Altered Carbon continues as we head into episode 2 of the new Sci-Fi Netflix series.

Now before anyone mentions anything, there will be spoilers for the episode down below.

We start the episode by seeing Takeshi Kovacs (Joel Kinnaman) and Kristin Ortega (Martha Higareda) morning routines. Kovacs wakes up and scolds his AI companion for the hotel Poe (Chris Conner) for letting the attorney Oumou Prescott (Tamara Taylor) into his room while he has no clothes on, and Ortega reluctantly wakes up to go for Boxing training with her partner Abboud (Waleed Zuaiter). The scene with Kovacs is funny and awkward since he is talking to the attorney with no clothes and Poe keeps trying to cover him up. While the scene with Ortega and Abboud is fun and intense, we get to learn why Ortega keeps a tracker on Kovacs as Abboud tells her to stop following him like a stalker.

Next, we go to a Sleeving (Body Swapping) Faculty where Kovacs and Prescott go to get some answers, only to find Laurens Bancroft (James Purefoy) getting back into his current sleeve and talks to Kovacs. This scene plays out as a world-building moment because we get to learn more about how and what Sleeves (Empty Bodies) are and what purpose they serve in this future.

Then, we move to a poker game that Poe is playing with his AI friends and this scene doesn’t really serve much but it will get mentioned because it has some great effects and it also gives some backstory to the Poe and the AI he calls his friends.

Next, we see Kovacs watch a bunch of videos of death threats that Bancroft has received and stumbles on one that sees’s a masked man show his gun to the camera. Kovacs is able to get a Serial Number and track down the gunman to his home and tries to question him about the video. We later find out that the man’s name is Vernon Elliot (Ato Essandoh) and he is trying to save his daughter. This conflict as a whole takes up a huge chunk of the episode and is awesome from start to finish. From the continuous fighting and special effects that are presented when Kovacs uses a VR headset to look where Elliot’s daughter Lizzie.

After this, Kovacs Visits a futuristic strip joint to find talk to one of the girls to find out more information about Lizzie and where to find her when he is then ambushed afterwards by Vernon. This turns sour because then Kovacs and Vernon are attacked by some gangster with some using a power enhancer. This scene was filled with action and violence to make it entertaining and it looked visually pleasing as well.

Finally, we end the episode by Kovacs coming back to his hotel home when he is greeted by Bancroft’s Wife who wants to sleep with Kovacs. They then spend the last few minutes of the episode having sex.

This was another great episode of Altered Carbon, it had a nice balance of both world building and action that keeps the viewer entertained and interested in what this world has to offer. Let’s hope that this series can continue going up from here.

9/10