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| Plot Synopsis | Interesting and Fun Details |
| Episode Review | Character Development |
| Episode Analysis | |
Plot Synopsis
This episode opens with the sound of footsteps in a hallway, the starting of a powerful car, and an obviously heavily modified sports car running down a motorcycle gang. While the sports car is causing the various bikers to wipe out, Daley and Leon are in their Road Chaser discussing the Griffon which has been terrorizing various biker gangs, but which the standard Highway Patrol has been unable to stop. At this point, Priss zips by them both on her latest racing motorcycle.
Later that night, when Priss is out cruising the streets, she runs low on gas and heads to Raven's Garage, where Dr. Raven (aka Pops) and Mackie are working on customizing various vehicles. Priss sees Mackie's recently finished pride and joy, the Highway Star motorcycle, a bike which Mackie has put together for the sheer fun of it, to see if he could. However, it's not meant to be ridden, since it's 700 horsepower and responsiveness is too much for any normal person to handle. Of course Priss has to try it, and even she's unable to control it, and it crashes after kicking itself off it's stand. Needless to say, Mackie is a bit upset by the damage to his newest toy.
Back in a spartan appartment, J.B. Gibson, the driver of the Griffon, is reliving an assault. At one point, both Gibson and his girlfriend, Naomi Anderson, were out driving in the Griffon when a motorcycle gang assaulted them both. Gibson was severely injured by a sword attack and the resulting accident, and Naomi went into shock rather than remember what had happened to her.
Another day, and and Priss and Linna, both dressed in fatigues and carrying submachineguns, are assaulting a building which Sylia and Nene are defending. Priss and Linna sneak inside and successfully "kill" Nene with paint rounds, only to be killed by Sylia, who had planted a land mine. During the meal afterward, which the losing team of Linna and Priss have to pay for, the team talks about their various lives and the scarcity of jobs recently.
The scene returns to Gibson's garage, where he Gibson has disassembled the Griffon and is carefully modifying it for more speed, better control, adding more armor, etc. Gibson himself shows all the signs of a man obsessed with vengeance. Upon completing the modifications, he returns to the streets to extract his vengeance by forcing bike gangers to wipe out. He passes Priss at one point, who takes his attacks against the gangers a little too personally and accellerates to catch him. She does, and is attacked by Gibson a couple of times, until he gets a video image of her face, decides that she's not involved again, and accellerates out of sight. Priss tries to keep up, but her souped-up racing bike just can't handle the speed and freezes up, wrecking the bike and ditching Priss painfully in the process.
The next morning, Linna has drags a slightly annoyed Priss to the hospital to have her crash injured leg looked at. While there, Linna spots Gibson as a potential boyfriend, but he's taking Naomi out of the hospital ward and is thus unavailable. At the same time, though, there's a motorcycle gang riding by the hospital on the highway and the sound causes Naomi to freak out. After the hospital visit, Priss goes to the AD Police headquarters and convinces Nene to look up various details on the Griffon for her. At one point, Nene even has to illegally access a police record using a recording of Chief Todo's voice..
Later that day, Gibson arrives at Raven's Garage to talk to Dr. Raven. Gibson asks for the Mind Feedback System, a cybernetic system which can interface a human brain directly with a vehicle's control system. Mackie, still repairing the damaged Highway Star, overhears the conversation. Pops gives Gibson a mild rebuttal for caring more about his revenge than about Naomi, but Gibson somehow acquires the MFS anyway. Gibson returns to his appartment, where he fires a full clip of bullets into the cinderblock wall. Later that night, Gibson adds the MFS and a turbine engine to the Griffon, plus even more armor, sensors, and even a cattleguard. As he's leaving the garage, Gibson sees the police asking neighbors questions about him, and when the police finally pay him a visit, he shoots on in the shoulder and, after carrying Naomi to the Griffon, escapes the police in it.
Back at Raven's Garage again, Priss sees the picture of Pops, Naomi, and Gibson, and she finally makes the connection that the Griffon's driver is Gibson. Pops, feeling partly responsible for Gibson, asks Priss and the Knight Sabers to save Gibson and Naomi. Priss convinces Sylia to take the job with a blatenly lie that Dr. Raven would upgrade the Knight Sabers' motorslaves for free if they did the job.
Revenge Road ends with Priss chasing after Gibson on the only thing that the Knight Sabers have that could possibly catch the Griffon - the newly repaired Highway Star. Linna and Sylia, both in thier motorslaves, chase after Gibson as well, but they use various subway tunnels and flight to catch up. While Gibson is running from the Highway Patrol, who are herding him toward a specific highway, the AD Police, led by Leon, have hauled an old, rusty tank shell up onto the highway in an attempt to stop the armored Griffon. Naomi regains consciousness after having fainted when Gibson jumped from a parking structure onto the highway and immediately berates Gibson for what he's done to the Groffon. Seeing as Naomi is talking normally, a sign that she's no longer in severe mental shock, Gibson tries to stop the Griffon only to find that it has taken on a life of its own. Priss, using the Highway Star's Nitro boosters for the extra speed she needs to finally catch the Griffon, climbs aboard the out-of-control Griffon and, with the help of Linna and Sylia, rescues both Naomi and Gibson from a firey death. Unfortunately, Priss also wrecks the Highway Star in the process, which Mackie gives to her to repair.
