meh

Kallen adored Zero, who was the one who gave her hope. He gave her brother’s death meaning. Thanks to Zero, Naoto’s dream can live on. He saved her mother, allowing Kallen to reconcile with her.

At the start of the show, Kallen disliked the Student Council. She saw them as having no care in the world. She saw Suzaku as a traitor. But the one she disliked the most was Lelouch, who acted cool and aloof as if nothing concerned him.

But then she saw how kind the council was to Suzaku, another Japanese like her. She began to think of how she’s a coward, hiding as a Britannian while Suzaku is out in the open in a Britannian school and framed for killing a prince. Then she learned how much Shirley, a very kind person, liked Lelouch and Kallen’s opinion started to change. Maybe Lelouch wasn’t so bad after all. Everything in the school had proven her wrong.

When Kallen found out they were the same person, she was shocked and confused. I think her reaction is largely in part of the plot, but if I had to come up with a reason based on her character, it would be that she was actually in love with Zero. Finding out he was someone around her made her question if anything he said was genuine. If he had been playing her, because he knew she didn’t know. That he knew he could tell her anything he wants to be done. This was also in the same situation of Zero having abandoned the Black Knights. It was a historical turn in history.

Kallen ends up regretting her hesitation. Which makes me think she was just too shocked because of how infatuated she was with Zero. She grew to also like Lelouch. Overall, I think the series didn’t do her justice anyway and that’s no way her fault. It was the Season 2 shenanigans.

Then, Shirley. Shirley is universally someone everyone liked because she was a good person. Lelouch saw this too. The most telling is how Lelouch would come to Shirley for advice when it came to people. While Nunnally would also be great, Lelouch was pressured as her big brother to maintain an image. But he was okay with being vulnerable to Shirley. He understood she would never do anything to hurt him.

And that’s why Shirley sticking with him, killing for him destroyed Lelouch. Lelouch involved someone innocent in his life, someone who made the student life of lie he hated be bearable. Shirley was a glue in the council. Shirley reminded Lelouch of the importance of everyday life. The silliness. The drama. The ridiculousness of it. And honestly, Shirley is that way for Milly and the others too.

Shirley found out that Lelouch was also her father’s murderer. Through this connection, she started to doubt Kallen. Suzaku. She began questioning everyone, and that led her through the suffering of isolation. Who else was lying to her? Laughing behind her back? What else did she not know?

Shirley resolved to face this than to run away. If she didn’t know, she would simply find out. She decided to believe in Lelouch, and she even understood that he must be in pain. She wouldn’t hesitate to work with anyone as long as it was to help him be happy.

But then the plot said she should die, so… I suppose it was a symbolic way of Lelouch’s double life ending. He can no longer return to that sweet lie, where he lived peacefully with family and friends as Lelouch Lamperouge.

Finally, CC. Lelouch was just a means to an end with CC. We saw how she was the same with Mao, comforting them yet pushing them to use their Geass. She then abandoned Mao because she recognized he would not be willing to kill her and grant her wish. These are all things CC admitted herself.

Lelouch was vaguely aware of it and they worked out because they were honestly the same: they wanted something, and they were willing to use others for that end. It was convenient and both of them liked this arrangement.

But there was something more important: Lelouch knew CC would never betray him. And if she didn’t- and this is also important - Lelouch was fine with it.

Lelouch saw CC’s contract as his new life, a life that he owed CC. This is a reoccurring theme in CG: Zero gave Kallen a chance, Euphy gave Suzaku a chance, and now CC gave Lelouch a chance. This is a story about people finding happiness, and you have these characters who are saved thanks to the actions of their accidental saviors.

And in this new life, there was only CC. Only CC knew. Only CC had something to lose alongside him. Considering how lonely and disturbing this path was, Lelouch naturally found companionship in CC.

And saw CC started to see that Lelouch was actually surrounded by good people, how he had a carefree life, how he was shaken by the decisions he made, CC began to regret. She was bringing him down so she can die.

CC is a very complex character. An empty person. Lelouch was the opposite. Charles told him he was a dead person walking. That none of his possession and life were his to begin with. Lelouch rebelled. He shouted that he was a human being whose life was his own. Lelouch was flawed in many ways, but he represented the spirit to fight back.

Their whole contract was a farce to protect themselves. When they realized how they cared about each other, it became their mission to protect each other.

Lelouch wanted CC to live. Lelouch wanted Suzaku to live. Lelouch commanded Shirley to live as she died. Lelouch told Kallen that she had to live on, no matter what.

Lelouch had many facades that also allowed him to learn how colorful life could be. How there was happiness if he had just been willing to see it. It wasn’t attaining his revenge that made him realize it. It was the people that he lost. The people he had hurt.