eldomtom2: This briefcase is a reference to an identical one used by Commander Straker in British sci-fi series UFO, the most explicit of many influences the series had on Evangelion. Comparisons could indeed be made between this episode and UFO 's similar episode Confetti Check A-OK.
UrsusArctos: I should add a shout-out to Jason Hellwege who made the same observation on the EML a long, long time ago. Sadamoto is on record stating that he modeled Gendo and Fuyutsuki after [https://shadoresearchlabs.com/cmdr_ed_straker
