Predictions and Observations:
A New Threat I

Episode Aired: September 18, 2010
This Post Posted: September 24, 2010

Cards from space, cards in tablets. What is this, GX? By the way, that tablet there is way tougher than your average space rock -- most meteorites burn up mostly if not completely in the atmosphere, and this one doesn't even appear to decrease in size or change shape, which has it completely withstanding unbelievable amounts of friction and heat. This leads to the question of what it might be made of, but I don't think I'm quite scientist enough to answer that one with much certainty.

This is yet another instance of meteors and space debris in 5D's; it's one of those themes. Think Stardust Dragon, Debris Dragon, Meteor Stream, Satellite Shooting Star, and so on.

I'm definitely noticing some of the architecture in Newer New Domino. For starters, that bridge centerpieced with the golden teardrop arch-- the one that reflects on the water to create an infinity symbol. Coincidence? Tell me another one. But why there? Why now? Right now, infinity is also our symbol of the bad guys-- the Ghost. Is the teardrop bridge saying that this new threat, to borrow the title of the episode, stems from Domino's newer newness, all the recent facelifting and integration? Or that this new menace is rooted into the heart of Domino's new hope, the future aspired to by the Stranger and made a reality through the effort and inspiration of the Signers-- the connections between City and Satellite? Clearly, this infinity arch is kind of a temporal landmark for us: we see it a few different times this episode, setting the scene of integrated New Domino's streets and bridges, its new identity in which that bridge is just one of several when there used to be not a single one.

I'm also noticing the design of the new runner tracks that wend their way around the edges of the streets and so forth. They look like the Daedalus Bridge. Is that style of track an established design that Rex Goodwin followed in designing the Daedalus bridge for a duel runner, or was Goodwin designing the bridge from scratch and did Domino borrow and emulate his design, which would be a show of reverence by the rest of the City for Satellite history in the integration of New Domino, for use in these runner tracks?

Six months have passed, wow. And after waiting for this episode, we know exactly how long that is. I'm itching to see how the rest of the characters we haven't seen yet are doing. How are Akiza, Luna, and Leo? Are they spending more time with their families now (I hope...)? When do they get a piece of the action? How are the former Dark Signers doing, and do any of them remember the big epic battle at all yet? How are things between Jack and Carly? And of course I want to know the same about Yusei and Akiza. Did Yusei ever ask Akiza out after all that, the way Martha was teasing him to? How are Rally, Blitz, Tank, and Nervin? Who's looking after Crow's nestlings if Crow's spending all his time working on the engine with Yusei and Jack? How's Blister, and Martha, and Tanner, Yanagi, Dexter, Hunter, Zigzix, Angela? Has Taka enrolled in police academy yet? Has Yusei figured out what Professor Fudo meant when he said "There is still much for you to do back in the Satellite Sector" (ep#59)? Has Akiza been searching for Toby? How have things worked out with her new level of powers after Sayer's "witch's island" maneuver? Do the Signers still hang out together, or have they drifted apart? Does Yusei still hang out with Rally, Blitz, Tank, and Nervin (I find it hard to believe that he doesn't)? Has Jack apologized to Rally for all that mess a few years ago when he left the Satellite yet? Has Crow trounced Hunter Pace yet for third place? How's Zigzix's reactor? Clearly it hasn't gone Zero Reverse yet, which is a good sign. Does Crow have his Signer dragon yet? Right now we've got a snapshot; I'm definitely still wrapping my brain around the new time period.

So all the social change actually happened. Where do we stand now? I mean, socially, historically speaking there are always idiosyncrasies, inequalities, in any society. I find it hard to believe that everyone in the whole City and Satellite just shrugged and hung up seventeen-year prejudices in six months. Do we have any hold-out City-centrics out there? What about people who are not so sure they believe the Signers' story of what happened to the last Director, who had held office for at least eight years* and has been called "New Domino City's favorite son" (ep#37)? What about people who don't want their tax dollars spent rebuilding the run-down, impoverished Satellite instead of, say, repaving their streets, paying Security, or funding public education? And all of this is pure speculation, including what Domino City spends its tax dollars on, or if it collects taxes, but it seems to me there's gotta be some shades of grey here and I'm anxious to see what those are as we get into it.
* I say this because Goodwin and Lezar's account of Luna's coma suggests that they were already in power by before then, and also states that said coma was eight years previous to the Fortune Cup. All this is in ep#18.

When does the scene in the Teaser take place? If it's after the duel, which I think it might be, I think it's pretty safe to say whatever happened, Yusei's okay.

