Title from: The Man With My Face (1951)
While Ortega recovers from a violent attack, Kovacs informs Laurens of his son Isaac's duplicity. Ortega and Kovacs are abducted by Carnage, who forces them into a fight to the death with his minions.
Tropes in this episode:
- Ambiguously Gay: Isacc Bancroft is definitely this, what with selling his prized art to his "friend" Brevlov, who took him to a hospital after Bancroft beat him, and gently holding his hand during his confrontation with his father.
- Apology Gift: Kovacs realises the large bouquet of expensive flowers that Tanaka brought Ortega means he's feeling guilty about something.
- Artificial Limbs: Ortega's shoulder was so badly damaged by the Ghostwalker that the surgeon is forced to amputate her entire right arm. Luckily, Kovacs' expense account can easily cover the cost of a new one. Out of pragmatism, he chooses the most expensive one available, the Jager-Schuster model 16, with a reinforced titanium mechanical substructure, covered in a neuro-chem enhanced cloned human skin, with seamless interface with Ortega's nervous and musculoskeletal systems. It ends up being so advanced that Ortega doesn't even notice the difference when she wakes up, until she sees how strong it is.
- Awful Truth: In order to keep Ortega from passing out or going into hysterics while trying to get her to the hospital, Kovacs lies and tells her that Samir is still alive. She is not happy when she wakes up and discovers the truth.
- Back-to-Back Badasses: Ortega and Kovacs versus mutant sleeves and a crazy Russian wearing a cloned Envoy in Fightdrome. That is all.
- Bait-and-Switch: The episode appears to start with a brief flashback to Kovacs' Dark and Troubled Past with him hooded and manacled, before cutting to Kovacs racing Ortega to hospital. Turns out this scene is after Dimi Two captures them and everything else is a How We Got Here.
- Belligerent Sexual Tension: Ortega might have hooked up with Kovacs but she refuses to acknowledge him as her lover and they still engage in Snark-to-Snark Combat.Ortega: [Ryker] had the most open cases on the squad. Drove me crazy.Kovacs: Dumb and pretty, huh? Wouldn't have thought that'd be your type.Ortega: He wasn't dumb and you're not that pretty.
- Beware the Nice Ones: Vernon interrupts Poe's counselling session with Elizabeth, then smashes up his bar. Poe warns him that while an AI can't feel pain, he does anger quite well.
- Big Damn Heroes: Kovacs and Ortega defeat all the gladiators sent against them, but are too exhausted to fight the Zerg Rush of mooks sent by Carnage. Fortunately, Reileen turns up to rescue her big brother.
- Blood Is Squicker in Water: We are treated to a loving shot of Kovacs standing in a rainstorm, letting the water wash Ortega's blood off him.
- Blown Across the Room: And out the window when the stun grenade goes off.
- Broken Pedestal: When she learns Tanaka is basically on the take, Ortega does not take it very well, using her newly gained super-strong arm to smash Tanaka around her hospital room and berate him for having abused the trust of so many, including herself. She actually breaks his spine in the process, but lucky for him that's a fixable condition.
- Cartwright Curse: While Ortega is in surgery, Kovacs asks his vision of Falconer if he's doomed to lose everyone he loves. Ironically one of those people turns out to be Not Quite Dead.
- Continuity Nod:
- Ortega doesn't have the credit for prompt and proper medical treatment. This fits with what Samir said about her being bankrupted because she paid the mortgage on Ryker's body in a (futile) effort to stop it being sold to someone else.
- Kovacs uses the "controlling the construct" technique that Falconer taught him to spoof his VR call to Hemingway. Hemingway quickly realizes he's being deceived, implying that he's had the same training.
- Curb-Stomp Battle
- Issacs and Brevlov don't have a chance when they try fighting Vernon and Kovacs.
- Reileen carves her way through Carnage's mooks with Sword and Gun to rescue her brother.
- Death by a Thousand Cuts: Dimi Two tries to kill Kovacs this way, with blades laced with Reaper.
