Ergo Proxy - Episode 21:The Place at the End of Time/Shampoo Planet

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Ah, the final episodes. These episodes are full of content, both spoken and unspoken. There are a lot of answers finally given. And yes, Ergo Proxy really does give a lot of answers to a lot of questions that have been lingering since the beginning (unlike the Mosk events have implied). A lot of the themes are taken head-on in a satisfactory way. However, the content isn't terribly simple, and takes a bit of thought before it is understood. At least, that how it was for me. A lot of it is just flat out said directly, but for whatever reason I was still confused. I did not get the significance, the themes or many of the plot details revealed, let alone the more obscure stuff that can be surmised from combining the information given here, with hints throughout the rest of the episodes earlier.

A lot of the stuff I didn't notice, I've taken the liberty of already pointing out somewhat along the way, and a lot more I'll explain here. Where I had to do a little digging a few days later, looking up what was being said and why and what Proxies are and.... basically everything, hopefully you'll be able to read and understand without having to work it out alone. I'm not sure if it was because I was blind, or if it really is that hard to know what is going on. In either case, this is the beginning of the end. The next three episodes are continuous and closely linked, but I'll be discussing them piece-meal even though they really are one final episode in most respects. I'm doing this only to make it easier on me for management purposes.

Onward!

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The Place at the End of Time

The name "Shampoo Planet" is from a book about Generation Y and its lack of caring for other individuals while getting swept in by capitalist culture. At least that is my not-at-all-professional guess from skimming the wikipedia article. I don't see anything immediately interesting or relevant, so that's all I have to say on that.

It takes Pino about 12 seconds to say three numbers... about 4 seconds per number she says. Four seconds times 30,000 is about 33 hours worth of continuous counting. Which would be possible and consistent with the characters. Buuuuut I'm not sure that is what the authors were going for here. Curiously I couldn't find any significance of numbers in the 30,000 range. So I'm not really sure what to say other than Pino is an ood mix of child and autoreiv and has been drawing her tally marks all over the Centzon Totochtin.

So first Vincent returned to the city. Then Re-L finally followed him, despite the likelihood she would be put to death if she were discovered. Pino was told to wait behind, but follow third after waiting for a long time. This is a dangerous situation for all of them. They all have different reasons for being convicted of serious misconduct and probable termination verdicts.

The immigrants coming to Romdeau are an interesting reminder that now we know some of the lives they are emigrating from.

Pino's first encounter with the dome is very closely a mirror of the scene when they left. The same vent, the same rattling, the same wind and the same forbidding doorway. The vent is open and so she easily enters the dome. This is the first sign of difference. From here on many events will parallel with how Romdeau was in the episodes before they left.

It seems virtually all of the autoreivs have been infected with Cogito. But something is different. Rather than making them free to make choices, they seem to be paralyzed, breaking down, and repeating canned lines like "why am I who I am?" without actual drive to understand themselves. I don't fully understand this turn of events. I believe that the most likely case is that these autoreivs did not have a more stable mind to deal with their new freedoms like Pino did. Some go out of control when faced with an emotional dilemma like Iggy, but I think these autoreivs don't really have anything to live for, so they sort of just... shut down. Without someone else to give them a reason to live, they discover they don't really have a self-given reason to live and faced with this dilemma go into a series of errors that result in a coma of sorts. I think it is fair to say this is comparable to the citizens of the dome too. Some react to their new self-deterministic society with fear, paranoia, denial, violence, or other delusions. I don't see why the different autoreivs might also have a range of reactions to their own sudden free-will. It is also possible that Daedalus or some other part of the dome created an anti-cogito virus that attacks them when they show signs of cogito, or some other countermeasures that mess with the original virus's 'natural' course. This might not even be cogito, but another iteration of the virus designed to spread and kill the autoreivs.

Reminder: Re-L is extremely capable and can take care of herself in pretty much every situation.

I find the encounter with the Autoreiv Disposal Unit pretty funny. This location is the same office and this character is the same character that was Vincent's supervisor way back in the first episodes. No, really, that is the same silly mustache from back then too. Later on, in the Administrative Bureau rooms, the same fellow that was totally dependent on his autoreiv, is still totally dependent on her, even though she and the rest of the job has disappeared. Say what you will, at least in some instances, this series really pays attention to detail.

