wrote:Maybe she already had the control program already downloaded and she shot out the jamming device to make Saito believe that she is currently downloading the control program, which would have given him an advantage but he should have realized that she was bluffing Saito.
Yes, that's what it looked like, to me. But to me it seemed, that Saito made a desparate bet. A sidearm would have been more appropriate choice at that distance, than his long-barreled sniper rifle.
douyang wrote: For me it didn't explain enough about them. For example, why did any of them even join the military to begin with? Where were the major and Ishikawa before being selected for that mission?
It didn't explain much, true, but that would be because it would require an entire separate series or a movie, to do properly.
For that matter, why are the major, Ishikawa, and Batou fighting for the opposite side? Just because their government ordered them to?
Major and co. are apparently in a special forces unit of the UN, gathered from various countries. They were in the military and they were ordered to go, or volunteered - how much more explanation could there be?
For me, it would have been more gratifying if she were shown less experienced and making mistakes and going through a learning process.
If that was the case, the story shouldn't be told by Saito, but by Major, herself, to make a point about learning. Again, it would be a different story, then and would require more effort to make. I've always been under impression that she was a prodigy and far more capable of adapting abilities and skills downloaded in her external memory, than an ordinary person.
We even have Ishikawa saying that the major is mystery even to him, even though he's been working with her for longer than anyone else we know of.
Well, she wouldn't be much of a mystery, if any one in her team would know something concrete about her. Considering how she claims, that not even she can remember her original name, we can imagine that she was extremely through in destroying her past.
I was hoping for more character development, but the episode is really more like a side story that occured in the past.
That it most definately was. Some serious character development in the past would have needed far more than just a single episode in the middle of a storyline, like I already said.
And why do the writers apparently have something against Americans? The American commanding their unit is described as a bigot and seen to be generally inept.
Well, if you have troubles watching Americans in negative roles, you're out of luck. Just wait 'till the later episodes. Personally I find it quite refreshing that Americans aren't always decipted as heroes. All too often in Hollywood, the only thing that the people seem to need is an American hero. It seems, that the scriptwriters decided to strike back by reminding that the reasons why the US (or American Empire, by 2030) goes around the globe are hardly selfless.
In that particular scene it was just important to make Major look good - as such, the seargant couldn't be too smart - otherwise he'd have taken away her spotlight. I don't think that in this particular episode it actually mattered, that he was American.