Lezar spends a lot of time freaking out this episode, doesn't he? I'm just enjoying the show. But what's Lezar worried about, specifically? I guess you'd get jitters if you're about to meet your new boss, but what's Lezar freaking out about? What does he have to fear? Is he worried that they'll disapprove of all the wonderful social change that's happened on his watch? I gotta say, if Lezar was governing for these six months between Goodwin and the trio in the spooky robes, I may just have to rethink my opinion of him, because his governing would then indicate that his shriveled little evil clown heart is in fact made of gold.

Okay, this is where I talk about the new Directors. I'll make fun of New Domino's criteria for selecting its Director-Generals later, I promise, but right now my opening questions are: are those eyes, arms, and face mask *prosthetics*, to replace body parts, or masks worn for some other reason? Who are they? What are their names, so I no longer have to refer to them in my transcripts as, "Sword", "Arms", and "Mask"? What are their affiliations? Are we talking light or dark? At this point, I'm guessing light, and in fact, I'm guessing Iliaster. Pure hunch, but there it is. Is it safe to say they are our next round of bad guys?

What card is it in that big indestructible tablet? Is this Machine Emperor Wisel by any chance? I doubt it, because unless those stone masks come off, none of these guys is the Ghost.

Is the fellow with no arms correct in saying the fellow with the pointy sword will be 'first', first for what, and when will that be?

What's the plan? How strictly *will* they follow it? The fellow with the mask over his mouth seems very attached to it, even though the fellow with the sword wrote it. Why does Mask say that the plan is so important? What does it entail? Why is Sword so certain it's airtight? Does it include the Signers, or can we even hope for it being as simple as, these guys were not counting on anyone that tough standing in the way? I doubt it; I bet this foolproof plan includes some way for them to get around obstacles this powerful, possibly even includes specific plans for the Signers. Wouldn't that be just *ducky*.

So *what's* New Domino City's system of government? Something like Duel Academy's criteria for hiring new teachers, I suppose. I do believe this is a new form of government known as a xenofreakocracy-- you're bizarre, unsettling, and not from around here? Congrats, you're in charge! Historically unprecedented, except for that cliche about exploring the jungle and discovering some brand new culture never exposed to the modern world whose people make you their deity as soon as you show them your cell phone. I never get tired of making fun of the New Domino government, it's the best comic relief in 5D's! Therefore, my advice to aspiring New Domino politicians, based on our established precedent for Director-Generality (pun intended), is as follows:
- Live somewhere else, and only come to town when your desired position is vacant.
- Keep your identity and platform a complete secret. Keeping this secret even from yourself is a plus.
- Cultivate affiliations with bizarre and shady influences; the more magical and/or evil the better.
- Practice your skill at lying. You should be physically incapable of giving a straight, factual response in any situation.
- Cultivate an aura of mystique; be disturbingly uncanny.
- Lose a body part and replace it in a strange medium.
- Don't travel light. Bring with you, for instance, a large, otherworldly glowing tank and a duel runner with wings, or a giant light-sucking rock that doesn't burn up at all traveling through the atmosphere at about 44 miles per second. (Wikipedia, "Meteoroid", 9-18-10)
If this does not sound like the lifestyle for you, rest assured that you are not actually required to govern; even without a Director-General, the city can undergo a massive transition including historically unprecedented bureaucratic, legal, architectural, and social overhauls in a ridiculously short period of just six months. In fact, the City has demonstrated through this that it may really be better off without a Director-General.

Mina's got a last name! I've seen the name spelled Symington or Simmington, and I'm going to go with my first inclination, which is the latter, for now. Mina Simmington, Director of Special Investigations in Security, with Trudge as Vice-Chief, though we don't get his full name still, or even whether "Trudge" is a first name or a last one.

So it seems that Mina's Security and always has been. If she's risen to higher rank than Trudge in just six months, it seems unlikely that she became Security after the bridge was built. How, then, did she end up as Jack's handler, unless she was also his bodyguard or something, which would then imply that Mina has some pretty serious ninja skills even for this canon. I think Security kind of *is* New Domino's government, or at least it's a very multifunctional branch of it, a sort of cover-all in which someone like Mina can end up placed in an unSecuritylike position like personal handler to the Champion because it doesn't fall under the jurisdiction of any other part of the government. Or something like that.

Where's Yusei, Jack, and Crow's new flat? City or former Satellite? I think I'm going to find that that question doesn't matter as much as I think it does; I'm still being retrained after having absorbed the status quo six months ago. More pertinently, I guess, how far is it from their other buds? Why did they pick there? It seems like a pretty nice part of town, which is kind of a new thing for them. How long have they lived there?

