Oh man, this episode hurt so much! The first half was absolutely gut-wrenching and even sickening at times to watch.
Lisa’s hatred towards Humans is not unfounded considering all the abuse she had to put up. During their migration to Grace’s mansion, a terrible storm that had turn the seas violent caused her to get separated from the rest. As result, she ended up getting captured by Humans. And unfortunately for her, they were the worst kind. From there on for god knows how long, Lisa put into a tiny box of water with hardly any room to move. She was fed dead fish, and turned into an exhibit item for all Humans to see. Nobody cared about how she felt, nobody cared to help her. She was alone, trapped in darkness, and yet when she was in light, she was a show piece.
In the end, the one who found and saved her was Kouta, the Anglerfish fish. The two had a special bond since Lisa was a child, where she was the only one who ever sought him out, let alone find him. They also became friends because he had enjoyed sharing the things he had found as he was good at finding stuff. That skill proved essential in his mission to not just tracking her down, but also found the royal ring that had been stolen from her. To do all of this, he went as far as breaking into the Witch’s lair and stole a good handful of potions, all for the sake of saving Lisa. Bonus points for destroying the Imperial Aquarium with fire!
And the scene when they had finally got out and Lisa made up her mind to take the potion in order to stay with him was so freaking romantic. That was the moment I slammed my fist on my desk and shouted, “NOW THAT’S TRUE LOVE!”
I never wanted to see Kouta die in the first place, but now I’m even more grateful that he managed to survive that fish attack. That would’ve absolutely killed him if it had got him. He made a narrow escape, with only the tail end of the car that got hit. I think Lisa would’ve gone ballistic had it gotten him. He is after-all, her special light! PROTECT KOUTA AT ALL COST!!!!!
Incredibly, he didn’t actually have a name of his own until 1931 A.D. Lisa decided to name him Minase Kouta when she had made up her mind that they needed to properly integrate into Human society. At that point, without the Witch’s help, and the refusal to seek her assistance, it was their only hope of finding a way to reproduce the potion to keep them alive long enough to meet Lara, who was still deep in slumber preparing for her reincarnation.
We had also gotten an explanation about the green ring Lisa had been seen wearing too. Turns out Kouta is wearing one as well, and while they didn’t show any “married” pictures, but we may as well interpret that they are, especially with how much they mean to each other. Not to mention, on their desk was a picture of their two rings together, which is probably as close as one would get for further proof of their marriage. They also are probably avoiding being in pictures in fear that they’ll be caught for not aging considering they’ve been roaming the surface for over two hundred years.
Speaking of which, they’ve also have been collecting clocks. These clocks in their homes seem to represent the amount of time they’ve have not only bought, and the generations that have passed, but also a cruel reminder that they are running out of time. They’ve waited 233 years for Lara to awaken… And now that she’s awake and despite having been betrayed by Humans, she’s still willingly hanging out with them, and believes in them. It’s an understatement why Lisa feels betrayed and utterly powerless since Lara isn’t shining her light onto them. In order to survive, they need Lara’s power. It’s a necessity, otherwise they too will turn into sea-foam.
As for the potions that’s keeping them alive: It’s been a long time since they’ve ran out of Grace’s original supply that Kouta had stolen. Before they had ran out though, Lisa had led the initiative to blend into Human society, and use their knowledge and connections in hopes for uncovering the secrets behind the potion. Eventually, Lisa had found a researcher who managed to buy them time by pouring his whole life into studying the unique light properties in Grace’s potions. They still don’t know how to perfectly decipher and replicate Grace’s recipe, so the knock-off version they’ve made can only keep them alive for so long, and is it’s finally gotten to the point where not only are they running out to the point they are sharing one bottle, but it’s no longer working for them. Both of them are showing signs of their bodies deteriorating into sea-foam.
And as if to add insult to injury, they had just discovered having discovered Grace has known about their whereabouts the entire time, and has done nothing to reach out and help them. Whether out of spite for Kouta’s break and entry, or she wants to see them beg for her help, either way, a confrontation is coming now that Lisa’s confident that Grace is residing in the same Human residence as Lara.
