In the thirty-sixth episode of Monster, Tenma reflects; Dr. Reichwein confronts, and both Lunge and Lotte have epiphanies. Intrigued? Then it’s time for Mark to watch Monster.Â
This episode is INCREDIBLE, friends, and it is such a tense set-up to what will surely be a disaster. And the next episode is the halfway point. HALF. WAY. I’m… frightened.
Reflection
In hindsight, it’s so brilliant that “A Monster of Chaos†opens with flashbacks to the decision that set all of this in motion. It’s a chilling reminder, isn’t it? Dr. Tenma approached that decision with humility, fairness, and kindness in mind. He operated on Johan because it was the right thing to do, and it cost him his reputation and stunted his career. It’s only now, years and years into the future, that Dr. Tenma reflects on this choice, and it’s very easy to wonder if he regretted this. Johan took so many lives after Tenma saved him. So even though Tenma acted within his moral code, a contradiction arose: saving Johan’s life led indirectly to the loss of other lives.
Thus, this show is made up largely of Dr. Tenma’s reaction to that, and it all leads to him hiding atop that bookshelf, certain that he’s going to right this wrong through assassination. The path to this point has been chaotic and confusing and illuminating, and I loved that this episode brought us back to the beginning to help us understand the present.Â
So… can he actually do it??? I know I’ve asked the question numerous times before, but this is it. I don’t see the next episode delaying this shot any further, so he’s got to either take it or give up. My gut tells me he won’t be able to—he’s just not at a place in his life where he can truly take another life, even if the reasoning is morally solid to him. It’s murder, y’all. Tenma’s whole thing is about how precious life is. Can he truly take a life???
Reichwein
Again, his technique here has been so, so bold. Once Reichwein sat down in front of Schuwald, I had my own belief about what would happen: Schuwald was so enamored with Johan that he wouldn’t believe a word of what Dr. Reichwein said. Indeed, Johan has charmed so many people to get where he is, but in this specific case, Johan brought together a father and son after decades of being separated. Who wouldn’t feel affinity for a person who had done such a thing?Â
So, as Dr. Reichwein spoke, I took Schuwald’s silence to be a negative thing. Seriously, he didn’t not react once, and I expected Reichwein to finish, Schuwald to take a breath, and then he’d say, “You’re full of shit, go away, JOHAN IS MY EVERYTHING.†Or something to that effect, you know? I did not expect Schuwald to basically accept what Reichwein posited and to insinuate pretty heavily that he knew something was wrong with Johan? And he let it all happen anyway? I don’t know if this is because Schuwald knows this is an inevitability—that someone would try to take his life out from under him—or because he has something else in mind. But even with the warning, he still goes to the donation ceremony. He still lets it happen, even though Reichwein said that someone named Dr. Tenma is coming after Johan. THIS WAS NOT A CONCLUSION I EXPECTED HIM TO COME TO. Lord, the sheer chaotic possibilities of this alone? And that’s not even considering the two OTHER plot lines, y’all. Y’ALL. What exactly does Schuwald know or suspect?
Lunge
What the HELL is Lunge going to do if he gets in that room and finds out that Johan is not a personality of Dr. Tenma’s??? Oh god, it’s so frustrating watching him work because he keeps clinging to his hypothesis that Dr. Tenma made up Johan. If he’d approach this case with an open mind on that one element, I bet Lunge would have figured this out. And yet, here he is, convinced that Dr. Tenma is about to murder Schuwald. Which puts a thought in my head: What if Johan is way ahead of everyone and is about to murder Schuwald himself? What if he somehow knows Dr. Tenma is here to kill him?
Lotte
THE BOOK! THE BOOK!!!! Oh my god, I couldn’t read/translate the name of the title, but y’all. Y’ALL. Lotte confronted Nina with her epiphany that she and Johan are twins, but that pales in comparison to what happens immediately after. Somehow, Nina had the same reaction to that children’s book as Johan did, which…. how??? Did this happen to them before they arrived in Germany? What was that horrific flashback of Nina wandering darkened hallways about? WHAT THE HELL IS HAPPENING ON THIS SHOW???
The video for “A Monster of Chaos†can be downloaded here for $0.99.
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