CLOSING IN

Go!Princess Precure - Episode 38

My Own Review

CLOSING IN

SNICKET WARNING LABEL:
This is Part 1 of a two-part episode. And, as such, it is a wham episode comparable to every single Episode 8 in Game of Thrones. Discretion is advised.

WATCHING FROM A CLOSE DISTANCE (SHUT DOES A CAMEO!)

This episode begins with a desporg battle, the Precures vs. Shut with a megazord desporg created from a zord-loving pre-teen boy's dreams.

SHUT (confident): Today I shall defeat the Precures!

However, our favourite Dysdark appears once more to hold the short end of the stick, like the Count of Tilly at Breitenfeld...

SHUT (gritting his teeth): Curses!

All four Cures win and curbstomp and purify the desporg in less time than it takes to say "Éclat d'Espoir."

CLOSE (serious): Meh.

SHUT (always over the top, retreating into a keyhole portal): I'll get you next time.

Close watches the quaint street from above and hones in on Haruka/Cure Flora.

CLOSE (serious): I knew it. The core of the Precures lies with her. 

Yes, Haruharu is the middle class audience surrogate. But also the glue that holds these so different friends together. Take away the glue and it all will crumble.

(As we can see, the megazord boy is also recovering perfectly as usual)

CLOSE: Well then, how should I take care of this?

The fashionista's got a job and lives by the clock...

CURE TWINKLE (surprised, seeing that the clock shows nine sharp): Oh no! Time for work!

CURE MERMAID: You sure have it rough.

CURE FLORA (encouraging): Have a nice trip! It's for your dream! Do your best!

KIRARA (de-transforming, waving goodbye in haste while running): Thanks!

CLOSE (ironic): It's for your dreams, eh? Ha!

CLOSING IN ON THEM

The sun of a new day rises over Noble Academy.

Nants ingonyama bagithi baba!!

Ingonyama...

Ingonyama...

The whole compound awakes in the first light of day.

Ingonyama nengw'enamabala...

Ingonyama nengw'enamabala...

Ingonyama nengw'enamabala...

Ingonyama nengw'enamabala...

From the day we arrive on the planet
and blinking, step into the sun
there's more to see than can ever be seen,
more to do than can ever be done...
There's far too much to take in here,
more to find than can ever be found.
But the sun rolling high
through the sapphire sky
keeps great and small on the endless round...

It's the Circle of Life
and it moves us all
through despair and hope,
through faith and love,
till we find our place
on the path unwinding
in the Circle...
The Circle of Life.

It's the Circle of Life
and it moves us all
through despair and hope,
through faith and love,
till we find our place
on the path unwinding
in the Circle...
The Circle of Life.

The Precures are obviously stark unaware of what lies ahead on the path of war as they carry on with their morning routines: Haruka jogs and waters her flowers...
Suddenly, Yui and Haruharu spot a new student, with pointy elf ears and a mop of unruly raven hair crowned with a widow's peak, looking at their shrubberies...

KUROSU: Yo! You're going at it all bright and early, Haruka!

HARUKA: 'Morning (Gokigenyó)... Eh...

KUROSU (cheerful): Hey, don'tcha remember me? I'm Kurosu, from the class next door.

HARUKA (surprised): Kurosu?

KUROSU (lively): I know exactly who you are! You're wannabe princess Haruka Haruno, right?

HARUKA (startled): Gasp! How do you know my dreams?

KUROSU: You're famous, the talk of the school. Everyone is focused on what you do.

HARUKA (flattered): Really?

KUROSU (lively, waving goodbye): Au revoir, princesse! I'll be cheering you on. 'Morning! (Gokigenyó!)

HARUKA (feeling flattered and warm): This is the second guy who takes my dream seriously, after Kanata.

Sometime later, the five Precures are walking along the corridor.

Kirara will be absent for two days from Noble Academy, filming in someplace called the Southern Isles... hope it's not the Disney version of Denmark and she meets any elusive red-haired princes!

KIRARA (reading in her planner): I'm leaving today and coming back the day after tomorrow.

