Lost / Days
I've had the sub of this for a while now, but for some reason have been putting off completing this writeup, but I'd better get it over and done with as the new eps will be airing in the next couple of days:) As with episode 19 my original comments based on the raw version are at the bottom of the page.
The episode begins at the site of the reconstruction work on the GOTT towers. Armbrust is standing on a roof watching the work, and comments that human history is filled with cycles of destruction and renewal, and whether the same is true of the human heart and soul. Someone standing behind him answers that it is, as humans are not alone. It is someone with the appearance of a young girl with dark hair (although appeareances don't count for much in this show). He agrees that she has him, but she tells him no, he has her and puts her arms around him [pic 1, 2]. If I had to guess as to who it was, I'd say Mercredi, as she's the only person close to him we know of who is unnaccounted for (assuming Vendredi isn't one and the same person). Now we move into daylight. Lumiere and Eclair are back doing reception duty at the temporary GOTT offices where everything is apparently back to relative normality. Eclair closes her eyes for a second and her old alter-ego turns up for a little chat, asking how she can be so carefree, and whether she will forget her past again. Eclair replies that she hasn't forgotten, so old-eclair laughs at her for just trying to ignore it all. Eclair tells her that she won't run away from her past anymore, because she knows that she will always return to the same path and that the other her already know this. She agrees, and tells her that they won't see each other again, that she will vanish into her reunited memories. Eclair denies this, saying that they will live on together, and is then woken from her reflections by a visitor at the desk. Eclair, Lumiere, and two other receptionists, Rikki and Bonita, head outside for lunch as it is a fine day [pic]. Everyone else felt the same so they are forced to eat on the grass, but make the most of it and just chat like any normal group of girls. Eclair clumsily drops little cake thing, but eats it anyway as there was no jam on it (much to Lumiere's dismay). Bonita comments that she is still the same person after all, that she was worried that not just her appeareance had changed. Rikki surmuses that she must have had plastic surgery, and wishes to be an ES-Member too (while copping a feel of Eclair's butt), then asks if Eclair had her breasts enlarged too. Eclair at first denies this, then admits maybe a little, at which Rikki jokingly accuses her of abusing her authority and Eclair muses that Rikki is just the same too before going into flashback mode for a bit. She drops another piece of food, and as this one had jam on breaks it up and throws it to the pigeons, thinking to herself that she is not yet used to this new body. After the other two have departed, Eclair and Lumiere are about to head back with the trays when Eclair notices that her parter has left most of her food on the tray, and Lumiere collapses, even while insisting that she is allright. She is taken to the medical facility we saw Tweedledee and Cesario in, and placed in a fluid-filled tank [pic]. Eclair looks on through the observation window while Eclipse consults with the Doctors, who don't look hopeful. Eclair asks Eclipse the prognosis, who tells her that as an ES-Member she will already be aware, which Eclair is as she's been having trouble adjusting to her new body herself. Eclipse goes on to add that Lumiere's problem is increased due to information overload, as she has access to all networks as well as dealing with her own vast memories. Eclair demands that Eclipse do something, as the person who administers the ES-Member encodes and Eclipse apologises, saying she is simply a tool for converting a human soul into quantum material, and Eclair also apologises for her outburst. Ecplise now has a flashback, and the events following her the attempted assasination are revealed - while falling she teleported herself back into the building where she collected the bodies of Lumiere and Eclair [pic 1, 2]. She then elaborates on the Encoding process, where the soul is quantised and the body regenerated, but that while they have this ability, some things cannot be helped in fact most things. Even GOTTs medical team, who are experts on quantum brain physiology can't do anything, all they can do is hope that Lumiere will pull through on her own. Lumiere is moved to her own bed, where Eclair watches over her. Tweedledum and Dee come to visit, Tweedledee knowing part of what Lumiere is going through during the optimisation process, having similar abilities, but that Lumiere must be going through torture as the data she holds is the square of what she herself possesses. She kisses Lumiere before leaving, and apologises for not being able to help. Tweedledum offers condolence in his own way, asking for a rematch when Lumiere is recovered. On their way back to the Cē they spot the cloaked La muse parked in the back garden, thinking that the ship must be worried about it's mistress too and Tweedledee prays that the La Muse can help her in some way. The Director calls (the screen appearing next to Eclair as she sits by the bedside) and insists that Eclair call her be name (see, she is human) and apologises for not being able to visit in person. Eclair rotates the screen with a guesture so that Eclipse can see how Lumiere is doing, and we find out that it has now been a week. If the optimisation process doesn't work soon, Lumiere may die. After a mini-flashback Eclair goes to visit the La Muse to talk with Wirbelwind on the battle bridge. She is dispairing at the pain of integration Lumiere is going through that is much greater than her own, that even her G-Class abilities can do nothing for. She pleads with the computer, as being created by Lumiere is a part of her and knows her better than anyone. Wirbelwind replies by shutting down the screens, so Eclair shoots out three of them and announces that she has 13 more bullets in her 9mm, and that Lumiere is more important to her than the ship. It responds by opening a panel beside her. Another flashback now, all the way back to their meeting, when Eclair, already an ES-Member, discovered Lumiere as a street urchin and rescued her [pic 1, 2, 3, 4, 5]. Forward next to a planet ravaged by war [pic 1, 2, 3], and then to their first meeting with Eclipse, whose Quant ability they had head rumours of [pic 1, 2, 3]. Next memory is of the three of them saving a child from a group of armoured soldiers [pic 1, 2], then to Lumiere crying over a robot that died to protect her [pic], and next to Lumiere in a virtual space at the moment she christened Wirbelwind [pic]. Now the scene is of the trio at a spacedock where construction is underway on a vessel to hold Wirbelwind [pic 1, 2]. Things get darker now, as we arrive at a clearer vision of a memory we have seen before, where Eclair and Lumiere are departing Aineias [pic 1, 2]. Lumiere asks Eclair if she is going to fire, who replies that she won't and tells lumiere to hold her closed hands in the air, while Lumiere thinks to herself that she would do the same in her place [pic]. But the planet is destroyed by a geo-sorter bomb anyway as it was set before they left [pic], and she thinks to herself that this act will never be forgiven, but that she mustn't cry for Eclair's sake. A voice tells her that isn't true, and we now see the current Lumiere standing before a large stylised golden cross in what seems to be some sort of mass burial ground full of identical tall thin monuments [pic 1, 2]. Old-Lumiere comes to speak to her [pic 1, 2], telling her that she has gone through enough and there is no need to endure any more pain, that if she wakes up there will be many more painful things to come. But something pulls her upwards [pic] and she opens her eyes to find Eclair kissing her, who pulls back in joy leaving a trickle of red at the corner of her mouth [pic 1, 2, 3]. She then sees the bottle that Eclair has been feeding her mouth-to-mouth, which Eclair reveals that Wirbelwind gave to her, and is distraught at the waste. She demands that Wirbelwind explain itself, but realises she can't hear the ship or the robots in the room, that her powers have gone [pic 1, 2].Comments:
Well, on the face of it not much happens on this episode, but on the other hand we have Eclair finally coming to terms with her past, and a lot of back-story revealed. But I can't help but wonder - if not for for Eclair dragging her back to the living, would Lumiere have decided to give up and let herself die? Was Wirbelwind also aware of this, and was reluctant to help for this reason?
Created 06/03/03 1300GMT
Modified 10/03/03 2300GMT