Alright so The Peripheral has now come to a close, giving us a strange, trippy parallel
timeline sci-fi realdoll future-fest. With one of the Westworld creators attached, you
know it’s gonna get heady. But in this video we’re going to be discussing the in’s
and out’s of the ending of this series, what is up with all the bees, our predictions
for what a potential season 2 might have in store, along with our general thoughts on
the series as a whole.
Thank you for clicking this video, I’m your sim jockey Jared, so saddle up and let's get
into The Peripheral episode 8.
Now as a brief outline of what the heck is going on in The Peripheral, umm here we go.
So Flynn lives in 2032 North Carolina with her brother, Burton who is ex-military, both
taking care of their sick mother. Backwoods town, nothing to do, it’s tough to make
money because everyone in the town is in the pocket of one Corbell Pickett. You know, your
run of the mill small town bad dude, who runs it all.
Anyway to make money, Burton is a sim jockey, ushering rich folk through VR. Think Ready
Player One, but…. Uhhh no, Ready Player One is a great comparison. However, Flynn
is way better at the sims than Burton. She is an explorer type, trying to break the game,
learning as she goes…. Welp, they get roped into this huge score of a job. Assassinations,
weird robots, seduction, ripping eyeballs out, a heist of some state of the art tech
mumbo jumbo. But here’s the kicker…. Are you ready? The sim they are playing in, is
actually the real world London set in 2099. What in the quantum tunneling, time travel,
great Scott is this?!
Sooooo with this being realized, combined with the fact real people were killed, and
something was actually stolen, all sorts of scrambles kick off. People from the future
try to eliminate the pair in the past with sonic blast weapons and invisible cars…
Invisible cars ehh, better let paperboy know, just like Atlanta. But Flynn gains intel from
the future to not only find Aelita West, the missing person from the original sim, but
to help her in her present time, and learns of something called “The Jackpot”. Ohh
that sounds great, like winning a ton of money…. Ohhh no no, it’s called the Jackpot because
it’s a handful of apocalyptic disasters piling on to one another, like winning…
the…. jackpot. At least the future is optimistic.
All of this essentially comes to a head when Flynne is targeted by the RI, or rather Research
Institute, and the head of it, Dr. Cherise Nuland, aka the “Queen Bee”. Cherise wants
Flynee dead, while trying to accelerate the jackpot in her time, while Flynne is trying
to understand why she wants her dead, and exposing the R.I. for the immortal technology
they possess and what they have been doing and plan to do with it.
Now the ending sees Aelita finally revealing herself, still alive. And in removing her
immunity boost, she started remembering. The RI tech that is supposed to “help them”,
has a bit of a side effect, manipulating their memories. When her and Wolf were children,
the Klept, including Lev’s father, were terrified of a supposed “contagion” in
relief camps, there was no proof of this by the way, and slaughtered roughly 5 million
people in a fortnight. Another reason why there are little to no people living in London.
Aelita’s plan this whole time is to expose to RI for covering this up, using the “infinity
in the palm in their hand technology”, which is the bacterial DNA in Flynne’s skull.
In doing so, societal trust in both the Klept and RI will dwindle, reverting a bit bak to
how humanity used to live, without relying on the breakthroughs of the institute. However
Aelita needs Flynne.
Basically everyone is after Flynne now, because of what she has in her head, and the only
person she can trust is Inspector Lowbeer. Severing her stub from their future is unfortunately
out of the cards, but Lowbeer says she can open a new stub. Highly unethical, but it
is possible through one of the R.I’s “stub portals”. Pretty generic name don't you
think? Flynn makes her way towards a hidden stub portal, which is located right outside
of a cemetery, which seems fitting for all of the deaths that were overlooked without
second thought by the RI.
Flynn grabs the stub portal key, which is in the form of a golden pocket watch, dispatches
some periph’s, and slams the watch into place, essentially in theory allowing her
to jump back and create a new stub, a quote “reboot for her sim”, because where they
are at is blackhole, there is no progressing forward from there. I had this happen in Resident
Evil 4, and I was NOT happy. Anyway Flynn opens the stub, but in doing so also destroys
the pocket watch, so the RI and Cherise can’t track her, they haven't a clue what stub she’s
going back to, they can only guess. Which is a cheeky nod to the episode title, “The
Creation of a Thousand Forests.” Trees, branches, stubs, you get it?
Back in the main stub, Flynne tells Connor to shoot her. Yeeeaaahhh it seems crazy, but
this is the stub that everyone has been monitoring, and she must end it, and in turn create a
new branching path. Flynne counts down from 10, remembering memories that soon may not
be the ones she remembers, and Connor gets closure for the puppy incident, and shoots
Flynne dead. This is supposed to make it look like Lowbeer sent out a hit on her, and it
was successful. Allowing Cherise off her back, not asking questions about Flynne any further.
