Altered Carbon S01 E04 – Torture but make it emoji.

Previously: A murder-suspect party with a fight to the death.
Content Warnings: Graphic violence, torture, nudity and drug use and self-harm.
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Force of Evil

Marines: I really, really hate torture plots, and the world is on fire. Wish me luck.

Jessica: *Takes shot* Right there with you, friend. Let’s do this.

Mari: Kovacs is unconscious and on a table, a bunch of nodes connected to his head. There are other unconscious people on tables in this room. There are also lots of people in foam green lab coats. One of these foam coated men is standing right next to Kovacs. He stands up a little straighter when a man in a suit, presumably his boss, walks into the room. Sea Foam Lab Coat assures Boss that they are going to crack Kovacs like a walnut. Boss tells him to do it on schedule. I’m getting the sense this is a professional creepy operation.

Once the boss is gone, another Sea Foam Lab Bro starts talking about the woman from payroll he’s going to ask out, and Original Sea Foam Lab Coat (these nicknames are already out of control, I regret everything) reminds Lab Bro about their sensitivity training. Because this is a professional creepy operation, see? On a table in the back of the room, a bunch of machines whirr to life as they start to cut into a dead Alice.

Jessica: The squeamish ick factor is already high, and we’re just starting. Stay strong…

Mari:

The Lab Bros are still talking about girls as they sit at their computer stations and get to work.

A tech-y transition brings us to Kovacs walking through a room that looks obviously not real when the man who kidnapped him appears. I didn’t realize it until now, but this actor plays Bobo Del Rey on Wynonna Earp. (I’m in Season 1 so he’s still there, no spoilers.) Kovacs asks who he is, and Bobo Del Torturer replies that he’s the one asking the questions. He says “chain,” and we cut to the Lab Bros who are manning this simulation. Back in it, a chain appears in Bobo Del Torturer’s hand. Kovacs gets ready to fight, but it turns out that they’ve severely limited his ability to do so, so he just gets beat with a chain, flipped onto a table, and his arm broken. Back at the lab, Kovacs is still unconscious, but the computer scan of his body lights up red, indicating the pain in his arm.

Raven. Elliot is skipping through footage. Poe asks what he’s looking for, but Elliot doesn’t know. Anything that explains what happened to his daughter before she died. Elliot wants to talk to her, but Poe says that he can’t. She’s making progress, but talking to Elliot might set her back. Elliot finally notices that Poe is standing there in costume. It’s All Hallow’s Eve, see, and Poe loves Halloween. Elliot is rude to Poe about how he’s fake and thus can’t holiday, but Poe is undisturbed. We love Poe even more now.

Jessica: Poe is the best, and not even angry/grumpy Elliot can bring him down.

Mari: Precious.

Elliot says he needs to get out of here, but Poe yells after him that he might consider apologizing to Kovacs, since his “backup” at the party was more like “fuckup.” Elliot gets even more angry, saying he doesn’t want Poe’s advice and he doesn’t want to apologize… but, uh, where is Kovacs anyway? Poe asks how he would know, in a way that lets us know that he definitely does know and is definitely hacker stalking Kovacs. (J: Was it possible to love Poe more? Clearly yes, because clearly I do.) Elliot tells Poe to find Kovacs.

Kovacs is getting punched still. He asks Bobo Del Torturer where he is, and Bobo helpfully answers: a virtual interrogation program at the Wei Clinic, a place that specializes in “data extraction from unwilling subjects.” Bobo asks who Kovacs works for. Instead of an answer, we get a zoom into his head/a flashback: Quell is telling the Envoys that if they are captured, they will be tortured. Virtual makes it possible for them to be tortured to death and then to start again. There is no conditioning that can prepare them for that, and even though it isn’t real, the pain is real and they will eventually break. A Bargain Bin Natalie Dormer in The Hunger Games asks what they do then. Quell says that as Envoys, they can use the things the brain does when under extreme stress, like hallucinations and displacement, to their advantage.

