Zodiac steps out more from the shadows as the series nears its ending.
What They Say:
Beginning of the End – The Japanese government arrests Tony after the incident at the Arc Station.
The Review:
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers)
While Tony had a bit of a breakthrough with events against Zodiac after dealing with Yinsen, that wasn’t going to be the end of it of course. As big of a bad as Yinsen had become for personal reasons, there’s still more to the organization above him. And the events of the previous episode with the way the Arc Station was under siege, it’s started to push a form of criticism against Stark that causes public opinion to wonder if he’s a part of Zodiac. It’s the kind of move that at least gets him out of the picture for a bit, but not without a minor twist as Sakurai takes possession of him and brings him to his own residence rather than a formal police booking.
Naturally, once he’s out of the way Zodiac takes it to the next level by launching a full on attack on the Diet, turning it to rubble and having a significant amount of hostages. And with the Arc Station under siege in a different way, it’s something that’s putting everyone into serious panic mode. The framing of Stark is done fairly easily here, but it’s the kind of method that does work simply because of natural distrust and a steady media campaign over the course of the series. Tony’s not the type to take it all laying down though and he has an amusing James Bond sort of way of getting out of it so that he can do what he has to do in order to stop Zodiac.
Though certain events do move a bit quickly here, it does move the show to a big level here quickly as we see what Zodiac is really up to. Well, we’ve known since the beginning that they’re a classic villain group bent on world domination, but it’s a bit more up front and personal this time around as we see those that are really involved in it which totally crushes Sakurai. It moves the show to an expected but good route as it lets us have Tony battling the Zodiac machines on the outside while the inside is about Japan itself and how those want to save it and the world through force and vision. While the show is obviously about Tony, they do make it personal enough for the original Japanese audience through Sakurai to show the villain as being one of their own but the man to do some damage against it being Japanese as well.
In Summary:
The series finally makes the expected reveals here about Zodiac and moves them fully to the forefront so that the real villains are now completely visible. Of course, public opinion has to be first turned against Tony and Iron Man and that hits the same kind of notes where it’s quick and not terribly detailed but fits within the framework of the series so far. With this one flowing into the next episodes finale, it’s a fair bit of setup as well for that as Tony gets himself on the right page and Sakurai understands fully what’s going on now, which puts him in a new position. His story has been a smaller one along the way but he’s had some good moments here in a basic form. The show continues to be decent at best but I’m continuing to enjoy it as a simple and almost classic style Iron Man story more than anything else.
Grade: B
