Code Geass Episode 22

To anyone who hasn't watched Code Geass yet: Stop reading and go watch it. Don't spoil yourself. You'll be happy to have listened to me. Trust me!

Psych! Well, this must be one of the most frustrating, most heart-wrenching episodes in anime history. It's not even the first time I have watched it and I haven't forgotten about it (obviously), but it still managed to break me.

Seeing the kindest person in this series happily shooting down random civilians was too much for me. I had to stop after this episode to vent my frustration.

I think this show, and especially this episode, isn't discussed enough on the internet. I need more weebs and weeblets discussing it to soothe my mind. I hope I'm not the only one who's messed up by that episode, even on a rewatch.

What do you think? Was this an ass-pull / lazy writing? Or genius and diabolical? How did you feel about this episode? Did you instantly know which episode I'm talking about?

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Commentaires

Motor_Difference_8022025-12-25 00:23

I don’t remember the particular episode but I recommend the show. I have it second on my all time list

Icy-Introduction55922025-12-25 00:29

I think you might need a rewatch. You obviously didn't suffer enough. /j(?)

jegonzales2025-12-25 00:24

No it was extremely necessary to show what lelouch had to go through to complete his goal. At any cost, any sacrifice. It made it even better that it was Euphy, she had to be the one or else it wouldn’t have been as impactful to not only him, but the rest of the world.

Icy-Introduction55922025-12-25 00:31

It also made it more painful, haha.. Ha. Yeah, it still hurts. The author knew what he was doing.

jegonzales2025-12-25 00:36

I actually just rewatched the show about a week ago, binged R1, R2 and the movie in 3 days lmao, and this episode and the one where Rolo does what he does, iykyk, were the hardest to watch because two great characters just get canned out of nowhere. It was done intentionally to bring audiences in. Trust me, I hate that two great characters are offed like that but for the sake of the story and how lelouch has to mange his relationships under the mask, Pure cinema.

John_Bot2025-12-25 00:29

I don't think it's bad

The biggest criticism is that it feels a bit contrived with how it was initiated. Could have been a bit more elegant

But it drives home a few things:

1. The power is brutal. Very similar to the one ring in Lord of the rings. It will consume you and spit you out.

2. It shows that lelouch isn't as in control as he believed himself to be. It shows he's ignorant of the power he holds.

3. Euphie's fear of the command shows how evil the command really is. It's so counter to her nature that she fights an all-powerful ability with her willpower. But eventually succumbs.

And it also serves to be the final moment, final motivation lelouch needs to fully commit to his vengeance.

Icy-Introduction55922025-12-25 00:37

That's a nice opinion you got there. Don't mind if I adapt it. Really rational. I'll use that reasoning after making a few friends watch this hellish show.

FHI_iSmile2025-12-25 00:30

This is like the second most talked about episode of the series after the ending. Pretty sure most people think it's a stupid moment used to force the plot to move in another direction. Although I also think most people just ignore this moment because of how good the ending is

Icy-Introduction55922025-12-25 00:41

It's not enough. Searching through reddit an mal, I just wasn't satisfied with what I found.

Also opinions seem to be split about this event. Probably more people who think it's "stupid" but it's hard to tell, since the scores for this episode are still really good.

At least I don't think it was stupid, but it definitely was hard to watch.

Consistent_Case13222025-12-25 00:35

When I first saw that scene I liked it. It was even my favorite plot twist for a while. I've thought about it later, and I've realised it's one of the biggest flaws in Code Geass. Lelouch is incredibly smart. Then he makes the dumbest mistake you could ever think of. C.C. even warned him. That's just stupid. Code Geass has no source material and it shows sometimes.

jegonzales2025-12-25 00:38

The great thing about the episode though is that it shows how arrogant he is since he has that power thinking he has so much control over it when in reality he doesn’t. It also serves to set up the destruction of the world and all that too.

