We begin inside the Firewall where we see Megabyte's ABC's getting into formation for something. Megabyte frees Hexadecimal's arms and tells her that they'll begin when she's ready. Hex is obviously not willing to help, so Megabyte activates her shock collar. This initially hurts her, but after the shock has worn off, she begins laughing. She tells Megabyte that this is because she was picturing what she will do to him once she's free of his contraption, telling Megabyte he has no idea of the power he's attempting to control and that chaos will always triumph over order. Megabyte simply tells her to use her power to breach the Firewall or suffer.
Cutting to the Principle Office, Dot notes that the motion sensors focused on Ghetty Prime have just gone off the scale. Specky reports that there's a build up of forces at the Firewall. Dot gives the order to prepare auto defence mode, and that she needs to know where the breach will be before it happens. Meanwhile, Hex has successfully generated a small breach in the Firewall. Megabyte then orders his lieutenant to mount an all out attack on the Principle Office, taking no prisoners and showing no mercy.
In the Principle Office, Dot is waiting for Megabyte to leave the Firewall before launching an attack. Phong points out that Megabyte isn't with the incoming viral forces, which angers Dot. Enzo tells Dot that they need to activate the defences, so Dot tells Mouse to 'hit em hard'. Mouse then commands the CPU's to deploy the smart cannons with the safeties off. The cannons then activate and instantly start destroying the ABC's. Megabyte orders Hex to close the rift, and the remaining ABC's head back to the Firewall. However, they don't make it back in time before the rift closes so end up crashing into the Firewall.
At the Principle Office, the CPU's are celebrating their victory while Dot slowly slips away, which goes unnoticed by everyone other than Phong. Dot sits down and starts sobbing, but quickly wipes her tears away once Phong enters, claiming to be going through some intelligence reports. She then explains that while they won and she knows she should be happy, she just feels empty, as if part of her died along with the virals. She asks Phong how many more need to suffer before Megabyte is stopped. Phong tells her that while she mourns the loss of innocence, that hope still lives within her, and that she needs to be strong, not just for the sake of Mainframe, but for Bob, too. He continues by saying that since the virals have been contained, they are now free to search for a way to rescue Bob. This cheers Dot up a little, so she goes off to celebrate with her troops.
Within the lab of Silicon Tor, Megabyte asks Herr Doktor how long he estimates that they can maintain control over Hexadecimal. He explains that it's a complicated issue since they have no idea how they have managed to keep her under control for so long, theorising that she's possibly faking and enjoys being tied up (something that Megabyte doesn't want to think about). Megabyte then asks where Hack and Slash are, but Herr Doktor sighs and says they haven't yet returned. This angers Megabyte, who tells Herr Doktor to remind him that Hack and Slash are to 'take point' the next time they breach the Firewall as he's grown weary of their incompetence.
Down in the dungeon, Cyrus is hanging over a pit of molten magma. Hack and Slash are nearby arguing about over who presses the button that will lead Cyrus to his death. Hack is urging Slash to press it, but he is reluctant to do so since something horrible happens every time he pushes a button. Eventually, Hack presses it, which pulls Cyrus along towards a wall that is constantly raising and lowering. Just before it can crush him, Slash saves him, which angers Hack. Slash tells Cyrus to run along, and once he's gone, Hack says that Megabyte is going to be mad. Slash simply says that he misses Bob. Hack is confused by this, but Slash points out that Bob always stopped them before they could do anything truly bad, but now he's not around, no one can. The two head off back to Silicon Tor, but Slash stops dead in his tracks as soon as Hack says that he's going to tell Megabyte what he did.
Back at the Principle Office, Enzo, Dot, and AndrAIa are laughing amongst themselves when an alarm suddenly sounds. Specky reports that Mouse's new long range sensors have picked up a large energy reading above the city, which turns out to be a Game. Enzo goes to head off, but as he goes to leave, Dot tells him that he's all she has left and to be careful. Enzo reassures her that him and AndrAIa can take on any user before he leaves with AndrAIa and Frisket. Once they're gone, Mouse tells Dot that they'll be okay. Dot confides in Mouse that she still isn't used to letting Enzo go into games, feeling that it's too much responsibility for a little sprite. Mouse reminds her that Enzo is a young Guardian now, and that Bob knew what he was doing when he chose him. Dot says that Bob was supposed to be here to train him, and Mouse replies and says that if the ports to the net were open, Enzo would be downloaded to the Guardian Academy. Mouse says that things didn't turn out that way, but they need to make do.
