So Gendo might have had a reason to do it, since he knows more than we do. Also "Dummy System is not recommended to use in combat situations like this one", which is considerably different from the untested prototype unfit for deployment angle.
I doubt he knows more than Ritsuko, who, again, not only designed but
built the damn thing. And who objected to its use, in this exact situation, and then made sure it
stopped being used. No, it is not different, since she herself said she didn't think it should be used until it was up to
her standards.
Also, once more you are
ignoring the very notion that Gendo straight up didn't give two shits about the Angel's known mind-altering properties. That's a huge oversight on the part of a field commander, one he was in a position to know more about than us, and failed to act on. If he had, he would have known to take greater care with his orders, which he did not.
I've re-read the scene-- Gendo activated DS the moment Unit-03 went berserk. It wasn't about progressive knife and inexperienced pilot anymore, so I'm once again sure he saved Rei's life (and maybe other pilots as well).
Then he
still 1) used an untested piece of equipment in an uncertain situation which 2) resulted in the mission kill of two Evas in that engagement, severe damage to a third, and all the consequences that come with that decision. All without
any damage to the actual target of the engagement, i.e. the Angel. In fact, him activating the Dummy Plug in that scenario is a
worse decision, since it directly caused Asuka to engage Unit 00 (and thus get damaged) and not Unit 03 (which, again, was at the time distracted with Unit 00). Would Unit 02 have won against berserk Unit 03? Probably not. Would
then have been the right time to activate the Dummy Plug? Yes. Was it a good idea when Gendo made that decision? No.
All activating the Dummy Plug did, even in the most ideal scenario, is present Asuka with a confused combat scenario when she was done with the JSSDF. As we saw, that meant Asuka chose to fight Unit 00, with the results we are now dealing with. It was a needless risk that, if
we'd taken it, would have led to a lot of justified recrimination in-story. As it stands, not only has it caused significant material damage - damage to two Evas, severe injuries to two pilots, one of whom may never pilot again - but almost certainly destroyed the morale and cohesion of the pilot corps going forwards.
This is the real long-term effect of Gendo's decision, and why we're most justified in chewing him out. Even if we'd taken the same material damage in an alternate scenario, or worse, we'd be in a much better place because we'd have two reliable, unimprisoned pilots instead of zero. I don't think I can over-emphasise how bad it is that NERV has
zero pilots for its Evangelion corps at this moment in time, nor how directly responsible Gendo is for this situation. If we had made decisions that directly resulted in the same situation, we would be fired.
Then it leaves only one thing: why did he do it. The answer is probably beyond Misato's paygrade and clearance, which is normal.
Gendo's long-term aims are directly incompatible with NERV's stated aims, and he often acts in accordance with his personal ends and not the organisations'. That is not normal. (Well, it
is, but that's a different matter). It is also not healty, or normal, for an organisation to have no accountability from below. This logic is an appeal to authority in the most basic sense; "he is above us so he must have had a good reason".
Also now that I've re-read the scene, I can't find any fault with him at all.
Let me list the faults I see.
First, he took zero measures to deal with the JSSDF artillery, which had already damaged three Evas and was continuing to fire. When we ordered Asuka to handle the matter - a decision which I'm not 100% comfortable with but I think was our only recourse - he then tried to get her to stop. This may have delayed the destruction of those pieces long enough for one to severely harm Unit 00, thus causing the cascade we saw. He also failed to take into account the Angel's mind-altering bullshit, instead continuing to act as though all three Evas were uncompromised despite
major evidence to the contrary.
He made
zero attempts to talk Hikari down like a person, instead acting like an autocrat, placing greater stress on her psyche at a cruical moment. Hell, he even ordered the LCL overpressure which knocked Hikari out in the first place, driving her berserk*! He then activated an untested piece of technology at exactly the wrong time, leading to Asuka attacking the wrong Unit.
He made no effort to talk to Rei post-Dummy Plug, to explain his perspective, to give any context which may have prevented the following events from happening. Instead, when she asked to kill the Angel, he responded in his normal autocratic manner, an approach which had already failed.
At no point did any of these orders lead to
any damage against the actual target. The absolute most you can say is that he helped keep Shinji on task... which is a piss-poor record considering he was in control of three Evangelion units.
*I was under the impression we'd asked for that - I certainly advocated for it - but we didn't. I'm intentionally pointing out that I advocated for that path, though as a final resort after killing the power to her unit, but it doesn't change the fact that
Gendo is responsible for the decision.
And I think the Dummy Plugs do not have mind developed enough to have so complex thoughts.
They have to have
at least an "is enemy, kill enemy" routine to function. For a being capable of affecting minds subtly, this should (though - obvious caveat, fuck knows how any of this works so this is only conjecture based on my own reasoning) be a relatively easy manipulation. That said - none of us except Sutekh know enough about how the system or the Angel works to make a judgement one way or the other. In my judgement, it's a risk to deploy it against a mind-altering Angel, and one not justifiable at the time it was taken.
If the Dummy Plug is really so almighty and infallible, then why do we even have pilots? Clearly, the intended reading is that the Dumny Plug is a shoddy piece of work only good for basic aggression, incapable of particularly skillful fighting, responding to a commander's orders or tactical acumen of any kind.
We have pilots because the Dummy Plug isn't ready yet. These flaws are a reflection of it not being ready, and the EoE ones act with greater (...relatively) tactical sophistication. Our pilots are likely to be better at killing Angels for the foreseeable future, but the quest record shows that the Dummy Plug is currently better at killing
other Evangelion units. This isn't inherent to the system, it's a product of its greater ruthlessness combined with pilot unfamiliarity with the system and how it's loaded right behind their friends. This will change as circumstances change.
...this post is way too long and rambly. Apologies to those that have to experience it...
(EDIT: Also not likely to be able to do detailed responses for a day or so)
