Hello and welcome back to Multiversity’s coverage of the Hulu show, Hit-Monkey. Monkey and Bryce continue to argue on how to get information from people before killing them. In this episode, we get some profound insight into both main characters and some touches on the side stories.
1. Monkey’s Guilt
While the monkey’s mission is built on revenge, this episode shows how much the price of killing people is starting to weigh on him. Bryce tries to help him justify it by reminding him of what happened to his tribe and that he got double-crossed, but it’s still hard for the monkey to forgive himself. Even though we as the audience are unable to understand fully, it’s easy to decipher by the way he is carrying himself throughout the episode and hesitancy when it comes to raising weapons, even to defend himself. I appreciate this because when a hero is running around killing people standing in the way of their goal in most shows or movies, they don’t have a second thought about it. Even when the protagonist is a run-of-the-mill regular person, all of a sudden, they can shoot people and then get a sandwich with their love interest. By giving him the guilt from it all, it’s easier for me to empathize with him but also to want him to keep moving forward for the sake of his mission.
2. Political Reason
Another check-in on a side storyline is Shinji Yokohama running in his friends’ place after being assassinated. Shinji does a press conference is asked about the central issue his campaign will focus on, and it’s going to be the same as his friends’, which was going up corruption in the current government. Ozu, the government official currently in power, gets pissed because he now not only has a real rival in the race but that Shinji used some emotional leverage by announcing it at the funeral. Now, this would typically feel a little more cloak and dagger, but Ozu says he should try his suit on with a bullet-proof jacket, so it has me thinking he may have been involved with the assassination. Now I don’t believe he had anything to do with it but playing into it shows how ruthless he is. Right now, this political storyline is on the back burner, so I find it difficult to see where it fits into the overall story, but the little check-ins help remind me that something is coming.
3. Cop’s Theory
It’s a quick with the police this episode where the young cop, Haruka, and Ito are debriefing about the older woman’s murder. She wants desperately to tell everyone about her theory that a monkey could be behind it, but Ito quickly shuts her down by telling her to say it to think twice before she mentions it to everyone in the room. She’s stubborn and does it anyway, so they both get laughed out of the room. However, Ito comes off as an old salty vet on the force who doesn’t want to do any footwork. He gives off mentor vibes. He doesn’t have the best way with words, but he was trying to protect her. I think it’s a classic small-town cop who makes it to the big city and tries to do a little too much to prove she can hang. Haruka’s also not wrong about her theory, but everyone knows that if you don’t have some hard evidence, then it’s worthless. I think this scene with the police was just enough to remind the audience that they’re on the trail of the monkey.
4. Dance Monkey
In this episode, the monkey gets tested after he crashes lands into an illegal casino and is surrounded by guards with automatic guns. His options; try to fight his way out or dance like a monkey to make the people laugh and keep on with the mission at hand. Monkey ends up dancing and not only trying away with it, but he gets a lot of free drinks because of it. Now right off the bat, you got a monkey dancing on a poker table, drinking booze, and then winning massive hands of poker, so what’s not to like? Absolutely nothing, that’s just pure entertainment, but then we get some real meat off the bone. He has a small vision of the leader of the monkey tribe he came from, who was warning him not to poison himself with alcohol, but then our protagonist gets pissed because he feels like it’s a lie. This internal struggle that the monkey is facing in this episode kept me locked in because it’s not just about him going around shooting people for giggles it’s about the reason behind it. It’s not only revenge for him but survivor’s guilt because he felt like he should have done more for his tribe.
5. Bryce’s Revelation
With the monkey on the verge of giving up on not only their mission but his life, Bryce has to put down his sarcastic one-liners and be honest with him about killing people and what it does to a person’s mind. Bryce tells monkey that every time he kills someone, a piece of him goes with them until eventually he’s gotten so numb that he can’t feel anything anymore, which isn’t much better than the former. It’s refreshing to see Bryce’s admission to his feelings and thoughts on killing, the entire he’s been trying to get through to monkey but not really saying anything personal and just constantly reminding him of revenge. To monkey’s credit, he’s much more intelligent than Bryce thinks he is and much more in touch with his feelings. If it weren’t for the fact that the monkey was about to die and Bryce would have been stuck in limbo forever with no one to communicate or work with, he wouldn’t have admitted anything. Bryce initially seemed like a one-note character, so it’s good to see what else he’s got underneath the hood.
