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icelightningApologies to the F-list for posting a seemingly random Generator Rex essay on my personal account, but I didn't have anywhere else to put it. And a lot of this has already been said by wildhybrid @ tumblr, but she and I have a lot of the same mindset regarding canon. Something about playing the brothers together--I'm not sure! Some of it is built off of her stuff and some of it we came up with independently.
This essay could probably do with a lot more editing, but if I don't put it up now, it won't go up anytime soon. So, I've made one last pass for grammar while I'm half awake in the morning. WARNING: there are spoilers for Season 3 up to "Target: Consortium". Read at your own risk of being spoiled if you haven't seen it yet, as it's only been available on iTunes, Zune, PSN, and XBox Live. If you're really awesome and have the money, the entire show is only about $100 on iTunes. If you can, please support this show!
Theories Regarding Caesar's Actions in Season 3 of Generator Rex
For all the theories about Caesar, most of them seem to be forgetting one important detail: six months. Caesar was effectively alone for six months. He didn't know when Rex would come back, if Rex would come back. Not only did he practically tackle Rex when he originally returned, but he hugged Rex a second time in the Petting Zoo, saying it was good to have him back.
Then, immediately after, Caesar went back to work.
Caesar first appearance in the series was years after the Nanite Event, but it was barely any time at all from his perspective. Right after his parents deaths, not knowing that Rex was alive, he went after the Omega-1 Nanite with the same determination that he seems to have in Season 3 with his work. True, his weapons weren't lethal when he attacked Providence, but he was taking a no holds bar approach to getting the OM-1 back. When he saw Rex, his entire demeanor changed. Relief, momentary happiness--and then, all at once, he was back to complete seriousness as he got his brother, with the OM-1 inside of him, out of there. (Note that he said "I'm getting you out of here", emphasis mine, instead of mentioning the OM-1. He went on to even say that he'd only talk when Rex was safe.)
Note the parallels yet? We've seen this behavior from Caesar before. When Caesar thought he had lost his family, he fell to his intellect, and worked towards securing the OM-1, something that Rylander said was "everything". Skipping theories about what that means aside, his concern for the OM-1 was immediately replaced by concern for REX when he realized that the OM-1 was contained in his brother.
But that didn't happen after six months--he didn't think of Rex first over his work. Why is this? Because it's precisely been six months. The way Caesar attacked Providence originally was, from his view, anywhere to a few hours to a few days since the Nanite Event. He was alone for a very short length of time.
Now, make that six months instead of hours/days, and you'll get the point I'm getting at. Caesar has been alone with his work for six months. All he had left was his intellect. Instead of doing silly things for himself like we saw in Season 2, he's entirely focused on his work. Even after Rex comes back, he barely sticks around to make sure his brother is okay. He's become obsessed with working because, for six months, it was all he had. His last family member was gone, and while he possibly still had Abuela (unless she disapproved of the collar system, in which case he didn't), she wasn't with him at Providence.
Does it excuse Caesar's behavior towards Rex? No. But it gives it context.
If you look closely, there's really only three things that make Caesar happy. COOL AWESOME SCIENCE, the EVOs in the Petting Zoo, and... family. Look at how happy he had been when they went to Abuela's. Remember the toast? "To family", he said. Remember how easily Rex roped him into the Haunted House? How he had engaged Rex so thoroughly in conversation. Remember how he made a machine to try and help Rex regain his memories (only for Rex's nanites to interfere, but that's another essay)? He wanted Rex to remember him and their parents.
Now compare all those actions to how he is in Season 3. The majority of his smiling is around Rex. When Rex first reappears, the Petting Zoo, often near the ends of episodes where they meet up, and other times. The rest of the time, barring one scene at the petting zoo, he's serious and focused on his work. Quite literally, in those six months, he's fallen out of sync with his emotions. Rex acted like tether to his emotions, and with his tether severed, Caesar began to drown in his work. He can't see things beyond that--not like he could before. On top of that, Caesar no longer had parents or a brother to interrupt his work. (Remember how Violeta had to tell him to stop working and hold the camera in the family video?)