Consistent_Case13222025-12-25 00:40

I agree, the idea is good. But the execution is horrible.

jegonzales2025-12-25 00:43

How so? He loses control of it not thinking about the consequences of what he is saying? On top of it, the mental battle euphy has to go through just highlights how painful it actually is for her to go through with the command. It’s a character building moment that sets up lelouch path to conquer the world.

Consistent_Case13222025-12-25 00:50

Why, out of all of the things he could have said instead, he said she should kill every japanese?

Even him completely ignoring what C.C. said is exaggeration imo.

Everything else is good about the episode. My favorite thing about Code Geass has always been the character conclusions.

jegonzales2025-12-25 01:01

I honestly couldn’t tell you why but I think it was perfect for the episode, sets up huge support for the black knights.

But you also gotta remember this isn’t a love story or a soft type of show, it’s ruthless and sacrifices had to be made whether he made an accident or not. Definitely sucked seeing the aftermath of that episode but I think it was necessary for the story.

Plus if I recall correctly, he still hadn’t had his geass for too long so in that moment he thought he was only joking and ends up losing control. He was saying hypothetically what he would have made her do.

Maybe I’m a sadist idk but I think it was a good episode

Consistent_Case13222025-12-25 01:26

He had it for a couple of months. But C.C. warned him about it. She said if he uses his geass too much, it could become uncontrollable. Also there is the geass user who Lelouch met somewhere around episodes 12-15, who couldn't control his geass.

The main problem is with the joke. It's too unrealistic. Lelouch was unrealistic from the start, but that scene was just too much.

>But you also gotta remember this isn’t a love story or a soft type of show

I think the massacre and Euphy conclusion are the best things about that episode. And yes, it was necessary for the story.

I understand if it's not a flaw for you, but it's a flaw for me.

jegonzales2025-12-25 01:28

Ahhhh I see where you are coming from now, I had a different impression of what you were saying, I totally agree with you then. Definitely not the best way to show the massacre but imo I think the massacre was needed and some sort of meaningful death to lelouch/britannia. Sorry I didn’t catch on to what you were saying before.

Okeabyss2025-12-25 00:46

Personally I thought Lelouch running around the arena in full Zero outfit while the Britannians slaughtered all the Japanese around him before just walking out and none of them thought to shoot the enemy terrorist leader was more contrived than the whole Euphemia thing.

LowDudgeon2025-12-25 00:56

I can't find it anymore but the memes from it were amazing. The one I think about is when she's standing there blasting, it colorshifts each shot and is captioned PARTY HARD.

So anyways, yeah that scene hits hard.

CommentStrict89642025-12-25 00:59

First of all, it was extremely obvious from the start that Euphemia was gonna die, and Lelouch would have something to do with it. This is basically right after Gundam SEED in terms of "big shows" at Sunrise, and something like this is basically Sunrise's playbook:

We have two friends A and B. A kills B's other friend, possibly unintentionally. Now B is mad at A.

Whether or not the exact event was an ass pull (due to the sudden split of the show into two parts), we don't really know. But the outline of the plot was very likely planned from the very start.

Silcaria2025-12-25 01:41

>What do you think? Was this an ass-pull / lazy writing?

Yes. What I find even worse in terms of writing is what comes after she gets Geass'd and goes on a rampage. She dies from a mid range shot to the chest despite having access to what one can assume is the best available medical fallacilities in the world.

"But someone dying from being shot in the chest isn't unrealistic regardless of what type of medical staff and equipement they have access to".

Normally, sure. Problem with that is that this happens after a guy gets riddled with bullets and seemingly just walks it off and gets patched up somewhere random. It's poor world building that gets compounded on an already shittily written moment.

ZepperMen2025-12-25 06:21

If he had bickered more with her and had gotten angry towards her in an argument it would have been a more seamless and less frustrating.

"You're methods are not enough and only exist at face value! You may as well wipe away all Japanese!"

This would have been a far more favorable result. Instead we got "I could even command you to kill all Japanese people if I wanted to"