#mistrul

Ngl this might be my new favorite unstable episode.

The kind of horrific irony of Flowtives claiming that he killed Flame’s best friend only for Flame to turn around and kill Flow’s in return. Skrilley’s insane voice acting when they run from the attack on his village. Flame going from his lowest point of focus, literally dropping his sword mid-battle, and returning at his highest point of focus with mastery over the flow state. Absolute cinema.

Also can we talk about how much Flame has grown as a character? He went from only caring about being the strongest, to only caring about becoming a combat grandmaster, to now caring about Lomedy and resolving to do more things that Lomedy enjoys instead of just dragging him around everywhere. Genuinely incredible character writing.

I’m not the first person to say that Flowtives is probably going to become a major villain in the future. People have pointed out that Flame burned the elytra and the mace of the Mist right in front of him, but I’d also like to emphasize that Flame also killed Flow’s student and best friend. All four protagonists have placed a large emphasis on their deuteragonists for the current arcs, so it would make sense that a major motivation for the villains would be the protagonists harming the villains’ friends in some way (we can already see this with Billy being upset that his student, Theo, ignores the values that Billy taught him in order to stay with Parrot).

Also I’d like to point out that having this episode set in the Mist, a place literally designed to make you lost, is perfect for the setting where Flame loses (albeit temporarily) both his best friend and his composure. The Mist as a whole represents loss (it’s literally lost to the server - most people don’t know it exists), and I can’t wait for Flowtives to leave the Mist in an attempt to inflict his own loss (Mistrul/the elytra and mace) back on Flame.

(Side note, it’s really funny to me that the supposed leader of the Mist is called Mistrul. Like. MISTrul. Are we serious.)

I didn’t mind the decision to spare Ash in season one because it was season one. I thought sparing Lettuce was a pivotal moment for Wemmbu. I think that Flame sparing Flowtives would be a cool character moment, but I could support either decision if Flow comes back as a main villain.

Also can we talk about Flow’s decision to hand Flame’s sword back to him? I think the moment characterizes Flow as more arrogant than anything, mirroring how Flame used to approach fights. When Flow comes back to the main Mist city and finds everyone dead, his first question is “how did this happen, how did you [Flame] kill them” rather than “how am I going to kill this guy now.” We’ve only seen Flow for one episode, but he’s already being set up to be a really great character foil to Flame (and potentially Wemmbu, should Flow become a major villain). I’d love to see Flowtives go on a similar arc to Flame, where he trains himself to become less arrogant and thus be better at combat.