Pluto: Episode 3

November 5, 2023 11:33 PM - Season 1, Episode 3

Abullah gets summoned by police superintendent Tawashi regarding Tazaki's murder. Gesicht starts to suspect that his data may be compromised.
posted by Alex404 (6 comments total)

Sorry for the long delay between the last post and this one. My wife was away last week, so we had to take a break. We'll probably start clearing through this at a much faster clip now.

Also I'm going to keep adding my thoughts as a comment, bucking what appears to the FanFare standard. I'm just crazy like that.

Anyway, another very strong episode. I found it more tightly paced than the previous one: let's give it 9/10. The show has established its tone, and it's a pretty unique mix of detective show, anime tropes, and philosophy. Detective shows don't usually do much for me, and I find a lot of anime rather tiring these days (I also just don't watch much anymore), but this show hits all the right notes. And I do love me some philosophy of AI.

Some thoughts:
- We've now confirmed that Gesicht is one of the 7 super robots, and we made the last one. I guess indeed that all the 7 robots are featured in the Netflix poster.
- Abdullah is pretty villainous. I remember from the last episode that we had a discussion of the super scientist that was working for Persia, but I don't remember what was said. I guess he's involved in some big badness though.
- Atom has a sister. That was pretty funny. Why doesn't she get to be a super robot though? Oh well.
- Gesicht's mystery is being handled in a really compelling way.
- Our final robot super Epsilon seems a bit tropey, but at this point all the robots have started this way and have had their characters really well developed in subsequent episodes.
- Adolf Haas is definitely a name for a robot-racist (Hass is the German word for hate... not sure how on the nose they were trying to make this).
- Unveiling Pluto as both a final boss scary monster, but then expresses its character through temporarily taking over an off-duty robot body. Somehow that was all extremely well done IMHO.

Overall the show is striking a good balance between transparently good and bad characters, but also hinting that there's politically a lot more going on than meets the eye.
posted by Alex404 at 11:49 PM on November 5, 2023

I don't think that Udon has the same creator as Atom. She was built by the current director (I think), and Atom was built by incredible genius dude. That's why she can't fly or shoot machine guns out of her butt. I was hoping that her emotional abilities would play a greater role than they do, but we can't have everything.
Like just about everything else in the series, Pluto has a tragic backstory.
posted by Spike Glee at 7:41 AM on November 6, 2023

not sure how on the nose they were trying to make this

This is a show in which the United States of "Thracia" had invaded "Persia" on trumped up accusations of possessing "robots of mass destruction". If this show were any more on the nose I'd be rushing it to a dermatologist.

(I am enjoying it, partially due to the weirdness of trying to play a lighthearted, off-the-cuff concept of "robot" absolutely straight.)
posted by phooky at 10:49 AM on November 6, 2023 [3 favorites]

It was neat to see Uran because I don't know too much about Astro Boy/Atom but knew he had a sister. Question for those who might have more Astro Boy knowledge, does any of that add extra meaning to the storyline here, even if it's Easter Eggs, or are they just taking a couple of core characters and then totally doing their own thing with them with no further reference to the original manga?
posted by any portmanteau in a storm at 12:36 PM on November 7, 2023

any portmanteau in a storm: the plot of Pluto, including the seven super robots, was a plot in the original Astro Boy. This is a modernized reimagining with additional political/detective/sci-fi themes.
posted by QDeesp at 9:45 PM on November 7, 2023 [1 favorite]

My wife and I are starting to move a lot faster through the series now. It's really gripping! I think I'll do a post tomorrow for episodes 4-6, and then once we're done with the series, 7-8.
posted by Alex404 at 3:20 AM on November 8, 2023 [1 favorite]