[Xander]

Originally Posted by mechalord

Code Geass R2 = SECOND DISC OF XENOGEARS, Matrix 2 and 3
Code Geass (season 1) = first disc of Xenogears, Matrix 1

That's actually an appropriate comparison...but it also illustrates how, for example, the second disc of Xenogears still had enough interesting elements and any disappointment I felt stopped short of automatically dismissing the whole thing. You're free to disagree, of course, but I think it's better to salvage what we can.

The story was going somewhere R2 didn't go.

That really depends on what you mean by "story" because, as far as Lelouch's rise and fall is concerned, which was the story's main topic and theme, things did go in one direction. You can easily see a predictable progression in that respect without too much trouble.

The scene where Lelouch and CC form their Geass pact introduces some tribe of girls with markings on their heads... where were they in R2? What about the whole subplot with you know... Geass powers and CHINA? They went to China but wtf happened there? Nothing about CC.

There's a few points of note here that should at least be mentioned.

One is the question of whether or not the forgotten past of Geass is relevant to Lelouch's story as whole.

From the perspective of having a tighter script and using good storytelling it should have been, admittedly, but that was not an inherent necessity in and of itself as far as Lelouch's personal drama is concerned. Which is probably why it was never elaborated upon too much.

It should also be mentioned that Taniguchi, the director, likes to keep certain things vague and mysterious, open to viewer interpretation, as seen in several of his previous shows.

In other words, expecting that there would be a full set of revelations and explicit descriptions about the history of Geass was probably nothing more than wishful thinking because that's not part of his style and it wasn't the central aspect of the story. Even without R2's rush, I don't think that would have changed.

Another one would be the fact that the Geass Cult was based in China and, as rushed as its related developments were, we did learn about C.C.'s past in the process. Not enough, some might argue, but more than what little we knew beforehand.

CC is hundreds of years old and she had this cult that worshipped her. And she spent time in China. Governments all over the world have wanted her. Let's forget about that. Let's forget how Zero's "sacrifice" doesn't really solve anything when CC would still be a target. There were hints in the series that CC was not the only source of Geass. Isn't it implied that wars have been fought over her?

I'm not sure you can extrapolate that when we never see or hear about any other modern government, outside of Britannia, being interested in C.C. or Geass as a whole. Likewise, it's possible to interpret those flashbacks in several different ways, depending on your perspective. It's hard to tell.

What about Milly's family? How about Kallen's well connected father? Milly us gushing over Kallen's father and last name. Yet, that's totally thrown out.

Milly's family did have some interesting connections, related to Marianne and past events, but they were never portrayed as too active in terms of the larger plot. Milly's arranged marriage to Lloyd was the only area where we ever saw the (implicit) results of their influence and that was resolved early in R2.

I think I've talked about Kallen's father and/or family before, but the reasoning would be similar enough.

The most important part of the franchise was vaguely explored. We got the thought elevator and some other junk but we still didn't get any background
behind the power.

Along the same lines of what I just wrote and going by the available interviews...I would say that if you asked Okouchi or Taniguchi if "the background behind the power" was the "most important part of the franchise" they would probably say "no" because it was all about the character drama surrounding Lelouch.

Oh yeah, let's forget how Jeremiah didn't want Lelouch to die but was totally chill, calm, and collected when Lelouch got skewered.

I think this was touched upon, briefly, in one of the picture dramas. I'm not going to argue that it's not avoided in a rather sloppy fashion during the actual show though, but it can still be rationalized.