Code Geass R2 19, Good night sweet prince
August 20th, 2008 by Shirukii
Damn, that was an awesome death scene. The whole OotBK betrayal I saw coming, anyone with a working brain and the attention span to watch last week’s preview should have. However, I definitely didn’t see Rolo going down like that. It was no surprise that he died, but the way he did, for the sake of Lulu, despite being cast away by him, was a bit of a shocker.
I enjoyed Lulu’s breakdown following the (supposed) death of Nunnally, I thought it was very fitting, if only slightly over dramatized. At first I was disappointed at his inability to keep it together and rally his troops with the greater good of the battle at hand prioritized over Nunnally’s safety, but then I remembered that this isn’t the first time he was willing to throw a decisive battle for Nunnally’s sake. Yea, I was a little slow, but eventually Sunrise’s return to the whole mirroring of past episodes clicked and it all made sense.
I’m not sure what to make of Schneizel’s visit to the OotBK, while I understand his intentions in going there to blow Lulu’s cover, what I don’t understand is why he thought he’d get away with it unscathed, or how he did. Transposing the situation into real life leaves some holes, ignoring how he got landing clearance on the OotBK’s flagship, I’d think that anyone would shoot on sight if they saw the commanding officer of the opposing army. I mean, I suppose the sheer badassery of Schneizel waltzing onto their ship is deserving of at least hearing him out, but I personally would have put a bullet between the man’s eyes.
I’m a little torn on how this scene played itself out. On one hand, it’s fitting that they would feel betrayed if Zero had been controlling them strictly with the use of his geass, since free will is usually the one thing that a person can’t be stripped of (barring the use of certain temporary drugs). However, their aversion to being used as pawns was perplexing, even without the use of geass, the relationship between Zero of the black knights has been one of King and pawns, they can’t have just come to that realization. I understand that the OotBKs don’t mind being used as long as it was their choice, but the way the scene was phrased I got the vibe that they were unaware of Zero’s propensity to see the individual as expendable towards the overall goal.
Another scene I’m on the fence with. By extension of Lulu’s depression after having lost Nunnally, it somewhat makes sense that he would resign his defeat after his comrades betray him. However, what irks me is how he just rolled over when he saw Schneizel, his hate for this man, his desire to show him up was almost as strong as his desire to overthrow the emperor. For him to just accept defeat at his provocation, to concede defeat, to accept that because it’s Schneizel that there’s no way out of his check, was severely out of character, even factoring in the loss of Nunnally.
And boy was I disappointed with Diethard, the man who revered Zero as a symbol of a god, who worshiped Lulu’s abilities of mass manipulation and his skills as a battle strategist. He even stood up for Zero when Schneizel threw out his true identity, a prince of Britannia. The turning point in his opinion of Zero seemed to have come when he realized that all the defections of former Britannians to the OotBK, which is ironic since major defections like Jeremiah and Xing Ke were not influenced by geass.
Returning to the whole deal with Zero being a former Britannian prince, I never saw why this was such a big deal. I suppose that years of oppression by the Britannians have ingrained a deep seeded hate for them, but for someone who has done more than enough for their side to compensate for their race, that should be overlooked. Also, I doubt that anyone could possibly harbor any suspicions that he might be a double agent, given the lengths that Lulu has gone to inconvenience (to put it mildly) Britannia, there’s no question where his allegiances lie. So why the fuss about his origins?
Nice to see that Kallen stood by Lulu until the end, or at least until she was seemingly abandoned by him after her display of continuing loyalty, equally interesting that Lulu spared her a death alongside him. It’s disappointing to think that Kallen and Lulu probably won’t get any romantic closure by the end of the season, Sunrise is most likely to leave things ambiguous so as not the anger either the C.C. or Kallen fancamps, letting the imaginations of doujin writers to fill the gaps instead…oh, and the Suzaku shippers of course, can’t neglect those fujoshi either!
And of course there was Rolo’s death, by far the most touching death scene in the entirety of Code Geass so far, moreso than the likes of Euphie or Shirley. I never really liked Rolo, at first I had a gripe with his geass and the inconsistencies that were inherent in it, and after he defected I found him to be annoyingly clingy to a person he was ready to kill on command. But damn if his death scene wasn’t really well done, he may have been guilty of always having a one track mind, but it was touching to see him carry through to the bitter end. I’ll miss you, you haxed bastard ;_;
As for where we go from here, there are a lot of things to consider. I’m thinking that Kallen will leave the OotBK to join Lulu, given that she heard his plea for her to live on as she walked off. Suzaku seems to have gone off the deep end as well, Lloyd will probably bestow him with Lancelot Albion either next episode or in 21, it’ll be fun to see whether he sticks with Britannia, joins Lulu or goes batshit and flies around randomly blowing shit up. I have no clue what’s going on with C.C., Charles’ master plan, or the geass plot in general, so no speculation there. One thing that i did think of though, is Anya’s story, I finally figured out how they’d be able to rush in her backstory, if Orange-kun were to geass cancel her, her true memories would come rushing back. At the same time, we’d probably find out she had some connection with Marianne, and would get her story as a bonus.
