TWO LOCKS MORE AND A SUN KEY

Go Princess Precure - Episode 28


MY OWN REVIEW
Two Locks More and a Sun Key


SURF AND FUN IN THE SUN

The Cures have returned to Kaido Ocean View Resort, on that small island inlaid like an emerald in the vast azure Pacific, to spend some summer sun fun.

This time, they have brought two new friends along: Towa Akagi and Yui Nanase.

TOWA (seeing the ocean for the first time, after having lived a whole lifetime inland): So pretty...
MINAMI: The sunsets are really beautiful too. Towa, I'm sure you'll love it.

Towa's reaction of ocean awe: as a born coastal, I have never got through it.

HARUKA: We'll swim to our hearts' content!

(Upon hearing these words, Towa shudders and her pupils dilate as she grows pale.)

TOWA: (gasps in shock) S-Swim?

As all the others leave for the beach-house to unpack their cases, Towa is left behind, pale and trembling, in a cold sweat.

TOWA (in a cold sweat, shuddering): Swimming...

Meanwhile in the royal castle, Lock is sitting on the throne, looking at the half-full despair gauge.

LOCK: Hm... We still don't have enough. Where can we get a large boost of power? (He remembers the Cures' Dress-Up Keys.) Dress-Up Keys... That's their source. (He hops off the throne and over the stairs into the middle of the throne room, as his shadow splits into three. Dramatic thunder and lightning.)

LOCK (smugly chuckling): Hehe...

While the other three Cures and Yui swim in the ocean, Towa watches them from terra firma.

However, when a wave swallows up Towa's feet up to her ankles, she sighs and looks down.

KIRARA: Towa-chi!

The redhead, startled, looks up and gasps.

KIRARA: Here! (She sprays water on Towa, who is surprised and startled.) You're wide open! (Taking more water in her cupped hands to fire at Towa)

TOWA (smug smile): Hehe...

Soon, Towa has waded up to her knees and is gleefully spraying back at Kirara.

TOWA (excited): Right back at you! (She sprays water on a laughing Kirara.)

Soon, Haruka and Yui join the water battle.

KIRARA: Jeez, that's not fair with me against all three of you!

When Minami returns, Towa remembers what they had said about swimming and goes into a cold sweat again. Then, smiling, she points to the red beachball Puff is playing with.

TOWA (smiling to cover her fear, still pale and clammy): Haruka took her time to blow this ball up. Let's play with this.

TOWA (yells as she strikes the ball with all of her strength)

They play a 2 vs. 2 volleyball match, Kirara and Towa vs. Haruka and Yui, with Minami, the odd one out, as referee. Towa delivers a redoubtable strike that secures victory for her team!!!

MINAMI (whistling): Kirara and Towa win!

KIRARA (giving her teammate a hearty high five): Nice, Towa-chi!! (Pause) What should we do next?

Towa is frightened once more, but she suddenly spots the pet-servants making sand-castles and has an idea...

"I'm Puff and I like warm hugs."

TOWA (happy, having finished her sculpture): We're finished.

PUFF (elated): Wow!!

MINAMI: What should we do next?

Towa gets scared. But then, she hears Puff's tummy rumbling and comes up with another excuse...

TOWA (ostensibly elated): Jeez, Puff! You must be starving!

MINAMI: Well then...

(Cut to the others giving Towa instructions for splitting a watermelon while blindfolded. I guess this is the Japanese summer equivalent of my own Spanish piñata.)

HARUKA: Just keep going straight ahead! (When Towa has reached the watermelon) There, Towa!

The red-haired princess strikes the fruity piñata, cleaving it at one fell swoop.

Then, everyone shares the delicious watermelon in the shade of an umbrella.

The Cures partake in a battle with water guns.

They gather seashells and sand dollars.

And, finally, they pose for the camera, to have a memory of this exciting summer day!

TOWA AND YUI, TÊTE-À-TÊTE

KIRARA: What should we do next? I guess we've exhausted the list of all things we can do on the beach.

