I have been remiss in my self-set duties of trying to keep up on episode discussions. I got distracted by all the spoilers and was less interested in the now. I shall remedy that tonight.
Note: This rundown is slightly more fan-ish than recent ones because I had more time to let it sink in.
I agree with many people that 20 did not have enough Lelouch. I adore Euphemia, and Suzaku in fighting mode is always a thing of beauty, but I do need a good chunk of Lelouch because them alone is not quite as gripping. I guess having the scenes with him in the Gawain made up for it almost. I think I about died when I realized Lelouch was hardly doing *anything* the whole time and that C.C. was doing all the work. I think Lulu pushed the button for the lasers. Didn't one of the magazines say something about how although Gawain is a two-pilot Knightmare, it doesn't really need the second pilot? Wait to go, Lulu. That pimp shot of him stealing the thunder for all of C.C.'s skills is the stuff cracky dreams are made out of. Also, Gawain could probably *eat* Lancelot. No wonder it needs C.C. to pilot it. The thing's ginormous. I did think Suzaku was a little too eager to work with Zero, considering he saw him threatening Euphemia with a gun in the episode before. I would chalk it up to some effect of his Geass, but it seemed that Gawain's arrival interrupted his dip into Geass mode. Let's not go into how Gawain and Lancelot are totally the greatest OTP evar!
Then when have Suzaku and Euphemia. First, I want to say it's too bad the timeslot forces the episode to move faster because I would have definitely liked to see Suzaku trying to defend himself at his court marshal, after the Geass incident. Why did Schneizel let him off so easy? I predict foul play at work. Also, the "I give back my knighthood and then reclaim it 20 minutes later" makes the action fairly pointless. I mean, was he even a non-knight for more than a day? The only benefit from that randomness is it led to some somber introspection from Euphemia. I enjoyed her struggle between wanting to avenge Clovis while wanting to save Lelouch and Nunnally. I also thought she was going to implode with brotherly love when she saw Lelouch and Suzaku working together. Euphemia is so cute. Even if she is almost as much of a dork as her brother. Seriously, woman, you do not confess your love while your boyfriend is in the heat of battle. I love how Suzaku was all "Uh... kind of busy here..." and then ends up agreeing to Euphemia's "order" to love him because he's in battle mode. Oh the dialogue. Again, I love Euphie, but that dialogue. Ow ow ow. And the worst part was the entire time Suzaku is letting her go on and on and then trying to reassure her, he knows he's a dead man. It's like "Aww, you're sweet. Oh did I mention I ran out of power and am gonna die now? Sorry about that. ;_;" Suzaku, you ass. The ending scene did improve on the dialogue though, as Suzaku's happy smile and "Yes, your highness" sent giddy chills up my spine.
Also love for the competition between Laksharta and Pudding Earl.
I would comment on the Nina/Euphie scene, but all I have to say is that I think Nina thought she was getting through to Euphemia about her crush at the end there. She is going to throttle Suzaku at the pizza party. ^_~
As usual, bring up your own topics on the episode and go wild.