Predictions and Observations:
Dawn of the Duel Board II
and Putting It All Together

Episodes Aired: November 6, 2010
This Post Posted: November 12, 2010

"Let's hope it doesn't cost him the duel or worse!" Primo said of Lester's overconfidence. What's worse?? I mean, we all know there are things worse than losing a duel, but Primo seems to be referring to something specific.

"Which is more than I can say for *you* sometimes." To what specifically is Jacob referring? What might Jacob call a bad move on Primo's part, that we've seen so far?

Last week I wanted to write about the relationships between the three Directors that we start to see emerging, but I ran out of time. It seems to me we're getting some mixed messages about the less-than-friendly relationships between the three Directors-General. It's as yet unclear which one of them could definitively be called the 'leader', why these three are working together, and where each one's strengths and weaknesses lie within the context of their team. We've seen them openly criticize each other and express differing opinions in very strong terms, to the point of outright name-calling and questioning each other's duel skills: both fairly nasty personal attacks. "Don't be a simpleton, Jacob...We would be fools to simply ignore such a grave and powerful threat as this!" "And how d'you plan on doing *that*, Primo? By beating Yusei in a duel?" We've also seen them hint that they're less than loyal to each other and that they purposely keep information from each other. "It will be too late for them to stop me-- that is, too late for them to stop *us*." And Jacob apparently knows something about why they *shouldn't* destroy the Crimson Dragon, because he thinks it will lead to the Signers' downfall, that he isn't telling Primo. I'm pretty surprised we haven't seen these three, especially Jacob and Primo, get into an outright argument or even fight yet, and we've barely even met them yet. What's holding them back? Are they lying in wait for just the right moment to turn on each other? Is some larger power, like, say, Iliaster, forcing them to work together and if they mess up and start fighting amongst themselves they'll get in trouble? Is their goal that much more important to them than their personal disagreements? It wouldn't take much to drive a wedge between these guys; it's already there, and it looks like a pretty big weakness to me.

So, where do we stand in our impressions of the three bad guys so far, besides how well they seem to get along with each other?
Jacob is the one with the long gray beard, and the only one of the three whose tablet has yet to arrive. In the first scene in which we see the Directors, he warns Primo and Lester that they must stick to their master plan, and immediately establishes Lezar's status as toady-- "I order you to watch your tongue, *worm*!" Jacob is also the one who shows interest in and recognition of Akiza's being a psychic duelist. Jacob also seems to know a lot that the other two Directors don't, such as why Visor threw the duel, and seems to think of himself as far wiser than either of them because he keeps warning and counseling them to be patient and stick to the plan.
Primo seems to feel strongly about a lot of things, and angers in a split second. In "A New Threat I" see how fast he goes from reassuring Lezar that "there's no cause for alarm" to pointing that sword at his nose. In "Synchro Straits" he seems to quite like the gala-crashing Debacle until he abruptly takes off to go annihilate him on a dark road. The rather toxic remarks the Ghost made regarding synchro monsters can most likely also be attributed to Primo, since we know those were Primo's cards. Does he still feel that way now, or has the moment passed? Why does he feel so strongly that the Crimson Dragon must be eliminated, that the danger of it derailing their plans is too great a risk,
And Lester is the one of the three we know best. His actions so far suggest that he's more immature, I guess, is the best description that comes to mind. Particularly his impatience getting the better of him in the matter of dueling Luna: "I'm *tired* of waiting! I'm gonna duel a Signer and I'm gonna duel her *now*!!", but also his voicing the opinion that Yusei's duel with Visor was a "waste of time" because Visor threw on purpose. I wonder if he's going to catch it from Jacob and Primo for going off the plan and taking it to Luna? I wonder what problems they'll worry his doing so has caused them, besides putting the Signers even more on their guard. What *was* the point of this whole deception, in terms of the part that was actually planned? To get Luna turbo-dueling?

