It turns out the official title of this episode is “Betrayed”. I swear I had already picked my post title when I saw it. It’s just that this episode was very specific and there’s little else you could call it. Except for maybe “Luck”. Buckle in, this episode was quite a ride!
I have mixed feelings about the little Kahaku side story. It seems a little useless but I appreciate that it allows for some character development. Kahaku is already more open to exploring his sexuality. A week ago he was strictly heterosexual, now he doesn’t mind if Fushi takes a boy form… Am I the only one that got a little creeped out when Fushi took a child form? I know Fushi is not a kid but…
The big thing we got from the opening act is that something of the original person remains in the body even when Fushi is incarnating them. Of course, it could just be Fushi’s subconscious reacting to some survivor’s guilt or something of the kind but the way the story has been going lately, I bet Parona’s ghost is still around even if we haven’t seen her.
Personally, I think there was a better way of getting this across but it’s not the worst either.
It’s difficult for me to judge exactly how much power the Church of Benett has. Both Fushi and Bon seemed genuinely scared of their threat to the people of Uralis. As if they could actually wage war on a country and defeat it. But then again Fushi still lacks a lot of knowledge and common sense when it comes to these things and Bon is a deeply unreliable narrator. That’s part of what makes him so great. As for Bon’s advisor, well I,m not sure if I should trust him yet.
Basically, if push comes to shove and the king gets involved, can they just easily push the church aside or should we all be worried here. Because that changes things. Especially when we consider what’s to come.
And you know what, even though I called my post Betrayal, I was impressed by Bon’s decision to give Fushi to the church. I honestly believe that it wasn’t to save himself or to get the church’s support in his bid for the kingdom. At least not entirely, maybe not even mostly. I think he really did want to ensure peace for his people. He thought beyond his personal needs. Regardless of whether the ultimate decision he made was right or wrong, just the fact that he is able to put himself aside and try to see the big long-term picture is impressive. And not something I was convinced the character could do at all.
Again making me doubt the church’s influence, the mayor seemed very comfortable ordering them around and they didn’t push back at all.
But that’s not what I remember most about this scene. Two big things stood out for me.
When seeing the fallen holy man that Fushi had to revive, the first thing I noticed is that he looked very peculiar. Red hair and pale white skin. Not just any red hair either. A specific shade of red with maybe a hint of apricot in it. It’s not a hair colour we’ve seen in this show before. Well, we have seen it this season. We’ve seen the exact same shade for every member of the church. But no one else. So is everyone in the Chruch of Benett genetically related? Do you undergo some sort of transformation when you join? Do they just allow pale people to join and make them dye their hair? That certainly sounds like something a church might do.
I ask because the universe of To Your Eternity has one big characteristic that’s very important to how I view the story. There’s no magic in it. Aside from Fushi himself, the man in black (maybe) and the nokkers, we are presented with a world that had much the same rules as our own. Sure Gugu’s firebreathing mask is a little extreme, but it is “possible”. Everyone we’ve met has had abilities in the realm of human possibility. But a church/cult that can shape people’s appearance like that would push beyond that boundary. And so far. Everything that’s magical, is somehow deeply linked to Fushi.
That’s a lot of speculation over simple hair colour.
We also learned that Fushi can’t bring back to life someone he has never met in life. More comically, if he can only conceive of someone as a dead body when he turns into the, he turns into a dead body. That actually makes sense to me. And it gives us a nice little limitation for his abilities. It preserves at least some stakes. We don’t know yet how Fushi’s abilities work but if he can eternally reincarnate people, a lot of the tension will drain out of this tale. Not that I mind. I like stupidy happy endings.
So Fushi gave himself up and is captured. Moreover, the suspicious church/cult didn’t keep their word: shock! So now, everything’s looking grim and Fushi’s starting to lose his temper.
When Fushi was starting to faint and obviously feel unwell, I thought he might have overdone it as Gugu. After all, Gugu did have some issues with his health, to begin with. But then the Man in black mentioned that his body was missing something it needed.
I should know better than to just take what the man in black says as fact by now. Although I don’t think he’s ever downright lied, he certainly does go out of his way to say things in the most misleading way possible. And if we count omissions, then yeah, he lies all the time. Still, I can’t help but try to figure out what Fushi’s body could be missing.
After all, Fushi can simply create food whenever he wants so he likely isn’t starving. I’m not sure about water, we’ve never seen him do it but right now there’s no reason to think he couldn’t. So my mind went directly to sunlight. Fushi can’t create sunlight/moonlight, I’m almost sure of it and this is the first time that I remember that we’ve seen him for an extended period in complete darkness.
And if it is sunlight, it sort of begs the question, is Fushi a plant? Is this actually a bodysnatchers rewrite?
I got a little too comfortable with To Your Eternity lately. I forgot just has visceral this show can be. Showing an extended scene of the main character drowning/melting in molten iron as the man in black mocks him, that’s hardcore. Potentially too hardcore. Fushi has slowly developed his emotions. He’s known grief and pain and joy. He’s learning about love. But I,m not sure we’ve ever seen Fushi truly angry. I have a feeling we’re about to and I have a feeling it’s not going to be good for the church.
Then again, maybe Bon and Todo will calm him down. Apparently, those two are very lucky indeed.
Season 1
- To Your Eternity ep. 1 – Forever
- To Your Eternity ep. 2 – Precocious
- To Your Eternity ep. 3 – Manners
- To Your Eternity ep. 4 – Pain
- To Your Eternity ep. 5 – Orphan
- To Your Eternity ep. 6 – Maker
- To Your Eternity ep. 7 – Dreams
- To Your Eternity ep. 8 – Freaks
- To Your Eternity ep. 9 – Home
- To Your Eternity ep. 10 – Flamethrower
- To Your Eternity ep. 11 – Confession
- To Your Eternity ep. 12 – Rebirth
- To Your Eternity ep. 13 – Empathy
- To Your Eternity ep. 14 – Arrow
- To Your Eternity ep. 15 – Return
- To Your Eternity ep. 16 – Freedom
- To Your Eternity ep. 17 – Promises
- To Your Eternity ep. 18 – Mercy
- To Your Eternity ep. 19 – Dato
- To Your Eternity ep. 20 – Happiness
Well, the resurrection of the man didn’t work, but it didn’t work right away the first time round either. It’d be funny as hell if the guy wakes up next episode (though I really doubt it). My personal theory is still that the guy’s already passed on, though maybe one of the two spirits who follow Bon around could animate the body? We’d need a trickster. Would be fun.
I doubt Fushi’s a plant. I mean the first thing he turned into was moss, I think? Before that he was an “orb”.
I wonder if the Church hasn’t made a mistake? I mean they’ve trapped Fushi, so now the question is if they’re ready to deal with the inevitable Nokker Invasion. These things are going to want to get into this lump of iron, and I think they can.
That molten iron scene was really, really heavy. I didn’t see it coming, and I quite liked the irony. “Your flames aren’t hot enough. … See? This is how hot they need to be.” The man in black is a weird creature really. I still wonder what his game is.
I think that Fushi reproduced his body already dead and therefore couldn’t be healed.
Orb plant? Sentient mineral? Could an orb be an egg?
Haven’t got to it yet but you’ve make me very eager to watch. Wonder importance what all those ghosts following him around has in the story? Do they have to be near him so he can transform? He’s not just transforming into what he saw because I think he gets the underlying anatomy correct too.
I don’t know why he still has that bloody leg. Didn’t inherit the natural healing power of the body he inhabits?
I think it’s because he knows the boy best in that hurt form. He usually doesn’t have it when he grows older