Love of Kill

Episode 10

I must admit, I was genuinely feeling a bit impatient for about two-thirds of this week's episode. A lot of that comes down to how the last episode ended: in the middle of a rather intense predicament, with flashbacks that reveal more about our characters past in a way that definitely felt more direct compared to what we had gotten before. But instead of following up on that, this episode opens with a completely different atmosphere and tone from those scenes. Not only did it give me whiplash, but it also made me think that I accidentally skipped an episode before it took a few minutes to explain what had happened off screen for our duo to escape what seemed like an inescapable scenario at the time. It honestly felt like another cheap attempt by the show to tease at the tension between our duo while doing its darndest to hold back on giving us all the information that we want as soon as possible.

The show has always had moments that felt very contrived, from fake-out deaths to character motivations that feel like they're just there for the sake of extending the show's runtime. I originally excused some of them because they are far enough away from each other to hinder the narrative's forward momentum. But now that the show is almost over and we can see the finishing line, its attempts at stalling are becoming harder to ignore. The dynamic between Ryang-ha and Château had some interesting quirks to it because of the implied history that they share and how much they know about said history. But their conversations in this episode really are no different from previous ones and it takes us so long to get past that to learn something new. It's frustrating when something that you found interesting about the show feels like it's getting used for filler. That said, the episode does end on one of the longest flashbacks we have gotten so far. With only two episodes left, I really hope that the next episode doesn't pull another bait and switch for the sake of extending the resolution even more. I like what I'm seeing, but I'm tired of being told that I'm not allowed to see more of it just yet.

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Love of Kill is currently streaming on Crunchyroll.