Everything nicely wraps up. The problem is, it's too nicely wrapped.
I liked how the finale evoke Kovacs' word about Envoys: make friends with the locales, then leave them after a while. Kovacs leaving the city and leaving Ryker's sleeve is the most physical manifestation of this word: season ends, body ends, his story in the city ends.
However the episode seems to hangs too tightly on a typical blockbuster ending: the good triumphs evil after all. Mysteries are resolved, the "bad guys are caught", and our heroes won again. It's even complete with sacrifices, which a typical Hollywood ending usually requires, but not one that ultimately causes bittersweet moment that makes us reflect what the season has been all about.
The conflict with Reileen is too easily resolved. It alsmost seems like they attempt to make Reileen's motivation complex, something beyond a sisterly love or obsession, some sort of fable, that long age does not necessarily give one wisdom but a twisted view of the world (as they seem to take this theme with Bancroft). But it ended up as something weird, as it wasn't properly outlined. Perhaps it's due to factor that Reileen appeared out of nowhere in the middle of the season.
Not to mention that Kovacs' last moment with her was counterfeited thanks to his body double, which leads to the "heroes ganging up the baddies" moment explained above. Speaking of which, the theme that plays when Ava kicks ass simultaneously feels a little bit satisfying and completely out of place. We get to see how she rises up, but it is knitted in a very loose thread that makes the hard-boiled cyberpunk world Altered Carbon has built the whole season to a typical action movie.
The finale is disappointing, however I still hope for season 2 to come. Hopefully with something more engaging.
Review by Pradipa PRBlockedParent2019-08-25T17:15:51Z
Everything nicely wraps up. The problem is, it's too nicely wrapped.
I liked how the finale evoke Kovacs' word about Envoys: make friends with the locales, then leave them after a while. Kovacs leaving the city and leaving Ryker's sleeve is the most physical manifestation of this word: season ends, body ends, his story in the city ends.
However the episode seems to hangs too tightly on a typical blockbuster ending: the good triumphs evil after all. Mysteries are resolved, the "bad guys are caught", and our heroes won again. It's even complete with sacrifices, which a typical Hollywood ending usually requires, but not one that ultimately causes bittersweet moment that makes us reflect what the season has been all about.
The conflict with Reileen is too easily resolved. It alsmost seems like they attempt to make Reileen's motivation complex, something beyond a sisterly love or obsession, some sort of fable, that long age does not necessarily give one wisdom but a twisted view of the world (as they seem to take this theme with Bancroft). But it ended up as something weird, as it wasn't properly outlined. Perhaps it's due to factor that Reileen appeared out of nowhere in the middle of the season.
Not to mention that Kovacs' last moment with her was counterfeited thanks to his body double, which leads to the "heroes ganging up the baddies" moment explained above. Speaking of which, the theme that plays when Ava kicks ass simultaneously feels a little bit satisfying and completely out of place. We get to see how she rises up, but it is knitted in a very loose thread that makes the hard-boiled cyberpunk world Altered Carbon has built the whole season to a typical action movie.
The finale is disappointing, however I still hope for season 2 to come. Hopefully with something more engaging.