Welcome to The Bachelorette Spice and Wolf, I’m your host Lenlo and this week Holo is super thirsty. That’s it, that’s the plot of this weeks episode. By I’ll be damned if their dialogue doesn’t make interesting so lets dive right into it.
Initially I was kind of confused by this episode. Not much was really happening and for some reason we were still in the same town as before. I I thought that Lawrence and Holo would be on the run or maybe leaving at least. You know, getting out of the town that thinks she’s demon possessed and all that. But no we just wake up munching on apples and go shopping as if half the town wouldn’t have heard about the wolf girl. It’s not as if the church isn’t still hunting her right? But as the episode went on and the dialoged evolved beyond pointless needling it started to draw me in. I realized that this week was more of a check in on what their relationship is like now, rather than jumping into a new plot thread. Not perfect but hey, I can enjoy thirsty wolf girl flirting.
As for the dialogue itself? This was a very heavy episode of it so lets take it in order starting with the opening scene. I said I wasn’t a big fan of the dialogue in this scene and here’s why: There was no bite to it. There wasn’t any kind of situational story or sarcasm or even flirting. It very clearly felt like introductory “slowly introduce the episode” dialogue and lacked the same snappy punch their back and forth usually has. I think part of that had to do with Holo starting the scene poorly positioned. By that I mean her situation with the apples automatically placed her in a defensive position in the dialogue when she operates best from an equal or superior position, snarking down at Lawrence. This improved as Spice and Wolf went and they moved onto clothes but it was certainly a weaker opening shot.
Moving on from apples and pies we come to some city wandering and this is when the episode starts to come to life. I loved how Spice and Wolf worked a lot of world building into this clothing b-plot. Dropping hints about Holo’s outfit and its religious connotations. We even got hints about what its like up north, our final destination, as if telling us the church (or at least nuns) aren’t welcome there. It’s a lot of setup, slowly introducing us to our next destination, and its done well. I’m still not sure why its suddenly safe to walk around in the middle of day though. People saw her wolf form, surely the rumors are afloat and someone would be pissed about what happened. I understand its not the point of the episode. But it feels weird to me that someone like Weiz for instance hasn’t heard the news.
Speaking of Weiz, Holo had some fun banter with him this week. That’s not unusual for her, she banters with everyone, but I like the special flavor of banter they have. It’s much more provocative than with anyone else yet lacks a lot of the fire/passion she has with Lawrence. As she points out, its a game and one Weiz is totally aware of during their exchanges. Whereas for Lawrence, he’s dense and has no idea, clearly taking it all personally and not fully realizing its just jokey flirting. Which is funny because some of the sauciest lines of the episode come in their back and forth. C’mon Lawrence, when a woman says “Take a bite and find out” after being compared to an apple pie you have to know what that means. Right? Am I alone here?
Seriously though I think Spice and Wolf did a good job portraying their new level of relationship. The common thread of missed hand holding did a good job of tying the episode together into a cohesive whole and the slow burn but subtle romance is really doing it for me. A lot of the time Romance series will try to be hot and heavy. They will have blatant sexual tension and the all of the content revolves around them both being cowards unable to confess. Basically, its soap opera romance. Those series have no slow build, the characters don’t get to know each other as people and its often hard to understand why either even likes the other. But that’s not an issue with Spice and Wolf and its much more engaging for it. So yeah, kudo’s on the relationship building, even if the opening scene could use some work.
Finally lets take a moment to talk about ECONOMIC THEORY! Or more accurately, how Lawrence became a coupon clipping Karen at your local Macy’s. Funny enough I actually managed to guess what he was doing early in the process, so it definitely feels like I’m learning a bit. But that doesn’t change how clever it was nor the enjoyment I got when Holo once again brute forced an even better deal just by being hot. As fun as their banter is, it’s even better to see them on the same side. Tag teaming merchants, getting better deals and trying to one up each other for profit. Scene’s like this go a long way to making their partnership feel equal when a lot of anime couples… don’t. For all that Holo is an old and wise wolf, Lawrence is a world traveled merchant, and they complement each other well.
So yeah, all in all, this was a pretty good episode. It certainly started weak for me. The whole scene in the house/inn wasn’t very engaging and I was confused because of how the last episode left off. But as Spice and Wolf got into the swing of things the episode came into it’s own. Updating us on where Holo and Lawrence’s relationship was, reminding us of the goal to the north and doing a bit of subtle world building in between it all. I don’t think this episode will be anyone’s favorite. Maybe if you are into saucy wolf girl one liners. But it will be a very important connection episode moving forward. Assuming at least that Spice and Wolf can nail its 2nd half.
