ALSO since this is now turning into a pluribus rant from me, what would "saving the world" mean for Carol's behaviour towards Zosia - really serious discussion about consent that would need to be tackled if they're ever able to probably "unjoin" someone.

(that's not to say only gay people freeze embryos, or that frozen embryos are required for IVF, but out of all the survivors we know about her life circumstances made her the most likely to have frozen embryos and I think that's worth considering)

(Spoilers here) Even the big reveal at the end of the season, it's not some reveal that the hivemind is secretly malevolent. It's a thing that specifically affects Carol, in a way that is likely, unique to her out of all the 13 survivors, and possibly happened BECAUSE she is a gay woman.

I absolutely love the amount of times the show sets up the "big reveal" that the hivemind is secretly doing something really evil, and almost every single time without fail it turns out that they're just, not doing that.

I don't really think the show is really pro-Carol OR pro-hivemind at this stage, it feels like a philosophy and character study more than anything and it's really good

Though I hope it is able to wrap up in one more season cos I don't want to have to watch like 7 cliffhangers for the next 15 years

You can really see this through the lens of "here's a really angry and shitty woman desperate to find the worst in a situation that proves itself to be genuinely mostly benevolent in every way" AND ALSO "this happiness is a facade that results in the destruction of the meaning of life itself"

I watched the season finale last night and went online to see people's thoughts and it seems like everyone is pretty firmly on team Carol against the hive mind, and then acting confused as to why Carol was dismissive and controlling to "Zosia" when it "makes it hard to like her tbh..."

It's like this huge tragedy just happened and way too many innocent people died, and it's taken about 48 hours for the politicians to spin themselves up into a performative vortex of nothing, where they all just get angrier at eachother and the media pretends their screeching is important to anybody

Is there anybody who isn't a politician or political journalist who seriously gives any remote shit about "Albo's personal responsibility" or who "Jillian Segal"? It feels like they're just performing for each other?

Oh the opposition decided to weaponise this tragedy to throw mud on their rival instead of like? Idk? Not doing that? The government has pledged to crack down on protests and freedom of speech oh yes mate I'm sure that'll work wonders as always

You get that crunch time at the final moments, and you know that time is coming. But you don't have a number over your head ticking down, which makes you feel like you've got time to explore. It's brilliantly done and I'm sad it wasn't talked about

Every act obfuscates it's time limit until the final 7 days, and I noticed the final 7 days always started approaching timed well alongside the progression of the main quest, it felt like the timer changes behind the scenes with your story progression so you will always feel that pressure at the end

ALSO complete change of topic but it's really sad he didn't talk about The Alters, a game that came out THIS YEAR with time limits as its central mechanic, implemented in a unique and really intelligent way that adds friction and stakes when it needs to, and takes the pressure off when it doesn't.

A timer would be a fun gameplay gimmick and I get it from that perspective. But it would undercut the entire point of the story, of V existing in their life in spite of the world, ignoring the "timer", not as part of a content checklist before the seconds hit 0.

V's story is about forging connections and something to live for in spite of their incurable condition. There's a reason the biggest quest lines in the game are friendships and romances, and that most of them offshoot from the main plot.

Cyberpunk 2077 is about terminal illness - there's a couple articles out there about this, but terminally ill people don't all drop everything immediately to chase down a miracle cure for every remaining moment of their life, watching a literal clock count down the seconds.

Not trying to bash shadows too much cos it does a lot of other things really well BUT god I wish it's streets were as detailed as Mirage