Monster ep.71-74 (END)

March 19, 2008 | 20 Comments

Unbelievable. This show was premiered back in April 2004 but it's not until now that I finally finished watching it. In the best possible scenario, I'd love to be able to finish this earlier but unfortunately there's always something else to do. I do love the story but it's really hard to find the motivation to watch it somehow. I know it's not a good excuse but that's the reality. Anyway, "unbelievable" is also applicable to the last 4 episodes of this series. It's hard to describe the different amount of emotions that I felt while watching them. All in all, it's a fantastic ending for a solid series. It's been a while since I last saw a series with satisfying ending like this one. I really makes me think that 2004-2006 were the years where many awesome series were produced. Ever since then though, I haven't seen a series which is as good or ends as well as this one and many others back then.

Episode 71: The Wrath of Magnificent Steiner

Grimmer tells Franz Bonaparta that no matter what, he can't let Bonaparta dies because he must tell the world the truth. He also assures Wim not to worry about his safety since he has a strong friend coming. On the street, Tenma manages to send the children and their teacher safely out of town while Lunge finds Roberto's girlfriend shivering in fear. She cries and explains that Roberto turns out to be the one who's been ordering the mass murder from his room. Lunge suggests that she go to Hotel Versteck and hide with the others but the girl is too scared to do it on her own. After Lunge helps her stand up, however, he sees Tenma in town. Instead of arresting the guy, Lunge asks Tenma to escort the girl to Hotel Versteck because the man that he's looking for is in that hotel. He then left after telling Tenma that he's sorry (for not believing him all of these times). A few minutes later, Lunge arrives at the hotel where Roberto stays. Inside the hotel, a bleeding but alive man claims that he comes from this town but when Lunge asks him about Roberto's whereabouts, the man pulls out a gun. Lunge, however, is faster than him and manages to shoot him in the shoulder before pointing a gun at the man's mouth. With this persuasion, the man admits that Roberto is upstairs.

Meanwhile, Tenma encounters a man whose wife had been killed. The man is angry and wants to avenge his wife and asks Tenma to borrow his gun. Tenma, however, reminds him that the only thing that his wife wants is the safety of their baby. This knocks some sense into the man so Tenma escort him out of the town. At the same time, the people in Hotel Versteck are getting attacked by unknown shooters. A guilty Bonaparta thinks that everything will be over if he goes out but Grimmer reminds him that he doesn't want Bonaparta to do that. He then assures Wim that the magnificent Steiner will come and help but Bonaparta tells him that he has seen a case like that. By applying sadness or anger, another personality will appear. Grimmer ignores him and decides to come out to reason with the shooters. In the middle of doing so, however, Roberto's ex-girlfriend come to hide in the hotel and promptly got shot by the men from the building in front of them. In his anger, Grimmer remembers how he used to watch the Magnificent Steiner but he didn't have the chance to see the end. He wonders if the weak man in the series knew that Steiner is a manifestation that happens when the young man is angry. With that in his mind, Grimmer's eyes suddenly turned violent.

Outside the town, the teacher and the kids stumble onto Nina and Dr.Gillen. At first they are afraid of the two but once Nina and Dr.Gillen explain that they are looking for Tenma, the teacher informs them that Tenma is heading towards Hotel Versteck. Because of this, Dr.Gillen gives the teacher his car key, asking him to evacuate the children and the injured. The teacher reminds him and Nina that it's dangerous in town but Dr.Gillen tells him that he must go because his friend, Dr.Tenma, is there. At the same time, Tenma arrives in Hotel Versteck only to see a man getting thrown out of the opposite building's window. When he checks the area, he finds a dying Grimmer. Grimmer finally realizes that the one who killed the men are not Steiner but himself in a rage. He's also crying now not because he's afraid to die but because he finally realizes that his son is dead. He believes it's impossible for humans to forget their emotions and his was simply lost somewhere. It's like getting letter that is addressed to him decades later. He also thinks that in the last episode of the Magnificent Steiner, the guy probably returned to being a human again. Grimmer then passed away as Wim cries and Bonaparta realizing all of the mistakes that he's done in the past.

