The Pretender (Code Lyoko episode)

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“The Pretender”
Code Lyoko episode
Episode no.	Season 3 Episode 6
Written by
Original airdate	October 12, 2006
Episode chronology
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"Aelita"	"The Secret"

"The Pretender" is the fifty-eighth episode of Code Lyoko.

1 Summary
2 Recap
3 Trivia
4 Cinematic Notes
5 Culture Notes

[edit] Summary

Odd and Ulrich are talking in the shower room when a young boy, Johnny, asks to talk to him. It turns out that Johnny likes Yumi, and being jealous of that, Ulrich tells him to follow her around to get her attention, which Yumi hates. After following her all day and ending up in the gym, a flock of crows Xana has possessed attacks Yumi. She is beaten unconscious by their electric beaks and sent to the hospital. Meanwhile, as Jeremie and the others are fighting monsters to deactivate the tower, the Scyphozoa possesses Aelita and has her delete the Desert sector, leaving Lyoko with two sectors. Once Jeremie finds out, he activates a return trip to save Yumi. After the return to the past, Ulrich tells Johnny to say something to Yumi, which is an apology on his behalf. Yumi reacts and lets Johnny sit with her.

[edit] Recap

In the park, a crow is standing on a flickering street light. One of Xana's Ghosts possesses the bird. Jeremie's computer notices the activated tower and signals an alert, but no one is around to see it.

In the bathroom, Odd and Ulrich are arguing over who is the better fighter on Lyoko. Their conversation is overhead by Nicolas and Hervé, but neither understand what they're talking about. After they leave, Jeremie tells Ulrich and Odd that he's developed a statistical program to determine just who is the best in Lyoko. Hiroki's friend, Johnny, walks in shortly after, asking to speak to Ulrich alone.

In Ulrich's room, Johnny asks for advice about how to talk to Yumi, though he doesn't say it directly. Ulrich pretends not to understand him, then starts to walk out. Meeting his friends (minus Yumi) in the staircase, Ulrich tells them about what Johnny asked. He also reveals the rest of their conversation. Ulrich encouraged him to follow Yumi around everywhere, which he knew would annoy her. The others chastize him for the action, but Ulrich just claims he was hazed as a 7th grader, too.

Johnny ends up doing exactly what Ulrich told him to, and follows Yumi despite her obvious annoyance. He also tries to share her various interests, further annoying her. This is not helped when they make it to the cafeteria. After Yumi leaves to get a drink of water, Johnny seems to notice that's he's being an annoyance. Ulrich encourages his behavior, however, so he persists.

By the vending machines, Aelita, Jeremie, Odd, and Ulrich talk about their geography test on China. Ulrich notices that a large number of crows have gathered around the school. Because they are sitting on the various rooftops, he cannot tell that each one is possessed by Xana.

In the gym, Johnny has followed Yumi to her gymnasitcs practice. When she asks if he intends to follow her around all day, he quickly says yes.

One of the crows dives from the roof to attack Jeremie, slightly electrocuting him. Jeremie catches the Eye of Xana in the crow's eye, and immediately realizes that the crows are possessed. They run as the crows give chase. They manage to make their way to the sewer with little difficulty, though Odd is held back by the crows for a short period.

In the gym, Yumi has convinced Johnny to practice gymnastics with her. Unlike Yumi, he is not the least bit skilled at it, and only hurts himself on his first attempt. Jeremie calls Yumi about the crows, which are circling outside the windows as they speak. They begin bursting through the windows after Yumi turns to look. Yumi has Johnny run while she lures the crows away.

At the factory, the group finds the bridge surrounded by crows. Most of them, however, aren't possessed, so Aelita opts to walk through calmly. After getting about halfway though the crows, Xana begins possessing the crows and the group is forced to run. Odd and Ulrich hold off the crows long enough for Aelita and Jeremie to get to the elevator, then follow after Jeremie begins closing the door. They make it under just as the door shuts, causing the crows to pock-mark the door numerous times with their beaks. Aelita calls Yumi, but gets no answer because the crows are still chasing her. By the time Yumi hides in the garden shed, Aelita hangs up. The crows burst through the windows and begin pecking at her. She drops her cell phone as they peck, so it is left ringing when Jeremie tries a second call.

On Lyoko, Aelita, Odd, and Ulrich are virtualized in the Desert sector, with their vehicles arriving shortly after. Jeremie informs them that the tower is in a crater ahead. Odd tells him to start up his statistical program. Both Odd and Ulrich insist they'll top the other. Jeremie encourages them, informing them that there's four Krabes for them to fight at the tower. The tower is located in a crater, so Odd dives without bothering to look. He is surprised to find nothing there, when in fact the Krabes are behind him on a ledge. They shoot the Overboard out from under him. Ulrich makes fun of Odd for the performance, which Odd responds to by asking if Ulrich can do any better. Ulrich does so by slicing through three of them with no trouble.

At the school, Johnny is leading Jim and the principal to the tool shed. They don't believe his story about crows with glowing red eyes, but follow him regardless. They believe his story after reaching the tool shed, since the crows he described burst through the door right after Jim opens it. They find Yumi unconscious on the floor, seriously injured from the crow attack. Jeremie calls Yumi's cell, which the principal picks up. He explains that Yumi has been injured, then asks Jeremie to hang up.

