The real test begins in more ways than one.
Honestly, this one felt like a somewhat short episode, consisting of two major scenes.
In the first, Qifrey delivers that history legend, how the ancient city that made this twisted road did it for immigration control, and eventually the arrogant disdain for others that drove them to choose “magical labyrinth that only the chosen can walk” caught up to them, causing them to turn on their own and eventually collapse in both a metaphorical and quite possibly literal sense, leaving only this arcane death trap of a ruin as the legacy of their civilization.
In the other, we follow the test-takers. The nervous boy goes on about right answers, because that’s what’s been beaten into him, which annoys Richeh. She shows off that doing things in unorthodox ways can also work. They then reach a major hurdle, a break in the path of safety, and after Richeh and Agott use their own strategies to pass it, the boy finds he has none pre-prepared
This causes him to basically have a panic attack thanks to all that anxiety, but Richeh steps up to help talk him out of it and convince him that he can find his own way of doing magic that will work for him. He turns his animal illusion cloak into a basically invisibility cloak, allowing him to draw without trembling hands since he can’t be seen, at which point his knowledge of the situation and analysis of circumstances allow him to move forward.
And this seems all too uplifting for the penultimate episode. Outside, Coco spots a mysterious figure, or thinks she does. Later, within, that figure appears, a Brimhat (invisible but for an inky black cloak and hat) who snags the nice test proctor and drags her into the wall as she screams for the children to not heed whatever a Brimhat might say.
Suffice to say, this whole situation just got a great deal harder.
Like last week, I’m sort of holding my thoughts on this arc for the end. I have too much foreknowledge, and with the show I believe wrapping up in the next episode, I should have a chance to not talk spoilers soon enough. See you there!