Flames Of Madness
There’s an awful lot going on in Fire Force Episode 2 and if season 2 keeps up at this frenetic pace, it could offset some of the good work we’ve seen so far. Despite its problems, the episode does start to move the main plot line along nicely while allowing some decent action to seep through too. The episode itself begins not long after the successful mission involving the nude calendar. After being debriefed, Shinra is tasked with visiting the Company 4 Captain, Hague. When Shinra arrives however, Hague requests Shinra head in alone. As this creepy man begs Shinra to burn him, our protagonist experiences some horrid flashes to the past that see him eventually controlled by the demon. Despite all of Shinra’s power, he’s still vulnerable when it comes to his family and this theme runs throughout the episode. This is especially true when it comes to Arthur whom we see more of this time around, including his tragic backstory. Following a restaurant fire, Arthur’s parents struggle to make ends meet and convince Arthur to imagine a castle and him being a knight within. One day he awakens and finds a note from his folks telling him he’s in charge of the castle now, insinuating that he was abandoned by them as a child. This also explains why he adopts this knight persona. It’s enough for him to go toe to toe with demon Shinra and after a series of crushing blows (and using the Captain as a shield) he manages to stop the Demon before it causes too much devastation. Inside Shinra’s mind our hero finally shakes free the possession but the young girl there tells him that a new Pillar is about to be born. Before she can reveal anything else however, she slips away which is where the episode ends. With some nice flashback sequences involving Arthur, the idea of him being abandoned by his parents is frustratingly under-developed. The 2 minute sequence we received just doesn’t feel like enough time to understand this family dynamic and why this happened. Hopefully this is something that’s touched on more across the season though. There’s an awful lot squeezed into this episode too, including the reveal of a new Pillar and more action to enjoy at the end. It’s hard not to feel like Fire Force is racing through the plot at breakneck speed and I’m hoping this one settles down a little and starts to get into a much more consistent rhythm going forward. For now though, Fire Force bows out with another pretty good episode.
