Frontier Episode 27: Stuck In Sakkakumon With You

In this episode, one of the more awkward cases of deus ex machina saves Koji- Bokomon's water breaking.

Takuya's primary angst is that he's too impulsive and never stops to consider the consequences of his involvement in things. JP's primary angst is that he tries too hard to impress people rather than making friends the hard way. Tommy's primary angst is his over-dependence on friends and family. Zoe's primary angst is that her classmates think she's an elitist bitch because she lived abroad. Mercurymon's single biggest failing is that he tries exploiting these, but these problems are just not severe enough to do any harm. It's not like Jeri last season, whose primary angst was that her grief over her dead mother wouldn't allow her to accept the love of her stepmother. Now that's hardcore.

Oh, hi Koji! What do you got? Let's see, your primary angst is... that your grief over your dead mother won't allow you to accept the love of your stepmother. What are the odds?

This entire Sakkakumon arc had been dulled by the lack of serious angst. Had Mercurymon been trying all this with the Adventure kids, we'd have a few more fireworks to talk about. It's funny, then, that the one character that does have some serious family trauma is the one that Mercurymon doesn't prepare anything for. He could have had a field day with this one, possibly involving tentacle-like cables and a big pink bubble. Instead, the Darkness Area, curiously inside the sphere marked by the Crest of Light, is barren until Duskmon forces his way in. Fixated with Koji, Duskmon tries a violent mind meld and is surprised to find a very familiar backstory.

Don't dock Frontier too many points for going back to the well on this one. For one, Koji and Jeri have completely different reactions to it. Jeri suppresses all of her grief and smiles it off while Koji takes the whole emo route. Also, Koji's at least sucking it up and trying. If his efforts to buy his stepmom flowers can be derailed by a hot chick texting him, he's not trying very hard, but it's the thought that counts.

This resonates with Duskmon for reasons that are becoming painfully obvious. Between Takuya seeing Koichi on his timey wimey trip and Duskmon's first-person account of that, it's easy to piece it together now. It's still a powerful moment, especially as Duskmon is furious over having an emotion and Koji's furious at the whole violent mind meld thing. Remember how Koji was preaching discretion against Duskmon? Forget that noise: it's on! The result is the same (Duskmon Wins: Flawless Victory), but the intensity of the battle is impressive.

Then Bokomon's digiegg starts jostling in a fantastic case of piling on the chaos. We're all used to (and probably kind of annoyed at) Bokomon being pregnant, and the payoff is timed perfectly. It's bad enough that everybody outside is helpless to watch Koji in a fight for his life against Duskmon and Takuya pretending to be in a fight for his life against IceLeomon. Now all of a sudden the egg's shaking and Bokomon's flipping the hell out. His attitude about “expecting” was tired and just a little bit creepy, but JP, Zoe and Tommy freaking out about the possibility of having to deliver a baby was well done.

It doesn't hatch yet. Instead, it just wanted to play Digiegg of Pulling Wins Out of Nowhere. Due to the chaos it provides, its slick new Triforce tattoo and the fact that Beowolfmon is the most awesome name ever, we'll let this one slide. It's not a win, but Beowolfmon and Duskmon reach Priori Incantatem, exposing the two human boys inside. Before Koji can properly react to his doppelganger on the other side, they're flung out of Sakkakumon and Team Twincest is blasting off again!

My Grade: A-

Loose Data:

• Better Know A Sephira! If any of these are meant to be symbolic, it's the Darkness Area Tiferet. It means “adornment” and represents balance. Light and dark, giving and receiving, wisdom and emotion all come together here, the sphere that connects to all but one of the others. That could explain its “light on the outside, dark on the inside” portrayal. The Ice Area where Takuya battles IceLeomon is Gevurah, meaning Strength. It's the judgment sphere, where even a usual good guy like Leomon has to face Takuya's wrath.
• It's hard to say whether this counts as the “Leomon dies” moment of Frontier, as it's unclear whether IceLeomon became a digiegg or just reverted to some harmless Rookie like previous scannings had done. Frontier's strange in that everybody agrees that there's a Leomon death, but opinions differ on when it happens.
• After JP, Tommy and Zoe hilariously fail to reenter Sakkakumon, watch closely. They all crash violently to the ground. JP and Zoe seem to fall directly on their heads. They should be out of the game until they pass rigid concussion tests.
• Boy, that whole D-Tector as communicator thing would have come in handy about a dozen times in the past. All the points Zoe gets for figuring it out are deducted because nobody had figured it out at equally important times in the past.
• As if the Koji/Jeri connection wasn't quite awkward enough, Koji's dad has the same voice as Leomon.
• Neemon is right to ask Bokomon how he knew Beowolfmon's name, considering how little information is actually in that damn book, and that Bokomon was a little bit busy when it happened.