Dichen Lachmen is just sitting on a rock in this scene, but she’s still my favorite. (J: Seconded.)

Back in Torturer Reality, Bobo asks again who Kovacs works for. He’s all bloody and replies in a barely audible rasp, so Bobo gets close to hear him. Kovacs head butts Bobo. Bobo is unamused and asks for pliers, which the Sea Foam Lab Bros provide. Bobo gets his torture tools ready as he exposits that they took the tracker out of Kovacs and the building has transmission dampers anyway. No on will find him. Kovacs looks worried.

Police Station. Ortega and Abboud are looking over the captured footage from Ortega’s ONI. A tech dude is showing her where someone isn’t, even though Ortega swears she saw someone. Tech Dude first says something stupid about Ortega being on her period, and she sadly doesn’t punch him in the face. (J: All the wrong people are getting tortured this episode.) However, he does find evidence that someone was where Ortega saw them, but that someone managed to remove himself from the footage in a really advanced, high tech, impressive way. Abboud asks what the man looked like, and as she describes him as a medium build, 5’8” Asian man, I realize that she’s talking about Kovacs 1.0. (J: Does it look like Abboud recognizes this description? I can’t read his face – maybe I am just projecting and paranoid.) (M: Yes.) Ortega wants to bring up footage of the Henchy case to see if they can find evidence of tampering there. She also suggests taking this tampered footage to their bosses, but Abboud and Tech Dude tell her that security footage of someone NOT there isn’t evidence. She asks Tech Dude to do what he can to recover the real footage. Everyone still thinks this is a bad idea, but Ortega is like g2g, and makes sure Abboud is still showing up for dinner that night.

Jessica: Calling it now – Tech Dude is definitely getting murdered in the near future.

Mari: He definitely had murdered soon energy.

Out in the pit, Ortega gets a call from her mother who is frantically cooking dinner for All Hallow’s Eve. She’s going off about buying the wrong type of cheese for a dish, all while at the station, two cops escort in a detained man who is ranting and raving. Ortega gets pissed, so she puts her mom on hold to tell the detained man to stfu. He makes a yucky comment about her mom, so Ortega stuns him. She finishes the call, and when she turns back around, the cops have left the stunned man on the floor. Apparently there’s no one left in booking because of the holiday, and their job of bringing the bad dude in is done.

We cut to Ortega depositing the stunned man on an autopsy table. She’s about to walk out and leave him there, but then thinks better of it. She turns back to the man and looks at him with a look that makes me think she’s just had a bad idea.

Bobo Del Torturer ask Kovacs (he’s been calling him Ryker) why he was at Jack It Off asking about Lizzie Elliot. Kovacs maintains that he’s not Ryker. Lizzie is his daughter. Bobo says his tracker was police issue, which makes sense with him being a policeman. Bobo rips off one of Kovacs’ nails, maybe a whole chunk of finger, honestly. The camera pulls out of the shot and goes out of focus, which I appreciate, but there is screaming.

Bobo starts glitching, so that we see another face under his Bobo skin. Kovacs recognizes Not Bobo as Dimi the Twin. Bobo/Demi keeps glitching and then I finally recognize this person: Tahmoh Penikett! The Russian guy Kovacs killed at the Raven. This is kind of confusing, but apparently the Torturer is Tahmoh Penikett’s brother, who has just been wearing Bobo Del Torturer and Tahmoh Penikett’s skin. This will probably only make it more confusing but I’m going to start calling him Tahmoh Brotherkett.

Jessica: No, this is perfect. This show is so bonkers to watch, let alone explain. You’re doing a great job!

Mari: THANK YOU.

Tahmoh Brotherkett glitches a lot more, showing off all the sleeves he’s had before. Kovacs asks Brotherkett if he knows what they call people with personality frag where he comes from? He yells, “fucking insane.” Brotherkett is like yeah, yeah, yeah. CONFESS.

