Previously: Torture and Kovacs discovers he’s in a cop body.
Content Warnings: Blood, gore, gun violence, murder.
—
The Wrong Man
Marines: Mary Lou Henchy stands on a ledge in her flowing white dress as Kovacs’ Voice Over [KVO] tells us that when everyone lies, telling the truth isn’t just an act of rebellion. It’s revolution. We watch Mary Lou fall to her death as Kovacs says to think carefully when you speak it, because the truth is a weapon.
Kovacs is questioning someone about Mary Lou’s death, but you can immediately tell it isn’t Kovacs. It’s Ryker. His method of questioning involves punching this other man, who is wearing some sort of uniform, repeatedly in the face. Ryker is rather twitchy and puts some purple liquid into his eye to further telegraph the Not Okay. He tells Bloody Uniform that the impact of the water killed Mary Lou. When the cops went to spin her back up, she was coded as Neo-Catholic, so they couldn’t. The Bloody Uniform suggests that maybe Mary Lou was keeping that a secret, but Ryker says not from him. They grew up together. This makes Ortega’s involvement in this case all the more clear.
Jessica: Heading deeper into the rabbit hole…
Mari: Ryker examines the man’s ID. He’s a senior systems operator handling interplanetary records and coding. Bloody Uniform says he doesn’t even do religious conversions, but Ryker says this wasn’t a conversion. The code was faked. Bloody Uniform says you can’t fake religious coding on a stack. Ryker puts a gun under Bloody’s chin and asks again and again how Mary Lou died. Bloody cries that he doesn’t know.
Ortega walks in, gun drawn. She tells Ryker to put the gun down, so he explains: there were no witnesses to Mary Lou’s conversion, none of the regular protocol, just Bloody Uniform’s office’s signature on the re-code. Ryker wants to know who is running Bloody Uniform. Ortega puts her gun away and very calmly asks Ryker to think about this.
Jessica: The cautious yet caring way that Ortega treats him, and her immediate release of his prisoner, show us that we’re at the end of what must have been a long descent for poor Ryker leading up to this point.
Mari: Cut to the present with Ortega still sitting in Kovacs’ room as he rants about how he’s wearing Ortega’s boyfriend and she didn’t think to mention that. Ortega says she has trust issues, and she means with Kovacs not Ryker. Kovacs says that he might as well have “shoot me” on his forehead since Bancroft sleeved him in a crooked cop. And Ortega wants him to fail, so he can be returned and Ryker can come back. Ortega protests: Ryker wasn’t crooked and since he hasn’t noticed yet, Bancroft wasn’t murdered.
Kovacs thinks Ortega has been following him to make sure the sleeve doesn’t get damaged. (J: Yeah ’cause that’s worked out so well…) Ortega says actually she’s following him because he’s a terrorist. Kovacs asks her how Dimi 1 (Tahmoh Penikett) knew where he would be and knew his name. And then Dimi 2 (Bobo Del Rey) tortures him in virtual reality, but didn’t know who he is. Just knows the skin is Ryker. Bobo Del Rey thought that Ryker killed Tahmoh Penikett, and he thought that because Bobo Del Rey framed Ryker for killing a CTAC. Boy, I sure hope you guys followed all that. (J: Ummm….)
It’s okay because Ortega is only kind of following, so Kovacs simplifies: Bancroft’s murder and Ryker’s conspiracy are connected. Ortega asks how, and Kovacs grabs Bobo Del Rey’s head and tosses it at her, telling her to ask him. It reminded me of Hamilton and “Should we honor our treaty, King Louis’ head? / Uh, do whatever you want, I’m super dead!”
Jessica: Ha! Excellent, and yes exactly. Also I’m duly impressed by Ortega here because 1 – she doesn’t flinch when the gross head is thrown, she just catches it, and 2 – she catches it on the fly! You toss so much as a pencil at me and witness a full body scramble/loss of coordination akin to the slo-mo portion of the start to a paper towels commercial.