MINAMI: I think it's time to... 

Towa grows pale and gasps once more).

YUI (looking at the redhead, with concern): Towa?

TOWA (once more smiling to cover her fears): Oh yeah, where's Puff?? (She looks around)

Towa gasps in surprise upon seeing Puff swimming as fast as she can and enjoying it.

PUFF: This is so much fun!!

MINAMI: We can't lose to her!

Towa is once more shivering with fear, drenched in a cold sweat.

Suddenly, Yui makes a declaration.

YUI: Haruka! Um, I'm not very good at swimming.

Towa turns towards Yui, surprised by her sincere words and by the fact that she's not the only landlubber in this group.

YUI: I'd like to take this chance to have a look around the island and draw some nature art. Please don't mind me.

TOWA (steeling herself, looking away): Um!!

HARUKA (smiling): What is it, Towa?

TOWA (afraid, embarrassed): Um... I... uh... (steeling herself, shivering): I forgot something in my room! Please enjoy yourselves first!

TOWA (afraid, embarrassed): Um... I... uh... (steeling herself, shivering): I forgot something in my room! Please enjoy yourselves first!

The redhead, turning her back against the others, darts off towards the beach-house.

As she runs through the rainforest, Towa buries her head in her hands.

TOWA (desperate, to herself): Oh, this is so embarrassing. Why can't I tell them? It's something so simple! I... I...

Meanwhile, the Cures are relaxing on the shore.

KIRARA (sunning herself in a rubber boat): Maybe Towa-chi can't swim?

MINAMI (nods, then in a serious tone): Yes, seems like it.

KIRARA: I think she has this strange fear of swimming.

MINAMI (still seriously): But Towa may be holding back, so she does not disappoint us.

Leaning against the balcony railing, Towa sighs and ponders.

TOWA: Why can't I tell them something so simple? If I explain properly, then I'm sure the others...

Suddenly, the princess of hope is startled by another girl's voice behind her.

YUI: Towa!

TOWA (surprised, gasping): Huh? (She turns around to see Yui standing behind her, embracing her sketchbook.)

TOWA: Yui! What's the matter?

YUI (smiling): I forgot something.

Wondering, Towa looks at Yui's sketchbook.

Soon, Towa is looking at Yui's lovely illustrations.

TOWA: This picture... It's from the fête.

YUI: I draw what happens every day. I guess you can call this a picture diary?

TOWA (surprised): A picture diary...

TOWA (smiling, sincerely): This is wonderful.

YUI (smiling, sincerely): I remember about lots of things. This trip, too. Even if I can't swim, I was still able to come here with everyone. That makes me so happy!

Towa's smile turns into an expression of concern.

TOWA (mournful): If I only could be as open as you... (Yui turns around and looks at Towa, surprised). I am really envious of you, Yui.

YUI: (gasps)

YUI (smiling, sincerely): And I am envious of you, Towa.

TOWA (surprised): Eh?

YUI: I love everyone. I want to help them out. That's why I want to become a Precure. Just like you, Towa. (Towa is still astonished.) I've thought about that before. But I've realized.

YUI (right hand on her heart, sincerely): I get to see all of you protect everyone's dreams up close. I cannot fight like all of you, but one day I want to tell everyone about your heroic deeds.

This conversation reminded me of the one between Varys and Littlefinger, The one where they say that they admire one another, which is my favourite interaction (not counting the chaos-is-a-ladder speech) among them. For what is this healthy envy Towa and Yui feel for each other but admiration?

YUI (sincerely): That's what I should do as a good friend.

TOWA (wondering): A good friend...

Yui turns the page and shows Towa a picture of all five girls together watching fireworks on the fête night. 

Then another one of them having lunch in the cafeteria.

YUI: It's all pictures of everyone. (She turns the page once more to show the girls welcoming Towa into the group in the headmistress's office, Yume standing in the background.) I am always with all of you. 

TOWA (looking into Yui's illustrations, thinking): With all of us... (She looks at the picture of her own welcoming.) Me, too...

