The Key (Code Lyoko episode)
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The Key is the fifty-second episode of the French animated television series Code Lyoko and the fifth installment of the five-part Season 2 finale. It aired in France on February 8, 2006 and in the United States on December 9, 2005; coincidentally, a few weeks before Christmas.
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[edit] Summary
After going through all of Franz Hopper's diary, Jeremie discovers the truth behind the Supercomputer, at least to some extent. Hopper had used it quite extensively, to the point of repeating a single day for more than seven years. His sanity degraded throughout the experience. Hopper also revealed that he and Aelita hold the keys to Lyoko, which XANA was after. He only needed her half, now. The Keys would allow him to escape the supercomputer. Jeremie also finds a way to free Aelita from the Supercomputer. It turns out that Aelita never had a virus. In fact, XANA had been holding onto a piece of her, which was responsible for linking to the Supercomputer. Aelita is not willing to go, angry over the fact that Hopper had essentially taken her life from her. She's also worried that XANA might escape. To that end, she shuts down the Supercomputer. Jeremie rescues her, and the group goes to Lyoko to retrieve her fragment. After all their efforts, they seem to succeed, but it turns out to be a fake. XANA manages to devirtualize Aelita's defenders and steal her memory, effectively killing her and allowing him to escape, which shuts down Lyoko in the process. His escape allows Franz Hopper to revive Aelita and Lyoko, restoring all of Aelita's memories in the process. Through the restoration, Aelita finally remembers her past up to the point that she went to Lyoko. With XANA now free and Aelita's memories returned, neither are linked to the supercomputer. This means that they could shut it down, but it would do no good. Unsure of how they'll proceed, Jeremie promises that they'll find a way to stop XANA.
[edit] Recap
The episode starts out in the Lab. Jeremie is pouring over all the notes he's found in Hopper's CD diary. The others arrive as he's doing so. He shows them a particular video entry in the diary. As he shows it, he skips through various parts to reach the part he wants to show them. As he's doing so, the parts that get played reveal the history of Lyoko.
In the video entry, Hopper explains that he was a computer scientist contracted by the National Military to work on a defense program named Project Carthage. The country's Military planned to use this project to disrupt the communications of enemy militaries and nations. Thanks to Jeremie, a portion of this history is skipped. The audio-visual clip continues to show that Hopper is trying to destroy the Project. Why is uncertain. He creates Lyoko and XANA as viral agents to accomplish this end. Jeremie skips another part. Hopper gets increasingly paranoid, thinking that someone is watching him, probably with good reason. Hopper continues to work on the Project, and mentions how he learns of Supercomputer's ability to revert the time stream, which Hopper describes as an interesting property of the Supercomputer. This function gives him unlimited time to complete Lyoko and XANA. The next few entries suggest that he uses the return trip more than two thousand times, effectively setting human civilization back by seven years without the general population's knowing. It should be noted that the current date (repeated over and over) is June 6, 1994. Eventually, he says that he has contained the Keys to Lyoko within both him and Aelita and intends to live there with her, forever, protected from the rest of the real world. XANA, who turned on his creator for an as-of-yet unknown reason, needs these Keys to escape Lyoko.
In the Cafeteria, Jeremie says that he's found the key to separating Aelita from the Supercomputer. It turns out that a virus was not the cause of the link, but rather a fragment stolen from Aelita's person. They plan a mission to Lyoko to end XANA's threat to the globe. Aelita, however, is not keen on the idea and runs out. Jeremie follows. She says that she never wants to go to Lyoko again. Her father (Hopper), rather paranoid in her opinion, ruined her life by taking her there. She's also afraid that XANA will get her memory and escape Lyoko into the world. She storms off without any further discussion.
