Rollo is one scary fellow, don’t get him angry…

A bit of a slow down from last week, but a revealing episode nonetheless. Unfortunately there was only a few seconds of Kira Yamato…er…Suzaku beating up some NPCs as the action for this week. But don’t worry, they met the weekly quota of Kallen fanservice, so the episode is approved.

And I’m loving this OP more and more each week, looking forward to the single CD release.

Episode Summary:

Resuming from last week we see the last few lines of Zero’s speech with Rollo outside the embassy. As he turns his geass on in preparation for his attack his phone rings. Turns out it’s Lelouch calling from school, and with doubt in his mind now that Lelouch is Zero, Rollo leaves. The next scene reveals that it was C.C. wearing the Zero outfit and the speech given was pre-recorded, Lelouch found a way to sneak out beforehand. At school, he’s in the kitchen cooking with his school friends in preparation for a party, as Rollo takes an elevator down below the academy. He enters a room where Villetta’s intelligence squad is having a meeting where they discuss how they have no evidence linking Lelouch to Zero yet.

Back at school, Lelouch ponders on Rollo and Nunally, surmising that since all his friends forgot about her that their memories are rewritten as well and that Nunally is probably in the Emperor’s custody. Eventually the scene shifts to a battle outside of Japan where Suzaku is in god mode and blowing up a bunch of NPC knightmares. At school once again, as Lelouch reviews some photos Rollo walks in and asks him some questions, attempting to find out if Lelouch is Zero. Lelouch notices the locket he gave Rollo for his birthday (which we are told, is the same as Nunally’s) and asks him if he would rather have something more fit for a man. Rollo adamantly refuses, saying that Lelouch gave it to him and he wants it.

In another underground meeting with Villetta, Rollo speaks with her of Lelouch and geass, but another subordinate walks in. Afraid that he might have overheard them, Rollo activates his geass which freezes Villetta and the man, and proceeds to walk over and gut him with a knife. At the embassy, Guilford shows up with all of the Order’s prisoners in Brittanian custody, declaring to Zero that he will execute them tomorrow if Zero doesn’t come out for a duel. Lelouch is at school watching it on TV when Shirley comes in and tells him how she’s worried about buying a present for Villetta’s birthday. He volunteers to come along and they go to the mall together. After the commercial break they show a flashback of C.C. giving Lelouch a special contact lens that can hide the geass symbol from his eye for now.

At the mall Lelouch notices Millay, Rivalz, and Rollo following them, as well as the Brittanian surveillance team. He devises a plan and asks Shirley to help him, as he goes into a store and changes clothes. While doing so he calls mall security and delivers a bomb threat from the Black Knights. As he sneaks out of the store, the clerk he previously used his geass on smashes a fire alarm, sending the mall into a panic. This allows Lelouch to escape and Villetta and her men leave their room under the academy to hit the scene. After they leave Lelouch enters the room and awaits Rollo who rushes in. Lelouch holds a gun to his head and prepares to use his geass on him, but Rollo counters with his own and seconds later appears behind Lelouch with the gun in his hands. As Lelouch questions whether he is able to stop time with his geass, Rollo says he is going to kill him and begins to pull the trigger. The scene then shifts to the embassy, where the Chinese forces, led by Li, have begun to attack the Black Knights.

Impressions:

This is one emotionally messed up fellow. He goes from shit-faced killer mode to surprised girly mode to wtf is going on facial contortions. Maybe you should look into therapy Rollo, you’re quite emotionally unstable.

A devious C.C. is a delicious C.C. Even though I’m a card carrying member of the Kallen fanboy club I still have a spot in my heart for the somewhat sadistic and always perceptive immortal witch. The scene as a whole continues to show Kallen’s dislike for Lelouch crumble away as when “Zero” came into the room Kallen praised him with a smile and referred to him as Lelouch. She also got quite jealous that she wasn’t informed of all things Lelouch, something which C.C. picked up on by correcting her pronouns…

Lelouch vi Brittania- the most wanted terrorist in the world, Iron Chef. That was uh, certainly unexpected that he was a really good cook…I hope we don’t have to deal with school hijinks for too much longer than this episode. Lelouch looks really retarded in that pink apron too.

