So I liked this episode.
This is back to what I like most about this series. It is a bunch of mechs with two enemies dueling. It has all the intrigue I loved. Schneizel is a complete dick and killed Cornelia. Pow. Now we are seeing Lelouch pushed back and forced to come up with crazy moves that will save his ass. Blowing up a mountain was certainly a good idea. That is the kinda thing I love. That instead of just maneuvering with his soldiers he also used the terrain and environment to surprise everyone. Also Lelouch does not have the superior force here. It has always been important that Lelouch never be handed an important victory but that he achieves it against absurd odds.
If this was an American show then absolutely Nunnally will die. But since it is Japanese I am not so sure. Normally in any story when a character does something absolutely horrible for the wrong side they have to die. Movies and TV shows follow those ethics in America. Now Rolo ended up dieing and he killed Shirley. So this show may use the same thought processes and kill Nunnally because it turns out she is a mass murderer. Lelouch can no longer fight for her because she is no longer the innocent person she was. She is now just as stained as everyone else. True she was duped but she should not be so naïve.
Honestly if Lelouch’s plan is to turn everyone in the world against him then that is a silly cliché. One of the special aspects to this show was that you did not know exactly how Lelouch was going to solve a problem. So if we all know he is turning the world against him then it would be lazy writing. I keep holding out that Lelouch is going to do something crazy, fantastic that we will all be surprised by, but think it is fitting. A better ending would be for the Black Knights to come out of no where and win in the end. That they do something that surprises everyone and they are free and happy. It would be ironic for the Black Knights to do something interesting that surprises Lelouch but turns out to be a better plan then Lelouch’s.