That said, I have to say I’m absolutely loving the way both Grace’s and Lisa’s characters have been written so far. And it’s also a large part of what made this episode so fantastic. Grace’s and Lisa’s characters are extremely complex. Both of them have had instances where they’ve been shown in compassionate, and yet at the time depicted as cruel antagonists. We now know that Lisa’s hatred and mistrust towards Humans are not based by what their father had told them their entire lives, but in-fact rooted from a deeply traumatic experience. And while looking to rid of Mari and her family was wrong, we can understand why she reacted the way she did. And for similar reasons, Lisa cannot trust Grace’s intentions given the condition her family were in when she finally found them, and even worse, saw her father looking like a fish starved of water.
And this flips it back to Grace, making her even more difficult to read because we still don’t know what her end goal is. She goes back and forth between showing compassion for some, but can be cruel to others. In particular it seems she possesses disdain towards Rowan in particular, calling him a coward, worthless leader. So she might not particularly care if he’s suffering, but she’s also not going to just leave him and the rest to die. She has showed us she’ll do whatever it takes to achieve her goal, even if it means manipulating others. Yet at the same time, she shows a softer side, particularly fondness towards Humans. This is exactly what makes her character so freaking intriguing! While it does make me a bit nervous to see how the confrontation between Grace and Lisa/Kouta would go, I’m also excited because I’m quite curious to see how it will go down.
The other thing that’s pressing my mind is the situation of their family’s condition. Grace says they are in deep slumber, and that slumber at this point is the only thing that’s preventing them from disappearing altogether. But when Lisa had finally found them, and had the chance to speak to her father, the space at the time looked pretty rough. Hell, Rowan looked like he was a fish out of water (well uh, technically he was until the filled the room with water again), and surely looked like he was barely alive at this point. If you had told me he died right then and there, I would’ve believed you. The only reason why I think he hadn’t despite giving up his light to Lara was because Lisa didn’t react like he had died, and Grace further emphasized not to disturb his sleep. It makes you wonder though, combined with Lisa and Kouta running out of time, and the state their family are in, just how little time is left for Lara to find the light again?
Speaking of the light, when Lisa found Rowan, apart showing his disdain for seeing she had legs, the only thing he talked about was about wanting to restore their palace light. That’s why he had given his light to Lara in hopes it’d aid her and speed up the process.
But frankly, this whole thing about restoring the palace light has always struck me a bit sketchy. We know that Lara’s mother was the one who instilled light for their palace, but as far as we’re concerned, she was no longer around by the time Lara was born. So it has always been in the back of my mind that “special princesses” may be doomed to a tragic end. It could be in order to continuously provide light, the “special princess” must give up her own light to keep others alive. That, or when the new special princess is born, they inherit the light and the previous wielder deceases. I’m more convinced it’s the former considering the Merfolks absolutely need light in order to survive. Without it, they are gone. That we had gotten further proof of that in the potions Grace has in her possession. They contain that special light needed to keep them alive. Though bearing that in mind, it makes me wonder whether Grace herself only has limited quantity of this potion to begin with. Clearly this would’ve been enough to buy the Merfolks time had they all decided to take the potion and adapt to the surface as Lisa was forced to do compared to the state they are in now. But at the same time, would they have sucked up their pride to leave the sea? At the very least, we know Rowan would’ve said no, so perhaps Grace felt there was no point in even making the offer in the first place.
Last but not least, while the entire episode was brilliantly focused on Lisa’s and Kouta’s backstory, post-credits ended things somehow managed to end it just as dramatically as it did last week! Just when Lara and Mari are just discussing about how to resolve tensions between siblings (the case of her and Lisa), lo and behold a fateful encounter happens before their eyes. Lara lays on a boy who looks just like the Prince she had fallen in love with in the past, and she’s so shook by it, it seems to have triggered something that made her turn back into a mermaid! GOODNESS! I don’t think Lara has quite realized it yet, but Mari has and she’s rightfully FREAKING OUT. It appears the boy hasn’t fully noticed Lara’s transformation yet, but Mari gotta act fast.
Well time to clock him I guess!
