Going by the general lack of buzz around “Extrapolations” on social media platforms, it’s difficult to ascertain how many people are actually watching it, let alone how many people are enjoying it. I, for one, have been on the bandwagon since the first day, and I think that Scott Z. Burns’ show delivered the best episode so far last week. ICYMI, Episode 6 focused on an adult Ezra Haddad working as a proxy for those who have lost an important person in their life. While he tries not to forge any real connection with his clients, he becomes awfully fond of Natasha Alper and her daughter, Harlyn, and vice versa. So, when Ezra loses everything and is about to lose the memory of his dead wife, Lola, he and Natasha decide to stop holding onto their pasts and live the rest of their days, sharing the love they have for each other. For this week’s episode, the show makes a time jump of 2 years, i.e., 2068, and zeroes in on a New Year’s Eve dinner party.
Major Spoilers Ahead
August Bolo Drops A Bombshell Of Information
Titled “The Going Away Party,” the penultimate episode of “Extrapolations” opens in a polluted San Francisco, where Anna is arriving at a house to work as the housekeeper for the night. The party is being thrown by Sylvie and August Bolo. Despite Sylvie’s regal dress and an insane amount of food, she says that they aren’t the richest people in this dying world, and all this arrangement is going to cost them a lot of carbon credits (which are the currency in this futuristic version of Earth). But Sylvie ensures that she’s going to give Anna a good tip, as that’s the least she can do in this economy. We get a brief glimpse of August sitting all alone in his boxers and secretly talking about coming to some kind of decision before he’s interrupted by Sylvie, who wants him to get ready for the party. They have a tiff about their past and their present, which indicates that they haven’t been a happy couple for quite some time, but they’ve been married to each other for the longest time. Thankfully, they are forced to put a stop to their argument because their guests have arrived: Nic (August’s student) and Elodie (Nic’s girlfriend).
As they go over pleasantries, it becomes apparent that Sylvie has a “no touching” policy, and there’s probably a generation gap between Nic and Elodie because he isn’t so tech-savvy while she’s essentially an influencer who captures every moment of her life and puts it up on the internet via a camera attached to her lens. Anyway, they begin the night by having champagne that tastes like armpits and talking about August without letting him talk about himself. However, as soon as Nic brings up the topic of digitally preserving one’s consciousness and then reprinting oneself in a new body when the earth “heals itself,” August lights up because he has an announcement. He had apparently invested in a company called LifePause 15 years ago, and it has now become the number one spot for rich folks as it allows them to escape their mortal bodies and live in digital heaven until it’s safe to be mortal again. Since everyone was underestimating August, they’re all taken aback by it as they realize that they’re spending their last moments with him before he gets beamed into LifePause as soon as the Earth enters 2069. Yes, please feel free to draw parallels with the “Black Mirror” episode “San Junipero,” as it was centered around a similar concept.
Nic Ruins A Good Moment Between Sylvie and August
Sylvie initially assumes that August wants her to leave her life behind and come with him. But that’s where she’s wrong, because August has acquired the ticket to LifePause because of a lottery draw between all the investors. He doesn’t have a plus one. Now, technically speaking, Sylvie should be happy about it because we have seen her hatred towards August, and we know that she doesn’t want to digitize her consciousness. However, she isn’t even happy with the fact that August made such a big decision without consulting her. August says that he wants to experience things like food, air, sunlight, and the wilderness again. Sylvie disagrees and says that, since the aforementioned things are gone, they’ve to choose family and love over everything else. Elodie naively asks about Sylvie and August’s child, and this causes Sylvie to walk away from the dinner table. Nic goes after Sylvie to calm her down, and Elodie stays back to keep August company.
Now, both of these conversations go in two very different directions, with one being kind of expected and the other being kind of unexpected. Nic is clearly smitten by Sylvie, and she is a little attracted to him too. But due to Sylvie’s “no contact” policy, they can’t really act on their urges. So, they resort to pleasing themselves while looking at each other. In the meantime, Elodie tries to scam her way into LifePause by convincing August that, somewhere deep within, he still longs to stay on Earth with Sylvie. Therefore, while Sylvie and Nic essentially cheat on their respective partners, August tries to teach Elodie about the aptitude test she needs to pass in order to get into LifePause. Elodie gets through the questions, but upon seeing a hologram of a bear, she completely freaks out and fails. That’s exactly when Sylvie steps back in, and August opens his heart to her. He says that he didn’t want to hurt Sylvie in any way with his decision. In fact, he was sure Sylvie wouldn’t mind because he thinks she doesn’t see her as a person anyway. And just when it feels like Sylvie and August are about to reach common ground, Nic walks in with the zipper of his pants wide open, thereby sending the signal that Nic and Sylvie had intercourse behind August’s back.
‘Extrapolations’ Episode 7 Ending Explained: How Did Anna Get To Go To LifePause?
Instead of ending the night with the revelation that Sylvie and Nic have cheated on August and Elodie, respectively, they carry this air of awkwardness to the dinner table. After the food is served, everyone takes turns making a toast. August said that he has no regrets about going to LifePause after the splendid display of betrayal by Sylvie and Nic. Sylvie says that she is happy that, at least once in his life, August has managed to successfully plan something. Elodie says that everyone in that room is crazy and that she’s breaking up with Nic. Since he’s an idiot, Nic uses his toast to express his love to Sylvie, which understandably sends August off the edge and causes a four-way scuffle in the dining room. That comes to a stop when Sylvie and August’s daughter, Agnes, walks in. However, as soon as Sylvie shuts Agnes down, it becomes clear that she isn’t a human being but an android for infertile couples. On that note, August takes Agnes’ lifeless body upstairs, Nic and Elodie finally leave, and Sylvie pays Anna the tip she had promised her before going upstairs as well. After talking about their daughter, August admits that he doesn’t want to leave, and he hugs Sylvie because she doesn’t want him to leave.
At the end of “Extrapolations,” Episode 7, after she is done cleaning the mess the two couples had made, Anna takes August’s coast instead of her own and even cancels Sylvie’s tip. She confidently walks up to the LifePause taxi, posing as August, and leaves for her journey to digital heaven. That kind of underscores the show’s overarching message, which is to choose your loved ones over anything else. Throughout the show, each character (with the exception of Anna, of course) has their sights on something unattainable. August wants to go up to digital heaven even if his heart isn’t into it. Nic is after Sylvie. Elodie is after August’s seat in LifePause. And Sylvie is just plain confused because she has too much on her mind. As soon as the dust settles, though, Nic and Elodie realize that they aren’t a good match and decide to go their separate ways. August and Sylvie understand that, despite their decades of differences, they still want to live with each other. The bottom line is that all of them have a reason to complete their life cycle instead of putting all their eggs in a nonexistent, futuristic basket. Anna doesn’t have anything that can keep her rooted in the present. Since that’s not her fault and it’s a situation that’s purely circumstantial (or environmental because Anna’s loved ones were killed in a heat wave), it makes sense for her to reboot her life and keep her hope alive in a different way. Whether or not it’ll work out for any of them depends on the environmental conditions and the servers.