The interaction between Re-L and the Immigrant official is funny to me because he seems to be making fun of the audience a little, pointing out some of the theories of symbolism that could be going on here. "This whole problem has just about gone critical, we got to used to relying on Entourages" "...you're missing the entire point! We didn't actually need all these autoreivs in the first place! Wouldn't you agree with that, your Excellency?" He's right, in that the citizens relied too heavily on entourages. But it isn't just entourages, it is the system and more obviously, relying on authority. Hence it is a little tongue in cheek that he blames dependence on autoreivs, then turns to Re-L and calls her "your excellency" when it is dependence itself which is the problem. He even ends the conversation with a ploy to get himself "please, if you get a chance, put in a good word for us with the Regent, if you could."

Ergo Proxy starts to be remarkably direct in its exposition. A ton of information is thrown at the viewers and Re-L.
The Cogito has infected almost all the autoreivs. They are now being exterminated.
The bureaucratic system is falling apart in Romdeau.
Raul Creed is missing and presumably up to his own plans.
The launch of the Rapture was widely witnessed, and Re-L has it confirmed that it came from Romdeau.
"Nobody has told them anything." Here I think Re-L is referring to the need to recover a Proxy and the reality of what Cogito virus is, as evidenced by her experience with Iggy and Pino. Let alone the outside world recovering and the ability for them to leave with the correct medicine.
Vincent Law morphs into Ergo Proxy for days without returning and Re-L doesn't know if he will ever be Vincent again. "I should have... right then." She considers if she should have killed him as soon as he stopped being Vincent. Vincent is worth saving, Ergo Proxy is something else.

The killing of the autoreivs is a very interesting issue that the series brings up. Autoreivs are not humans, they are not even flesh and blood. The cogito virus is only a mechanical breaking of their pre-programming to follow directions. Yet the slaughter of all the entourages seems morally reprehensible. "Does cogito give them souls?" was a question early on. Is free will really what makes a soul? How can a parameter being removed, create a soul? And yet, that is exactly what seems to be the case. Pino and Iggy were real beings, just as much as the citizens of Romdeau. Here lies the most interesting comparison. Those citizens that give up their free will, who break down without having someone tell them how to live their lives - do they have souls? The parallels were explored early on in the series, and they return here. I would say that the citizens of Romdeau and the autoreivs are just as alive as the other. Maybe that means they are both alive, maybe that means they are both soulless. Maybe that means they are soulless until they decide to use their emotions and their free will. Whatever your opinion, I have to think that it is a mind that makes the difference, and not the material they are composed of.

The genocide of the autoreivs seems a reasonable turn of events. The people of Romdeau are in distress, and they are sheltered, undeveloped, and immature. They probably don't have the maturity to think of the wrongness of concepts like death and killing and sentience or equality. They were only concerned with their lives and their jobs and their corner of the perfect city. They want their old lives back and they want the problem to go away. They don't think of the future, of government, of resource scarcity or of social turmoil. They see things in black and white. Someone is either sick and broke the rules so they must be removed, or they are healthy and sane and following the rules. The idea of something going wrong in paradise was difficult for them to deal with in the first place, so once the problem is solved, of course things will return to normal in their minds. Progress and change don't happen. That doesn't even exist as a concept. They probably don't even know how much their actions resemble a revolution, "For Romdeau!" and Molotov cocktails being thrown. Nevertheless, they have been introduced to brutality. The killing, the beating, and the destruction won't fade until those citizens have died and taken the memory with them. There is no way for them to know that. On some level, they know what they are doing. "Diiiiie!" they scream, beating in the autoreivs. Something has to be alive for it to die. "Get him!" Something has to be gendered (and usually intelligent or adored) for it to no longer be an "it."

More little details: The blimp that flies by when Re-L walks through the main city of Romdeau, is later perched on by Ergo Proxy, who then crashes it. In a following scene the immigrants are shown under the wreckage, and it shows up one more time when Pino is seen under the wreckage of the same blimp.

