A Complete Breakdown/Analysis of Beyond The Aquila Rift (Episode & Short Story) 

My understanding was that, because this reality was created for him, that the Suzy that he wakes up isn't the real Suzy. She's the manifestation of his consciousness trying to warn him that what he's experiencing isn't real. "Suzy" is the rational part of his mind that is resisting the false reality.

I would disagree. Beyond the Aquila Rift is a horror story. Just not the kind of horror most people seem to think it is. Its old school cosmic horror. And while there is some alien weird stuff, thats not the horror. The horror, the monster, is space. The cold unforgiving incomprehensible vastness that will turn everything you ever knew to dust if even a small mistake is made.

I always thought she was some kind of psychic creature that was constructing a reality for him because she knew he would eventually die due to the fact there were no resources to look after humans. Suzy could see through her psychic influence which is why she was freaking out. So like a human trying to make an animal comfortable as it dies, this alien wants to make their passing easier.

If i were Greta I would simply say; "Hello Thom, good morning. This is a simulation, it's been over 150 years. You are stranded on a space station with aliens, one of which i am. This is simply an avatar. Now, your real life body is not going to last forever but you can live any life you want in this simulation. What kind of simulation do you want to live in? If you want to get out, here is a picture of the real life situation (show's eldritch horror) trust me you don't want to go outside the simulation. So what will it be? What kind of simulation shall we make? It's a sandbox and you can do whatever you want here" I think that would convince me to stay in the sim. And why not, you can live any life you want. Awesome video.

Something I've not seen mentioned anywhere else: in the novel, when the crewmates are dead because their custom paintjobs caused the tank filter intakes to clog, there's a reason Ray is more decomposed than Suzy. Thom states that they both received their custom paintjobs on the same day, except Ray didn't spend nearly as much on his BVM (Blessed Virgin Mary) one as Suzy did on hers, and, because hers used less paint (a few stars vs. two whole figures of Mary and baby Jesus) the cheaper paint flaked off in far greater quantities, killing Ray first. I don’t see how anyone can come to the conclusion that “Greta” is anything other than kind and benevolent. 95% of the ship would be useless for its inhabitants as it wouldn’t be able to sustain them indefinitely, unless integrated into the massive hive and put to good use. Greta *was* using them in a way, but not to feed off them; she needed their supplies as well, which is perfectly sensible when they're good as dead otherwise. Also, Suzy attacking Greta in the episode isn’t because she saw through her; it was a subtle hint left by Greta to make Thom come to the realisation by himself in a “show, don’t tell” kind of way. Since she could tell how suspicious he was at any given moment, everything she did was a step toward allowing him to figure out what was going on by himself. Suzy was also already dead at that point anyway. Lastly, because of the advanced decay of the ship *after* it had come apart it's clear that Greta and her workers had been keeping Thom alive for quite a while. The problem is that "alive" doesn't necessarily mean "healthy", and without being able to synthesise or provide the proper food, all she could do was keep him on life support before he eventually died. If we captured an Alien, all we could do is try to keep it alive as best we could but without knowing enough about its biology, it would eventually die. In the novel, it's hopeful that Thom will eventually come to his senses and join the colony, but in the LD+R episode it looks a bit bleaker than that.

Personally, I think it's a horror story in Thom's reaction, his inability to accept her. This human failing of not being able to accept the unfamiliar or the subjectively grotesque.

Her phrase "lost souls" made me think it was something like hell.

I think it's kind of ingenious to make Greta a spider. It really drives home the point that we are afraid of her purely because spiders represent fear in a way. Even without taking into account who she really is, we assume we have to be afraid of her motives. Her motives aren't devouring the lost souls but merely caring for them. However, you can't really understand the whole thing in such a short movie. The only thing to do this short story justice is showing it as a whole.

I don't know if Greta is benevolent or not, but she sure has all her pixels in the right places...

Definitely benevolent just horrific in appearance. It knew they would die so tried to make them as comfortable and happy as possible during the time they had left.

Can't believe someone who made a video this well thought out, well edited, and confidently voiced, has 500 subscribers. More of this quality content and you'd definitely blow up.

Well, you clearly have a knack for video essays. You should really do this more often.

I’m not sure if I feel sorry more for the Blue Goose crew or Greta, that feeling of dread of time relativity for the crew like in the movie Interstellar. Or Greta being an alien, with every possible reason to be a hostile predator killing the crew, instead is an empathetic creature genuinely caring for the lost souls that end up with her but never accepting the reality of who she really is and never appreciated for giving them peace until their death with aid of a false illusion Yes, it is a horror, but really it’s such a tremendous tragedy story

My favorite episode. The ending fucked me up and I had to rewatch it several times.

