Episode 43 - Sacrifice

This episode has been a long time coming. Ever since she was first mentioned in 'The Episode With No Name', Daemon was set up as a foe that was supposedly a much greater threat than Megabyte. A threat that didn't just threaten Mainframe, but the rest of the Net as well. The previous three episodes have backed up how much of a threat she is as she has managed to infect the majority of systems on the net and has even managed to infect some of our heroes. Now Daemon is heading to Mainframe herself to infect it and use Bob to access the systems she hasn't been able to infect yet. Will Mainframe prevail, or will the entire net bow before Daemon?

The episode begins with Daemon, accompanied by Matrix, AndrAIa, Mouse, and Mike the TV, heading towards Mainframe with the Guardian Armada in tow. In the Principle Office, Dot suggests changing the access code to prevent Daemon from accessing Mainframe, but Specky says that it's not possible to do so due to how tough it is to crack Mouse's encryptions.

Outside, Enzo is playing catch with Welman while the gateway gets constructed. Enzo doesn't seem to be off put by his dad being a null monster, and tells Phong that he finds it cool. After Enzo runs off to play with Frisket, we see several ABC's place a second Firewall over the first, something to slow down Mouse's hacking and delay Daemon's entrance to Mainframe. Welman tells Phong how proud he is of Dot and Enzo, commenting that Enzo has 'grown so much'. Phong braces Welman and says that he needs to tell him something about Enzo.

Elsewhere, Bob is looking at the Firewall, and is then joined by Hexadecimal who offers to help. Bob says that she can't help due to her not having her powers any more since becoming a Sprite. Hex then kisses Bob who tries to tell Hex that he's not interested but can't quite find the words. He mentions Dot, but Hex says that Dot only wants to be friends with him. As she tries to kiss him again, the first Firewall is disabled - Daemon is due to arrive.

Bob and Hex join Dot, Enzo, Phong, and Welman at the Principle Office. Hexadecimal instantly starts playing with Enzo and Frisket, but Dot doesn't approve. Hex then says that she simply adores children, but could never eat a whole one (although this turns out to be a joke). Then the system announces an Incoming Game. Dot asks Enzo to go into the game and stay there, switching his icon to Game Sprite mode and not coming back until he's as big as Matrix. She asks Hack, Slash, and Frisket to accompany him. Bob isn't too happy with this idea, and tries to talk Enzo out of it by pointing out that he's not Matrix and doesn't have to do this. However, Enzo is happy to do this, but doesn't seem as happy to part with his family.

Dot tells Bob that she wants him to hide in the Net so that Daemon can't get to him, which he's also reluctant to do. Welman tells Dot that the Gateway is ready, and Bob realises what Dot is planning to do - she's planning to use the gateway to fragment Daemon's code across the net and destroy her. With Daemon gone, the systems under her control might begin to recover. As Bob doesn't seem keen on leaving, she asks Bob to act as bait.

Once the Firewall goes down, Dot orders the troops to blow the Guardian Armada out of the sky, but Daemon enters the system unaccompanied. As she arrives, she is delighted to see Bob, but when she's sees that Hexadecimal is now a Sprite, she reacts with utter disgust and calls her a 'disgrace to her kind'. She floats down to the ground just as Welman prepares to activate the portal, but when she touches the ground, everyone gets infected and Welman is reduced to a pile of nulls. Daemon brings down a zoom room which reunites the Mainframers with Matrix, AndrAIa, Mouse, and Mike. Hexadecimal begs for Daemon's forgiveness, but she tosses her aside with her powers, sending her into a wall.

Elsewhere, the Game ends and we see that, rather than doing what Dot instructed, Enzo decided to win the game. Hack and Slash act surprised at this, but Enzo explains that he wasn't prepared to part with his family. Then Hack and Slash notice the pulsating green energy throughout the system. Enzo asks Hack for binoculars so he can see what's going on. He views the top of the Principle Office, and can see that Daemon is using Bob to create portals, which is severely weakening him. Enzo then realises that Bob was right, he's not Matrix. He then changes his outfit to a Guardian outfit, and declares that his function is 'To Mend and Defend', and that Hack, Slash, and Frisket are going to help him.

Slash attempts to stop Daemon, but ends up being sliced to pieces by Mouse. Enzo, Hack, and Frisket confront Matrix and AndrAIa, who hope to take Enzo to Daemon. Enzo orders Frisket to bite Matrix, which causes him to get angry to the extent that he threatens to hurt Frisket. Enzo uses this anger to his advantage - reminding Matrix of his hatred of viruses and Megabyte. This allows Matrix to somewhat come to his senses and he changes his icon from Game Sprite mode to his usual Guardian icon, which cures him of the infection and allows him to cure others. They find Hexadecimal outside the Principle Office, and Matrix reluctantly cures her, which allows Welman Matrix to reappear in his null form.

In the War Room, Matrix, AndrAIa, and Hexadecimal observe Bob creating portals. This horrifies Hexadecimal, who decides to go to the core to get the firepower needed to take on Daemon. Eventually, Bob has opened portals to all systems that Daemon couldn't access before, allowing her to infect them. This causes Bob to collapse on the ground, now almost completely transparent. Dot runs over to embrace him, and Dot admits to Daemon that she loves him. Daemon reassures Dot that 'The Word' will bring peace to the net, and that nothing can stop that now. Then, Hexadecimal, now a virus once again, but now with golden accents on her suit, bursts out of the building and screams 'GET AWAY FROM MY SPRITE!'.

