The OP is a piece by the Franz Ferdinand that is completely within the tone and feel of Cyberpunk but the opening does well to remove all the lines of the fire within spreading to the city since, no matter how much David might wish it, he's doomed to burn himself before that ever happens.
It's also an inversion when the original trailer for Cyberpunk 2077. When we see Johnny Silverhand for the first time, what was his line? "Wake the fuck up, Samurai... We have a city to burn." It also borders on Fridge Horror too, because neither David, V, nor Johnny Silverhand could burn the city down, showing that even the best of the best can't change the world.
In hindsight Kiwi being the one to betray the crew does kinda make sense. She didn't have much of a bond with any of them. Maine and Dorio are lovers, as are David and Lucy. Rebecca and Pilar are family and even after Pilar dies, Rebecca is still very close to David. Kiwi was Lucy's mentor and that's about it. Falco was part of the crew and he stayed loyal, but he rarely had to be in the thick of the action and thus wasn't as exposed to the risks. When balancing the costs and gains, Kiwi gained a lot less than pretty much everybody else on the crew. Though she comes to regret it.
Another reason for Falco to stay loyal to the crew is that he's a Nomad; they're all about loyalty to their in-group and putting the needs of the group above the individual, so selling out his crew for money would have been literally unthinkable to him.
Alternatively, Kiwi turns on the crew out of fear of getting caught up in Lucy's war against Arasaka. During a conversation with Faraday in Episode 9, Faraday posits that Lucy might have inadvertently killed Dorio and Maine to maintain David's secret, with which Kiwi agrees. She might be afraid that Lucy might think of her as a loose end one day and kill her too. After all, she was the person to teach Lucy not to trust anyone.
David's story is eerily similar to that of V, the protagonist of Cyberpunk 2077 (particularly if you picked the streetkid lifepath). Both start out as young but inexperienced edgerunners with barely any chrome and aspirations of becoming legends in Night City, and both are taken in by more seasoned mercenaries that help them get started (Maine in David's case, Jackie in V's case) both of whom end up dying right in front of their respective protagonists. David and V both climb to the top of the Night City mercenary hierarchy and neither of them has no qualms about going toe-to-toe with Arasaka on numerous occasions, something most NC mercenaries would shy away from. And finally, both end up finishing their respective stories with a one-on-one match against Adam Smasher. The fact that their stories parallel each other so closely reflects the idea that edgerunning in Night City is a never-ending cycle. There will always be top mercs who end up dying glorious yet gruesome deaths and then there will be more mercs to replace them; David and V are perpetuating the same cycle that has gone on in Night City for years. Where do they differ? David dies his glorious death against Smasher. But V breaks the cycle by beating Smasher.
On top of aforementioned parallels, the Sleek High Rise Apartment David and Lucy end up living together in after the Time Skip is virtually identical to the one V earns in the "Path of Glory" epilogue, with the heavy implication being that the Edgerunner couple was the previous tenants before V inevitably succeeded David as the top merc in Night City. And just like David, V in this ending suffers increasing health complications associated with the cutting-edge tech that brought them their newfound fame and fortune (The Sandevistan for David, the Relic for V) while also straining the relationship they have with their significant other in the process.
Lucy hiding her deep dive neural port makes perfect sense when you consider that that kind of technology is really only ever used by corporate netrunners, both due to the kind of work they need to do and how expensive the implant is to install. If someone were to see it, it could be very easy for them to connect the dots and realize she's an Arasaka runaway, since that kind of technology just doesn't exist for street mercs. Even Kiwi, a far more seasoned runner than Lucy, doesn't have one.
The episode focused on Maine and his mounting mental instability as the Cyberpsychosis starts to take hold is filled with plenty of symbolic imagery. It starts with a mental image of a younger, organic Maine running through a highway, only to stop at a point where the asphalt is cut off by desert, signaling the end of the road. As his condition worsens the next time he sees the highway he nearly walks into the side of the parking lot, symbolically hitting the wall. Finally at the end when he commits suicide, the viewer can briefly see David overtaking him, running past him and into the desert, showing that he will take over the gang and his position. This foreshadows that in the end, David will go beyond him, but he too will reach the end of his road.
