Metallic Rouge

Episode 11

“A show starring puppets controlled by hands you can't see.” The Puppetmaster uses this phrase during one of his several bloviation sessions, and it's a good descriptor for how Metallic Rouge feels this week. It's not wholly accurate—we can see the Puppetmaster and Opera corralling Rouge's group as they see fit—but the vibe is on point. Why invoke the alien conflict again without iterating on that idea? Divorced from the personal stakes and development we got last week, the show again fumbles any good reason to care about the goings-on of the gang's Venusian infiltration.

The closest thing to an emotional hook comes from Gene confronting memories of his mother, and that's bad because Gene just isn't an interesting character. We've had eleven weeks to flesh out his deal, and he's still just stoic and stubborn. You'd think being reunited with his former Nean family would spark some kind of profound reexamination of his beliefs and aspirations, but he's as static as ever. I'm not even asking for him to become a revolutionary. Just something that would add a sliver of depth to his personality. He's the reason that Rouge remains hellbent on finding a middle path between Nean emancipation and subjugation, yet we have no context for their bond beyond “he's her brother.” Maybe next week, when he accepts that he's half-Nean (or maybe that Rouge is half-human?), he'll do something proactive and interesting.

Jill again serves as Gene's debate partner, but their arguments are rehashed and half-hearted. Per usual, they hint at interesting facets. I like the idea of Gene joining Aletheia with the intent of reforming the system from within, only to become another cog of its violent and oppressive apparatus. The failure of his moderate approach could compare and contrast well with Jill's militant radicalism. Her idea of shoring up allies by indoctrinating all of the new Neans created on Venus isn't right either. That's not liberty. But the writing refuses to dig meaningfully into either side. Alice calls them birds of a feather…and that's about as substantial a criticism as we get.

It's especially frustrating when we see what the episode spends its runtime on. I'm baffled by the cut to a council of humans we've never seen before. Why introduce all these talking heads at the eleventh hour when they say nothing thematically worthwhile, nothing funny, and nothing that contributes significantly to the plot? Elsewhere, the added context for Eva's disappearance and Roy's assassination is appreciated. And I'm getting increasingly sick of the Puppetmaster's schtick now that it's obvious he's Roy. Just have him do his big speech already and let us get on with whatever Metallic Rouge is very poorly trying to say.

Lest I sound like a total grump, I still enjoyed pockets of this episode. Unsurprisingly, the scenes between Rouge and Naomi are all pleasant, and they're especially refreshing contrasted against the self-serious wheel-spinning perpetrated on the Puppetmaster's side. The dynamic between Ash and Cyan is also quite cute. Maybe she can become his new sidekick once they save the solar system or whatever.

An episode that's all preamble simply doesn't work this close to the end of Metallic Rouge. If I had more confidence in the series' overall arc I might have been more okay with it kicking the can, but the reality is that I need this to be louder, dumber, or more ambitious to carry my interest from week to week. The typical Metallic Rouge episode has been at least one of those things, and that's why I've been bullish on it despite all of its flaws and chaos. But when it fumbles all of those qualities, there's not much left to take from it. It feels hollow. And it becomes boring.

Rating:

Metallic Rouge is currently streaming on Crunchyroll.

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