Hexadecimal and Daemon then engage in a deadly battle that causes several of Mainframe's buildings to be reduced to rubble and debris. During the fight, Matrix uses his icon to cure Bob, Dot, Mouse, and Phong. The battle comes to an end when the final sand grain drops into Daemon's hour glass, causing her to explode in a green light that spreads across the entire net. All those infected begin counting down in binary, much like Daecon did last week. Bob says that once the countdown reaches zero, the entire net will be destroyed.

Hexadecimal picks up the weakened Bob and tries to dance with him. Bob tells her that they don't have time for this since everything is set to be deleted. Hex wants to find a way to fix this, which Welman tells her the only way to spread the cure is through a benign virus, but it's a one way trip. Hex isn't bothered by this since it means Bob will survive. She grabs the cure from Matrix's icon, and then changes Enzo's icon to a red and black colour, which she says means he won't end up like Matrix. Before she sets off, she tells Bob that she has always loved him, and asks Dot to take care of him before asking Welman to activate the portal.

The portal scatters Hex all throughout the net, causing all those who were infected to return to normal. However, Bob is still weakened from opening the portals. Dot tells Bob that she loves him and asks him to marry her. The two prepare to kiss, but at that moment, a Web Portal arrives, and out comes Ray Tracer and... another Bob wearing his traditional Guardian outfit. As he steps out of the portal, he says 'Marry him? I don't think so!' We then cut to the credits where we get a rendition of the ReBoot theme with Hexadecimal doing the narration.

For the most part, this is a very satisfying conclusion to the Daemon arc brought up in Season 3. The conclusion feels a little bit rushed, but asides from that, this is a great episode which presents the show with it's highest stakes yet (and arguably the highest stakes that it ever reached). When watched as a whole, this arc feels like a genuine ReBoot movie (which is fitting as that's what the initial intention was).

Daemon this time around gets a little more depth. Up until now, she's been presented as a character who genuinely believes what they are doing is right and noble, and that their function is for the 'greater good'. She treats everyone with compassion and never appears to get angry, even when the Mainframers are resisting her infection. However, this changes once she sees that Hexadecimal is no longer a virus and has now become a Sprite. For the first time, we see her treat someone with utter disgust, describing Hexadecimal as an 'abomination' and a 'disgrace to her kind'. Even when Hex gets infected and she asks Daemon to forgive her, Daemon refuses to grant her such forgiveness and tosses her aside. But when Hex becomes a virus again, Daemon does offer a truce, since them being viruses means they should be friends. From this, we can take this to mean that Daemon believes that a virus should always stay a virus as it's true to their nature, and anything else is unnatural.

Hex herself completes her arc through sacrificing herself out of her love for Bob. She had no second thoughts about her self sacrifice since while it meant she would die, Bob would survive, and that was more important to her. She also makes a choice to become viral again by getting power from the core. This was something that, again, she did to save Bob. While it turned her back towards insanity, she's still not the same as she was since she's developed since then. It also puts Bob's views on viruses being converted to Sprites into perspective somewhat. Yes, she became a sprite, but as this episode shows, that wasn't a permanent change. Plus while she might have changed in appearance and lost her powers upon becoming a sprite, her personality didn't change too much. And like I said last week, her becoming 'good' was her choice rather than one made for her, which it would have been if it came down to converting Daemon or even Megabyte into a sprite...

The fight with Daemon and Hexadecimal is truly spectacular, being of the same calibre as the fights we're now used to seeing on the big screen in Marvel movies. This isn't too much of a stretch, since this sequence was storyboarded using panels from superhero comics.

Young Enzo's decision to emulate Matrix may have seemed like a simple comedic sub plot when it was first introduced a couple of episodes back, but this episode makes that plot point an integral part of the plot since Enzo decides to become his own person and realises that he's not Matrix, This decision is what drives him to help Bob and the others and free them from Daemon's infection.

One thing I love about this arc is how it gives Bob and Dot more focus after they were absent for a lot of the previous season. Bob has to grapple with the fact that using the powers he gained from merging with Glitch will cause him to fragment, but he can't bring himself to stay out of the conflict since his function is to help. This is an arc that carries over into the next arc, so I'll talk more about that in the next few weeks.

As the systems Command.Com, Dot finds herself responsible for planning the attacks on Daemon, but as well as this, she has to contend with her father's sudden return. Seeing the destruction of the Twin City at the start of the arc was a great move since it not only allowed us to see what happened, but presenting it as a dream of Dot's shows that she still has PTSD relating to the incident. Her plan to defeat Daemon ultimately fails, but she's facing an unknown threat, leading her to make some tactical errors. However, her sending Enzo into the game was a smart move since it meant that Enzo wouldn't get infected when Daemon arrived. Whether or not she knew that Enzo wouldn't actually stay in the game is unknown, but with the situation as desperate as it was, she was left with limited options to deal with Daemon.