Mari: Do Not Throw Anything At Me, Party of 2.
Elliot is still drinking with Poe. He says again that he wants to talk to his daughter Lizzy. Poe says again that it’s not what’s best for her. Kovacs stomps on down, and Elliot tries to talk to him about Lizzy, but Kovacs doesn’t have time for this. He tells Elliot that they aren’t friends. Kovacs doesn’t owe him anything. The only thing Kovacs is after is his freedom. He tries to leave again, but Poe speaks up. Kovacs cuts him off, too, saying no one is to talk to him unless they have something useful to say. After he’s gone, Ortega appears, holding Bobo Del Rey’s head. She hesitates before going outside and decides to wrap the head in a piece of antique linen first. Poe is not amused.
Suntouch House. A guard stops Kovacs and asks how he got in here. Kovacs says the guards will be fiiiiiine save for, uh, the broken bones and stuff. This guard puts a hand on Kovacs’s shoulder and gets a legit throat punch for it. Miriam calls him off, telling him to stop damaging the help.
Miriam escorts Kovacs to another room and pours him a drink. Bancroft isn’t here. Miriam offers to get him a car to drive him to Bancroft, or he can stay here with her wink, wink. Kovacs says that sex with her seems like a long time ago, but it was only the night before last. That’s a whole quarantine mood, uh, sans the sex with a hot guy thing. Wow, sorry to get so personal.
Kovacs explains that time is wonky for him right now on account of being tortured for a long time in virtual reality thanks to this case. Miriam tells him to drop the case. She will double whatever her husband is paying and will actually get him a new sleeve and identity, granting him the freedom her husband is definitely not going to give him. She also thinks that Bancroft killed himself, and when Kovacs proves that, Bancroft is gonna be pissed. Kovacs realizes that more than anything, Miriam is terrified of her husband. She says that her husband likes to punish people and has trapped the whole family into a “benevolent dependence” for literal ever. Miriam has her own island, though, full of clones and where no one can find them. She’s multisleeved and is offering Kovacs the chance to sleep with all of hers! Multiple of hers. Her and some more her.
Jessica: I know Kovacs got super tortured and everything last episode, but now I think I feel more sorry for Miriam and her family. Or not so much sorry for them since they are rich assholes but as in, the feeling that they have the short end of the stick for sure. I mean, it’s a golden stick of wealth and all but still…. short. Is this metaphor working? I’m trying to say this sucks for them. Carry on.
Mari: Kovacs says he’s not here to save her. Miriam says she’s trying to save him. She leaves him with instructions to think about it, but they don’t have much time.
Ortega dumps Bobo Del Rey’s head in a sewer, but she has his stack. She calls Mickey, who I believe is the Tech Guy from last episode. And also is played by Adam Busch, who also played Warren on Buffy the Vampire Slayer. I definitely did not notice last episode. (J: Whaaat – me neither! This will make his inevitable demise much more palatable.) Anyway, Ortega tells Mickey she’s got a job for him, and this one is a secret, too. We cut to Mickey agreeing while buying a coffee.
He walks away from the coffee shop and a cop is next in line. Before he has time to pay for his drink, another man walks up and scans his finger to pay. The cop thanks him, and then they stand together and watch people walking in the rain. The main is dark-haired and of Asian descent. He’s very clearly not Kovacs 1.0, but I do wonder if he is who Ortega saw at Suntouch and who were were led to believe might be 1.0? He’s billed as Mr. Leung, so we’ll go with that.
Leung looks at the officer’s Star of David and last name (Levine) and asks if he’s a believer. Levine plays it off as just a ring, until Leung says that you meet so few of “the chosen” in this city. Levine is like “wait, are you a believer?”
We cut away to Kovacs as he approaches a warehouse.
