EPISODE CONTEXT

Five episodes in, the Laughing Man case is shifting from surface-level mystery to something far more structurally sinister. Building directly on 'Intercepter's' unsettling discovery of unauthorized surveillance within the police force, 'Decoy' deepens the institutional corruption thread and raises the stakes of who is really pulling strings. It serves as a critical connective tissue episode, positioning the investigation for 'Meme,' which pushes further into questions of cybernetic identity and how ideas — and deception — spread virally through a networked world.