These two episodes are the beginning of the last arc of this story, bringing all the elements together for the coming climactic battle. They explained some of the history of the Stone Mask, its original intent and its creator. “The Deeper Plan” brings us a big fight much earlier than anyone was expecting and “Von Stroheim’s Revenge” takes us on a journey from Venice to the snowy mountains of Switzerland.
1. Daywalkers
“The Deeper Plan” reveals to us the history passed down from the few survivors of the Hamon Tribe that the Pillar Men didn’t kill in Roman times. It really spoils nothing to say that the creator was Kars. He created the Stone Masks to free the immortal men of their only weakness allowing them to “conquer the sun” and become the “Perfect step in evolution.” It makes the origins of the immortal Pillar Men no clearer, but it does at least imply a terrestrial origin for them. We are left to assume that Kars experimented on humanity to create the masks, possibly deliberately creating vampires and zombies, but they could as easily have been a happy accident. Lisa Lisa shows her students the object of Kars’ desire, the Super Aja. It’s currently under protection of Lisa Lisa and was handed down across the centuries, just in case the Pillar Men did awaken. It is apparently the lynchpin in both their ascendence and their downfall. The stone is heavily featured in the opening credits and was mentioned by Kars upon awakening so we knew it was only a matter of time till it appeared. What we never hear about, sadly, is the history of the “Hamon Tribe” themselves.
2. Burning Blood
After revealing the history above and the Aja to her students, Lisa Lisa sets Caesar and JoJo to one final task, a last one on one fight against their instructors. While Caesar does end up fighting Messhina pretty much to a stalemate, Joseph misses out on beating Loggins as he was the victim of one of the Pillar Men, Eshideshi. Of the three Pillar Men, Eshideshi was never a character that clicked with me until this watch through. I’m not sure why, but I never thought he had much personality in the past but that is really not the case. He says of himself to Jojo in “The Deeper Plan” that his “personality is wilder than Kars or Wham.” He says this after having a particularly ugly cry made JoJo think “…some things are creepier than anger.” Whether that was Eshideshi admitting some of a mental illness or just a quirk, it certainly makes him harder to easily click with. To agree with Jojo it is much more disturbing to deal with than an open rage. Eshideshi, the Burning King, surprised me, as he seemed as honorable a warrior as Wham. He, like Wham, is searching for worthy opponents. He compliments Joseph on his quick progress and willingly trades wits with Jojo. They quote Sun Tzu to each other during the fight and make it curiously fit. It was never as apparent to me before just how similar their method of thinking was in approaching this fight. It is refreshing to go back to a story you think you know, having read or seen it or both multiple times and somehow it has something new still to give to you.
3. Sleight of Hand
It has been clear since the beginning of the story arc that Joseph is very much a showman and loves an audience, even if it is an audience of one. In addition to trying to predict the words of his opponents, he pulls some sleight of hand tricks. He has never really commented on it until this fight. Eshideshi actually frightens him to some extent, JoJo can’t really tell if he’s reading his opponent here or if he’s being read. He has a difficult personality and cannot be read easily. It is fun to see Joseph put on his back feet a bit. It makes the fight seem a bit more fraught and dangerous even though we know Joseph is the hero. He has to beat Eshideshi to save his life because of the ring in his esophagus, placed there nearly a month before. We are even reminded of it and the unrest its existence has caused. We feel like JoJo has to work to win this fight. The slight of hind he pulls to save himself is entertaining and feels fully earned. He gets to be a showman here in his victory, explaining the trick to his audience of one before pulling the curtain on him.
Continued below4. So, He’s not just a jerk to women
Suzie Q, Lisa Lisa’s maid is the first example of a woman that Joseph is not immediately rude to. Their interaction in “Von Stroheim’s Revenge” is actually pretty sweet and rather innocent in a way. It was really cute and made a lot of sense that even though she’d been around JoJo, she didn’t recognize him. This was the first time she’d have seen him without that breathing mask. They have a comfortable kind of banter between them and the bit of flirting they do reveals a bit of the sweet Joseph we seldom see. As we have just met her in this episode this scene, in addition to her interaction with Lisa Lisa, it goes a long way to endear Suzie Q to us. It makes the threat to her later matter to us and to Joseph. The end of the “The Deeper Plan” shows that there is some creepy kind of threat coming and what happens in this episode does not disappoint. That brief interaction with the cute maid endears her immediately to the viewer.
5. Shake it up
This binge of a show that I love has opened my eyes to parts of the story I have simply never seen before, or parts I just never clicked with in the past. As with Eshideshi, I had a different impression of the most of the villains from this story before seeing it again. I think perhaps watching “Dorohedoro” recently has reminded me that everyone is the hero of their own story. The little bit of Kars that we see in “Von Stroheim’s Revenge” shows more about his character than the fights he features in later. We clearly see in his actions in this episode that although he may not prize human life at all, he does prize the finite lives of some creatures and will take steps to save them. He has a sense of right and wrong that anyone might relate to. Don’t get me wrong, Kars is for sure the villain of the piece but he’s not the full on monster that Dio was.