LOL Nina. “Oh my god, the bomb that I designed, capable of killing millions of people actually killed millions of people! BAAAAAW ;_;”
And finally…
Yea fucking right. Hax. The OotBK should have just holed up in Ashford, the place is a freaking indestructible fortress.
~ Shirukii ~
21 Responses to “Code Geass R2 19, Good night sweet prince”
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>>Yea fucking right. Hax. The OotBK should have just holed up in Ashford, the place is a freaking indestructible fortress.
Location, location, location.
> However, what irks me is how he just rolled over when he saw Schneizel, his hate for this man, his desire to show him up was almost as strong as his desire to overthrow the emperor. For him to just accept defeat at his provocation, to concede defeat, to accept that because it’s Schneizel that there’s no way out of his check, was severely out of character, even factoring in the loss of Nunnally.
Remember the chess game and the king sacrifice gambit. Though it seemed here he really was expecting to die. Weak. I have a hard time accepting the emo side of Lelouch. Just like after his first Nunnally rescue operation failed. It’s too much a contrast to his usual hyper-analytical narcissism.
Moreover, his lack of planning is to despair. R1 was filled with layer upon layer of schemes, fallbacks, alternatives, escape routes and manipulations. It seemed no one on Honshuu could so much as sneeze without Lulu having already considered an appropriate response to it. Now there’s a lot of huge, complicated plans like the train booby-trap and the rent-a-berg. But he keeps getting caught because of simple, obvious, and even avoidable things. The first thing he should have had Jeremiah do is find Suzaku and cancel his geass. Of course the BKs were one day going to learn his identity, and about the geass; did he really have no strategy in place to retain their loyalty?
The real irony, of course, is that almost none of his Japanese allies have been geassed. But no one other than Lulu knows this and that’s why Schneizel is able to use the knowledge of geass to create a checkmate using his opponents pawns.
> But damn if his death scene wasn’t really well done, he may have been guilty of always having a one track mind, but it was touching to see him carry through to the bitter end.
Yeah. It makes you forget about all the bad things he’s done.
What the fuck? No it doesn’t! Brocon douche bag killed Shirley! He deserved to die. A shame it couldn’t have been more painful and demeaning.
You make me sick comrade sympathizing with the enemy like that. Rolo had clean death when he did not deserve one, Lulu was a bastard for forgetting Shirley and doing a one eighty to beg Rolo not to hurt his heart by using time hax. Boo fucking hoo, your tears for Rolo are not true tears and Noe finds them ugly.
lol, you guys need to remember that Shirukii is a Shirley hater, so you waste your time trying to dissuade his sympathy towards Rolo. ^^; People are entitled to their opinion though, it’s just that the majority of us hate Rolo to that extent.
As you said though, it was really surprising for Rolo to die through redemption, because of the preview shots and the title, I’m sure it was presumed that Rolo would turn on Lulu here. What a twist…o.o
As many times as I think that he had RESOLVED in the past episodes (The fireworks, Tian Zi’s marriage, C.C. losing her memory), this seems to really be a RESOLVE that will put Lelouch in the positive light, to rethink what he see believes in, and finally be driven out of the gray area the series always puts it’s characters in and move towards the light.
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While being a Shirley-hater myself, I agree that Rolo’s death scene was much too mild for him. I never liked his character and one of the few fitting death scenes for him would have been Lulu blowing up his Frame as he planned earlier, it’s a shame he never got around to that.
And yes Nina, I had half a mind to just skip ahead until she stopped whining about the Destroyer of Worlds crap, but I didn’t want to risk miss Schneizel offing her. (which didn’t happen, AGAIN)
Lulu’s lack of planning really is unbefitting of his character. Having Nunnally as his only raison d’être never matched his character in the first place, and it does seem odd that he never built in a contingency plan by geassing the remaining members of the OotBK.
Anyway, it’ll be interesting to see where it goes from here, given that Lelouch is stranded on his own without CC, Kallen and Jeremiah. I don’t have a clue what’s coming next, but I’m hoping it will be on a level of awesome compared to season one’s first half.
>>letting the imaginations of doujin writers to fill the gaps instead
Doujin writers get to fill in other things, too, eh? Eh? Eh? ;)
Eeeh? =p
Sorry, but I think Lulu’s surrender to Schneizel was very much in character. Lulu and Schneizel are strategists not tacticians. Strategists plan long term and take into consideration the big picture. When they take action they have already put things in place for the win. Tacticians rely on what they have available at the moment and their own cunning and skill to win the day. Most people are good at either one or the other.
Code Geass shows that Lulu is a brilliant strategist but a poor tactician. When Lulu realised that he was caught off guard and it was done by a strategist. He realised that he would not be able to think of a solution fast enough. Schneizel would certainly have closed off all the obvious choices. He would at most have raised the body count. Kallen or Suzaku and even Rolo could find solutions because they are tacticians.
w00000t Rolo is DEAD!!!! YAAAY!!!! MUAHHAHAHA!!!!!!!
