All Episodes: Ergo Proxy Companion Viewing Guide
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Dead Calm
This episode, on the contrary, is both very different, but very enjoyable. It is sweet and funny, while still discussing some important and interesting subjects. What makes an autoreiv an autoreiv and a human human. You might say prejudice or something as well, but really I think Re-L is just being mean because she is petulant, not because she is actually racist or ... specieist or something.
From the beginning, Re-L shows her inability to sympathize or relax.
Sometimes she is competent and well adapted to her tasks: She evaluates their situation, supplies, and maintains her own health. Other times she can barely function correctly. She gets angry at her own and other's mistakes and what she sees as transgressions. She obsesses over puzzles she cannot solve. She does not know how to relax, play, or let things be. She doesn't know how to adjust her attitude or her actions to this new situation where she is a member of a team trapped in an uncivilized location.
At first it seemed to me that her attitude was merely a slight detriment to herself, and a funny dilemma. However, I've come to think that it is really a true fault and a difficult obstacle to overcome within herself.
Her patience is running thin, as she noted accurately at the beginning. The littlest things bother her and send her into frustration. She becomes more and more paranoid. Fundamentally it all comes from the unfamiliarity she has with the situation she is in. Her routines aren't able to address the situation, she can't control the problems that are arising, and she doesn't really understand how to work with her companions. Nor can she imagine acting and thinking any differently than she is.
She can't sleep. She takes an hour to get ready, despite having nothing to get ready for and no one to look good for. She doesn't comprehend the idea of running out of food or water very well, nor that other people have to be accommodated. (In some ways, she has to grow up just as much as Pino. It is immaturity not to be able to empathize with others. How can we then accuse robots of being inhuman for having to learn such things, when we have to learn them as well?) Re-L leaves everything open behind her when searching for her makeup, but is incensed when Vincent leaves the toilet seat up.
It finally dawns on her when she sees Vincent eating without water, and she is somewhat shocked by it. She doesn't take it to be self-sacrifice, at least not completely. She really can't figure it out.
She distances herself from Vincent and Pino, trying to treat them as either something she can deal with through protocol, or else to blame them for their "acting wrongly." Remember, Re-L grew up in Romdeau. She never approved of her life there, but she experienced it her whole life. She does not have any idea how to cope in a world with all of the rules and procedures and regulations and social hierarchy stripped away. If people don't act within their jobs, how is she supposed to treat them? How is she supposed to even think of them? It might even be frightening or at least enviable that Vincent and Pino seem to be able to deal with the situation so effortlessly.
She confronts Vincent - more or less stating her problem directly, though beneath a different pretense:
"So what are your thoughts on our current situation. Any idea how we are getting out of this?"
"I'm not sure what you're expecting me to say. Am I supposed to know how to make the wind start blowing?"
"Aaaannnd?"
"And nothing. That's it."
"Just nothing?"
"Yeah, that's right. It's just nothing."
"And what's nothing supposed to mean? Is it nothing because you've really thought about it? Or is it nothing because you haven't even tried?"
She asks Vincent to tell her the plan despite her own leadership nature because that's how she has been taught life is. She isn't a designated leader, therefore someone else is designated in charge. She helps with Intelligence, that is all she has known and all she has been told she should ever know. What's more, she can't comprehend there being nothing for anyone to do. Even when the Bureau couldn't solve problems, Romdeau would create circles for its citizens to run in, in order to maintain order and pretend nothing was wrong and every problem could be solved. Re-L only knows how to act, to move, to perform duties. (Her comment, "It sickens me." is a direct link to Daedalus and Romdeau.) She does not know how to live life, accept hardship, or how to work within a team. All she can conceive is that Vincent is responsible, and must need to think or think harder. Not that there really is nothing to be done and the best course is to accept that.... let alone the additional step of how to be content with that.
Results of test: specimen reacted to Amrita cells (from experiment ...?)
// specimen confirmed as a proxy. What’s proxy?
Amrita means of “sweet water”
in ancient Hindu myth
and grants eternal youth and immortality
divide infinitely (no Hayflick limit) --> plus live indefinitely
The membrane surrounding Amrita cells is intensely activated when it nears ATTU
what that means: proxy
-This may be the result of a
magnetic field radiated by the proxy or
an antibiotic to an unknown body
|
v
in either case, this reaction allows us to identify a “proxy”
MCQ (nuts!)-> proxy one? whose him? // ergo proxy = Vincent Law
there’s about 300 proxy in the world
PP - the proxy project
BP - the boomerang project
two project
about..... how long have been
*judgement day -> Boomerang star
proxy
methane hydrate -> “fiery ice”
-> methane [carbon atom, for hydrogen atoms]
-> [three carbon atoms, eight hydrogen atoms]
Note: There is more, but I have not translated it.