As the others leave the Cafeteria, Jim mentions something about an "End of the Year" dance. He is listing off various rules about it, including a warning against suggestive dancing. Odd goes off to find a girl to take there. However, all the womanizing he's done has polarized most of the women against him, and his luck is bad to say the least. Ulrich is about to ask Yumi when William shows up and drags her off. Jealous, Ulrich agrees to take Sissi when she shows up. Odd is surprised, and Ulrich warns him against going any further on the subject. Yumi turns down William as this is happening.
At the Factory, Aelita shows up in the Supercomputer Room. She walks over to the cylindrical quantum device and shuts it off, knocking herself out along with Lyoko and XANA.
Back at the school, Jeremie is having trouble finding Aelita. She won't answer her cell phone and the Supercomputer won't respond either. Concerned, he decides to head to the Factory. Yumi comes up and is about to ask Ulrich to the dance, but Sissi butts in at just the right moment to reveal what he agreed to earlier. She also gives Ulrich some kind of gift. Yumi is extremely angry about the arrangement to say the least. Ulrich mentions her talk with William, but she is too mad to correct him and storms off. Ulrich warns against Odd's quips once she's gone, but he does so anyway.
At the Factory, Jeremie finds that the Interface is offline. He goes down to the Supercomputer Room to find it shut down and Aelita along with it. He quickly turns it back on and attempts to wake her. She wakes up fairly quickly, and he begins to question her on why she'd do such a foolish thing. She says that she was trying to protect everyone. Jeremie assures her that they can do that together.
In Odd and Ulrich's room, Ulrich is mulling over the gift given to him by Sissi. Odd tries to prod him into talking to Yumi. Ulrich won't listen, so Odd leaves to find a girl to take to the dance. Ulrich opens the gift, which is a small cube with pictures of Sissi on each face. He leaves it on his bed and leaves the room.
At Yumi's house in the suburbs, Ulrich tries to talk to Yumi. Hiroki is there, and teases Yumi about her "boyfriend." She gets rid of him and walks up to Ulrich. Both mention how they don't plan to attend the dance. Before they can say anything else, Jeremie calls and tells them about the mission he's planned.
At the school, Odd is still trying to get a date for the dance. He almost manages to find one in Carla, but when she learns his name, and the reputation that precedes it, she turns him down. Jeremie calls about the mission and ends any further attempts.
At the Factory, Jeremie explains their final mission. He's located the fragment of Aelita in Carthage and is going to send them there to get it. Odd and Ulrich go first, followed by Aelita and Yumi.
On Lyoko, the trip to Carthage is uneventful. No monsters try to stop them on their way there. Once they arrive in the Arena and wander into the Core Zone, it's an entirely different story. Creepers pop out from every wall to stop them. The timer shutoff switch is on the wall at a near-unreachable distance. Odd and Ulrich start running defense while Yumi heads for the switch. On her way there, she shows off various acrobatic moves on the blue cubical pillars leading to it. Meanwhile, Odd and Ulrich destroy Creeper after Creeper. Yumi eventually makes it to the top pillar where the switch is. A Creeper is there to try and stop her, but it fails. She flips past its lasers and hits the switch. At the same time, she grabs the monster's head with her legs and tosses it over the edge, sending it hurtling into the foggy abyss. As expected, the fall kills the hapless Creeper. With the timer off, a sunken stairway opens in the floor.
After taking the stairs to a lower level, the group ends up on a long subterranean passageway to a glowing blue orb - Aelita's fragment. As they head for it, a platform that is serving a number of Creepers as an air-taxi shows up. The hostile monsters move in. As the Creepers attack, Aelita dashes for the fragment. Her trip is cut off when she reaches a gap in the platform. The others are still fighting the Creepers, but are outnumbered and forced to run. Odd stays behind to stall them. He gets a few shots off before being devirtualized. Ulrich and Yumi reach Aelita and toss her across the gap. They follow after doing so. They aren't quite able to make it, though, and Ulrich is left hanging on by one hand with Yumi clinging to his other hand. The Creepers show up and devirtualize her. Aelita manages to pull Ulrich up in time for him to block any more shots. The problem only gets worse, though, as the entire Core Zone starts to fall apart. The Creepers fall first. Aelita and Ulrich continue to run, but the platform falls apart faster than they can run, and they are soon taken with it.
