Alice in Borderland Season 2
Episode 3 No Recap
Of course, this is a present-day thing, because with only 9 minutes left in the game, Tatta decides to take a gamble. At the same time, Arisu saves Usagi from Niragi before she is insulted by him. As Usagi is rescued and brought back to her base, Arisu remembers Kyouma's words about letting her teammates return to her. As a result, he chooses to go ashore, where King of Clubs Kyuma is alone.
Arisu thanks Kyuma for helping him understand the true nature of leadership and decides to shake hands once more. When you do this, the scores are updated. Arisu scores 500 points! But how? It turns out that Tatta had a big plan ahead of all this.
Given that his bracelet has 10,100 points, he convinces Aris to break his wrist to force the bracelet out, stuff it in his pocket, and outwit Kyuma. Ironically, this goes back to Tatta's past, where Kato lost his hand. Although this time Tatta's wrist is broken and bleeding... but it also allows them to win the game – if they can hang on.
The thing is, Kyuma's team aren't completely bad guys, which makes the game and the outcome much harder to swallow. His teammates aren't lamenting the loss of Kyuman or letting his guard down, pointing out that they never would have made it this far without him. However, the King of Clubs himself secretly refuses to answer Arisu's questions about the purpose of this world and the games. "You are the master of your own destiny," he says, and with that he walks away to accept his fate.
When Kyuma reveals that they've been friends all this time, Arisu feels guilty and more. "Don't follow someone else's path," he says, thanks Arisu, and finally lets himself be killed by throwing out his arms. As Kyuma and his teammates die, the shell explodes and falls into the sea. Unfortunately, Tatta also dies due to loss of blood.
The group doesn't let Tatta's death be in vain, and Niragu is still estranged from the rest of the group, but still argues with being alive. Probably for the best to be honest!
Another game in Teio Prison begins with the Chishiya part of the ascension. In the middle of the cell, many men and women are gathered, Jack of Hearts plays a round called "Solitary Cell". Each contestant is collared and forced to run the symbol before time runs out, at which point they return to their cells to enter their answers. A correct answer allows them to continue. Wrong answer? Well, they'll end up blowing their heads off.
This back and forth continues in rounds with no time limit. There's enough food for them all to survive, so it's really like solitary confinement. The only solution is for the Hearts hiding between them to lie to Jack.
This is an interesting game of belief and psychology. In Alice in Wonderland (which we later learn is called Urumi), a large group is formed, led by a remarkable person, everyone survives the first round. The second immediately takes things to extremes, like an angry man insulting a poor child who believes in lying.
As a result, Urumi convinces her large group to lie to this poor child because she is doing the same thing herself. This sets the scene for what is to follow as the larger groups work to pick apart the characters one by one. Distrust springs up in all of them, but unfortunately, one of the women in Urumi's group gets a second opinion... and she's lying.
This large group is eventually reduced to four, Urumi is removed and the speaker is destroyed. Chishiya tries to convince the man (Ippei) she's been with all this time to keep the faith and carry on. Unfortunately, Ippei decides not to respond in his cell and accepts his fate by meeting death. Chishiya is now alone, with only 5 left.
Episode Review
The great thing about Alice in the Borderlands – this episode in particular – is that there's no easy path or clear indication of who is good and bad. Everyone plays this game, and if Kyuma is anything to go by, it's the decent men and women who jump into it. Kyuma's team defeat was actually harder to watch than it was in the black and white series.
The second half is equally interesting and it is a game very similar to the 2015 movie Circle where players are forced to vote for one person in each round. The idea of psychologically testing one's confidence and limits is something that Alice in the Borderland does very well, and this episode exemplifies it.
I thought Urumi was going to be Jack of Hearts, but it seems it's deeper than that. In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if we find out that the real Jack of Hearts is a woman controlled by a dominant Japanese man. But we will have to wait and see.
Alice in Borderland was just as good as the first season - if not better - and the ending leaves everything open for what's to come.
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