Rideback - Episode 11

If there were any doubts as to how seriously Rideback might be taking itself, the end of episode ten answered any such questions comprehensively, smashing a relatively important character to pieces in a shocking, no holds barred episode that turned an otherwise relatively mundane episode on its head, and surely setting the tone for the final couple of episodes of the series.

Needless to say, Suzuri's death hangs heavy over this episode - While the "terrorists" are planning their massive strike against GGP, so Rin (within their care) finds herself with entirely too much time to mull over what happened, blaming herself and questioning why her ambitions and desires always seem to end up with pain both for herself or others.


It's a question than Rin never really seems to answer in any meaningful manner, but when it comes to the crunch and she's about to be whisked out of the city along with Tamayo she finally makes a life-changing decision, backing away from her escape route and instead going back to find Fuego. Her timing couldn't be much better either, with a bevy of fully automated white Ridebacks storming the building at that very moment, and leaving Rin needing to get all Gordon Freeman on their asses so that herself and Tamayo can escape.

All in all, both the plot and emotions on offer here were very simple, yet they were actually pretty well played out - A very standard depiction of grief which actually helped to make it all the more believable. I feel slightly less satisfied at the reasoning behind Rin's decision to return to Fuego however - Of course we knew she was going to do it (it would have made for a rubbish end to the series otherwise), but there was no real pin-point moment for me that made that line of reasoning seem logical or natural for her. Sure, you can argue that she's done irrational things numerous times during the course of the show, normally when it comes down to helping those she cares about, so I'm guessing that the idea here was a similar one - It just wasn't depicted quite explicitly enough for my liking.

Still, episode twelve promises to be all kinds of action-packed awesomeness, the grand finale that I've been waiting for for quite some time now. I absolutely, 100% can't wait.