Episode 21 - Gigabyte

Last episode started the story arc that is going to close out this season. While it had it's beginning, middle, and end, it also left things open that are going to play out in this episode. For one, the creature that came out of Hex's looking glass is still out there, and at the end of the previous episode, it infected Megabyte in a similar way to how it infected Hexadecimal at the beginning of the episode. This episode isn't quite as good as it's predecessor, but it does a pretty good job of continuing the story set up in Nullzilla.

We begin this episode where we left off last week with Kits Sector in ruins after the heroes battle with Nullzilla. A yellow vehicle picks up the robot from the previous episode, taking him away from the sector and knocking over three buildings in the process. A builder binome contacts Dot to tell her that despite a few setbacks, they’re on track to repair the sector.

Meanwhile, Bob is overseeing Hexadecimal. He tells Phong that she’s weak due to the Nulls draining her energy, but she’ll recover. The conversation then turns to whatever attacked her, and Phong tells Bob that he hasn’t been able to pick up on its signal. Based on the fact that it went after Hex, Bob theorises that maybe whatever got her preys on viruses. Phong predicts that since it went after Hexadecimal, it’s next target would be...

Hexadecimal seemingly finishes Phong's sentence with one word, 'Megabyte'. Bob agrees with her, but it turns out she was alerting Bob to the fact that the infected Megabyte is with them right now. He pushes Bob aside and attempts to merge with Hexadecimal. Bob uses Glitch to fire an energy beam at Megabyte, knocking him away into a nearby wall. He then sends Glitch to start up his car. However, Megabyte gets up very quickly, and begins making his way over to Bob and Hexadecimal. Hex is able to momentarily slow him down with what’s left of her powers. Just before he reaches the two, Megabyte is picked up by a giant claw being piloted by Dot, giving Bob and Hex time to get to Bob's car and escape. Megabyte begins infecting the claw part of Dot's vehicle, but she detaches the claw before he can infect the whole vehicle.

Bob interrogates Hexadecimal about how she was merging with Megabyte, and she reveals that Megabyte is her brother. This perplexes Bob, since the two are always trying to destroy each other, but Hex reveals that it’s just sibling rivalry. If the two were to merge, Hex tells Bob the end result would be 'the next generation'. Dot then contacts Bob to tell him that she was unable to contain Megabyte, but this communication is cut short by Megabyte jumping on the hood of Bob's car, knocking off the windshield before grabbing Hex and jumping off. Once the two reach ground level, they merge into one virus.

The new virus is a hulking beast with a giant claw on one arm, taking elements of both Megabyte's and Hexadecimal's respective colour palettes. Bob contacts a Phong to inform him of what just happened, and tells him that he’s going down to communicate with the virus since he feels that it might be a Benin virus. Bob asks him to identify himself, and he tells Bob that he has become Gigabyte, 'destroyer of systems'. He attacks Bob, and Bob retaliates with an attack from Glitch. This doesn’t work since Gigabyte is a Class 5 virus, meaning he absorbs energy. Gigabyte then slashes Bob's back, damaging his armour. Bob has no choice but to flee, so he grabs a zip board and flies away.

Bob then checks back in with Phong. He tells him that Gigabyte is at least as strong as Megabyte but hasn’t used any of Hexadecimal's powers yet. Phong speculates that this is due to the transformation making him weak, as he would have already opened a portal to the net if he had access to Hexadecimal's power. He tells Bob that they need to stop him before this can happen. Bob tells Phong to power down the city and that he’s going to call in for help before signing off.

Bob then sends out a net wide alert to call for assistance, but as soon as he’s finished, Dot flies in shooting at Gigabyte. However, her attacks have no effect other than giving him more strength. Gigabyte attacks her vehicle, causing it to crash. Bob helps Dot out, and the two flee on zip boards.

Their escape soon gets cut short as the power down of the city affects their zip boards as well. They end up at the end of an alley with Gigabyte blocking their escape. Feeling as if they are doomed, Bob tries to tell Dot something but is cut off by her saying 'I know'. Gigabyte demands that Bob hands over Glitch, but Bob sends Glitch away. Gigabyte then decides to settle with using Bob and Dot for energy, but just as he’s about to swipe at Bob, a sword wielded by an unseen force severs Gigabyte's arm, sending it to the floor. This is when we see that Mouse has returned.

