The Ancient Magus’ Bride – S2 24 (Fin) – What a Girl Wants

With both the magical power and physical and mental support of Isaac, Lucy, and Chise, Philomela links back up with the book, but ends up trapped in a stormy seaside construct. Lizbeth is down but not out, and tries her patented psychological torture on her only granddaughter.

Philomela isn’t having it. She produces the rune amulet Chise gave her, with the symbol that, among other things, represents Thor’s Hammer. And just as Chise did, Mela brings the hammer down, both on Lizbeth’s bullshit, and the incomplete god she summoned.

Snapped out of the construct, Philomela urges everyone to keep holding onto her; it’s amazing how quickly she’s changed now that she knows she has people in her corner. She recites the incantation to get rid of the god, which is done by summoning another, stronger god. Once this god, at whose visage Elias warns Chise not to look, snatches up the abomination, the portal closes up.

Morrigan thanks Chise and Philomela for putting on such a show and giving her fun battles to fight, and is in such a good mood she declines to ask for any further compensation. Then Lucy and Isaac, drained of all their magical power, pass out in Ruth’s arms.

Lizbeth, who is still alive, asks Not-Adam why he didn’t just kill her when he had the chance. He responds by asking why she didn’t kill Philomela’s mother, or Philomela, for that matter. Lizbeth will only say she hoped she could make use of Philomela someday.

Instead, Philomela, like her father, managed to escape a life of abuse and horror, leaving Lizbeth all alone. All Philomela wants from her now is the reason she murdered the Websters. Before Lizbeth can say much, she’s beheaded … by the lil’ werewolf we saw with Fabio.

It steals the book and runs off, and when Ruth and Fabio’s summoned snakes try to give chase, the female werewolf violently stops them, as she believes she’s protecting her child. Philomela collapses in Chise’s lap, Chise leans against Elias, and the two agree to go home.

It’s at Elias and Chise’s house where Philomela wakes up with the others. Upon emerging from her room, Silver grabs her with a warm smile and bundles her for the wintry outside. There, Mela sees two sets of footprints and follows them to Chise and Ruth.

She’s up early harvesting mistletoe, and tells Philomela that she figured it would be nice to get away from the College. And since it’s Winter Break anyway, she brought everyone to her home to relax. Philomela’s first follow-up question is what she should worry about.

Chise asks Mela what she wants to do, and Mela reflects the question. Chise provides a holiday-appropriate list: decorating the tree, shopping, party crackers, Silver time. Then Mela answers firmly but bashfully: she wants to make potpourri … with Chise. Chise smiles back at her and says “of course.”

Rian is among those at Chises for the break, and while he initially grabs Philomela like he’s going to yell at her, instead he falls to his knees and tells her he’s glad she’s safe. They head back to the house while Chise and Elias head into the woods with the mistletoe.

The provide it to Morrigan, who has aged considerably since the battle. But the offering of mistletoe is the trigger for her death and rebirth as the younger version of Morrigan. Elias suggests they pick the snowdrops where Morrigan once sat, handing one to Chise and being accidentally extremely charming and romantic.

They head back home where everything is merry, bright, and warm. After everything they’ve been through it’s so nice to see these kids finally get to be kids and have fun without worrying about curses, books, or their tragic family histories. Most importantly, Mela gets to make potpourri with Chise.

Chise does slip away for a brief visit to Carty, who can tell she’s been through some shit, but come out of it more like him than she thought. Through all of this, Chise realizes what she had, and what she wanted: to protect and befriend Philomela and the others.

She achieved that, but many lives were lost in the struggle. Many more will be in the future, which Chise doesn’t know if it’s right or worth it, but she still needs to go on. When she returns to the others, the roughhousing boys end up knocking Philomela to the ground and causing all of the cloth she was looking at to fall on top of her.

When she looks up at Zoe, Isaac, Rian, Lucy, and Chise, her new, dear friends, she gives the brightest smile she given since her parents were alive, and lets out a beautiful melodic laugh. This is what Chise fought for: for Philomela, someone in whom she saw her past wretched self, to be able to smile and laugh and do what she wants to do.

