Review: To the Abandoned Beasts Episode 4

March of the Behemoth:

Schaal and Hank continue their journey traveling by train this time around, to Schaal’s amazement. The train attendant chats with Schaal about her first time on a train and tells her to look out the window. There, a large metal bridge in the distant is the largest in the entire continent. This bridge acts as the border between the north and the south, which were once at war with one another but now live in somewhat peace.

The scene shifts to cannon firing at a silhouette of a large monster, Behemoth. We briefly saw it in the very opening of the episode. Back on the train, it comes to a sudden unexpected stop. Well, Liza is standing on the tracks blocking its path. She enters the passenger cabins to locate Hank and inform him that the Behemoth is traveling faster than expected. The concern is that the Behemoth is on a projected path aligned with the metal bridge and if its not stopped, killed, then it will crash into it and destroy it. The bridge itself is not just a symbol of two sides coming together, but it is also a life route for many people. Many people use the bridge to travel from work and transport goods back and forth, so its a vital construct that cannot be destroyed. Liza asks Hank if he knows anything about the path that the Behemoth is taking but Hank says no, but is obviously hiding something about the Behemoth and where it is going.

At dusk, a battle commences against the Behemoth. Hank tells the soldiers that the Behemoth’s body is immune to cannonballs, but his leg joints are weak. While the soldiers distract the Behemoth, Hank gets behind his front left leg, throws his exploding spear into it, and ignites it destroying the leg and bringing the Behemoth down.

Liza tells Schaal that the Behemoth is down, but also tells her that the Behemoth may still have some of its humanity left. No one has been killed, and towns and cities were directly avoided by the Behemoth. The only reason that it needs to be taken down is because of the bridge. Schaal tries to reason with the Behemoth, but senses that it cannot stop and has to get to whatever its destination is.

Back at camp, an unruly man approaches Liza and Hank and demands that they kill the beast now to save his bridge. Hank is undeterred by the mans rambling and continues as plan. Schaal approaches Hank to ask him about the Behemoth. Its name is Arthur Allston. She pleads with Hank to help him instead of killing him, but Hank refuses and tells her that Arthur must be killed before he destroys the bridge.

Schaal having a father who was an Incarnate sympathizes with Arthur for just wanting to live and be in peace, and can’t stand it when people just want to kill instead of to understand.

During the night, the unruly man from earlier ties up the soldiers guarding the Behemoth and tries to kill the Behemoth with explosives. Unsuccessful in killing it but instead pissing it off, the Behemoth goes on a rampage. Now the Behemoth is rampaging toward the bridge even faster. Hank’s plan has changed and will take it down tonight. Hank transforms into his werewolf form to halt the Behemoth. Hank shoves the Behemoth into the side rock wall, while the soldiers above detonate an explosions crashing rocks on top of the Behemoth. A second explosion underneath where the Behemoth fell, now more powerful since there is no where that the explosion can escape causes massive damage to the Behemoth’s underbelly. In pain the Behemoth crawls its way forward, guts spilling out from its underbelly. Both Hank and Schaal try to reason with the Behemoth one last time to not destroy the bridge that symbolizes the peace that the Incarnates all fought for. There just before the bridge the Behemoth stops. One final explosion goes off, but this time it destroys a part of the mountain that blocks the view to the ocean, Arthur’s destination. The Behemoth sheds tears at the sight that he dreamed of for so long and can finally rest and passes away.

Hank tells Schaal, while they stand on the beach of the ocean together, that that was all that Arthur wanted was to see the ocean even just once. Schaal comes to understand Hank just a little more, and may see him more than just a killer.

This episode really makes you think about who the villains truly are. The so called monsters show a sign of PTSD and are coping with life after war and trying to deal with becoming full body monsters.

The whole episode really made you see that the “monsters” may not be the monsters at all, but the people who want them dead after the Incarnates are no longer needed might be the true monsters.

I truly like these kind of plots, where the vision between who or what is good or bad is blurred. We might think that what we are doing is for the good of everyone but when you take a step back and look at it closer, you may find that that good is only “good” for a few not for all.

Thank you for reading.