Predictions and Observations:
The Question of the Card

Episode Aired: February 19, 2011
This Post Posted: February 26, 2011

Okay, so what season are we in? Apparently, according to 4Kids at any rate, we're still in season 2, which means it's going to be longer than 28 episodes. Thank goodness; that made no sense. I was expecting some re-exposition, not even because I was expecting a new season, but because we just came back from being out of town for seven episodes. Not much, though, really. We just kind of jumped into it. Amazing how we can do that in this show.

This episode reminds me a bit of YGO's "Paradise Found"; they needed access to the database capabilities of the KaibaCorp mainframe computer and could only get them by going to the building itself. It also reminds me of "Get With the Program", because it's the first time after that we hear about Lezar, it's the first time after that that the plotline focuses much on Bruno, and we've got danger of self-destructing buildings.

Note the broken glass in the Teaser scene. Broken glass, or shards of something that looks like it, is a 5D's motif for trouble and strife.

Just in case it's relevant... Why is Sherry all of a sudden on the warpath? Why did she go after these guys now? Has she been raising deck this whole time without us noticing? Did she come across a new piece of information? Did she finally decide to take it to these guys, and will we ever find out why she decided that now? And, who were these guys that Sherry was beating up in the Teaser? Is it possible they're affiliated with the friendly soda delivery guys who offered Yusei a rather non-optional spot on their WRGP team? Will we ever know, or care, who Sherry's been interrogating so far?

As soon as we heard that Sherry needed to use the PSB's computer system, I predicted that she'd get Yusei and Bruno to help; after all, we've already seen them hack the PSB network before. In a way, I guess I wasn't wrong.

As soon as we got a bomb threat, I predicted that it was Sherry and she was bluffing. What is it with her and threatening to blow stuff up? Come to think of it, what is it about the more Bruno-centric adventures and ending up stuck in buildings that are supposedly about to blow up?

'Vice-Director'?! Lezar's Vice-Director now? What is this place coming to?! Last we heard, Lezar's title was "Special Deputy", so he must have gotten a promotion under the D's-G, though he still preferred working with Goodwin. And, Lezar's on the run? Smarter than I thought. Can't exactly blame him after Primo as good as told him he was quite expendable. Or maybe he's planning to become the next Director, for which, according to the criteria I enumerated for becoming Director based on precedents, which included shady affiliations, a supernatural amputation, a knack for lying, and being new in town, he would then be more qualified. So far all of our Directors *have* come from elsewhere; Goodwin flew/swam/crashed in from the Satellite, and the incumbents are still in the process of getting their decks shipped to them from Alpha Centauri or wherever.

Okay, so if the three D's-G aren't about and Lezar is off starting his own traveling circus, the responsibility falls to the poor man in the reddish business suit, known only as "Deputy Director". May I simply note that he is the only marginally normal person we've seen anywhere near the top of New Domino City's government? And may I also note that, in costuming and in voice, he reminds me a bit of Chancellor Sheppard.

Trudge notes that, "Now there's practically no one left to run this place." What an interesting thing to point out. And when I say "interesting", that's a euphemism for "I know this is important, but we really have yet to see how". Right now, my opening thoughts on this are along the lines of, are we going to see what happens when New Domino really *has* no government because Lezar's flown the coop and the three Directors are actively trying to stir up some chaos?

So fun to watch 'the flies' get stirred up looking for answers, huh? So the D's-G are in a holding pattern, it seems-- probably because Jacob's managing to keep a rein on Primo and Lester for a change-- and just letting things play out. What, if anything, *will* they try to influence, and what are they hoping will happen? Do they know about Sherry's mystery card and do they care? Do *they* know what just happened to our heroes? I'll talk more about the Directors when I talk about the robot/creature thing in the white room.

Do I capitalize "Super Mainframe"...? Since it can be referred to specifically as "the Super Mainframe" or just "the Mainframe" by Mina and Trudge, without a doubt as to which one, I'm leaning toward yes.