Lester was unharmed by the "real damage" stakes of the duel. Do we take this to mean that real damage cannot harm him, or do we take it to mean that he set up the duel such that real damage is applied to them but not to himself? Invulnerable or cheating? I could believe either one, or both.

Both Yusei and now Luna show similar immediate psychological symptoms when confronted with losing their dragons; that sort of numb shock. There's also a slight correlation between the situations of self-blame. "Trudge tried to warn me..." and "After all, it's my fault..." Luna also parallels Yusei in the strategy she attempts next-- using a synchro monster's power while keeping it off the field; Yusei did this with "Synchro Deception", and she did it with "Ancient Sunshine".

Lester seems to already know Leo's facedown; two different times and two different ways he thwarts it. I'll put it out there now: Can the D's-G read minds? We know their manipulation-of-matter-and-or-perception powers are quite something. Can they read minds?

When Leo summons Power Tool Dragon, Lester seems to react with surprise, almost dismay. I'll bet that usually once he's captured one synchro, the other side is too demoralized to try synchro-summoning again so soon. I think Leo is very brave to bring out Power Tool even once he's seen what could happen to it. I also think that's the kind of bravery we're looking for. Among other things, I think that's what Visor was trying to show us, and I'm not sure I said this: despite the fact that the Machine Emperors' specialty and aim is wiping out synchros, the way to defeat them is not by synchro-summoning less, it's by synchro-summoning *more*, too much to be so easily contained. Visor synchro-summoned twice in a single turn, his *first* turn; more than anyone else we've yet seen.

"With a little luck, I'll soon have *much much more*!" Again, Lester seems to be referring to something specific; my question is, what are the three Directors hoping to gain from dueling the Signers-- and what do they risk losing?

Did you *see* that?! If Lester hadn't managed to block Vacuumen with a trap, that looks like it would've actually *worked*! Leo came up with some anti-Machine-Emperor strategies here that even Yusei didn't!

So A-5's give Machine Emperors Earthbound Immortal attack abilities? I wonder if the level five of the Guard component also confers their defensive abilities and makes it impossible to select any component of the combo monster as an attack target?

"He'll always be here to save the day!" Yeesh, Luna, knock on wood or something! Don't *say* things like that, it's just asking for trouble! Of exactly the kind Jacob proceeds to hint at in the very next line: "Funny how what saves them now-- will do them in later!"

Primo's already expressed the opinion that they should get rid of the Crimson Dragon before it messes up their plan; Jacob seems to feel that this would be unnecessary, even counterproductive, because the Crimson Dragon will "do them in". What does Jacob think he knows and Primo doesn't, is he right, and why *doesn't* he bother explaining to Primo why it's in their best interest to keep the Crimson Dragon around?

Akiza senses and even sees the duel spirits; that's a first. Does this mean Akiza's powers are growing or she's becoming more in-tune with the side of them sensitive enough to see duel spirits? Was this a desperate-moment-never-again type thing, the spirits became more visible and sense-able by a psychic like Akiza because they were becoming corporeal enough and powerful enough to shield Luna?

A close call that wasn't even *this* close with a synchro-slayer gave *Yusei* nightmares, and he doesn't scare easily. I sure hope Luna's okay, psychologically, after that duel. Yusei's been her confidante during this season, and he knows better than anyone what she's going through right now; I hope that inbetween engine tests and all-nighters and all, they find some time to hang out together.

Does this mean Jacob stood in for Bob this week? Or did the Directors just prove that they can make us entirely hallucinate people? I bet Lester wouldn't have been so smug during Luna vs. Bob if it meant Jacob got a shot at dueling this Signer before he did, even as another person. Maybe they made Bob forget and think he'd been out sick.

There's a lot that the Signers remember but no one else does. Wait... you don't suppose Iliaster is somehow behind the Dark Signers' amnesia?

