How David Martinez Lost His Happy Ending | Edgerunners Character Analysis

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  • Опубліковано 22 гру 2024

КОМЕНТАРІ • 262

  • @kurdtcoben
    @kurdtcoben 9 місяців тому +718

    I am certain that almost every tragedy in Edgerunners could have been avoided if people actually talked honestly with each other.

    • @KP-lq2ux
      @KP-lq2ux 9 місяців тому +85

      thats kinda the problem, the environment fosters the exact opposite in people.

    • @jingbot1071
      @jingbot1071 9 місяців тому +44

      It's almost like alienation fosters nightmareish ultra capitalism or something

    • @Nugslab
      @Nugslab 9 місяців тому

      more like nightmarish ultra capitalism fosters alienation

    • @raptorboss6688
      @raptorboss6688 9 місяців тому +4

      @@jingbot1071 🤯

    • @microwavespork5178
      @microwavespork5178 9 місяців тому +9

      cept maybe Pilar-

  • @Ghostzero
    @Ghostzero 10 місяців тому +360

    Lydi this is a great character synopsis of Edge Runners. David hiding behind a paper thin veil of false strength. Striving to become the very thing that he knew would ultimately kill him. This is the curse of Night City, a constant power struggle of one's character to be something more to only realize that just by being true to youself, is enough.

    • @lydiscott
      @lydiscott  10 місяців тому +23

      ITS SUCH… a sad tale of self destruction like uuughhhh 😭 THANK YOU SO MUCH GHOST THAT MEANS A LOT! Thank you taking the time to watch and comment, seriously! ❤️

    • @alexhulea2735
      @alexhulea2735 9 місяців тому +8

      Well, there is also the fact he builds his legend on a foundation of sand. He does not improve himself (except at the start), he just adds cyberware to make up for his lacks. Only to end up against the only other edgerunner who relies on chrome instead of talent: Arasaka's butcher. The difference between them is the last thing he ever learns 😢

    • @MegaShot12
      @MegaShot12 6 місяців тому +1

      ​@@lydiscott I wonder how often you cried making this video... cuz i for sure know i would've cried a whole bunch. 😢

  • @MrShishaw
    @MrShishaw 9 місяців тому +237

    When thinking of David there is a quote from the revenge of the sith novelization that always pops in my head, "finally, when you could have saved her, when you could have gone away with her, when you could have been thinking about her, you were only thinking about yourself..."

    • @lydiscott
      @lydiscott  9 місяців тому +18

      AHHHH yes!!!! Very fitting!!!

    • @razorburn645
      @razorburn645 6 місяців тому +3

      Sure a good novelization.

    • @user-pv1yx5dq6l
      @user-pv1yx5dq6l 5 місяців тому +9

      Anakin is perhaps the greatest tragedy of all fiction.

    • @TheBayzent
      @TheBayzent 10 днів тому

      Spot on.

  • @coletrain6545
    @coletrain6545 9 місяців тому +184

    The problem is we never know what David's dreams are. Mom wanted him to be a student/corpo and then he just went along with being an edgerunner. Never knew what he actually wanted

    • @littleregg3164
      @littleregg3164 9 місяців тому +27

      Remember in castlevania when the captain told Issac. "If you don't write your own story you will be part of someone else's?"

    • @Saint-8
      @Saint-8 9 місяців тому +6

      I think it's a case of a misguided desire for freedom. One that gets warped into a desire to fulfill others.

    • @kevb3399
      @kevb3399 9 місяців тому +7

      His dream was to realise the dream of Lucy, is it not?

    • @AEROStrik3
      @AEROStrik3 9 місяців тому +12

      @@kevb3399 still not quite his own dream. something lucy pointed out

    • @kevb3399
      @kevb3399 8 місяців тому +5

      @@AEROStrik3 ofcourse you are correct, but i think Davids "dream" was to realise other peoples dream. Lucy points out he is just like that, other people before himself. Like becoming a night city legend as maine wanted and top of arasaka tower like his mother wanted. And ofcourse getting Lucy to the moon. Even if it wasnt his dream for real i just want it to be something like this. Or the ending is even more sad then it already is 😅 but well i think we can all agree on 1 thing. The season was too short. Or they could have stretched it out over 2 seasons. Get more story in between his 'kid fase and buffed the hell out fase' between him and Lucy. I think we would all have loved that. Also in the case adam smasher didnt actually kill him and made him a construct would be a nice season 2. Fingers crossed !!

  • @bald_11
    @bald_11 10 місяців тому +267

    Beautifully put together and well said, it's a shame that edgerunners ended like that but you know what they say. "a happy ending? for folks like us? wrong city, wrong people."

    • @BigrookieMER
      @BigrookieMER 9 місяців тому +10

      That's true, if David decided to live peacefully, he, or people he cares about would end up like his mother, dead by random violence that happens in that city all the time.

    • @MrL42065
      @MrL42065 8 місяців тому +2

      Couldn’t of said it better myself

    • @cameronharding2878
      @cameronharding2878 8 місяців тому +2

      Me after stubbing my toe:

    • @BattleManiac7
      @BattleManiac7 3 місяці тому

      Part of the reason why I think the only happy endings in CP2077 involve leaving NC. Can't be happy there, even the rich and powerful, the Emperor himself, died in NC.

  • @kagekun1198
    @kagekun1198 10 місяців тому +196

    David Martinez's story is how another soul has been lost to the curse of Night City. David's end is quite similar to the hollowness of the Sun ending. Both David and V had made it to near the top in terms of fame and wealth. They even stayed at the same penthouse. But still, both wanted more, and that would end up pushing away their significant others in chase of that dream.

    • @JustinLT212
      @JustinLT212 9 місяців тому +13

      (First of all if anyone reading this hasn’t played through Cyberpunk 2077 DONT READ MY COMMENT SPOILERS AHEAD.)
      That’s just one of the endings, my first play through with V I took him away from night city, to be with Panam even if it’s for the last few months of his life, I refused to let V become another victim of night city. Instead be around those he loves and cares for, the ones that took him in. I played all the other endings. The most crushing one is honestly the one where you trust arasaka and Hellman (why would you trust a man that his name begins with Hell) where V is put under strenuous testing and is promised help but becomes just another puppet in Arasaka’s corporate game. They eventually figure out mikoshi as saburo takes over yorinobu’s body and the relic becomes available to the billionaires as V watched this his (and Johnnys) dreams are crushed as well as his mental state making him eventually become a potato not being able to solve a 4 piece rubix cube… that was absolutely crushing and just goes to show what happens when you trust corpo suits in night city, as well as real life in my opinion. Honestly even the su**ide option isn’t as bad as this, as it was Vs choice.

