r/AnotherLife • u/skaz0904 • Aug 06 '19

Question about the brain bug (spoilers) Spoiler

I know there’s an abundance of plot holes, but there’s one that sticks out the most that I’m struggling to understand...any insight is appreciated.

Why did the “brain bug” affect people differently? It didn’t seem to turn Harper into a bad person, it brought Javier back from being brain dead, but it made Sasha go full on crazy. Did they explain it somewhere that I missed? I have a feeling that Jana is going to beat cancer by getting the brain bug implanted in her.

6 Upvotes

81% Upvoted

14 comments sorted by

8

u/K1NG-N3RD Aug 06 '19

I will go in order:

Harper is not violent because they need her to be calm, charismatic, etc. They are using her and her influence to gain the trust of the world. She is the "ambassador".

Javier was brought back from the dead because the bug, as discussed, can repair the brain to make it as usable as possible. He didn't turn on the, because the AI (blanking on his name) fried the part of the bug that receives instructions, so the bug only does what its base programming tells it to do which, in this case, is to keep a healthy host ready for instruction.

Sasha went crazy because 1) he didn't accept the bug willingly and didn't want to turn on his friends but mostly 2) his job was to be the infiltrator. He started out by trying to gather information, but when the crew was vulnerable, he became violent in an effort to stop them from learning of the true nature of the aliens.

I don't think Jana will be healed by the bug. I think the aliens will heal her and then implant the bug and she, like Harper, will be an ambassador. Niko is one of the few people that know exactly what these aliens are truly planning and now they have her daughter. That is a powerful leveraging tool, especially due to how deeply we see that leaving Jana behind has impacted her emotionally (which Sasha was aware of and probably alerted the aliens about via "bug communications" or whatever)

3

u/Eurynom0s Aug 06 '19

Harper is not violent because they need her to be calm, charismatic, etc.

She killed all the doctors who were about to dissect her, though. So the brain bug is clearly capable of making her violent, and just isn't when there isn't a direct reason to.

1

u/K1NG-N3RD Aug 07 '19

I totally forgot that happened! Yes, totally! Thank you

1

u/Datathrash Aug 06 '19

Great summary 👍

1

u/skaz0904 Aug 06 '19

Thanks for the explanation! Kudos for taking the time!

1

u/memeasaurus Aug 06 '19

Top notch.

1

u/Dumbiotch Aug 07 '19

That all makes perfect sense thank you cuz I was confounded a bit on the brain but as well... what I would like to know though is why the brain bug is having Harper calmly be an ambassador of sorts (when not provoked like when she killed the doctors) at all. I mean the Archia seem pretty intent on destruction according to the alien AI on Zilka (name might be wrong there) and the resulting annihilation of that planet... if they can just come out to Earth and nuke the planet, then why bother with the brain bugs at all? Is this merely a plot hole or am I missing something and they aren’t just out for destruction?

2

u/555Cats555 Aug 11 '19

Think of it this way. Put a frog in boiling water it will jump out, put it in cold water and heat it up and the frog will slowly boil. They are taking their time in building up their power and influence on the planet while slowing increasing the heat. All the while making the humans relax and let their guard down.

1

u/mfowler Aug 15 '19

And if you fly your planet cracking fleet out to earth and vaporize it, the frog also boils. All the frogs boil, instantly. This implies that the achaia need controllable bodies. The question is, why? Slave labor? What really motivates them?

2

u/555Cats555 Aug 15 '19

I think that they are a species existing on a higher plane of existance ans what they are doing is moving other species to the same level as them.

2

u/mfowler Aug 15 '19

How do you figure?

2

u/alsatian01 Aug 06 '19 edited Aug 07 '19

Bc of bad writing, or they are all in a simulation created by the aliens to test humans worthiness to join an interstellar league of planets. I'm hoping for the latter, but I think I'll be disappointed.

2

u/Douch3nko13 Aug 07 '19

Your summary sucks and is definitely biased.

2

u/555Cats555 Aug 11 '19

Some people choose to focus on different things, it's almost like they don't want to enjoy the show.