The Most Pause-Worthy Kovacs Scene In Netflix's Altered Carbon
"Altered Carbon" was a solid sci-fi hit according to both IMDb and Rotten Tomatoes. It portrayed a futuristic world where human consciousness can be downloaded into special computer chips (called "stacks") and where humans can swap their consciousness in and out of different bodies (called "sleeves") almost as easily as they can change clothes. The show starred Joel Kinnaman as Takeshi Kovacs in Season 1 (with Anthony Mackie taking that mantle in Season 2).
Kovacs is a military-trained, cold-blooded assassin. His stack is pulled out of cold storage so that he can be recruited by a rich man who wants Kovacs to solve his attempted murder. The plot then travels through a dazzling series of twists and turns (which get a little confusing at times) as Kovacs closes in on the killer.
Fans really enjoyed the bloody action sequences in Season 1, especially this one particular scene that's so well done, you can't help but pause and rewind to enjoy the visceral satisfaction of it.
Kovacs commits a shocking amount of murder in a single scene
In a Season 1, Episode 4 murder scene that would make John Wick offer up a polite golf clap, Kovacs frees himself from captivity and racks up an impressively violent body count in just under a minute of screen time. Kovacs was kidnapped earlier in the episode and brought to a special clinic for torture, because his "sleeve" used to belong to a cop that evildoer Dimi wanted to enact revenge upon. Kovacs relies on his military training to escape the mental prison where Dimi was torturing him and breaks free in the real world, leaving a bloody trail of carnage behind him as he makes his way out of the lab.
This scene is definitely a fan favorite according to several users on Reddit. The original poster in one thread describes the scene as "the most memorable and satisfying scene ever. It's the perfect mix of high tech weaponry and just pure deserved murder." U/BetweenTheDeadAndMe added "that one scene was better than the entire season," while u/ABewilderedPickle pointed out that "the scene is ironically made even more badass with the Hello Unicorn backpack."
Indeed, a man who's tough enough to wear a cutesy shade of pink is not someone that should be messed with. It's a shame that such a powerful sci-fi hit had to end only after two seasons.