Wednesday, August 3, 2016

Code Geass: Lelouch of the Rebellion R2 Part 5 Episodes 14-16


The death of Shirley rocks Lelouch to his core.  Having lost one of his closest friends, Lelouch is dead set on one thing: the fall of Geass.  With this in mind, and with the help of Rolo and Jeremiah, Lelouch takes the battle to the heart of Geass itself.  A massacare follows, one that will leave the Black Knights questioning their morals more than ever.  And what awaits Lelouch at the end of this?  A confrontation with his father, the Emperor of Britannia.  At last, will Lelouch have the victory he set out for as Zero?

Okay…okay…deep breath…deep breath…ARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRGHHHHHHH!!!!!

WHY??? WHY IS ROLO STILL ALIVE???

The second we started back up and Rolo cheerfully revealed he was the one who killed her, I expected Lelouch to choke the hell out of him.  But Lelouch isn’t really about that now is he?  No he’s about using others for their skills and then leaving them to rot horribly.  Now…he could have just, you know, gotten the location of V.V’s base out of Rolo and then killed him, instead of some elaborate kill him with a bomb on the battlefield plan.  IDK to me, Rolo represents everything that’s been wrong with Code Geass Season Two.  He started off as a potentially good, new foe (who probably shouldn’tve lasted as long as he should).  But he quickly degraded into a back and forth, see saw effect of a character, becoming unsure of his loyalties but more so siding with Lelouch cause he’s so deluded he think theyre actually brothers.  Season Two has had some really good ideas and moments but has become so hopped up on trying to recreate the first season rather than go it’s own way that it’s become a huge mess.  And again with this set, for every good move made, a bunch of bad ones follow.  Halfway through the season, this is not a good place for this once amazing show to be.

V.V.’s had his ass kicking coming ever since he first appeared and opened his mouth.  To see Lelouch get the better of him and make him sweat was a moment of joy for me, I love it when bad guys who think they’re invincible get the beating that’s coming to them.  As for the rest of the massacare of V.V.’s base, I did feel like this was a hard to watch but still effective response from Lelouch.  He cant kill Rolo right away (and in a way, Shirley’s death is almost mostly on Lelouch cause he’s let Rolo live so long), so he’s taking his fury out on a facility full of civilians.  It brings in the questions of how far he’s willing to go to see his crusade til the end and that’s one of the discussions Code Geass does so well.  So yeah, it was rough to watch at times, but it was a brief return to form for Code Geass.  Plus Cornelia got her few seconds of fame helping to blast that little brat, V.V., to hell, that’s my girl.

Then we got the long awaited true confrontation between Charles and Lelouch.  Come on, did we really expected Lelouch’s Geass power to work on him?  That would have been too easy.  And after all of this build up, it would have been disappointing to see it end that way.  However, Charles is immortal now, having taken V.V.’s code, for reasons unknown.  Which leaves him to bolster and posture like the Architect from The Matrix Reloaded.  Does he even know what his plan to kill God really is anymore?  This hardly felt like a showdown and more like a set up for the inevitable final showdown between father and son.  We did get a good look at C.C.’s past and how she came to be, as well as a hint at her true wish…which is to die or beloved?  I don’t know which one.  All I can tell you is wiping her memories and returning her to slave girl mode is not the best move this series can make at this point.

Finally, we got the final preperations underway for the next big battle for Japan.  Zero may have a ton of countries on his side…but Schneizel has let Nina build what looks like an atom bomb…and he’s letting her give it to Suzaku in the hopes that Suzaku will dies (cause he’s Japanese) and that she’ll die too (so she can be with Euphie)…Schneizel…no…just no.  Nothing good is even going to come from this and Schneizel loses a few points for this in my eyes.  He and Lelouch have more in common than I realized.  They both kept around hindrances that are going to bite them in the ass at some point. 

BTW even though Kallen’s been out of the picture for a bit, she gets MVP this set for beating the ever living crap out of Suzaku for him trying to use refrain on her.  Not that Suzaku’s ever been my favorite character on this show…but even he needs a punch to the face most of the time. 

Still, next set looks like we’ll be reaching the end of Season One…errr I mean the next final battle of Japan.  Will it turn out the same as last time?  At this point, who even knows. 

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