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Summary:
Jeremiah, who is personally taking part in the interrogation of Suzaku, shows his captive the murder weapon. He’s also done his research and knows that Suzaku is Japan’s last Prime Minister’s son, which gives Suzaku plenty of motive to kill Clovis. Suzaku denies having committed the crime, but gets beaten for speaking out. Meanwhile, Lelouch is putting Nanaly to bed. She’s very concerned about having heard Suzaku on TV, but Lelouch reassures her that the news was lying. The next day, Lloyd is telling Cecil about the loss of the vital part they need for the Lancelot, Suzaku, who has an operating efficiency of 94%. However, in control of the military now is the Pure-Blooded Faction, which believes that the Britannia army should only be made up of Britannians. Lloyd believes that Jeremiah wants to use Suzaku as a chance to abolish the honorary Britannia system. In short, Lloyd doesn’t think that Suzaku will be innocent.
At school, Lelouch tells his friends that he’s found something more challenging to do than betting. He seems to glance in the direction of Kallen, who is going to the Tokyo Tower just like he had instructed her to do. She arrives there with the other rebels and hears an announcement calling her to the service counter concerning her lost property. The lady at the counter gives her a phone, which soon starts ringing. With the Caller ID displaying “ZERO,” Lelouch instructs her to get on a specific train with her friends. He calls her again once she’s on the train and asks her to look to her right and then her left. On her right, Kallen sees the Britannia city, and on her left, she sees the ruins the Eleven’s city. Lelouch then sends her to the front of the train, and the other rebels head up there with her. Along the way, they don’t notice that every single person they pass has a red hue in his or her eyes.
When arrive at the front car, they find the costumed person called Zero waiting for them. The rebels concede the hopeless difference between the Britannia city and their ghetto, but claim that that’s why they have the Resistance. However, Zero says that terrorism will not defeat Britannia – it will never be more than childish harassment. The guys start to take offense, but Zero tells them that their enemies are not the Britannia people, but rather Britannia itself. They are going to war, so they can’t involve civilians and they need to prepare themselves to carry out justice. Silent up until now, Kallen finally questions why they should believe him if he won’t even show them his face. Zero agrees to show them something, but it won’t be his face – it will be his power. He thinks that if they see him accomplish the impossible, they’ll believe him a little.
Leading up to his military tribunal, Suzaku is paid a visit by Lloyd. He believes that the truth will be clarified in court, but Lloyd thinks that there are more truths that aren’t told. Suzaku feels that if that’s how the world is, then he has no regrets. When the time comes for Suzaku to be transported to the tribunal, the convoy route is lined with people and the event is televised. Jeremiah is personally leading the Sutherland Knightmare escort through the streets, but he gets a message indicating that Clovis’ private car is coming. Since he’s not too concerned, Jeremiah stops the convoy and waits for the car, driven by Kallen, to arrive. Kallen recalls how Zero’s plan involves only her and the rebel leader Ougi, and how he had wanted them to make a vehicle that needed to look like Clovis’ car from the outside. She stops the car in front of the convoy and Zero appears standing on the platform behind her.
Everyone is shocked when Zero introduces himself, but Jeremiah’s not so impressed. Announcing that it’s the end of Zero’s show time, Jeremiah fires his gun into the air to signal the drop of four Knightmares around Kallen’s car. He wants Zero to remove his mask, but Zero instead snaps his fingers and reveals the device on the back of the car: a poisonous gas capsule. Suzaku realizes that this is the capsule C.C. was found in, but his neck restraint prevents him from speaking out. Since Zero just took all the Britannia citizens around them hostage with the poison gas, Jeremiah asks what he demands. The answer is Suzaku, but Jeremiah refuses to give up Clovis’ killer. Zero disputes that claim and announces directly into the TV camera that he was the one who killed Clovis. Kallen is losing faith in the plan, but Zero continues on by telling Jeremiah that one Eleven can save many precious Britannia lives – it’s not a bad deal.
Feeling that Zero has gone mad, Jeremiah has his Knightmares raise their guns. As he has Kallen drive forward, Lelouch opens a slit on the left side of his mask, revealing his left eye. Using the power of GEASS, Lelouch orders Jeremiah to overlook everything they’re doing. Despite the objections of his subordinates, Jeremiah lets Suzaku be given to Lelouch. With the other Knightmares about to react over what’s going on, Lelouch activates the poison gas and creates a scene of chaos. He takes Suzaku and jumps with Kallen off the bridge that they’re on, right down into a net released by Ougi’s hidden mecha. Jeremiah’s subordinates start firing, but he personally stops them because he’s still under the influence of Lelouch’s power. Upon their escape and return to the other rebels, Ougi wonders who else other than Zero could have done all this. He thinks that he personally cannot liberate Japan, but the war against Britannia that everyone thought was impossible is now probably doable if it’s Zero.
In an abandoned theater nearby, Lelouch – still in his Zero costume – is talking with Suzaku. Believing that Britannia is rotting, Lelouch asks Suzaku to join him if he wants to change the world. Instead of answering, Suzaku wants to know if Zero really killed Clovis and confronts Zero about taking everyone hostage with the poison gas. Lelouch responds that this is war and asks if there’s a reason to kill the enemy general. As for the gas, he claims that bluffs are an indispensable part of negotiations, and consequentially, no one is dead. Suzaku agrees with Lelouch’s assertion that Britannia isn’t worth serving, but that’s also why he wants to change Britannia into a worthy country from the inside. Obtaining the result through the wrong means has no value. When Suzaku turns and starts to head out towards the military tribunal that he was saved from, Lelouch calls him an idiot because that entire tribunal was arranged to make him a criminal. However, Suzaku considers it a rule; if he doesn’t go, the Eleven and the honorary Britannians would become oppressed. He simply doesn’t care if he dies. Hearing this, Lelouch calls him an idiot again, causing Suzaku to remember that he had a friend a long time ago who often said the same thing. Suzaku feels that if he’s going to be killed anyway, he wants to die for everyone’s sake. To Lelouch’s frustration, Suzaku then walks off with a thank-you.
At home, Nanaly is relieved to hear on the news about the possibility of Suzaku’s acquittal. The door behind her suddenly opens and a person walks in: C.C.
Preview:
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So Lelouch went to all that trouble of saving his old friend, but in the end, Suzaku still goes back to his captors. I can only imagine how frustrating that must be. But going through all of that did have its uses, since it now seems that Suzaku might be acquitted because Zero confessed to killing Clovis, making it unclear who the real killer is. Assuming that Suzaku is indeed freed, like the preview implies, then I guess he can try to change Britannia from the inside while Lelouch wages a more public war. But being on opposing sides still, odds remain pretty good that they’ll get to fight each other again. Hrmm, I’m reminded of the plot of Gundam SEED again, except with a much more sinister main character in Lelouch.
Speaking of GS though, I’m eagerly waiting for the females in this series other than Kallen to take larger roles. The end of this episode does have C.C. sneaking up on Nanaly for some reason, and the preview shows some new characters. This shot made me wonder if something is going to happen in the romance direction, but I’m not going to get my hopes up just yet. Lelouch doesn’t seem like the kind of person who’d get himself involved in a relationship unless it had certain advantages (again, much like Light in DEATH NOTE). In any case, I’m looking forward to next week.
And remember folks, Pizza Hut supports the Rebellion! (quote courtesy of mangaka-chan).