ExoSquad S1E3: "Hidden Terrors" (continued)

Abel Squad marches into the ice cave entrance that the pirates appear to have dragged Burns into. The rest of the ExoFleet's ground forces are just being totally forgotten about now, no longer appearing onscreen even though they were there (and winning!) a second ago. Almost like the studio is trying to do a military scifi anime series, but only knows how to handle superhero team SatAm action sequences.

Down in his command center, Zembacca (who has acquired a Latin-ish accent. Did he talk like that before? I don't think he talked like that before...) orders the surviving IFV's that withdrew into the caves into ambush positions, and raises some holograms similar to the ones his ships used for the ambush in the rings throughout the maze to hide them. Zembacca looks much less confident now that he's lost his missile batteries before they could prevent the ground forces from landing, but he's still determined to save this any way he can, and he's visibly trying to keep the brave face on for the benefit of his soldiers.

The way this is communicated via body language and voice cues is subtle, but effective. I do appreciate this.

Cut back to Mars, where an exhausted-looking Geedis is in a dark office room trying to break into some of Phaeton's classified files. He's trying to guess a password, and goes through Phaeton's usual buzzwords of choice ("justice," "equality," etc) before recalling one that he emphasized during his monologue in the underfactory. "Destiny" turns out to be it. Lol, cartoon infosec. It's just about as bad as big-budget live action Hollywood movie infosec. Maybe even as bad as real life infosec. Geedis finds the production orders for the secret military buildup, and finds that Phaeton is building a fleet bigger than Earth's and Venus' combined. And, um. Also training the crews and soldiers to use all that stuff with, I assume? How many people are in on this secret exactly, and how the hell are Phaeton's own cabinet members not among them? Regardless, Geedis gets caught by security before he can finish looking through it all.

Cut back to Tethys or Enceladus or whichever moon we've decided we're on. Abel Squad descends into the depths of the ice tunnels, and starts getting blasted by invisible weapon platforms Two more suits (Marsh's and Marsala's) are mission killed, forcing their pilots to eject and hide behind their own wreckage. It's just one or two mechs still in action, and they likely won't last much longer. Masala comments that this holographic technology is more advanced than anything they've seen before.

Huh. Not just "better than we'd expect these Saturnian savages to have access to." Actually better than the current state of the art as far as they know. The fact that the show is calling attention to this in as many words is pretty conclusive evidence for my "Phaeton has been arming the pirates" suspicion.

In the command center, Zembacca takes a moment to appreciate the fall of some clearly worthy opponents, and to declare that having fought them was an honor, and having killed them a glory. Qa'plagh, brother.

Unfortunately for our Hispanic Klingon He-Man pirate friend, Burns has gotten ahold of herself, and uses a moment of negligence in her captors to grab one of their pistols and shoot out the hologram controls, which of course causes the holograms to all immediately fizzle out, because...well, because of course.

The pirate armored infantry have a very Command & Conquer look to them. They still can't measure up to their boss' #aesthetic, but I appreciate the effort.​

It's nice that she didn't go damsel in distress. Being able to not only resist her captors, but also meaningfully contribute to their defeat from captivity, is actually a pretty progressive thing for a cartoon of this era to have done with a female character. I'll call that -1 fascism point. Gimme a few more things like this, and we'll be in the clear again.

With the holoscreens down, the remaining E-frame (at least, I'm *pretty sure* that Bronsky's is the only one still operable) is able to take out the IFV's. They really weren't any match for modern military hardware without that stealth effect covering for them, it appears. Some of the pirates are able to bail out and flee toward the command center, and Bronsky chases them, gunning as he runs. Which is fortunate for Burns, because he ends up blowing open the command center and venting its atmosphere into the airless ice tunnels just as Zembecca is about to execute her. The pirate leaders and guards are forced to cling on for dear life and fumble for vac-helmets.

Zembacca takes his surviving men and books it for the ship hangar. They've lost the base, but they at least destroyed enough of the beseiging fleet to have a good chance of slipping by it and escaping to Tethys.

...okay, so we ARE on Enceladus. They said they were going to Tethys at the end of the last episode, so I'm not sure why this isn't just there. IDK, whatever.

The fleeing pirates leave Burns to die as the last of the atmosphere vents out, but she manages to grab onto something and stay conscious until her squadmates make it inside.

They don't have an e-frame to put her in, but Marsala gives her his helmet. When Marsh asks him how long he can hold his breath, he says he can make it long enough to reach a shuttle. That's some very elegantly communicated worldbuilding, with regard to neosapiens vac-tolerance.