Incredible analysis, good Sir. I thought of Greta as some sort of Angel of Mercy; her mind and body are just adapted to a plane of existence far beyond the physical realities that humans evolved their sense-making apparatuses. Referring to the video adaptation of the the short story, I'm not entirely sure if I'd call it a horror, but for "true" form contrasting so sharply with the tenderness of her actions reminds me a little of the horrific appearance of Angels (at least in some textual sources) in contrast to their divinity.

This and sonnie's edge are by far my favorites of the entire series. I really would love to see some sort of standalone series for the both of them in their respective universes

All this effort put into this video and my guy only has 12 subscribers?? *Insta-subbed*

Thank you for providing the BTS storyboard and in-depth analysis. Most other channels are like “oh my god, that woman tricked a man and she’s a SPIDER! She’s a black widow who’ve seduced him into her love web”…WHAT? 😀

Photo real at times. easily the best cg animation I've seen. Top notch stuff.

I hope they will make this a movie

the horror of the unknown is even scarier when you learn something about the 'unknown' that's improbable, I mean I've read tons of cosmic horror stuff, and mostly, humans weren't worth anything however this creature cares for us for some reason and we don't know why?

This episode has stayed in my mind since first watching it and has long outlived the Netflix memories of the series. Going by the short animation alone, I’d say Greta wasn’t benevolent because the viewer only sees that the Greta alien has physically captured the station in its organic web. However, after watching your video it’s clear that the richness of the short story wasn’t captured in the animation. And with the extra information - and your excellent dissection of the themes in the written story - then yes; Greta is benevolent.

Just finished watching the episode for and all I have to say is this: 'in much wisdom is much grief, and he who increases knowledge increases sorrow.

Dude needs way more subscribers

This story has haunted me for the last 2 years. Poor Thom 🥺 Loved your video. You've got my sub brother 🙌

Just to speak out in defence of "Three robots". The story is intelligently written, has great sense of humour, and the production quality is beautiful. The characters may seem a bit cartoony, but if anyone thinks it is easy to draw in this style.... let them try it out. Please, let's not get spoiled here. All of LD+R are extraordinarily appealing, the beauty is in the variety of the directing styles.

If I'm in Tom's shoes, I could feel Greta's care and sincerity(tears), i'd be accepting reality. I'd rather live with Greta in her real form, and spend the rest of my time(6 days) in such a new environment, also because there's no choice...

This was so great! I liked the episode, but I felt it missed something. Like you pointed out, the tonal shift was very sudden and seemed to imply that Gretta had malicious ulterior motives. Your breakdown and analysis, especially with the inclusion of the short story, was wonderful. You added a lot more depth to an already great episode of LD+R. Thank you!

apart from the voice over quality I would never have guessed this was your first RU-vid video. Your voice suits the kind of video you made and the editing itself is excellent. Im a subbing and hoping for more to come! A job very very well done!

10/10, very great job. I've been waiting for such a deep analysis for this :)

This is by far the best video about this episode. A lot of research and extra information. Thank you for this video!

Dude has been on my mind for a year and you explained it crystal clear! Nice video mate

Amazing in-depth breakdown! This clearly deserves a lot more views. Looking forward to seeing more videos from you.

Superb! Loved the story, narration and concept. Thanks for making a video about it. It was clearly a lot of work. Really thank you for it!

Aquila Rift...pronounced "ah-key-lah." After watching this episode...I was fascinated...and I had to read the actual short story to get more details. Then, I did a ton of research on "bubbles" in space, the Aquila Rift, the Large Magellanic Cloud, and FTL space travel. Amazing story!

Just saw this episode for the first time after I watched season 2, you did an amazing breakdown - thank you for sharing!

Saw new episodes of LDR and remembered this particular episode and decide to see what we're the reviews up on RU-vid. This video is really in depth. Thank you! Great work. Planning on sticking around to see more.

Each of these episodes gives me a different emotion. Really well done hope they keep making these

This was brilliant, thank you for the complete in depth explanation of the story, i really found this episode curious, and it left an imprint on my thougths, this was brilliant with bringing in the original material, i had no idea it was based on a sci-fi novel. Thank you. Highly appreciated.

Bro, u have done a great job. This is the greatest explanation video I've ever seen. My search for beyond the Aquila rift explanation end here.

Great job- look of hard work put into this essay/analysis. i hope you do more of these!

This was spectacular. Your diligent breakdown was masterful

Wow. I mean this was well put. I just watched this short and was wondering if she was or not. The prospective is mind opening. Well done.

Underrated channel man...i know i am not the first one saying it but what a work, thank you a lot for your passion and time. It was truly amazing.