Flashback. Another Envoy asks Quell if there is a way to beat virtual torture. Quell starts a story about an Envoy named Iffy who was tortured and died a hundred deaths before she finally said she would only confess to the top authorities. Kovacs 1.0 takes up and finishes the story. In a room with all the top brass, Iffy, who was implanted with an explosive, let herself get angry, turning herself into a bomb. Her last words, strapped to the table where they raped and tortured her, were “that’s fucking enough.” Quell is having a lot of emotions about this story, but tells everyone that she can train them to manipulate virtual in ways their potential torturers won’t even know are possible. She orders everyone to put on their “trodes” so they can go into the Pipe.

We watch as they all sit around a raised platform and attach electrodes to their temples. Quell comes over to help Kovacs 1.0, and to confront him: no one should know that story about Iffy except… Kovacs 1.0 confirms. He was was one of the torturers, but not high ranking enough to have been asked to stay in the room when it exploded. Quell is obviously pissed because Iffy was her friend. Kovacs 1.0 reminds her that she knew what he used to be when she let him in. Why has it changed now that she knows one of his victims? Quell just calls “see you soon” to all of the Envoys and they go unconscious as they head into the Pipe.

Jessica: I love learning more about Kovacs’ back story, and this is certainly a juicy tidbit. We also see Diechen Lachman, Kovacs’ sister, listening to this exchange, before they all connect to the Pipe.

Mari: Torturer Reality. Brotherkett wants to know who got “Ryker” out. I’m beginning to think Ryker has to be the sleeve Kovacs is in. Kovacs asks who the fuck Ryker is, and Brotherkett shoots him in the head.

In the lab, the computer image of Kovacs’ brain goes red. The Sea Foam Lab Bros turn him off and turn him on again. Kovacs comes to in the simulation and looks very confused.

In a market, Ortega is buying cheese for her mom, and the stunned man is next to her. He helpfully points out the right cheese. They walk on, and he insists he can walk on his own, but Ortega says he’s sleeve sick and helps him. Who did she just bootleg?? It couldn’t be her dad, right?

Lab. Sea Foam Lab Bros go through Kovacs’ pink backpack and I go, “LEAVE THE BACKPACK ALONE.” (J: You don’t deserve that backpack!!) They head back to their computers soon enough, commenting that Kovacs has a high pain tolerance, but immolation is next so hopefully the torturing thing will be done soon and they can go terrorize women, or whatever.

Jessica: Can we talk about how whenever they pull up items for the simulation, they’re represented on the computer screen by cartoony graphics? The “immolation” command is a little flame with a smiley face – completely demented. This professional creepy company is truly that and more.

Mari: Torture, but make it emoji. 😩

Tahmoh Brotherkett shakes Kovacs awake and asks again who sent Ryker to kill his brother, Tahmoh Penikett. Kovacs says that Tahmoh Pinikett was sent to kill him, not the other way around. Brotherkett doesn’t buy it. He pours gas all over Kovacs and exposits that Ryker was supposed to be in sleepy jail. Ryker would’ve been spun up soon for trial and the evidence against him was real good, seeing as how Brotherkett planted it himself. Brotherkett flicks on a lighter. Kovacs starts freaking out and it seems like he might tell Brotherkett what his name is. But then he struggles? It mostly seems like he’s fighting himself. Brotherkett laughs and lights Kovacs on fire.

His screaming face transitions us to a painted skull. Ortega and Bootleg knock on the door and Mama Ortega opens it. She’s shocked to find Bootleg, but he tells her not to act like she’s never seen a tattoo before. Bootleg pushes his way in, as Ortega explains that it’s Abuela and wishes her mom a happy Dia de los Muertos.

Inside, Mama Ortega is still freaking out, even though Ortega explains that people rent sleeves for holidays all the time. And Bootleg Abuela is having a grand time. Mom crosses herself and prays for God to forgive her daughter.

