Alice In Borderland Season 1
Episode No 4 Recap And Review
On the way, he passes a sad Arisu lying face down on the sidewalk. When he approaches, he tells her that he will die soon. Usagi doesn't seem to pay much attention until she sees him again later that day and takes pity on him while it's raining.
In more flashbacks to the past, we see Usagi and her Father's relationship drifting apart. What was once a loving father/daughter experience soon turns into something else as her Father sets off alone and refuses to take her up the mountain.
This is the last time she sees world-famous climber Shinegori Usagi missing. Rumors begin to circulate that he either committed suicide or climbed the mountain alone without oxygen. Unfortunately, Usagi's face down, hopeless posture is now with Arisu in the days after this mirror.
In the present, Arisu wakes up and blames herself for everyone who died. While cursing the heavens, Usagi brings him back to earth, admitting that she is in the same position as him.
Usagi tells him that she wants to bless him after saving his life during a game of tag.
That's enough to motivate Arisu as day turns to night and the duo prepares to engage in yet another deadly game. A graffiti-covered bus sits in an underground car park marking the start.
The other boys, cellphones in hand, greet the pair warmly as Arisu notices that one of them, a boy named Takuma, has a sprained ankle. Although he doesn't say it outright, it's clear that it reminds him of Chota.
The rules of the game are simple - withstand the challenges, run the gauntlet and cover a certain distance within a generous time to survive. As the bus runs out of gas, Takuma decides to sacrifice himself to save the others. This doesn't sit well with Arisu, but she joins the others and starts running anyway.
They continue until they reach a charging point. Usagi isn't sure if they should take the drinks there and instead they share around a small bottle they brought with them.
Things soon take a turn for the worse when they are chased by a terrifying, snarling panther that appears and is out for blood. The chase soon turns more hostile as one of the panther boys grabs Seiza and takes off with him.
As Arisu continues with the others, he watches a motorcycle behind a truck and has an idea. He doesn't want to sacrifice another for his sake and starts running back on his motorcycle to save Takuma.
He turns back, but when Usagi reaches the target range of 12,000 meters, he finds himself in hot water... and finds the tunnel closed. Only, as the water rush chases him down the tunnels, he suddenly bursts at the seams.
Thankfully, she manages to get back to Arisu and Takuma, who open the bus doors and save Usagi from certain doom at the last second. As fate would have it, they had to stay on the bus the entire time (with "Destination" written on the side).
Battered but certainly undefeated, Takuma says goodbye and hopes to meet again soon. Meanwhile, Arisu stands by Usagi and wonders if they should go to the beach and try to stop the plan behind everything that's happening.
Sporting a bike and a luggage basket, the duo prepare to tackle whatever may come their way on the beach
Episode Review
As we near the midway point of the series, Alice In Borderland still doesn't give many clues as to exactly what this game is and how it came to be. Rather, different games work to develop our characters and add more dimensions to their personalities.
Interestingly, Takuma's sprained ankle is very similar to the burns Chota had previously dealt with, and I'm sure Arisu saw a lot of his old friend in him.
So what do these deaths say about the final episode? The after effects of seeing her friends brutally murdered in front of her eyes certainly took their toll on Arisu in the first half of this episode.
Interestingly, this pain and sadness is something she and Usagi share in common, and the flashbacks in the series have worked very well so far to establish Usagi as an interesting and capable woman.
Killing off various supporting characters along the way is certainly a surprising turn of events, especially adding to the tension and unpredictability of the series. You're never quite sure who's going to live and who's going to die, and that only makes the diverse sets even more exciting.
One thing is for sure, Alice In Borderland is quite a surprise and definitely one of the best sci-fi series in 2020. Let's hope the second half of this drama keeps up the momentum and backs it up with some satisfying answers to the big questions. mysteries raised so far.
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