    • @sebastianfontanez1081
      @sebastianfontanez1081 9 місяців тому +10

      Tiny thing, it isn't the _exact_ same penthouse, since the position of it is entirely wrong when referencing the buildings outside the windows. It's probably one of many identical penthouses throughout Night City.

    • @kevind3974
      @kevind3974 9 місяців тому +4

      V wins thou. That’s the difference. V had to come to terms with death long before David did. David on the other hand took to many risks with his body and soul in pride that when he finally did make it to the top his body could not keep up.
      Canon v thou has barely any major mods. Stuff you had at start, things you get during main story (except for bartmos she dos get that) and the cinematic mods (mantises blades, tendons)
      Besides the bartmos kill switch none of her stuff is high level. She was in the end a monster with two feet already in the grave going at it solo and she wins.
      You see the city didn’t kill her. Every gang tried that and every single gang and corp which tried was left in ruin or on fire. What killed her was the world. Which is ironic as it seems based on the dlc, blue eyes and Gary her true cures on the moon. The same place David would have ended up in if he to beat the city

    • @GorchakovVS
      @GorchakovVS 9 місяців тому +3

      @@kevind3974
      >Canon v thou has barely any major mods
      That's bs, you can get chromed out the wazoo in the game too, it's just not displayed on V's body because devs were lazy.

    • @kevind3974
      @kevind3974 9 місяців тому

      @@GorchakovVS thats gameplay. when im talking canon v im talking the v from the cinimatics and what you are forced to get thru the mainstory alone.

  • @annaturquoise7701
    @annaturquoise7701 9 місяців тому +37

    I remember watching the 7th episode and bursting deeply into tears, right at the middle, because it’s obvious they won’t realize how beautiful these moments are, every again, and how welcoming and great it was that a show understands such a simple, yet deeply profound and moving thing.

  • @Ash_906
    @Ash_906 10 місяців тому +116

    I knew Martinez would die later, but i never saw Maine's death coming he was literally a father figure for David This is the end of the line for me kid Reapers callin my name 😢 it kept me traumatized for 2 days with that soundtrack

    • @lydiscott
      @lydiscott  10 місяців тому +8

      It hits harder every time. Episode 6 was so so good.

    • @Knights_Oath
      @Knights_Oath 9 місяців тому +4

      I knew Maine was going to die, its telegraphed pretty early. His death hit me harder then David. The way he died and how when he knows he is going to die. He stops calling him kid but by his first name as an equal. Only to shortly sacrifice himself shortly afterward.
      Maine reminds me of a friend and mentor who did the same thing. He took care of his people and died protecting them. Knowing what I know now, he was suffering from PTSD instead and was looking for a way out. He died to relive his pain and to protect people he cared about. Till Valhalla brother.

    • @AEROStrik3
      @AEROStrik3 9 місяців тому

      Song is Zurawei By Wydech (Ugory). Loved blasting this while I drive around NC

  • @TheFlyingSailorYT
    @TheFlyingSailorYT 9 місяців тому +63

    "Happy Endings? Wrong city, wrong people."

  • @gavinvick3592
    @gavinvick3592 9 місяців тому +19

    In the world of cyberpunk, it’s yeet or be yeeted. Yeet others by chroming up, or be yeeted by a chromed up psycho

  • @bmo5852
    @bmo5852 9 місяців тому +23

    One Edgerunners fanfiction I really like is a Spider-Man cross-over.
    Not even because of the Superhero stuff, but because David finds what he really needed in Edgerunners, purpose. His own purpose to get him out of bed in the morning. He was always aimless in Edgerunners, only wanting to do good for the people he cared about.
    With the legacy and powers of Spider-Man, perhaps he now has the words to express what he wants in life.
    Responsibility; for the people he loves, for the city he lives in and the legacy he upholds.
    With Spider-Man, David now always has a North Star to guide him forward, and by protecting others, shielding them from the loss of their loved ones, he also saves his own soul.
    The complete difference between the core themes of Spider-Man and Cyberpunk is fascinating parallel consider.
    Apologies for rambling, this video just reminded me of why I love that fic so much

    • @jtho8937
      @jtho8937 7 місяців тому +5

      Would that happen to be "Neon Webs"?

    • @bmo5852
      @bmo5852 7 місяців тому +3

      @@jtho8937 bingo

    • @jtho8937
      @jtho8937 7 місяців тому +2

      @@bmo5852 Hm. Maybe I should pick it back up.

  • @judebunkelman
    @judebunkelman 10 місяців тому +43

    I really want to stay at your house took over my playlist after this anime easy 10/10

  • @annaturquoise7701
    @annaturquoise7701 9 місяців тому +36

    “But David blinded by the need of fulfilling the dreams of those he cares about, cannot see what’s right there in front of him”
    his mom didn’t know how to do the exact same thing, that’s why he ended this way

    • @annaturquoise7701
      @annaturquoise7701 9 місяців тому

      he didn’t experience unconditional love from his mother (she wanted to see him as an ideal) so he doesn’t understand the concept of unconditional love

    • @annaturquoise7701
      @annaturquoise7701 9 місяців тому +2

      he didn’t understand that Lucy loves him just as he is

  • @sorochan8994
    @sorochan8994 10 місяців тому +15

    I don’t know how to describe this feeling but discovering your channel on a topic I have been yearning to find, it feels like I’m enticed to a podcast I cannot shake my attention off to. Thank you for making this video, I truly enjoyed seeing this spectacular synopsis on the characters and seeing their own views placed here ^^

    • @lydiscott
      @lydiscott  9 місяців тому +2

      That means a lot! Thank you for your kind words! ☺️

  • @Furebel
    @Furebel 9 місяців тому +53

    Happy ending? Wrong city, wrong people. David got the best ending anyone could have - With a smile, and zero regrets.