On Lyoko, Jeremie informs his friends of Yumi's situation. He tells them to hurry and deactivate the tower so he can activate a return trip. The last Krabe moves to block Aelita from doing just that. Odd claims it, but Ulrich jumps in and destroys it first. Odd complains, but two more arrive, shooting Ulrich's Overbike. Odd gets a laugh out of it. A Krabe then blasts him, which Ulrich laughs about. Jeremie reminds both of them to focus on the task at hand. Odd destroys one of them, but is devirtualized by the other during a prolonged victory speech. As Ulrich dodges blasts from the final one, Aelita destroys it for him, claiming that the two boys are 'just too clumsy' in a joking tone. As she deactivates the tower, the crows make their way into the lab and attack Jermeie. Since Jeremie is indisposed, Aelita and Ulrich are left stuck on Lyoko with a group of five Hornets. Aelita destroys one as they approach. In the lab, Odd finds Jeremie unconscious.

Yumi, now being loaded into an ambulance, is accompanied by Johnny. The principal doesn't understand why the crows would attack someone as they have. Jim claims to have seen something similar while investigating paranormal phenomena for a special section of the Secret Service. Of course, he's not willing to talk about, but this time because it's classified national defense material.

On Lyoko, Aelita and Ulrich are still fighting off the Hornets. She manages to destroy one, but the distraction allows the Scyphozoa to catch her. The remaining Hornets gang up on Ulrich, knocking his saber from his hand. The three Hornets then bounce the sword higher into the air with their lasers. The sustained laser fire causes the sword to devirtualize, leaving Ulrich unarmed. Odd is at the controls to help, but can't do much in that regard. As the Scyphozoa finishes its task, a Manta arrives to take Aelita to the passage tower. The Hornets follow her, as does Ulrich.

The ambulance careens through the city center to Paul Doumer Memorial Hospital. Yumi wakes up to find Johnny next to her. She's surprised that he's there, then asks where he got the idea to follow her everywhere. He tells her that it was Ulrich's idea, which doesn't surprise her. She says that he's jealous. When Johnny asks what he's jealous of, she just tells him to forget it.

On Lyoko, Ulrich manages to catch up to the Manta and the Hornets. Making a large jump, he uses one of the Hornets as leverage to knock Aelita off of the Manta. Since he's unarmed, however, he can do little except avoid her attacks. Odd tries to give Ulrich his saber back, but only succeeds in programming an illusion of one, which breaks apart the second Ulrich touches it. With no other option left, Ulrich opts to restrain Aelita, preventing the monsters from firing at him and keeping her from the tower.

In the lab, Odd decides to try and wake Jeremie for some help. Meanwhile, in the ambulance, Yumi's vital signs are slowly dropping.

On Lyoko, Aelita manages to break free of Ulrich's grasp. She then fires an energy field at him, but misses. The attack impacts the rock behind him, inadvertently creating several makeshift swords from shattered rock. Using his speed, Ulrich jumps onto the Manta's back, dodging the Hornets after doing so. After batting one of them into a rock, thereby destroying it, Ulrich stabs the Manta. Aelita continues toward the tower, but is blocked by Ulrich once again. One of the two remaining Hornets shoots him, allowing her to pass. Ulrich destroys them, but the momentary break gives her enough time to reach the tower. Odd manages to wake Jeremie just as she inputs the Code: Xana. The viral program immediately begins permanently deleting the Desert sector. With no way to stop it, Jeremie activates a return trip to save Yumi.

One day in the past, Jeremie informs Ulrich that Yumi will be fine. She knows about what Ulrich did, however, so she's furious. Johnny once again arrives asks Ulrich about Yumi, so he uses him to convey an apology. Yumi accepts it, then lets Johnny study with her.

At the vending machines, Jeremie reveals the results of his statistical program. The winner turns out to be Aelita, and both she and Jeremie get a good laugh out of it. Odd and Ulrich merely claim that the statistics aren't a true measure of skill.

[edit] Trivia

It seems unlikely that Aelita could have had the best statistics. The program had only been activated in time for the trip seen this episode, and Ulrich is clearly seen destroying more monsters than Aelita or Odd.
The Desert is deleted in this episode.

[edit] Cinematic Notes

Despite his and Yumi's decision not to pursue a romantic relationship, Ulrich's "hazing" of Johhny shows he is still prone to fits of jealousy whenever someone else shows interest in Yumi, suggesting he is not as at ease with the decision as initially believed, and that he still has feelings for her.
This is the second appearance of Hiroki's friend Johnny, who's played by Jodi Forrest.
This episode is the second time Aelita is used as a puppet for Xana's sector disruption.
When Aelta/XANA is headed for the way tower it glows Xana's trademark red instead of neutral white.
Aelita's energy orbs seem to also damage the terrain, but they dont usually do that. Megatanks are supposed to be the only ones that do damage to terrain.
Aelita's head is tilted back further when she is getting ready to delete the sectors.

[edit] Culture Notes

Ulrich's poster advertising a Pencak Silat tournament in 2002 is well featured in this episode, thereby dropping hints to the political geography of Earth in Code Lyoko. The poster reveals that the tournament was held in Jakarta, the capital of Indonesia. There are numerous flags denoting which countries sent competitors to the tournament. The nations in attendance were Indonesia, the United Kingdom, Japan, China, Nigeria, Colombia, the United States, Canada, Mexico, Turkey, the United Arab Emirates, France and Paraguay.