In/Spectre (Episode 2) - What the Guardian Serpent Heard

Kotoko has a request from the Yokai. A giant guardian serpent is troubled and cannot sleep, so she must venture into the mountains to visit it and put its troubles at ease. She asked Kurou to come with her, but he’s making miso soup…

What happened?

Kotoko bumps into Kurou at the hospital and asks how his hand is after the last Yokai bit it off. He shows her that it is completely fine and reveals that one of the Yokai he ate was a mermaid which has given his body the ability to regenerate. She tells him that she is to go into the mountains and visit with a Guardian Serpent who is having trouble sleeping. It’s all a part of being the Yokai’s Goddess of Wisdom. She also asks if he would come with her, but he’s busy making miso soup… Kotoko meets with the serpent who is troubled by the actions of a woman dumping a body in its swamp and it’s her job to explain why.

InSpectre Episode 2 Kotoko with Ghost Hiding up her skirt and Kurou

What was your favourite element?

I feel like this episode shouldn’t have worked. It was almost entirely Kotoko sitting down with the Guardian Serpent going over theory after theory of what happened in an attempt to put the Serpent’s mind at rest. However, it was utterly enthralling. I couldn’t take my eyes off the screen. The way that the stories evolved each time, proposing a new possibility was excellent and it reminded me of An Inspector Calls by J.B. Priestley. I won’t give any details of is in case you’ve not heard of it, but it’s a classic. The ideas that were being presented were varied and interesting enough that all could be a possibility. We were left not knowing the final outcome of this little debate and I can’t wait for the next episode to find out.

InSpectre Episode 2 Kotoko talking with the Giant Snake Yokai

What have you learnt?

Last week, I talked about unreliable narrators and that seems to be a pretty heavy element of this series so far. It felt like Kotoko already has the final outcome worked out, but something about it makes her not want to tell the Serpent which is why we went through all the other possibilities first. As much as I love action, dialogue is easily my second favourite aspect of writing. There is something so exciting about good dialogue and so far, these series is doing a great job of keeping me interested with very little actually happening. Everyone in this series appears to have secrets and goes about keeping them as secrets, although at the same time they are oddly open about things that would seem to make them sound crazy. It’s fascinating.