Cyberpunk: Edgerunners season 1 episode 7 recap: Stronger
In this episode of the Netflix anime series Cyberpunk: Edgerunners, David has taken the reins of the crew that Maine left behind, stepping up as the leader. But he is still bothered by Lucy refusing to assist even as they get ready for a huge new mission.
It’s been quite a few months since Maine’s death. Inside an armored vehicle driven by Falco, on the way to a job, David’s new crew is getting prepped.
Becca chides their young, new recruit Julio, for being nervous as hell. David, now jacked up and ripped to twice his size, is an up-and-coming edgerunner of note.
He takes pity on Julio and arms him with a rifle adequate for the job.
Cyberpunk: Edgerunners season 1 episode 7 recap: Nobody cries when the noob dies
The facility they are attacking is virtually a fortress filled with gangbangers armed to the teeth and geared up with automatic gun turrets. With the help of Kiwi’s hack, Becca’s reckless attacks, and David’s Sandevistan, they take control of the place pretty quickly, mowing down the gang and their huge leader.
Julio, the newbie, is sadly killed when he activates an explosive tripwire despite David and Becca urging him to be cautious. They accomplish the rescue of a rich man’s daughter, Isabella Morgan.
Their job contact Wakako is suitably impressed at their performance. At the post job celebrations, Becca is showing off her huge new cyberhands augmentation, making a show of it just like her brother Pilar did when he was still alive.
In conversation with Kiwi, David and her talk about Lucy and speculate about why she hasn’t rejoined the crew yet, despite David cajoling her to come back.
Cyberpunk: Edgerunners season 1 episode 7 recap: Touching base with Faraday
David leaves the party early to go see his ripperdoc again. On the operating table while getting fine-tuned, the ripperdoc tells David that he should go easy on getting more augmentation unless he only wants to eat immunoblockers.
He expresses his awe at how much chrome David already has on him. At this point, his body is now more metal than skin.
But David waves away the doctor’s concerns, telling him he feels better than good. Kiwi calls David to say that a contact wants to meet him.
At the Afterlife Bar, Faraday meets with David and contracts him for a test job for Militech, the rival company of Arasaka. David must convince Lucy to come back and do Faraday’s job with them.
Cyberpunk: Edgerunners season 1 episode 7 recap: At home with David and Lucy
Back home, Lucy gets out of the ice-filled tub she’s been diving the net in. She and David catch up on their day, then they drive out of Night City, to the outskirts to gaze at the stars.
As David tries to convince her to rejoin the crew, Lucy goes off on a tangent about her own history. She tells David that she was born and raised outside of Night City, at an Arasaka facility where she and 13 other children were tagged as talented potential netrunners.
They were all orphans or kids who wouldn’t be missed. Arasaka trained them to become excellent netrunners, then forced them to dive into the Old Net every day, searching for legacy knowledge lost from the DataKrash incident of decades past.
Cyberpunk: Edgerunners season 1 episode 7 recap: Into the Old Net
Lucy and the other kids were sent into the wilds of the Old Net to acquire information that was lost, battling cyber daemons and rogue AI that run amok in there. Each dive would prove progressively deadlier and many of the children died, swarmed by the virtual monsters.
When the children realized they were just being used, they rebelled and killed the tech staff. Everyone made a run for it but only Lucy was able to get out of the Arasaka facility alive.
Waking up in a junkyard, Lucy hopped from place to place until she settled in Night City. It’s a place that’s excellent for anyone who doesn’t want to be found.
When we cut to the next scene, an Arasaka netrunner is talking to someone on a call about how Tanaka’s data had been corrupted before he died. Then as he gets out of his deep dive chair, we see Lucy coming out of the shadows, hacking her way into his brain and killing him.
Cyberpunk: Edgerunners season 1 episode 7 recap: Review
While I’m not entirely sure of how long it’s been, the time jump is the centerpiece of this episode. David growing into the shoes (and literal cyber arms) of Maine and becoming almost as pneumatically carved and swole as he is, is the biggest difference.
That Kiwi, Becca, and Falco fell into their familiar roles as David stepped up as crew leader affirms their willingness to follow anyone strong enough to seize control. But Lucy, being the most insightful of the crew and yet the most blind (because of her love for David), is the only one who hasn’t returned to a life of criminal cyberhacking.
Even if she’s smart it doesn’t mean she’s strong enough to stop what’s coming. There’s not much to review here since this is an episode for place setting, the time jump again the focal point of “the more things change.”
It doesn’t take a genius to see that David is also heading in the same direction, destined to have the same fate as Maine. A shoo-in for “the more things stay the same” theme is how much of David’s body has been replaced by chrome.
Even his doctor is awed at the amount of chrome he’s got. There’s also issues with how much immunoblockers David’s taking because of the chrome.
As a consequence, he’s beginning to show signs of chrome sickness—his hands now have a slight nerve shake even if he’s relaxed. We all know why.
And what that means. David has found his niche (as leader of the crew) and yet still hasn’t found himself (or his own purpose).
When Lucy declares that he’s “still chasing someone else’s dream” it’s an utterly on target and woeful statement. It rings equally true as a forthcoming tragedy and as an already foretold requiem for dying in a blaze of glory—which will likely be as good as it gets for the way of life the young David Martinez has chosen.
Lucy’s history before she came to Night City is also a great peek into the character’s background and why she’s such a powerful netrunner. It feels like a setup for forthcoming episodes and how Arasaka is on her tail.
Where will the mysterious Faraday’s mission bring them to next? Only reputation and ruin.
But Lucy can neither stop it nor halt her love for the passionate and heedless young man.
Next. The first episode title of Stranger Things Season 5 has been released. dark
Cyberpunk: Edgerunners season 1 can be streamed in full on Netflix.