He's literally too focused on what's important to the world to remember what's important to him, or at the very least, acknowledge what's important. Unfortunately, with the way the season is building up, and how Man of Action has been prodding at Caesar's deteriorated relationship with Rex, the only way he's going to remember is with a metaphorical clue-by-four. Something huge will have to happen to snap him out of it.
Let's just hope it's not someone's death.
PART 2, the part where Jenn gets rambly:
SCIENCE.
No, seriously. Science. Six whole damn months of it. Even before that, actually. See "Family Holiday". Caesar had recognized Dr. Brandon Moses, the lead researcher in technigenic transmorphing, AKA an an entire field of science that didn't exist before the event. Actually, he fangirls the hell out of him, saying that if anyone is going to develop a cure for EVOs, it's going to be him. And, of course, we all know how that turned out--he had the partial answer, and Holiday figured it out the rest, but his machine was destroyed in the process.
That means two things: one, a cure besides the one represented in Rex was attainable; two, Caesar was well aware of an entire branch of science that didn't exist before the Nanite Event. The second one is vastly important, because it meant that while it seemed like Caesar was screwing off most of Season 2, he in fact was not. He was trying to catch up on the research at the time. Then, he found out the "lead researcher" was in fact not the one that was going to develop a usable cure, instead using the EVOs for weapons. (While he didn't find this out directly like the others, he sure as heck heard about it.) Caesar was also seen in that episode helping out with Rex's training and the biometric tests afterwards.
So, that proves he's not in fact screwing off all the time, but who could blame MoA for using him for comic relief? I do it all the time in roleplaying myself. It's hilarious. We just happen to see him having fun with science quite often in Season 2, doing things other than nanite research. This is something we see nothing of, for the most part, in Season 3. Certainly he'll still get excited when he sees something amazing ("SAMPLES!"), but he no longer does things to entertain himself, like making a mango smoothie with a hyper electromagnet capable of taking apart a tank from a kilometer away. He was interested in science beyond nanites in Season 2, and now most of that interest has been shoved aside for his work,
Now, on to Night Falls. Caesar took the time to take Rex to see Abuela, but for this part of the essay, the important part is how he reacted to finding out about the were-EVOs. He immediately took samples from all the affected family members and used his lab to analyze them. The rest of the episode, he's focused on a cure for the were-EVOs. "If I'm going to cure this, I have to do it before sunrise." That's right, cure. And not only that, but he does it by affecting a change in the nanite programming during the nocturnal cycle. As in the nanites can be reprogrammed. Yeah, we sorta already could probably figure that, but that's the first time someone's managed to do it without making the nanites self-destruct or only half-assing it (I'm looking at you, Dr. Brandon Moses).
Then, Rex vanishes. Remember how everything was BEFORE Rex was found, with it seeming like the end of the world? How Providence grunts are basically trained to be a distraction so Rex can do his job? It became impossible for him to his job when he was no longer there. "Cure, Contain, or Kill" became "Contain or Kill". And for the most powerful EVOs, the ones that Rex usually took out, the only option was Kill. If they were lucky, the Bleach Protocol never had to be used.
Either way, people and EVOs were dying. Something happened to be done, and Rex wasn't there anymore. The collar system was developed to calm and control EVOs so that they wouldn't be a threat anymore. Now, I'm not sure if Caesar wanted them to go as far as to control EVOs as much as Providence has started doing (beasts of burden and basically slavery), but either way, he hasn't stopped it. The collars do, however, only work on the EVO until they're shut off/removed--once they are gone, the EVO immediately reverts back to its original behavior (or his or her in case of sentient EVOs, obviously), which I think speaks a bit to Caesar's character. In Back in Black, he seemed generally exhausted as the giant worm is collared. He's stressed throughout the entire episode--if you don't believe me, find some way to watch it in slow motion. I won't theorize as to the reasons why, but it's there.
