Watched the The Gaslight District pilot a few days ago, and now I'm wondering. How does the immortality work? Not so much lore-wise, but, like, mechanically.
It isn't just a simple matter of "if you die, you come back as if you never did". Ken praises Mel for still having "all of her original limbs", which shows that, not only can you affix new limbs onto your body and control them, but also implies that lost limbs don't regenerate upon being returned to life.
But at the same time we do see some regeneration happen, when the bullets that killed Ken, Mud, and Breadhead get spit out of their wounds after the black hand brings them back (now that isn't how actual healing would work, but I'm willing to handwave that as the animators wanting to have a cool shot, which is always the best reason to do anything in fiction). EDIT: Watched it again, it wasn't the bullets healing out, it was Ken flexing them out just to be intimidating.
So maybe that means you can regenerate, just nothing that you can't otherwise naturally heal? A nonlethal bullet wound will eventually heal over, but you can't regrow a lost limb. Or maybe it's just a simple matter of size; bullet wound small, lost limb too big?
I ask this because, unless some form of mass regeneration exists, the people of the Gaslight District functionally cannot be immortal. At least not in any way that matters. What happens if someone destroys your brain? Presumably a person's consciousness exists within their brain, so if that gets destroyed, where does their consciousness go? Or does the brain regenerate? If so, why it and not a limb? Maybe because the brain is more important, being the organ that contains the actual person? If so, does the whole brain regrow, or just the one part of it that contains your consciousness? Is that how consciousness works in this universe? What are the rules here? EDIT: Joshua comes back and is just fine without his brain!!! WHERE IS THE CONSCIOUSNESS KEPT IN THE BODY?!?!?!
This all comes back to how the Smiling Dead deal with Jack and other folks who betray them, the ol' cement shoes. Given the rules we've seen the show display, it seems like chaining them up, putting their feet in wet cement, waiting for it to set, then dragging them to the ocean and tossing them in is way less efficient and more costly than just destroying their brain. Or if the brain regenerates , why not just have Breadhead crack open their skull, rip their brain out, then toss it into the ocean? Just seems way easier and even more effective at making sure they stay silent. Sure, you'll have the body to worry about, but this is the Gaslight District, I seriously doubt people are going to care about a dead body lying around. If anything scalpers and scavengers would probably love it!
So I'unno. Food for thought, I guess. Ultimately, I don't think this is something that needs to be explained, since it not being explained doesn't completely break the show, but it is just a bit immersion warbling for me personally.
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