‘Altered Carbon’ Episode 3 Recap: Defying Gravity

In its third episode, Altered Carbon slows things down to host a dinner party at Laurens Bancroft’s mansion in the sky. Like every dinner party I’ve ever personally attended, the night is 95% a waste of time, everyone there is a bit of an insufferable asshole, and the night ends with someone getting mercy-killed with a throwing star.

This isn’t the most action-packed hour of Altered Carbon, but it definitely has some interesting points to get across. A lot has been made about this series’ over-reliance on graphic violence and nudity. And the criticisms aren’t wrong, exactly; Altered Carbon really does love its slow-mo blood-splatter and extended sexposition, and that’s not even counting the fact that in just three episodes I’ve seen Joel Kinnaman’s ass so many times I’m now legally certified as his proctologist. But “In A Lonely Place” angles this over-reliance in a slightly better perspective, by playing around with this idea of a society in which the human body really isn’t much more than temporary goods. They’re like cars. Most people get by with what they can afford, but the wealthy show off the flashiest models, lubed and shined up perfectly. If they get dinged up, scratched, or totalled, they just head back to the dealership for another.

We get a sense of just how decadent that lifestyle can be at Laurens’ Meth-only soiree. Really, though, the party is a ruse; the guest-list is comprised of all the people Bancroft can imagine trying to kill him, and a black-tie affair gives Takeshi Kovacs a covert opportunity to gather information. Kovacs brings along Vernon Elliot—whose stack-cracked daughter is now stored safely with Poe at The Raven—as back-up. Kristin Ortega is in attendance, as well, mostly so that she can reiterate the fact she does not trust Kovacs, a point we understand very, very well by now, thanks.

Nevertheless, the night is mostly a wash as far as the investigation is concerned. Vernon manages to nab the surveillance data from the night Lizzie was murdered thanks to the future’s shittiest security guard, true, but Kovacs makes zero strides toward finding Bancroft’s killer. He even says it himself: “I wasn’t any further than I’d been when I walked in the door. But one thing I knew for sure, not one of these people gave a damn about any life other than their own.”

But the bulk of the episode is saved from being a complete bore by fascinating snippets into the ways the Meths live their many lives. These insights range from the depressing—like the man who once hated Bancroft until 100 years went by and by that point, why bother?—to the too grotesque up for words, like Bancroft’s twelfth daughter, Naomi, having sex with random party-goers while wearing her own mother’s sleeve. It’s an idea that’s been explored since someone first dreamed up gods and vampires: When you live forever, when normal human pleasures are just a blip on a never-ending timeline, what fucked up shit do you have to do just to get yourself close to a regular baseline?

But also, what fucked up shit do you just get used to, and eventually accept as a way of life? The most interesting characters in this episode are the husband and wife duo who perform for the Meths by fighting each other to the sleeve-death, winner gets an upgraded body. I love how casual it is, like a 9 to 5, aw shucks everybody hates their dayjob, amirite? “Got to provide for the kids somehow,” the husband casually chuckles, referring to the act of karate chopping his wife’s face until she dies for an hour or two.

The couple also provides the episode with its most technically impressive sequence, a zero gravity brawl that Kovacs, thanks to the morality slowly leaking its way out of him, finds himself in the middle of. It’s a striking bit of work that momentarily transforms Altered Carbon from a noir into a 1970s Wire Fu flick, but it’s mostly interesting because of the way it ends: With Ortega essentially saving Kovacs’ life.

Kovacs, Ortega, and Elliot are slowly but surely becoming a cohesive trio (a quartet, if you count Poe and his delightful mustache). But it can’t last. Kovacs lives on the opposite side of the Meth’s spectrum; when you do value the one body you’re in, it’s everyone else’s body that becomes that much more dispensable. “Whatever world you needlecast into, build a pack,” advises Quellcrist Falconer during a flashback (in which Kovacs is played by the great Will Yun Lee). “Find ways to inspire loyalty in a few capable locals, even if many of them will ultimately be expendable.”

But Kovacs isn’t left with much time to dwell on which newfound buddy he’s going to sacrifice for a greater cause. He’s immediately double-crossed himself by the Jack It Off prostitute named Alice from episode two, who jams a sedative in his neck. When he awakes, he’s being wheeled on a gurney through…somewhere. “Put him in #5. How long do you think he’s gonna take?” asks a voice.

“As long as we need,” answers another.

In a world where you can live forever, “as long as we need” can be a long time indeed.

Vinnie Mancuso writes about TV for a living, somehow, for Decider, The A.V. Club, Collider, and the Observer. You can also find his pop culture opinions on Twitter (@VinnieMancuso1) or being shouted out a Jersey City window between 4 and 6 a.m.

Watch Altered Carbon Episode 3 ("In A Lonely Place") on Netflix