Random Curiosity

Summary:
One night, as C.C. is taking a swim at the school pool, Lelouch is checking out possible recruits for his Black Knights. He comes across the membership applicant file of Diethard Ried, a Britannian. C.C. and Lelouch talk about how the Elevens support the Black Knights because they hate Britannia and they can’t directly approve of terrorist ways. He thinks that everyone loves an ally of justice, though C.C. teasingly comments that he doesn’t have the look of an ally of justice. Meanwhile, Diethard is explaining to Villetta and Jeremiah that he got demoted too after what happened. They want his help in investigating a boy from the Ashford Academy who they believe to be cooperating with Zero. During this time, they’ll be off on a military operation to the Narita Mountains where the Japan Liberation Front is rumored to be headquartered. Zero is also moving forward his plans and presents his men with an army of Japanese-remodeled Glasgows. They also now have the Crimson Lotus Mark II, which Zero gives Kallen the keys for because she’s the ace pilot and also their trump card who has a reason to fight. After Ougi brings him some news from their Britannian applicant, Zero decides that they’re going hiking this weekend at the Narita Mountains.
When the time comes, Zero pays a visit to Japan Liberation Front outpost on the mountains and uses his GEASS power to convince the guards to ignore everything unusual that’s about to happen. He then signals the Black Knights to move their equipment up the mountain. As he’s waiting for them, Lelouch notices that C.C. has appeared outside the building. She reiterates that she’ll protect him and then changes the subject to why he stayed Lelouch even though the name of his house was changed to Lamperouge. When he responds by commenting on how C.C. isn’t a human name, she turns to him and explains that snow is white because it has forgotten its own color. At the base of the mountain, Cornelia’s forces have gathered and are preparing to attack. Euphemia is also here and is learning that the Lancelot is too. Zero eventually meets up with his men, but when they see the extent of Cornelia’s forces completely surrounding the mountain, they get uneasy. It doesn’t help the situation any when Zero calmly says that they need a miracle to win. Tamaki is about to go for his gun, but Zero pulls out a pistol first. However, he then stops pointing it at Tamaki and explains that all the paths of retreat have already been cut off. If any of them think that they can win without him, they’re free to shoot him. Zero makes it clear to them that they have only two choices after having joined the Black Knights: to live with him or to die with him.
The battle soon begins between Cornelia’s forces and the Japan Liberation Front. With Toudou away and still making his way back, the Liberation Front has a hard time dealing with Cornelia or her elite units, allowing Andres Darlton and his force to reach the Liberation Front’s headquarters. Having regained the allegiance of his Black Knights, Zero sets his plan in motion - the Black Knights are to launch a surprise attack from the summit of the mountain. Their objective is Cornelia, and on Zero’s mark, they are to descend to the third point with the Crimson Lotus clearing the way. Zero then has Kallen plunge a device into the mountain and use a radiant surge mechanism to heat up a water vein inside the mountain. This causes an eruption and a subsequent landslide that takes out both Japan Liberation Front forces and Darlton’s forces. Zero uses this opportunity to attack, but the first major opponent he faces is Jeremiah, who is desperate to redeem himself. With no time to deal with the Purist, Zero has Kallen come in to finish things. Excited to be able to fight the Britannia forces on equal footing, Kallen uses the Crimson Lotus’ speed and almost lands a hit. Jeremiah notices that Crimson Lotus’ right arm is special, so he tries to time his dodge just right, but Kallen surprises him by extending that arm. Grabbing onto the Sutherland’s head, she activates the radiant surge mechanism and starts frying the Knightmare from the inside. With Zero so close by, Jeremiah refuses to escape, and when the ejection seat system of his Sutherland finally auto-activates, he’s taken a lot of physical damage. Surrounded by the flames of the exploding Sutherland, a newly confident Kallen declares that she can’t lose with the Crimson Lotus Mark II. While Villetta is shocked to see Jeremiah defeated, Lelouch is ready to check his enemy’s base - Cornelia.

Preview:

Lots of Knightmare action this week, with the introduction of Lelouch’s Knightmare (which sure is ugly) and the Crimson Lotus Mark II (the claw part reminds me of a Gogg). That cockpit on the latter Knightmare is quite interesting in how it makes Kallen seem to be riding a motorcycle instead of sitting in a seat.
For the record, I don’t believe Jeremiah is dead. This being a Sunrise series, I’m going to stick with the Mai-Otome/HiME Principle and say that there has to be a body for someone to be guaranteed dead. I may be wrong since he did suffer so much damage before that ejection seat kicked in, but I guess we’ll find out soon enough.
The preview for next week happens to be particularly juicy and ripe for discussion. For starters, it shows what appears to be Toudou’s Knightmare, which kind of resembles a cricket with those things on its head. The OP suggests that Toudou joins Zero/Lelouch, and this may be the place where that happens. I also wonder if this will finally be the end of Cornelia, and if it is, how it will affect Euphemia.
But the big surprise of the preview is this and this. It would seem that Suzaku is getting a GEASS power courtesy of C.C, especially comparing this from episode 01 to this shot from this episode’s preview. Maybe GEASS really is the new SEED mode…

Next week is episode 11, but there will be no episode the week after that. This means CODE GEASS will return with episode 12 on January 4th, 2007.