Episode 19 discussion?

[nayami.livejournal.com]

Since the last episode discussion post went so well, I figured why not give it another go-around? My original plan was to post these on Saturdays so people had a good day to check out the raw and track down summaries and the like but since I enjoy the discussions myself and won't be around much Saturday, this one comes a bit early.

I'd also like to point out that I am extremely biased in what I talk about to start the discussion so if you have characters/topics you're more interested in, feel free to thread about them as well.



I knew the island arc would be entertaining, but I was hardly expecting it to be good. I love that Euphemia knew who Zero was the entire time but never told Cornelia because she didn't want to cause her sister any more pain by knowing it was their own brother fighting against them. I love Euphemia in general now. The scene where Lelouch and Suzaku are facing off and Kallen's basically calling Euphemia a vapid princess just before Euphemia tells Suzaku to forget about her and kick Kallen's ass, that was the first sign of Euphemia's edge that I've ever seen. I liked it. Not as much as Lelouch totally failing at survival life, unable to even dig a hole. Why were you born a man, Lulu? It was hilarious of the writers to continuously compare Lelouch's failures with Suzaku's leet fishing skills.

Though I agree with the anime bloggers that the Euphie/Lulu parts were hella better than Suza/Kallen. Suzaku and Kallen were just a world of bitchery, while Euphemia and Lelouch had connection and understanding, at least in part. I wonder how the knowledge that Cornelia is investigating what happened to Lelouch's family will affect his thirst for vengeance. With his family members each revealing themselves as decent human beings, Lelouch is losing more reason to hate them. What does this mean for his purpose in the Rebellion?

People say that because Lelouch showed friendliness to Euphemia, he's all up for siscon. I point out that Lelouch is generally nice to girls, and I think the flashback revealed that Lelouch's family had always been close to Euphemia. I think this was another reason he stayed his hand back during the hotel incident, the exact behavior that led Euphemia to believe he was Zero. I didn't pay much attention to other aspects of this episode until the surprise attack at the end because I think I need to really know what's being said in the Gawain and Black Knights scenes to truly appreciate them. Summaries are not going to do it.

I hope we get more of Suzaku's reaction to the whole "live" incident next week since he didn't have any character-revealing moments in his time with Kallen, aside from his telling her he killed his father. I think this is a big step for him. Words cannot describe how much I adore the way Lelouch GEASSed Suzaku. When I first saw the shot of Suzaku with the red-rimmed eyes associated with GEASS, I was sad because I thought Lelouch was finally favoring the Rebellion over Suzaku. I was extremely relieved to learn his GEASS command to Suzaku was simply "live." Others are talking about the command having a lasting effect, which I think would be smart of the creators, but I'm not sure if they're going to do it. In the past, we've seen the GEASS can last for an infinite time when a non-descript command is given. People ask why Lelouch didn't use multiple commands at once such as "Fight your way out of here. Leave Britannia. Join the Black Knights." I think the most obvious reason is that Lelouch wanted immediate action. He knew Suzaku was going to sacrifice himself to ensure Zero was destroyed, and had to revert that decision immediately. He probably didn't have time to evaluate all the possible commands. He never intended to GEASS Suzaku in the first place so it was a spur-of-the-moment thing.

I think the command itself shows Lelouch's continued loyalty to Suzaku, although I fully admit it also allowed Lelouch the opportunity to escape himself. But that was a gamble, and we're not even fully sure how that happened; it's hinted it has something to do with the unseen GEASS user. It seems to me Lelouch was more focused on getting Suzaku out of harm's way than escaping himself -- He could have told Suzaku to simply "Get us out of here"-- but I'm an optimist when it comes to them so I could be wrong. I wonder if the GEASS user zapped everyone to the island to simply put the Gawain in Lelouch's possession or if they know about Lelouch and the royals. I'm also unsure why Suzaku freaks out when the whole group is controlled by the GEASS teleportation at the end of the episode. Is he recalling what happened with C.C.?

Comments

[tatooine.livejournal.com]

Lelouch's command to Suzaku was really interesting in light of Lelouch musing for most of 17.5 about how Suzaku possibly wanted to die, didn't care about living, was serving in the Britannian military as his atonement for having killed his dad. If "live" is going to be a long-lasting command, that'll have a pretty serious impact on Suzaku in the long run...

Anyone know what Lelouch said to Euphie about Suzaku? All I caught was his name.

[rukawagf.livejournal.com]

he said

"why did you make a non Britanian your knight?"

[rukawagf.livejournal.com]

i think he also said "What does Suzaku mean to you?" but i have to rewatch and hear the japanese again. I'm at work now so I can't help ya, sorries :P

[tatooine.livejournal.com]

Thanks so much!

[nayami.livejournal.com]

Now threesomes I'm up for. They'd be so cute!

Yeah, I like how 17.5 actually had a purpose compared with many recaps since getting Lelouch's view on the situation ties into his actions at the end of 18. It's why I would like to believe that Lelouch deliberately chose it, though it might have just been a "at the back of his head"/unconscious wish. Lelouch severely laments Suzaku's apparent death wish. It would make for some interesting times if it is long-lasting, as I'm sure Lelouch would prefer.

Though if it is a standing command, it questions over the morality in Lelouch playing God over his friend. I know he does it with everyone else, but he seems to care much more when it's people he cares about.

[tatooine.livejournal.com]

I almost didn't watch the recap, since I figured it would just be Lelouch whining about his boyfriend leaving him for his sister, but it was suprisingly good! I mean, as recap eps go. I'd have preferred to just stick that "o i bet suzaku rly wants to die D:" observation in Lelouch's thought process somewhere and devoted an episode to, like, Cornelia and Euphie's adventures in the Secret Garden, or Cecile feeding Suzaku.

Heh, and he didn't Geass Euphie, either. I call Lulu and Euphie merging their harems for great justice at someome in the near future.

[verity-isle.livejournal.com]

The threesome would bring the question of who bottoms, Lulu or Euphie. I find this most interesting

He was just joking about himself being an incompetent knight, and then goes "BTW, about Kururugi Suzaku, your real Knight. Can I ask why you chose a Honorary Britannian?"

And then wham! Said Honorary Britannian appeared.

[nayami.livejournal.com]

I'm going with Lulu. XD

I'm curious why Lelouch cares why Euphemia chose Suzaku.

[verity-isle.livejournal.com]

Euphie would never let him live it down. XD Eternal sibling teasing ftw

Maybe he's just curious, maybe he wonders how much she knows Suzaku, maybe it's the whole Nunnally thing and he was just broaching the subject, maybe he was jealous?

[nayami.livejournal.com]

I think it's a mixture of the second and the last really. It was just terribly cute the way he went about broaching the subject. Heck, he and Euphemia are just terribly cute around each other.

[tatooine.livejournal.com]

"He has mysterious ability -- say his name three times, and he appears!"

[verity-isle.livejournal.com]

I agree with this analysis. There will be sulking persons, but he's cute doing it, so.

Suzaku = Jigokumimi? XD

[tatooine.livejournal.com]

I was thinking Beetlejuice. :P

[nayami.livejournal.com]

Still so cute, and I can actually picture Euphie doing it too.

God your icon is the awesome.

[tatooine.livejournal.com]

Haha, thanks!