Jessica: This was so wild. The possibilities of people within interchangeable bodies are practically endless, but just thinking about it all makes my brain hurt. At least Bootleg Abuela is funny. I’m taking all the funny I can get in this episode.

Mari: Truly, she is a blessing, and I wish we could say with Dia de los Muertos, but alas. Back we go to Torturer Reality. Blow torching is next. (J: Nooooo.) Kovacs is struggling, but then he hears Quell telling him to fight the despair. Flashback. Kovacs 1.0 is chained to a wall. He asks what he’s doing here, and Quell explains that the torture program brings up memories of trauma and picks a place where he felt trapped.

Jessica: I believe we’re to recognize this place from an earlier episode, where we saw the memory of Baby Kovacs and his sister hiding from their abusive father.

Mari: Trapped indeed.

A bunch of Lethal-Praetorians appear, and Quell asks what Kovacs 1.0 is gonna do now. A Lethal-Praetorian comes at Kovacs 1.0 with a gun, but he grabs it with his feet and manages to free himself from the manacles and fight his way through all of the Lethal-Praetorians. Quell says that’s cool, but he’s still in the program and they will just send more. Now they fight, and Quell prevails, kicking him so that he hits the wall and is magically back in manacles. She tells him he has to beat the game, not the player.

Back in present day Torturer Reality, Brotherkett is still taunting Kovacs with the blowtorch. And then we cut to the lab as the Sea Foam Lab Bros wonder again at how Kovacs is enduring so much pain.

Abboud arrives at dinner and is surprised to be greeted by Bootleg Abuela. Abuela is still having a grand ole time, though one of her sons tells her to quit with the drinking. She reminds everyone that Grandpa was the devout one. She just went to church for some good ole blood of Christ. And maybe you should only have one body, but in that case, you should enjoy it. She says this pointedly to Mama Ortega, before excusing herself to pee. The kids are all loving Bootleg Abuela, but Tio Ortega takes this time to remind the kids that they cannot be spun up or else they won’t go to heaven. Ortega can’t let this go, and honestly we’ve all been at the family dinner where we can’t let something go. She says she can’t believe in a God that wouldn’t allow murder victims to have a voice. The argument goes on until Bootleg Abuela returns to say the f word again and make the kids laugh.

The Sea Foam Lab Bros are impatient as ever. In the simulation, Kovacs looks down and sees that his legs have been seared off. He screams and that throws us into a flashback. Quell is holding a knife as she tells Kovacs 1.0 to cry and scream and bleed his way through the torture so that they will believe that he is breaking, but through it all he should remember one thing: when an animal is caught in a trap, it will flail, bite, snap, try to escape. But they are not animals. They are Envoys. She punctuates this by slicing him along his chest and stomach. He has to wait, find the weakness in his enemy, and get to the next screen.

Jessica: Anyone else start humming “Wait For It” during this scene? #sorrynotsorry

Mari: Kovacs is being rebooted. Brotherkett still has his blow torch. As if someone heard my prayer, though, the blow torch powers down. In the lab, the Boss walks in and asks what happened. Sea Foam Lab Bros explain that they are off the clock, but the client wants extra time. Boss tells them to pull him out.

Dia de los Awkward Dinner. Mama Ortega is too upset to even say goodby to Bootleg Abuela, so Ortega walks her out. Abboud gets close behind Mama Ortega and EXCUSE ME, did we know this was a thing? I missed whatever they are saying because they are cuddled up and also this episode has been repetitive enough, I think you can infer the ongoing “spinning back up is bad” argument. The great thing is that he is speaking to her in Arabic and she is responding in Spanish. I feel like I care about all the wrong things in this show… but I ship it.

Jessica: I also completely forgot whether or not we knew it, but they were so sweet with each other. I love them. And loved that dual language back and forth as well. I hope this storyline doesn’t get dropped.