As Enzo heads towards the game, Megabyte is observing on his vid window. He monologues about how Enzo is simply 'putting on a show for the masses' by entering the games, asking 'who will defend you the next time we meet?'. Elsewhere within the Firewall, Cyrus is desperately trying to escape, but finds he is unable to get out. He crosses paths with Scuzzy, who is the other side of the Firewall. He suggests to Scuzzy that they should help each other out.
Inside the game, Enzo gets the stats for the game, finding out that it's a tournament styled fighting game between Gods, Mortals, and Demons. The playable characters load in the form of stained glass windows. Enzo then points out a problem; The User only needs to beat five opponents in order to win the game, and with twelve players to choose from, there's a chance that they'll ReBoot and not get picked to battle The User, meaning they aren't in control.
Outside the game, Dot is getting impatient that the game isn't over yet. Phong points out that the game has barely begun, and that even when allowing for the time difference between their time and game time, there is still a finite time they have to wait, reminding Dot to be patient (before getting aggressive about not having his coco). Back in the game, The User chooses his character, picking a large red demon character called 'Zaytan'. Enzo tells AndrAIa to choose a character and ReBoot with Frisket so that Frisket can take care of The User if they're chosen while Enzo attempts to second guess the user, providing them with two chances of being picked. AndrAIa ReBoots as a four armed goddess while Frisket is her animal companion.
Shortly after AndrAIa and Frisket ReBoot, the game begins selecting the opponent for the first level. Enzo attempts to catch up to the selected fighter and ReBoot, but misses, and the opponent, an angel, materialises in the arena, beginning the first level. The first round ends pretty quickly with Zaytan winning. The second round concludes with the opponent yet again being defeated, and Zaytan performs his brutal finishing move - ripping off the downed opponent's head (off screen, of course). Enzo says that now he's aware of his finishing move, he'll be ready for it.
In her confinement in Silicon Tor, Hexadecimal is met by Scuzzy who enters through a vent. Hex is initially happy to see him, but then scolds him for taking so long to get to her, asking where he's been. He simply shows her a picture of a Firewall, but Hex doesn't think that's an acceptable excuse. Back in the game, the fourth level is in progress with Zaytan now taking on a muscular man with a large knife. Zaytan makes quick work of him and proceeds to perform his finishing move on him, ending the level.
The game then transitions to the final level, and the game begins to select the final opponent. It initially selects AndrAIa, but Enzo shouts for it to choose the fighter he's standing in front of, prompting the stained glass window behind him to be highlighted. Enzo then ReBoots into a yellow ninja outfit before ripping the mask off, claiming that 'you can't speak in these things'.
The first round then begins, and Enzo manages to hold his own against Zaytan, winning the round. In the second round, Zaytan puts up a bit more of a fight, ending up winning the round, putting the two at one all. Enzo gives himself a pep talk before the fighting begins. Enzo struggles to hit Zaytan, who then manages to overpower him, eventually taking out Enzo's eye. Enzo then lands a kick on Zaytan's claw, shattering part of it, but he then immediately knocks Enzo to the ground, ready for his finishing move. As Enzo sees Zaytan slowly approach him, he taps his icon, which alter's it's shape to a triangle just before Zaytan's hand reaches for his head. AndrAIa is pretty shocked at this, and then console's Frisket while she changes their icons.
Back in the Principle Office, Specky reports an energy buildup, confirming that the game is about to leave. Dot begins giving orders, saying she wants med teams at the area immediately and to put everyone on full security alert, instructing them to keep scanning Ghetty Prime since this is when Megabyte could possibly try something. The system voice then announces 'Game Over... The User Wins'. The room is then met with a stunned silence for a while as everyone looks around in disbelief. This silence is eventually broken by Dot crying. We then cut away to the Game Cube leaving as we see Megabyte laughing to himself.
While this episode is a slight step down from the glorious Firewall that proceeded it, this is still a great episode and a very important one in terms of the overall story arc of the season. As a conclusion to the first arc of this season, it rounds off the arc's plot of Enzo's attempts at defending the system in the absence of Bob. So far this season, while he's certainly not Bob and lacks his experience, he's managed to not only convince the citizens of Mainframe of his ability to protect them from The User, but he's also managed to capture Megabyte, giving them the upper hand in the battle against the virals. But of course, pride comes before a fall, and in this episode, Enzo is faced with a foe that he couldn't possibly defeat, and he ends up paying the price for it.