Nina next plis
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I had basically the same opinion as you on this episode. It’s only going to get more rocky from here (do the writers of this show smoke crack by chance?)
Dam Sunrise, it’s okay Shirukii if you forgive Rolo but some of us just hate him and I don’t hate him for killing Shirley I just hate batshit insane characters they annoy me and Sunrise are bastards they almost made me feel sorry for him….ALMOST but I rewatched a couple of key Rolo moments and was just happy he was dead. Now if they could only kill Nina I can live with myself (there’s a whole bunch of others I want dead but right now Nina is key)
@ RmX: The real estate value on that school must be astronomical.
@ Telliamed: Exactly, to see Lulu, who was always hell bent on being one or two steps ahead of everyone in R1, be trumped by Xing Ke, Schneizel and even Suzaku on some occasions, was just weird. What happened to the perfectionist strategist we once knew?!
And heh, I didn’t really feel much of a connection to Shirley, perhaps that’s why I don’t share as much ire for Rolo as others.
@ Crusader: No Noe ;_; I swear they’re real! BAAAW
Haha, again, I just don’t share the deep seeded hate for Rolo, I never really liked him, but didn’t hate him enough to kill my appreciation for his epic death!
@ RJ: Whoo, someone recalls my disposition against Shirley!
It’s weird that Lulu’s resolution will stem from Rolo’s death though, since he was one of the people he cared least about.
@ Vadigor: Yea, it was mild, but it was so awesomely touching that I couldn’t help but resign myself to liking it anyways.
Nina needs to die soooo badly, but I’m beginning to think she won’t D=
Lulu wouldn’t geass the other members of the OotBK unless he saw the betrayal coming, since he was too busy angsting in his room to see Schneizel coming, he had no way of knowing.
@ lolikit: If I know what you mean :3
@ Lesterf1020: So you’re asserting that if anything that doesn’t fall within Lulu’s plan or his contingencies that he’d just roll over and play dead? If you can make a case to prove that this is the first time it’s happened, fair enough, bur given the amount of tight spots he’s gotten out of before, I somehow doubt it.
@ Wakka: Yes, Nina next indeed.
@ kiokukaiba: If you’ll check my “They’re making this shit up as they go along” post, you’ll see that I too think that these guys must be on something when they’re writing this.
@ CJ: I totally understand why some people hate Rolo, in fact, I’d expect that to be the norm, I just found his death really awesome.
I think we can all agree that Nina needs to fucking die though.
Nina doesn’t need to die, she just needs to redeem herself. Death accomplishes very little. It’s true that she was a bit insane, and that she had a little too much jingoistic hatred, and that she knew full well what she was doing (unlike many involved in the development of the original nuclear weaponry, who had no idea what was going on thanks to lots of stuff being classified), but she’s a brilliant scientist—think what more she could create in the name of clearing herself and repairing what she destroyed!
> think what more she could create in the name of clearing herself and repairing what she destroyed!
And think how horribly and painfully wrong it will all go at the cost of even more innocent lives. Well, at least the furniture makers would be sad if she went away.
Oh, if Shirley’s death isn’t reason enough (and really, you don’t have to care about her, it’s just how stupidly pointless and cruel it was)… But don’t forget that Rolo was about to kill Nunnally too. It’s only because Suzaku proved to be an even bigger douche bag that he never got the chance. I’m hoping Rolo somehow comes back to life next week so that he can be killed all over again.
@Vadigor,
Jeremiah will stick with him. He’s certainly not going back to the BK. The bruises on Diethard’s face in the preview suggest the Japanese are none too happy with their Brittanian “colleagues”.
And I expect (hope, pray) that Kaguya still believes in her husband. The Goddess of Victory will save the day!
ps. Google can be funny. One of the times I read this there was an ad for “Wrongful Death Attorney”.
No, Sunrise purposely kept that school intact because where else are they going to set their throwaway filler episodes full of madcap hijinks? At C-world?
@Telliamed: Yeah I’m pretty sure that Jeremiah will stick with him, as will the others I mentioned, I’m just curious as to how they’ll actually manage to get to him, what with being on the OotBK capital ship and all. Although I’m not sure where Jeremiah was at the time after talking to Suzakufag.
Hey,
Just wanted to let you guy know my new Code Geass R2 Fansite: http://CodegeassTV.com You can watch the latest Code Geass episodes as well as the older ones!
PS Also looking for staff for the site let me know if your interested!
>>”And boy was I disappointed with Diethard”
Come on, just by reading at his script “The legendary hero, Zero, dies in battle not having accomplished his ambitions” I am dying to see his final edition LOL.
@lolikitsune: Don’t you think she needs to create something better than Fleia to redeem herself? :D
Yes.
She should be a carpenter.
Make tables.
Bring smiles to the faces of introverted girls.
Ashford has mad building/survival hax. And I never thought there’d come a time when Rollo was anything more than the butt of gay/yandere jokes. Poor poor Rollo ;_;
I want to see Suzaku turn evil :)