Misato remembers what happened to her father 15 years ago, in the year 2000 A.D. She was with him in Antarctica during the Second Impact. Her father gave up his own life to make sure that his daughter was safe inside of a life pod while he gave in to his injuries caused by the sheer destructive force of Adam’s awakening. As her pod drifts on the sea, a young Misato watches Adam's wings of light spread out as she clutches an injury to her side.
Fast forward to the present and a much older Misato looks at herself in the mirror, still bearing the scar from that injury.
Out in the living room, Shinji, Kensuke and Toji are drying themselves from the rainstorm outside. As Misato walks in, Kensuke notices from her collar tab that she has been promoted from captain to major. Both Kensuke and Toji waste no time in congratulating Misato on her promotion and on admonishing Shinji and Asuka for not noticing.
Some time that evening at NERV, the pilots are undergoing a harmonics test. Shinji, especially, catches Ritsuko’s attention since his harmonics and sync ratio are rapidly approaching Asuka’s and he can withstand a greater depth in the entry plug than either Asuka or Rei. The research team marvel at his abilities and one researcher remarks that it is almost like Shinji was born to become an Eva pilot. Misato then states that even if he is doing so well, being an Eva pilot is not what he truly wants.
As the pilots gather after the test, Ritsuko congratulates Shinji on his achievement. This leads Asuka to make it clear that his score is still well below hers and she leaves the room in a hurry. As Shinji rides home with Misato, he meekly congratulates her on her promotion. She thanks him but also says that she’s not particularly thrilled about it. Shinji thinks that he can relate to that feeling since all praise seemed to do for him was infuriate Asuka. Misato then asks Shinji whether that really bothers him and when he says yes, she says that it’s because he worries too much about what others think of him.
Back at the apartment, Kensuke has thrown together a party to celebrate Misato’s promotion. As Kensuke, Toji, Hikari, and Asuka talk boisterously, Misato notices Shinji looking very uncomfortable with the atmosphere. She asks him if being in situations like this is okay to which he admits that it feels a little weird being around this many people at once, but he is getting used to it. He, in turn, asks Misato why she does not seem happy from being rewarded for her work. She tells him that while she is somewhat happy, that is not the main reason that she works at NERV. When asked what her true reason is, she tells Shinji that she can’t remember the real reason for joining NERV because it was so long ago. Soon, Kaji also arrives with Ritsuko, triggering suspicious looks from Asuka and Misato. Shinji soon learns from the two of them that both Commander Ikari and Vice-Commander Fuyutsuki are absent from Headquarters at the moment and that they are at the South Pole.
At the South Pole, an UN aircraft carrier makes its way through the ruined Antarctic seas with a long wrapped object strapped to its deck. Fuyutsuki remarks in a pained tone how the dead Antarctic seas are now just another name for Hell. Gendo retorts that even though death is all around, mankind still returns to this wasteland, which Fuyutsuki says is only possible because of the protection of science. Gendo then says that science is what makes man powerful, and Fuyutsuki warns Gendo that his sort of arrogant attitude is what caused the Second Impact. Fuyutsuki states that the Second Impact delivered far greater punishments than mankind deserved and remarks that the sea that lies before them is the real Dead Sea. Gendo says that even though it is dead, it is a place that has been purified of original sin. Fuyutsuki states that he would rather live in a world with people rather than one without sin. The conversation is interrupted with a message that the tenth Angel, Sahaquiel, has been detected over the Indian Ocean.
The Angel attacks from orbit and is absolutely massive. The pupil of its central eye is comparable to the size of an Eva unit. Recon satellites are sent to analyze the Angel but are crushed by an A.T. Field used in an offensive manner. The Angel then proceeds to drop pieces of itself down onto Earth, in what appears to be some sort of target practice. The mass of the objects it drops along with the A.T. Fields those objects possess are enough to create massive tidal waves and enormous craters. The Angel is assumed to be making its way to Headquarters upon which it will drop its entire mass. If it succeeds, Tokyo-3 and all surrounding areas will become part of the Pacific Ocean. Misato, as commanding officer of NERV issues an evacuation order for residents of Tokyo-3 and all non-essential personnel at NERV Headquarters.
As Ritsuko hears Misato’s plan to use all three Evas to stop the Angel from dropping on Tokyo-3, she is furious at Misato’s recklessness, pointing out that her plan has ridiculously small odds (less than one in ten thousand) for success. Misato defends the plan as still being their best shot in any case, saying that she trusts the Evas to be able to pull it off, and it is her duty to do whatever she can to stop the Angels. Ritsuko frankly tells her that the whole plan sounds less her upholding her duty and more like her needlessly gambling away the Evas in order to satisfy her own personal vendetta against the Angels.
The pilots are briefed on the plan, which turns out to be having the Evas spread out in the field, then gather at the site of predicted impact once the Angel makes its descend, where they are to try to "catch" it with their A.T. Fields. Shinji and Asuka are immediately concerned about the viability of such a plan, but when told that any of them can back out if they wish, nobody speaks up. Misato tells them that she’ll treat them to a steak dinner once the mission is over. Shinji and Asuka feign enthusiasm but are actually disappointed in the lackluster reward for such a dangerous mission. Regardless, Asuka begins to rifle through a guidebook on good restaurants in Tokyo-3 and the nearby area, and tells Rei that she insists she joins them. Rei just quietly rejects the invitation, saying that she doesn't eat meat.
