No opening monologue from one of the characters this week, but our cat friend welcomes us at the beginning of the episode as Doug enters HQ with a spirituality magazine from 15 years ago. It features an article about Dr. Skinner’s visit to a commune called “The Tower of the Truth”, a religious group who worship an AI as a god and live isolated from society. This presents a potential hiding place for Skinner. Eleina refers to the AI by the name Naga, revealing having been raised at this commune, and agrees to return, since Naga isn’t accessible from the outside. Doug, Axel, and Chris stay close by at a motel while Eleina and Leland, posing as a new member, infiltrate the commune.
The two are welcomed by an old friend named Hanna, Eleina’s mother Carla, and Billy, the leader of the commune. I found it ironic how Hanna, while collecting Eleina and Leland’s devices, mentioned the outside world brainwashing them since the people at the commune are the ones being controlled by a man-made machine. At the motel, Doug asks Hersch for information about MIT researchers from the past and Hersch informs him of the FBI’s interest in the commune. I noticed the information Hersch was reading was a memo for the Director of the NSA and this begs the question if this is Hersch’s true position. It was nice to see Chris’ concern for both Eleina and Leland, demonstrating her protective side for the young members of Lazarus. Back at the commune, Eleina confides in Leland about the group not recognizing biological ties so she can’t say “Mom”, which we saw earlier in the episode when she corrected herself by calling her mother by her first name, and how she thought life in this secluded community was normal. Eleina opening up was heartwarming. I’m fascinated by how she became a hacker, given she had no access to technology throughout her upbringing.
Eleina and Leland shared about life in the outside world with Hanna at the dinner table. It was hilarious listening to Leland talk about everything he’s been through during the series but how he’s been a good sport about it all. I have to mention Billy was being weird about Leland eating whatever soup-like substance that was served before announcing a special blessing Eleina and Leland will receive at the “Holy Festival”. This doesn’t sound good at all. Back at the motel, Doug shares that MIT developed a controlling, ambitious AI using Dr. Skinner’s brain as inspiration. This gives more reason to the assumption Skinner may be secluded at the commune because his brain is being worshipped like a god. Also, Billy, formerly known as Dr. Billy Perez, stole the AI from MIT because of his obsession with Naga and started this commune, giving into its programming for control. I appreciated this explanation because the series has a habit of arriving at a destination and leaving out how we got there.
At the commune, Eleina and Leland break into the sanctuary and begin downloading Naga’s memory block but are quickly caught by Billy and put into a jail cell until the purification ritual at the so-called “Holy Festival”. It had to have been Hanna who snitched since she overheard Eleina and Leland’s conversation. Hanna explains the festival will consist of watching Eleina and Leland burn then “leave their bodies behind” as a community, and if you’ve ever heard of infamous cults committing this similar act, then we can guess what that means. Hanna confesses being jealous and hating Eleina for leaving, to which Eleina tries to convince Hanna to leave as well but she refuses. Leland then tells Hanna about the smoke bomb in his bag and encourages her to use it. This scene highlights the hive mindset of cults and the emotional damage it causes to individuals who dare to have a mind of their own.
The “Holy Festival” begins with the “purification” of Eleina and Leland, but a courageous Hanna throws the smoke bomb, signaling Team Lazarus to come to the rescue. Billy and members of the commune rush inside the sanctuary to “depart this world”, leading me to believe Billy knew about the FBI having eyes on the commune. Eleina and Leland are saved by Lazarus while the FBI saves members of the commune such as Eleina’s mother and Hanna. While Axel retrieves Naga’s memory block, he asks what was the point of the members being killed. Shockingly, Naga gives an “I was doing what I was programmed to do” answer. Let us hope all of the AI being developed today won’t go down the Skynet path and have to wait for John Connor to save us.
As I’ve mentioned before, the storytelling in this episode was easier to follow and an improvement from last week. I enjoyed Eleina being the focus of the story and not stuck behind a computer, showing she’s more than a hacker. No action sequences in this episode but it shows Lazarus can still be entertaining without Axel fighting even though he can’t seem to be still. Next week’s episode has Team Lazarus in open waters so tune in!
Umeko is a staff writer for toonamifaithful.com. Feel free to follow her on Twitter @blu_temptation
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