David takes on Maine's arms and has also modified his body to be similar to his Big Brother Mentor. He may be subconsciously (or even consciously) attempting to emulate him. This, unfortunately, maybe blinds David to Maine's faults like his refusal to stop chroming up until he's close to cyberpsychosis.
David developing Cyberpsychosis as a result of his implants seems to contradict the retconned definition from 2077 in that it was more a catch-all term to describe those suffering from psychological trauma, drug abuse, and defective implants as opposed to it being an actual mental condition. Consider however the many traumas that David suffered throughout the course of the show: The isolation and humiliation he suffered when he was in Arasaka Academy. The death of his mother left him broke and homeless. Seeing Maine, the man who took him into his crew, die after he himself succumbed to cyberpsychosis, which itself may have been attributed to outside factors such as PTSD given Maine was a former Militech soldier. Having to take over running Maine’s crew by himself at a young age. And finally, hearing that Lucy had been kidnapped by Arasaka. That and the possibility of David buying faulty implants would easily explain why David developed Cyberpsychosis while still keeping with the newly established canon definition.
David's hallucinations of guns emerging from people's flesh could also have been influenced by the custom torture BD Kurosaki stuck him in, where after his limbs were cut off by MaxTac guns would begin emerging from the stumps.
Maine's cyberpsychosis could be a sad result of possessing faulty implants and/or simple carelessness. As is clearly seen in the scene with the homeless cybersycho, when his arm cannon glitched and refused to work as intended. It's evidence that his "hardware" is not always top-shelf cybernetics. The idea that he also ordered a dangerous military-grade Sandevistan, the one that already caused a tragedy by driving its former user into cyberpsychosis, suggests that he was a bit careless about how he modified himself. The deaths of Sasha and Pilar, combined with the constant stress caused by the disastrous course of the gig contracted with Faraday, may also have contributed to the deterioration of his mental condition.
To add to the above, it makes sense that Maine's cyberpsychosis became an issue after Pilar died, because Pilar was the team's techie. Why does that matter? Because if anybody could council Maine about flaws with his hardware, it was him. He could have told Maine what he needed to fix, what he needed to swap out and what was a better alternative. Afterwards he had two solos, two netrunners and a getaway driver, but no cyberware expert.
And lets not forget that both team members that developed symptoms of cyberpsychosis were gravely hit by Jim Kurosaki's EMP. While Kiwi was also affected, David and Maine, who were the closest to Kurosaki, lost their conciousness. Lucy explains later that neural implants were specificaly targeted by EMP attack, possibly damaging the augmentation most contributing to psychotic breakdowns.
Mike Pondsmith has stated that David's "Humanity Stat" is directly linked with both a decent quality of life and having loved ones in his life, a severe rarity in Night City. The loss of his support systems (Gloria, Maine) and the woman he loves (Lucy) meant that said stat took a severe hit.
If cyberpsychosis is a loss of one's grasp on reality resulting from psychological trauma and sensory overload, then it also makes sense that Lucy's Big Damn Kiss is able to briefly bring David back from the brink when even immunosuppresants could not: by kissing him, she re-centers and re-anchors his sense of reality and of the self for one final time, allowing his tortured brain to briefly re-integrate itself around a strong emotion (his love for Lucy), a familiar physical sensation (her body in his armsnote as the two have been in an intimate relationship for months), and an even stronger desire (to protect her).
Faraday was actually a terrible Fixer and probably a major reason why Maine's crew wasn't very successful. Faraday not only hid unimportant or sensitive details from the crew but hid actually relevant ones like why they were stealing data from the limousine (which might have informed them on how to do it). He was also a small fish in a very large pool with many other fixers like Wakako, Rogue, and others being better at the job. Once David's crew isn't working with Faraday anymore, they rapidly make a fortune in Eddies. Indeed, it's only when they start working for Faraday that they suffer a catastrophic reversal of fortune.
