In the ninth chapter of Blackout<\/i>, Georgia discovers just how fucked up everything is. Intrigued? Then it’s time for Mark to read Blackout<\/i>.<\/p>\n
Chapter Nine<\/b><\/p>\n
I will say that I did not expect this.<\/p>\n
Thankfully, I’ve got 500 pages left in Blackout<\/i>, which is why I’m willing to just let myself go and not try to analyze things too<\/i> much. Anything I say at this point about the trilogy’s overarching mythology is bound to be short-sighted and\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 well, wrong. Instead of giving me any real answers to who is behind the mystery of Newsflesh<\/i>, Mira Grant lays most of her cards on the table, and I slide beneath that table, whimpering with terror because this is not<\/i> the series I thought it was going to be. I admit that I’m overwhelmed at this point! On top of Shaun and Becks trying to figure out how zombie mosquitoes are a thing and if the CDC\/~conspiracy cabal~ was behind it, I’m given ANOTHER plot I need to keep in mind. Oh god, I think this would irritate me if there were only 100 pages left in the whole series, but instead, I feel like I just need to buckle up and enjoy this RIDE OF TERROR.<\/p>\n
Plus, I think this creates an interesting dynamic for Blackout<\/i>. We’ve got these alternating storylines, and they’re not the same. Georgia’s story isn’t just, “Oh, gosh, I need to get back to Shaun, I need Shaun, SHAUN SHAUN SHAUN.” Instead, Grant has already set up a rather powerful story about Georgia’s need to assert her identity, to be seen as her own person independent of everyone and everything else, cloning be damned. That’s a far more satisfying story to me! Well, so far, that is. I obviously don’t know where this is going, but if you wanted to keep me engaged amidst a confusing and serpentine conspiracy theory, there it is. Pull me in emotionally<\/i>. Give me a reason to care.<\/p>\n
I have a reason to care about this.<\/p>\n
Okay, let’s also talk about this sentence:<\/p>\n
Somehow, he managed to walk so that his shoes didn’t make any noise, and we passed through the darkened CDC building like ghosts.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
GOD, WHAT AN INCREDIBLE SENTENCE. I know I covered it in the first video, but come on<\/i>. It’s worth more attention because it’s so stunning. It conveys the fact that these people don’t exist (at least in the CDC framework for twenty-seven minutes) and touches on the fact that Georgia is dead<\/i> in the public eye, so it’s very much like she is a ghost in those passageways. Brilliance, y’all.<\/p>\n
So, disregarding the fact that I foolishly believed that Dr. Gregory was going to show Georgia a cloned version of Buffy (??? what was i thinking???), let me try to understand what Dr. Gregory revealed to Georgia:<\/p>\n
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- The CDC is interested in getting into the business of realistic <\/i>cloning, using neural snapshots to replicate a person right up to the point where they died, which explains how Georgia has any<\/i> memories of her life before she was a clone.<\/li>\n
- In order to make this business lucrative, they created six<\/i> clones of Georgia, in the 7a-7c and 8a-8c designation. All but one of them (aside from narrator Georgia) failed to develop correctly or amplified. They needed two<\/i> working “models,” however. One of them, which is our Georgia\/7c, is essentially the master model, the one the CDC will use to show off to investors. Which\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 man, they didn’t think this through, did they? They do realize that they’re cloning a woman who is openly abrasive and distrustful of government authorities, so she’ll probably do something to get revenge and escape? PREDICTING A BACKFIRE. The other model (8b) will be used to locate, trick, and bring in Shaun Mason.<\/li>\n
- 8b Georgia is made slightly\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 wrong? Oh god, that’s a weird thing to say because Georgia isn’t wrong<\/i>. But I mean that she’ll have a 44% accuracy with the original version of Georgia on purpose<\/i>. Hmmm. Isn’t Shaun going to see right through this? He knows his sister super well; he’s going to be suspicious that a clone of his sister will suddenly show up. And let’s be real here! Shaun shot Georgia himself, so he’s immediately going to jump towards thinking she is a clone, right?<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
Here’s what I don’t get: Why?<\/i> If the CDC (with some huge financial backers) was experimenting on a global scale to create a version of Kellis-Amberlee that they could control, why would they also<\/i> be interested in cloning? To achieve immortality? Is this like how Dollhouse<\/i> works? I cannot for the life of me figure out how these two things are connected at all<\/i>.<\/p>\n
That’s scary because\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 goddamn it, I should just accept I will never be prepared for this series. All I know is that Georgia is pissed, afraid, and determined to be the one to find Shaun Mason before anyone else.<\/p>\n
Strapping myself in, y’all.<\/p>\n
Part 1<\/p>\n