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

[megalomaniageek.livejournal.com]

Hahaha, I just noticed about an hour ago "Hey, there was no discussion yesterday!" This is one of my favorite episodes. Points coming soon.

[drakyndra.livejournal.com]

Hey, where I am it's technically Sunday right now (Well, as of ten minutes ago). So don't worry too much about the delays. /posting from the future.

You know, earlier Zero said not to involve the citizens, but he hypocritically involved the citizens with his little charade.

It was noted last episode re: lying to Nunnally that there is sometimes rather a difference between what Lelouch says he'll do and what he actually does. I think the more interesting part is how Lelouch deals with that mentally: Does he just not notice the difference, and if he does, how does he rationalize it? I can't recall how he dealt with this example, though.

(I'll comment more once I get some sleep. There will be stuff about Suzaku, I swear!)

ETA: Wait a second, if it's Sunday that means it's Lelouch's birthday here. Happy Birthday to him, I suppose.

only a little spoilery

[kiraya.livejournal.com]

"And the end of his quest he knows that his father, the emperor of Britannia, waits for him. Or at least, that was what Lelouch hoped for." Interesting phrasing, there.

Suzaku's pronoun of choice while being interrogated: "jibun." And he maintains this in prison during the Lloyd conversation.

Tamaki's shouting about issuing a statement claiming responsibility for Clovis's death could be the smartest thing he says or does in the whole series. Of course, their group could've well been crushed like a bug by the Brits before Zero showed up if they had, but...

The "winners write the history" bias that shows up in the Tokyo Tower museum... I like that. It's a concept that's always interested me.

During this conversation with Diethard, it seems clear that Jeremiah really had the potential to be interesting... A shame this whole Orange thing turns him into a joke.

(I'll never be quite sure why Ougi wears that six-pointed star on his jacket. I've seen WWII-era Jewish parallels drawn there, but I'm not sure if that was deliberately intended by the creators so much for death of the author or if it's just overthinking it.)

Impassioned speeches on the proper goals of terrorism-- I'm sorry, justice. Oh Code Geass.

So Suzaku does have family on the Kururugi side left, even if he's not in contact with them... Does anyone remember if they're ever mentioned again after this?

That brief cut to Kaguya -- interesting, but why do so?

Oh lord the propaganda-spewing in this newscast is sickening.

I like that they show Lelouch is nervous about this gamble. Interesting that Kallen and Ougi were the only ones willing to risk trusting in him. And poor Kallen's scared half to death -- but since driving a junk car in that kind of situation's a lot different than piloting even an outdated Knightmare, I can hardly blame her.

It says SO MUCH about the degree of Suzaku's conditioning to and oppression by the Britannian regime that he uses "Eleven" rather than "Japanese" when wondering about Zero. And about how little he values himself that he tries to shout down the threat Zero's making. Boy needs some therapy.

(And Diethard's having his little fangasm over there, fft)

The Orange thing here is insanely risky, but well played, Lelouch. Well played.

Suzaku's pronoun of choice while discussing ideologies with Zero: "boku."

Poor Suzaku. He clings so strongly to this idea of the ends not justifying the means now, but... It'll be fun interesting to watch his downward spiral.

It intrigues me that Lelouch judged the human element perfectly with Jeremiah (the type of arrogance he knows well in nobility), but he completely missed his mark with Suzaku, who's changed so much... and all he can do is stand there and yell at him that he's being stupid over and over.

You know, I think part of what bothers Lelouch about Suzaku's situation is that between the two of them, both with little social/political clout (save Lelouch being a Britannian and thus possessing some privilege, even if only as a commoner), Suzaku has always had greater agency than Lelouch himself did (before he received Geass, at least) by virtue of his physical prowess. So to see that power offered up to a regime whose ideologies are incorrect by the one who holds it-- especially since it's Suzaku, who he formerly knew as so fierce and pro-Japan -- is really upsetting for Lelouch. And then to later see it not only offered up to that regime, but being actively used for it to block his goals -- no wonder Lelouch has such a strong reaction to discovering Suzaku is Lancelot's pilot.

Anyway. I really wonder how things might have gone had Lelouch removed the mask for Suzaku. Of course it'd be risky, with Kallen and Ougi and their group right nearby, but...

"If I'm going to die, I want to do it for everyone's sake." An incredibly selfish statement, really.

...Ending on C.C. walking into Nunnally's room in the dark is... a little creepy, actually. Especially since we last saw her dead.

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.

Spoilers

[seshiru-san.livejournal.com]

-Kind of interesting to see that Tamaki actually said something smart, for once. Plus, it's was funny that Ohgi acknowledges that he sucks as a leader. lol

-While Area 11 mourns the loss of Clovis, Lloyd mourns the loss of his awesome new test subject. And why wouldn't he? Suzaku's compatibility rate with Lancelot was at 94%! Unfortunately, he's completely powerless in this situation. He couldn't even get in touch with Schneizel, to help him out.

-Tohdoh perplexes me, throughout this episode.

-Oh, Suzaku. There are times where I want to hug you, and there are times where I want to beat the crap out of you. This is one of those episodes where I want to do both at the same time. I felt bad about him being framed by the Purist Faction, so they could abolish the Honorary Britannian system. However, almost everything else he said and did annoyed the heck out of me. First of all, he's far too naive. For someone that has been in the Britannian military, you'd think he would know how Britannians operate, by now. How the hell did he even think he stood a chance in court?

-Suzaku refuses Zero. Rather than fighting against the system, he'd rather try to change it from within. That's quite a big undertaking, especially for an Honorary Britannian. And after all Lelouch went through to save him, Suzaku makes with the self-righteous preaching, turns him down, and goes back to the very place that Lelouch tried to save him from. It just made him look ungrateful, in my eyes.

-Contrasting to Suzaku's naivety, we have Lloyd's cynicism. When you put the two together, you get some rather amusing clashes over their views on how the world works. I get a lot of enjoyment out of these debates; mainly just because I love that Lloyd calls Suzaku out on his bullshit. But his stance also makes him a little more of an intriguing character, because when you look at the rest of the Britannians, Lloyd's mindset isn't exactly common. As such, I'm curious as to what it was that caused him to become like that.

-Diethard gets his first Zerogasm! Watching Diet get hard for Zero, never ceases to amuse me. XP

-In all honestly, it took me a while to warm up to the Zero costume. It's just so cheesy, even for me! Still, I guess it does work with his over-the-top, theatrical way of doing things.

-The Orange Incident. At this point, I really hated Jeremiah. So, I got a lot of sadistic satisfaction in watching the arrogant, racist prick's fall from grace, and the recurring abuse that he receives afterward.

-Finally, a wild (and not-so-dead) C.C. appears!