The Promised Neverland 2nd Season Episode 4

Goowee fish(?)

There were some good and interesting parts of The Promised Neverland 2nd Season episode 4. However, I would say that the episode was bad overall for one primary reason. It was way too dark. I get it, sometimes scenes need to be dark. But it seemed like all the important parts of this episode were so dark that I could barely see what was going on.

And yes, I even turned my screen brightness up in an attempt to see.

I’m not sure what I hate more: When series and movies are so dark you can’t see, or when they swap back and forth between characters effectively whispering and deafening explosions. Let me know in the comments which one of those bothers you the most.

Moving on, this episode introduced a new animal referred to as a “goowee.” It’s basically a deep-sea fish that’s covered in slime, but the twist is that it lives on the exposed roots of trees in the forest.

The goowee itself doesn’t really interest me, though. What interests me more is the entire forest ecosystem that we’ve seen. Obviously, the giant demon-monsters are a pretty unique feature. But even if we ignore them, the trees are giant and most of the animals we’ve seen look more like sea creatures than forest creatures.

Originally, I thought that maybe these weird creatures could tell us something about the world. There must be some reason that jellyfish are flying through the air and deep-sea fish are stuck to trees, right? But the more I think about it, I don’t think there’s any deeper meaning behind it aside from showing us that this isn’t the world we know.

Assault on the Bunker

The assault on the bunker was probably the best part of the episode. I wouldn’t call it action, but that’s where the excitement came in. We probably all knew that something was going to happen after how peaceful the first portion of the episode was. However, I wasn’t expecting a human SWAT team to blow open the hatch.

Was there a SWAT team like this in the first season? I don’t remember there being one when the children escaped, but I could be forgetting. So let’s just pretend that my memory is amazing and there wasn’t a SWAT team in the first season and that this is the first time we’ve seen them.

I wasn’t expecting there to be a human paramilitary unit working on behalf of the farms. What’s in it for them? I can kind of understand the “mothers” who run the farms. They’re basically threatened into it or choose to do it in order to survive. But what do these soldiers get out of obeying the demons?

You could argue that the soldiers are threatened into service or they do it to save themselves as well. But once they’re armed and trained, what’s stopping them from fighting back? Are they that outnumbered? We haven’t seen that many demons yet.

Also, why would the demons even need to use humans in this way? We’ve already seen that there are demons dedicated to hunting down escaped humans. Wouldn’t they be enough?

I guess one way you could think about these soldiers is that they’ve been raised since birth for this purpose. If this is all they know, then it’s possible that they would simply follow the demons. And I guess the soldiers could also be used for breeding purposes. I just don’t really see the point of keeping them around otherwise.

The Price of Freedom

The final topic I have for today is: What did the demon offer to Isabella that changed her mind about helping to capture the kids? She said that she could capture the kids early in the conversation. But she didn’t seem like she was actually going to help do that until the very end. At that point, she was offered three things.

First, the demon said that her life would be spared. That alone is a pretty good deal, but I can see why she wouldn’t take it. Second, the demon said that she would be granted her freedom. Specifically, she would be free from the farm and would be released into the wild effectively.

This is the first thing that sparked her interest. It’s unclear how long Isabella would survive in the wilderness, or if the demons would just send hunters after her anyway. But at least she would have the chance to be free.

However, it’s the third thing Isabella’s promised that really makes her agree to the demon’s terms. Unfortunately, we didn’t get to hear what this final reward was. But that doesn’t mean I don’t have a guess. Based on what we know about Isabella, there’s only one thing that I think could persuade her like that.

I think the demon offered to set Ray free with her. Yes, Ray is one of the prized “perfect score” children that the demons want to eat. But he’s also Isabella’s biological child — the only one we know of. And although Isabella took her role as caretaker of the farm seriously, we know she had a soft spot for Ray.

In my mind, it’s completely understandable, based on what we know, for Isabella to agree to capture the rest of the children in return for Ray’s freedom. With that said, I don’t think she’ll follow through with it. This seems like the perfect setup for her to sacrifice herself to help Ray and the others at the last minute.

Conclusion

What do you think about The Promised Neverland 2nd Season episode 4? Do you think there’s more to the odd creatures we’ve seen in the forest? Why would the demons be using a human SWAT team? And what was Isabella promised in return for her cooperation? Let me know in the comments.

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My review of the next episode is available here.