Another episode, another test. I guess simply qualifying for the Tower is going to be a meaty arc – there’s some promise that we might move on shortly, but all the same it’s been a good deal more than I would have expected from the pitch.
This, in turn, gives a good deal of
artificiality to the Tower. Unlike The Abyss in Made in Abyss or
many other mega-dungeons, even ones that have something like a
man-made structure, there’s clearly an order and formality to the
tower. Someone is clearly in charge, and the challenge is one set
not by uncaring nature or divine providence but by human or
human-like authority… which ties in to Khun’s previously stated
interest to go full malicious compliance on the Tower, passing it
(which means playing to win) but refusing to play the way the Tower
intends.
That feels especially relevant today,
because this episode was all focused on Khun, as we see him grapple
with the torment and suffering of his backstory. The story is told
through imagery and heresay with only a few direct flashbacks, so we
don’t know how much is accurate and how much is believed to be true.
The minimum facts are that he has some background with his
half-sister and, after she was “chosen”, he was cast out of high
society. He also had a mother who taught him to trust no one, use
people rather than forming bonds, and so on. The common belief seems
to be that he was lovers with his half-sister (clearly taboo in
setting, or at least scandalous) but that she used him to gain her
elevation, betrayed him, and left him to suffer.
Clearly, Khun still has a lot of
hangups, and his past with his half-sister weighs on his motivation
to climb the tower. It also seems to lens his view of and
interactions with Bam. There’s a good shot where we look from Khun’s
eyes that held his half-sister to Bam, who’s eyes momentarily reflect
Rachel, and Khun recognizes their commonality in interest yet
difference in experience, wishing that Bam could have a better
outcome than Khun himself did.
Aside from that, we have one major test
and the setup for a second to get through. The first test is taken
by one group at a time. There’s a timer, and sometimes a horrific
scream echoes from the test chamber. A humanoid fluorescent plastic
bag creature (don’t ask) makes the observation to our main group that
all the groups that passed did so inside five minutes, before our
main group is summoned to take the test.
They’re presented with a room full of
doors and a ten-minute time limit to open the correct one. Khun
starts to have a nervous breakdown, which is where we get one of his
flashbacks, but Rak ultimately kicks open a fairly random door for
the win. The test was a bluff: passing or failing was determined by
losing more or less than five minutes, not the choice of door.
Onward they go to the next test.
This one seems to be set up by
conspiracy of the test-runners, seeing as the next batch has only a
single group pass a poorly-administered first test. It’s a
king-of-the-hill battle and aside from a pretty cool scene of track
suit guy’s team (well, one of them at any rate) taking on another, we
get a more accurate than ever glimpse of this mysterious killer
team… and, specifically, that it appears to include Rachel.
I did like that we actually got some
character-building this episode. I would have liked to see more out
of Bam, but I fully accept getting Khun instead; we needed something
out of him. And with Rachel entering the picture rather than
remaining an unattainable goal, we’ll hopefully be testing Bam’s
character very shortly.