CODE GEASS: TRAINWRECK OF THE REBELLION EP 3

(SPOILER ALERT: THIS TOTALLY CONTAINS SPOILERS)

And here we have the obligatory slapstick comedy and shower fan service episode to relieve the tension. There’s not a whole lot to say about this episode, as not a whole lot happened. When Lelouch (for the record, I would translate that as Lerouch but that’s not how people seem to do it) wasn’t accidentally dumping champagne on the female lead in a suggestive manner, there was a little exposition about the fallout from his stint as rebel commander. It’s also revealed that he can only use his David Bowie eye suggestion powers on any given person once. You just can’t have a super genius teenager possessing god-like powers without limitations and weaknesses for him to strategize around. (*cough*http://deathnote.wikia.com/wiki/Main_Page*cough*) Okay, I’ll stop using that easy comparison as a cheap joke.

There’s also the dramatic reveal that Suzaku was blamed for Lelouch's act of assassinating the princedukemanguy in episode 2. This turn of events follows a solid dramatic logic, and I have to admit it leaves me looking forward to something interesting happening.

My favorite part of the episode though is when Lelouch and Kallen (who’s name should probably be Karen) get into a strangely noir battle of wits. This scene has some great elements: Kallen is naked in the shower, she’s got a knife pulled on Lelouch, he gets out of it with a mistaken identity phone call, ect. This scene would be totally perfect in a detective story crime solving kind of series like, oh I don’t know: http://deathnote.wikia.com/wiki/Main_Page. (Whoops, couldn’t resist.)

The jazzy saxophone that seemed so out of place during mech battles is right at home in the setting of Lelouch’s ridiculously glamorous Victorian clubhouse. The thing is, I’m left wondering if the show’s creators have a good sense of what they actually want to do. Is this an overarching political/military drama with an ensemble cast? Is this a noir detective story focusing on the development of our super-powered protagonist? Is it a character study on the divulging relationship of Lelouch and Suzaku? Admittedly, I'm over analyzing here because I expect the show to pull itself to pieces at some point. But, the different directions the show is pulling in does raise some questions.

I know Gainax will have different directors work on different episodes of a series simultaneously, which often creates drastically a drastically different ‘feel’ from one episode to the next. But everything Gainax makes is a disjointed parody that constantly celebrates itself so it works for them. It might not work so well here, then again it might. I have no choice but to wait and see. Honestly, the show is much more fun to watch than I initially thought it would be, and if something really stupid doesn’t happen soon then I’m not going to have too much to write about season one.