I have very distinct memories of when this episode of Tengen Toppa Gurren-Lagann first hit.  Especially the discussion of it, which got pretty intense.  This whole third act of TTGL was like that, but this was the ep where things were really laid bare.  I can’t help but be struck once again, all these years later, by how gutsy it was to take the series in this direction and risk thoroughly pissing off the fanbase.  The thing is it did, a lot of them anyway – but that didn’t stop the series from being one of the most popular anime of all-time.

I was amazed at the time that some viewers were defending Rossiu – indeed, would continue to defend him in upcoming episodes as his treachery becomes even more egregious.  But Simon is nothing if not an old hand at betrayal after this ep.  The population itself turns on him after Nia’s warning is broadcast live, blaming him for bringing them up to the surface in the first place (and the materialistic life they now enjoy).  Even after he comes up with a way to neutralize the attacking Mugann without collateral damage (with Gimmy and Darry’s help), they still scream for his head.

Simon wasn’t cut out for a life of civilian leadership, it’s true.  His virtues are simple, honest heroism and humility, and those don’t play well in the new world he helped create.  Rossiu is his photo-negative, a master of secrets, a consequentialist’s consequentialist.  One of those secrets is the revival of Lordgenome via a “bio-computer”, which is of course a pretty good idea.  Lordgenome is able to clue Rossiu in on what’s really happening here (though Nia is giving away the info for free anyway).  The moon will crash into the Earth in three weeks, and that will be that.

What the Spiral King provides is context.  The idea of spiral power – the way our genetic structure mirrors that of our galaxy (and billions of others) – is one that has intrigued real-world scientists since they discovered it.  It’s quite a feasible scenario that Lordgenome (and Nakashima) lays out here – a spiral power relentlessly thrusting upward and outward, threatening every other life form in the galaxy.  Lordgenome was a hero in his own way, trying to save humanity.  But it’s a valid question whether saving them in that form was worth the effort – trapped as they were like animals in an underground zoo.

Rossiu is the sort of person that will always argue that he’s doing the right thing no matter how despicable it seems, because he’s the only person smart enough to understand the truth.  If he had a measure of the loyalty and integrity he surely considers hinderances he’s have been a good partner for Simon, who certainly needed someone with Rossiu’s strengths at his side.  But he doesn’t, sadly.  And when he decides the way to pacify the public is to give them a scapegoat as a sacrifice, he arrests Simon (much to Gimmy and Darry’s horror).  The problem for Rossiu, of course, is that he can’t simply write off the old guard – and he can’t keep them occupied answering the phones forever.  And for them, loyalty is anything but a hinderance.