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

[snowdevil-crow.livejournal.com]

I think you mean +100 the beginning of a fabulous relationship between Diethard and Zero.

+10 He looks FAAAABULOUS as he wraps his arms around Suzaku and leaps to safety, cape flowing

♥♥ that little shot.

[megalomaniageek.livejournal.com]

I've never been hugely into Diethard, although I've enjoyed his pragmatism and I thought his character was super-unfortunately super-derailed at the close of R2. But you're right, his being totally into Zero - and being THE ONLY ONE who gets what Zero is doing right off the bat - deserves more points. Actually, what always impressed me about this scene was that Diethard is clearly in a position above holding a camera, but considers covering the story to be the most important thing; nobody is doing it right, so he takes a handheld camera and runs right out to the front lines to get a good shot of Zero's face and epic confession.

[nayami.livejournal.com]

I just love how Diethard is more than just paparazzi but is about staying on top of the story no matter what the cost. It's hardcore.

SPOILERS, I guess...

[kusaja.livejournal.com]

Not surprisingly...I think it's less of a true derailment and more of yet another thing that was poorly presented in the rush to end the show.

The basic idea seems to have been that after the fall of Zero and the "end" of his story -where we should remember that Diethard actually tried to defend him and his use of Geass during the betrayal until everyone else just gave up- he found Schneizel to be an interesting replacement who could more or less fill that void: someone who had successfully manipulated the Black Knights and then embarked on his own ambitious plan against Emperor Lelouch's Britannia.

It wasn't a very smooth transition at all, of course not, and it was probably missing one or two scenes in the middle of the process...but I don't really think such a change was fundamentally against the nature of his character.

If anything though, I did think Diethard's death scene was too sloppy and exaggerated. It could have benefitted from toning things down a little, even if the final result remained the same.