Death Note - 25: Silence

Title:Death Note
Episode:25: Silence
Comments
Do not read this if you haven't seen episodes 25-27!

When L was pronounched dead I was certain that his death had in fact been faked as another clever ploy, since only a fool would drop such a priceless character with the series still far from over. The only question, I was sure, was how long would it be before this still alive person reappeared. But it's beginning to dawn on me that L really is gone, which feels like a kick in the nuts from the makers of Death Note.

You see, Death Note was the contest between Light and L, as far as I’m concerned, and with L dead Light wins, period. Whether Light can defeat his new opponents as well doesn’t really matter; this will be a completely different battle. Even when he presumably is brought to justice, it won't be a great enough victory to compensate for the loss. Sort of like how Lee Harvey Oswald getting shot dead didn't compensate for his killing of JFK. Hopefully the remainder of the show will be played out with the same finesse as the original one, but with me as pissed off as I am it will probably have to be even better to satisfy me. In episode 27 L is being replaced by new characters, Mellow and Lean, which apparently I'm supposed to be awed by in a similar way, since they are just as brilliant and eccentric. Except they grate me, and instead I feel a massive loss of interest in regards to how the hunt for Kira turns out. I got the feeling that L needed two replacements because each was at best half as interesting as he had been. L earned the respect I had for him, these guys just drop into the story from nowhere. Perhaps the fact that I now hate Light more than ever, and don't particularly like Mellow or Lean, has poisoned the remainder of the story. There are no heroes left, except for Yagami and the handful of detectives, and it doesn't look like any of them will play a leading role from here on. What's especially frustrating is that L's death seemed so pointless; I got no feeling of closure, no feeling that an act was coming to an end, it just didn't make sense. That was why I initially refused to believe it; such a previously brilliant series as this surely wouldn't screw up so blatantly. A priceless character wasn't going to be thrown away for little or nothing in return. Just like I knew that Light's father wouldn't really blow Light's brains out in episode 18, but rather something unexpected and brilliant would happen instead, I expected the same in this case. But instead it feels like an irreplaceable actor of a wildly popular live-action TV series refused to sign a contract for another season, and new characters had to be hastily slapped together to replace him. After his demise the quality of the show seems to fall off significantly; it's still a battle of wits, but not nearly as clever and intriguing as it was. At times it almost feels like a lesser James Bond movie, where flashy gadgets and high technology have replaced quality writing. So, I guess I was hoping L would win, after a full three seasons. I sort of feel like I've been robbed of a super cool one season series.

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