Possible Story Ideas

[Neoteny]

I would hardly call the culmination of a 5 chapter long storyline that was intended to last well over a year as "a cheap villain of the week ending".

Besides, is it so hard to believe Trinity wanted peace between Zion and The Machines? The love of her life seemed to realise it in the end, why not her? That's the ultimate goal of entering the source afterall, to have humanity help (she, and a human being were KEY to finally doing it (hence why the Machines we never able to do before)) eliminate the Oligarch control over the Machines. They're in debt/thankful and thus end the war/create a new Matrix. That was the intended ending to all this and one I think should be played out at least in some shape/form because it just makes the most sense.

Also people seem to be underestimating the gravity of the Oligarch control routines. It's not something that can be poofed away with time. The Architect and Crytos aren't going to be able to just code some magic Oligarch firewall setting. Their control extends all the way back to the origins of their civilisation. Hence why this all ended up in the Source. It's the only to get rid of them once and for all.

Unfortunately, that's what the ending is if the solution is that they simply get erased from the face of the earth in an instant. Sure, they've been there a while, but we know so little about them story-wise and they've not had much time at all to really figure into the core dynamic of the story as relates to the players. Yeah, we know about them, but do they relate to us? No.

Given a block from the Matrix or a restriction of abilities, it gives them a chance to be more relateable (maybe even form a Merv suborg?). Consider what we're left with if they die out. Nothing - no real consequences, just a waste of time. And that's what defines a villain of the week storyline.

On the next point, what's to say the BIP doing the reset thing would restore Man-Machine harmony? I certainly don't see it that way, and I don't think Zion would either. Why would Zion suddenly fall back into a truce, let alone a peace with enemies who just declared war on them out of thin air, just because a magical program eliminated some outsiders who had nothing to do with it? Why would the machines desire peace with the humans they see as violating that truce? Simply because a program removed a separate nuisance?

The BIP won't bring peace is my point, and furthermore, I don't believe that Trinity, when properly educated by Zion about the present situation would seek that kind of peace, learning that her lover's sacrifice was in vain. Remember that Trinity was a member of the Nebuchadnezzar far before she met Neo. Her goal was to end the war on humanity's terms, and I would find it incredibly hard to believe that she automatically defects to a peacenik attitude under the circumstances that went down. She fought tooth and nail against the Machines, even willing to give her life for the fight when Neo told her it meant certain death. Trinity's commitment has always been to Zion, and furthermore, might even be seen as commitment to Morpheus.

Anywho, if the reset requires the help of a human, why would a Zionite do it anyway, since that's the only real way that a peace could be re-created - with a Zionite human? Why would Zion want the Oligarchs gone? Why, even if the Machines state that they would offer peace, would Zion trust them? Why wouldn't the Machines just abduct the BIP and have one of their operatives go in, keeping the war ongoing? They've no real reason to want to let up.

As for the strength of Oligarch code... I disagree. If Cryptos is able to research his own code and has thusfar been able to create several anti-override routines, there is a high chance that he would be able to eventually (eventually being the keyword) strengthen routines to the point where Oligarchs could be stripped of their powers in the Matrix or blocked from the Matrix. Remember also that Zion and Carlyne used a specific code to prevent Halborn from reaching the Matrix - this could obviously be researched, adapted, and applied to the multitudes of Oligarchs as well, given time and data.