Did you mean: Free! Eternal Feels?
Impression
Who else is crying because I am still bawling over the episode. MY HEART!!!! IT HURTSSSSS!!! I DIDN’T ASKING FOR THESE FEELINGS!!!!!!!! I absolutely loved everything about it, from the pace, the music, the development, Sousuke’s backstory, the relay… everything was so well put together. This is what I love most about Free! This show is a master at delivering the emotions and feelings of the characters. While I have never been quite fond of Sousuke, today those feelings didn’t matter. All I could do was cry for him and the team. It turned out that my suspicions were right on the mark; Sousuke had never been scouted, and he knew better than anyone that his dream was already over before it even begun. He had messed up his shoulder after neglecting it’s injury that developed two years ago due to over-exerting himself. It always hurts when you see an athlete with dreams to step onto the international stage and become a pro be crushed because of training too hard. When Sousuke came to acknowledge that his dream could no longer be realized, he had decided to quit swimming. But then by chance of seeing Rin race in the relay last year’s regional with Haruka and the others, a new dream was born and he fought tooth and nail against his injury to swim with Rin one more time in a relay, regardless of the risk of never being able to swim again.
Sousuke had kept his injury a secret from Rin not just because he knew Rin wouldn’t want to let him swim, but because he didn’t want Rin to cry- and as expected, he did. I think the saddest part other than the fact that his dream is out of reach is that he had uttermost faith that he and Rin would stand together on the international stage as rivals.
Although it is not nice to eavesdrop on conversations, I was happy that Haruka had overheard Sousuke and Rin talking because he used what he had learned to motivate his team to swim their best by sharing that it was their relay that inspired Sousuke to swim once more. So regardless of how bad Sousuke’s shoulder looked, they had to swim their very best.
It was a super close race, but Haruka and the team have successfully qualified to swim in the Nationals after winning the relay. Realistically speaking, it’s a good thing in a way because Sousuke wouldn’t have been able to compete in the Nationals anyways and Rin’s dream team wouldn’t be the same without him.
Now with only three episodes left, I wonder how much of the nationals we are going to see. Since they all fell short (or was disqualified) in their individuals rounds, the only thing that will be featured is the relay, and perhaps Rin’s individual race.
The team’s performance have definitely improved thanks to their training efforts, but there’s no telling how they will fare up in the National Stage. Nevertheless, regardless of what the results end up being, I am so proud of them for making it this far. They have come a long way in such a short period of time (especially Rei).
Next week it looks like Makoto will be making a statement to Haruka, though from the whole scenery it sure looks like a confession- but honestly, while I know there are people who are wishing for it, I am pretty sure it’s going to be something about both of their future careers. Whatever it is, I hope that the rift between them won’t grow anymore than it already had. I have heard that the Producers mentioned that there will be major shift/change in Makoto’s and Haruka’s relationship, so I can’t help but be a bit worried since they sure love pulling our heartstrings and/or ripping our hearts out.
