More extremely tedious sadism when the man in black cuts open his sidekick's throat and bleeds him to death by hanging him from a tree. The fact that the blood was used for a transfusion to revive another character could almost be an 'apology' but they're not trying very hard this time, even from a cynical standpoint. First, the man in black implies that he might have used a boy present on the scene for the transfusion (though we don't know what he's talking about at the time), but notes that he's too small. We're supposed to forget that 'clever' suggestion of extreme violence to the child when our curiosity as to what he was talking about is replaced by the violent throat-cutting scene. One violation is replaced by another (and, insultingly, we're supposed to think ourselves quite clever for predicting his sidekick's pending demise based on some hinting verbiage from the man in black). Then, after fetching water for the man in black, the boy is left to view with detachment the bloody corpse hanging from the tree; another conceit involving a child not caring much about seeing and being involved in extreme violence.
A 'game' is repeatedly made of the ingénue's nudity when her hair is placed lightly over her breasts to entice viewers to try to steal a glance of what lies underneath. This time her hand is examined like an object and a fake-looking form is included with her figure which is likewise presented as an object for examination. The viewer may need to want this to be a genuine exposé to accept it as true, and some measure of willingness to really scrutinize what's being shown on the screen is needed in order to challenge it. You'd have to resist the temptation to imagine her breaking out of her "modest little" loop. You'd have to have a question... a question you're not supposed to ask... which gives you an answer you're not supposed to know.
Spray-painted women are something to see. If your eyeballs are fixed on a screen while you're watching a movie or a show by a particular profucer, then you might see them. I've seen one before in Star Trek for instance, and I thought "That's stupid". They always just look like cheaply decorated throw-away woman-things.
In this episode, three nude throw-away woman-things cheaply spray-painted gold and artlessly directed to seem to think they're empowered by their own cognizance of their sex appeal are presented as a gift of gratitude by a gang boss who says, "Perhaps an evening of celebration's in order. Anything you desire". Having accepted this cheap gift, the recipient turns to an associate and says "You will be a true asset to our ranks" as the women turn around to walk away with the men. This is beyond stupid. It's stupid to the third degree for the varietal differentness of each of the three. The concept of diversity has a contrary application in this show.
The exceptionally stupid fool's gold scene is followed immediately by a scene at the facility where a black male robot insultingly named Art is required to pour a glass of whiskey while nude (incidentally, this is the first clearly shown full male nude after frequent full female nudity from the start). He's unable to complete this simple task with competence, spilling much of the whiskey over the glass onto the table, a shot of his groin showcasing how apparently well-endowed he is (his cup runneth over while remaining half empty, you might say) (I've been wanting to use both of those terms for a while - it's been a long time coming). What is this supposed to be? Untouchable. Who wants to risk insulting black men about something insulting a black man that 'apologetically' showcases a physical trait that is assumed to be a point of pride among black men? Consider it touched.
(And consider the contrary counterpart in the next episode touched as well)
(But I'll probably just touch it again, anyway)
(I can't help it)
In the next scene a male employee at the facility is presented with video of him sexually violating an unconscious female host. The video is meant for use as blackmail by a female employee who wants to see the remains of the host who bashed his own head in. The male employee's immediate response to seeing the video is extreme shock, as if he can hardly believe what he's seeing. That is the appropriate response, but I suspect that he's in the minority. Ironically, although it's one of the vilest depictions of violation in the show, it may not have the impact it should. Is it just that it's shown on a small tablet? People are basically accustomed to uncritically taking in what they see on the screen, especially the small screen they hold in their hand. Hours and hours (compounded to years and years) of simply just swiping and viewing over and over again remove executive function from the transaction; you might think you're in control and exercising a process of ascertainment and critical judgement, but the process you're doing is typically more on the order of simply seeing something until it wears off then moving on, impulsively. As the ingénue says when presented with a contemporary photo in episode one: "Doesn't look like anything to me."
An orgy scene would be the logical extreme of all the lead-up with escalating nudity and sex scenes, so that's what they do. At this point it's a tedious chore to write about it, talk about it, or even think about it. That's the point. These empty sensational things become exhausting fairly rapidly, so that the escalations must be carefully engineered to compensate for gradually diminishing response. Like a drug that pleasurably stimulates production of natural brain chemicals but ultimately leaves the body unable to produce them on its own, it's a seduction followed rapidly by a betrayal that hollows out a part of you and leaves you pathetically dependent, dull, frustrated, and unable to focus on real matters. The only remedy is to discontinue it and allow for a period of boredom while you recover functionality and find other interests (or other shows, other channels, other networks). Eventually you regain your natural responses so that the simpler expressions become interesting again, both in entertainment and in real life, and you start to look forward to different things.
The orgy scene is followed by the fateful moment when the ingénue who formerly "wouldn't harm a living thing" and couldn't fire a pistol guns down several corrupt ex-soldiers. This could be a sort of awakening for the character, and it could be an 'apology' for the orgy scene; a move to something meant to be equally as meaningful as the orgy scene is meaningless. It doesn't feel as meaningful as I think it's intended to be though. There's not much spiritual awakening to be found in a revolver, the ingénue just looks like she's flipped a switch and is now operating by a new program that's still not independently generated, and the orgy scene isn't forgotten - it's not actually meant to be.
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