Nothing like a little betrayal to make a difficult situation even more of an issue. What They Say:
Everything has gone wrong. Moeka was a spy from SERN, and she’s come to take the time machine. Desperate, Okabe activates it and sends himself back to two hours ago, hoping he can change the present…
The Review:
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers)
Like most series that run for two seasons, episodes twelve and thirteen tend to be the big picture episodes where events hit a high mark in order to say it’s worth the effort to stick around for what’s to come. Steins; Gate did just that in the previous episode as it moved to a larger realm and had Okarin and the gang questioning what to do with their time device, but it all went to hell quickly when Moeka of all people showed up as an operative of SERN demanding that everything be acquired for the organization. What makes it all the worse is that Moeka actually manages to shoot and kill Mayuri and even Makise takes a serious looking hit before Okarin sends himself back in time in the truly untested device. It’s a thrilling prologue for a show that has largely been about the quiet moments, giving us a lot of payoff in a very short amount of time.
Okarin’s trip to the past is definitely an interesting piece since it’s sending his mind to his body of that time and that whole concept offers up so many paradoxes that can be dealt with. His watching over of Mayuri has a very somber feeling to it, but Mayuri completely understands what’s happened. How it impacts the present? That’s the beauty of it because the way time travel of any sort works, it makes changes of varying sizes. But it may not produce the changes you want as when he does return to the present, things are off just a little bit but Mayuri herself is impossible to find. And, in the end, impossible to save. Bringing into reality the concept that she may be destined to die at this stage of her life, bringing in predestination, certainly adds a really fun wrinkle to time travel in that there are things that cannot be changed no matter how hard you try or through whatever means you have at your disposal.
Okarin’s repeated trips into the past to try and fix this lead to quite a lot of dismay on his part to say the least, as he keeps finding her but things alter in small ways or he ends up in the wrong place at the wrong time and the event unfolds in the same way. Moeka is pretty devilish throughout this as she manipulates the situation, seemingly getting the idea of what he’s doing, and at each turn being there to make sure he knows that Mayuri has died. It’s a brutal, painful moment because he does spend so much time with her in good health and humor throughout the episode, that to end up this way makes it all the worse. The two have been together for a long time, especially if you factor some small amount of reality into that whole seventy million years thing from before, but having this be her destiny no matter what he does is simply cruel and highly engaging.
In Summary:
Steins; Gate has had a whole lot of potential for its run up to this point and it’s had a lot of very engaging and captivating sequences. But while they do put their theories to the test and explored it over the course of many episodes, rather than quick discovers in a single episode or two, it now has finally put everything to the test as Okarin is forcing himself to go back in time repeatedly to stop an event that has pushed him over the edge. Time travel offers a lot of ideas to work with and the series has played with them in a lot of creative ways, and while it’s been slow at times and seemingly unsure of where it wants to go, this is a huge payoff episode that puts a lot of things in perspective and sets us up well for the second half of the run, ensuring that if you liked this, you damn well better come back for more. Steins; Gate continues to be a real dark horse winner this season.
Grade: B+
Simulcast By: Crunchyroll
Review Equipment:
Sony KDS-R70XBR2 70″ LCoS 1080P HDTV, Dell 10.1 Netbook via HDMI set to 1080p, Onkyo TX-SR605 Receiver and Panasonic SB-TP20S Multi-Channel Speaker System With 100-Watt Subwoofer.
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