Hello everyone, and welcome back to Wrong Every Time. Today I’m eager to return to 86, where Lena has at last received the violent comeuppance she’s been approaching all season. After three episodes of ingratiating herself with the 86, and attempting to prove she is fundamentally unlike her privileged compatriots, the death of Kirschblute made the distance between her and her subordinates undeniably clear.

The 86 don’t need her paternalistic sympathy. Does she want a medal just for acknowledging them as human? Regardless of her lofty rhetoric, Lena still enjoys the full safety of her position, guarded even from political sanction by her powerful friends. And as her subordinates bitterly point out, though Lena pats herself on the back for her kindness, she hasn’t even learned their real names. She is a tourist in their world, her sympathy more a vehicle for her own satisfaction than genuine political change.

So then, the question becomes: what does Lena do when confronted with the truth? Will she retreat into the privilege of her position, and give up on connecting with the 86? That wouldn’t make for a particularly satisfying narrative, so I’m guessing we’re going the other route: Lena must prove she is a genuine political ally, and put her own life on the line the way her subordinates are perpetually forced to. Either way, the reckoning has arrived, and I’m eager to see how Lena faces it!

Episode 4

We open in the midst of that same speech, June 15th 2148

The show performs its frequent trick of showing us the same information from both sides in order to draw a contrast between its perspectives. From Lena’s perspective, this explosion was distant and directionless, like a condemnation delivered from God. From Theo’s perspective, we get closeup partial body shots, emphasizing the individual human passion that inspired this rage

“Laughing Fox went too far, but none of us are in the mood for a friendly chat with you.” Theo articulates an anger that all of them feel

It is absolutely crucial to this show’s intent that death is never glorious. Kaie’s death was the result of a momentary tactical mistake, and was over before anyone even really knew what had happened

Those who champion wars generally try to portray the death of a soldier as something glorious and admirable – the culmination of a hero’s journey, as they bravely sacrifice themselves for the cause. But death has no purpose, particularly not death in the service of someone else’s war. Every depiction of another soldier dying senselessly emphasizes 86’s core themes, and the vast contrast between war as it is promoted and war as it is waged

Hah, Shin’s actually reading All Quiet on the Western Front

We pick up with the 86 on the next day, June 16th

The daily lives of the 86 undercut another quiet assumption of war propaganda: the idea of soldiers as dedicated warriors, plying their chosen craft to the best of their abilities. None of these children were destined to be soldiers, and seeing them at play, the inherent cruelty of forcing them into war comes into sharp focus. 86’s young cast amplify the sense of disconnect, making us wonder why anyone should be forced to dedicate their life to violence

An extremely on-the-nose cut here, as Theo’s inability to get his mind off tragedy is followed by a pan up to the mural behind him, emphasizing how the capital forces have oppressed him to the point where he can find no joy in this moment of peace

The rest of the team lightly rag on Theo for his speech, their way of checking up on him

Theo apparently met “the Fox commander,” some legendary figure

Theo brings his doubts to Shin, and asks him what the Fox commander would have done. The composition emphasizes Theo’s sense of separation, with the two figures occupying opposite ends of the layout with a large pillar between them

We back up to follow the same day from Lena’s perspective, as Henrietta attempts to make her feel comfortable in her social position again

“But the 86 are human!” “If you really thought that, you would have asked their names when you first met them.” A sharp response from Henrietta. Even Lena, with her ostensible sympathy for the 86, is still a product of her cultural background, and hasn’t really interrogated how that impacts her perspective. Discrimination frequently manifests itself in far more subtle ways than “I hate group and wish they were gone”

“Why are you so set against them?” “Because there’s nothing I can do.” Henrietta’s politics are pragmatic; obsessing over the injustice of this situation would just lead to suffering, so she doesn’t do it

Her advice is well-intended. The idea that Lena could personally alter the course of their nation is absurd, and in the meantime, she’s clearly too delicate of a person to be a handler. The only outcome Henrietta can see is the most likely by far: Lena burns herself out, and becomes disillusioned and depressed

Lena’s father inspired her anti-war sentiments. We flash back to her childhood, to a time when her father took both of them out to the front lines

Lena actually does have memories of the front lines, but they’re traumatic and largely suppressed

Lena says this was “the last place my father took me,” revealing he didn’t make it back. Her awakening came at the cost of her father’s life – like for many people, the war didn’t seem real to Lena until it was personal. Her society works very hard to ensure that sort of awakening cannot occur among its chosen citizens; there are no cameras on the battlefield, nothing that could inspire a Vietnam-style public outcry against the atrocities being committed

Her father’s name was Vaclav

“There’s something he didn’t realize. Just like the rest of the Republic, he wasn’t doing any more than watching.”

