{"id":7447,"date":"2019-11-29T13:00:01","date_gmt":"2019-11-29T21:00:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/markwatches.net\/reviews\/?p=7447"},"modified":"2019-11-15T20:51:20","modified_gmt":"2019-11-16T04:51:20","slug":"mark-watches-monster-episode-32-sanctuary","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/markwatches.net\/reviews\/2019\/11\/mark-watches-monster-episode-32-sanctuary\/","title":{"rendered":"Mark Watches ‘Monster’: Episode 32 – Sanctuary"},"content":{"rendered":"

In the thirty-second episode of Monster<\/i>, Lotte makes a new friend; Tenma prepares for his big decision. Intrigued? Then it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s time for Mark to watch Monster<\/i>.<\/p>\n

Trigger Warning: For talk of consent, sexual assault, Nazism, death<\/b><\/p>\n

Holy god, this episode. I like how the quietest realizations and epiphanies can feel so goddamn huge, y\u00e2\u20ac\u2122all. I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122M HERE FOR IT.<\/p>\n

Lotte Frank<\/b><\/p>\n

I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve said this in a number of different ways, but I also adore how willing Monster<\/i> is to drop us into the perspective of the secondary characters in this story. I never once thought we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d get the POV of Lotte, and after Karl\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s conflict was resolved, I kinda forgot about her? Which is the point! She was the one who not only pushed Karl to investigate the truth, but she helped him repeatedly as he tried to work out his feelings towards Schuwald. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Sanctuary\u00e2\u20ac\u009d flips the story, though, and in doing so, we see how Lotte feels like she was just the character development for someone else. I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll be very honest with y\u00e2\u20ac\u2122all: I related to this SO MUCH, and it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s something I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve struggled with a lot in my life. And very recently! It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s an issue of reciprocation, of feeling valued by the person you valued so much. What happens when it becomes clear that the other person doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t ever plan on returning the favor? Or when you can tell they don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t see you like you see them? The worst is when you don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t even realize this is happening!!! HEY FEELINGS ARE THE WORST!<\/p>\n

So, it was a little hard to watch Lotte try to pursue Karl, who is so wrapped up in the life of his father that he can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t even see Lotte. Not really<\/i> see her, that is. He thinks the dance that she invites him to is just any ol\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 social function. He doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t ask her how her day is; he doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t inquire into anything<\/i> going on in her life. She is just like\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 a distant acquaintance to him. That\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s it! All the friendliness we saw before is gone.\u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Thus, it makes sense to me that she basically attaches herself to Nina when she spots Nina in the library. (I was also LOSING IT because NINA IS IN MUNICH, TOO, HELP ME.) She\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s reeling from rejection and from feeling ignored, and so she is.. a lot. Like, I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m not gonna sit here and say she isn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t super intense around Nina, but I feel like Nina gets it on some level. And even if she doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t, she\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s so supportive of Lotte, despite that she just<\/i> met her. Well, that and<\/i> Lotte is pretty extra at the dance. She makes a lot of assumptions about what Nina\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s life has been like because Nina is traditionally attractive. Of course, the audience knows how tragically wrong Lotte is. Like I said on video, this whole thing fascinated me because Lotte\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s story revealed something new in Nina: Nina was not used to a \u00e2\u20ac\u0153normal\u00e2\u20ac\u009d experience. She even remarks as much during the dance! She never got to be a regular college student. Her life has been marked by trauma, by her training, by her mission to track down Johan.\u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

My take: Nina tolerated Lotte and supported her because Lotte treated her like an actual person, and that includes being kinda rude about Nina\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s life and her appearance. She was a whole human in Lotte\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s eyes, and she appreciated that.\u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

BUT NOW WHAT IS GOING TO HAPPEN??? Lotte just realized that Nina and Johan look alike and are most likely related? Oh god, I can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t get over the fact that EVERYONE IS NOW IN THE SAME CITY. The possibilities! They are endless!<\/p>\n

Tenma\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Task<\/b><\/p>\n

Okay, I feel a lot better about what I wrote in the previous review about Tenma\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s struggle. As Tenma gets closer and closer to his fateful decision, he finds it increasingly hard to commit to it. Oh, he definitely bought a sniper rifle, and he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s training on it and<\/i> on his body, and guess what? HE\u00e2\u20ac\u2122S EVEN MORE FUCKED UP THAN HE WAS IN THE LAST EPISODE. I feel like that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s what those scenes in the restaurant were for. Tenma has become so obsessed with this mission of his that he can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t think of anything else. Unfortunately for him, he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s also haunted by the idea of murdering Johan, even if he feels like it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s the right choice. Shit, does<\/i> he even think that? Or is he just following the momentum of his initial decision?<\/p>\n

I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t know, but I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t know that I need to know that just yet. What happens here is still striking because it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s so relevant to Tenma\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s problem. After determining the location with the least obstacles\u00e2\u20ac\u201da forest that Johan frequents with Karl and Schuwald\u00e2\u20ac\u201dTenma tries to practice pulling the trigger. But it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s not his reluctance or terror that stops him. No, it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a random older man, one who visits the forest every day. And why? Well, I did not expect this show to introduce a stranger, punch me in the heart, and then leave, because I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m a fool??? I SHOULD HAVE KNOWN. But the story of that man\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s involvement in Nazism, his utter devotion to following what he was told to do, and the way his racist\/xenophobic murder haunted him clearly affected Tenma. I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t think the show is saying that Tenma is the same as this man, but I would not be surprised if, in the coming episodes, Tenma decided not to shoot Johan in that particular forest. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a sacred place, where tragedy befell someone who was just trying to live<\/i>. The appearance of the bird on Tenma\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s arm is a sign from the universe, and it makes me wonder. And I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m gonna wonder aloud: Is Tenma actually going to kill Johan?<\/p>\n

My gut feeling is no. He\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s not. And I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll predict that now: I think Johan might die by the end of Monster<\/i>, but it won\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t be at the hands of Dr. Tenma. He just doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t have it in him.<\/p>\n

The video for \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Sanctuary\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":"