Ideology Behind Ad Vitam

Episode 2 of Ad Vitam starts where episode 1 left us. One of our main characters Christa was beaten up at the end of episode 1 and was rushed to the hospital and the plan to get the suicide cult that Christa was apart of was a success. Episode 2 starts with Christa in the hospital, she is talking with a boy named Nahel. They talk about what happened at the ceremony that Christa was at. Christa says she saw the leader of the suicide cult she was apart of. Nahel says that is impossible because he is dead. Then Nahel leans in to kiss Christa as if they are lovers and he disappears when a nurse opens the door. This makes us think that Christa imagined that entire encounter. After we see that, Darius our other main character walks into Christa's room in the morning or day time and finds out Christa is still going to part take in finding the suicide cult. Lesky interrupts the private moment that Darius was having with Christa by telling Darius that they found the where the call came from. Darius and Lesky go to investigate the place and find out they aren't going to be able to figure out who made the call because the owner of the place doesn't keep track of who is entering their place of business. We then see Christa at her parents home and she gets a visitor so to say. The boy then says lets go if you want me to help now is your chance. They proceed to leave Christa's parent's home and Christa cannot see where they are going. Once they arrive at their destination the boy is revealed to be someone from the same cult Christa was a part of. His name is Linus, and he is a survivor of the last mass suicide. He gives Christa food and then while they are eating Linus is interrupted by a girl who takes him away to talk with someone. While Linus is away Christa looks around and finds a tape with Nahel's name on it. She takes it and returns to her seat. After they finish eating, Linus takes her to a place where minors are allowed to "let loose" and be "carefree". He then starts talking about how there will be more mass suicide occurrences. He then takes out a Rubik's Cube that is all black. He fiddles with it and it opens and contains drugs. He urges Christa to take one and she eventually does. After taking the drug she has visions or what we later find out to be a simulated close to death experience. She finally wake up on a train and then she is in the police precinct. This is when we find out that the drug Christa took was a type of meth. This also when Darius finds out what happens after Christa left her home. Once Christa is home she watches the tape and it is Nahel. He is getting reprimanded for not being somewhere when he needed to be. They repeat this line multiple times: "Actions speak, actions don't lie". After watching the video Christa goes out to the garden where there is a tree which she hid a gun in and carved Nahel's name on. She takes the gun and checks to see if its loaded because she is about to commit suicide. Luckily her mother catches her and stops Christa from doing so. Christa then spends gets sent out of her parents house and gets picked up by Darius and spends the rest of the episode at his house. Darius and Lesky are then at the place where the phone call came from and they spot the girl that was with Linus when Christa was with him. Darius goes in and chases her for a long time until she reaches a dead end and kills her self by jumping over a wall and falling to her death. This causes the owner of the party business to lash out in anger and he then repeats the line that Nahel was saying on the news.

    The ideology in this show is suicide is a weird thing because death has been cured and many people believe that those who commit suicide are dumb for taking their lives. Those who commit suicide believe that living forever is wrong. These ideologies slam heads all the time because they oppose each other. This is shown by the fact that Darius and Lesky are trying to prevent something, like the mass suicide that happened 10 years ago, from happening again. And characters like Linus are trying to make people commit suicide more because people try to force regeneration down their kids throats.

The Culture Around Regeneration Technology

    Ad Vitam, is a Netflix Original series set in the future. Episode 1 starts out on the birthday of the "elder", the "elder" is the oldest living person. Its her 169th birthday and the whole world celebrates this day. The reason this woman is 169 is because in this futuristic world people don't die because of old age, in fact, death has been cured. And because death is cured, suicide is the main problem in this society. After the celebration for the elder has died down a bit we are taken to a beach where there are many bodies of teenagers floating in the water. This is when we meet one of our main characters Darius. Darius is a 119 year old man who is a criminal investigator. He investigates the scene the next morning and sees a tattoo on one of the bodies that links the body to a suicide cult. This suicide cult had done something similar to the scene that Darius is investigating. 10 years ago there was a mass suicide at a stadium. After going to the victims home and searching his room Darius and his partner, Lesky, find pills. The pills lead Darius to find Kenji a dealer of sorts, Kenji simply says that the reason he gave the victim the pills was because the victim wanted to forget. Darius then remembers that there was a survivor from 10 years ago. We now might our second main character Christa. Christa has been at a Psychiatric Center for those 10 years. Darius talks with Christa and they come to an agreement that Christa will try and make contact with the suicide cult she was apart of. This process leads Christa to a cult that doesn't believe they should regenerate. Christa is invited by the cult leader to watch a member of that cult "reach enlightenment", which is the nice way of saying die. After the member "reaches enlightenment" it seems to me that it is customary for everyone to hug each other. When this happens Christa is pulled into a hug and her tattoo that ties her to the suicide cult is revealed to the cult leader. The cult leader then has Christa beat up outside where they met. Darius being able to see and hear everything that's happening to Christa rushes to her aid. He gets there after the beating is finished and rushes Christa to the hospital. The episode ends with Christa receiving a text from the suicide cult that she was trying to make contact with. 

    As I explained before the technology in this world is very advanced. Genetic engineering is the focus of the show because as stated before these people of the future have cured death. This affects the culture of this world in a very interesting way. The way this is represented is at the beginning. While Darius and Lesky search the victims room, Angus Singh, a counselor of death talks with the victims mother to try and get her to understand that her son is gone and is never coming back. It is hard for her to grasp that her son is really dead and isn't coming back because she isn't accustomed to people dying, because death has been "cured".  

    The way that these people of the future have cured death was through "regeneration". The way the show makes "regeneration" possible is through a bath of sorts. If you lived in this world and wished to "regenerate", you would get into a casket like chamber that is filled with water. Before you submerge in the water, you take off all of your clothes and you put a mouth piece that looks similar to a scuba divers mouth piece in your mouth and then you completely submerge your whole body into the casket. While you are submerged, a bright white light will flash and the chamber will hum. This "regeneration bath" cures diseases, and old age essentially making you immortal. The only thing that can kill you is, severe accidents, and you committing suicide.