It makes sense too. Mars might not have been fully terraformed yet when they were designed to work there, so resistance to cold, radiation, and oxygen deprivation would make sense for them. Granted, Masala still having enough oxygen to spare that he can answer Marsh in complete sentences is kinda silly, but by cartoon standards this is a pretty well thought out bit of science fiction.

They make sure that Burns is stable, and then start hurrying to find a pressurized vehicle. We then return to Geedis, who is being dragged before Phaeton to explain his intrusion.

Geedis...does not make a very good case for himself. He asks Phaeton how could possibly want another war? Doesn't he remember how the last one went for their people?

Phaeton replies that yes, yes he does remember how the last war went for their people. Which is why this time he's making sure that they have a better army than the enemy's. You idiot.

He then goes on to explain that yes, really, they WILL need to fight and quite probably conquer the terrans in order to assure neosapiens freedom. While also blathering on about the destiny of their race in a way that makes it seem like the writers are very specifically trying to evoke Hitler. There are...many...things wrong with trying to put a Hitler analogue in Phaeton's social context. I doubt anyone needs me to explain why, but I'll probably touch on it at the end of the review in the process of talking about other stuff anyway.

Geedis' only response to Phaeton's monologue is to just keep blubbering about how Phaeton can't do this, please just think, yadda yadda. Phaeton loses patience, asks Geedis if he's confided in anyone not already in the know, and - when he's satisfied that he hasn't, tells the guards to drag him off to the psychosurgery lab. If Geedis is determined to think like a slave, then he might as well go all the way with it.

Hmm. Well, on one hand, resocialization could potentially explain where Phaeton is getting the manpower for this gigantic army he wants to equip. Just going full StarCraft Terrans and converting criminals and undesirables into slave soldiers wholesale. Although...even then, I have trouble believing that that would give him enough men. For a fleet that's quantitatively larger than the other inner planets' combined, you'd think he'd still need a LOT of people to be in the know. Including his cabinet members.

This whole subplot with Geedis would have made infinitely more sense if instead of the finance minister, Geedis was just some industrial manager at least a rung further down in importance.

And, to close the discussion of this scene off, it appears that I've been overly conservative with my predictions. I thought Phaeton was going to have a pointlessly evil kick-the-puppy moment by the end of the NEXT episode. But nope, it didn't even take that long!

As soon as Phaeton's back is turned, his serious expression gives way to a childish grin, and he starts fondling a holographic projection of Earth like it was the most succulent tiddy he ever laid eyes on.

God what a dork I love him.

Return to the Saturnian system. The Resolute is apparently still flying, even if it's taken serious damage. There's also what looks like at least a fair number of ships still surrounding it, so Zembacca's trap doesn't seem to have been quite as devastating as it looked. It's not clear what percent of the fleet has been lost between the Rings Ambush and the Battle of Enceladus. A lot, seemingly, but it's hard to tell how much. Anyway, Abel Squad is back aboard, with Burns recovering in the sickbay. That's three members of the six-man squad currently nursing injuries, to varying degrees. No bueno for them.

Marsh visits Burns once she's able to talk, and fills her in on the command situation. Also, his arm is in a sling, so make that makes yet another team member injured. Admiral Winfield is still in critical condition, undergoing prolonged surgery. That computer monitor's yield must have been measurable in tons holy shit. Captain Marcus is acting commander of the fleet, and the tone of Marsh's voice makes it clear how he feels about that. Then Nera has some angst over getting herself captured and letting the team down, and Marsh cheers her up and reminds her that they would have lost without her actions. She starts murmuring about how maybe she should have stayed with her family back home, and Marsh replies with this frankly bizarre little speech about "what the ExoFleet means to each of us" that's worded in a way that makes it sound a lot like "your military unit should be more important to you than your family."

Ohhh. Okay, I see. The writers had just come off of reading "Starship Troopers." That explains...well, not EVERYTHING uncomfortable about this show, but a good 80% of it.

In response to that (hein)line of thinking, Burns muses about Marsala, who saved her life. What does service mean to him? What is he even feeling about being here versus back home? Marsh shakes his head and tells her that Masala is just wired differently. For neosapiens, those kinds of feelings just aren't really a thing.

Cut immediately to Phaeton's newly built flagship, the Olympus Mons, as he gives the order for takeoff and the rest of the new fleet with it.

-__-

...

Okay, this SHOULD be making me feel better about the show. Reminding us that the neosapiens are people with real aspirations and feelings, and that the humans as a whole really are cruel to them, and that this makes Phaeton's position understandable. This is good. Except that it's still making Phaeton a pointlessly evil cartoon villain in ways that aren't just natural extensions of his circumstances and - much more importantly, this is really the critical detail - it isn't offering us any alternative to him. I'll come back to this in the end, but every neosapiens we've met so far has either been totally subservient and compliant to the terrans, or in Phaeton's camp. No alternative, or even possibility for an alternative, has been hinted at. Which means that humanizing the neosapiens amounts to nothing in practical terms. It's like it's handwringing about its own bad message instead of actually changing that message.