I want to note that Bruno's answers *weren't* in the Super Mainframe; we learn that early in the episode and it's no big deal. Then the whole rest of the episode is about how desperate Sherry is to get to the Mainframe and get answers, when we got told almost first thing in the episode that it didn't have any for Bruno. I just find the parallel kind of ironic; you'd almost miss it.

Mina and Trudge said that bad things could happen if just anyone gets access to the Mainframe and thus the city database. To quote Yusei... "What *kind* of bad things?" (ep#62) Identity theft, probably. They'd probably be concerned about the same sorts of things that could happen if someone got into the headquarters of the FBI and looked through their computers. Especially someone who did it by calling in a bomb threat. Those are the kinds of people you don't want having access to sensitive data.

Now, inside the building, our four main players are Yusei, Sherry, Bruno, and Ellsworth. Kind of an unlikely group. There's plenty to say about each one of them, individually and in relation to each other, and I'd like to say some of that here before going further.

This is probably just because I'm a theater and design nerd, but I'm noticing the fact that Sherry and Ellsworth spend the whole episode minus the teaser in disguise, those whitish-grey uniforms. Visuals are important, and the one thing I immediately notice with these is that this makes their color scheme shift. Sherry's main color scheme is white and dark red, like her riding costume and runner; here we get white but no red. The red in her plotline comes from the Mainframe computer screen and from Bruno's eyes. Her wearing heels and a skirt also makes her look more feminine and vulnerable, which is kind of an interesting shift when, when we first met her, she led us to believe she was a male. Now, Ellsworth is usually seen in a black suit; his disguise uniform actually make him look *less* formal, and even perhaps mimics the man's martial arts gi on the card "Master and Servant's Resolve". And of course, grey is a color that we usually associate with being part of the high levels of the city; think of Goodwin's suit.

In fact, between these four, we work with a fairly limited color palette, especially in the dark. Between them, Yusei and Bruno have a fairly strong blue color scheme going. What I'm really noticing, though, is our limited use of red. Yusei is the only one of these four who's wearing red, and he's the one Ellsworth immediately sees as a threat. Bruno *isn't* a threat until his eyes start glowing, and then when he works at the computer, the glow from the screen is red. I'm also noticing that the only green is in the duel; Driven Daredevil and Nitro Warrior. Red, Green, and Blue. RGB. The three primary colors of light, that combined make white light like Sherry and Ellsworth's outfits, or the big white room.

So I'm a bit unclear: why is Yusei trying to stop Sherry? Why does he declare, "You two won't get away with this" and challenge Ellsworth to get through that door? "Why do mountain-climbers climb mountains?" (ep#72) I think that, to a certain extent, this whole thing is a bit of a misunderstanding; Yusei doesn't realize until most of the way through the duel, that this is all about Iliaster and Sherry finding her answers; before that, they just called in a bomb threat to the nice Security people including Mina and Trudge, and locking people out of their own building generally a) is not very nice and b) means you're up to no good.

Why does Yusei *win*, though? Why does he *still* want to get through that door after he figures out what Sherry's up to? Because he won't let anyone throw away their freedom for revenge, perhaps? Because he wants Sherry and Ellsworth to realize that they're actually all on the same side?

Quickdraw and Nitro Warrior *again*. Someone's been frying in the desert too long. Yusei's really on a roll with those two, but gosh, he's sure been playing them a lot lately.

I truly do want to say a word or two about the symbolism of Ellsworth's cards, 'cause there's a lot of it.

What I'm seeing in his cards, I'm getting the sense that he doesn't exactly approve of how Sherry's going about this, but he cares for her so deeply that he will follow her anywhere and even help her if it means keeping her out of trouble and giving her a happy ending someday. In his deck I'm getting a very strong vibe of absolute loyalty; he would defend Sherry to the death, without a doubt, would sacrifice his own life, by his own hand, to save her. For him, this is not just a matter of devotion but of honor; his cards invoke the ancient Samurai tradition of painful suicide before surrender. I wonder how he came to be in the LeBlancs' service, what his story is, and how much of his motivation to take care of Sherry stems from devotion to her parents also?