I'm noticing how our characters are introduced, or reintroduced, to us in this episode. This is where we get our first impressions of this time period, this season, and I'm putting on my theater design hat and looking at specifics such as different appearance as the writers intending us to perceive things a certain way.
For starters, Yusei has his jacket off for the whole first scene. We've learned that, for Yusei and Jack especially, bare arms indicate that they're at home, at ease, indicate a certain vulnerability; when they're out and about, ready for anything, they'll usually wear heavy blazers and gloves, probably to protect against wind chilling and scrapes when they ride, and especially for Jack but now Yusei as well, so *not just anyone* can see their right arms. The other interesting costuming-related thing I noticed with Yusei is that after they return home from the hospital, before getting out their runners and going after the Ghost, Yusei has his jacket on but not his gloves. I'm not sure why this was so, but it stuck out at me because as far as I know, that's unheard-of for him; he's never done that before, it's always both or neither except when he takes off a glove for a specific purpose (I'm thinkin' ep#40, but there may be other instances), and I'm wondering why. I'll probably never know, but it's interesting to note in any case.
Jack wears his riding outfit, not his blazer, this whole episode. Then again, a lot of riding happens in this episode; it's really all about the runners. I predict that once Jack takes center-stage as a duelist in his own right, rather than as part of a team with Yusei and Crow, we'll see his ego-sized blazer again.
Crow was even more interesting costume-wise; he's got a new jacket. The first thing I'm noticing about Crow's new appearance is that he looks less edgy, less tough. More yellow and less black; those two colors have always been Crow's main color scheme. He looks less like he's living on his own in a ramshackle hideout under a bridge (okay, not quite *under* the bridge...) and more like he's sharing a rented basement with his friends, which hey, he is. I also note that Crow, too, now habitually wears long sleeves. I think it really is a Signer thing; you don't want people asking questions about the mark on your arm, and you don't want just anyone knowing it's there, because anyone who doesn't already know is probably not on your side.
Trudge isn't wearing his Security uniform for the first half there; my first impression, seeing him so casually dressed, was that he looks a lot more at-ease with himself, a lot more confident, even healthier. I really get the sense that he's a lot happier actually helping people than oppressing satellites and obeying orders without question. In his current place in Security, he has the freedom to follow his conscience and actually make a difference. On a color-symbolism front, I've found that green, brown, and any yellow short of golden kinda delineate noncombatants; Trudge's Security uniform and scarf in most of last season are good examples of this. White, purple, and gray-- Mina, Goodwin, and Jack are wearing these in season one-- are City colors. Of course, that's all based on last season and now that there's no longer a City and a Satellite (I still can't wrap my mind around it!!), I'll probably be rethinking all that sort of stuff in the context of the new New Domino City.
Mina doesn't look *much* different, but I'm noticing her hair. I think it's a bit longer, not quite as short and perky and cute. I like it, actually; it makes her look just slightly more mature. It's not that much longer, it may be just a slip of the pen or whatever, but I'm noticing it in the scene where Trudge gets wheeled through on his way to the O.R., when Jack asks her if Trudge took on the Ghost by himself.

One of the things I was waiting for was to see the dynamic between Yusei, Jack, and Crow now that they're friends again, since that was a pretty recent development. It's kinda nice to see them goofing around and blowing stuff up before things get serious. Can we assume Yusei and Jack know about Crow's mark of the dragon?

What's so special about Yusei, Jack, and Crow's new engine design? How much faster? How much more efficient? What's new? What sort of advantage will it give them?

Did anyone else jump when they heard this?
"*Please*, since when does Jack Atlas, the so-called *Master of Faster*, the *Sultan of Speed*, do what someone else tells 'im to do?"
As for me, it reminded me of the following line, which is some serious manipulation by Goodwin:
"After all, the Jack that *I* know, is not exactly one to take orders. No, the Jack Atlas that *I* know, was always a man who could make his own decisions, *especially* in a duel!" (Signs of Doom III)
I think Crow was just joshing, but what's with the bad rap on taking advice, and in this case necessary communication, from other people?

Another mention of rats. And Zora, actually they're pretty used to living on the streets, now that you mention it.

Why does the landlady, Zora, like Yusei so much? If you ask me, it's because he's a nice guy, a diplomat, and takes a genuine interest in other people. Note that he addressed her by name, while Crow referred to her as "our landlord". Yusei's a bridge-builder, in more than one sense of the phrase; so are the others, but not as much so, not as naturally. We know by now how true it is that Yusei makes friends with *everyone*. In addition, I wouldn't be surprised if it's also true in *that* 'verse that he's the kinda guy girls crush on; I've certainly met enough other fans online with crushes on him, lol-- you know who you are... and I don't blame you a bit...

Trudge mentions that Security's got a lot on its plate. What else, besides this? Or was that just a handy way of introducing the subject?