Rex escapes, and Caesar makes no effort to bring Rex back to Providence. That's significant, especially when he has no problem finding The Plant in order to return the OM-1 to Rex in Heroes United. Instead of keeping it, he gives it back to Rex to keep it out of Providence's hands instead. That means, whatever he has planned, he's trusting Rex with a key piece of the puzzle.
With Rex back, he also starts up the Nanite Project again, telling Rex that he's "trying to fix things", and that he's in charge of the project. Rex is angered when he finds out that the scientists caused the Nanite Event only to realize afterwards that they did it to prevent the Meta Nanites from getting into the wrong hands. Caesar is also working to assemble as much of the original team as possible--trying to bring back Dr. Rylander (and succeeding), getting Peter Meechum to Providence, and even getting Van Kleiss. From his conversation with Meechum, it sounds like he plans on using the collar system to get Van Kleiss to do what they need (except now we know that probably isn't the case). The plan to scatter the nanites was a group decision. Rylander was definitely in on it, the way Caesar turned to him, and Meechum was likely as well. His parents definitely were, considering how Black Knight had spoken about them in "Target: Consortium". When Rex meets up again with them in that episode, Caesar, Rylander, and Meechum are all convinced they're doing the right thing. There are hints about why they're starting up a new (old, refurbished?) nanite reactor, and Rylander says for Caesar to tell Rex, but they're interrupted before he can. (Actually, Caesar gets interrupted regularly to keep him from telling Rex the truth.)
Caesar and Rylander both said that they were trying to improve the world. Meechum seems to be of the same sort. It's should be obvious that Caesar was not lying when he said he wanted to fix things. He's gathering those that he trusts, which includes part of the group of scientists that wanted to better the world, the original nanite research team, minus the Salazar parents. Of course, that's also definitely part of the group that created the meta nanites in the first place. Yeah. Take that as you will.
Please note at this point that they're likely aware of the Consortium having a hand in Providence. Van Kleiss, Meechum, and Caesar all know Black Knight from before. (Which could even be the reason Caesar stays out of her office while she talks to Rex.) Rylander also likely knows her. Meechum and Caesar know her, and they likely know who she represents. It wouldn't be surprising if they knew they were working for the Consortium. The same Consortium that commissioned the original Nanite Project and wanted the meta nanites, who were likely indirectly responsible for the deaths of the Salazar parents. Yet, they keep on working for them.
Caesar and Meechum know they're in the Lions' Den. Van Kleiss is allied with one of the lions, although his sanity is extremely in question (the insanity could be faked, too, or not nearly as bad, but again, that's another essay). And yet, they're still there. Caesar even goes as far to say "the end justifies the means" regarding working under Black Knight. But why the heck are they still there if they don't like their employer?
One word: FUNDING. Rylander sent out his "presents" when the Consortium refused to give him more funding. He stated that they paid for the original Nanite Project, although not by name at the time, although it sounded like their funding came in later to the first project. Shadow Providence (the nickname MoA gave to the Plant's crew) doesn't have it. The only place that has it right now is Providence, which received funding after Rex was discovered. Therefore, Providence the only place they can possibly develop a cure or possibly something further than a cure. With what Rylander told Rex, they were developing nanites to end starvation, which would only be possible through meta nanites. It was never about power or greed, according to him. At the time, those lines didn't make sense. Now that we have the metas in the picture, they do.
Are they going to develop another set of metas, work on fixing the code on the scattered nanites, or both? It's not obvious, although Rylander too said that he was trying to "find a cure for what we created". I won't speculate further on their exact goal. No matter what it is, they're stuck working at Providence. That was why, in my opinion, Caesar had stayed behind instead of searching for Rex: it was where he could do the most good.