YUI: Kirara, your jobs have increased lately.

KIRARA (cheerful): Guess I'm closer to becoming a top model?

In the meantime, Minami lags a little behind her friends. Towa soon realizes it and turns around.

TOWA (worried): Minami? What's the matter?

MINAMI: Hmm... My father needs me to do a favour for him. My mother cannot attend tonight's soirée because of her own tight schedule. So my father wants me to take her place.

So Minami's closer to make her dreams come true as well. I mean, Masumi being too busy and her daughter having to attend a society event in her place... Still she has her doubts.

MINAMI (concerned): But... I was thinking of refusing his offer. 

TOWA (surprised): And why?

MINAMI (worried): I won't be back until the day after tomorrow, too. Should something happen during that time...

Yes, Miss Kaido is in the right to be worried. She's the voice of reason, after all. And without her presence, chaos is come again.

TOWA (surprised): Are you worried about us?

*A WILD KUROSU APPEARS!*

KUROSU (irate, passionate): Go, Minami-san! Yes! That soirée is important for your future, right!?

MINAMI (hesitant, startled because of the invasion of her personal space): Y-yes...

KUROSU (still irate and passionate): Then don't hesitate and go!!

Kurosu then excuses himself before the others:

KUROSU: Sorry. I eavesdropped and overheard your conversation. (Savvy.) But you know, your own dreams are very important! Right?

MINAMI (at first insecure): Then I'll go. 

Her friends are pleased and confident, sure that nothing will happen.

TOWA (smiling, warmly): Leave things here to us.

MINAMI (courteous): Thank you.

KUROSU (nonchalant, waving goodbye): Sorry for interrupting y'all!

INTERLUDE: KANATA'S DREAMS

While Towa has a chat with old Mr. Nishikido on the porch of his luthier workshop, Kanata gets a visit from Haruharu and Madame Shamour.

KANATA (apathetic, sorrowful): Dreams, huh? I don't really understand.

HARUKA & MME. SHAMOUR (gasping in surprise): Eh!?

MME SHAMOUR (surprised): You don't?  How could Prince Kanata forget about dreams...

KANATA (sorrowful): I forgot everything, that's why. Like what was truly important to me.

HARUKA (encouraging): Kanata, is there anything you want right now?

KANATA (wondering): Something I want? (Looking at first quite sorrowful and pensive, then saying with a courteous smile) Nothing really.

CLOSING IN ON THEM EVEN MORE

In the afternoon, Haruka, Yui, and Towa are out for a stroll in the park.

TOWA: Where are Puff and Aroma? They want to stay with Brother tonight. They're trying their best to cheer him up.

Suddenly, a leaflet is sent flying by the breeze into their reach, with Kurosu after it in hot pursuit.

KUROSU (panting for breath, running): Hey!! Wait!!

As Haruharu catches the leaflet in her right hand, Kurosu has stopped and come as Close to the three girls as he can.

KUROSU (panting for breath): Nice catch, Haruka.

Wannabe fairytale illustrator Yui is soon entranced by the leaflet...

YUI (in awe): "International Storybook Exhibition?"

KUROSU (cheerful): I wanted to go check it out tomorrow.

YUI (all fire and flames, elated): Such a wonderful event!! 

KUROSU (playing dumb): Eh? Really? Yui Nanase, your dream is to become a storybook author and illustrator, right? (cheerfully) Wanna go together?

YUI (trembling, startled because it's the first time a boy asks her out): T-t-t-together? With me?

KUROSU (cheerfully): Yep!

YUI (still stuttering in shock): B-b-b-but... uh...

Haruka and Towa agree that it would get Yui closer to her dream, and it's settled.

KUROSU: All right! Let's meet tomorrow, in front of the Art Museum, at 10 AM sharp.

Then, Kurosu turns his gaze towards the redhead, the next victim on the list, thinking she will be as easy to pick as the others.

KUROSU: Oh yeah. Towa Akagi, I presume?

TOWA (serious): Yes. I am.

KUROSU (cheerful): You have at least a dream too, right?

