Opening Song: N/A
Credits Song: Warning Signs (by The Anix)
Spoiler Warning: I am going to give a synopsis and my opinions at the very end.
Summary:
A human colony on the planet Fehl Prime is attacked by Blood Pack mercenaries - a gang comprised entirely of aliens: krogan, vorcha, and Varren, led by the krogan Archuk. As a major producer of pharmaceuticals for the Systems Alliance, several teams of marines are dispatched to aid the colonists. The on-going ground battle causes all but one marine unit to crash land, incapacitating Captain Toni. Lieutenant James Vega assumes command of Delta Squad, and with the assistance of his squadmates Kamille, Nicky, Milque, Essex, and Mason, they manage to kill Archuk and capture his second-in-command, Brood. Impressed by their success, Admiral Steven Hackett orders Delta Squad to remain on Fehl Prime to protect it from future attacks.
Two years later, the Alliance has added a heavy anti-ship cannon and military-grade kinetic barriers to Fehl Prime's defenses, despite there having been no further attacks on the colony since Archuk's assault. Delta Squad openly wonders why command would arm them so heavily, with Nicky suggesting the recent rumors of colonists vanishing mysteriously being the cause. Milque proposes the human-supremacy, paramilitary group known as Cerberus as the reason behind the missing colonists but Vega isn't so sure.
This innocent bonding scene fools no one. We all know anime rules dictate that child must die.
The team is ordered to accompany Treeya, an archeologist unhappy with the Alliance's interference in the colony's affairs, to a site emitting a strange signal. Upon arriving at the site via Mako, they discover an unknown alien device jamming communications. Treeya believes the device may be Prothean (extinct alien race) in origin, explaining how the weapons and mass relays (space travel) they all use today are based on Prothean technology. She confers with her mentor Liara T'Soni, who instead believes the device was manufactured by Reapers - a synthetic-organic race that wants to eradicate all intelligent life. As much as Treeya respects T'Soni, she doesn't buy the Reaper theory, informing the group that T'Soni has been regarded as a conspiracy theorist ever since she ran off with the famed Commander Shepard. As the group returns to the colony, they spot an invading Collector (bug race) ship pass overhead.
The Collector ship deploys swarms of Seekers (flying insects) to paralyze the Fehl Prime's colonists, including Captain Toni. Outnumbered, Delta Squad splits into two teams - one creating a distraction while the other warms up the anti-ship cannon. Not wanting to cause too much damage to the colonists trapped inside the Collector ship, the cannon is fired at half-power. The shot is deflected by the Collector ship's shields, which fires back with an attack of its own. Now aware of Delta Squad's presence, Kamille is snatched away by Collectors and Essex is left paralyzed by Seekers.
Delta Squad retreats to the colony's underground labs where they uncover evidence suggesting the Alliance knew about the Seeker swarms and was in the process of developing an antidote. A colonist in their group, Messner, is also outed as a Cerberus agent. Without warning, a Praetorian (Collector construct) with Kamille's body incorporated into it tears through the lab doors, vaporizing Mason as he tried to reach Kamille's body. The group falls back to a room containing Brood, who had been kept in a tank as a test subject. Vega frees Brood on the condition he lead them to a ship he claims to have hidden nearby. The Praetorian gives chase, killing Nicky as he shielded Vega. A cured Essex then arrives, killing the Praetorian with his biotics (space-magic).
With their ship badly damaged, Brood suggests bringing the fight directly to the Collectors instead of trying to flee the planet. Everyone agrees and once inside the Collector ship, Messner kills Brood, leading to Delta Squad's capture. The Collector ship then incinerates the colony from orbit to cover their tracks. Meanwhile, Messner explains to Treeya how he planted the alien jamming device to lure the Collectors to the colony in the hope of obtaining their technology for Cerberus. Messner takes Treeya to a Prothean archive built into the Collector ship, claiming human minds were fried when trying to access it, but Messner believes an Asari may stand a better chance. Treeya successfully accesses the archive and witnesses footage of the Protheans last stand against the Reapers, their transformation into the Collectors, and the Collectors' construction of a human-shaped Reaper using human DNA.
The Collector archive hands all their secrets to Treeya on a silver platter.
"Out here, our choices affect not only our lives but the lives of all the people we've sworn to protect. We can only hope... we make the right ones." - James Vega
Final Thoughts
There is nothing major to be learned from watching this film. Most of the broad strokes were already known from conversations with James in Mass Effect 3 about Fehl Prime, losing his squad, and his doubts about joining the N7 program. Although, it does add some much needed insight into James' character. How having his efforts rendered useless by his hero has complicated his views of Shepard and made him resentful, especially of himself. It also captures the weight of tough decisions pretty well, even though Vega probably didn't have a choice; the ship was in bad shape and he would have likley died attempting a rescue. For a franchise that emphasizes player choice, I love that the movie included decisions that didn't always work out and had major consequences: the strength of the cannon, how to save the Asari from being spaced, and the final choice to save the data versus the colonists. The lore inconsistencies are numerous enough to become distracting, however:
- Biotics run on energy packs.
- Collectors are twice their normal size.
- Collectors built a praetorian in just a few hours.
- Vega did not know Liara was a part of Shepard's crew despite being a fan of the Commander.
- The data Vega retrieved proved beyond a doubt that the reapers exist.
Its easy to see this feature was made on a budget given the
uncomfortable art style and choppy animation. The film is also loaded
with anime tropes, such as the little girl marked for death, the sexual
predator, the nerdy engineer, the cocky biotic, etc. But I can kinda
forgive it. They had a large squad of completely new characters to
introduce and only an hour and a half to tell the story. So for the sake
of brevity, tropes are useful; though, not terribly endearing. The
female love interest wasn't really necessary either, although it may
explain why Vega isn't a romance option (not that he needed to be) in
Mass Effect 3.
Overall, Paragon Lost is a unique peak into the
universe from outside Shepard's circle. It is an interesting look at how
others regard Shepard or how Liara has been branded as a lunatic by
people who used to admire her. It's worth a watch for hardcore Mass
Effect fans or anyone hoping to gain more insight into the series
arguably most bland squad member. But you won't miss out on much by
skipping it over. Now, if only we could get one about Archangel and his team on Omega.
Have you seen Paragon Lost? What were your thoughts on the movie? If you haven't seen it, do you plan to?
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