Re:ZERO -Starting Life in Another World- Season 3

Episode 62

Narratively and emotionally this episode is a satisfying conclusion to the fight against Regulus. After all, no character has been as easy to hate as him. More monstrous or downright evil characters are in the story but his petty nature seals the deal. Regulus, despite over a century of living, is a child constantly throwing a temper tantrum. He demands the world act how he thinks it should (with him at the center) and is irrationally offended when it does not. However, that doesn't mean there isn't a bit of nuance to him as well.

In his final moments, we get a peek into his deeper mindset. Insecurity is at the core of his character. He can't stand the thought of having something of his taken away. This idea perverted all his other emotions—especially love. So while he “loved” his first wife, his need to “have her” as a possession led him to kill everyone she ever cared about—so that no one else could take her.

Unsurprisingly, she became dead inside. She shut down, unable to do things like laugh and smile. Of course, Regulus, unable to see himself as the villain told himself that being an expressionless shell was the perfect way for a woman to show him love. After all, if they were ever laughing, they might be laughing at him—and that would be unforgivable.

For his last moments, we get the perfect bit of poetic justice. Regulus realizes that he has met Emilia before. He rants to himself in his head about how good she must feel for getting revenge on him. After all, he is the most important thing in his world and so must be in everyone else's. The trick is that Emilia doesn't remember him beyond feeling they've met before. Despite seeing him during the trial in the sanctuary only a few months prior, he doesn't even register. (He was practically the least important part of that highly traumatic vision after all.) And so Regulus drowns to death—beaten, broken, and prolonging his suffering as he stops time again and again.

However, as cathartic as this episode is, similar to the last episode focused on the battle with Regulus, there is a lot left if not “unexplained” and then at least “under-explained.” The biggest one of these remains Regulus powers—and that he has two of them. One is to stop his personal time. The second is to make copies of his heart and attach them to other people. On the surface, this seems to allow him to keep his heart beating while his time is stopped—eliminating the power's biggest weakness. But the more you think about it, the less sense it makes.

Even if his heart is beating, that doesn't mean it's pumping any blood. Nor does it mean his brain is getting oxygen as both his lungs and bloodstream are frozen in time. Heck, I'm unsure how he can interact with the world at all while his time is stopped. How can he talk if his body, including vocal chords, are not interacting with the air around it? Or is he somehow consciously choosing at every moment what is and isn't frozen in time? Even if that's the case, things get ridiculously complex really fast. (Like, if he removes his skin from time's effects [as a shield to damage] but not his lungs, then he would have trouble breathing as his chest would be unable to expand.)

In the end, this is an episode that works extremely well on an emotional level. Even if the details make little sense upon closer inspection, watching Regulus get the ever-loving crap beaten out of him easily overshadows that. Better still, the high-quality animation delivers his comeuppance beautifully and viscerally satisfying.

With two archbishops down, it's time to see how the rest of our heroes are getting on.

Rating:

Random Thoughts:

• I love how Satella using her unseen hands on his heart gave Subaru the inspiration to crush Regulus' heart inside Emilia.

• Why does Emilia think of “Geuse” when she feels the unseen hand inside her body? Sure, it's an emotional callback moment but she's never seen his unseen hands (they were invisible) and I don't remember him ever touching her with one.

• Why does even manifesting one unseen hand tax Subaru so much? Is it just that he is even more incompatible with Sloth than Petelgeuse?

• How nice of Subaru and Emilia to let Reinhard get the killing blow. That should get Felt some much-needed cred.

Re:ZERO -Starting Life in Another World- is currently streaming on Crunchyroll.

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