Zankyou no Terror ep5: may I join this game, too?

Episode 5, the moment things really get interesting. You had to wonder how long this dangerous and childish game would continue. And the answer is made abundantly clear. No more. In essence, Nine and Twelve are being told that they’re not as clever as they think, nor are they hidden.

The formula seemed to obvious for it to continue in this show. But it looks like that was the point all along. I could not figure out what Sphinx was trying to get at after all this time. But it seems they’re pointing their way towards extremely high level corruption in the Japanese government. And since Shibazaki has already made a name for himself (and ruined his career) by doing such damaging investigations, it seems only natural that they’d become allies. And that seems to have been the case all along. Shibazaki’s impassioned speech on national TV to Sphinx didn’t draw their ire, but their attention. A lot of hope is being rested on his shoulders to figure out the message they’re so carefully and dangerously trying to send.

The problem is that their attempts to get attention has done just that – gotten them a lot of attention. And it appears someone else has figured out what they’re trying to do. It’s impossible to deny it. Not when Sphinx’s efforts had been so clearly and precisely thwarted in this episode. Sphinx’s plan to set off the bombs with cell phone signals as detonators was completely block with a mass dosage of electrical cell signal jamming that affected all of Tokyo. Their attempts to find the train they’d placed the bomb upon were precisely stalled and rerouted. And they were directly contacted after the bomb went off. There’s plenty of evidence to show that the interfering party has power, skill and very good knowledge on what’s going down.

At this point, Lisa really does seem like an after thought in the story line.  I’d swear she was fulfilling the role of a mascot character or pet, adding little more than awkward moments, humour and pulling some emotion from the daring terrorists.  I still find myself questioning the worth and weight of her presence so far in the story.  I’m willing to continue overlooking it right now though, because I think the change of situation brought about by these new interlopers was a very good payoff for the set up so far in the show.  I’m very satisfied with what I’ve seen here.  And it makes me think that all the talent behind this show could produce something worthwhile – even memorable if the quality continues to improve like this.  The idea of having a young group of terrorists working together with an old, formerly crestfallen detective who once before was defeated by the corruption that they’re now seeking to vanquish is enough to get my manly blood boiling.  I see now that this is what I wanted more than the mystery that the show offered – Focus!  I want to have something to look forward to in this series.

Further Reading:

• Zankyou no Terror ep4: it’s better to be fair than right