I noticed that, while Mina and Trudge were visiting, Yusei picked up a piece of the wreckage from the runner; it looked important. Wonder if we'll ever find out what it is?

"Crow, I know you and Jack came out of it more sure of your duel skills than ever... but as for me, I've never been *more* uncertain." As soon as I heard this line, I tagged it as important. It tells us where they stand now as characters, as duelists; I think Yusei's uncertain because he's ready for the next level but he isn't there yet. Funny thing, I always think of this in terms of a saying I once heard, that there are two ways to improve at something: seeing where you have yet to improve at it, and then filling that gap. Seeing the gap is often painful, but it's impossible to grow without it. I think Yusei's seeing the next gap.

Note there's no longer that sort of snarkiness between Yusei and Security, not even Trudge. Trudge asks Yusei for help as a friend, and Yusei treats him as a friend. It used to be Yusei just couldn't resist messing with Trudge, it really brought out the brash street punk in him, and as for Trudge himself, he got five times more frustrated with life every time he set eyes on Yusei. I think it helps also that there's no longer that political tension between Yusei and Security; there's no longer a divide between City and Satellite. But, old habits die hard; I wouldn't be surprised if Yusei still mistrusted authority in many cases, and that may be a good thing with our sinister new Directors running the show.

What kind of safety measures have been instated for turbo-duels and how? Okay, dueling lanes. Wow, still wouldn't want to be a normal bystander driver in Domino, but that may be just because I've only been driving about six months. I can just imagine a new driver like me hearing "A turbo-duel is about to commence, please vacate the combat lane immediately" over some loudspeaker and starting to hyperventilate. I'd be scared silly of getting trapped in the wrong lane when the lanes start transfiguring. But anyway, it would appear that the lanes transfigured for both Trudge's duel and Yusei's; that didn't stop the Ghost from roughing up Trudge. What else we got? Do Central Grid Authority's computers (the same authority Yusei's runner requested authorization from) alert Security if someone busts out a dangerous card? If a duel runner gets *damaged*, maybe, Security gets an automated call to go stop the duel? In that case, this Ghost just bypasses the safety measures by having to only hit 'em once. Considering Yusei and his runner lived through the Dark Signers and Yusei's been upping his game ever since with the next crazy apocalyptic battle in mind, I have a feeling that even if Machine Emperor Wisel is about to blast Yusei, he won't go down in one hit. If my theory's correct, that'll bring the authorities running in time to catch the duel still in progress this time, or even just cause Central Grid Authority to remotely shut down the duel. But I have a feeling it won't be that simple. So, I ask again: what safety measures, where?

Of course, on my list of questions is how things are faring in the cute little triangle between Trudge, Mina, and Jack-- you know, where Mina has a totally adorable unrequited crush on Jack, Jack doesn't really notice or care especially when he's thinking about Carly, and Trudge has an equally adorable unrequited crush on Mina and is increasingly frustrated over her crush on Jack. Our only possible clue to this is the interaction we see between the three in this episode, in which Mina praises Jack as "quite astute" and Trudge protests her complimenting him because it'll go to his head. I think Mina may've moved on; she used to be all dithery and meek around Jack, and she definitely isn't right there. I do think Mina and Trudge could work out pretty well as a couple, they certainly seem to be doing well working together. I hope she's doing okay, and I bet she's really worried about him.

Yeah, it hadn't really registered for me yet-- new tournament! The World Racing Grand Prix! Who's excited! Is this going to be an invitation-only tournament, like say, Duelist Kingdom, KCGC, or the Fortune Cup, or more of a free-for-all like Battle City or the Gx Tournament? I have a feeling it's the latter, because of how it's discussed-- they're gearing up for it without ever mentioning having been invited or not, or who's invited and who isn't. Clearly it's going to be a turbo-dueling tournament, because they're working on improving their runners. Will there be any duel-disk-only matches, or just turbo-duels? I can imagine all those new tracks getting put to use in something I envision as the Battle City of turbo-dueling, with the whole city becoming the battlefield. Sounds like fun. Now, the really fun questions: who's throwing it, why are they throwing it, and what's the catch?