Inside, a lot of presumably sick people are gathered. A bunch of children are very happy to be interacting with Bancroft. When he notices Kovacs, Bancroft asks what he’s doing there. Kovacs asks if Bancroft put him in Ryker just to torture Ortega. Bancroft sends the kids away and confirms that yeah, he did. Kovacs needed a body, and Ortega needed a lesson. Kovacs says that’s petty, a waste of time, and immature for someone his age. Bancroft asks what Kovacs knows of his age, and they snit at each other about youth and virility. The whole time, Bancroft is moving through the crowd, shaking hands, hugging people, and passing out toys and gifts. Kovacs notices that the same black lines that mark the sick are now creeping over Bancroft’s face. He’s infected, and it’s spreading quickly.
These are the descendants of survivors of a contagion bomb. No one will touch them, so Bancroft comes here to touch them and help them. But also, he is having all of this filmed. Kovacs says this isn’t sacrifice, it’s theater. If Bancroft cared, he would just buy them all new sleeves. Bancroft says that just because he can’t fix everything doesn’t mean he can’t fix some things.
Jessica: Um, but I’m pretty sure you could fix that with your near-infinite wealth so, not much of a comeback buddy. Also, and I know I say this in a time of quarantine, but Kovacs is waaaay too chill about wandering around in a literal mob of people where a single touch could contaminate and murder him.
Mari: Station. Ortega finds no coffee. She tells a random cop to get her coffee. The camera focus on his name tag, Levine, but not on his face. Suspect. Ortega finds Mickey and passes on the stack from Bobo Del Rey (Dimi the Twin), saying she wants to spin him up in virtual to ask him some questions about Ryker, but she doesn’t want it logged. Mickey kind of protests, but he’s gonna do it.
Back at the contagion camp, Bancroft is coughing and, you know, dying as he explains to Kovacs that he gives the sick something to believe in. Kovacs dismisses it as another display of power. Bancroft says that Kovacs has misunderstood him, then, because true power is hidden. Bancroft would love to stay and keep debating this, but he’s going to cast out soon. He does, and everyone in the camp starts vocalizing and like… worshipping. I’m uncomfy.
Kovacs gets back to the Raven. Elliot is still drinking at the bar. Kovacs joins him and says if he’s stealing liquor now. Elliot says it’s only stealing if you get caught and there are no cops here. That’s Abboud’s cue to enter with a pronounced throat clear. Elliot grabs his stolen liquor and makes himself scarce.
Jessica: Elliot is all of us fading away into the background when we sense a fight.
Mari: Abboud tells Kovacs that him being in this sleeve is tearing Ortega apart. Ryker and Ortega were close, but Ryker was a man with a few demons. And enemies, Kovacs adds. Abboud foresees Kovacs and Ortega getting close, too, and he wants a promise that Kovacs will treat her with decency and respect. Kovacs wonders what his word is even worth, so Abboud is like fine, I’ll promise you: if Kovacs hurts Ortega, Abboud will kill him. Kovacs wonders if that’s a promise he can keep, and Abboud is quietly confident that he can. He stands and emphasizes that Kovacs will take care of Ortega or respond to him. This could’ve played weird, the whole man to a woman’s rescue thing, but I really love Abboud looking out for his partner. I also love how badass he is here. Nothing showy, but effective.
Poe materializes with news that he has something useful. He want to his union (because AI who manage venues have a union) and Madison from Fightdrome has something for them.
Ortega is taking a shower when she hears her mother yelling and Kovacs answering. She hurries out to find that her mom is shooting at Kovacs, calling him an abomination. Ortega takes the gun from her and Kovacs states the obvious: Mama Ortega must’ve not been a fan of Ryker. Anyway, Kovacs is here with the news that Bancroft was at Fightdrome the night he was killed and there is footage to prove it. Ortega says the whole point of Fightdrome is no footage and a once in a lifetime blood letting, but Kovacs tells her to trust him. She sighs that he sounds just like Ryker, and Kovacs gets idea face.
