Eureka Seven AO - Episode 10

After a week off on account of Euro 2012, Eureka Seven AO returns by dumping us straight into midst of the emergence of another Secret.  Worse still, the critter has shown up as a result of a Scub Burst in America - Phoenix, Arizona more precisely.

While this sounds exactly like the kind of job Generation Bleu were created for, the powers that be within the US are... less keen to deploy their services, which see Rebecka up against a former colleague of hers turned politician from a high-profile PR company as she tries to broker a deal to let the crew of Pied Piper handle things before a disaster emerges.  This confrontation gives us a little glimpse into her, and ultimately her chief Ivica's, past, while further extending the sense of political unease which permeates the show.

While all of this is going on, the Chief himself makes an unusual decision, choosing to head into the thick of the action while accompanied by Ao in the hope of organising an opportunity to fight back against the Secret himself.  This proves to be ill-advised - not because of the army's presence and interests, but because it seems that much of what is going on is again at least somewhat under the control of Truth, who is using civilians as "sacrifices" to lure it out.  This leaves the Chief and Ao right in the thick of things, with the latter seemingly taking the mental brunt of what transpires around him while the former makes better use of the skeletons within his closet, culminating in taking on a pivotal role in the defeat of the Secret as the rest of Pied Piper belatedly comes to the rescue.  Are we a step closer to discovering the truth about the Secrets and their relation to humanity?

After some entertaining instalments here and there, this week's Eureka Seven AO was okay - no more, no less.  Without any real mecha action to speak of, the episode relies instead on some important points of plot progression and characterisation, and in the latter field it really struggles - more specifically, I simply couldn't get a handle on Ao's emotions throughout this episode as he went from sane to batshit bonkers mental breakdown to cunning plan-meister to bonkers again to saviour to cool pilot.  What?  Just... what?!  It was a hugely clumsy attempt to breathe life into an otherwise staunch but unremarkable episode, and it does leave me worrying (perhaps prematurely) that this entertaining show could be headed in the wrong direction.