Wooo more Dr. STONE! This week Chrome channels the collective intelligence of the modern world to enact the most daring escape in 3 millennia. And the best part is that’s only slightly hyperbole. So without further ado lets dive in!
This was a big week for Chrome and Dr. STONE as a whole. It was effectively the culmination of Chrome’s story these past few cours. His final transformation from a “primitive” to a full on science user. No help, no Senku, just using what he had learned and his own ingenuity, and I really like how it was presented. Dr. STONE opened the episode by introducing Yo and using him to reestablish how different Chrome is from more “modern” people. After all, even as meat heads they have a modern education and know a basic amount of science. More than you would expect a “primitive” to know at any rate. But Dr. STONE uses this to remind us that science has no barriers, anyone can use it if they put their mind to it. Whether it be a modern day genius like Senku or a “simple primitive” like Chrome.
As for Chrome’s actual escape plan, it was a great show of science. One of my favorite parts of Dr. STONE is how it uses and presents progression. How the different inventions lead into the next and the ideas logically follow each other. And that’s exactly what Chrome gave us with his escape attempt, except outside of the lab environment. Most of the inventions have been done in a contained area, the village. But here Chrome has to use what he has learned and create a solution with what is at hand. He can’t make an extravagant metal tank, or synthesize some new element. He can only gather plants and sweat into a bottle. Watching him put all these resources, all these pieces of ideas, and come up with Sodium Hydro-chlorite was great. He still needed some help to get that battery, which we will talk about, but still great.
That’s not all Chrome gave us this week. He also showed us that science isn’t easy, that it’s hard work and that a healthy body is just as important as a healthy mind. Senku’s biggest weakness so far is that he only has one of those things. We saw it when Homura escaped from him, Senku is physically one of the weakest characters in the show. He can barely lift what he needs, not to mention running or fighting. It makes sense narratively as it contrasts with Tsukasa and gives Taiju a place in the story. But Chrome shows us that you don’t have to be one or the other. He has the brains to create the acid, the physicality of living in the stone world to pole vault the pit and to run from Yo. Chrome isn’t the best in anything but he uses what he does have excellently.
What really makes the Chrome stuff work though is that what he has isn’t restricted to science. Chrome is like a sponge, absorbing knowledge from everywhere he can. From Senku he has learned science, from Kinro and Kohaku some basic combat, and as we saw this week, from Gen deception. The old Chrome would have fired back at Yo’s taunts, he was blunt and honest. But he has since learned the power of presentation and of managing what your enemies know. And in this case his enemies know nothing about him and are routinely underestimating him. So just like Gen would, he plays into that. Plays up the simpleton or uses the plants to fake a deadly disease to catch them off guard. Its a perfect showing of how everyone has something to teach you and of how useful knowledge can come from any source. Science is the communities resource.
Moving on lets talk about someone I have mentioned a lot but haven’t said much about: Yo. Yo’s a bit of a joke character to be honest, but a much needed one amongst the villains. Between Ukyo, Hyoga and Tsukasa, no one on their side is very… emotive. Yo meanwhile is nothing but. He’s loud, expressive, and prone to jokes at everyone’s expense. He gives us someone to act as a bit of a punching bag without hurting Tsukasa’s position as our big bad. That isn’t to say Yo isn’t a threat, he’s a trigger happy cop with little regard for rules. In a way he’s very similar to Magma in that both desire power and positive. But where Magma is willing to work for the betterment of the village, Yo is in it for himself. All in all he makes for a very easy person to root against.
Finally lets talk about that battery and who gave it to Chrome. Dr. STONE want’s us to think it was Yuzuriha and Taiju, even throwing a few visual dick jokes with the battery in to distract us. But we all know they can’t have been the ones to do it right? Taiju isn’t that sneaky and even if he was, they weren’t the last ones to have the battery: Ukyo was. The same Ukyo who lied about Chrome’s knowledge earlier and seems to have some sort of plan. So the question becomes, if this was Ukyo who brought it, why? Does he want Senku and Chrome to win? Or is this just a continuation of his dislike of death that we saw when Chrome was first captured? Let me know what you think down below, or if you think Ukyo wasn’t involved at all. I’d love to hear your thoughts!
Personally, all things considered? I thought this was a pretty good episode. The production has fallen off a bit compared to earlier ones. No more Homura backflip sequences or stunningly shot night-scapes. But the story content was there and was really engaging. It’s the exact kind of non-battle battle’s I want out of Dr. STONE. Where a character is challenged but rather than it being physical, its mental. I can only hope that Dr. STONE keeps this up as with only 5 episodes remaining it has to start wrapping this story up. I don’t think this Stone Wars arc can survive being extended across another season, or if Dr. STONE will even get a third season. I hope it does as there is some incredible manga content to come. But to see it we need this finale to earn it.
Anyways, that’s all from me. I’ll see you readers next week, or tomorrow if you watch some of the other series I’m blogging. See you then!