We cut to Fightdrome. Kovacs asks if Ryker had any speech patters he should know about. Ortega says that she mostly did all the talking and he would stand there and look angry. Kovacs can do that.
Matt Frewer, who has been in tons of things but I saw most recently when I started watching Eureka, walks out. He can’t believe that Ryker is here. He asks how that happened. Ortega tells him (Carnage) it’s none of his business. They are here to look at his footage they definitely know he has, despite his protests, of the night Bancroft died. They could come back with warrants. Carnage gives in pretty quickly and brings them back.
As they walk through the facility, they see a bunch of mutated sleeves. Kovacs stops to look at one and you can tell he is having a lot of feelings. Carnage stops to explain that this is an old Envoy, cloned and grown at high cost for this one time fight. The camera pulls away and and we see that this IS Kovacs 1.0. Kovacs is really struggling to control his anger, but Ortega pulls him away.
Jessica: I can’t remember – but do we have a grasp on how much older Kovacs and the Envoys are than the current present? Everyone keeps talking about Envoys like these long-ago near mythological beings, and it just made me curious again. We talking like 50 years or more like centuries?
Mari: Centuries! I remember him being in sleep-jail for 250 years.
Carnage pulls up the actual tape recording, as he keeps everything on tape to keep himself unhackable. The footage shows Isaac Bancroft at the fight when Bancroft rolls in and starts beating the shit out of his son.
After they leave, Kovacs reveals that he’s a lip reader and in that footage, Bancroft kept saying, “You’re not me. You never will be.” He asks Ortega what she makes of that. Ortega says fine, that looks like motive for Isaac, but he couldn’t open the gun safe. Only Miriam and Bancroft could. Ortega grabs the cigarette Kovacs is smoking and says she was trying to get Ryker to quit smoking.
They head to a house I guess is Isaac’s. Kovacs busts his way in and Ortega sighs heavily, but then also disarms the alarm. The alarm calls the police and in her words, “I am the police.” You can tell Kovacs loves that because he smiles like 5%. They pull up some footage Isaac was watching and it’s all of his dad in various social settings. Ortega wonders why he would be watching this if he hates his dad. Kovacs wonders out loud how you know someone is who they say they are. Before, a face was a face, but now anyone could be in anyone’s sleeve.
Ortega finds another locked door and decides to “Kovacs” it, breaking the door down. It’s amazing how much their relationship has eased up just because the truth is finally out there. Abboud knew what he was getting at when he assumed these two would get close and quickly.
Anyway, in this locked room, they find a portable bio-organic 3D printer. Very expensive and very illegal. In the back of the room, they find a container with a Bancroft clone. Kovacs puts together that Bancroft was never in Osaka. It was Isaac impersonating his father, probably part of his long term plan to take over his father’s life. Ortega asks Kovacs how it feels to be hours away from freedom and they share a loaded moment.
She breaks it first, calling in the illegal sleeve and 3D printer into the station for pickup.
We cut to the police packing up Isaac’s place as KVO tells us that finding truth is an escalation and you have to keep going, no matter where it takes you. Kovacs is just standing there, and we see that his hand is dripping blood onto the floor. Ortega notices and says he’s coming with her.
Ortega takes him to the place she was going to share with Ryker. She gives Kovacs some booze for what’s to come and orders him out of his shirt.
Ortega uses a high tech pen thing to seal up his wounds. Kovacs starts asking about Ryker’s other scars and it leads to story time, but more importantly touching. Kovacs asks what Ortega sees when she looks into his eyes. She says they are not his eyes. And this is a mistake. When she looks at Ryker’s eyes, she sees not Ryker looking back at her, and yet no one has even looked at her that way in a long time. Kovacs tells her he’s sorry for not being Ryker. She tells him to shut the fuck up, but also, it was the right thing to say because she straddles him and they kiss.