Episode 72: The Man Without A Name

Lunge opens the door to Roberto's room only to hear the sound of shower. When he gets in, however, he senses someone behind him but when he gets out to the living room, Roberto manages to shoot him in the shoulder. Before Roberto delivers the killing shot, Lunge asks for his name but Roberto claims that he doesn't have a name. A shot is then heard but it's not known who gets shot. Meanwhile, Tenma confronts Bonaparta with the letter that he wrote for the twins' mother. Bonaparta admits that he fell in love with Anna (Johan and Nina's mother). Because of this, he aborted the experiment and killed everyone involved with it. Back to Lunge and Roberto, it turns out Lunge manages to shoot Roberto in the gut but Roberto still has enough power to kick Lunge around and strangle the guy. Back at the hotel, Wim explains that while Grimmer can't remember his own name, he remembers the name of the friend that he met at the orphanage. The boy likes to collect bug instead of killing them. That boy's name was Adolf Reinhardt and what he loves the most is the cup of chocolate served at the orphanage. At the same time, Roberto explains that Johan was the one who gave him back his memory of liking the cup of chocolate and this is why he agrees to help Johan.

Across the city, Bonaparta recalls how the night Johan killed his adopted parent, he actually came to their house to take a look at the twins. Bonaparta regretfully admits he's created a monster and feels a kindship when Tenma reveals that he was the one who revived the monster. At the same time, Roberto explains to Lunge that Johan's plan is to leave Tenma as the only survivor so that he will die in solitude and without a name. As for Lunge, Johan wants him to die so Roberto tries his best to snuff the old man out. In his dying breath, however, Lunge manages to squeeze the wound on Roberto's gut. He pushes the guy to the ground before aiming a gun straight to his mouth. Meanwhile, Nina and Dr.Gillen reaches Hotel Versbeck and is informed by Wim that she looks like the girl in the painting. Because of this Nina goes to the 'Vampire's mansion' to see the painting in question. When they get there, they realized that Johan has been here before. All of a sudden, Nina starts acting like she has another personality. She eventually snaps out of it and tells Dr.Gillen that if she had forgiven Johan back then, he might not have gone over the cliff like he is now. While it might be late, she feels that she must stop Johan, who is now heading to town to end it all.

Episode 73: The Landscape of the End

Before Tenma and Bonaparta enter the hotel to help Lunge, they are startled by the arrival of Wim who tells Tenma that there is a girl who is looking for him and she looks like the girl in the painting. Tenma realizes that Nina is the girl, prompting Bonaparta to realize that the girl is now called Nina. Their conversation, however, comes to a halt when they suddenly notices Johan in the distance. Bonaparta knocks Tenma out of the way before telling Johan to die together. All of a sudden, there's a gunshot noise and Bonaparta falls down. Meanwhile, Nina tells Dr.Gillen that back then in the mansion, Bonaparta actually told her to forget everything that she saw here because humans can be anything that they want to be. He believed that Johan and Nina are precious so she and Johan must not become monsters. In the present time, the shooter is revealed to be Roberto, who immediately collapse to his death. Johan then tells Tenma that although Tenma believes that all lives are equal, he should understand by now that people are only equal in death. With that word, he urges Tenma to shoot his brain. Before Tenma manages to do this, however, Nina arrives and asks him not to shoot. Nina then tells Johan that she forgives him even if they're the last two people in the world.

Johan, however, tells her that there are things that can't be taken back. Even now, he believes that Tenma will shoot him. In order to force Tenma to do this, he points his gun at Wim. Tenma becomes enraged and about to shoot despite Nina's plea for him not to do so. All of a sudden, a gunshot is heard and Johan falls to the ground. A flashback then reveals that the shooter is actually Wim's father. He's horrified to see someone taking his son hostage and even more so when he's convinced that the person in question is a seven-headed monster. In the aftermath, the police finally arrive in town but they are confused about the situation. Lunge, who's still alive, tries to explain that Roberto was the one who committed most of the murders in this town. As for the two couple who won lottery, it turns out the husband lost the ticket. However, the wife doesn't mind since she's far happier that they live this way. Meanwhile, a police recognizes Tenma as the fugitive but before he can interrogated him, a paramedic asks him to come with Lunge since there's someone that needs to be saved. At the same time, poor Wim tries to convince the police that his father is not a murderer but the police doesn't believe him. The episode ends with Tenma in the operation room, trying to save Johan's life again.

