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Fridge Brilliance

  • Kovacs stares in awe at the Meth skyscrapers reaching above the clouds, and Ortega quips that he obviously doesn't have a sight like this on his planet. If Harlan's World is like the novels (which, as shown in Season 2, it is), then that would actually be true as automated Elder killsats obliterate anything that flies too high.
  • The reason Leung begs not to be killed is because he Did Not Think This Through. He worships Meths as gods because they can grant wishes in the real world, but they have no control over any afterlife that might exist.
  • It's made pretty clear that technology hasn't advanced all that much in the two-hundred and fifty years while Kovacs was on ice. Cloned sleeves, in particular, are still obscenely expensive. This is most likely an unintentional side effect of using prisoners as new sleeves. Prisoners are essentially free; if there aren't enough of them, just tighten the enforcement of some laws. That means that there is little incentive to improve the cloning process to make them cheaper, which in turn keeps the grounders trapped in constant poverty that heavily restricts economic, social, and technological development. The American South had similar problems leading up to the Civil War. Why bother improving farming techniques or technology when slaves are basically free?
  • In Season 1 and 2 of the show, Rei appeared to have no idea that Tak survived the events of Stronghold after her original copy was destroyed on the shuttle. In a holorecording made in the cradle at Stronghold, there is a recording of Rei talking to Quellcrest, with the first recording appearing to indicate that Rei thought Tak had died (even the second recording shows some sense that she couldn't comprehend her loss). Yet, in the Altered Carbon: Resleeved anime, Rei (under the guise of Gena), discovers that Tak is alive and she's working with him on her mission. So, how is it that "Gena" Rei finds out about Tak but Rei in the show doesn't seem to know he survived? The show itself presents two possible, yet equally horrifying possibilities: 1. that "Gena" Rei was a backup copy made by C-TAC and is not the original Rei (which makes sense because she technically would be expendable). And upon completing her mission, that copy was murdered by C-TAC. 2. "Gena" Rei is Rei, but after the events of the anime, she was killed by C-TAC before she could backup her memory and the last copy was downloaded into a new body, with her not remembering that Tak was alive.

Fridge Horror

  • In Episode 9, one of the proprietors of "Head In The Clouds" tells their client, "This floor is entirely yours!" Left unsaid is that if his victim runs, he can chase her wherever she goes.
  • If Quell suceeded in her plan for stacks to shut down when over a hundred years, imagine just how many millions and not even Meths or Protectorate, but ordinary civilians who could easily reach that age with future would instantly die because a woman arbitrally decided a hundred years is sufficient. And then the fear of those left knowing exactly when are they going to die.
  • The general populace of Harlan's World is forced to watch public executions in an event the rich make wagers on. In this execution (called The Circle), the victim's mind is read so that their executioners can take the forms of loved ones and friends, that then beat the condemned to death. The people must watch, their ONI implant gets overridden for this purpose. One minor character states that he would rather rip out his eye than watch another execution, but his compatriot warns him that the Protectorate would then just wire the whole apparatus to his brain, making him blind and forced to still watch public executions. Everyone else simply settles in wherever they happen to be, not having any other choice but to view the entire process.

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