TOWA (uncomfortable because of Kurosu's indiscretion): What's with that rude line of questioning?

KUROSU (insisting, lively, cheerful): I haven't heard about your dream!! Maybe I can help you out!

TOWA (sighing, then turning around to face Kurosu, sternly): I do have a dream. But I have no reason to tell you.

Towa then turns her back towards Kurosu and gracefully walks away.

KUROSU (impatient, disappointed): Huh... huh? (Ironic.) Oh, I see... (Laughs.) Ha-ha-ha-ha-ha!

At dusk, it's time for the departure of the Precures who have duties to attend to.

The other three teammates wave them goodbye and wish them the best of luck as Minami and Kirara walk down the steps and down the promenade.

TOWA: It's gotten a bit lonely.

HARUKA: And Yui's leaving tomorrow as well. With Kurosu.

YUI (startled, shy): Th-that's right, but we're just meeting up. It's no big deal...

HARUKA: Yui, your face is all red.

YUI (running back into the dorm): I'll be going back first!

TOWA:  Haruka... You aren't going with her?

HARUKA (cheerfully): I'll pick up Puff and Aroma tomorrow, and then go shopping downtown in Yumegahama. And then...

TOWA (scratching her chin in thought): Perhaps I should go to the Art Museum, too.

HARUKA (surprised): Eh?

TOWA (serious): I don't have a good impression of that Kurosu fellow. And I'm worried about Yui.

DIVIDED WE FALL

The next day, Haruka and the pet-servants are ambling down a quaint street, looking for something special...

AROMA: A present for Prince Kanata?

HARUKA (cheerful): I want to thank him for helping me play Juliet.

PUFF: I'm sure he'll be overjoyed!

AROMA: What will you give him?

HARUKA: I haven't decided yet. If Towa was here, we could have asked her for advice. But she couldn't come with us.

PUFF: Haruka... Aroma and me are here with you!

Suddenly, they spot a violin-shaped silver brooch, inlaid with gold, in an accessory shop window.

AROMA (excited): That looks high-class!

PUFF: It matches Prince Kanata perfectly!

As Haruka enters the shop to purchase the brooch, she leaves the pet-servants waiting outside. And both Puff and Aroma shudder in seeing Kurosu standing right behind them...

HARUKA (entering): Excuse me! I want that violin accessory in the window...

FEMALE CLERK: Thank you very much indeed!

HARUKA (cheerful, expecting to find Puff and Aroma): Thanks for waiting! (Looking around, not finding them) Huh? Puff? Aroma?

Leaning against a treetrunk, Kurosu smiles a shifty smile, displaying his sharp fangs.

Later on, Kanata is returning home from his latest shopping trip when he hears a familiar yapping...
PUFF: Puff! Puff!

Kanata turns around to see his retainers trapped in a pet shop, knocking on the glass and crying for help.

KANATA (surprised): What are you doing there?

PUFF (desperate): Prince Kanata! It's terrible!

AROMA (desperate): Haruka... is in danger!

Kanata is, thus, in a cold sweat.

THE CLOSEST ONE CAN GET

Meanwhile, Haruharu wanders through the streets of Yumegahama, desperately seeking her pet-servants.

Suddenly, she hears a familiar male voice near...

KUROSU: Haruka! C'mon! What's the matter? Are you looking for someone?

HARUKA (elated, breathing a sigh of relief): Ah! Kurosu!

Dreary nimbus clouds cover the autumn sun...

When Kurosu says that he's seen the pets in the woods, and offers himself to help her look for them, Haruka follows her new "friend" blindly...
KUROSU: I'll help you look for them.
HARUKA (elated): Thanks! (Pause.) Eh? Kurosu... What about your rendezvous with Yui?
KUROSU (carefree): It's all right. There's still a lot of time...
Against a cloudy sky, Kurosu and Haruharu trek across the woodlands...
HARUKA (lively): Sorry that you have to tag along. But I'm glad you're here, Kurosu.
He keeps on walking ahead of her with her back to her, indifferent to what she says.
HARUKA: You know, I thought to myself, "Oh, I'm all alone." I felt so lonely all of a sudden... I've always been with everyone. Isn't it strange? It hasn't even been that long since we met each other...
KUROSU (chuckles): Hehe... There's no need to worry. You will always be alone...
HARUKA: Huh?