    • @marley7868
      @marley7868 6 місяців тому +7

      yeah and he earned adam smasher of all peoples respect he and he went out like a true punk I think adam sums it up best "ahh well"

  • @miekamoore
    @miekamoore 10 місяців тому +13

    I love this analysis and how you’ve broken it down here!!

  • @majestic8550
    @majestic8550 9 місяців тому +6

    ''you didnt take me to the moon but you where there with me'' hits different lmao

  • @DJ_LilPaycheck
    @DJ_LilPaycheck 9 місяців тому +16

    I feel like we all knew this deep down that all the tragedy was avoidable that simply breaking up the gang and leaving Night City was always the best choice just like the Street Kid beginning for V had that version of V just stayed in Atlanta they could've scraped by and lived a long life but the allure of grandeur and becoming a legend was too enticing Johnny said it best "Wrong city, wrong people" and a quote from a complete different game really encapsulates life in Night City "Half as long, twice as bright" Zeke/Cole McGrath InFamous 2

    • @sargonsblackgrandfather2072
      @sargonsblackgrandfather2072 4 місяці тому

      That line was lifted from Blade Runner, “the flame that burns twice as bright burns half as long, and you have burned so very, very bright”

    • @TheBayzent
      @TheBayzent 10 днів тому

      David couldn't do that because, to him, it would have meant failing Maine. We know in reality it wouldn't, in fact, it would have been doing what Maine wanted him to do, but David isn't the best listener.

  • @lololFloro
    @lololFloro 9 місяців тому +7

    0:51 frustratingly avoidable tragedy. I hate it but it's what makes it so good

  • @jakefoley9539
    @jakefoley9539 9 місяців тому +6

    I like that your thumbnail says "an avoidable tragedy". To me, a fundamental aspect of a tragedy is that it's avoidable. A true tragic character is presented with many opportunities to change their trajectory, and they choose not to. You understood the character of David perfectly. He's not enviable. He's a wasted life clinging to the fringes of society, and without any real internal motivation, he's susceptible to any form of external motivation that happens to come along. He could have changed his ways at any point, but he consistently chose not to until it was too late.
    Great topic, great video. Surprised you don't have more subs.

  • @Venom1846
    @Venom1846 10 місяців тому +22

    Love the video, and your takeaway of David is fantastic for it's uniqueness. Personally, I never saw him as anything other than a doomed hero from the start. Not by his own choices, but because Night City itself never allows anyone those kinds of choices. A cyberpunk kind of predestination where his choices were laid out for him before he was even born- because the city never allows anyone to make a choice. Corpos will eat each other alive, and Runners will follow the example of Corpos or be eaten by them as light snacks. In 2077, there is no escape and that's the horror of it.

  • @Zathurious
    @Zathurious 5 місяців тому +4

    Aww man, it brings tears to my eyes thinking about how David was so focused on getting what he wanted, that he lost what he needed.
    One of the oldest tropes in the book. A character pours all of their energy into what they want, and ends up sacrificing everything they have to get it.

  • @Peruniv
    @Peruniv 10 місяців тому +12

    This show hits so hard, just finished watching it…

  • @NickolaiFury
    @NickolaiFury 9 місяців тому +4

    This was excellently done. I love Edgerunners content and you have one of the best character analyses I've seen. Always a pleasure to see such great work.

    • @lydiscott
      @lydiscott  9 місяців тому +1

      Awww! Thank you!

  • @Brightsunlight
    @Brightsunlight 9 місяців тому +3

    Thanks for breaking my heart all over again 10/10 video

    • @lydiscott
      @lydiscott  9 місяців тому

      Thank YOU for watching! 😂

  • @voltagemike4457
    @voltagemike4457 9 місяців тому +3

    that was increadible.... i absolutly hate this serie for how crazy realistically sad in a way that could have been avoided.
    but the way you explained and showed ? i just felt it again, you got talent

    • @lydiscott
      @lydiscott  9 місяців тому

      I’m so glad you enjoyed the video! Thank you! Truly, Edgerunners is a great show.

  • @Ash_906
    @Ash_906 10 місяців тому +8

    And my favourite was Rebecca, David and Julio infiltrating the base David new perspective was pretty jacked up with the new chromes and leg implants but as u said no-one is special

  • @AlibucketsBeats
    @AlibucketsBeats 10 місяців тому +4

    Perfect analysis I’ve seen on David. My boy was special 💙

  • @kevintierney5711
    @kevintierney5711 9 місяців тому +2

    The algorithm let me discover your channel at the ground floor. Cheers to reaching 10K subs and beyond. Great video!

    • @lydiscott
      @lydiscott  9 місяців тому

      Aww thank you very much for watching!!!

  • @person3275
    @person3275 9 місяців тому +1

    Man the analysis is crazy. Great work

  • @davidduncan5897
    @davidduncan5897 9 місяців тому +7

    I feel like you have a better understanding of these characters and their themes than most. This was an excellent analysis. Do you possibly have any plans to do videos for the 2077 characters as well?

    • @lydiscott
      @lydiscott  9 місяців тому +1

      Thank you so much for your kind words. I definitely do! There’s so much to unpack. 😂

  • @Internetguycj01
    @Internetguycj01 7 місяців тому +1

    Just found your channel and am so stoked to see the continued content. More cyberpunk!

    • @lydiscott
      @lydiscott  7 місяців тому

      Thank you so much, I’ll keep the videos coming!

