You felt the bafflement as well when Major Cage woke up at Heathrow Airport again. You felt it. So confused just like him. But instead of draining your imaginations to think through all the possibilities, you just kept watching. Because you know you will find out the truth sooner than him.
The story started in London and the combat happened in France. Everything went on logically as it would: A famous battle fought in Verdun. The united Defense Force had a headquarter in a big city like London. An inexperienced officer sent to the battlefield was rather peculiar but not impossible under extreme situations. Until everything resets itself to the beginning……again and again.
# Bewildered and defeated
Normally we don’t die and revive several times. And that’s where the creepy feeling comes. You felt that Major Cage was on a rat race chasing something unknown. He was never going to succeed because the Mimics were too fast and powerful. What’s worse is they even had the ability to look through the future.
Einstein defined insanity as “doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.” So to keep sane, Cage had to try different approaches and correct past mistakes after every resets. Or the infinite time loops will exhaust him to mental death (which is terrifying).
They say that a new tech will save human from extinction. It’s the Jaeger in Pacific Rim, the exoskeleton battle suit in Edge of Tomorrow. In the real world it might be the nuclear fusion technology. But what really saves us is a positive attitude toward life.
# Mimics of Life
By now you should be surprised by how this resembles our god damned life. We are trapped in this mortal corpse and forced to live to the next day. And all the things just keep repeating themselves: We are still poor and fat by tomorrow, we still need to go to work and face our boss every single day. But there’s a glimpse of hope lies in this endless loop just like you saw in Cage’s eyes. That we can actually get better and stronger in the process.
# Loopholes
Even if the Mimics can foresee our actions, we are still able to find holes in loops. For there’s no such thing as invincible (or it would be everywhere already). And when we realize that, we basically become invincible. Because we now understand we can improve over time and eventually have the chance to beat the big boss down.
It also explains by they way why we are addicted to video games and movies. We die soon but we revive sooner. With the right tactics and enough practice, we are the king of the (virtual) world. The only problem left is we are in fact living in another material world which is hard, cruel and longer than you hope for.
# We all want to learn Japanese at some point…
Did you notice the Japanese broadcast in the military base or the Japanese user interface language in the battle suit control panel? If you did, it’s time to start actually learning Japanese instead of just dreaming about learning it. We don’t realize that life itself is a game (opens new window). And we haven’t won the game yet because we haven’t practiced enough or found the right strategy.
Operation downfall ends with no reason. It says that Mimic activity has ceased following a power surge in Paris. Someone knows the truth, others don’t. Somebody remembers history, others don’t. Life goes on.
And we’ll still be alive tomorrow.