KUROSU (coldly): You sent off your friends (nakama) yourself. Your friends (nakama) care much more about their own dreams than about you.

Now, there's something I forgot to explain for you about why I always explain why I put the original word used for friend/s in parentheses after it. And the answer is that there are two different concepts signified by these two different words in Japanese:

Nakama means more like comrade or companion, and refers to those who share battles/adventures, and/or pursue a goal, together. Tomodachi refers more to the concept of friends as people who are close to each other without sharing blood ties.

HARUKA (shocked): Kurosu?

KUROSU (coldly): You said it yourself. Cheer them on. Protect their dreams. In other words...

KUROSU (glowing purple, determined): ...The more they focus on their own dreams...

Kurosu's hair stands on end. Haruharu gasps in awe.

KUROSU/CLOSE (turning around, revealing his true self, coldly): ... the lonelier you'll get!

Haruharu stands shocked before the villain who got so Close to her she barely noticed his true colours.

To think that she had the foe so Close to her... talk about raising a serpent in her bosom!

CLOSE (evil laugh): Well then, what will you do? You're on your own, "Your Royal Highness."

Quickly, Haruka turns into Cure Flora.

CLOSE (raising his negative energy, glowing with a purple aura): You think you can win all by yourself? Cure Flora!?

Kanata, led by the pet-servants, storms into the woods to behold, thunderstruck, the massive storm cloud of the ongoing mano a mano.

PUFF (worried): That's Cure Flora!

In the meantime, the enemy stands as Close to the princess of flowers as he can get, belittling her even more.

CLOSE (coldly): I finally understand. The beauty of dreams! 

He pins Cure Flora, with a kick, to the ground.

CLOSE (beating up his opponent): You said you were lonely... That's exactly right. Your dreams, the dreams of each one of you, will tear you all apart! The more all of you chase your dreams, the more you value your dreams...

CLOSE (determined): ...THE MORE YOU WILL PLUNGE...

CLOSE (still determined): INTO DESPAIR NIGHTMARES!!!

And thus, he sends a powerful wave of despair energy that sends Cure Flora crashing into a treetop.

KANATA (desperate, feeling powerless): Haruka!

And the princess of flowers lands with a thud on the cold grass, unconscious...

INTERLUDE: CURE SCARLET VS. STOP AND FREEZE

At the museum, Yui and Towa are shocked when the truth about the illustration exhibition comes to light.

YUI, TOWA (unison): Eh?! 

YUI (wondering): It's not happening?

FEMALE MUSEUM CLERK (nodding, courteously): That's correct. There are no plans for such an event.

TOWA (disappointed, worried): No way...

YUI (worried): Kurosu isn't here either. What's going on?

TOWA (running down the street): I have a bad feeling about this!

STOP: Stop!

FREEZE: Freeze!

The Dysdark twindividuals are landing on the ground, at unison.

STOP: You shall...

FREEZE: ...not pass!

TOWA (determined): So it's Dysdarks! Precure... Princess Engage!

The princess of scarlet flames, Cure Scarlet!

CURE SCARLET (determined): You will let me pass! Please prepare yourselves!

The battle rages on in the skies above the woods. 

Their war distraction will be short...

Beware the maiden kissed by fire...

And, though their names are Stop and Freeze,

they'll evaporate in her ire...

Cure Scarlet, Cure Scarlet,

the warrior of flame!

Cure Scarlet, Cure Scarlet,

of everlasting fame!

Scarlet is her battle frock,

scarlet is her violin now,

the rubies on her scarlet crown,

the scarlet Keys are free from sin now!

Cure Scarlet, Cure Scarlet,

the one of flame and hope!

Cure Scarlet, Cure Scarlet,

far better than the Pope!

