When I think back to the last few mystery shows I have watched, they were really light-hearted ones, not overly complicated, and most of the time you could figure it out pretty early on. This one has to be one of the most fascinating ones I’ve watched in a long time, thanks to the focus on the intent of the crime, rather uncovering the criminal, hence, “whydunit”.
There were definitely times when I felt a bit overwhelmed as I tried to process all the details of Astromancy, and the heliocentric theory, but it was so interesting to follow, that it didn’t dissuade me from watching at all. It’s the clever and creative use of magic that makes me very excited for the future cases to come. That being said, it wasn’t out of the realm of predictability right from the get go. If you understood what Waver meant when he said the Fargo’s mansion was designed to ’embody’ the world, and how “one can say that the master of the house is the god of that world for a time”, you probably figured out the nature of the case before they even met their potential suspects or visited the crime scene, as it was the first clue pointing to the case of seeking eternity existence.
Through Reines, Waver was entrusted the task to solve a murder that had transpired at the mansion of the Fargo Family. The victim was his former student Mary Lil Fargo’s father, whose body was dismembered into seven pieces around the mansion.
Early on, I had my own suspicion that Ernest Fargo (the said ‘victim’) and Fernado Li (his research partner) perhaps collaborated to pull off this stunt. But as it turns out, Ernest was the one who did it on his own, with the intent of achieving eternal existence.
In effort to pursue his dream of reaching “the Root” (said to be something Mage wishes to reach), he had designed the mansion into a workshop to grant him immortality. How he scattered his body and soul on his own, I don’t think they didn’t explained in detail how that worked beside the use of necromancy and stuff. And so because of that, his unstable spirit– at the very least had been lurking in the mansion the entire time, and was also the one responsible for gruesomely murdering his nephew Alec. (But let’s face it, he had it coming with having the nerve to stash away magical tomes that he could sell for profit— all while the investigation was on-going and Ernest’ bones and hair were still present in the room).
However what Waver did not reveal to the others was the fact he suspected Mary had in fact figured out what her father was attempting to do, but did nothing to stop him. In other words, she willfully turned a blind eye to his activities. And it wasn’t that she had any murderous intent, but rather his failure proved her case that nothing is eternal, And frankly, I don’t blame her at all, and neither did Waver. There were indications that Ernest had abused their maid Claire, and had inflicted a spell on his daughter to keep her captive in the mansion for the rest of her life. Hell, since the ritual had failed, the first thing he had planned to do was use her as a sacrifice in attempt to attain the immortal status he desired. Now that he’s gone, she and Mary are now free from his control.
We got to see Gray in action today, and boy does Waver have one heck of an apprentice. She uses an Anti-Undead Mystic Code, (Add) which transform into a sick scythe! Waver didn’t need to step in, but rather make sure everyone, including himself had stepped away so they wouldn’t be caught in the crossfire when she single-handily dealt with Earnest’ berserk spirit on her own. Thanks to the fight we were able to see the cute girl she is under the hood. She doesn’t like to be seen by others though. I’m looking forward to eventually learning more about her backstory and how she and Waver met in the front place.
There were definitely moments in the episode when I freaked out because I wasn’t sure whether or not there would be gore for this series in particular. So when they announced how they used magic to preserve the crime scene as it was found, I had to pause to take a moment to brace myself, only to see there was nothing to worry about, which was about the same when they finally found Alec’s bloodied corpse— which is a good thing for me. The less I have to worry about covering the screen, the better.
And finally, can we take a moment to appreciate how GORGEOUS the Opening Sequence was? I wasn’t expecting it to be completely instrumental, but oh my goodness, I LOVED IT. Not to mention, it was absolutely was so beautiful to watch! It really suits the series! And the ED Theme was very pleasant to watch as well!
