Altered Carbon Review Season 2 Episode 3

Article written by J. Y. Calcano

Altered Carbon Episode 2.3: Nightmare Alley

Written by Michael R. Perry
Directed by MJ Basett

• Synopsis: Kovacs contends with ghosts from his past as he's tortured by Carrera. Poe seeks help from a fellow AI. Trepp gets a lead on the man she's after. (netflix.com)

   

      In this episode, Kovacs’ past loves and regrets are pulled from his mind. He is subsequently placed into a televised gladiator circle that serves as an execution ritual, where he is supposed to die at the hands of synthetic bodies wearing the faces of those he loved. Events cascade from there.

      

      The production team does an exceptional job linking this episode to the characters of the first season through Kovacs torture. The cinematography and script build an unsubtle reminder, a bridge, between the past and present that can help an audience invest further in the drama and imagery of Anthony Mackie as the new Kovacs.

     The Circle is as anticlimactic as it is unnecessarily risky. The dialogue makes the circle sound devastating, some sort of quasi medieval torture that can break the strongest of men, when in essence its a gladiatorial fight against the ghosts discovered through the mind extract. The cavalier and festive air of the execution does expose the audience to another aspect of Meth decadence, but it falls flat given the general cliché nature of a gladiator pit and the much more shocking excesses revealed in season one; excesses which  make a gladiator pit look like an unimaginative villain's game room.

     Mackie puts forth his best effort yet, but somehow manages to come up short in his emotional progression. The wooden, almost glacial expression hasn’t changed much and continues to affect emotional projection. Trepp (Simone Missick) shows more emotional involvement in her character than Mackie in his.

     Danica Harlan (Lela Loren) toes the line between a smart, able ruler with difficult decisions into a laughing stock. Her decisions are entitled and arrogant. They lack the subtle ruthlessness of a woman at the very top of the planetary government. Her words and hesitations make her appear weak and unsatisfying as an antagonist. Nevertheless, Loren turns in a solid performance that manages to elevate Danica Harlan from a role into a personification of status and elegant disdain.

    

     Poe (Chris Conner) outdoes himself with the quirky glitches and the loss and horror he conveys after every episode. His lapses in judgment make him a liability, and, yet, he can’t find the resolve to reboot because he doesn’t want to forget his beloved Elizabeth. If any character embodies the search for the human condition than it is Poe. His introspection feels raw, deep in a level that the current Kovacs can’t quite reach. The other AIs that are locked in limbo without a purpose offer a window into an entire new plane of existence, something the series had briefly expanded on in season 1.

     The introduction of Dig 301 (Dina Shihabi) opens up more possibilities into the passions that move and shackle the AIs, a currently underdeveloped theme that can, at any moment, open up an entire sleuth of story possibilities.

      In conclusion, Anthony Mackie is still finding his stride, but is actually improving. Lela Loren, Chris Conner, and Simone Missick turn in credible performances in their character roles despite a bipolar script imbued with great scenes alongside paradoxically detrimental clichés.

References 

"Altered Carbon: Nightmare Alley," Netflix. March 1, 2020. www.netflix.com

"Altered Carbon: Full Cast and Crew," IMDb.com Inc. March 1, 2010. www.imdb.com