somehow i've still yet to watch the last two episodes of this show...

however, i'm rewatching it with my sister. And we just finished having a full-blown debate about Lelouch. She, being the high and mighty virtuous Christian that she is, says she hates him because he is so manipulative and is "an absolute complete asshole who doesn't care about anyone"

Now, granted, he's manipulative and uses people like chess pieces, but I tried to defend our protagonist a little. We just watched episode 14 (first episode with Mao and when Lelouch wipes Shirely's memory at the end) and I tried to convince her that he actually does care about her (too much so). She would have none of it and is convinced that his only wiping her memory instead of killing her is no proof that he's still not terrible.

It got me to thinking, why does he erase the rest of her memories about him? At this point, it's painfully obvious to him that she's in love with him, and she's torn up because she still loves him (enough to save him from Viletta) even though she knows he's Zero and her father's murderer. So, why not just wipe her memory of the past few days? Why make her forget all about him? I think it is because he feels terrible that she's in love with him, and Geassing her is his quick fix to not have that terrible guilt weighing on him.

man, i do love this freakin' show... once I finish catching up with the Naruto manga (infinitely better than the anime) I'll gladly watch the climax of this season.