This woman is a failure in so many regards. Horrible knightmare pilot, let herself get shot by a crazed schoolgirl right when Zero was in front of her, and her “surveillance” has more holes in it than swiss cheese. I think you need to find another line of work lady, maybe teaching swim team is about all you are capable of.

Yawn for Jesus mode Suzaku and his really trite and cliche ideals that he spouts at every possible moment. Good to see Suzaku has gone around the world killing enough people to be considered the “white shinigami” of Brittania. Nice ideals there kid. I can’t believe the only knightmare fight we got in this episode was this crap. I hope you are saving your animation budget for something good next week Sunrise.

The hell is wrong with Rollo? He wants to kill Lelouch but he’s emotionally sentimental over a locket he gave him? I’m also wondering the connection between him and Nunally if there is one. They do share the same birthday, but maybe that was just conveniently placed so Lelouch would fight the rewrite less. Rollo’s mysteries are far from fully answered it seems, despite what was revealed in this episode.

And we are back to shit-faced killer Rollo. Man he’s pretty freaking nuts, although dedicated to his craft. This scene leads more to the idea that rather than teleporting himself around he is freezing the people around him, or hypnotizing them. Although Lelouch questions whether he stopped time at the end, I’m not sure if that’s it exactly. Mass hypnosis sounds more like a geass ability than time stopping. And it doesn’t look like it’s limited to one usage per person like Lelouch’s, since Lelouch has had it used on him three times, one for each episode. In episode one, it’s hard to spot unless you re-watch it now, but around 13 minutes Kallen is holding onto Lelouch dragging him away when the locket flashes on the screen and suddenly she’s on her backside while Rollo is holding onto Lelouch. And then last episode it was used on him during the knightmare fight in the tower, and then at the end of this episode with the gun.

No, no it wouldn’t have Kallen. You are the best bunny girl ever, and don’t let anyone else tell you differently. And with that note, the weekly Kallen service shot quota has been filled. Li’s reaction was pretty funny, he seemed to appreciate her…skills in piloting a knightmare.

One more for the road, dere dere Kallen.

It appears public executions haven’t gone out of style in Brittania, and Guilford is pretty smart for using that ploy. He knows that Zero can’t allow them to die and needs them for his second rebellion. I’m pretty excited about the promised showdown next week when we get to see how this is resolved.

I was wondering throughout the episde until this scene why Lelouch’s geass hasn’t been visible on his eye and I suppose this explains it. Although it bodes well for the future that she said if his geass becomes stronger it won’t be able to cover it up. One would hope that means we won’t have school slice-of-life crap later on in the series.

It seems as though Shirley still has a thing for Lelouch even with her memories wiped, does that elevate her love to something really dedicated? It’s good to see Lelouch getting angry over how the Emperor violated his friends and rewrote their memories as well, vowing to do something about it in the end and accepting his own responsibility for what happened. Gives a bit more humanity to Lelouch, that he isn’t only doing this for revenge, but to right the wrongs he views in the world.

And this is the devious plan of the week for Lelouch, and I will say it’s a pretty good one. Pretty much had everyone fooled- Villetta, her security team, Lelouch’s friends, and Rollo. Plus, a flashy plan is always more exciting.

Weekly “just as planned” grin from Lelouch. Too bad the plan didn’t exactly account for Rollo’s geass and how it pretty much beats Lelouch to the draw. What a cliffhanger way to end the standoff, but not something unexpected, I need to know what happens now dammit!

Nooooo Li my friend, you are supposed to be allies with Zero, sadface. So not only do we have a Rollo vs. Lelouch cliffhanger but now we stop right when Li and the Chinese are starting to attack the Black Knights. Wasn’t too unexpected though, I knew eventually that the Chinese government would toss the geass’d consul since he was obviously acting erratically and against the interests of China.

Overall the episode was nowhere near as good as last week, which was thrilling from start to finish. It did explain a few things though, especially about Rollo’s role, his geass, and what has happened at school in the past year. It also sets us up quite nicely for a great, and hopefully action filled, episode next week as the cliffhangers get resolved.

Next Episode:

Shots of Rollo in his knightmare imply that the ending scene was resolved somehow. Lelouch asserts that he must rescue the Black Knights who are going to be executed, and next week promises to be the showdown at the embassy between himself and Guilford.

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