As a whole, this arc is somewhat on par with Season 3 and has some of the best moments in the series. Two of the series biggest plotlines are resolved, but as we end, we get given a big new plot point - a second Bob. Where did he come from? Is he a copy of Bob? What if the Bob that Matrix found in the Web was the copy?

Next week: Dot struggles to decide which of the two Bobs to marry in 'My Two Bobs'

Episode 42 - What's Love Got To Do With It?

Last episode left the characters in a pretty rough place - AndrAIa has been captured an infected by Daemon, who has subsequently managed to infect 92% of the net, and to make matters worse, Bob is clearly worse for wear and is in no position to take on Daemon. Plus Hexadecimal has changed from a Virus into a Sprite, and appears to have lost her viral powers in the process. This puts Mainframe at a disadvantage when taking on Daemon.

We begin with a flashback to Bob's days as a Guardian cadet. A Virus named Kilobyte is being loaded into the deletion chamber. Bob and his partner, Dixon Green, debate about the nature of viruses. Bob believes that viruses can't help behaving the way they do since that's what they're programmed to do, and that rather than deleting viruses, they can be reprogrammed to do good. Dixon clearly doesn't share this sentiment. Their conversation is cut short by Kilobyte escaping from containment. Dixon uses Glitch to report that the virus is upgrading, and 'skipping a generation' that provides him with transfinite powers and the ability to fly. Before she can finish her report, she gets killed by the virus. He then proceeds to walk towards Bob, who was knocked unconscious in the skirmish. Before he can reach him, however, Kilobyte evolves into Gigabyte, and gets sucked into a portal.

Back in the present, Matrix is playing a wrestling game. He clearly has the advantage over his opponent as he's just bouncing on his chest constantly. Eventually, he stops and runs to the edge of the ring, shouting AndrAIa's name. In the Super Computer, AndrAIa tells Daemon that she misses Matrix, but knows that they'll be reunited eventually since 'love conquers all boundaries'.

Turbo is placed into the brig in Mainframe. He tells Mouse that Ray has heard the word, and is waiting for her alongside Daemon. When Bob enters, Turbo refers to him as Daemon's 'messenger' since he's merged with his keytool. Upon searching Turbo, it turns out he no longer has his keytool. Bob blasts Turbo with some energy, a feat that seriously weakens him. However, this blast does lessen the effects of Daemon's infection on Turbo, allowing him to fight off the infection and provide Bob and Dot with some information. He says that once Daemon's infection grew, the keytools all fled, meaning Bob is the only one with a keytool, and Daemon needs him in order to access and infect closed and offline systems. He also reveals that Daemon's function is to 'bring unity' to the entire net. Outside of Mainframe, the Guardians are trying to hack into Mainframe's Firewall, but they are unable to. Daecon contacts them via hologram, and is clearly impatient with them. The Guardian reports that they've never had this much trouble getting into a system before.

In the Principle Office lab, Phong explains how Hexadecimal became a Sprite. Hex was unaffected by the Viral scan when the system was restored because of how powerful she is. However, the scan was contained within her icon, and getting rid of the Guardians drained her powers enough for the scan to take effect. While she tried to use the nulls to protect herself from this, the nulls fled when the game landed. Even though she's lost her powers, she still appears to have some control over the nulls, so Dot borrows Bob's car and takes Hex to Lost Angles in order to find her father. Once the two have left, Phong demands a reluctant Bob to go on the scanner in order for them to diagnose what's causing him to fade.

In the Super Computer, AndrAIa is reminiscing about her first meeting with Enzo to Daemon, and talking about how she always knew that Enzo wasn't a Guardian, but didn't care as she loved him. This is something that intrigues Daemon, as she was not programmed to experience love. When Daecon enters the room, Daemon asks him if he loves her, to which he responds yes, as she is the word. AndrAIa says that it's not the same thing. Daecon reports that they are unable to penetrate Mainframe's Firewall due to Mainframe having a hacker working alongside them. AndrAIa tells them that this is Mouse. Daecon believes that he has failed Daemon. Daemon walks towards him, and simply says 'Cron 101'. This causes Daecon to begin counting in binary, and then exploding once the countdown reaches zero, leaving green mist in his absence which Daemon absorbs into herself.

Dot drives Hex to Lost Angles. On the way there, Hex asks about what's going on between Dot and Bob, to which Dot responds that they are 'just friends'. This delights Hex as she's always had a thing for Bob. On the ground, Hex tries to recreate Welman using Nulls, but this doesn't prove much use without Nibbles. Hex is prepared to give up, but Dot pleads, stating that it's her father they're talking about. Hex then reveals that she was created in the explosion that destroyed the Twin City.

We flash back to Welman Matrix's Gateway Experiment. The Gateway activates, and Gigabyte steps through the portal, and the Gateway splits Gigabyte into two entities - Megabyte and Hexadecimal, and also causes an explosion that destroys the Twin City. Megabyte walks off following this, but Hex decides that she likes it where she is. Back in the present, Hex agrees to try again, referring to Dot as 'sister'. This time it works as Nibbles joins the null figure. He's able to talk, but he can't touch anyone due to the energy draining nature of the Nulls.

