More compelling than the battle itself were the scenes between Monroe and Connor, as Monroe worked to convince Connor to kill him so that he could walk away and have the life that Monroe had messed up for himself. To make Connor willing to kill him, Monroe admitted that he was responsible for the death of Connor’s mother. I was impressed with the performances, as Mat Viaro (Connor) is proving himself as an actor and was able to hold his own against David Lyons (Monroe), who has a tendency to steal the scenes.
But the real story movement was with Aaron, Priscilla, and their friend, the artificial intelligence. The AI has adopted Cynthia’s appearance as the one most likely to resonate with Aaron, and tries to convince Aaron and Priscilla to help save it from a coding error they made 25 years ago. Priscilla doesn’t want to help because it’s too powerful, but Aaron makes the argument that they don’t have a choice. After it let Cynthia die, he’s not willing to lose Priscilla too. Aaron, however, is faking, plants a virus, and in a twist I didn’t see coming, wakes up amongst Mr. Roboto music in an apparently altered reality of 2014 where they never lost power. Ha! I’m hoping means the machine isn’t going down without more of a fight, because it would be very anticlimactic if that storyline was already over.
High Points
Aaron’s deceit of the AI was to me the strongest storyline in the episode. The pinnacle moment occurred when Priscilla threatened to not help, and the AI answered with the skies opening up in thunderous storms over the town. Nice creepy mood set in that moment.
Low Points
The Charlie mini-arc of being captured, dressed in lingerie so that she could be prostituted out, and then her predictable escape was gratuitous filler that would have been better left on the cutting room floor. The first half of the episode would have been stronger had she just earned Duncan’s respect in a more original way, convinced her to help Monroe, and then assisted in the rescue.Hottest Action
The most action-packed scene has to be the break out of Monroe and Connor from their Vegas fighting ring. This episode wasn’t as action-packed as some, but we did get some blood and death.Best Quotes
Cynthia/AI: “Save us.”Aaron: “No, not again.”
Neville: “And by the way, glad you finally got together with your sister in law. Thanksgiving get weird?
Miles: “God, you’re a dick.”
Pete: “Everything’s that happened to us for month has led us to this moment, so that we can save it.”
Aaron: “It’s a machine Pete, it’s not god.”
Pete: “It is better than god.”
Pete: “It answers our prayers. It heals. This is a new age. This is a new god.”
Monroe: “Just do me a favor. Find yourself a girl – not Charlie – have kids. Don’t be alone.”
Monroe (watching Charlie captured): “So much for that rescue.”
Charlie: “I just saved your life, bitch. You owe me.”
Miles: “Unbelievable. I mean your dad’s a soulless piece of crap, fine. But you? You’re working for these guys?”
Neville: “Now this is just getting silly.”
Miles: “You know in Mexico, they would just call this a stand off.”
Monroe: “Five? We could use three times as many.”
Duncan: "I think the words 'thank you' are what you’re looking for.”
Duncan: “They don’t take orders from you. They take orders from her. She’s the one I am. You’re not bad kid. You’re way better than he deserves.”
Monroe: “Well congratulations. You’re the new lead singer of the Village People.”
Aaron: “Screw fate. You make your own choices, right?” [followed by Mr. Roboto music]
