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Algernop Krieger (Dreamland) is the dream persona of Krieger in Season 8: Dreamland. He is the bartender of the Dreamland (Nightclub), and much, much more. He is the most well-drawn persona in Dreamland, around which the entire plot revolves.

Appearance[]

Krieger appears as a typical '40s bartender, wearing a white shirt with a green tie and pin-striped grey waist-coat. He has a full beard and a receding hairline.

Character Traits[]

  • Secretive, shadowy, vengeful
  • Complex, moralistic
  • Smartass

Plot Involvement[]

  • In No Good Deed (s8e1), we learn that Krieger is both Woodhouse's heroin dealer and Mother's bartender. It is later revealed that he is *spoiler alert* a Jewish Scientist, called Aaron Leibowitz, who faked his own death and disguised himself as a Nazi Scientist in order to sabotage Hitler's vision for robotic super-soldiers.*spoiler alert*.
  • In Berenice (s8e2).Ater Dutch Dylan loses his feet to Archer in No Good Deed (s8e1), Trexler puts him in contact with a man referred to only as "the man who will fix you"  Krieger answer the phone with "Where did you get this number?" He is seen later on behind the bar working on designs for robotic feet.
  • In Jane Doe (s8e3), Krieger wheels Dutch out of the hospital, telling the nurse it is for "routine tests".  He says to a heavily sedated Dutch, "let's get you dancin' handsome."

Backstory[]

  • In Ladyfingers (s8e4) and Sleeper's Wake (s8e5), during a series of dialogue-filled flashbacks, the full extent of Krieger's backstory is revealed:
    • He is revealed to have been a brilliant teacher, adored by his students at Hamburg Polytechnic. In 1933 he was forced to resign as he was a Jew, whereupon he set about seeking his revenge: he faked his own death (from Tuberculosis), obtained false papers for his birth and education before getting a job working in the Nazi robot program.
    • He was able to convince Hitler to finance his robotic super-soldiers, ostensibly wasting 3 years and millions of Marks by failing to achieve his goals owing to an apparent inability to overcome 'systemic shock' (caused when the remaining body parts reject the robot components leading to agonizing death).  
      Aaron leibowitz

      Leibowitz/Krieger

    • It had all been a ruse: his rationale was that every penny 'wasted' on his robots could not be spent on rifles, bullets, bombs or coal for transporting Jews to concentration camps. It was thus a boondoggle.
    • It turns out that he had been secretly injecting his subjects with carbolic acid, intentionally killing them, leaving open the possibility that the robot program was not entirely without success.  
    • Krieger is shown to murder the Gruppenfuhrer, along with his colleagues and his own nurse (after she denouced him for being a jew), using robo-Dobermanns based on those in The Boys From Brazil (see below).  

The 'Present Day'[]

All the time and money was not wasted it seems: apparently, Krieger kept secret from the Nazis a serum which actually does prevent systemic shock, enabling him to continue his work in secret in the United States, in the basement of the Dreamland Nightclub, which is owned and run by Mother.  

It is here where we return to 'present day' Krieger, converting Dutch Dylan into a cyborg, at Len Trexler's behest. Rather than receiving "pull-on fake feet" - which is he was expecting - Dutch receives, against his will, a full robotic refit of legs and arms whilst maintaining his head and torso. He breaks free from his restraints and threatens to kill Krieger - to which Krieger informs him that, as an insurance policy, he will need 12 hourly injections to prevent the dreaded systemic shock and his inevitable death. Krieger reveals the existence of a blue serum called 'Factor K'[1] which prevents the body rejecting it's robotic components and dying in agony - the missing piece of the puzzle he was able to withhold from the Nazis. Frustrated, Dylan punches Krieger and leaves to murder Trexler instead.  After warning Trexler, (as he has yet to be paid) Krieger returns to normal "bartendery things" like stocking coolers with ice.  Mother infers that he was caught snooping due to the black eye he received from Dylan (a callback to his voyeuristic pursuits in the real world), and threatens to stab him if she ever catches him snooping on her.

  • In Waxing Gibbous (s8e6), Krieger is seen trying to leave his basement via the trap door and is caught with a syringe full of the serum.  He quickly descends and locks himself in the basement after telling Mother that the blue stuff is 'nothing'.
  • In Gramercy, Halberd! (s8e7), Krieger is described as a "bona fide mad scientist" by Trexler, after informing Archer that he knows a "former Nazi scientist" who made the cyborg responsible for tying him up and murdering his crew.
  • In Auflösung (s8e8), Krieger is revealed as Dylan's 'doctor' responsible for his creation and maintenance via Factor K. Upon discovering that Dylan will not use his "powers for the good of all mankind" because he was a "murderer before being turned into a freak" - expressing surprise that Krieger was expecting "a happy ending" - Krieger sets his robo-dogs on Dylan, and successfully puts an end to his "life's work."

Continuity / Callbacks[]

  • 'Factor K' is a callback to Krieger's homosexuality-inducing serum of the same name, as used in Honeypot (s1e5).

Cultural References[]

  • The Boys From Brazil (1978): The backstory of Krieger's dream persona borrows heavily from this film: the name of his Jewish alias, "Aaron Leibovitz", is similar to Ezra Lieberman; his general motive of avenging Jews against their attempted genocide by the Nazis is a shared with Lieberman's (albeit in a different way); the 'Devil-dogs' are robotised dobermanns, the same breed as the ones bred by the foster father in the scene being referenced; the Devil-dogs respond to the same attack words "action/cut"; when the Nazis and nurse have all been killed, Krieger uses the same words to express his excitement as the Hitler clone Bobby: "Holy shit".
  • Superior Orders, or the Nuremberg defense: "Just following orders" was the defense given by Nazis at the Nuremburg Trials. It is a plea in court that a person (or official of any capacity) not be held guilty for actions ordered by a superior officer or an official.
    • It is, of course, a bitter irony that Leibovitz (who saught vengeance against the Nazis) would end up so casually relieving himself of responsibility for his actions.
  • "Snitches get stitches": [2]  something criminals say to one another (in particular mobsters who place a high value on omerta - the code of silence) to remind themselves of what happens to informers. So, when Mother waves a knife and says "Because you know what happens to snoops", Krieger follows the rhyme scheme and asks "They get - poops?"

Trivia[]

  • In Adam Reed's earlier show Frisky Dingo, main character Xander Crews mentions the "Boys From Brazil" style clones of his employee/CFO, Stan.

Quotes[]

Krieger: "I'm just following orders."[3]
Dutch Dylan: "What? Thats what the Nazis said!"
Krieger: "Ok yeah, tell me about Nazis..."

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Gallery of Images[]

Navigation[]

References[]

  1. Callback to the homosexuality-inducing serum of the same name in Honeypot (s1e5)
  2. Meaning of "Snitches get Stitches" (Quora.com)
  3. Superior Orders (wiki)
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