IDOLiSH7: Third BEAT! Episode 2

This episode was HEAVY. Honestly, there has just been so much foreshadowing from these first two episodes, it’s kind of insane. But it definitely builds a lot of intrigue and I just can’t help but note how different the tone is in this one than the last two. I feel like the drama and heaviness in certain situations have been escalating with each season. So if you thought last season was heavy, HOO BOY, this season is about to give you a run for your money. Already, we can see a lot of different things weighing down on certain characters along with a bit of tension arising from it.

Probably one of the biggest sources of drama revolves around Yamato. While we don’t have the full picture yet, we do learn just what Yamato’s constant “joke” on revenge was about. Which is the fact of him being the love child of Shizuo Chiba, who is a bit time actor in Hoshikage and more specifically the Chiba Salon. Which is a huge problem because the guy is freaking married and had an illegitimate child. So exposing this fact would in no doubt ruin Shizuo Chiba’s image along with Hoshikage as a whole. It also seems like almost everyone who is aligned with Hoshikage knows about this scandal and because Idolish7 has been doing well, a lot of people are trying to make sure Yamato doesn’t try and expose his origin. Even threatening the well-being of Idolish7 if Yamato ever talked.

Ever since Yamato decided to work on this movie with Yuki, it seems like there’s been this nonstop stream of people hounding him. And man, when Minami was basically cornering and trying to provoke him, I just felt super protective and was like: Imma punch you. I’m sorry, but this guy was obviously making some threats and just added even more stress onto Yamato. The poor guy is feeling more and more trapped and it’s definitely making him more anxious. Especially when everyone is just threatening on having the rest of his group find out about his secret.

However, that’s where I draw the line. Now I know Yamato has a lot going on, but the way he’s treating Mitsuki and Nagi because they’re the ones closest to finding out about his past is inexcusable. I definitely side with Nagi on the notion that it doesn’t matter if he does confess his past to them, but it’s the fact that he’s treating them so coldly is the problem. Not to mention he’s coming across as a hypocrite for scolding Sogo for not coming clean about his issues sooner while he’s holding everything in. And to be honest, it absolutely infuriates me when people just dance around a question without ever addressing it. So Yamato, you’re currently on thin ice for me right now.

I definitely agree more on the side of Nagi in this situation that the fact that Yamato is suppressing himself around them isn’t healthy and how he’s treating them is not okay. Like yes, Nagi is rather pushy when wanting to help his friends, but if not for that pushiness, he wouldn’t have been able to help Mitsuki when he was at his lowest point last season. Even Mitsuki admits that if it weren’t for Nagi, he probably would have been crushed from the inside out. Nagi cares so much for his friends and I relate heavily to that. So seeing their supposed friend treat them like that just frustrates me.

And yes, I understand being too insistent and pushy may inadvertently push the friend away and it is important to balance wanting to help and also giving them their space. Which is probably where Mitsuki levels things out a bit with wanting to give Yamato space. He tempers Nagi’s pushy attitude in trying to force Yamato to admitting things and is determined to wait for Yamato to open up when he’s ready. However, with how Yamato is acting, it seems like he’d much rather have the secrets die with him rather than tell anyone in the group. It’s a really delicate situation that I don’t think anyone really knows how to handle. Especially since Yamato has always been the confidant in the group that everyone could count on to get advice from. You can tell that Mitsuki wanting to wait for Yamato waned a bit when he realized that a lot of people who weren’t even close to Yamato knew about his situation. And it probably hurt Mitsuki to realize that Yamato may not even consider them close enough to reveal his past to them especially with how much they’ve all gone through together as a group.

It’s very obvious that Yamato is just scared to have the others find out about his past and is fighting tooth and nail to not have them find out. He has expressed how much this group means to him and he’s most likely afraid to mess things up for the others since he realized just how passionate every individual in the group is. But he’s been suppressing himself for so long that it begs the question of just who is the real Yamato?

And while this is all going on, the other biggest sources of drama Ryo Tsukumo just continues to show just how psychopathic and unhinged he is with each passing episode. As soon as he made that comment about not wanting to be on a higher floor because then he wouldn’t be able to throw his pets out the window and have them still live difficult I was like: Um… EXCUSE me????? I literally cannot tell if he was joking but we do know that his sense of humor is kind of uncomfortable. Anyways, despite all his talk about absorbing our idol trifecta into Tsukumo Productions, the part that made me incredibly scared of him was when he was going on a rant of how great he was and then slammed the champagne bottle down on the table and how he went from speaking soft and nicely to just suddenly shouting when Momo was trying to walk out on him. This guy’s mood just changes on a dime and that’s scary. And just from the way he talked about himself and his family, I already get the sense that he is narcissistic that was most likely born out of feeling inadequate to his older brother who his parents seemed to prefer over him. It was almost as if he was trying to justify why he’s better.

