Néro the Assassin: The Monk

Néro to witch: So, what am I thinking now? Néro internally: Think nothing, think nothing, think nothing.
Witch: Nothing.
Néro: Wrong.
Witch: If you say so. Walk.
Néro internally: Go f*ck yourself.
Witch: I heard that too.

Episode description: “With a new handmaid at her side, Hortense reveals her ruthless streak. Néro tracks down Horace and an enfeebled Azel, in dire need of water.”

Hortense and Perla, rescued by the Prince and his escort, finally reach Ségur. Hortense, after what she has gone through, has become harder. Her journey was difficult, with physical, mental and even emotional suffering (Néro’s plan to abandon her shortly after their lovemaking upset her terribly). Her father admires her toughness, and perhaps he’s right that, at least in this particular universe, survival requires ruthlessness. She threatens her father and is unfriendly with the archbishop. When Lothar and Zeneb finally get to Ségur, she even locks them up. The only person she shows real affection for is Perla, but after Perla risked her own life to stop Hortense from being raped, this makes sense.

I enjoyed the interaction between Rochemort and Perla. You can see he’s considering killing her, but thinks better of it when she shows him her knife (she was wise to get one). We have already seen that Rochemort, although willing to order assassinations, is not good at executing them himself (a reason to hire professionals). Instead he almost reasonably asks her to leave Ségur – a move that would protect him, Hortense, and possibly Perla.

Back to the others: Néro and the witch, and Horace and Azel (the pregnant woman). Néro has been freed from the necklace by the witch, and in this episode she applies a maggot mixture in order to heal him. She still controls him, though, keeping his hands tied behind his back for a long while. We get some humor as she easily reads his thoughts. She shows both sympathy and empathy as she says she understands that Néro loves Perla.

Horace is doing his best to help Azel. This episode highlights the severity of the drought plaguing their part of the planet. They find an abandoned house in which to take refuge. It has a well – but alas, the well is dry. Azel desperately needs rest, so they enter the house anyway.

The witch leads Néro to the abandoned house and tells Néro they need Horace in order to get to Perla in Ségur. Working with the witch and the monk is hard for Néro, as both of them have threatened his daughter. Still, Néro does it.

Néro compels the witch to help the laboring Azel, both with finding water and with the childbirth. The witch resists. Her focus – which makes sense after 800 years – is on saving the world, not a single individual. Still, as she knows she needs Néro’s cooperation, she does as Néro demands. Her use of magic to find the water alerts the inquisitor to her whereabouts.

The inquisitor is after Perla, but killing the witch will serve his purpose too. He turns out to be as hard to kill as the witch, which she explains as his being one of her kind, presumably someone with magical talents, even though he is working for the Church.

And here I was a little disappointed. The inquisitor never had any personality. He was only a black figure on a horse pursuing Perla; he had few lines and no desires of his own. His character was a MacGuffin, giving our heroes a reason to flee and at last to work together, with Horace choosing the side of Néro and Perla despite his nominally belonging to the side of the Church. And although I may be disappointed in the inquisitor’s lack of character, the fight scene in which he dies was very clever.

The witch tells us that the Church is bad, because it repressed the magic connecting the people and the planet. We have seen the mad cruelty of the penitents. Now we see Azel murder her newborn son because she believes he was brought forth by the assistance of the devil.

When the witch says that Perla is not the last descendant of the devil, I really expected the explanation to be that there is now a child of Néro with Hortense. Instead, we learn that Néro and therefore Perla are descendants of the witch herself.

We also see how Horace changes, questioning the Church and whether or not they are telling the truth. He may also be remembering Lothar’s reaction in a previous episode: how Lothar would never kill a kid, even if the Church demanded it. Horace has good reason not to have any respect for Néro’s sense of good and evil, but Lothar is a principled man.

