So… uh… is this show over, now?
Crunchyroll says there’s another episode after this, but I don’t know
how there can be any story left to tell. Alka’s renounced revenge and reached
resolution after forgiving Jin Varrel. The last few minutes of this episode
comprise a feel-good montage set to ethereal music to make RETURN OF THE KING blush
- - showing us the happy endings that each member of the cast go on to. Hell,
the last shot literally shows Alka walking off into the sunset.
Unless this
turns out to be an anthology, and the next arc introduces us to another
protagonist in the BLADE & SOUL world, I don’t picture a way to continue
this show which doesn’t involve Alka simply wandering into a hitherto-unseen
conflict that wipes that smile right after her face.
And that’d feel like kind of a cheat, no? So I’ll just hope for that
first option, and pat myself on the pack for rightly predicting that Alka’s
quest could only sustain a half-season. For once, the crew apparently realized
that, too...
Anyway, as for the episode itself, this was another case where my
interest level starkly differs between the A side and the B side. Once Alka’s
final duel gets going, it’s a hell of a light show that coherently ties up the
series’ assorted thoughts on revenge and forgiveness. And I guess it finally
adds some proper significance to the blue flowers, after all this time.
However, the meat of the A-side really hangs on a lamp shade on how Jin
Varrel was never effectively introduced. Certainly, she’s held a real
presence over all the affairs in the show, but you can only have so many pale
women in black with long raven hair slithering before I start to get confused. Once
again, when the show focuses on its morality pays, it works best - - and it flounders when it deals with any of its larger mythos. I'll be very to curious how this next episode handles that balance.
Watch “Soul” and
decide for yourself, then read my comments on the previous episode.
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