Sailor Stars Episode 3 (169): Evil Mirror Under a Curse! Mamoru in a Nightmare Trap
Be prepared for a boring episode. Not much happens until the very end, which is, essentially, a cliffhanger. It does, however, set up the plot for the next three episodes, which conclude the Nehellenia arc.
Okay, now that I have headphones and can finally listen to it, as opposed to just reading the subtitles, I should say that Sailor Star Song doesn't really fit as a theme song. Moonlight Densetsu does, but SSS feels disconnected from the visuals. Also, bah to whoever made the subtitles. Sometimes the subtitles are present in English during the opening sequence, sometimes in Japanese, and sometimes not at all.
News flash! Turns out Setsuna's knowledge of the future is limited enough that she has to watch TV news (with half-lit slow-motion shots of creepiness). While she discusses the new disease, which is, of course, unknown to science, with Haruka and Michiru, the verbally challenged Hotaru repeats her words from the previous episode over and over again. Fortunately, nobody pays attention to her.
And what's this? It's not the first season anymore, is it? But Usagi and Minako obviously can't miss the opportunity for a running gag (literally).
They're late for school, but as always, when we're explicitly shown that, things don't go as expected. They're greeted by Ami and Makoto, who explain that the studies have been essentially cancelled.
They see a creepy narcissist girl with black eyes standing in an empty hallway (to add to the creepiness), who seems obsessed with looking into a mirror. Usagi robs the poor, defenseless girl of the mirror and looks into it herself. The camera rapidly rotates around them, adding to the creepiness.
Makoto goes angry and tries to steal the mirror from Usagi in turn.
Kiyah! Naturally, the mirror, not designed to withstand karate punches, falls on the floor and breaks (shooting some kind of black ray, which only misses Usagi's eye due to Makoto's intervention). The girl... overreacts a bit.
Makoto offers her own mirror as a replacement, not realizing that the broken one was probably family treasure that the girl inherited from her (great-)ngrandmother. The Senshi leave her alone, even though she's obviously emo and will probably attempt to cut herself with one of these mirror-shards. But their duty, after all, is to Save the World, not one girl.
Usagi decides to pay a visit to her boyfriend, who has become a mirror addict. (Where did he get all the time and money to buy so many?)
She sees another guy trying to call him out, but luckily for her, he doesn't enjoy much success.
When the guy leaves, she rings. We see a static image of Usagi's finger on the doorbell button, not moving a single pixel, but since the sound of the doorbell ringing several times is heard, we're presumably supposed to pretend that she actually presses the button. All right. When Mamoru doesn't open the door, she doesn't take the hint that she's unwelcome. Nor does she consider the possibility that he may have left, or may be sleeping.
She enters, steps on a mirror lying on the floor, and breaks it. (How many years of bad luck is that in Japan? None? All right, let's skip it. Besides, bad luck and Usagi "Zayne Carrick" Tsukino don't get along.) Mamoru, narcissistic as he is, does nevertheless turn away from the big mirror he's blankly looking into and mourns the poor mirror on the floor. Uasgi leaves him, despite the fact that something is obviously wrong. She'll regret that.
Usagi and the other girls "brainstorm" the mystery of the mirror-related incidents, but the solution, self-evident as it may be, doesn't present itself until Hotaru and Setsuna engage in a Captain Obvious competition.
A massive montage of flashbacks, flashforwards, and whatever else follows, during which the Senshi are shown running through the streets with the help of Force Speed. Interestingly, Hotaru/Saturn and Chibiusa have no trouble keeping up the others.
Meanwhile, Uranus and Neptune get surrounded by NC-17s. Again. Standing back-to back. Again. They don't even treat the one-beaten enemies seriously and continue their pseudo-philosophical conversations until they remember that they're supposed to, uhm, fight.
Space Sword Blaster! (sic!)
Submarine Reflection!
Dead Scream?..
That's right, the help has arrived. They split up; the Inners enter Mamoru's house, while the Outers use the opportunity to shirk. Too late (of course). An NC-17 emerges from the elevator, followed by two more. Jupiter Oak Evolutions them into oblivion.
They take the stairs, which is what they should have done in the first place. Moon suddenly has a flashback, which is obvious enough to allow even her to put two and two together, and stops for a dramatic moment.
(Never mind the spelling in subtitles. I use the spelling used on Wikimoon. Blame them.)
We see the camera climbing up creepy, dim-lit, narrow stairs. The Senshi burst into Mamoru's room, where the mirrors have gone all red and menacing since we last saw them.
Sailor Moon tries to detach Mamoru from the mirror. He proves what a meanie he is by pushing her away. Nyah, nyah, how could you, nyah, nyah. Nehellenia appears in the mirror, tries to convince everyone that she's just misunderstood and not actually evil, and squeezes Mamoru (who's really high by now) in through the mirror.
Sailor Moon tries to follow, but falls for the typical WB cartoon trick and only hits herself. She transforms into the winged form with the others' help, blasts some NC-17s summoned by Nehellenia from the mirrors, and transforms back (with dramatic music and a sequrnce whose meaning can only be expressed as "Epic fail").
Nehellenia, in a lame attempt to prove that she's a classic villain, explains her entire plan to Sailor Moon, including her intention to brainwash Mamoru into submission. Wow, how original — this hasn't happened since when, the first season? Looks like Nehellenia got hold of Queen Beryl's diary. She even gives Sailor Moon a deadline!
And thus, having set up the plot for the mandatory "reach the evil overlord's hideout before dawn" sequence, the episode ends. One note: if you don't want to deprive yourself of at least a tiny bit of intrigue, under no circumstances continue past the ending theme. They appear to have moved the spoiler-ridden intros there.