So at first the viewer is like "What? is he Julius' brother or something?" but no, he's just talking about how he's too awesome to be associated with a mercenary troop (Anastasia lending her main forces). So he needs to use a pseudonym so he is not connected to the rest. This makes me wonder if Julius will die or get his ass kicked in this or the next episode. They're setting him up to either be humbled or killed.... while I appreciate the writing after watching knock Subaru around, this is a bit too obvious a set-up. Also; He talks shit about the people WHO JUST KILLED THE WHITE WHALE? WTF?! these people are now going to enter legend status. Did the writers forget the last episode or are they that determined to make Julius look like a dick? I mean last time he had a somewhat legitimate grievance because Subaru was being stubborn ... but this time? sigh, oh well whatever.
Anyway, I hear there is a twist coming up within the next few episodes, I hope it is not the twist I am expecting (CLUTCH HEART).... moving on, Subaru tells his accumulated forces that they now have to go after the Witch's Cult, at which point...
... yes, someone questions it. I love this. In so many anime I see these types of characters just sort of "going along and not making a fuss" but here they actually lampshade it "WTF does this have to do with our original mission?" since Subaru says the White Whale and Witch's Cult are connected but has no evidence. This is dismissed of course, if it wasn't the show would end right there but still, it's really nice writing for them to show the characters having valid skepticism, similar to how Crutsch-sama did in previous episodes.
Gold star for that sequence.
Oh goddamnit, this is remedial level writing right here. When your character says something like "Let's all return home alive" that's pretty much a guarantee that one or more major characters are about to be killed. It's what we call a "Death Flag" but let's hope I am proven wrong. Also this scene drags on quite a bit and should have been trimmed by about 25% of its duration.
So after this they start to ride towards Roswal Mannor and Julius/Subaru have a conversation where something very unexpected happens.... Subaru... matures... as a character.... character development, he admits he was a fuck-up and made a mistake when fighting Julius (OBVIOUSLY). But it's really nice to see the character change gradually into a non fuck-up.
Naturally he's still Subaru, a deeply flawed character which is nice because if he didn't have these flaws he'd be another Goku (Mary Sue). So again, great characterization, great character development... atrocious pacing but still , good writing.
Alright let's go straight ot the action because this pre-amble is taking forever... there is this very strange scene where Subaru is commanding the Witch's forces, I hope this is explained in the future because I was left thinking "What in the fuck...?"
This is both good and bad writing but whatever, the purpose of this scene is to create intrigue so good job.
And then we get another serving of the atrociously annoying Beetelgeuze, someone kill this guy already , every single one of his scenes is horrendous;
Beetelgeuze talks about how Subaru might be "Pride" which actually fits really well, if the White Whale was Gluttony and Beetelgeuze is Sloth, then Subaru would fit perfectly as "Pride" given that each of these three has thus far exhibited strange, supernatural powers with Subaru's being "Return by Death", BG's being the Unseen Hand and the White Whale the Deletion Fog.
This means there are several other "Sins" in the world but have not been clarified... this is how you world-build. This is how you write !... the pacing is also even and smooth, finally they're getting back to form.
So anyway, Beetelgeuze talks shit until....
Goddamnit this episode is going so quickly and so slowly at the same time. The pacing is so schizophrenic.... by the way, DIE MOTHERFUCKER DIE, THAT'S WHAT YOU GET FOR KILLING REM IN A PREVIOUS CYCLE.
So they ransack Beetelgeuze's corpse and pull out his "Gospel" acting like it's some sort of super powerful artifact (Say what?) , plot point obviously but.... of what? you're giving us so many more questions than answers, ffs.
Apparently it symbolizes joining the Witch's cult or at least potential to do so and every true cultist is given one. This is why Beetelgeuze attacked Subaru when he had none. Anyway the rest of the cultists are killed off-screen (WHY?!) and we are back in exposition town.
Who or what the flying fiddle sticks is that weird mole head thing? WTF? this show is just fucking with me now. Anyway more serious for a moment, there is a strange undercurrent of sedition in these scenes.... forebodding almost. Things are just going too smoothly which leads to me to believe some horrendous event is about to befall them that cannot be erased. Again , this section is good writing.
And then suddenly....
Wait what? Julius is a traitor? am I reading this right? that one came out of nowhere. Anyway Beetelgeuze's Unseen Hand shows up and absolutely destroys their forces.
That was pretty good if short lived. Apparently all of the group is "Sloth" and any can take on the role which makes sense because the "Sins" are intended for "The Ordeal" which requires their presence, this is one of the reasons Beetelgeuze never actively sought to kill Subaru in the previous episodes. But again, the pacing is really bad..... anyway they talk about how bad things are looking and Subaru starts to question himself, leading up to what is probably my favorite line in the entire series so far;
Completely rejecting the Shounen trope of "MUST GET STRONGER TO BEAT THE OBSTACLE", here it is stated as "Be strong" rather than "Get strong", the difference being the immediacy. This essentially goes against Return by Death and forces Subaru to reflect even further. It's a nice little exchange which, in my opinion, drastically improves a fairly lackluster episode.
Feris tells Subaru to "make-up with Julius" (For some reason) and then abruptly there is what seems to be a dimensional shift... I love where this is going;
Even odds as to whether this is one of the branch of Sin or Satella herself. I really hope it's the latter since we've been promised her appearance since episode 1. Come, show us the Jealous Witch. Show us.
WAIT WHAT?! RAM IS EVIL?!?!?!? WHAT?
WHO ? WHERE? WHY? THIS WAS NOT TELEGRAPHED OR FORESHADOWED. THIS WAS A TERRIBLE ENDING AND A TERRIBLE TWIST . FUCKING AWFUL.
EDIT:
By the way, that thing around her neck is somewhat implied to be an "Odo" similar to what Emilia carries around. Also the fact that Ram was teaching Subaru to read very slightly implies that Ram had on her person a "Gospel".... she CANNOT be Satella but she can be a manifestation of jealousy, given the past that Ram and Rem have it is not unlikely.
I'm not sure why she's suddenly able to do dimensional shifts since this was not a power she ever possessed but it is interesting nonetheless.
Final thoughts;
The episode was not very good and the ending made it infinitely worse. At least a lot more stuff happened than the previous two episodes where almost nothing did.
I normally end with a subdued breakdown but basically, although this was (finally) not filler and there was actual PLOT, the problem was it was horrendously paced at a point where we were poised for a major action sequence. Even the wolf guy said to look out for his skills in the previous episode and yet we saw none here, things like that. We were given a little bit of information on Satella's cult but it was flimsy and raised more questions than answers.
The ending (again) came out of nowhere and does not feel earned, but this can be redeemed... we'll see where it goes. This, in my opinion, was the worst episode of the series so far.
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