Another very solid and well paced episode in my view.
In the closing scene, we saw rose coloured illumination on Titan X which would be consistent with fan theories that she is Biollante..
I’m not convinced though given that the Titan X is a great sea monster with satellite creatures. Biollante was originally the first vegetative kaiju and this Titan X seems very much an animal.
Beyond the monster story, episode seems to be one of discovery a resorting of roles amongst the principal characters.
One of the things that’s impressed me across both seasons is how the various Randas and Shaw alternate between impatient risk-taking and caution. Events impact them and shape their future reactions, but with time they can also grow and change.
I really appreciate the growth in Kentaro, who has settled in the two years preparing to recover Lee, Cate and May from Axis Mundi. He’s gone from self-absorbed, suspicious, easily triggered and somewhat feckless in season one to a quietly competent and self-assured person in a crisis. At the moment, he seems the most to be the most psychologically stable of the Randas. I’m hoping that he’s heading towards an opportunity to stand out in his own by the end of season.
Cate’s still wrapped up in her own trauma and guilt, but it’s Shaw who — in contrast with his younger self — is impatient and a risk taker.
Keiko is right to question whether Shaw is really the same guy that saw her fall into Axis Mundi in 1959.