ID-0 pulled off another excellent episode. With this episode, we’re clear to one of the most central question of ID-0: who exactly is Ido, but the reveal opens up many more fascinating questions, which is totally welcomed. The show still maintains its firm grasp on its main cast’s development, as this episode has a fair share of great moments from many characters, especially Karla and Rick. Even more impressively, those characters’ development tied up very well with the reveal of Ido’s true identity, together they form an overarching theme on existence and comradeship. This show is on its way to become my favorite thing this season now.
Let’s start with Karla, as she receives quite a key development this episode. Last week it is disclosed that the Federation has a hold of her real body, and the first flashback reveals the reason she lost her body and became an Evertrancer. I totally understand the struggle (and a bit of feeling of shame) she has between choosing to take her body back and betraying the trust from her own friends. She has her hesitation, but when the decision is clear, there is no holding her back. She makes the pathway to MT Industries facility clear, almost too clear, for Ido to fall right into the trap. It’s a solid dilemma for Karla. I have no doubt she will come back with the group after this betrayal, but I guess the price she has to pay is given up her own body.
Which come to my next point. The pep talks between Rick and Amanza further inform us about the true nature of Rick’s form, and it’s a knock out. His current “form” turn out to be a copied version of his original consciousness, meaning he has no real body, he has no real soul (something akin to “the second copy of the second will”). Then what makes him now? He’s Rick, yet he is no longer Rick. The answer is relatively simple, he become his own person. Suddenly, the carefree womanizer Rick has given a much deeper characterization. ID-0’s main theme starts to emerge: existence. Are chasing after their long lost memories like Ido, or getting their physical body like Karla, still relevant anymore? Will it change anything? Their current I-Machine versions are who they are now, with the consciousness that run totally independent from their former host.
One of the big bomb has dropped, and to the surprise of no one, Ido is revealed to be Dr. Kane Arisugawa. Now, another concept is brought up: while the Evertrancers are the representative of the consciousness without the physical body, what the real Kane Arisugawa currently doing is creating clones from his body. This reveal of course leads to many more points, what exactly happened with Ido? Who is Alice (I’m still guessing she’s his daughter) and how they going to explore the concept of “too many physical bodies (clones) vs. no physical body” showdown. The next episode is going to be bombastic, I assure you.
