The Promised Neverland (Episode 22) – Daijuuwa

It’s time for Emma and Norman to lead the kids back to Grace Fields to save the others and escape to the human world. Sounds almost too easy… Who knows what will be waiting for them when they get there?
The Promised Neverland (Episode 22) – Daijuuwa
What happened?
The last episode ended with Vincent appearing to betray the others by contacting Peter Ratri to reveal their plans, however, within minutes of the show starting, maybe even seconds if you discount the OP, we see Norman overseeing the conversation. Good work cliffhanger team! Anyhow, they intend to use hot-air balloons to invade and many of them are actually traps.
I guess we better hope that they only bring down the ones that have bombs in them and not the children, leaving them to happily pilot a giant balloon with pinpoint accuracy to their old home. Once there, they hop down a well and infiltrate the super-secret, high-tech facility guarded by demons. It’s almost too easy…

Of course, they can’t have it all their own way as Peter Ratri is waiting for them at the gate, complete with a small army of moms with guns. Damn it, how will they get out of this one? Oh, wait, Isabella has finally revealed her true plan and turns her gun on Ratri. All the other moms are in on it too. Well, I guess it’s all’s well that ends well. Hang on. Wait just a minute. There’s a demon army on its way to offer support. Now, the kids are really screwed.
That doesn’t sound like the demon army! No, it’s actually the inhabitants of the village that Norman tried to murder that have decided to overthrow the farms now that they don’t need to eat humans to maintain their form. They can. They’re still tasty after all, but now it’s a choice and not a necessity. All that’s left is for someone to kill Peter Ratri and they can all run off to the human world… No, Emma! What the hell are you doing?

What did you think?
That’s right. This week, I decided that I should put together a synopsis that reflected how I felt watching this episode rather than trying to convey what happened. Mostly, because it was ridiculous. This series has fallen well short of my expectations and that has hurt it in my eyes. However, I came into this episode fully expecting to be frustrated and spend a lot of time shaking my head, but even I wasn’t prepared for this.
The only saving grace I can find in this episode was that it finally vindicated my post on Isabella that I wrote between watching episodes ten and eleven of season one. That’s right, I predicted everything… everything, but the sad demise of The Promised Neverland.
I literally can’t wait to see the final episode so that I can forget this ever happened and just pretend that it ended after the first season. How can Norman and the other Lambda escapees possibly be all right with Emma offering the hand of friendship to Peter Ratri?

What have you learned?
When this series started, the first episode blew people away with the dark premise and haunting atmosphere. The entire first season built on that and showed us what the children were going through as they tried to outsmart Isabella and escape from the farms. It was dark and intense.
So, that makes it that much harder to understand what has happened to this series. It’s as if the author had a sudden change of heart and decided that they would turn this into some sort of feel-good fluff piece. For the record, there’s nothing wrong with a feel-good fluff piece, but not when I’ve started watching a dark psychological thriller.
I’ve got the energy for one last observation and that was that Sonju didn’t show up for the Peter Ratri showdown. He appeared to jump into a well and then stopped as if he saw something. What was that and why have we all conveniently forgotten the moment he revealed that he can’t wait to eat free-range humans again? But, the power of friendship!

Other posts in the series
Anime
- Season One
- Season Two
- Bonus Posts
Manga
- Series Review
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