- Dismemberment Is Cheap: Ortega doesn't seem to suffer any emotional trauma from losing her arm and getting it replaced with an artificial one. Mind you she does have other things to angst about. Once she realises how the arm gives her an advantage in hand-to-hand combat, she decides she quite likes it.
- Does Not Know Her Own Strength: Ortega only stops shouting at Kovacs when she grabs the hospital gurney rail and it bends without effort.
- Driver Faces Passenger: Kovacs tries to simultaneously drive a Flying Car to the hospital while treating and reassuring Ortega, who's bleeding out on the backseat. If it weren't for the police car's collision warning system he'd have gotten them both killed.
- Exact Words: The hospital is required to treat all patients who come in, but the ones who can afford treatment are given priority.
- First-Name Basis:
- Imaginary-Falconer notes that Kovacs calling Ortega by her first name is a bad sign, given that she's supposed to be an expendable local in his Envoy Redshirt Army.
- Played for drama when Hemingway addresses Kovacs as "Takeshi", despite him never having met the man before.
- Forced Prize Fight: The climax of the episode has Ortega and Kovacs forced to fight several rounds with the mutated sleeves in Fightdrome, then Dimi Two in his new Envoy sleeve.
- Given Name Reveal: The Ghostwalker's name is revealed to be Leung.
- Grand Theft Me: Played with. Dimi Two needlecasts into the clone of Kovac's previous host, played by Byron Mann. It helps him jump a level in badass due to the body having the combat muscle memory of an Envoy, but not enough to defeat the battle-hardened Kovacs.
- Handicapped Badass: Dimi Two drugs Kovacs with Reaper, which slows him down enough that he can barely put up a fight.
- Hated by All: Apparently, there are a sizable number of people who despise Elias Ryker. Carnage takes advantage of this, and stages the gladiator battle as if it really is Ryker (not Kovacs) and Ortega fighting the mutant sleeves, so as to draw a bigger crowd.
- He Knows Too Much: Carnage uses this as a justification for helping Dimi Two and executing Kovacs and Ortega. They know he records his fights and audiences, and he can't let that information get out, as his business is predicated on the idea that he doesn't.
- Heroic Second Wind: Kovacs lies defeated in the sand of the arena when Dimi Two announces that he is going to cut up Ortega piece by piece. That's enough motivation for Kovacs to get up and stop Dimi Two from doing so.
- Hero Insurance: Subverted; the fact that Tanaka hasn't fired Mickey tips off Kovacs that the captain doesn't want the investigation that will ensue.
- Hidden Supplies: Dimi Two has a Brain Uploading device hidden in a barber chair. He's able to get Carnage to transfer him just in time before the Ghostwalker catches up with him.
- Hypocrite: While Laurens' outrage at his son impersonating him is understandable, he was able to quickly close a multi-billion credit business deal that had been up in the air for months. This doesn't mesh well with Laurens earlier assertion that he wished his son had the balls to try something like this in the first place.
- Impersonation Gambit: Kovacs disguises himself as Captain Tanaka in order to meet with Hemmingway. Hemmingway sees through it almost immediately, and even calls him "Takeshi" as if he knows him personally.
- Improvised Weapon: Kovacs and Ortega make use of the chain used to lower Carnage's microphone to him. Kovacs also swings the horned mutant fighter so he impales his co-combatant.
- Immediate Self-Contradiction: After Kovacs roughs him up, Issac tells Kovacs and Vernon that his father will make them pay. Vernon protests that he never laid a hand on him, so Kovacs tosses him Issacs so he can join in the fun. "Now I laid a hand on you."
- Internal Reveal: Several:
- Dimi Two finally learns that, yes, he is dealing with an Envoy Super-Soldier and not just a badass Cowboy Cop.
- Bancroft learns of Isaac needlecasting into his clone and impersonating him.
- In the Hood: Followed by a Dramatic Unmask of Reileen.
- Ironic Echo: Dimitri Two (in an Envoy sleeve) uses Iffy Deme's last words "That's fucking enough" before chucking a stun grenade at Kovacs and Ortega.
