Well, after all of the craziness and relative pointlessness of the previous episode, Episode 16 gets us a bit back to form. Stunning action, good character development, some interesting stuff, and it further establishes the romance with Ximena and Herman. After two rather lackluster bouts, this got a bit back to form and had some really great stuff.
One curious thing,this episode begins with the reveal of how the Horror of the day was made. Normally this is the mystery that begins, and isn’t shown until much later. But no, this time we see the origin of it all. First, a wandering doctor comes to a small village.
There’s a local guy who wants to be something, even learned to read and write, and goes to ask if he can be the doctor’s apprentice…only to find he is with the plague. Its then he goes off the deep end and realizes, if he kills this doctor, he could become him and gain all the fame and importance he wants. So, he kills the sick old man, is possessed and becomes a Horror, and takes on the identity of the doctor.
This is interesting in that, we get a real idea of what this guy is before he became a horror, and the fact that, he actually does good things. Normally, Horrors have been only taking o visages of helping others, but this one actually plays the part. It goes and actually saves lives in addition to taking them, but more on that in a bit. As you can expect, the good doctor makes his way to Santa Bard, and encounters Herman and Ximena.
Ximena decides to help him with is work, and all of it seems very legitimate. Even with the backwards science and medicine of the age, he gives advice that works, and discusses things in a way that shows an understanding of the human body. And what’s fascinating is his motivation. He finds humans who recover from illness to taste amazingly, so for all the people he heals, he selects one out of them to eat once they’ve recovered due to his treatments.
Horrors are incredibly fascinating, especially when the writers get creative in this way for them. Meanwhile,Ximena has some issues with Herman. She sees him taking with Prince Alfonso, and assumes Herman must be a nobleman, who isn’t living with her because he wants to, but because of some other reason. This leads to a thing…and then she gets the plague.
You know, at first I thought it might have been him making her sick, but no, she just happened to come down with the plague. And so our main villain is healing her, something that Herman could never do. I love the contradictions going on here, the only person who can save her is the monster, and he’s doing it for fully villainous reasons. By curing the plague, he gains the most delicious meal once she’s recovered. Naturally, Herman finds out the doctor has been behind the murders, and he explains why he only eats one human at a time.
This Horror, once he begins fighting is really interesting. First, he has a very powerful ability to heal himself and increase his power. Then, even weirder, once he wipes the floor with Herman, his doctoral instincts kick in and he’s compelled to heal the Makai Knight trying to kill him. This pathology makes this monster of the week far more interesting and creative. Once he gets the power boost, herman manages to defeat the monster and save Xilena. And they make up and work things out.
I find Herman and Xilena very cute, but there’s not enough I feel in their relationship, partially because we don’t know Xilena vey well. She lives with her father, takes care of the sick, took in Herman, but not much else. She’s very cute as a foil to Herman, but we haven’t been given enough on her herself to have a deeper connection. There’s one last thing, when Herman goes to talk about the white haired bitch on their screwing up, and hen she says this.
Either I’m mishearing that and there’s a very similar named guy, but what? And of course, it leaves with that cliffhanger to tease us with until he next episode. This episode was a fun romp with a creative monster, some good action, but not much of he same themes and deep emotional points to them. It was a standard fun episode, and I’m wondering when the show will begin getting dark again.
Episode 17
Turns out, its this episode!
This episode..this freak-fracking episode…this is what we were all dreading but also anticipating, people. The one where things get so…so so real.
It actually begins rather calmly, with the reunion of Alfonso and Leon. Alfonso goes to the area Leon has been staying because of rumors of a Horror, and the two run into each other because its fictions and coincidences happen all the time.
And its an incredibly good scene between the two. After the yelling and harsh words, both are cordial, and both talk like old friends. Leon isn’t the immature young man he was before, and has been reflecting on what he had done in Santa Bard.
He says what we have seen, how he felt, and what he had learned. He was so caught up in revenge, and due to his upbringing, didn’t have the connection to the people he other Makai did. He knew of the Makai Knight’s role, but didn’t understand it, didn’t pursue it, and didn’t care.