I want to note the reasons Yusei, Jack, and Crow are working on raising their game, because I have a feeling we'll want to understand them well.
Jack's motive, same as it ever was, can be summed up in two words he said this episode: "dueling immortality". The one most important thing to understand about Jack Atlas-- he goes for the fame. During the Dark Signers arc we saw Jack's true potential as either a dark king or one of light, destroyer of all or hero of the people; his own nature, dare I say destiny, demands that he rise to that height one way or the other, and right now he sees that blossoming potential in terms of dueling greatness. He's on his way.
Yusei is raising his game to prepare for the next big apocalyptic battle; he feels a sense of uncertainty over his current skill level. I wonder, can he somehow tell that it's about to happen? In other words, has he felt this way since the end of the Dark Signers battle, or just recently? One thing I found myself noticing-- saving the world has really become a big motive in Yusei's life, which was not always so. I'd date that commitment to being a Signer, to being ready to take on the world-saving battles, from when he got over his fear of dueling after Dark Signs. It required a lot from him to keep going, to find that courage in himself, and doing that, I think, had a big impact on him.
Crow's motivation, as he's told us so far, is that "a true duelist never rests; he's always training and getting better." I'd say to some extent Crow's excited for the WRGP because he'll be dueling alongside his best friends. I still don't know where his nestlings are or how they're doing, so it's a bit harder for me to put my finger on Crow's motivation. There may be some element of proving himself; as far as we know, this is his big debut in New Domino's pro dueling world, and with Yusei and Jack as his two best buds, he kinda has a lot to live up to if he wants to stand out and make his own name for himself on the pro circuit. Ah. I've been mulling it over for a few days and I know why Crow's part here eludes me: a big part of his overarching plotline has been wrapped up-- we know the identity of the Stranger and the bridge has been built. We don't know much about what Crow's next big goal or dream is, because the one we're used to has been fulfilled and it's bound to be something new!

What about Jack and Yusei's titles? Last year it was all about the Champ; this year they're going into the WRGP like they're just three slobs who blow up basements and happen to have saved the world a while back, which, in this canon I can understand why it might not be such a big deal, considering how much world-saving goes on per capita per year in the Yu-Gi-Ohverse. But wouldn't people be placing smart money on them to sweep this? Where's New Domino's noisy, nosy media? Where's Angela Reins? Wouldn't people be watching them more closely? Where, I ask, are the autograph mobs??

"You take rejection pretty well, Trudge." Well, he's sure had a lot of practice, was my response to that line. Don'tcha love the irony?

Trudge takes being Security seriously, always has, and actually thinks about what that means and what Security's purpose is. I'm really glad to see that developing even further; I think it really brings out the best in him. Trudge risks his own safety to bring in the Ghost and to defend people's chance to live their own lives-- including Yusei, Jack, and Crow. That *was* heroic of him, and stepping up like that is not something just anyone would do. I *like* Trudge in this episode.

In this episode we've got two faces of Security: we've got Lezar ordering his Security peons to do whatever the scary new Directors tell them to do-- and this meaning that whatever their sinister plan is, it'll be even easier than they thought-- and we've also got Trudge and Mina showing us a very drastically different side of Sector Security. And the point I'm getting around to eventually here is that Security officers like Trudge and Mina might be suspicious of these new Directors, especially if the Signers are, and we just know it's gonna come to that, which would put them at odds with their fellow officers. That could get interesting.

"It's *my* turn to be the hero. After all, how hard could it be?" C'mon, Trudge, knock on wood or something. Get off your runner, turn around and spit. You just don't *say* that in a situation like this. It's just not a good idea!

What kind of tech does it take to force someone into a turbo-duel? We know that the Ghost didn't sabotage Trudge's runner in any way-- unlike Security did to Yusei's in On Your Mark and so forth-- but Trudge doesn't seem surprised that he's able to. I mean, if I were investigating this I could imagine the Ghost goading people into duels rather than forcing; most hotheaded duelists of the holographic dueling era, they don't take much convincing to throw down with a rude stranger, and a lot of them, even if they'd heard the rumors, would think they're untrue or even that those other losers may've crashed but they'll be the one to take down the Ghost. Therefore, it seems to me it would be Occam's Razor (the simplest guess is probably the right one), to imagine that, rather than the Ghost having unheard-of runner-hacking technology, he's good with an insult like most of the dueling population of the city is. However, I guess, Trudge already knows the Ghost has crazy hacking technology, because he knows the Ghost has ways to get around the dueling tracks' built-in safeguards. Still, what does it take to hack someone's runner and remotely force them into a turbo-duel like Security used to do to satellite duelists? I'd start thinking of the undoubtedly limited number of people in New Domino who could pull off something like that.