Interesting and Fun Details
- Leon calls Priss his "singing sweetheart" when she passes him and Daley in the opening scenes.
- Linna falls flat on her face when sneaking into the building during the paintball training exercise.
- Nene shoots down Leon, who hits on her after looking up the Griffon data for Priss.
- When Gibson is in the Cybermonster Griffon (the car's last incarnation) and approaching the ADP roadblock, Leon is looking through his binoculars, at night, with his shades on.
- Leon, still wearing his shades, pulls a pistol grenade from his jacket. It's interesting that Leon seems to be the most heavily armed ADP officer most of the time.
- Mackie talks about Sylia and Linna taking some shortcuts, and the next scene is of them going down into the subway tunnels.
Episode Review
I like this episode for several reasons. First and foremost is that there's a fantastic car chase at the end and I'm something of a sucker for a great car chase. Chasing a car into a parking structure and later having that car literally break out of an upper level of the structure and jump down to a highway is way cool, even if it is a little unrealistic. Add in nitro burners on a motorcycle with military style controls and a car which can outrun police helicoptors, and you've got the makings of a great car chase.
Second, there's quite a bit of action in this episode beyond just the car chase. That all the action revolves around a certain Griffon sports car and various motorcycles is admitedly a bit limited, but it's still a lot of fun. Third, I really like the idea that Priss has finally found a bike that she just can't handle - the Highway Star.
Fourth and last, there's a lot more comedy in this episode than there has been in the three prior episodes. For example, Dr. Raven's "Strike One!" comment when Priss loses control of the Highway Star, or the entire paintball/dinner scene, or even the shortcuts which Sylia and Linna take during the final chase. This episode is just plain fun.
My biggest complaint about this episode is the music. It's very forgettable, unfortunately. All in all, though, Revenge Road is a pretty good episode, even if it's not my favorite.
Character Development
- Nene: Finally, in the fourth episode, some time developing the character of Nene. At dinner with the rest of the Knight Sabers, she seems to be a generally happy person for the first time in the series, even if she is apparently a little jealous of Linna's having a boyfriend all the time. Nene also seems somewhat idealistic in that she seems to feel that the Knight Sabers not having jobs means that the world is somehow a little better, a character trait which Priss teases her about instantly. Nene's eating almost everything in sight shows that she really likes to eat, especially sweets.
But at the same dinner, something even more interesting is revealed about Nene: that she's a woman, not just a Knight Saber or an AD Police officer. In fact, Nene surprises both the viewer and the rest of the Knight Sabers by indicating that she wants a "passionate love, and soon", indicating that Nene has a slightly frustrated sex drive.
Finally, at AD Police headquarters, Nene demonstrates her innovative and creative sides as well, specifically when she helps Priss gain access to police records about Griffon's and thier owners. Nene also shows that her purpose in the Knight Sabers isn't combat, but rather information gathering, as a spy inside the AD Police, and as an expert in hacking various computers. Finally, when Leon catches Nene inside the computer room, she reveals that not only is she a bad liar, but she's capable of shutting down Leon's come-on's as efficiently as Priss does.
- Linna: We learn a little more about Linna's character in this episode than we knew before, but not a lot. At the dinner, Linna talks all about how she's left her last boyfriend behind and is already dating yet another man. To my perspective, this is tremendously fickle. But Linna reinforces our perception of her materialism by telling the rest of the Knight Sabers that she was looking forward to the income from thier jobs allowing her to trade in her car for a new one and to buy new clothing.
Linna also is very a very realistic person. In the final scene, she just can't understand Nene's romanticism and the way that Nene sees Gibson's actions as chivalrous. Linna seems to feel, perhaps correctly, that those attitudes toward life and relationships just don't work.
- Mackie: This episode spends a little more time developing Mackie beyond the typical letcherous teenaged boy. In this episode, Mackie first shows that he loves mechanical things, like cars, bikes, and mecha in general. His love of vehicles of all kinds is shown not only by his working in Dr. Raven's garage, but by his creation of the Highway Star and his ability to speak "Motorcycle" with Priss. His creation of the Highway Star alone shows that not only does Mackie love building vehicles, he's also pretty good at it.
Another thing we learn about Mackie in this episode is that he's relatively observant and inquisitive even if his vehicle-induced tunnel vision occasionally gets in the way. This characteristic is first revealed when Mackie overhears Gibson's and Pops' converation about the MFS.