Whatever Veronica intends to do with the book she had the baby werewolf retrieve, or whatever dangers and intrigue the next arc contains, Chise and Philomela and their friends will always have this warm, cozy winter break to look back on. The joy of that time will sustain them in the darker times to come, and let them return to the brighter ones.

The Ancient Magus’ Bride – S2 23 – Calls of Duty

Yes, Philomela, I will really help you. I hate that Philomela has to ask so many times, but each time Chise responds it becomes more real. Their simple, quiet, comfy hug means so much more, because at this point Philomela can’t recall being hugged. Alcyone, freed from Lizbeth’s hacking by Elias, also embraces Philomela, saying she was created only for her.

But as our good guys are having some lovely moments, shit is going down with Lizbeth: she’s now possessed by the book and doing the whole “turning coal black and having roots for hair” thing. She asks why Chise is butting into a matter that isn’t her concern. Because as soon as she learned Philomela was a good person (which was not long after they met), she knew she couldn’t sit back and let her be hurt.

Lizbeth lashes out with the book’s powers, but they’re not that effective against the likes of Elias. We also get the arrival of the female werewolf, who intends to punish Lizbeth for what she did to them and made them do. Alcyone gets between them, and in the process unlocks something within her.

This something is a “curse” implanted within Alcyone’s “programming” that is summoned when Alcyone is attacked with malice protecting Philomela. The curse takes the form of Adam, to serve as a fail-safe should both he and Alcyone fail to protect his daughter.

But now that he’s out, Alcyone’s duty is completed, and she begins to disintegrate. Before she does, she apologizes to Philomela, her charge, for failing her for so long. All she can offer in consolation is all of the recordings of her with her parents, which suddenly flash within Philomela’s head, changing her and making her a more complete version of herself: one who remembered herself. It’s a beautiful gift, and Philomela appreciates it, but to quote Switch, Not like this.

I concur; it’s absolutely gutting when Alcyone suddenly bursts into a cloud of blue feathers and ends up in the form of a beautiful blue bird. Especially when none of the recordings she gave Philomela include her, since she was the “cameraman”. At least she goes out knowing herself, the good and the bad, and knowing with her memories back and her friends, she’ll be alright without her.

I subtitled this review “Calls of Duty” not to call to mind the game (though this episode is full of great names for CoD games: Call of Duty: Shadow of the Deceased; Call of Duty: Incomplete God), but because that’s in effect what this episode is about: people being called to their individual duties.

It starts with Lizbeth: her duty is to bring back Adam. Alcyone’s duty to protect Philomela. Curse Adam’s duty to carry out his master’s revenge. Lucy interrupts him from finishing Lizbeth off because her duty is to learn as much as she can about why her family had to die.

The werewolf’s duty is to avenge her family. But as she claims Lizbeth as her prey, she is interrupted by the arrival of Morrigan. There seems to be some warring going on here, and she wants a piece of the action, as that’s her duty as “parent.”

As the most powerful entity there, Morrigan gets to the head of the line of people wanting a piece of Lizbeth. But Lizbeth is absorbed, Morrigan’s target becomes the eldritch “incomplete” god with no name Lizbeth had started to summon. When asked to serve as her “claw”, Curse Adam accepts, because in means he still gets to destroy Lizbeth.

When Philomela, now remembering her father and who he was to her, instinctively grabs at his coat, he stops her right there, saying she shouldn’t be calling him “father.” There’s enough programming him to be nice and tactful, but not nearly enough to be the dad she lost.

That isn’t this entity’s duty! Instead, he becomes a cool-ass spear that Morrigan, who is the best, by the way, relishes her second opportunity to do battle today.

Ruth helps Morrigan out as her hunting hound, darting about and lining up the nameless god’s tentacles so she can knock ’em down. But it’s still dangerous out there for mere humans. The werewolf ensures to the safety of Lucy and Isaac, while Elias has Chise and Philomela hide within him.

As they observe, Elias notes that Morrigan isn’t going full out, as if she doesn’t intend to defeat the nameless god with Lizbeth within it. That’s because she is a god and the other god was summoned by a human. As such, only a human can send it back.

Morrigan is holding the god at by for them, but she expects them to end it. Philomela believes the only way to do that is to get the book back, and because she was the book’s user before Lizbeth, she’s immune to its negative physical effects.

