Opening Song: This Fffire (by Franz Ferdinand)
Credits Song: Let You Down (by Dawid Podsiadło)
Spoiler Warning: I am going to give a synopsis of each episode and my opinions at the very end.
Episode 1: Let You Down
The year is 2076. David Martinez, the son of a working-class mom,
attends the prestigious Arasaka Academy. In order to keep attending
class without burdening his struggling mother with expensive mandatory
cyberware updates, David illegally modifies his device with help from an
acquaintance named Doc. The modifications end up crashing the school's
system, which David's mother, Gloria, offers to pay for.
During
the ride home David offers to drop out of school to find a job because
he sticks out too much at such an upper-class academy, and even if he
did graduate, someone from the industrial Santo Domingo District would
never be accepted as a "corpo". Gloria breaks down, reminding
David that she works long hours and is never home because she wants him
to get a good education and have a fighting chance in Night City.
In the middle of their conversation, a shootout between two rival gangs catches their vehicle in the middle, wrecking the car and leaving Gloria badly wounded. The Trauma Team arrives but ignores David and Gloria in favor of the "policy holders".
Despite having been left to die, David manages to get to a medical facility and access Gloria's savings account to pay for the medical expenses. David then breaks into their apartment which has been locked for nonpayment of rent, and while digging through his mother's things discovers an illegal military-grade Sandevistan implant.
The next day, David's classmate Katsuo insinuates that Gloria works as a prostitute to pay for David's schooling. Katsuo then bloodies David using his expensive implants and encourages David to dropout of school. Shortly afterward, David receives word that the surgeons couldn't do more for his mom on a "discount package" and she passed away. Unable to afford a burial, David has Gloria cremated (via a special vending machine). Enraged, he visits Doc - the black market salesman and ripperdoc (a surgeon of sorts), to have the Sandevistan implant installed into his own body.
Insert Songs:
• Who's Ready for Tomorrow (by Rat Boy)
• Kevin (by Antigama)
Episode 2: Like A Boy
Doc agrees to install the Sandevistan on the condition he gets it for
free when David realizes it's too much for his body to handle. The
"sandy" grants David superhuman strength, speed, and reflexes that he
uses to exact revenge on Katsuo by assaulting him in class. David is
expelled, but Katsuo's father Tanaka - an Arasaka executive, notices
that David is able to utilize the Sandevistan with no apparent side
effects, which would make him a valuable test subject for their latest
product.
David catches a young netrunner (hacker) called Lucy,
stealing chips out of passengers bodies and when confronted, she notices
the "sandy" installed in David. Lucy agrees to take David on as a
partner, but after a night of picking pockets on the subway, David
collapses due to overuse of his Sandevistan. Lucy takes David to a
medic, but when they see the "sandy" installed, they try to take it for
themselves. Lucy then takes David to Doc, who prescribes him
immunosuppressants and warns him not to use his Sandevistan more than
two or three times a day. Over-doing it will turn David into a
"Cyberpsycho", although David appears to have a remarkable tolerance to
it.
Lucy invites David to her apartment, where he talks about how it was his mother's dream for him to get a job at Arasaka, but it was never something he wanted for himself. Lucy confides that her dream is to migrate off-world to the moon and shows David a virtual reconstruction of the moon's surface. However, it all turns out to be a ploy to distract David while she contacts a gang of cyberpunks called "Edgerunners".
Insert Songs:
• I Really Want to Stay At Your House (by Rosa Walton)
• Friday Night Fire Fight (by Jacques Barbot)
• Sustain/Decay (by DRIVEALONE)
• Acid Breather (by Mastiff)
Episode 3: Smooth Criminal
The gang leader, Maine, was an acquaintance of Gloria and had purchased the Sandevistan a day before her death. When David reveals he is the son of Gloria and demonstrates his compatibility with the Sandevistan, Maine decides to give David a chance to prove himself on a job. David participates in a heist to steal navigation data from Maxim, a driver for Arasaka, but an unexpected change in Maxim's plans forces David and Lucy to steal Maxim's limousine instead. A Japanese gang tries to collect on a bounty set by Maxim but the duo, with help from Maine, eliminate the gangsters. Maine officially inducts David into the gang, and meets with their fixer (broker), Faraday.
