No.  |  Title  |  Directed by  |  Written by  |  Original release date
---|---|---|---|---
1  |  "Pilot"  |   Vincenzo Natali 
|   Scott B. Smith  "Scott Smith \(author\)") |
October 21, 2022  (  2022-10-21  )
In 2032, Flynne Fisher, a young woman in North Carolina with a knack for
Virtual Reality (VR) games, scrounges for cash to pay for medication for her
mother, Ella, whom she helps take care of with her brother, Burton. A
mysterious company, called Milagros Coldiron, from Colombia sends a prototype
for an advanced headset that takes Flynne to an ultra-realistic SIM world in a
body that looks like Burton's. While in the world, Flynne is guided by a voice
and is sent to a Research Institute (RI) party to seduce and kidnap a woman
named Mariel, who is brought to the woman, Aelita West, who guided Flynne. On
Flynne's second visit, she wakes up on an operating table for a procedure to
receive one of Mariel's eyes, which they use to access data in a secured
building. After Flynne dies in the SIM world, someone from the company
contacts her to tell her that her life is in danger. Her brother laughs it off
until their drones spot an elite hit squad approaching.
2  |  "Empathy Bonus"  |  Vincenzo Natali  |  Scott B. Smith  |  October 21,
2022  (  2022-10-21  )
Flynne relies on her brother and his ex-military friends to fend off mercenary
bounty hunters that storm her property at night. Flynne learns from Wilfred
Netherton that she is not playing a SIM but rather piloting a robot
(Peripheral) via  quantum tunneling  in a version of London 70 years in the future; she now has a
Peripheral that matches her body. She asks questions of a powerful man, Lev
Zubov, and learns that she lives in a parallel timeline ("stub") that was
created when someone from their timeline first contacted her timeline. Zubov
asks Flynne to help them find Aelita West, whom they were paying for access to
Flynne's stub; Flynne refuses to cooperate until her mom starts to get better.
Back in 2032, the local authorities start to investigate, and criminal
businessman Corbell gets hired to take down Flynne and her brother.
3  |  "Haptic Drift"  |   Alrick Riley  |
Scott B. Smith  |  October 28, 2022  (  2022-10-28  )
Flynne spends more time controlling her Peripheral in the future and gets
closer to Wilf; they even kiss in front of the police to avoid being detained.
Flynne starts experiencing something similar to "  haptic
 drift", something her brother
was trained to resist, after his squad was neurologically linked for combat.
They search for Aelita, solving a riddle she gave to her mother pertaining to
her current whereabouts. When they show up at her hideout, only a couple of
defunct Peripherals are left. Daniel shows up with a koid, but they lose the
fight to Wilf and Flynne.
4  |  "Jackpot"  |  Alrick Riley  |  _Story by_ : Bronwyn Garrity
_Teleplay by_ : Scott B. Smith  |  November 4, 2022  (  2022-11-04  )
Flynne has a seizure and stays away from using the new headset. Conner goes in
her place, but is disconnected. When Flynne returns, polt hackers have to hold
the connection while she enters "Explorer mode" and starts to wander. Ash and
Wilf lead her to a cemetery where, at the end of the episode, details are
revealed about "the Jackpot", an apocalyptic event occurring in the near
future of Flynne's time that started with blackouts across North America, then
pandemic, then a population collapse from environmental failure, and later, a
nuclear explosion in North Carolina.
5  |  "What About Bob?"  |  Vincenzo Natali  |  Jamie Chan  |  November 11,
2022  (  2022-11-11  )
One year before Aelita's disappearance, she meets with an ex-lover, Dr. Grace
Hogart, who shows Aelita some of her company's experiments in a stub. Back in
2032, Bob is introduced as a cold-blooded killer, a retired Irish assassin
living in Florida. He is hired by Daniel's bot from the future to take out
Flynne and her brother. His first order of business is to punish his old
friend that ratted him out. He positions himself on the bridge Flynne must
travel, back from her medical appointment. In a showdown with Billy Ann,
Flynne, and Burton, Bob is outgunned and gives himself up to local policeman
Tommy. However, he doesn't remain in custody long; a cloaked vehicle crashes
into the sheriff's car and absconds with Bob. Flynne goes to the future to
complain to Wilf; she visits RI headquarters and dispatches a Peripheral of
Cherise Nuland.
6  |  "Fuck You and Eat Shit"  |  Vincenzo Natali  |  Greg Plageman & Scott B.
Smith  |  November 18, 2022  (  2022-11-18  )
In a flashback to Texas 2028 during the war, it is revealed how Conner became
a casualty, tying back to the experiment revealed by Dr. Hogart. Sheriff
Jackman is corrupt and owned by Pickett. Flynne and Wilf discover Aelita’s
ties to the Neoprims, who want to entirely destroy the existing world order
established after the Jackpot. Ash creates Peripherals for Connor and Burton.
Bob wakes up in Pickett's home under his control. Inspector Lowbeer of the
Metropolitan Police makes an appearance in London at the Zubov residence and
demands to meet the Polts: Flynne, Burton, and Conner.
7  |  "The Doodad"  |  Alrick Riley  |  Jamie Chan & Scott B. Smith  |
November 25, 2022  (  2022-11-25  )
Ella Fisher suddenly becomes blind again and is taken to the hospital.
Inspector Lowbeer brings Flynne, Burton, and Conner to the Zoo, a Met testing
ground. Burton and Conner are put to a series of challenges against ever-
increasing Koids (bipedal robots), and then terminated by Beatrice (a
Peripheral) at the end of the challenge. Tommy retrieves Bob's handgun and
futuristic weapon from evidence. After Bob kills Mary Pickett and escapes from
the Pickett home, he goes to the hospital where he takes Ella hostage. Lowbeer
informs Flynne that the RI impacted Flynne's timeline much sooner than
thought, including implementing futuristic haptic technology, and also
intentionally accelerating the occurrence of the Jackpot in Flynne's timeline.
Cherise meets with Lowbeer to request help retrieving stolen property. Ash
confesses to Zubov that Aelita's plan was to download the stolen information
into Burton's haptics (and thus his stub), but because Flynne was piloting the
Peripheral the headset translated the data into bacterial DNA, which began to
colonize her brain; the data was stolen to give to the Neoprims to destroy
their world. Burton arrives at the hospital and kills Bob. Tommy meets with
Sheriff Jackman and Mr. Pickett, who wants to frame the Fishers as drug
dealers. Wanting to protect the Fisher family, Tommy kills Jackman with Bob's
handgun and severely injures Pickett with the futuristic weapon, leaving him
in a coma.
8  |  "The Creation of a Thousand Forests"  |  Alrick Riley  |  _Story by_ :
Scott B. Smith
_Teleplay by_ : Scott B. Smith & Greg Plageman  |  December 2, 2022  (
2022-12-02  )
Ash meets with Cherise and tells her the data Aelita stole is in Flynne's
brain and asks that Cherise kill Zubov in return. Wilf finds Aelita, who
informs him their implants suppressed their memories, including the slaughter
of their respective families and millions of others by the Klept. Tommy
successfully pins the blame of killing Jackman and injuring Mr. Pickett on
Bob. Flynne creates a new stub, and has Conner kill her in her timeline to
make it appear Lowbeer had her killed, destroying the data in her brain.
Flynne then wakes in her Peripheral in London and plans the next steps with
Lowbeer. In an after-credits scene, Zubov encounters some unknown Russian men,
who order Zubov to cut all ties to the RI, or else.