While Gigabyte reattaches his arm, Bob, Dot, and Mouse manage to escape to Mouse's ship (simply called 'Ship'). Bob is confused as to how Mouse arrived so quickly since he’d only sent out the distress signal a nano ago. Mouse says that she was already on her way, which displeases Dot since she almost deleted Enzo last time she was in Mainframe. Once they reach the Principle Office, Phong is reluctant to lower the shields as he doesn’t want Mouse to enter. Bob tries to argue his case for her since she just saved them from Gigabyte, but Mouse hacks through the defences anyway, allowing them to enter the Principle Office.

Inside, they come up with a plan to stop Gigabyte. The plan is for Mouse and Dot to catch a tear from the energy sea to overload Gigabyte with power while Bob keeps Gigabyte away from the Principle Office. Bob lures Gigabyte to Floating Point Park with the help of Hack and Slash, and Phong detaches that sector to keep him further away.

Meanwhile, Dot keeps the ship steady while Mouse uses a PlayStation controller to catch a tear. Just as she’s able to secure it, an overload of power knocks Mouse off her platform, sending her falling down to the energy sea. Luckily Dot is able to catch her before she hits the water. Mouse is impressed with Dots flying, and the two make their way towards the Principle Office.

Back on Floating Point, Gigabyte drains Hack's energy, and a distraught Slash punches Gigabyte so hard that he goes flying back to Mainframe. With Hack's energy, Gigabyte now has the ability to fly. He begins to absorb the energy from     the Principle Office shield, but Phong takes the shield down before he can absorb it all. Eventually, Dot and Mouse are able to make their way back to the Principle Office and they drop the tear on Gigabyte. Bob uses this to split Gigabyte, and he splits into three separate portals - Megabyte, Hexadecimal, and a mysterious black portal. While this seems like a victory, Bob suspects that there’s something rotten in the heart of Mainframe as we zoom into a gauntlet on Mouse's wrist revealing a blinking red light.

This is probably the weakest episode of the four episodes that make up the four part finale to this season. It's not that this episode is bad, it's just not as strong as the other three episodes. However, there is plenty to like about this episode. It's great that this episode starts right after the previous one, and much like Nullzilla, this episode has it's beginning, middle and end with a few threads left open to be followed up on in the next episode.

Mouse makes her long awaited return in this episode after her one episode stint last season. As I said in my entry on 'The Great Brain Robbery', Mouse was the most interesting part of that episode. She was a character who operated within a more morally grey area compared to everyone else we'd seen at that point, and this is something that remains in this episode. While she's helping our heroes, she invites herself into the Principle Office with her hacking skills in spite of Phong's refusal to allow her entry. She also has another purpose in Mainframe, something that we're not 100% sure of, but if the end of the episode is anything to go by, it can't be good.

Much like in other episodes, Bob finds himself needing to use means other than Glitch to resolve the episode's conflict. Glitch has no affect on Gigabyte asides from providing him with more energy, meaning he needs to use his wits in order to best this new threat. It's also great to see him working with Hack and Slash again much like he did in Bad Bob.

Much like in Infected, the powered down Mainframe makes for a visually stunning colour palette that fits in with the tone of the episode. The darker looking sky has a sinister looking tinge to it that creates some fantastic imagery throughout the episode.

Dot's arc this episode is pretty interesting. It revolves around her learning to work with and trust Mouse, someone she isn't too fond of after she nearly deleted her younger brother. After being incredibly vocal about how she distrusts Mouse, she finds herself forced to work alongside her. By the episode's end, the two characters find a newfound respect for each other

The concept of a fusion of Megabyte and Hexadecimal is an interesting one, as is the reveal of the family link between the two. Gigabyte's design is very cool as well, combining elements of Megabyte's design with subtle hints of Hexadecimals and a mixture of their respective colour palettes. However, Gigabyte doesn't quite live up to his promise as he just comes across as a rampaging brute and isn't as interesting as Megabyte and Hexadecimal are individually.

In spite of that, this is a great continuation to the story that started in the previous episode. However, while Gigabyte has been dealt with, it's clear that this isn't the end of this story. For one, whatever attacked Megabyte and Hexadecimal is still out there, we still have no idea what it is or what it's purpose is, and Mouse may or may not have some connection to the creature...

Next week: CGI Agents Fax Modem and Data Nully assist Bob in tracking down the creature in 'Trust No One'