We are back in full swing to the arc that we first started in, the E-Pandora arc. And with a title like "Rebellion", this is the one episode I've been waiting for ever since Chevalier started to show its ugly face regarding human life. And for the most part, this episode did deliver, but there was a bit more parallels to be draw in the word rebellion than just E-Pandora going against Chevalier.
Those parallels were in no ways subtle, and most of what it had to do with was the mentioning of the Tower of Babel, which was mentioned more than once. Both in the case of E-Pandora and the people of Babel, are in some sense, rebellion against the person that rules over them; questioning the unquestionable, and trying to become better off by working together. So with that mention of Tower of Babel, this opened the door to several connections relating to the Bible and this is where Aoi Gengo comes in with things that made me upset at him as a researcher -- even though I only got a first glimpse at his way of thinking in this episode.
When Aoi Gengo was first introduced, back at the end of the first season, I thought he might be an antagonist because he wanted to explore the Nova Mode for Pandora. Then he seemed to be less of threat when he was re-introduced in the first episode of this season, but refusing to participated in the Evolution Pandora Project -- which looking back now seem like a good idea on his part. However, in just a single flashback with Dr. Ohara, he has manage to reestablish my thinking of his as the antagonist.
Since Gengo is a researcher, I find it a bit disheartening that he lets his personal beliefs affect his job. Whether it is about Novas being sent to Earth as divine punishment from god, or Maria being like Virgin Mary of the Pandora, these can't be reasoning to stop some aspect of research alone. And a lot of Freezing has undertones of standing up against the status quo because that is the right this to do, but there will be some kind of punishment for such actions, but that sacrifice is enough to work for -- and most of that is coming from the Pandora camp rather than humans, but both E-Pandora and Dr. Ohara have display similar attributes in this episode.
Whether it is "You can't do that because it is against orders" or "...because it is blasphemous", most of what the opposition is the authority in the matter of some kind of hierarchal system -- either that be military or religion -- is stop you because they say so. Both is following orders without question, so we can guess that this kind of thinking is something that is opposed in the series, which is why I see the reason Dr. Ohara is secretly developing clone of the original Maria. Since Aoi Gengo viewed such acts as blasphemous, because he see Maria as a goddess, Ohara had no other choice.
Of course, on the other end is those Pandora that say to follow orders without question. So far I've only heard two Pandora say these specifically -- that being Chiffon and Charles. This type of talk really does make Pandora feel like nothing more than tools readily available to be used and throw away so easily and without question. Even if it is their decision whether or not to follow orders, it is much more difficult to actually make a choice if Chevalier can torture, or kill, you and sweep your existence from this planet without much effort. And that is the main problem I have with the mix of absolute power with absolute authority.
Even with the introduction of those religious undertones, there are a lot of parallels to be made about the military organization Chevalier and most of its subordinates. Mainly that authority of all forms should be questioned, but there might be a bit more hidden underneath the dark corridors of Chevalier, and we still don't really know what Nova are -- but if they are in fact divine punishment from some sort of god, what are the people of earth being punished for?
Many questions continue to pop in during this series, but the episode itself didn't feel like it was that exciting. There was far more emphasis on the idea of the Tower of Babel having a connection to the increase of Nova appearances. Obviously I'm still invested in this series, but I'm a bit disappointed in see these kind of things being shoved into the mix all of a sudden.