"Doctor! Your patient’s arrived…"
THE BEGINNING OF THE END IS HERE. After over a year of waiting we’re back with the first episode of the final season. Taking place right after the events of Season 2, Tari is met with a serious fate.
Unmarked spoilers for "Fatal Error" ahead!
One week has passed since the murder of Lucks. Tari, Theo, Lamar, and Sofia are locked in a battle of wits with their rescuer/captor Marco, but a revenge-fueled Evelyn has other plans. Meanwhile, Masa and Belle find themselves in the presence of a certain caffeine-addicted scientist...
Episode 21 contains examples of:
- The Artifact: Evelyn's personal room in Sheridan's simulation is pretty much an exact replica of the original one in TAS Corp with even the screens still displaying TAS Corp's logo despite the room being part of "Sheridan Corp" (SHER Corp.).
- Cliffhanger: Tari, Masa, and Belle are trapped in Sheridan's simulation and Sheridan has begun to extract those "extra brain cells" of Lucinia's that ended up in Tari, causing the poor android girl to twitch in pain.
- Covers Always Lie: Evelyn is never once seen approaching Tari with a knife (she doesn’t actually wield it until the next episode), and while Tari does end up handcuffed, those restraints belong to Marco and not Sheridan.
- Curb-Stomp Battle: Evelyn practically wipes the floor with Tari using her new abilities.
- Egopolis: Sheridan's simulation is modeled after the TAS Corp headquarters, except it's now "Sheridan Corp" ("SHER Corp" for short) and there's an A.I. version of Lucks who is an Extreme Doormat for Sheridan's amusement. Evelyn's part of the simulation consists of things that praise her, including a miniature Silica City with dolls who brag about her and an "Evelyn-Mart" run by a Bot-Boy who simps for her.
- Forced Transformation: Belle is briefly turned into a Facepalm to demonstrate the control Sheridan has over them.
- Foreshadowing: When Tari asks if everyone is being warped in, Sheridan tells her "that's for later", which gets answered in later episodes.
- Freeze-Frame Bonus: One of the posters in the Evelyn-Mart is a Tari and Evelyn version of the “Virgin vs Chad” meme.
- God Mode: You can't blame Tari for losing miserably against the newly upgraded Evelyn.
- Internal Reveal: Not only do Tari, Masa and Belle learn that Sheridan is alive, but Sheridan himself reveals to Masa that he put the control bug on his arm that made him shoot Lucks, which was all revealed in The Stinger of Season 2, and also triggers Masa's Rage Breaking Point.
- It's Personal: It turns out the reason Marco rescued MD-5 at the end of Season 2 was so he can get back at them for Masa sabotaging his arms.
- Lobotomy: For all intents and purposes, Sheridan is extracting pieces of Tari's brain in order to put them back into Lucinia—with her fully conscious, mind you.
- Lotus-Eater Machine: Masa and Belle's brains were surgically modified like Tari's so that Dr. Sheridan could trap them in his virtual office. Later on, Tari's game warp into Turbo Crash 9 is interfered by Evelyn, who then disables Tari's warp ability once she's trapped in Sheridan's world, making her a prisoner of Sheridan as well.
- My Rules Are Not Your Rules: Evelyn has been given abilities that even Tari doesn't have, including wielding weapons from games that they aren't in.
- Parody Commercial: Tari and Evelyn’s fight briefly becomes integrated into a commercial for the "Evelyn-Mart", with a pink-haired Bot Boy hawking Evelyn-related products, including, for some reason, an Evelyn spiked baseball bat, which Tari takes from him to give her something to defend herself with.
- Rage Breaking Point: After Sheridan revealed to Masa that he made him kill Lucks, Masa's anger reaches its peak as he proceeds to charge at the crazed scientist in a fit of rage, only to be held back as he lashes out at him.Masa: You... made me... A MURDERER!!!
- Say My Name: Done repeatedly and constantly lampshaded by Sheridan. The first was when Masa and Belle saw the A.I. Lucks and initially assumed he was the original, the second when Tari sees Masa and Belle imprisoned, the third when Tari, Belle, and Masa see Lucinia's lifeless avatar in Sheridan's possession, and the fourth when Belle and Masa see Tari's brain being deprived of Lucinia's mind pieces.
- Shout-Out: When Tari first ends up in Sheridan's simulation, she's greeted by smiling doll-like clones of Masa and Belle with buttons for eyes.
- Shut Up, Kirk!: Sheridan interrupts Belle's "Reason You Suck" Speech towards him by turning her into a Facepalm.
- So Proud of You: A rather twisted variation as Sheridan reveals to Tari that she did exactly what he created her to do: kill Lucks.
- Stepford Smiler: Despite Tari's Character Development allowing her to speak against Marco, it's pretty evident that on the inside, she's shaking in fear.
- Time Skip: The episode picks up one week after Lucks' murder.
- Took a Level in Badass: Tari is already shown to be much tougher here than when she started out, particularly in her interactions with Marco. Lampshaded by Sofia."Yeesh, Tari! Where'd you get all that attitude?"
- Uniqueness Decay: As of this episode, Masa, Belle, and Evelyn's brains have been surgically modified to be able to mentally warp into the virtual world just like Tari can. In the former two's case, it was forced and they aren't happy about it at all. Evelyn, on the other hand, relishes in her newfound power and all the abilities Sheridan gave her that Tari doesn't have.
- Unwitting Pawn: It turns out that one of the purposes for Tari's creation was for her to bring about Lucks's downfall on Sheridan's behalf.
- Villain Has a Point: Sheridan points out to a furious Masa that if his friends weren't there to serve as his Morality Chain, he might've killed Lucks on his own anyway.
- You Have Outlived Your Usefulness: Now that Lucks is dead, Sheridan plans to decommission Tari and rip the fragments of Lucinia's mind inside her out.