Well, this right here is a classic DOA. A "Deck of Armor"; a Demonstration of Antagonist, I guess, would be another way to spell it. The standard meaning of that acronym is also a fairly accurate way to put it, except nobody dies. It's my term for a duel in which a familiar character gets slammed in the debut duel of an unfamiliar one, usually a bad guy, to ramp up suspense about the latter. Your formulaic DOA can be split up into two parts: the setup and the knockdown. For the setup, the good guy is starting even stronger than usual, bringing out serious firepower relatively early-on, and the bad guy, if he even plays a turn before sweeping the duel, appears to be starting weak with mysterious but weak-looking cards, usually low to no attack points. In "Deck of Armor", I'm talking Psychic Armor Head versus Diamondhead Dragon, in "Stalked By the Rare Hunters", I'm talking nothing but defense and Graceful Charity versus Red-Eyes, and here I'm talking Wise Core versus Trudge's heavy hitter, Goyo Guardian. Actually, sad but true, as soon as Goyo Guardian came out that early, I predicted that Trudge was in big trouble. The second part is the knockdown, which starts when the bad guy plays his or her power card and the good guy discovers that the firepower they had such confidence in does not help them, and may in fact have worked against them; usually though they get slammed and never knew what hit 'em and neither do we, but later on it's often revealed that this was the case. I do think it was the case here, because Machine Emperor Wisel's attack points rose by, coincidentally I'm sure, the same number of attack points Goyo Guardian had.

"Negate Attack" is a really common card, but this is the first time we've seen it in 5D's. Kaiba's played it, as has Jaden, and I know there are others I don't currently have information that specific on. Seeing that familiar a card from a brand new duelist in their debut DOA is highly unusual. Let me explain. I said in the previous paragraph that the formulaic DOA sees the bad guy playing *mysterious* cards; that usually means that they're the next generation of new cards, unfamiliar even to those of us who have been paying rapt attention, and often in a DOA it doesn't even get explained to us why they just won, what the cards do, and how they did it until the next time someone tangles with this mysterious new duelist. That was the case with Machine Emperor Wisel, where we get a more complete explanation when it's summoned against Yusei. But I was surprised to see *any* card we recognized from the Ghost in a duel like that.

Now that we have multiple Speed World spells, it matters who activates it because they can choose either, right? Does anyone still use Speed World now that Speed World 2 is out? If I understand this correctly, Speed World 2 has all the properties of Speed World, plus it allows you to sacrifice a certain number of speed counters to activate effects of the field spell itself. Trudge's comment about the Ghost not losing speed counters means the dropping speed counters when you lose lifepoints still applies to Speed World 2 duels. I do admit that I've been playing video games and I've dueled with Speed World 2 myself before-- with slightly different properties-- or I'd undoubtedly be raising more of a fuss over this. And I don't raise a fuss over card effects being slightly different in the anime; we have plenty of other fans who do that already, and the episode stands and always will no matter what we have to say about it. Therefore it behooves us to keep track of their effects as stated in the canon because those are the ones that really pertain to future episodes.

Trudge's deck kinda puzzles me. In On Your Mark, he ran a totally different deck: Handcuffs Dragon, Montage Dragon, and so on. In Creepy Crawlies he gets, and from then on he uses, a deck of stronger cards from Security, a new "pursuit deck". To me it seems that the On Your Mark cards are more Trudge's own personal deck; if you'd asked me and I'd've thought about it after seeing the first half of this episode but before Trudge dueled, I might've predicted that we'd see a return to the cards he used in On Your Mark because he's so much more at ease with himself, and thus, I'd say, with his own personal deck. What I take from Trudge's continued use of Goyo Guardian and associates, I guess, is that he's more secure in his identity as Security, an identity that first appeared as it has become when he started learning, through his adventures chasing Yusei all over, to question authority.

Where does Crow work? Is that just a random one-liner or will we get to find out? With a record like the one on his face, I'd imagine a lot of employers turning him down, which might be why he got stuck with the night shift. Or maybe he wanted the night shift so he could duel and work on engines during the day. And, do Yusei and Jack have jobs too?

Crow shed a tear right there. We know he doesn't do that lightly, and if anyone else were watching and he had any reason to I'd think he might be faking, but it's official.

I notice that Trudge's eye, in particular, was heavily bandaged; that's where his helmet was smashed through. I find it a bit too much of a coincidence that two out of three new Directors have replaced or concealed eyes; does Trudge's eye specifically being injured hold some foreshadowing significance? For the record, it's his right eye, which is the same eye as the short no-arms Director has missing/covered.

The O.R.? What kind of surgery does Trudge need?

Won't the Special Investigations guys be kind of thrown into confusion when their bosses don't show up to work this morning? Is there anything else on their plate that can't wait for attention? Will Mina stay at the hospital, will she try to work from there on her cell phone, will she go to work, will she ask someone else to stay at the hospital in case of anything? Trudge is her Vice-Chief, her second-in-command; does she have a third to rely on? Lezar is a higher-up in Security; will he find out about all this?

How different is this from the first episode of the *first* season, huh? That was Yusei *versus* Trudge, this is Yusei *defending* Trudge!

