Monster ep.2-4

May 1, 2004 | 2 Comments

Yeah, I know I'm cramming it all into one entry but there is no other way for me to catch up with this series unless I do so. And besides, I think I'll be frustrated by the tension that this series create during episode 2-3 if I hadn't watch the fourth episode right away. Anyway, tension aside, I've been very impressed with the show in general. The series has done a good job of showing human's propensity to become 'Monsters' and emphasising the importance of our words and our decisions. As these episodes demonstrate, humans can easily hurt other humans just by uttering a few words or by making a simple decision that affects others. And in some ways, even the good-hearted Dr.Tenma is not exempt from this flaw.

In episode two, Tenma soon finds out that even though he was successful in operating the little injured boy named Johan, the other doctors failed in doing successful operation on the mayor. Not long after this he finds out that he's no longer the candidate for the Chief Surgeon position. Eva's father, Dr. Heinemann aka the Director of the hospital has ensured that someone else gets the position. Tenma also finds out that he can no longer introduce his thesis at academic meeting and if he wants to move to another hospital, he won't receive any recommendation letter whatsoever. In other words, it's basically the end of his career as he knows it. To add insult to the injury, Eva later on arrives to tell him that their engagement is off.

Depressed and frustrated by the sudden turn of fate in his life, Tenma woefully cries and tells his story in front of the unconscious boy. He reveals that he went from Japan to German because he was impressed by the thesis that was written by Dr. Heinemann. But now he realised that some other doctor like himself may have written the thesis. He also admits that he knew he was being used but he allows it because he thinks it makes him possible to conduct more research. He, however, disagrees that research should take priority over the lives of others. In his anger, he says loudly that he wishes money-monger like the Director died. After he calms down, he wistfully tells the little boy to survive because he lost his job to keep the boy to stay alive.

The fate of the twin children soon attracts the attention of the media, much to the dismay of the hospital doctors who feel that they can't possibly keep the cost of taking care of the kids. Dr. Heinemann, however, thinks that the cost is bearable for now if it means that they get publicity for the hospital. He ordered the two other doctors to bring the little girl to see the little boy so that they can take pictures that can be shown to the media. This way, everyone will think that the hospital has been taking good care of the twins. Dr. Heinemann also orders the doctors to remove Dr. Tenma from the twin's case as he raids some of the candies that the young boy receives from the hospital visitors. He grabs what looks like a buttermilk candy bag and offers the candy to the two other doctors.

Later on, Dr. Tenma hears a scream emanating through the hospital walls and recognises its origin from the little boy's room. He soon finds out that the two doctors under Dr. Heinemann have ordered the nurse to bring the little girl to see her brother but she then faints for some unknown reason. What's more interesting is the fact that the little boy is finally awaken from his coma. Tenma also finds out that he's been removed from the case of the twin children without any prior consultation. In his frustration, he ends up getting drunk in the city. At the same time, a nurse at the hospital find the dead bodies of the two doctors who are now in charge of the little boy while Eva finds the dead body of his father inside his office. The episode ends with Dr. Tenma in his bed sleeping while muttering "they should be dead".

In the following episode, Dr. Tenma is awaken by two detectives who knock on his door in the middle of the night to let him know that Dr. Heinemann as well as two other doctors are found dead. The only clue to their dead is the plastic wrapper from the buttermilk candy that they took from the little boy's room. Once Tenma gets over his initial shock and arrives at the hospital, he receives an even stranger news that the little boy and his sister have disappear from their respective room and no one knows where they have gone. A few days then passed and after the funeral of the Director, Tenma is introduced to a detective called Lunge who's responsible for the investigation of the incident. Lunge believes that the death of Tenma's colleagues has some kind of connection to the death of the twin children's parents.

Tenma, however, is more interested in the fate of the missing children and ask the detective to let him know if he manages to find out their whereabouts. The murder case, however, has made Tenma realises that lately he has turned his back on saving lives and thinks that maybe it'll be good for him to leave the hospital and return to Japan. He, however, soon that some of his patient and nurses really appreciate his work and don't want him to leave the hospital. In addition to this, the Chairman of the Hospital board soon invites him board to a meeting, where he is informed that he's been promoted into the Chief Surgery position based on his successful work. Tenma is shocked and unable to understand this twist of events in his life. He, however, knows for sure that he doesn't want to go back into a relationship with Eva even when she begs that they continue their relationship.

Fast forward to 9 years later, Tenma seems to have undergone a plastic surgery on his face. I'm just kidding but I do think that he looks strangely younger 9 years after the incident. Elsewhere, Detective Lunge is seen investigating the murder of a middle-aged childless couple. While other detective thinks that it's the work of thief, Lunge believes that the murderer did not intend to steal and think that it is similar to other murders that have happened in the past two years. He believes that 3 or 4 people were involved in the murder. He suspects that one of them is a man called Adolf Junkers, a 32-year old locksmith who have been arrested twice for theft. Back to Dr. Tenma, even though he's a successful Surgery Chief these days, he's still as caring about his patient as he was 9 years ago.

