Baccano! Episode 14

"Graham Specter's Love and Peace" is the fourteenth episode and first OVA of the 2007 Baccano! anime.

Recap Scenes
None.

Synopsis
1932. Inside The Alveare, a critical moment is taking place. Tense with nerves, Miria Harvent watches on in grim silence as Isaac Dian prepares to place a single domino down with a surgeon's concentration. The tension is palpable - but it is palpable to them alone, and it is broken when Firo Prochainezo casually asks them what they are up to.

Recovering from their near-cardiac arrests, Isaac and MIria demand Firo's silence for fear that he might knock their elaborate domino design down before it is finished - because when it is finished, they plan on knocking it over. Firo wonders why they are going to the trouble of setting up the dominos for the sake of destroying them, and Isaac and Miria reply that they are going so because the dominos exist.

Maiza Avaro looks up from the paper he has been studying and informs Firo that children often have fun with dominos this way when they do not know the actual rules of the game. Satisfied with this explanation, Firo stands and takes a proper look around the room. He is surprised to find Randy and Pezzo, Ennis, Lia Lin-Shan, Kanshichirou Yaguruma, and even Ronny Schiatto all pitching in with setup, noting that the design they are working on is quite elaborate - and utterly stunned when Maiza admits to being the designer. In a nearby booth, a silver-haired woman looks their way and smiles.

Once setup is complete, Isaac and Miria gleefully prepare to knock their creation down - only to be thwarted by Firo, who in his idle bemusement accidentally sets off the chain reaction in a random part of the design.

Title card.

Elsewhere and elsewhen, grey skies and dark mists envelop the warehouse district by the Manhattan harbor. Inside one of the abandoned warehouses, a young mechanic in a blue jumpsuit sits upon an oil drum, his mood as gloomy as the weather outside. The man - Graham Specter - has a "sad, sad story" to share with his delinquent followers: today was supposed to be the day of their grand debut in New York, but, woes of woes, their "Boss Ladd" has apparently been injured and taken into police custody. Graham cannot fathom the existence of someone capable of throwing Ladd off a train.

1929. In Chicago, Ladd Russo has been called into his uncle Placido Russo's office for a private meeting. Placido, disgruntled, fills Ladd in on a problem with one of their automobile factories: according to Zacharius, one of Placido's regular customers, the Van Dyke Auto Plant has been switching out expensive automobile parts for cheap, shoddy parts and selling the high-grade ones on the black market. Rather than teaching the patronizing Zacharius a lesson, Placido wants Ladd to visit the Auto Plant and have a word with its employees.

Ladd glibly points out that in his mind, "having a word" is the same thing as "massacring them to his heart's content," and asks if Placido would really be fine with such an outcome. With a meaningful smile, Placido affirms that all he has asked was for Ladd to have a word with them - in other words, tacit permission for Ladd to slaughter whom he pleases. Ladd cackles and barges out of the room, tossing out an "I love you, uncle!" over his shoulder.

Once at the Van Dyke Auto Plant, Ladd merrily massacres the plant's employees with his sawed-off shotgun before confronting Van Dyke himself. Pointing the muzzle at Van Dyke's forehead, he orders Van Dyke to hurry up and explain himself so that Ladd can kill him the sooner the better. He interrogates Van Dyke like a predator toying with his prey, intimidation culminating in him firing a bullet into the automobile behind Van Dyke inches away from the man's ear. Roaring with laughter, Ladd assures Van Dyke that he will not be killed easily - in fact, Van Dyke should be grateful to be killed by someone like Ladd.

Ladd fires his gun again, this time shooting the automobile's left headlight. Graham skids out from behind the automobile and into view, and Ladd curtly asks who he is. Graham coldly remarks that such a question would imply that Ladd is interested in him, and yet Ladd has gone and hurt him terribly. He carefully holds out his wrench; clamped between the wrench's jaws is the bullet Ladd shot at the headlight.

Van Dyke takes the opportunity to scramble away from Ladd, realizing that the other two men are more preoccupied with each other than with him. Graham steps forward to caress the automobile's ented frame, complaining that Ladd has carelessly destroyed the automobile Graham had been planning on personally dismantling. Since Ladd is the one responsible for putting Graham in such a foul mood, Graham cannot forgive him.

Ladd retorts that Graham is making no sense whatsoever, and Graham drives his wrench into the concrete ground to demonstrate his displeasure. The ground breaks under the force, and Van Dyke's pleas for Graham to stop are lost in the tremendous noise of Graham slamming his wrench into the ground over and over again, shouting all the while. Irritated Ladd pumps his shotgun, leaps into the air, and fires at Graham - a shot that Graham deflects with his wrench.

