No Hank? No Thanks! To The Abandoned Sacred Beasts

Hello everybody!  Let's talk about episodes 7 and 8 of To The Abandoned Sacred Beasts.  In these two episodes, we are without our main character, Hank. Remember that Hank was the captain of the Incarnates unit.  In episode 6, Hank turned into some sort of wolf demon and disappeared.  So we spend the next two episodes with Schaal.

Episode 7

In episode 7, we find Schaal returning to her home town.  The people of the town seem a little skittish at Schaal's return.  But, she is with the Incarnate Extermination Unit led by Cain's brother Claude.   

When the group arrives, they learn that Schaal's father John Bancroft is alive, living in the mountains.  John was a member of the Incarnates.  He was stuck in his monster form as a dragon.  In episode one, Schaal saw Hank shoot John.  That is why she started following him, to understand why Incarnates like her father had to die.

Fast forward to this episode, John the dragon is heading towards the village and he looks a mess!  It appears that parts of him are decomposing from his earlier encounter with Hank.  The village is in danger and Claude's unit races to intercept.  I'm not going to tell you what happens next, but Schaal is forced to make a tough but necessary choice.

This was a very heavy episode.  I empathize with Schaal but I do not feel a connection to her as a character.  I cannot quite pinpoint it, but something feels missing in her characterization.

Episode 8

By this time, I was hoping for Hank's triumphant return.  But, my hopes are in vain.  Instead, we are subjected to more emotional manipulation.  We get it, show!  The Incarnates are treated as the enemy because people are afraid!

In episode 8, we join Schaal and the extermination unit in a seaside town.  They are there in search of Beatrice, a siren Incarnate.  You probably guessed the Beatrice was a beautiful singer in a pub before joining the unit.  As an Incarnate, her "song" could put the enemy to sleep.  Now, she doesn't sing to avoid capture.

Schaal befriends Beatrice.  We get a montage of Schaal visiting Beatrice, bringing her gifts, and listening to her sad story.  Then, tragedy strikes and we are all super sad.

Overall

Removing the main character from a show is kind of like removing a primary ingredient from a cake.  The baker is betting that the cake is delicious without that ingredient.  But what if you take out the flour?  That's the ingredient that gives the cake its form and texture.  This is kind of what happened in these episodes.

They removed Hank, so Schaal needs to be a strong enough character to carry the show until Hank's return.  But the show harps on Schaal's compassion and that's about it.  It makes for kind of a flat character and lackluster episodes.

And I cannot emphasize enough that tugging at heartstrings does not make for a good episode.  Sure, you feel sad for these characters because it is a sad situation. At the end of the day, I feel sad for sadness sake, not because I connect with these characters.  

Hopefully, Hank returns in the next episode and we can find out what's going on.  I've had my fill of the Schaal saga.

Wrapping It Up

I hope you enjoyed my review of episodes 7 and 8 of  To The Abandoned Sacred Beasts.  We have two episodes remaining.  I will see you later!