The Grand Guignol

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**The Grand Guignol** is the 5th episode of *gen:LOCK* Season 2. It premiered on December 2, 2021, for HBO Max.

## Summary

Above the newly reclaimed Anvil by the Polity, Cammie rides on a Union airship ship dressed incognito and sends an e-mail. Down below on the battlefield, a single holon's right eye lights up and starts to flicker.

After a series of events with commentary by Julian and Raquel is shown, a lamentful Raquel is seen in her room. She approaches a bookcase where a couple of pictures are placed and says "You alone know the weight". Raquel then uses the ring left behind by Brother Tate to rewatch the hidden video showing Holcroft's duplicity of a fictional Mars' Colonization plan. Abruptly amid the video, Raquel tosses the ring to the side.

Eventually, a funeral is held for the deceased Kazu and during Raquel's eulogy, a glitching out Chase cusses and details how the holons were merged copies of them all. He goes on to claim they're supposed to be heroes, but Raquel corrects him stating that they're soldiers, not superheroes. Val then chimes in noting their disdain for not only seeing Kazu die, but what they saw in the holons. Raquel begrudgingly defends her decision about the holon's dirty secret, but Yaz expounds how they're no different from the Union because of her tactics. From there, Raquel orders the other funeral attendees to arrest the Gen:LOCK team, but they fight back and with help from Miguel Garza manage to escape. On the ship piloted by Caliban, Able's cover is blown thanks to Cammie's cloaking device interrupting his own and reports this to Raquel who curses them. Shortly after, Miranda demands to see the holon frames Chase was talking about.

Meanwhile, somewhere in the new Union HQ, Brother Tate accompanied by Mr. Cook and Dr. Jha announces to Brother Sugiyama that she is the new co-director of the Twilight project. She's shown the code behind the project and complements its composition and hopes her perspective gives it value. Back in the Anvil, Raquel recounts to Miranda the atrocities that occurred in New York and Puerto Rico that sequentially caused the loss of faith in God. Raquel continues stating how harsh the living conditions became, the governor imposed martial law that would lead to her demise by her very people. The last words that the governor spoke burnt into Raquel's mind which was, "This is my burden. I alone know the weight." The Governor was also revealed to be Raquel's grandmother and reveals the hideous amalgamation of what's inside the holon tech to Miranda. She goes on to confess her remorse for making tough decisions and dealing with them. Noting how she can count on Miranda, Raquel claims that Chase's instability is a virus and his team was infected by it and hopes that it doesn't spread. If that were to happen, then all of the suffering or necessary evils that have been done would have been for naught.

Switching over to Rob, he leads a team of people through a forest until they find a Polity ship. Managing to get the soldiers inside the ship to come out, Rob deals with them. Once all of the people he guided boarded the ship, Rob kisses his boyfriend goodbye and watches as they head off to New Zealand. Back to the Gen:LOCK team, the ship receives the e-mail that Cammie sent with a video message. In the message, Cammie explains how the team was like a big family to her, but goes on to explain the tragic losses of her real family and her new resolve. Soon, Cammie reaches Babylon and is invited by an elderly lady to join her and her own family for a picnic. Within the Hub world, Chase and Yaz investigate Cammie's base and find that she left no clues. In Kazu's base, Val holds a RoboShogun doll and gets into a debate with Chase over who has lost more. This leads to Chase showing Val the Door that's been haunting him for so long. At Chase's base, both Val and Chase enter through it and confront the monstrosity within it, but after it expels Val. Chase panic-strickenly escapes from the hub world. Val apologizes to Chase who is distraught to see that the monstrosity followed him to the real world.

At No Man's Land, drones each of them featuring either advertisements to join either the Polity or Union plays from as Driana passes by them. Raquel, notes that Miranda's plan to capture the Gen:LOCK team is unorthodox, but Miranda argues that Unorthodoxy is what she taught her. Enjoying a picnic with the family she recently met, Cammie learns about the Flow and how a malaised child will descend that day and no longer experience the burden of their illness. She's then invited by the child to join them when they go to the temple that night. Meanwhile, Dr. Jha holding Mr. Cook and Brother Sugiyama have a minor disagreement with each other over the Twilight project's coding.

Facing off against the monstrosity, Chase is resolved not to succumb to its temptations and then shows Val and Yaz his plan to attack the RTASA. Back at No Man's Land, Driana runs into Rob's boyfriend who picks off a tiny drone off of her and she demands to be taken to the Polity. Rob appears before Driana and claims if she waits long enough they'll come to her, whereas she argues her brother works for them and she wishes to see them. Both Rob and his boyfriend then debate on whether they should help her or not, while Rob wants to leave her, but his boyfriend wishes to help her.

In Val's base, Val and Yaz have a heart-to-heart about Kazu's last moments before dying and their thoughts and feelings related to him. Inside Caliban's mind, Chase talks to Dr. Weller about the odds of him having a mental collapse and learns that it's roughly 94%. Sister Nyokabi gives a sermon about the flow and Cammie watches it; witnessing the malaised boy she met ascend with others. Once the ascension is over, Cammie approaches Sister Nyokabi to have herself go through the ascension process, but Nyokabi politely refuses Cammie's request. On the Gen:LOCK ship, the remaining team members talk about their plan to invade RTASA to which the monstrosity claims they're making the wrong choice.

Where Driana, Rob, and his boyfriend whose name is revealed to be Chris are invaded by holon drones, and in the process, Chris is incapacitated and both Rob and Driana are captured. While Chase destroys a holon, Cammie infiltrates the temple and ascends herself.

## Characters

Heroes

* Valentina Romanyszyn
* Kazu Iida (Picture)
* Cameron MacCloud
* Julian Chase
* Yasamin Madrani

Villains

* Brother Tate
* Brother Sugiyama
* The Door
* Sister Nyokabi
* King Demon

Others

* Rufus Weller (Flashback)
* Raquel Marin
* Marc Holcroft (Video)
* Miguel Garza
* Miranda Worth
* Caliban
* Able
* Mr. Cook
* Fatima Jha
* Rob Sinclair
* Chris
* Driana Chase