#they're gonna be afraid to draw them chibi I just know it

[pain-in-the-butler]

moments they had better not exclude from Book of Book Learnin'

[your-dar-ling]

Gen:Lock S2:1 Re(cap/view)

There's SO MUCH happening SLOW DOWN. God the pacing is BREAKNECK. They clearly have alot of ground to cover but this episode did it so heavyhandedly. I think the story is interesting but the question is ultimately if they have the time to tell it. But let's just start:

CHASE

MBJs voice acting is better but it's undercut by every single scene of this episode being on TEN with everyone screaming and fighting.

Chase is still afraid of mind sharing, probably even more afraid than before, to be honest. He says he's willing to die for this cause, but he's still 100% afraid of the ego death that continues to threaten him. There's even less escape from this fear now, because he's trapped in his own head. I want him to cry, but he literally can't.

His brand of cynicism is so patriotic. He and Kazu have alot in common in that regard, and ironically its what makes them bump heads. Speaking of:

KAZU

Gonna be honest, if it weren't for the implication that this came from a war propagandist TV show, Kazu's dialogue would make me want to launch myself into the ether. God they're laying everything on thick. These writers clearly know what they want to do, alot of them have worked in comics, but I feel like I'm reading a comic while watching it. What I mean is every single scene is just a drawing, a single unambiguous statement. And your eyes just see the drawing and immediately turn the page.

I do like how dark mind sharing gets. Like they're an unstoppable force when they work together, but that's not always necessarily a good thing.

God his facial hair cut it offfffffff.

VAL/YAZ

Val is fun. That's about all I have to say for him. This season premiere really shows that the two writing teams for the show and the comic were not on the same page about these characters' destinations. Alot of this premiere retcons the HELL out of the comics.

Firstly, Yaz is leader. Idk why Chase is leader in the show. He's not fit to lead. He's too insecure. And Yaz doesn't even feel like part of the team in this episode. Also I've never seen someone scowl so hard at a bunny 😭

CAMMIE

The highlight of the chapter. She wants to look on the bright side of everything, but for some reason it feels vaguely out of character. Like in season 1 Cammie was by in large the pessimist of the team (even though they all are) along with Val, but the both of them seem pretty cheerful this episode which is a bit weird. Honestly everyone had weird vibes this episode.

Retcon #2: Why is Chase living in this crappy old-life-simulator house?? In the comics Cammie built him a serene mindspace literally to get away from everyone else.

HOWEVER, I do enjoy the physicality by which their distraught emotional states manifests. The bunnies everywhere, Kazu's Robo-Shogun. Cammie builds them a comfortable setting for the mind-share to occur, but it gives them even less privacy than before. The rest of them can log off but Chase is physically stuck there, which makes his role in all this unique. Despite the retcons I do appreciate the direction.

CALABAN/WELLER/RTASA

Gotta say, I didn't expect him to still be relevant. I like how he still talks in the third person, but his delivery is a lot less robotic, which I don't love. Maybe he just got used to the robo brain? I dunno I don't like it.

Are there gonna be consequences to violating Dr. Weller-Code's privacy? Like why even bring it up if it doesn't matter? A nitpick but still. God everything moves so fast here.

CHIBI CALABAN MY BELOVED. Clever way to differentiate what Calaban is and what Weller is.

So Leon is just gone? Okay. Sure. Fatima and Wu's plot is also interesting but so much of this show at this point was just off-screen apparently. Fatima sabotaging G:L's development deserved an entire plot of its own. This season started too in media res.