  • @DuxSupremus
    @DuxSupremus 9 місяців тому +2

    I think this is a great analysis of David and why he meets a tragic end, and articulates the themes of miscommunication, as well as humanity versus dreams, quite well.
    I do also think that this gets conflated with an entirely different topic in the intro and outro though, first given as, "But Edgerunners makes one thing very clear to us in its first three minutes: no matter how strong you think you are, there is ALWAYS someone stronger." This is... not exactly true, precisely as embodied in Adam Smasher (at least initially).
    While Smasher is the immovable object that David smashes into, and was in the tabletop settings of Cyberpunk 2013 and 2020 a "rocks fall you die" lose condition that players couldn't beat and simply had to run from, he's at once the strongest and not the strongest. He's beaten by V in Cyberpunk 2077, most obviously, but even in his prime, even with much better gear (a DaiOni powered armor) he was only equal to Morgan Blackhand. The most interesting thing about Smasher and Blackhand is that they were nobodies before being picked up by Arasaka and Militech. Smasher was a bad soldier turned gang member, and Blackhand was an average soldier.
    Smasher and Blackhand both eventually became the strongest, they weren't just The Man from the outset of their careers. Meanwhile, Cyberpunk 2077 is essentially the story of V coming to eclipse them. Yet while V has Johnny's engram on the Relic possibly helping hold off cyberpsychosis, and Smasher was just always psychotic, Blackhand was mostly just a guy with some comparatively modest cybernetics-he was just "a solo's solo", a consummate professional. What seems to have united all three (generally, as V is up to the player) is they did what they all did for themselves first.
    Given these examples both before and after David, David's belief that he could become the strongest was not wrong. It absolutely is possible to become the strongest, or at least as strong as anyone else. (Can you truly do it alone? Probably not. You'll probably have a backer, like Smasher and Blackhand did, but that's just life.) Where he went wrong was how he went about it and why he tried to do it in the first place, as you excellently identified. He didn't really want it for himself, and so he never had the mastery of himself to withstand the corrosion of self that cyberpsychosis represents (in so far as one can anyway, since there is a red line).
    I think this is also reflected more broadly in seminal works of the genre of cyberpunk as well. Case and Molly survive in Neuromancer, as does Hiro Protagonist in Snow Crash (and in an interesting parallel, he names Raven the world's greatest badass only for Raven to tie in a fight with Uncle Enzo). (They're sort of preludes to cyberpunk, strictly speaking, but Rick Deckard in Blade Runner and Snake Plissken in Escape From New York also get away in the end.) What's notable is they just do what they set out to do in terms of concrete goals; they don't change the world. David seems to have not only had unreachable goals, that weren't even correctly understood, that weren't even his, but he also seems to have wanted to fundamentally change the world-and that is what cyberpunk, and Cyberpunk, and Cyberpunk: Edgerunners truly cannot abide.

    • @lydiscott
      @lydiscott  9 місяців тому +2

      LOVE THIS! Thanks for the thoughtful comment! 😄

  • @MJAWRLD724
    @MJAWRLD724 9 місяців тому +6

    Tbh this anime had a Akame G Kill ending i just can’t get it out my head. Where in the end on the last episode the hero or Mc just dies from a brutual battle

    • @sorrenblitz805
      @sorrenblitz805 8 місяців тому +1

      Most cyberpunk media has bittersweet endings at best and completely depressing endings at worst. Not just this franchise, but the whole genre of Cyberpunk media. High technology, low quality of life, protagonist starts low, and ends low.

  • @shadowvillefox
    @shadowvillefox 10 місяців тому +2

    when the song started at the end I was about to curse you out cause a flood of emotions started pouring in from when I saw that ending. I was about to freaking cry. 😭

  • @leonarduskrisna4588
    @leonarduskrisna4588 9 місяців тому +18

    how david martinez lost his happy ending?
    the moment david was born in nightcity already make a fact
    he will have misarble live if hes not one of Corpo kid

  • @Waterproofed640
    @Waterproofed640 9 місяців тому +1

    perfect story when broken down. Die the hero or live long enough to become the villain. David and Adam smasher even Main represent that well

  • @ADHDGaming-o6c
    @ADHDGaming-o6c 8 місяців тому +1

    Great video, made me understand david a bit more.

    • @lydiscott
      @lydiscott  8 місяців тому

      Glad you enjoyed it! Thank you!

    • @ADHDGaming-o6c
      @ADHDGaming-o6c 8 місяців тому

      @@Christina_xoxo lmfao

  • @asiancinemabuns8203
    @asiancinemabuns8203 9 місяців тому +2

    "A happy ending? For folks like us? Wrong city, wrong people."

  • @Bobbyhereje
    @Bobbyhereje 10 місяців тому +8

    Great video! I hope your channel continues to grow

    • @lydiscott
      @lydiscott  10 місяців тому

      Aww thank you so much! 😊

  • @rankovasek1987
    @rankovasek1987 9 місяців тому

    This story is too heartbreaking, only watching this video just made me cry like a baby

  • @marcoamazo
    @marcoamazo 4 місяці тому

    Seeing David's face when he's holding that pad thing while he's at the hospital makes me wanna comfort him

  • @child_chomper8093
    @child_chomper8093 6 місяців тому +1

    As a child from an asian household where its "either engineer or doctor" because my parents the way david only lives to serve others and never himself really hit me hard

  • @AwareWolfOnWheels
    @AwareWolfOnWheels 6 місяців тому +1

    I loved this series, I'm new to Cyberpunk 2077 the game but I was an avid Shadowrun player back in my youth. I sincerely hope we get another series of Edge Runners, I'd love a collection of one off shorts of random NC residents.

    • @lydiscott
      @lydiscott  6 місяців тому +1

      Agreed, would love more edgrunners someday!

  • @4idiots_garage
    @4idiots_garage 9 місяців тому +2

    so as a tabletop mechanic is going cyberpsycho is more of losing your humanity over the course of the game. every character starts off with a base humanity level and over the course of the game it is lost if the character experiences traumatic events, so in the case of david he has a high humanity stat (presumably) and throughout the season he has his mother, all but 2 of his crew die infront of him, gets betrayed by one of his crew and then has a new guy explode infront of him. all of these events take away from his humanity overall, now he can gain some of it back by being around the people he cares about (lucy). you can see this after he puts on the suit and rescues lucy and he gains some humanity back and that brings him back from the psychosis. the sandevistan and the suit didn't push him over the edge it was being put into unwinnable situations and experiencing traumatic events.

    • @comyuse9103
      @comyuse9103 6 місяців тому +1

      the 'cyber' part of cyberpsychosis is almost entirely an excuse for the powers that be to not fix things. there is no 'cyberpsychosis' it is just normal people going through psychotic breaks because of the sheer horror of the world they are in, made worse by having arm canons and shit, but still. as long as you are stable or have good coping mechanisms (humanity) and don't full send it all at once, you could replace your entire body piece meal (the most intensive and costly way) without that much risk.