THREE LOCKS ARE A CROWD

*A wild LOCK appears!*

LOCK (ironic): Hehe! Looks like you're having fun.

Towa gasps and turns around to behold Lock soaring over the balcony.

TOWA (frightened): Lock!!!

LOCK (ironic): Oh? I've found a great dream.

Towa steps before Yui, ready to take the dream-locking strike for her.

LOCK: Show me your dream.

TOWA (frightened): Yui!!

At first, Yui resists, trying to push the keyhole away from her chest. She had been targeted by Close in Episode I (first monster of the victim targeted twice in my lifetime!), so she's struggling not to give in once more.

LOCK (ironic): Oh?

YUI (resisting with all her strength): I won't hand over my dream!

LOCK: You're pretty good for a mere human. But...

Lock's hood-eyes glow as Yui screams in pain and gives in to her second heart-probing.

YUI'S DREAM: I want to become a storybook author and show everyone the power of dreams!

LOCK YOUR DREAM!

The gauge is filled with more liquid red despair as Lock soars upwards, leaving the desporg to fight the Cures.

As Towa sees Yui unconscious in her Despair Prison, she shudders at first, then steels herself and changes to a determined expression. Instantly, she transforms into...

The princess of scarlet flames, Cure Scarlet!

The other three hear the desporg roar and get ready for heading for the beach-house as a green-eyed Lock clone stops before them...

"STOCK" (GREEN-HAIRED LOCK CLONE): I can't have you three go over there.

KIRARA: You're here all by yourself?

"STOCK" (chuckles, ironic): By myself?

A blue-haired Lock clone appears from behind "Stock."

"BARREL" (BLUE-HAIRED LOCK CLONE) (ironic): You sure about that?

ALL THREE (astonished): Eh???

LOCK (from behind): Thank you for waiting. So... Let the game begin. 

Lock chuckles. All three Cures are astonished.

PRINCESS CURES (all three): Three Locks?

LOCK: Now it's three on three. (Pause.) If you want to save your friends, then you have to defeat me first.

As the other three face off Lock and his replicates, Cure Scarlet confronts Desporg!Yui II.

CURE SCARLET (determined, looking at Yui in the Despair Prison): Hold on, Yui. I'll save you now.

The battle is hard and contested like no one Cure Scarlet has fought before.

In the meantime, the other three Cures face off Lock and his clones. Each of the Cures confronts one of them: Cure Flora against the original Lock, Cure Mermaid underwater against "Barrel", Cure Twinkle against "Stock" on a rocky shore.

As each Dysdark fights a Precure, he hones in his unusually-placed eyes (Lock's on his hood, "Barrel's" on his shoes, "Stock's"on his shoes as well) on the Dress-Up Keys that hang on their respective opponents' skirts...

A NEW DRESS-UP KEY (AND SUSPICIOUS CHRISTIAN SYMBOLISM)

In the meantime, Cure Scarlet, who had been pinned to the ground by an enemy explosion, makes a desperate effort to stand up, as Desporg!Yui II closes in on her.

Gasping, Cure Scarlet, still trying to rise up, sees a yellow sketchbook, with "Yui Nanase" written on its cover, lying on the lawn in between herself and her opponent.

CURE SCARLET (gasps): That's...!

Desporg!Yui II steps up and is ready to stamp on the sketchbook, when Cure Scarlet suddenly remembers her conversation with Yui... 

With fire in her eyes, the princess of scarlet flames darts off like shot out of a cannon, lunging against the desporg and curb-stomping the wicked foe, as the notebook opens and its pages flutter.

Victorious, Cure Scarlet soars over the precious sketchbook and looks at its pictures.

CURE SCARLET: Yui, thanks to you, I've realized what's truly important. Haruka, who reached out her hands to help me. Minami, who taught me how to overcome my fear of darkness. And Kirara, who taught me how to laugh and enjoy ourselves together. Everyone has always been with me!

