Predictions and Observations:
A Web of Deceit II

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Mysterious bad guys-- what have we learned? They're called Dark Signers. Is that just the main guys, the ones at the table with the candlabras in that hole in the ground, or can drones like this also be termed 'Dark Signers'? Since I'm not sure, I'm afraid I lied, and I'll probably still be referring to the "spider people" now and then.

'Born of the great eclipse', the drone said. Um... huh? Well, eclipses have historically been a bad thing in Yu-Gi-Oh!-- there was one when Zorc fought the Egyptian Gods and won, and (uncanonly) one during the final climactic duel of all GX, against Darkness.

"Wipe his mark clean!" So it would appear that if Yusei loses, he is no longer a Signer.

Carly termed this an 'underground duel', broadening the definition we have available, when before all we had was Zane's experience in No Pain, No Game. What do they have in common? What are the criteria for a duel being 'underground'? Underground in the conventional sense means they're illegal. What laws might exist in the dueling world against duels that harm or injure the participants? Nevertheless such duels happen anyway, because they entertain a shady clientele like that found in the cafe in No Pain, No Game, for one. For another, because duels still happen for power and the fate of the world. If the authorities showed up to a duel like the one Yusei just finished, or a bonafide, old-fashioned shadow-realm shadow game, they couldn't do much about it anyway, but such duels would be comparatively rare. Nevertheless, such laws would be formed to protect innocent bystanders from being preyed on in backalleys by, say, the Shadow Duelist.

I note that Frozen Fitzgerald freezes traps and spells, just like Lex's ice monsters in Heart of Ice. Very similar theme between those two decks, and if we're to take that as no coincidence, I suppose I can see a resemblance between spider drones and light-heads. How much of a resemblance will become apparent should we actually see Jack, or another known character, turn into one.

"Don't be so surprised. Light and dark are two sides of one coin." That seems to be a running theme in the canon, from GX on. The power of duel energy, of Neo-Space, is a balance between them, and the different bad guys as they come and go seek to disrupt that balance one way or the other.

Wait-- Is the very reason the Spider is prophesied to destroy the Satellite *because* it's something one of the Signers cares about the most? What about the *other* 'evil force' trying to harm the Spirit World? Is that because it's Luna's sanctuary? Or are these the things that will be destroyed, should the bad guys win, that we're hearing the most about? The line that made me start to think that the things most important to the Signers were specifically targeted was, "The Dark Signers possess a power that will erase your mark and everything you hope to save with it!" In this case, we have to ask ourselves what is most important to Jack, Akiza, and Goodwin? To Jack, it just might be his fans. Who could say about Akiza or Goodwin, though.

"Right now the only power that counts is the strength in your deck! And I know my cards won't let me down!" That is a really great quote: one thing that's so great about dueling is that, in a duel, all that counts is the cards in your deck and your will to win. It levels the playing field and allows anyone the chance to turn the tables and win.

Holy cow! Yusei just wiped out 4100 lifepoints in one turn!!!

So this guy himself was not with the spider folks, he got hypnotized or something? Why did his Sign disappear? Does this tell us something about why Yusei's Sign vanished at first?

Casually note that Yusei looked at that deck without permission.

"I was down in the Narrows..." Canon reference to a new location in New Domino. I'd imagine he's talking about somewhere with narrow alleyways, the bad part of town, though that's a guess. "The Narrows" sounds like a name for that kind of place. We know there are places in Domino with lots of winding alleys; Bootleg or Blister's place might be located in the Narrows.

Why did two spider legs disappear and one appear on the big spider guy's Sign? I think it's safe to say that his is the 'master' Sign off of which the other spider signs, including the ones worn by drones who get bit, are based. Two legs disappeared, then one appeared again. This may represent their power or their number of minions. Drone-guy there was worth two legs of power, but then one of those got replaced with a new drone? Will the other leg grow back too, or are the Signers one-eighth of the way toward winning? If that's the case, it's a major weakness, while the Dark Signers' strength lies in subversion and numbers.

We have a name-- Callan, Callun, Calun, Calan... I read a few sub-version fans saying 'Kalin', so I guess I'll go with that for lack of a more canon spelling. Kalin is the guy with the greenish-blonde hair under his cloak.