I'm going to just post the image here, rather than trying to read and transcribe them. I should look up what they are from, if they are from anything.
There is also a picture in Pino's book that might just be a slide from the show, or it might be referencing something else, I don't know. It looks like it could be classical, but I'm out of luck because I don't recognize the composition:
She then writes in her journal after Vincent bumps his head and says good morning good naturedly, that he is "hard to take seriously." Later she notes: "vincent: left handed" and finally, "facial hair".
Re-L throws a ball with Pino again, and Pino continues to favor her left hand extremely much. She twists in order to catch the ball with her left, even though it is thrown far to her right. Later she is given a can opener and then a knife. Both are placed on her right, and both she swaps to her left hand to operate. She is earlier seen drawing with her left hand too. Since Vincent is left handed, it would seem it is a learned trait or a sign of adoration. More importantly, Pino is seen drawing for a little. She isn't drawing a picture specifically, but spiraling the pen around and around. Still, she is clearly demonstrating a development past her mimic drawings from Timothy. That isn't to say she is not still an autoreiv - she is she is seen plugged in to the ship's power to recharge, and turned off while she "sleeps."
Re-'L's makeup being off shows her both giving up and letting go.
Also, once the snow falls, they are shown having water again to cook food and take showers and maintain life. (They are still in dire straits - they only have beans for food still, but life eases, but now they do have water. Somehow I overlooked this over and over until this time.)
The episode plays with expectations - Re-L sees humans as those who act rationally, responsibly, and with concern for their role in society. Seeing Vincent and Pino playing seems "un-human-like" to her. She can only see the waiting as a waste, and the snow as a hardship. She cannot see that worrying and being miserable is, in fact, the wasteful way to think. Pino and Vincent can be grateful and excited. They can be content and have fun. They know more than one mode of life and more than one joy. They are at peace with life, not in a bitter struggle with it. They know how to make fun of themselves and to let go of worrying. And Re-L begins to see life through their self ridicule and simple mindset. What's more, she dreams of Iggy during the night she makes the transition. He could not resolve the differences or make the adjustment between freedom and the dome, but Re-L does.
[VIEW SPOILERS]
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I think there is a little commentary on what society has done to girl's expectations. They care about their appearance so much that they upkeep it well past it's actual purpose. It has been ingrained in their subconscious so much that it is part of their identity. Whether this is a natural state for a girl, or something that girls do because they are self-conscious and have low esteem, or whether it is the outward pressure that has warped their very subconscious is not implied nor am I sure what I believe either. In any case, it isn't considered unusual or strange that Re-L is so concerned about how she looks while she is trapped in the wastelands and perhaps near death.
Pino has grown a lot in this time. She experiences emotions like joy, contentment, mischievousness, love, respect, and jealousy. She mimics her friends, and helps them by bringing joy and humor. She is at once, just a thoughtless kid, and the only thing between Vincent and Re-L keeping them sane. If you don't think she is a valuable member of their team, imagine the Centzon without her on board. She keeps both Re-L and Vincent stable by giving them perspective and purpose. Not just now, but in the past and future. Not only that, she helps them realize the difference between those with souls and those without.
I don't know what to make of Vincent in this chapter. He is either a naive buffoon or wise beyond himself. I don't know if he sees past Re-L's bluffing to things she doesn't realize about herself - that she is putting on an exterior because she is helpless - or if he just is blind with love for her. So much so that even her glare make him happy she is paying him mind.
I do love how, when Vincent falls and Re-L calls him an idiot, she falls immediately afterwards. And then when she falls, and Vincent tries to reach out to her... suddenly it is so clear:
He cares for her, and she does not know how to accept help.
She does not know how to laugh or smile, and Vincent is so generous to keep reaching out to her.
Yet, he is helpless. He cannot help her, and he sees through her to just how alone and struggling she is. But he can't do anything. Re-L. Re-L is foolish and weak despite herself, and even though she is no clutz or buffoon like Vincent... she is weak to be unable to ask for help or help herself.
She is so strong, to stand so alone. To try to fight against everything and to not know how to be happy.
It is not because she is likable or strong. It is because she is weak, that is the source of her beauty and her strength.