    • @f.e.areproduce5298
      @f.e.areproduce5298 4 місяці тому

      Also some of these implants remind him of losing people close to him.

    • @TheBayzent
      @TheBayzent 10 днів тому

      @comyuse9103 The Cyber part definitely plays a part since people who use biological implants aren't subject to Cyberpsychosis, and removing implants allows you to go back. If David had dechromed like both Lucy and Rebecca had told him several times, he would have been able to "see the horrors of Night City" while keeping his sanity.

  • @vismaykedilaya1318
    @vismaykedilaya1318 7 місяців тому +2

    I interpretted David's death scene somewhat differently. It wasn't Adam Smasher who made him understand. It was Lucy. Smasher helped rub it in, but Lucy truly made him understand. When David makes her promise to go to the moon, i think he knows his days are numbered (likely in the single-digits if not for Adam Smasher). He knows he can't achieve Lucy's current dream to live a life with him, so he does the only thing he can for her, allow her to at least have one of her dreams fulfilled. And I feel like her dreams have become David's dreams, exemplified through David's final words to Lucy/Falco: "Wish we could go to the moon together." Emphasis on "wish" and "together". That moment with Lucy is when David reaches the acceptance stage of his "five stages of grief" arc as you mentioned it, as for the rest of the show, David is mostly happy (something we wouldn't have seen if Smasher was the one who made him understand). BEAUTIFUL SHOW.

  • @tallaaron1115
    @tallaaron1115 8 місяців тому

    Awesome videos thank you. I watched all of your Cyberpunk videos as I grew up playing the RPG back when I was in my early teens and this series truly captured it very well overall.
    Now from one novelist to another, I will make sure to pick up your book and review it. I hope it is selling well and while this path can be difficult, in the end I am told by many of my mentors it is worth it. Keep at the hard work. Plus it is a nice bonus that we are both into post apocalyptic works. Take care and have a great day. (I would also put in a universal link so you get more sales, your current link only goes to Canada and you are missing out on world wide sales.)

  • @gabrieldufour1945
    @gabrieldufour1945 9 місяців тому +2

    I can relate to Lucy and somehow with David in so many ways....

  • @EdgarHernandez-bg1pu
    @EdgarHernandez-bg1pu 3 місяці тому

    Great analysis.... Very fkn great 👍

  • @Count_Apostasy
    @Count_Apostasy 9 місяців тому

    Its a beautiful story through and through despite the end. There is so much to learn from edgerunners and from the actual 2077 game. Theres lessons every way you turn.

  • @thinkpioneering9922
    @thinkpioneering9922 Місяць тому

    Night City is where legends go to die in order to be born. The notion may seem ironic but you’ll come around.

  • @ExtantPerson
    @ExtantPerson 7 місяців тому

    David is such a great character. I feel like the beginning to middle of his story is like a hero’s journey, making the viewer feel optimistic about what’s to come and think, “look at this cool gang of awesome characters! I bet the rest of the show will be them doing fun and badass jobs!”
    And then Pilar dies, breaking that illusion; now we aren’t sure where the gang will go.
    And then Maine dies, completely changing the direction of David’s story towards a tragedy.
    And yet, his death could be considered just as good as it was sad. David died while still possessing something that too many in Night City lose- his humanity.
    Plus, the fact that his main flaw as a person is an understandable thing as giving too much for the people he cares about is such a good way to write a realistic character that is so likable.

  • @shinobi5008
    @shinobi5008 8 місяців тому

    Thanks for making this video ❤

    • @lydiscott
      @lydiscott  8 місяців тому

      Thank you for watching! 😊

  • @18Elitegamer
    @18Elitegamer 6 місяців тому

    In the show. That thunk of her earn hitting the bottom of that earn vending machine was wild.

  • @BootStrapBill555
    @BootStrapBill555 9 місяців тому +1

    Loved this video

  • @Christopher-eq1rn
    @Christopher-eq1rn 9 місяців тому +3

    You know, I have to wonder if David would have gone cyberpsycho if he hadn't been so severely tortured

    • @lydiscott
      @lydiscott  9 місяців тому

      It’s definitely an interesting, “what if”! Gotta wonder how long he could’ve made it.

    • @sorrenblitz805
      @sorrenblitz805 8 місяців тому

      He would've it just wouldn't have happened so quickly.

  • @LukeDLight
    @LukeDLight 5 місяців тому

    Getting to understand David was not on my bingo card but here I am

  • @PatchworkStudios
    @PatchworkStudios 9 місяців тому

    I love the time and thought you put into your videos. Super high quality! Keep it up!
    P.S. It would be really cool to hear your thoughts on Adam Smasher as a character in both Cyberpunk Edge Runners and 2077 if you have any. Either way, can't wait for your next video!

  • @TheHollowedKing754
    @TheHollowedKing754 Місяць тому

    David in a way is very similar to Guts in the Golden Age arc of Berserk. Guts and David never had dreams of their own initially, but after finding a family in the Band of the Hawk and Maine's crew, they both wanted to realize a dream of somebody else, they found love through Casca and Lucy, and yet both were also too blinded to realize everything they had going for them before it was too late, leading to Guts initially leaving the Hawks and David well... going down a path of a legend but leaving Lucy behind.

    • @TheBayzent
      @TheBayzent 10 днів тому

      GE's Guts and David are close, but not to Guts and Caska, Guts and Griffith are a better fit, since Guts (and most of the band of the Hawk in fact) were all living to make Griffith's dream become true. Including Caska.
      Unlike David though, Guts realizes that he has to drift away to pursue his own dream, because he thinks that's the only way Griffith will see him as a friend, because Griffith was r*tarded and had that speech with Charlotte that he, himself, knew was bs because at that point Guts was the only person he saw as an equal, like David was to Lucy.
      So Guts left to seek out his dream precipitating what happened next.
      David took the wrong lessons and had a band end, Guts took the right ones and he still got shafted.

  • @clarencewalters338
    @clarencewalters338 9 місяців тому +1

    If you think David ever had a chance at a happy life you weren't paying very close attention

    • @TheBayzent
      @TheBayzent 10 днів тому +1

      He didn't but it was due to self inflicted issues and his personality, more than any external factor.