Mari: Brotherkett, back in the Bobo Del Torturer form, is pulled out of the simulation. He doesn’t have authorization for overtime. Bobo complains about the crappy programs seeing as he got nothing from Kovacs. Boss says the programs work perfectly. Bobo is like “oh, so this man can’t break?” Boss takes the bait and says everyone breaks. In fact, he’s just got the ticket. Something called the Helminth Code. The one time they used it, the woman had a complete break, so if Bobo uses it, Kovacs isn’t coming back. Bobo says that’s fine, as long as he gets answers.

Jessica: I don’t know why I thought of Lizzie Elliot here, but I do wonder….

Mari: OH, interesting. They do make it a point to mention the women they used it on.

Bobo Del Torturer gets ready to head back in as a woman runs into the room and tells Boss that there’s a call for him. He asks if it can wait, but the woman says it’s “her.” Boss runs out.

Brotherkett is back in simulation with his new toy. He asks again who hired “Ryker” to kill him, slicing Kovacs as she does, and pulling out the new torture device: some sort of lizard, snake hybrid that is doing a lot of chittering. I would like it to stop. Kovacs looks very nervous, but he’s hearing Quell’s voice tell him to convince the torturers that he’s broken and use that against them. Kovacs is seeing Quell in the room with him now.

Kovacs confesses to being Ryker, but when Brotherkett asks who hired him, he doesn’t have an answer. He says he doesn’t know. Brotherkett doesn’t buy it and drops the torture lizard on him. We see it go into his wound. (J: Blechhhh) I know you know, but just so we are clear, I hate this a very lot. Brotherkett holds another torture lizard over Kovacs. He turns and looks at Quell who tells him to take what is offered and use it. Kovacs looks back into the face of the torture lizard.

We cut suddenly to the station, where Ortega is telling Bootleg Abuela that Mama Ortega is just having a hard time because everything changed so fast. Bootleg Abuela looks at a picture of her and Abuelo. She has feelings about losing the love of her life. Ortega can’t bring him back because he’s coded as do not disturb, or whatever. Abuela says at least he’s up in heaven, and even though she doesn’t actually believe that, he did. They share a nice moment before Bootleg Grandma asks if they keep any drugs at the station, say in evidence, because she’s never tried it before. I would like to adopt Bootleg Abeula.

Jessica: Can we keep her forever? I’d follow her adventures around the city any day. 

Mari: We see Kovacs briefly, but then we are back with Kovacs 1.0 in training. Quell tells Kovacs 1.0 to take control of the simulation and delete his chains. He does. Next, he has to delete the Lethal-Praetorians. He does. Finally, Quell says she won’t be so easy to get rid of. Kovacs 1.0 isn’t worried because he knows Quell’s weakness. She let all of the other trainees out faster. She’s trying to prove how much she doesn’t care about him. They do an angry-grabbing-almost-kissing-sexy thing as Kovacs 1.0 demand-asks that she tell him how to get out. She tells him he has to focus on the thing he cares most about in the world, rip a hole in himself so that he can rip a hole in the simulation. He kisses her and then they both come to, back in the forest and out of the Pipe. He was the last one so everyone makes fun of him a little before Quell tells them that escaping the construct is not enough in itself. They have to be ready.

Torturer Reality. Quell tells Kovacs to let them believe he is weak until the moment he proves he’s not. Brotherkett bends to get another torture lizard. (J: So many torture lizards…) Kovacs uses the moment to get out of his manacles and stand. He falls to his knees while Brotherkett is just watching like wtf. Hallucination Quell kneels in front of Kovacs. He digs his hand into his own chest and pulls out his heart, presenting it to her. She looks at him tearily as he tells her to take it. It’s been hers since the first day he met her. Quell looks at him and tells him to get to the next screen. He leans on her, and we see that from Brotherkett’s perspective, he’s leaning on no one. He fades out of torturer reality.

Kovacs wakes back up on the table and looks to his right. Alice’s body is there, absolutely filleted. A tear rolls down as he looks at her.