I note that the Ghost played only one facedown and summoned Wise Core in attack mode, and that facedown was Labyrinth of Klein to negate Max Warrior's attack. Either the Ghost already knew that Yusei would destroy Wise Core with a monster effect-- uncanny and worrisome, if he already knew that specifically what Yusei would do-- or he still has a speed spell in his hand that he was planning to destroy Wise Core with on his own turn. But if Yusei'd been able to summon out two monsters in one turn, however dinky, and had both attack, *that* would've blown his strategy wide-open. So close yet so far.

Max Warrior and Turbo Booster. In the past these cards have both pretty strongly represented specific characters: Kalin and Rally. An interesting combo to be sure. The way I'm seeing this is as representing different aspects of Yusei himself; the Yusei who fought alongside Kalin-- the fighter, the Enforcer, who took over the entire Satellite with his best buds at the age of no older than sixteen-- and the Yusei who defends and fights for Rally-- who ramps up his own stakes in a duel to make sure those he cares about will be safe no matter who wins. Isn't that kinda what happened here, in this episode? Trudge attacked the Ghost and failed, but his doing so brought out that protective side in Yusei, because he's standing up against the Ghost as Trudge's friend. If Max Warrior here represents Trudge, and Turbo Booster Yusei, then something tells me this isn't going to be pretty, because the Turbo Booster move was, by pure coincidence, playing right into the Ghost's hands by destroying Wise Core with an effect.

Who is the Ghost? If he's one of those new Directors, and they do look sinister, then they haven't just arrived in the City, because the Ghost's been loose for a week or so according to Mina and Trudge, and those weird mask thingies come off, because we've seen both of the Ghost's eyes, his chin, and his arms. Call me crazy, but in that shot at the end, "from five comes one", he looks like he's wearing a Security uniform. Machine Emperor Wisel doesn't seem like the kind of uber-card just any old troublemaker would have; what's the power *behind* the Ghost, I guess, is what I should really be asking, is the Ghost really acting alone, or is he part of some larger scheme? And is the Ghost an accomplice or just a pawn?

Since it's gotta be asked: Who Will Win? You're kiddin' me, right? It's the first duel of the season, Yusei's going to turn this around one-two-three! The question I'm looking at is, *how*? The hint we have so far is that, despite his coming out of this in one piece, Yusei finds this turn of events very, very worrisome; I have a feeling that the scene in the teaser, in which Yusei says "If only I'd known the horror of what was to come... now I wonder if our decks are strong enough to withstand this mysterious new threat", occurs directly following this duel, making most of this episode, and at least part of the next, sort of an extended flashback. So we know that he makes it out of this in one piece, but he's still very worried, so it's gonna be close and it's not going to end tidily; there'll be something left worth worrying about, count on it.

What else am I expecting to see, this duel? Well, for starters, we ain't seen nothing from Yusei yet. I predict he holds back and lets the Ghost get an early lead, lulls him into revealing more of his deck and more of his motives and abilities. The Ghost is a mysterious figure, and Yusei needs to understand his opponent to understand how to beat him; that means there's a lot he doesn't know to be teased out of the Ghost before he goes on the offensive. When he does, I'm not worried at all; we haven't even seen Junk Warrior yet, let alone Stardust. If he'd already brought out his best cards then got blindsided by Wisel, I might be worried. It seems to be the case, or has been in 5D's, that both sides of the duel ramp up in power; what one duelist plays, the other duelist counters against with their next biggest thing, then the first person will counter with their next biggest thing, and so on until one of them summons their biggest, baddest monster and it gets defeated. For instance, in Dark Signs Yusei dispatched Hundred Eye Dragon with Stardust Dragon, but then Kalin summoned his Earthbound Immortal; Stardust was already the top of Yusei's game and he had nowhere higher to go against Ccapac Apu. So I predict that Yusei busts out Junk Warrior or one of his buddies (Road Fighter, Turbo Warrior, Nitro Warrior...), perhaps, and that may be when he finds out what Trudge meant by "synchros are useless". Yusei may yet find a way to counteract the effect and bust out Stardust or Majestic Star, and for that I rely on his crafty strategy. It's possible that Yusei'll spring for a fusion monster or advance-summon to get a higher-level monster out there because he never met a card he didn't like and all-- I doubt it because he never has before and it's not his style, and I think it's more likely that he'll find a way around Wisel's abilities. I think we may actually not see Stardust in this duel; it's possible, this likely being the equivalent of a drone at the top of the Dark Signers arc, that he'll end this with Turbo or Nitro Warrior. As for the Ghost, I'm expecting from him tons of cards we've never heard of, obscure and otherworldly special abilities, ya know, the works. I'm expecting that there's more to his shiny new monster that we don't know.

