Episode Synopsis: With the addition of Sister Krone, a second caretaker, the children’s planning has become significantly more complicated. They stay focused on the most pressing of their issues, the tracking devices, and have some success. They also begin seriously considering how to get everyone out, and begin using the game of tag as a training regimen for the other children. Sister Krone joins them for one of the games, displaying a sharp intellect and impressive physical ability. Krone and Isabella (the primary caretaker) aren’t 100% on the same side, however – Krone has ambition to become the primary caretaker, and sees the discovery of the rogue children as her ticket. As a final complication, there may be an informant among the other children.
Episode Review: The Promised Neverland continues to impress, easily and seamlessly adding a large number of moving parts to the plot. Whereas before it was just the kids versus Isabella, now there’s Sister Krone for the kids to contend with. But she’s more than just a second caretaker. She has ambitions of her own, and they instantly open a rift on Team Adult.
She’s also a serious foe for the children – she’s quick-thinking and very fast.
She also has a very different strategy for trying to figure out who the rogue kids are. Isabella is playing a slow game of running out the clock, signaling her advantages to the kids to try and discourage them, and (probably) turning some kids against the others. Sister Krone wants to expose the kids herself, and the clock is ticking, so her methods are more direct.
That’s a huge tip of the hand, but all she needs is one of our three protagonists to reveal themselves to her. Still, with kids as smart as these, they may soon notice and try to exploit the differences between their caretakers.
Speaking of the kids and their smarts, they’re able to deduce some pretty important things with the information they have. To the show’s credit, it never feels like they have more insight then they should, and they recognize the gaps in their knowledge and act accordingly.
There is one moment that stands out as odd. As they discuss the devices, Ray says that the devices probably use radio waves, “based on humankind’s existing technology”, but notes that their size and longevity wouldn’t be possible.
They’ve been hinting for a while that Ray knows things the others don’t, but this seems like a stretch – he can only know what the caretakers allow him to – he’s been here since birth. Here’s hoping for a good explanation. Incidentally, the year in-universe appears to be 2045, from a calendar on the wall in Isabella’s room.
Teaching the children that it’s 2015 seems like a weird choice – if you get to pick the year you’re pretending it is, at least pick a year that has the days of the week fall on the same numbers of the month, like 2017. Otherwise it’s going to get super-confusing to keep it straight that it’s, say, Wednesday, October 14th 2015 when you know that it’s Saturday, October 14th 2045.
That said, the existence of a 2045 calendar is a really interesting detail. That means that, whatever the demons are doing here, timekeeping the human way has continued and something as mundane as calendars continue to be manufactured. That opens the door to a lot of speculation about what’s going on outside the walls.
Surprisingly, we get a glimpse of that, as we get to sit in on a meeting of the demons.
I hadn’t ever expected to see the demon higher-ups on screen, and had assumed they’d be left as a faceless, unassailable power that menaces the children’s survival. It’s another tiny detail (the scene lasts 30 seconds) that opens up a lot of possibilities – are the children going to interact with these demons someday? Are there vulnerabilities in their organization, just as there on Team Adult? It’s solid storytelling, and I’m hooked.
As a last mention, it’s nice that the show isn’t all conspiracies, demons, and dangerous adults. There are a few lighter moments scattered here and there, and my favorite this episode was the “training” in the form of tag.
If you’re reading along but haven’t picked the show up yet, I highly recommend doing so soon – there’s an unfolding mystery, and we’ll be spoiling it as we go along, so get in early!
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