Predictions and Observations:
Don't Fear the Reaper

He’s unbeatable through a pact with dark powers—of COURSE Jaden went looking for him!

What on Earth is the prize for the Gx Tournament already?!?! Why would Lucien sell his soul for it?!

So knowledgeable, Chazz! And not afraid to share it, either! In many ways, Chazz and Kaiba are similar, but one key difference is that Chazz acknowledges the existence of all these spirits and power and such, however much he may sometimes resent them, and always surprises me when he plans for them and anticipates them like he did here today. Usually such forces are beyond the ken of anyone who doesn’t happen to be a baddie who controls them, but Chazz is as independent from this trend, it seems, as he is from everything else.

Leading the tournament? Jaden? No! How could that *possibly* be true? Well, it’s canon now, and I appreciate how carefully the show has been keeping us up to date on the statistics and so forth; whatever would I do if they weren’t keeping track of people’s medals and wins for folks like me who care who gets knocked out, when, and by who?

Hang on—the Reaper of Souls!!! Does this have to do with the tarot card Sartorius pulled a couple times early-on? Death, the closest card to that that I could find, represents change, the end of something. Aside from the splendid personal irony for me (on one of the few days this year that I’m between shows), a large change certainly happened in Lucien’s life.

Hey, wait a sec! Mischief of the Goddess has a guy in a Duel Academy blazer on it! How unusual…

This is the first we’ve heard from or about North Academy since the School Duel; if Lucien is there from North, is it possible that some of Chazz’s other pals from North might be walking around the island somewhere?

Lucien’s being saved from the Reaper and finding himself means more to Jaden than the win.

Seeing Lucien wear his duel disk like that started me thinking: do they make left-handed duel disks? Probably. Just a weird thought.

Lucien looks kinda like Gerard, has anyone noticed…? Speaking of which, he hasn’t had a cameo yet either…

Dandelion- we haven’t seen him since A Greater Porpoise! Why this duel of all times to see him again? I don’t get it.

It’s probably just because the show just closed, but there’s a song in it called “Don’t Be the Bunny,” and I’m starting to get ideas for a takeoff on it, a filk if you will, about his episode, because of the similar title. I’ll keep you posted.

Having faith in your opponent seemed to be this episode’s theme, and come to think of it, that’s an important part of all this that I seem to have overlooked. One part of the Heart of the Cards is to respect one’s opponent, and that includes believing that they’ll find a way to thwart whatever you’re planning and plan for that as well. I’m reminded of the final duel, naturally, when both Atem and Yugi demonstrated that, naturally. Atem said at one point, to everyone’s shock, that he knew Yugi would defeat the Egyptian Gods, even though no one had ever managed it before, and he planned on it! I believe the subject of reading the future and predicting draws came up around that point as well, and it was discovered that the Heart is not a plot device but a law of the Yugiohverse, a property of that world that we arguably don’t have here, though I prefer to believe that we do. Both, I believe, were drawing and playing from their decks, with no cards in their hands, for some time there; I’ve never done the math or looked carefully enough to know for sure. Anyway, I believe that same thing was happening here. The trick is, it takes absolute certainty and that has faith as a prerequisite for such a leap of logic and belief (“The sun no *might* rise; me no *might* poop in woods…”).

That’s all for now; I’m tired and it’s kinda late, so I’m going to stop posting now. Tomorrow afternoon is Duel For Hire, and Wednesday is Heart of Ice I. Who knows about Duel For Hire, but I’m going to predict right now that Heart of Ice is Syrus vs. Zane—rock on!! ‘Til tomorrow…well, you know what I’m about to say. -Clio