The Big O Showtime: R-D

And with that we come to the end of the first season. A little is revealed, but more questions are raised.

This was a really interesting episode for a season finale. It felt really low-key and unlike any other episode we've had so far. And it mainly focused on Roger. That is weird in and of itself because our protagonist has actually been the focus of any episode so far. Yeah he's been involved and moves the plot of each episode forward, but those plots haven't actually been about him. That wouldn't be strange for an episodic private detective show like this, but this show has made it a point of bringing up Roger's lack of introspection. So Roger has remained a bit aloof and mysterious to us the audience.

It turns out Roger was part of some kind of weird child brainwashing experiment that implanted Memories into prepubescent kids. So part of this episode is Roger going all Total Recall, looking into a past he doesn't really remember and may not have even been true to begin with. He keeps having these flashbacks of a city in flames stalked by magadeuses, including Big O and Big Duo. These look very similar to his freak out back in Episode 4 when he descended into the undercity. His investigation leads him out to Gordon Rosewater, City founder and guy who ran the experiment. According to Rosewater, they did the experiment to preserve the Memories an eventually recreate pre-Event society.

This is pretty clever and goes a long way to explaining Roger's character. His past is very traumatic and ontologically questionable, so it makes sense that he wouldn't really focus on it. And his attitude to Angel in Episode 7 makes more sense now too. Being part of an experiment, probably against his will, to preserve Memories and recreate a destroyed society would most likely sour Roger on people working to restore the past. Having seen the lengths these people will go to, he can't support it. Better to leave it behind and move forward, at least for him.


Rosewater the Elder does make some interesting comments though. He says that Roger's vision of the burning city is a complete fabrication, just something from a book he wrote. When we first see this, we assume this is the Event or at least related to it. But if it's false, why does Roger remember it and why did they implant it in the kids? I think Rosewater's just lying but there's no way to know at this point. Also Rosewater the Elder lives out on a giant farm. I could be wrong, but I think this farm is outside Paradigm City which would be interesting. Every time we've been outside the city it's been covered with snow and dead trees and I thought this was some kind of after-effect of the Event. But if Rosewater's farm is outside the city, could this effect be overcome? Or is it just something he has because he's a city founder and has access to powerful science.

Great twist this episode too. See the whole plot is set in motion by a serial killer knocking off the other brainwashed kids, who are now all grown-up. We're meant to think the killer is actually Dorothy wearing a red cloak, because Dorothy disappears for most of the Episode and nobody knows where she is. And the killer looks and sounds exactly like Dorothy to the point even Roger thinks she's Dorothy. The twist comes when Big O shows up with Dorothy to rescue Roger from the killer. This twist is great because they writers put enough doubt into your mind that it might be Dorothy. Because they keep subtly bringing up the possibility that it's Dorothy, the audience wouldn't think of other options. Classic red herring.

So who's the actual killer? Another android just like Dorothy. This isn't as much of a asspull as it sounds. It was established way back in the first episode that Dorothy was built from a Pre-Event design, so there was always the possibility of other androids. Plus the killer's dialogue is ambiguous enough to sound like Dorothy or just standard robot-talk. It is a little contrived that she looks and sounds like Dorothy, but I'll let that slide for the sake of the twist.

Interesting questions raised about Roger this episode too. Mostly about why he's able to control Big O, like why it lets him and what he's going to do with it. I infer from dialogue that part of why he can control Big O is because of the Memories he was implanted with, which makes me wonder if Schwarzwald was another of these kids. Rosewater the Younger also talks about an Awakening while three other megadeuses (I assume) rise out of the ocean. Did he wake up the killer specifically to take out those others, maybe for their Memories so he could control the Megadeuses? Angel seems to know what his plan is, and she says that Rosewater is moving too soon. They both seem to know more about what the hell is going on than we do, and it's got something to do with what happened before the Event. Unfortunately, Roger shows up with Big O to end the episode before we get any answers.


One last thing. When Dorothy and Big O arrive to rescue Roger, Dorothy wasn't controlling him. Big O came after Roger completely on its own. This says Big O cares about Roger but in what capacity isn't clear. Certainly more than Big Duo cared about Schwarzwald, because Big O moved on its own to save Roger. It's going to be interesting to see how things move forward now that Big O's pseudo-sentience has been revealed. On with Season 2!