  • @cane6074
    @cane6074 9 місяців тому

    What I love about Cyberpunk is that it in many its a power fantasy, but also subverts the power fantasy story type. The main characters go on to achieve great fetes and make themselves in to legends, and make lots of money, but in the end they don't often live haply ever after and their legendary status is often obtained by dying or at the least suffering a great deal and losing everything. The stories aren't about become legends, its about going out on your own terms and leaving a legacy behind and becoming legends as a result of that. The ambition to become great often leads to peoples downfall in this universe, V and David are very similar in this regard, David even more so is that he could have left the edgerunner life behind and lived happily ever after with Lucy and wealth they built and be comfortable(their pent house shows how much they were worth), but he chose not too. A lot of people were upset with the ending, but it was consistent with the mythos of the franchise and the cyberpunk genre in general. Cyberpunk fiction is just noir fiction with a sci-fi veneer.

    • @sorrenblitz805
      @sorrenblitz805 8 місяців тому

      Cyberpunk is just noir with science fiction trappings. I love that because it's true. Blade Runner, the Sprawl Trilogy, Deus Ex, Cyberpunk-2020 it's all very noir in style half of them are even noir style detective stories like the old movies but with future tech.

  • @danieldominguez7657
    @danieldominguez7657 10 місяців тому +3

    No vere el video porque no hablo ingles. Pero la tragedia de David era inevitable. Por vivir en night city, por como era David y por haber nacido en esa familia en ese tiempo y lugar. No hubo oportunidad para David desde el principio, que bueno que es solo ficción y no refleja para nada a la realidad ¿verdad?

  • @Furebel
    @Furebel 9 місяців тому

    And now I'm tearing up again

  • @ufoskateboards9823
    @ufoskateboards9823 6 місяців тому

    That first minute waaassss crraaazzyyy

  • @Edgerunner434
    @Edgerunner434 9 місяців тому +1

    A happy ending? Wrong city, wrong people.

  • @crisisasp5396
    @crisisasp5396 9 місяців тому

    the brightest stars burn the fastest, and holy shit did david burn bright

  • @zukinkkryonite
    @zukinkkryonite 3 місяці тому

    David's main mistake was willingly staying in Night City. He witnessed the paramedics ignoring him and his mom because they didn't have top notch health insurance, witnessed his mom's ashes being shat out by a vending machine and still decided to stay there. It would've been sadder if he died trying to escape or listened to his friends and unlicensed doctor who were concerned about his health. I mainly feel bad for Lucy because she was one of the characters who actually wanted to leave but loved someone who wasn't interested in preserving his life. Despite Katsuo being David's bully he was right about David's mom and even told him not to die trying to live beyond his means like his mom did and he still died repeating her mistake.

    • @thibaultl1956
      @thibaultl1956 2 місяці тому

      Well there are a few things that explain it, one scene with Lucy that explains it very well. He was born in Night City and the furtherest he’d ever been from it was the surrounding desert.
      And on top of that he’s a teenager throughout the entire show, with it all taking place within the same year.

  • @Xaxares
    @Xaxares 6 місяців тому

    What I find most interesting here, from a tabletop rpg mechanic standpoint, is just how much of a big deal having a Sandevistan implant impacts your psyche. In the Cyberpunk 2020 book the Humanity impact that particular implant has is on average on par with the gun smartlink that V got at the begining of Cyberpunk 2077. Even in Cyberpunk Red, the impact it has is on par with the datachip sockets. I wonder what makes this version different as I've not had the opportunity to see the series. Is it supposed to be a super-boosted version?

    • @comyuse9103
      @comyuse9103 6 місяців тому

      maine seemed to think he could take it, so it could just be the act of installing it on a kid. a kid who just went through some heavy trauma, at that. could also be the _way_ he uses it, way too long and way too often.

    • @Xaxares
      @Xaxares 6 місяців тому

      @@comyuse9103 After watching some more videos regarding both the game 1077 and Edgerunners it seems the particular Sandevistan David got was a special, extremely potent one. So that is likely to be one of the reasons in addition that in the 2077 game and Edgerunners, Sadevistans do more than merely give you an initiative boost.

  • @callmelou5397
    @callmelou5397 9 місяців тому +1

    i feel like this whole story would have been avoided if Victor was Davids ripper as he truly cares for his patients and would have given him a reality check just like he did with V

    • @alexallen5710
      @alexallen5710 9 місяців тому

      except the ripper did advise David to chrome down, which David's thick skull could not get through, unfortunately that is not the case with Adam smasher bullet

    • @sorrenblitz805
      @sorrenblitz805 8 місяців тому

      David was also kind of an outright dick to his ripperdoc a lot.

    • @callmelou5397
      @callmelou5397 8 місяців тому

      @@alexallen5710 yeah but that dude was a weirdo and Victor would've became kind of like a father figure like he was to V i'm sure he would have listened to Victor

  • @thisguy5635
    @thisguy5635 10 днів тому

    If he paid his insurance im pretty sure everything was avoidable

  • @Brainflayer
    @Brainflayer 5 місяців тому

    It really is a Shakespearean Tragedy, if it were some other time, someone else, some other city, things might have turned out better. But it was just a series of catastrophes that were made possible and exacerbated by the people caught up in them.

  • @monkeysecurity
    @monkeysecurity 6 місяців тому

    you forgot about that part where David Killed an innocent kids mother , which pushed him over the edge to cyberpsychosis

  • @Elijah-dz4vl
    @Elijah-dz4vl 2 місяці тому

    Couldn’t even cyber edge to this I cyberphychosis everywhere clean up on aisle my pants