Cure Scarlet dodges a pincer attack of Stop and Freeze, making the twindividuals hit one another.

Then, she does the finisher with Scarlet Flame!

However, Stop and Freeze prove as fireproof as Targaryens.

STOP: I think that's good enough.

FREEZE: We've fulfilled our task.

And thus, the twindividuals retreat. At unison as usual.

YUI (running, panting for breath): Are you all right?

CURE SCARLET: Yes. 

YUI (wondering): I wonder what they were aiming for.

CURE SCARLET: If they wanted to delay us... I think they are aiming for... (She breaks out in a cold sweat.) No way! Yui!

YUI (in a "Roger!" or "Yes, Madam!" tone): Go ahead!

And Cure Scarlet dashes forth to thwart the Dysdarks' divide and conquer gambit before it's too late... Will she make it in time?

KANATA DOES WHAT HE HAS TO DO... WITH UNFORESEEN CONSEQUENCES

(NICE JOB BREAKING IT, LOVE INTEREST/ONE GUY)

CLOSE (approaching Cure Flora's unconscious form, ironic): Hm! How does it feel? To be betrayed by your precious dreams? You will lose here and despair. All because of those "wonderful" dreams.

Though she is deeply unconscious, the wounded maiden can hear and remember the encouragement she has received...

*Flashback. Haruka and Kanata as children in the meadow*

CHILD KANATA (friendly): Dreams possess a great power. Haruka... Do not... Never forget about your dreams.

These words made child Haruka smile and filled her with hope and joy.

*End of flashback*

Cure Flora awakens, with a gleam of hope, shaped like a heart or a petal, in her eyes.

A storm of petals comes rushing at a unsuspecting, startled Close.

His opponent is a cornered rattler.

CURE FLORA (determined): I will never despair! I did feel lonely. But... Even if they are not here, I have everyone's support! Everyone is working hard/giving it all (ganbatteru) for their dreams! With that in mind, I must work hard for my own dreams as well! Even if they are not by my side, there are those who support my dreams! That's how my heart can remain strong!

A concerned Kanata watches the battle in the ominous skies above, without daring to say anything, with greatest concern.

CURE FLORA (determined): And that's the reason why, even if I am lonely, I will never give up on my dreams!

Cure Flora's Lis Tourbillon can merely crack Close's despair force shield.

CLOSE (ironic): Meh. I see. Your heart may have gotten stronger. 

CLOSE (sending despair waves against the Lis Tourbillon to neutralize it): But...

Lowering his left arm, Close sends a Zeus-force bolt of despair lightning right at his opponent. Cure Flora, racked with pain and struck by the powerful surge, plummets to the ground.

CLOSE (coldly): That strength is meaningless. 

Once more, the princess of flowers gets up. But now she is reeling and weary.

Close stretches his left hand out to send the coup de grâce when an unexpected bystander steps in...

KANATA (worried, running towards Cure Flora): Haruka!

CLOSE (coldly): That human... He looks just like him... but he shouldn't be here. I do not feel the power of dreams from him...

So Close does not recognize the new muggle Kanata as Crown Prince of the Hope Kingdom either?

KANATA (worried): Haruka!

CURE FLORA (sighing in his arms): Kanata! You came for me...

But she sees his face is filled with utmost concern. How strange...

CURE FLORA (surprised): Kanata?

KANATA (worried) Why...? You are full of injuries... You are...

CURE FLORA (reassuring): It's because you are always supporting me, Kanata. 

KANATA: Gasp!

CURE FLORA (weary, reeling): I will become a princess. Strong, kindly, and beautiful. I will become a princess that will protect everyone's dreams. That's my dream, right?

Kanata cannot bear to see one of his Precures risking life and limb like that. It would be better if she thought a little more about how much she endangers her own health and life.

KANATA (in a cold sweat, coldly): It's just like he (Kurosu) said. You are... you are bound by your dreams. 

Changing look from worried to stern, he firmly steps towards Cure Flora.

CURE FLORA (shocked): Kana-...

Her lover clutches her by the shoulders.

