Summary
Warning: This may contain spoilers for Undead Murder Farce, Episode 8, “The Banquet”, now streaming onCrunchyroll.
It’s only been eight episodes but comparing the start ofUndead Murder Farceto its current state is like retelling the winding journey of a fever dream, and the literary figures are just the tip of the iceberg. This story is at once a love letter to the mystery genre, but also a personal quest for its protagonists, though one which has remained relatively understated, until perhaps this episode.
Last week, after Lupin and Erik made their daring heist and nearly got away with it, Rindo, Shinuchi, and Shizuku deployed their trap and intercepted them.What followed was a messy fightbetween the detectives, the thieves, the shady Royce agents, and worst of all, Professor Moriarty’s gang of misfits, who arrived just in time to slaughter the police in search of the diamond.
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The Grand Farce Presents Itself
Moriarty has been the shadow lurking throughout the series, presumably across many of the cases the audience hasn’t even witnessed. Episode 8 serves as both the conclusion to the case of the Penultimate Night, and the start of the season’s end, with answers to longstanding questions offered promptly. The scars he has left on the protagonists are self-evident, but his motivations have been elusive - at least, until he explains himself, then it seems rather obvious.
From Shinuchi alone, an intent to create enhanced soldiers is clear, made only more obvious by Moriarty’s present company, including the elusive Jack the Ripper,with whom Shinuchi shares many similar traits. He seeks the Penultimate Night because it holds the whereabouts of werewolves. By combining a werewolf’s abilities with that of an Oni and Rindo’s immortality, Moriarty could create the most powerful being on Earth.
Knowing how he is usually written, he would seek to profit from the introduction of such a weapon into the world. Moriarty has never just been Holmes' arch-nemesis, but truly the “Napoleon of crime,” and a mindequal to that of the great detective. He might be characterized more as a mad surgeon than a mathematician like in other portrayals, but his plot nevertheless feels fitting for the character.
It’s the kind of plan that takes into consideration Moriarty’s characterization, but also the more supernatural world in which he and his foe are written. As an added bonus, it’s confirmed that this story takes place after the “Reichenbach Falls” storyline, where Moriarty supposedly died. This possibly explains his rather undead-seeming appearance.
The Last Laugh
As for the action this week, there was good and bad, but mostly good, the best of it is thanks to Jack, whose debut really lives up to the name, albeit at the expense of poor Fatima. She was cursed with a dumb name and a character design that really did not do her any favors,but it was quite a gruesome way to go.
Something about the way that this show builds up to its action is almost more impressive than the interchange of fists itself. The direction makes the most of the budget and makes the act of Shinuchi discarding his coat, gloves, and shoes a moment of anticipation. What the action sometimes lacks in flashy sakuga, it makes up for in good choreography and pacing. They’re easy to read, as it were - fitting as this is a novel adaptation.
What stood out the most about Shinuchi’s fight against Jack, however, was the breaks in conversation which seemed to interrogate the former’s reason for journeying this far. It feels likeso much has transpired since the premierethat one could be forgiven for reacting to the question with as much perplexity as Shinuchi himself. Rindo’s reasons are obvious, but he doesn’t seem particularly motivated by revenge at this point.
In the last episode review, we discussed Shinuchi’s theatricality and how it’s a role he has taken to quite handsomely, but here, he confirms this to be his motivation. Maybe he has developed feelings for Rindo, or perhaps he just loves the showmanship of it all, but Shinuchi is living his best life alongside the disembodied immortal detective. It will be exciting to see how this dynamic is explored before the end.
Speaking of character development, Shizuku has a fight of her own, though it is “revealing” in a more unexpected way. Faced against Carmilla, the maid seems to have the upper hand at first, but Carmilla’s blood stains arepractically a vampire bite themselves. The venom acts like an aphrodisiac, making Shizuku vulnerable. This is both a boon and a bane to the episode.
On the downside, it’s a shame that she didn’t get a more gratifying victory in battle this far into the series when she hasn’t been given many chances to show her talents. She’s lost a fight against Shinuchi in the premiere and narrowly reached a stalemate against Carmilla. That being said, through such an uncharacteristically vulnerable moment, there are implications raised about her sexuality and her bond with Rindo, who presumably shared a physical relationship with her.
Hopefully, the final five episodes can give Shizuku her time to truly shine, because for a story centered around a trio, she’s the one that the audience knows the least about. For a time, the concern was that the series would beso wrapped up in its myriad cameosthat it wouldn’t have any time for its protagonists. On the contrary, Rindo and Shinuchi have stolen the show.
The latter of the two even pulls off a heist of his own, leading to the episode’s final twist, proving once again that he’s far smarter than his behavior would suggest. With the second case of the season wrapped up,Undead Murder Farcecontinues to be an underrated joy this season, and hopefully what comes next can keep the momentum going strong.