As the two fight, Ladd argues that in protecting the thieving Van Dyke, Graham is as much of a thief as Van Dyke is. Again, he fires, and again, Graham deflects the bullet - drawing first blood when the bullet grazes Ladd's cheek. Snickering, Graham uses Ladd's logic to conclude that Ladd, in having been hit by a bullet aimed at a thief, must be a thief of thieves. Irate, Ladd readies his stance as Graham charges at him, tossing his shotgun away seconds before Graham drives his wrench into Ladd's side.

Graham freezes. His wrench is firmly embedded in Ladd's side, but Ladd remains standing - even as his blood drips from his gouged flesh. Ladd sneers that Graham did not stand a chance against him, and uses the wrench to hurl Graham at the opposite wall with such force that the wall cracks from the impact. Walking over, he points his shotgun at Graham's slumped head; Graham, accepting defeat, quietly tells him to do what he pleases. Ladd refuses on the grounds that he enjoys killing people who do not consider that they could be killed, not people who want to be killed. He adds that his favorite people to kill are those who are so cocksure of their own invincibility that he is the only one who can kill them. Graham stares at him with wide, wide eyes.

Ladd chuckles to himself, and, remembering Van Dyke, turns and shoots Van Dyke in the head like an afterthought. He throws his head back and laughs, and Graham laughs with him.

1932. Graham recalls the plans he and Ladd had made for celebrating their victory in New York, and how he had been so excited by them he could not sleep. That those plans have been ruined is a crushing disappointment to him, and he works himself up into a screaming frenzy of negative emotion over his loss.

1931. Isaac and Miria step off the Flying Pussyfoot and joyfully reunite with Maiza, Ennis, Firo, and the Gandor brothers at Grand Central Station. They are joined by a decidedly sober Czeslaw Meyer, whom Maiza greets with a gentle smile.

Elmer C. Albatross watches the reunion from a distance, gratified to see that Maiza looks well. He murmurs an apology to his old companion - their reunion will have to wait another time - and leaves the station. Later, Elmer arrives at a secure prison compound and bribes the guards into letting him visit the terrorist Huey Laforet - a method which he frames as "having made [the guards] smile."

It turns out that Elmer has come to the station for one smile in particular, and that is Huey's smile. Huey asks what good his smile could possibly bring the world, and Elmer points out that it would at the very least make his world a little brighter. So saying, he hooks his fingers into his lips and cheeks and pulls them into a ridiculous smile, urging Huey to smile as well. Huey ducks his head with a soft laugh, much to Elmer's satisfaction, marvelling that Elmer would come such a long way for such a thing. Elmer reminds him that he would "do anything for a smile."

Huey says that he wants Elmer to meet his daughter, Chané Laforet, since he is curious if Elmer would be able to make her smile - and if Elmer would still be able to smile after meeting her. Elmer drops his hands, his expression subdued.

1922. Huey and a young Chané walk hand-in-hand in a large, grassy field. Chané affirms that she loves Huey and will do anything for him, and he acknowledges her as his daughter, protector, and the guardian of his knowledge - the reason he created her in the first place. So saying, he informs Chané that he wants her to memorize a certain piece of knowledge, knowledge that must not be written down, shared with others, or used for her own benefit. All this Chané agrees to without a complaint, and Huey offers to give her anything her heart desires as a reward for her taking on such a burden.

In the present, Huey keeps his head turned away from Elmer and wonders what his friend would have said had he seen Chané in that moment. Referring to Chané as his "little experiment," Huey murmurs that experiments sometimes act unexpectedly.

Back in 1922, Chané requests that Huey take away her voice so that she can protect the knowledge more securely. Huey hugs her, his eyes gleaming, and withdraws to assure her that removing her voice is a simple matter.

In his cell, Huey muses over Chané's extraordinary choice, and extraordinary loyalty to him. Though Elmer has left, Huey asks the absent "Smile Junkie" what happy life could a guinea pig possibly hope to have. As a scientist, Huey is as eager to know the answer as Elmer must be.

Elmer pauses on the steps leading out of the facility, and remarks to his absent friend that he has learned that happiness, like unhappiness, can strike at any time without warning. He is sure that Chané will not be able to escape either emotion.

In the Genoard manor, Chané reads a newspaper article announcing that Huey, having been found guilty of treason, will be transported to New York from his Canada that very day.

