We’re back on the battlefield, here at the end. And it is marvelous.
I don’t know if the long pause (for which various reasons have been circulating, the most compelling of which being that the smaller week skips and the time it was preempted by holiday programming meant they ran out of available time slots until far down the line) actually altered what we were getting, but it does feel like this is an episode that might have taken advantage of having the time to work, because it’s pretty darn amazing.
The first act, after a brief recap of how the last moments battling the Morpho went down, is Shin’s near-death experience after being thrown free of the blast and left in his mostly wrecked Juggernaut, out on the field. It’s an otherworldly experience that forces Shin to come face to face with his inner thoughts, particularly the dark ones that set him down the path of being something of a death seeker, where he’s fought on in search not of victory but rather a time and place to die, which he believed he had found in trading himself for the Morpho.
The sequence is fairly long and involved, and goes through a lot of artistic techniques, making heavy use of blackspace and twisted and filtered imagery to communicate the conflict going on in Shin’s head. At times, I was reminded of the infamous final episode of Neon Genesis Evangelion, which, despite my differences with it, did a lot of work with what it had. Except this episode, rather than having no budget for animators or art supply, looked like the kind of thing that a month or more might have been poured into to make it flow exactly right. At other times, I found myself more reminded of Dusk Maiden of Amnesia, and how that show used avant-garde directorial techniques to take what could have been normal or lackluster scenes and transform them into memorable and artistic pieces that evoked strong feelings rather than getting caught up in representing what would literally be seen. Given the themes and subject matter both there and here, it was the right choice.
Really fancy, really noticeable direction choices like this are a high-stakes bet for a show. This isn’t the first time 86 has made that bet, though, and if you told me this was where we were going before the episode aired, I would have been pretty confident that this was the sort of show that could pull it off. Actually watching the episode, it works incredibly well. So many times in my reviews I have to gripe about shows trying to be artsy when it doesn’t serve them well or they can’t pull it off. 86 here proves why so many try, because when it works it’s something truly unique and special.
Eventually, in the pit of despair, Shin comes to in the cockpit of his wrecked mech, seemingly alone again. A small Legion unit approaches, mocking his fight even as Shin begs for death, only for a shot from an unseen assailant to blast the Legion unit away and cause the little drones to scatter, turning the field from their mechanical bright blue to the red of the spider lilies beneath. Shin looks, and sees a Republic Juggernaut and a single soldier on foot, who the audience immediately recognizes as Lena.
Shin himself, having never laid eyes on Lena, begins the conversation unaware of who he’s talking to, though he quickly gets that information. Lena, for her part, has no idea who she’s talking to beyond “a Federacy soldier” – Shin’s voice is too distorted by his vehicle’s speakers to be recognized. At first, Shin lets his depression out, but Lena speaks very passionately about her reason to keep fighting – and keep living. Without naming names, she clearly tells him her side of their story, how it inspired her and pushed her forward to become a stronger and better person, and what she’s done since their last parting. This has an immense emotional impact on Shin, essentially saving him from the totality of his isolation, and providing that he is no longer obligated to be the last one standing. He starts to open the hatch to see Lena face to face, but before he can, the Federacy arrives proper to help clear the area and meet with Lena, who stands as the commander of the military of the survivors of San Magnolia. This also re-establishes contact between Shin and his team, all of which survived their seemingly suicidal missions. I’m not sure how some of them made it, but we’ve seen the Federacy Juggernauts are pretty tough so I’ll buy it. This finishes the lifting of Shin’s spirits, bringing him to a place where he can, presumably, finally move forward.
Even the little Empress is fine (protected from the explosion by Kiri’s last act, even as the Morpho), and takes an opportunity to tease Shin over who he’s just had something of an encounter with, with a glint in her eye that screams “Shipper”. As Ernst also calls in and the Federacy air support helps transport Lena (and Cyclops, with her, who recognized Undertaker’s symbol on the side of the Federacy mech), we get some denouement as humanitarian aid and rescue missions will be sent into the wreckage of San Magnolia, both because it’s tactically smart to not give the Legion a massive “back lot” to hide their next Morpho in and because it’s the right thing to do from a moral perspective, followed by some scenes of the team meeting up and celebrating both being alive and hearing that Lena, as someone they cared about, has also survived this far.
Thus, after what feels almost like a movie in its scope, we reach the end of the penultimate episode.
It was worth the wait. Of course, it would have been nice to be seeing this at the end of December, but a delayed show can be great when it finally comes out, so I respect the decision (where decisions were made) to not rush the production and can say that the big pause in release is now behind us.
86 started strong back at the very beginning, grew stronger over time as it worked with its characters and its world, and after the pause continues to prove why I gave it so much respect as a masterful show. It has deep and complex characters, but also ones that are still relatable and nice to watch, who I don’t resent spending time with. The plot and themes are real and intense, but also remember to tell a good story. I’m not a fan of most message fiction because I feel that the fiction should always be the point. But, while 86 uses or addresses some notable and dark elements of real humanity, it never does lose sight of the fact that it’s telling the story of its own world and its own people, not ours or those we would be familiar with, see on the news, or read in history books. It’s hugely artistic, using the full range of the medium and the tools available to it, even tools that many creators wouldn’t notice that they have in their arsenal, and it does so very well, effectively creating an atmosphere and communicating a story in a way that is made better and more clear rather than more obtuse through its use of such techniques.
This is a show that time and time again seems to launch into hopeless scenarios, ones where anything else would fail, and comes out stronger for it instead. It really does have the dream combination of good material, skill in presentation, and the resources to execute that vision. Not even being held back by perfectionism and possibly screwed by the network could stop it. I know I should probably hold some of this gushing for the last episode, since that’s the appropriate place to give my final remarks, but with this being the triumphant return, it’s striking now and worth saying here.
If you aren’t already watching, do yourself a favor and start it up. The end is in sight, so you won’t have to wait, even if it was worth doing so.