High Card

Episode 8

You know, for someone who has been praised for his accuracy to the point where he shot a sword out of a person's hand by targeting specific points in motion, Finn sure did miss a lot of shots in this episode. High Card isn't exactly going for realism here. Still, in an episode that literally had a dude shapeshift using marbles, I found Finn's inability to hit anything to be one of the most unbelievable parts. Granted, he could've been missing his shots because he was emotionally unstable due to the constant flashbacks. The show doesn't communicate that very well until the latter third, when we're halfway through the fight. I also expected that book to be important because of how incredibly detailed it was, and the show kept focusing on it. Still, since it was turned into ammunition by that guy from the first episode whose name escapes me, it didn't matter much in the grand scheme of things.

Don't get me wrong. I did like this episode as it felt good to finally steer a bit more into the main overarching story of High Card. We get some subtle implications rolling around the Klondike family and see what happens when a player uses more than one card. I'm assuming there's some massive drawback to doing so because otherwise, it would be dumb that more people didn't just use multiple cards, but I digress. The main focus of this episode was on Finn and how it seems to be very hard for him to let go of where he came from. I know that he didn't mean it in a bad way, but I actually did like the line from Finn's caretaker about how he wishes Finn wouldn't return to the orphanage anymore. It sounds harsh, but the implication is that he wants Finn to move on to find his own life and make his own decisions. He almost turns to a life of crime for the sake of saving the orphanage, and while that is noble, when you combine that with the fact that there's a massive gap in his memory, you could argue Finn doesn't have a lot of goals or plans for himself. What was he going to do after he saved the orphanage? Was he going to continue working at the dealership?

I like the revelation Finn's playing card was left to him by his family. It's convenient, and the show doesn't necessarily need it to tie Finn into the overall story as the main character. Still, it raises more questions about what these cards are supposed to be and how they connect to their owners. If I had to guess, Finn's family was likely killed because of the cards, and I can't wait for the obvious twist about Finn's brother later in the show. However, I'm most curious about how Finn was saved at the end. His team didn't save him. He was saved by the woman who was part of the team attempting to steal the cards in the first place back in episode one. What exactly is the goal here, and how will this all tie together?

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High Card is currently streaming on Crunchyroll.