WARNING: The following contains spoilers for Deep Insanity: The Lost Child Episode 8, "take 08," now streaming on Funimation.
Following a fairly immemorial and clichéd premiere, Deep Insanity: The Lost Child managed to dig itself up through focusing on its characters instead of combat and expanding the world of Asylum through more varied, fantastical places to explore. The Sleeper Team of Daniel Shigure, Larry Jackson, Reika Kobato and Sumire Mochinoki operating under Leslie Blanc provided a diverse and interesting cast whose strength was truly in getting to understand them personally and becoming invested in their missions.
The appearance of Exiles -- people who dwelled at the bottom of Asylum in small oases and about whom little was known -- made Asylum that much more interesting from both the inside and outside as well, as global companies fought over land and resources in an effort of colonization. However, just as Deep Insanity seemed to be leveling out into a decent adventure story, the appearance of Hayden and Nadia as key antagonists threw everything off track.
Hayden, who has a past with both Commander Vera Rustamova and the deceased Leslie Blanc, flouts the rules of Asylum, entering and exiting what is meant to be a secure facility seemingly at will. At one point, Nadia swoops down in a miniature airplane to save him. Considering the speed that a plane would require to maintain lift in an Antarctic pit without air flow, there is no way Hayden should have been able to jump to safety, but while this could still be explained away through his apparent special powers, the Exiles have become Deep Insanity's most glaring problem, completely contradicting everything viewers knew before.
When Daniel and Larry first encounter the Exile El-Cee in Asylum, Larry explains that nobody knows for sure where Exiles come from and they are largely a mystery. However, the Sleepers discover that Exiles have fully formed societies with religion and political leaders, and consider El-Cee their 'Child of God.' The existence of other types of Exiles -- much more violent and inhuman -- makes Asylum even more confusing, especially when no decent explanation is given for them being summoned by Hayden into the halls of the expedition facility.
The true mystery and massive leaps in judgment come after Leslie's death. Before the mission where they died, Leslie left behind a string of numbers and letters, claiming it would help if things went bad. Naturally, the mission goes bad, and it's lucky the squad just happen to decide they should make a photo album -- because that's when Daniel realizes all the photos have a code. The photo that matches his code shows Leslie, Larry and Reika posing in the ruins near the Exile village.
Why Larry and Reika either faked being amazed by the Exile village or somehow forgot about it is inconsequential compared to the fact Daniel miraculously finds the spot where the picture was taken, and the desk that was left behind. Inside it is a notebook including a good luck charm from Vera that had gone missing and a notebook exposing her secrets. Nothing about this adds up, and it's a shame to see all the work that had been put into creating a likable team go wasted as the story falls to pieces and swivels around to focus on Vera instead. It seems things will now hinge on her and Hayden, with the Sleeper Squad being pushed to the background.
Deep Insanity: The Lost Child leaves so many questions unanswered and so many plot holes unfilled that it seems unlikely to fix itself now, especially with the new massive heap of questions that go along with the revelation about Vera at the very end of the episode. It is a shame to see a show so quickly fall apart when it had done so much to improve itself, but in the end, it seems the premiere truly predicted how the story would go.
