Friday, July 29, 2016

Code Geass: Lelouch of the Rebellion R2 Part 3 Episodes 8-10


Zero shockingly agrees to participate in helping Nunally establish her Special Administrated Zone of Japan.  A tear splits down the center of the Black Knights, who begin to question Zero’s leadership.  But is there a bigger play in mind?  Then Zero and his comrades get caught up in a Coup d’etat in the Chinese Federation that could play to their advantage.  And while all of this unfolds, allegiances shift, plans are made in secret with old enemies, and Lelouch confronts two siblings.  Three nations find themselves on the brink of war in the next chapter of Code Geass.

Is it wrong to say I really, REALLY don’t care about anything going on directly related to the Chinese Federation plotline?  The introduction of Xinghe, the (incredibly annoying) High Eunuchs and the sort of expanded role for Kaguya have done nothing to further the plot of Code Geass along.  If anything, they’ve stalled things quite a bit.  There are more interesting details that could use the screentime here, like expanding on V.V.’s role and clearing up some details about the Geass itself.  Right now though, the attempt at world building is only hurting this series more and more.  It doesn’t help matters much that the story cant make up it’s mind who is on whose side.  In the last few minutes of this set alone we had…2 or 3 double crosses?

So we have Lelouch who’s taking advantage of a volatile situation to take out an enemy (I think).  We have Xinghe who is dead set on protecting the tiny Empress while slaying the High Eunuchs who’d use her as a bid for more power.  And the High Eunuchs who…well as I said, just trying to score brownine points with Britannia but will use Xinghe for their own ends, even forgiving him for his coup d’etat before pulling the reigns on him AGAIN!!!  This is making my head hurt and I miss the days when Britannia was the only threat Lelouch had to deal with.  But Code Geass R2 is determined to make all the world a stage by the end, at least I think so.  It’s just a lot to keep up with though.

Not everything was totally bad here…most of it was but still.  Lelouch and Schneizel finally came face to mask against each other.  Their chess game was a nail bitter and im curious if Schneizel knows Lelouch is Zero.  It’s kind of unclear who knows and doesn’t know at this point…or who’s just being a gulliable idiot (i.e. Suzaku).  But I’ve liked Schneizel since his first appearance.  I feel he’d be sharp enough to piece it together quickly.  Hell Euphie did and she only met Zero once.  We also got a brief but promising glimpse at Jeremiah 2.0.  Conversing with V.V. and sporting a calmer, but still theatrical, appearance, I cant wait to see how this season puts one of Season One’s most entertaining characters to work.  Plus, for all the crap I give Xinghe and his story arc, his Knightmare’s capabilities allowed for some cool action scenes between him and Kallen.

Cant really close this out without mentioning the big, “I AM SPARTACUS…er…ZERO” scene.  In a move probably inspired by V for Vendetta, Lelouch got one million Japanese to don Zero costumes and follow him in his exile to a new island homeland.  This was a smart way to avoid the potential outcome of another Special Zone massacre, something most of the Britannians seemed dead set on carrying out.  It was one of the biggest surprises that reminded me of why Season One worked so well.  The unexpected occurred and laid the foundation for better buildings from it.

Oh and Nina was back this week…still a pain in the ass…still hopped up on crazy pills and…yeah just so unlikeable, calling Milly out for being too caring and bad mouthing Suzaku and Kallen cause of their heritage.  As much as I praise Schneizel, I have to dock points for him using such a fragile and potential plan screw up mind to his advantage…did I just feel sorry for Nina?  Yeah better cut this out before I start sounding a little crazy.

We left Zero and the Black Knights boxed into a one way out fortress, Kallen captured…and all the while I say they could have avoided this if they’d just ignored this whole storyline all together.  Maybe Schneizel coming into the fray will spice things up a bit…cause God knows Code Geass R2 needs it more than ever right now…oh my poor series.

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