The first half of this episode, twenty-five, is pretty pedestrian: we get the usual Dork Kingdom plotting, several little flashbacks to events that just happened (evidently the producers of this show believe that everyone in the audience has short-term memory problems), and quite a bit of that old stand-by, Usagi pining away for Mamoru in her bedroom. The last half kicks it up a notch, though, with a few more serious plot unravelings -- by the end the status quo has been changed yet again. Seems to me the writers are getting a bit more daring, or at least a bit more anxious to see certain elements of the story resolved.





In the last episode, Usagi found out that Mamoru and Tuxedo Mask are in fact the same person, by deducing that they both had a habit of insulting her in the same way (don't worry -- when he calls her an idiot, it's endearing). This episode begins precisely where that one left off, with the two of them sitting in some inexplicably empty first-floor lobby coming to terms with this unheralded new development. Sailor Moon suddenly realizes that she just inadvertently told Mamoru how she felt about him earlier, and grows immediately embarrassed. Before she can run away, Mamoru stops her and starts to say something (implying, perhaps, that he returns her feelings) but then thinks better of it and walks away, twirling his cape around him in that stupid theatrical way he has.

The credits roll, and we find ourselves back in the squalid caves the Dark Kingdom goons call home. Here Kunzite is harassing Zoisite by shoving his face into his piano (remember in the last episode, when Zoisite sort of pressed a big green fireball into Kunzite to stop him from harming Mamoru? Kunzite didn't take that well). They argue; Kunzite makes some threats about what might happen if Zoisite continues protecting Mamoru, and Zoisite complains that Kunzite has "changed". In other words, a great scene for those viewers who enjoy watching grown men in weird wigs bicker with each other. Meanwhile, Jadeite speaks with Queen Beryl, informing her of the fact that Kunzite seems to be clued in as to who the "real princess" is (you'll recall Kunzite figured this out in the last episode). He promises to keep an eye on him. Queen Beryl approves. (You know, I've been thinking lately: is it any wonder the Queen is so batty? She lives in a cave and spends her days standing on a stone dais listening to foppish, bizarrely-dressed morons go on and on about crystals and princesses, while behind her some big glowing object resembling that Spaceship Earth thing at Epcot pulsates and grows bigger and bigger. Even the sanest of minds might eventually succumb to the surreality of all that).





This is followed by a quick scene with Minako, who has a quick and arguably pointless conversation with Artemis about the "awakening" of the Sailor Soldiers before rushing out to continue her life of pop idolom. Then we cut to Hina (Mamoru's girl, in case you've forgotten that much), who is in Mamoru's apartment packing a suitcase for him. Rifling through his desk drawers, she comes across a girly handkerchief with hearts on it and gets a consternated, is-Mamoru-cheating look on her face (I can't remember when it happened, but I assume Usagi gave this handkerchief to him at some point earlier in the series). Not sure why she appears to be so suspicious -- did she ever stop to think that maybe Mamoru just likes girly handkerchiefs? Or that maybe he got it from an old flame, years ago? Or that maybe he was planning on giving it to her? There's hundreds of possibilities here.

Anyway, after this, we get the show's obligatory Usagi-pining-away-for-Mamoru scene. She thinks back on what he was about to say to her in the empty first-floor lobby: was he about to tell her he liked her? She frets and frets and frets, and finally self-consciously realizes that she's getting stuck in the same yearning-for-Mamoru rut that afflicted her a few episodes back, before Ami's transformation into Evil Ami changed the subject. Boo-hoo-hoo.

We cut to Mamoru in his apartment. He gets a phone call from Motoki. Something about a farewell/engagement party for him at Crown that Hina is setting up. He mentions that Hina is feeling down about something, and Mamoru rushes over there to find Motoki dressed up in a proposterous, nightmare-inducing spandex turtle suit, ostensibly for party reasons. Motoki tells him about how Hina said she found a woman's handkerchief at his place, and proceeds to give Mamoru some heartfelt advice about the situation. Here's my advice to Mamoru: when you find yourself getting romantic advice from a guy dressed up in a spandex turtle suit, it might be time to start reevaluating your life. Anyway, Motoki blabs something about how it wouldn't be right to marry Hina if he doesn't love her, if he's just doing it as a favor to her father, and Hina overhears this and rushes off. Mamoru follows.





