English Dub Review: From Old Country Bumpkin to Master Swordsman “The Old Country Bumpkin Throws Himself into a Deadly Fight”

Overview (Spoilers Below):

Beryl helps protect the royal family from assassins, but the assassins all kill themselves, and any clues to the mastermind are lost.  Lucy thinks a conflict between royalty and religion is at play.  Despite Beryl wanting to cancel the tour of the capital to keep the prince safe, the plan goes ahead.

Our Take:

A simple visit from the foreign country’s delegation almost turned deadly, thanks to the arrival of the unknown assassins.  Unfortunately, that ambush was just the appetizer of what’s to come.  The only appropriate choice for this occasion was to cut the visitation short for the royal family’s safety.  But, knowing his students and allies, they wouldn’t sit by and let their opponents win.  With us nearing the end of the season, it’s no surprise that Beryl would be thrown into another fight that offers more questions than answers.  Aside from Rose’s sudden murderous urge in the previous episode, the assassins may have had some sort of history with Commander Gatoca, who recognized one of them.

The penultimate episode of Old Country Bumpkin gave us those answers, along with some more questions that could get resolved in next week’s finale.  One of them is that Gatoca identified the assassin as Hinnis, the former vice commander of the Order of Sphene before Rose took over the position.  The other comes in the form of Lucy Diamond’s unexpected visit, during which she explains to Beryl that the attack on Prince Glenn was politically motivated, emphasizing the country’s conflict between religious beliefs and the royal family.  So, it appears that these confrontations are starting to hit closer to home in terms of their thematic portrayal.  Finally, there’s Rose, who still seems friendly after the previous attack, especially when she’s hanging out with Allucia before the tour.  However, the cliffhanger ending to the episode may have proved otherwise as she prepares for her fight against her own teacher.

It’s easy to point out that I saw this plot twist involving Rose coming a mile away after what she did in the previous episode.  Plus, her overly cheerful expression did seem to come off as suspicious at first glance.  Despite its predictable conclusion, “Deadly Fight” managed to improve upon last week’s episode by upping the stakes through the enemies’ politically charged motives.  The confrontation with the assassins in the vast fields was also a bit more tolerable this time around than the first encounter, mainly due to how the CGI handles most of the characters’ stylized techniques.  It may not be a perfect way to set the stage for the finale, but it was suitable in putting Beryl in what could be his most formidable fight yet.