Darker than Black ep.24

October 6, 2007 | 8 Comments

This turns out to be a fantastic penultimate episode. Although I don't have attachment to many characters on this series, it was still great to see them go out with a bang. One thing that I think the writers should have established earlier was the rapport between Hei's gang. The four members always work together but there was little team spirit between them in most of their missions. It's not until a few episodes ago they became a true team. In a lot of ways, their group reminds me of the Cowboy Bebop team. Huang's final gesture towards his comrade even remind me of Spike Spiegel's "See You Space Cowboy" finger gesture.

Huang decides to drop Hei, Yin, Mao, and Wei inside a tunnel and everyone gives proper goodbye to him. Later on as Huang tries to distract his pursuer away from the others, it's apparent that he's bleeding badly. Meanwhile, Misaki demands to talk to Schroeder only to find that Eric Nishijima insists on being there for their talk as well. Much to Misaki's surprise, Schroeder reveals that the person who's responsible for Heaven's Gate disappearance wasn't BK-201, or rather, that Messier code was once used by someone else. Nishijima claims that EPR tries to do the same thing in Japan. However, Nishijima claims that they won't let EPR do this. His plan is to destroy Hell's Gate using Saturn System. It's basically some kind of weapon that one can fire at the gate to destroy it. Nishijima then reveals the operating room where a group of government official are working hard to monitor the amount of Contractors who are infiltrating the Gate.

While this happens, Hei and the others manage to infiltrate the area using a subway system that has been unused. Wei reveals that the commotion outside the gate are simply decoy to allow them infiltrate the gate more easily. Later on, however, Wei reveals that he only joined EPR so that he can fight Hei again. Meanwhile, Schroeder explains that the Hell's Gate and Heaven's Gate are working in tandem with one another. If you stop one, you also stop the other. The consequence of destroying the gate, however, is killing the Contractors. Misaki is outraged to hear this and points out that Contractors are human too. She, however, is quickly scolded by Nishijima and her supervisor, Hourai. Misaki quickly realises that Hourai is on Pandora's side as well and Pandora is just a UN Project which will execute millions of people. Misaki realises that the Organization that November was chasing after is a lot bigger than she thought.

Hourai quickly reveals that Misaki is also part of the Organizations, whose membership are composed of many Government bureaus in different countries. It's all done to keep order on the planet. He then drops the bombshell. BK-201 or Hei is also a part of the organization. Having said that, he has hidden himself away now. This makes Misaki wonders if just like November 11, she'd be killed. Hourai tells her that won't be the case if she works for them since they need talented people like her. Meanwhile, a defeated Wei reveals that he knew that he didn't have a chance against Hei when Amber allows him to show Hei around the place. Before he dies, Wei decides to use his power to destroy the Pandora wall so Hei and the others can go forward. At the same time, Huang's pursuers realizes that they've been chasing no one else but Huang. However, they're too late because Huang has set his car to detonate, killing himself and his pursuers in the process.

Meanwhile, Amagiri and Brita has infiltrated the complex butt-nekkid. Brita then kiss Amagiri, claiming that it's her payment. When the two get to a certain point in the building, however, they come face to face with Mai, the firestarter. Mai instantly kills the two but then Amagiri finds themselves still alive and returned back to their previous position before they met Mai. He immediately realises that Amber was the one who saved them when he finds an extra boiled egg in his pocket. This time around when Amagiri arrives at the same position, he uses his power to knock Mai off the railing before destroying the ring that controls the anti-Gate particle. Unfortunately for him and Brita, Mai is not dead and manages to burn the two of them using fire. Brita, however, manages to escape by teleporting herself away to a truck where her colleagues are waiting. Elsewhere, Nishijima explains to Schroeder that the destroyed ring was just a decoy.

At the same time, Hei, Yin, and Mao find themselves inside the gate. Yin points at a soul and proceeds to head towards the area, which contains an invisible gate. When they enter While they walk, Mao tries to hack Pandora to read past article but got disconnected. Having said that, he finds an interesting article that says if you only have a doll, no matter what medium you use, it will feel intense pain if you try to invade the gate. However, if you link up many dolls and create a system that multiplies the fragments of the meteor, it is possible to have an observer to infiltrate all the way to the core of the gate. Meanwhile, Nishijima and Schroeder realize that BK-201 is already inside the gate. Schroeder, however, manages to trace Mao due to his hacking attempt so Mao bids goodbye to Hei and Yin, saying that if they encounter a cat like him one day....suddenly the cat in Yin's hand loses Mao's consciousness and behaves just like normal cat.

After the incident, Hei and Yin continue to walk following the souls but all of a sudden the souls disappear. It turns out a bunch of army has destroyed the van where the Contractors keep the dolls. Schroeder believes that this means they sever BK-201's way to find the core of the Hell's Gate. Meanwhile, Hourai still tries to convince Misaki that sometimes sacrifice needs to be made and he'd rather be the one who commits the sin. Misaki can only look at his superintendent in anger. Meanwhile, due to the lack of souls to guide them, Yin decides to jump into the water and uses her own power to be a guide for Hei. Hei is concerned about this but decides to jump as well when Yin points out a direction for him to go to. The two start walking together towards the end of the canal. Halfway through the lake, Hei notices a figure in the distance. It's Amber, albeit one who has now shrunk to a child-size body due to the price of her power.

Impression:

I can't say enough how much I love this episode. It has every ingredient that any penultimate episode must have. I love how even the action of the supporting characters are important in this episode. I like the way Amber used her power to save Amagiri and Brita from fire. However, despite the attempt, she still couldn't save them in the end. I was surprised to see Mai making an appearance as the Organization's latest tool. It looks like she too meet her end in this episode. Despite my dislike for Huang, it's hard not to feel sorry for him in the end. He died to save his comrades and that is something that is to be respected. I don't know what happens to Mao but it was quite painful to see him separated from Hei and Yin. I always see the three of them as a trio and it's sad to see it ends like this. As for the Organization, it looks like it's just a collective effort from Government agencies throughout the world to combat Contractors.

© memento 2003