Welcome everyone to another slightly late week of Black Lagoon! Turns out implementing Deep Q-Learning and then trying to teach him to play Snake was harder than I thought and I lost track of time. Graduation aside, we have a lot to talk about this week. Black Lagoon seems to have heard my problems and has done a lot to solve them. So let’s dive into this week’s episodes!
First up is episode 15, “Swan Song at Dawn.” This episode concludes the Vampire Children arc, and you know what? It was better than I expected, a surprisingly effective ending. Not only does Black Lagoon handle things well, taking the twins out of the story and resolving Balalaika’s feud, but it even manages to draw Rock and Revy into a story where they really have no business join. that, it also limits the sadism that I feel is holding the twins back while getting the victim angle just right, at the right time, as well as selling their scene. Overall? I feel so much better about this arc. Now for the spoilers!
Right from the start, it needs to be said that Balalaika is, without question, the best character in this part. Maybe even the entire show. I really admire how Black Lagoon handled her in this finale. Despite her words, despite the deaths of her men, despite her war experience, she did not want to kill these children. She doesn’t like it. Rather, it is also a necessary evil for her. If Balalaika doesn’t kill them, not only will they continue to terrorize her organization and continue killing many others, but she will also lose the respect of the man and the city as a whole. There is simply no world where letting those twins live is an option. And as brutal and bloody as it was, she herself mentioned how much worse she could have done it to them. Balalaika accepted a clean, public execution, when she could have chosen torture.
As for the twins, I said I liked what Black Lagoon did with them. But as good as Hansel’s death was, Gretel’s entire journey was much better. She still has her odd sadistic moments, but her time with the Rock really brings her character together. His perspective, compared to Revy or Balalaika, provides the empathetic perspective that Black Lagoon previously aimed for. That, even through all the terrible things she had done and all the people she had murdered, he still saw the broken child underneath it all. And he cried for him. And do you know why it works? Because Rock, as a character, has an innocent romantic heart. Black Lagoon was founded long ago alongside the Nazis and it is paying dividends here. God, just… the way he looked at her body on the dock, asking not to cover her so she could stare into the sun? So beautiful.
Oh yeah, I forgot to mention, Gretel also died. That’s right, they both died. And you know what? I think they do too. There is no other way out of this for them. Not only will we spend the rest of the series thinking about this brutal murderer running around, Balalaika will look weak for letting one escape. But by bringing the Dutch to this particular port through the Vietnamese navy? By paying a fugitive to shoot her, effectively ending his career since no one will ever be able to trust him again? It shows us how tactical, powerful and far-reaching Balalaika is. She’s not someone you can escape from just by getting on a boat and going to another country. Wherever you go, wherever you run, she will find you. And while she may be professional about it, like with Dutch, she will win.
Honestly, the only “disappointment,” if you can call it that, I can think of is the episode involving Eda and Revy. I was quite saddened by how quickly the standoff between them and the twins and the Moscow Hotel was resolved. Yes, Revy was smart and knew not to shoot at the Russians, just like I expected. But it ends so quickly, with so little conflict or chase, that it feels like the interactions only exist to make the final episode exciting. Putting this scene aside, as well as the ending of episode 14, I don’t think anything has really changed. However, this is just a very small thing in an otherwise great episode. I would go so far as to call it a nitpick, that’s how annoying it makes me. I only mention it because it was the only negative point that stood out when reviewed.
Then we come to episode 16, “Greenback Jane.” After the dark and bloody nature of the Vampire Children arc, I’m glad how light this episode was. It feels like fun, clean. Or better yet, as clean as robbers shooting someone for not doing their job fast enough can get. You know what I mean, everything from tone to color is brighter. The entire episode is filled with jokes, from the robbers being unfamiliar with Roanapur while their local contact tries to save them from angering Revy to Revy and Eda completely overreacting because it’s It was a hot day and they didn’t care. Even Jane, the main character in the film, spends the entire episode completely unaware of how this town works. So funny!
Speaking of Jane, she seems to be the focus of the new season. And you know what? I like her. Her whole problem is that she’s a white-collar criminal to the more blue-collar community of Roanapur. I mean, she doesn’t get her hands dirty, nor does she get involved in any actual conflict. Really, if anything, she’s more of an artisan than a criminal. Because she was so focused on getting the “perfect counterfeit bill,” she and her team completely missed their budget and date targets. She really doesn’t care about money, just the craft. And it’s a new, unique type of crime that we’ve never seen in Black Lagoon before. Someone closer to Rock than Revy. I’m really looking forward to her meeting and interaction with Rock, because I think they will cooperate and appreciate each other’s professionalism.
Back to the story, Eda’s rejection of Jane Sanctuary was really surprising to me. I. I fully expected this to be a security job from the start. And while it could still get there, it looks like Eda will be teaching Jane a few lessons about how life works in Roanapur first. Of course I’m talking about how she guided Jane to a very specific inn, alerted all the local robbers and bounty hunters, and basically pushed Jane into a corner so she must accept Eda and Revy’s help but at a much higher price than she was initially willing to spend. Essentially, Eda is tricking Jane into spending more money on a job that they would otherwise have done. At least that’s what I suspect is happening, the episode ends with a bit of a surprise there.
In fact, for bounty hunters, this little “reunion” is very exciting. I like how everyone seems to know each other, a family in a small business, no hard feelings between anyone about previous jobs. Their banter, welcoming the brand new edgy guys and asking about their gimmicks/weapons, or being excited to see the face of Sawyer the Cleaners for the first time. It’s all in good fun, keeping a light tone to what could have been a really serious meeting about how to kidnap a girl. Plus we get to see Shenhua again! I always enjoy watching more of Shenhua, she has some of the best banter and banter on the show, absolutely not afraid to get extremely personal with her insults.
So overall I thought both of these episodes were pretty good and a definite step up from last week. I’m having more fun with this series than before, both Balalaika and Jane are great characters and having the brighter color palette back is a welcome sight. I really hope Black Lagoon keeps this lighter atmosphere for the rest of this Jane arc, like a sort of palette cleanser, before diving into whatever heaviness it has Plan its finale. A friend accidentally revealed to me that they went to Japan, it’s a shame it got leaked, but Rock returning home to work has a lot of potential so that would definitely be cool. Hope it can end strong!
Oh and PS the Vampire Kids part having its own custom ED after Gretel died was a great choice, really surprised me. Besides, Sawyer is also quite cute.