Bro i have massive respect for you. This video looks like you have been making videos for years. Youre not nervous and its beautifully cut. Really man keep it up, great work

Great video sir! You are hero among us. I had so many questions about this episode and was looking for some answers and you did an awesome job. Thank you.

This is the best analysis ive watched so far keep it up!!

Great! Really great explanation and upgraded version of this shortcut, por suerte entiendo el inglés y puedo disfrutar de tu video 👌

This explanation made this episode even better (and richer)

I think the idea of her being a hive mind is really interesting because she says ‘I like how you men think’ meaning that having someone else to talk to rather then a ‘single consciousness style hive mind is a novel experience for her as she has someone with ‘free will/thought’ to interact with to ward off the self pity of being alone and trapped by the vast distance of space in an otherwise pointless existence as there is no escape or growth just ongoing sustained existence. The next book or stage would be even more interesting as they could explore the idea of companionship and is Tom a pet or a partner/lover and explore the different levels of consciousness where we are the inferior species that is relying on them for life/support etc. Flip the dominance position and have us fighting for equal recognition in a one sided relationship where the alien is such a massive dominate consciousness compared to our existing in multiple life forms at once in the hive. The conversations exploring concepts surrounding self/group and the idea of individuality/importance of self vs the hive collective expression/idea of oneness etc. This could give rise to the idea that Greta admires the idea of individuality and independent selfie expression etc. Could go to some really interesting places

Great breakdown of the story as told by Netflix and the original written work. This obviously took you a lot of time and effort to record and edit, well done! Thanks!

Great essay! I was really intrigued and bothered by BAR when I first saw it. You did an awesome job and took as much time as you needed to make a very thoughtful dissection. This really helped me make better sense of it. Thank you!

Amazing breakdown. Please continue doing what you’re doing

Excellent video! I have several of Reynolds' books including the source story here, but haven't yet gotten around to reading through them. This video was a very enjoyable half hour of interesting discussion and perspectives! That wonderful complementary artwork was an excellent inclusion, and your narration/discussion was well-sculpted around it (or rather, it around your discussion). Thanks for this contribution to the community of discussion around these wonderful stories.

This is the best breakdown of the episode I’ve seen! Other “breakdowns” just read the plot of the episode, and maybe make a comment here or there. Good work !

Thank you for your terrific channel! Your video titled, "Complete Breakdown/Analysis of Beyond the Aquila Rift" is the best breakdown of "Love Death + Robots's" Season 1, Episode 7 on all of RU-vid! Thank you for it! I just started (seriously) watching "Love Death + Robots" on Dec. 27, 2021, and wanting to understand "Beyond the Aquila Rift" brought me to your channel, for which I am grateful to "Love Death + Robots." Honestly, I don't even play video games and still, I watched "Outer Wilds, Ludonarrative Loops" because you made it & you made it very interesting.🙂In about 4-minutes I will have finished the last of your videos but I'll be back to see them again and your new ones, too. You are appreciated! A fan from Canada.... 🙂

Thanks for this! I'll always be curious to know more about the real situation that will never be touched upon.

Beautifully done!! Thank you!

Great work, sir!! Really enjoyed this

This explanation is truly amazing and underrated

Great work! Your perception and understanding of the story and narrative is solid and refreshing. Hope to see more from you in the future. Subbed.

This was a really good episode, I hope they do a longer version. It also reminded me of an episode of the 'Outer Limits' called 'Tempests'

This was amazing brother. Thanks!

Loved the Netflix episode and loved your video. Great insight and great work.

Great video. This explains what happend the best out of all video's I have seen about this episode.

I've been looking for a satisfying explanation. Tnx for this

been waiting for something like this. it was the most engaging one imo

Dude.... *THANK YOU* This is the best one by far, was dying for closure after I learned there was more context to the story. You may want to consider uploading this somewhere else as well in the event RU-vid deletes it during the "great purge" lol. Like, man, just place it somewhere, hell I'll even attempt to archive it somehow if you like.

Very great and informative video, now I want a whole series made off of this! :D

Thank you for your work. I know from editing videos this took you a very long time. Thank you human

I am a little late to this video. Thank you for clarifying one of my favorite stories. Thank you.

This along with Zima Blue are my faves. Was so elated to see these fantastic written words adapted to video!

Glad you explained the short story. I really liked this episode of LD+R. I always found it weird that someone who accepts space travel and the use of literal alien technology would react in such a way. People being charted off course and losing a life time of years in "REAL" time seems to be well known in the short story. He seemed able to accept the fact that he lost 150 years of real time, so the only thing he couldn't accept was being in a literal alien environment. It seemed clear that the being known as "Greta" meant no harm. Unless you have some case of arachnophobia or something the reaction of being unable to accept that reality just seems beyond the pale.

