Warning: This is a full episode recap, so if you haven’t seen the episode and don’t want any spoilers, please watch it before reading this.
In quite the casting coup, Olivia Wilde reprises her film role as Quorra in this episode.
Tron deploys Beck to steal an information cube, but he bungles the job and sets off an alarm. Meanwhile, Paige, still smarting from the tongue lashing she received from both Pavel and Tesler, pics up a photograph that hints at a past in the medical field. She also tinkers with a musical device of some sort. Both Paige and Pavel, along with a small fleet of troops, go after The Renegade (Beck) in aerial vehicles resulting in a dog fight in the sky. Paige in particular feels she has something to prove and damages Beck’s vehicle, derezzing it. But Paige’s helicopter crashes too and Pavel strands her, separated from the city by a large body of water.
She has a flashback to her medical days. It is revealed that she is programed for medicine, but has a desire to learn music. Her two friends tease her and say she should stick with her programing. A scream interrupts them and Paige instinctively rushes to rescue two women being assaulted by three men. One of the women is Quorra who, after the fight, reveals that she is a refugee in the city. Paige analyzes her and notices her extremely complex programing, stating that she’s never seen anything like it.
Beck realizes that the impact of his ship into the small island they are on destabilized the land mass’ coding and it is rapidly deteriorating. He spots Paige attempting to hack off a part of her downed helicopter to create a raft and calls out to her. She attacks him and swipes the information cube he stole earlier, but during their scuffle, she winds up hanging from a ledge. Beck then tells her about the island’s destruction. Paige reluctantly agrees to work with Beck to get to safety, but then takes off on her own, paddling into the water, only for her “raft” to fall apart. She manages to swim back to the island, but the instant her feet hit the sand on the shore, that patch of land derezzes and she barely makes it to the other side.
She stubbornly mopes and criticizes Beck’s plan to get them to safety, commenting that even if they die, she’ll have the satisfaction of seeing The Renegade’s end. Her medical experience kicks in when she notices that Beck’s arm is injured. She analyzes it and tells him he could lose it entirely unless she can access his disc. Realizing that she needs his help, she agrees to a truce. She tinkers with his disc (god, that sounded filthier than it was) and he’s as good as new.
In another flashback, Paige plays a song on her musical device for Quorra and her recovered friend Ada, who both think it’s beautiful. Paige humbly proclaims that she wasn’t programed for music. They comment that she proves that she can learn skills outside of her programing. Quorra then teaches Paige a self-defense move, but suddenly her “tattoo” lights up and Paige realizes that the two of them are Isos. (See Tron Legacy… it’s… complicated.) Quorra begs Paige not to alert the authorities.
Cut to Paige talking with one of her friends. She says she’s glad Quorra and Ada are leaving. Quorra and Ada come to say goodbye to Paige, but apparently someone has reported them, as an alert is sounded demanding all citizens be prepared to present their discs for scanning. Quorra knocks Paige unconscious saying it is to keep her alive.
In the present, Beck and Paige are finishing their escape raft, with Paige telling Beck he must turn himself in when they get to safety, when the ground under her crumbles and she falls into the void.
Back to the flashback, Paige is awakened by two guards, including a younger Tesler. Instinctively she lashes out, using the skills that Quorra taught her, to take out the one that isn’t Tessler. She says she doesn’t know where the two Isos are because they betrayed her. Tesler shows her the rest of her medical facility and it is decimated, with all the programs inside derezzed including her friends. Tesler offers her a chance to get revenge serving under him and she adamantly agrees.
In the present, Paige loses her grip and topples into the water. Beck busts his ass trying to save her, firing up the escape raft they made and diving after her, but Tesler and Pavel arrive in a helicopter and rescue her with a claw device that looks exactly like one of those claw games at the exit of your local grocery store.
Later, she admits she was suckered into trusting The Renegade, just as she had trusted the Isos. But in a flashback, it is revealed that her two friends from her Medical days actually betrayed the Isos and informed Tesler of their presence. Tesler then orders his troops to derez any programs that came into contact with the Isos… including the two friends.
The episode ends with Paige returning to her musical practice.
Honestly, this episode felt a little bit off. The story was a tad sub par. Even the stylized animation seemed over stylized at times. Yes, the characters have long, gangly legs, but there were a few times where that was taken to an extreme in this particular show.
I think this show is very sophisticated, but this particular episode was a bit… expected, I suppose. Obviously, Paige is going to switch sides, but this episode made that already an obvious conclusion.. SUPER obvious. I already got it, dude! I don’t need it broken down into syllables.
Honestly, this was the weakest episode so far. Do you agree or disagree? Please leave a comment below!
If you missed the previous episode be sure to read our ‘Tron Uprising: Identity’ recap to catch up.
