Review: Nomad of Nowhere “Trouble on Purpose”

Should this show stay or should it go now?

OVERVIEW (SPOILERS)

A cloaked bounty slowly rides in on horseback into Bliss Hill, surveying the damage caused by the Nomad last episode. The sheriff comes out to meet the hunter, Ranch Hand (Ian Sinclair), about looking for the Nomad but tells him (for some reason) that no one like that ever came through there. One of the other townsfolk doesn’t quite take the hint and blows the act, so Ranch Hand decides to do this the hard way and threatens everyone there if he doesn’t get his directions. Bartie comes out to see the guy and gets yanked by Ranch Hand’s mechanical extendo-arm, planning to use him and the rest as bait to take advantage of the Nomad’s fondness for other people. The sheriff finds the Nomad in a nearby cave out of town, explains the situation, and asks for his help. The Nomad hesitates, but the sheriff encourages him to try, convincing him to return and face the hunter. They meet and begin their showdown, but his magic won’t affect the metal arm for some reason. Things don’t look good for the Nomad at first, but the fight eventually takes him to the jailhouse, where he finds the deputy handcuffed after a failed escape trick. Using the handcuffs, he manages to literally disarm Ranch Hand and bring the arm under his control, driving the cowpoke off. In the aftermath, the sheriff admits he’s glad the town is safe, but the Nomad’s presence will likely only bring more bad attention, so he’s kindly asked to leave. Though, as he leaves, his chest glows like it did when he saved Skout so that probably means he did the right thing.

Meanwhile, in the outskirts, Toth, Skout, and the Dandy Lions go to check in at an oil post that’s late on shipments. The two residents, a man, and wife tell her the pump stopped working, and what little oil they have needs to go trade for crops and nothing else. Toth is set to snap when Skout intervenes, volunteering to inspect the pump and see if they can fix it. A short while later, the living water wheel from Bliss Hill rolls past them, riling up Toth something fierce. Skout emerges from fixing the pump but turns out the real problem is that they’re running out of oil. With no other choice, the couple trades their remaining oil for the small amount of water Toth came with. Skout protests this, but Toth solemnly replies that rules are rules.

OUR TAKE

Three episodes in (this one delayed considerably by the major overhaul of the Rooster Teeth website) and the same problems persist, though we do seem to be finally finding a bit of a rhythm. The art style, done on RT’s usual 2D animation engine Toon Boom Harmony, continues to not lend itself well to drama nearly as well as it does to comedy, and the intended tone clashes with the execution in many places. The character designs, apart from the Nomad and Skout, are still notably mundane and flat with butt ugly coloring (the Dandy Lions especially), and the dialogue and delivery make it seem like EVERYONE is just so bored to be there.

However, there is some foundation building, even if it’s not nearly at the pace it should be. The Nomad continues to be the most interesting character of the cast so far, constantly yearning for companionship but afraid to hurt with the great powers he has, which might be why the Sheriff decided to not immediately sell him out (even though the only interaction they had was when he watched half his town be destroyed). We’re learning more and more about how his powers work at a steady rate, as well as their limitations, such as not being able to possess something that is attached to another living thing. If nothing else, I AM looking forward to how these abilities are explored as the season goes on.

Though, aside from that, the business in Bliss Hill is pretty uncompelling. This is only the second of what’s likely to be several encounters with bounty hunters and Don Paragon’s forces, but the other visual factors I mentioned really bring them down. Ian Sinclair voices Ranch Hand (a name I was certain was a minor character in the town with how plain it is), and while he brings life to all his roles, like Baccano and Space Dandy, even he can’t make a guy whose shtick is just having a stretchy metal arm very interesting. Story-wise, I THINK it was meant to show the Nomad’s first real interaction with the outside world and how he values life, even if they don’t appreciate him in return. More things I hope can be further developed over time.

There’s also the B-plot about Toth and Skout’s redemption mission, which is balanced much better with Nomad’s story this time than last week. We get a chance to see how the both of them are in their day to day duties, with Toth short-tempered and devoutly obedient to “rules” but isn’t unphased to how those rules hurt other people, while Skout is constantly skeptical of them when it unfairly impacts the less fortunate. The oil couple is…not great at showing this, highlighting those tonal clashes between comical and genuinely sad and just makes attempts at sympathy very awkward. But the intent does come through, and seeing these added dimensions to this subplot should ideally make their eventual reunion with the Nomad all the richer.

But maybe the most concerning thing about this is that we still don’t really have any idea where this story is going. We have tiny crumbs of world building thrown out in non-sequiturs in dialogue, but it still has yet to mean much. The bad guys are after the Nomad and the Nomad is after…what? More things to make his chest glow? Whatever it is, we still have another nine episodes to find out, and if the character work continues this improvement, it might not be such a rough trip after all.