Monday 14 November 2011

Last Exile: Fam, the Silver Wing - Episode 5

If taking over the Sylvius seemed like Fam biting off more than she could chew (as it patently was), then our titular heroine is now in a really tight spot, with the crew of the Sylvius holding her and her compatriots with a demand to steal no less than fifteen Ades craft before they'll be freed.

Still, despite these harsh demands Fam doesn't exactly seem too phased by her situation, and even though her pleas to contact her comrades back home fall on deaf ears she and Gise continue to prepare for their first assault on Ades' property, while Millia has to come to terms with the face that her country (or former country, perhaps we should call it) is about to be annexed following its crushing defeat.


While Fam and Gise make their first raid on enemy territory, Millia looks for a way to start rebuilding her country, even if it means doing so via the smallest piece of land possible and embarrassing herself in the process - where did she get that maid outfit from, anyhow? While Millia's eventual victory may only seem slight, Fam and Gise's result is far more impressive to behold - one down, fourteen ships still to go, as the Sylvius finds itself pondering the prospect of being pulled directly into war with Ades.

In truth, there wasn't really a huge amount going on for much of this episode, as we had to endure lots of chatter and largely idle banter before the main characters got down to their respective items of business.  When we did reach this part of the episode, everything was pulled off cleanly and with humour rather than action, which worked well enough in its own right, but without coming close to setting your pulse racing as a result.  I can't help but feel this is a bit of a downer after the excitement and relative tension of earlier episodes - with the promise of its ship-stealing plot seemingly in its ability to deliver a little excitement, the reliance on comedy here felt like a let-down, although there's still a long way to go in Fam's current challenge so I can only hope that things pick up markedly in the weeks to come.

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