But as Philomela is being incredibly cool and confident and gallant as she describes how she’ll be the one to go get the book, Lucy arrives and punches her in top of her head, telling her that as her friends (taking what Curse Adam said to heart), it’s their duty to make sure they get the book back without losing her.

The plan they devise to do this involves Chise having Elias split into two hellhound forms, one ridden by Lucy and Isaac, one by Chise and Philomela. Lucy will add another target in addition to Ruth and Morrigan, the latter of whom is free to pierce the eye of the nameless god. The book falls out and into Philomela’s waiting hands. Teamwork makes the dream work!

Having the book is one thing; using it is another. Philomela knows how, but she lacks the magical power. No problem: Chise, Isaac, and Lucy are there to give all they’ve got. But more than the magic they’re transferring, it must mean so much for them to simply have their hands on her in support and love.

Love is something she now remembers, which makes all the years she lacked it all the more painful. But that’s in the past; it’s time to move forward, with Chise and Lucy and Isaac, and … Oh, I’m so sorry you’re missing out on all of this Rian … ah well!

I was actually pretty astonished how many different character threads this episode managed to juggle effectively, while keeping the focus on our dear reawakened deuteragonist Philomela. Now let’s send that nameless god back to whatever dimension it came from, and head back to the College to finish that par-tahy! Or, on second thought, maybe first visit the infirmary…

P.S. I did not think a shark-toothed Chise was something I needed in my life, but now that she’s here, I don’t know how I lived without her! Will we ever see her again?

The Ancient Magus’ Bride – S2 22 – Hammertime

Be it a remnant of the grimoire or a piece of her subconscious that won’t let her break free or hold any hope, Philomela is pulled out of the dreamscape and back into her grandmother’s office. Chise, Lucy, and Isaac are also there, but still unconscious. Still driven by that “dark side” of herself, she heads to the site of Lizbeth’s ritual, in hopes she’ll be reunited with her parents and make all of this torment worth it.

Meanwhile, I don’t know if Elias always knew something was not quite right about Alcyone, or only figured it out now, but now he’s decided to do something about it. He takes hold of her and finds that there’s a twisted metal core within her, placed there by Lizbeth to repurpose her. Elias destroys the metal core, revealing a core of blue light. Perhaps this core contains all of the memories of Philomela’s childhood.

As Lizbeth prepares to commence the ritual to resurrect her son, we get a little bit of her backstory, and it’s what you’d expect. As the heir to her family, Lizbeth was tasked with bearing her own heir, but her womb was lacking. At some point she must have found away around that, since Adam was born though his father isn’t revealed.

Lizbeth found herself simultaneously captivated by Adam’s cuteness and repulsed by his weakness, but he eventually grew bigger and stronger; a worthy heir. Then he took his “test subject” and ran away, a betrayal Lizbeth could not have predicted. Just as she was deemed inferior in her youth, she always saw Philomela as inferior to Adam.

While it’s good to get some context into what makes Lizbeth tick, I didn’t gain a single iota of empathy for her. Philomela was totally innocent, and yet Lizbeth treated her as someone who had wronged her; treated her like fuckin’ dirt. Frankly Lizbeth deserves to die screaming for her years of abuse and cruelty. Fingers crossed!

Chise, Lucy, and Isaac come to, and as Chise can still detect the scent of Mela’s soul, she leads the way, knowing the other two aren’t going to turn back now for safety. They rush to Philomela not a moment too soon, as she learns that Lizbeth only raised her as a vessel for the magical power sufficient to bring back her son.

Mela herself is no more than a sacrifice; Lizbeth will take all the magic she amassed and there will be nothing left. At first Lizbeth does as she’s told, but then pulls back and hesitates. At this point, Lizbeth drops all pretense and calls for her guards to force her into the magic circle for the ritual.

Philomela lies there as her magic is drained and her skin begins to crack like porcelain, utterly resigned to her fate because “she has no one.” But she’s proven wrong when a someone—three someones—arrive in the nick of time. Chise, Lucy, and Isaac, flanked by Elias and Ruth, have come to rescue her.

This doesn’t matter to Lizbeth; she says that the ritual that has started cannot be stopped. But that’s only if Philomela herself lets it continue. Chise tells her that if she wishes, she can stop it right here and now. She, Isaac, and Lucy encourage her to finish what was started in the dreamscape, and she does, shouting as loud as we’ve ever heard her to “HELP ME!”

