The Peripheral episode 4 recap & review: Jackpot

The Peripheral episode 4 ‘Jackpot’ delves more into the mystery behind the future timeline and how the world became the bizarre post-apocalyptic land.

Recap

It’s 2075, and in a contaminated atmosphere of post-apocalyptic London, young Aelita and Wolf (Wilf) try their best to survive off of scraps for food.

Wolf is often the target of the stronger kids in his group, and he’s eventually tasked with redeeming himself by checking what’s up with a van distributing food nearby.

Wolf goes, despite Aelita’s efforts to stop him, following which she heads off behind him as well. They are eventually grabbed by some men wearing hazmat suits before the scene cuts to the future timeline of Wilf.

He shows the implant and chips he recovered from Aelita’s place but Lev isn’t satisfied with this minimal development.

He also wonders how long Aelita has to live since the immunity boost provided by the implant is unavailable for her now.

Back in their past but in Flynne’s present, she suffers severe effects of the headset and Burton takes her for a checkup.

Burton blurts out that Flynne used a headset that cause the seizure, following which Dee dee, the doctor, advises her to stop using the headset, also asking Burton the name of the headset manufacturers to talk to them.

Meanwhile, Cherise finds out where Lev lives and pays him a surprise visit, shocking him with her casual breach of security. She asks him the whereabouts of something he stole from her, but Lev plays dumb.

Cherise then talks to him about the three basic tenets upon which their world operates and thrives, also doing a good job of dumping the exposition for the audience.

She talks about the world as being a three-walled room; one wall represents the Oligarchy from whence hails Lev; another one represents the MET Police, the institution that keeps the former in check; the Research Institute, providing the technological support for the operation of the society.

She tells him that in order to keep the metaphorical roof from crashing down, the three walls must not overstep their bounds.

She then warns him about what happened to one of his friends when he overstepped his boundaries, which was death, from RI’s assembler swarm that hunts for the target’s DNA.

As she takes her to leave after scaring the crap out of Lev, the oligarch notices that his cup of tea has vanished off the table, implying that Cherise now has his DNA.

Meanwhile, Connor uses the headset in Flynne’s absence and instantly makes an effort to break free of the confines but Ash gets the connection cancelled by Ossian.

Wilf later meets Flynne who tells her about Lev’s family in her timeline, which Wilf then tells Lev in the future. He tells him how he and his family were killed in the stub but un unsurprised Lev laughs and explains to Wilf that he’s the one who got them killed.

He also tells Wilf that the reason he’s looking for Aelita is to have a stub of his own so that he can do anything with the timeline and use it for grand capitalist endeavours.

Meanwhile, Flynne logs into the peripheral again after promising Conner and Burton that she’ll get them their own bodies in the future.

In London, she instantly makes a run outside, wanting to go explore and find out the mystery of this scarce world. Ash tries to stop her but eventually takes her to a graveyard where Wilf arrives as well.

Flynne then beholds the truth behind this world and how it came to be, through a hovering projection that’s some sort of museum for the history of the world.

The destruction of the world, known as “Jackpot”, began in 2039, when the world started getting hit by electrical blackouts.

Then came an even worse pandemic caused by a Filovirus. Then in about 4 decades, more than 7 billion people perished due to the crops and environment suffering utter failure.

The final nail in the coffin was the nuclear blast due to a domestic terrorist attack in the region Flynne hails from.

Disturbed by the truth, Flynne disconnects and wakes up in her world, telling Burton and Conner that she’s working on getting them their bodies, before The Peripheral episode 4 ends.

Review

• The Peripheral episode 4 finally offers some important expository background to the mysteries surrounding the absurd and advanced future world.
• The episode also reveals what the oligarch Lev Zubov is up to and what his objective with tracking down Aelita are. He wants a stub of his own and also explains to Wilf why he wants one.
• There’s immense capitalist opportunity to be mined in a stub. One can exploit this alternate timeline however much they desire, with their morals being the only determining factor regarding the severity of their exploitation.
• Lev also casually mentions how he gets all his alternate versions killed so he doesn’t have to suffer the nihilistic consequences of the truth.
• Meanwhile, Lev has to contend with the fears of mortality himself, as he’s reminded of it in an extremely intimidating way by Cherise.
• Speaking of Cherise, the way she manages to one-up and overpower the seemingly untouchable and mighty Lev is great to watch and a perfect example of what she’s capable of moving forward.

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Also Read: Wilf and Aelita’s relationship in The Peripheral explained