Episode 74: The Real Monster

In the aftermath of the event, Karl is now staying with his father and reading his favorite book as usual. He informs his father that Tenma is now traveling worldwide. Eva, on the other hand, has a new job as an interior designer, or precisely, a kitchen designer. She has also overcome her drinking problem thanks to Dr.Reichwen's help. She seems regretful about the opportunity that she missed with Martin. She wonders about happiness especially what Martin said about him being happy just knowing that she was waiting for him at the train station. She thinks humans are strange because the sad memories are easily forgotten and replaced by the good ones. Dr.Reichwen tells her that's how we can continue living. At a cemetery, Detective Suk and Mr.Verdermann are seen paying their respect for Grimmer. Their regret is that even now they still don't know his name. Lunge then arrives bringing a bottle of beer for Grimmer as he promised back then. It turns out Lunge has quit his job as a detective and is now teaching at a university. He has also started to talk with his daughter again even though it's only through email. He can't help but wonder how many things people can really tell each other while they're alive. He believes Grimmer has a lot he wants to talk about over some good beer.

Eva informs Dr.Reichween that she'll go back to Dusseldorf but she assures him that this doesn't bother her because she has moved on from her past. She then leave after asking him to give her regards to Dieter and everyone else. Dieter himself has grown up to be a relatively normal boy. As for Heckel, the one time con-man, he was actually asked by Tenma to help him locate a person. From his investigation, Tenma manages to find the person who now resides in Southern France. The person in question is none other than Johan and Nina's mother. She explains that back then she fell in love with her husband but he was killed by Bonaparta as a part of the experiment. Because of this, she hates Bonaparta and swears that even if she died, the children inside her will continue to avenge her hatred. This, however, makes her wonder about the real monster. She also wonders if her kids are well. Tenma confirms that they are healthy. Speaking of the children, Nina is seen rushing off to go somewhere. At the same time, her mother tells Tenma that she now remembers giving the twins their names. Meanwhile, Nina has arrived at her destination, which turns out to be her Professor's office. He's not impressed by her tardiness but excuses her this time.

He tells her that he understands things have been tough for her in the past few months. Nina understands that even then, it still doesn't excuse her grades. The Professor, however, has good news for her: even though she hasn't been doing that well with her lessons, she has managed to produce an excellent thesis. This means she graduated. As soon as Nina exits the building, Dieter calls her to congratulate her and to tell her that Tenma will be coming soon. Upon hearing this, Nina drops all of her plans so she can see Tenma again. Meanwhile, Tenma is now at the Bayern State Police Hospital, visiting Johan, who's now laying unconscious in a coma. He tells Johan that he's just met his mother and she loves him very much. She also tells him Johan's real name. All of a sudden Tenma sees Johan sitting up in front of him. He asks Tenma to tell him something. Back then, when Bonaparta was about to take him and his sister, he only asked for one of them. At that point, their mother gave Nina away to Bonaparta. However, he can't help but wonder if she did it to save him or if she just mistook him as Nina since he was dressing up as a girl back then. Tenma then wakes up in terror, realizing that the whole thing was just his dream and Johan is still unconscious. Not long after he left the room, however, a shot of the bed reveals that Johan has now left the hospital as well.

Impression:

Where do I start? Tenma manages to send the children safely out of the city almost got me but seeing Lunge finally admitting his mistake was just awesome. I think I almost tear up. Ditto with the scene where Nina and Dr.Gillen rush off to the town despite the danger because Tenma is their friend. These days there's a lack of emphasis on how important friendship can be for humans. To most people, 'friends' are just people that you happen to know and hang out from time to time. But real friends can really be a source of strength for someone in trouble. And it was just great to see those children seeing with their own eyes of what friendship is really about: not abandoning your friend when he/she really needs help. Grimmer's death was very poignant because in his dying breath, he finally realizes that there's no magnificent steiner. He also regains his ability to feel sadness and cries appropriately for his dead son. In a way, this is the best ending for him. His death also serves as a reminder for Bonaparta that human's life is not to be toyed with. It's very fitting that Grimmer dies after realizing that in the final episode of "The Magnificent Steiner", Steiner probably turned back to human. Because that's essentially what happened to Grimmer: he regained his 'humanity' (the ability to feel emotion in this case).

