Hah. I guess an unfulfilled marriage proposal was about as much as they
were going to get away with on public TV, huh? Who else was surprised when Goto and Masayoshi weren’t holding hands as they walked off into the sunset?
Even though Haiji turned out to be real, I still feel like the central
thesis of this show is something about the outlandish fictions we create to
escape from reality. They wouldn’t have devoted a quarter of an episode to the ‘secret
origin’ of Goto’s imaginary girlfriend if it wasn’t supporting a
point. Nor is it a coincidence that our lead can finally confess his feelings for
Goto only after he strips himself totally of this Flamenco identity,
at last.
(As a side bar, the portion with the cellphones reminded me a lot of
CATFISH - - going to show how even the most banal social devices can take on
more meaningful significance in the hands of very lonely and troubled people).
The addendum on that point, however, seems to be that naïve escapism can
still be worthwhile if it compels you to do good things. Masayoshi wouldn’t
have been able to get the ‘third option’ of diffusing the hostage situation if
he hadn’t already been thinking outside the box for so long.
What’s funny about this finale is that, while it doesn’t make as much a
conclusive thematic statement as I would’ve hoped for, it's actually one of the tightest episodes in the whole
show. The scenes where Haiji tortures Goto by deleting his texts, one by one,
and Mari gives that little snot his comeuppance were really well-constructed thriller scenes.
Makes me wonder how well this crew would do if they were making a more straightforward superhero show, instead?
Watch "Samurai
Flamenco, Naked!!" and decide for yourself, then read my comments about
the previous episode.
About the Author
 | Tom Pinchuk’s a writer and personality with a large number of comics, videos and features like this to his credit. Visit his website - - tompinchuk.com - - and follow his Twitter: @tompinchuk |
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