Before they can fall into oblivion, two Mantas show up to catch them. While this would normally be bad, these Mantas are glowing white in the fashion of Franz Hopper's Towers. Jeremie confirms that Hopper is controlling them. The Mantas taxi the two to Aelita's fragment. Aelita walks up to get a better look. The orb has a miniature version of her inside it. As she grabs it, it breaks apart. The whole area follows suit. Pieces of the ceiling crush everything, the Mantas and Ulrich included, leaving Aelita alone on the platform.
Back in the Lab, Jeremie is very worried about the turn of events. Ulrich shows up, upset at his inability to help. On the screen, the Scyphozoa shows up to steal Aelita's memory. With no defenders to save her, it succeeds in its task. Once it finishes, it drops the helpess Aelita back onto the platform. Aelita loses consciousness as she lands. On Jeremie's screen, the screen showing her memory blinks red and black, accenting what has happened.
What happens next can only be described as the realization of the group's fears. The entire region of Carthage goes black from the center out, deleting itself and everything inside. Once it has shut off completely, XANA spreads out to Lyoko. All 4 of the Passage Towers in Lyoko start to glow red, and quite possibly, all of the others as well.
Outside of the Factory, a constant stream of XANA's Ghosts pours out from the roof and into the sky above in a vortex pattern. Despite the oddity, no civilians, sailors or pedestrians seem to notice, despite the Factory being in close proximity two boulevards, numerous office structures and a riverside harbor. XANA has now penetrated and infected the Earth itself.
Back in the Lab, the group, save for Jeremie, is at a loss for what is happening. Jeremie explains, though not very clearly thanks to the sadness in his voice. The situation does not stay bleak for long, however. In the now darkened Carthage, Aelita is surrounded by a bright sphere of light. As it surrounds her, the memories of her past come flooding back.
Her memories tell the tale of what happened to her family, and her as well. Hopper and his wife were living in the mountains, presumably the French Alps, with Aelita. She receives the Mister Pück doll here for Christmas. They seem to be happy at their alpine lodge, with Hopper teaching Aelita to play the piano, until his wife (also pink-haired, just like Aelita) simply disappears— presumably killed by an illness.
More flashbacks show Aelita at The Hermitage. She learns to ride a bike here. Eventually the country's Secret Police show up. Hopper checks to make sure that she knows where Mister Pück is, and then leads her out of the house. The agents follow the two, but they remain a step ahead. Aelita and Hopper eventually end up at the Factory. Hopper explains that they'll be going to a world where they'll be safe. He promises to see her right after they're transferred, but it doesn't turn out that way.
With all her memories returned, Aelita is returned to Earth and Lyoko is rebooted by Hopper. Carthage is recovered and every Tower that was once red now glows white. The group heads to the Scanner to retrieve their pink-haired friend. She doesn't say much after returning. Instead, Jeremie just embraces her.
Back in Jeremie's room, they realize that shutting down the Supercomputer won't stop XANA now. He is somewhere on the planet at the moment, although he is not causing any chaos yet. Aelita is still upset over Hopper's sacrifice. They promise to find him while still fighting XANA. They aren't quite sure how to combat him now, but Jeremie insists that they'll find a way. Aelita agrees, saying that it's her job to fight the virus. Jeremie corrects her, saying that it's their job, not just hers. They all hold hands in a small circle and the second season ends.
[edit] Season 2 End Credits
The second season of Code Lyoko ended with a new credit sequence. While a hard rock audio clip that is known as "The Subsonics Song" played in the background, an unseen person was flipping through a confidential file folder labelled "Waldo Schaeffer." It is important to note that this manila folder had the National Military seal on it. The folder contained numerous illegible documents and many photos. The photos held Franz Hopper in common, showing him with the group of computer scientists and engineers that worked on Project Carthage in 1974. Other photos show Hopper and his wife at their alpine lodge and, a strip of photos labeled "1994" and several police shots of The Hermitage. These end credits set forth an evolving plot line that will be explored in the third season.
