I'm stunned by how fast this episode was. It was one plot point to the next. Suddenly Marianne's personality is teaming up with a restored C.C., Suzaku's thrown away his idealism, Schneizel is attempting a coup de'tat, and Lelouch turns the tables on Charles. Yikes.
It could just be a case of cutting back on the budget for this time, but this episode seemed unpolished at certain parts. I hope this is an abberation, and not an indication that the last five episodes will suffer from various production issues. Drawings were noticably different from before at many points. Am I missing something, when did Diethard get those bruises on his face? Why is he thinking that Ougi is inadequate to lead? He barely did or said anything in the entire episode besides more "Zero used us all!" rhetoric. The fight between Suzaku and the Knight of One ended rather suddenly and was just passable, when it could've been awesome. Awesome. I hope the inevitable showdown between Lancelot Albion and the Galahad is far more epic than this was.
Marianne is nothing like I imagined. She seems aloof and almost amused by what's happening, and yet she's heading to where Lelouch is regardless. It's strange. It's almost like she's indifferent but is choosing to act anyway for some reason. And they are going to explain what happened to her, I hope. Obviously Lelouch will escape from there thanks to her and C.C.
It's pretty ironic. As Zero Lelouch was brought down by necessary lies, and now the inner circle of the Black Knights are making a mistake by telling one of their own. Schneizel and Kaguya and their allies are now heading to the island, from which Lelouch will soon escape. The way this show goes he'll be seen if only for a moment, totally exposing the lie. I doubt Kaguya and Xing-Ke will appreciate being lied to. Not to mention Jeremiah.
I'm not sure how I should feel about this. A lot happened, but somehow it doesn't feel like it was all together this time. I hope future episodes will pay the attention to development that some earlier episodes did, as opposed to this one that seemed a bit too interested in moving the plot. Which sounRAB strange to say, but it's true.