Last time we saw Takeshi Kovacs, he, along with, Quellcrist Falconer, and Trepp, managed to escape the Protectorate’s soldiers with a weapon from the sky. Now, Falconer is still unconscious, trying to fight whatever is trying to take her over, and they need to figure out who it is and how to get rid of it.
1. Harlan’s Hunt
According to Danica Harlan, the name of the weapon that Quellcrist Falconer unleashed on the soldiers hunting her is called “Angelfire,” and it’s a big deal. It is an elder weapon, so that would typically mean that no human could control it. However, after Falconer’s use of it, Harlan is set on capturing her. Harlan wants to harness its power and bring real death to anyone that questions her. She will also use it to put the Protectorate soldiers off of her back.
Everything that Harlan has done thus far on the show has been nothing but a power grab. I don’t know her long-term plans for the planet as much as I see her just doing stuff to impress the people and to seem stronger than she is. The idea of Harlan is much more appealing than the position itself because everything she has to do is something big. She seems to fail, then tries to bounce back quickly. Harlan is one-dimensional in her goals, and unlike Jaeger/Carrera, who has depth to him with his feelings towards Kovacs, she has no actual likable traits, just making her a target for a real death in the final episode.
2. The Firewall
Kovacs brings Falconer back to the hotel, and she’s still unconscious from losing control with whatever is sharing her stack. Dig and Poe make a plan that involves creating a VR construct to separate this extra person out of Falconer’s stack and then trapping it within a firewall. Kovacs agrees to go into the construct and a distraction and keep Falconer safe since it is still unknown what is happening to her. It quickly becomes an Inception-like world where this thing tries to trick Kovacs with some of his deepest family fantasies. I’m glad that he quickly sees right through it, and then they start to fight. He’s doing this mission for the solely to protect the woman that he loves, and this creature has an ulterior motive unknown to him. It finally comes down to whether he can handle the truth behind this crusade or not.
3. Carrera’s Mission
Colonel Carrera is locked up after Harlan found out he double-sleeved Kovacs, but also because she’s been waiting for any slippage to put him behind bars and out of her hair, but then she needs a favor. Harlan knows that Kovacs and Falconer are still out there and needs Carrera to find them. He couldn’t have cared less until he found out that Prime Kovacs (the one he cloned) survived the Angelfire attack. Carrera’s feelings towards Kovacs are complicated, to say the least, and with Prime, he feels like he had a second chance at having the soldier/son relationship he always wanted.
Using Prime’s tracker in Dig to find out about the VR construct, they decide to enter the construct to find Kovacs and his real-world position. Once inside, they’re in an area where it’s just the two of them, and they finally get to have a deep conversation about everything that’s transpired. Prime feels like Carrera did just leave Reileen to the wolves, so why should he continue to follow his command? And Carrera gets to admit that he cared for Kovacs and is upset about his wasted potential. It’s like watching them both pull each other’s teeth because of how difficult it is to say how they feel, but it’s good because, again, we get this level of depth for one of the antagonists that’s needed.
4. Trepp’s Family
During Danica Harlan’s hunt for answers on how a human can control Angelfire, she needs an archealogue for history on elder weapons and if there are any loopholes. The unknown character to have this past profession, Trepp’s wife Myka. While at a checkpoint, Myke and their son TJ are kidnapped by the governor’s people to gain the knowledge they seek. It’s also easy “motivation” with a bomb collar on the child. TJ manages to sneak away and call Trepp, who goes Mama Bear mode and decides to take Kovacs’ sleeve for a joyride because she knows he’ll be able to get into where the governor is keeping them. It’s a fun side story that helps put all the characters in play in this episode. Trepp has been gaining depth with her storyline development with her brother, but it’s also essential the writers keep going back to the family she’s made because it’s all she has and truly cares about. It’s a badass scene because she single-handly takes out all the governor’s soldiers and Harlan, but it’s known that she’s not dead, but it’s just fun to see her “die.”
5. Who Was Inside of Falconer?
This has been the driving force for most of the season but definitely in this episode, where it finally got answered. The idea that a human could control the orbital, aka Angelfire, was something unheard of, but it makes sense since the invader sharing Falconer’s stack is an alien species. It’s the original species on the planet before Konrad Harlan, and the rest of the founders landed. This species was slaughtered so they would not have to be reported as a surviving species to the Protectorate. This explains Falconer’s sleeve’s rage against the Founders and how it was never meant against Meths or the people in power. The true reason was against the people who not only killed an entire race but for covering it up all these years. Kovacs does have some empathy for the alien but not at the cost of Falconer, so they shut the firewall down, and Kovacs escapes. Falconer awakens fully in control of her sleeve and mind only to warn Kovacs that the alien’s rage was contained with her, and now that the alien has been separated, it will kill everyone.
