When a mission to capture a charming thief: The Black Knight, leads to
unexpected tragedy, Oscar and Andre’s friendship is changed forever. Oscar quits the Royal Guard, looking to
escape heartache and her longing for the man she cannot be with. Meanwhile Andre’s fear of losing the woman he
loves drives him too far to remind Oscar of who she truly is. Between thieves and assassins, France is on
the tipping point of conflict and if Oscar and Andre cant reconcile, nothing
will be able to stop it.
We’re about to head into the home stretch of The Rose of
Versailles.
So far the show has excelled
beyond all expectations when it comes to depicting the turbulent and tragic
events of this point in French History, with amazing character writing and nail
biting drama.
This episode set takes a
step back from the historical roller coaster for some quality time with two of
our lead characters…to sadly mixed results.
I’m not going to lie, this was a rough set of episodes to sit through,
not because it was hard to see a poor girl meet her untimely end because of her
mothers machinations or because Jeanne was getting publicly branded.
No, it was hard to watch because Oscar and
Andre were all over the place and suddenly going through mood swings that were
meant to be important steps forward for their characters and their inevitable
romance.
They just went about it all
wrong and the end results cant be ignored.
Oscar and Andre were both dealing with a lot here.
Oscar tried burying her romantic feelings for
Hans because it was both an unrequited love and it conflicted with her
duties.
Meanwhile Andre had to watch
Oscar suffer through all of this all the while dealing with the possible
reality that he could become blind due to an eye injury (more on that
later).
It was Oscar’s decision to
transfer out of the Royal Guards and into the French Guard that set Andre off
in the worst possible way.
For Oscar,
this is a way to bury her feminine side and be seen as more of a Man because
she’s suffered absolute heartbreak with Hans and doesn’t want to feel
that.
But instead of flat out reminding
Oscar, “Hey you are still a girl and you’ve gotta deal with that”, he um…well
what he does I will not describe here but suffice to say it’s the most
controversial moment of the series and I’m surprised Oscar “forgives” him
because…damn you Andre wtf?
Andre’s sudden bout of idiocy came from the build up of a
lot of recent events from almost losing his eye to the return of Hans and the
emotional toll that took on Oscar.
And
now he’s even saddling up with Oscar to watch her back in Company B cause no
one else will.
Honestly, after his
little scene it’s hard to even look at him, much less say he’s doing right
standing by his friend.
And while
Company B does pose a major new challenge for Oscar to overcome, I didn’t
exactly feel much sympathy for the beatdown they gave Andre. IMHO he deserved
some punishment after what he did to Oscar and I’m ok with this for the time
being.
Can he be redeemed?
Hard to say.
Oscar’s willing to let bygones be bygones but that’s just how she
is.
I hate to say it but any chance of
Rose of Versailles not getting a 10 can be laid squarely at Andre’s feet.
Shameful dude, shameful.
Ok now that I’ve gotten that out of my system.
The overall status quo of the show changed
completely over the course of these five episodes.
The biggest change was Oscar switching
companies to get down and dirty in the trenches with the grunts, so to
speak.
And no one fits the description
of “grunts” more than Company B.
They’re
a rowdy bunch who are the total opposite of the Royal Guard.
They’re degenerate, in it for the money, and
are insubordinate af around Oscar, refusing to follow her orders simply because
she’s a woman.
There is, however, Alain,
who seems to be their true leader.
Alain
isn’t a thug like the rest of them but they all come from the same background
and he can keep them in line.
I like
that despite the righteous ass kicking Andre got, Alain threatened the group
that did the deed because Andre’s become a good drinking buddy of his.
If anyone’s going to help Oscar get her new
troop under control it’ll be Alain but does he have her back?
It’s a nice change of pace even if it’s rough
to watch Oscar get constantly disrespected.
Another thing that makes this episode set stumble is
several storylines or sudden character shifts occurring off screen.
Somehow, Rosalie managed to get out of
Polignac’s household and is now living with an old neighbor.
Ummmm ok.
Given how dramatic and big of a deal it was that Rosalie had to leave
due to Polginac’s blackmail, you’d think that her mustering the courage to
leave would be shown on screen, I’d certainly love to see that.
Then there’s Girodelle.
He suddenly proposes to Oscar out of the blue
and HUH???!!!
So here’s the thing with
Girodelle.
For the bulk of the series
he’s played the loyal second in command to Oscar in the Royal Guard.
He gets huge points for not being bitter or
angry about Oscar beating him in a duel for said position, hell he recommended
her after the fact.
Those alone make him
a great supporting character.
But when,
WHEN has he ever shown any romantic interest in Oscar?
It comes out of nowhere and while it doesn’t
ruin his character like Andre, it does make me wonder where all this romantic
longing for Oscar even came from.
(Side
note: look I get it, Oscar is hot, very hot.
She’s amazing with the strength and intelligence to match her beauty and
she’s a bad ass.
I get why everyone
wants her…but most people have been up front about that from the get go and
Girodelle hasn’t been one of them).
Frustrations aside, there’s still a bit to like in this
set of episodes.
There’s the
aforementioned Company B introduction.
A
string of murders has begun that’s bound to push things in an even darker
direction for the nobles.
And the Black
Knight storyline that kicked off this set was a fun two parter.
It’s a bit surprising with all the unrest and
unwellness of the people it took so long for a Robin Hood esque character to
appear, robbing from the rich to give to the poor.
I do wish Oscar had gotten to wear a Black
Knight outfit to catch him and I would say the injury Andre suffered makes him
a perfect candidate for an awesome Captain Harlock eyepatch…but I’m mad at him
atm so no.
Oscar also made an
interesting decision to let the Black Knight go instead of turning him in to
the authorities.
“A Thief is still a
Thief” as she says.
But even Oscar isnt
blind to the fact that the Black Knight is doing something good for the people
and given the turbulence the country’s about to hit, every little bit can help.
There’s no sugar coating this is my least favorite set of
episodes to watch from The Rose of Versailles.
Oscar’s being stubborn to a fault.
Andre’s…I’m not even gonna say anything else, screw him right now.
And sudden new character motivations and
directions come out of the blue without adequate build up or hinting (I didn’t
even mention how Oscar’s dad is now suddenly repentant about raising Oscar as a
Man).
Fear not, problems are problems
and I will call them out.
That doesn’t
mean I’m anywhere close to giving up on this one.
And just because somethings (COUGH COUGH
ANDRE COUGH) might keep it from that potential perfect 10, The Rose of
Versailles is nicely snuggled in the 9 range.
Hell if it can really pull out a win in these last ten episodes, I’d
even give it a 9.5.
Oscar, go get em
girl.
See ya Friday for the beginning of
the end of The Rose of Versailles right here at the Gundam Anime Corner.
No comments:
Post a Comment