code_geass ◾ Episode 23 Discussion (Reply)

I'm aware it's probably too late to be doing this and I don't have near decent enough summaries to do this properly, but I'm all worked up and like to share my agony. Hoo boo is this going to be as manic as Lelouch. It's also mad long and semi-introspective. Oh and I'm doing this having only viewed the episode once. Ready go.

First, let's deal with a nickpickery issue of mine. I'm slightly less ruffled about it after reading a partial translation where Lelouch wonders if his geass power has diminished since Euphie originally tried to resist his order. He also proposes that it might have been the clashing of the order and Euphie's nature that led to the disruption. CC reveals nothing either way. Now why does this matter? First, let's explain it through my eyes and then I'll take a shot at Lelouch. I love Euphemia, and while I was fine with her dying for the sake of the story and Lelouch's descent, I hoped it would be semi-logical in that she had to die since she couldn't be stopped from killing and would probably never forgive herself for what she did or be redeemed in the eyes of her people. I think the first part also applies to why Lelouch felt he had to shoot her, with an addition of needing Euphemia dead so he could use her as an example of Britannia cruelty without having to worry about his mixed feelings. Euphemia always did tend to mess up his resolve. Love does that to you. What throws a real wrench into things is that if Euphemia could resist geass once more when dealing with Suzaku, who's to say she couldn't elsewise. Maybe shooting her down threw her off her game, and that Lelouch could have just wounded her instead of killing her. (He had no way of knowing this because he's never seen people resist geass once it's taken effect. Hell, he's made people cap themselves in the head or impale themselves upon his command.)

I'm giving the series the benefit of the doubt here and going with the geass was weakened because Euphemia was dying and because her love for Suzaku was so strong, meaning that same resolve wouldn't apply to other Japanese. But if we go with dying weakened the effect that means Suzaku also faces a future problem since his "live" geass could fail if he's wounded badly enough and truly wants to sacrifice himself. I don't see this happening, as I'm not sure there's anyone left that he would do this for. Possibly Nunnally. We will take on the whole Lelouch/Suzaku dynamic later. But suffice it to say, Suzaku's not going to be sacrificing himself for his former best friend. My main issue with weakening the geass is it comes dangerously close to making Euphemia's death pointless and while I could argue that heightens the tragedy, I think, without good reason, it stands a continuity error that overrules the dramatic/story significance. I understand its importance to show Suzaku she's under the influence of something, and I get that it would have been more fucked up to have her try to attack him while dying BUT this way it's almost a cop-out. Maybe I'm wrong. I want to be wrong. Someone prove me wrong. Because this is the first thing in geass to really get under my skin in a bad way.

Other than that distress, I enjoyed the episode. It gave me a queasy feeling in my stomach, but that's to be expected. It really freaked me out when Euphemia ran out of ammo and was searching around for some while happily chatting with Zero about killing the Japanese. Since she knows that's her brother, eep. And Zero shooting her -- Yes, I think it's important to point out that Lelouch seemed to go to explicit detail to have Zero shoot her. He could have killed her in Gawain or let Kallen do the deed, but instead wanted both the visual evidence and the responsibility of killing her. He wanted people to know Zero did it, much as he told them he killed Clovis. This literally sends chills down my spine at the calculation that went into this, the split second calculation decided upon realizing that he'd doomed Euphemia forever. I admit that like some, I am a little wonked out by the fact that it took one shot to the heart to do in the princess while a spray of bullet fire couldn't take out Mao. Where's that Britannia miracle medicine when you need it?

