ERGO PROXY EPISODE 20: PLOT AND EXPLANATION

 

EPISODE 20 (SACRED EYE OF THE VOID / GOODBYE, VINCENT)

---SPOILER AHEAD---

  

Vincent is dreaming. He dreams that he wakes in Re-l’s body in Romdeau. He sees Daedalus and Swan. Swan is most likely proxy One messes with Vincent’s mind. The dream background takes place in Romdeau after their journey. Swan is assigned as Re-l’s psychotherapist. Her necklace glitters during the episode without showing what is on the tip of the necklace. 

Vincent has no memory of this place. How can this exist in Vincent’s dream? This is a very private place. In the dream, it is also known that it was Raul, who released the Rapture. It is what the Collective calls as Raul’s selfish action. The politic is also clearly explained: Donov wants Ergo/Vincent back. Re-l or Vincent have no idea of these. The person who drives the dream knows Romdeau inside out. He is proxy One. It is impossible another proxy knows, unless One share the information.

Re-l hides Pino in a basement. Pino wears her old black dress with her harmonica. She is angry towards Re-l. Re-l gives himself (Vincent/Ergo) to be detained in the Health Bureau facility. Ergo swears to kill her for her betrayal.

Swan points out to Vincent in Re-l’s body that Re-l feels guilty for giving him to the Regent. Re-l suffers split personality: Re-l and Vincent. The view suddenly changes from a consultation room into a kind of dark jail room. Swan/One wants to test if Vincent gets his memory back. He has not got it back yet.

Swan/One also wants to see Vincent’s desire. Vincent dreams he is in a meadow watching a plane flying in the blue bright sky. He dreams to be the Security Bureau Chief with Raul as his subordinate. Re-l is his fiancée. They are getting married soon. Re-l misses Vincent and hates not to see him. Vincent is a fellow citizen loved by everyone who meets him. Re-l is jealous because everyone loves him. Daedalus is Re-l’s little brother. These are Vincent’s desire.

The desire session is over. Daedalus tells that Ergo/Vincent is freed by Pino. He hands Re-l the FP gun for protection if Ergo comes. Swan stares at the gun. She confronts that it is Vincent in Re-l who let Ergo escaped.

Re-l is confused because of the split personality. Swan forces Vincent to kill Re-l to save her. Swan changes the view back to Vincent wearing Security Bureau Chief clothing. He and Pino free Ergo. Swan keeps ordering Vincent to kill Re-l. But then Vincent realizes that none of this is real because he will never give the proxy necklace to anyone including Re-l.

Swan is busted. She changes the topic. She accuses Vincent denying his own existence and his own self (as a proxy and the revenge tool). Swan says Vincent will never find a place where he belongs (if he keeps going like this). Swan/One expresses the anger when Ergo/Vincent gave back One’s necklace before the memory removal, "How cruel. I never took it off, this charm of yours. I hate men who stink of another woman (Re-l). I'm sure she (Monad/Real) feels the same way.” Vincent’s only reply is he will still protect Re-l. Swan says ‘take care’ and disappears. Vincent in Re-l form shoots Ergo/Vincent.

Vincent wakes up in the Rabbit. The group almost reaches Romdeau. Re-l says that she is as worried as Vincent about what will happen to both of them. They calm each other. She jokingly borrows the proxy necklace.

Details and Easter Eggs:

• The purpose of the dream is not to get Vincent to kill Re-l. One knows Vincent can never do that in real life. It is a test if Vincent recovers his memory yet. The answer is not yet. Then Swan/One tests if Vincent grasps the meaning of his existence. The answer is not yet. He is still drowned in his human desire: to live as a cogwheel citizen and marry Re-l. He provokes Vincent’s urgency to fight. Killing Re-l in the dream means Vincent kills his human desire. Instead, he kills Ergo, the persona One wants Vincent to have. One concludes that Vincent is still stubborn.

• Swan looks like the female version of Vincent. Vincent is a copy of proxy One.

• Swan does not reveal herself until Vincent confronts her. This is very proxy One, being shy. When she is busted, she can no longer play around and blabbers her true motives.

• Romdeau is located far away from other domes. The only proxy occupies Romdeau is proxy One. The proxies occupying Romdeau are proxy One and Real/Monad. Real/Monad has not realized her power or gained her full memory/soul yet. One arrives there before Vincent to destroy the dome. When Vincent’s group almost reaches Romdeau, proxy One feels them coming and starts the mind game.

• Re-l wears only one proxy necklace in the dream. The necklace is supposedly taken from Vincent when she betrays her. Why only one while Vincent has two? Because the other one is taken back by the original owner, proxy One. Re-l, according to One, is only entitled to hold Monad’s necklace, as she is her clone.

• Because it is Vincent’s dream, everybody has Vincent’s typical attitude. E.g.: Raul uses Vincent’s expression and Re-l is soft. Pino, however, is depicted differently from her daily attitude or Vincent’s attitude. She even gets her old black dress. Pino is the glitch that Vincent should have realized.

• From Raul’s display, Vincent does not seem to have resentment towards Raul. Vincent admires Raul as a good husband. He probably hears Raul positive side from Pino.

• Vincent probably does not know much about Daedalus. He thinks that Daedalus is younger than Re-l. Vincent sees their close relationship as brother and sister. Or maybe in real life, Vincent is jealous of Daedalus gets close to Re-l. He just hopes they are siblings.

• The dream shows how much Vincent loves Re-l. He even willingly kills his Ergo persona for her (Vincent dislikes it anyway).

• The hand gesture in the end, Re-l’s smile and good night greeting indicate how close Re-l and Vincent’s relationship.