I'm ending it here for now because I'm starting to ramble, but it's food for thought.
I've opened up anonymous comments on this post if anyone's interested in commenting but doesn't have an account. Have at it!
This essay could probably do with a lot more editing, but if I don't put it up now, it won't go up anytime soon. So, I've made one last pass for grammar while I'm half awake in the morning. WARNING: there are spoilers for Season 3 up to "Target: Consortium". Read at your own risk of being spoiled if you haven't seen it yet, as it's only been available on iTunes, Zune, PSN, and XBox Live. If you're really awesome and have the money, the entire show is only about $100 on iTunes. If you can, please support this show!
Theories Regarding Caesar's Actions in Season 3 of Generator Rex
For all the theories about Caesar, most of them seem to be forgetting one important detail: six months. Caesar was effectively alone for six months. He didn't know when Rex would come back, if Rex would come back. Not only did he practically tackle Rex when he originally returned, but he hugged Rex a second time in the Petting Zoo, saying it was good to have him back.
Then, immediately after, Caesar went back to work.
Caesar first appearance in the series was years after the Nanite Event, but it was barely any time at all from his perspective. Right after his parents deaths, not knowing that Rex was alive, he went after the Omega-1 Nanite with the same determination that he seems to have in Season 3 with his work. True, his weapons weren't lethal when he attacked Providence, but he was taking a no holds bar approach to getting the OM-1 back. When he saw Rex, his entire demeanor changed. Relief, momentary happiness--and then, all at once, he was back to complete seriousness as he got his brother, with the OM-1 inside of him, out of there. (Note that he said "I'm getting you out of here", emphasis mine, instead of mentioning the OM-1. He went on to even say that he'd only talk when Rex was safe.)
Note the parallels yet? We've seen this behavior from Caesar before. When Caesar thought he had lost his family, he fell to his intellect, and worked towards securing the OM-1, something that Rylander said was "everything". Skipping theories about what that means aside, his concern for the OM-1 was immediately replaced by concern for REX when he realized that the OM-1 was contained in his brother.
But that didn't happen after six months--he didn't think of Rex first over his work. Why is this? Because it's precisely been six months. The way Caesar attacked Providence originally was, from his view, anywhere to a few hours to a few days since the Nanite Event. He was alone for a very short length of time.
Now, make that six months instead of hours/days, and you'll get the point I'm getting at. Caesar has been alone with his work for six months. All he had left was his intellect. Instead of doing silly things for himself like we saw in Season 2, he's entirely focused on his work. Even after Rex comes back, he barely sticks around to make sure his brother is okay. He's become obsessed with working because, for six months, it was all he had. His last family member was gone, and while he possibly still had Abuela (unless she disapproved of the collar system, in which case he didn't), she wasn't with him at Providence.
Does it excuse Caesar's behavior towards Rex? No. But it gives it context.
If you look closely, there's really only three things that make Caesar happy. COOL AWESOME SCIENCE, the EVOs in the Petting Zoo, and... family. Look at how happy he had been when they went to Abuela's. Remember the toast? "To family", he said. Remember how easily Rex roped him into the Haunted House? How he had engaged Rex so thoroughly in conversation. Remember how he made a machine to try and help Rex regain his memories (only for Rex's nanites to interfere, but that's another essay)? He wanted Rex to remember him and their parents.
Now compare all those actions to how he is in Season 3. The majority of his smiling is around Rex. When Rex first reappears, the Petting Zoo, often near the ends of episodes where they meet up, and other times. The rest of the time, barring one scene at the petting zoo, he's serious and focused on his work. Quite literally, in those six months, he's fallen out of sync with his emotions. Rex acted like tether to his emotions, and with his tether severed, Caesar began to drown in his work. He can't see things beyond that--not like he could before. On top of that, Caesar no longer had parents or a brother to interrupt his work. (Remember how Violeta had to tell him to stop working and hold the camera in the family video?)
