{"id":7529,"date":"2020-04-08T13:00:34","date_gmt":"2020-04-08T20:00:34","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/markwatches.net\/reviews\/?p=7529"},"modified":"2020-04-06T16:31:00","modified_gmt":"2020-04-06T23:31:00","slug":"mark-watches-monster-episode-73-scenery-for-a-doomsday","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/markwatches.net\/reviews\/2020\/04\/mark-watches-monster-episode-73-scenery-for-a-doomsday\/","title":{"rendered":"Mark Watches ‘Monster’: Episode 73 – Scenery For a Doomsday"},"content":{"rendered":"

In the seventy-third and penultimate episode of Monster<\/i>, I can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t. I just can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t. Intrigued? Then it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s time for Mark to watch Monster<\/i>.<\/p>\n

I was right, and then I was\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 very wrong.<\/p>\n

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

I know there\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s another episode left, so I expect that there will be a few lingering answers to remain. But lord, there was so much I anticipated from Johan, Nina, Klaus, and Dr. Tenma all being in the same place. Some of it did<\/i> happen, like Johan\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s rejection of Tenma\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s philosophy. So I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m going to start there, before I get to how this was all subverted. I still think that Johan was imitating Klaus over the course of this show, in the sense that he was \u00e2\u20ac\u0153erasing\u00e2\u20ac\u009d those who knew him. Even if that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s not ever spelled out, I think the canon evidence supports that, especially since Johan has mimicked so much of what he went through when he was younger. One thing in particular leads me to this, too: the memory Nina finally recalls here in \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Scenery for a Doomsday.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Klaus found Nina at the Red Rose Mansion, and he compelled her to run away so that she would not become a monster<\/i>.<\/p>\n

Guess who most likely did not get the same parting message?\u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

That dichotomy is part of the show. Two twins, raised in similar conditions, exposed to many of the same horrors, grow up to become utterly unlike one another. One believes they are a monster\u00e2\u20ac\u201dor have a monster inside of them\u00e2\u20ac\u201dwhile the other is constantly grasping for goodness. Nina may not have consciously remembered what Klaus told her, but I think it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s likely that she subconsciously remembered it, that it helped guide her in her uncertain and confusing life. Hell, maybe that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s how she viewed this act: as one of forgiveness. In her own way, Nina wanted to forgive Johan for everything he had ever done prior to the death of the Lieberts. He was<\/i> just a kid, after all, a kid who had been horribly, horribly mistreated.\u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Still, I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t believe any of this is actually Nina\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s fault. I was more interested in it as a means of resolving the confrontation. Johan rejects Tenma\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s point of view about the inherent worth of human life, as I thought he might, and I was allowed perhaps a few minutes of victory, because LORD, this confrontation did not go as I expected. I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t intend that to be a negative commentary; the more I think about it, the more fucked up and brilliant it feels.\u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Because I really thought that Johan and Klaus were going to have their big moment. Here was the man deeply responsible for how Johan turned out! And they were in the city Klaus escaped to, thereby escaping accountability for what he had done. It was so darkly poetic, so perfect<\/i>. But repeatedly, Monster<\/i> has told us that vengeance does not grant justice; it does not allow for peace. And here, we watch as Johan\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s carefully calculated vengeance falls apart. Why? Because humans are complicated. Because you can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t calculate free will, you can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t calculate agency, you can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t calculate the sheer complexity of every life you touched. Because if Lunge had not intervened and shot Roberto, then attacked him, Roberto would not have been in that spot to shoot down Klaus Poppe. And isn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t that fucked up anyway<\/i>? One of the nameless children who was tormented by the program Klaus Poppe\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s work had created guns him down, ending his sole effort to do something<\/i> to make up for what he did to the world. Klaus\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s life is over unceremoniously, without apology, without excuses, without almost any care in the world.\u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Which makes what happens next so fucking wild to me. I still can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t stop thinking about that message that Johan scrawled on that roof. Was there ever truly a part of Johan that wanted this \u00e2\u20ac\u0153monster\u00e2\u20ac\u009d out of him? Did he ever want to change? To be forgiven? To be seen as human? If that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s the case, his actions long ago prevented that from being the case, particularly in how Johan was perceived<\/i>. Maybe people like Nina, Dr. Guillen, Tenma, and Grimmer understood why Johan was the way he was. Nina even states toward the end of \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Scenery for a Doomsday\u00e2\u20ac\u009d that she still wants to forgive Johan.<\/p>\n

But Johan is not granted that here. Because Herbert, Wim\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s father, sees Johan as a literal<\/i> monster: one with seven heads, a devil who came to Ruhenheim to cause death and devastation. That<\/i> is who shoots Johan, though I absolutely fell for the red herring and thought Tenma had done it. Herbert sees Johan for what he is, and in doing so, he gives Tenma a way out, though he certainly doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t shoot Johan because of that. That\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s just coincidental.<\/p>\n

It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s an important twist because of how it relates to Tenma\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s arc in Monster<\/i>. Roberto once told Tenma that his hands were for healing, not death, and in the most shocking, unseen, and dramatic twist in the whole goddamn show, that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s exactly what Tenma is called to do. Of course, there\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s the immediate aftermath to deal with as the survivors must face the authorities, who finally descend upon Ruhenheim to discover the massacre that has taken place. I actually really love that this is part of the story, as it allows the shock of the whole thing to settle in. This was real, this happened, and here we are, on the other side of it. There are confused members of law enforcement; there are countless bodies strewn about the streets; there is a moment of reconciliation and grace between the couple who had won the lottery. And there is a LOT of exhaustion. Because holy shit, this nightmare is over??? Everyone is dead, and it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s done<\/i>.<\/p>\n

But it isn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t done, is it? Wim\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s father is still ripped away from him, and I have no idea what his fate will be. Who will take care of Wim? Prior to this, it was Klaus, who\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s now dead. So what happens to Wim? What about everyone else who lost someone in this massacre? How do any of these people go back to living \u00e2\u20ac\u0153normal\u00e2\u20ac\u009d lives after something like this?<\/p>\n

However, I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve clearly been saving one thing for last. I still can barely believe it, y\u00e2\u20ac\u2122all. Tenma arrived on this path by saving the life of a young boy who had been shot in the head. And now, over a decade later, after his own life was ripped apart by that same boy, Inspector Lunge (who SURVIVED, oh my god!!!) has asked one last thing of Tenma.<\/p>\n

To save Johan\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s life again.\u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

And it certainly appears like he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s going to do it! Y\u00e2\u20ac\u2122all, I AM SO SHOCKED BY THIS. Of course, it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s the poetic end to this, especially since it makes it a circle. Tenma is right back at the beginning again, though this time, he knows. He knows who and what Johan is. He knows that saving this man\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s life might endanger others. But Tenma has a code: every life is inherently valuable. No exceptions.<\/p>\n

Well, here we are: one last episode to go, and it looks like Tenma is going to stick to his code until the very, very end.<\/p>\n

The video for \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Scenery for a Doomsday\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>
\n– Not only that, but my very first pre-order campaign is now live for North American readers! If you submit proof of pre-order, you can get a limited edition print that comes with the book<\/a>.
\n<\/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":"