Record of Grancrest War (Episode 16) – Outpost
Milza attempts to draw Theo out of the Forest of Eternal Darkness but isn’t prepared for what to do when he does come out. Meanwhile, Queen Edokia finds a daring way to rally her forces to her side!
What happened?
The Forest of Eternal Darkness surrounds Theo’s castle making it a dangerous place for one to wander in the day, let alone at night. Milza and his troops, some of them anyhow, make it to the castle gate, but turn back when they realise that Theo is not going to come out to meet them. It’s not safe to set camp outside the castle walls, so Milza returns to Castle Unicorn to regroup. His mage, Telius Savoie suggests they attack Regalia while they wait.
It seems like a good plan and with reinforcements coming from the Nord it would be a great way to stamp his authority on the treaty members. When they arrive at Regalia, the lord, Selge Constance has fled and the citizens are rioting and looting. Milza gives Telius five days to sort it out before they head back. However, when they do, they find Theo and his army of fifty-thousand soldiers en route. Milza wants to fight but is convinced to wait for back up.
A large part of the backup Milza is expecting is the Nord fleet lead by Ulrica, however, they are in Haman preparing to conquer it and defeat Queen Edokia. Laura Hardly, Edokia’s mage suggests that she has the will of the people behind her and that all she needs to do is show how the Nord have taken everything from them. To do that, she will need to address them in the nude. It will demonstrate how they have nothing left to give but their lives. Laura will accompany her to give her strength.
It was just the display the troops needed and quickly pledge to fight to the end by her side, also in the nude. When the Nord fleet arrives to fight, they are met by an army of nudists. Edokia speaks to Ulrica, but is really addressing the Stark slaves that make up a large part of the Nord army. They rise up against the Nord, leaving Ulrica to run with her tail between her legs.
Milza has no support coming and Theo’s army is quick to build up siege weapons and a base of operations. It’s the first time he’s faced true defeat and yet seems oddly excited about the prospect.
What did you think?
Surprisingly, I felt like this episode was where it all came together. It was a little rushed, but then that seems to be consistent with the series for the most part. I liked the way Theo toyed with Milza, drawing him into the forest only to see him head back to his castle frustrated. The way the mages within the treaty are working together makes for some entertaining decisions and helps them coordinate their plans.
However, the best part of this episode was with Queen Edokia in Haman. I think the nation of Haman is supposed to represent Egypt and Edokia is Cleopatra. If that’s the case, they certainly played to her strengths with the way she rallied the troops. If I’m honest, I was ready to enlist to serve her and I’m not even from Haman… All jokes aside, I liked the way a lot of things that have been mentioned all came together to set up the dire situation for Milza. It couldn’t have happened to a nicer guy!
What have you learnt?
Not to go on and on about my favourite subject, but foreshadowing really is the best. For a while now, little seeds of information have been dispersed throughout the episodes. Over time, they’ve sat dormant waiting for the rains. Well, it’s raining and all those seeds are bursting out to give us all the information needed to see that this episode makes sense.
There’s been mention of the Nord using slaves and how that might work against them. Then, we had Juzel Rossini who infiltrated the slaves to help foster the ideas of revolution. Those slaves were then met by Edokia, and Laura, in the nude… Who wouldn’t join them? Again, joking aside, things lined up nicely in this episode and it felt like a lot of hard work paid off. You really can’t underestimate foreshadowing.
Other reviews in the series
- Season One
- Episode 1 – Contract
- Episode 2 – Ambition
- Episode 3 – Battle Flag
- Episode 4 – Decision
- Episode 5 – Forest of Eternal Darkness
- Episode 6 – March
- Episode 7 – The White Prince
- Episode 8 – The Congress Dances
- Episode 9 – The Black Princess
- Episode 10 – Blade of Betrayal
- Episode 11 – The Fall of Castle Unicorn
- Episode 12 – A Treaty Formed
- Episode 13 – To the Homeland
- Episode 14 – The Liberator of Sistina
- Episode 15 – Return
- Episode 16 – Outpost
- Episode 17 – Two Heroes
- Episode 18 – Leader
- Episode 19 – The Awakening of a Noble
- Episode 20 – Pitched Battle of the Three Forces
- Episode 21 – Purge
- Episode 22 – The Holy Grail
- Episode 23 – Castle Walls
- Episode 24 – Grancrest
I felt bad for Laura Hardly. She really needs to learn to ride side saddle.
Or not…
Keeping the “joking aside” motif going, I did enjoy seeing so much foreshadowing come to pass in an interesting way. This is one of those series that would have benefited from a hundred or more episode — it had so much untapped potential!
For sure… 🙄
And yeah, this is a fantasy epic that deserves far more than it got. Trying to squeeze the entire story into 24 episodes didn’t do it any favours. I would have watched a hundred episodes no problem.