- It's Quiet… Too Quiet: Ortega pulls Kovacs out of his VR talk with Hemmingway because she got suspicious about the silence in the restaurant upstairs.
- Kill and Replace: Twice.
- While the last episode implied it, it's confirmed here that yes, the Ghostwalker did RD Levine and steal his uniform to infiltrate the BPD.
- Averted with Isaac, who is accused of trying to do this with Laurens, but is revealed to just be a twisted attempt to gain his respect.
- Killed Off for Real: Kovacs cuts out Dimi Two's stack and throws it to Ortega, who crushes it with her new robotic arm.
- Lack of Empathy: Apparently, this is how hospitals operate in the future. The nurses are completely disinterested in patients who can't pay, and the doctors have become sleazy salesmen trying to hawk the best upgrades. This is more than likely a side effect of people's lives now being stored in the stacks, meaning death of the physical body is no longer as significant as it used to be.
- Lodged-Blade Recycling: How Kovacs finally defeats Dimi Two for good. Dimi stabs him in the gut with a Reaper-laced knife. Kovacs pulls it out and stabs Dimi Two in the neck with it, then immediately cuts out his stack.
- Milking the Giant Cow: Carnage gleefully hams up his introduction of the combatants.
- Mood Whiplash: After learning the full extent of Isaac's treachery, Bancroft attacks his currently inanimate cloned sleeve with a fire poker, beating it to a bloody mess in a blind rage. Then he calmly shakes Kovacs' hand and thanks him for the update. Even Prescott is shaken by it.
- My God, What Have I Done?: Captain Tanaka has a non-verbal version of this when looking at the scene of Samir's death. It NEARLY snaps him out of his corruption, but Prescott turns up to make sure it doesn't.
- My Name Is Inigo Montoya: When the Ghostwalker asks Dimi 2 if he's a believer, he does a runner without waiting to see what happens next.
- Off with His Head!: While Ortega and Kovacs attempt to make contact with Hemmingway, Dimi Two attacks the patrons of the restaurant above them with Razor Wire. When they notice how quiet it has become they investigate, only to find the restaurant patrons posed in their usual manner. When they reach out to touch the patrons, their heads topple off. How Dimi Two did this without getting blood everywhere is not mentioned.
- Percussive Therapy: Part of Poe's treatment of Lizzy is to have her hit HIM as a means of reclaiming her power. Luckily, as an AI, he feels no pain.
- Police Are Useless: Lampshaded by Tanaka who excuses taking money from a Meth and letting Prescott bully him because the Meths run everything anyway.Tanaka: Do you really think we have any power? The police? We're nothing. The best we can do is keep our heads down, do a little good when we can. We are not going to change anything.
- Punch a Wall: Kovacs punches the wall screen (breaking it in the process) to show his acceptance of the expensive artificial arm being hocked to him by the surgeons.
- Punched Across the Room: Lizzy's punch sends Poe flying across the room.
- Race Against the Clock: The episode begins with Kovacs desperately trying to get Ortega to the nearest hospital before she bleeds to death.
- Rapid DNA Test: The expense account Bancroft provides Kovacs is tied to the DNA of his sleeve, leading to Kovacs making payments by smearing his blood on a touchscreen.
- Rapid-Fire "No!": Ortega's response when she learns about Samir's death.
- The Reveal: Several.
- We move up the chain of the conspiracy, meeting the Ghostwalker and Dimi One and Two's immediate boss, an African-American METH man named Hemmingway. Like Bancroft, he even has a timed stack backup cycle.
- Captain Tanaka is The Informant for the conspiracy but doesn't actually know anything about it. However, he wasn't involved in the attack on Ortega and Samir, and is horrified that it happened.
- Kovacs is not the last Envoy. His sister Reileen is also alive.
- Rhetorical Question Blunder: Tanaka finds he's been kept in the dark about the Ghostwalker and is not pleased.Tanaka: What have you people been smoking down here?Mickey: Anything we can get our hands on. But that's not the point.
- Samus Is a Girl: The mysterious masked and hooded fighter turns out to be Kovacs's sister.
