Darker Than Black – Episode 22
14 September 2007
November 11 actually died?! The GQ model (that comment was hilarious coming from Huang) actually died! Just when I started to enjoy watching his character, he ends up dying on the side of a road. The guy killed half a dozen armed men with a bottle of cognac. Not even a full bottle of cognac, but an opened bottle of cognac that his boss probably drank from. What do you call people like November? The anti-hero? He went from killing Havoc and trying to run Hei over with a car to GQ model that I wanted to see end up with Misaki.Now, more about Amber. Basically, Amber is not the source of all Evil like Hei believes, but is actually trying to rid the world of the source of all Evil, the Syndicate. The true machinations of the Syndicate are revealed, but that’s not really saying much, I still have no idea what the Syndicate really is. Basically, Amber’s trying to recreate a South America in Japan with Hell’s Gate to save all the Contractors. Heaven’s Gate still exists in what Schroeber calls Neutral space, which means that Bai is probably still alive somewhere in this Neutral space. And, if this be true, that’s why Amber told Hei to follow her if he wanted to see his sister. Amber also didn’t really cause the Heaven’s Gate incident, actually, it was more of Schroeber’s experiment gone wrong thanks to Amber. Strangely enough, Amber claims to have seen the future and proves it to a skeptical November by telling that he will die after leaving the building.
Mao, who was captured at the end of the last episode, learns all of this and is probably spared because he had to relay the information to Hei. Mao, probably the most Contractor-ish Contractor of the group believes that no one’s willing to risk their own life to rescue him, because, well, he certainly won’t, but is proven wrong when he sees Yin’s observation ghost in his water dish. At the same time, July’s ghost finds November and he, April and Misaki also shows up at the scene. Hei infiltrates the building, runs into Wei, who is still as creepy as ever, narrowly escapes with a splatter of blood on his mask and vaults over a handrail. For a better visual, the builing is like a hollow square and each floor has a balcony overlooking the center courtyard.
Anyways, Amber and Brita show up on a higher balcony, but Hei’s distracted by Wei. I’m under the impression that this point, Hei must be sick and tired of Wei. The ex-love of his life and presumed killer of his sister shows up and he needs to deal with the creepy thin man? Brita, also joins in on the fight. Hei misses her the first time, but thanks to Mao’s warning, spins around, reaches for her and almost kills her but she teleports away just in time.
Using the momentum from his previous attack, Hei swings up to where Amber is, grabs her head and demands to know what the heck she’s doing this time, what else is she going to take from him. Amber replies that Mao knows all the answers and suddenly, everything starts to glow blue and the meteor fragment in Amber’s bag lights up. Schroeber, all but forgotten and neglected, watching this in his bathrobe is in absolute shock. Then, Hei hears his sister’s voice and the momentary distraction allows Amber to escape. November 11, in the meantime, makes a break for it as well, entrusting Mao to everything before he leaves. Misaki, seeing Bk201 on the floor, orders him to lie flat on his stomach, but she catches a glimpse of his eyes through the crack in Hei’s mask and undoubtedly thinks of Li-kun. As she approaches him, April suddenly pulls her back to avoid Huang’s flash-bang-smoke-grenade thing.
And, Schroeber, the poor scientist, realizes that Hei’s Contractor powers are at the center of everything and wants to restart research. However, Eric Nishijima, the guy with the glasses tells him it’s unnecessary, knocks him out with a tranquilizer and orders Misaki to take him back to PANDORA. Meanwhile, November 11 shows up back at Decade (his boss)’s office, telling him he’s completed his report on the Syndicate. November states that he was just afraid of spilling his secret, but Decade replies that he was more afraid of loosing his best agent. Cognac firefight ensues, a fatally wounded November calls someone to warn them of the situation but is cut off, coughs up a handful of blood, collapses on the sidewalk, sees no point in paying a price anymore, throws away the cigarette that is extinguished by his own blood.
I’m guessing that somehow, Decade was related to the Syndicate or related to PANDORA. Eric Nishijima, the most suspicious looking character right now might also be connected to the Syndicate. Everything, basically, ties back to the Syndicate, of which we only know what they intend to do. Its difficult to put two and two together because there are a lot of guys making phone calls to other guys and you have no idea what their ‘plan’ really is.
The scene after all of this happens, when Hei and company were all sitting in the park, I think that’s the first time I’ve seen Hei smile as Hei. When Mao calls them all idiots and Huang points out that Hei is the only one, surprisingly, there’s a smile across his face. However, this doesn’t last long after the conversation switches to Amber. Even Yin vouches on Amber, but Hei is adamant in believing that Amber is the source of all evil. I really can’t blame, even if his anger is misplaced. After all, the one thing he cared for in the world, his sister, disappeared because Amber betrayed their organization.
I think it’s also the first time in all twenty two episodes that I’ve seen emotion in Hei’s eyes. Usually, his eyes are a solid shade of dark, navy blue, which for genre renowned for large, sparkling, glittery eyes struck me as a bit odd. It might just be a small thing, but his exchange with Amber was the first time his eyes weren’t calm, placid and detached. Think of it like an ocean, an ocean cold and distant and a sudden storm develops, churning the waters. Something like that.
Basically, to spare you more reading, the Syndicate and possibly PANDORA are trying to erase all Contractors. Amber, since the South America incident has been building a resistance to counter their plans, en massing dolls and gathering Contractors. However, the key (remember she said something about a key?) to all of this is Hei’s powers and Amber isn’t on Hei’s good side. November 11 uncovered some awful secret about Decade and the extermination of Contractors, and died because of it. At the same time, Misaki was basically written out of the story, but Misaki being Misaki, isn’t going to let that slide. Next episode, the first episode not in the bi-episodic format, looks to be about what happened five years ago between Hei and Amber with an appearance by Guy and Kiko.
Well, now, we know everything, almost everything. Is Amber really a good guy or a bad guy? Mao is about the most adorable thing on earth. And, the syndicate is trying to wipe all the contractors off the face of the Earth…Just another episode of wasting time with Hei…(The reference, anyone?)
I love watching Darker Than Black unfold, it gives me just enough initiative to watch the next episode, not too much that I wait restlessly night and day for episode twenty-three, but enough to keep from banging my head into a table wondering what the hell just happened.
if any1 could send me a link to watch DTB episode 22,23,24,and 25 online (without having to DL it) my E-mail is joey1220@yahoo.com
Isn’t it ironical that the most adorable being in the show (and I do agree with you there) is also the one who is the most like a contractor? 😀
Love your description on Hei’s eyes. It’s true that the few times that he shows emotion (there are others, I think, but the most violent reaction he has has to with Amber) it’s all because of Amber. I think it’s not just an issue of Amber causing him to lose Bai; it’s the fact that he trusted Amber totally, love her enough, and yet in the end she betrayed him and caused him to lose the other most important thing in his life.
Am I the only one who thinks that the syndicate has some relationship with Japanese government and Pandora?
About November, I know some November x Misaki fans who desparately hold on to their believe that he hasn’t died. Proof?; no shooting star scene was animated for his death. As for myself, I believe that he has really gone and that was a great death also.
Anyway, I really love your analysis ^-^ Please write more ^w^
@Joe – Um, you’re out of luck, seriously out of luck, XD. As far as I know, no one has any of the episodes up online like on YouTube or Veoh. O_o
@Briar – It is really ironic, the most contractor like out all of them is a kitty! A cute, cute little neko-chan. >.