What is Sherry, if not a "Driven Daredevil"? In Ellsworth's strategy, Driven Daredevil is spared destruction and really wreaks some havoc by taking out opponents' monsters and lifepoints, and Master and Servant's Resolve makes it even more of a threat, really supports it. And in this strategy, the one who takes the damage is Ellsworth himself, and he gladly does so. Master and Servant's Resolve causes each duelist to take any effect-generated fall their monsters do; it highlights a deep, vital connection between duelist and monster, between master and servant.

Especially since we saw this episode back to back with a rerun of "Lights, Camera, Duel", I was noticing the similarity in archetype here. But note this, Ellsworth's cards aren't ninjas-- which usually are played by duelist/actors like Jean-Claude Magnum and Orlando (GX's "The Art of the Duel"), probably thematically based in some uniquely Japanese theatrical tradition-- Ellsworth's cards are samurai. It's not the same thing.

Actually, Ellsworth's cards make me a bit nervous; if I had to guess at this point, I'd say this is a foreshadowing warning that before this is over we are going to see something really bad happen to Ellsworth, that we will see him keep the heavy promise his deck declares: that he would sacrifice himself for Sherry. I also think that Sherry doesn't notice how devoted Ellsworth is to her, that her own intense drive to achieve her goals by any means necessary blinds her to those who care about her. I dearly hope this works out for her like it did for Marik, instead of like it did for Adrian Gecko.

Ellsworth is the third person ever to use a cell phone while dueling in the history of the canon; I believe Aster Phoenix was the first (GXep#53), and Senator Izinski, Akiza's dad, was the second (5Dep#40). Yusei doesn't seem to mind, though; after all, he knows whom Ellsworth's calling and why.

"Stardust Dragon...! But that means..." What *does* Stardust mean to Ellsworth? Is this simply a restatement of a fact stated best by Primo's guard robot: "In this scenario, since Yusei Fudo summoned Stardust Dragon, the probability of him winning is, one hundred percent. " Or does Stardust mean something else to Ellsworth and will we find out what?

Turbo Booster again. So, *where's Rally*?

I'm noticing that the end of this duel was all about Stardust Dragon's self-sacrificing nature, which may be why we got such a dramatic representation of that ability this time around. Actually, Master and Servant's Resolve is also a card that connotes self-sacrifice. Yusei won because Stardust Dragon was able to 'sacrifice' itself more than one way, and by doing so it gained its own freedom and rebirth. Clearly from the end of this duel, we're generally understanding that Yusei's approach with Sherry's little revenge kick is a bit more well-adjusted than Ellsworth's; that also gets reflected in how surprised both Ellsworth and Sherry are to find out that Yusei and Bruno want to help them.

This is the part where I talk about the duel disk tech. Wonder what the other ports on Ellsworth's duel disk at the beginning of the duel do? Bet one of 'em plugs into computers; we've seen Yusei working with a duel disk connected to a laptop (ep#33), and we've also seen him working on Leo's duel board at his computer (ep#77).

And, do all doors have one of those? I bet this one's special because it was designed for some heroic Security guy to be able to make a last stand to defend the super special supercomputer.

Electric prongs on Sherry's duel disk. I'll talk about her attempted use of them later, but right now my question is: what *are* they? What's the purpose of them? Are they a standard feature found on most duel disks being used for a macabre but highly creative purpose, another adapter or connector like the panel of ports we saw on Ellsworth's disk, or are those electric prongs specific to Sherry's duel disk? If they are standard, what purpose are they *designed* to serve? Can this tell us something about how duel disks are powered? Rather, it seems, this would be how a duel disk powers something *else*, since the electricity is outgoing. Like what?

Whoa, violence! I believe it's been asked before why everyone in this show is, on occasion, a ninja. What to make of all this violence the very episode after Kalin unequivocally declared that one who resorts to violence and force to get their way in lieu of dueling for it is unfit even to lose on the duel field. I think one reason Sherry and Bruno didn't throw down with cards was because if they had we'd see Bruno's deck, and that can't happen because he's an enigma. I think another reason is because Sherry is very desperate and I think that we're supposed to take a strong message from her actions.