  • @goofistmcnutty3280
    @goofistmcnutty3280 10 місяців тому +24

    I think there's a pretty important point missing in this character analysis, one that may simply be a very masculine element. For a lot of men in the world (and David defiantly falls under this), there comes a time in your life when you're confronted with a demon that will always haunt you unless you confront it. You talk about David's fear of helplessness and weakness as if it's something that he is at fault for, at least in terms of allowing it to hold him back from simply prioritizing his romance or happier life path. But that is David's demon, and if he doesn't confront it, it will always eat at him the rest of his life. A lot of men try to prioritize the things that should make them happy instead of fighting the battles they feel the need to fight, and that only leaves them full of regret and even shame for much of their lives, causing them to hate and struggle with themselves, and further more, all the other aspects of what should be their "happiest life". I've seen this play out in not only my own life, but many of the the lives of men that I grew up around. Even in fiction you often see these stories played out in characters, so of which whom have and some of which whom haven't confronted said demons. Many of those who haven't are more tragic characters, and those who (successfully) have are either role model characters to a main character or sometimes even the main character who's story is about this exact thing. In David's case, because it's a brutal story, he simply didn't survive that battle.
    All this is to say that I don't think his story would've been as happy as you'd think it would have been if he had just ran away with Lucy. Doing so would've caused him to hate himself on a very deep level for the rest of his life, and he'd have struggled to live happily anyways because of it. And at the risk of offending some women out there, I'm gonna say it. Women more often than not, simply do not understand this about men. It is the way we are. Hell, it's one of our primal basic needs, and should be supported by women who care about said men. Some women do understand though. In some of those fictional stories where the protagonist has a battle to fight, you sometimes see the woman (love interest) encourage him to fight it, not because the woman wants him to, but because she knows he needs to. Astrid from How To Train Your Dragon is a great example of a woman who understands the man's need to confront his own inner enemies, and encourages Hiccup to do it several times. Lucy, and sorry but Lydi in this video here, are examples of woman who don't understand that, and would simply have the man walk away from his battles in pursuit of happiness. But that is at the cost of his own self worth and maybe even purpose in life beyond romance.
    David is by no means perfect, but I don't think he did wrong. And hell, that's part of what makes the story all the more tragic. The fact that you can not only have good intentions, but hell, even justified reasons or a clear purpose. And yet still fall the way he did simply because the world is cruel.

    • @Wingededge
      @Wingededge 9 місяців тому +10

      As a man myself, I disagree. There are different ways to face and fight your demons. David never ACTUALLY faces his demons of feeling weak and helpless. This is specifically demonstrated in the show with him never stopping. He is doing so to avoid facing his demons. Hiccup is a great example of someone who does face his fears and is better for it. Lucy tries supporting David, but he doesn't want support. He wants to feel like he's strong, special and unstoppable. His demon is the fact that he isn't and never will be.

    • @ArrabelIa
      @ArrabelIa 9 місяців тому +1

      He's like Walter White

    • @comyuse9103
      @comyuse9103 6 місяців тому +3

      stupid nonsense. it isn't a trait of men to have a character flaw, that is something every human has and facing issues or truama isn't something unique to men either.

  • @kevb3399
    @kevb3399 9 місяців тому

    They should make a season 2 where adam smasher actually doesnt kill david but does make him a construct and lucy uses her netrunner skills to get him out. (Somehow) i know. Slim chance maybe we get lucky with cyberpunk orion for a new show. 10 episodes of emotions flying around. Very good show.

    • @shivamsud
      @shivamsud 8 місяців тому

      Well its all Cyberpunk 2077 canon and according to the game David is actually dead and Lucy is long gone.

  • @N7Prime
    @N7Prime 9 місяців тому

    Happy ending? In Nightcity? You’re barking up the wrong tree because if you know the lore of Cyberpunk 2077: there’s no happy endings in Nightcity, FOR ANYONE

  • @mcjcave18
    @mcjcave18 9 місяців тому

    Nice video
    ❤️🌱

  • @TheRobochicken5494
    @TheRobochicken5494 9 місяців тому +1

    im not over it

  • @sorrenblitz805
    @sorrenblitz805 8 місяців тому

    Should've saved the money he spent on all that chrome and took Lucy to the moon.

  • @user-pv1yx5dq6l
    @user-pv1yx5dq6l 5 місяців тому

    Some parallels to Toguro and Genkai

  • @TheBayzent
    @TheBayzent 10 днів тому

    Lucy didn't give David hope, she gave him a purpose, which to men is even more important. It's a shame he reacted to Maine's death the way he did and tried to overcompensate to ho or him, which along with how bullheaded he was, meant he was going to end up sacrificing himself (and his and Lucy's happiness) for a mirage.

  • @speedonotincluded
    @speedonotincluded 9 місяців тому

    Discussing how a tragedy wouldn't be a tragedy if the main character wasnt flawed is vapid. The tragedy is the point.

  • @marley7868
    @marley7868 6 місяців тому

    couple a things here david is exactly like his mom they both ignore obvious problems to give people dreams they don't fully understand the main difference is david justifies his actions with an I don't matter mindset meanwhile gloria complains and acted as though david owed her to get to the top of sociopath corporate death ladder in a frankly idiotic naivety about how this city works and ignored that he never cared

  • @majosmajos6822
    @majosmajos6822 7 місяців тому

    Tbf i think that even if david whodnt have died by adam he still whoud have loose his mind and have cyberpshychosis david is like the shounen mc in a wrold that is simular to the real wrold
    his habit of carring evryones dream in a anime like one piece whoud have been rewarded unfortnetly david s main caracter caracteristics (arrogance ,acting tough even if hes weak inside,his stuburnes) causes nothing but midtakes that choud have been avoided if he did not think that he was special

  • @jonathantyner171
    @jonathantyner171 7 місяців тому

    David Martinez and Night City stage for Tekken 8

  • @jrpggamer93
    @jrpggamer93 7 місяців тому

    Bro he got his happy ending he sent his soul mate to the moon. I'm sure he'd rather of been there but in the situation one of them was gonna die an if Lucy died he would of just went psycho an no one goes to the moon. It's sad ending but it's still happy

  • @shivamsud
    @shivamsud 8 місяців тому

    So if you play the game, David's story is a cautionary tale. It comes down to choosing what kind of life you want, as a fat man in a red suit once said "Quite life, or Blaze of glory" David chose the Blaze of Glory

  • @tcironbear21
    @tcironbear21 9 місяців тому

    ALL tragedies are avoidable. If they were not avoidable, they would be horrors.

  • @blaketheshepherd
    @blaketheshepherd 6 місяців тому

    David's mother was *not* selfless.
    HER dream was to see her son rise to the top of Arasaka tower. She worked tirelessly to fulfill HER dream. This was never David's dream; he had no say in the matter. David was a tool in fulfilling her dreams because she felt it was too late for her to fulfill it herself.
    This is a common tactic that parents use in real life; it's a selfish act disguised behind an illusion of selflessness.

