Castlevania: Season 1/ Episode 2 “Necropolis” – Recap/ Review (with Spoilers)

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More and more Castlevania seems like a movie that was excellently cut into 4 parts. For with us getting to know our assumed hero now, all that is missing is him being introduced to some baddies.

Trigger Warning(s): Vomiting in episode, repeatedly (Not Within Attached Images)

The Belmont Family: Trevor

The man in the bar trying to be inconspicuous? That was Trevor Belmont. The last son of his family thanks to the church exiling them, taking their lands, and putting them on the long list of reasons the world is cruel. Which, of course, for people like Bosha and Kob, make him a target. They want him and his people, who were famed for dealing with monsters and magic, to confess. However, Trevor has nothing to confess to and thus we see a bar brawl.

Commentary

Consider the hand to hand fights just a warm up. For one of the things this show definitely will be known for is its violence. If only because, story-wise, we are at the halfway point and I’m still left kind of feeling “meh.” Which, granted, could be because I’ve built up such a tolerance over the years that average shows just don’t impress me anymore. Yet, at the same time, what have we learned?

Dracula is mad because his wife got killed. Trevor’s family was used by the church, among many other reasons, to explain the plight of the common man. It’s all stuff we have seen before, probably heard recently, so there is nothing new. Plus, the way the story is told, dialog wise, isn’t the best writing you ever heard.

But it does bring up the thought, could it be hearing all this in English is affecting my opinion of it? For, when I watch this, I’m always expecting Japanese to come out of the characters mouths. So when I hear them speaking a language I’m fluent in, that exoticism is taken away. I’m not longer forced to rely on subtitles and body language, perhaps creating a distraction. I’m focused and present and maybe that is why I’m less than impressed.

Well, outside of, again, the violence.

Welcome to Gresit: Trevor

Being that Trevor’s family fell out of prominence ages ago, he is nomadic. He sleeps under trees and maybe is living off what is left of the family fortune to survive. That is, assuming he isn’t using his combat skills. For while Trevor is making his way through Gresit, just for food originally, he comes across a Speaker.

This group, known for their cloaks, being very much into helping their fellow man, and their love for oral history, are being persecuted. After all, like the Christian God, the church is very jealous of any group or being which could threaten its power. So for these men to come into Gresit and show themselves as healers, that is blasphemy. Hence why followers of the faith are ready to beat one of the Speaker elders with a staff.

Well, until Trevor gets involved. With his whip, he removes a finger off one and an eye out of another. Leading next to him going home with the Speaker and meeting his clan. One which mostly remains in Gresit, partly to help the people, partly because the elder’s grandchild is assumed dead, and lastly because of The Sleeping Soldier. A being, fabled in Speaker history, which will rise out of the darkness and bring back the light.

Commentary

I can imagine that if I was someone who was into Christian news media, they would feel so attacked by this show. For while the symbolism is mostly Catholic, Castlevania isn’t targeting some made up religion. They specifically name Christianity.

But, of course, you have to take into account the time period. We are within a period where the church was stronger than the state, or was the state. So, just like a king, anything which threatened their power had to be disposed of. Yet, with God as a sort of general, there was rarely a need for them to get their hands dirty. All that was needed was claims that someone was a witch, blasphemer, or some kind of enemy of God but friend to the devil.

Something which I enjoy how it is played up. For it always tickles me when in these fantasy worlds there is still some root in history or realism. For, depending on how you look at it, what Trevor says about the church can be said about many governments. Especially in terms of the people who either support those who oppress their dissenters or those who remain silent.

Also, and I recognize this may sound ridiculous, doesn’t the Dracula v. Church thing remind you of terrorism. Not to pretend I’m well versed in politics or the subject matter, but considering all that is being done over one act, I think Castlevania plays on history deeply. Way more than I perhaps gave it credit for.

Pseudo-political commentary aside, I’m really looking forward to seeing Trevor fight someone who is a match for him. Much less someone who outclasses him. For while he, arguably, got his butt whipped in that bar scene, he made a recovery when fighting the two clergymen. So here is to when his warm-ups are over and we get to the main event. Which, fingers crossed, should be soon.

Collected Quote(s)

History is a living thing. Paper is dead.