“He felt, subconsciously, that only the 86 could die on the battlefield. That’s why he could take you there. The fact that he did something so reckless for the sake of his ideals proves his ignorance and stupidity.” A brutal but not unwarranted analysis. I like how the camera lets us see his brief look of sympathy and guilt at the end, but it’s hidden from Lena herself. He knows he is being cruel, but he is willing to be cruel to save Lena from herself

“Ideals are ideals precisely because they are unreachable.” The camera emphasizes the distance between the capital’s ideals and realities through this panning cut, shifting down from the beautiful statue to the bottles and cigarettes around her feet

Outside, her inner turmoil is contrasted against the capital’s chipper propaganda, as a speaker announces that their side suffered no injuries or casualties during a recent battle

It’s precisely what her friends here were hoping to avoid. She’s now so consumed by the reality of the situation that simply coexisting with the lies of this society brings her to panic

She rushes off to a memorial cemetery, calling Undertaker at the same time. Once again, 86 uses the syncing of these two timelines to create a sense of dramatic congruity within its episodes. By centering each episode around the two sides of a given event, the show makes each episode feel somewhat self-contained, rather than an arbitrary portion of an ongoing narrative. A smart adaptation trick!

The fact that we’re only seeing Lena’s perspective is also a neat trick. Like her, we can’t see how her apology and new introduction are being received, and thus feel the anxiety of wondering how Undertaker will take this new approach

Undertaker assures her that Theo does not speak for all of them. “You don’t need to blame yourself for not doing the impossible”

“Most Processors die within a year. They probably assumed all that death would be too much for a Handler to bear.” Brutal that it’s Shin of all people actually comforting Lena

“I was going to run away. But I don’t want to stay a coward forever.” Honestly, even now, Lena seems largely driven by a hopeless, naïve sort of idealism. “Not wanting to be a coward” is a foolish reason to forsake everything – it’s just the kind of reasoning her uncle cautioned against

It’s a step, though. The truth is that Lena’s country has made it almost impossible to enact any meaningful changes, and thus this sort of wild, unwarranted optimism might actually be the only way forward

Shin explains their dog tag system, saying that “the last of us to survive would take the others to their final destination”

“I’ve always been the last.” Shin has apparently survived the death of several entire units

Shin’s system is essentially a counter to the republic’s dehumanization, emphasizing the individual irreplaceability of each companion lost

“You regretted it, didn’t you? Not what you said, but how you said it.” Shin makes a key distinction here – Theo’s anger was entirely warranted, but Lena herself wasn’t really the target of his rage

Theo reveals that his beloved Fox commander was actually an Alba as well, and just as idealistic as Lena

“I hated him, but he stayed. He stayed, and he died.” Hard to live up to that proof of solidarity

“You’re an idiot who’s stomping on our face while lecturing us with platitudes.” At last, some real honesty from the whole team

Oh shit, apparently Lena knew Shin’s brother!

And Done

Nice work Lena, you’ve finally reached the point where the 86 are willing to insult you to your face. Progress! Seriously though, that actually was a lot of progress, even though Lena’s fundamental situation didn’t really change. As the 86 rightfully pointed out, as long as she’s not there on the front lines, her claims of solidarity will always ring hollow. And for Lena’s part, she still seems driven by an idealism borne out of naïve sentiment, untempered by the awful reality of this situation. But here, at least, the two sides reached a certain degree of honesty in their intentions. It will be up to Lena to prove she is more than a sentimental tourist – to the 86, to us in the audience, and to herself.

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