Medalist Season 2

Episode 4

After a couple of episodes worth of buildup, it's finally time for Inori's big performance and…I'm not sure it was quite worth the wait. It's a great looking sequence, and one that does a pretty good job of justifying the victory here, but considering all the other good ones we've gotten to experience in the interim, I was kind of expecting this one to be delivered with a bit more flair than what we ultimately got. While all that might sound like I found this episode to be a letdown, I'd still clock it as one of the strongest ones of the season so far, for as solid as the main event here is, it's what happens off the ice that lets its drama shine.

Inori's performance starts almost immediately, and compared to the others we've seen over the course of the competition, hers is portrayed as refined rather than flashy, with her routine relying almost entirely on just her skating ability until one last big combination of jumps that seals the win. The way its presented makes sense, as the bulk of Tsukasa's strategy here hinges on Inori making zero mistakes, but since some of the visible mistakes made by the other girls in their routines was part of what made the animation in them feel so authentic, having Inori's skating look so flawless in comparison does come with the mild consequence of being less of a visual standout in that department. We also don't really get to spend any time in Inori's head in the build-up to, or during her performance, and while she's gained enough self-confidence that having her visibly worry about it would be a little redundant, I do wish that there was a little more tension in her efforts to make this routine go off flawlessly. For the most part though, these are just nitpicks, so while the imperfections of the other performances made them a bit more memorable to me, it's also clear that the goal for this one was to make it look as smooth as possible, and in that respect, the animators definitely nailed it.

As I said at the top, though, the real strengths of this episode are less in Inori's big performance and more what happens after it. While we don't get much of Inori's thoughts while she's skating, when she sits to wait for the results with Tsukasa, she confesses that this is a situation that she's always dreamed about, but one that also made her sad as she assumed it would never come true. Even though this is mostly framed as a mark of Inori's progress, it's good that Tsukasa still takes the time to remind her that she'll have plenty of opportunities to take in this kind of sight now that she's reached the official starting line of her skating career. This isn't a particularly dramatic moment, but it still serves as a nice reminder of how much the both of them have grown, and it's especially nice to see a reinforcement of just how positive of a figure Tsukasa has become in Inori's life, even if he doesn't quite see himself that way.

Speaking of Tsukasa, though, he actually ends up getting quite a bit to do in the latter half of the episode when it comes to his image. Inori might have overcome enough of her self-doubt to start seeing herself as a real athlete, but the same still can't be said of Tsukasa when it comes to viewing himself as a real coach. We see this a bit when he tries to have Hitomi sit with Inori while they're waiting for her results, only for Hitomi to remind him which of the two has really looked out for her, but it really comes to a head when Inori takes home the gold. With her managing to pull off such an upset, all the other coaches start viewing Tsukasa as some kind of genius who turned a total beginner into a top level contender in only about a year which makes for a hilarious bit of contrast to how out of depth Tsukasa still feels when it comes to being a mentor. It also makes for a more dramatic contrast with Shinichiro and the awkward relationship he has with his own student. This might have simply been a detail I forgot about in between seasons, but it was interesting to see Hikaru being coached by Jun as a closely guarded secret while the rest of the skating world believes that Shinichiro is the one who's been training her. While it doesn't seem as though he's super desperate to hide all this, it still clearly serves a source of shame for him, which makes him all the more surprised when he learns that Inori's victory was due to Tsukasa taking careful notice of what jumps she was capable of and planning a routine accordingly, rather than the desperate gamble to bank on her talent that he assumed it was. That this catches Shinichiro off guard speaks to how much distance there is between him and Hikaru, and while Tsukasa reassures him that he does a good job of looking after her in competitions, I doubt Shinichiro really sees it that way, it's a messy enough dynamic that I'd like to see the show lean into it in future competitions involving the two of them. While this episode would have still been fine if all we got out of it was Inori's victory, it's good to see the show acknowledge that these characters still have plenty of problems to deal with off the ice, and that it's willing to take its time in tackling them.

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Medalist Season 2 is currently streaming on Hulu and Disney+.