This is further compounded with the reveal of his goal of getting high up the Corpo ladder, as Faraday is merely using his status as a Fixer as a way to put his foot in the door to work primarily with them instead, and it extends to his usage of gangs and crews to fulfill objectives that satisfy his corporate backers. To him, everyone else is irrelevant, which is a dangerous precedent to set as David's gang was already wary as hell dealing with him thanks to their prior experience within Maine's until he danced An Offer You Can't Refuse in front of their faces.
Michael Pondsmith, creator of the tabletop RPG, has stated, "Cyberpunk is not about saving the world, it's about saving yourself." Lucy and Falco survive the events of the final episode because they drive away, literally saving themselves in the process. David, Rebecca, and Kiwi all die due to trying to help someone else.
Also to tie into the theme Pondsmith presented, there have been some instances in the series where characters attempt to do something that would benefit the world or help someone else, only for it to backfire. Gloria was selling cybernetics taken off of a dead guy so she could help keep David in school and to give him a good life, as a result, David ends up getting his hands on the hardware, is introduced to the guy she was trying to sell it to and starts him down the path to his eventual end. Lucy tries to take out Arasaka netrunners in the real world to try to protect David. The last one she attempts to kill in the real world results in her capture and has a hand in the death of David and her friends.
Rebecca pointing a gun at David when he delivers a package to her brother seems a first like her normal trigger-happy attitude. But then you realize that she doesn't know who is at the door, and this is Night City. Having an unknown in an easy headshot position from the start is probably healthy paranoia here.
If you visit The Afterlife in the game post patch 1.6, one of the drinks available is The David Martinez. The purple-colored drink contains 50% vodka (an alcoholic beverage that originated in Poland) and 50% NiCola (a Japanese cola in the game). Given Lucy is also half-Polish, half-Japanese and her Color Motif is purple, this drink turns out to be one heck of a heartwarming nod to the love of David's life.
Per showrunner Rafal Jaki, Lucy's full name is Lucyna Kushinada. Kushinada is based on Kushinadahime (Princess Kushinada), a Shinto goddess of love who is also the sole surviving child of Ashimazuchi and Temazuchi. This last name perfectly reflects Lucy's Dark and Troubled Past as the sole surviving member from her group after breaking out from Arasaka and her romance with David driving much of the show's plot.
Adam Smasher as he appears in the final episode has a few noticeable differences in his design from his appearance in 2077, and even earlier episodes where he appeared in flashbacks. While this could be interpreted as artistic liberties or even animation errors by Studio TRIGGER, it could also imply that Adam has different bodies that he can switch between to suit his needs. This would also explain why he is shown to have a Sandevistan implant during his fight with David, whereas he has no such tech in 2077.
Adding to this theory is the fact that the military cyber implant David has attached to his body was originally meant for Adam Smasher in the first place. It was Maine and his crew who tried but failed to steal it so he could get the upgrade, and as a result, it ended up in David's hands.
Given that Adam Smasher now uses a Sandevistan in the 2.0 update in his boss battle with V, and it even has the same effect as when David uses it in the anime, it'a entirely possible that Adam is actually using David's Sandevistan.
David starts out as an All-Loving HeroNice Guy. Back in Cyberpunk 2020, cyberware tolerance was keyed to the Empathy stat, which he evidently had an exceptionally high level of!
Why doesn't Doc use painkillers? Doc is certainly a skilled enough ripper to install a Sandevistan while the patient is conscious, and replace someone's lungs through their back while keeping them alive the whole time. But remember the "Let You Down" video? Where Biotechnica was selling painkillers that damaged your brain? Suddenly Doc's refusal to use painkillers makes sense, since he knows the common and affordable brands will cause neurological damage, something that would make using cyberware even harder.