Things start to pick up somewhere around here. On a rooftop, Jadeite and Kunzite (recent allies) plot to draw out the princess. Jadeite makes a generic sort of youma and sets it loose to do what youma-monsters do: attack people and suck the purple vapors out of them (as any student of Sailor Moon physics will tell you, the animating force behind human beings -- that which keeps them healthy and active -- are the clouds of purple essence that reside within them). Usagi, on her way to confront Mamoru and finally settle the matter of whether or not he likes her, sees the youma on the rooftop drawing in purple vapors (the light show is apparently not enough to interest local authorities -- or perhaps, like Sgt. Schultz from Hogan's Heroes, they simply see nothing!) and so calls Rei and Makoto for backup. Unfortunately, before she can make it to the scene of the crime, Mamoru appears, having chased Hina out into the street (after she yelled at him and told him off), and they share another one of those awkward moments. Who among us can't relate? It's always a thorny thing when some girl figures out your secret superhero identity.

Anyway, the wordless moment passes, and Mamoru rushes to Hina's aid (she collapsed about ten feet away for some, possibly youma-related, reason). Though it's obvious to the audience and probably to Hina that his heart isn't in it, he tells her he's still willing to marry her, and they share a little moment. Usagi voyeuristically watches and listens to their whole conversation (perhaps forgetting the youma that is currently wreaking havoc; this sort of absent-mindedness happens to her sometimes), then runs off wearing a brave smile after Mamoru glances up and gives her a look that says, "What, you're still here?"

Elsewhere, Rei and Makoto transform and find themselves facing Kunzite and Jadeite. Kunzite leaves them to Jadeite and his youma (great plan; it's not like the Sailor Soldiers have ever schooled him) but shows up again after Usagi, now transformed into Sailor Moon, finally arrives on the scene. He challenges her, and they fight for a bit, while Rei and Makoto continue to cartwheel around pointlessly in their battle against Jadeite and his youma. Sailor Venus appears to save Sailor Moon from one of Kunzite's killing blows, but then plays into his trap by ordering her off to cure the people who have been relieved of their purple vapors. See, Kunzite had expected her to do something like this (to order the real "princess", whom he now knows to be Sailor Moon, out of danger) and takes advantage of it: he uses the youma to freeze Rei, Makoto, and Minako's feet to ground, leaving Usagi, now seperated from them, vulnerable to a dual-attack from himself and Evil Ami, who shows up at that moment sporting a boffo oversized necktie.





They fight. The duo easily overpower her, but Mamoru dives in out of nowhere and takes Kunzite's fakey killing blow for himself. He says a few parting words, and then...dies. I guess. Stricken, Usagi cries for him, and her tears (again with the magical tears!) not only bring him back to life, they also reveal her once and for all as the "Princess" everyone's been talking about for so long now. Glowy heavenly light fills the room: it destroys the youma, restores to Rei and Makoto a few reincarnated memories, and forces the bad guys to book it out of there. (You know, if Usagi's tears are that potent, perhaps she should watch a few sad movies and capture as many of them as she can in a little bottle or something. Then when someone dies and needs to be restored to life, or when the bad guys are on the verge of winning, she can just uncork it and splash them around). And that's where it ends, with Minako proclaiming Usagi to be "Princess Serenity". Oh, and Mamoru realizes that it's Usagi he's been seeing in his dreams, imploring him to find the Silver Crystal whatzit.

All told, not a bad episode. Like I said, the writers are starting to do some more interesting things, and despite the boring and lackluster first act, quite a bit happens towards the end.

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