Monster ep.5

May 14, 2004 | 8 Comments

This episode feels a bit jarring to me mostly because I'm not very sure how some parts of the story go from point A to point B. Admittedly, this kind of story telling gives the show a rather mysterious atmosphere towards it. This, however, requires the audiences to develop a good amount of attention and patience while watching the show because sometimes the answer will be revealed at a point where the audiences don't expect it the most. At any rate, I really like the fact that the show doesn't use the standard villain character that other shows normally use. The villain in this show is not the usual ugly looking, come from the lower social economic background type of character but rather a good-looking, well-mannered type of person. The motivation of the said villain in committing some of the crimes is also quite interesting. Although this episode mentions one possible answer for the killing, there seems to be another reason for this character to commit at least 4 murders throughout Germany.

The episode begins by showing a girl running into a lecture hall inside a university. The lecturer, who's in the midst of teaching a Law subject, isn't impressed by the girl's tardiness. He, however, is very pleased when he finds out that she can easily answer his Law-related question that no other students can answer. Later on, we find out that the girl's name is Nina Fortner and that she lives in Heidelberg with her parents. Nina seems to be one of those happy and talented types. She is admired by many of her peers not only because of her intelligence but also because of her ability to excel in physically demanding class like Aikido. However, there seems to be more to Nina than it seems. At one point when her mother shows her a picture of her dressing up in costume while she was a kid, Nina looks as if she doesn't have any recollection of doing such activities. We also find out that she has been attending a counselling session with a psychologist to help her getting rid of her dreams of seeing a monster emerging out of the darkness.

Nina's happy, simple life, however, begins to unravel one day after she receives a mysterious email from an unknown person telling her that the person was born to "shower her with flowers". Nina at first thought that it was his friend, Peter, who wrote the email. He, however, denies of writing such a poetic email and even tells her that he's not happy to hear that someone else is interested in her as well. She also ends up falling unconscious when she hears her Law professor mentioning a case study involving a murder case in Munich. One where a defendant denied any involvement in the slaughtering of a family of four. The show doesn't mention if the defendant in question is actually Tenma but I think it makes sense to think that he was the one who ended up being charged with the accusation by Detective Lunge. Anyway, once Nina regains her consciousness, she tells Peter that the truth is, she doesn't have any memory of her life before she was 10 years old. To complicate matters, she then receives her second anonymous email telling her that the mysterious person will come to pick her up soon.

Elsewhere in Koln, Tenma is seen looking a bit worse for wear while investigating a murder of a couple that live in the area. He finds out that the couple used to have a 14-year-old child by the name of Michael Reichmann. But apparently the child only lived with them for a short while and then disappears without a trace 6 years ago. It appears that Tenma believes that 'Michael' is the name that Johan has been using after the boy disappeared from the hospital. After a couple of dead ends, Tenma ends up being invited by an old man who lives nearby the murdered couple to talk about the kid in question. Meanwhile in Heidelberg, Nina tells her female friends that she has been receiving some anonymous email from stranger. Her friends think that the stranger is interested in her and believe that he could be the same guy who sits in Nina's classroom. Back to Tenma, he quickly finds out that the old man knows that Tenma was the doctor who saved 'Franz', the fake name that the boy gave to him.

According to the old guy, 'Franz' appeared in the area out of nowhere and since the Hainauss has no child of their own, they took him as their own child. And then one day, 'Franz' disappeared. 'Franz' apparently likes to listen to the old man's war stories. However, unlike most boys who are interested in such stories for the pure adventure feel to it, 'Franz' enjoys the story because he was fascinated with the ultimate fear that people feel when they are at the brink of death. In other words, the kid likes toying with fear. Fortunately for the old guy, he's blind and therefore pose no threat to 'Johan'/'Michael'/'Franz', especially since he also doesn't know the kid's real name. He also tells Tenma that even though he knows a lot about the kid, the truth is the kid doesn't open his heart to anyone except his sister. Upon finding out about this Tenma asks where he can find out the kid's twin sister. The old man informs him that the boy plans to get his sister when she turns twenty and that she is now located in Heidelberg.

Back in Heidelberg, Nina is about to go to the university as usual. After she left the house, however, her parents start to talk to one another about how it is time that they let Nina know that she is not their real daughter. Meanwhile, Nina has arrived at her university and is immediately greeted by her two female friends who set her up to meet the guy from her classroom. Nina is not happy about the idea but never the less decides to wait for the guy. After a while, she eventually meets a guy who introduces himself as Otto Huberman. While she was looking off into the distance, however, Nina sees a blonde-haired man standing not too far away from where she and Otto are talking. The camera quickly reveals the man as none other than Johan who is now seen smiling lightly at her. Nina believes that he's seen Johan before but can't remember where and how she met him. Johan then leaves the area while Nina still tries to remember his identity. Unfortunately for Nina, she ends up falling unconscious again for trying hard to access her memory.

Well, it looks like the plot thickens. I think it's pretty safe to assume that Nina Fortner is Johan's sibling. It looks like she has suffered some kind of amnesia either because of a repressed memory or for some other reason. I'm still not clear on how she ended up living in Heidelberg with her new parents and why Johan ended up living in Koln, away from her. Did Johan know right from the start that his sister is now located in Heidelberg or did he find that out later on after he grew up. Who actually took both Johan and Nina away from the hospital that day? Was it Johan himself? I'm not sure that is possible given the fact that the little girl was afraid of her twin brother after the massacre of the Lieberts. I also wonder what happened to Tenma that caused him to wonder around from city to city looking a bit worse for wear. Has he been fired from the hospital or is he a fugitive running from the law now? At any rate, Johan seems to be depicted as a rather disturbed individual at the moment. It's still not clear, however, as to why no one should find out about his past.

© memento 2003