KANATA (sternly, concerned): Haruka. That's enough. You don't have to raise the stakes so high (ganbara) anymore.

KANATA (sobbing): There is no need to hurt yourself like this any longer.

CURE FLORA (shocked): Kanata? What are you saying?

KANATA (coldly, despairing): If I am the cause of all your suffering... If I am the reason that you are bound to your dreams... Then, I was wrong.

KANATA (coldly, harshly): Your dreams have hurt you. Dreams... (Shaking his head.) I don't need them anymore.

KANATA (sternly): Haruka... You don't need to become a princess anymore! Do not become one!

Those are the last words Haruka would like to hear.

And coming from the one she loves, the one who encouraged her...

This cannot be true.

And she is utterly crushed.

Her azure orbs become Dull Eyes of Unhappiness, without any highlights.

Nager dans les eaux troubles
des lendemains
attendre ici la fin
flotter dans l'air trop lourd
du presque rien
a qui tendre la main
Si je dois tomber de haut
que ma chute soit lente
je n'ai trouvé de repos
que dans l'indifférence
pourtant, je voudrais retrouver l'innocence
mais rien n'a de sens, et rien ne va
Tout est chaos
a côté
tous mes idéaux : des mots 

abimés...
je cherche une âme, qui
pourra m'aider
je suis
d'une géneration 

désenchantée, 

désenchantée...!

Qui pourrait m'empêcher
de tout entendre
quand la raison s'effondre
a quel sein se vouer
qui peut prétendre
nous bercer dans son ventre
Si la mort est un mystère
la vie n'a rien de tendre
si le ciel a un enfer
le ciel peut bien m'attendre
dis moi,
dans ces vents contraires comment s'y prendre
plus rien n'a de sens, plus rien ne va.

Tout est chaos
a côté
tous mes idéaux : des mots 

abimés...
je cherche une âme, qui
pourra m'aider
je suis
d'une géneration 

désenchantée, 

désenchantée...!

With her dreams shattered, she glows purple with despair energy, as her powers rapidly fade away.

Even turned muggle, Haruka has become an empty shell.

A shadow of her former self.

CLOSE (beholding it all): He! So she has finally despaired. I don't know who he is, but great job. Now my mission is complete. (He retreats into a keyhole portal)

When Cure Scarlet arrives, it's already too late.

CURE SCARLET: Haruka! Big Brother!

Haruka runs off into uncertainty, without looking back.

And all of the despair briars thrive now that the Precures are disbanded and one of them has been crushed.

PUFF (jumping onto Cure Scarlet's lap): Princess Towa! Prince Kanata... Prince Kanata...

CURE SCARLET (shocked): What exactly happened?

Kanata keeps silence, swallowing painful words.

The end card for this episode is pitch black, yet lined with a border of hearts. There are more Precures uncrushed, and thus, there is still hope...

MY OWN HUMBLE OPINION

On wham episodes and All Is Lost beats in general: To be honest, I have never liked them. My favourite All Is Lost beats are those that still contain not only a whiff of death, but also a whiff of hope. Like Turbo's Broken Pedestal moment when he realizes Guy Gagné is a cheater. At least he's entered the contest and made friends who support his cause. Or Hans leaving Anna to freeze and keeping Elsa behind bars without knowing that Kristoff is around and that the young queen's ice powers are fueled by her rage. There's also every eighth episode of GoT, given that there are always likely characters who survive in spite of every debacle (whether Ned's accusation of treason, the siege of King's Landing, the Red Wedding, or the draw at the end of the Red Viper fight).

Why I prefer to watch Part 2 or both parts of a two-part episode: Because the first part always ends in a sad note. The Dreamstone? Amberley is held captive and Rufus is worlds away. The Fairytaler (Snow Queen two-parter)? Kaj is held captive and Gerda, worlds away, falls unconscious in a snowy wasteland, ostensibly to die. Every single arc finale in this series? The same applies.

