This week was certainly all about the mystery on Gosick.  And while it remains one of the best and most interesting mysteries the series has presented, there were a few too many deux ex machina elements to the resolution for my tastes.

Here’s how things went down, as far as I can tell:

  – There was indeed a “Rose switch”, with Nicole being recruited to fill in for Coco Rose in 1900.
  – Apparently, Coco was murdered by her husband in a fit of rage because she gave birth to a bi-racial child – the father of whom was…  Leviathan!
   – Except, that might not have been the Queen at all – because there might have been a second body double, her maid.  Whaaa?

I’m getting a hankering for some Doublemint gum

  – If in fact that’s true, the maid switched places with the Queen right before the murder, then slipped off with the child to live out her days peacefully.
  – In fact, it may very well have been the Queen and her son who shared a carriage with our own little royal couple at the end of the episode (oh, come on!)
  – There appear to be two Brian Roscoes (I call foul on that one, too)
  – Jupiter Roget (head of the Science Ministry) helped the King cover up the murder.
  – The fake Coco Rose (Nicole) was murdered in 1914 to prevent an old associate of the Queen, visiting, from finding out the truth

Well…  Like I said, I call foul on Brian – there’s no way we could possibly know that.  And I’m honestly not sure if Victorique didn’t make up that bit about the Queen and the maid switching places and the Queen living on as a sort of romantic coda, a fairy tale she’d like to believe.  If she was serious, that’s another one that’s totally out of left field – and I don’t know whether we’re supposed to believe that was the Queen in the carriage.  The young man didn’t look half-African to me.

So apparently Sophie really was just a Coco Rose otaku and not part of the mystery – or at least not any part that’s revealed just yet.  And of course, we now have a much better idea of why the Marquis is so interested.  If it’s true that Roget helped cover up the murder, that gives him a great weapon in the seemingly endless war between the Science and Occult Ministries.  Not only that, but he would also have something to hold over the King.  That would be useful to blackmail the both of them or, should he be so inclined, to try and use in a quasi-coup and remove the King from power.

For now, the Marquis seems to have gotten enough of what he wants that he allowed Victorique and Kujo to go back to the Academy.  I suspect that she was only saying she didn’t know who the killer was – the motive there being somewhat opaque.  Perhaps she sees herself as a more natural ally of Roget – he’s a Gray Wolf like she is, and her understanding is grounded in science, not the occult.  de Blois isn’t thrilled, but he’s suspected the truth all along if not known it outright.  I’m still not sure why Victorique’s sign-off is so vital.

There was precious little humor or Victorique-Kujo development with the mystery being so front and center, but we did get a very nice hand-holding – and an important statement by Voctorique that she’s worried about putting Kujo in danger.  That’s just about an outright confession of love from her – not that there was too much doubt.  Next week looks like a Christmas ep, and much lighter in tone – the calm before the storm, no doubt, as the last two eps should provide the final confrontation with de Blois – and if my guess is right, the moment of decision for Grevil.