English Dub Review: Fairy gone “Weeding of Back Streets”

 

Overview (Spoilers Below):

Now that the dust has settled from the attempted coup and the Duke of Kal-o is safe and sound back home, Dorothea has a new mission: to put an end to the Arcame mafia group for good. This involves a lot of information gathering and questioning of informants. The Dorothea agents are all pretty exhausted, and Free and Marlya are battling with their own personal demons as well.

A guy named Gail Dope leads them to the house of Christoph Rahn, son of the former king and likely Arcame supporter. He has fled his house in an attempt to evade capture. However, Dorothea isn’t the only group looking for him, and he ends up dying by the hand of an unknown enemy.

Our Take:

After an exciting episode last week, the third episode of Fairy gone’s season two takes things down a notch. The train bridge explosion and catastrophe in the castle would be hard to top, and Weeding of Back Streets doesn’t really try to match the heights of its predecessor. Instead, it’s a quiet look into how Dorothea operates, complete with scenes of questioning informants and going through empty houses. Honestly, it was kind of relaxing in a weird way. I would probably watch a show just about detectives rooting through empty houses in an attempt to find information. From watching the agents grab breakfast at their favorite cafe to seeing Director Nein bonding with their pet, this episode allowed us to take a breath after the insanity of last week.

As for Marlya and Free, they’re still dealing with the fallout from their encounters with Veronica and Wolfran at the castle. With Ver’s words replaying in her mind, Marlya continues to wonder if she only brings trouble to those close to her. It’s a bit repetitive given that she dealt with this feeling last season as well, thanks to Ozz’s sacrifice. But I suppose it’s realistic in the sense that it can’t be dismissed easily. Guilt is something that sticks with you, and Marlya has been called the cursed child from birth.

Free has learned that Wolfran is no longer a member of Arcame. In fact, it’s rumored that he betrayed them somehow. This is in-line with his message to Free to think about who he’s serving and why, and it clearly affects him. Not only is he injured physically, but mentally as well. I agree with Elenoa; he just needs a long vacation pronto. It’ll be interesting to see how he grapples with questions of loyalty later on. Without a clear mission, what is his purpose now that the war has ended and Arcame is falling apart?

The dub is a solid effort, and I want to call out Ian Sinclair in particular for his stellar performance as Free this time around. He really sells the character’s drained energy levels, and he had a good range throughout the episode. “It’s better than being sad,” is Serge’s response when Klara asks him why he’s so happy about being done with the Kal-o mission. Classic Serge. “You guys are too heavy to be this drunk.” Since this episode didn’t have any actual scenes of conflict, we get a lot of fun little lines like this. “Great bedside manner you got.” Free and Elenoa have a fun dynamic.

Weeding of Back Streets is a low-key look into the nitty-gritty of detective work: late-night stakeouts and hours spent combing through every inch of space in an empty mansion. It doesn’t have much to speak of in terms of excitement, but it’s a moody episode that helps put us in the mind spaces of Free, Marlya, and the other Dorothea agents. I just hope they’ve woken up by next week!