The title just about sums up my feelings. Here's my run down:
The Bad
-They really throw out all sense with these comedy episodes. Anya using the Mordred to smash through the building was ridiculous and cringe-inducing. Couldn't LeLouch have saved Shirley from tripping down the stairs or something? Not to mention that she noticed there were two LeLouch's running around, and apparently didn't act on it. Come on.
-LeLouch isn't known for his athleticism, yet no one found Sayako's physical feats strange? The student council, at least, would know better! They blew right past him in the tomato episode!
-Rivalz is screwed, his character won't go anywhere. Write the eulogy, he's done.
-The four whores trying to get Sayako-LeLouch's attention. Face, meet my palms.
-The Shinkirou was used to take him to his Aquarium date? And NO ONE NOTICED?!?!
-Will this be the last we see of Milly?
The Good
-I disagree that Geass R2 can't reach a good conclusion. Lord willing, this is the last of the ridiculous comedy episodes now that Milly is no longer around to stir up crazy hijinks at Ashford.
-I'll admit, the date schedule and LeLouch's argument with Shirley was fairly amusing. LeLouch is a very different man when he's thrust into situations he doesn't think through ahead of time.
-The scene with the Emperor and the Knight of One was surprising to me, but perhaps it shouldn't have been. The Emperor has always come off as an arrogant power-monger so I wouldn't have thought he would remark that only a fool wages war, but then again a great deal of Britannia's territory was probably won through indirect means and attrition and annexation.
-Looks like my fears were groundless; Cornelia seems to be every bit her old self. Her meeting with Bartley is one of the best plot twists to come along in a long time. His remark about the possibility of committing "the greatest crime in history" is a downright chilling comment, coming from a Britannian.
-Cornelia's vendetta against the Geass cult, for lack of a better term, will put her into conflict with the Emperor and other merabers of the royal family. If that happens though, she will likely have allies in Guilford and the Glaston Knights. She and LeLouch, meanwhile, are searching for the exact same thing. This will without a doubt lead to very interesting conflicts soon; this whole plot thread is a powder keg waiting to explode.
-Nunally having custody of Kallen could make things interesting. I wonder if Suzaku intenRAB to use her to attempt to convert Kallen to his side? In any event, if the writers are smart they'll keep her there and force the issue on LeLouch's end. We know he badly wants Kallen found and rescued, but if that means going up against Nunally he may not be able to.
-Obviously, Jeremiah nullifying the Geass command on Shirley is a great cliffhanger development. I'm aware of the parallels to the Mao plot from season 1, but I'm hopeful that this won't be a clone of that.
-Milly got some sudden but decent development. She seems to be asserting independence, considering that working as a weather forecaster and canceling the marriage with Lloyd don't seem like things that would be seen as proper for a noble like her to do. I do wonder, however, if they've effectively written her out of the show with this. Ultimately, I feel there was potential wasted here. I always felt that Milly had a serious side that felt weighed down by her social status and the obligations that she felt tied to, and so she pulled ridiculous stunts at Ashford to cover that up and take her mind off of things. Geass never gave us very much focus on that though, leaving her mostly as the catalyst for crazy hijinks like what went on in today's episode.
In sum, I liked the individual plot points that came up in this episode. They point to greatness if they are followed through. On the downside, the likes of this episode are what will hold Geass back from that if they allow it to.
No more Ashford episodes. It's about time this season got down to business for good.
Grade: C-