|
|
Episode 12: The Value of A Miracle is.../ She Said "Don't Make Others Suffer For Your Personal Hatred"
This episode was an eye opener and it blew me away. There was so much good stuff in this episode: characterization, introspection and some great teamwork from all 3 EVAs. Its always a treat to see all 3 go into battle together, and combine that with stellar writing and you understand why Neon Genesis Evangelion is such a phenomenon. The episode starts 15 years ago, in the year 2000, where a man puts a young girl (who looks like Misato) into a NERV escape pod and as the girl escapes in the pod she looks out to see a huge explosion and two unbelievably majestic wings illuminate the sky. The last scene focuses on the cross the girl wears around her neck and then we come back to the year 2015 and focus on Misato, who has the same cross. There can be no doubt: Misato was at ground zero when the Second Impact occurred and there is more to her than meets the eye. While Misato is dressing in her room, Shinji and his classmates (or the Three Stooges as Hikari calls them) come in from the wet weather to seek dry shelter. When Misato walks out Kensuke notices she is wearing the emblem of a Major on her neck so both Toji and him congratulate her. Neither Shinji nor Asuka can recall ever noticing her promotion. At night, the three pilots are at NERV Central for a harmonics test and Ritsuko is pleasantly surprised to see that Shinji's synch ratio is almost up to Asuka's. When the pilots exist their testing, Ritsuko congratulates Shinji on his improving synch ratio and Asuka can't understand why Ritsuko thinks Shinji is special. Misato drives Shinji home and Shinji congratulates her on the promotion from captain to major. Misato says she isn't too thrilled about it and Shinji says he doesn't like praise because all it does is make Asuka mad. Not too happy with his response, Misato says he only feels that way because he is "always watching people's faces". Back at the apartment, Kensuke and Toji have organized a party to celebrate Misato's promotion to major, Hikari is in attendance though, for unknown reasons, Rei is absent. Kaji shows up late with Ritsuko, something that irks both Asuka and Misato. Misato notices Shinji looks uncomfortable and he admits he doesn't like big groups because of their tendency to be so loud. Shinji asks Misato why she joined NERV and she says it was so long ago so she forgets. Kaji mentions Gendo and Kouzou are at the South Pole so they must really trust Misato to leave her in charge of NERV. In Antarctica, Kouzou and Gendo stand on the deck of a boat and look at the devastation that surrounds them. Kouzou calls it "hell" and Gendo later states "science is the power of man". "That arrogance is what caused the tragedy of 15 years ago, the Second Impact" replies Kouzou. He continues to say, "This is a greater punishment than we deserve. This is the real dead sea." Gendo replies by saying "Yet this is a world that has purified, purged of the original sin. I'd rather live in a world where people can live, no matter how stained with sin." This conversation is important because it not only gives us insight into the characters but also shows us that these two did something immoral that helped facilitate the Second Impact. Back at NERV Central, the 10th Angel has been detected in the orbit of the Earth and moving closer to Japan. It is bombing places on the Earth and Ritsuko figures out that it intends to probably drop itself on NERV to destroy it. The Magi say everyone should evacuate and Misato, in charge of NERV, is left to make the decision. She issues a D-17 Special Order, which has all the civilians in the city evacuate. Ritsuko later confronts Misato about her plan to use all three EVA's to stop the Angel. "Destroying Angels is my duty" says Misato. Ritsuko tells her "This is just your revenge against the Angels." Misato calls Rei, Asuka and Shinji to meet with her to be briefed on the mission. The EVA's are supposed to catch the Angel as it falls and prevent it from exploding on the ground. It's a risky plan with little chance of success (as predicted by the Magi) but Misato truly believes it could work. She tells the pilots they can refuse the mission but none do. Following NERV procedure, Misato asks the pilots if they have written wills and Asuka says "I don't need to. I'm not going to die just yet", to which Rei and Shinji agree. As motivation, Misato promises to buy them all a steak dinner when they succeed. As she leaves the room, all three of the pilots don't seem too impressed by her offer and Rei even says "I dislike meat." When the pilots learn that the Maji has predicted a huge possible drop area, so large it's hard to predict how to know where to be to catch it, they get a bit nervous. While heading to the EVAs, Shinji asks Asuka why she pilots EVA. She says "to exhibit my talent to the world of course." "You mean to prove that you exist?" Shinji replies. "Yeah, more or less" responds Asuka. But when he is asked the same question, Shinji says he has no answer and Asuka thinks he is stupid. As the operation begins, Misato asks everyone in NERV to evacuate but they refuse to leave her alone. She says that being inside an EVA is the safest place to be because it's AT field can protect the pilots. While waiting in his EVA, Shinji flashes back to a talk he had with Misato where she explains that her father lived for his dreams and no one else. She says people called him sensitive and delicate but she thinks he was weak because he couldn't face the reality of his family. When her mother divorced him and he became sad, Misato laughed at him because he got what he deserved. But then he sacrificed himself to save her when the Second Impact occurred and she doubted if she truly hated him or not. Misato says she joined NERV to destroy the Angels but she might have joined to avenge her father so she could be free of him. As Shinji comes out of the flashback he says, "I must not run away." The three EVA's disconnect their umbilical cords and 01 catch the Angel by extending it's own AT field. As 02 comes in to assist in the same fashion, Rei and her 00 pierce the core of the Angel and destroy it. After the EVA's return to base, Gendo calls to congratulate Misato on a job well done. He asks for "the pilot of 01" and says, "good work Shinji", which marks the first time Gendo has shown any positive emotion to Shinji in this series. The pilots go out with Misato for their victory dinner and allow her to only buy ramen because of her tight budget. As they eat their meal, Shinji realizes why he pilots EVA. He has realized the good side of being praised and pilots EVA to hear praise from his father. To this Asuka says, "You are an idiot." This was a phenomenal outing from the show. We begin to understand the motivation behind almost all the key characters and we are slowly learning more about the Angels, NERV and the Second Impact. The characters are all starting to grow, especially Shinji and it seems all the major mysteries will be coming to a head soon. What remains to be seen is if the characters will survive the truth about EVA and the Second Impact. And I'm also wondering: what happens when an EVA loses to an Angel? Eventually someone has to and knowing the pilots the way we do now, I'm not sure if any of them could survive the experience without being emotionally destroyed.