Chise tries to rush the eldritch deity Lizbeth summoned, but Elias holds her back, saying there’s a better way. She employs the tool Isaac brought, changing its form into a weapon suitable for destroying the ritual. A sword or staff isn’t quite right, so Chise conjures a freakin’ warhammer, which she brings down upon the magic circle and smashes it to bits. I might have startled my neighbors cheering this action!

With the ritual cancelled, Chise hurries to Philomela, who gets up and meets her halfway, and drapes a dress cloak over her. Chise takes Philomela’s ruined, blackened hands into her own and holds her tight, communicating without words that everything is going to be alright now.

Philomela, bless her, only now just realize what she’s wanted more than anything is for someone to help her. After a lifetime of failing to ask, Philomela has finally done it, and learned that she does not have to live her life in darkness and hopelessness. She has people who aren’t just using her, who actually care about her, and will help any and every time she asks.

No doubt Lizbeth will launch some kind of counterattack, but I’m not concerned. She’s already lost. Her bitterness and resentment, and years of physical and psychological torture have amounted to nothing. She has no chance against Chise’s love and kindness. Just as I have no chance resisting a Chise x Philomela ship. Look how goddamn adorable these two look in the Postcard Memory that ends the episode!

The Ancient Magus’ Bride – S2 21 – Picking Up Your Pieces

Zoe intercepts the she-werewolf and freezes her with his Medusa eyes, but quickly grows fatigued. When the wolf starts to struggle, another layer of Zoe’s medusa side surfaces, one he didn’t think was necessary. However, in this form he inadvertently destroys the curse placed on the werewolf by Lizbeth, and all of her memories of her family come rushing back. She thanks Zoe, referring to him as her “god”, then takes her leave.

We then learn that Alcyone was carrying Philomela’s soul within her body for an undisclosed amount of time and with her consent (as much as Philomela can consent to anything). But even when she produces the soul and places it back into Philomela’s body, she continues to deteriorate.

Between Zoe freeing the werewolf and Morrigan handling all of the Sargeant forces, Chise, Elias, Lucy and Isaac are able to enter the mansion without any issues. Alcyone meets them and asks them if they’re there for the book or for Philomela’s sake.

Isaac assures them it’s the latter, so she lets the three kids go, but insists Elias stay behind since he’s not thinking about Philomela. No doubt he’s thinking about Chise … and what he’s going to do to appease Morrigan when this is all over.

But there’s still quite a bit to do. Upon entering the office Philomela’s root-like tendrils attack them, but Chise’s amulets hold. When the tendrils start to slip under Isaac’s hood, lending us the first look at his eyes, he slashes at them and freaks out.

Lucy sees a framed spider on the wall, kicks Philomela, grabs her by the tendrils and demands an explanation. All Philomela can do is apologize. Clearly both Isaac and Lucy are being sidetracked by their own baggage, so Chise steps in, and then dives into Philomela’s dreams.

There, Philomela is a little kid like in the OP; unlike the OP, Chise is also a kid. She guides Philomela around her dream, which takes the general form of a school, and helps her collect lost “pieces” of herself, which manifest as various memories, both good and bad.

This includes the wooden puzzle with which she once played with Rian, the dungeon where her grandmother imprisoned her when she failed to measure up to her, and the photo of her as a baby with her parents’ faces blacked out with marker. Philomela also gets glimpses of Chise’s psyche, which Chise says is a matter of the two of them getting “mixed up” in this non-corporeal place.

While Philomela continues to collect her pieces and witnesses some of Chise’s, she starts to form a picture of Chise as someone perhaps similar to her. Neither of them knew their parents faces, and both of them faced long stretches of cold, barren, lonely darkness.

But all of that despair is washed away once they reach the school rooftop, replaced by a gorgeous sunset. Now that Philomela has all of her pieces back, it’s on her to decide what to do, and what she wants others to do for her.

When she asks Chise why she’s helping someone who tried to kill her, Chise admits she’s trying to save her past self, whose eyes were identical to Philomela’s. The two go on to find a little Isaac crying on the top of a mountain of debris, and it’s Philomela who comforts him by placing her hand on his head.