"Still mostly organic? Meat and bone can't keep pace with a Sandevistan for long." -Maine
Insert Songs:
• I Will Follow (by Snot Abundance)
• Just Wine (P.A.F.F. Remix) (by Rafal Kloczko)
• Nieważne (by Rafal Kloczko)
Episode 4: Lucky You
David runs errands for his fellow gang members, Pilar and his sister Rebecca. He learns to shoot a gun, jogs with Lucy, learns to drive from Maine, and helps to rescue their members from rival gangs.
Left to right: Dorio, Maine, Lucy, David, Pilar, Rebecca, and Kiwi.
On the way home from a bar, Pilar is killed by a homeless man with a concealed gun. The man shows signs of cyberpsychosis and is killed by David before he can harm any more Edgerunners. David takes an injured Lucy to Doc and then to her apartment where he promises to get her to the Moon one day.
"You don't make a name for yourself as a cyberpunk by how you live... you make a name by how you die." -Lucy
Insert Songs:
• Little Stranger (by Dawid Podsiadło)
Episode 5: All Eyez On Me
Kiwi tries to find more leads on Tanaka and discovers he secretly indulges in illicit braindances (a recorded experience/emotions) created by "JK". David recognizes "JK" as the handle of Jimmy Kurosaki, a famous BD director who also custom-tunes BDs for special clients. The gang tries to ambush Kurosaki, but he literally has eyes in the back of his head and uses an EMP to disable the group. JK captures David and flees the scene with Lucy and Dorio in pursuit. JK subjects David to traumatic BDs in an attempt to induce cyberpsychosis but is stopped by Lucy and Dorio. Realizing he's been beat, JK agrees to lure Tanaka. Tanaka arrives and is subsequently captured but not without putting up a fight. JK is caught in the crossfire and succumbs to his injuries.
"Some metal is simply not meant to mix with meat. Your organic body gets pushed to the edge. Teeters on the brink. You either loose yourself forever... or die. No in-between." -JK
Insert Songs:
• Nie Pytaj Nas (by Rafal Kloczko)
• Dom (by Rafal Kloczko)
Episode 6: Girl on Fire
Maine starts jittering, blacking out, and hallucinating - signs of
cyberpsychosis. During one of his mood swings, he looses control and
assaults Kiwi while she is hacking into Tanaka's cyberware. With Kiwi
out of commission, Lucy is forced to take her place but only on the
condition that Maine is kept away and David accompanies her. During the
dive, Tanaka regains consciousness and tries to sway David away from the
gang by telling him that the Edgerunners will turn on him after they
get the information they're after. He also reveals that he was
responsible for rescinding David's expulsion from the Academy, meaning
he can return to school.
David hesitates long enough for Tanaka's
neural implant to short out, risking both Tanaka's life and Lucy's. The
gang's jammer is also disabled, alerting the Trauma Team and NCPD to
Tanaka's falling vitals. Maine and Dorio use Tanaka to distract the
authorities while David and Lucy get to an escape vehicle. However,
Maine succumbs to his cyberpsychosis during the battle, resulting in the
death of Dorio. Maine blows himself up along with Dorio's corpse.
Insert Songs:
• Fuelled by Poison (by Antigama)
• Żurawie (by Ugory)
• HEALTH (by Major Crimes)
Episode 7: Stronger
Some amount of time after the botched kidnapping, David installed more
implants, including Maine's arm implants, and become an Edgerunner of
some renown. David also become the new leader of Maine's Edgerunner
gang, however, Lucy left the crew and refuses to rejoin.
After
completing a job for the fixer Wakako, David is approached by Faraday
with a job from Militech Armaments against Arasaka. David tries to get
Lucy to rejoin the team and learns she used to be a part of a special
team of Arasaka netrunners raised to recover lost data in the Old Net.
Most of her team was killed off by malware and rogue AIs.
Insert Songs:
• Night City Aliens (by The Armed)
• Siła Mikrofonu (by Pawel Soltys)
Episode 8: Stay
Arasaka Counterintelligence starts investigating the murders of Arasaka
personnel and arrange an assassination attempt on Faraday. Militech
refuses to provide Faraday with protection due to his lack of results
with the Arasaka cyber-skeleton project. Arasaka however, offers to
forgive Faraday's double dealing in exchange for the netrunner killing
their agents.