So, honestly? In light of that, this attempt at window dressing is just pissing me off. If you're so determined to do a fascism, show, then just do a fucking fascism. I actually had a tiny spark of perverse respect for ExoSquad because of how out-in-the-open it's been so far. In today's era of crypto-everything and quantum irony and just-asking-questions, it was almost kind of refreshing to see a just unapologetically fascist work.

But no, now it's trying to dance around its own politics like a little bitch.

...

What follows is a moderately cathartic montage of the new Martian ExoFleet flying around Venus and Earth and blowing shit up.

There's some farmers on Venus who see a wing of Martian fighters swoop in overhead and watch them move toward a nearby city. One of the fighters also just shoots at their farm randomly, I guess for the lolz or something.

Are these farmers supposed to be Burns' family? Maybe. Whatever.

On Earth, military bases the world over get surprise attacked, with major cities including San Francisco and Rio de Janeiro taking heavy damage as well. The neosapiens seem to have executed a flawless blitzkrieg. Good for them.

If the show had had ONE terran character not give me a reason to hate them, I might have somewhat mixed feelings about this. Since it didn't, well...go ahead and do your thing blue people.

...

Okay, I guess Captain Marcus hasn't given me reason to actively dislike him. He's just a well-meaning but incompetent officer guy. So he's okay, sure. I have slightly mixed feelings about the fall of the human empire purely on his behalf, then.

...

Speaking of Marcus, we return to the bridge of the Resolute as what's left of the fleet starts moving in on Tethys for realsies this time. The jackass reporter has been allowed on the bridge again. Whatever. As they prepare to attack Tethys (which...I guess has another "main" pirate base on it, idk, it's where Zembacca and co fled to at least) they suddenly get new orders from Earth. Come home immediately, the entire inner system is at war and Operation: Mars Attacks! caught Earth and Venus with the bulk of their ships away.

Captain Marcus freezes up, stammering about how they need to finish hunting the pirates. Practically mumbling. This is because he is a weak man who follows the rules, who generates only bad ideas and lacks the will to do what needs to be done. Marsh, arm still in a sling, has to literally push him aside and take over the fleet comms, ordering all parasite craft and e-frames back into the hangar bays and for the ships to prepare engines for maximum burn back sunward. This is because he is a strong man who doesn't play by the rules, and who possesses the will and fortitude to do what needs to be done.

As Marcus whimpers and the fleet prepares, Marsh just hopes that they still have a home to go back to by the time they're close enough to see it. I like how his mind immediately jumps to "we're going to be genocided/glassed" despite the message only saying "the Martians have attacked."

Anyway, end episode.


"We have the wolf by the ears, and we can neither hold him, nor safely let him go. Justice is in one scale, and self-preservation in the other."

Of course racism is bad. Of course slavery is unjust. Unfortunately, the only alternative to continuing them is allowing the slaves to rise up and kill us all, and you just know they'd be crueller than we could ever be. It's inevitable that that would happen. Just look at all these fictional examples we created to prove it. The racist cop shouldn't be so racist, but he's still the only thing protecting us from the people he's racist against, so he's ultimately a force for good.

The proper way to protest injustice is to be very polite and law abiding, and make toothless protests that can be handily ignored indefinitely by the powers that be. That's the only good way to "improve things." That's the recipe for a, oh how did the intro put it again, when describing the status quo before Phaeton's attack? "A golden age for all mankind." Yeah, that's what that sounds like. The narrator's words, not mine.


It's kind of amazing how *thorough* this show has been in hammering home its message. Literally every single terran character is either outright racist toward neosapiens, or portrayed as buffoonish and not to be taken seriously. Literally every single neosapiens is either a complete Uncle Tom, or a white conservative fever dream version of Malcom X with Hitlerisms on top of it.

Then add the "Starship Troopers" inspired flavor of military fetishism, the apparent contempt for the news media when it tries to cover the military, etc. The show did win a few points back for being earnestly rather progressive with regards to gender, but not nearly enough to balance out its core premise and worldview.

Basically, all the rancid political takes that RWBY cluelessly faceplanted its way into here and there are being done ON PURPOSE in ExoSquad. They're the political building blocks of the story from foundations on up. The presence of stuff like ExoSquad in the preexisting pop culture environment is probably WHY the dumb copycats end up looking the way they do.

The fact that this show is generally pretty well made honestly makes it worse rather than better.


It still has two episodes left in the queue to subvert what it's done so far, but I'm really not optimistic.