He also seems to be a mesh between Yaotome papa and Kujo sr as he has Yaotome’s slyness and methodical mindset in spreading rumors to eventually destroy a business rival and Kujo sr’s wild charisma and passion. It’s honestly a terrifying mix. But also just the lackadaisical attitude he has while seemingly going into the idol business just for fun and curiosity is also a bit ominous. Something I’m sure Momo picked up on pretty early on and tried his best to deter him from going into business because of his personality. Unfortunately, once Ryo sets his mind to something, it doesn’t seem like he’ll give up on it. And due to Momo having curried favor with Ryo, Ryo still considers him a friend and even offers to make a deal with Momo. To which, the Yamato drama and the Ryo drama actually becomes more intertwined into one rather than having two dramas happening at the same time as Yamato is catalyst to Ryo’s plan on dissolving Hoshikage by uncovering the truth of Chiba Salon. And again, I had to yank out one of my headphones from my ear because I hate the feeling of seemingly being whispered to in one ear.

Outside of the Chiba Salon drama, we are made more aware of one of the big reasons of Trigger’s eventual downfall. We learn that both Takanashi papa and Yaotome papa (along with Tsumugi’s mother) were all under Tsukumo when they were first starting out. And because of that, Yaotome papa and Tsukumo have a very closely knit relationship. So knowing that Ryo is planning something, his influence most likely will be the reason that Tsukumo turns its back on Yaotome Productions. Especially with how the scene was cut from Takanashi papa saying that nothing can beat the magic of what Idolish7 shows their audience to Tsukumo saying it’s time to show them some magic. Which is VERY foreboding.

I’d also like to give a shout out to Iori because DANG BOY was just a superstar this episode. Iori is known for being extremely polite towards people who are relatively older than him, however the fact that he just stood up to Kujo Sr and even calls him “old man” to his face was just swoon worthy. Especially that stupid zoom in to when he walked up to him in challenge just made me go “BRUH” while also laughing hysterically because that is how I deal with embarrassment lol. Though I will say that Iori sure was talking a bit too bold about how as long as he’s there, Idolish7 won’t die as opposed to what Kujo had to say about them. Easy with those overconfident statements my guy. I also can’t help but feel like Iori and Kujo Sr are foils of one another. Both want to produce their “superstars” and build them up to be the very best to an almost obsessive degree. In a sense, I feel like Kujo is what Iori COULD have become if not for Iori being surrounded by supportive and good people. To which I can assume that Kujo doesn’t really have anyone considering how he is.

Also on an extra note, I just have to appreciate the fact that Iori asks where Aya is when he first sees Kujo out of care for Tamaki.

I also must give Iori kudos to how he handled his conversation with Yamato at the end there. I honestly really love their dynamic, not gonna lie. Out of everyone so far, Iori is the one that Yamato seemed to willingly drop some hints about his situation. To which Iori gave him a very straightforward and logical answer to Yamato’s question. And while I still can’t fully comprehend exactly what Iori was telling Yamato because Iori’s phrasing and vocab is too much for my small brain, it does seem like the two can be very honest with each other compared to everyone else. And unlike Nagi, Yamato seems to know that Iori wouldn’t pry and almost seemed like the safest person to kind of test the waters with in regards to his secret. Their conversation even elicited a very genuine response from Yamato, making him admit that he didn’t believe he’d get attached to anything and regrets going into this line of work all for revenge initially. And I love how they showed that by Yamato uncrossing his legs as if finally letting his guard down just a bit.

I also got to appreciate the fact that Iori acknowledges the fact that if Yamato is serious in staying with the group, he affirms to Yamato that they will fight to protect him. Iori definitely has grown since the first season as he was ready to just cut Tamaki out of the group without batting an eye. But here, he’s actually showing that he does care about Yamato and wants him to rethink his position before possibly cutting him out if he were to damage Idolish7’s reputation.

There is certainly A LOT going on this season and it’s only the second freaking episode. I do absolutely love how they’re physically showing the divisions between certain characters. It almost reminds me of Kiznaiver levels of depicting relationships where there’s always SOMETHING thrown in the middle between the two characters. Like with Yamato and Minami, they’re separated by windows and Ryo and Momo were on the two farthest corners of the room away from each other with the door in the middle. And then there was Iori and Kujo, but unlike the two previous examples, they were only separated by thin bars that could represent that they may not be as different from one another as one would like to think. Lots of yummy symbolism and foreshadowing in this episode. And judging from the next episode preview, we’re getting another character introduction and a situation that can be summed up as a match being lit, readying to be thrown into a room full of gasoline.