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Blade Runner: Black Lotus
Episode 12

by Grant Jones,

How would you rate episode 12 of
Blade Runner: Black Lotus (U.S. TV) ?
Community score: 2.8

Blade Runner: Black Lotus is nearing its finale but it's hard to feel all that invested in the outcome. Even the brief glimmer of something more promising from a few episodes back has already faded. Instead, there's more of what we have all come to expect at this point. A few action scenes peppered with ominous-sounding dialogue from characters we haven't had any meaningful time with. Elle is still on the run, running and running but never getting anywhere while the rest of the cast is churned up by bullets or blades or both.

I hate to repeat myself, but even after twelve episodes, the world of Black Lotus still feels so unbelievably small. Basically, every side character we've met up until this point has died within about six minutes of appearing on screen, barring a few exceptions. Well, those exceptions got called in this week because Davis and Marlow both end up getting offed. Credit where it's due, Marlow's death does carry some pathos, simply because the conflict between Joseph and Marlow has thus far been the most emotionally resonant and meaningful thread the show has run with. It also gives us one of the best shots the show has done, with the bright searchlight beaming through the broken skylight as he falls through twinkling glass.

Sadly, that's about all that can be said for the final showdown between Marlow and Joseph. Marlow has been a standout thus far because his scraps with Elle were usually highlights in terms of choreography and staging. Joseph and Marlow's battle here is just… a couple of guys standing behind pillars and talking to each other in a room so dark you can't see anything. Joseph also inexplicably recovers from his wounds after Elle shook his shoulders to wake him from his dying dream, because sure why not.

Davis' death is perhaps the most emblematic of what is wrong with the show's character writing. She hasn't received much characterization outside of the stock city cop template, and she added little to the overall narrative beyond the few scenes inside the precinct showing how corrupt the police force is. And even then, the narrative hasn't needed an excuse to jump around omnisciently in the past, so it's not clear if that purpose was all that necessary to begin with. To cap it all off, her death accomplished nothing. She died on the whim of a character introduced last episode.

Because every character in this show dies without impact.

Rating:

Grant is the cohost on the Blade Licking Thieves podcast and Super Senpai Podcast.

Blade Runner: Black Lotus is currently streaming on Crunchyroll and Adult Swim.


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