While they’re all in younger forms, all three remember who they are and who they are to each other. All that’s left is to find Lucy, who is in a library full of cobwebs. Like Isaac, she had been crying alone until the others came, but was eager to find them so she could stop crying and do something; move forward.

She asks nothing less of Philomela: stop whining and either run away, do something else, or say something, anything, for herself. Alas, when Philomela drops her flashlight and it starts projecting a recording of the events that led to Philomela being present for the assassination of Lucy’s family, well, let’s just say it kills the redemptive mood.

Lucy grabs her and demands to know why she killed her family, but Philomela doesn’t know. She never had the right to know, and at the time Lucy’s family was killed, there was nothing she could have done to stop it. But while her past self was powerless, her present self isn’t.

She’s allowed to speak now. Chise tells her she can’t remind silent if she wants help; she has to shout out for it; that’s just the way of the world they live in. Philomela finally does manage to utter what she wants, which is for Chise and the others to help her.

Unfortunately, just as she says “help me”, her dark version appears and swallows her up in her tendrils. When Chise reaches out for her, kid Philomela turns into a cloud of flower petals and is scattered into the darkness. Just when it felt like genuine progress was being made and we were close to a breakthrough, we may be back to square one. As such, this episode ends on a bit of a downer. Hopefully, all hope for Philomela isn’t lost.

The Ancient Magus’ Bride – S2 20 – Remember Today

The first years of Philomela Sargeant’s life were happy, fun, and full of love in the care of her parents Adam and Iris. Those years were also relatively normal by this show’s standards—but for the presence of the artificial fairy Alcyone, whom Adam created.

While her primary function is to protect Philomela at all costs, she turns out not to be like most artificial fairies, in that she has the capacity to grow and learn through failure and success like humans. That’s approrpriate, as Adam tells her he fled an inhuman place.

Iris was the daughter of a wealthy family brought low that sold her to the Sageants. Lizbeth had her presented to her son Adam so he could basically practice and experiment on her. When ordered to do so, Adam obeyed with the same blank look and defeated tone as the Philomela we know.

Iris wishes they could take photos of a family life she feels is passing by far too fast, which turns out to be quite prescient. But they can’t, as they’re on the run from the Sargeants. Iris also confides in Alcyone that as the child of someone who sold their own kid, she doesn’t know if she’ll prioritize Philomela if (i.e. when) something happens.

Alcyone puts her hand tenderly on Iris’ head, having sensed that that is what she needed. In this way Alcyone truly proved she’s more than the sum of her artificial parts.

As we know, this idyllic family situation was never going to end well, and now we know just how it ended. Agents sent by Lizbeth confront Adam while he’s out and open fire at Iris. Adam realizes the only reason his mother left them alone was to wait for Philomela to grow old enough to be used as a hostage.

Thanks to a hex they both took when Iris was still Adam’s captive, any attack on them has the same effect on the attacker. Adam, who under no circumstances is going back to the Sargeant Mansion, takes his own life. Iris is riddled with bullets, but manages to buy time for Alcyone to flee with Philomela.

With her parents killed, suddenly Alcyone is Philomela’s only guardian who actually cares about her. But she too is taken down by Lizbeth’s henchmen. Alcyone is either reprogrammed or simply brought to heel by Lizbeth, and we all know what happens to Philomela from here.

That brings us to the present, with a crumbling Alcyone cradling an even more badly-crumbling Philomela in her arms, wishing she could have done something to protect her. It really is a cruel tragedy.

Lizbeth is a curse that claimed Philomela’s parents, is now on the cusp of claiming her own life, and Lizbeth doesn’t even care about her. If there’s justice in the world of this show, she’ll pay for that at some point.

As Philomela and Alcyone deteriorate, Chise finds herself face to face with the Winter Goddess, saying she’s there to claim the “golden branch”, or “fruit of the maiden” promised to him by Elias when they crossed paths with her daughter (whom I mistook as Titania’s daughter back in episode 18—oopsie!).

Elias is deferent and apologetic to the goddess, telling her to give him a little more time as Chise is still young and providing “the sacrifice” to her there and now would be “difficult.” But when Lizbeth’s henchmen surround them, the goddess agrees to help as long she gets the golden branch. Chise serves as a medium to summon the goddess, whose name is Morrigan, who seems eager for a fight with whomever.