[edit] Memorable Quotes
- Jeremie: Franz Hopper's bringing Lyoko back to life… Franz Hopper is saving his daughter.
- Odd: Hi there, Creepers! Still as ugly as ever, huh?
- Odd: (disgusted) I'd rather look like a big loser and go by myself than go with someone like--like her!
- Odd: Hi! Wanna go to the dance with me?
- Carla: All right. My name’s Carla.
- Odd: I'm Odd.
- Carla: Odd Della Robia?
- Odd: The one and only!
- Carla: Uhhh… I'm sorry. I'm already seeing someone.
- Sissi: You— you haven't seen Ulrich, have you?
- Odd: No, and he promised to take me to the dance.
- Jeremie: You're insane! Why did you do that?
- Aelita: To save the world! To save you all!
- Jeremie: We'll save it together, and then you'll have your whole life in front of you— a brand new life!
- Sissi: (to Ulrich) What would you say to taking the prettiest girl in school to the dance?
- Odd: Uh, you mean Anaïs Fiquet? No, she’s going with Christophe M'Bala.
- Sissi: (in a teasing tone) I meant me, stupid!
- Odd: You should get ready! Your girlfriend’s gonna be waiting for you!
- Ulrich: Drop it Odd!
- Odd: Okay, I’m outta here. Who knows? Maybe I'll bump into a lonely heart.
- (As Yumi leaves Odd and Ulrich)
- Ulrich: One more of your stupid proverbs, and you are dead!
- Odd: Ulrich's lost his head and should have stayed in bed. Wait, wait, wait! I've got another one! Go with Sissi, and your future is gloomy 'cause your gonna lose Yumi!
- Yumi: What’s… what's going on?
- Jeremie: (despondent and shaken) XANA… g-got what he wanted! He's has the keys to Lyoko. He'll be able to get out of the Supercomputer!
- Jeremie: Aelita's… dead!
- Odd: Right, would someone please say something funny before I have a heart attack?
- Aelita: My father sacrificed himself for me, and we don't even know if he's still on Lyoko.
- Odd: Fine, excuse me while I have my heart attack.
- Ulrich: Jeremie, it's getting worse.
- Jeremie: Oh no, it's getting better!
- Aelita: The fight has to go on. After all, fighting XANA is my job.
- (As everyone takes hands)
- Jeremie: No, Aelita. It's our job!
[edit] Trivia
[edit] Time Discrepancies
- It took a short time in this episode for Aelita to come to after Jeremie re-activates the Supercomputer. However, in "False Start" the Supercomputer was shut down for a much shorter time, and Aelita didn't regain conscioussness for several hours.
- The Scyphozoa is quick to steal Aelita's memory in this episode, but in previous episodes, it would be in the process of stealing for minutes and still not have her memory.
- After getting closer and closer after stealing her memory so many times and getting the number lower and lower it became shorter and shorter.
[edit] Allusions to the Real World
- The poster which concealed Mister Pück contains a bunny character which is synonymous with that seen in Hello Kitty.
- The date which Franz Hopper lived over and over for seven years (June 6, 1994) also happens to be the 50th anniversary of the Battle of Normandy.
[edit] Character Notes
- Although in this episode the name of Christophe's date was "Anaïs Vichy," numerous trombinoscopes list the same girl as having the name "Anaïs Fiquet" (It should be noted that French names are often Anglicised in the English Dub).
- Who does Sissi truly want to go to the dance with, Ulrich or Odd? In this episode, she seems to be flirting with both of them.
| Preceded by: "Revelation" |
Code Lyoko episodes | Followed by: "Straight to Heart" |
