ARGENTO SOMA WATCHALOG — EPISODE 4

Greetings! This past week there have been some unforeseen familial engagements and health-wise problems. All is well on this side of the screen, though I haven’t been able to watch more than an episode. Maybe it was for good since episode 4 is more of a bridge where we learn more about the cast individually and what’s been going on ever since Takuto (or Ryu) was in the hospital. 

Since the show is very particular about how we name the things we see around us, I wanted to decide which name to use for our protagonist. I don’t know why was I so hung up on it, but I was. I couldn’t decide in the end and will go with Takuto for convenience. I don’t have much to say about the episode, but let’s roll anyways ~

• I thought this yellow guy was special, especially after that grand entrance. My initial thought was that it resurrected somehow, but of course, there seems to be a number of them like slimes. 
• The show’s still going strong on the military presence. After the Funeral’s victory against the alien, the patriotic musical piece invites us to celebrate the win with them. And be proud of the ones who risk their lives to fight for us far and beyond. 

• What I gather from the Shakespeare reference and the brief meeting of Takuto and Michael Hartland is that it took quite a time for Takuto to heal and his communication with the outer world was cut. It’s their first time meeting each other, yet Takuto is already appointed as the second lieutenant. Further on in the episode, we learn about the fabricated past as Ryu. However, it’s still unclear whether he trained in secret all this time, or there’s something special about Takuto that he’s tailored for the job. His new drip is fire, tho.
• Going back to thinking about names, Funeral is an interesting pick for the task force who fights the aliens. There’s a very “human” side to a funeral; technicality aside, it has a lot to do with ceremonies, rituals, and culture. It’s about sending off the deceased and involves paying final respects or celebrating good memories/life in general for some. For such a grand name, the task force itself doesn’t look concerned about the biological aspects of these aliens. It’s pretty interesting. 
• Certain interesting camera angles make me question whether I should make a mental note of the emphasis or not. For example, I wrote “suspicious guy is suspicious” when I saw this scene. A serious conversation was going on but the person standing seemed like he was eavesdropping on the conversation. Then, I noticed I’ve read too much into it and my dude was just hungry. 

• Our resident bocchan has some unclenching to do. 

• More light!

• This scene, from the moment where Takuto starts walking towards the jail to the Bigfoot itself and the rotating camera movement between the Bigfoot and Takuto, was just splendid. Let me read a bit more into it. We first look down upon Bigfoot through the eyes of Takuto, who’s in the position of the subjugator and Bigfoot looks like a cowering puppy, curled up. Then, through camerawork, we are presented how similar Takuto and Bigfoot are, in truth, with respect to their positions. Takuto looks like he’s being closely watched by the military and it’s possible that he’s put in Funeral so it’s easy to closely watch over & control him. The scene where we see Bigfoot in that circular area reminded me of Romans’ obsession with imagery, and their way of merging “the desire to look and believe with the command to look and obey”, and Pantheon’s oculus, the eye of the building. I couldn’t expand this point more due to having limited time at hand but I’m not even sure how I made such a connection myself. It makes sense for me somehow. I can come back to this point if I come across a similar point later on. 

• Besides all these, loved the purples and greens in the jail. 

• Heavy usage of blues once again in front of Takuto’s flat, in his room, and then the night sky. 

• I speculated about the original sin reference last week and I know it was on the nose, but I still felt accomplished. xD
• We finally learn what Takuto was majoring in; space engineering. I also understood why he hates the professor to that extent. He got his ass served publicly. What’s more, he just learned that he’s in a quantum mechanical superposition of being alive and dead. Good for him.

• The Statue of Liberty looks so done here. I’d be too if I had to endure every calamity known to humankind in fiction over and over again for decades. 

This was pretty much it for the episode! As always, let me know if anything specific picked your interest in episode 4 that I missed, thank you for tuning in and have a good Sunday! Enjoy the rest of my screenshots:

Argento Soma Watchalog:

• Episode 1, 2, 3
• Episode 4
• Episode 5
• Episode 6, 7
• Episode 8, 9, 10
• Episode 11, 12, 13
• Episode 14, 15, 16
• Episode 17, 18, 19
• Episode 20, 21, 22
• Episode 23, 24 & Finale

If it’s your first time visiting my blog, you can click on the image below to find ways on how to connect with me ~