Most of your questions answered, but creating more at the same time. This episode really brought the suspense up many notches. So… is Jin evil or not?

The episode starts with Sana having a nightmare. In the nightmare, she recalls the past, where she was in a lab together with many other kids. There, she learns that the nurses call her venus. Strangely too, the rest talk about not being able to marry her, because they are somehow connected by relations. Soon, everybody turn into dolls which disintegrate, and we’re shown that Sana is still not well, though her fever is going down. Drake is seen mentioning that Sana will be the mother of the new generation.

Back at the Isshin, data is obtained about the phantom lab that Sana is held at. Jin approaches Touraji to be the bait to draw the phantom away, so that he and Jo can go rescue Sana. Touraji acknowledges that it’s the only plan, but isn’t too happy about it. Revealing that he was previously from phantom, he talks about the pain he goes through each time he is in the gladiator. Yet Jin feels shows no emotions, and for that, Touraji does not trust him at all. It doesn’t help matters when Gara comes along and Jin violently brushes him aside.

Later, Touraji approaches Jo, asking him to take care of Sana. Touraji has seen Jo cry after using the gladiator, hence he believes that Jo is someone that he can trust.

The phantom fall for the bait, and Jo/Jin infiltrates the phantom lab. There, they come upon a row of tubes, containing nervous systems. Jin explains to Jo about the vulcan project, and these are nervous systems of the children from the project that are used to control the gladiator. The feelings of sadness and pain from using the gladiators come from these children.

However, their presence is soon detected, and a modified Riki who has no fear is sent to meet them in a gladiator, where a fight starts. But even as gara tries to steal Jin/Jo’s gladiators, he accidentally crashes the truck into the lab, right where Jin and Jo can access them. To Drake’s surprise, they are able to handle Riki, even though he is exceeding the Gladiator’s specifications as he is acting on animal instinct.

Drake activates a trap which drops them into a bowl. There, an electromagnetic field is activated, which causes the user to die if he tries to move the gladiator. As a result, Riki ends up dying, while Jin and Jo are captured.

After capturing them, drake reveals that Jin was the one who killed Sana’s father. Even as Sana is totally shocked, Jin walks up to Jo and stabs him, leaving him bleeding on the floor. Jin suggests working together with Drake, as Jin still holds the key to what Drake needs.

Thoughts

Hoho. Jin looks positively evil.

The big debate will be whether Jin betrayed Jo, with some saying that he stabbed Jo in a non-vital spot.

I don’t know… and nobody can tell… but I’d rather take it that Jin is positively evil. Okay… he probably likes Sana and Jo and all… but puts his first priority as achieving what he needs. I’d prefer Jo to be the hero in the end. haha.

It’s hard to see how Jo is going to survive though, being in the middle of an enemy lab. That said, I don’t see how the series can kill him off either… and I’m guessing the enemy gets stupid and gives him first aid and locks him up.