Ad Vitam – Netflix Season 1 Episode 2 Recap & Review

Youth Of The Nation

After the previous episode, Ad Vitam returns right where it left off from before. With more drama and a deeper understanding of this bleak, new world, we tumble further down the rabbit hole as more information around the teen suicides is brought to the surface.

The episode opens with Christa in hospital, where she starts to have visions of one of her old friends, Nahel. In the morning, Darius comes to visit her and asks if she saw someone at the party, but she denies it. Darius also tells her that they’ve traced where the text is coming from: a youth centre for troubled teens.

They decide to investigate the centre and find out that over 30,000 young people have used it, but they have no record of anyone. The person in charge, Virgil, explains all the issues the young people are currently facing. With teenagers now staying minors until the age of 30, it’s becoming increasingly difficult for them to find their place in society. In essence, it’s like being stuck in a really big waiting room.

The next morning, Christa researches the mass suicide from the stadium and gains information about Caron and Saul. Her dad arrives after going through regeneration and for a few seconds, his expression goes blank and his eyes turns a very deep blue.

Later that night, a boy hidden by a motorcycle helmet comes to take her to a secret location. She recognises him as Linus. He then takes her to a club with lots of minors and explains that they are limited in what they can do – no smoking, drinking or bad thoughts as it could affect their potential future regenerations. She asks him how he managed to survive and if Caron is still alive. He replies that the stadium was nothing and that something bigger is coming; there are hundreds waiting for his signal.

The next day, after meeting with the cops and relaying to them the revelations from Linus, she watches a video she found in Linus’ place. It shows her friend Nahel being hit and brainwashed into dying with no fear. He’s also made to repeat the same mantra repeatedly; “Only the acts talk, only the acts don’t lie”.

Upset with what she just witnessed, Christa heads to the garden and finds a hidden gun. However, she’s stopped by her Mum before doing anything drastic. Not knowing what to do with her, her parents call Darius who takes her back home with him.

The youth club then throw a party and the police place surveillance around the floors. They notice a boy, a friend of Linus’, called Samian. Darius chases after him, but he runs toward a cliff, jumping to his death. This causes the police to close the centre which enrages Virgil, who repeats the same phrase used by Nahel earlier.

The episode then ends with Darius’ wife finding out she is pregnant.

Ad Vitam delivers another slow episode but carries on with its intriguing and interesting plot points from before. If we were to live forever, would we be able to stay in the same job and same relationship forever? And if we’re still minors until the age of 30, what would this do to our economy and education system?

The regeneration process itself also seems to have its flaws as we saw earlier in the episode with Christa’s father. With more pieces of the puzzle coming together, all these different twists to the story help mask the methodical pacing of the episode. Ad Vitam is a show that’s most definitely slow burn but one that I hope will pay off given the good world building and intriguing picture painted so far.