Meanwhile, David starts showing symptoms of
cyberpsychosis, exacerbated by his guilt over killing an Arasaka
secretary (and non-target) that reminded him of his own struggling
mother. Rebecca and Lucy both express concerns over the changes in
David's behavior, and when Doc recommends that David scale back on his
implants, David lashes out in rage. David considers breaking up with
Lucy, but she runs off to deal with an Arasaka agent looking for
Tanaka's data and falls into a trap set by Faraday and Kiwi.
"Just yesterday a punk kid selling XBDs for a quick buck. Go on. Become that legend. Or whatever you mercs do. Another turn for the next dreamer." -Doc
Insert Songs:
• History (by Gazelle Twin)
• Where Did Your Love Go? (by Dawid Podsiadło)
Episode 9: Humanity
Faraday and Kiwi discover that Lucy had been hiding Tanaka's data on David as a potential test subject for the cyber-skeleton and was the one responsible for Tanaka's death. Dorio and Maine, among others, were collateral damage in her attempts to keep David safe. Faraday assigns David to a mission to assault an Arasaka convoy transporting the cyber-skeleton. Faraday then tips off Militech to the same convoy. With the help of Kiwi, Rebecca, and Falco (the gang's driver), David manages to seize the convoy's cargo, but Falco immediately recognizes that something is off. They are exposed out in the open, the convoy has no driver, and Kiwi got the vehicle open unusually fast. Faraday impersonates Lucy through a call to David, encouraging him to install the cyber-skeleton to destroy the approaching Militech forces. Kiwi then makes her escape just as Lucy manages to briefly warn David about Faraday. However, it is to late and David uses the cyber-skeleton to annihilate the Militech forces, ravaging his body in the process.
Insert Songs:
• Run to the Edge (by Marcin Pryzbylowicz)
Episode 10: My Moon My Man
Rebecca, Falco, and David rush to save Lucy, battling their way through Militech, Arasaka, and MaxTac forces along the way. Meanwhile, Kiwi is double-crossed by Faraday who wants to tie up loose ends. Before dying, Kiwi tips off David and the others to Faraday's location. David attacks the tower, incapacitating Faraday and rescuing Lucy. Displeased with the turn of events, Arasaka deploys Adam Smasher - a legendary cyborg, to put down David. Faraday is killed in the fighting and Rebecca is crushed by Adam Smasher. Falco takes Lucy to safety while David holds Adam off. Out of the immunosuppressants that keep his cyberpsychosis at bay and greatly outmatched by the more experienced Adam, David dies with no regrets and Lucy fulfills her dream of visiting the moon with the money David left her.
Final Thoughts
Edgerunners does a phenomenal job of painting Night City as a place ripe with isolation and abandonment. The possibility of advancement for the working class is always just out of reach; the odds stacked against them by mega-corporations and the 1% that view them as disposable. The need for people in this world to "Chrome Up" - replace real body parts with metal, essentially becoming more "inhuman" with each upgrade, and risking their lives, health, and sanity in the process just to get an edge in society comes across crystal clear. So too do the repercussions of replacing so much meat with metal; the more they use, the more they break down, and once that last ounce of their empathy and humanity is gone, they become a "Cyberpsycho" - an allegory for drug use, over-working or perhaps even toxic ideas of success.
The show
also touches a tiny bit on the importance of face-to-face human relationships in a
world so utterly indifferent to your own survival and value. This is
demonstrated well when Lucy finally achieves her dream of visiting the
moon, but the trip feels isolated and hollow without David there to
experience it with her. The idea that someone can believe they're
'special' or somehow superior to everyone else and the ruinous path that
leads down is also touched upon when David lets power go to his head and
'Chromes Up' beyond what his body can handle. But of course he isn't
special. David is just a nobody with an abnormally high resistance to
implants who took it too far and paid the price for it - same as
everyone else. Maine too paid the price for surpassing his physical and
mental limits. Kiwi's betrayal is something that has played out
countless times in the City of Lies and the final confrontation was not
dissimilar to how some legendary individuals
before David went out with similar results in how it changed nothing.
It is amazing how many themes they were able to jam into just a handful of episodes. Edgerunners has done what few
other game adaptations have in that not only is it an entertaining show
capable of standing on its own merits, but it has even surpassed the
source material that inspired it.
Related videos:
- What True Love Looks Like
- Breaking Down Edgerunners' Breathtaking Animation
- Doctor Reacts to Edgerunners Cyberware Implants
Have you seen Edgerunners or played the video game it is based on? What about the tabletop game? What were your thoughts?
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