Dead Mount Death Play

Episode 5

This week's Dead Mount Deaths Play feels like three, largely-separate chapters crammed into one episode.

The first of these is the climax from last week's episode. With the police, Polka, and Lemmings all in Clarissa's bar, it appears that Polka's dreams of a peaceful life are about to reach an abrupt end. However, there is an interesting twist to the whole situation. Lemmings isn't here for the cops or Polka; he's here for Misaki. This allows for some great character development all around. For Misaki, we see that there is more to her than just being a perpetually chipper assassin whose parents were brutally murdered. While we don't get to hear what she says, she can talk Lemmings out of kidnapping her, implying she has some connection with the seemingly invincible figure.

From this, we learn that Lemmings can be reasoned with despite his monstrous form and superhuman speed. This, combined with Polka's assessment, lets us know that he's human—though one that is far from normal. (The later reveal that Lemmings is working for Polka's family adds a whole extra layer of mystery to the ongoing situation.)

But the major character development in this scene comes from Polka himself. He knows that, logically, he should let Lemmings take Misaki. Showing his powers in front of the cops will only make his peaceful life harder to obtain. Furthermore, he's unsure if he would even be able to defeat Lemmings at his current power level. Yet, even as he decides not to save her, he does so anyway—he can't help himself.

Whether it's being back in a human body, or just personal growth over his centuries of life, he doesn't want to give up on those he considers friends. Yet, he doesn't realize the flaw in his cold logic. Alone, he may not be able to beat Lemmings or keep his powers hidden—but he's not alone. Clarissa douses the lights, and Misaki stabs Lemmings with a paralytic-laced fork, forcing him to retreat. With this (and whatever information Misaki passed on to him), Lemmings has no choice but to retreat. In the end, it was as if his heart told him to allow Polka to keep everything precious to him where cold logic would have failed. This is a valuable lesson for Polka going forward.

The second chapter of this episode is all about introducing a new character—the ghost trapped in Misaki's mechanical pencil—and shows Polka starting a business to make money so he can buy magic-storing jewels. Through a mixture of hot reading and his Evil Eyes, Polka can play at being one heck of a fortune teller and spirit medium. His insistence on splitting all his earnings with his friends—including the pencil and the stuffed shark—reveals a lot about how Polka views his relationship with them. To him, they are a team against the world, so what is his is also theirs.

The third chapter transitions into what appears to be the next big arc in the series: Polka returning home. Of course, with the real Polka trapped in a stuffed shark and an otherworldly necromancer in his actual body, things don't look all that good for our heroes. After all, those who know him best should immediately know something is up. If that weren't a big enough hurdle, there is a second layer of intrigue beyond the attempted assassination of Polka. His nephews are haunted by a half-mad ghost (though not malicious), begging for help to save them. It is a great little hook to get us excited for what comes next and adds additional stakes to the situation beyond our heroes' deception being exposed. In the end, this episode is a decent action climax, a side story, and the start of a new arc in a single 22-minute package.

Rating:

Random Thoughts:

• Poor Real Polka never even considered his family might be the ones who ordered the hit on him.

• This episode implies that Misaki will be going along to guard Polka. This could go very well or very poorly.

• There're two ways to read Takeru. Either he's genuinely worried about his family (Polka included) or he's the man behind Polka's assassination. Despite how the narrative seems to be hinting at the latter, I have a feeling it's actually the former.

• Judging by the title of next week's episode, I'm betting we're going to get our first look at our next crazy X-Files murderer: the Fire-Breathing Bug.

Dead Mount Death Play is currently streaming on Crunchyroll.