He's literally too focused on what's important to the world to remember what's important to him, or at the very least, acknowledge what's important. Unfortunately, with the way the season is building up, and how Man of Action has been prodding at Caesar's deteriorated relationship with Rex, the only way he's going to remember is with a metaphorical clue-by-four. Something huge will have to happen to snap him out of it.
Let's just hope it's not someone's death.
PART 2, the part where Jenn gets rambly:
SCIENCE.
No, seriously. Science. Six whole damn months of it. Even before that, actually. See "Family Holiday". Caesar had recognized Dr. Brandon Moses, the lead researcher in technigenic transmorphing, AKA an an entire field of science that didn't exist before the event. Actually, he fangirls the hell out of him, saying that if anyone is going to develop a cure for EVOs, it's going to be him. And, of course, we all know how that turned out--he had the partial answer, and Holiday figured it out the rest, but his machine was destroyed in the process.
That means two things: one, a cure besides the one represented in Rex was attainable; two, Caesar was well aware of an entire branch of science that didn't exist before the Nanite Event. The second one is vastly important, because it meant that while it seemed like Caesar was screwing off most of Season 2, he in fact was not. He was trying to catch up on the research at the time. Then, he found out the "lead researcher" was in fact not the one that was going to develop a usable cure, instead using the EVOs for weapons. (While he didn't find this out directly like the others, he sure as heck heard about it.) Caesar was also seen in that episode helping out with Rex's training and the biometric tests afterwards.
So, that proves he's not in fact screwing off all the time, but who could blame MoA for using him for comic relief? I do it all the time in roleplaying myself. It's hilarious. We just happen to see him having fun with science quite often in Season 2, doing things other than nanite research. This is something we see nothing of, for the most part, in Season 3. Certainly he'll still get excited when he sees something amazing ("SAMPLES!"), but he no longer does things to entertain himself, like making a mango smoothie with a hyper electromagnet capable of taking apart a tank from a kilometer away. He was interested in science beyond nanites in Season 2, and now most of that interest has been shoved aside for his work,
Now, on to Night Falls. Caesar took the time to take Rex to see Abuela, but for this part of the essay, the important part is how he reacted to finding out about the were-EVOs. He immediately took samples from all the affected family members and used his lab to analyze them. The rest of the episode, he's focused on a cure for the were-EVOs. "If I'm going to cure this, I have to do it before sunrise." That's right, cure. And not only that, but he does it by affecting a change in the nanite programming during the nocturnal cycle. As in the nanites can be reprogrammed. Yeah, we sorta already could probably figure that, but that's the first time someone's managed to do it without making the nanites self-destruct or only half-assing it (I'm looking at you, Dr. Brandon Moses).
Then, Rex vanishes. Remember how everything was BEFORE Rex was found, with it seeming like the end of the world? How Providence grunts are basically trained to be a distraction so Rex can do his job? It became impossible for him to his job when he was no longer there. "Cure, Contain, or Kill" became "Contain or Kill". And for the most powerful EVOs, the ones that Rex usually took out, the only option was Kill. If they were lucky, the Bleach Protocol never had to be used.
Either way, people and EVOs were dying. Something happened to be done, and Rex wasn't there anymore. The collar system was developed to calm and control EVOs so that they wouldn't be a threat anymore. Now, I'm not sure if Caesar wanted them to go as far as to control EVOs as much as Providence has started doing (beasts of burden and basically slavery), but either way, he hasn't stopped it. The collars do, however, only work on the EVO until they're shut off/removed--once they are gone, the EVO immediately reverts back to its original behavior (or his or her in case of sentient EVOs, obviously), which I think speaks a bit to Caesar's character. In Back in Black, he seemed generally exhausted as the giant worm is collared. He's stressed throughout the entire episode--if you don't believe me, find some way to watch it in slow motion. I won't theorize as to the reasons why, but it's there.