I can see why Vincent is in love with her. It is no shallow attraction. And I can share in his love for her when I look at her through his eyes, when normally I would find her judgmental and blind. And in turn, I can love Vincent through his purity, when normally I would find him weak and incomplete.
It strikes me as close to what love is at its heart. Something that compliments so effectively.... something that makes them so much more than they are alone. Even if it is never love in the romantic sense, it is still a real kind of love.
There is also a scene where Real islooking at herself in the mirror and she notices that has zit. She exclaims; "No way! What is this?!" She didnt know what a zit was or never had a zit uptil then?
ReplyDeletehaha! Technically possible I guess? I'm not exactly sure how germ-free the dome was, nor how zits work I guess. I took it as mostly frustration, "augh, how could this have happened to me?!" than literal confusion of what had happened.
DeleteAs far I know about the cause of zits; Pollution in the air or food,too much fat or sugar, or spending too much energy on being irritated/annoyed.
ReplyDeleteI also realized, after reading a fic called "Who I am". What if the reason Vincent never seemed worried about food during this episode, was because he knew he could always just transform, and take Re-l and Pino with him to the closest dome? Naah...
It's kinda awkward because Vincent is semi-human and semi-proxy. He feels hunger and eats like a human, except he can survive beyond human capability.
DeleteI thought I mentioned it in the guide but I guess I didn't - I'm under the impression that he basically doesn't have to eat at all. He survived for an indeterminate amount of time after leaving the compound outside of Romdo while the rest of the exiles died. Presumably they died from exposure, sickness, frailty, and lack of food and water. At the time you aren't certain Vincent is a proxy so it sorta makes it appear he manages it because he is younger and stronger than them, but it is speculated in this episode that he survived because he is a proxy. (and maybe even went days without eating!)
Similarly, while technically true that he could start using Proxy powers and save them in any number of ways, he isn't really aware as Vincent that he can. I don't think he knows how to use his power at will. Instinct takes over when it becomes necessary. It doesn't seem like a controlled thing and I don't think he trusts his proxy side or would rely on it in any way.
I think he isn't worried because he is trusting that they'll find a way and, in general, isn't planning as far ahead as Re-L. Not to say he isn't blind to the danger, he just doesn't see any point in spending time worrying about it. He acts when he can do something by doling out tiny meals and to starting to eat less so that Re-L can eat more, but he doesn't waste energy worrying over it.
From my understanding, as a proxy, Vincent has the ability to create and/or sustain life. Proxies also seem to have ability to change the physical world around them.
ReplyDeleteThis episode would seem to be an effect of Vincent's lack of confidence, and difficulty dealing with Re-l's condescending attitude. Her attitude affects him so much that even the wind won't blow.
So, when Re-l's mood perks up there really are more resources, and life can go on, both figuratively and literally.
That's a neat interpretation. I can definitely believe that could be happening.
DeleteIn my opinion, Vincent doesn't seem too concerned about whether he is living up to Re-L's expectations, and his worries are about Re-L and if she is okay, not what parts are his fault. Maybe I just want it to be that way, but that is how I interpreted their relationship at that point.
From my understanding, as a proxy, Vincent has the ability to create and/or sustain life. Proxies also seem to have ability to change the physical world around them.
ReplyDeleteThis episode would seem to be an effect of Vincent's lack of confidence, and difficulty dealing with Re-l's condescending attitude. Her attitude affects him so much that even the wind won't blow.
So, when Re-l's mood perks up there really are more resources, and life can go on, both figuratively and literally.
Interesting take on the situation with between Re-L and Vincent when you said "I don't know if he sees past Re-L's bluffing to things she doesn't realize about herself - that she is putting on an exterior because she is helpless"
ReplyDeleteI think this statement holds to be quite true since Re-L acts cold-heartedly and she is basically a "hard shell." Honestly, she seems to be very weak on the inside, like, for instance, in episode 13 in which Iggy gains a "human-consciousness" and traps and holds Re-L in a glass tube to protect her, the other autoriev girl comes in to break her out, Re-L manages to get out of the tube and run away from the autoriev, but she trips up and falls to the ground. With out her shotgun, she is defenseless and vunerable against the autoriev trying to kill her, so she very desperately tries to kick the autoriev, with the autoriev sporting a look of pity for Re-L on her face.
No one seems to call her bluff of her hard shell, as both Pino and Vincent are both so passive. Re-L seems to be weak and alone in her mind, once she is "trapped in a corner" so to say, her personality changes and her true face is shown.