CURE SCARLET: Because they have always been smiling for me! (Kicks Desporg!Yui II once more as strong as she can) Haruka, Minami, Kirara. And Yui. Within that ring of friendship, is where I belong!

Exchange! Mode Elegant!

Scarlet Violin!

And she obviously purifies the desporg.

In the meantime, the other three Cures ostensibly curb-stomp one Lock each.

But shouldn't it have been less easy?

The Locks, once evaporated by the Cures' attacks, manifest as three shadows with Lock's eyes, wings, and horns, that dart across the skirts of the surprised Cures, who suddenly de-transform back into muggles.

HARUKA: Huh?

LOCK (from off-screen): The game is over.

Haruka looks up to see Lock soaring metres above her, next to a keyhole portal.

LOCK (entering the portal, ironic): Well then, see you later.

Meanwhile, Cure Scarlet opens the door to Yui's Despair Prison:

CURE SCARLET: Open! Door to dreams!

Yui's dream of chronicling the Cures' feats shines once more.

The four-eyed young artist comes to in Cure Scarlet's warm and strong arms,

held up in a Pietà or bridal carry.

Cure Scarlet holding the unconscious, then awakening Yui in such a bridal carry reminds me of the Pietà motif. The Virgin Mary with lifeless Jesus in her arms.

YUI: Looks like I got saved again.

CURE SCARLET: Of course. (Smiling warmly) I'm your friend.

YUI (smiling): Thank you.

As Yui thanks Cure Scarlet for saving her life and dreams, a glowing fireball rises from the illustrator's heart, through her notebook...

... and up before her and her saviour's astonished faces, becoming a key-shaped object.

CURE SCARLET: This is...

At sunset, the other Cures are admiring the new Dress-Up Key, a brand new one they have never seen before.

TOWA: Thank you, Yui. We are all able to do our best because you are always looking after us. You are like the warm sunlight that shines on the Precures.

YUI (moved): The Precures' sun... (She smiles as her eyes fill with tears.)

TOWA: The Sun Dress-Up Key.

YUI (clasping Towa's hand in hers): I hope my feelings can become the Precures' power.

TOWA (assertively nodding): Yes. (Turning to the other three Cures) I, uh... (Mustering her courage)

TOWA (desperate, scarlet in the face): Actually, I can't swim at all!!!

KIRARA: We were actually expecting that, eh, Yui-yui? Towa, well, you had such an unnatural look on you.

MINAMI: It's not like you were interested, it's that you just can't swim?

(All three initial Cures laugh. Towa is now ablaze with embarrassment.)

TOWA (red as a beetroot, tears in her eyes): Jeez, what's with all of you!? I... I was... I was so worried!!!

All five maidens run happily along the sunset seashore.

At the royal castle of the Hope Kingdom...

(Dramatic thunder and lightning. Lock on the throne room, clutching something in his fist.)

Back on Earth, the Cures are returning at dusk to their beach-house, looking back at confrontations past and realizing how many Dress-Up Keys they had won.

All three are shocked when they realize their Keys are gone from their respective belts.

A portal away, the original Lock chuckles to his heart's content, sitting on the throne.

He, and both of his clone-henchmen, hold each one the Keys stolen from his opponent.

LOCK (chuckles, smugly): Seems like I've won the game.

Now, only Towa retains her Dress-Up Keys...

DRINKING GAME FOR THE EPISODE
Drink for each time Towa/Cure Scarlet says her I pronoun, "watakushi."
Drink for each time Yui is mentioned.
Drink for each time Towa does an evasive maneuver not to get to swim.
Down a little bottle of Jäger at one fell swoop at the Sun Key.
Down a second little bottle of Jäger at one fell swoop at the reveal of Lock's success.


