The Big O Showtime: The Call from The Past

Hooray, more story! Things actually moving forward again!

Today's episode starts with Roger and Angel stranded in Rapture from Bioshock. We learn in flashback how they got there. None of Paradigm's fishermen will go out because they're afraid of a "sea titan" whose fishy minions have been coming ashore at night. Roger's investigation leads him into the ocean and he runs into Angel, who's after the same thing. He hijacks her submarine and they end up stuck in an underwater building.

The atmosphere in this episode is way different than usual, but still done excellently. It's a mix between Lovecraft, the aforementioned Bioshock, with a little Godzilla near the end. All foggy docks and sunken cities. They manage to make it creepy and haunting, in a good way. Especially at the end, when the "sea titan" (actually a seaweed covered Megadeus) comes out of the ocean. It's an evocative moment. Though we never get an explanation for the creepy divers scaring the fishermen. Angel says there's a big stash of Memories in the underwater city, so I assume that's what they're after but it isn't clear.

Speaking of Angel, we get some more character from her this episode. She and Roger have a nice conversation about Memories, or memories I'm not sure. Angel asks Roger how it is he or anyone in the city can live without memories, without knowing who they are or where they came from. Roger says they've learned to live without them, have to if they're ever going to survive. Now that fits well with Roger's character, people have already brought up his lack of introspection, but it reveals something about Angel. She can't live without her memories, she needs to know where she came from and who she was. She's seeking clarity of herself. Maybe that's why she can take on other identities so easily. She doesn't know who she is, so she can slip on other personas to vill the void. And I wonder how much of that has to do with the scars on her back.

Oh, and for a mysterious spy babe Angel doesn't handle herself well under pressure. The whole time she and Roger are stuck underwater, all she does is complain at how they're going to die and yell at him. Come on lady, I expect better of you.

Some expansion of world building here too. The sea around Paradigm City is filled with ruined buildings and the Memories under the sea are protected by a Megadeus. So more evidence that Paradigm City was built on top of another city before the event 40 years ago. And whatever this event was, it caused a huge amount of destruction in addition to causing amnesia. And that megadeuses were more common then, and there are still some underwater like in Episode 5. Also we see that Dorothy seems to have some connection to Megadeuses. We already saw this back in Episodes 4, when she freaked out around Schwarzwald's prototype, and it's very subtle here but still noticeable. This may have something to do with the fact that she's built from a pre-event design, but the writers haven't established any connection between androids and Megadeuses yet.

We also have an over-arching protagonist now, as we get a few scenes with Rosewater. He's the head of Paradigm Group we saw in Episode 4, and apparently Angel's boss. He's watching Big O fight the "sea titan" like freakin Dr. Claw, can order the Police around on his own authority, and from the sound of it; is aware of what Roger's been doing. All that points to Main Villain status where I sit, but there's still too little for me to get a deeper read on the guy.

All right, that's all I've got on this one. I leave you with Roger's bitching casual wear.