Tomb Raider King ‒ Episode 11
Episode 11 of Tomb Raider King can't quite maintain the highs of last week but it's a solid enough entry nonetheless.
I once again find myself glad that there is a bit of a purpose to events, even if the heart isn't necessarily there. Jooheon spends the early parts of the episode gambling and making his way into the caves for relic hunting, and at least there's some connective tissue between these two events. A big issue I was having early on was that Jooheon was just making everyone look like an idiot and a buffoon for the reasons of getting ahead, and often seemingly without much reason other than… uh, he could. At least here when he outsmarts the gamblers it's because he needs to use the money to flip and make for an exorbitant bridge with another relic. This is great for two reasons: it means that his ruthlessness has some method to its meanness, and it means there are situations where he can't simply bulldoze all opposition. The fact that he even needed to use a cash exchange to get something done and didn't grab the worm and force it to do what he wanted represents, you guessed it, a challenge. A challenge to be overcome! One that requires novel solutions and not the same thing over and over again! What a concept, and one I appreciate.
It also leads to a lot of novelty in this episode. The fight with the brainwashed kids was a good chance to have Jooheon resolve a conflict without resorting to maximum violence and mockery, though I think there was a missed opportunity here for him to show some humanity. The moment where he bribed the talking worm relic and there was a great shower of money everywhere had a pair of good comedic beats. Jooheon having to throw in his watch to seal the deal is a funny way to note that he had the right idea even if the execution was costlier than he planned for. And the sheer novelty and hilarious imagery of the earth worm being showered with money got a big laugh out of me. There's some originality and levity that makes the experience worth watching - again, who could have guessed. The last comedy stinger of Seung-Woo and the gardening team having to tend to the tree relic got a reasonable chuckle too, which meant that for once the episode was three for three. Let's hope we can end on a strong note.
Rating:
Tomb Raider King is currently streaming on Crunchyroll.
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