Rex escapes, and Caesar makes no effort to bring Rex back to Providence. That's significant, especially when he has no problem finding The Plant in order to return the OM-1 to Rex in Heroes United. Instead of keeping it, he gives it back to Rex to keep it out of Providence's hands instead. That means, whatever he has planned, he's trusting Rex with a key piece of the puzzle.
With Rex back, he also starts up the Nanite Project again, telling Rex that he's "trying to fix things", and that he's in charge of the project. Rex is angered when he finds out that the scientists caused the Nanite Event only to realize afterwards that they did it to prevent the Meta Nanites from getting into the wrong hands. Caesar is also working to assemble as much of the original team as possible--trying to bring back Dr. Rylander (and succeeding), getting Peter Meechum to Providence, and even getting Van Kleiss. From his conversation with Meechum, it sounds like he plans on using the collar system to get Van Kleiss to do what they need (except now we know that probably isn't the case). The plan to scatter the nanites was a group decision. Rylander was definitely in on it, the way Caesar turned to him, and Meechum was likely as well. His parents definitely were, considering how Black Knight had spoken about them in "Target: Consortium". When Rex meets up again with them in that episode, Caesar, Rylander, and Meechum are all convinced they're doing the right thing. There are hints about why they're starting up a new (old, refurbished?) nanite reactor, and Rylander says for Caesar to tell Rex, but they're interrupted before he can. (Actually, Caesar gets interrupted regularly to keep him from telling Rex the truth.)
Caesar and Rylander both said that they were trying to improve the world. Meechum seems to be of the same sort. It's should be obvious that Caesar was not lying when he said he wanted to fix things. He's gathering those that he trusts, which includes part of the group of scientists that wanted to better the world, the original nanite research team, minus the Salazar parents. Of course, that's also definitely part of the group that created the meta nanites in the first place. Yeah. Take that as you will.
Please note at this point that they're likely aware of the Consortium having a hand in Providence. Van Kleiss, Meechum, and Caesar all know Black Knight from before. (Which could even be the reason Caesar stays out of her office while she talks to Rex.) Rylander also likely knows her. Meechum and Caesar know her, and they likely know who she represents. It wouldn't be surprising if they knew they were working for the Consortium. The same Consortium that commissioned the original Nanite Project and wanted the meta nanites, who were likely indirectly responsible for the deaths of the Salazar parents. Yet, they keep on working for them.
Caesar and Meechum know they're in the Lions' Den. Van Kleiss is allied with one of the lions, although his sanity is extremely in question (the insanity could be faked, too, or not nearly as bad, but again, that's another essay). And yet, they're still there. Caesar even goes as far to say "the end justifies the means" regarding working under Black Knight. But why the heck are they still there if they don't like their employer?
One word: FUNDING. Rylander sent out his "presents" when the Consortium refused to give him more funding. He stated that they paid for the original Nanite Project, although not by name at the time, although it sounded like their funding came in later to the first project. Shadow Providence (the nickname MoA gave to the Plant's crew) doesn't have it. The only place that has it right now is Providence, which received funding after Rex was discovered. Therefore, Providence the only place they can possibly develop a cure or possibly something further than a cure. With what Rylander told Rex, they were developing nanites to end starvation, which would only be possible through meta nanites. It was never about power or greed, according to him. At the time, those lines didn't make sense. Now that we have the metas in the picture, they do.
Are they going to develop another set of metas, work on fixing the code on the scattered nanites, or both? It's not obvious, although Rylander too said that he was trying to "find a cure for what we created". I won't speculate further on their exact goal. No matter what it is, they're stuck working at Providence. That was why, in my opinion, Caesar had stayed behind instead of searching for Rex: it was where he could do the most good.
I'm ending it here for now because I'm starting to ramble, but it's food for thought.
I've opened up anonymous comments on this post if anyone's interested in commenting but doesn't have an account. Have at it!
