{"id":7450,"date":"2019-12-06T13:00:45","date_gmt":"2019-12-06T21:00:45","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/markwatches.net\/reviews\/?p=7450"},"modified":"2019-11-15T21:02:19","modified_gmt":"2019-11-16T05:02:19","slug":"mark-watches-monster-episode-35-my-nameless-hero","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/markwatches.net\/reviews\/2019\/12\/mark-watches-monster-episode-35-my-nameless-hero\/","title":{"rendered":"Mark Watches ‘Monster’: Episode 35 – My Nameless Hero"},"content":{"rendered":"

In the thirty-fifth episode of Monster<\/i>, Lunge tries to understand Tenma; Tenma prepares for Johan; Dr. Reichwein has a shocking confrontation. Intrigued? Then it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s time for Mark to watch Monster<\/i>.\u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Trigger Warning: For talk of manipulation, trauma<\/b><\/p>\n

This is starting to come together, and I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m AFRAID.\u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Lunge<\/b><\/p>\n

You know, I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d hoped that Lunge would have approached this with an open mind, but it seems that Lunge has gone even further into his own bias in \u00e2\u20ac\u0153My Nameless Hero.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Y\u00e2\u20ac\u2122all\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 this was A Lot, which joins every other plot point in Monster<\/i> that I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve deemed A Lot. Lunge has a very specific means of assimilating and categorizing information, but as he spends time around Munich, interviewing people who have met or known Dr. Tenma, he does something\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 disturbing? Look, I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t even think this would be that bad if it weren\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t for what Lunge does with his daughter. Well, the whole thing of getting in the mind of Dr. Tenma by \u00e2\u20ac\u0153being\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Japanese is certainly misguided at best. But to Lunge, all information is just that: information. He doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t always see the context in which it exists.\u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

I say that because I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m thinking of the scene in the karaoke bar, where Lunge sinks into his perception<\/i> of what Tenma\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s experience is. In this, he imagines a loneliness in the man that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s due to being Japanese, that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s due to him not fitting in with the world around him. Which isn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t a stretch, necessarily, but I think it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a very white-centric view of the world, in the sense that Lunge can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t imagine other<\/i> reasons for Tenma feeling isolated. And he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s not actually wrong about that isolation! It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s just that Tenma feels lonely because he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s taken on the burden of eliminating Johan from the world, and that<\/i> struggle makes him feel alone.\u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

So Lunge is getting to a relatively correct conclusion, but the means are wrong, and those means are important. He still views Tenma as a loner, as someone who is a brutal, manipulative killer, and what we see here is confirmation bias. When he hears that Tenma\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s past colleagues or acquaintances found him pleasant, or when one says that Tenma never really liked being the center of attention, he sees those as evidence of a deeper problem, or evidence of how Tenma is manipulating everyone around him.<\/p>\n

Which makes me wonder\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 is that picture book going to change his mind? Is he actually going to believe that it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s irrelevant and useless, or will he come to see it as a clue once he finds out it affected someone named Johan Liebert? Because y\u00e2\u20ac\u2122all, it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s only a matter of time before Lunge finds out that Johan is a real person, and if they meet??? I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t think Lunge can be fooled in person!!!\u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Confrontation<\/b><\/p>\n

Well\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 I didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t expect that.<\/p>\n

On one level, Dr. Reichwein\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s strategy here is brilliant. Why wouldn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t he just directly confront Johan\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s parents? These people are enabling him\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 sort of? Here\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s the thing: I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m immensely<\/i> worried about what this actually means. What if Johan manipulated them, too? What if they\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re under his spell? I fully believe that this is a very real possibility, you know? Look at the expressions on the Liebert\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s faces as Dr. Reichwein talks to them!!! That\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s not the expression you wear when a random stranger suggests your son is a mass murderer who is going to eventually target you. Something incredibly<\/i> fucked up is happening here, and I can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t quite place it. Did the Lieberts look so forlorn because they knew what Dr. Reichwein was saying was true? Did they feel like the chickens were coming home to roost? Were they expecting this day? Why were they seemingly so pleased once Dr. Reichwein left?\u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Johan is a master manipulator. He has this couple right where he wants them, and they will most likely be what he needs them to be forever. Which makes me think that Dr. Reichwein\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s attempt to convince Schuwald of Johan\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s crimes is going to be a futile thing. Why would Schuwald listen to him? Why would he question all the \u00e2\u20ac\u0153good\u00e2\u20ac\u009d things that Johan has delivered to him? He made it so that Karl and Schuwald were reunited!!! He helps run his business and day-to-day issues. This is NOT A GOOD IDEA, but I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t know what else he could do, you know?<\/p>\n

Hiding in Plain Sight<\/b><\/p>\n

Holy shit, Dr. Tenma is locking himself in the library and hiding on the shelf where he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s going to try to kill Johan. This is\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 commitment? It doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t tell me if Tenma is actually<\/i> going to follow through with this, but the moment is rapidly approaching. Can he do it? Can he slip into the darkness completely? I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t know. But there\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s an important moment before<\/i> Tenma does this, and I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m realizing that this picture book is a much, much bigger thing in terms of the show\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s arc. Lunge translates a line that reminded me of what Johan wrote to Tenma on that roof. What about what Lotte translated? Is that where Johan got the idea of the monster that lives inside of him? How much of an influence did this book play in his life???<\/p>\n

Next Move<\/b><\/p>\n

It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s still kinda cool that I came to this show after binge watching Mindhunter<\/i>, since both shows contain a common story technique: interviews with serial killers. Obviously, Monster<\/i> came first, and both shows are borrowing from real life, but I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m interested in this notion that Johan has become infamous, that there are serial killers who idolize him and look up to him. Dr. Gillen is the source of the info that these men get, but it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s passing between the killers, right? And how correct is the murderer here? Will Johan kill the Lieberts because he is done with them? Did he attach himself to Schuwald simply to mess with all of these people???\u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The video for \u00e2\u20ac\u0153My Nameless Hero\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":"