One night, Tenma receives a call from a doctor at another hospital asking him to operate on a patient who was got hit by a car. Being the kind person that he is, he agrees to do the operation. However, when Tenma arrives at the hospital, he finds himself facing Detective Lunge once again. Lunge tells him that the patient is Adolf Junkers, a suspect in multiple murder, so he needs him alive for the investigation. Lunge also tells him that they still haven't solved the murder case from 9 years ago and to him, the only person who'll benefit from the murder is Tenma himself. Tenma is annoyed by the accusation but decides to focus on the operation. Once the operation is finished, Tenma decides to visit Junkers to see if he's okay. However, the only words that Junkers say is "A monster is coming".

Continuing from the previous episode, episode four begins with Junkers being interrogated by Lunge. He, however, remains quiet throughout the whole interview until Lunge starts to question him the identity of the person who hired him. Upon hearing this question, Junkers' body starts to shake badly that Tenma has no choice but to order Lunge and the other detectives to leave the room and continue the investigation later on. Later on, Tenma decides to take Junkers out of his room into the hospital garden so he can relax a little bit. While the two relax in the garden, Tenma decides to tell Junkers the story of how he used to be so focused on his work until the incident with the little boy changed his life. Tenma believes that it's never too late for a person to change.

Upon hearing Tenma's story, Junkers tell him that although the two of them are almost similar in age, Tenma sounds a lot like his father. Junkers reveals that he originally started stealing because he didn't have the money to buy a clock with a nutcracker figurine that he saw at a shop when he was a kid. But ever since the incident, he ended up spending the rest of his life as a thief. He then tells Tenma that the truth is, the person who hired them murdered all of his partners. That night as Tenma is about to go on a date, he saw the exact clock that Junkers had always wanted. He decides to purchase the clock and returns to the hospital to give Junkers the present. At the same time, Junkers awakes in his room and tells the officer who's guarding his room that he is willing to tell them everything as long as Dr. Tenma is there to accompany him.

However, when he doesn't hear any answer from the policeman, Junkers decide to step out of the room, only to find out that the officer is already dead. At the same time, Dr. Tenma has arrived at the hospital and proceeds to walk into Junkers room. Tenma quickly spots the dead policeman and an empty candy wrapper and realises that Junkers has disappear from his room. Fortunately, Tenma manages to spot Junkers running away to an abandoned building and decides to follow him into the place. Upon reaching the place, however, he is warned by Junkers not to look for him because otherwise Tenma's life will be in danger. He tells Tenma that the person who killed his partners is already in the building. Tenma decides to ignore the warning and proceeds to walk upstairs. He immediately finds Junkers trembling in fear in front of a man whose face he can't see clearly.

However, Tenma doesn't have to wonder for very long because the man soon introduces himself as the boy that he saved nine years ago, Johan Liebert. Junkers tells Tenma to run away as fast as possible because this is the man who hired him and his partners. Tenma quickly realises that it was Johan who killed the four couples and tells him to stop the killing because he knows Johan's identity. In reply, Johan tells Tenma that there used to be a time when he had that name. However, the truth is, that is not his real name. His real name is a secret that he must conceal at any cost and the four couples as well as the Liebert were in his way. Johan, however, thinks that Tenma is different from all of the others. He considers Tenma as his own father because he was the one who saved Johan. Tenma then asks Johan not to kill Junkers because no one has the right to take other people's life.

Johan laughs and asks him why is it wrong to kill other humans? After all, it was because the Director of the hospital and the two other doctor are dead that Tenma is able to become a Chief Surgeon in the hospital where he works. Johan tells Tenma that he still remembers how Tenma wished for the death of his former colleagues. So he simply did what Tenma wanted him to do to those people. Johan then proceeds to shoot Junkers, reveals his face to Tenma, and walks out of the abandoned building, leaving a shell-shocked Tenma alone. The next day, Tenma tries to tell everything that he knows about Johan to Detective Lunge. Lunge, however, is sceptical of Tenma's story. And even though he can't find any evidence that incriminates Tenma, he still wants to keep an eye on the doctor.

I supposed I was correct in guessing that the little boy was the one who killed his parent, the Liebert. Detective Lunge was right when he said that in most premeditated murder, the killer usually has a relationship, or at least knows the victim. I was, however, surprised with the suggestion that the Lieberts are not Johan's real parents. At any rate, the series does a good job of portraying the capacity in each person to hurt other people. If I really think about it, there is little difference between Johan and the doctors who chose to discriminate their patients. Johan kills to protect his own interest. The doctors and the hospital chief chose not to save the life of the Turkish man in the first episode to protect their own interest. Where does this leaves Dr. Tenma remains to be seen in future episodes.

© memento 2003