Tower of God Ep.7 – Fairweather Friends

So this time I actually got mad t the episode for ust ending ike hat, out of the blue, when I wasn’t expecting it at all. I hd a long slightly passive aggressive conversation with my computer about how this was ridiculous and just too short. It was te same number of minutes as usual but it was too short.

Don’t worry, I explained everything and I’m sure the situation will be remedied by next week. Also I’m supposed to wait a week to find out what happens??? That’s outrageous. I ean people were playing tag here! Tag! You cant just leave me hanging!

The episode started out with a bit more details on what exactly a princess of Jahad is and shattered my hopes for a boy princess. However, as the were described as more or less ornamental to the king of Jahad, I still have very high hopes for a derpy princess!

The inclusion of rules that the princesses can’t have children (in order to keep tight control over the powers that are granted, interesting) and can’t have sexual relationship (because very good reasons I’m sure) adds a lot of context to Anak’s backstory.It bascaly made all the pieces fall into place and even with fairly light exposition we got a pretty ull picture of what exactly happened. I like this style of storytelling, the type that doesn’t feel like they have to beat the audience over the head with every little detail.

I also really liked how the tone was handled in this opening scene. The emotional and rather sad flashback was punctuated with lighthearted physical humour scenes that toyed with our emotions without overwhelming us in any single feeling. The sequence closed on Endrosi asking Anak if her mother ever regretted her decision and Anak just quietly settling on “probably not”. Not a resounding NO as a cry of defiance and the triumph of love over all else. Not a mournful yes full of guilt and self loathing. Not a non committal maybe. A simple and cautiously optimistic answer that comes from turning a question over and over in yr mind until you’ve thoroughly examined all the sides. I liked that line. You may have picked up on it.

You should know that I’ve now used up all my notes. All  had written down for this episode is: “the ARE all grils” and “probably not”. I’m a dedicated blogger! But it’s not because I have nothing to say or nothing interesting happened. I just got sucked into th episode and forgot to write stuff down. This is where the billion screencaps really come in useful!

We caught up with Bam and the ma…wave controllers for a bit. I have a very bad feeling for Ho. He is just raising all them flag. And they gave us a hint of a tragic back story as well but without any actual personification. I have a feeling I better not get attached to this kid but it’s kind of too late already. Everytime I see him I’m half mourning already. If I’m wrong about this one I will have wasted all this worry over the guy but man, he has more warning signs going off than Catarina.

One thing I would like to know more bout is how they get assigned their positions? Is it by affinity? Bam might have a gift for mag..wave controlling and I guess Leesoo is a pretty charismatic fellow which seems to be the main attribute for scouts. I guess I see it. Maybe luck as well. But why is Hatsu also a scout? Khun is a light bearer and I’m not even sure what that is. I’m assuming a strategist of some type. Why do they need to have positions or even tems? How is this useful in the long run? Current theory, they are all on a reality tv show. Right?

This episode had a lot of comedy and that’s right up my alley. Nothing too fancy, mostly people pulling faces and exaggerated reactions but it was a nice change of pace. I hope they keep it up. I know the series is shaping up to be all mysterious and occasionally emotional but I do think it’s the type of story that benefits from not taking itself too seriously. This episode proved that it can do that marvellously.

Another interesting and slightly odd little fat we find out is that the contestants, uhm wait I mean, climbers? regulars? are being paid for their performance. As far as I can tell participating in test gets you credits and I assume the better you do, the more credits. I’m pretty sure that as long as you pass you get something though or else most of them would have been out by now. And that’s because facilities aren’t free.

Apparently food and medical care costs currency (points). I’m guessing the drinks they constantly have do and it wouldn’t surprise me if there was a lodging fee. But why? The Tower is the home of god right? Why does god need money? Also, if the medical care for the broken leg Endrosi got nearly made her go broke, why does Bam still have any points. In fact enough to throw around and pay for other people? Bam, Rak and Khun have been doing o.k. for themselves but it’s not like they won everything. The even missed out on a few tests.

Magical (and sci fi) universes often find a way to get rid of economic systems or simply ignore them but Tower of God implicitly made sure we knew that credits are earned and spent in the Tower. This fascinates me. It does seem like the type of universe where you have to accept that you won’t get al the answers and a got of things are just srt of thrown in. I do hope there was a point for the money other than a single episode plot device.

In summary, I’m a little tiffed this episode ended so quickly and now I have to wait a week.