Welcome back to another week of Nomad! A lot happens as Nomad kicks it into high gear, sprinting through the tournament. Meanwhile the hostility between the locals and the immigrant community has escalated to new heights! Without further ado, lets jump into it.
Like I said, Nomad is moving way faster than I expected. I figured this tournament would be the entire season and that the final match would, well, be the finale. Yet Nomad has sprinted through the first 2 rounds and we are already facing the final round next week. I love it! The pacing is great and this really opens the door for where Nomad has to go. Will Chief win and buy the land the community is on? Even if he does, how will that resolve the growing tensions between them and the locals? And what about Joe’s growth as a character, does this mean that he is going to return to the city and reconnect with Sachio? I have no idea but the options are limitless now that Nomad isn’t constrained to this one tournament in bum-fuck nowhere.
Speaking of the immigrants, I love what Nomad is doing here. It’s really not shying away from how terrible locals can be and how much of a struggle it is to survive. Showing them as these hard working people that are constantly being beaten down by those around them. For no reason other than being born somewhere else! Nomad doesn’t paint them purely as martyrs though as we see through Mio what some will do to survive. Joining with their abusers to try and avoid it themselves, not realizing the harm its doing to their community. I won’t pretend to know what it’s truly like, I haven’t lived it myself. But from those I have spoken with who are watching Nomad they seem very happy with the representation. With how it captures the daily life, the good and the bad, the noble and the ignoble.
And out of all of this turmoil comes Chief, the troubled paragon. The imperfect yet larger than life kind of man that many aspire to be like. And you know what? I love him. He’s the best person in the show, at least personality wise. He doesn’t blame or attack the locals, responding to violence with violence, because he understands their fears (aside from the mob boss). He doesn’t judge or dismiss Joe because he has been where Joe is now, he understands his pain. What it feels like to lose someone close to you, to lose what you thought was your home. In many ways Chief’s role in the story reminds me of Sang-Hwa from Train to Busan. He exists as a reflection of Joe and as someone for Joe to strive to be, embodying everything that’s important to him. He is the one who is saving Joe.
We see this happening before our eyes as Joe starts to train him. For once instead of tearing himself down Joe is helping to build someone up. His hallucination of Gansaku says as much when asking if Joe understands what it feels like to fight alongside someone else. I really like this connection and what Nomad is doing here but it’s hard to put into words. It’s as if… It’s as if Chief is getting something out of this to, of helping Joe like it seems Marla helped him. Showing us, through Chief and the immigrants, how important community is and how even the strongest men need help sometimes. Anyways, whatever Nomad is doing, it’s working. 3 episodes in and this is already a much more personal story than what we got in Megalo Box and I’m loving it. From hand and light motifs to the shaving of the beard.
As for what happened in Joe’s past we have enough information to start putting together a few educated guesses. For instance based on Joe’s conversation with Gansaku and the bruises on his face in the flashback, Joe asked Gansaku to train him for one last tournament. Maybe something underground, maybe something against Yuri, we don’t know yet. Whatever it was though was to much for Gansaku and caused his death, or at least Joe thinks so. Maybe it was overwork, maybe it was the mob, we don’t know yet. Whatever the case I don’t think Gansaku would blame Joe for what happened and I think Joe knows that as well. Going by how his hallucination has treated him, it just wanted the pain to stop. Maybe a bit self-destructive but still willing to take Joe’s hand one last time. But maybe I’m just getting sentimental and looking to deep.
Whatever the case though I really enjoyed this weeks episode of Nomad. I love Joe’s story, its depiction of the immigrants and all the small details throughout. For instance did you notice that the song Chief was humming wasn’t just the same track played quieter? That was a whole new take of the song and makes me wonder if it’s the VA himself singing it. Just another example of Nomad’s OST being incredible I suppose. Anyways enough with me waxing on about the show. The long and short of it is that I am loving Nomad and I can’t wait to see where it goes. The fact that we probably won’t be stuck in the desert for the entire run either just makes me excited.
I’m glad they didn’t just forget the drugs thing.
I like this season better so far because there’s more pathos to go along with the violence of the boxing matches.
And more on the immigrant thing, I think at this point its safe to say its tackled this issue in a non preachy way.
Agreed on all counts.