Note: this was originally a post on tumblr.
so, my kneejerk reaction to the finale climax was ‘that looks cool, but it’s kind of underwhelming and underbaked. what does any of this mean in the end?’
but i decided to actually give it a moment of thought and no, the show actually does hangs together thematically and this is what it’s been building to all along
i did ramble on discord about this a bit. i take it anyone here is interested? be warned though, it’s not a very clever insight, just a basic bitch analysis
alright i got the requisite 1 note so
i came at this with the initial impression that uzi winning and cyn losing doesnt really have much thematic weight because, well, what does it say? what thematic conflict has the show been grappling with that gets resolved here?
it was unclear to me. so it mostly struck me as kind of ‘big flashy fight ok good guys win now’.
but when i started combing back over the show to try to discern what the through-line might be, i kind of saw the vision?
ultimately, i feel murder drones is a show about — and don’t be surprised, it’s literally spelled out in the dialogue — the triumph of sincerity over deception, and comraderie in the face of a world that has fucked you up
when i look back on all the episodes, i kind of see reflections of this everywhere
the pilot is iffy, but that’s understandable because the story got majorly reworked in between then and now — but you can argue that the episode centers on N chosing the sincere kindness of Uzi over V (who pretends to forget his name) and J (who flatters him with false praise)
but it’s the second episode where it starts clicking together
here, they face down an antagonist who literally wields illusions.
and fittingly for such an early story beat, they make the wrong decision as a result: N and Uzi let the solver’s manipulations keep them apart
but then in episode three, the prom disaster serves to reinforce that they need each other to face down threats together. (doll, of course, is someone who discarded her connections — and loses because of it)
four is just a reaffirmation of the previous thesis, though it’s made stronger here: even as the solver’s influence is inside of Uzi and corrupting her, N wont let go, and Uzi shouldn’t isolate herself because of it
but five is where it gets interesting, because enter: cyn. as an antagonist, she represents the antithesis of everything the show’s been reinforcing up till now.
here’s my interpretation of cyn: she’s a reprise of doll’s theme, taken to its logical climax
she was discarded by the world, and in turn she discarded her need for sincere attachment. thrown away like a broken tool, she’d begins using everyone around her as tools. cyn represents manipulation and a desperate striving for power, to survive and indulge her hunger and grow until she’s something that the universe can never throw away again
then comes episode six, where the gang is being manipulated again, more subtly now, but they’re wary of it, more skeptical. (i think there’s an angle where alice & beau harmonize with the theme of doing anything for survival — in a way, they stand at a middle point between the heroes and cyn — but i haven’t fully baked this thought.)
truth be told, the motive behind v’s choice in ep six still hasn’t quite fully clicked for me, even in theory i had seen what it means in the story — nonetheless, i think it fits neatly into this read: here she is choosing to believe. believing in uzi’s kindness rather than the secrecy and manipulation of “tessa”. (and maybe my inability to see the logic also tracks; in the end, this is a question of faith, and V makes the right choice)
in episode seven, doll reaps what she sows, and cyn gets one last chance to drive in the wedges of deception — but what is it that finally breaks her hold over Uzi? N’s sincere affection, from which cyn recoils
as a sidenote, it’s probably worth noting that cyn’s moment by moment behavior is especially consonant with this reading — the sarcasm, the demeaning, the insults.
so having finally having put the bare minimum of thought into what the story is saying, the final battle, full of illusions and sucker punches — the moment where N goes “no more tricks”?
yeah, i think these beats land
(having talked this over with some other people, they pointed out further points of support — cyn is winning when J’s on her side, only starting to lose without her, and Uzi’s crucial final attack is the one where she saw right through cyn’s illusions)
in conclusion, i think i can resoundingly disagree with my kneejerk reaction — my uncooked hot take that uzi’s fullthroated defense of sincerity is more than an asspull “oh fuck, the story’s ending, quick think of an aesop”, but rather a thesis that’s been built upon in each and every episode