Forum - View topicEP. REVIEW: Blade Runner: Black Lotus
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Nom De Plume De Fanboy
 SubscriberExempt from Grammar Rules Posts: 612 Location: inland US west, pretty rural |
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The most interesting "Chekhov's gun" type detail to me in the last ep is that when Elle gets to a security gizmo in the Wallace building, she pauses, puts her hand on it, and the display says something like, spoiler["Welcome, Niander Wallace Jr. recognized. "] and unlocks the door. The time spent on the gizmo, like 20 seconds, seems to scream to me, this is important. My speculation is that he had her created - and maybe programmed - for his own ends. Maybe he had her biometrics switched for his own on file to make it work.
That kind of programming would explain why Elle is so good at sneaking in, fighting, and why she is so strongly motivated. She has wondered about her killing skills herself. I don't know if she is following a programmed in "route" that he figured out or not, but it would explain some of her ease of getting in things, like the cargo transport at the start that got her into LA, and doing stuff. And the story makes sure we know he reads Saint Augustine's "City of God", and talks like he has a messiah complex. Or is just pretty out there about stuff, like calling his pops a minor deity whose time is up. Or maybe that's just how kids walk and talk in 2038, I dunno. 
Also, He, Marlow, and Davis, are just about the only important characters left that oppose Elle. The story is running out of people to keep things interesting. Just a thought. |
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Delphisage
Posts: 55 |
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This show is so frighteningly disposable it's saddening. If this is what Toonami spent so much time and money on to make into a block headliner, then I think Demarco needs to start demanding his money back.
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timber
Posts: 132 |
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Of course he is. It is all to remind us, I have presume her too in a future episode, that from the start all this is planned and that she is just dancing in the palm of his hands. |
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timber
Posts: 132 |
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The Go play is also a part of that imagery. Unless you've seen "Hikaru no Go", most of us westerners wouldn't know the reference but the last piece he places on the Go board is probably from the recreation of a famous party from legendary Go master "Honinbo Shusaku". This move which let him in a single move control the flow of all the surrounding parts of the game, like it was the hand of God that played the move. |
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Nom De Plume De Fanboy
Subscriber Exempt from Grammar Rules Posts: 612 Location: inland US west, pretty rural |
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^Thanks, I wondered about that.
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enurtsol
 Posts: 14761 |
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Well, we already know what's up with Niander Wallace Jr. in Blade Runner 2049, so it's like the worst kept secret
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Delphisage
Posts: 55 |
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Oh wow, the secret everyone saw coming turned out to be exactly what we expected. How shocking.
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enurtsol
Posts: 14761 |
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Just as it gets more interesting it's about to end
This is where the series should had started - story about trying to get away and move on to a new life, instead of making the revenge killing story the whole season (The writers themselves didn't know when to move on) |
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Gina Szanboti
Posts: 11354 |
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I'm not entirely sure Davis is ded yet. I think the story still needs her to bring final closure on the official side of things once everybody Elle needs to kill is dead. But then again, maybe the story disagrees and will think it's fine to just wrap with Elle being last replicant standing and her and Joseph walking off into the sunset or rain or whatever.
Do the guns in this setting synthesize their own ammo on the fly or something? They must've each fired about 60-80 rounds without ever reloading. And I was laughing hysterically over Joseph's insta-recovery, since I'd just recently watched the Hazel/Gato vs Sanzo battle in Saiyuki Reload Gunlock wherein Sanzo is shot at least 14 times (I honestly lost count) and once the battle ends he's not even bloody anymore. Barely an inconvenience indeed. So yeah, I really am expecting that Davis will rise, swipe a styptic pencil across her wound and walk it off. I know there's a weird thing in this franchise about old tech, but it really seems odd that she has to use a public pay phone to call in from the field. |
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LightningComet
Posts: 48 |
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Considering that Niander Wallace Jr. is still alive in Blade Runner 2049, I'm fairly certain this show will end with him being totally fine aside from something happening to his eyes. I, too, agree that Davis is most likely alive; to be fair, I thought she was going to die 90 seconds before she got stabbed i.e. when she met Elle in the alley. Such subversive writing 
I suppose we can add Black Lotus to the list of works proving Kenji Kamiyama to be a decent storyboard artist and director but a seriously lacking writer, joining the ranks of (most of) Stand Alone Complex, Eden of the East, Napping Princess, and whatever else. At least I went in with low expectations so my disappointment is mitigated. |
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Nom De Plume De Fanboy
Subscriber Exempt from Grammar Rules Posts: 612 Location: inland US west, pretty rural |
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Done so she'd stand still and someone sneaking around could stab her with a sword, I'd bet. 'More believable' that way. Can't have too much sword fighting in this show.
Related to her apparent death, I make Davis my candidate for this show's "person who's a replicant and doesn't know it', which would give her a free Get Out of Dying card. And scratch the itch of fans that like that sort of twist, so they can argue about it after the show ends.
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upyjm
Posts: 2 |
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After Selene is shot and is dying in Joseph's arms she says " ... I can almost hear ..." What did she mean? What can she almost hear?
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Gina Szanboti
Posts: 11354 |
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So is Elle keeping that bandaid on her nose because a) it's a memento of Joseph, b) it's a fashion statement or c) it's ingrown into her flesh and she's afraid to rip it off?
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enurtsol
Posts: 14761 |
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So the battle between the Go pieces Black Lotus and Water/White Lily finally comes to an end
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Nom De Plume De Fanboy
Subscriber Exempt from Grammar Rules Posts: 612 Location: inland US west, pretty rural |
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Agree with the review 100%.
For me, the show gets a "Big franchise tried again and was meh" rating, with a special note for making 3DCG people look - I guess I would say pretty good? They still don't move their arms with the right sense of "weight", mostly, but sometimes they did. So it is an advancement in technical effect. I hope the creatives weren't pushed to put so much emphasis on the technical side that the characterization side suffered, but there is no way to know. As for writing, plotting, etc. the background life of everyone just didn't have time to breathe. Just my humble opinion. An aside: I think that these big franchises suffer the curse of high expectations; after the first big hit, the follow on stuff has no better chance of being excellent than ordinary productions. People might be happier approaching these things as such. For me, after all the Ghost in the Shell attempts that were not great and not awful, the Star Trek, Star Wars, etc.things that I've watched since the mid-'70s, this is all I've learned. Anything could be great, but few things get there. End of rant. |
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