We cut to sexy time and then post-coital cuddles and then sleepy time. Ortega stirs awake, looks at Kovacs and seems to decide something. She gets up, retrieves something from a box, and then wakes Kovacs up. She hands him a stack. Kovacs asks who it is. Mary Lou Hency. She explains that someone killed a CTAC, the systems op we met at the beginning of this episode I believe, and pinned it on Ryker.
We flashback to that night. BCPD comes to arrest Ryker. He says he didn’t do it, but then gets real paranoid about how “they” got to Captain Tanaka. I last saw this actor, Hiro Kanagawa, as Lieutenant Suzuki on iZombie. I’ve been watching a lot of procedurals during isolation, okay? Also, Hiro plays a cop a lot.
Jessica: That’s where I recognized him from too! He’s got Serious Cop Acting down, for sure.
Mari: Ryker has his gun trained on Tanaka. Ortega tries to talk him down and tells him that if this is all a mistake… She doesn’t finish because Ryker heard that “if.” He lowers his gun. He’s promptly arrested as he asks how could Ortega not believe him.
In the present, Ortega explains that she gave Mrs. Henchy Mary Lou’s sleeve back, but obviously she kept the stack in case by some miracle she could one day spin her up. Ortega pulls up a projection using her ONI– a slideshow of a bunch of murdered people who all mysteriously converted to Neo-C before being killed. It’s right near impossible to fake conversion, but lots of impossible things are happening. Ortega tells him about the Ghostwalker, the man who deletes himself out of security footage. She shows him the sketch of Ghostwalker. This is all connected to Mary Lou and Bancroft’s murder. Kovacs says that whoever is behind this has fucked up, though They haven’t killed him yet. Ortega’s ONI beeps and she answers Mickey’s call.
Station. They’ve got Dimi in a new sleeve. Ortega tells Kovacs she’ll take lead on questioning. And she does, but Kovacs takes lead on slamming Dimi’s face into a table. They get absolutely no information from him, and Tanaka finds them and puts a stop to the interview. Two cops grab Dimi and escort him out. Ortega tries to explain to Tanaka what is happening and begs to at least be able to ride down with Dimi for a few more questions. Tanaka says fine. Abboud goes with her. And the cop who goes in the elevator with them? Leung/Ghostwalker. Kovacs sees him and recognizes him, but the elevator doors close.
A fight breaks out. Leung uses a starfish sort of bladed weapon to just remove a CHUNK of Ortega’s shoulder and hip. Dimi fights Abboud, but in the end, Abboud and Ortega are both too hurt to win. Leung grabs his gun and starts blessing Ortega, some sort of last rites, but when he points to shoot, Abboud rolls int the way and gets his stack blown out. OF COURSE IN THE EPISODE I WAS LIKE I LOVE HIM SO MUCH. THEY DID IT ON PURPOSE.
Jessica: NOooooooo this is the worst, the absolute worst!
Mari: Ghostwalker aims at Ortega’s stack, but he’s out of bullets.
Kovacs runs all the way down the stairs. When he catches up to the elevator, he finds Ortega still conscious, but bleeding profusely. He grabs her and carries her out while she begs him to help Abboud.
Jessica: *sobs*
Next time on Altered Carbon: Ortega’s fate hangs in the balance in S01 E6 – Man With My Face.
I'm a 30-something south Floridan who loves the beach but cannot swim. Such is my life, full of small contradictions and little trivialities. My main life goals are never to take life too seriously, but to do everything I attempt seriously well. After that, my life goals devolve into things like not wearing pants and eating all of the Zebra Cakes in the world. THE WORLD.
I'm a chronic book nerd and love storytelling in all forms. I'm particularly excited by the rise of the television show as an art form with long, cinematically beautiful plots and complex character arcs (I also watch cartoons). My travels in the past handful of years have led me through three continents and most recently landed me among the majestic mountains of Colorado. Some day I will compile all my travel journals/blogs into one place. Some day. Until then, you can find me with craft beer in hand, ready at any moment to deeply and passionately discuss survival tactics for the zombie apocalypse.