I'm noting that Bruno was sent after Sherry by Yusei, but he doesn't know why all this is even important *either*, much like the guy Sherry interrogated in the Teaser. I do like it in Bruno that he showed unconditional compassion even after she attacked him, and I find how he identifies with her plight very moving. It also occurs to me, Bruno stated that he felt like someone was "waiting" for him; he later on notices, not only that Sherry, too, is desperate for answers, but also that she actually needs his help to operate the computer and get them. Could it be that Bruno somehow knew beforehand that he would meet someone who needed his help, and is Sherry the person who was "waiting" for him? Did he help her because he thought it might be her? I have to say, I never thought of Bruno and Sherry in the same context before this episode, but here we see some connection between them and see how they identify with and parallel each other. I wonder if we'll develop this sort of rapport these two seem to have somewhat gained any further?

Whoa, what the deck! Bruno's got glowing red eyes! So much for him being a pacifist. Right now I'm thinking of what else glows that shade of red when threatened-- that is to say, a Signer's mark of the Dragon. And I'm thinking of the other blinky red lights in the episode already, like the antenna on top of the Security building at the beginning of the episode, and the red glow of the computer screen. I'm also thinking of what could possibly *be* the source of Bruno's newfound superpowers, apparently buried deep within his mind, triggered by danger. Like a Sign lighting up, I say again. Power like this could well explain why someone didn't want him remembering how to use it; it could also mean that whatever Bruno doesn't know he knows, someone went to a lot of trouble, giving him latent superpowers to make sure that information comes to no harm.

Bruno's is now the only deck of these four we know nothing about-- we even know Ellsworth's cards now. Whatever Bruno's past is, when we find out what it is it's going to be a big deal.

Wow, what just happened? I think we just found out the hard way what was so special about that card...

I might've said it before, but perhaps not in writing; Primo has reminded me of Invader Zim ever since he said the line "there is no coping, there is only *doom*!" Therefore, I must naturally conclude that the big white room is some variation of "a room... *with a moose*!!!" Right now, I'm wondering why we just got scanned, by what, so what, and why Ellsworth wasn't invited. Other than that, interesting, and I'm waiting to see what this might be foreshadowing.

Why do I have this feeling the weird robot thing was connected with Jacob somehow? I think it was the shape of that eye and the skin around it... but Jacob's eyes aren't blue. That was an eye color that reminds me of Yusei's. Since he was getting 'scanned', apparently, is it possible that thing copied his eye color, and what on Earth would that mean? We've already seen a duel bot imitate Jack; with the right data, could we get a Yusei clone? That would be pretty... bad.

Bruno-- elaborate. "Him"? I think Bruno's just on the edge of sort of a sense of what's going on that he can't quite consciously grasp; dang amnesia. But let's listen carefully to what Bruno thinks of all this, because I have this feeling that if he had his memory he could spell out this whole thing for us.

Somehow, I get the feeling that things are not as "back-to-normal" as they appear. Something seems funny. For starters, time inconsistency; they apparently blew up the Mainframe sometime in the afternoon, and now it's definitely full night. Either they were unconscious for a good while or something's not quite right here. Second, how did they get all the way across the sea from the City proper?

I have this notion. They just ended up in a big computer-magic-explosion thing and woke up somewhere random with no realistic way of having gotten there. Are they in some sort of virtual world or alternate reality? That would continue the theme we've been seeing in this arc of the philosophical question of the nature of reality and identity-- what makes someone or something uniquely itself and how can we be sure that what we perceive is real or anything more than subjective? We also tackled this in Dawn of the Duel Board with our shapeshifting D's-G, and in Will the Real Jack, of course, with the question of what makes Jack uniquely accept-no-substitutes himself. My point is, if that's what's going on here, it would fit with the themes we're seeing so far.

