In the tenth episode of Baccano!, I really just have to repeat myself over and over again: I am so lost and this is getting RUDE. Intrigued? Then it’s time for Mark to watch Baccano!
“Czeslaw Meyer is Forced to Rework His Tremble-Before-the-Specter-of-Immortals Strategy”
- Like, for real, I have three proper episodes left (and then the three OVAs), and that’s all the time remaining for this to make some semblance of sense. Not that it’s entirely incoherent, of course, it’s just that I feel like every time I get one answer, there are ten more questions I have. That’s also due to the fact that I keep forgetting plots that were abandoned in last week’s episodes, and this whole thing is super complex and layered, and GOOD LORD, I’ve really done nothing like this for Mark Watches ever.
- SO. That whole Senator Beriam plot still matters, and it’s here that we meet Huey in the present-time. Well, a year in the past, I suppose, but I mean that it’s not during a flashback. I don’t know much about Beriam aside from his obvious interest in maintaining his own power. What happened with that whole bomb-on-the-train plot? Regardless, Huey is SOMETHING ELSE. Not only is he able to telepathically communicate with his daughter (WHAT THE HELL, HOW IS THAT POSSIBLE), but it turns out that he’s not really all that interested in his own followers. Like… they don’t even seem to matter to him at all. He isn’t interested in leaving prison, as far as I can tell, despite that I’m sure he could find a way, given his immortality. So why stay? I also admit to being confused about the plan to kill Chane; I know we heard earlier that she wasn’t going to survive the train ride, but damn it, I can’t remember if we ever found out why. Was it just because she wasn’t useful to the Lemures?
- I’ve found that a great deal of this show makes me want to immediately re-watch the series because of how many layers there are. As I learned why I saw Ladd shoot Czeslaw in the first episode, I immediately couldn’t remember who might be an immortal on the train. Maiza, Elmer, and Sylvie clearly weren’t on the train, and neither were the immortal Gandor brothers, nor Firo, nor Dallas and his gang, so… is there another immortal that I never noticed? OR IS IT JUST MY MEMORY?
- This show is fucking with my head, I swear.
- I suppose that this episode also made me realize that I had somewhat misinterpreted the demon’s rules about the immortals. It wasn’t that they could never use other names, lest they never find one another again; I think this episode suggests that they can’t actually lie to one another about who they are. This is why Czeslaw was so upset about admitting his real name; it would mean there was another immortal in the dining car when he was.
- But why does this upset him? Despite that I assumed the title of this episode meant that this was a Czeslaw-centric episode, I STILL DON’T GET WHO HE IS OR WHAT HE’S DOING.
- Oh my god, I COMPLETELY FORGOT ABOUT EVE GOING TO THE GANDORS TO FIND OUT ABOUT HER BROTHER. The same goes for Gustavo confronting the Gandor brothers as they were playing cards. GODDAMN. You know, as frustrating as it can be to watch this show as I am (as I’m sure binging it would make it way more immediately rewarding), I have to say that it’s actually kind of fun to do it like this. Then I get these really neat moments as I had watching episode 10 where I suddenly remember a plot thread, and IT’S REALLY EXCITING.
- It wouldn’t be an episode of Baccano! if there wasn’t a moment featuring Isaac and Miria’s confounding logic. In this episode, Isaac reasons that stealing from the Genoards, a huge crime family, will garner them lots of attention, so, to counteract that, they’ll steal from a smaller crime family!
- If I didn’t know any better, I’d say Isaac and Miria are immortal simply because there’s no fucking way these people have survived their terrible decision-making skills. Alas, they have. BLESS THEM.
- So yeah, NOW THEY HAVE BARNES’ ELIXIR.
- But there’s no confirmation that either of them drank the “liquor” they thought they stole. GAH. DID THEY OR DID THEY NOT? HOW DID THEY KNOW IT WAS LIQUOR??? Okay, maybe they actually deduced it was based on the time period they were living in, but we’re talking about two people who think that stealing a second time from someone less infamous cancels out the first theft. THEY ARE NOT THE BRIGHTEST THINKERS OF OUR TIME.
- WHEW, GOOD GOD, THE FIGHT BETWEEN CHANE AND LADD ON THE TOP OF THE FLYING PUSSYFOOT IS INCREDIBLE. It’s scary, it’s haunting, and how are either of you standing on top of a train? That takes some strength and courage, neither of which I possess. I thought that maybe this would explain Ladd’s missing arm that we saw in the first episode, but neither character is able to disarm the other.
- Nice and Nick are also captured in this episode by one of the Lemures. Was that Goose? Oh god, I feel like I can’t remember anything.
- HEY, GUESS WHAT ELSE I FORGOT? The scene where someone named “Isaac” died during Firo’s initiation ceremony. Oh my god, as soon as it cut to show what was in the “office” that Isaac was spying on, I just wanted to put my head in my hands and never remove it. How does this show keep doing this to me? I feel like I also have to point out Isaac’s logic prior to this. Despite stealing something from the Gandor family, it was too disappointing, so they have to steal from the Martillo family.
- I have no idea what Ennis is going to do with everything she just witnessed, namely Isaac and Miria being endless weirdos.
- SO WAS ISAAC ACTUALLY SHOT? Or not??? Was this a case of them being dramatic or was he shot and then resurrected??? STOP BEING AMBIGUOUS, BACCANO! I NEED SO MUCH MORE INFORMATION THAN YOU’RE GIVING ME. god.
The video for Episode 10 can be downloaded here for $0.99.
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