This episode gives to light a character we have seen, but never been told much on; Octavia. This entire time, she has been in hiding, doing her part, secretly working for Mendoza, and only now does she really come into play and get full attention. However, she isn’t the only character we are shown in this episode. One is Laura, her klutzy assistant that she likes to work with in taking care of the king.
And of course, there is our heroes meeting up again. And I gotta say, I’m feeling “Leon and Emma totally did it” vibes coming from them. They don’t act like a couple, so I have no idea whether or not it is the case or not, but its clear something is between them. Unless your Alfonso, who can’t read romantic subtext if it smacked him in the face.
Since they got Emma now, they decide to have her help in searching the castle to find any trace of Mendoza. Who apparently is in fact there in the castle, being aided and cad for by Octavia. She even brings scraps of food noone will miss for him to eat as h works on…whatever his plan is. And one really interesting thing..he’s gotten old. I mean…it makes sense, due to how old the King is he’d be an old man. Its possible whatever thing he did o survived cost him his youth, o youthful Mendoza was possibly just a puppet he controls. Nevertheless, he’s old now, but he’s still very much the same.
There’s considerable danger for her in doing this of course, and she’s under suspicion due to moving around at night. Yet, she isn’t purely a spy, she seems o harbor genuine feelings of care for Laura, for a reason we don’t see till later. Suffice to say, we see a different aspect of Octavia, and its interesting seeing her try to avoid the attention of Alfonso and the rest.
Case and point, when suspicion comes to her,she gives a brilliant alibi from a source everyone would believe. She has Laura get special, strange healing water that can be found in he secure parts of the castle only at night, which explains her movements. And having Laura fetch it and tell it makes it more believable due to her innocent nature. Its an effective way to remove suspicion. It looks like Octavia’s in the clea-
Emma, being rather clever herself, felt a spot in the secret catacombs was off, so put her thread around it. Octavia is caught in it, and if she’s found this way, there is no way to talk her way out of this. Its as she’s about to be caught, we finally get what her deal was.
Hr family was deeply religious, like seriously so. Especially her little sister, who believed God would always look out for them. Then a pack of wolves ate them all, and while the sister could have tried to run, she stayed because she believed God would protect her from the hungry hungry wolves. And this is why she turned her back on God and instead follows Mendoza, a lord she KNOWS can protect her. And who she will protect in kind, even at great cost. The reason she has such a soft sop for laura was because she reminded her of her sister. Only this time, it won’t be wolves who ends her. To protect Mendoza, she uses a tool he gave as her salvation, and has the horror made do what must be done to clear her of blame.
She has the monster eat Laura, have it be assumed to be her, and for extra measure, have it eat her right leg, caught in the wire, to make it seem that it was Laura all along. Add in her “protecting” the king, and she’s cleared of all suspicion. Her lord Mendoza did save her, but she had to give up much for it. However, she does no begrudge Mendoza for this…instead, she hates the Makai knights. She mourns Laura and her leg while cursing their name.
Holy crap, this was interesting. Seeing the mystery and suspense was very great here, and the way the show handles her both getting in and out of trouble extremely well. It has several surprise twists I didn’t see coming, and I found it so very very engaging. Octavia appears a first to be a simple henchwoman, but its clear she sees Mendoza as more, and Mendoza, for his part, acts the same. While he’s cold, he’s not cruel, has never betrayed her, and values her efforts. heir relationship gives both depth, and makes Octavia interesting, even as she does such horrible things.
Well, now our heroes have no leads, and it looks like they’ll need to pry deeper in order to find the truth…or will they?
OH DAMN SON
Herman has showed up, basically saying they need to stop looking for Mendoza. We have no idea why Herman is doing this or why the Watchdog Center gave him this job, but its clear Leon and co aren’t going to stop. So, we got ourselves a father son Makai knight battle, and I’m pumped for that. Next episode, its time to see Leon and Herman fight, and maybe get more on their relationship in turn, and maybe finally, find out what this is all leading to.