- Security Cling: Issacs, Miriam and Brevlov cling to each other when they think that Laurens will turn his rage on them.
- She Is Not My Girlfriend: Never mind that Kovacs and Ortega have slept together.Kovacs: Let her go. You only need me.Carnage: They're paying for a love story. You and your girl die together.Kovacs: She's not my girl.Ortega: I'm not his girl. I don't even like him!Kovacs: Thanks!
- Spectator Casualty: A spectator at the Fightdrome gets his chest pierced by the mutant fighter's horn.
- Spiteful Spit: When Ortega's credit isn't enough to get her proper medical care, Kovac spits on the desk in front of the nurse, providing DNA authentication for his Arbitrarily Large Bank Account. This trope is implied.
- Spotting the Thread: After Ortega is injured and resting in a hospital bed, Captain Tanaka brings her some very expensive flowers as a "Get Well" bouquet. However, the expense of them and other small verbal notes tell Kovacs this isn't sympathy, but rather guilt over this whole situation which resulted in harm to Ortega and others. All in all, it takes less than a minute for Kovacs to realize Captain Tanaka is involved in the conspiracy.
- Standard Female Grab Area: Subverted when Tanaka grabs Prescott this way and tries to threaten her. She coldly tells him not to do that again, then tells him just how powerless he is.
- Take Me Instead
- Issacs gives away his close relationship with Brevlov with his outburst when he thinks Kovacs is going to shoot him in the stack.
- Kovacs tells Carnage to just throw him into the Fightdrome, but Carnage says he's billed this as Ryker and his girlfriend getting killed. Naturally Kovacs and Ortega deny being this.
- Tell Him I'm Not Speaking to Him: Poe is miffed about Vernon smashing up his bar, and tells Kovacs to tell Vernon he's not speaking to him. Kovacs snaps back that he can tell Vernon himself; Poe points out he obviously can't if he's refusing to do so.
- The Thunderdome: Fightdrome
- Thwarted Coup de Grâce: Happens twice to Dimi Two in the arena. First Ortega stops him from finishing off Kovacs and then the latter returns the favor and stops Dimi from using his knife on Ortega.
- Too Dumb to Live: Both Dimi One and Two end up like this:
- Hemmingway berates Dimi One's idiocy in bungling picking up Kovacs by going off-script. He was just supposed to quietly escort him from the Raven Hotel to meet Hemmingway, non-violently. Instead, he antagonized Kovacs and moronically picked a fight with Poe, a trigger-happy AI, and got killed.
- Dimi Two first tries to interrupt Hemmingway's backup cycle in the presence of Leung, who nearly kills him right there. He then insists that he's getting revenge of Kovacs regardless of his employer's wishes, causing Hemingway to decide he's outlived his usefulness. Finally, he picks a fight with Kovacs and Ortega in the Fightdrome and gets Killed Off for Real.
- Trauma Button: Kovacs has a Troubled Backstory Flashback of his own father's abuse when witnessing Lauren's abusing Isaac.
- "Well Done, Son" Guy: Isaac Bancroft confesses all he has ever wanted is his father's respect. This was his motive for resleeving into his father's clone. He wanted to show him that he was a capable businessman by impersonating him and making successful business deals. Laurens has nothing but contempt for the weak, spoiled Isaac in turn, even after he tries to prove himself.
- Wild Card: Dimi Two becomes it when he refuses to back off from killing Kovacs, despite the direct warning of his mysterious employer. It gets him killed.
- Would Hit a Girl: The mutants and especially Dimi Two when fighting Ortega.
- Wrong-Name Outburst: Ortega accidentally calls Kovac's "Elias" while high on pain medication. Justified, as he looks exactly like her former lover. Kovacs is ready to walk out at this point, but Vernon convinces him he needs to stay; even if he's not the man she wants by her bedside, he's the man she has right now.
- You Have Failed Me: Dimi Two refuses to back off from killing Kovacs, so Hemingway orders Leung to escort him to a safehouse where he won't cause any trouble. But when Leung suddenly asks Dimi Two if he's a believer, Dimi is smart enough to immediately run for his life.
