already too late. The damage has been done, and nothing could take back what Three had to experience that day.
So when Four probably proposes to Three of being able to fix her, she refuses. Because to fix her, it had to require killing her again to recover her properly. Like imagine someone telling that in order to fix you, you had to die and trust that you'll be brought back. With that idea, Three probably didn't want to take any chances. Her current form has probably twisted her thoughts to lose trust in her friends and thus, probably had to become hostile towards Four to keep him away from her.
It's probably the whole reason why she stayed in a jailcell for 16 years.
So yea uhm. That was a huuugee tangent but i wanted to get this out. It felt so interesting to me how at first i was thinking of Fifteen's death, then it spiraled into this interesting conversation. I still don't understand the Fifteen and Three comparison thing, but i just hope that in future episodes, they'd show the perspective of the Zeroes n all or if Fifteen would even be brought back. We'll see!