  • @kingjaymoney5616
    @kingjaymoney5616 6 місяців тому

    Not even gon lie this show had me sad asf for a few days didn’t play the game or watch tv😂 I real deal had to snap out that shii because I was mad asf he died

  • @mnk9073
    @mnk9073 9 місяців тому

    It's not even for a lack of rolemodels, after all there's Falco: Barely chromed up, "old" in a profession where people die young, successful and professional solo and a ride or die nontheless.

  • @rx-0862
    @rx-0862 8 місяців тому

    david’s cyber psychosis started when he lost his mother. 😔

    • @lydiscott
      @lydiscott  8 місяців тому

      It’s interesting, because he gets that same zoom in on his eyeball scene when he’s on the stretcher with Lucy on the road, that he gets when he’s hallucinating his mother. Honestly I think you’re right.

    • @rx-0862
      @rx-0862 8 місяців тому

      @@lydiscott yeah true! and how he talked to Doc about using the sandy 8 times like it was nothing, and it was nothing to him, first major red flag cyber dependency, even doc admitting that he didn’t expect david to survive a day to Lucy. he never had a chance to begin with. his psychosis is what made him special and compatible with chrome

    • @comyuse9103
      @comyuse9103 6 місяців тому

      @@lydiscott cyberpsychosis isn't a thing, its just normal psychological issues that humans face, simply exacerbated by a technological advantage. there is a very mild disassociation associated with replacing body parts for something beyond human limits (iirc simply restoring function, relieving dysphoria, or even just customizing your body a little provoke literally no humanity loss), but that is negligible once you get over the trauma of the surgery itself, that is expressed in game mechanics from every edition of cyberpunk.
      and not every 'cyberpsycho' goes out and kills people, iirc most just withdraw into solitude and many kill themselves. its pretty clear that 'cyberpsychosis' is just a way for corpos and governments to ignore the systemic issues that drive people to psychotic breaks, just blame it on the technology and move on.

  • @tigertankerer
    @tigertankerer 7 місяців тому +5

    Rule number one: no happy endings in Night City - Mike Pondsmith.

  • @Coach_Gaming_Today
    @Coach_Gaming_Today 8 місяців тому

    Gloria reminds me of jackie in a way I have a hard time explaining

  • @nurtaytulegenov7431
    @nurtaytulegenov7431 6 місяців тому

    Why we just assume that if David ran away he is going to live happily ever aftet? People in Night City don't live long and life overall is pretty shitty and is spent in scrapping by from paycheck to paychek unless you're a corpo. What's beaty in long life of fighting for surival?

  • @CyanPoro12
    @CyanPoro12 9 місяців тому

    Damn.. i feel like David, turns out i also misunderstood the true dreams of my ex partner.

  • @rock_ok
    @rock_ok 19 днів тому

    In the story Gloria should had been able to survive if not for that butcher doctor a scav. How he looks like a butcher. And look at the street he performed his craft.

  • @AlcoholAndAnimeNight
    @AlcoholAndAnimeNight 6 місяців тому

    Poor Rebecca. She deserved better 😢

  • @foodomanthemagnificent2650
    @foodomanthemagnificent2650 9 місяців тому +1

    In the end, is it such a bad thing to have a dream of helping others to achieve their dreams?

  • @uriel005
    @uriel005 Місяць тому

    Ehh this is missing a bit of context. Honestly the day that David gets noticed by Tanaka for beating up his son and noticing the Sandevistan his choices become severely limited and shrink from moment to moment. The anime and the game really don't explain just how powerful Arasaka and the other corporations are as its really not what their stories are trying to tell but it does explain the motivations and actions of its characters much better when the audience is aware of the details.
    Lucy doesn't stop David both in his pursuits and his cyberware addiction in part because she is well aware of the dangers of Arasaka from her childhood and her investigations. They will come for him regardless as the interest they had in him was already set and at best she could slow them down but it was far to late to put a halt to them. So the choice is possible cyberpsychosis or getting caught by Arasaka and experimented on. She can't be more visible because her presence being known would have drawn Arasaka even faster and telling David would have had him attempt to force her to stop interfering and putting herself in danger or going to directly confront Arasaka as is his nature, which would have been suicide. Mind you her existence being found out is infinitely more dangerous because one of the few laws that everyone actually generally agrees to follow is not to mess with the blackwall as Arasaka had her doing as a child and she's proof that they were ignoring those laws. This is one of the few things all the other corporations would have ganged up on Arasaka for to shut them down while killing everyone involved so she can't go public. Also mind you it would have possibly triggered another world war as Arasaka is the equivalent of a global superpower and has in fact fought world wars on their own against other corporations and I don't mean like WWI or WWII but a true world war reaching everywhere from the Americas to Japan so it wasn't really in the cards.
    They also can't simply escape from night city as again Arasaka's reach is long and the nomads who roam between the cities are mostly unfriendly and or in corporate pockets. They need the support of a civilization as they were already heavily augmented from the time of Lucy's childhood and David's implantation of the sandevistan. Basically even very early on they need people to make sure the computer in their brain keeps working and in david's case his replacement spine that needs constant maintenance and upkeep.
    As for harmful dreams and goals I think you are looking at it a bit from the perspective of our own reality vs the reality they live in. The level of control corporate interests have on the everyday citizen is borderline absolute and only held in check by their competitions with each other. Governments are purely puppet states and laws functionally useless for anyone high enough in the corporate structure. Things like ruthless experimentation, mass murder, torture, abduction, organ harvesting etc etc are just expected norms for the people in the cyberpunk world where they know this is just the way things are and there is little to be done about it. Dreams are limited by such crushing oppression that it makes sense for many people not to have reasonable ones if they have any at all.
    Going back to notions of just telling people the truth between David, Lucy and the others. The truth is not always useful or even good. If the truth is that no matter what they are all going to die or be captured, and experimented on because they are functionally going up against a global superpower to whom laws and moral convention are utterly irrelevant in the face of even short term profits then a lie that you and the people around you can live with is a fine thing. Like a grandparent on their deathbed telling an inconsolable child that everything is fine and to be happy. Not because they wish to lie but to leave them with a comforting last memory.