I will say this, these articles are very hard to write without spoilers and this week it is near impossible so if you do not want spoilers stop reading here, and we will do our best in the podcast to not spoil too much.
WEAVING A STORY 2: Oral Stage
These episodes take the show in another direction. I’m not quite sure what is entirely going on. This episode starts to use more and more of the animation tricks that this show in known for. Particularly the last scene just lingers on a single frame for a full minute, this is driving me nuts. This happens several more times in these episodes.
Vincenzo
He Was Aware He Was Still a Child
This episode, along with the last one was delved into the character pasts. We get to see that Gendo has always been weird and wrong in his life, these try to get into the past. My biggest criticism of these episodes is that I wish some of this stuff had been revealed earlier in the show.
Don’t Be
So now that we’ve discovered a ton more about each and every character, we have to do another one of these episodes where we find out about Asuka, and holy shit, even knowing what is happening this episode is just so uncomfortable. There is some decent action in these episodes which is bizarre and the imagery is just so visceral and weird and something great.
Rei III
Oh God, just oh god. The world is wrong, not just the world of this show, but the this show exists in my world, which makes this world wrong. AHHHHHH!
The Beginning and the End or ‘Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door’
The final angel arrives and wait he looks human. This is so fucking weird, I want to address one thing about this one. Shinji is not gay. He needs some sort of friend at this point. Everyone else who he knows has died, broken down, or moved away. This angel is important to him because he treats him with compassion and friendship. This is not a romantic relationship.
Do You Love Me/Take Care of Yourself
There has been so much written about these two episodes in over the years. I cannot do them justice here. They are kind of cool and if you still think this is a robot show you will hate them, for sure but this is not a mecha show. They are interesting and I like that they have looked at people in how they interact. It does some interesting stuff. I don’t hate them but they are not easy to watch.
Diego
Episode 20: OK this was a weird episode and I didn’t feel like we needed another surreal episode? Some interesting point in this though. We learned that the Eva’s are based off Angels. Man designing man so to speak. Or at least I think that’s what we learned. It is never very clear cut when it comes to this show. We also learned something possibly interesting about Rei. Let’s watch more and find out.
Episode 21: I like that this episode gives us answers. It has been a long time in coming. The transition scenes seem a bit robotic but I am willing to overlook that for the answers. I will hoard them like a miser! Here I thought I would get more answers about Rei, but they dance around her like they were two bullies playing keep the ball away from me. Grrrr
Episode 22: I wasn’t really interested in Asuka’s back story but I got it anyways. Other than that, it just feels like were just wrapping up things to make a run at the season finale. Having seen the episode though, it seems like the pilots are required to be broken inside.
Episode 23 & 24: OK so the answers for Rei were…unusual. And the good chief scientist has gone a little nuts. OK a lot nuts. I am pretty sure she deserves it for playing doctor with Shinji’s dad. The fifth child was pretty awesome. I like how this show just shoves subtlety to the ground and abuses it. I will say that this show has gotten sooo weird. I’m not even sure what to do with it. Also I loved the music in the battle between unit 2 and 1, but that last scene lasted forever!
Episode 25 & 26: What the fuck? Fuck this show.
