It seems that I was a little premature in my earlier assertion that Human Vapor have finally coughed up the majority of its secrets, as “Ellie My Love” reveals that there’s still a fair few reveals to go. Last episode unloaded a hell of a lot of backstory on us that thickened the connective tissue that binds the whole conspiracy plot together. Kyoko was exposed as the one controlling the Human Vapor, who in turn was revealed to be a kindly man who helped her after her child-self escaped the homeless-abusing horrors of the White Centre. However, in the here-and-now, we find that atop of the conspiracy mountain sits Governor Miura, who is control of the various Yakuza bosses and corrupt civil servants that Kyoko and the Vapor have been targeting – and worse yet, Miura has managed to discover how to control the vaporous assassin and plans to use him to clear the way to running all of Tokyo. It was certainly a lot, but no one wants a simple conspiracy, right? Well buckle up, because we’re not done yet.
I won’t go into what happened last episode as I technically just did, but after the tragic sacrifice of Fujita Fujikawa allowed his sister, Kaho, to escape the Vapor’s clutches, she finds herself alone on the streets of Tokyo. Meanwhile, it’s flashback time once again as we duck back into history to fill in those last, lingering gaps, and the main one is obviously how the tragic Ren Tsutsumida ended up under the thrall of his former ward, Kyoko in the first place. It seems that after looking after her, Kyoko’s no-good mother comes back into the picture with a worryingly familiar boyfriend. In a startling coincidence, her other half is Yasutoshi Mori – the Yakuza gang member who goes on to be investigated by Kenji Morimoto for killing an underage girl years later – and in order to ensure Kyoto doesn’t have to go back to White Centre, Mori convinces Ren to work a single shift at the meteorite clean up – and we all know how that turned out. However, what we didn’t know is that Kyoko actually witnessed Ren’s “death”, but after years and years of mourning, six years before the events of the series began, she stumbled upon his new, petrified form in the ruins of the old Bunko Ramen restaurant when chasing up a story for JNT.
Eventually discovering she can wake him up with the playing of “Ellie My Love”, Kyoko discovers that the Ren she knew is essentially gone, but the blank slate that remains seems willing to carry out “wishes” that are asked of him. Years later, while dating Kenji, she discovers that he’s trying to unsuccessfully pin Mori for a murder and realises that it’s the same guy who took Ren away from her. Using her over-zealous attempt at an interview to provide a reason for why this man would suddenly die in the middle of the night, it turns out that Mori was actually the first person Kyoko ordered the Vapor to kill despite them both making it look like the suicide of a guilty man.
Meanwhile, in the present day, Kenji approaches Kyoko about what he’s discovered about her, and Kaho learns exactly how Miura plans to use the Vapor.
So it seems there was still quite a bit of housekeeping left to take care of before we dive fully into whatever craziness the finale can bring. However, while “Ellie My Love” mostly concerns itself with plugging up those story gaps, by now I’m so on board with the show in general that waiting a little bit longer while the show gets its house in order is a courtesy I’m only too happy to pay. However, some may feel the need to call bullshit on exactly how much of the story is actually connected, as it turns out virtually everything that’s occurred and everyone it contains has had some sort of previous meeting that’s set them on the path they’re on. However, that’s pretty much how most sci-fi conspiracy series tend to go, so suspended some disbelief and let’s get stuck in.
Once again, we’re playing the flashback game, but while the vast majority of it finally straightens out the Kyoko/Ren timeline, we still keep a toe in the present day to keep tabs on our leads. After witnessing her brother go boom, Kaho wanders the streets of Tokyo in something of a daze, but once the shock subsides, she eventually manages to get in touch with Kyoko who is still unaware that she’s lost control of the Vapor. But she has a few other things on her plate when Kenji confronts her with the fact that he’s figured it all out and knows that she’s the one that’s been siccing her former protector on those that have wronged them. However, in an interesting twist, Kenji seems quite understanding of the whole thing which suggests he’s either willing to finally discover why Kyoko felt the need to betray him over Mori a year, or he’s simply exhausted by playing catch up for three whole episodes – but whatever the reason, both we and he discover that he’s more connected to this mess than he ever could have dreamed of. You see, the officer who got between Kyoko’s mother and Ren all those years ago was actually Kenji’s father and even though he tried to facilitate a happy ending despite Miro’s interference, it obviously was not to be.
You can tell that along with a fair amount of circumstance, director Shinzo Katayama and co-writer Yeon Sang-ho are doing their best to jack up the tragedy. Both Kaho and Kenji are still traumatised by resent events and the toll they’ve taken, and the grasping fingers of White Castle have seemingly been sullying their lives for years (wanna bet folding money that Kenjo’s dad directly died as a result of the organisation?). However, while Kyoko is an old hand at getting fucked over by the various slime who ran White Castle and repeatedly ruined her life, we get a glimpse of how she turned some of that injustice into a weapon.
Her discovery of Ren in his statue phase is cruel enough, but to discover that, while a beloved song will rouse him, he can only echo long forgotten statements from happier times, is just one injustice too far. As a result, The fact that her betrayal of Kenji and her leaking of the Mori case was less a greedy attempt to further her own career and more of a smokescreen to provide the first steps toward faking his suicide is actually fascinating and Katayama gets some nice quasi-humerous moments where the horror of taking a life – even with the aid of a mindless mist-man – temporarily prove to be too much for her. However, now that we’ve really covered all the backstory, I’m raring to see how Human Vapor will end. Will it be a self-contained story, or will Netflix leave the door wide open for a second season? Personally, I’m hoping for the former (there’s no guarantee of a second season for anything these days and I’d rather not have another unresolved cliffhanger setting off my OCD), but who knows which way the clouds will blow?
Despite the fact that I’m eager to see how this all ends, Human Vapor takes some time out of its crowed schedule and lifts its foot off the gas in order to straighten out the sheer scale of its conspiracy once and for all. Thankfully, it still proves to be pretty gripping, but with the finale on the horizon, it’s time for the Vapor let of some climactic steam.
🌟🌟🌟🌟
We Have Issues 