Back in the abandoned warehouse, Graham successfully dismantles an entire automobile in midair, without it ever once touching the floor. Jubilant and excited by life once more, he demands that his followers tell him an entertaining story. Shaft asks him if Graham has heard anything about the other newcomers in town - Graham has not - and Shaft explains that the newcomers are apparently a criminal gang like they are. What's more, the gang has been spotted going in and out of the upscale neighborhood Millionaire Row.

Graham assumes that the gang must be committing robberies, and with increasing excitement mutters that his gang cannot let the newcomers take the lead. Shaft is not convinced that they are burglars, since word on the street is that the Genoards are letting the gang hide out in one of their penthouses. Graham remembers hearing about the patriarch and eldest son of the family drowning in a dam the year before, and Shaft chimes in with the news that since the second son Dallas has gone missing, Eve Genoard is currently the head of the estate.

Graham jumps to the conclusion that the gang is blackmailing Eve into letting them stay, full of admiration for the genius of such an arrangement. Emboldened by Graham's good mood, Shaft suggests that their gang join up with the newcomers, proceed to take over the newcomer's turf, and make a profit while they are at it. Graham drives his wrench into Shaft's stomach, full of contempt for such a cowardly, freeloading plan. Not to mention, he wouldn't even be able to break anything that way. Shaft wraps his arms around his stomach and staggers forward, lips moving soundlessly at the pain. He does not - cannot - respond when Graham demands that he say something, and Graham decides that he will just have to break Shaft instead. He raises his wrench up high and swings it down at Shaft. There is a scream, and a crunch.

Rachel, having finished her report to The President of the Daily Days, exits the Daily Days headquarters in Chinatown. Before she left his office, the President had told her to visit the honey shop in Little Italy if she wanted information on what happened to the boy she saw murdered on the train, and that she had no obligation for her to report on whatever happens. Deciding to follow his advice, Rachel hobbles over to Little Italy and is shocked to see the boy - Czes - alive and well, walking hand-in-hand with Ennis down the sidewalk.

Czes notices Rachel staring at him and asks her if something is wrong. She replies that he is supposed to be dead, a statement that takes Ennis aback. With a childish air, Czes tells Ennis that he and "the lady" need to talk in private. The two of them head for a nearby alleyway; once alone, Czes drops the child act and asks if Rachel saw him die when his head was shot off, or when he was dragged along the train tracks. At her silence, he introduces himself as "Thomas," and she stammers out an introduction of her own.

Pleased that Rachel is not an immortal, Czes asks why Rachel approached him in the first place. Rachel explains that the President of the Daily Days told her to drop by the area. Czes is familiar with the Daily Days as an information brokerage, and elects to come clean since the agency will end up telling her the truth no matter what. He tells her that his real name is Czeslaw Meyer, a distinction that only bewilders Rachel further. Since it is obvious that Rachel is completely ignorant to the details, Czes decides that he will tell her everything there is to know about the situation - starting with what an immortal is.

Shaft lies on the ground of the warehouse, his hands covering the back of his head. Embedded in the ground next to him is Graham's wrench, inches away from his ear. Graham laughs that he was only kidding when he said he would break Shaft, and then shifts into a brief bout of guilt over having caused Shaft to faint. Guit immediately gives way to excitement over the newcomer gang, and Graham turns and asks one of his followers about the identity of the gang's leader. The follower says that he saw the leader over at the hospital the other day, and that the leader seemed like a bit of a wimp despite the sword tattoo on his face.

Graham mulls over the tattoo for a moment, and then dashes over to sort through a mess of papers on a nearby table until he finds the Russo Family's wanted poster for Jacuzzi Splot. The poster prominently boasts a bounty reward of five thousand dollars for catching Jacuzzi, and he holds it up to show his follower. The follower confirms that the Jacuzzi is the same man he saw at the hospital.

Graham proposes that they catch Jacuzzi in order to claim the reward money from the Russos, with the idea that the operation will be a tribute to Ladd in case they are sent to prison. To kick the operation off, they should kidnap Eve - a prospect that excites Graham immensely, though he hastily reminds his followers that he still prefers older women. Back on track, he says that they can use Eve as bait in order to lure Jacuzzi to the warehouse, and maybe earn some ransom money as a bonus.

Although he is pleased with his plan, Graham acknowledges that it will ultimately result in a story that is both happy and sad. The follower who identified Jacuzzi asks him what the sad part is, and Graham clarifies that while he and his gang will be the happy ones, Jacuzzi's gang will be anything but happy.