- Sylia: There are a couple of potentially disturbing things about Sylia which we learn about in this episode. The first is that Sylia may be willing to sacrifice friends in order to win. This shows up in the harmless training exercise when she sacrifices Nene in order to beat Linna and Priss. While harmless, it does raise the question whether Sylia would be willing to truly sacrifice a fellow Knight Saber if it would guarantee that an enemy would be defeated.
The second thing which we learn about Sylia is that she's a little bit mercenary. When Pops asks Priss to have the Knight Sabers save Gibson and Naomi, Sylia's first reaction is to ask about thier standard fee. Priss' reaction on the videophone seems a bit surprised that Sylia would even think to ask. Sylia later indicates that she couldn't refuse to help Dr. Raven regardless of the fee, but the question is still raised. Of course, Sylia could have just asked the question to tease Priss and Pops some, but that would mean that Sylia has something of a manipulative sense of humor which hasn't necessarily surfaced before now. Of course, with Sylia's comments at the after-training dinner shows that this is probably true regardless or whether she was teasing Priss or not.
- Priss: The emphasis on Priss in this episode is much reduced from Blow Up, but she still has enough of a role that some new character quirks show up and others are strengthened.
First off, Priss again uses her sex appeal to manipulate a man, in this case Mackie, into doing what she wants him to. Yet while she's willing to manipulate Mackie with a seductive voice, she shuts him down later by indicating that he's not old enough to be out late at night without Sylia knowing where he is. Priss also strengthens our perception of her as rather cynical. While Nene feels that fewer jobs is a good sign, Priss can't see it that way. Of course, this rather cynical view is most likely accurate when compared to Nene's very romantic view of MegaTokyo. Priss also seems to dislike doctors just like she dislikes police, a possible distrust of authority which, given Priss's history, makes all too much sense. And one last thing that we notice about Priss is that, while she teases Nene about her food fetish, Priss seems to like a good meal almost as much as Nene does. A little bit of a double standard, perhaps?
- Leon: The last of charaters in development in this episode is Leon, and he really recieves the least amount of character time. Pretty much the most important change we see in Leon is that he's willing to hit on Nene too, not just Priss. This doesn't seem to indicate that he's seriously interested, though, as his come-on seems almost as friendly and harmless as his sexual banter with his partner Daley. His obviously faked shock at being turned down by Nene can't be interpreted in any other way.
And of course, there is the ever present "coolness" factor for Leon, which we get to see even more of in this episode. Specifically, Leon's reclining in the Road Chaser at the beginning and his calmly pulling a large pistol grenade from his jacket as he literally stares down a rampaging CyberGriffon.
Episode Analysis In many respects, this episode doesn't have as much depth as many of the others. Yet Revenge Road adds some depth to the setting as well as having some commentary on friendships and relationships.
The newest peice of setting information is the motorcycle gangs. For the first time in the series, MegaTokyo is shown to be overrun by dangerous youths who ride around on motorcycles, terrorizing innocent people for fun. In a world as cyberpunk as the Bubblegum world is, this may not be overly surprising. But to a Japanese viewer, this disregard of authority, responsiblity, and cultural values by the young probably indicates a total, final breakdown of modern Japanese culture. And in fact, there is some commentary from Daley and Leon that indicates that the problem with the various motorcycle gangs isn't entirely the fault of the youths, but that the police and a society which allows the gangs to exist and tolerates thier rampages are equally, if not more, at fault.
As for friendship and relationships, this episode has something say. We are led through an episode which attempts to show directly how society's unwillingness to take responsibility has affected the lives of Pops, Gibson, and Naomi. Because of the gang's attack on Gibson, Naomi went into shock and Gibson became obsessed with revenge. Not only that, but his obsession dragged in his friend Pops into the fray as well, as Dr. Raven felt that he was obliged to help Gibson in some way. There's not a viewer I know who couldn't understand why Gibson would react to Naomi's mental breakdown the way he did, and Gibson is a character who is very easy to relate to. This, I think, is the main reason for the episode. When you place yourself in Gibson's position, just as if you had placed yourself in Linna's position in Born to Kill, you can't help but appreciate what they are going through. They're real people, with real obsessions and emotions and fears, just like you.
Revenge Road is saying that relationships can be so strong that they are the only things which drive us. And when those relationships are damaged in some way, we may become obsessed with either returning them to their original status or with extracting revenge from those who damaged the relationship. In addition, this episode is also saying that the strength of our friendships can lead us into doing things we wouldn't otherwise do, such as Dr. Raven helping Gibson by rebuilding and improving the Griffon. While our web of friends may not be as strange as the web shown in this episode, we too can find ourselves involuntarily involved in something we didn't expect, just as Dr. Raven did.
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Revised - September 21, 2000