Darker than Black ep.22

September 24, 2007 | 10 Comments

This is a rather intense episode which concludes the MI6 part of the story. I think while the episode was pretty good, I'm not quite satisfied with how things are left unanswered. The thing is, I am not sure if the writers will have enough time to give the Organisation the back story it deserves or to explain how Hell's gate came into existence in the first place. With the focus stays on Hei's attempt to stop Evening Primrose or maybe helping them with whatever they are going to do, they don't have much time left to cover the above issues. I think the only things that the story will be able to cover in such short amount of time is the fate of the characters in the series. I just hope they do a good job at it.

In the aftermath of November 11 and Mao's abduction, Mao finds himself in a room with a naked November 11. When Amber, Brita, and Wei come into the room, he tries to pretend like a normal cat but has no choice but stop when Amber asks him where he's going. Later on, Misaki, who's been let go by Pandora, finds out from November's colleague that he hasn't been in contact with them for a week. This causes them to wonder if November is still an MI6 agent or a pawn of the terrorist. November himself is now seen talking like an old friend with Amber aka February. He wants to know about the organization so Amber calls Schroeder and tells him to tell November about what he said earlier. Schroeder sits and tells them that if his research is successful, it would caused all Contractors to disappear from this world.

Meanwhile, Hei decides to go and save Mao on his own. Huang thinks Hei won't be alive if he goes but Hei refuses to involve anyone else. At the same time, Misaki reveals to April and July that she's helping them because she wants to know why November told her to trust her own instinct. Back to Schroeder, he explains that they failed with their plan back in South America. He believes that Heaven's Gate didn't disappear. Apparently before they could proceeded with the plan, there was a luminous phenomenon which denied any anything that tries to approach 1500km area around it. In other words, the place became an impenetrable territory and Schroeder believes that the Gate still exists. Upon hearing this November asks Amber if she intends to do the same. Amber admits that she does because otherwise they all will perish. November thinks Amber acts like she can see the future. Amber doesn't deny this and reveals that November will die once he left this place.

Later on, Mao tells Schroeder that he, Schroeder, and November are all sentenced to die. Unfortunately, he thinks that no one, especially Contractors are stupid enough to come and save them. Despite Mao's belief, Hei is already seen infiltrating the elevator shaft. His movement is detected by the Doll surveillance but Amber tells her subordinates that there's no need for anyone to die in this place. Meanwhile, Mao sees a spectre in his water bowl, realising that it's Yin. At the same time, November sees a spectre on the glass, which means July is also on the lookout for him. All of a sudden Hei comes in the area but he's blocked by Wei and the two start fighting again. Brita tries to interfere but Hei manages to evade her attack and uses the opportunity to grab Amber instead. He demands the girl to tell her intention but she tells him to ask Mao. All of a sudden, the building starts to glow blue. It seems the meteor fragment in Amber's purse is the cause of this.

Hei is shocked when he hears his sister calls out his name. As a result, he lets go of Amber and falls to his knees. After the blue glow ends, November 11 leave the place and asks Mao to take care things. Meanwhile, Misaki has arrived in the place and points her gun at Hei. Before she can examine his face, however, Huang has thrown a gas and by the time the effect subsides, Hei and Mao already disappear. Misaki sees Schoreder lying against the wall and tries to help the old man since he looks like he's in a complete shock. Later on, Schroeder tells Eric Nishijima that the South American incident happened due to the masked Contractor. Schroeder wants to restart the experiment but before he can say anything else, Eric stabs his neck with an injection which knocks Schroeder out cold. Eric then orders Misaki to transport Schroeder to Pandora. Misaki tries to tell Eric that they have things they need to ask Schroeder but Eric argues that so does Pandora.

Later on, November's boss is seen talking on the phone about how Schroeder has told Amber's group everything. Because of this, he feels that it's dangerous to postpone the plan until the next Dark spot cycle. After the conversation ends, however, the boss is shocked to see November behind him. November confronts his boss by placing a book containing informations about the Organizations that he has gathered. In response, the boss has armed men surrounds November. In the aftermath, November is seen walking on the street while telling someone of the dangerous situation that he's created. He then coughs up a blood and a flashback shows that while he managed to kill his boss and the armed men using his power, he too got injured by the confrontation. The next day, Misaki grieves for his death, prompting April to tell her not to pursue this further and this is why November didn't say anything to her. She, however, thanks Misaki for her feelings.

Outside the city, Amagiri tells Amber that they have all the dolls they need for their plan. Amber takes a bite of an apple in her hand before bidding the city a farewell. Meanwhile, Mao is still surprised that Hei and Huang went out of their way to save him. Hei simply smiles in response to this. They then find out from Huang that November is dead. Huang also thinks it won't be long before the Organization finds out that Mao was there with Amber. Because of this Mao informs the other about what he learned from Amber: the fact that the Organization wants to wipe out all Contractors from this world. Amber and Evening Primrose oppose this and this is why they erased the South American gate 5 years ago. Hei refuses to believe that Amber has a good reason for her action. In his anger, Hei looks like he's going to call Amber names but Yin stops her by saying that Amber is not that kind of person. Hei is frustrated to hear this and stalks off on his own.

Impression:

There are so many informations/stories embedded in this episode that I am starting to get confused. I get the part where the Organization tries to wipe out all Contractors. However, I don't understand the extent of MI6's involvement. Am I right to guess that Pandora, the Organization, MI6, and other government agency basically have the same goal and that is to ensure that all Contractors perish from this world? To be honest, I don't really care about Amber's mission but I did find it sweet that Hei went out of his way to save Mao. And despite what he said, Huang decide to go along and save his comrades in the nick of time. It's unfortunate that November has to die but I really don't see what other role he could have taken in this story. At least he died after taking out the head of MI6. That's an achievement on its own. I just want to know who he called before he died. Was it Misaki or someone else? Last but not least, I'm still not sure if the South American gate is still exist or not.

© memento 2003