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'
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