They're going to 'bite' Jack?! Well, that *does* make a lot of sense. I recall that I had a really strong hunch that after the pronouncement that this is Yusei's chance to be a hero, Jack would be out of the picture for a while. And need we note that Yusei has this funny little blind spot when he goes up against Jack; he approaches him very differently than he does any other opponent. Will that hold true when Jack isn't himself? Seeing a known character get 'bit' will also inform us how much the drone retains the personality and memories of the person that got 'bit'.
But can it happen? Jack's already a Signer; can he be turned into a dark one that easily? If he can, why not just send a spider to bite Yusei? Because combatants, in this case that means Signers probably, are those with the power to defend themselves. But Jack's indisposed, so even though the power's on his arm, he has little duel energy to back it up. Will the spider replace his wing mark, and will the wing mark be back when the Jack-drone gets beat in a duel? If not, who will be the new wing Signer, if anyone?

"If they want to fight me, well-- they'll get more than a battle, they'll get a war!!!" Whoa!

In the first season, Lezar was the embodiment of Goodwin's scummier dealings, such as blackmailing Yusei into the Fortune Cup, offering Jack that fateful deal, and sending the Servants of Iliaster-- which included a ruthless underground duelist, a psycho hypnotist, and *Ransborg*! -- up against the Signers. Thus, he was directly at odds with someone like Mina, who shows concern for Yusei and genuinely cares about Jack. As swiftly as the status quo in New Domino flipped upside-down, Lezar revealed how deeply his composure and power is rooted in the firm control of the New Domino government over its citizens and the Satellite. With a champion who is out of the control Goodwin and Lezar had over Jack, the class system is shaky and Lezar was starting to get nervous. Where he is now is anyone's guess, because apparently Lezar isn't scummy enough for Goodwin's dealings now. I get the feeling that this mysterious figure will have a similar role, but less mundane oppression, deceit, and blackmail, and far more sinister magic and waging war against the Dark Signers. What this war may entail, who knows. I'd imagine bribes, threats, and using people. That's Goodwin's usual style. Goodwin doesn't have the power (that we know of) to fight the Dark Signers, except by proxy. I wonder where the other four Signers will come into this war? I wonder what Goodwin has at stake?

"The hand you have been dealt in life"-- don't we recognize that particular phrase. "I'm sure that many of you feel that you have been dealt a bad hand in life." (Fire It Up!) Need we note that the Dark Signers' rhetoric is similar to Goodwin's. Either way it's people in power appealing to the poor masses while trying not to appear to.

The Dark Signers are taking over the Satellite?! I notice that they lure the satellites the same way they did the citizens: by saying that the Crimson Dragon has made, or will make, their lives terrible. Don'tcha love scapegoating? This is also similar to how the crowd demonized and scapegoated Akiza during the Fortune Cup, plus evil magic of course. We seem to be seeing a pattern here: the tyranny of the majority. It's a term we use in philosophy of justice (coincidentally, what I'm studying in Intro to Philosophy right now) to say that in a system of government in which the goal is exclusively defined as the greatest good for the greatest number of people, the minorities suffer terribly because the majority gets their way at whatever expense to the minority they want. In this case, I'm referring to it as a theme in the sense that the Crimson Dragon, and Akiza, are both vilified as threats to everyone else; and also in the sense that "the people of the Satellite exist so that the Chosen may prosper" and it looks like there's more citizens than satellites, roughly. It's all instances of turning the larger crowd against the smaller one. It's a tough compromise: oppress a few so that the rest thrive. In fact, it's sacrifice; it's the same sacrifice Jack made, believing that it wasn't possible to both be the best and have friends. Yusei, however, disagrees; by becoming champion, he just proved that one can be the best and have friends at the same time, and I can't wait to see him take apart the biggest illusion in this poor, stratified City-- that the Satellite cannot be accepted as an equal part of the City.

"The little one's got guts", is right! You go, Rally! Bad timing, but still.

Angela's smearing Yusei? Might be ticked that Yusei ran off; that's the only reason for taking a dislike that I can think of. Still, that's pretty low. I suppose another reason might be that it's scandalous rumor and she's capitalizing on it. Carly seems to be taking it rather personally, and we see from that that, whatever she saw last night, she is now firmly in Yusei's corner. He has this way of winning people over.
But why *is* Carly on his side? From the duel she witnessed, she could have been a whole lot more suspicious that Yusei won an underground duel against someone who didn't even know what was going on. It could have been interpreted as victimizing an innocent bystander. I'd liken it to the shadow games that Tea, Tristan, and Bakura walked in on, in "The Night Before". When Carly asks afterward if it was all a publicity stunt, we know at that point that she was still somewhat suspicious, though not of outright foul play. I think it must have been that when Security showed up Yusei was concerned for Carly and the former drone and told them to get out of dodge before Security got there, and also that he said they could continue the interview later; he didn't just run off or use Security to get out of being interviewed by Carly.

