Madness and Machinations
In the latest episode of GATE Lt. Itami is pressed into service trying to help Tuka (Chuka?, Tsuka?), the blonde elf, deal with her grief issues.
That sounds so much more respectable than "Itami get's a gorgeous and exotic but mentally damaged teenager to call him "Daddy"'...."Though both are accurate.
Tuka is really broken, she cannot cope with the death of her father and has convinced herself that Itami, the closest thing to a father figure in the shattered remnants of her world, is in fact her dad. Tuka is proudly showing Itami off as her dad to everyone who doubted her protestations that he was alive and Itami, his command and the townspeople are going along with this co-dependant enabling of her mental deterioration because they are evil at a loss as to what to do.
Well...there is also concern that modern psychological knowledge does not apply well to elves. Certainly psychiatric drugs would not be advisable given that Elves are quite biologically distinct. This is eminently reasonable, and the concern about their different psychology is reinforced by the only other Elf present (Yao) who describes Tuka's physical symptoms as being typical of what one sees right before an elven psychotic break.
Yao is very familiar with Tuka's problem because she has deliberately forced the issue and pushed Tuka to the brink. Elves have a very profound need for closure and Yao, having observed that the Japanese are willing to go to great lengths to protect those in their circle of responsibility (like dropping a Paveway on the Imperial Senate last episode) is hoping that she can use this to her own ends. Desperation has not been kind to her mental stability either...
The fire dragon is still menacing her people. In a rather frantic effort to obtain assistance, Yao has revealed that her land is rich in diamonds and "oil" ( one assumes she has specified rock oil, but for all we know it could be sunflower plantations). To further sweeten the deal, she has also thrown into the basket of incentives, HERSELF as a lifetime concubine to Itami if he oversees the extermination of the dragon. Yanagida, the intel officer is quite intrigued with the mineral riches in the dark elves area and decides this may warrant some ...flexibility.
Yanagida seems to be from the Marco Polo Bridge school of Japanese strategy and diplomacy. He presents Itami with a set of orders tailor made for him to "just happen" to blunder into the Fire Dragon. Yanagida is unsure just what makes Itami tick, but he is confidant that Itami will jump at the chance to do good, achieve glory, or whatever flicks his bic.
However in addition to being a very poor psychologist Itami has other responsibilities that he takes seriously.
Itami has been quite pro-active heretofore, but in this episode he confirms to the audience that he has no interest in wasting his troops lives on a dubious errand with so little chance of success. (This is the kind of CO one hopes to get...not some Odysseus or Custer who is going to challenge the gods to take him down.)
Elsewhere, we touch base with King Duran, who had multiple limbs blown off in episode 1 and was seen to have survived later when he advised Pinã from what appeared to be his deathbed. The JSDF has given him prosthetics and he in return dispenses sage advice.
Of course, stuff happens, things get complicated, our hero ends up incurring a debt and there is some indication of what's being hinted at in those silly closing credits.....
UPDATE:
I probably should mention this...One other thing warrants some discussion: Roary Mercury invites herself on Itami's damned fool errand to go slay the dragon alone. She's joined by Leili who does not bite Itami, or suck his blood...which would be unworthy of mention if Rory had not done so. It seems that Rory has called "dibs" on Itami's soul so that when he dies she gets to feed on what she is confident will be a most tasty élan vital. It bears repeating that Rory is a demigod who eats souls...or at least guides them through her body to the afterlife. It is unclear if she's going to guide Itami's soul or digest it as the interaction of her digestive tract and heaven, hell and or samsara are not entirely clear. So yes,. at this point Itami is attempting to go out and fight a dragon that a recon unit could not handle with a crazy woman who thinks he's her father, a 15 year old mage, a fairly ruthless elf and a being who is eagerly looking forward to his death.
What could POSSIBLY go wrong?
Meanwhile....
As hinted last week, Zorzal, the thoroughly despicable Caligula wannabe prince, is going to assume the throne of the empire. In reality he is supposed to act as a figurehead, allowing the Emperor to maintain control, while the Empire is allowed to save face. In in an unsuspected and even more real reality he is quietly plotting to go for the whole ball of wax, and is sending out warnings to people to pick a side in the upcoming power struggle.
It appears that the of the theories we advanced in last weeks review of this show; number two is the winner (It was: She has a cunning plan). You see, the Rabbit Queen is making her move. It turns out that for some time, Tyuule has had way more on the ball and vastly more power at her disposal than anyone assumed. She sends word via a courier that things are about to fall into place.
It's hard not to sympathize with Tyuule, but some of history's worst monsters are those who have truly suffered and whose rage has some justification to fuel it. For those are the ones most likely to abandon mercy and most willing to see the world burn.
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