Why was the Ghost real? We're getting all this evidence about the powers of the Directors-General that suggests that the Ghost didn't even have to be real; there didn't even have to *be* a robot to find after the end of it. My best guess right now is that one line the Directors' powers can't cross is there must be a certain level of truth to their identity for them to use their cards; this explains why Lester was not disguised as the twins' classmate from school when he challenged them, and had his stone eye and that sort of mantle thing he wears around his shoulders. This would also make it impossible for Jacob to have posed as Bob, because Luna dueled Bob. This would also explain why, because Primo armed the Ghost with his Machine Emperor Wisel cards, he had to work through something that wasn't an illusion, like that duel bot, if he didn't want to reveal himself. That's my guess so far. We'll see if it gets proved wrong.

Man, when Yusei gets into a funk, he sure doesn't do it lightly, does he? Maybe *this* is why we're getting two episodes a week now; if we hadn't, we would've had Yusei brooding and doubting himself and worrying about everything for *four* months now instead of two...

Okay, so we've got a flashback episode. These are interesting phenomena; we haven't had one in a while. Other flashback episodes include: Going Bananas, Third Time's a Charm, Looking Back and Moving Ahead, GX's 156 (as yet undubbed), and The Rescue. Flashback episodes are really interesting sort of narrative phenomena-- why now, and why these specific flashbacks presented this specific way-- so the next several paragraphs are exploring sort of the purpose and content of this episode, why it's there.

We don't spend much time in the present in this episode, but the storyline in the present ties all these flashbacks together. What do we accomplish in the present, and how do the flashbacks each support us in getting there?

For starters, these flashbacks are all about Yusei: what he's accomplished already and what's on his mind right now. Perhaps this hints that something big is about to happen in which we'll need to understand where Yusei stands right now. I wonder if we're about to really get in gear practicing accel synchro summoning speeds? I wonder if we're about to acquire some synchro-tuner cards? I wonder how that guy who washed up on the beach pertains to Yusei, if they know each other or will become friends (or enemies, but don't we have enough of those yet?).

Jack and Crow spend this episode trying to understand Yusei better, and realizing that there's a lot Yusei thinks about that he never speaks of, like Crow illustrated with the "Destiny's Will" flashback. Yusei's barely spoken to his friends about anything in any of these flashbacks, though all of this is fairly important stuff. In the end Jack and Crow walk right up to him and insist on helping him out, and 'til they do, it never seems to occur to him that they can or they would. He's such a great guy, he's the first to help out anyone else in his vicinity, and people so want to help him out also, but he never, ever manages to notice or let them and then he's surprised when they take matters into their own hands (this, also ep#12, ep#35, to name two more off the top of my head); I see this as one of Yusei's biggest weaknesses, and I think there's an important lesson in there for *all* of us loners.

What does the use of flashbacks tell us about what we can expect to encounter next? What did we just exposit for new viewers that they'll need to know? If I'd just joined in on all this action, how would this episode frame the situation for me such that I understand what happens next, and what does that tell us about what will be happening next? For starters, the amount of screen-time spent on Sherry and her story suggests to me that she's re-entering the plot after being mostly out of the picture for a while. This may mean the WRGP is about to start.

I expected the twins' duel to come up in these flashbacks, at least briefly; seeing a Machine Emperor go after the twins like that would be among *my* estimated factors as to why Yusei's gotten even more antsy than before and started pulling all-nighters every night.

Jack and Crow seem to be getting along better with each other now. They've compromised over the coffee budget at any rate.

This would be why, when we work on runners, Jack provides the "verbal encouragement". It seems to me that I sort of implicitly understood during the first season that Jack wasn't all that mechanically-inclined, but now I'm finding out that I was more or less correct. I'm not sure how I initially got that sense, though.

I bet they've fallen off their runners worse than that; why is Crow so afraid they could be paralyzed? And of course, it's not about the funny situation of "one wrong move and we could be paralyzed for life!"; what does this scene have to say with that sense of 'we've fallen and we can't get up'? I think Jack's line, to the effect of 'well, then, we'll just have to lie here and *wait* for help', may be demonstrative here; they're doing the same thing by not asking Yusei what's getting to him. Moreover, Yusei's doing the same thing he starts off the episode doing, riding away before dawn all alone, by not talking to them-- running away and trying to deal with the situation alone.

