"Don't forget. It's not over. Nothing is over. It's show time."
FULL EPISODE SPOILERS AHEAD
Wow, talk about a total turn-around. This episode went from "oh yeah let's team up!" to "OH MY GOD SINON WHAT IS HAPPENING" in quite literally a second. 'twas a twist, I must say. And while this episode does focus up on the new, or rather official, teaming up of Sinon and Kirito, there is also a renewed focus on our buds back in ALO, who are watching the stream of GGO. Not sure how, really, but whatever.
I'm also not entirely sure why the episode is named "Death Gun," I feel that there could have been a better title and that this title could be used in a later episode. There was a lot of talk about Death Gun, and a possible discovery of his identity (twice) it felt like this was more about Kirito and Sinon rather than Death Gun. Having said that, he got the most screen-time this episode that he has all season so far. Maybe the title was celebratory?
A lot also went down this episode. Like, a lot. It wasn't so much the jumping back and forth as much as it was trying to keep up with the fast-paced story that was unfolding. It's odd to say that, too, considering how the episode doesn't really show us anything new until like the three-minute mark. It begins before the ending of last episode, really, and even that isn't too important as it's in ALO.
Specifically, it begins with Asuna, Yui, Leafa, Lis, Silica, and Klein all hanging out in ALO watching Dyne versus Pale Rider, where they comment that Pale Rider might be the one to win it all if Kirito doesn't defeat him. Then, as we know, Pale Rider gets taken down, and the in-game camera focuses up on Death Gun, who pours on the nightmare fuel for the girls.
Back in GGO, Kirito continues to urge Sinon to shoot him, and she does--and misses. Er, she doesn't miss. Death Gun dodges the bullet, then finishes off Pale Rider, "disconnecting" him from the game. He points his gun at a camera floating above him, as if speaking to the players in ALO, and says that it isn't over, obviously meaning that SAO is not yet over and he will be the one to bring it back. Because he is crazy like that.
It's never really made clear if Death Gun knows the girls and Klein are watching or if he's just conveniently hoping they are. Because if they aren't, it would be really awkward for him to be making such cryptic threats.
Klein points out that Death Gun is indeed a member of Laughing Coffin, as indicative of their former leader's catchphrase which Death Gun just used. Of course, nobody can remember the leaders of Laughing Coffin. How, though?
Asuna was second in command, and based on the timetable we're given, this was during the height of her command, before she started to fall in love with Kirito and slowly make her way out of the Knights of the Blood Oath. I feel like, since she was into it and always studying, that she would have memorized the names of the leaders, particularly those that survived should they somehow resurface within the game so they could track them down and defeat them. Perhaps it's something like Kirito where she just forgot and it's been put away into her unconscious, but now would also be the time for it to start to creep up. It just seems too convenient that she would forget this but Kirito would remember that one time he fought Laughing Coffin, among probably many more.
Death Gun gets away and also allows the river to hide him, going off the grid. Kirito tells Sinon he'd rather her not follow him since he is going to pursue Death Gun, and that he has to finish the business that began in SAO. Sinon follows anyway, wisely remarking that they don't know where Death Gun is and that he could pop up anywhere at anytime and kill her just the same. They decide to team up and take down another player. In a weird way, killing them in the game is actually proving to save their lives. It puts them out of reach of Death Gun's supposed abilities.
They follow the river and deduce that Death Gun is in the abandoned city area in the center of the map, and head off there, dashing across the long stretches of map to get there.
Wow, that is an unbelievable amount of running. Do they seriously have no cars, I mean what the heck?
Back in ALO, Asuna decides to log out and talk to the man from Internal Affairs, to see if he knew about Death Gun, while Yui is going to run a search for some more info on GGO. As for why they didn't do this before letting Kirito go over to GGO is the big question.
Teenagers.
Sinon and Kirito reach the city where they decide that Death Gun is more than likely the player known as Gunner X, since "Gun" could be short for "Gunner" and the cross sign he makes is just like an "X." Makes sense, fair enough. Given how elusive Death Gun is, it would be difficult to track him even if a player in the game knew his real name.
Gunner X is hiding in the stadium, waiting for another player to come into sight, so Kirito heads off to go get him, with Sinon reluctantly agreeing to help him again.
At first it was kind of cute how Sinon would always act tough or whatever, but now, it's getting kind of annoying. She keeps trying to tell herself that she isn't allowed to befriend Kirito or anything like that for no reason. There is only one silly little reason he's given her not to be her friend. He spared her life in the Finals, he came clean about why he is in GGO, and he's allowed her to help him save many people's lives! I don't get why she has to be so antsy other than to build up to her realizing how wrong she was later on. It's lame.
Sinon moves out to go to the stadium, thinking about how when she finishes off Death Gun, she can also finish off Kirito, but then a paralysis dart hits her in the shoulder noooo Sinon noooo.
Death Gun materializes from invisibility, meaning that Gunner X isn't Death Gun but rather Sterben is (or, so it seems, who knows?!) and slowly walks up to Sinon, mentioning to himself that if he kills Sinon, Kirito will reveal himself as either a fake or the player that he fought so many years ago. He does the cross sign as Sinon reaches for her handgun, then realizes something:
The pistol Death Gun uses is the same one she killed that man in the post-office with.
Stunned by this information, Sinon falls into paralyzing shock as Death Gun aims his gun at her, and the episode fades to black with a gunshot ringing out.
WHAT. HAPPENED.
Man! Two cliff-hanger episodes in a row! We weren't getting this back in Season 1, I'll tell you that.
This episode was pretty cool and heightened the hype up for Death Gun certainly, particularly by showing us how this guy can be anywhere at pretty much any time and he gives no craps about anything but his mission. Dude dodged a bullet from a sniper rifle while Sinon was fully relaxed (which means the accuracy was at just about 100% to hit him). Dang.
The ending of this episode is where the real strength is, leaving us breathless and completely impatient for more. Can you imagine having to wait a week to see the next episode? I can. And did. But you don't have you.
Next time, we see who fired the bullet. Was it Death Gun? Maybe Kirito? Perhaps even Gunner X?! Who knows! See you then.
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