Morrigan covers Chise and Elias’ retreat, and once they’re safe in the woods Elias ejects the others from within him. Isaac makes sure everyone understands their priorities as they rush towards the mansion. He and Chise will rescue Philomela (with Elias supervising). Lucy is determined to get answers from the people who killed her family; Zoe wants to protect Lucy …and everyone else. Fabio … will hopefully prove useful at some point.

When they run into the werewolf (whose goofy character design is doing it no favors in the intimidation department) in the woods, Zoe stays behind and goes into Medusa Mode to deal with her while the others continue on. The lore and mythology may be dense, but the stakes and objectives are clear. Let’s save Philomela, ya’ll!

The Ancient Magus’ Bride – S2 19 – Following the Rules

The book speaks through Philomela, but it wouldn’t be possessing her if she wasn’t a little complicit in being possessed. After all, she wants her mother and father back, and if this is the way to do it, well, it’s not like she can go back and become un-possessed.

She demands that Liza drop the veil over the College, so Liza does so, something the werewolf was waiting for. When Chise arrives, Philomela lashes out at them with her root-hair, but the amulets Chise made protect everyone.

Gregory transforms into a giant bear, but his first attack on Philomela is blocked by Alcyone. Greg’s second attack is stopped when he’s plastered by the werewolf, who takes both Philomela and the injured (damaged?) Alcyone and vanishes through a portal.

Chise tells Liza that she’s going after them. She notes that Liza did nothing to stop this, but Liza tells her young student to take a good look at her black left arm, then grabs her by the scuff and says if she really wants to keep her friends safe, she’ll ditch her “pathetic, self-congratulatory compassion.”

Look, I don’t blame Liza for doing what she did: her primary responsibility is the safety of all of the students and staff of the College. She couldn’t risk them to save one girl, particularly one who was keen on destroying themselves anyway.

Still, I don’t think Chise will be following Liza’s advice anytime soon. She’s well aware that her compassion and her desire to save Philomela is selfish and very possibly self-destructive. But she’s going to try to save her anyway. If she didn’t, she wouldn’t be Chise.

That said, she does stand still for a few moments to muster her resolve, and she’s rewarded with a pat on the head from Elias. His bride may still be full of mysteries, but he knows her well enough to know what she wants and how to help her.

So, in order to keep things above board, he asks Chise if she formed a contract with Philomela. Chise recalls that she did, by promising to make potpourri with her sometime. Because she’s a mage, not a sorcerer, and bound by such contracts, she has to go try and save Philomela…and he’s going with her.

Lucy, Isaac, and Zoe all ask if they can come too, and they have their reasons: Lucy to confront the werewolf who killed her family; Isaac to save his new venting buddy, and Zoe because he’s worried about her. When Fabio offers to tag along and take responsibility for them, Elias allows them to come.

Quite without warning, Chise gets things started by assuming the form of the red dragon. Elias covers the others with his body before following her. Her transformation really spooks Liza and the faculty and even Muriel notices the dragon’s presence as it passes beneath her and her acquaintance.

Meanwhile, Philomela has returned “home” to the Sargeant mansion with the werewolf and Alcyone. There, Lizbeth meets with her, doesn’t fail to get a dig in about how “unsightly” she’s become, takes the book, and prepares for a ritual. We know she wants Adam back, but she never said anything about Philomela’s mother.

In fact, Philomela served her purpose for Lizbeth, for once, and it would seem her use to her is now over. She has the book for the resurrection ritual, and Philomela’s personality has reverted to default as her body slowly crumbles.

Lucy, Isaac and Zoe wake up in a strange cave, and are then approached by Elias, who tells them he took them (and Fabio) inside his body so they’d be able to travel with him through the same underground veins where Dragon!Chise is traversing.

She’s using the dragon within as a bloodhound to track Philomela using the scent of her emotions and soul. I love the concept of Elias serving as a kind of protective capsule for Chise’s friends (and Fabio), and the dragon’s “swim” through the veins makes for some striking, trippy visuals.

