Rating: A-
Last episode featured Freya dropping her charm bomb on Orario and Bell waking up to discover that he was trapped in a peculiar kind of nightmare. This episode, Freya advances her game plan as she and her minions push forward with a concerted effort to convince Bell that his memories of reality are just the result of some curse that’s warped his memories from the truth: that he was always a member of Freya Familia. It’s insidious in some senses but sad in others.
For an episode where it feels at the end like not much actually happened in terms of advancing the story, a lot of detail still comes out. Freya has probably had a plan like this in mind for some time now, as evidenced by all the preparations that have been made for it. She has a plan for those who were deep in the Dungeon or outside of the city when the charm landed, she has eyes on Hestia (the one person whom she apparently knew she couldn’t affect), she had the Status Snitch ready for when Bell would inevitably demand proof via a status update, she has the Hestia Knife hidden away somewhere, and she had a plan for dealing with Ouranos, too. She and Ouranos both know that, with the charm in effect, he doesn’t have the tools to do much to her, but Freya also knows he can still be a thorn in her side, so she bribes him rather than charming him, which brings up an interesting point: we’ve seen Loki Familia in the Dungeon many times, but we haven’t seen Freya Familia down there beyond Ottarl prepping the Minotaur back in season 1. All her people have apparently been doing lots of life-and-death training and tasks for her instead, even though they’re on at least even terms with Loki Familia for power. But how long will Freya’s promise to push Dungeon exploration keep him at bay? (And what is “machia” anyway? This is the first time that term has come up in the animation, and I don’t believe it came up in the novels before this point, either.)
But Freya’s charm isn’t flawless. Altering memories doesn’t seem to block strong emotional connections, and those combined with hard proof can overcome the charm. Unfortunately for Eina, the charm also appears to turn everyone under it into an effective spy for Freya, so someone who breaks out is bound to get reported, and she just winds up using Eina’s notes in her continuing attempt to dupe Bell. (But she also probably wasn’t lying when she indicated she would enjoy reading them just to learn more about Bell, too.) Not even Ais can resist the charm, but she still had enough of a relationship with Bell to have vague lingering impressions. For all her ridiculous behavior at times, Hestia is also no fool; she knows that Ais could be a key to saving or completely breaking Bell, depending on how she responds to him. Hestia also has enough sense to heed Hermes’ warning to her before the charm dropped, since Hermes clearly isn’t ready to be shaken out of the charm himself yet.
And there’s a simpler factor Freya hasn’t accounted for, either: how skittish Bell is when put in even vaguely sexual situations. Even if he is confused over whether his memories are real or not, that part of him hasn’t changed. Freya, who may never have had anyone resist her physical charms so thoroughly before, was clearly caught completely off guard, but she’s enjoying that rather than getting frustrated by it. Yes, she wanted Bell, but even she may not have been fully cognizant of what she wanted from Bell. That she feels compelled to result to such drastic measures is, honestly, a bit sad.
Then there’s the matter of Folkvangr. In Norse mythology, this was a meadow that served as a counterpart to Valhalla, where warriors gather after death and which was controlled by Freyja. In this context, it’s the part of the Freya Familia estate where the rank-and-file constantly engage in bloody training during the day, get healed by the Familia’s masterful healers at the end, and then eat heartily in the evening. It’s more brutal combat training than anything Bell has seen before, all in the name of pleasing Freyja. But even here, some faint cracks are starting to emerge. Even beyond Horn, not everyone is welcoming of Bell’s presence, regardless of what Freya wants; they want Freya’s attention on them, not him. The upper echelon are all playing along for now, but they have also shown that kind of selfishness in the past, too. Yes, they all worship and serve Freya, but they also expect her attention, much like Soma’s familia members expect his wine, and they are all no less addicted to it. (Interestingly, this is almost a diametric opposite dynamic to Ishtar and Apollo, where many of the familia members actively avoided getting too much of their god’s attention.)
And there’s one other potential loose end which hasn’t even been touched on yet: a certain moronic catgirl waitress, who was a former active Freya Familia member and still probably has Freya’s Falna engraved into her back. That means she would also be unaffected by the charm, just like the regular familia members weren’t, and she clearly didn’t know what was going on with Syr and so almost certainly wouldn’t understand it. How will she play into this going forward?
Essentially, the challenge here is whether Freya can wear down Bell’s resistance before someone can disrupt to her fantasy world. The seeds for overcoming Freya are out there, but can Bell hold out long enough for them to germinate?
USA Anime 