The problems I have with Joker game continue to be an issue as we have another episodic story about how amazing the D-agency spies are. After a overly long minute and a half showing of a train we are shown the plot of today’s episode. Put simply, a D-agent must obtain a newspaper with information encoded in an article from an informant. However the informant is murdered before he can pass on the information. Through some manipulation of some kids on the train, the spy finds out who murdered him and why. Then he knocks them out and…lets them go? Yes, on top of being super amazing spies, our team have a no killing policy which just makes me wretch. Spies are a moral grey area in their job and by effectively making them good guys, you kill part of what makes spies so interesting. I am reminded of the not ninja’s of Naruto or the Bodacious Space Pirates who were pretty much pirate in name only. Of course you can argue that the space pirates acted more like genuine real life pirates but that is the aspect that people love about them. Remove the aspect that makes the occupation interesting and you remove the very purpose of the occupation. If Joker Games spies are always going to be morally in the right then it’s not just uncharacteristic of spies but boring in general. But back to the episode and I tried to look at this from another standpoint. At the moment looking for depth is a fool’s errand and whatever suspension of disbelief gets shattered once the show pulls something utterly ridiculous. (Where in the hell was he keeping that carrier pigeon?) So I am attempting to find a mindset with which I can enjoy this series more. Much like say adopting a mindless approach as I do with High school of the dead, where I just switch off my critic processes and enjoy the chaos. I find it difficult to do this here however as their looks to be clear intent for the show to be taken seriously. I try to treat it like a James bond film but it lacks the camp and charisma. I try to treat it as a thriller but I am thrown off by the jumps in logic within the writing. I try to look at it like a action movie but there is far too little action and no real threat. Truly, who is this for?
I do like how in this tale the spy made use of the children while making it out to be a simple game. The way he hid his true intent and gave them an incentive to play along was pretty clever and even how he managed to get them away by getting them to spill a glass to attract the attention of their mother. However once we encounter the murderers plot things get weaker as the spy somehow manages to lay down the entirety of the enemies plan with little to no evidence. Based on what was shown in the episode, there is no possible way he could have come to these conclusions. One of the most important aspects, that the informant was traveling with a woman, was completely omitted from the viewer. Why is it that even when things don’t go as planned, they still go exactly as you planned? The level of assumption in his conclusions is ridiculous and there’s no way he can declare this with so much certainly like he read the script beforehand. If I was to get interested in this story then at least make it feel as though some risk is involved. When our spy finds the informant dead his only reaction is akin “Oh well, guess it’s time for secondary plan 47”. When the character themselves displays no real worry over the situation then how is it that the audience is supposed to instead? It would be far more interesting if the murder caught him off guard and he was nervous while sitting trying think things out. That would show that he’s human. But he’s just sitting there, cool as a cucumber while everything just works out in his favor. That’s just not engaging entertainment and kills any reliability these spies have. Despite my griping I must reiterate that Joker game isn’t bad by any means, nor is it good. It’s passable but frustrating when you consider that the story could be so much more. I am hoping that the after credits sequence is an indicator of this episodic format getting replaced with a more interesting ongoing plot but it looks like it will be a while before that happens.
~AidanAK47~