In Phong's office, Phong prepares to tell Bob what he's uncovered from his diagnostics. Bob already knows the answer - merging with Glitch didn't work due to Glitch being badly damaged, but merging with Glitch was the only way to get back into Mainframe. Phong then tells Bob that continued use of his powers will result in total fragmentation. Bob is adamant that he needs to help, since he can't go against his code. When Phong points out that Dot won't allow this, Bob and Phong agree they aren't going to inform Dot about this predicament. Suddenly, an alarm sounds, and it turns out that Mainframe is now online.

Mouse and Matrix fly up to the Firewall in Mouse's ship, and Mouse deactivates the Firewall, which then closes once the ship exits Mainframe. In the conference room, Dot, Phong, Welman, and Bob discuss the issue with Turbo appearing on a vid window. Turbo points out that if Mouse gets infected, she will give up the codes that will allow Daemon access to the system. Dot comes up with a plan - Welman and Phong are to rebuild the Gateway, Bob is to research why his code wasn't able to cure Turbo, and Turbo is to tell Dot everything he knows about Daemon.

In the Super Computer, Matrix marches into the clock speed room where Daemon has set up shop. He sees her silhouetted on her throne. He points gun and targets the virus, only for the silhouettes to lift to reveal it's AndrAIa sitting on the throne. The two run up and embrace each other, then Daemon makes her appearance known. Matrix fires at Daemon, who stops his bullet just before it reaches her face and turns it to dust. Mouse jumps up behind her and attempts to behead her, but her sword shatters upon impact. As soon as Daemon lands on the ground, Matrix and Mouse become infected.

Back in the holding cells, Turbo is trying to convince Bob that Daemon needs to be deleted, but Bob is still clinging to his theories that viruses can be changed, using Hex as proof that it's possible. When Turbo brings up Megabyte, Bob points out that he kept him contained, and believes that he could have turned him in time. Turbo then reminds Bob that Megabyte's inception caused Mainframe's Twin City to be destroyed, and that he killed Bob's partner.

We then cut to another flashback. Bob regains consciousness following Kilobyte's attack. He runs over to Dixon, who then dies in his arms. Her keytool, Glitch, then attaches itself to Bob's arm, exchanging codes with him. Bob then orders Glitch to lock onto Kilobyte. Within Mainframe's Twin City, there are tears everywhere as a grief stricken Dot and Enzo arrive and analyse the situation. Bob arrives in the system and mends the tears. He introduces himself to Dot as a Guardian, and apologises for what happened. This leads Dot to blame Bob for what happened. Turbo and two other Guardians then join Bob. Back in the present, Turbo remarks that the net has grown a lot since then, and that's making it harder for the Guardians to police. He then comments that in some ways, Daemon is right, and that unifying the net and bringing peace is a goal that Daemon shares with the Guardians. Bob points out that there is a fundamental difference since Daemon wants only one voice and one way, whereas the net should be diverse. Turbo questions that maybe the net is too diverse, and despondently asks Bob why his code wasn't able to cure him.

While this episode's pacing is very quick, much like the previous episodes, this is still an engaging story that adds some interesting themes and complexities to the story, adding some depth to our protagonist and antagonist.

We learn why Bob didn't simply just delete Megabyte during his time in Mainframe in the first two seasons - he's against deletion and believes in the notion that Viruses can be reprogrammed so they are no longer viruses. He uses Hexadecimal as his proof that it's possible, but this whole notion adds some moral complexity to the Guardian.

Within the universe of the show, viruses show up in systems, and then infect it's citizens so they obey them rather than having free will of their own. This is something we saw with Megabyte's hold over certain sectors within Mainframe, and what we're seeing now with Daemon this season. Bob's theory is to do the same thing, but reversed - viruses changed into sprites. As well meaning as this ideal is, it is somewhat just as bad as viral infection since what they'd effectively be doing is infecting the viruses to behave how they want them to rather than act of their own free will.

While Bob does use Hex as an example of this, her case is somewhat unique since as a virus, she wasn't really aiming to take over systems, and was merely just doing things for the fun of it. As well as this, while she effectively turned 'good' at the end of the previous season, that was her choice rather than one forced upon her, which is effectively what Bob plans to do to viruses. While this notion is brought up a couple more times throughout this season, it's sadly not something that gets explored as thoroughly as it should be (again - more on that when we reach the end of the season).

Daemon's character gets somewhat more explored in this episode as she gets incredibly interested in the idea of romantic love, and gets AndrAIa to explain in depth to her what it feels like as she wasn't programmed to experience these kinds of emotions. This is an interesting concept that ties into the notion that Daemon genuinely believes that what she's doing is right. This makes her a much different foe than Megabyte who knew what he was doing is evil and took great pleasure in doing so.

Turbo also suggests that the Guardian's prime directive isn't too dissimilar to what Daemon intends to do to the net - unify it and bring peace. As Bob points out, however, what Daemon wants is totalitarian control over the entire net with only one voice. Bob opposes this since he feels the net needs to be diverse rather than having just one voice. This also ties into the idea of Daemon's infection being a critique on organised religion, where certain beliefs feel that their way is the only way.

Then we truly find out what Megabyte meant when he referred to Nibbles as 'father'. Welman's experiment is what caused him to be born alongside Hexadecimal, who also considers him as a father (which is shown when she refers to Dot as her 'sister'). We also see in flashbacks that Bob's appearance in Mainframe is linked to not just the experiment, but Megabyte himself (or at least his pre evolved form 'Kilobyte').

