I honestly thought that the phone was part of the test, to see if Cooper would deliberately violate protocol to use his phone, and that was going to be the big ending of him possibly just being trapped in the game for the rest of his life. I didn't see his death occurring 0.04 seconds into the download, and I also thought that it wasn't a twist that I necessarily believed. This may be the weaker episode of the series for me. I'm a fan of video games, especially horror games, so some of the aspects like Cooper's supposed last test in the haunted house worked fairly well. Unfortunately, other aspects didn't quite meet that mark.
I didn't hate Wyatt Russell in the role, as I suspect Cooper was supposed to be a bumbling idiot, but he got on my nerves when he wouldn't stop shouting about something. I had to mute him at points because his voice was carrying through my room. However, I did really like his acting choices when he thought he was losing himself and becoming like his dad before his death. That cemented for me that he's really not a bad actor; more of an exhausting one with possibly a specific set of acting skills. I'd have to see him in another role to confirm my suspicion.
I think the main question is what will happen to Cooper's body now? Also, Sonja knows where he is and is expecting to hear the result of what happened in the company. Wouldn't she get suspicious when he doesn't call back, or would she just assume he blew her off and move on with her life? Also, I feel bad for Cooper's mom, who just wanted to talk to her son, who refused to pick up the phone for weeks.
Interesting that Shou and Katie had a specific box on the paperwork labelled "cause of crash". Does that mean their case studies die often? Also, how much of that simulation had grains of truth? For example, when fake Sonja appeared in the haunted house and spewed information about missing people, is that information real or something he fabricated? I guess the question I wonder about is what was being downloaded into his brain at the same time he crashed.
Eventually, I'll go back and watch again to uncover any deeper stuff that I clearly missed on this first go around. However, for the time being, I need to put this episode aside because it was getting on my nerves at points.
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