{"id":7471,"date":"2020-02-03T13:00:49","date_gmt":"2020-02-03T21:00:49","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/markwatches.net\/reviews\/?p=7471"},"modified":"2020-01-26T12:48:34","modified_gmt":"2020-01-26T20:48:34","slug":"mark-watches-monster-episode-45-the-monsters-afterimage","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/markwatches.net\/reviews\/2020\/02\/mark-watches-monster-episode-45-the-monsters-afterimage\/","title":{"rendered":"Mark Watches ‘Monster’: Episode 45 – The Monster’s Afterimage"},"content":{"rendered":"

In the forty-fifth episode of Monster<\/i>, Suk and Grimmer finally listen to the tapes. Intrigued? Then it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s time for Mark to watch Monster<\/i>.\u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Trigger Warning: For talk of PTSD\/triggers<\/b><\/p>\n

This show is like a train wreck that then causes one hundred other train wrecks, and we have to watch all of them in slow motion, and I AM STILL SWEATING FROM WATCHING THIS EPISODE. God, what a tense<\/i> twenty minutes, and I have to be repetitive again: NO CENTRAL CHARACTERS except two remarkably brief appearances of Johan!<\/p>\n

Well, I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t even know if I can say that anymore. One thing that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s made this arc in Prague so compelling is that I believe Grimmer and Suk as main characters. And indeed, they fit into this story so well, both because they\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re now intricately tied to it and<\/i> because they\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re nothing like the other characters in the show. Suk works as a character who is na\u00c3\u00afve and inexperienced but is then thrust into a nightmare that requires him to challenge his own optimism and belief in the system. Even in \u00e2\u20ac\u0153The Monster\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Afterimage,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d we see him clinging to the notion that if he just tells the truth, all will be fine. But all of us in the audience know that this isn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t true! In that, there\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a stark condemnation of the state and the way agents of the state use their power to control narratives. The secret police are not going to reward Suk because he is telling the truth. They don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t have that moral system at all<\/i>. Indeed, they\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re all most likely to be after that tape and those research notes.<\/p>\n

In that sense, I could see a slight similarity between Tenma and Suk, though I would argue that they only resemble one another in Tenma\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s early days. Tenma is far more cynical now, after everything he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s been through. But this show is frequently about metamorphosis. What changes people? How long do those changes take? Tenma\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s surgery on Johan is what toppled that first Domino. For Suk, it was the murder of his mentor by Johan. And now, I think that Johan is also<\/i> tied to the transformation in Grimmer. I admit that I still don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t understand this Steiner character, but I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t think I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m supposed to. However, it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s hard to ignore Grimmer\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s reaction to the tape with Johan on it. That reaction was so visceral<\/i>, particularly at the point where Johan began reciting that picture book that ALSO triggered Nina. I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t think it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a stretch, then, to bring back an older theory I had a week or two ago: Was Grimmer at Kinderheim 511? Was he also conditioned by the same people as Johan and possibly Nina?\u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

If that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s the case, it would explain this Steiner thing, but it would also give us a very strong motivation for Grimmer to be involved in this whole mess. He tells Suk in this episode that he chose<\/i> to be here, that it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s no accident that he is tracking down information on Kinderheim 511 and the Monster. If I am right\u00e2\u20ac\u201dand I think this is a rare case where I either am or I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m real close to the truth\u00e2\u20ac\u201dthen this journey is so much more deeply personal than I thought. What if Grimmer is seeking out closure<\/i>? What if he wants to understand what happened to him, where he came from, and why he changed so much as a person?<\/p>\n

The answer (or at least one of them) was definitely in that safety deposit box, and everything goes back to Kinderheim 511. But again: I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m missing so many pieces of this puzzle. How exactly does that picture book fit into this? I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t understand the timeline yet. Did Johan show up at Kinderheim 511 after<\/i> having \u00e2\u20ac\u0153bonded\u00e2\u20ac\u009d with that book? Was that already part of his identity, or was it used to change him? Grimmer seems a lot older than Johan, so were they there at the same time or different times? It must be the former because Grimmer CLEARLY recognizes Johan. He has two incredibly upsetting moments where the sight of Johan (dressed up as a woman) causes him to either panic or freeze up. There\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s something there, right? Obviously, there\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s something to the picture book and Grimmer, too!<\/p>\n

And what of Johan\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s great plan here? He framed Detective Suk for the murder of the officers who were secret policemen, but then he breaks into Suk\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s apartment at the exact moment Suk steps into his bedroom, and he murders the two officers who were just about to bring Suk back to the station. Were the whiskey bonbons not enough??? Why kill these men? Is Johan trying to get the tape, too, or is he merely an agent of chaos?\u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

THIS SHOW IS A LOT. Still!!\u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The video for \u00e2\u20ac\u0153The Monster\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Afterimage\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":"