So Aneela is back -
and everyone’s not super ok about that as D’avin and Johnny hurry her onto Lucy
to answer questions and make it clear that they’re super not happy with her
given the number of people she’s stabbed and all.
There she reminds
them that body swapping is totally something you can do - Khlyen and D’avin did
it last season. She also tells us what the Green is - well she mentions lots of
woo woo but ultimately the green is a big repository of memory: a big
transdimensional space where nothing is forgotten and everything exists. So
kind of like a giant Wayback machine
No this doesn’t
explain the super healy Hullen - but that’s nothing to do with the Green,
that’s just The Lady’s shenanigans. She has a plan, she and D’avin go in, they
grab Dutch and D’avin uses his strange Anti-hullen woo granted by the military
experiments on him and when she’s stunned they leave.
Johnny insists he
wants to come as well and Aneela warns him that since the Green is a big sea of
memory, The Lady can use your worst moments, your memories against you and the
more you care the more it’ll hurt. Since Johnny is a big ol’ carebear, this
isn’t ideal. It’s also why Aneela wants to know nothing about her son Jaq - if
you care about someone it can be used against you.
Of course Johnny
insists so it’s off to the RAC and the pool of green. Which is a problem
because Turin knows who Aneela is and has HUGE issues with all the people she’s
killed, people he cares about and is prepared to shoot her in the face. And
after the death of Pip Zeph doesn’t want to see anyone with Dutch’s face
But Aneela talks
woo-woo and science with Zeph, intriguing her and eventually D’avin gives Turin
the Green killing spore to reassure him he has options - but first they need to
rescue Dutch,
To the Green!
In the Green Dutch
and Aneela meet up to talk about a box Khlyen left for Dutch to give Aneela and
I’m not even sure what is going on here because the layers are just confusing.
Everyone quickly
enters their own hellscape as the Lady throws all their worst memories against
them. Dutch and D’avin manage to meet up and they have to pull Johnny away from
a heartbreaking scene with Pawter where Johnny tragically asks them to stop him
turning round to look at the fake Pawter. Ouch
However when the Lady
throws fake goons at them so she can talk to Aneela, D’avin points out since
this is all their memory they can easily access memories of the various
armouries they’ve been in - and fight back with big guns. Until D’avin pulls
out his super power which is very very effective.
The Lady is trying to
convert Aneela - which she, probably rightly, puts down to the Lady knowing
she’s under threat. The Lady explains she was the last of her ancient species
(a species driven to conquer and control the universe) and she just wants to
keep on living. A reasonable suggestion except as Aneela points out - all
things live, all things die. It’s how it works. The Lady tries to point out
Aneela’s own 300 year life span but that has no traction - Aneela never chose
this unnatural longevity
The Lady also is
intrigued about this special connection humans have with their emotions, their
connections with each other rather than just instinct. She talks round it but I
think we’re having a full Power of Love thing going on here.
Using that the Lady
has another offer - Aneela can have her family. Her and Jaq and Delle Sayah…
and this gets traction. She agrees much to the horror of Dutch & co when
they arrive. But Aneela leaves a clue - the location where Dutch has been
before, where Dutch meet Yelena, Aneela’s mother. And where Dutch found the
Green killing spore
And, as we’ve established, the Green is a place of memory where everything exists, she uses that memory to extract the spore and use it. The Lady was not expecting that at all and seems to have some consternation as Aneela turns on her and starts to fight her.
It looks like she’s
winning - but when Dutch & co arrive so they can all run to the exit again,
the Lady has pulled a fast one. Aneela is left with a ghostly Khlyen while
everyone else tries to escape with the Lady.
While this is going on there’s a plague in Westerley - people are getting sick, including Pree and anyone who had contact with the rescued kids. Zeph swings into action doing everything she can to try and heal people, with Pree there helping as guinea pig and having some beautiful advice and wisdom for her on how to deal with Pip’s death. It’s awesome, but then it’s Pree.
The plague is
unnatural, progresses at a ridiculous rate and is super infectious. So Turin
appeals to the Nine for supplies and they turn up from their holes to remind
everyone that they are Completely The Utter Worst and plan to nuke Westerley
and kill everyone on it. The Worst.
Of course Zeph saves
the day and finds a cure - but it comes with a side order of Amnesia. With
parents not remembering their children - and Pree not remembering Garod
Which would be more
of a problem, I think, if, as soon as the Lady Escapes the Green, everyone
loses their memory. They’re all living in an alternate world where Johnny and
Dutch are married (aaargh, this is like watching two siblings together!) D’avin
is a killjoy looking for Jaq and everything is just wrong
As the Lady voice
overs in a creepy little girl voice: memory isn’t just where you’ve been it’s
what you are. And she controls that
Which is an ominous lead into the next season. Obviously I do want a lot from the next season in so many ways - but I do hope they will touch on what destroying the Green means not just the Lady. I mean if it’s the repository of all the memories in the world, that has to have consequences when destroyed.
I liked this season a
lot but, perhaps, not as much as previous seasons. I think it just got a little
too… serious? The fun swashbuckling joy is not there in quite as much degree.
It’s all a little more heavy - which makes for a good (albeit often confusing)
story but it’s just a little less fun
We do have a cast of
excellent characters who bounce off each other well, but not only do we have
great witty raport, some awesome snark but we handle a lot of other things well
- like redemption. Or not. There are terrible characters they have to work with
- like Aneela and Delle Saya - and though we’re working with them no-one
pretends they’re not awful. We have characters exploring trauma like Zeph and
Dutch and even D’avin and Johnny with their father - but it’s explored through
the story and their characters not from over the top melodrama that consumes
the storyline.
We also have a richly
diverse cast - Dutch is a Black woman as, of course, is Aneela who is also
bisexual and with Delle Sayah, another bisexual woman of colour. We have Pree
and Garod given much more prominent roles: Pree a man of colour and both of
them bisexual (given their time with a female sex worker). I wouldn’t say
either are MAJOR characters but their relationship and sexuality is open unlike
previous seasons AND they’re definitely more than the ascended extras of
previous seasons (alas, Fancy and Weej remained as that). This really is one of
the most diverse shows we have. And I’m also glad that Dutch found a level with
Aneela, even some respect with Delle Saya and with Zeph since if I had any
criticism on representation it was how Dutch moved in such a male world.
