Monster ep.9

June 16, 2004 | 4 Comments

I never expected Monster to present a filler story but this episode is a proof that even this series is not immune from fillers. Admittedly, in comparison to other series, the story in this filler episode is actually rather good. Never the less, I'd prefer it if this series stay away from any kind of filler in the future. I understand that the series need to remind the viewers from time to time that Tenma is a kind person but I think they can easily show this even when the episode is full of important storylines. I just hope that the 70+ episodes planned for this series are not composed of mostly fillers where Tenma gets to help random people that he encounters. I think the reason I don't like this idea is because I've seen it so many times on other television shows such as The Nowhere Man or The Fugitive.

Anyway, the episode itself begins by showing a little girl playing in the rain outside of a police headquarter. Inside the office, a man named Hugo Bernhardt is being interrogated by Lunge. It turns out that Hugo is an ex-mercenary who now makes a living training people how to use guns properly. After a few pleasantries which basically involves Lunge praising Hugo for his teaching skill, he ends up asking if all of his students, especially Tenma, graduated with splendid results. Apparently Lunge found out that five months ago, Tenma had visited Hugo's training ground. This implies that when Tenma was last seen holding a gun in the previous episode, he already completed his training with Hugo. Anyway, upon realising that Lunge tries to get some information out of him, Hugo tells Lunge outright that he doesn't like talking about his students.

The episode then shows a flashback to 5 months ago when Tenma first arrived at Hugo's training ground asking Hugo to train him in using gun. He admitted to Hugo that he never fire nor held a gun beforehand. Hugo doesn't seem to mind the fact and in fact requires Tenma to forget everything that he knows about guns if he wants to follow Hugo's training program. Tenma's first lesson in the training program actually didn't involve any kind of gun whatsoever. Hugo simply asks Tenma to use do a jump rope using the rope he's provided. He points to a little girl who's in the middle of doing a jump rope herself and tells Tenma to follow her example. After completing the exercise, Tenma tries to have some conversation with the little girl and yet, strangely she doesn't respond whatsoever to his talk.

While dining together with Hugo, Tenma finds out that the little girl is neither Hugo's daughter or granddaughter. The fact is, Hugo was once sent to Myanmar and find the girl and her mother hiding inside a hut. The girl's mother apparently was holding a gun and Hugo believed then that if he had hesitated, he'll be the one who got shot. So he had no other choice but to shot the mother. In order to make up for what he had done, Hugo decided to take care the daughter. And yet, she never once smiled ever since he took her in. Hugo believes that she'll spend the rest of her lives hating him. He reminds Tenma that this is the sort of risk that he'll be taking once he has the ability to use a gun. After this day, training continues as usual for Tenma, he still has to do the jump rope along with his daily jogging exercise.

It doesn't take long, however, before Hugo decides to teach him on how to handle a gun. The first advice that Hugo gave to Tenma is to always shoot twice every time he faces an opponent so that he'll increase his chance to really kill that opponent. After the exercise, Tenma decides to have a turn in cooking for Hugo and the little girl. So he decided to cook a beef potato and tells them that it is a traditional Japanese dish that must be eaten with chopsticks. Upon observation, Tenma realises that the little girl is quite proficient at using chopstick and proceeds to praise her. Anyway, one day while Tenma was doing his regular jogging, he sees the little girl finding a little baby bird. At first the girl wants to keep it but Tenma tells her that the bird will find it hard to live away from its mother, so they better return it to its nest. Upon returning the bird, the girl finally smile for the first time.

The episode then returns back to the interrogation that Lunge conducts on Hugo. Hugo lets Lunge know that Tenma graduated with a perfect score in skill, stamina, and concentration. He, however, believes that he won't be able to know whether or not Tenma can use gun in real life until Tenma is faced with a decision whether or not to kill a person. Lunge then asks Hugo if he knows where Tenma is headed. Upon hearing the question, Hugo remembers how one day Tenma simply disappears from his house, leaving only a thank you note and a payment to thank Hugo for his help. While trying to consume the dish that Tenma left behind for him and the girl, Hugo, who was never good at using chopstick, failed to pick up his food. This ends up drawing laughs from the little girl for the first time, much to Hugo's surprise and happiness. In the end, Hugo decided to tell Lunge that he can't give out Tenma's whereabouts. He then goes home with the little girl, who's now seen smiling happily upon seeing Hugo.

Impression:

While it is nice to see that Tenma's kindness has indirectly helped Hugo and the little girl, I still am not clear on why the little girl eventually decided to forgive Hugo for what he did to her mother. I get the impression that it was Tenma's words on how a baby bird will find it hard to survive if it's separated from its mother that seals the deal. Having said that, I really think that if anything, the speech kind of confirms that what Hugo did was wrong. He killed the girl's mother on instinct and then decided to take the girl out of her native country so he can ease off his own guilt. Because of this, I don't understand why the girl eventually decided to forgive Hugo. At any rate, the part of the story where Lunge interrogates Hugo because he has just given a gun shooting lesson to a wanted man feels as if it's been ripped straight out of the headlines. I can't help but feeling a bit uncomfortable about Hugo's profession. I wonder if there were times where, instead of teaching some kind-hearted people like Tenma, Hugo actually tutored some lunatic who won't hesitate to use his skill to hurt others.

© memento 2003