I'm watching the Interrogator animated series on Warhammer+, and this is my review of the final episode. There are spoilers in this post, so don't read on if you haven't seen the show and have a good memory.
Over the past two episodes, my interest in Interrogator was starting to falter a little. They were obviously filler episodes, and I wasn't confident that the series knew where it was going any more. I felt like the mystery had been solved a long time ago, and for some reason we were just watching Jurgen bump around Gheisthaven with that mohawk lady with the funny voice from the bar. What was it for?
Well, in retrospect I still don't know whether those two episodes were strictly necessary for story or for lore, but maybe they were for pacing because I admit they feel a lot more worth it after the final episode.
The final confrontation between Jurgen and Heroth lasts for maybe 15 seconds. Jurgen shoots, Heroth dies. The end. Almost a little disappointing, at first. But then Jurgen says that because Heroth is dead, he's no longer a null, he's just a corpse like all the rest. Which means that Jurgen can read his [presumbly fading] thoughts.
That feels like it unlocks a lot in the canon, to be honest. I think if I were playing Imperium Maledictum or Wrath and Glory and that became problematic (kill a blank, read their thoughts for free) I'd rule that there's a time limit as impulses and neural connections dissipate, and also that the thoughts must have been top of mind at the time of death, or something like that. But really, probably not even a problem, just kind of cool from a lore viewpoint.
Even more interesting is the memory that Jurgen accesses. It explains the bulk of the little story threads we've seen throughout the series, and gives several of them new meaning. It answers a lot of questions, some of which you may not even remember having, and because there's been so much obsession over getting answers through the series, you don't feel like it's a surprise switcheroo tagged on at the very end.
In fact, ruminating about whether the revelations of what was really going on, I'm pretty sure it only works as a last minute reveal. And it works well because even though it's a last minute reveal, all the pieces were in place from the start. It's not imparting new information that shifts the whole plot, it's new information that provides new context for the plot. You don't feel angry that you didn't figure it out yourself. There's just enough new information that you understand that you weren't expected to figure it out yourself, before Heroth's memories explained everything to you. This is how we were meant to uncover what was really happening. Right along with Jurgen.
What all the new information means to Jurgen hits hard, too. There are definitely implications to what Heroth reveals, and they're not good for our protagonist.
The beginning of the third act aside, this was a good series. Atmospheric, grounded, devoid of a lot of the "obvious" Warhammer components (there wasn't even one space marine or xeno). This is life in a mega city of the far future. It's bad. But, if you love dystopic science fantasy, also very very good.
All images in this post copyright Games Workshop.