| The Tower of DRUAGA -the Aegis of URUK-, Episode 9: Eleven Nines |
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| Wednesday, 04 June 2008 | |
 Druaga finally serves up an episode with some real story to it, although at first glance you'd be herd pressed to notice. Be ready to pay attention, as motivations are revealed and tragedy strikes Neeba's party...Jil & co's victory over ane of the Tower's monsters causes major problems as the poorly-built areas around the battle site collapses. The collapse of the area also extends to other areas on the same floor of the Tower, creating chaos amongst the other teams and leaving the gang separated from each other. With the resulting maze being almost impossible to find a way through, will Jil and the others ever be reunited..? So Jil's party are split up, but they each end up paired with a member of one of the other two main "groups" here (Neeba's party and the Uruk army led by Kelb) in ways that go a long way to dragging out some useful information about their motivations for climbing the Tower in the first place.   The most interesting pairings are Jil and Fatina, Ahmey and Kelb, and Kaaya and Neeba. Jil, no surprise, is just a justice nut who wants to make the world a better place; Ahmey's seeking closure on a relationship she once had with a soldier who was killed climbing the Tower; and Kaaya... well, that's where it really gets interesting, as the real information there isn't what she does say, but rather what she avoids saying under questioning by Neeba, and what's only said by her facial expressions. Neeba clearly does care for his brother, and doesn't want to see Kaaya leading him to his doom - and there's a troubling little thread of doubt placed by this episode that could make you think that's just what she's doing. As I said, very interesting - and yet it's wrapped in a story that's very, very simple and would have been a real chore to watch if it hadn't been for the little revelations along the way. There's also a touch of tragedy, as we get the first death of the series. The dangers of climbing the Tower have always been mentioned, but with episodes like Ziusudra's Trap it was hard to take the warnings seriously. Now there are dead bodies on the trail, the quest has gained the sense of threat it was missing. The comedy's also becoming a little less prevalent, which is helping build the feeling that we're getting to a more serious conclusion of the series. Coopa and Melt fans will be disappointed to know that they don't get much of a showing this time around (although in Coopa's case they at least make up for it in.. er, other ways...), while Kelb for once isn't portrayed as a complete idiot. Just a partial idiot. Considering how many characters this episode tried to fit in, a pretty good job has been done of giving them a chance to shine. My early expectations of Druaga - or lack of them, to be more honest - continue to be defied. Even when it does things that in other shows would be as boring as hell, it manages to keep its sense of fun and make you enjoy what you're seeing, and it's the great cast of characters that provides the underpinnings for that. For small change or free, there's really no excuse not to watch - and personally, I can't wait for a DVD release...  |