The chief of the Administrative Bureau seems to change the topic when Re-L mentions that the citizens are dying, but in reality he isn't. The Aus der Wickel, or the ADW project "it's an absolute failure. Mortality rates are sitting at around 90%." "This is all the data the Health and Welfare Bureau have compiled on the short-term side effects of the ADW project."
"This is our first experiment with martial law provisions. The Security Bureau loves to talk themselves up, but well..." I don't want to say more. You figure out what is going on. (I certainly didn't until the third time going through or so. It was skimmed over and wasn't central to the plot.)
Later Daedalus explains. After all, he headed the project.
"The Wombsys has shut down... so Raul came up with the idea that we should try and change ourselves into something that wouldn't need the Proxy. That's how the ADW project was born. A grand attempt to reconfigure the human body. Not that it was ever going to work."

(But before we move on, back to the Chief at the Administrative Bureau)
"Honestly I don't know why they thought we needed to change everything in the first place. (gasp by Re-L) If our Fellow Citizens had just kept order withing the dome, everything would be fine. It's how we've always survived. We should have just stuck to what we knew worked."
I didn't realize until now the reason that Re-L gasps here. It's because he is one of the top officials, and he doesn't even know why everyone is dying around him. He thinks it is just an expensive experiment, not that the dome's source of life has been lost. Or anything else that has led up to the events now.

Incidentally, his entourage is still lying, dead, in his office beside him from when the citizens stormed in and killed her.

Vincent Law visits Monad's chambers. Interestingly Vincent Law accuses Donov Mayer of doing terrible things to Monad. (rather than Daedalus) It seems to imply that Donov did this out of more than just a need for a Proxy to supply power, but also out of some kind of anger or revenge. He realizes that he has her pendant, and that she is Proxy number 13. (XIII is thirteen in Roman Numerals in case you don't know that) He also has the pendant for Proxy number 1. (Remember, this is out of 500 or so proxies) Ergo Proxy has been pretty good about providing flashbacks instead of making you do the remembering yourself (or leaving you in the dust). Vincent Law seems to be regaining his memories, and then is interrupted. Perhaps because of his memories returning, he reacts and adopts the persona of Ergo Proxy, but falls back into a mix of Vincent Law and Ergo shortly after. Something about the way he leers and then says, "why aren't you afraid of me?" seems like he isn't naturally cruel, but has adopted it, perhaps in a psychological protection mechanism. I say this because people who are cruel or rude or angry often or otherwise hurt others, are doing it because they themselves do not want to be hurt. Not always, and Ergo Proxy up until now has seemed to just be brutal by nature. This really is the first time that there's any indication that there even could be any alternative reasons.

"I know how you feel. I loved her too." Wait, but this is the little replacement for Re-L that Daedalus created. Is her love from his own raison d'etre being transferred, or is there some kind of other mystical connection here? She also knows who Vincent is? Things are getting weird again.

Meanwhile, Re-L is coming face to face with how cracked Daedalus has become. He mistakes her for his second Re-L until she demands to know about why people are dying and the ADW project. It still takes him awhile to accept that the original Re-L has returned, and then he only acknowledges her as "the traitor." Presumably not for failing at her mission, but for leaving him for so long. He gave up on her, and started to blame her for his losing her.
"Let me tell you something interesting. Raul was not the one that ordered the attack on you. I think this is your floor. Now why don't you talk to the man in charge."
"Grandfather. It was grandfather that did all this."
I'm not sure how much Re-L is clued in that Daedalus is more or less trying to send her to her death. The details about Donov Mayer being the one to try and kill Re-L with Cogito were revealed back in episode 10, when Raul confronts Daedalus the first time.

Interestingly the immigrant hunting autoreivs is the same one that tried to hunt Vincent that Pino overheard, back when she first was accused of being infected with Cogito. The lines used are similar to when she overhears them hunting Vincent.
"He's not just another autoreiv." "This could be my chance for a big promotion!" versus
"Boys, I think we just got a promotion! All it takes is something like this to get yourself noticed!"