We see that Bob was put in a somewhat similar situation as Enzo was at the end of Season 2 - his mentor was slain at the hand of a virus, and before he'd even finished his training, he was suddenly forced into becoming Mainframe's protector when he followed Kilobyte to Mainframe. This ties into Bob's characterisation in the first two seasons where he was pretty goofy and seemed somewhat inexperienced. It also shows a difference between Bob and Matrix. When Matrix was placed in the same situation as Bob, he was shaped by his hatred of Megabyte which then extended to all viruses, whereas Bob still chose to stick with his theory on viruses even though one just killed his partner/mentor.

By the end of this episode, Daemon is now ready to take on Mainframe, the one system standing in her way, and infect her messenger that will allow her to infect the systems she can't currently reach. With most of our heroes infected, the stakes are now higher than ever for not just Mainframe, but the entire net as well...

Next week: Our heroes make their final stand against Daemon in 'Sacrifice'

Episode 41 - Cross Nodes

Last week's episode introduced us to Daemon, the Super Virus who was first mentioned in 'The Episode With No Name' back in Season 3. Her appearance in the episode built up a lot of intrigue since she's very different to the other viruses we've seen so far. This week, we see her plans begin to escalate as she sets her sights on the one system standing in her path - Mainframe.

We begin with the intro that is used for the rest of this arc (and is the one used in the movie version of this arc). Here, we get Daemon narrating over clips from the season. She refers to herself as 'the word', and states her function is to bring 'unity to the net'.

We then begin the episode in the Super Computer where Daemon has set up shop. The mood is rather ominous to begin with, then Mike the TV bursts into a James Brown esque musical number. This is an incredibly fun sequence, but also helps to set up the idea that Daemon and her infection is a critique on organised religion.

Once the song has finished, Daemon claps, and then walks in between rows of Guardians all holding green eggs. Upon her touch, they begin to glow. As she's doing this, Daecon informs her that they have a problem. We then cut to Matrix and AndrAIa flying through a system. They activate a Firewall just as Mouse did at the end of the previous episode as they leave, preventing Daemon from accessing it. 

Back in the Principle Office War Room, we see on a screen that this is clearing the pathways to systems from Daemon's influence. Mouse is concerned about this since the Guardians should be able to enter systems as they please with their keytools. As they are discussing this, a vid window pops up from Kits Sector as a CPU is concerned about the null cocoon. Dot tells Phong to keep Enzo in the Read Only Room  and asks Bob to accompany her. As they leave, we can see that Bob is still fading and weak.

As they arrive, the binomes are shooting at the null monster. Dot orders them to stop, and then begins communicating with the creature, identifying herself to her father. We then cut to a flashback of the Twin City where Dot's father, Welman Matrix is rehearsing for a presentation on his new Gateway Command - a way for them to prove the existence of other systems. He explains how his device locks onto energy signatures in order to find systems. When he's finished, he asks Dot if she'll be there when he conducts the experiment. Back in the present, Dot apologises for not being there when he conducted the experiment, but told him that he was right about there being other systems and people's out there, although not all of them are friendly.

Meanwhile, Enzo is in the Read Only Room watching a binome recreation of Game Over. The ending reduces Hack and Slash to tears. Enzo reassures them that everything's okay since he turned into Matrix. This reassures them, but then Slash mentions Megabyte which spooks Hack since they've both agreed to never speak his name again. They're clearly both scared of the virus even though he's now long gone. Phong comes in and greets Young Enzo. This annoys Enzo, as he's been inspired by everything he (Matrix) did in the previous season. He changes his outfit to a miniature version of Matrix's, and demands that they refer to him as 'Little Matrix'.

In the Satellite Dish system, Matrix and AndrAIa chase down a Guardian holding an egg into some kind of generator room. AndrAIa tries to negotiate with the Guardian, but she won't listen to reason, believing the two are there to hurt her. She buacks herself into an energy beam with the egg staying afloat as she lands. Daemon and Daecon observe this, and realise that in order for them to achieve their plan, Mainframe needs to fall. She decides that it's time for Matrix and AndrAIa to hear the word.

Bob stumbles into his apartment while assuring a CPU that he's okay. Soon after the CPU leaves, Bob ends up passing out while his beacon activates a signal meaning it's time for him to open the tear that will allow Matrix and AndrAIa back into Mainframe. Meanwhile, Matrix and AndrAIa are in an open system with a trashed port. AndrAIa points out where their portal is due to open, but then realises that the control tower is still operational, and that this is a trap set by the Guardians. 

Back in Mainframe, a game descends onto Mainframe by Bob's apartment. Dot abandons the null monster to check on Bob, finding him just as he begins to regain consciousness. Mouse spots Enzo heading towards the game, hastily exiting Dot's Diner to prevent him from doing so. The game turns out to be an Egyptian Tomb themed game. Bob downloads game stats in order to find out the game's objective - stop the User from reading from The Scroll of Life. Dot ReBoots into an Egyptian Queen, disappointed that she doesn't have a pair of pistols at her disposal. When Bob tries to ReBoot, however, he ends up passing out again.

