{"id":7488,"date":"2020-02-26T13:00:23","date_gmt":"2020-02-26T21:00:23","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/markwatches.net\/reviews\/?p=7488"},"modified":"2020-02-20T16:43:11","modified_gmt":"2020-02-21T00:43:11","slug":"mark-watches-monster-episode-55-room-402","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/markwatches.net\/reviews\/2020\/02\/mark-watches-monster-episode-55-room-402\/","title":{"rendered":"Mark Watches ‘Monster’: Episode 55 – Room 402"},"content":{"rendered":"

In the fifty-fifth episode of Monster<\/i>, MY WORLD IS ROCKED. AGAIN. Intrigued? Then it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s time for Mark to watch Monster<\/i>.\u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d ask this show to please give me a break, but I know it gives not one single fuck about me or my feelings.\u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Collision<\/b><\/p>\n

You know, I should have realized that it was going to be relatively easy to locate Eva in D\u00c3\u00bcsseldorf, especially since she was a regular at certain places. Because of that, the tension of \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Room 402\u00e2\u20ac\u009d shifts to two very different plot lines. Initially, I was tricked by the narrative. What if the events in \u00e2\u20ac\u0153The Escape\u00e2\u20ac\u009d concerning Eva were happening later<\/i> than Tenma\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s escape? That would mean that the knock on her door could<\/i> have been Tenma, not Roberto. Unfortunately, as Tenma sneaks into the hotel and locates Eva\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s room, he finds it empty. Thus, I believed that Tenma was back to square one, and I also assumed that Roberto had gotten Eva.\u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s here that the story shifts its focus brilliantly to Vardemann, who has two vital interactions over the course of \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Room 402.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d I love that this ties Vardemann to the greater narrative (through his father), but it also deepens his characterization. For that to happen, though, Vardemann has to relive his greatest heartbreak:<\/p>\n

He has known for years that his father really was<\/i> a spy.\u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s such a crushing reveal, y\u00e2\u20ac\u2122all. And this whole time, I thought I understood Vardemann. And now that I do, it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s incredible to me how this reveal moves Vardemann even closer to Tenma in terms of a parallel character arc. Both of these characters were destroyed by their commitment to a moral code. Tenma saved Johan, which set this nightmare in motion. (A point he brings up to Vardemann when he has his lawyer held at gunpoint.) Vardemann dedicated his life to believing in the innocent because he knew his father was innocent. EXCEPT HE WASN\u00e2\u20ac\u2122T.\u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Inspector\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Lunge\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s arrival that dredges up this history. Once again, this story is uniquely tied to a time and place. It has<\/i> to be set around this time period, as the secrecy of the state plays such a huge part in it. Vardemann\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s father was involved with the Czechoslovakian secret police, which eradicates any possibility of him being \u00e2\u20ac\u0153innocent.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d So it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s completely understandable to me that Vardemann breaks down over Lunge\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s visit. Lunge is not exactly a compassionate person, and it doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t even seem like he cared about how emotional Vardemann was becoming in his presence. But it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s true that Lunge triggered an intense reaction because this history has reminded Vardemann that his moral core betrayed him. If Vardemann couldn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t even trust his father to tell him the truth, who can<\/i> he trust?<\/p>\n

And so we have our collision: Lunge\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s investigation has collided with Vardemann, tearing open old wounds and reminding Vardemann of how messy and complicated his life is. Moments after this, Tenma collides with Vardemann, and I completely failed to consider that Tenma still believed Vardemann and Roberto were working together<\/i>. Yet that conversation reveals that despite all of Vardemann\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s trauma, he still wants someone<\/i> to believe in. Is that person Tenma? Is Tenma\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s mission a true one, or is he just another person who will betray Vardemann?<\/p>\n

I really adore how intensely personal Monster<\/i> manages to be with everyone<\/i>. Seriously! All of the major players are given stories that allow the audience empathy. We may not agree with some of what these people do, and we might even find them despicable beyond any hope of redemption. But I understand<\/i> these characters. That goes for Vardemann, too. He wants to believe so badly in Tenma, to accept that Tenma really IS going to prevent more people from being murdered by Johan and Johan\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s people. (And I have to remember that at this point, Vardemann still doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t have confirmation that Johan even exists.) The episode, in its final moments, returns to a motif we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve seen over and over again: the innocence of children. That innocence has been corrupted or exploited, as is the case for Nina, Johan, or those under the Kinderheim 511 program. (And its descendants.) It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s been denied to some children, or, in the case of the orphanage run by Petrov, it was the modus operandi.\u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

I believe that is what we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re supposed to take away from those images. Verdemann does<\/i> have someone to believe in: his wife and his newborn son.\u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

For now? LOOK I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122M WORRIED ABOUT LITERALLY EVERY CHARACTER AT THIS POINT, OKAY. That includes Tenma, who is absolutely going to go to the Red Rose Mansion. Nothing is going to stop that. But I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m nervous! Only bad things happen there!!!<\/p>\n

The video for \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Room 402\u00e2\u20ac\u009d can be downloaded here for $0.99<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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

– You can now pre-order my second YA novel, Each of Us a Desert<\/i>, which will be released on September 15, 2020 from Tor Teen!<\/a>\u00c2\u00a0<\/strong>
\n– 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":"