Believe me, there is a lot of sci-fi mumbo jumbo, paradox stuff going through your brain
right now, but the Flynne we know is gone. But a different one, in a different stub,
unknown from everyone, except Inspector Lowbeer is now the one to move forward with ending
the RI, Aelita’s revolution, and the Klept all with the help of Lowbeer as the two get
to work. Symbolically this self-sacrifice, for a replacement of Flynne’s self, was
hinted at with the two groom toppers back in episode 1. Two identical, one is snapped
in half, ending its journey, while the other moves on.
Now you might have missed this, but surprisingly there is a post credits stinger after the
credits of episode 8. This features Lev and Dominka Zubov having lunch at some ritzy club,
only for Lev to be greeted by 3 older gentlemen, grilling him about his dealings with the RI.
These are leading individuals of the Klept, and friends of Lev’s father. They aren’t
too fond of Lev trying to recruit someone from the RI, this is in reference to Cherise
and her associates, and that he should tie up any loose ends aka prune the branches in
regards to stubs.
So it looks like Lev needs to deal with Cherise in some fashion, maybe even pulling another
Yuri Samsonov, eliminating her from all of the stubs. But is going to cause a multitude
of problems, because the 3 wall structured wall will cause things to crumble inward.
But Cherise has Lev’s DNA from the tea cup in episode 4, I believe. So any sense of wrongdoing,
will be preemptively planned on the part of Cherise and the RI. Plus if Lev does go through
with it, does this start up another Jackpot?
We’ll talk more about it in the rest of the video, but if you’re looking for a jockey,
then please hit that thumbs up button and make sure to subscribe to join the Spoilers
Sim, because we’re dropping some heavy breakdowns. Haha… Shoot. Paul’s calling, gotta go.
Okay, before we get into our Season 2 theories, we gotta talk about the bees. “No, not the
bees!” Yes, we have to, because they are everywhere. Mentions, symbols, hell even Flynne
is dressed as one in her Halloween home video. In almost every single episode there is something
relating to bees. Episode 1 features Burton sporting a bee on his bandana, Cherise is
said to be the “Queen Bee” of it all”, the hexagons of the decor resemble a honeycomb,
and the met koids, you know the robot dudes, well their faces have a similar structure.
Episode 2 features bees on the television, stating “each individual bee has a significant
role to play in serving the larger needs of the colony. They all contribute to the healthy
functioning of the hive. None can survive without the help of the others. However, environmental
pressures have caused their population to freefall, hinting at the jackpot.
Again, episode 3 has Cherise using bees as a form of Entomological (ento-mo-logical)
warfare, with the beehives being hexagonal shaped, the same design being on Cherise’s
dress and the tea cup. Even a clever transition to a bug zapper right after this scene, referencing
the queen bee has got to go.
Episode 4 is the Halloween home video with Fylnne dressed as a little bumble bee. Along
with one of the environmental catastrophes of the Jackpot being the extinction of bees,
which in turn has a ripple effect.
And episode 7 has Inspector Lowbeer referring to the Met police algorithm as “The Aunties”.
“Busy little bees, buzzing about”**
But why the bees? Sure they are all up in this show but why? Well a couple different
reasons. Again referencing episode 2, the narrator on the television mentions “Workers,
the drones, the queen, they all contribute to the healthy functioning of the hive. And
none of them, not even the queen herself can survive without the support of the others.
This 3 party cooperative structure can be likened to Cherise’s 3 wall house analogy
back in episode 4. Whereas the queen, drones, and workers, are in theory the same as the
Klept, Met Police, and the Research Institute. Not identically matching how these bees function,
but The Klept oligarchy (ol·i·gar·key) used extreme violence, and was able to bring
order from the chaos of the Jackpot.
Though on the scummy side of things, they run by an open hand and blind eye mentality.
The Met Police keep the Klept from straying too far from certain boundaries, allowing
their activities to persist. And The Research Institute benefits from the peace and prosperity
that results. And provides technical assistance for society to function and thrive. All working
together, despite differences, for the betterment of the hive.
But unfortunately it is all a very fragile structure. At any moment, the roof of the
3 walled house could come crashing down if something strays, resulting in essentially
the end of the world.
Much like our current day ecosystems, one tiny shift could result in our own jackpot,
one of which scientists have been talking about is the extinction of bees. One small
ripple, that gets bigger and bigger as it waves outward. It’s interesting because
Cherise believes in this structuring, but also is in the complete opposite camp when
saying that bees are ignorant, not having a clue how vulnerable they are, while she
and the RI have had to prevent 2 extinction level events. Interjecting that human or rather
her intervening is the key to their survival, and that long climb back up from nothing.
In a grander sense, the RI building humanity back up after the Jackpot, potentially utilizing
graphene, which are molecularly hexagonal aka honeycomb shaped.
A great example of how fragile everything is, and in this case the meddling of Flynne
could be this tiny thing, years, and years in the past that could have a huge ripple
effect. Hell she is even dressed as a bee at one point. It could… be… positive or
negative, but with the information she possesses from the RI, in a roundabout way, nothing
exists without her.
This is why Cherise is doing anything in her power to stop Flynne on whatever path she
is on, and accelerate the Jackpot. Look at Flynne from every angle, because what effects
does she change in 2099’s society and human history in those 70 years? Cherise doesn’t
lose her place at the table. The power she has, the position and time she finds herself.