Fridge Horror
The event that leads to the death of Gloria, David's mother, reveals just one of the many reasons why the world of Cyberpunk is a Crapsack World. Both of them were simply minding their own business while driving, but when a group of gangoons was attempting to take out a corpo target, both David and his mother were caught in the crossfire. Such an occurrence likely happens daily in places like Night City.
To make matters worse, Gloria actually survived the drive-by and lived long enough to receive some medical attention to stabilize her condition. But because she didn't have insurance and David couldn't pay her bills in the short allotted time by virtue of being an unemployed minor, the hospital caring for Gloria intentionally left her to die on her hospital bed so they could upsell David on funeral plans instead. This is how Night City's healthcare system treats anybody who isn't privileged enough to afford the premium plans of the Trauma Team.
It's probably a good thing Maine never installed that Sandevistan. Getting cyberware that powerful added to his already overtaxed body would have sent him into cyberpsychosis that much faster.
The whole story of David makes him come off as Too Dumb to Live, continuously attempting to gain more and more chrome thanks to his natural mental resistance to them, and taking on more dangerous and threatening jobs. However, both in-universe and out, it makes sense: he had nothing to live for with the death of his mother, and even his relationship with Lucy didn't break him of the idea to prove himself. Like many young gang members who get wrapped up in a life of crime because they feel they owe it to their new family, or like a youthful superstar that resorts to anything to stay relevant even if it burns their body out early, David is just one of many, many youths entrapped in the deadly cycle of Night City and the corruption of the American Dream, and he pays the price. The best outlook to have on it is that the moment Gloria died, David was stuck on a long, improvised, and elaborate suicide that only manages to have some worth to it in the end.
Even if David hadn't lost his mother, Gloria was effectively on the verge of losing the game of Night City anyway. With the implications that she was using her EMT job to harvest cybernetics and spare organs for Maine's crew, she was already involved in shady work just to pay for David's education while still barely making ends meet; if any of that got traced back to the Martinez family they would've been in a boatload of trouble. Much like Lucy being an Unwitting Instigator of Doom, Gloria's death only produced a different outcome for what was ultimately a doomed cast of Edgerunners and her son anyway.
After the Arasaka Lab raid is botched and ends with the death of an innocent, David's behavior changes greatly and he attempts to break up with Lucy. We also see he's become despondent and uncaring about either his cyberpsychosis or the loss of his early meds. Given he directly states he killed someone like his mother (and is now like the scum who killed her), it's very easy to argue that David was a Deathseeker and had no intention of surviving much longer regardless of potential cyberpsychosis.
Sasha's death in the prequel "Let You Down" music video is observed by Maine, who waved her off like a close friend or even surrogate family member before the operation went south. By the time he finds her body, his hand on-screen is subtly shaking holding back his emotions. It's entirely possible that this is a triggering event that set Maine off on chroming out his body extensively to prevent losing someone else ever again.. and thus perpetuating a painful cycle that David would repeat once Maine ended up going into cyberpsychosis as a result of Dorio's death breaking him outright on top of all the aug stress.
Her death in general is a strong foreshadowing that once It's Personal for an Edgerunner, they likely don't have long to live: Sasha's urge to leak Biotechnica's dark secrets, Maine's urge to protect his crew, Rebecca's refusal to let her friends die on her watch, David's breakdown in rescuing Lucy. This even carries over to V, whose dance with the Relic makes them throw caution to the wind, and Johnny Silverhand, who got himself killed over losing Alt. The moment safety stops being a concern, they go all in on one last bet. Morgan Blackhand seems to be the sole NC legend who is still alive and his calling card was that he never made things personal.
The actual "Let You Down" lyrics can apply to 4 different people.
It can apply to Sasha herself thinking that she should have seen that those painkillers were killing her mother. Her being adamant about sending the confidential info to a news network can metaphorically be seen as making the city burn, as it might cause a public outrage against the company. This being a Cyberpunk series, that off course does not happen, but she does die happily as she gave her mother a bit of justice.
