Hello everyone and welcome to the third “I’m back” catchup post of the week! This time I lucked out because Eighty Six is skipping another episode, letting me take my time with this one. What that says about the production I don’t know! But it probably isn’t anything good. Enough about that though, lets dive into the episode!
Starting off, Eighty Six had some fun shots this week. Nothing as ground breaking as the week before sadly but still some good shot direction. I’m talking stuff like the President meeting with the General, showing us most of the conversation through their reflections rather than their faces. It sounds like a pretty straight forward trick right? Tell us, the audience, that something is off, make us feel like someone is lying, by not showing us their face. And it is! But so many series fail to something even as basic as this. Then there was also the long held final shot in place of an ED, really letting the battlefield comms sink in. It’s simple… but effective. And it does a good job of hammering home just how much is riding on this mission without repeating it over and over “Everyone will die if you fail”. I like that.
Narratively though the big thing this episode did was make the loli, Frederica, slightly more tolerable. I’m almost impressed actually. Eighty Six managed to give her, and consequently Shin, a completely new angle of this war to explore. I still don’t like the knight stuff of course! But Eighty Six took that relationship, Frederica and the Knight, Shin and his brother, and reverse their positions. Up until now it’s just been a retelling, once again giving Shin someone to go and kill. Now however Shin is the big brother going to his death. Where he once watched his brother leave, words unsaid, Frederica is now acting as his replacement. Saying everything he wished he could, regretted he didn’t. Begging him to stay, asking him not to put himself in danger. It’s the first compelling thing Frederica has done all season!
And personally? I really like this comparison to his brother. Shin has been slipping for awhile now. One by one the people he knew were dying or, in the case of the 86, guaranteed (in his eyes) to die. And once San Magnolia was invaded and Lena was put in danger he really fell down the survivors guilt rabbit hole. Simply put, he was running out of things to live for. But by directly comparing him to his brother, telling him to his face even, Frederica gives him a reason to live. She puts the onus on him to come back like his brother never did. I doubt its all he needs, surely Lena is going to be the biggest reason he comes to love life. It is however an important first step. Something to tide him over until he meets Lena again. And that’s cool!
As for the big jet…. its fine? It’s a set piece vehicle, something to differentiate this suicide mission from all the others. I don’t really care about the giant plane or the science of how it barely flies above the ground or any of that. It’s all just a cool way to deliver us to the objective. I will grant, it also comes with a cool name an history behind said name. The “Nachzehrer”, a vampire rising from it’s grave. It’s thematically relevant considering Shin is the Undertaker and how this is a last ditch effort by the dying humans, crawling from the graves of ruined cities to strike back at the Legion. Beyond that though I don’t see much narrative relevance. Maybe there’s an angle I’m missing? If so let me know down below!
So yeah all in all this was a decent episode of Eighty Six. And while it didn’t wow me it managed to do something I thought was impossible: Think of Frederica as more than a waste of narrative space. I still think she’s a net negative! But I’m willing to concede that she’s more than just a retread of Lena. Speaking of Lena, this is probably my biggest issue still remaining with the season. Eighty Six has shown her to us all of… twice maybe, and neither were particularly long. She might as well not even be in this season! And that’s a shame because her whole shtick with San Magnolia and her relationship to the 86 in general was always one of the more compelling threads. Hopefully that will change as we get closer to the finale. For now though? I’m still a tad disappointed in the season.
I just wonder how that giant plane will take off for the return trip