86 – Eighty Six | Episode 6 Review

---

Episode six Thoughts

Ah yes, the #setupepisode. Everyone’s favourite episode, let’s dedicate one whole episode to setting the stage for what’s to come in the upcoming episodes. If you don’t already know, I really dislike setup episodes because of how blatantly obvious they are. I do not want to know what’s going to happen next. Should there be a natural build up towards the climax? Yes. However I do not think it should be made blatant, everything leading up to the climax to be secretive. I want to feel anxious and I want to be on edge. I’d rather not know anything than generally knowing what will happen in the episodes to come.

• 

• 

What probably bothers me most about episode six in particular is that if I were to compare what I watched to episode five, its basically night and day. Without a doubt, you could have distributed the information evenly over both episodes. You could have also distributed the action more evenly as well. Episode five was all information, less action; while episode six is all action, less information but is the setup episode. At that point, it’s me picking my poison, what did I prefer more? Probably episode six because there was significantly more action.

Now I am going to switch gears and talk a little bit about the episode. What I found interesting about both episodes is how complacent this ‘Republic’ has become. You can definitely see that the propaganda they feed themselves is something they’re more than willing to accept and believe in, and the military high command is more than happy to continue with that narrative. A part of me wants to see the Legion overrun the republic just to really stick it to them as a “This is what you get” sort of deal. Lena’s interaction with Jerome was an interesting to me because it felt like Jerome was one of the major figures helping push the propaganda onto the people. I also assume that there is some political shenanigans as well, but Jerome’s disregard for everyone a part of the 86 in order to help the republic promote this utopia is mad. He knows that they are humans, but ultimately will look to uphold the image of a technologically advanced and ethical military, with zero casualties for the country he serves. Could this be because they do not want to show the horrors on the frontline to their people? To promote order and to dispel fear? Most likely.

I wonder how long it’ll take before the republic realizes that the war they’re fighting will be one they’ll eventually lose, especially if what Shin says is true. Lena already understands the severity of the situation, however, is there much she can do to prevent what seems to be the unpreventable. They are only so many 86 left. So long as they continue to die on the frontlines and with little to no reinforcements on their way, will the republic break this propaganda in order to stop the invasion of their homeland? It’s crazy to think that the enemy the republic are fighting are the dead 86 turned into Legion mecha. How the plot thickens!

I am looking forward to where we go from here.