Reign of Winter
Chanda is stuck in an infinite loop of work because he doesn’t remember any of it. He also receives a call from his mother, which incentivizes him to work harder. He manages to write 80 pages in 12 seconds but in reality, it’s been 12 days for him.
Ajit is the head of India’s largest telecom empire, and he’s clearly stolen this tech. He’s grinning as he sees his plan come together, and he seems to be taking great pleasure in seeing how his company can take advantage of this new technology.
Chanda is haunted by a strange entity that seems to be more of the “Casper” variety. It grabs Chanda and turns him toward the monitor, where footage of Chanda’s brain surgery is shown off in all its gnarly glory. ..
These spirits are those poor souls from the slums who had similar experiments done to them. ..
Maddie and David end up playing Reign of Winter together. The game has come a long way, and now has full VR integration. Although Maddie has embraced the idea of her father returning, Ellen is far less accepting of David and she’s not even sure if he really exists.
David causes a strange shockwave inside the game, destroying another party of gamers. This also gets across to Logorhythms too, but as they can’t track the source right now (the program isn’t finished, apparently) they decide to send it across to the lab for analysis.
Maddie decides to parent trap David and Ellen, wanting them to talk through their problems. But it doesn’t work. When Maddie tries to set up a dinner date for the pair, they reject the idea. It doesn’t help that Gabe is involved with another person that night. While visiting him, a jealous David starts messing about with the electrics to ruin their date.
Ellen finally embraces the idea of talking to David, and she does so by connecting with him in VR. She tells him to let her move on and not interfere with her new life. David admits that he loves her and Maddie, and this love is what he is. It’s also the reason he’s still moving. “I can’t be your wife. But we can keep talking. And maybe, we can both keep moving.” Ellen concedes.
It’s a really mature and smart way to round out these two characters, and Maddie is upset that they’re not getting back together after all.
Caspian continues to look into Uploaded Intelligence (UI), believing that Halstrom and Logorhythms have been at this since 2001. His “mum” Renee tries to dissuade him away but she’s clearly rattled. Now, it turns out Renee and Halstrom were actually sexually involved with one another in the past.
Caspian is an incredibly smart dog, as we know, and he has written a script to search for redacted locations on Google Earth, including cached images. Cross-referencing this with Logorhythm’s donations to Ocean Fund, it leads him on the right path. In fact, he notices images of the construction of their base. Despite the engineers changing the pictures on Caspian’s computer, it’s not enough to dissuade him. ..
However, the big moment that Cary and Renee have been planning for does not happen. Cary buys a hammer and prepares to smash it into Renee’s arm but he can’t do it. Instead, she does it herself and when Caspian shows, he beats Cary up to a pulp. ..
Cary leaves the house for the debrief, but it’s clear that it’s affecting him. He tells his boss, Pope, that he’ll miss the kid and Caspian takes a chance with Hannah in the parking lot. ..
Pope rejects an offer to join together with Ajit, a Hindu priest, in a discussion about his work.
Chanda is shown going about his work day, stuck in a digital hell. He has a newfound knowledge of what’s happening, and what this means for the future. ..
The Episode Review
The episode was well-done and I enjoyed the way it combined the stories of our three protagonists. The mature way David Kim and Ellen’s relationship is explored, juxtaposed against Maddie’s innocence and belief they can just patch up their differences and get together again, is a really nice way of showing there is no quick fix when it comes to problems in marriages. And of course, Ellen has moved on and that only complicates matters further.
Chanda’s repeated day is a digital nightmare, forced to work on some sort of program for Ajit, who happens to be in charge of India’s top telecoms company.
We have Caspian, the latest addition to the Star Wars galaxy. His story is intriguing and it’s unclear what he’s being prepared for. Whatever it is, it’s bound to be big.