Bobo Del Torturer wants to get him back in the simulation. Kovacs stops the Sea Foam Lab Bros in their tracks by asking them if a cop like Ryker would’ve been able to get himself out of the simulation. He isn’t Ryker. In fact, they’ve kidnapped and tortured a CTAC officer, and they are going to pay for it dearly. Hallucination Quell is still here, encouraging him on in his lie. Bobo asks what a CTAC officer would be doing in Licktown, and Kovacs comes up with a convincing lie about stolen military equipment. He tells the Lab Bros that whoever lets him free lives, and everyone else dies. Both Bros run to free him, just as Phillips walks into the room. Whether he would’ve stopped them or not, I’m not sure, but Kovacs springs up, grabs his guns from the pink backpack, and shoots everyone in the whole damn room. He swings the bag back on and walks through the room, shooting everyone a second time for good measure. We watch him walk out of the torture room and hear as he shoots everyone in the lobby as well.

Outside, Elliot is with the man who kidnapped and brought Kovacs to the lab. Elliot asks how they get in just as the whole damn thing explodes. Kovacs walks out (like a cool guy) and dryly asks what took Elliot so long. Elliot blames it on the kidnapper, who gets his stack blown out for his trouble. We see now that Kovacs is holding Bobo Del Torturer’s severed head.

Ortega and Bootleg Abuela are smoking and laughing together, but then things get serious when Abuela tells Ortega not to spin her back up again next year. This is it for her. Even though life can go on forever, you have to accept that death is part of life. Ortega tearily agrees to let this be the last time. We cut to Ortega looking at the criminal’s body sans grandma, (J: Nooo, come back Bootleg Grandma! Damn.) when her ONI beeps. She answers the call and says she’ll be right there.

At the scene of the crime, Ortega pulls out Hawkeye and asks for Kovacs’ location, but he doesn’t have his tracker in anymore. Inside the building, Ortega and Abboud walk through all the dead bodies when Hawkeye picks up a signal. They follow it to the torture room. Ortega freaks when she sees the headless body, but quickly determines it isn’t Kovacs. Hawkeye announces that she’s reached the target, though, so she looks at it more closely. Bobo’s hand is posed with the middle finger up and in between his knuckles is the tracker. Ortega wonders, disbelievingly, if Kovacs did this.

Raven. Ortega storms in and asks Elliot and Poe, who are sitting at the bar, where Kovacs is. They aren’t snitches. It doesn’t matter, though, because Ortega just storms upstairs. Kovacs is taking a shower, washing off all that blood, but he’s interrupted by Ortega pounding on the door. He comes out of the bathroom, and she doesn’t get very far into her “don’t lie to me!” speech because Kovacs has no intention of lying: he’s got Bobo’s head in a wine chiller on the table.

Ortega is still hung up on this whole murder thing, but Kovacs says shutting that place down was a service. He wants to know if she was tracking him. In fact, he knows she was. This sleeve was a cop and Ortega showed up at the prison too quickly after he was resleeved. The only way that makes sense is if Ortega were tracking Ryker, not him. Ortega denies it all, but when Kovacs starts cutting himself up, she can’t bear to see it. She stops him and agrees to tell Kovacs everything. Cut to black.

The first 2/3rds of this episode went on forever, I’m not gonna lie. I know part of that was taking such a big break in between episodes and knowing I was coming back to a torture plot, but also it just went back and forth between the torture and the training sequences too much and for too long. Unsurprisingly, this picked the hell up around the time Kovacs shot his way out of a torture lab.

Jessica: The torture scenes were G-R-O-S-S, but! We got a lot of Renee Elise Goldsberry (Quell), some Dichen Lachman, juicy Kovacs backstory tidbits, and Bootleg Grandma, so it wasn’t a complete wash. But I’m definitely glad to be moving on from this one. Time to go watch some cuddly kitten videos!

 

Next time on Altered Carbon: Ortega comes clean in S01 E05 – The Wrong Man.