Runaway

Runaway
Information
Season	2
Episode	21
Japanese Airdate	11 September, 2005
English Airdate	16 September, 2006
Episode Guide
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Overview

The Vodarac priest that Holland saved conducts the ritual to remove the remnants of the Scub from Eureka's body. Renton tries to come to grips with the fact that he's been killing people in the Nirvash the whole time he's been with Gekkostate. When the members don't give him the answers he wants to hear, he decides to jump ship and run away from everything. Meanwhile, Dewey contracts a pair of mercenaries to deal with Gekkostate once and for all.

Synopsis

The Vodarac priest is saying his prayers and splashing Eureka with holy liquid (including the yellow liquid Holland received from Tiptory) that makes her convulse and the scubs breaks off. The monk tells Holland and Mischa that this is what happens when someone crosses over the next dimension and everything is in his hands. When the scubs are removed from Eureka's body, she loses a majority of her hair and her left side is covered in scars. Renton wakes up screaming over his recent killing and cocoons himself in his sleeping bag. The monk's parts ways with the crew and warns Holland to never let Eureka near whatever did that in the first place again, so it shouldn't be a problem again. Holland quickly decides Renton is to blame for what happened to Eureka, and everyone accuses him of jumping to conclusions and he has a responsibility of bringing Renton on the ship, which Holland denies. Talho also berates him for finding it easier to blame Renton for everything, as he is Diane's brother, which angers him. Renton struggles to deal with his guilt of the realization that he has killed many people each time he destroyed a KLF, and gourges himself in potato chips. What hurts most of all is that no one seems to care about his troubles, but he always knew that that would be the case. The kids have set guard outside of Eureka's room and refuse to let Renton see her because Holland told them he was to blame what happened to her, much to his shock. Mischa tells him that Eureka is fine physically, but not mentally so she will have no visitors for the time being, which leaves him more saddened.

Renton sees most of the crew together in the lounge but leaves without saying a word when they only looked at him. Stoner blames Gidget for saying something to him, but she says she did what she was told and acted normal. None of the crew is happy about how Renton is being withdrawn and depressed, and Matthieu finally decides to talk to him. Renton breaks down and yells that he always knew they were in a war, but he doesn't understand how the crew can be so calm after killing someone. Matthieu asks him if he thought they were simply a pack of reffers, which he says no. Matthieu explains that the Gekkostate is a rebellion and they kill their enemies if necessary, which is normal for them, and he thought Renton must've known. This upsets Renton even more and he storms off. Mischa leaves the kids on duty, but Renton uses a mechanical mouse to distract them so he can visit Eureka, and she wakes up to see him near her bed. He tells her that everyone is saying he is the cause of her illness, and she says that may be true because her heart rate is increasing. Renton says he finally understands it's a war, and she's surprised. He tries to tell her that he's fighting to protect her. Eureka, however, says that once a person is destroyed, they can't be brought back. Again, he tries to profess his love to her but he becomes unintentionally aggressive as he tries to tell her this. She becomes afraid of his approach and she kicks him away. Thinking Eureka now hates him, Renton apologizes to her and runs out as she tries to reach out to him and then faints. He steals Moondoggie's backpack and packs his belongings. He wonders why he did this; he didn't do all this mess to be with Eureka and he believes she and the rest of the crew hate him. He thinks about taking the Amita Drive with him, but decides against it. Just as he's about to leave, Gonzy offers him some tea. Renton tells him to tell everyone he said goodbye and drops out of the ship, feeling some relief mixed with regret because he feels that he never belonged on the Gekko and he lost his purpose on it. Elsewhere, as a transport and attendent mecha fly onward, a man named Charles pauses from ramming his pizza in his hand to be told by his wife, Ray, it's time to get paid. Launching out of the Gekko-esque ship, they're both in LFOs. Ray chides Charles to keep it together, and they do some nice tandem sky-surfing on the same board. Charles climbs under the transports hull and busts the cockpit with a headbutt. The bandits are stopped but the pair are content to let the stolen cargo go since they weren't paid for that. Besides, Charles snatched a handful of gold.

Anemone lays Dominic out and complains things are boring. She wants to pilot theEND, who she claims is crying without her. He tries to explain that the Ageha Plan is in a critical stage and they don't need her taking theEND into battle. She's pleased to hear that Dewey had made contact with Charles and Ray, who have a history with Dewey but Charles doesn't want anything to do with the military. He says he just wants to be with Ray, which would make it hard for him to leave, but Dewey reminds Charles that he has a serious score to settle with Holland, which catches Charles' interest and he changes his mind. On the Gekko, Holland thinks someone is talking about him and Talho says he is being unfair to Renton, especially when he saved Holland's life. She further tells him that he needs to understand Renton's feelings for Eureka and he has been trying to save her as well. When he calls Renton dangerous and denies everything she has told him, Talho gets more angry and storms out, and runs into Moondoggie who says his backback is missing. She is not worried about that and she goes to Renton's room to check on him. Eureka asks Mischa if Renton came by because she felt like he did, but the kids claim he never came near her. Talho checks his room and finds it empty, and Gonzy asks her if she would like tea. He then relates Renton's message to her, and Talho is angry that he left without telling anyone. Having landed in a deserted area, Renton wonders what he should to do now.

Major Events

• Eureka loses most of her hair and is badly scarred after the scub is removed from her body.
• Renton runs away from the Gekkostate after Eureka rejects him and the Gekko crew continues to treat him badly, with him concluding that everyone hates him.
• Introduction of Charles and Ray Beams.

Trivia

• The name of this episode is a reference to "Runaway" by Nuyorican Soul.
• In the manga, Renton felt no guilt of killing his opponents because they were about to kill Eureka, and he did consider leaving the Gekkostate but changed his mind.
• Charles and Ray don't exist in the manga.
• Gonzy speaks for the first time in this episode.
• Renton feels that he is hated by everyone, including Eureka, and decides to leave the Gekkostate.
• Holland tries getting every member of the Gekko to agree with his conclusion that Renton is the cause of Eureka's situation and problems. He points out that Eureka has been acting strange since Renton appeared and the change in her is bad for her mental state. However, Talho berates him for blaming Renton for something that wasn't even his fault and knows Holland is just using Renton as an excuse to keep him away from Eureka.
• Talho also knows that the motives behind Holland's treatment towards Renton are because the boy is Diane's younger brother and he sees Renton as a rival for the role of Eureka's partner.
• To the horror of Renton, Eureka had been told by Holland to stay away from Renton because he told her that the boy is responsible for her condition and is a threat to her, and due to her loyalty and dependency on Holland, she believed him and rejected Renton when he tried to talk to her, though this may more likely also be due to her not being in a right state of mind, for she didn't remember Renton visiting her afterwards.
• The fact that the crew shows little to no concern for Renton and decide to pretend that everything is normal reflects their own inability to address personal issues and their lack of compassion and more of their reliance on Holland (who's advice for them was to act normal when faced with a problem).
• Holland and Renton mysteriously sneeze in this episode. According to Japanese superstition, someone is talking about you when you sneeze.