Code Geass Episode 4: Discussion

[gods-debris.livejournal.com]

So... I thought yesterday was Wednesday and today was Thursday until my boyfriend came home and was totally psyched about it being Friday... to which I replied, "It's Thursday." And he rebuttaled with, "No, it's not. Don't even try." At that point I picked up my phone and turned it on so that I could see the date... sure enough, today is Friday. Talk about being completely out of it. I'm sorry, guys. :( That's my failure icon for myself.

Episode 4: その名はゼロ
"The Name is Zero"


　　
　　
　　　
　　
　　
　　
　　
　

So Suzaku is being framed and despite how much he denies the fact he had anything do with it, Britannia is making sure to make him look as guilty as possible—even offering him to be an Honorable Brittanian up until his death if he admits to the murder. Suzaku is surprisingly mellow and doesn't seem worried at all.

In this episode we have Lelouch getting his Zero outfit made and establishing his identity with Kallen's terrorist group. Obviously they aren't sure whether or not they can trust him since he isn't even willing to show them his face—but given the circumstances of who he is it's obvious as to why he cannot. Lelouch also realizes that if they want to make a difference they cannot just be terrorists, they have to have an agenda. Oogi just doesn't seem strong enough to have that agenda, so this is probably the best thing that can happen to their band of merry men.

I forgot that Suzaku still thought that Lelouch and the strange green-haired girl were dead, but wonderful Llyod came and told him the good news. I guess Suzaku might have blamed himself for their deaths if that were the case. Suzaku is also always grasping onto that hope that people will open their eyes and listen past what "big brother" tells them. Even when Lloyd tells him that no one will be on his side he says that the courtroom is the place where the truth is revealed... yeah, but if everyone is already against you going in, and if Brittania has gone out of their way to make sure your finger prints were on that gun and that the entire murder of Clovis looks like you did it, the truth revealed will evidently be the lie Brittania conjured up.

You know, for someone being in a terrorist group I'm surprised that she's still wearing her uniform. You think she'd put on civilian clothing. Not that she really went any place conspicuous, but you can never be too safe about keeping things about your identity secret. I'm also surprised that Oogi ended up going as well. Not surprised about Kallen, but Oogi was a little bit of a surprise. He seemed to question Zero the most.

Anyways, Lelouch—er, Zero—doesn't disappoint. Always dramatic with his entrances and I gotta say the whole thing about using the "gas bomb" as bait to get them to hand over Suzaku was great. Jeremiah has never seen what was on the inside—the only two people who saw were Lelouch and Suzaku, and when Suzaku tried to speak out to tell them it was a fake he was electrocuted into silence. So Zero does a wonderful job of using his power to confuse the Brittanian army with the whole "Orange" incident before using Geass on Jeremiah into letting them go without a scratch.

Lelouch's ultimate plan was to get Suzaku to join him because he remembered Suzaku's words that day when they were children, but Suzaku has decided to follow a different path. He wants to change Brittania from within and doesn't like how Zero handles things. You know, earlier Zero said not to involve the citizens, but he hypocritically involved the citizens with his little charade.

Comments

Spoilers

[nayami.livejournal.com]

Yays, our post!

Observations~

- Man, Naoto looks like Kallen with her hair down. I wonder if she did that deliberately.
- LOL I love the scribbling's all over Tamaki's door. He's perpetually 12.
- I enjoy trying to sort out Tohdoh's emotions during all this, particularly his decision to stand apart from the others when they are watching Suzaku being taken to his trial.
- I love watching Suzaku getting all roughed up by the interrogators. It's totally my kink.
- This episode even more emphasizes Jeremiah in his villain role, with him intending to use Suzaku's framing to destroy the Honorary Britannian system. I do wonder how they went about getting Suzaku's fingerprints on the gun though or if that was just a bluff to provoke a confession.
- I find it interesting that the series starts with Suzaku being accused of assassinating a royal and ends with him assassinating a royal, after having assassinated the prime minister.
- I still think the Zero costume is ridiculous and wonder why the terrorists are so willing to put up with Zero's eccentricities before he actually shows them what he can do. I guess they're just that desperate after losing Naoto.
- It's always so eery how jaded Lloyd is to everything, such as his realization that they're probably going to execute Suzaku without cause.
- Also interesting is Suzaku's reaction to his being framed, that if the world is so unjust, he wants no part of it. That's some twisted logic right there. And ironic since later in the episode he ends up returning to that same corrupt system and it frees him. But he does have a good point about the Britannians probably being willing to take out their anger on some other Eleven hide if they didn't have Suzaku. We also get the classic "means vs. ends" debate here, with Suzaku already knowing the consequence of the wrong means, unlike Lelouch.
- I still think Diethard wants to omnom his hair. I love how obsessed he is with capturing the moment of Zero's reveal, which as cheesetastic as it may be, is still pretty cool. Zero will always have his entrances.
- Also Suzaku's trying to convince the Britannians they're being duped when it's obvious THEY ARE TRYING TO KILL HIM. Come on, Suzaku, really?
- The rescue continues to be one of the gayest things ever.
- I love the shot of sweat running down Lelouch's face when he's preparing for his Zero grand debut. For the longest time, I thought it was a tear, but sweat makes more sense.
- Rivalz sits on tables like a cat.
- "I found a better opponent." I love this more than words. So Lelouch.
- My inner fangirls also squees at Zero spazzing out at Suzaku for being so ready to get himself killed again, although I'm pretty darn sure Suzaku suspected something by Zero's reaction. The close-up of him in that scene seems to suggest that. It's a great twist on the classic "Join the dark side" moment between the hero and the villain, especially with Suzaku's closer about wanting to bring Zero to justice.
- I'm always interested by Zero's leading the terrorists with his promise that they will strike Britannia instead of the innocent citizens. Lelouch has to know innocents could be hurt in these battles. It's just more of his odd distancing and viewing the entire thing as a big game. Though I do also think Lelouch would truthfully like to avoid innocent casualties.

Re: Spoilers

[spleener.livejournal.com]

and wonder why the terrorists are so willing to put up with Zero's eccentricities before he actually shows them what he can do.

Remember, he's already shown them what he can do- he led them to victory in an otherwise impossible situation in Shinjuku. That's obviously not enough for most of them, but still.

I'm always interested by Zero's leading the terrorists with his promise that they will strike Britannia instead of the innocent citizens. Lelouch has to know innocents could be hurt in these battles. It's just more of his odd distancing and viewing the entire thing as a big game. Though I do also think Lelouch would truthfully like to avoid innocent casualties.

Well, there's a difference between going for the military targets and accidentally getting civilians involved and not discriminating between military and civilian targets at all, which is what the existing Japanese resistance movement was doing (see the hoteljacking.) That's the primary basis that the modern world uses for telling the difference between the Good Guys and Bad Guys in war.

Re: Spoilers

[snowdevil-crow.livejournal.com]

I still think the Zero costume is ridiculous

HDU, the Zero costume is pure sex, okay.

- I love the shot of sweat running down Lelouch's face when he's preparing for his Zero grand debut. For the longest time, I thought it was a tear, but sweat makes more sense.

Yeah, the first time I watched it I thought it was a tear, but then someone was like "... he's wearing a lot of tight fitting fabric, it's sweat." I also loved that moment, because it shows that he is still actually kind of nervous, despite all his arrogancy.

Re: Spoilers

[nayami.livejournal.com]

Well, my opinion of the Zero costume changes greatly when donned by Suzaku. And it has its moments when the front is open to the ruffled shirt thing in R2. XD