Perhaps better than in any so far, episode 20 of Gosick did a nice job of setting up a very interesting mystery. The fact that it appears to be the cou de grace in Marquis de Blois’ plans for his daughter makes it appear that the author was saving the best for last.

There’s a lot of “fragments of chaos” floating around out there, and Kujo and the audience are effectively in the same position – trying to gather them all together while Victorique is unable to do so herself. It’s nice to see Kujo take a more active role in mystery solving, and indeed he – with baka-sensei Cecile’s “help”, actually seemed to be on the right track in pursuing the disappearance of “Blue Rose” Nicole as a lead in the murder of the “Coco Rose” Queen.

There are effectively two mysteries at work here – the obvious one being the murder of Coco Rose, but of even greater import for the series is the question of why that is so important to de Blois. If Gosick has show us a trend in 20 episodes, it’s that there are no coincidences – seemingly unrelated mysteries are almost always related, and these don’t even seem unrelated. There’s a healthy measure of political power play at stake here, and the “coming storm” is central the riddle – but that one is still fairly opaque at this point.

We’re seeing more clues at the mystery itself. It appears to be a body double case – Blue Rose looking exactly like Coco Rose and disappearing at the time of the murder (and of Cordelia’s abduction) is too much of a coincidence indeed. The King “could not be the killer” according to the hapless Grevil, but he’s a man who has a hard time seeing past the obvious – and the King is very much still a suspect in my eyes. We don’t know possible motives – jealousy, politics? Another theorem is that Nicole was brought in as a “corpse double” – the feign the murder of the Queen (as theatrically as possible) while the actual Queen lives on in hiding somewhere (perhaps plain sight). Again, what we don’t have is motive. And then there’s Sophie, who’s been way too prominent in this episode for it to be coincidence. She’s too young to be the Queen – but she’s involved.

Speaking of body doubles, Brian Roscoe continues to obfuscate even as he illuminates. He appears on the scene once again to guide Kujo to Victorique’s side, but in the process he appears to be in two places at once – leading Kujo to the inner sanctum where the Marquis’ ritual with Victorique is taking place, yet already there holding Victorique in his arms when Kujo arrives. Brian is an illusionist, after all, a huckster – and this is clearly some sort of magic trick.

I think it’s important to remember the rules this series seems to play by:

1. Again – there’s no such thing as coincidence
2. Unrelated mysteries are usually related
3. Science always trumps the occult – there’s a rational explanation for everything

What we do know of this case comes mostly from Kujo’s detective work – and how nice is it to be able to say that, after all this time? He’s finally proving himself a useful Watson to Victorique’s Holmes – not just a soul mate but a partner as well. Here’s hoping that continues and they solve this last big case together, as they surely will be to face the Marquis in the final battle.