Episode 10: Quick Draw

Review by Dale

August 1, 2000

Resting from his last adventure, Vash pledges to dedicate the whole day in May City to love and peace. He eats a quick breakfast and goes outside to wrestle with the neighborhood kids. A woman walks by and sees Vash injured on the floor. Vash immediately takes advantage of her concern and attempts to hit on her, unsuccessfully. It seems the wrestling was just a set up for Vash to pick up girls. One kid won't play with them, and Vash discovers that he is having a hard time helping his mom with her restaurant. He says Vash can eat there as long as he doesn't hit on his mother. Being hungry, Vash agrees and discovers none other than Nicholas behind the counter. Nicholas tells the sad story of how he saved the kid's mother from some bandits out to collect on a debt. He is helping her while kid's father is currently away trying to scrape together the debt money. His charity doesn't end there, as he entered Vash in a quick draw competition in order to raise money. He threatens to expose Vash for the reward if he doesn't comply. Back at the hotel, Meryl and Milly are very against the idea since it would provide gunslingers a good opportunity to kill Vash and take the bounty on his head. Nicholas brings bottles of liquor from the restaurant to celebrate for the competition. He humbly apologizes for not asking Vash's permission, and he makes it clear that his only concern is helping the children. The agents drop in, and Milly gets a little tipsy after a few drinks.

The day of the competition arrives, and the town is flooded with would be gunslingers. Having ingested several bottles of liquor, Vash is only held up from falling by Nicholas. When his turn comes, Vash is looking very green, but nonetheless hits every bottle. He has turned the tables and entered Nicholas in the competition too. Nicholas also hits every target with ease. A strange man approaches the two and informs them that the next phase is one on one dueling. Vash soon faces the man, and it is clear the man is facing towards Vash with a mask on the back of his head, gaining the advantage of already being poised to fire on the count of three. Unable to overcome Vash's speed, the he is taken down by a shot in the shoulder. Nicholas and Vash eliminate everyone but themselves. To avoid facing each other in the final round, Nicholas goes to the contest manager to withdraw. The manager has other ideas, as he wants to collect Vash's bounty. As an added incentive for Nicholas, he has the kid and his mother held at gunpoint. Upon facing each other, Nicholas tells Vash to sacrifice himself for the greater good and beings firing a volley of bullets at him. They finally seem to shoot each other at the simultaneously and fall down in a pool of blood. The manager's thugs go to dispose of the bodies, but the pair is still very much alive and take out the goons. They used red wine to fake their deaths. After several waves of reinforcements come after them, Nicholas screams for his cross to be tossed to him. Milly obliges, and we see that the cross is actually a giant gun rack. Together, they injure nearly everyone in the city, but kill no one. Back at the hotel, Nicholas and Vash have switched places with Vash working behind the counter and Nicholas wrestling. Vash's hopes of romance with the kid's mother are dashed when the father finally shows up.

In a very welcome return to the theme of the first set of episodes, this installment is nearly all comedic. It is unique in the sense that there is no real villain, and succeeds nonetheless. Although I expressed hope for a balance of seriousness with future episodes, this one is fully enjoyable despite the lack of plot progression. Nicholas seems to be along as a permanent character and contributes greatly to the comic relief, getting Vash into trouble with his charity. I didn't mention this in the review, but there were brief shots of a shady character that could be a future villain. I'll have to wait till the next episode to find out.

Overall Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

Buy the DVD (eps 6-10) from DVD Empire

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