Fourty-nine episodes into Code Geass and I just can’t wait for the final episode. Not out of a great burning edge-of-my-seat anticipation of the latest cliffhanger. No. At this point I’m watching with the morbid curiosity of a driver that slows down and glances over at the upended sedan in the median. That guilty little tug that makes you need to know something you don’t really want to know. I’ve already remarked on the silly procession of shocking revelations, crosses, double-crosses, triple-, quadruple- and pentuple-crosses. It’s still going. Happily, it has been several episodes since any new loose ends have been introduced.

Code Geass has been an interesting show, very well-produced and executed despite its manifold thematic problems. Its producers took a broad array of weaknesses and forged them into strengths, but could not seem to get past its cast of over-the-top, too-clever-by-half leading characters. Here’s to hoping there won’t be a third season!