MY OWN HUMBLE OPINION:
This was supposed to be the stock beach episode, but... I am positively surprised by the dark turn it took. Putting it as the prelude to the arc finale. And Towa acknowledging that she can't swim and overcoming her demons was but the tip of the iceberg, half the episode's meaning. The other half was shocking. Like... "Lock snatched the Keys of everyone but Towa/Cure Scarlet!!!" A wham episode comparable to the ninth one of every season of Game of Thrones...
So Towa can't swim? All right, that's a flaw that makes her human and less of a Mary Sue. It's like Towa's lack of social skills and guilt over her face-heel turn. Love that, in spite of her academic prowess and fashion sense, she has got flaws. Like me.
If the cliffhanger at the end of this episode was meant to hook, it has surely hooked me. How will the other three Cures, lowing out Scarlet as the only empowered one, recover their Keys? This story arc draws to a close even more and more... The arc finale is another two-parter (the finale of the previous arc was one as well), which makes the series even more tense and complex for each arc...
It is now debunked: the two clone troopers with green for a theme colour are NOT Lock's replicates from this episode. They will debut in autumn, introduced at the start of the next story arc.
I didn't expect, by the way, that Lock would split into three different Locks. But again, this is a series where the light and darkness (altruism and egoism) of the same heart can become two different people whose lives develop in parallel (I'm referring to Aguri and Regina in Dokidoki Precure).
Yui is targeted for the SECOND time. This time, her dream is more precise, from being a fairytale author/illustrator to putting the struggle of the Princess Cures on paper and colour. Never before had I seen in a series where the monster of the week was made from a human victim that the same muggle was targeted TWICE before!!

Finally last but not least, let’s all take a moment to appreciate how ADORABLE Towa was this week. Her cute attempts to try and keep everyone out of the water and struggle to find the courage to admit she can’t swim was simply too adorable! The cuteness then went through the roof when she finally confessed she couldn’t swim!

While I enjoyed Towa’s dilemma, I particularly enjoyed seeing her and Yui bonding with each other. We haven’t had the chance to see Yui and Towa talk one on one with each other since she was saved. But my heart broke a little when Yui was showing her the drawings in her sketchbook, and told her, “I am always with all of you”. 

It makes sense that these two had good chemistry. The things they share, their love of, or rather passion for, the creative arts (Towa plays music, while Yui draws pictures) and their common flaw (both are not that good at swimming), makes their relationship so meaningful and so warm... Besides, Yui's pictures are adorable... :) They happen to look like my very own style as well! The Art Professor at the University, who states that beautiful equals useful, would be speechless!
That conversation between Towa and Yui, the "I envy you" conversation, reminded me of the one between Varys and Littlefinger, The one where they say that they admire one another, which is my favourite interaction (not counting the chaos-is-a-ladder speech) among them. For what is this healthy envy Towa and Yui feel for each other but admiration?

The Pietà pose Cure Scarlet did with twice-targeted Yui struck me, reminding me of the Virgin Mary with Jesus in her arms. And even more when the Sun Key emerged from the purified Yui's sketchbook. There was so much symbolism around Cure Scarlet and Yui in this episode!!!

At the end of the day, Lock getting his dirty sociopath hands on the Keys bodes no good... That makes for a great cliffhanger.
(I had already, ere I saw the trailer for next episode, thought of my own scenario: Towa comes up to Lock and offers her own Key in exchange, as well as herself. Towa dresses like Twilight once more when Lock's captive, but still keeps her red hair. She laces her lord's drink to poison or drug him and seizes the chance to take the Keys and flee. Shut is consternated, by the way.)
So all we have to do is wait for the next ep as we hang on the edge of our seats, fastening our seatbelts, and conscious of what is coming up next.



IN NEXT EPISODE:

The PreCures, sensing the presence of Dress-Up Keys, venture into the woods around Noble Academy. There, among the mist and ruins, they encounter their predecessors.
This episode will center on the Ancestral Keys which said previous Cures will somehow bequeath to their successors... but Lady Dyspear will also appear from the mist...

New characters, the Princess Cures' predecessors:

Flower Princess Chieri (pink-haired), Star Princess Sei (blond), and Ocean Princess Yura (in blue)

What will ever happen to Shut? Will the three Locks offer him the empty throne?

Or is it all a ruse to get rid of him?