Week 3 Summary
Episode 3 Summary (“Dhola Vira”):
As the UN forces approach the fleeing Ulysses, Aoi is thrilled to receive a call from Blantyre. The population of Yabitsu has been fairly decimated, but Blantyre promises to get crews together and send the survivors to Tibet. Meanwhile, Aoi will leave the dangerous battleship for a diplomatic mission, taking the captive Tean with her. As Tean and Aoi board their helicopter, a terrifyingly familiar squawk is heard: it’s Isla’s ostrich! Although the heavy-eyebrowed bird seems destined for the cooking pot, Tean recognizes it and asks if they can take it with them. Aoi agrees, saying that it can always be made into fine quilt if it gets too annoying.
As the helicopter departs, Aoi has an odd and intriguing flashback to the time immediately after the Hammer of Eden, when she was tending a soup line in the still-desolate Yabitsu. In her memory, Satoyama and Blantyre have both joined her and are helping to form a vision of a new, more peaceful world. But they have a third companion: Gould, who is not only fired up for Aoi’s mission but actually seems to have a bit of a crush on her. He has just finished rescuing refugees from Australia, and at the end of the flashback the four companions are standing, peacefully, and staring across the ocean into a seemingly boundless future. What happened to transform Gould into someone who would attack a civilian populace without mercy? Only… despite his horrific acts, his personal behavior still appears conscientious and even caring. Something deeper is going on here…
Meanwhile, the Ulysses is practically on top of the Dhola Vira, and it becomes apparent that, where most men would worry about avoiding the raging waters, Gould plans to actually enter them. As he heads in we see a brief flashback to the Hammer of Eden itself, which killed 6 billion people, changed the face of the planet, and created the Dhola Vira. It is unclear what we are seeing, however: walls of water so high they actually extend beyond the atmosphere rush across the earth’s surface; monuments are swallowed; the continents sink. What could have caused this?
But the Ulysses has now reach the Dhola Vira! Using both hull’s propellers, Gould carefully maneuvers in.
It’s almost too late—the submarine Satoyama sent has reached them. But just as it fires its missiles, it is caught up in the Dhola Vira and destroyed. Gould seizes the opportunity and fires missiles himself. When the explosions are heard from within the Dhola Vira, Satoyama’s crew rejoices—but Satoyama himself gets a little bit upset and declares that they’ve been had. Gould is using the Dhola Vira; and since the phenomenon extends around the entire world, he could be anywhere by now. He’s escaped.
Aoi receives this news just before she moves out of communications range. She tries to get Tean to tell her how Gould knows how to use the Dhola Vira, but Tean says nothing. As the two talk, they look down at the Japan Trench—which is now a steaming, boiling wasteland.
Onboard the Ulysses, Keel has no idea that there’s been a battle. He just thinks that Gould has entered and left the Dhola Vira, and he thinks that’s incredibly cool. Keel accosts Gould and Joze in a corridor, but he can’t make them tell him how they managed to do it. They’ve come up in the Arabian Sea, and Keel is thrilled that they’ve made it halfway around the world. Joze and Gould are actually fairly surprised that Keel knows that much geography; apparently, the new world has no map, and Keel and his brother are the only two who know much about it (because they have seen it from space). As soon as he hears Tean’s name, Keel gets angry again; and he says that if it weren’t for Tean, he could still be up on the space station. He seems to blame Tean for some kind of fall… regardless, Keel only has one desire: although he’s grateful to Gould for saving his and Isla’s life, he’d like to get off now. First he collects some provisions by doing a bit of gambling with the crew; he literally reduces the galley staff to nothing, winning their possessions, their clothes, and even some pots and pans. Dragging the enormous bag of stuff into the hallway, Keel finds Gould and demands to be let off the boat. “Off?” says Gould, snickering. He drags Keel up to the conning tower and demonstrates what has happened to the Arabian sea: the oil fields have exploded (Gould suggests as a result of their inhabitant’s actions) and the area has become practically Arctic. When he offers to let Keel off here, Keel tries to act tough and tells him off. This result in Keel’s hand becoming frozen to the side of the conning tower. There’s only one way to get it off without ripping the skin: Gould brings up the men who Keel cheated, and they… uh… they get their vengeance even as they help him out. Because all that’s needed to detach human skin from cold metal is some nice, warm liquid…
As the episode ends Keel wanders into Isla’s room and tells her that he’s decided that they should really stay on the Ulysses a bit longer. She smiles and says that’s fine, and then announces that she’s decided on a name for her child. She’ll name him after her savior: she’ll name him Keel. Keel simply can’t bring himself to tell her that it wasn’t he that saved the child, and so his look of guilt closes the show…
“Today’s transmission… complete.”