The revelation that Bonaparta was the one who killed everyone was a surprise. Does that mean Nina going crazy thinking that she killed everyone was just a figment of her imagination? After all, if what Bonaparta said was the truth then he was actually the one who poisoned everyone in the mansion. Ironically, it's all because he fell in love with the mother of the twins, whom he captured to do the experiment in the first place. It's also nice to see that Johan went crazy again and killed his adopted parents because he knew that Bonaparta was there that night. What I don't understand, however, is why Johan is so afraid of Bonaparta? This is the same psychotic kid who has killed at least 2 couples. Is he afraid of Bonaparta because he knows that he can't deceive Bonaparta as easily? As for Roberto, I refuse to believe that this disgusting piece of freak is actually Grimmer's friend back in the orphanage. There's nothing more satisfying than seeing Lunge squeezing his gunshot wound and then pointing that gun towards his mouth. In general though, I think Lunge wasted his time asking for Johan from this troll. He should have just shot the guy in the head and look for Johan on his own. After all, how would he know if Roberto tells him the truth or not?

Episode 73 turns out to be the climax episode. It's nice to see things resolved this way. Despite Johan's attempt to bait him, in the end Tenma remains an innocent and the same can be said with Nina. It was Johan's mistake that finally brings him down without him getting any satisfaction out of it. He tries to force Tenma to pull the gun by aiming his gun at an innocent boy. Unfortunately for him, the boy's father happened to be there and decided to protect his son in the end. I am a little bit concerned for Wim though so I hope Bonaparta somehow makes it alive so he can take care of Wim. While I think it's nice that Wim's father finally takes responsibility for his own son, it still doesn't make up for the fact that he was a lousy father before. Lunge being alive is clearly necessary for Tenma to be cleared of any wrongdoings. If he had died, it'd be harder for Tenma's friends to convince the police that Tenma is innocent. With Lunge being alive, however, they have a 'trustworthy' character to vouch for Tenma's story. I also love the fact that this episode end in an ironic twist. Despite everything and despite his attempt to kill Johan, in the end Tenma is still a doctor and a doctor's job is to save life. Even if that life is the life of a murderer who has killed many people and ruined his life in the process.

Episode 74 is more like an epilogue. We finally found out what happens to all of the characters that we met throughout the series and it was nice to see them. To me "Monster" wasn't just about Tenma, Johan, and Nina but also about the people that they came into contact with and how their lives were changed because of it. It's nice to know that Karl and his father are getting along better than they used to and Eva finally takes the responsibility for her own life. I almost lost it when Suk, Verdermann and Lunge visited Grimmer's grave. I think despite not having a name, Grimmer changed the lives of those people that he met. In the end, while having a name is important, what's more important is to have people who'll remember you. After all, what's the point of having a name when there's no one to remember you? Even if a person doesn't have a name, that person's life will continue to live on in the memory of those who shared time and bond with that person. A name simply makes it easier to identify the person but it doesn't make the memory more or less important. It's the action of the individual in question that will determine if his life will be remembered fondly by those who missed him.

Moving along, it was satisfying to see Dieter and Nina grow up to be fairly normal kids despite their troubled pasts. It's also nice to see them forming some kind of small family with Tenma, Dr.Reichwen and the others. I think this is the best thing about the series. When these characters started out, they were lonely and had no one to be with. Now, they have a network of people they can call 'family'. It also establishes the fact that family does not necessarily have to be the people that you were born into. A family unit could be a group of people who care about each other and would love nothing more than to spend their time in the company of each other. Nina dropping everything upon hearing that Tenma will be in town is a good example of this. As for the ending, Johan's sudden awakening was shocking. I think my heart skipped a beat for a second. As for his question, it's hard to tell one way or the other. Either way, it's a bit sad to see her not putting up any fight and just push one of her kids toward Bonaparta. I don't think this makes her a monster but she's certainly not a good mother either. All in all, this is an excellent series that I had the pleasure to watch. I think the message it wants to convey is that humans can be anything and it's their choice to become monsters or not.

© memento 2003