PSYCHO-PASS 3 – 07

「Don’t Take God’s Name in Vain」

Well if there was any doubt that this season of Psycho Pass was looking to make up for season two’s trip and fall, this week would definitely be it. From the return of major players to key concepts and even some original imagery to whet the appetite, we got a healthy dose of cornucopia of nostalgic dystopic cyberpunk—and even some Bladerunner for dessert. The endgame for Psycho Pass’ third feature is rapidly approaching, and the results are going to prove interesting.

After all the shock and awe of last week it was pretty clear someone was going to bite the bullet this time around, but the choice of target(s) I imagine proved surprising. While some thought would suggest Maiko was never going to die for example (especially after the reveal she wasn’t made into a bomber), the dual deaths of our priest gone rouge and his incestuous mother (now that was a shocker) never seemed in the cards. Bifrost after all has been quietly made into a major player able to best Sibyl at its own games, so removing the more spontaneous of its players seems a little premature. Even with all the fun which comes from thematically reliving Makishima’s subway scene back in season one there just doesn’t seem to be enough drive between our two remaining Bifrost players for anything major to happen. Unless one just so happens to be related to Arata mind that. All that of his father and his relationship to the group certainly suggest something is up, and when you have physical resemblance this similar, you can easily guess where this is going next.

The long game however lies with Akane and Arata’s position in the Sibyl system, because given Arata’s newly revealed criminally asymptomatic status and Akane’s hopes for him, there’s some movement when it comes to making Sibyl slightly more reactive. Whereas before guys like Arata would’ve been assimilated into the multi-brain conglomerate, now there’s efforts afoot to actually retain some outside the system for the purpose of preemptive defense, courtesy of the one true Inspector (just accept your adorable candy popping sidekick status already Mika). In terms of the current story this development doesn’t really mean much considering only one episode remains, but there’s plenty of ways to take it in the future, especially considering the difference in thought the Foreign Affairs bureau has towards their targets. Interagency competition may be subdued in Psycho Pass’ world thus far, but it’s not hard seeing how it could quickly blow up into something more serious.

After all, when you’re dealing with an opponent possessing ties in both realms, it won’t take much for one side to start rubbing the other the wrong way.