Cinnamon Ass - Reborn Like a Zombie

Madlax Episode 13 - awake

Whoo boy, what didn't happen in this episode? Carossur almost gets control of Secondary from Margaret, but the book's power almost overwhelms him and he is forced to admit defeat after circumstance and Margaret's iron will beat him - apparently the bloodstains in Secondary are his own blood, and his own forgotten past may have been recalled when he read Secondary. Friday has had enough of Carossur's stalling on capturing Madlax, however, and uses Vanessa's computer terminal to get Madlax to read Elda Taluta, sending her into a catatonic flashback of her past where it appears she may have killed her own father. In the meantime, one of Kuanjitta's henchwomen (who has been tailing both Margarat and Carossur) tries to take Secondary from Margaret while she sleeps, but Margaret warns her while she sleeps that she'll kill anyone who takes the picture book.

I forgot how twisty-turny Madlax could be, and these latest plot developments should be interesting if they're fulfilled properly. While I'm still thoroughly enjoying the series, I can see why even those who stuck it out beyond the comparatively rubbish first episode are beginning to fall by the wayside - Madlax has elements of just about everything that I look for in a series, but its problem is balancing it properly - some episodes are pretty much nothing more than talking heads with occasional moments of surreal imagery and weirdness serving to confuse or advance the storyline at a glacial rate, others are very light on substance but contain a great deal of stylized action or mood setting. I think the creative team have been just a little overamibitious, really. While the uneven style really doesn't faze me - I think the plot has sucked me in too much for anything else to annoy me - I can see it being a real love-or-hate show when it gets licensed, even more so than Noir.