The first half, Leon was a loner, focused on revenge, obsessed with his mother’s death. After his fall and loss, he’s had time to make connections with others, o learn what the role of the makai is, and how he had wasted his life on revenge.
It was true what Herman said, Leon had to come to this conclusion on his own, learn how to live, and to understand what it is to protect others, And he’s actually much happier now than he was as a Makai knight. He lost everything, but that allowed him to rebuild himself and become more compassionate and well adjusted. He even has the blooming romance with a cute girl, and is contented. While Lara has been greatly concerned he would leave them because i is nature, Leon knows his place, where he wants to be, is with her and her family.
Of course, w the audience know that, being the main character, Leon will be brought back into the action. No matter how contented he is, he’s going to be pushed back into being a Makai knight. The real worry is what he could lose, especially in how much it will cost him.
Inevitably, the Horror, a giant monstrous worm creature, comes a prowling, and ends up attacking the farm. Leon does everything he can to fight it off, but its clear as a regular person, he does not have the strength to fight it off. He now has the will, and something to fight for, but now lacks the power he wasted before.
He sends Lara and her family away, even though they are concerned over the grain they had saved up; without it, next year they will starve. However, Leon enforces upon them how important it is to run, and as they go to safety, he does the only thing he can do; find Alfonso.
He runs himself ragged, as fast as he can, using all of his strength to get to Alfonso. Luckily, he reaches him, and Alfonso goes to do what Leon cannot, since he lost Garo. Leon for the first time feels how powerless he is now, without Garo, without the ability to save those he cares about.
Alfonso fights the monster in a spectacularly badass manner. Once again, this show has amazing fight scenes, and this is an excellent one. One thing I like is how, due to the beast’s mobility, Alfonso spears it to the ground with his sword so it can’ escape again.
Leon goes to find the family where he told them to be…but they aren’t there. They went back to save the grain..and in doing so ended up losing much much more.
A fire broke out a the house, consuming the home, the fields, and the family. Leon was unable to save them, and their own ways, so connected to their domestic living, doomed them. Leon has to see what he loves most again consumed in flames, left with the ashes alone.
However, there is only one glimmer. Lara is alive, but only enough to say goodbye. While he urges her that he won’t leave, she knows they will soon be parted.
And this..is some of the saddest, most tragic moments I’ve ever seen.
The episode ends with Lara, the one who found Leon, who was with him, loved him, made him the more caring person he is now, die in his arms. He has learned what it is to protect, only to lose everything all over again.
This episode had incredibly good points, such as he conversation with Leon and Alfonso and the fight scene. This ending though…I’m conflicted. I cried, I felt sorrow, I bawled my eyes out, but part of me is residing getting into it entirely. Part of me feel this move was a mistake, even if it was executed brilliantly. First of all, I’m not a fan of a character being introduced, given a personality and hopes and dreams and connections to others, only to be killed off to develop another character. I believe the phrase is “women in refrigerators.” Lara was introduced, helped Leon to grow, and once her purpose was done, was killed to allow Leon to become a Makai knight again, having learned about empathy. It partially makes me feel it wasn’t worth getting invested in her if she is simply going to die.
Futhermore, if you checked my previous posts, I felt something like this would happen and prayed it wouldn’t. Its so typical, and so overdone and I wanted this show to shake up my expectations again. I wanted Lara to go with Leon, to explore the world, and for them to fall in love completely. Neither of them even confirmed their relationship before she dies, and I just can’t say I get behind this. There are other ways you can have Leon back in the action without disposing of Lara and her family once they got him to the point he can be Garo again.
Nevertheless, i was effective. The music, animation, voice work, everything worked sublimely to make this scene as sad and poignant and tragic as possible. I was moved by it, despite seeing it coming and not agreeing with this plot turn. So, I’m left neither fully embracing or dismissing it. The heart and head are in conflict over this. However, this was still a good episode, and I still love this show. I’ll see what is in store with Leon and Alfonso next episode.