Jujutsu Kaisen S2 – 05

「玉折」 (Gyokusetsu)
“Premature Death”

They really went there! These are my initial thoughts after watching this week’s episode. Not only that, it made me happy that the story has wrapped up nicely and now we got to see our shonen curse fighting trio back in action. Might we also have learned that Goujo seems to be the strongest but also OP.  Power scaling be dammed! We all know what happens in Jujutsu Movie Zero – so this all plays out like a sort of bittersweet melody.

Certain things to mention about the episode, for example, how enamored I am with the direction and the creative choices they make during certain scenes. This episode concentrated a bit on Getou, but in its wake, introduces a character called Yuki Tsukumo (Hidaka, Noriko) she comes along and has a nice conversation with Getou, revealing that she wants to create a world where curses simply don’t exist, by proxy, they simply aren’t made because everyone in the world can control their curse power energy. That’s the easy solution, paved with a long road ahead.

The air starts to stink really.

This all started sounding very cultish and like Yuki was made to implant these ideas on Getou. The episode’s title is Premature Death what exactly might that mean? Personally, I think it might be referring to how Getou might have chosen his death early, by questioning his morals and attacking all of those people in the village because they were against the children.

The episode doesn’t do a very good job of explaining why exactly where the children placed in jail for – other than calling them monsters. But Getou seems to be convinced there’s something more, a hidden layer to the case and so, takes morality into his own hands. Condemning the people of the village.

In tandem, he saw to punish them. He comes off as jittery and not himself in these scenes, like something has cracked and he’s unable to see the truth anymore. Has his sanity been broken? The shower scene would certainly suggest so. The camera doing that POV – this character is officially now insane shot.

It seems he hasn’t been sleeping and is struggling to keep a healthy diet. As Goujo even mentions his weight in an effort to look out for his friend.

The conversation Yuki had with Getou seemed almost like she knew Getou was on the brink of either killing himself or simply just snapping. So she offers him an easy way out, which in turn – brings him as a sort of jujutsu sorcerer fascist. He wishes to kill everyone who is not a sorcerer – that’s basically half the population. Might he go further, would he have made non-sorcerers wear some kind of emblem on their chest? It’s not so far-fetched as the narrative paints him in that light. The comparison is clear as day.

It seems to me he has found a light of his own revelation. Might he wish to be praised? And generate accomplishes like Goujo? But swallowing curses is not something he might want to keep doing – and in essence, condemns everyone else for his problems. To me, he comes off as stuck-up and childish. A black and white view of the world – and a black-and-white view of the solution to his problem.

I’m just a little disappointed honestly, because villains like him that turn to the dark side in order to fulfill a supposedly moral high ground – but are ultimately grounded in fascism. Unable to view his biases because he perceives them as truth –  as the absolute word of god.  Are a plenty.

He believes that the only way forward is planted with the blood of his comrades. His saving them. But is he? In the end, something inside of him breaks.

As he get’s on the stage and takes his role as the new monarch of the Time Vessel Association he lays out his verse and wishes to change the name. People object, and he makes a show of some random churchgoer. By literally crushing that person to the ground. It’s brutal and almost comes out of nowhere. But in character non the less. Killing someone in cold blood is a great way to establish dominance over a large group of people.

Even though there’s a lot of standing around, and talking, most of the things that get said during the episode are rather important. Goujo letting us know he’s super OP, and Getou becoming insane and officially losing all of his marbles.

My question is – other than the conversation with Yuki, what triggered it? Just the desire to live in a world where curses aren’t born. Or because he hates the taste of swallowing a dirty rag that has been used to clean shit and vomit?

Once again – he’s just a child screaming and kicking. He sees no other way to rule but to extend human suffering beyond its breaking point. He sees no other way to obtain power other than to instill fear in the eyes of his followers. He puts on a fake smile before brutally murdering a village for crimes they may or may not have committed. Did he actually know what he was doing was right? Was it justified? Did he know everything about the case or was he kept in the dark like us? And just deciding to spare children, over crappy adults? The long answer is muddied with thousands of years of wars and prejudice.

The short answer is no.

Not a single drop of bloodshed is justified under prejudice. He was indeed sentenced to death by the higher powers of the Jujutsu School after all.

In the end – I may not have enough words to properly analyze why Getou went insane, the justification for evil acts, and why he committed them.

But then again sometimes there’s none.

And indeed – it might have been something just as simple as that – or maybe it was because he thought this way he would find more power. Was it the only way he found forward after realizing Goujo is the strongest? And he’s unable to compete? It’s hard for me to go into the mind of Getou at this point as the change was so sudden, and there was little hint of it as the show was more preoccupied with telling Gojou’s story.

We knew this was going to happen, but the resolution and climax of it might have been a little rushed – maybe for the sake of wanting to get back to business as usual. I would have personally liked a little bit more squeezed out of him, truly making sure he was hated for his evil acts.

I digress – still, I’m glad next week. *checks notes* – actually, in 3 weeks (August 31) the show will be back.

Okay – so what exactly am I supposed to do until then?!

We will be seeing the friendly Shonen trio once again (hopefully). Will the opening change?! Who knows, hopefully so! These things are exciting. And I’m happy to provide coverage.

See you next episode.

Full-length images: 42.

Preview