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?'