Quick Summary
In Fairy gone episode 4, “Impatient Housekeeper and Selfish Artist,” Mariya Noel and Free Underbar win their fight against Sweety Bitter Sweet, but they didn’t get away unscathed. Cain Distarol and Damian Carme deny ever having heard the name Veronica Thorne, but Mariya suspects they are being less than honest. On the way to the train station, Mariya tells Free about her suspicions as she wolfs down her lunch. What’s with the overly friendly woman at the next table over? Why did her companion disappear so quickly? And what does it mean for the cargo they’re carrying back to Dorothea headquarters?
Note: This post may include spoilers, so be cautious.
What’s in This Post
3 Favorite Moments
Dial it back there a little, Free! You have to be a good example for Mariya! Capture from the Funimation stream.
Moment 1
There’s no shame in admitting you’ve been out-classed. Once you realize it, there would be shame in lamenting your inexperience instead of trying to fix the problem. That’s why I liked the scene with Free and Mariya in the street cafe. They’re talking about why Cain and Damian hid their sources when two boisterous people sat at the table next to them (14:37). There sat two people we later learned were Patricia Pearl and Jonathan Passpierre (or Paspierre in MAL), but all we knew at that moment was that the woman had met with Bitter earlier in the story and was likely up to no good. That, and the man was cynically poetic. Mariya frowned at Free when he appeared to fawn over the woman (I think she was more disgusted with him getting all giggly over a pretty blonde rather than any feeling of jealousy — at least, I hope that’s the case!). A moment later, and the man seemed to simply disappear. Credit to Free: He instantly knew something was up (15:23). Instead of wasting time berating himself, he tried stood and tried to get a handle on the situation — only to discover that the man had somehow stolen the Black Fairy Tome and Patricia was running away, too.
Mariya is way too tender-hearted to be a field agent. At least right now, she is. Capture from the Funimation stream.
Moment 2
There are times (okay, most of the time!) when I think Mariya isn’t cut out to be a field agent. For example, as they passed through the crypts under the abandoned church, they came across a dead body that wasn’t that old (17:17). She was very uneasy, but to her credit, she stayed on mission. When they came under gun fire, Free told her to climb into a casket for cover (17:35), and she was aghast at the thought of crawling in beside the skeleton — but she did it anyway. What really emphasized her unpreparedness was when she had accepted that she was going to have to fight and started pulling her rifle out of its carrying case. She accidentally bumped the skeleton, and you could hear some of the bones dislodge. She didn’t freak out. Instead, she apologized (18:52). To the skeleton. I’m beginning to think she’s way too tender-hearted to be a field agent!
Is it just me, or is there something like grief in her expression? Capture from the Funimation stream.
Moment 3
I’m kinda tired to the whole damsel in distress trope. It’s not that I think women characters should never need help; it’s that for too long, too many works of fiction portrayed too many women as helpless and who needed to be rescued. It became a cliche! That’s why I really liked this moment: It was a twist on the cliche, making it something new, and revealed something about the character involved. Jonathan had chased Mariya out of the crypts and into the abandoned church. Due to her inexperience, she couldn’t shoot him, and he succeeded in jabbing her with something (a drug, maybe?). He also disarmed her. Wounded, barely able to crawl away from him, she found that she was still too weak from the episode-beginning fight to summon her fairy. It looked like she was done for. That’s when she heard the stain glass behind her shatter. Diving through, protecting her head with her arms, was Veronica (21:32). Mariya’s flashbacks to Veronica protecting her prepared us for this moment, and it was glorious! Not since Milla Jovovich playing Alice in Resident Evil Apocalypse have I seen such beautiful destruction of stained glass!
Thoughts
If you’d like a scorecard for which character belongs to what group, this post from Reddit user Yamatu is a great summary. The series is throwing a lot at us quickly, and that reference helped me understand what’s going on with a little more clarity.
Patricia had a heck of a time lugging her suitcase to her meeting with Sweety. Does she transport Jonathan in that thing? That’d be an interesting twist…
After firing her rifle a second time at shadows in the crypt (just after my second favorite moment), Mariya pulled the bolt back to eject the cartridge. Did you hear it hit the stones (19:23)? That sure sounded like a shotgun shell to me!
There are down-sides to keeping up with other reviewers for this series! For example, Lynn Sheridan’s post called “Fairy Gone (Episode 3) – Greedy Fox and Lying Crow” said that Damian “looked like he could have been in the Bee Gees.” Now every time I see Damian, I hear “Stayin’ Alive…“
The flashbacks were particularly effective in this episode. Capture from the Funimation stream.