Suzaku... oh Suzaku how I cried for you, especially during the conversation with dying Euphemia about Ashford. You knew she was doomed, but you had to just keep fooling yourself. You are always fooling yourself. I don't care what others may say about how you and Lelouch don't understand each other, you're so damn alike. I was scared shitless when CC, fearing Suzaku would harm Lelouch, tried to take out Suzaku with Gawain. I think I was too busy going "Lelouch, you need to control your hell-bitch!" to even care that Lancelot was performing the impossible as usual and pwning both Gawain and Kallen. I think CC has a greater chance of harming Suzaku in the future than Lelouch, though I have no doubts that Suzaku is out for Lelouch's blood. Kallen... I think he's learned how to take her. She makes for good backup though. I really believe I would have been much more emotional toward the SuzuEuphie scenes if I wasn't SO pissed about the afore-mentioned issue. Still her death set against the Zero frenzy was so unsettling. It made me almost as uncomfortable as knowing that Lelouch planned out Zero's killing of Euphemia. Almost. I did like the symbolism of Suzaku leaving his father's watch with Euphemia, possibly a sign that he's going to stop this attitude of righteous atonement and just go for full throttle REVENGE. Again, Lelouch much? I really need to write a separate essay on Suzaku and how he's quite possibly a much larger threat than Lelouch ever could be because of both his abilities, his "live" geass and his devotion to his ideals over all else, something Lelouch continues to struggle with. Life really sucks for Suzaku.

Then we have the phone conversation at the end. Quite arguably the other most disturbing element of this episode because we all know how it will lead to and I'm fairly sure so do our Geass boys. Suzaku's forced casual attitude, while met with his driven eyes and hint of a deadly tone, matched against Lelouch's unavoidable friendly tone, while met with his preparations to rain down destruction on Britannia and knowledge that this will be the final time they speak this way. I think I felt my heart break when I heard Lelouch refer to Suzaku as a friend, even though he knows full well that's not the case. There is debate over whether Suzaku knows Lelouch is Zero when he calls. I think this is obvious since he deliberately calls on Euphemia's phone and wouldn't be discussing something so seemingly trivial with Lelouch at a time when he's got MURDER on the mind. That they are talking about hate seals the deal. As for why I believe Lelouch knows something is up is for mostly the same connection to Euphemia's cell and he can probably just tell from Suzaku's tone. Lelouch is not stupid. Now why he doesn't seem to care that Suzaku knows he killed Euphemia, I'm not certain. Is it explained by what Lelouch says about Suzaku after he hangs up? I just really want to know what he says. What most freaked me out about this scene is how the two act as if things are as they always were. Eternal liars those two. Truly twin stars if I ever saw them. And that really hurts. I do hope if either one dies, it's not the other one's fault because not only would that be cliched; it's just no damn fair.

With Sorrow, At Least. I forget how this title is officially written, but I've wondered about its meaning for some time. My instant connection is to Lelouch since that's where most of my thoughts usually go. In this way, I think the title symbolizes that Lelouch does what he does with sorrow. This could just be my speculation since the creators appear so fascinated with making him a devil, and this interpretation shows an emphasis on his still being conflicted. It could also mean at least Lelouch is closing to getting what he wants even if it involves sorrow for others. I find this the weaker interpretation of mine so I would like to hear others. I'm more willing to support the first since we get the scene of Lelouch telling Euphemia she was probably his first love, Lelouch's difficulty in telling Nunnally what happened to Euphemia and the scene of Lelouch accepting CC's comfort. This scene was so freakin' beautiful. Those scenes definitely do seem to emphasize Lelouch's trouble balancing his desires and his "soul" more or less. Or maybe I'm way off and someone says it. I don't know Japanese.

Random things that probably matter to other people so I'll mention them: Jeremiah coming out of his tube was 100 times the hot, I hate Kaguya (Maybe I'll like her later but I hate her now. I don't want that type of perkiness in my time of sorrow. Her infatuation with Zero also bothers me. And I think she's nuts. I'm sure others disagree so I'll say at least her speech was unique for the persona she displays), VV scares me, Shirley's storyline is once again boring me, Cornelia makes me cry, I don't like Villetta being here just to show the dark side of the rebels and Millay shouldn't let Nina play with Ganymede. Also, where's Schneizel?

Oh yeah, even if he was off his friggin' rocker, crazy-ass Zero was visually amazing at the end there. Taking out the stage wow. And CC and Marianne WTF man WTF?

And look we got to see Arthur one last time. I will never survive the wait for next season or the final two episodes or whatever we're getting. This is me screaming now.