Preview
Sub: Graham looks at the title for the next episode, "The Delinquents That Arrive at the High-Class Neighborhood Are the Same as Always," and wonders what it means by "no different than any other" (are the same as always). He interprets it to mean that people see all delinquents as deadbeats, and accuses people who take others at face value for being shallow. Since Graham is not a shallow man, he will not continue his rant. He admits that he is just being bitter, and notes that the audience is keeping fairly sweet.

Dub: Graham Specter takes a look at the title for the next episode, "The Delinquents That Arrive at the High-Class Neighborhood Are the Same as Always," and demands to know what the "Same as Always" part is supposed to mean, complaining that only the delinquents themselves can know the answer. He adds that it is a "simple thing" to grieve for the unknown, but since he is not a simple man, he will not grieve. Graham bitterly concludes that while he is now unhappy, the viewers must be happy.

Dominos Scene
The dominos scene in the anime corresponds with the beginning of 1932 Drug & The Dominos' third chapter. The scene takes place on January 02, 1932, and takes place near the speakeasy's bar - Maiza is supposed to be sitting at the counter when he remarks on the game being popular with children. Ronny sets up his dominos abnormally fast in the novel, but in the anime sets up his dominos with painstaking care.

Firo does not knock the dominos over in the novel; Isaac and Miria knock over the first domino without interference. The silver-haired woman - Sylvie - is not present in the scene.

Elmer's Scenes
Elmer observing Maiza at the train station is not adapted from any scene in the novel and is thus anime-original. It is, however, plausible, since Elmer was also a passenger aboard the Flying Pussyfoot.

The scene with Elmer and Huey in Newfoundland is completely contrary to the novels. Elmer and Huey do not reunite in 1932, and in fact have yet to reunite as of 2002. The flashback to 1922 is adapted from a color page of the sixth light novel, in which Huey remembers that fateful conversation with his daughter and asks an absent Elmer if he thinks Chané will be able to find happiness as a guinea pig - just as he does in the anime. The crucial point is that Huey and Elmer do not meet in person in 1932.

Graham's Scenes
The most important change to note is that Graham's and Ladd's first meeting in the anime is radically antithetical to how Graham and Ladd actually meet (as recounted in a color page of the eighth light novel). The anime portrays them as mutually antagonistic on first sight, which could not be further from reality:

Ladd first came across Graham when the mechanic was taking a severe beating from a group of has-been boxers-turned gangsters. Always one to enjoy a fight, Ladd took on the boxers by first asking them to kill him, reasoning that in telling them to kill him, he has much right to kill him (in the name of self-defense) as they have the right to kill him. Graham, dazzled by Ladd's philosophical side, dismantled the rest of the gangsters. And then he and Ladd became friends. In other words, their whole first encounter with each other was not antagonistic in the slightest.

Returning to the 1931-1932 plot, which corresponds with the fourteenth light novel, the catalyst for Graham cheering up after howling about his and Ladd's plans being ruined is that he successfully dismantles an entire automobile in midair. He does not do this in 1931; his rage melts into joy with slippery ease. However, the "dismantle an object in midair" concept can be traced back to the sixth prologue in the ninth light novel, which takes place in 1934. There, Graham dismantles a spare metal part in midair and points out his impressive feat to his followers. The anime spliced this concept into the 1931 scene.

The wanted poster does not actually give a price in the novels - it simply says that "there will be a reward for whomever finds this man."

Rachel's Scenes
Nicholas Wayne is not present during Rachel's report.

Rachel does not run into Czes and Ennis on the street - she enters the Alveare several hours after talking to the President, wearing a thick coat over a white dress instead of her coveralls. There, she takes a seat next to a young boy, not realizing that the boy is Czes until their eyes meet. Once she blurts out "I saw you die," Czes quickly excuses himself to Ennis and leads Rachel out of the restaurant, much to the amusement of the surround Martillos.

Trivia

 * This episode is one of two episodes in which Graham Specter narrates the preview instead of Isaac and Miria.

New Characters

 * Graham Specter
 * Shaft (or Sham)

Unanswered Questions

 * Who was the silver-haired woman in the Alveare?
 * What was Elmer's wish in 1711?
 * Will Claire and Chané find each other in Manhattan?
 * How did Jacuzzi's gang come to live at Eve Genoard's manor?
 * Is Chané staying with Jacuzzi's gang? If so, why?
 * Did Jacuzzi's gang successfully get away with their train robbery, and will Czes face repercussions from the Runoratas for having lost his cargo?
 * What became of Natalie Beriam and Mary after Rachel helped them escape on the Flying Pussyfoot?