Episode 11: Escape From Pain

Review by Dale

August 3, 2000

In a traveling caravan surrounded by hot geysers, Nicholas is intensely contemplating his next move in a chess game he bet all his money upon. In the background, a girl named Mua is dancing quite terribly. Nicholas thinks about knocking his opponent out and running, but then he remembers he's a priest. Milly wanders in demanding pudding, sees him, and goes over to talk when she is unable to get her snack. Using the distraction, Nicholas tries to cheat and move a piece, unsuccessfully. Milly makes his final move for him, causing him to win the game. Nicholas buys her a huge bag of food in return, and they head off to meet with Meryl and Vash. Mua comes running toward them begging to be hidden, so Milly stands in front of her. When some men come looking for her, Nicholas and Milly take quickly dispatch them. Milly puts Mua under her dress, pretending to be pregnant, so they can escape safely. Mua leads them outside to the geysers, where a young man named Julius starts firing shots, demanding the girl be released. When he finds out Nicholas and Milly were helping her, he reveals the reasons why he is hiding out. Julius had been led to believe that the caravan owner was his father, but his real father was the mayor of the immense city of Hondelic. The caravan has been involved in buying people as well as goods, and Mua was a victim of that. She and Julius had escaped together. He has a tattoo on his arm which acts as a key into the city, which the caravan needs to continue their livelihood.

Nicholas demands that Julius go back, because every member of the caravan will die without money for food. When Julius acts unconcerned, he puts a gun to his head and threatens to pull the trigger if Julius walks past. Julius does walk past, the trigger is pulled, but the chamber is empty. Milly decides to tag along and look after the two. Meanwhile, the caravan owner has hired Vash to stop Julius at all costs. Meryl decides to accompany him in a jeep. When she inquires what this is all about, Vash replies that he's been hired for a killing job. Meryl tries to stop him by pulling a gun, but it doesn't work. The caravan workers find Julius, Mua, and Milly and capture them. Julius agrees to go back after several shots are fired inches away from Mua into the sand. Nicholas arrives and rescues the three with several well placed shots and a kick to the face. Suddenly, Vash arrives with a small army of caravan workers. He and Nicholas find themselves on opposite sides. Vash wastes no time and shoots Mua and Julius. A geyser explodes a second later, seemingly taking both of them with it. The caravan workers grow frightened and run away. Milly, crying hysterically, runs up to Vash and punches him as hard as she can, knocking of his glasses. Nicholas steps on them before Vash can pick them up. Remarking that he will finish the duel from May City, he grabs Vash's gun and notices the bullets are a little rubbery. He shoots them in Vash's face just to be sure. When the geyser stops spewing, Julius and Mua appear to be very much alive and well. It is revealed that the caravan owner really did care about Julius, and staged this whole thing to fool the camp into thinking Julius was dead to ensure a safe escape. They part ways, and Nicholas decides to leave too. The episode closes with the agents and Vash riding away on the caravan.

Many surprises were present in this episode. I truly believed Vash had killed Julius and Mua in cold blood, and judging by their reactions, so did the rest of the cast. Nicholas also seemed ready to kill Vash, despite his priestly profession. The main comedic scene was the pregnancy routine. It was very funny watching Nicholas embarrassed about having to walk around with a woman who looked like she was carrying sextuplets. The clever serious plot more than made up for the lack of humor. I mentioned in the last review that I thought Nicholas was a permanent new character, but he parted ways in this episode. I hope I see him again in future installments.

Overall Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars

Buy the DVD (eps 11-14) from DVD Empire

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