This was a Black Butler episode full of twists and turns. And they were an intriguing combination of the expected and unexpected. My working theory was that the whole curse premise was a chemical weapon scenario (I actually suggested a biological agent last week), and that the werewolf thing was a cover story. As such that turning out to be true (it’s actually a nerve gas – either way would work with the evidence) surprises me not at all. But the same can’t be said for the developments in the B-part, which take Kuroshitsuji onto some pretty new ground.
The reaction of “that man” on discovering what Ciel had “gotten himself involved in”, gave away that there was some high-level involvement in what was happening in the werewolf village. Ciel, meanwhile, has been given the unwelcome task of bringing Sieglinde back to London to meet the Queen (an obvious request, given later reveals). There are serious challenges there, given the Emerald Witch’s physical limitations and the restrictions placed on her by the village “laws”. But the little witch’s desire to leave and see the world is indisputable. How sincere Wolfram’s seeming consternation at being unable to grant it (I would guess “mostly”) very much uncertain.
One seeming prerequisite is for her to finish her “ultimate spell” and thus seemingly complete her contract with the werewolves. Sieglinde at least harbors hope that this will buy her freedom, though Wolfram is quick to dispel the notion. But despite having her dream denied by her butler, all hope for freedom is not lost. Sebastian arrives on her windowsill, a much-recovered Ciel in his arms. Ciel is in full-on dashing mode here, leveraging every ounce of his bishounen dandy charm, and the effect is pronounced. Sieglinde immediately takes his pledge of gratitude for her help in his recovery as an offer of very intimate payment, but Ciel has something quite different in mind.
Sieglinde is quite single-minded – later it’s Sebastian’s genes she pronounces herself to be after. But Sebby has other plans too, and the intel he’s gotten from Oscar has clearly pointed him in the direction all this is truly headed. It mostly seems to surprise Ciel, however. In the underground chamber, Sieglinde tells her guests the story of how history led her to this moment, and what miasma truly is. It’s quite a compelling tale, and just the sort of this you imagine might be the actual premise of a gothic fantasy series. But Kuroshitsuji ingeniously turns it on its head – the storybook premise is just that, a story. And a fantasy one. The truth is almost as strange, but not quite as fanciful.
I’ll say this much – some of the technology the trio find in “U4” looks pretty advanced for Victorian Europe. But chemical weapons, those they did have for sure. It’s all a lie – everything Sieglinde has been taught, her entire existence. The wolves are soldiers in wolf suits, the “miasma” is a toxic gas, and the entire werewolf village tale a cover story to keep outsiders from stumbling onto what’s really happening there. What isn’t yet clear is who the cackling village elder is, and why a little girl and a magic circle are the key ingredients in creating a superpowered version of the gas – one which the elder dubs “Sulin”, a name which takes Black Butler shockingly close to one of modern Japanese society’s great third rails.
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