Jack says that Yusei's the only person who's ever given him a real challenge, and dodges Crow's asking "what about me". We actually haven't seen Jack and Crow duel each other, ever. Will we, pretty soon, because this came up?

I noticed that Jack kept his opinions to himself and let Crow talk until he could get up off the floor and could act on them immediately and beat Crow to the punch.

That whole thing is a runner engine? Well, then, I guess a runner's engine and its body shape are very closely linked, and we've heard before (ep#75) that Yusei's our resident expert on both.

Yusei says he's worried that the duel bot was so powerful. In a way, that's a bit of a crisis of faith for me, too-- whatever happened to the importance of the duelist himself in a duel, the importance of being yourself, and the notion that no one but a card's rightful wielder can truly play it well? Yusei's opponent was a robot, and yet it almost beat him; that's a crazy feat of A.I. right there. Either the real wielder is even *scarier*-- since only a card's true wielder can play it to its full ability-- and if that was the Ghost then just wait 'til Yusei goes up against Primo himself, OR that robot just aced quite a turbo-dueling Turing test and Yusei's up against some massively frightening engineering prowess as well. Possibly *both*. Yusei's a brilliant engineer and he's demonstrated some knowledge of theoretical physics; you bet it's a possibility that he's going there with this.

Iliaster? Well, if the canon makes a crazy leap of logic... But how does Yusei figure that Iliaster is behind the Ghost and the Machine Emperors? Besides, of course, it being too big of a coincidence that the Goodwin brothers spoke of Iliaster in connection with Zero Reverse and the Dark Signers and then Sherry thinks they're pulling strings behind the Grand Prix. Yusei knows they're powerful, probably powerful enough to send out monsters like the Machine Emperors. Right now, my main two questions are: One, is this a red herring-- i.e. is Yusei right on this one and *is* this leap of logic warranted? Two, if the three D's-G are working for Iliaster, or *are* Iliaster, why is Iliaster so interested in going after the Signers and the Crimson Dragon? Did they initiate the battle with the Dark Signers for the same reason, to try to eliminate the Signers, and if so, why did Goodwin work as a loyal Iliaster guy to *unite* the Signers?

"The Enforcers are gonna ride again!" Then where's Kalin?, was my first thought. We've heard those exact words before. Last we heard of Kalin, he was "having a great time", apparently traveling, with Greiger of all people; Luna heard from them at the end of last season, after the end of it all. If I had to guess they probably went and visited Greiger's family in Peru, which you'll grant is sort of random for Kalin but might make sense depending on what if anything he remembers about his life as a Dark Signer. I think he and Greiger might get along quite well; they both have that 'warrior/fighter' ethos thing going.

The guy who washed up on the beach. You don't suppose... that blue is Kalin's natural hair color? No, I'm joking, mostly, but that was one of my first thoughts, by the laws of dramatic irony: he says "the Enforcers are going to ride again" with only three out of four present, and then the fourth miraculously shows up... But no, I don't think it's Kalin. But who is it?

It seems to me that one sort of overbranching theme we're getting, an image of the big picture, is that the streets of New Domino are an open and somewhat lawless frontier where you can run into anything or anyone, especially late at night. They are neither tame nor safe, and it takes a special kind of person to turbo-duel, even above and beyond dueling or riding itself.

The TV listings don't say yet whether we have new episodes tomorrow or not; there's two of them, but for all I know we're in reruns, because they don't have titles and they aren't flagged as new. If they're new, though, they'll be episodes 80 and 81, and I'll have a post on 'em! 'Til then, everyone! -Clio

READ A TRANSCRIPT OF DAWN OF THE DUEL BOARD II

READ A TRANSCRIPT OF PUTTING IT ALL TOGETHER