From Old Country Bumpkin to Master Swordsman

Episode 11

Episode 11 of From Old Country Bumpkin to Master Swordsman is more of the same and my feelings are, too.

I'm mostly joking. Still, this week is very familiar as far as I'm concerned. Not to say that nothing new or interesting happens, but because the things that I like and dislike about the series both show up and elicit the same response as before.

Rose and Allucia were the weakest part of the episode for me. Well, Rose mostly, because again I'm pretty weary of the adoring/doting former student whose persona is 80% “Golly gee, I sure love master Beryl.” There is at least a bit of novelty this week in Rose helping the lost child and showing some good deductive reasoning skills. I also think that her home nation takes particular care of children and orphans could explain why she would idolize Beryl, given how good of a teacher he was. Still, it's a lot of screen time dedicated to what you already know about Rose from the second she walked into frame: she loves Beryl because all his former pupils do.

The ongoing political intrigue is more enjoyable for me, again, a continuation of a theme. The papacy vying for power against different parts of the noble family is par for the course of pseudo-medieval-European drama stuff. It gives us a great fight scene in the wheat fields. The action is well-paced and impactful, but perhaps most important is the location. Just setting the fight in the fields creates a really striking image with all the fighters dancing around between long rows of golden grains. Novel backdrops can do a lot to make a fight memorable, even if the actual terrain doesn't offer up much variety or interactive elements for the warriors to mess with.

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From Old Country Bumpkin to Master Swordsman is currently streaming on Amazon Prime Videos on Saturdays.