In the thirty-eighth episode of Monster<\/i>, chaos reigns while Tenma and Nina try to change fate. Intrigued? Then it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s time for Mark to watch Monster<\/i>.<\/p>\n
Trigger Warning: For discussion of manipulation, terrorism<\/b><\/p>\n
Surprise! Everything got even more fucked up!<\/p>\n
Two Shots<\/b><\/p>\n
What an incredible<\/i> call back to \u00e2\u20ac\u0153The Girl and the Seasoned Soldier.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d How many times has a tiny detail been utterly crucial to a future plot line in this show??? I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m blown away, especially since Burkhardt\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s advice from that episode is used to build tension here. We know from the end of the previous episode that someone<\/i> took a shot. (I vocalized this on video, but it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s clear that Tenma had<\/i> to take the shot; Roberto was the one with his back to the fire, so the spitting embers were a clue as to what had actually happened.) But once it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s revealed that Tenma ACTUALLY DID IT, Burkhardt\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s warning pivots the stakes. I immediately began to panic because Tenma didn’t<\/i> take two shots. Had he made a critical mistake?\u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n So Tenma shoots him again.<\/p>\n I love that this was built up so painstakingly over the first half of this show because it made this act feel huge<\/i>. Roberto tumbles over the balcony and is consumed by smoke and flames. Is he dead? Oh, no, I refuse to accept he is until I see an actual corpse. But Dr. Tenma did it. He pulled the trigger TWICE, and that second time was with the intent to harm. Does this fundamentally change who Tenma is? I wondered that! Would it be easier for him to pull the trigger when he aimed his gun at Johan?<\/p>\n More on that in a second.<\/p>\n Karl<\/b><\/p>\n It is both impressive and haunting that Karl\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s story here reveals so much about Schuwald. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s impressive from a craft standpoint because it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s very important that Karl gets closure over his mother. But this confirms that Schuwald had suspected something was off with Johan. Was it Dr. Reichwein\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s influence, or had he been suspicious once he looked into Karl\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s mother? I am not sure of the chronology, but it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s clear that Schuwald both wanted to give Karl closure and<\/i> spare him from whatever Johan was going to do to him at the ceremony.<\/p>\n And that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s part of the reason this is so haunting to me. He went there knowing that something terrible would happen. He faced inevitability, and yet, he still wasn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t prepared. But before I talk about the utterly unnerving context of the title of this episode, I have to acknowledge that Schuwald\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s investigation uncovered another nightmare. Karl\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s mother KNOWS NINA AND JOHAN\u00e2\u20ac\u2122S MOTHER. Not only that, but years after Karl was separated from his mother, JOHAN MOVED IN WITH HER AND BASICALLY WAS HER REPLACEMENT SON. Well, not that she<\/i> viewed him as a replacement; it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s more that Johan reminded her of Karl so much. Y\u00e2\u20ac\u2122all, how long has Johan been planning this manipulation of Karl and Schuwald? It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s three years at the minimum, and he was pulling this off while also manipulating people in literal other cities<\/i>.<\/p>\n Holy shit. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s too much.\u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n The Demon in My Eyes<\/b><\/p>\n It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s hard to pick a part of this that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s more disturbing than the others. Is it Tenma tripping over the attendees who were trying to climb the stairs to safety? Or the fact that someone locked all the doors so that everyone would burn to death? Or the whole triple showdown in the flames and smoke? OR THAT ENDING? I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t know, y\u00e2\u20ac\u2122all. I can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t get one image out of my mind: Johan grabbing Schuwald\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s face and asking if he can see what\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s reflected in his eyes. Johan delights in suffering; he delights in knowing what he is, what he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s capable of, and how easily he accomplishes the nightmares he perpetrates. There\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a certainty to him that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s just frightening. He knew Tenma wouldn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t shoot him, and he knew his twin sister would hesitate long enough for him to escape scot-free. He just walked right out of there with TWO PEOPLE TRAINING GUNS ON HIM. It didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t even matter that Nina shot at him! God, the chilling way he points his finger between his eyes, taunting Tenma? IT IS LITERALLY TOO MUCH.<\/p>\n And then the curtains collapse on Nina and Schuwald and also my heart? That, too. If either of them just died, I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m going to be FURIOUS.\u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n This whole arc has been one giant ball of tension, and it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s still not over! Did anyone die in the fire? Where\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Lunge, and is he still<\/i> going to think Tenma was behind this? How long until Karl puts everything together? Oh gods, if Schuwald survives, is HE going to tell the truth??? I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m so stressed out.<\/p>\n The video for \u00e2\u20ac\u0153The Demon in My Eyes\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":" In the thirty-eighth episode of Monster, chaos reigns while Tenma and Nina try to change fate. Intrigued? 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