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The Perfect Insider
Episode 8

by Nick Creamer,

How would you rate episode 8 of
The Perfect Insider ?
Community score: 4.1

This week's episode of Perfect Insider didn't do all that much to move the overt mystery forward. We learned more about what the lab was going to do now that it couldn't rely on Red Magic, and Souhei and Moe discussed the various clues as well, but there weren't any big revelations or new murders to tangle with. Instead, this episode focused on the show's other core priority - the strange and uneven relationship between Moe and Souhei. By tightening its focus on those two and letting slow, well-observed scenes reveal the emotional distance between them, this episode did more to clarify and enrich their connection than any other so far.

The episode opened right where the last left off, with Souhei confronting Moe and Shimada about Moe's vision in the dream chamber. The show's opening seemed to have a great deal more significance now that it seemed likely the two academics were chasing Magata into some digital world, but the first priority was getting Shimada out of the picture. Moments of Moe getting annoyed at Shimada flirting with Souhei weren't exactly fresh material, but Moe pushing Shimada out was still pretty funny, and her “I have no spare mental capacity to deal with you” line was great.

That light opening led into the episode's first major scene, where Moe lead Souhei up to the roof to take a second look at the helicopter landing area. Though Moe checked the roof's edge and muttered about the ease of sneaking off the building, her real motives here were clear because she was still in her bathing suit. Moe wanted Souhei to notice her as a woman, but as the sun rose in the distance, it was clear that their relationship was more familial than romantic. The slow rising dawn made for a lovely framing device as Moe recounted the strange ways Souhei tried to draw her out of her shell in the wake of her parents' death, making this one of the stronger scenes of the show so far. With both Moe and Souhei's personal context coming more into light, it's far easier now to connect with these self-conscious, standoffish characters on a human level.

After that, the pair learned that the lab would be switching from the faulty (and possibly Magata-harboring) Red Magic to a more reliable UNIX system. Catching some sleep in one of the lounge areas, Souhei awoke to find Moe still sleeping on the couch and allowed himself a rare smile before catching himself and establishing distance both in his spacing and expression. When Moe woke up, she accused him of being in a good mood and extrapolated from this that he'd figured out something relevant to the case. Even though Moe wants his affection, she can't really see his emotions as actually being reflective of a fondness for her - she has his concern, but more as a daughter that he feels uncomfortable getting any closer to. Souhei is enjoying time with Moe just as she's enjoying time with him, but the parameters of his relationship with her don't allow either him to say it. Both of them use the mystery of Magata as an emotional cushion, turning the conversation toward the safe and logical whenever things get uncomfortably personal.

That tiny but very charged moment was followed by more deducing between the two of them, including a nice bit where Souhei described the different ways the two of them think. While Souhei attempts to find the correct route to a solution and follow it at his own pace, Moe is a lateral thinker, who tosses out any number of seemingly unrelated insights and attempts to draw connections between them. But it was Souhei who pulled ahead this week, as the blackout prompted by the system switch set off a series of very weirdly depicted epiphanies. Even though we didn't actually learn what Souhei realized, the emotional consequences of this scene were made very explicit, as Moe ultimately said she'd rather catch up with Souhei's reasoning in her own way than hear his explanation. While Moe chases Souhei as a romantic partner, he continues to see her as a family member and student. It's very likely she's going to grow past this crush in spite of herself.

This was a strong episode in spite of not really adding to the overt mystery, riding successfully on the ever more sturdy relationship between Moe and Souhei. I've been worried throughout that we'd be asked to sympathize with Souhei without good reason, but these last two episodes have done a great job of filling out his character in a satisfying way. The Perfect Insider is looking very confident as it moves into its last few episodes.

Rating: A-

The Perfect Insider is currently streaming on Crunchyroll.

Nick writes about anime, storytelling, and the meaning of life at Wrong Every Time.


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