At the end of it all, Yut-Lung still hasn’t given up on killing Eiji and wants Blanca to do it. Though he is at the end of his contract and wishes to return to his retirement in the Caribbean. They part ways with a promise that Blanca will be tracked down and requested again, even as he returns to his retirement. Though in the end, I don’t think it means much. If Blanca really wanted to be left alone, he would be and he could end the life of anyone coming after him with extreme ease.
After the credits, we cut to Eiji who is looking for Ash who has been missing since the day before yesterday. He goes with some members of Ash’s gang to Chinatown with the intent of talking to Sing and having Sing bring him to Yut-Lung.
I can’t help but feel immensely unsettled about this plan after the last scene when it was made clear that Yut still has every intention of killing Eiji. They do approach Yut and he is predictably an absolute A-hole to Eiji, telling him the straight up truth but also trying to push all the blame onto him. He even offers to assist him in suicide and then throws a tea cup against the wall in a bitch fit when Eiji tells him that he’s no longer going to blame himself and be a burden. That he’ll save Ash and even kill if he has too.
I can’t help but be amused by the sheer amount of character growth that Eiji has shown in absolute contrast to the hissy fit that Yut-Lung is throwing. Sing also turns and tells him a solid truth, that he doesn’t hate him but if he’s going to throw in his lot with Golzine and be shady. That Sing might just side with Eiji in all of this.
Which is exactly what Sing does, he sides with Eiji to try to get Ash back from Golzine. While it’s a minor underlying plot in the episode, it’s interesting to see certain gangs working together to save Ash. You have Ash’s gang and Eiji of course, the Chinese gang led by Sing and at the end of the episode Cain and the group from downtown come to join the team. They will move in to save Ash at the party that Golzine is holding to celebrate being cleared of the tax evasion charges.
the 20th is when it’s all happening.
Meanwhile, Ash is breaking apart. As Golzine works him not as a physical prostitute, but as someone key in his plans by using his smarts. “You won’t be selling your body. You’ll be selling your soul.” and so Ash does horrible things, things that make him sick. He’s drugged when he’s out in public with Golzine and eventually he falls ill. What Golzine thought at first was a hunger strike was really anorexia settling in. Ash can’t handle this, and it gets worse when Golzine drops the news on him that he intends to announce Ash’s adoption at the party on the 20th.
Formally making Ash his son and successor.
He falls into a complete and utter mental breakdown and nobody can blame him. This scene is almost painful to watch as Ash speaks of the way he’s been treated, the sexual abuse and the way that he seems to of been viewed as less then human.
Along with all of this, there is also the subplot as Yut-Lung finds out about Blanca’s history and hires him through that knowledge. Though Blanca sets the terms that he refuses to kill for anything less then protecting Yut-Lung.
We see Max and Ibe in this episode for only a few brief minutes as we find that Max was fired after letting Ash take the files at the end of last episode. Max sees Ash with Golzine on the TV and I can’t help but wonder if we’ll end up with Max and Ibe’s epic adventures off to the side again as the rescue mission from the gangs pan out. I honestly just considered shipping Max and Ibe and I’m not sure how I feel about this, one couple in this series is enough.