In this episode, Thomas's father
will do whatever it takes to get Relena to safety, even if kills her.
Here we all thought Marcus was having
problems with his father. Spencer abandoned his family for a quixotic
quest in another world and might just be ordering the destruction of
his species. Halfway through this episode, you'd still rather have
him as a dad over Franz Norstein. Talk about a stubborn dick.
Everything he does here, and throughout the entire series, makes two
things very clear. He is of a class that refuses to accept anything
less than what they want... and that he has more love in his heart
than anybody can possibly realize.
One thing this season has excelled at
is offering a world where absolutely nobody is an asshole just for
the sake of being an asshole. King Drasil is doing something evil
because he believes it's the most expedient and just way to solve the
problem. The Royal Knights are doing something evil because most of
them forfeited their spines when they enlisted. Kurata acted out of
fear that gave way to greed. The Digimon before him were reacting
with the horrors of their past on their minds, or in response to
human emotions that were usually legitimate wishes taken too far.
This ultimately applies to Franz as
well. For as much trouble as he causes trying to get a plane off the
ground during a period of constant bombardment, he really does just
want to get Relena out of Dodge. It's a terrible idea, of course, but
that seems to be the way he rolls. His love for Relena is clear, and
his running after her into the danger makes that clear. That act
shouldn't have been necessary, as his entire timeline is littered
with cases of terrible, destructive acts done in the name of love.
Working backwards, it's the easiest way
to explain his dealings with Kurata. He wanted Relena cured, and he
made a deal with the devil promising to make that happen. Franz
couldn't have liked the thought of his daughter as a Bio-Hybrid, but
hated the thought of her suffering even more. Keep going and you'll
realize that he let his fourteen-year-old son (and de facto heir to
the Norstein name thanks to Relena's illness) live alone thousands of
miles away because they struggle to co-exist under the same roof. And
don't forget that this whole mess started because he was so in love
that he married below his station.
He's not winning Father of the Year
anytime soon, but you begin to see the portrait of a desperate man
trying to bring some sort of sanity into a disaster of a family. He
gets grief from Thomas because he has no idea what to do with an
estranged reminder of his dead wife with unfathomable brilliance.
Franz also gets it from his mother, who deems both Thomas and Relena
unacceptable and henpecks her son to preserve the family name with
whichever one becomes most salvageable. In only a few flashbacks,
Frau Norstein quickly becomes almost as unlikable as Kurata, and even
she has (slim) justification.
It's hard to say whether or not Thomas
figures any of this out before Relena forced the issue. What is clear
is that his bond with Relena made his relationship with his father
moot. Thomas initially acts to protect her and her alone. Which would
be great against someone who isn't a Royal Knight. Consider how long
it took Takuya and Koji to finally beat Crusadermon and you can bet
that Thomas seriously struggles against her gay male counterpart
LoadKnightmon.
After the first beatdown, he realizes
that he can't just defend Relena. He's getting everything that comes
with the Norstein tag- father, Frau and the whole world looking up at
him. Thomas is going to make the Norstein family proud, whether they
want him to or not.
My Grade: A
Loose Data:
- The complex family structure of Austrian nobility has to be lost on the average Disney Channel audience. Rejecting Thomas because his mother was a Japanese peasant and Relena because of her illness, Franz's shame in being their father, Frau's suggestion of arranging a marriage for Thomas... something tells me this isn't the sort of thing that shows up on Dog With A Blog.
- From the context of this episode, anyone else think that Relena's illness could be a subtle jab at the old European elite's habit of inbreeding?
- When Thomas apologizes to Yushima about Franz's behavior, Yushima is confused because it's not Thomas's fault he's his father's son. After all this time, even accidentally, Yushima still pops out the occasional nugget of trite truth.
- This rendition of male LoadKnightmon is a sure sign that the gender switch in Frontier wasn't the problem with Crusadermon. I don't think I could handle that voice for multple episodes.
- Funny how Thomas uses old attack patterns despite the new capabilities of MirageGaogamon Burst Mode and they work perfectly.
Thomas's Grandmother should be ashamed of herself for rejecting Thomas.
ReplyDeleteThis is something I absolutely adore about Data Squad and you said it perfectly: people aren't assholes just to be assholes. I think this is often overlooked when reviewing this season, but its villains all have motivations that are realistic and to some degree understandable. When I watched this for the first time, I remember hating Kurata with every fiber of my being, but not because I disliked the portrayal, but because he is exactly the kind of person I would hate if I met in real life, and it's entirely possible I WOULD meet someone like this in real life. Same goes for Thomas' father. This series deserves more credit for that.
ReplyDeleteI think it's implied that Thomas was born out of wedlock.
ReplyDeleteThomas did everything he could to save the day, but then he didn't want his father and half sister to be put in great danger and yet his mother came in to help him out with problems like this. he was a very lucky boy indeed.
ReplyDeleteThomas’ grandmother is a slut. Nuff said.
ReplyDelete