It’s not really Steins;Gate until the divergence meter makes its first appearance…

Steins;Gate 0 has been headed in this direction for a while, so it’s no surprise that the plot has fully embraced the original mythology.  I’m a bit wistful that the starkly different version of the series we got for the first 4-5 episodes seems to be wrapping up, but to thine own self be true.  This is Steins;Gate, and it has to be the story it was meant to be.  And hopefully some semblance of that more reflective, somber and introspective identity will survive the transition.

I can’t be the only one who thought “Celty – is that you?” when the leader of the party that raided the lab to kidnap Kagari showed up.  But no, this was not our favorite Dullahan – at least as far as we know, since her identity was never revealed.  I did think that group gave up to easily when Mr. Braun showed up – sure he’s a Rounder, but they all had guns.  In any event Braun’s intervention forces them to flee without Kagari – who they (rather conveniently) refer to as “K-6205”.

That will prove to be a valuable clue of course.  Kagari goes back to the shrine (which has a suspiciously high level of security) for now, but Okabe sets about arranging something more comprehensive.  That means confronting Braun – who he’s concluded couldn’t have been behind the attempted kidnapping based on his behavior at the lab, but still suspects is a Rounder.  He confronts Braun with that accusation, and Braun doesn’t bother to deny it – in fact he’s quite creeped out by how much Okarin seems to know.  Okarin wrangles an uneasy agreement with Braun – he’ll act a bodyguard for Kagari, in the interests of not creating any more situations that might be dangerous for his daughter.  But he’s still a Rounder, and can a Rounder really be trusted?

We continue to see a little more focus on Ruka this season, which is kind of a nice change.  Ruka feels extremely left out given that so many people around seem to know a secret that remains hidden, and Suzuha reasons that it’s because Okabe wants to keep Ruka “pure” – attached only to the present time and place.  That answer certainly wouldn’t satisfy me, and it certainly doesn’t satisfy Ruka.

Meanwhile there’s the matter of Amadeus – who remains unreachable by Maho.  It can’t possibly be a coincidence that she’s unable to reach Prof. Leskinen for help, and it’s certainly not a coincidence that “K-6205” ends up being a reference to Mozart’s “The Magic Flute”.  That is indeed an opera full of Masonic references (Mozart was himself a freemason), and the name Amadeus surely carries a l0t of specific gravity with this mystery.

In the end, though, the headline is the post-credits sequence – if I remember correctly the first of the season.  Okabe’s Reading Steiner kicks in, and when he snaps out of it he notices immediately that the Amadeus app is missing from his phone.  That can only mean one thing, a new world line – but the face that greets him is certainly a shocking one.  These things always seem to come at a cost in Steins;Gate, and with Okarin’s luck it seems to be a steep one – and we’ll start getting an idea of it next week.