Things are falling apart (no pun intended). The crew goes to check out the wreckage of the supposedly-unmanned police plane that had been carrying Makishima. Except…

It is not a good sign that they’re being denied information at a crime scene.

Chief M—a new one—promises to explain to Ginoza in private. Ginoza’s tired of being pushed around, though.

But M’s pushing the Kagari card even further. She tells Ginoza to recapture Makishima—but not kill him—and reminds him that this would salvage their political capital after “letting” Kagari “escape”.

…and I’m remembering reading 101 material about abusive relationships.

There’s one last twist: Kogami is to be taken off the case and confined to the MTVOS building.

Everyone is aware that this has gone beyond strange, although I think they all know that Kogami would kill Makishima if he had the chance. Kogami cranes his neck ridiculously far forwards to say it out loud.

He applies his Ace Detective analysis to this situation, and comes out very close to the truth. His theory is that someone in the Ministry of Welfare (probably not their department) is trying to use Makishima, and is being used by him instead. It’s possible this person or their representative was secretly on the plane and therefore was the body they saw taken away. (Not too far off, eh?)

This is another one of those places where I think the show would have been stronger if we didn’t know what happened. We would have missed the scene between Makishima and Specim-M, though.

I’m not sure why the camerapeople think this stuffed chameleon’s so important, but maybe it’s a symbolic metaphor a la Utena. Chief M hiding in plain sight and all that.

---

Kogami stalks off, with Tsunemori going after him. Kunizuka makes an excuse to leave as well, leaving just Masaoka with Ginoza. Who tries to help.

Okay, okay, I picked the pithiest quotes from the scene. Masaoka is saying that no good can come from this case—either playing by the rules, or standing up to Chief M. It’d be better to just fail at it so that the eyes of both M and Makishima stop focusing on this team. But Ginoza cares enough to not just give up.

For what it’s worth, my initial reaction was the same as Ginoza’s. I understand what Masaoka’s getting at, but I can’t see someone lasting in that position very long anyway. Maybe I’d feel differently if Ginoza had a family to support or something.

We get a glimpse of that other hypothetical show I mentioned back in Episode 5 with Ginoza admitting that he’s not himself a very good detective.

It’s something he’s probably come to terms with recently, and I think his self-esteem will improve from accepting it. Nevertheless, it’s not a particularly hopeful note to end the conversation on.

Still, something good has come from this: Ginoza’s convinced himself to join the resistance. Hey, it’s Division 2!

Unfortunately…

At this point Kogami is out of fucks to give.

Unfortunately (again), so is M. She turns Ginoza’s gun into a Lethal Eliminator and points him at Kogami.

(I didn’t notice until rewatching that her next line about being “unhindered by emotion” is in the same vein as Specim-M’s speech to Makishima.)

I wanted to stop and talk about Ginoza’s relationship with Kogami, but after writing through it some I found there wasn’t much to say. “It’s Complicated, But I Certainly Wouldn’t Murder Him” isn’t that interesting…and that’s not what’s going through Ginoza’s mind anyway. He’s in his own little loyalty test right now, and trying to summon the courage to say no. (And possibly also trying to figure out how to say no without immediately getting fired, and without Chief M just firing the gun herself.)

I could also try to link this to Kogami’s test for Kunizuka, when she first joined the MLLVM, but I don’t actually think there’s a connection there. They’re both very significant gun moments, but that’s all.

Suddenly,

Tsunemori saves the day, and is badass enough to quote regulations at Chief M. You can see how tense she is about this, though, in her stance and the fact that she doesn’t turn her head.

In my recap post, I touched on the shot from the first episode, and how it would be very different to see it again now that we’re familiar with the characters. My conclusion was that that was more likely to happen than not. (We may get it once more given the way the episode ends.)

Once again, Tsunemori’s disregarding protocol—though technically not breaking any rules—to save a life. If Chief M had been standing over her shoulder, I’m sure it would have been much harder for her…but then again, I’m not sure Ginoza would have come up with the solution. For now, it seems there will be no immediate consequences for Tsunemori’s action.

For what it’s worth, though, I don’t think Ginoza would have pulled the trigger.

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Continuing the theme of “callback episode”, Kogami wakes up in the hospital.

Tsunemori’s holding vigil, but the stress has finally caught up with her.

Kogami knows what he has to do, but he also knows he’s not going to be able to convince Tsunemori of that. (I skipped the conversation earlier where Tsunemori establishes that she still believes in the system and tries to get Kogami to promise not to do anything unbecoming.) He begins collecting his resources, starting by picking up the Magneto-helmet from Karanomori’s lab.

I’m pretty sure this is Karanomori giving herself plausible deniability when they come to question her later, but it could also be a comment on the fact that she’s hacked into everything; maybe she really hasn’t been told yet. She tosses a last question at Kogami on his way out.

I’m a sucker for any mention of normal life, but in this case it’s also a clear goodbye. Kogami is not coming back.

(We can also see that by the fact that he’s not wearing his professional black jacket and tie. What Kunizuka put on, Kogami is casting off.)

Masaoka’s next. He doesn’t try to persuade Kogami to stay, but does ask him whether it’s Makishima specifically or evil in general that he can’t stand. Kogami answers honestly that it’s neither; it would just bother him forever. (I think this is pride more than wanting to protect others, as he says at the end, but it can be a mix of both.)

Masaoka gives Kogami the keys to his old safehouse, and Kogami responds with my new favorite reaction gif jpeg.

He heads out, and the credits start.

(I’m a little disappointed that there was no interaction with Kunizuka when something happened with everyone else.)

In one final callback, the safehouse is out on the riverbank, just like the ending of Episode 1. Cue symbolic sunrise as Kogami opens the front door.

And…it turns out Kogami has left Tsunemori a letter. What she had missed is that Kogami didn’t just want to be a detective for its own sake—he wanted to protect people. Stepping outside the law was, as he saw it, the only way to take down Makishima. “As long as I’m a detective, I can’t touch him,” and that’s true of their whole institution in general.

The word Kogami uses is 正しい, which I would also translate as “correct”. It’s an interesting point that leads to his admission that this is more than just about protecting people—it’s his own hubris that won’t let him stay within the law. Can it be “correct” to let those outside the law go on as they are, though?

For his part, I suspect Makishima would be pleased by this turn of events—it’s in agreement with his worldview. What are people like when they live outside the law?

The arc 2 opening is starting to become reality. Was Tsunemori holding her gun on Makishima or on Kogami?

This entry was posted on June 10, 2017. Tags: Psycho-Pass, Psycho-Pass watchthrough