As the Angel starts to approach Tokyo-3, it starts to interfere with the MAGI's radio equipment, meaning that NERV cannot get any kind of accurate projection of where it will land. Misato tells the pilots that she has marked three locations where the Evas will be despatched, and though the MAGI can guide them some of the way, it will ultimately be up to the pilots to close the distance once they spot the Angel. Rei asks how these locations has been chosen, and Misato answers that she picked them based entirely on her intuition. "Misato has never won the lottery," Shinji darkly remarks about the whole plan hinging on nothing but her intuition, and Asuka sends him a genuinely worried look.
The pilots ride on the elevator to the Eva cage, and Shinji asks Asuka why she is a pilot. She answers with gusto: "To exhibit my talent to the world, of course!" He then asks if it means that it is a way for her to prove to world that she exists, which she affirms, before asking him why he isn't asking Rei the same question. When he replies that the two of them have already talked about it, Asuka snarks on how intimate he and Rei appears to be, before she turns his original question back on him. "I don't know," he answers laconically. Asuka is shocked to hear this, asking him if he is stupid. "Maybe I am," he replies.
In the command room, Misato tells Hyuga and Aoba that they really should evacuate too, as she could take care of this operation herself. But Aoba insists that it is their job to be here, and Hyuga adds that they just can't let the kids risk their lives by themselves. Misato remarks that the pilots are actually the most likely to survive if the operation should fail, since the EVAs are protected by their AT-Fields, meaning the cockpit is the safest place to be.
As Shinji sits in Unit-01, he remembers something Misato told him earlier, on the day after her promotion party. Her reason for joining NERV was so that she could have a chance at destroying the Angels, thereby freeing herself from her father who sacrificed himself to save her life. Before the Second Impact, her father had always been more devoted to his work rather than his family. Her father's friends always said he was a very sensitive and delicate man, but Misato saw him as a weak person who was afraid of facing the reality that was his family and burying himself in work was his attempt to run from it. Misato hated him for that and hated having to see her mother cry herself to sleep every night. She was glad when her mother filed for a divorce and thought her father had been dealt an appropriate punishment. However, when he sacrificed his life for her, she didn’t know whether to hate him or love him. All that was left was to destroy the Angels for what happened in the past, so that she could clear all the debts she owed to her father and free herself from him. Shinji hears echoes of his own father within Misato’s story and seems to latch onto the idea of not backing away in order to free yourself of the ties that hold you back. "Right," he says, bringing himself back to the present and staring determined ahead. "I must not run away."
At that moment, the Angel begins its descent. The Evas are guided up to a certain point after which they have to use their own intuition. Shinji is the first to arrive directly below the Angel’s drop point and spreads his A.T. Field stopping the Angel dead in its tracks. However, the force is too great and the Angel begins to push through. Unit-00 and 02 soon come up and combined fields to push the Angel back. Unit-00 then pulls apart the Angel’s A.T. Field as Unit-02 stabs its core, killing the Angel and causing it to explode and leave a massive crater in its wake. The three units are revealed to have survived, protected by their own A.T. fields.
As the three pilots gather for the debriefing, Gendo calls from the South Pole. He congratulates Misato for her efforts before he asks if Shinji is there as well, and Shinji quickly stands at attention. "I've received the report. Good work, Shinji," Gendo says earnestly. Shinji is surprised to hear those words.
Misato takes the pilots by train out to the nearby town of New Miyanoshita. Misato ensures them that she will treat them to the full course meal she promised (though she is painfully aware it will likely wreck serious havoc on her meager finances). To her relief, Asuka tells her that she and Shinji are aware of the sorry state of her wallet, so she has rearranged for the group to eat something cheaper at a local ramen stand instead (something that also allows Rei to join in on the dinner as she can order a meal without meat). As the group sits down and eat, Shinji reminisces to Misato about the words his father said earlier that day. He tells her that he now understands how it feels to be happy from receiving praise, and he has realized that maybe his reason for piloting the Eva is to hear those words from his father. "You're piloting for something like that?" says an incredulous Asuka. "You really are stupid."
Tropes:
- Comically Small Bribe: Misato offers to treat the pilots to a dinner at a restaurant if they participate in the mission. Shinji and Asuka feign enthusiasm at first (Rei is, as always, just kind of indifferent), but once Misato is out of earshot, they both discuss how a somewhat fancy dinner seems like a rather crummy and lacklustre reward for putting their lives on the line.
- Crazy Enough to Work: The plan to have the Evas intercept the angel with their AT Fields sounds absolutely crazy on paper, but it eventually pays off. It's not out of the ordinary for Misato, that being said.
- Food as Bribe: Misato tells Shinji and Asuka that they'll have a steak dinner if they complete their mission. Asuka and Shinji instead decide to go have ramen so Misato won't have to pay so much.
- Foreshadowing:
- Asuka's reply to why Shinji is piloting the Eva was to get praise from his father. Ten episodes later it's revealed that getting praise essentially the reason why Asuka herself is a pilot.
- The UN task force's mysterious mission to the South Pole. We can see they retrieved something that's laid out, albeit wrapped up, on the carrier's flight deck. What exactly they retrieved won't be revealed until Episodes 14-15.
- Pet the Dog:
- Gendo takes a moment to say some kind (well, "kind" by his standards anyway) words to his son, whom he has otherwise mostly ignored.
- Asuka proves with her choice of dining place that she can indeed be considerate of others. She chooses a not-too-expensive ramen stand, so that Misato won't get in financial problems from buying the pilots dinner, and also checks that the stand also offers a vegetarian option, so that Rei can also join them for the dinner.
- Throw the Dog a Bone: Shinji receiving praise from Gendo.
