|
|
Episode 11: In The Still Darkness/ The Day Tokyo-3 Stood Still
This episode was a welcome change of pace from the last boring outing and truly shows how well developed the characters are in this episode. The teamwork and decisions of Asuka is a welcome character development and it was good to see the bridge crew (who remained unnamed till this episode) brought into the story more intimately. The episode begins on a very calm note, with Shigeru Aoba (the long haired technician), Maya Ibuki (the female technician) and Ritsuko picking up their clothes from the cleaners. It wasn't a terribly profound scene but the fact it showed the lack of time NERV personnel have is a nice touch of realism. While taking the train back to NERV, the trio meet Kouzou who is on his way to a city council meeting as Gendo's representative. He tells the trio that he finds it boring but he couldn't do it without the Magi Supercomputers. The three Magi supercomputer run everything in NERV and even decide the government by voting. When Ritsuko returns to NERV Central she works on testing the new blue EVA 00, while Misato is forced to share an elevator ride with Kaji. Meanwhile, Shinji makes a call to his father to ask him if he wants to come to the school's music performance and Gendo tells him that not only is this Misato's responsibility, but that Shinji should not call about such matters again. Back at NERV Central all the power suddenly goes out and the backup generators won't regenerate. While Misato and Kaji are trapped in the elevator, the rest of the NERV crew works to redirect power to the Magi, as it is more important the life support. Makato Hyuga (the technician with glasses) picks up Misato's clothing at the same time that Rei, Asuka and Shinji arrive at NERV. While they repeayedly try to gain access to NERV with their ID Cards, Gendo and Kouzou suspect someone sabotaged the NERV power supply. The United Nations military forces discover the 9th Angel is en route to Tokyo 3 and are unable to contact NERV, so they send one of their personell in a helicopter. Makato notices the helicopter in the air as a sign an Angel is attacking and he commandeers a political advertising vehicle (equipped with speakerphone) to warn NERV immediately. Kouzou and Gendo are both sure a human sabotaged NERV and Gendo notes the irony by saying "One of mankind's greatest enemies is itself". At the same time, the pilots are venturing through NERV's emergency tunnels in the hopes of reaching the command staff when they hear Makato drive past shouting that an Angel is heading towards Tokyo-3. Shinji begins to wonder what the Angels are. He says that traditionally Angels are thought to messengers of god so it doesn't make sense to name the enemy after a force of good. Asuka, the self appointed leader of the group, continually chooses the wrong directions and is corrected by Rei. Realizing that Rei is proving a more capable leader, Asuka lashes out at her saying that Rei is a smart ass who is Commander Ikari's favorite. As calmy as cooly as ever, Rei says that she doesn't act superior or get treated well and she is aware of that fact. Having been bested by Rei, Asuka tells Shinji that Rei is a "self righteous bitch". As the trio climb into a shaft, Asuka is afraid Shinji will stare at her but and begins to kick him in the face. The commotion forces all the pilots to fall out of the shaft and near the EVAs. Shinji is astonished to see his dad help the NERV workmen manually load the EVA and get everything into place. The intensity of Gendo's actions takes Shinji by surprise and Ritsuko says that Gendo is doing this because he had faith Shinji would find a way to get to the EVA. Soon all 3 EVAs are ready to operate on the five-minute battery and they crawl through a vertical shaft to engage the 9th Angel. The Angel spots them and releases a highly acidic liquid from its eye onto the unsuspecting EVA's, which forces them to drop their guns and seek shelter. With less than 3 minutes remaining on their batteries, Asuka devices a plan in which she will provide a cover for Shinji to retrieve his gun while Rei is backup. Shinji protests, saying its too dangerous for her to take all the acid on her EVA, but Asuka says she is just repaying him for saving her in the volcano. The plan works and with the Angel destroyed and the EVA's re-docked, the pilots sit on a hill and watch the city's power come back on. Rei notes that "Man creates life by diminishing darkness", while Shinji ponders what makes humans special and if that reason is why the Angels keep attacking. This episode worked on a lot of levels, the least of which is that it was far better than the last episode. This is the first time we've seen all 3 EVA's fight and it was also interesting to see NERV adapt to not having any electricity. It was a nice touch of realism that adds credibility to this show. Between the intense action and drama, there was a good dose of humor in this episode. At one point Maya notes how collected Gendo is when the temperature drops and we see that Gendo has his feet hidden in a big bowl of cool water. Misato and Kaji have a few hilarious scenes on the elevator, like Kaji trying to get Misato to cool down by taking her shirt off. The other funny scene is when the power comes on, the teo fall on top of each other and the door opens to Ritsuko and Maya, the latter whom finds the ex-couple "disgusting". An interesting side note is Asuka's nickname for Rei which is "wonder girl". It's interesting to compare the jealousy associated with creating a name like that and the decency she exudes when repaying Shinji for saving her. This episode was excellent and I'm sure Episode 10 was just a fluke now.