Ergo Proxy appears. The collective "greets" him.

"Why have you returned? Now you show yourself, now that it is much too late. What do you plan on doing now? Time has already run out, Creator."
"The Regent loved you. The Creator built Romdeau. Brought us into being. Provided us with autoreivs. Helped produce offspring." Ergo Proxy isn't only a power source, but a literal God. He really did create Romdeau. The series is really going full speed ahead with answering a lot of the questions the series has put off until... well, now.
"The Regent hated you. Why do we exist? Who can ease our lonliness? Why did you abandon us? Why didn't you love us?" I find it interesting that the anger is all expressed in anguished questions.
"The Regent searched. He searched not for the creator, but the one who'd stolen his heart. The Monad proxy. The creator returned to Romdeau unbeknownst to us. Disguised as an immigrant from Mosk. The creator stole Monad, and left us again." All of this could have been figured out earlier from all of the statements and intimations and hints dropped along the way. No, you probably wouldn't have realized or even understood what Monad is if you just watched the series without analyzing every line. Or maybe I just am bad at realizing things and thinking about them. Experience has taught me its the latter, despite my own expectations of myself...
"The creator thinks, therefore we are. No matter how we may think. The creator is already not." This seems to imply that the collective and Romdeau either have decided to reject the creator, or else have grown out of needing such a role in their life. "And now he has returned to us once again. Our wish. All worlds are the thoughts of the creator. We are that which is thought. We think, therefore we are. Our raison d'etre." This is double or triple speak for many ideas and themes. The Collective wished for the creator to return. (Why did you abandon us?) But they discovered some ideas. Worlds are thoughts of the creator... and we are that which is thought. (A creator creates by thinking, and we can think) We think, therefore we are. Our raison d'etre. (Decartes famous finding: To prove we exist, we need only acknowledge that we think. The collective has created their own reason for being, and the need nothing else other than to think to have it. They are free from needing a God and free in terms of free will.)

The song Pino hears is the same that she was playing back in episode 17 on the piano she finds.

Re-L witnesses Ergo Proxy killing her grandfather, and yet she can't seem to shoot him. And she still loved her Grandfather, despite all he did. Destroying the dome, hunting Vincent, and attempting to kill Re-L. She doesn't (and we don't) understand why Ergo Proxy is acting like this. It doesn't make any sense for Vincent Law, and we still don't really know who or what Ergo Proxy is besides dangerous and powerful. Re-L still doesn't shoot and Ergo seems on the verge of .... something? And then Raul appears and shoots Ergo Proxy, using an FP shell.

[VIEW SPOILERS]

Shampoo Planet
The Cogito virus was supposedly another alternative to provide another kind of life to thrive on the barren earth. It resembles the relationship with the humans and the subhumans in many many ways. Perhaps if the subhumans died off, or were unable to cope with the sudden sentience of their autoreivs, then the autoreivs would prove superior and replace them. A sort of Darwinian competition or second option for civilization to continue.
Vincent was unintentionally spreading it, because it has something to do with coming in contact with Proxies. Maybe it is because Proxies are brimming with supernatural magic, it just rubs off on autoreivs. It beats me.
Maybe this other strain of cogito has been the work (intentional or not) of Proxy 1 then. It makes some sense to me that he would also spread cogito, and that his version would be a sort of existential or nihilistic version that leaves the autoreivs in the state Pino finds them. However, my favorite theory is the one I already said - this is just another form of effect that sentience has, because all the autoreivs react differently purely because their minds are all different seeds to begin with, the same way humans are varied in their psychologies.