Before I bring up a what sounds like a negative (but which could actually be a real flaw in Dorothea’s operations), I want to mention I like how this episode used flashbacks that tied into action. It also felt like Mariya was settling back into her character after joining Dorothea. I was afraid she’d forget all about Veronica. I’m relieved to see that’s not the case! The story of their friendship is coming into better focus, and I’m starting to feel a lot more hopeful about this series!
Back in my review of episode 2, I wondered if Dorothea had put Mariya into the field too soon. I hope I don’t sound too arrogant if I offer most of this episode as justification for that concern! Sure, Mariya did a great job in the opening fight, but it was pretty straight forward: She was able to snipe, then use her fairy to attack Sweety. As vicious as she is, Sweety doesn’t really seem blood thirsty, so she withdrew.
But after that?
She was slow to recover from her fairy’s disintegration. She was slow to realize that Patricia and Jonathan had stolen the Black Fairy Tome. She was terrified by her descent into the crypt. To her credit, she recovered quickly in every case; and in every case, she faced her fears with bravery. But she was compensating for a lack of training.
And it almost got her killed.
Seriously, Mariya, turn and fire! Jonathan would have a hard time evading! Capture from the Funimation stream.
Remember when Jonathan was chasing her up the stairs (20:03)? Mariya was ahead of him by a half dozen steps at least. The staircase was narrow. All she had to do is turn and open fire. As fast as he was, he might have been able to evade the first shot, but she’s proven that if there’s one thing that she does extremely well, it’s work her rifle. I’m pretty sure she could have at least wounded him if she could have kept that advantage.
Training in situational awareness would have helped her. Just knowing that you should always take advantage of your surroundings would have helped, too! But it seems like they just gave her some shooting practice and tossed her into the field.
And for heaven’s sake — can someone give the woman a pistol? Anyone who’s watched Sword Art Online II’s OP Ignite (by Eir Aoi) knows how that kind of thing works! It clearly shows what happens when an enemy gets too close and Shino Asada (Sinon) can’t use Hecate II — she pulls a pistol and starts blasting away.
I should know — I’ve watched that OP a couple hundred times! Don’t judge me — the music’s great and the animation ties to it perfectly! And, well, Sinon. I hear she’s considered a deity in some circles…
Do you think Mariya should have received more training? What were your favorite moments? Let me know in the comments!
Other Posts about This Series
Other Anime Sites
- Reddit Discussion of Fairy Gone Episode 4
- Lynn Sheridan: Fairy Gone (Episode 4) – Impatient Housekeeper and Selfish Artist
- Anime Recommendations: Fairy Gone Episode 4 Review
This Site (Crow’s World of Anime!)
- Review of Fairy gone Episode 1: Ash Covered Girl
- Review of Fairy gone Episode 2: Wolf Collar and Swan Feathers
- Review of Fairy gone Episode 3: Greedy Fox and Lying Crow
- Review of Fairy gone Episode 5: Black Moon and Lost Child’s Song
- Review of Fairy gone Episode 6: Fellow Traveler
- Review of Fairy gone Episode 7: Stubborn Blacksmith and Biased Rabbit
- Review of Fairy gone Episode 8: Pipe Blowing in Stage Wing
- Review of Fairy gone Episode 9: Rolling Stones and Seven Knights
- Review of Fairy gone Episode 10: Cursed Child
- Review of Fairy gone Episode 11: Uninvited Music Corps
- Review of Fairy gone Episode 12: Powerless Soldier
I’m a little confused about why Mariya would think they’re lying about Veronica. First, how often is the person who steals something the end vendor? And if it’s on the black market, how often would they reveal their real name? That was a long shot to begin with. Maybe it’s intuition? Maybe she suspects she works for them? No idea what so ever here. It looks like something the story wants us to believe, too. I don’t think we’re supposed think she’s wrong, and that opens up the worrying possibility for me that the writing is… naive. Other than that, though, I have no complaints with the writing in the episode.
“Maybe it’s intuition?”
If it is, I would have liked to have seen some foreshadowing if her abilities. But the episode seemed to show that she’s out of her depth on several occasions.
On the other hand, maybe in the next few episodes we’ll see something in her development to reinforce this?
Still, Veronica crashing through the stained glass was a great moment!
Ah ah ah ah, statin’ alive, stayin’ aliiiiive!
Wait until you see my next comparison! Let’s just say they’re blasting of at the speed of light!