Impression
The E-Pandora are a pretty tragic bunch; they’re not much more than disposable victims in the eyes of the establishment. I’m almost surprised they haven’t really acted until now – it took Gina’s death and the threat of administering another round of Mark IV to get them to act. Notice that, while Oohara’s only officially set up something for Rattle, there were enough “improved” Mark IV capsules there for each E-Pandora – proving that they were all slated to be sacrificed sooner or later. It’s just the disposing of guinea pigs now, and that bastard who tortured Elizabeth even had the gall to say that more were arriving soon (presumably to take their place). Deciding to rebel was probably the best option they had – chances are they’ll still die, but at least in the way they want. And if they get lucky, then perhaps one or two of them can escape and inform the world of all these atrocities. Though this also gives the top brass the useful precedent they need to murder the lot of them with a legit justification.
Of course, with the current Pandora having been mobilized to fight against them, their chances are desperate at best, impossible at worst. Amongst the Pandora, this is where the allegiance split will occur, which is something I’ve been alluding to for some time now. On the side of the establishment (and Chevalier) you have the more conservative Pandora – those who believe that the role of a Pandora is to quietly follow orders and not question the top brass at any time. At least three of the top five are likely to be in this camp – Charles, Julia and unfortunately, Chiffon. The latter in particular is going to make life very, very hard for the rebels, even if they’re supported by Pandora like Satella, Elizabeth or Cassie (whose decision will probably put an end to Julia’s groping days). I think Aoi Gengo and Chevalier’s strongest Pandora will support them too, if only to foil Scarlett Oohara’s plans. Satella won’t have a fun time against Julia at all – while it’s true she’s beaten Cassie in the past, it involved a partial Nova transformation and a lot of difficult fighting which she doesn’t have the strength or time for right now.
There was a lot of talk this episode about the Tower of Babel, which I don’t think was in the original manga. Biblically, it’s of course the story of humanity’s attempt to go beyond their limits and build a tower to heaven, which God very quickly put a stop to. Their divine punishment was a confusion of languages, which broke apart their unity and prevented the tower’s completion. I’m not sure how much I want to support that analogy to be honest… it seems like a convenient asspull to label the Nova as a form of divine retribution, especially considering that we still know very little about them in the manga. I love how Roxanne and her friends casually joked about the possibility of the Nova turning up in Alaska, with subtlety similar to that of a cow giving birth. Come on guys, we all know that they’ll turn up sooner or later. It’s what this entire show is about! That photon generator, which is most likely responsible for sustaining those Maria Lancelot clones (with 20 years’ worth of solar energy in it) is just waiting to be blown up!