Most startling moment: It should be when Azel, believing her newborn son has been cursed by the devil, kills him. Even though Néro and Horace are totally shocked, I was expecting this. The most surprising moment, at least for me, was when we learned that Néro is a descendant of the witch.

Most emotional moment: I really liked when Perla and the Prince run into each other in the kitchen. The idea that the Prince is going off for a snack is charming. It was also nice to have a little sincere sweetness in the show, in which there is so little. Perhaps they have an easier time being sweet because they are still both so young.

Title musings: The title of the episode is “The Monk” or “Le moine” in French. Horace plays a larger part in this episode than in others, as he questions his assumptions about the goodness of the church and even helps Néro kill the inquisitor. The title fits.

Bits and pieces

Maggots, which is what I assume the witch is gathering off the dead bodies, have real healing properties (note they need to be the right kind, the larvae of the green-bottle fly). Maggots will eat the dead tissue (debridement) and sterilize the wounds with ammonia by-products. Their use improved survival rates of wounded soldiers in World War I.

A couple of times the English translation didn’t match the French, partly due to grammatical differences. When Perla and the Prince run into each other in the kitchen, she uses the informal “tu” instead of “vous” with him, something that does not work in English.

In that same conversation between Perla and the Prince, she describes the terrible things her father Néro did to her, forgetting her assumed role. In English, the Prince says, “but I thought he was a duke?” And Perla says, more like a “dick”. But in French the words are duc and trouduc, which mean duke and asshole, respectively. They did a good job here. I wonder how it worked in other languages, but I don’t wonder enough to check.

Rochemort’s bath is rather public. Given the times and the influence of the Church in Ségur, I was a little surprised Princess Joséphine would be there. Perhaps they wanted to give the actor something to do.

Many years ago, moviemakers discovered a way to draw a blade across a palm and make it look as if it were bleeding. This technique became a staple in Star Trek, with all the Klingons engaging in blood oaths. They seem to be using the same trick with the witch here.

Kind of surprised that Rochemort does not ask Hortense what happened to her hair.

Perla cleans up nicely!

If Néro and Perla are descended from the witch, do they have any latent magical abilities?

Quotes

Rochemort: You wanted me hanged?
Hortense: Yes. But there's a better way. You will live. But I will make you pay for murdering Tancrède. You can forget about your mines, for one thing. And there's more after that. You'll lose everything.

Rochemort: Don't say that's Néro's girl?
Hortense: What is it to you?
Rochemort: Have you lost it? If they find out who she is, you'll be executed.
Hortense: You will as well, so I'm not worried at all. I know her secret will be safe in your hands.

Néro: You're her grandma or…? Your age?
The witch: Eight hundred years old.
Néro: You want to sacrifice your great-great-great-great-grandchild?
The witch: I don't want to. I have to.
Néro: I won't let you do it.
The witch: I know.

Archbishop: Are you comfortable here?
Hortense: No. It's too small and ugly.
Archbishop: But I expect you'll change all that.
Hortense: I intend to. The bigger the dowry, the more demanding the bride.

Lothar: I'm happy to see you alive, my lady.
Hortense: Me as well, Lothar.
Lothar: You were a little bit heavy-handed though.
Hortense: I know that your head is strong.

Perla: What?
Prince: Nothing, it's… I'm used to being called "Your Majesty".
Perla: Oh, I'm sorry…
Prince: But I don't mind.

Witch: The Devil is fiction. It's just something the Church invented to target its enemies.

Néro: So, Perla won't bring about the end of the world?
Witch: No. But the Church will. They slaughtered all the healers of the Earth. The shamans. The Druids. Witches too. All those who practiced magic. But since magic disappeared from the world, it's killing the Earth.

Overall rating

Despite some flaws, I enjoyed this episode – perhaps because there were fewer deaths, only the inquisitor and the newborn. Three out of the four vultures that are always screeching overhead.

Victoria Grossack loves math, birds, Greek mythology, Jane Austen and great storytelling in many forms.