On Close's strategy, Iago, and divide-and-conquer policy: How did the UK raise a global empire where the sun never set? Basically, by separating the local populations, and often pitting them aganst one another. Some say it dates back to pre-Alexander Macedon, others trace it to Julius Caesar, but the snag is that divide-and-conquer tactics have always been around and always been efficient. Napoleon Bonaparte and Tywin Lannister, for instance, have employed them to great success. But a lesser-scale, more dramatic and better to understand use of this policy is displayed by Iago (not the scarlet macaw, the antagonist of Othello). The way Iago uses events and his victims' flaws to his own advantage is truly redoubtable, and Close appears to be the latest graduate (after Petyr Baelish and Hans of the Southern Isles) from the Iago school of tactics and chessmastery. Telling each Precure (plus token muggle Yui) to focus on her own dreams, until the team is disbanded and its de facto leader is utterly crushed, by turning the virtue of each nakama on the Precure roster into pitch for the trap to ensnare him/her. A strategy truly worth of Iago.

On Kurosu: Close's human form, though resembling his usual Dysdark form, was at first unrecognized by the Cures. Just like the twerps in Pokémon never recognize Jessie and James in spite of their paper-thin disguises. Much like Red Riding Hood appears not to know that a big bad wolf resembles a granny as much as the MGM lion resembles Daniel Craig (Neither does Close recognize the new muggle Kanata as his crowned enemy). To change the subject: the English word "close" is spelled "kurózu" in Japanese, but "kurosu", with a short O and an S sound, translates as "cross". Pretty fitting since he has emotionally crucified Haruka and Kanata (in a way that reminds me exceedingly of Othello and Desdemona)... 

On why Kanata did what he had to do (i.e. break the cutie): Kanata had a point in telling Cure Flora, who was already dreadfully injured, not to stake life and limb like that anymore. But he used the wrong words and told her too harshly, even expressing that he himself felt guilty and was to blame, aside from shattering her dreams, crushing her already low spirits utterly. Let's face the facts: poor communication kills. The whole debacle in Frozen and that in Rise of the Guardians, not to mention the Barbie Rapunzel film (in which miscommunication nearly started a war), or, to put the most extreme example (and the one I was most reminded of while viewing this episode), Shakespeare's Othello.

On the epic battle (since we've spoken of the Red Viper fight, it's time to compare it!) between Cure Scarlet and the Dysdark Twindividuals: The appearance of S&F proved here merely as a diversion/distraction to keep Cure Scarlet busy and apart from Cure Flora and Kanata. Great to see Scarlet fighting as fiercely and gracefully as usual, and even dodging/thwarting that pincer attack of the twindividuals'. The battle itself was a thirty-second affair that ended with both Dysdarks retreating. As I had expected. A draw, a tie, like the Red Viper fight, but Clegane vs. Nymeros Martell had a more interesting outcome...

On Minami and Kirara being largely absent: Two words: force majeure. Events unexpected and not consequence of attacks by Dysdarks propel the ojou and the fashionista to temporarily leave Noble Academy, which renders their friends/teammates more vulnerable to Close's manipulation. Hopefully, they will return in next episode, and their presence will be key to winning back what the enemy has usurped.

On Shut in this episode: The role of Shut here is reduced to a cameo, but nevertheless a little breather before the meat of this episode, and a great chance to see more of his cranky facial expressions.

My predictions and/or conjectures for next episode's wrap-up: I believe the Hope Kingdom's royal siblings will be key and responsible for Putting the Band Back Together, one of my favourite plots (Ocean's 12, Shrek 2, the Muppets Movie, One Piece post-timeskip in the Sabaody arc, the second story arc of Digimon Adventure, the start of Season 2 for Mystery Incorporated...). I also predict (though it's still uncertain) that Stop and Freeze will be arc villains, and thus, purified (not killed, pleeease!) with this arc finale.

IN THE NEXT EPISODE (39):

Towa, the only Cure who has resisted Close's intrigue, has realized that the Precures must reunite and rise again as a team, after their diaspora, but... is Kanata now a prisoner of the Dysdarks, or was that another muggle of the countless ones that have been entrapped? Will the Cures' new autumn mid-season upgrade be enough to save him?