Warning: Contains SPOILERS for The PeripheralAn intriguing interaction between Lev Zubov and Cherise Nuland in The Peripheral episode 4 reveals the three major tenets of the future timeline's world in the Klept oligarchy, the Met police, and the Research Institute, but what exactly "Klept" means in The Peripheral isn't completely clear. From revealing the bleak meaning of "The Jackpot" to foreshadowing Flynne's time-traveling side effects, The Peripheral's episode 4 adds more heft to its expansive world-building by gradually unraveling the tapestry around its many mysteries. Along with that, the show also hints at how Wilf's elite benefactor, Zubov, and Dr. Nuland serve as puppeteers of the future world by creating stub (alternate) timelines to alter the course of human history.
Zubov and Nuland's influence becomes increasingly evident when Nuland reminds Zubov of the three central forces that run their world. Using four slices of bread, Nuland explains how society rests on a foundation set by The Peripheral's Research Institute, the Metropolitan Police and the Klept. When referring to the Klept in The Peripheral's episode 4, she highlights that the oligarchy has used extremely violent ways in the past to reinstate order following the apocalyptic Jackpot and continues using the same methods even in the 2100 timeline. She further warns Lev that if the Klept oversteps its boundaries, the Met police and the Research Institute will not hold themselves back from keeping the Klept in check. From this information, it's clear that the Klept is a dangerous clandestine operation, working behind the scenes in the world of The Peripheral.
Lev Zubov's Klept Connection In The Peripheral Explained
So far, in The Peripheral, Lev Zubov is the only known member of the Klept. However, considering Klept's dominance over the post-apocalyptic world, The Peripheral will likely reveal other elite families and members that are a part of the powerful mafia organization. This, in turn, could also reveal where Zubov stands in the power hierarchy of the oligarchy. While Lev Zubov's motivations in The Peripheral remain unknown, it is evident that he and other members of the Klept have previously misused stub timelines to gather data from the past and benefit themselves in their future timeline. As Zubov himself explains, the Klept can use alternate stub timelines as testing grounds for pharmaceutical drugs without facing any consequences for their actions.
How The Klept Survived The Peripheral's Jackpot
The Peripheral episode 4 does not give a detailed explanation for how the Klept survived the Jackpot. However, when Cherise Nuland confronts Lev Zubov, he reminds her that the Klept has "a sort of atavistic tribal unity." Owing to this, even when one of them faces any opposition, all of them come together and make their adversaries suffer. This establishes that when the world was riddled with chaos after The Peripheral's central apocalypse, the Klept probably stood its ground and used its unity to survive and eventually establish dominance over others. Furthermore, Aelita and Wilf's flashback shows that children were abducted after the apocalypse and placed into the care of rich families to maintain some semblance of control over a collapsing society. This suggests that to benefit from The Jackpot, the Klept likely violated many social ethics and committed numerous inhumane crimes to exploit the masses and ensure their own survival.
The Klept's implied malpractices in The Peripheral's episode 4 subtly point towards the show's unique take on class divides. The Jackpot seems to serve as a defining moment in history that separates the elite Klept class from the rest. Other than being extremely wealthy and politically superior, the Klept also seems to live in a completely different and advantageous space-time that allows the group to manipulate the relation between past and present events for its benefit. It would be interesting to see how the Klept will use this power in The Peripheral's future episodes and how Nuland's evil schemes will come into play in these events.
New episodes of The Peripheral air Fridays on Amazon Prime