Despite Romdea falling apart and being throttled by Ergo Proxy, Donov Mayer dies with a smile on his face. He really was obsessed with seeing the creator again. Enough to create Re-L, capture Monad, and hold onto life this long. Love and hate between created and creator. (See: Iggy, Donov, Re-L, Proxy 1.) Also love and hate between creator and created. (Humans, Proxy 1, Romdeau, Kazkis)

There isn't that much to say that is spoilerific. We are nearly at the end of the series and much of what was obscured for me I've already hinted at and spoken of.
The reason piano music is playing in Raul's house. (That is Raul's house.)
The ADW project being an attempt to allow humans to reproduce 'normally.' ("Not that something like that would ever work.") I wonder if mortality rate is 90% for the children or for the parents attempting to bear children.
Oh, right. Ergo Proxy acts weird in the Regents room because that is crazed Proxy One, not Vincent Law. The collective didn't even figure that one out.
I don't know why Proxy One kills the Regent. For all I know it is merciful, the Regent wanted to praise Proxy One and serve him above all else, if Proxy One appeared and then left again, he'd just die miserable with no duty and no god to worship. It might be in contempt of Re-L and to drive her to anger as well.

The FP shells presumably are blue-sky-sunlight that spreads throughout the Amrita cells.
I'm a bit confused that Re-L doesn't shoot considering she was thinking about it before hand and was "created to kill Ergo," by some reports.
I'm just going to assume that as much as Re-L can figure out with information she has now, she has figured out. She seems really really sharp, and she is part of the Intelligence Bureau.

"It would appear that Raul does not like being the loser. Or maybe winner."
I'm not totally sure what has happened to Raul, other than what was shown last episode with his plans, and the general havoc-inducing course his emotions have been running.

Real loved Monad, either because that is her "mother" or perhaps as a "sister" or even just loving herself, since she seems to have Monad's memories to some extent.

[/SPOILERS]


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As Pino leaves the ship we see a strange crack in the cliff in the shape of a cross.
The cross symbol has been used in several other situations. I think it is sprinkled about as a reminder of the religious themes and perhaps just as a cool and mysterious "other culture symbol" addition. Which was apparently the case in Neon Genesis Evangelion. Who knew? Thinking about it, this also happens in Death Note a little. (I looked up a little of Serial Experiments Lain, Wolf's Rain, and those don't seem to include any advertently western religious elements. There are, however, a lot of shows that use the "angels and demons" theme with crucifixes adorning everything)
Instances of the cross symbol in Ergo Proxy:
This crevice they hid the Centzon behind. Episode 21

The pillar in the center of the city holding up the dome. (Shown when Re-L calls it a "boring paradise") in Episode 1, and Episode 22.

The Regent's room layout itself (I noticed it in Episode 3 when writing this guide. It's subtle, but I think there)

The book in Hoody's library with a snake and cross Episode 6. (probably just ancient art thrown in to show his real-or-pretend knowledge)

Maybe that crevice is supposed to more closely resemble the necklace Vincent has. I'm not really sure.

The immigrants are probably able to deal with the autoreiv problem best since they aren't born and bred within the Romdeau system. Being recently involved in the study of nature and evolution, I can't help but notice that this is exactly why diversity and suboptimal mutations or sexual reproduction takes place. The immigrants which were at a disadvantage because they didn't have pre-determined roles to fit into, are now at a unique advantage because they can deal with those roles disappearing or changing. Traits that aren't good, are still important to persist for awhile in case they become beneficial. Then those traits can be spread into a population that could use it. That is why sexual reproduction is superior to asexual reproduction. This is almost relevant because of the wombsys being a form of asexual reproduction, except not at all because that is consciously directed and not based on the population that came before and okay I'm way off topic, sorry.

"Fellow c-ci-citizens. Stay in your homes. A curfew is in eff-fffect. We ask that you wait to receive instrrructions from the Citizens Intelligence Bureau -Bureau -Bur-eau. Anyone caught breaking curfew without permission will be pu-pu-punished." I'm pretty sure this is entirely unintentional and unrelated, but (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5iZMD_eCpEo, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wQtZPNjc2gY)

Note: Sorry, I seem to have discovered that it actually is spelled Romdeau, and my switch to Romdo was incorrect. Mosk is still Mosk and not Mosque or Mosc though. Bleh. I will have to fix this. ----7/7/15: fixed---- And while we are talking about names: Donov Mayer is the Regent is Grandfather is His Excellency is the Head of the Administrative Bureau (not to be confused with the chief of said bureau). His entourages are The Collective, the Administrative Bureau, Entourages, the statues. Too many names!)

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