{"id":7418,"date":"2019-10-09T13:00:08","date_gmt":"2019-10-09T20:00:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/markwatches.net\/reviews\/?p=7418"},"modified":"2019-10-03T11:23:23","modified_gmt":"2019-10-03T18:23:23","slug":"mark-watches-monster-episode-10-an-erased-past","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/markwatches.net\/reviews\/2019\/10\/mark-watches-monster-episode-10-an-erased-past\/","title":{"rendered":"Mark Watches ‘Monster’: Episode 10 – An Erased Past"},"content":{"rendered":"

In the tenth episode of Monster<\/i>, Dr. Tenma just misses Johan, but finds something horrifying left behind. Intrigued? Then it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s time for Mark to watch Monster<\/i>.\u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Trigger Warning: For brief discussion of terrorism<\/b>.\u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

You know, this didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t strike me until the episode was over, but Johan is not in this episode. At all. He is talked about, discussed, and his fingerprints are all over everything here, but he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s not here<\/i>. He\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a specter, a ghost, a form existing in shadows and rumor, and yet? Johan is still<\/i> terrifying, so much so that it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s undeniable that he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a major force for tension in \u00e2\u20ac\u0153An Erased Past.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Even at the beginning, when we meet Heckel, there\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s that moment where I thought that Johan was on the other side of the door to the study. (And he very well could have been; what if Dr. Tenma\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s arrival allowed him a window to escape???) He is a constant threat, a variable that exists all the time<\/i>, and I find that so fascinating from a story perspective. We\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve seen relatively very little of him, and yet I absolutely buy how frightening he is. That\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s impressive! It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s not what I would have expected, but it works.<\/p>\n

But none of this show fits expectations. Even this strange episode takes Dr. Tenma to a surprising place. Yet I feel like this also works. If Tenma is going to seriously track down Johan, he has<\/i> to go to increasingly darker locations and meet people who are\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 well, like the killer.\u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

This episode required me to read between the lines and think of Johan\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s past behavior. The killer of the councilman, who we meet halfway through this episode, shares similarities to past criminals that Johan has \u00e2\u20ac\u0153partnered\u00e2\u20ac\u009d with. The nature of their relationships is mostly unspoken, but here, we get an idea of how Johan insinuated himself into this man\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s life, then manipulated him into killing. While I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t doubt that Johan has killed himself, it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s clear that his MO has another aspect to it: he hires or manipulates men to commit crimes, and then, the criminals are disposed of. They don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t ever<\/i> seem to survive their encounters with Johan, though this specific killer is the first to take themselves out. So Johan doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t just seem to enjoy murder alone; he loves the power he holds over others while they commit murder, too. Right??? And perhaps that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s the \u00e2\u20ac\u0153monster\u00e2\u20ac\u009d referenced in the message left behind. Johan knows exactly<\/i> what is happening to him and what he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s doing, and he seems to thrive on that fact.\u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Of course, a lot of this comes from conjecture because I have so little to go on! The killer doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t give his name; we have no idea of his past. There\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a sense here that the killer was<\/i> just a normal guy until Johan pushed him to murder the councilman, and it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s also clear Johan exploited the political situation between East and West Germany in order to do so. And above all this: Johan knows that Dr. Tenma is pursuing him. HE FUCKING KNOWS. So this is a multi-level game<\/i> for him, a chance for him to entertain himself with Dr. Tenma AND the victims he claims along the way.\u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

And yet, we never quite leave Dr. Tenma and the rooting of this show within him. Heckel is an odd character, though he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s designed that way, both literally and within the story. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s pure chance that the two meet\u00e2\u20ac\u201dmaybe Johan would argue that it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s destiny\u00e2\u20ac\u201dbut I still see the plot in \u00e2\u20ac\u0153An Erased Past\u00e2\u20ac\u009d as being a means of further communicating Dr. Tenma\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s moral code. The second half of this episode is just CHAOS, but even amidst Tenma being forced into the same room with two men who just committed a terrorist act, he doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t budge. He spends the entire<\/i> time unbothered by being threatened at gunpoint, all while Heckel is off thinking he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s got it made with his new scheme. He seriously misjudged Tenma\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s willingness to operate off the books on criminals. Still, I found it fascinating that Tenma didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t let one of the terrorists die. I think that speaks to what he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s willing to do for others. He was very, very clear about not providing extensive medical care to someone who had directly harmed so very many people and was well aware that he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d done so. But he still provides basic care (WITH A STAPLER, HELP ME) and then literally throws the man on his back with the intent of walking him to a hospital. So he didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t want to let the man die, but that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s the lowest bar set for Tenma.\u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

I think the show is establishing these moments on purpose. Even just ten episodes in, Tenma has had to do a lot of things he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s never done before. So just how much is he willing to push himself? Is his endgame with Johan to end Johan\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s life? Can Dr. Tenma actually<\/i> harm another person, even if doing so will save lives? Whew, this is a lot to think about, y\u00e2\u20ac\u2122all, but I really feel like this is what I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m supposed<\/i> to be asking and considering.<\/p>\n

The video for \u00e2\u20ac\u0153An Erased Past\u00e2\u20ac\u009d can be downloaded here for $0.99<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Mark Links Stuff<\/b><\/p>\n

– The paperback edition of my debut, ANGER IS A GIFT, is now OUT!<\/a>\u00c2\u00a0<\/strong>If you’d like to stay up-to-date on all announcements regarding my books, sign up for my newsletter<\/a>! DO IT.<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"