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Digital Downloads
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Written by maehara
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Wednesday, 14 May 2008 16:00 |
 Gerd's quest to overcome the demon within reaches a tragic end, giving Malek, Joseph and Hermann something to think about. Can anyone, once infected, really control the amalgam within? Malek has other issues to deal with as well, as he continues to be bullied by his classmates - but will his association with Joseph give him a way to fight back, in brutal fashion..?
Hermann wakes to find himself in quarantine - a precaution, in case his run-in with Gerd has infected him with whatever could turn him into an Amalgam. Despite what he's seen, he's still convinced that Gerd is on the good side - as is Malek, who's also still sheltering Joseph. Receiving Malek's letter, calling him a hero, has given what's left of Gerd's human side cause to think, and seeing what he's become causes him to go berserk - and the first target of his anger is Joseph. But learning that Joseph has been able to retain his identity give Gerd cause for hope. Hermann, manwhile, has devised a plan to stop Gerd, and needs Malek's help to carry it out...
This episode has all the feel of the end of an arc, as Gerd's tale comes to an untimely end - and if that's the case, hopefully the next arc will be the one that starts to explain things, as there's still frustratingly little to go on here. Joseph is the proof that an Amalgam can retain their human personality - he's able to switch his abilities on and off at will, and before finally losing control Gerd was also beginning to show some promise in that department. But the public perception, and what XAT are seeing in their labs, would go against that idea, so there's a potential point for future exploration.
Malek's probably the real person to watch at the moment, though. He's gone from being the misunderstood loner to someone who seems to be confusing violence with heroism - add that to the time he's spending with Joseph (is that enough to 'infect' him?), and I'm wondering if he's going to be the next Amalgam that Joseph and XAT have to deal with - if so, his connection to Amanda could bring another interesting level of personal conflict to what at the moment can only passingly be called a "story".
I was thinking when I was reviewing the latest episode of The Tower of DRUAGA, BLASSREITER's "sister" series (in terms of them both being part of The Great GONZO Online Experiment), of why I was prepared to cut Druaga slack for going nowhere while being scathing about BLASSREITER for having the same fault. I decided that Druaga seemed to be all about having fun with the audience: I may not know what's going on with that show, but I'm too busy enjoying myself to care. BLASSREITER takes itself seriously, and that makes the lack of information furstrating. This episode is another exercise in frustration - and yet something keeps me returning to YouTube every Saturday night to see if, please let it be so, the latest episode hasn't started putting things right. So far I've been disappointed. Maybe next week will break the duck.
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