The dragon eventually surfaces and transforms back into Chise. She finds herself in front of the Sargeant manor, but before she can locate Philomela, she’s accosted by a murder of crows that coalesce into the Winter Goddess. Apparently she has business with Chise that takes precedence. She blinds one of Lizbeth’s guards, but that doesn’t necessarily mean she’s 100% on Chise’s side, does it?

As Philomela returns to the pathetic state she was in when in her dorm room, only now with the appearance of an eldritch abomination, Alcyone is at a loss of what to do, but then it dawns on her: perhaps she can learn how to help Philomela by accessing the recordings of her childhood she carries.

While her first attempt to access the data results in grainy black-and-white images with the parents cut out, eventually she finds herself transported into the past, to when Adam Sargeant first switches her on. After introducing himself, Adam shows her who she’ll be protecting henceforth: lil’ baby Philomela, being held by her mother Iris. Let the deep dive down memory lane commence…

The Ancient Magus’ Bride – S2 18 – Under the Skin

The Winter Goddess pays a visit to Elia’s and Chise’s home, only to find Silver and Cartaphilus. When she learns Chise isn’t there she and her mount turn into a murder of crows. Within the College, Chise explains to Lucy how she’s able to tap into deep, painful memories of others.

Lucy asks her to hop back into hers on purpose, in case there’s any additional information she can gleam. Indeed she does: the two werewolves sent to kill everyone were at odds; one of them didn’t want to kill Lucy. Also, there’s a little kid Chise identifies as a girl, but was wearing the same kind of hoodie that Isaac wears, telling a young Lucy “I’m sorry.”

Much to Lucy’s anger, the second dive into her memories brings up more questions than it answers. But with Christmas coming up, Chise surprises everyone by offering them handmade rune amulets as presents. They contain the thorn rune, which represents both her and Elias.

She asks Isaac to give Rian his amulet, then asks Alcyone to give Philomela hers. Philomela continues to suffer horribly in the darkness of her room, bruised and bandaged, unable to quite remember her parents. While Chise gets her routine curse checkup, Alex makes a distinction between her curse, the work of old sorcery and magic.

Another type of curse is a hex, cast by a human, and with the expectation that the harm it does will eventually befall the caster: “you reap what you sow.” The cut to Philomela suffering almost seems to imply Philomela is reaping what she’s sown…or is she?

When Alcyone arrives to give her the amulet Chise made for her, Philomela suddenly stands up, takes the amulet … and swallows it whole. She then immediately asks for “more”, thrusts her arm into Alcyone’s chest, and pulls out the magical book that is the source of all of this unpleasantness: The Testament of Carnamagos.

When Philomela answers the almost robotic knocking and calling of her name from Veronica, she is no longer just Philomela. The tips of her fingers are black like Chise’s left arm, and fibrous white tendrils emerge from her bandages. By possessing her, the book voices things Philomela herself would never say, like she’s always feared Veronica.

Chise immediately senses that the book holder is nearby, and she nearly passes out from its magical power countering her own. Meanwhile, Rian, who had been waiting just beyond the girls dorm hoping to apologize and perhaps ask Philomela to join him at the Christmas Party, hears a scream, and finds Veronica on the floor and someone covered in tendrils floating above her.

When Ruth and Elias enter the infirmary, Chise tells him she wants to help. The old Elias might have refused out of overprotectiveness, but not this one. He says they’ll go help together, as they both have friends they want to protect. Chise is at first shocked, then incredibly touched.

That sweet scene is interrupted by the evil book getting the better of Rian before revealing its vessel is Philomela, by telling him she always hated him for always being right, strong, honest, and decisive, making Philomela feel pathetic and worthless.

Shortly after neutralizing Rian, Book!Philomela (Bibliomela?) crashes the Christmas Party, and with one swipe of her arm knocks out all of the students, leaving only the stronger faculty, led by Liza Quillyn.

Earlier in the episode, Gregory asks Liza why she’s doing so little to investigate or solve the mystery of the missing book. She said she was attempting to achieve the most by doing the least. It could well be she sealed off the College not only to protect the students, but to keep the magic book from getting out.

If that’s the case, she has the book exactly where she wants it. I’m left wondering why the book was within Alcyone’s body, and if Philomela’s grandmother Lizbeth put it there, maybe as part of her larger efforts to get “Adam” back (presumably Philomela’s dad).

