Code Geass: "Counterattack at the Gallows" Review

[steaner]

The last episode left us with a juicy cliffhanger where Rolo got the jump on Lelouch and prepared to put a bullet in his skull. Of course, Lelouch is never at a disadvantage for long, and he finds a way to make even this grim situation work for him.

This story starts with a revealing flashback to Rolo's past, showing that he's served as an assassin for the Empire since he was just a little boy. This scene is pretty disturbing, especially since Rolo appears to have specialized in capping his victims in the jugular vein. The excessive blood spurting that results is one area where this episode differs from the rest of the series, and it doesn't stop here.

Lelouch figures out the true nature of Rolo's powers (time perception). Initially, I felt that Rolo would have to be pretty gullible to fall for Lelouch's sweet lies in this scene. "Don't worry, I won't lie to you," Lelouch says to him. It would seem a little hard to believe that a hardened killer, trained from childhood, would fall for that. But Rolo, who never had any semblance of family before this, seems to have developed genuine feelings for his "big brother," as shown by his attachment to that locket Lelouch gave him (yes, the yaoi fangirls must be loving this).

Li Xingke kills the eunuch in yet another scene with a neck spurting fountains of blood. The director must have been watching Sweeney Todd or something before this episode. The developments with the Chinese Federation are one of the more unpredictable elements of the series; Li Xingke appears to only care about the Black Knights and their cause as long as they further his own goals for China. It'll be interesting to see how things turn out in the end.

The driving storyline in the background of this episode is the public execution of the captured Black Knights. Zero shows up to the execution, as expected, but the actions of the Britannian forces here are completely incompetent. Guilford accepts Lelouch's offer to decide things in a one-on-one battle, which is na?ve/stupid on his part. It's kind of a James Bond villain mistake—just shoot him already!

Certainly the most interesting element of the episode is how Lelouch manipulates Rolo into helping him. A few cleverly set up Geassed accomplices makes for a surprising turn of events. It is definitely reminiscent of some of Light Yagami's most Machiavellian moments in Death Note. And, as in Death Note, there's some moral conflict here. Rolo is far from innocent in all this, but Lelouch knows he was basically brainwashed and abused by the Britannians for all his life. Rolo has become a character deserving of sympathy, but he's also very dangerous. Does he deserve to be treated "like a piece of trash," especially since he really seems to be on the edge of turning back to the light side? Or have his past actions condemned him past the point of redemption? The ethical questions surrounding Rolo provide a very good subplot for the series.

The episode ends with a minor cliffhanger, with Suzaku appearing to return to Ashford Academy. It's not quite in the league of the tense cliffhangers we've had in previous episodes, but it'll do.

In general this was a high-quality episode with tons of story elements, but it still found time to insert some nice small touches (C.C. dropping her gun was a great bit of humor). There wasn't much action, but what was there was well animated as usual. So far the series hasn't suffered any lapses in quality, let's hope it stays that way.