Dot hides Bob inside a sarcophagus. Just as she's closing the lid, the user comes in and begins firing at her. She's able to get around this by activating a trap that causes a giant billiard ball to knock him back to the previous level.  Back in the Principle Office, Mouse brings Enzo with her, and Phong points out that they have a big problem - Bob's stuck in a game cube, and therefore cannot open the portal to allow Matrix and AndrAIa back into Mainframe.

Matrix and AndrAIa have been cornered by the Guardians, and have sealed themselves in a warehouse. Matrix is getting agitated about the portal being late, and is prepared to use Gun to attack the Guardians. AndrAIa talks him out of it, and points out that they Guardians aren't trying to delete them as they're all unarmed - their aim is to capture the pair rather than delete them. AndrAIa then reveals that she's sitting on crates that contain Exo Skeletons.

Back in the game, Dot finds herself face to face with the user yet again. She attempts to drain his life force, but he stops this partway through by using a pendant which reverses the attack - causing Dot to shrivel and weaken. The user heads towards the scroll, but just before he reaches it (and Dot changes her icon to Game Sprite mode), a mummy jumps out of a sarcophagus and grabs the User, draining him of his life force and ending the game. As the game leaves, we see that his mummy was Hexadecimal - now sporting a completely new look. The null cocoon is also gone, and Hex has no memory of it. Dot asks Hex to fly Bob to the portal generator so he can create a portal and allow Matrix and AndrAIa back into Mainframe. However, it turns out that Hex has lost her powers, so she needs to drive Bob there in his car.

Matrix and AndrAIa exit the warehouse in their exo skeletons, causing the Guardians to fall back a little. One Guardian steps forward and removes his helmet, revealing himself as Turbo - the Prime Guardian. Matrix grabs him, angrily berating him for assisting Daemon when he had previously assured Matrix he'd be a 'friend from the inside'. While he's interrogating Turbo, Daemon's zoom room descends from the sky, preparing to grab Matrix and AndrAIa. AndrAIa notices this, and pushes Matrix out of the way into the portal as the zoom room grabs her and takes her straight to Daemon.

As she arrives, AndrAIa instantly strikes Daemon only to end up getting infected herself. Daemon then rises into the air and lets out a large burst of green energy that ripples throughout the net. This causes all the systems with her seeds to become viral - 92% of the net is now under Daemon's control.

As a whole, this episode continues on from the standard set by the previous episode by having that decent mix of action and humour while progressing the story forwards. The episode also raises the stakes majorly, escalating the action within this arc as it goes along.

Last episode introduced us to Daemon, and if you weren't sold on her being a threat last time, this episode will convince you otherwise. Here, we see how much influence Daemon has over the rest of the net, somewhat making Matrix and AndrAIa's efforts to prevent her from accessing systems to be somewhat futile. This is also when she begins to realise how much of a threat Mainframe is to her plans to unify the entire net. At the end of the previous episode, she seemed somewhat content with leaving Mainframe be for now. Sure, they weren't under her control, but at that point, she had other systems under her control. This changed when Matrix and AndrAIa began to close the pathways and interfere with her plans. It was at this point when Daemon realised that Mainframe needs to fall, and her plan for doing so - infecting Matrix and AndrAIa and using them to give her crucial information on Mainframe. 

We also get a bit more development on the Twin City incident as we see events that took place before the explosion. Here, we find out the experiment that ended up destroying the Twin City was merely Welman Matrix trying to discover proof of other systems. This is something that mirrors humanity's search and speculation about extra terrestrial life. This is an interesting concept and something that puts into perspective how much the character's understanding of The Net has grown. At the start of the series, only Bob is aware of the world outside of Mainframe (as well as Megabyte to some extent). Now, our characters have a full map of the net showing the various systems, and are travelling between them pretty freely.

Hexadecimal also appears to be a Sprite now. Currently, it's not explained how this happened, but it's an interesting development. Last season saw her cross over to the side of the heroes by the end out of her affection for Bob, and last episode she was actively helping to repel the Guardians. Now she herself has become a Sprite, and no longer has access to her viral powers. This only came into play at the end of the episode, so we'll have to see how this plays out in the next episode.

This time around, the Game is a parody of the Mummy movies starring Brendan Fraser, with the user himself being a parody of his character from the Mummy movies. There's also elements of the Tomb Raider series (referenced by Dot herself when she's disappointed at her lack of twin pistols like those wielded by series protagonist Lara Croft) and Indiana Jones, referenced by the use of a giant ball much like the boulder sequence from Raiders of the Lost Ark. The presence of the game also adds an extra layer of tension to the plot as the longer the game goes on for, the longer that Matrix and AndrAIa are stuck in a system with Infected Guardians on their trail. And if the User Wins, Bob would be nullified and then Matrix and AndrAIa would be stuck for good.

The humorous moments this time around also help to tie into the story. The 'Cross Nodes' song helps to establish the idea that Daemon and her 'infection' is a critique on organised religion, something which gets fleshed out a bit more as we go on. Enzo wanting to be 'Little Matrix' as a subplot might seem to be somewhat irrelevant to the story, but this is going to play a big role by the end of the arc.

The only major gripe I have with this episode is it feels a little too fast paced. This is possibly a result of the numerous cuts that had to be made to the episodes of this season (which we will discuss fully when we reach the end of the season), but it can sometimes feel like the plot doesn't slow down as often as it should, meaning that we get less quiet moments between the characters.

