Resolutions are boring.
Parasyte episode 4 provides a resolution for the conflict in episode 3, but does nothing to build tension afterwards for what’s to come so it’s ultimately boring.
The Resolution
The conflict with A-san is the biggest Shinichi and Migi have faced thus far. Shinichi proves his worth by stabbing A-San with a table leg. Beyond that, he refuses to finish the job. Shinichi’s morality gets in the way of his ability to kill, which makes him a good character, but also prevents things from getting very interesting.
Tamiya leaves the school and threatens Shinichi, but then notices something in Shinichi’s eyes that prevents her from killing him. This is, of course, forecasting what is to come. Clearly, since Shinichi is no longer “pure” he’s heading down the path of alien super hero-ism.
The Intellectual Content
Before this, however, Tamiya makes some pretty heavy statements. Do humans have a “directive from God” like other animals? Tamiya doesn’t seem to think so. In fact, she seems to have a bleak outlook on the existence of humanity—like they do not have a purpose if existence and therefore only destroy. This is in contrast to the creatures who received a directive: devour this species.
Why devour humans specifically? Is this Attack on Titan style human eating—without purpose or point beyond terrorizing the humans in the show? This “directive” sounds more like a “just because” reason to explain the creature’s relations to humans. That said, I’m willing to buy this flimsy reasoning, but I wish it had been omitted. The show works, even if the creatures don’t have some mandated-by-the-heavens reason for eating people. This episode spends too much time in the transitional and mixes it with insubstantial alien-life-purpose babble so the pacing seems off and the tension is front loaded. Although we know for certain that Shinichi’s parents are going to get into trouble on their trip, we can’t know for certain that something bad is going to happen so the hook for the next episode is a complete flop.
The Obvious Setup
In an obvious setup for later events, Migi gets a new ability to leave Shinichi for up to three minutes. He also seems to have the ability to mimic objects—like a handgun—for use as weapons. I have mixed feelings about Migi’s ability to morph into something like a handgun. Will this ever be relevant? Can parasytes even be injured by guns? What other things can Migi turn into? Cars? Tennis rackets? What are the rules for this ability? I suppose we will have to find out.
Concluding with the fairly obvious emotional setup for events in the next episode, Parasyte episode 4 reveals the story behind Shinichi’s mother’s burned hand. Remember kids, it’s only time to deliver backstory when a character is (SPOILER ALERT) going to die and you want your viewers to feel sad—unless you’re writing Naruto and then you do this after a character is already dead through elaborate flashback (*coughItachicough*).
The good news is that Parasyte Episode 5 is where the fun really starts so I urge you to watch on.
-AI
You can watch Parasyte at Crunchyroll.com.