Even in a typical night in Night City, you would never expect your first date to turn out like this.
Doc decides to plant the Sandevistan in David, granting the latter superhuman strength, speed, and reflexes. With his new abilities, David returns to Arasaka Academy and takes revenge on Katsuo by assaulting him, in front of all of his classmates, which results in his expulsion.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. Meanwhile, as David aimlessly wanders the city, he encounters a young netrunner named Lucy who agrees to take him on as a partner. After a night of pickpocketing marks on the subway, David collapses due to overuse of his Sandevistan.
After a run-in with an unscrupulous EMT, Lucy takes David back to Doc, who prescribes him immunosuppressants and warns him not to use his Sandevistan more than two or three times a day, although he notes that David appears to have a remarkable resistance to the malign effects of cyberware.
Lucy invites David to her home, where she confides that her dream is to migrate off-world to the Moon. She shows David a virtual reconstruction of the Moon's surface, but it turns out to be a ploy to sell out David to a gang of cyberpunks.
Tropes in this episode:
- Bully Hunter: David becomes this after acquiring the Sandevistan, beating Katsuo up for his earlier assault and mocking his mother's passing.
- The Corrupter: It doesn't take much effort on Lucy's behalf to convince David to become a pick pocket. To be fair, his options were limited.
- Curb-Stomp Battle: David's rematch with Katsuo only counts as a fight, however short it was, because David let him try to throw punches.
- Cynicism Catalyst: David has no interest in continuing his education or following his mother's dream for him now that she's deceased. He decides to effectively burn all of his bridges spectacularly by beating up the local bully at school with military grade hardware.
- Femme Fatale: Lucy intrigues David with her mysterious criminal nature and beauty, swiftly recruiting him as a pick pocket.
- Five-Second Foreshadowing: While in the Moon braindance Lucy and David share a look and her pupils start flashing. That's when Maine yanks David straight out of the braindance, accuses him of stealing his Sandevistan, and punches his lights out, ending the episode.
- Grass is Greener: David makes fun of Lucy's moon poster, pointing out a lot of people died to make it habitable and compares it to a prison camp. Lucy doesn't care however and tells him that Night City is the real prison. Tellingly her apartment has the perfect view to watch the rockets blast off from the spaceport.
- Meatgrinder Surgery: David's Ripperdoc doesn't even bother with anesthesia, forcing him to feel every incision and his spinal column's removal and replacement with the Sandevistan. He's lucky to have blacked out from the pain, and luckier still to be alive afterwards. The lack of immunosuppressant medication post-op doesn't help much either as David ends up passing out from the strain of using the Sandy.
- Mundane Utility: The Sandevistan grants super-speed among other powers and can be used to make David an exceptionally effective pick pocket.
- Oh, Crap!: David gets a bit cocky when using his implant to pick pocket several Arasaka workers. That is until Lucy points him toward a very large enforcer as his next target, though he manages it regardless.
- Organ Theft: The EMT in the ambulance that Lucy calls attempts to harvest the Sandevistan from David's unconscious body.
- Power-Strain Blackout: The end result of David repeatedly using the Sandevistan without any of the usual meds that should have been given after the surgery (plus the surgery itself not exactly being ideal) eventually causes him to pass out with a huge nosebleed.
- Redemption Rejection: Downplayed, as the "redemption" offer is anything but truly sincere. The Arasaka Academy, under pressure from Tanaka Sr. who is intrigued by David's apparent tolerance for high-end cyberware, wants to offer David a scholarship as bait so they can bring him on as a candidate for the "project". David, ignorant of the underlying intentions, ignores it as he has no interest in returning.
- Shut Up, Hannibal!: Katsuo calls out David for picking a fight within in the middle of class, with cameras around to boot. David punches him in the face before he could even finish that sentence.
- Title Drop: Lucy messes with David's jacket a bit to make it display the word "Edgerunners".
- The Unishment: Arasaka Academy expels David for attacking a fellow student and beating him badly after he was already on probation. It's not a punishment because David doesn't want to continue his education there and couldn't afford to attend anyway. He explains to Lucy that while he tried to put up with it for his mom's sake, he always felt like he never belonged there.
- Yank the Dog's Chain: Thanks to his new implant, David beat down his bully, made a new friend, made use of his new ability and finally started gaining the money needed to pay rent... Until a man named Maine arrives to take the implant back thanks to Lucy.
