The Creation of a Thousand Forests
The season finale of The Peripheral starts with a flashback to 2028, in Walter Reed Medical Centre. Flynne sits by Conner, who is in a hospital bed. He tells her he wishes he could reboot like she often does in her sims — go back to the dog and shoot it instead. Tommy sits in his car, looking at the guns in his hand. He puts them back in the evidence bag and radios in for help. When the police and ambulance arrive, the ENT finds a pulse on Corbell Pickett. The police officers are then told about the shots heard near the medical centre and Tommy rushes there with them. He finds Dee Dee and the pair embrace. Inspector Lowbeer proposes an alliance to Flynne, Burton and Conner. She offers her resources to help them navigate the coming Jackpot in exchange for their services as Peripherals. Flynne says she wants Lowbeer to help heal her mother. Lowbeer consults with the Aunties and comes back with the news that nothing can be done to help Ella anymore. Everything that could be tried, has been. She says Ella has 23 days left to live. Flynne leaves the Peripheral and wakes up in her own world, distraught. Burton comforts her. Later that night, Flynne and Ella talk. Ella tells her that when she was first diagnosed, she felt that finally, Flynne will be able to live her own life. Flynne insists that she already has been and she wouldn’t choose differently. But Ella wants Flynne to have the chance to become whatever she wants. She says her father used to call Flynne their little acorn because of all her potential to grow into a giant oak tree. Ella tells Flynne to promise her that she will let that power grow. Ash reaches out to Cherise Nuland and reveals to her that the R.I.’s data is in Flynne’s head. She asks Nuland if she can stop Zubov from getting his hands on it. Nuland says she can but at an unspeakable price — she’ll accelerate the Jackpot in the stub to get rid of Flynne, in turn destroying decades of research. In return, Ash wants Nuland to kill Zubov. Flynne logs into the peripheral and wakes up on a bench next to Wilf. He apologises for making it seem like her mother’s recovery was a certainty. When Flynne asks about Aelita, Wilf says she must be dead. He talks about how he doesn’t have a lot of memories of home or even of the transit camp where he lived with his family. It was during a raid on the camps that his father got taken and Aelita took charge of Wilf. They were on the streets for three years after which they got caught and were adopted. They ran away again and lived on their own for eight months in their own little ‘kingdom’. They even had a flag — a hand with no thumb because Aelita believed the opposable thumb was the origin of all human sin. When Wilf fell sick, Aelita gave up everything to bring him back. Wilf tells Flynne he wants to tell her something but can’t because Lowbeer could be listening to everything. She suggests that they link up, so she can gauge his thoughts from his feelings. They do so. Out loud, Flynne says the names of Lowbeer, Zubov, Aelita and then herself. His memories trigger feelings that Flynne is able to understand. Wilf says his own name out loud and gauge’s Flynne’s reaction. Now aware of their feelings for each other, Flynne and Wilf smile at one another. She asks him about the place he and Aelita had run away to. Ash and Ossian see Wilf and Flynne rushing off to look for Aelita. When Ossian asks if they should tell Zubov, Ash says they have another master now. Flynne and Wilf go to the place which is now a public park. They find a peripheral of a younger Aelita waiting for them. She insists that Flynne go away since her peripheral’s eyes and ears can be used by others. Flynne leaves. Aelita reveals to Wilf that the implant they have in their head is used to suppress memories. Memories that she began to remember when she removed hers. She tells Wilf that the Klept killed their families. Five million people were killed in under a fortnight because of the fear of spreading contagion. Other people surround them and Aelita reveals she’s been gathering people who are like them. Now, all they need is the data in Flynne’s head. Jasper and three men from Pickett’s crew sit in a bar. One of them, Atticus, claims that he will take over the business after Corbell dies. They dismiss Jasper and insult him for not being capable of more than keeping cars clean. Jasper simmers as they drive home. He stops the car in the middle of a railway track and gets out. He calls his wife, Billy Ann. He reminisces about a monopoly game that he had lost. At the time, Billy Ann had told him not to mistake weakness for kindness. But Billy Ann tells him that she married him because of how kind he was. That makes Jasper change his mind but it’s too late, a train arrives and crashes into the car before he can stop it. In Clanton, Tommy tells Flynne about a warning from Homeland Security about an attack on a nearby missile silo. Flynne logs into her peripheral and finds herself with Ash. She realises Ash already knew. Ash confesses to everything. Flynne gets Conner to log into his peripheral. She tells him what’s going on and that she needs to open a new stub. He asks her if she’s going to reboot. Flynne meets Lowbeer to discuss their alliance. Lowbeer can’t open a new stub for Flynne but she can show her how to do it. Flynne insists that Burton can’t know about this plan. This way, Cherise would think that Lowbeer helped her while Flynne’s world gets saved from destruction. Lowbeer sends Flynne to one of the R.I.’s ancillary sites known as a stub portal. Flynne fights off the guard peripherals there. Cherise realises and watches her do it. Inside, Flynne finds a pocket watch that she uses to activate the stub portal. She tells Cherise that she will never be able to find her while Flynne knows exactly where Cherise is. Flynne crushes the watch. A flashback to Conner and Flynne’s conversation shows that Flynne plans on getting herself killed in her own world, so Cherise doesn’t blow it up. She needs Conner to make it look as if Lowbeer hired someone to do so. She promises they’ll come back to London because she wants to see Cherise dead. In Clanton, Flynne walks by a creek while Conner is nearby with a sniper rifle. As Flynne counts back from ten, she remembers all her memories with her loved ones. A gunshot reverberates through the air. Flynne wakes up in a peripheral in London. Lowbeer asks if they should get to work. A post-credit scene shows Lev Zubov and his wife arriving at a sophisticated establishment. His wife sees three old men waiting for Zubov and asks him what he’s done. After she leaves, Zubov heads to their table. The men tell him Zubov’s father wasn’t feeling well and they’ve come to talk instead. They talk to him about his recent actions putting the Klept at risk. They encourage his probing into the R.I. but tell him to make sure no assets are linked back to him — or they’d have to cut off the whole proverbial tree. After subtly threatening his wife and kids, the men tell Zubov to ‘cauterize the wound’.
The Episode Review
The season finale of The Peripheral is a mixed bag. While the end of the episode is a nice set-up for the next season, there are quite a few points that don’t really sit right. For one, the reveal about Aelita. Had we been given more hints about what she was up to, the reveal of her intentions to start what is basically a revolution would have made more sense. And therefore, hit much harder. Instead, it is out of leftfield and we as an audience are expected to roll with it without seeing any of her journey at all. Everything about her and Wilf’s suppressed memories and the murder of their families is also completely new information to viewers. Then, how can the emotional impact expect to hit the right note? A few other character portrayals come across as unconvincing. Wilf’s reaction to meeting a sister —whom he thought was dead — is surprisingly lukewarm. Flynne’s hostility towards Cherise is appropriate but why doesn’t she feel the same way towards Aelita, who brought her into this mess? Why does Ash go to Cherise only to almost immediately confess to Flynne? As with the rest of the season, this episode seems to have several moving parts. While each is intriguing in its own way it never quite comes together as a whole. But despite its unsteady structuring, the characters of The Peripheral are fascinating and compelling enough to make one want to watch a second season.
