Impression
Okay, so this is the human experimentation episode – the one where everything starts to go horribly wrong, and shit hits the fan. Mark IV is this nano-machine allegedly embedded with data from the original Pandoras. When injected, it’ll trigger a forced activation of an E-Pandora’s stigmata, increasing their power level as a result. I mean, it’s sounds legit, doesn’t it? Until Amelia revealed that Mark III was a complete flop, almost killing her and turning her hair white. I guess it was why she was slightly stronger than the rest of them… but there’s no point in being stronger if you end up dead as a result. Mark IV is nothing more than an untested drug, and Scarlett Oohara seems desperate. In the real world, you test new drugs on animals, not humans.
Though to be honest, for all intents and purposes the E-Pandora aren’t treated much differently from animals. The contract they signed forbids them from disobeying orders; even if Mark IV was lethal, they’d have no choice but to accept it. Oohara seems to be really bipolar in the way she treats the E-Pandora – one moment she’s screaming about their lack of free will, and the next she’s reassuring Amelia that Mark IV is perfectly safe. Which was a lie anyway; they knew things wouldn’t turn out great at all. Roxanne described herself as a victim, but I’d say the E-Pandora are far more victimized than they’ll ever be, both through their lack of power and their quality of life. By the way, that pool’s doing great as our weekly dose of fanservice. It’s also there for the Top 5 to sit around and chat, but we all know it’s all about Elizabeth’s boobs. Oh, and Julia groping Cassie.
Gina is such a tragic character. She’s definitely been the most hostile of all the E-Pandoras, continually rejecting the perceived “pity” of the original Pandoras. Even the dream she had while in a delirious state (fighting Satella and nimbly avoiding her with Accel) displayed her earnest desire for success, a desire that was unfortunately doomed from the very start. Foreshadowing was everywhere. I mean, we knew all along that stigmata is a huge burden even to normal Pandoras; hearing what happened with Mark III was really just the final nail in the coffin. It was a bit of a dick move to keep her hooked up to the drug for three days though… she was turning into a Nova, and Oohara just stood and watched knowing perfectly well this would happen. From what I remember, in the manga they showed her going through a lot of suffering as well.
The only correct decision made by the top brass was to send out the Top 5 to subdue Gina. Along with Elizabeth, they’re the girls most suspicious of the entire project, as well as the girls most capable of taking Gina down. The fact that Satella’s data was used probably means that Nova Gina is fairly strong – looks like she got what she wanted, just… not quite in the way she intended. Let’s see whether the “Immortal” Roxanne and the “Tempest Phoenix” Charles can live up to their reputation.
Speaking of Charles, I really loved this week’s end card xD