In spite of that, this is another brilliant episode that follows on from the set up of the previous episodes and escalates the conflict, putting the heroes in a position it seems somewhat impossible for them to resolve...

Next week: Matrix and Mouse go to the Super Computer to face Daemon head on and save AndrAIa in 'What's Love Got To Do With It?'

Episode 40 - Daemon Rising

After ReBoot Season 3's eventual US broadcast in 1999, Cartoon Network expressed interest in doing more ReBoot. Eventually, a deal was made for the show to have a fourth season consisting of eight episodes to be shown on Cartoon Network in the US. However, in Canada, YTV aired the season as two TV movies. While I personally prefer to watch the season in movie format, I will be watching it episodically for the sake of this retrospective.

At some point during the production of ReBoot, the show's creators came up with the idea for a movie titled 'Terabyte Rising'. Some ideas used for this movie made their way into Season 3, but a lot of it ended up in this first arc of Season 4. The first episode of this arc does a good job of establishing the status quo of this arc and introducing us to two of the key plot points.

We begin with an opening sequence that recaps the events of the previous season. Nothing too out of the ordinary, but the most notable difference is that the theme tune is a little different. It's still the recognisable ReBoot theme, but it has more of a techno vibe to it. I still prefer the original, but this is still a pretty cool rendition of the theme.

We open with a shot of Mainframe from the Twin Sea. As we pan up, we see that things look a bit different. For one, there is a second Mainframe right next to the first one. This is presumably the Twin City. We then cut to see Dot's Diner being constructed, being overseen by a teenage Dot as Frisket (who is currently a puppy) runs around. Enzo tells Dot that they're going to be late for their dad's experiment. Just as Dot realises this, a beam of light shoots out of the Twin City's Principle Office, which then causes the entire Twin City to explode and a shockwave is sent through Mainframe. Dot then wakes up on her desk. It was just a dream.

Meanwhile, Phong releases a tear from the Principle Office which Bob stabilises into a portal. Out of the portal comes Matrix and AndrAIa, who are being pursued by some Guardian fighters. Matrix and AndrAIa are able to take out some of them with the guns on their bikes, but in the end, the Guardians are able to open Mainframe to the net and then destroy the control tower - leaving them unable to get themselves offline.

Bob doesn't want to delete the Guardians, so rather than destroying their vehicles, he's containing them in forcefields. He attempts to communicate with the Guardians, with his old roommate Cardon being the one to communicate with him. Cardon demands that Bob joins them, and says that all that's left now is the word, and the word is Daemon. Matrix gets impatient, and launches several missiles at the Guardians. This causes the dogfight to resume, and to make matters worse, the system voice announces the arrival of an incoming game. As the battle commences, Bob orders Matrix and AndrAIa to enter the game. Matrix isn't too happy about this, but he obeys.

We then cut to the Super Computer. Particularly, a rather ornate looking room with a pendulum in the background. This could possibly be the Super Computer's clock speed room. There is also a throne in the room, and seated on it is a young female sprite with purple skin and flowing snake like hair. This is Daemon. Her advisor, Daecon, informs her that there is a system resisting her control, but they have located Guardian 452 - Bob. Daemon considers Bob her messenger, and asks Daecon to prepare something called the 'zoom room' so they can send him to her.

In the Principle Office war room, Specky reports to Dot that there is four participants in the Game. This confuses Dot at first, but she looks around and notices that Enzo and Frisket are missing. Inside the game, Matrix is ranting to AndrAIa about how he feels Bob is treating him like a kid. That's when they realise that Enzo and Frisket are in the game with them. Enzo and Frisket ReBoot, with Enzo turning into Mini Me from Austin Powers and Frisket becoming Mr Bigglesworth. Matrix and AndrAIa then ReBoot. AndrAIa becomes a fembot and Matrix becomes Dr Evil.

Outside the game, Bob suddenly begins to fade and falls out of the sky only to be caught by Hexadecimal. It turns out she decided to come and help out her favourite Guardian. She teleports him to outside his apartment where they're met by Mike the TV trying to do a news report on the two teaming up. Suddenly, Bob is taken by the zoom room, but Hexadecimal somehow gets him back.

Back in the Super Computer, it turns out that Hexadecimal switched Bob for... Mike the TV. He initially assumes that he's been deleted, but is relieved to learn he's in the Super Computer. He then gets scared once he realises that he's face to face with Daemon. After remarking that she doesn't really look like a Super Virus, Daemon steps on the floor which sends swirls of green energy towards Mike. As soon as they reach him, Mike is infected and under her control. After realising that Mike is close with Bob, she gets him to tell her all about him.

Back in the game, AndrAIa enters the user's area, and it turns out the user is Austin Powers, who instantly tries to seduce her. Outside the game, Hex is trying to get Bob to relax, but he's unable to with all the Guardians attacking. Hex decides to get rid of them, with Bob telling her not to delete them but just to get them out of Mainframe. Back in the game, Matrix has assembled the golden gun from the James Bond film 'The Man With The Golden Gun'. AndrAIa joins him and Enzo, bringing Austin Powers with her. Matrix is confused about where his pants are, but instantly shoots him to end the game. 

