Free! Ep 5: Summer Trainning Camp from Hell on a Deserted Island

Impression:
REI YOU IDIOT!!!!!! YOU SHOULD KNOW A BIT BETTER WITH THAT BRAIN– Oh wait never mind 5% Logic, 95% Beauty. EITHER WAY IT’S A NO BRAINER THAT IT’S A BAD IDEA TO GO INTO THE OCEAN AT NIGHT, EVEN MORE SO WHEN A STORM IS FREAKING BREWING!!!! I am sure they are going to be okay, but by the looks of it poor Makoto is about to relive his fear/traumatic event. My heart isn’t ready for the feels wave.
Today thanks to Makoto figuring out an alternative way to take part of the Summer Trainning Camp from Hell on a Deserted Island that was put together by the former Swim Club from a few years back, the team heads to the deserted island to train in the ocean. You have to give major props to Makoto for figuring it out since they didn’t have the money to use the island’s facility, or a boat or to stay at the lodge (except for Gou and Amakata who paid for themselves). He also pulled through and despite his discomfort in the ocean, he still swam in it. Unfortunately for him, as I mentioned in the above- no thanks to Rei, he is about to relive a traumatic event.
I am not hundred percent certain, but since Makoto’s Gold Fish grave was pointed out I am leaning towards the idea that perhaps it served not so much as foreshadowing, but symbolism of a death of swimmer. Although this is a pretty dark theory, I think that swimmer might have died or almost died because they had to retrieve Makoto from the ocean who may have been thinking with the same mindset as Rei at the time. It also appears that only Rin and Haru are aware of Makoto’s fear/trauma of the ocean since Nagisa hasn’t shown any concern for Makoto regarding the ocean training at all. But who knows, Nagisa can be hard to predict and is definitely smarter than he appears to be.
The highlight of the episode was definitely the fact that Rin showed us that he does cares for the group as whole and isn’t actually brushing them off without a care in the world. When he heard from Gou that Haru and the team were training in the ocean, he immediately became concerned for Makoto. And I loved that because it shows that not only that Rin is a tsundere brat, but underneath that veil is that precious little boy from the past before he went off to Australia to train. You can see it in his eyes. I also loved that the showed us a bit more of what kind of sibling relationship Gou and Rin has, and I was happy to see that he is a good brother to her.
I am half expecting Rin alone, or with his team to help take part of the search varying on how badly the situation turns out to be. Haru may be an incredibly skilled swimmer and was probably a dolphin in his past lives, but there’s no telling whether he will be the one to save Rei or not.
Last but not least I wanted to mention about some interesting tidbits I came across on Tumblr  (and I am sure if you are on Tumblr you must’ve seen it on your dash or in the Free! tag at some point or another and know what I’m talking about) about how different and competitive swimwear can effect the swimmer’s abilities. It was a very interesting read, not to mention humorous too- but hey! The more you know right?Especially now that it isn’t that typical joke of characters having a hard time choosing similar or the exact same outfits (for example like in Kaze no Stigma), whereas in Free! it is very important for Haru to swim at his best so picking out the right swimwear for the right occasion is vital for him.