Cyberpunk Edgerunners' unhappy ending matters

courtesy of Netflix

*CONTAINS MAJOR SPOILERS FOR CYBERPUNK EDGERUNNERS

The ending of Netflix’s Cyberpunk Edgerunners has stuck with me more than any other TV show released this year.

Edgerunners, set in the same world as the video game Cyberpunk 2077, is a collaboration between the anime house Studio Trigger and game developer CD Project Red. Together these teams crafted a beautiful and tragic snapshot of a few lives in this massive city.

The world of Cyberpunk is one of extreme excess, a future where mega-corporations control everything and nearly everyone has enhanced themselves with cybernetic body modifications.

One of the key themes of Cyberpunk is the more cybernetic enhancements one installs, the less human one becomes, it’s constantly an arms race of upgrading the body to the point where one can survive and succeed within this bleak world but not lose their humanity in the process. Or worse, have the overindulgence of upgrades cross the wires in the brain and be lost to a form of insanity called cybersychosis.

Cyberpunk Edgerunners is set in science fiction future reality where the lines between man and machine are blurred, but the story is reminiscent of a classic Shakespearean tragedy.

Love, death, fools, revenge, backstabbing and betrayal, all hallmarks of classic plays, are present throughout the series.

The character of David is a modern example of a tragic hero from classical literature. Cyberpunk Edgerunners is a story of star-crossed lovers. David survives a horrible event and is destined for revenge, he rises above despite the odds and changes fundamentally and falls in love in the process but, in the end, is destined for downfall.

Courtesy of Netflix

We’ve reached a point in our film/tv media landscape where the tragedy often exists either for unearned shock value or doesn’t exist at all.

When every new IP needs to be a franchise, and each character must be marketable for sequels, spinoffs, and store merchandise, taking risks and killing characters off isn’t good business. When death means nothing in these franchise worlds the villains have no impact the stakes sink all the way to the ocean floor.

Studio Trigger and CD Project Red knew a happy ending where everyone makes it out alright wouldn’t have been the right fit for this world, and were unafraid to kill off these characters we grew so attached to.

David’s character is the personification of Live fast, die young (literally), but furthermore, that is the motto of Night City itself. There’s no real escape from the city and eventually, it comes from, everyone. David was doomed from the start:

"You don't make a name as a cyberpunk by how you live. You're remembered by how you die."

The moment anyone in that world chooses to be a cyberpunk, they put a ticking clock on their head.

Courtesy of The Verge

The characters in Cyberpunk Edgerunners live their lives like they could die at any moment because death is around every corner in Night City. Watching Pilar’s head explode midway through the season was a turning point for the show as well David’s character. Pilar’s death was so sudden and unceremonious, he didn’t die heroic, just messed with the wrong cyberpsycho.

Previously in the show, we see how dangerous the world is, but it was at this moment in episode 4 that we, as an audience, were shown that none of these characters were safe and the showrunners weren’t going to pull any punches.

The threat of death shouldn’t be meaningless. Killing off characters is one of the best ways to make audiences grow attached to whoever’s left. When everyone is safe, there is no risk involved we can sit back and relax and watch the good guys save the day. Knowing that any moment one of these characters could catch a stray bullet and abruptly end their storyline

The character of Maine and his eventual fate feel as if we’re just catching the very end of another tragic hero’s story, and it foreshadows David’s end as well. The Cycle repeats itself over and over, perpetuating the theme that no really escapes Night City, they either die forgotten or die a legend.

We care about each of the members of the ensemble cast of Cyberpunk Edgerunners because the characters clearly care about one another. We’re able to fall in love and get heartbroken over these characters because no one in the show is safe, the universe of Cyberpunk is so dangerous and depressing that every bright spot amid the darkness must be cherished. Wanting to hold on tight, have these characters defy the odds and make it out alright makes their bloody deaths all the more depressing.

As the series was nearing its end there was an inescapable underlying sense of dread that things weren’t going to end well for these characters. After David installed the cyberskelleton, there was no going back, we saw earlier what over-upgrading the body did to Maine as cyber psychosis set in. Watching David destroy mountains of enemies with his new unconstrained abilities, while flashy, didn’t give the fun power-fantasy drive to the viewer but rather this sinking feeling of regret knowing he was far past the moment of no return.

The music choice in this series is stellar, but the standout track by far is “I Really Want to Stay at Your House,” by Rosa Walton and Hallie Coggins is still stuck in my head weeks after the last episode for the way it represents the relationship between our main characters, David and Lucy.

The first time “I really want to stay at your house” graces our ears is in the cute moment of the characters together on the VR replication of the moon, the song is catchy and fun and a glimpse of the possible life they could have. The song exudes this feeling of an infinite rush that only newfound love can. However, when the needle drops once more in the last episode, the feeling is entirely different.

The last episode completely recontextualized the song, while still representative of their love for one another, listening now emits an entirely different set of emotions. This song is one of the biggest reasons why I can’t stop thinking about the ending, about this story, and how much his show really made me care about all these characters. Hearing the song now, I see myself replaying the tragic events of the finale in my head, reigniting those same emotions.

The love story between David and Lucy has so much more impact because they are starcrossed, their love was only ephemeral. The last moments they share together are beautifully melancholic as it carries the weight of so much built up between them throughout the entire series.

The unhappy ending matters in Cyberpunk Edgerunners because it doesn’t stray from the core of the theme of Cyberpunk. For most, there is no escaping Night City, these mega-corporations are unstoppable conglomerates that control so much, one victory will never be enough to stop them. The ending matters because it’s been a tragic tale of a few trying to make a difference in this bleak world, while ultimately unsuccessful, that’s the story of all the legends in Night City, “You’re remembered for how you die.”