As the game leaves, Hex uses her powers to round up all the Guardians and send them out of the system. After they leave Mouse reseals the system with a small Firewall. In the Super Computer, Daecon informs Daemon that they weren't able to take Mainframe. Daemon assumes that Bob is more powerful than she anticipated, but Daecon tells her it wasn't Bob, but a virus helping them. Mike tells them that it was Hexadecimal, and that he used to live with her.

After getting rid of the Guardians, Hex lands and asks Bob for a kiss. Bob goes to kiss her on the cheek, but she grabs Bob and passionately kisses him. At this moment, Dot contacts him on the vid window and is shocked at what she sees, with Hex not being particularly happy to see her. Bob instantly closes the vid window. Suddenly, Hex's icon starts glowing and spinning. Then Hex starts turning white, which causes all the nulls to form a protective cocoon around her (i.e. Nullzilla).

Back at the Principle Office, everyone observes the events on a Vid Window. Young Enzo is confused, so Phong hands him a DVD to watch so he can get caught up on what's happened. Matrix is clearly not happy about this due to his hatred of viruses, and is still mad at Bob for sending him into the game as he felt they were doing fine until then. On the screen, Hack and Slash are chasing Nibbles, Megabyte's pet null. Dot reckons they're still looking after him to cover themselves in case Megabyte ever comes back. When Nibbles enters the pile of nulls, it begins talking - 'I'm back! Daughter! Help!', it cries. Dot, Matrix, and Enzo are all disturbed by this. As Dot reveals, they have good reason to be - that creature is their father, Welman Matrix.

This episode is a great way to start the season and establish the plot for this arc. Here, we get introduced to the two plot points that are possibly the most vital to this particular story - Daemon, a plot thread introduced in Season 3, and the destruction of Mainframe's twin city - a plot point briefly touched upon in Season 2 but brought back in a big way this time around.

Let's talk about Daemon herself first. We don't see much of her at first, but she definitely leaves an impression due to how much mystery there is surrounding her character. She's a lot different to the other viruses we've had so far in the series. She looks very unassuming (something which Mike the TV points out to her, and I imagine mirrors a lot of fan reactions around the time), but she is established to be very powerful and has a very strong influence over the Guardians.

At the start of the episode, we see that Daemon has already infected several systems, so after building up her forces by infecting the Guardians, she has now begun to use them to force her way into systems in order to infect the entire net. Even though we don't see much of her in this episode, it's established that she is a much more deadly threat than Megabyte and the stakes this time are higher than they've ever been. Previous seasons have been about protecting Mainframe - this time they have to save the entire net.

The Twin City plotline is reintroduced in a big way. For the first time in the series, we are greeted with a flashback to before the events of the show took place. We'll get more of these throughout the arc, all of which help to flesh out the show's backstory, but after Dot mentioned this event in AndrAIa, we now get to see it happening. This doesn't come back into the story until the end, when we find out that Nibbles - Megabyte's pet null - is actually her dad. Back in Nullzilla, Megabyte referred to the null as 'father', but it wasn't 100% clear why he called him that. Was he referring to the fact that he was Dot's father? We'll get an explanation later, but for now, it's a great building block for this arc to build on.

Bob has to deal with a lot of internal conflict this time around. He now has to do battle with his former friends and allies - the organisation he's a part of. He knows that they can't control their actions as they are under the control of a virus, but he still can't let them wreck havoc on his system. His method? Containing the Guardians so they can no longer attack. While this does prove to be somewhat effective, he's somehow been weakened so wasn't able to take them on himself. 

Hexadecimal appears to be somewhat good now. Bob fixing her mask at the end of the previous season appears to have calmed her down somewhat, but her love for Bob appears to have gotten more intense. However, this does mean that she's more than happy to help Mainframe for his sake. This is something that could come in handy when dealing with Daemon. But, much like Bob, something is happening to her, too. Her icon started to change her causing the nulls to swarm her. What caused this to happen, and what will the end result be?

This episode manages to have a good balance of seriousness and humour. While the stakes are pretty high, it doesn't feel quite as dark in tone as Season 3 did. The main sources of humour this time are Mike the TV and the game - being a spoof of Austin Powers. It's a pretty interesting idea to spoof Austin Powers, since that was already a spoof of James Bond itself. The sequence itself is pretty funny, though, ending with Matrix simply shooting Austin (something which Dr Evil himself refuses to do in the films, instead preferring to place him in situations he can easily escape from).

However, the episode isn't perfect. It takes a while to figure out what's going on since the episode kind of begins in the middle of an adventure, meaning we're thrust into a story without us knowing what the characters are doing and why. However, given the behind the scenes issues with this season (which I will be covering when we get to the end of the season), it could have been the case that there was initially part of the story explaining what was happening, but it was cut for time. It's not too big of an issue, and it doesn't bog the episode down too much.

This episode gets the season off to a great start, establishing the key parts of the story going forward while keeping up the high quality of writing the show has been utilising since Season 2. This plot is made to feel massive, and the end of the episode leaves you hungry for the next episode to see where the story is going to go from here.

Next week: Daemon's infection continues as Matrix and AndrAIa try and close systems that she has yet to control in 'Cross Nodes'.