I just wanted to say that I watched a couple other analysis videos of the episode that even went into the short story as well. But this was hands down the best I’ve watched. Even going with the episodes representation of Greta and the station. Your conclusion does kinda change the perception that the episodes was completely horrific (although obviously it does leave a very good outcome for Thom compared to the short story.).

Interesting, and well done at that. Kudos.

Great video, hoping to see more essays like this in future as I'm now subbed

Excellent video, ive been looking for fue there info about this chapter for years now. Also you did an exclelent work do your first video, you have a lot of potencial

I read the story long before watching the episode, and I thought the exact same thing as you: the episode should have been 30 minutes long. The sex scene, for instance, is extremely important in the story, but makes little sense in the episode because they left out Katarina completely. Also, the story is pretty clear in explaining that Greta is benevolent, while the episode seems to hint that she's a predatory alien who traps ships and sucks the lives out of their crews, keeping them alive meanwhile. Even the glimpse Story Thom has of the real station implies (along with Greta telling him "I haven't brought you to full consciousness _yet_ ") that Thom isn't dying slowly, and that Greta finally arouses her charges and makes them her helpers to take care of the new arrived lost souls. The story, in other words, is a far more complex creation than the episode, and though it was not a bad job of condensing, the episode would have been far, far better to have been twice the length and to have followed the story closely.

This was really well made. Thanks :)

This was very well crafted.

Loved this! This episode hit me pretty hard and stuck with me! I'll have to order those books you recommended. That and also so glad I wasn't the only thinking that he was physically smashin that spider! 🤮 Would be interested in more of your videos man keep it up 👍

Very well done, thank you

Alastair Reynolds is my absolute favorite author. His main series is mostly in the same universe as his short stories. It's all so well thought out making comments on all sorts of really interesting thoughts.

I enjoyed this video a lot. Thank you.

ii love this analysis : well done .

Thank you for this.

Outstanding video! After reading your great review, and others on this Scifi short story, it hit home just how much we like to lose ourselves in our own "simulations." In this case, I just spent an hour taking in the story and really feeling the implications. I could have been dealing with my real world problems, or maybe working on a skill that could better my lot in life as well as of those that I love. Instead, I spent the time in this fantasy world, exercising my brain. I can see how one can turn their back on the "real world" and instead, engage in these stimulating, and much safer, flights of fancy. But, I am suddenly more aware that while there are benefits, there may be a hidden cost. And, I may awaken one day to a desolate personal life, just as the character in the story did. I am going to be a bit more careful with this addiction. Thanks for the great video.

I really enjoyed your take on this, and despite how the episode portrayed it, I felt the same way without reading the book. (Though I will certainly do that at some point.) I remember thinking, yeah the place is all messed up, but whatever this creature is really does seem to care about you. Take a deep breath, and survive. If she wanted you dead, you'd be dead; now that you see the truth, what's next? I know that kind of mental fortitude in that situation isn't easy, but I felt that she prepped him as best as she could, I at least, fully expected something that crazy after the information she had shared. it would have been a shock for sure, but I'm still surprised that it was such a shock it caused his mental breakdown the the point of having to be reset.

Wow. This story is more tragic Than I thought.

Thank you. You've described exactly what I deduced from the plot :)

Excellent analysis of the episode/short novel. I'm subscribed in case you keep doing this kind of content.

Great job. I agree with your assessment.

Thank you for making this video. It really magnifies all that is good about the short story and the episode; and that is a form of art on its own. As I was listening your voice, my mind was also spinning processing everything there is about the Thom's adventure and the interesting creature Greta. I was like watching the same movie but from a different seat and somehow enjoying it just as much as I was watching it for the first time. So thanks again. The story would not be as interesting if *) all Greta wanted was to survive *) all Thom was 100% faithful to his wife *) the ship was totally destroyed or the routing error did happen at the rate that it does. It is the balance of all these qualities of the story that gives it depth. Correct me if I am wrong, but a good premise of a story is adjusting such knobs just right. Giving the live characters the precise mixture of traits that makes them resonate with the story you want to tell. And Greta's benevolence is just perfect to give my goosebumps.

What a well made video, wish there was more

Really enjoyed this thanks

Yup i think you found your calling. Lol this was great essay bro. Been waiting for a genuine breakdown of the book and show.

I'm so happy to see a series follow the same idea as The Animatrix where there are multiple different animation styles throughout the series. I need to watch this

wonderful first dedicated ytb video. You did a wonderful job

With the whole randomized episodes that netflix did, it gave me the secret war first.

Very good analysis. Of all of the stories in LD&R - this one stood out the most and kept bugging me about whether Greta was benevolent or not.