Written, not TV or internet journalism, is the norm in New Domino, it would seem. Isn't that unusual? Especially considering the holographic technology available, it's amazing that people still prefer to read their news.

And apparently Latin has made a comeback in New Domino's written word. The article isn't Lipsum (after the slides, I checked), nor any other body of Latin text I can find, though the words are definitely Latin. I got a rough translation. The first sentence reads "To suspend might." Is Angela saying that Jack was holding back? Or that the public should suspend its considering Yusei mighty just yet? Some of the most important words aren't translating, I think, but the word "fusce" (which would be pronounced Fusei) may indicate that Angela still has yet to get Yusei's name right. The article also contains 'soft lucky', 'some laughter', and 'if not when... now'. The grammar on these online translators is deplorable, which is why Spanish teachers always know if you write a paper in English then get it translated (there are some really funny messups, too), so I'm looking just at the words themselves. Perhaps Angela is saying that Yusei got lucky, that the idea he won is laughable.

Superpinch means Carly's in for big trouble, but I get a feeling that that's not all it means and Carly isn't reading into it enough. Her deck is trying to tell her something, and she needs to trust that, even when it seems to be all bad news. It might be telling her, perhaps, that she should worry about herself, and not, for example, lie to protect Yusei. Maybe it's telling her that she needn't worry about getting Yusei in trouble because he's long past worrying about cheesing off Sector Security. Maybe it's simply telling her to prepare for the worst. But prophecy also depends on the interpreter; what effect has drawing this card had on Carly's actions and state of mind? Carly *is* prepared for the worst now, one way or another. Plus, need I point out, yesterday, when she was arrested, was about being super-happy and her deck advised her to keep moving forward and everything would be fine. She kept moving forward, and a deck with heart in it doesn't lie, as sure as in a duel the truth always comes out.

The interrogation. I predict that Carly will lie in an attempt to protect Yusei and get herself in some deep trouble that way. Worse comes to worst, she'll wind up in the Facility. Then again, she could end up being very popular in the Facility for sticking up for Yusei; the entire Facility loves Yusei. But I don't think Carly will land in the Facility, somehow. Maybe Yusei'll hear about it somehow (from Trudge or one of his buddies, maybe) and tell them what *really* happened; Carly doesn't know that Yusei has little concern about getting in trouble with Security.

I noticed the mugs Blitz and Nervin had on the coffee table in the scene where they first meet Blister, and they reminded me of the mugs Tanner had later on at Blister's hideout. I'm probably reading too much into it and pretending I have way too much time on my hands a little too convincingly, but I noticed them as a small symbolic connection between Yusei and his buds, and that connection is coincidental with Blister's arrival.

Not only a great duelist, a great rider, but also a world-class marathon Googler. From the looks of it, Yusei was surfing the web for spider symbols *all day*!

"If he gets me to Goodwin safely, we just might have to call Trudge one of the good guys." I agree. Trudge had been moving that way.

It's because Yusei saw Trudge vow to get even with Goodwin; he can't quite trust Trudge, but he can trust his motives.

Why isn't Yusei bringing his runner?

Man, I love the dynamic between Yusei and Trudge; it's quite special. Trudge, like Jack, has known Yusei for a long time and remembers a very different little kid from the Yusei we know now. Jack tells us about an "always-thinkin'" kid who would get beat up for his lunch money and never fight back, and to Trudge Yusei will always be a smart-mouthed little street punk who thinks he can outduel authority. These characters' versions of Yusei tell us a lot about him, and a lot about them. Jack thought it foolish that Yusei would never raise a hand against those who hurt him; Trudge can't see what a lie it is to vilify Yusei when he committed no crime, because he's too busy thinking about the hotshot guttersnipe who made a fool of him. This shows itself in current dynamics, when we see different sides to these characters whenever they interact with each other. But, Yusei and Trudge. To Trudge, Yusei represents a criminal who got away, and to Yusei, Trudge represents a corrupt system, but neither one is what they appear. Yusei is no criminal, and Trudge is starting to think for himself. Anyway, my point is, this is going to be good. Count on lots of squabbling in the ranks, but I think these two will accomplish what they set out to do.

What's the plan? Is not bringing Yusei's runner part of it? Are they pretending to arrest Yusei and infiltrating somewhere or other? Is Yusei banking on the fact that Trudge somehow ended up in Goodwin's tower uninvited, too (because that means he probably had to kick somebody in the head also)?

"Good Cop, Bad Cop" is the name of the next episode. Between Yusei's alliance with Trudge and Carly's trouble with Sector Security, that's definitely the right name for it! 'Til then! -Clio

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