One interesting thing I noticed about Enzo's arc is how it has parallels to early adult life. As a child, you're constantly waiting to grow up and expect to suddenly be filled with all kinds of wisdom once you become an adult. However, once you reach adulthood you find that isn't the case at all as you're thrust with all kinds of responsibilities that you aren't ready for, and you have to improvise and learn through failure. I feel this is similar to how Enzo was forced into being a Guardian without any training through no fault of his own, having to take on adult responsibilities he wasn't prepared for while still being a literal child. Enzo shouldn't have been expected to fill Bob's shoes, but he had no choice after Megabyte launched Bob into The Web. At the end of this episode, you can't help but blame Megabyte for what's happened to Enzo. Sure, he wasn't the one who defeated Enzo, but if it wasn't for him, Enzo wouldn't have had to battle that user.
While she's in command of the system at this point, Dot hasn't had too much focus so far this season. This episode, we get to see a more vulnerable side of her character, one who is trying to stay strong for the sake of those around her, but also has a lot of pent up emotions about the current situation. Considering how passionate she was about freeing those controlled by Megabyte from his control in Identity Crisis, it's understandable that she'd be upset about killing the viral forces at the start of the episode. After all, they are only acting this way since they've been infected by Megabyte, and the preferable solution would be to free them from his control. We also see how she's still concerned for Enzo's safety, which is understandable since she lost her father when the Twin City was destroyed, and has also recently lost Bob, so it's natural that she'd be cautious about him taking on games without her. The end of the episode when she hears that Enzo lost is one of the best scenes in the entire show. The incredibly sombre silence really helps to show how Dot's world has completely shattered around her, making her utter devastation all the more heartbreaking.
Surprisingly, Hack and Slash also get some development this time around as they begin to question their place within Megabyte's forces. While Hack is happy to go along with Megabyte's plans, Slash seems to be having second thoughts about the whole thing. This stems from the fact that they were never able to do anything truly evil when Bob was around since he was always able to stop them before things escalated too far. However, with him gone, no one can stop them. Could this mean that the two are beginning to learn the error of their ways, potentially leading to them breaking away from Megabyte?
Likewise, we can see that Megabyte is growing tired of the two's incompetence. In Season One, most of his failures were down to him getting his bumbling minions to do his dirty work, with him only becoming a truly credible threat once he started taking matters into his own hands, leading to him eventually getting rid of Bob. He now sees no use for Hack and Slash, and him ordering them to 'take point' the next time they attempt to breach the Firewall is essentially sending them to their deaths.
An interesting question is raised about Hexadecimal this episode - is she really under Megabyte's control, or is she simply playing along? As Herr Doktor said, 'I think she likes being tied up', that kind of implies that Hexadecimal is into BDSM to some degree. Her outfit that she's been placed in by Megabyte kind of reflects this, as well. It does make you think that once Hex gets bored of playing Megabyte's prisoner, she'll manage to escape, and who knows what she plans to do once she escapes.
The game this time around is a parody of fighting games, specifically Mortal Kombat. This is mostly felt through the music used for the character select in the episode being fairly similar to the Mortal Kombat theme song and the character Enzo ReBoots as being similar to Scorpion from Mortal Kombat. Out of all the games featured in ReBoot, this one could possibly be my favourite. I'm not sure what it is, but I love the aesthetic feel of the arenas and the characters which, while clearly having similar vibes to Mortal Kombat, has enough of it's own individuality to make it distinct enough. This episode is the main reason why Scorpion is my favourite character in Mortal Kombat (who I since found out is the most popular character in the series, although I'm not sure how many of these fans have also seen ReBoot). The User character being a literal demon (despite that fact that he feels more like a final boss character than a playable character in context of actual video games) is something that will have a great payoff towards the end of the season.
This episode is quite possibly the darkest episode of the entire series. While it's got some humour sprinkled throughout, the ending is incredibly dark and leaves you with very little hope. However, it's a brilliant episode with some high stakes and a shocking ending which, while pretty heavily foreshadowed beforehand, still feels incredibly shocking when the moment hits. The end of the episode also leaves things a bit up in the air as to where the show will go from here, which won't be answered until the next episode...
Next week: We get our first real glimpse of life outside of Mainframe in 'Icons'.
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