Since it seems to be a motif... let's talk Infinity.
Mathematically, infinity exists but only abstractly. You can't count to infinity; you would never run out of ordinal numbers (though you might run out of words designated for them), there would always be one more higher than the one you had just counted. However, some useful things can be done with the concept of infinity. For example, even though the set of counting numbers is infinite, there's still a one-to-one ratio between the set of counting numbers and the set of even numbers-- just take any counting number and multiply it by two to get the corresponding even number. Same with squares. Now I'm talking infinite sets, and the best explanation of this concept was recommended to me by my math professor this summer: the Hotel Infinity (http://www.ccs3.lanl.gov/mega-math/workbk/infinity/inhotel.html). It's a fun short story about a hotel with infinitely many rooms and theoretically no vacancy, and I highly recommend it.
Symbolically, infinity is sort of on par with 'eternity', but less remote and more impossible-but-not. I think of something moving in that figure-eight pattern; you start, but like a circle it has no end. A mobius strip, that same figure, is a paradoxical single endless side. You can't count to the number infinity, but it exists. Infinity is more mathematical than eternity, but it's also one of those sort of hyperbolical terms; many things are called 'infinite' simply descriptively, not quantitatively. One last thing: I'm noticing that an infinity symbol is two tears, mirrored with each other. Just putting it out there, since we're going into some "horror"-- one equal sorrow for another?
In all Yu-Gi-Oh!, there exist already a few precedents for infinite strength. First of course there's Obelisk the Tormentor's special ability: its wielder can tribute two monsters to give Obelisk an attack point total equal to infinity. The second instance I was thinking of is the end of Atem versus Dartz; if memory serves, Dartz' monster's attack points read infinity, but Atem creates a combined attack that occurs in an endless self-amplifying loop, thus equalling that infinity, then adds to that another attack, thus making his attack total infinity-plus-more and defeating Dartz' monster. Man, that's why they call him the King of Games...
But anyway, what does it tell us that we've got a sinister theme of infinity going? It seems to me that Machine Emperor Wisel (a part of which is Machine Emperor Wisel Infinity) has not yet demonstrated anything infinite; it has a hefty but quite finite attack point quantity of 2500, plus, I'm guessing, the attack points of any synchro monster it sucks up. In Trudge's case this ended up 5300: its own 2500 plus Goyo Guardian's 2800. Of course, that figure could be a coincidence and I could be way off base in figuring that's why that number was what it was. But 5800 is not infinite, in any case. Big, but finite. No matter how many synchro monsters *get* summoned that could potentially add to its attack point total, that total is still finite because there's a finite and countable number of synchro monsters in the opponent's deck and each one of them has a finite and countable number of attack points. Therefore, Wisel currently has not yet displayed any properties that give it infinite anything. Since it's called infinity and that's our theme (see ominous glowing green infinity symbol in the teaser and on Wisel's chest), what haven't we seen from Machine Emperor Wisel yet?

It seems to me that at the present moment we are a few Signers short of a Crimson Dragon over here. What about the other two Signers? How are they? Like I said before, I hope they're getting the opportunity to spend more time with their families at long last. Wouldn't Akiza's and Luna's arms be waking them up a few hours early to alert them that one of their own is in danger? Doesn't all this get a reaction out of Yusei's Sign?

Card List
Trudge -- Samurai Sword Baron, effect monster
Trudge -- Speed Spell - Count Up
Trudge/Yusei -- Speed World 2, field spell
Ghost -- Wise Core, effect monster
Ghost -- Machine Emperor Wisel Infinity, effect monster
Ghost -- Wisel Top, effect monster
Ghost -- Wisel Attack, effect monster
Ghost -- Wisel Guard, effect monster
Ghost -- Wisel Carrier, effect monster
Ghost -- Machine Emperor Wisel, effect monster
Ghost -- Labyrinth of Klein, trap
Ghost -- Spark Breaker, trap

Next week? Do we really get one next week? It looks like we just might get a new episode Saturday the 25th. No-- it's too normal! It's too reasonable! It's too nice! It's too good to be true! I could sing for a week! It's Tuesday after midnight and I'm 80% done with this post (I don't write these paragraphs in order), 95% done with my transcript, I've been obsessing nonstop, I've been bouncing off the walls, and I can't believe I really actually might know when my next episode is coming! I can't believe I ever took an established weekly schedule for granted! I don't know the title of the episode as of yet; last Saturday they didn't list it until the morning of, but I'll include it in this post if it gets listed anywhere I can get to. Ha! It's Friday and the episode titles are up on TVGuide.com; two new ones. A New Threat II and Lessons Learned. What does Yusei learn from this first battle?

So great to be back, folks! I'm going to try and get my next post out by *Thursday* night next week, because it occurs to me that I'm not leaving much time to actually *read* this... 'Til then! - Clio

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