Now and Then, Here and There – 5 [Murder] – Throwback Thursday

Welcome everyone to another week of Now and Then, Here and There! This week Hamdo see’s some action, Shu figure’s out we aren’t in Kansas anymore and Nabuca and co get sent on a vacation. Does any of that make sense? If not, read on, because we have a fair amount to talk about this week.

Starting off, my initial impression of the episode is… “Meh”. This feels like the most straight forward episode we have had yet, and is the first one I don’t feel enamored with. Not because it does anything wrong, Now and Then still has a reasonable standard of quality to it. Rather it’s because this is the first episode where we, the viewer, don’t learn anything new. Instead, Now and Then chooses to let the characters catch up with us. Because of this the episode largely feels transitionary. Like we are moving from the introductory phase of the story into something else. And in the long term, this is fine! I’ve long maintained that not every individual episode has to be a banger if it enables a banger story. It just means we have to wait and see what Now and Then does with this new direction.

Before we get to far into “what is to come” though I want to back up and explain myself a bit. What did I mean when I said we, the viewer, didn’t learn anything but the characters did? To best illustrate this lets talk about Shu. Up until now Shu has been taking this all rather lightly. Like its a dream, or that he can escape and go back to Japan. That it’s all fixable. We see this in his attitude towards superiors, completely disregarding orders and largely doing his own thing. How he sticks to his own morals without thought for possible consequences from or for those around him. Of course we, the viewer, know that isn’t the case. And Shu finally seems to figure that out after witnessing Nabuca kill the assassin, despite obviously not wanting to. So while Shu has figured it out, little changes for the viewer.

I think that, in the context of the larger story, this is a very important realization for Shu. Had he stuck with his naïve plan of “Find both Lala Ru and Sara and escape without compromising my morals” then he probably would have died. That or Now and Then would end on a basic and ultimately disappointing note. But now that Shu knows it won’t be that easy, that this is a whole new world that doesn’t obey the same rules he grew up with, he is able to change. Maybe it means he becomes more serious and starts to take Nabuca and Oda’s words to heart, losing some of that airheaded nature. Or he could end up compromising on his morals to ensure Lala Ru and Sara can be saved. Becoming what he fights against to achieve success. I think there are a lot of interesting directions to go.

Speaking of interesting things, this week also sees Hamdo get fleshed out a bit. Not in any kind of pitying or “Feel better” for him way. That would be ridiculous! Rather, we learn that Hamdo’s paranoia isn’t completely without reason. There are people trying to kill him, and they came damn close! On top of that, much to my surprise, Hamdo actually got his hands dirty and defended himself. I don’t know about you, but for me this knowledge that Hamdo wasn’t a total weeny actually ups his threat in my eyes. Up until now I always suspected Abelia to be the true danger. She’s Hamdo’s lapdog and will do whatever he says, true. But if you can convince her to back off then Hamdo will have lost all his teeth. Now though? Now we know Hamdo is willing to pull the trigger himself. And that’s a tad more threatening.

Going back to the assassins, where did they come from! Last week I posed some questions towards Now and Then. One of those was about where people come from. Are they all kidnapped via teleporter, are there natives to this land, etc etc. And low and behold but what happens next episode but that we leave the tower on an expedition! I really like this. It makes me really happy that right when these thoughts pop in my head while watching, Now and Then realizes and addresses it. That kind of timing shows me that Now and Then is taking into consideration what it’s viewer might be thinking and working to answer them. Its a level of care I love to see in shows. On top of that, I really just want to see more of this world beyond the tower. Suffice to say I’m looking forward to next week.

So yeah, all in all while the episode wasn’t bad it was definitely the one I was least invested in. It just felt slower overall compared to the rest of our introductory episodes. That’s not a bad thing, even the best show ever made has to have a “worst” episode. What’s really going to decide this episodes worth for me is how Now and Then handles what happened here moving forward. How will Shu change after this realization? What is going on with Sara and that Soldier? Who are we going to meet on this “exploration”? And of course, when will, if at all, Abelia realize that Hamdo is a piece of shit. If Now and Then can give me a few of those done well, it’ll be a good rest of the show.