Psycho-Pass 20: "Where Justice Lies"
Back! As predicted, my progress through these last few episodes has slowed down drastically due to theater. But that’s okay, because Makishima can’t even bother to tuck in his shirt properly before murdering a guy.
That’s right, I said it.
When we last left, Sibyl had decided to reveal itself (themself? themselves?) to Tsunemori. And…I took so many screencaps.
In this scene, Tsunemori is both quick to put the pieces together and (validly) obstinate when it comes to following Sibyl’s choice of conversation topics. She quickly figures out that Kagari must have been killed here. Sibyl answers that it was For The Greater Good.
A still frame doesn’t capture it, but Tsunemori’s grip is shaking violently. The Dominator’s not a gun right now, but an implacable voice for the Sibyl collective.
Unsurprisingly, Tsunemori does not find this a satisfying explanation, and brings up Makishima. Sibyl freely admits that there will always “criminally asymptomatic people”, i.e. people who the system cannot scan properly, and that in fact those are the people best to add to the system, since they have a distinct understanding of humanity. In this way,
“…the more new ideas and values it brings to our perception.”
Tsunemori’s first reaction, and my first reaction, is horror, even though Specim-M sort of explained this already. Everyone in here is a criminal? Not in the “Crime Coefficient” sense but in the “I go murder people and the automatic system can’t catch me” sense?
But no, that’s not what they said. The system adds people it can’t read, but that doesn’t automatically mean all of those people are criminals. Since Psycho-Pass name-drops plenty of novels and philosophers, I’ll indulge in some of my own: Robert Pirsig’s Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance and Ralph Ellison’s Invisible Man both discuss the idea that “insanity” is relative to society. This may just be a more refined version of that: if Sibyl can’t understand you, you are dangerous and uncontrollable (but potentially useful) regardless of what you actually do.
Still, this is a disturbing idea. In Specim-M’s recruitment speech, they made it sound like they needed people without empathy in order to make logical decisions. But this is something else, the fear I had from that time: what if that next brain has a disproportionate impact on the priorities of the collective? What if the goals of Sibyl no longer align with the goals of the people living in Japan?
…well, then we get back to my original fledgling theories from back when I still thought Sibyl was a strong AI.
But in aggregate, those individual personalities don’t matter. The system is made up of their will,
Um. Time out. What is this universal standard of value that doesn’t include ethics? Ah, well, never mind.
Tsunemori is running out of steam. It’s hard to argue with a mechanical voice that has answers for everything.
Because Sibyl really, really wants Makishima, and an effective Division 1 would still be the best way to make that happen. And because Tsunemori isn’t actually going to share this with anyone. She grew up in the Sibylized society, and she saw the riots from last week. As abhorrent as she might find the whole system, it gets results, and there’s nothing to put in its place at the moment.
“I know you won’t follow through on a threat to expose my nature, condemning this event to eternal repetition. It goes against the moral part of you too strongly, whatever the short-term needs of the part of you that wants to win the argument. I see all your thoughts as they form, do you truly think you can bluff me?”
(from Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality, chapter 10)
It’s also incredibly frustrating to talk to someone who knows your thoughts before you do.
Tsunemori tries to make one more point. “I think Makishima’s crime should be judged in a correct way, that’s all. If you all broke the law in the past, you should atone for your crimes in a fitting way.”
Sibyl: “Our contribution to society is more than enough compensation.”
Tsunemori:
After the commercial break, we get a flashback.
We know it’s a flashback because Yuki is there. RIP Yuki. *cry*
As we already know, Tsunemori had options when she graduated.
Unlike most people, Tsunemori wasn’t just given a choice between Office A and Office B. She really, truly had to pick a direction for her life. How is she supposed to do that?
Kagari!
We’ve transitioned from straight flashback to some kind of spiritual journey. These are all lines that have been said in the show before, but Tsunemori’s reactions are different. (Those who’ve seen the standalone Doctor Who episode “Blink” will know exactly what I’m talking about.)
Back in Episode 2, Kagari was mostly mocking Tsunemori with this speech, and she didn’t really have an answer for him. This time, though, she’s realizing that she appreciates the choice. And,
I am torn. On the one hand, Tsunemori’s not wrong. Having a lot of good options is stressful, and comparing stress across different people doesn’t make it any less real. It’s really okay to recognize that.
On the other hand, screw your light-Hued privilege. Wordplay entirely intended.
Okay, back to the—oh, hello.
Right. Makishima is the other person who’s had choices, and the one who’s appreciated free will all along. In some form, anyway. Does that mean Tsunemori’s become like him?
(Again, it’s really well done how these are lines that have already been uttered in real life.)
In this state, Tsunemori is actually able to accept that similarity. Sibyl doesn’t make something a crime, or good, or evil.
Um, hang on, Tsunemori. Don’t jump all the way to “morality is relative”. I’m pretty sure some of the criminals you’ve caught have “accepted” their crimes.
Makishima’s conclusion, however, was that Sibylized humans were not really acting on their will, and therefore they had no value. Tsunemori can’t accept that…
…and so she’s visited one last time by a vision of Yuki. Not the kidnap victim, but the friend who had a normal, boring job and a reasonably comfortable life provided by society.
…and Tsunemori is sure she wasn’t. But…she could have been.
Tsunemori awakes from her dream and knows what she has to do: blackmail Sibyl for Kogami’s life.
She may not have an answer to everything, but this is one solid thing she can do. She also definitely gets Gryffindor points for the gesture of pressing the gun into her own chest. There are plenty of other ways Sibyl could subdue or kill her even without that symbolic gesture, but it’s still something, and she does it without flinching.
Unfortunately, she’s not quite Slytherin enough to get the terms of the deal correct: the hunt for Kogami gets called off once Makishima is captured. No guarantees about what happens if Kogami is found first.
It’s worth a reminder that she’s not using Sibyl’s secret as her bargaining chip. They both know that she wouldn’t actually follow through on that threat, and if Sibyl ever thought otherwise it really would have to subdue or kill her. Instead, it’s Makishima’s life she’s using, and while she hasn’t committed murder yet Sibyl can’t quite put it past her.
There is one other hole in this plan. If Makishima dies—including if Kogami kills him—the deal is off. So Tsunemori has extra reason to get there first now. Sibyl knows this.
This would be plenty for this episode but we’re actually only about 3/4 of the way through. The MKQED crew has found the guy Makishima murdered, and Kogami has been there too. None of them really think Kogami was the killer, but they haven’t figured out what to do instead.
Ginoza grumbles at Tsunemori for being late, but she hardly notices in her new state of mind. Instead, she pulls a Kogami-style analysis of Kogami himself, so much so that the scriptwriters decide to whack us over the head with it.
Her analysis: if Kogami had wanted to delay them, he easily could have. That means that he’s more concerned about Makishima getting away than about the MPPPoE on his tail, and that most likely he’d leave them a clue. The rest of the team is a little taken aback by her sudden incisive analysis.
And Kogami did leave them a clue. A message in a bottle, explaining the whole plan…as Makishima arrives at the biology lab.
The credits roll. In contrast to his earlier dishevelment, Makishima is now wearing a lab coat. I guess he has to amuse himself somehow.
And near the end, we get a shot of Kogami that matches the comic-book-style opening.
This is it. Two episodes to go.