I thought this was a really good episode, though that may be a factor of this episode being the first one that covers manga material I haven't read. They built up the tension really well and had some great scenes (like the one where the SPK members died), though I like Light less and less as these episodes go on - partly because he seems almost inept now and partly because he treats Misa so poorly.

They certainly shifted some things around, but I think it worked.

The dice scene was especially well done.

From the preview of the next episode.. it seems alot of the manga will be cut in the next episode...does anyone else think so?

I think that N has figured it out that the second L is the original Kira.

I like the way they show that N may be smarter and better than L. N stacks items in a neat and orderly structure. Where L used to be more haphazard.

We don't know what data N may have from the orginal L. We know that L set it up to tell people that he had died, he could also have sent his notes. That information would lead N directly to Kira/Light.

If the SPX had been more like CTU from 24, they would have just bombed the exchange point.

****NEW THOUGHT ****

holy crap...this just went from epix to legendary! O.o so after L's death the game is still on...mello now has the upperhand and gains the deathnote and uses it ruthlessly...he destroys most of the SPK team causing near to feel a bit of defeat tho he kept his cool and asked again for Light's cooperation...i really liked how the falling dice symbolized it all ~ it was really well thought out...

now im hyped...cant wait for the next ep :D

I think next thing Melo is going to do is to test the 13 days rule. If they find out it's a fake rule, and if they have some of the information L had, maybe that will led him to Light..... however, I'm pretty sure Light deleted all of L's information....

I still think L is still better, L didnt expect Kira will use death god to kill him, or else Raito might be got caught , Near and mello cant beat L, but if they both work togther they may have a chance to catch Kira.

well if L had foreseen it then im pretty sure he would have sent the info and data to the orphanage back in england at the time when watari died...otherwise how did those guys know about the deathnote in the first place?

Some of the answers to those things have been skipped over in the anime. Near uncovered the existence of the Death Note through his own investigating. Most of the direct knowledge he has was obtained by talking to the Japanese police officers at the scene of the Higuchi arrest. And Mello knows everything that Near knows because he has a spy in the SPK. Read the manga if you want the whole story.

Do you really think Near would use his real name?

I'm confused by how L insisted on using the first initial of what turned out to be his real name.

L = ?? <removed by mod>
M = Mello
N = Near

I thought the other two were going to follow the same pattern as L. I did think it strange how we were told what I assumed were their real names straight away during the very first scene with them in, very different from how secretive everything was (and still is!) over L's real name.