Perhaps I went too far in saying they woke up "somewhere random"; a coastline that close to New Domino without being the City itself, would have to be a shore of the former Satellite Sector, right? This isn't the first time we've gazed across from the Satellite to the bright lights of New Domino.

How would we know, if this world were fake? *We'd* know when the other four Signers start wondering when Yusei and Bruno are going to get back from lunch already, or if Yusei, Bruno, Sherry, or Ellsworth should learn that the Super Mainframe at Sector Security computer is quite intact, which we know isn't the case for Trudge. But how would *they* know? Will anything seem just not quite right? Will programmers like Yusei and Bruno recognize patterns that would exist in computer-fabricated illusions (I'm remembering that Kaiba recognized the virtual trees he wrote the original design program for, in Noah's virtual world)?

One question I have, and I think once she wakes up Sherry will also be interested in the answer: Do we still have the card? Where is it? What happened to it? *Did* all this happen because of that card, and *will* this experience get us some real info about Iliaster at last?

Security's big supercomputer got totaled? Dang! And there was some stuff I really wanted to know from those files! They might've even be able to tell us Crow's birth name, why Jack speaks with an accent uncommon to the social group in which he grew up, what Professor Fudo's first name is, how Yusei retained his given name unless Martha already knew his family before Zero Reverse, what Trudge's full name is, how the electoral process for becoming Director-General actually works, who does the Kaibadome MC's hair, where Lezar's soul had been placed in storage while he wasn't using it in the course of his duties... Okay, maybe not all of those things are, or were, in Security's mainframe computer, and mostly I'm joking around. But Security's top-secret files might actually be our only source for info about the RRD's original reactor project, since the Goodwin brothers are out of the picture, unless Bruno remembers more. And they also might be our only source for Crow's real name, if he was born before Zero Reverse and the birth was registered with the city. If he wasn't, that would mean that a) he's younger than Yusei by at least a year, b) somehow Crow's mother survived Zero Reverse, probably while very pregnant, and successfully had a baby right afterwards in the Satellite, which might well explain why Crow grew up alone, and c) there might very well *be* nobody who would know Crow's given name, if he had one, and not even Security's top-secret files could tell us that. But the thing had *Lezar's* fingerprints on file, for cryin' out loud! You need any other proof that it had top-secret dossiers on absolutely everyone with juicy info no one else will ever know, 'cause I don't!

So Crow's also looking for info about a card, this next week? I wonder if we're finally going to find his dragon? The episode title this next week is "Keeping a Promise I".

Expect delays and some slight continuity schizophrenia this week; I'll be posting about "Keeping a Promise I", and I'm also seeing Bonds Beyond Time this weekend. I plan to work on a transcript and post for Bonds Beyond Time and have it done the weekend after next, to give everyone plenty of time to see the movie before I post any spoilers. And also give myself plenty of time to do a good job.

And now, before I end this post, I just want to take a moment for a letter to my fellow fans.
This week, I've been gearing up to essentially drop off the face of the Earth this weekend and spend all my time, energy, and attention on Bonds Beyond Time, and I've been feeling the pressure. I've been working on a costume; what if it doesn't work out? What if I'm the only person who dressed up? What if I *don't* dress up and everyone else does? I'll be honest; a new episode is such a sacred thing to me that I find the idea of sharing the experience with an entire theater full of strangers to be kind of scary. And I'm realizing how bankrupt that is, how silly and how unfair to myself and to the world. I'm realizing that you all are no more strangers to me than one duelist is to another. Yugi and Jaden have met, but both are strangers to Yusei; despite that, I know the three of them are totally gonna rock the house and save the world-- in 49 minutes or less. This weekend is such a rare and golden opportunity for us as a community; these are our events, for the truly die-hard among us who love this canon, and we are going to have the time of our lives. I invite you all to have a weekend that knocks your socks off and make some new friends; I promise that I will. If anyone reading this ends up in my theater in Livermore, CA, this Saturday, look for the Mystical Elf with the laptop and the facepaints. I'll see you there!

- Clio

READ A TRANSCRIPT OF THE QUESTION OF THE CARD