Ghost in the Shell: SAC 2045 Season 1 Episode 6 Recap – Disclosure

Disclosed

Aramaki shows John Smith the executive order that frees GHOST from his operation. The major thanks the chief, who then offers them a job.

With a heavy heart, Clown leaves the squad. Batou thinks he wasn’t half bad, but Motoko erased the memories of the mission on his head, password-protected in case they’ll need him later.

They press Smith on the true objective of the operation. Smith explains that Huge was the mastermind of the raids and the ones supplying them with weapons. Batou presses them further about why he was such a huge target and why they were sent in order to hide the government’s involvement.

Patrick Huge possessed better processing power than a supercomputer and he was among the ones responsible for the Global Simultaneous Default. Huge is something they refer to as posthuman, that’s why the major couldn’t sense any humanity in his cyber brain.

Batou thanks and welcomes Togusa back. They are impressed that he was able to track them down. Smith brings the squad to one of these posthumans in an underground military facility. A highly secure vault holds a prisoner who is constantly monitored by a team of researchers.

Posthuman

The man is in a catatonic stage with half his brain damaged. The posthuman uses a code to communicate with the newcomers. Everyone in the vicinity has their cyberbrain turned off to prevent any hacking from the prisoner.

Smith tells them that the posthumans were once humans. This man, Gary Hart was a master sergeant who did quite well in his job. After retiring he moved to the suburbs with his children. One day he developed a high fever of an unknown cause. He made a recovery but his wife was concerned because he was acting differently.

Days after, Gary just left and killed his wife. He went missing for a while, only to be discovered hacking a nuclear missile facility on a Nevada base. Everyone with a cyber brain in the vicinity was hacked. One of the survivors revealed that his body moved against his own will.

From the security footage, Hart moved exactly as Huge did. The security force managed to shoot and capture him after heavy losses. He attempted to launch a nuke at Moscow.

Smith can’t say for sure if the other posthumans are after the same cause. Posthumans orchestrated a war with humans caught in the middle of it.

Awakening

The Major sees Hart playing with a paper airplane. He’s able to catch it every time by calculating the air pressure and all the variables involved. The others watch, amazed, but he then grabs and chokes the nurse. Smith calls the guards as the posthuman looks at them. Their whole system malfunctions.

Hart has been feeding it with a virus code all along. The security force comes in and fights GHOST. One of the Tachikoma almost get infected as he jacks into the system.

Batou and Motoko move into Hart’s chamber, as the GHOST squad tries to subdue the security force. The robots try to barge their way in, smashing through the glass windows and ceiling. The security robots are no match for GHOST, but there are too many. Smith tries to recover the system but it’s no use. He doesn’t want to destroy Hart since they’re his only specimen, but not long after, he caves.

Major commands Batou to kill the posthuman. As he does, all the security robots fall to the ground. Smith regrets the decision, but it had to be done.

Now seeing the strength of their potential foe, Major Motoko thinks their new job will be a hard one.

Our Thoughts

This episode was really good! It felt like there were some horror elements put in there, which feels like a relatively unexplored area for cyberpunk. I’m really liking this direction. I rate it a 3.8/5.