The Big O's ending. I don't hate it. I think it swerves into a new plot a bit out of nowhere. The stuff with Roger is built up, sure, but Angel taking the stage again as a main character and a very important one is unexpected. And it's a shame that Dorothy just gets dropped.
I was talking with Chloe about this a bit more, though. I think there are some interesting things we can do to our reads of each character with the tools the show gives us, especially its idea of "Roger Smith" being an archetypal role. Perhaps we can see Roger and Alex as both being the same figure, the "Son" role. Can we combine the two of them with Gordon to create a "Father" role? or perhaps we can see just Roger and Gordon as being two ways one with memories can go—to abandon them to stay the same or to hold onto them to become old (and replaced!)
Schwarzwald and Alan can be layered as well. Both of them are enemies of Roger, of course. Both of them also fit the "joker" role to his "batman." I think its also interesting how Schwarzwald and Alan are both only loyal to self interest, though Schwarzwald acts out of a sole desire to discover and reveal truth for himself, whereas Alan is attempting to gain power. That's especially evident in their little psychic Megadeus fight. Alan sees the mech as his new body, but Schwarzwald seems to have submitted himself to the will of the Megadeus (but also twisted that will towards his own ends.) I suppose Beck fits in here too somehow.
All this is to say, I think the removal of Dorothy makes more sense if we view Angel and Dorothy as extensions of one another—the biological memory and the metallic shell without a Memory. That also helps answer the question as to how Dorothy can operate without any Memories loaded in her headband.
A few other notes. I think it's neat how the eschaton begins at the final assembly of Big Fau as a fascist object. It doesn't really do anything—it just stands around and shoots beams into the sky. The completion of the symbol seems to bring change, rather than any active event. It's also interesting to see the antagonist Megadeus being built all season, rather than being a sudden design reveal. We know long before the ending what the big bad is going to be.
Norman's crew of workers in interesting to me. Perhaps I've been biased in thinking about stage crews lately, but it does draw such a comparison to mind. Norman breaking the fourth wall as someone who knows he's in a mech show could be fun (though I don't know that the text supports that at all, outside his lax demeanor about things.)
I wish Agent 12 was in more of this show. She's so good in every scene.
I dunno. It's messy. I liked it, but it is real messy. I wish more of the second season was good and not just fussing with the pieces on the board until the last 3 episodes.
