Heavy Object Episode 2

After the hype from last week’s cliffhanger, this episode fell a short of my anticipations. The biggest problem was the overall execution. Right off the bat, I found myself confused as to why we were seeing this event take place immediately. Based on the way last week’s episode ended, I was (and I am sure I wasn’t the only one) was under the impression it was serving as a prelude of what to come. So when this episode picked up right where they left off- it didn’t feel right whatsoever because of the lack of build up to this event- which leads to the second problem: Flat Atmosphere.
We are now in a scene where we are told about an Object known as the Water Strider. It is relentlessly attacking the base, killing everyone in its path and continues to do so despite the fact they have raised the White Flag to surrender. This is supposed to be an intense, dramatic scene, as an audience member I should be feeling grim about the situation… but I feel nothing, not even a tug in my heart. Why? There was no sense of threat regarding this terrifying Water Strider who was in process of annihilating the base. This is precisely because of the first problem: the lack of build-up. How are we supposed to feel threatened when the sole “shock” factory was used and most likely misinterpreted by many in the previous episode? It certainly didn’t help how the script just didn’t match the tone of the event. While last week, I praised the script and the creative narrative form, this week they did it again in a couple of scenes, but it just didn’t work this time because it felt as if it was conflicting with the scenes that were already taking place. It would have made more sense had the first scene only acted as a brief prelude. But because it wasn’t, and the action taking place now is affecting the present, it didn’t fit.

Qwenthur showed us his gutsy side today. I give him major props him for having the guts to venture alone to try and save their princess. Further more, I liked his reasoning. He said he didn’t like the idea of her (willingly) serving as a decoy and was willing to take the risk to try and find her before the enemy did, in fear they would want to capture her alive. So he ventures off on his own to find her. Now I am going to be honest here, while the scene was nice, it certainly was far from perfect. It was more of a problem with pacing- it felt a bit too rushed, making it so he found her too quickly. Of course they don’t have much time to spare, so they need to squeeze the time to make it work, but it is a shame that the scene itself felt a tad rushed, even the dialogue felt a little flimsy.

I also commend Qwenthur ability to find the courage in him to make a very difficult decision. When he found their elite princess, he saw she was surrounded by the enemy forces. He wanted to snipe them down, but he struggling with the reality that he would be taking a human life. Although it was a brief conflict, I liked that he was able to experience this as to some other characters wouldn’t have hesitated.  This was important though because it served as an important reminder how ground troops haven’t had to do fight man to man in a while. It has been the pilots running the Objects doing all the killing, and those who follow through with the unofficial peace treaty agreement (of ceasing fire when the opposition raise their white flag).
But once Qwenthur heard of the dark things these men wanted to do to her, he no longer deemed them as humans and shot them down. His instinct to protect her at all cost took the wheel and he manages to take most of them, allowing an opening for princess to take action herself. That was probably the only scene that made me feel something in this episode.

But Qwenthur almost met his death when the enemy fired a grenade at him- fortunately Havia had followed and managed to save them both. With that we have our trio team officially formed! Though honestly speaking, it is probably the most ordinary team set up I have ever seen. But it is Havia’s quick thinking that gets them out alive and with a lead for just a little while.
Princess on the other-hand was stunned the by the fact they came to save her, especially when she had some terrible feelings deep within her heart towards everyone. It was a bit bizarre to hear right then and there but it is also understandable.

With the lackluster tone and the bizarre pacing are what threw this episode off for me, so unfortunately I have little to say. It doesn’t help that this episode didn’t make me care for anything in particular either except for one scene. It is certainly a downfall after the first episode hyped me up so much, but considering the execution we have seen so far, I have a feeling this is likely to be one of those series that tends to have its ups and downs AKA inconsistent delivery. Regardless, as per my three episode rule, I will be giving this show one more episode to see if it can shine again, if not: then I won’t be covering it.

Next week, the trio will be putting their individual skills as a pilot, an engineer and an analyst together in order to try and find the Water Strider’s weakness. It is a dangerous mission, but I am curious to see how they plan to discover it and then once done so, exploit it.

A/N: Since Oki decided it would be best to take a hiatus this season due to an overwhelming schedule, and no one else on the team is interested in pitching into this series- that means if I’m going to do this, it will be solo. But as you know, this not something I would like to do alone due to my health condition (as with Heavy Object included, I would be covering five shows solo). I have come up with a strategy to make it work, but after seeing this episode I’m not sure if Heavy Object even worth it. As I have said in the above, I am willing to give it one more episode (as per my three episode rule), but if it fails to appeal, then it’s safe to say I will have to drop it. So if you don’t see a Heavy Object post by the end of Saturday next week, that means it will not be covered.