So of course Clarice is like, "Now you're talking my language, motherfrakker! Go get your stuff, ya little squirrel." Back at the Willow Compound, the sisterwives and brotherhusbands are like, not that thrilled to have Amanda Graystone and her incredibly PR-toxic ten-pound bag of bullshit calling yet more attention to their subversive activities. I swear while they're moving Clarice in the front door, Olaf is sneaking Lacy out the side, which kind of does give me faith in Clarice's ability to get shit done. He says some horrible things to her instead of goodbye, and then Lacy heads off to the land of impossibly stupid-looking CGI.

Meanwhile, everybody is still excited about Tammy and Zoë fighting, and Zoë points out -- not for the first time, but think about how it's a Tauron you're talking to -- that Tammy can keep fighting all day and she's never going to die, because Deadwalker. Right there in the name.

Knife to her throat, Zoë reminds Tamara of the time in the darkroom, how she was the first person Tamara saw and how she lifted her into the light. She points out their amazing Neo powers, and how tacky NCC is: "Why get caught up in this like all of them? You're better than this!"

Which again: Might as well just reach out and turn off her brain altogether, because that's code-switching way too fast. "This world you've built around yourself, the only true comfort you've had since your death? It's really tawdry and stupid. These people are idiots. You could be better but you choose not to be." You cannot sell self-sufficiency, and you will never get anywhere speaking to someone from outside their context, because it's just bullying. Existential bullying. The game is fixed, to keep us small.

Tamara beats the shit out of her some more, and says she's changed a lot since the darkroom. Gotten harder, faster, meaner; less PC than NPC because that's what they demand. That's the context. That's the choice you have when you play by their rules. You get to be an object, not a subject; they fill you with holes and tell you it's your fault. Quieter voice, fewer opinions, no convictions, victimhood every day. You have the choice of letting them treat you like part of the movie, part of the game, part of the scenery, and making another choice -- standing up -- is something you can only do when you see there is another choice. Which is itself a choice that few of us can make.