Sure, stubs prevent any sort of paradox, but all can change with one little, tiny bee.
As for where a season 2 could go, it’ll definitely lean into the weird sci-fi elements
a bit more. Because the Flynne and present we know, is no longer going to be the Flynne
and present we know… you know? Basically her surviving at the end is Lowbeer using
a different stub to bring her into the fold. So these two will be working together, to
expose the RI in some fashion, without the 3-walls crumbling down. Even though things
are shaky because of Aelita’s little revolution, which was hinted at at the very start of this
series.
However with things driving into a different stub, I’m curious how that’ll affect the
past we’ve seen, and in doing so we’ll see all of these events play out again, but
in dramatically different ways. Because the past has a lot of “fork in the road” moments
for other characters besides Flynne. Tommy has a lot of tough decisions he makes in episode
7, Jasper taking the money from Corbell and the phone call with his wife at the railroad
tracks, Bob in the hospital thinking about who should die, and Connor rescuing the dog
or not. It could be an interesting Wizard of Oz journey, but also discount what has
happened so far.
Now one huge theory I have is that Lev Zubov, or the one we’ve seen, is actually a peripheral.
This skinwalker ain't fooling anyone, and it’s because of so many small hints. First
off, rich and powerful people tend to use peripherals as a safety precaution, which
we see Cherise use. But also that Flynne found evidence of the Zubov family dying in a mafia
hit in her time of 2032. Sure the mafia hit was part of Lev killing all of himself in
the stubs, straight up Jet Li in The One style, but this would make him roughly 100ish years
old. Sure, chalk it up as anti-aging drugs. Maybe it’s maybelline, but London didn’t
start rebuilding until the 70’s. So I’m convinced Lev and other members of the Klept,
including his father, are on life support somewhere else, but piloting these peripherals
like they are youthful again.
We could go one deeper, and someone else could be the one piloting Lev’s peripheral. Hell,
what if it is actually Yuri Samsonov? ... Hey, wait a minute…Yeah, he didn’t actually
get wiped out. There was one of him left, wiped out all of the stub Lev’s and took
this one over? A Klept would do that.
I also think a majority of the people walking around London are actually Peripherals, being
piloted by essentially people or brains in tubes, in the lower levels of the RI. We saw
the RI having floors and floors of tech, and this would allow for the rich to essentially
live forever. This could even explain the Zubov’s. But the RI is using the tech to
gather information to “evolve” into the next generation of robot/human hybrids.
Because if we remember Beatrice, essentially the Taskmaster of this show. Seriously she
is even watching game tape, but she reveals she would pick Connor rather than Burton after
the fighting exercise, despite Burton being the more logical pick. This tells me she has
feelings, compassion, something deep down she can’ explain towards him, something
AI shouldn’t, but is evolving into. I.. Idk man songs pretty crazy to me man
I kinda dug this first season of The Peripheral. The sci-fi elements really drew me in during
the first couple of episodes, slowly introducing new characters, technology, the robot dudes
were cool looking, and honestly questions. I kept asking “Now, wait how does this not
change the future if Flynne does “X”?”, but the story is right there to explain those
questions in a logical and meaningful way. Does it get a bit sci-fi heady with all of
the names like polt, met koids, the Klept. Yes, absolutely. I’m like what the hell
does ANY of this mean, you know I don't speak spanish. Luckily I watched everything with
subtitles on, so we’re all good.
I’d say the biggest thing that interrupted this VR dream was the last couple of episodes.
It was leading to this grand reveal of Aelita and Wilf and Lev, all butting heads with Cherise
and Lowbeer, but it just felt rushed into an ending of “find out next time on The
Peripheral”. Sure it’s ripe for theories, but it seemed too fast with little explanation
of how or why. Also the top tier perif’s that were guarding RI’s stub portal went
out like some major chumps. I’d probably give the season a 7/10 as of now. Maybe a
rewatch may make things clearer, better, seem less rushed. But I really enjoyed Chloe Grace
Moretz and Jack Reynor. I mean I wouldn’t mind getting a Periph… No no, nevermind.
Not gonna say it.
But obviously I’d like to hear your thoughts on season 1 of The Peripheral, did this scratch
that sci-fi itch, and where do you think season 2 will go? And I’ll let you know.
We’re currently running a competition giving away 3 copies of HOUSE OF THE DRAGON Season
1 on the 15th of December. And all you have to do, to be in for a chance of winning, is
like the video, make sure you subscribe with notifications on, and drop a comment below
with your thoughts on The Peripheral. We pick the comments at random at the end of the month,
and the winners of the last one are on screen right now. So if that’s you, message me
on twitter at heavy spoilers
If you want something else to watch, be sure to check out some of our other cool videos,
this week was packed full of trailer breakdowns, so treat yourself.
With that out of the way, thank you for watching, I’ve been Jared, and I’m gonna polt over
to jolly ole’ London for some tea and scumpets. Tip-top Cheerio…. Alright I’ll see you
in the next one