Dirty Pair (Episode 3) - Go Ahead, Fall in Love! Love Is Russian Roulette

Kei and Yuri’s vacation gets cancelled as they are sent on another mission. This time they are to recover a legendary poker chip with supposed luck enhancing abilities… I wonder who’s going to get lucky?

Dirty Pair (Episode 3) – Go Ahead, Fall in Love! Love Is Russian Roulette

What happened?

Kei is furious. She’s been looking forward to their vacation for ages and the 3WA just cancels it at the drop of a hat and sends them to recover some sort of plastic trinket. Yuri is a little more pragmatic and sees it as a chance to meet some rich and powerful men. Anyhow, not long after arriving on the planet, they find their way to the casino and manage to get an invite to the table of the gambler known to have the chip. Yuri makes a crazy stake and loses, but she thinks it will be enough to get his attention.

Sure enough, it worked and they are invited to dinner at his house, however, when they get there they end up in a game where the gamblers are betting on their lives. Of course, they’re not the Lovely Angels for nothing and soon escape. That’s when they run into Sydney, the man that helped them make the connection at the casino. He tells them that he’s the one that tipped off the 3WA and will help them. First, they need to turn off the fusion reactor. Unfortunately, that activates a self-destruct sequence. Looks like it’s time to get out of there.

Dirty Pair Episode 3 Kei and Yuri dressed up

What did you think?

I love that each episode is a self-contained story with various nods and references to past events, and possibly future ones too. The monster of the week format seems to get bashed in the current landscape, but I still enjoy it. It’s nice having characters that you know and like and throwing them into various scenarios to see how they do. With Kei and Yuri, you’re guaranteed that something is going to get blown up or destroyed. It’s what would happen if John Woo made anime.

This episode really gave Yuri a chance to shine and it was a lot of fun watching her casually throw away the money and then claim she would write it off as a work expense. Considering they got the chip too, I think she may get away with it. Overall, it had a little bit of an Ocean’s Eleven vibe to it and not just because of the casino setting. I liked the switcheroo that Kei pulled off at the end too. Underestimate the Lovely Angels at your peril.

Dirty Pair Episode 3 Kei and Yuri at the bar

What have you learnt?

As I eluded to earlier, I’m a big fan of the monster of the week format and it works perfectly in Dirty Pair. The scenario where there are many inhabited planets and places for them to visit helps to keep things fresh and their jobs allow for an endless number of missions. The repetition makes for familiarity and allows the audience to relax and enjoy the action. It becomes a bit of a game as you try to guess what they will destroy this time.

I wrote a Novella in 2018 which was a homage to monster movies and had a lot of fun. It’s a story that I would like to pick up again and expand on, using the monster of the week format. Of course, this will be per book. I like the idea that you can potentially read any book in order and still get the same experience. Obviously, the more you read the more you’ll connect and understand, but it’s not important. What’s important is having lots of crazy adventures with a range of weird and wonderful monsters. I felt like this series would be a great thing to watch for ideas for my stories and it’s proving to be fruitful.