kylemoskowitz

Crying, sobbing, throwing up - I genuinely couldn't handle the visual spectacle this episode was dishing out. Every frame is delicious eye candy, with cuts of animation so fluid and striking I'd rank them up there with JJK, OPM Season 1, and Demon Slayer. This fight carried insane hype and massive expectations from manhwa readers, yet they cooked it to absolute perfection. It's art of the highest form, brought to life by a team with unparalleled talent and vision. Thank you for bringing anime's supreme aura farmer, Jinwoo, to the screen in such a jaw-dropping way. Solo Leveling is on track to be the greatest anime of all time!

Brimming with endless artistic vision, Chikhai Bardo ranks among the most visually striking episodes of television produced within the past five years. The director of this installment and the show's cinematographer, Jessica Lee Gagné, is supremely gifted from both a filmmaking and technical standpoint. Simply put, her camera work is a revelation, painting a profound tapestry of devastating beauty. In this episode, she is allowed to leverage her talent to the fullest extent by fleshing out the most important character dynamic in the show. It is uncanny how Gagné illuminates the relationship between Mark and Gemma. This is a deceptively hard feat-though you wouldn't think so with Gagné's poise-as the entire premise of the show relies on their bond. Remember, Gemma is the reason Mark gets severed in the first place, and all major plot progression is simply a consequence of this primary motive force. Of course, the visuals are only part of the picture here. Dichen Lachman is mesmerizing in this episode, breathing life into a tragic character. I doubt anybody can sit through it without feeling deeply for Gemma, and this is in large part due to Lachman's moving, raw performance. Her miscarriage scene was probably the most impressive in the episode.

A common theme that frustrates viewers with Severance is how obfuscated it tends to be. Nearly every installment raises more questions than it answers. As soon as one concept comes clearly into view, ten more enter the scene, completely opaque. It really grinds away at the psyche. This type of storytelling can be interesting for a while but ultimately grows tiresome as it becomes more and more untethered; people will eventually start wondering if they can land this increasingly enormous plane. With this episode, I finally see a path toward a satisfying season conclusion. I also think they reveal quite a lot about what Lumon's primary goal is with the severance procedure. Surely, our trajectory is very dark, yet I think this episode provided a glimmer of hope. Perhaps suffering and memory cannot transcend the severance procedure, but maybe Mark and Gemma's love for each other can.