So we're at the penultimate episode of the series, and I really do think the episode feels like the show is approaching its finale, largely because of this episode's ending. For the most part, I liked the episode, but the beginning dragged quite a bit. The first half was basically Tiger and Barnaby biding time so their powers can recover, and the other heroes being tempted to push the button.
It took them long enough to say those words. When they were tempted, they were pretty much assuming that Tiger and Barnaby were going to lose. I don't blame them though, since they were all defeated so easily by the H-01. To bring a little continuity from the previous episodes, Blue Rose was the one who first declared that she believes that Tiger and Barnaby can pull off a win. And from there, the other heroes followed suit.
Didn't Maverick or Rotwang know that Kaede also has NEXT powers? Though they probably didn't know the specifics of her powers, but they were at least aware that she has them, right? Rather than erring on the side of cautiousness, they probably treated her as if she was just a little girl. Well, bad move. Her copied Blue Rose powers were key to saving the other heroes. I was pretty surprised she had such nice control of her powers, given what we've seen from previous episodes.
He'll dodge it he says. Right when he said that, alarms should've been ringing in your heads about what was going to happen. I honestly didn't even think about his powers running out, because I knew he was going to get hit. Something I praise T&B for doing is that they really like to foreshadow things and let them build up over progressing episodes. Ironically, H-01 was defeated by his own laser gun.
So, sayonara, or not? Over the course of watching any form of media, many times the writers pull the "we'll make it look like he died, but he's really not dead." I think that we all expect him to be alive, but I wouldn't be surprised at all if he died, I mean this is Sunrise we're taling about. The title of the next episode "Eternal Immortality" could mean the latter. Another gripe I had was that they pretty much sidelined Lunatic with the flashback Yuri had. I had hoped that he would've played a much bigger role in Maverick's defeat. Perhaps he'll play that part in the political sphere. Well, it has been a fun ride, and I'm definitely looking forward to the finale.
-Bern
