{"id":7425,"date":"2019-10-16T13:00:58","date_gmt":"2019-10-16T20:00:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/markwatches.net\/reviews\/?p=7425"},"modified":"2019-10-13T15:32:58","modified_gmt":"2019-10-13T22:32:58","slug":"mark-watches-monster-episode-13-petra-and-schumann","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/markwatches.net\/reviews\/2019\/10\/mark-watches-monster-episode-13-petra-and-schumann\/","title":{"rendered":"Mark Watches ‘Monster’: Episode 13 – Petra and Schumann"},"content":{"rendered":"

In the thirteenth episode of Monster<\/i>, Tenma is challenged in a small town by his duty to do right and his need to avoid being caught. Intrigued? Then it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s time for Mark to watch Monster<\/i>.\u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Y\u00e2\u20ac\u2122all, this is SUCH a fascinating way to both advance the plot and directly address Dr. Tenma\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s moral core. In one sense, I see this episode as an exploration of logistics: Exactly how<\/i> is Dr. Tenma avoiding the authorities when his name and photo is plastered all over Germany? Truthfully, he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s not actually that good at it! I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve made comments about this throughout these recent episodes, but this dude frequently uses his real name and has done nothing to disguise himself. He\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s basically still practicing medicine, too??? But that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a realistic feature of his character: Dr. Tenma has no experience doing this.<\/p>\n

But this also means that he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s going to face challenges like the one he does here in \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Petra and Schumann,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d wherein Dr. Tenma attracts the attention of a local doctor after treating a potential patient of his. There are more layers to this, of course, beyond the moral representation, but I want to start there. Dr. Tenma treated the drunk man because the man needed care, Tenma was capable, and it fulfills his sense of moral duty. Dr. Tenma is a man of his word, in essence! He stated early in Monster<\/i> that he believed all people deserve the same medical treatment, regardless of their ability to pay or their \u00e2\u20ac\u0153value\u00e2\u20ac\u009d to society. (Which is now interesting to me for a different reason, since I just recently got to the \u00e2\u20ac\u0153value vs worth\u00e2\u20ac\u009d part of Snuff<\/i> over on Mark Reads.) It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s almost like it doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t occur to him that hey, maybe he should leave this to the local authorities because everyone wants to arrest me? Nope, Dr. Tenma does what is needed, leaves a payment behind<\/i>, and then heads on to his next destination.\u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

So this works as a great way to build Dr. Tenma\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s character, to show his dedication to what he believes. But once Dr. Schumann tracks Tenma down and angrily confronts him over what he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s done, this episode transforms into something else. Dr. Schumann was thorny and irritated in those early moments of \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Petra and Schumann,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d and it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s easy to see why I thought there wasn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t much else to him. We see him yelling at Petra; we see him yelling at his nurse; we see him yelling at Dr. Tenma. HE YELLS A LOT. But once Dr. Tenma agrees to assist Dr. Schumann as he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s doing rounds (ONCE AGAIN, YOU ARE SO BAD AT THIS FUGITIVE THING, TENMA), something deeply familiar unfolds: in this small town, Dr. Schumann has a community. The scenes are deliberate mirrors to what we saw earlier in the show! They are meant to mirror Dr. Tenma\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s time at Eisler, when his work was in building a community and a rapport with the patients he served. Even then, Dr. Schumann\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s charm couldn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t seem to reach Petra, and he couldn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t get her to open the door so he could treat her.\u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Enter Dr. Tenma, whose bedside manner is much like Dr. Schumann\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s, but in this case, he was an outside party. He wasn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t in love with Petra like Dr. Schumann was, and that lack of bias allowed him to approach her in a way that caused her to open up. And what timing, y\u00e2\u20ac\u2122all! This could have been so, so bad if they hadn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t reached her in time. Despite that Dr. Tenma does something undeniably good here, saving this woman\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s life, reality creeps back in. This is not a fantasy world, and Dr. Tenma cannot just pretend that his choices prior to this won\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t come back to haunt him. Y\u00e2\u20ac\u2122all, it was such a brilliant twist to make the officer who \u00e2\u20ac\u0153discovered\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Tenma be Petra\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s son. Because then HE is presented with a seemingly impossible decision! Does the officer trust Tenma and Schumann and allow the operation to finish? Does he arrest Tenma and potentially advance his own career? What if the rumors about Tenma are true and he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s trying to murder Petra? What if they aren\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t<\/i>? Is the price to be paid for promotion worth it?\u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

I see how this was also designed so that Dr. Tenma wouldn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t be captured so early on, but I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t think that potential storyline is impossible, actually. I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t think that for the next 60 episodes, Tenma will stay out of the clutches of Lunge; I imagine there will be a confrontation sooner rather than later. But this show writes so convincingly about personal morality, so the officer\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s story feels like it belongs<\/i> here. Plus, this is an episode about potential, isn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t it? Did that police office have the ability to defy his career to save his mom? At the end of \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Petra and Schumann,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Dr. Schumann is asking a similar question of Dr. Tenma: can the man actually <\/i>kill someone? Is he capable of that? I still don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t know the answer of the question, honestly! He hasn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t fired the gun he has, even though he does<\/i> threaten people with it. Can he kill Johan at this point? I DON\u00e2\u20ac\u2122T KNOW.<\/p>\n

Also: DIETER. Jesus, I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m still so surprised that this kid is with him. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s such a weird direction for the story, but I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m into it. It complicates matters so entertainingly, and I want to see how long this kid is going to stick by Dr. Tenma\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s side.<\/p>\n

The video for \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Petra and Schumann\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":"