I guess torturers don’t even get New Years Off…
For the second week in a row I didn’t enjoy Chi.: Chikyuu no Undou ni Tsuite. I say that in the full knowledge that I really wasn’t supposed to, but it’s still notable. At least this week I have the excuse of traveling and being swamped (tomorrow is Comiket for me) to justify not writing too extensively. I was actually surprised a new episode aired this week, and to be honest I was kinda looking forward to the break. This torture stuff is heavy viewing.
There’s only so many ways you can dress this up, really. It’s torture. It’s evil. Is it torture porn? Well – that’s obviously pretty subjective. Any time a writer depicts torture in a work of fiction he’s going to be accused of that, I suppose. That makes the question whether or not there are times when using it is justified, and the answer is obviously yes. It’s a part of our history whether we like it or not, and continues to be up to this very day. Writing about the heart of darkness is a valid choice, that goes without saying.
The hard truth here is that Nowak is doing exactly what Badeni accuses him of. This is personal, and he’s getting payback for having been made a fool of as regards his daughter. But that fact doesn’t help Oczy out any. Badeni is a smart guy, but he lacks any common sense. How does pointing this out to Nowak do anybody any good? In the sense that it seems to create some doubt in Nowak’s assistant, but that only seems to harden Nowak’s resolve. Almost as if he were enjoying himself.
In the end at least Badeni shows a certain humanity in putting an end to it all. And as I speculated last week, he did indeed make a backup plan against his own expressed wishes. It’s a romantic notion, that Oczy’s clumsy commoner prose might have more persuasive powers than his own dry academic writings. I think it’s more that he can’t bear the thought of sharing his own work with anyone, even after he’s dead. Inspiration, move me brightly indeed – light the song with sense and color, roll away despair.
The question of how Nowak would deal with Jolenta’s involvement always hung over this development. Would he choose family over faith – and the Church? I never doubted that he would, and that he’s a hypocrite (as most of his ilk are) but for now that’s an open question. The two trainees (I don’t think we’ve ever been told their names) may or may not have come to question her on Nowak’s orders. And they seem pretty content to let her lie her way out of trouble (which Badeni told her to do, and Nowak might very well have been hoping she’d do). But Antoni is the tangle in this thread.
We knew Antoni despised Nowak, but I was mistaken in thinking he had a general disdain for the Inquisition. He’s just a climber, and sees Jolenta’s involvement as a means to an end. The truth is, of course, that she’s every bit as “guilty” as Badeni and Oczy are, but guilt or innocence is irrelevant in all this and always are. The more kind-hearted (squeamish) of the two lads overhears Antoni crowing about his good fortune, and shows some courage in releasing Jolenta (light one tooth) and sending her on the run. If he’s smart he’ll go straight to Nowak with this, and I’d be very interested to see what develops from that if indeed he does.
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