Holy revelations, Batman. Things have picked up once again on Vagrant Queen. As we close in on the season finale, story elements are solidifying, relationships forged, and once disparate information is being clarified. Hooray!
We are coming off last week’s murder-mystery sidequest. The gang is back to hunting Lazaro and stopping him from using his green doodad to steal everyone’s mind. We are gifted with a pretty funny opening scene. It centered around some buff, gruff prisoner who looks like he can take on an army of his own. Then he is dispatched with ease with the lep of the Sterzad. I chuckled when he was melted from the inside out. Maybe there is something wrong with me. This ultimate power Lazaro is wielding seems hard to counteract. We all know Elida is the key to withstanding it. The question remains, will she lose another person she cares about in the process.
I have thoughts, and you will read them in sequential order. Spoilers ahead because of course.
1. A look at young Lazaro
We have seen young Elida and her descent into a scavenger expert. It’s time to get a glimpse into Lazaro’s past. Turns out, he was a freedom fighter. A member of the rebel alliance. The Resistance! Whatever you want to call it, he was totally against the monarchy from the start. We haven’t been given enough context as to how good, bad, or indifferent Elida’s parents were as king and queen. All we know is Lazaro = bad and Elida = good. But if you look at young Lazaro, he is a man standing up for the injustices he sees around him. He’s also the recipient of some physical abuse. He’s a rich kid with a hard life. I can’t relate, but maybe that’s enough to drive someone crazy. We find out later in the episode what’s the root cause of his madness.
2. So she got away…
Terex, the bounty hunter, tracked Elida to Arriopa with a crew of flunkies. She gets the drop on Elida, Issac, and Amae. Just when you think she has the upper hand, bang, bang bang. Elida’s backup arrives and saves the day. Convenient, no? That’s not really my issue. My problem lies with said backup killing everyone except who matters. All the people with no lines were shot dead, but Terex lives to scorn another day. Why not kill her as well? Or even kill her first, The rest of the group would scatter if playground/prison rules apply. Take out the leader, and the rest will fall. Now we have to deal with her later, and for what? Because she is so compelling? Pfft. Also, all these last second, luckiest people alive saves are getting hokey.
3. First kiss stories are usually weird
Who doesn’t have a weird first kiss story? Elida and Amae’s first kiss went as well as one could expect. The looming threat of death tends to spur people to action. After flirting with each other for eight or so episodes, they had to just let it happen. Who cares if they were standing in a sewer? It’s love. Or like. Whatever their feeling maybe, they shared a passionate, movie-style kiss. Along with a not-going-to-kiss to run-up-kiss and everything. How sweet. Now every time they smell shit, they will think of each other. Amore.
4. The ballad of Lazaro.
Damn. That guy had to cut his own mother’s head off. He enjoyed chopping his dad a bit too much. All that joy was undercut by the devastation he felt cutting his mom down. This explains a lot. If you are forced to kill the only person you loved, and vice versa, that will take a toll on anyone. Then you add on that it’s his mom. Woof. I’m not chopping my mom’s head off. It would have been a full-court of dead folks before they got to me and mine. This also explains Lazaro’s disdain for Admiral Rykal. The entire episode, I wondered why he kept her around. He dispatched with the rest of the Admiralty reasonably quickly, wouldn’t he want to be rid of her as well? Now I get it. It also leads us to the next point.
5. Mommy’s home.
Elida’s mom is totally alive and bald. Hooray! I was left wondering whether she killed Admiral Rykal or if Rykal offed herself. Having them, both stuck in that underground cell together, was definitely a warped bit of torture on Lazaro’s part. We can only assume the Queen Mother was in the cell the entire time, given the camera angles we get during Lazaro’s scenes with Rykal. We also knew she was alive based on the constant references to her and double-blind fake-outs to her survival. Now the question is, will Elida be able to save her mom? Will her mother join the crew, or will she just get killed in the process. Thus giving Elida another chance to say goodbye? So many options.
The wrap-up
Another good episode that gave us much-needed insight into Lazaro and his motivations. He’s motivated by his disdain of the monarchy. Along with his alignment with the Admiralty and their hand in his mom’s death. Also, you can now see all the self-hatred that spurs him along. After you cut your mom’s head off, you will never be the same. Elida’s mom being alive is another considerable move that complicates things even further. It will be interesting to see what avenue the writers go down with the mom. She is there to put Elida on a path for next season. Let’s see how this all shakes out. Catch you next week in a galaxy, not ours.
