Episode 9: Murder Machine

Review by Dale

July 29, 2000

Meryl and Milly have borrowed some money from Vash to accompany him on a bus ride. They come across a seemingly unconscious man on the road, and the driver stops to take a look. The man jumps up and boards the bus with his gigantic cross. The agents offer him some of Vash's water, and the man introduces himself as Nicholas D. Wolfwood, a priest. After Vash calms down from the loss of his water, he introduces himself to Nicholas using a ridiculous name consisting of about 20 words. The agents remark that he is just Vash the Stampede. The two hit it off quite well, laughing and telling jokes. The bus stops for a break, and Nicholas discovers he does not have enough money for the fare. He strikes a deal with the driver and gets a discount. Pulling out a miniature church he calls a "portable confession box", Nicholas asks the driver if he would like to confess for getting lost or driving into a tree. He next explains to Vash that he works for a private church that houses orphans, and it won't survive without donations. In the background, two impoverished children are complaining to their mother that they're hungry. Their mother has no food to offer them, so Nicholas goes over and offers two small pieces of candy. This brings a smile to Vash's face. Nicholas is glad to see that Vash can express true feeling, since he suspected that Vash's easygoing demeanor hid allot of inner pain. To heal Vash's pain, he offers his confession box. Someone yells that a man has fainted, and everyone rushes to his location. The man has a gash on his arm, and Milly points a gun at Vash suspecting that he did it. Vash replies that it was no human who inflicted that injury.

Spiderlike robots emerge from behind a hill and speed toward the crowd. Milly is able to take a few down with her grappling gun, but there are too many to take on at once. They all pack in the bus and try to outrun them. Vash remarks to himself that the robots' power should have run out long ago. A woman panics after she realizes her daughter was left behind. Vash and Nicholas jump off to save her. Vash throws Nicholas a knife, and they hide behind a hill. He reveals that his wound from three days ago at the hand of BDN's gang is still hurting him. Nicholas is feeling brave, and tries to take out one of the robots to no avail. Vash saves him and takes out several with perfect accuracy. They find the girl, but fall into an underground tunnel before reaching her. Vash reveals that they have stumbled into the control center. They make a mad dash to the control room, and discover upon getting there that it is an automated robot manufacturing plant. Thinking of a quick plan, Vash tells Nicholas to take his gun while he goes down below to try and get to the main room. Even though claiming to have never used a gun before, Nicholas' accuracy is dead on. He runs out of bullets, and both of them are cornered by robots. Vash destroys them with a gun built into his arm. He then goes in and turns off the main computer. Nicholas asked Vash how he just saved them, and Vash replies sarcastically that is was God, not he. They hear some rumbling above, and fear more robots. Meryl and Milly break down the ceiling onto both of them in a rescue attempt. Back on the bus, Nicholas falls asleep on Milly's shoulder. They wake up in May City and part ways with Nicholas. He blesses them and they head off to get something to eat.

This episode more than atones for the last two mediocre ones. The first half had the level of comedy of the earlier episodes. Nicholas is an entertaining partner to Vash, and I hope we see more of him in the future. His routine with the portable church was a riot! The second half consisted of dead serious action, but with a purpose. Instead of a funny looking villain with a ridiculous name, we have a mysterious robot factory. More of Vash's backstory is hinted at, as he seems to be very familiar with the way the robots function and the controls of the main computer. This is also the first time we see Vash use his second gun. I wonder where the third could be. Overall, this is the perfect way to balance an episode, and I hope it is the start of a new trend for the series.

Overall Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

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