Review: gen:LOCK “It Never Rains…”

Raindrops keep falling on my head…

OVERVIEW (SPOILERS)

As Team gen:LOCK hides out in the rain (hey, this episode’s a phony!), Cammie tries cracking how the Union was able to track them back to their base. But the reason becomes clear soon, as taunting by Nemesis reveals to them that, due to his connection to their network, he’s able to track them whenever they’re uploaded to their Holons. This forces Chase to stow his mech away, leaving them defenseless, but safe…for now. And even then, they’ve got no base to go back to, no allies to trust, and Weller, the only one who knew the ins and outs of the only edge they have left, is dead. Or at least MOSTLY dead, as his usually silent man-droid Caliban activates to show a last recording of the good doctor, giving them a sad goodbye (even though I’m still pretty sure he isn’t dead), as well as a possible place of refuge: the Rogue Technologies Aeronautics and Space Administration, or RTAASA.

Once they touch down at the facility, they’re greeted by Henry, one of the scientists they rescued a few episodes ago, and are introduced to Dr. Fatima Ja, Weller’s (ex?)wife, and Marc Holcraft, head of RTAASA. Holcroft gives the pilots a safe haven to recover and, eventually rejoin the fight with newly upgraded weapons and armor for their Holons. Their mission: retrieve or destroy Nemesis.

OUR TAKE

This is very much the Dark Night of the Soul of this season, but it practically feels like the start of a new season.  As I mentioned before, losing the Anvil base and the Vanguard really wasn’t that much of a loss considering what little time we were there and how little we got to know anyone, which also leads me to believe that no one with a name is actually dead, including Weller. But with this new detail about Caliban, who still uses David Tennant’s voice and some of Weller’s mannerisms, but more stunted and robotic. Almost as if they wanted to the one main cast actor who was actually good at voice acting to stop outshining the rest of them! But it does give me doubts about Weller’s survival. I guess we’ll have to wait to find out what happened by the end of the season to be sure, it’s just kinda confusing what they’re doing.

Equally confusing is the relationship between Chase and his Nemesis, who get a short but somewhat meaningful conversation this week. Nemesis mocks Chase for what is likely his own anxieties about his current situation, whether he can dream or sleep or cry and if the lack of those things makes him human. The problem with that is I have no idea what the end goal is for bringing this up other than maybe provoking him into giving their location. And even then, what exactly does Nemesis want? Surely not his old body, which is just as useless as when he left it, but then…what else? Is that what happens when you join the Union? You just become really vague about your motivations so that no one can say you’re contradicting yourself?

Then there are the new Holon upgrades, which I guess is just a pet peeve of mine, but I really think the show should have only done minor modifications over time. We only just got their custom weapons two episodes ago and Cammie, Val, and Kazu only got their initial armor the week before that, so why are we suddenly giving them these massive overhauls this soon? This may not apply to every show but, ideally, upgrades in mecha shows should really only occur to reflect some significant development or milestone in growth, not handed out like party favors at the earliest convenience. And given how little the pilots have either grown or changed because of this conflict, I really doubt they’ve earned these.

I don’t have a ton to say on these new characters, even though one is played by Rooster Teeth CEO and voice of Sarge and Doc from RVB, Matt Hullum. Mainly because I didn’t really have much of anything to say about most of the other non-Holon pilot characters, so these guys are just as many ciphers to me. But Henry really stops it with the jazz hands.

Next week’s the finale, and I, unfortunately, can’t really bring myself to feel hyped. This episode certainly introduced some more interesting ideas that I would love to see further implemented, but it’s further hampered by the increasing annoyances I’ve had with this series since the beginning. Bring on the final battle, I guess.