It can apply to Maine's feelings regarding Sasha, as it's all but spelled-out that he blames himself for her death and that her loss is what drove him to make himself stronger and faster with even more chrome. He also did it to keep people in his crew from dying, which makes it more frustrating for him when they tell him he should cut back on the chrome.
It can apply to David in regards to both Lucy and his mother. He wants to fulfill Lucy's dream of getting her to the moon and is working hard to do so, but at the same time he is frustrated that she doesn't understand why he has to do what he has to do (chroming up heavily, which also lead to Maine's death). Making the city burn is foreshadowing to him rampaging over Night City until being killed by Adam Smasher. On the other hand the lyrics "forgive me for letting you down" fit both his inability to save his mother and not living up to her wishes of becoming a good, upstanding citizen who attends Arasaka Academy.
Finally, it can apply to Lucy's feelings for David. She blames herself for David's death. She wanted to make him see that his life was worth far more than killing and stealing for eddies, but she couldn't convince him to give that up. She cut herself off from his crew to go after Arasaka's netrunners, to keep him safe, but he doesn't see it that way because he doesn't actually know what she's doing.
Jimmy Kurosaki's braindance studio is the same one Gottfrid and Fredrick Persson set up shop one year later. While Kurosaki's braindances are violent and pretty depraved, you find out that the Perrsons' braindances are somuchworse. That means there's a strong chance Kurosaki and the Perssons knew each other. Or worse: worked together.
More of a Fridge Tear Jerker, but as the series progresses, it's apparent that Lucy's dream to go to the moon was more of a metaphor to escape from reality than literally going to the Moon. Having suffered her early life as a Child Soldier and watching people close to her get killed during her time in Arasaka and later with Maine's crew, she has experienced countless traumatic events in her life. She thus uses her moon BDs as a way to briefly escape from the madness and horrors of Night City. However, after she fell in love with David, all she wanted is to stay by his side. Unfortunately, David was too caught up with the literal wish and failed to realize that what Lucy really wants is him, especially if her cautious reaction to the advertisement for moon travel in Episode 8 was anything to go by. This makes the finale especially heartbreaking as while David does give Lucy an opportunity to literally escape to the moon, his death meant he failed to make Lucy's dream come true.
Rebecca is covered across her heavily-chromed body with tattoos, and something of a Stripperific outfit of just about nothing but her undergarments and a loose hoodie. She has all the hallmarks of an ex-Mox member, right down to looking like something of a doll girl. Keep in mind that the Mox is about protecting sex workers from abuse, and Rebecca is more than a bit aggressive, and it's entirely probable that she has every reason to be an Edgerunner for hire alongside her brother.
Adam Smasher's statement, "I'm special" indicates he might actually have once been like David before his addiction to chrome and the casual violence of his profession became his only reason for existing.
Lucy seeing David on the Moon could be a daydream, or a cyberpsychosis-induced hallucination meaning Lucy could go down the same route as David and Maine eventually, with her having enough high-end chrome, multiple attacks on her cyberware and traumatic experiences as an adult and child to enable it.
That said, it is unlikely that she can undergo cyberpsychosis since Lucy not only operates on the low end of being chromed out but as Mike Pondsmith has come out to say about the condition of cyberpsychosis, one's own sense of "humanity" is a key to keeping yourself sane as letting one's own ego running amok from various traumatic factors can do a considerable number to the mind's stability in maintaining their implants. Lucy, while grief-stricken, displays a measure of acceptance over what happened in the final shot of the series, making it highly unlikely she's going to let her own ego crush her any time soon and dip into cyberpsychosis.
Unfortunately, she shows some signs of serious PTSD long before the final episode, as evidenced in her scene with her angry outburst about Arasaka being all-seeing that ends with her fingers shaking uncontrollably. She might NOT be much an Iron Woobie all along.
David's "Humanity Stat" is directly linked with both a decent quality of life and having loved ones in his life, a severe rarity in Night City. The loss of his support systems (Gloria, Maine) and the woman he loves (Lucy) meant that said stat took a severe hit.