(1)
I was right about the Ogami worship circle using Miyako as their new
saniwa, but slightly wrong about its motives. They seem to have
yakuza links and are apparently trying to gain political power through their ability to make "prophecies" via Miyako. In any case, things look very bad, because Miyako seems to have resigned herself to her fate. Taro and Prof Komagusu tried, but failed to rescue her from within Kakuriyo.
Taro finally realised that the "inner voice" he has been hearing is not his sister, but rather another entity that claims to be the one "who knows him best". I don't like how the writers resolved this plot point. It came from out of nowhere and it seems too convenient, but at least Taro is no longer embarrassed about his feelings for Miyako. That's good.
Curiously though, he doesn't seem to be able to say her name anymore. I have my own theory why this is happening. I think it has something to do with Miyako being the Lord of One Word.
(2)
On a sidenote, it's heartwarming to see Makoto being so devoted to his mother now. Her memory is still hazy, but she recognises her son and remembers the knife he had brought to her house.
(3)
Dr Hirata reveals that he has contracted
Lewy Body Dementia, the second most common form of dementia among elderly people, with symptoms that are very similar to Alzheimer's. True to his rational, scientific self, Dr Hirata believes that his hallucinations are being caused by this malady. He believes that something happened to him while in Suiten and directly connects the source of the problem to Dai Nippon Bio.
More disturbingly, stem cell research all over the world have suddenly succeeded at the same time, giving rise to news reports that proclaim a "new gospel for humanity". Considering what is going on at the Ogami worship circle, that is a chillingly apt description.
(4)
Dark clouds are gathering and an ominous wind is blowing. It seems that a
perfect storm is about to break out in Suiten.
At the same time, Taro's mother seems to have lost her mind. She literally sees Mizuka now. Meanwhile, Furusawa, the lab assistant, throws what looks like a skinned chicken into the dam. Dr Otori believes that he had taken his "
blood music" a little bit too seriously. He probably thinks that he is saving the biooids by giving them reproductive instincts - in effect, making them truly "alive".
(5)
By the way, at 19:55, Prof Komagusu was referring to the
oxygenation of Earth's atmosphere millions of years by
prokaryotes, the earliest forms of life on Earth. Some of these creatures create energy through
photosynthesis, which produces oxygen and water as by-products. Of course, the prokaryotes weren't actually "thinking" about changing the world to suit their needs. They were just doing whatever they needed to do to stay alive. Ironically, by changing Earth's prehistoric atmosphere, they inadvertently made it poisonous to themselves.
Why is this relevant? Well, prokaryotes are such simple forms of life that they do not even contain a true "nuclei". That is, prokaryotes do not carry unique DNA within their cell membranes, unlike the vast majority of uni- and multi-cellular lifeforms today.
If nothing else, the existence of prokaryotes demonstrate how difficult it is for scientists to define "life". As such, Masayuki's father makes a huge ethical mistake by prematurely claiming that his biooids "fall outside our definition of what it means to be 'alive'". Masayuki is right to be skeptical about his father's claims.
To a certain extent, bioscience researchers like Masayuki's father are "playing God". While everyone agrees that there are lines we shouldn't cross, not everyone agrees where those lines lie. Claiming otherwise would be a mark of hubris, a very human mistake to make.