But for now, Philomela is in a very, very bad way, merely a vessel for the book and its will. She politely asks Liza to let her out of the College, with a glint in her eye(s) and a smile that strongly suggests it’s the one and only time she’ll ask nicely before unleashing hell.

The Ancient Magus’ Bride – S2 17 – Stop and Smell the Tomatoes

With the sudden influx of students being sapped of their magic, Nurse Alex puts Chise to work filling gathering stones with her massive stores of it, the magical version of donating blood. Chise’s Sleigh Beggy has given and taken many things from her, and she wonders if she’s good for anything else.

Like any good teacher, Alex encourages her to search far and wide for a new skill or talent, if that’s what she wants. But then an ill student enters the infirmary, grabs Chise’s hand, and starts to drain her magic. He had woken from a dream where he saw a strange hand, and for a brief moment Chise sees it too.

Quillyn separates the possessed student from Chise, but the damage is done. Chise hasn’t lost all her magic, but has lost enough that she doesn’t have enough to share with a still severely magic-deficient Lucy, who passes out. At Elias’ urging, Quillyn drops a pile of candy bars on Chise so she can build her magic back up through calories.

Quillyn, Elias, and Chise ponder what just took place. From what she experienced, it’s possible that the book is manipulating its user to attack students. The user seems to be unwilling to kill anyone, but the attack on Chise suggests the book is growing impatient.

Chise’s magic recovers enough for Lucy eventually come to, and then Jasmine and all the other ill students suddenly wake up feeling much better. Quillyn decides to inform the entire student body of the stolen book and attacks, and the rumors start to fly.

After her exertions, Elias flags down Chise and suggests she take a day off and pick tomatoes with him. It’s a lovely scene, especially when a smiling Chise playfully tosses two tomatoes at Lucy and Seth; it’s also good to see the two have become closer. Eventually everyone else shows up to enjoy the tomatoes.

It’s a gathering and a mood Chise wants to cherish and not forget, but not everyone participated. Rian is off on his own, trying in vain to get to an increasingly reclusive Philomela (the cat dorm mother won’t let him near the girls’ dorms). As the students continue to undergo magical combat training under Fabio and Sigrid, Elias has another conversation with Alcyone.

The subject is the roles people play. As Elias is still getting used to being a person and Alcyone doesn’t consider herself a fully constructed person, needless to say it’s an interesting discussion. Just as Alex encouraged Chise earlier to expand her horizons if she wishes to, Elias encourages Alcyone not to dwell on her perceived “adequacy” and take on the role of a parent.

When we reach the month-and-a-half mark since the College was sealed, “Kevin”, whom I’m sure had lines in previous episodes but whom I just don’t remember, wants to “kill time” by searching for the attacker. Lucy tells him he’s asking to be killed full stop, and he accuses her of being the attacker and takes a shot at her family.

I thought for sure Lucy would get up and pummel the sonofabitch, but it’s Chise who drops whatever secret woodcraft she’s working on and grabs Kevin by the scruff, taking him to task for saying “things that shouldn’t be said.” Eventually everyone assembled urges Kevin to apologize, but Lucy doesn’t want an apology. Then she pummels him with a clean right hook to the chin.

Chise knows that if Kevin saw what Lucy and her have seen, he wouldn’t be so quick to thoughtlessly leap into harm’s way. In any case, I love the bond Chise and Lucy have formed, even if Lucy is pissed she jumped into her fight. I wish I could say the same of Philomela, who Chise desperately wants to help, but feels selfish for wanting that.

Veronica is the only one to visit her, and brings a sandwich, correctly presuming she hasn’t been eating well. Mela can only manage a single bite before retching and vomiting. At the moment, “everything is terrifying” for poor Mela, and that closeup of Veronica is ambiguous as hell. My first thought was she’s just being nice, but there could well be something else going on…

The Ancient Magus’ Bride – S2 16 – Tests of Courage, Stuck in Cages

Violet arranges for everyone to draw lots, pair off, and participate in a late-night test of courage, visiting all of the most haunted spots in the College. Jasmine even recovers enough to join the fun, while the pairings allow for some interesting one-on-one conversations with various characters.

Lucy makes sure she’s paired up with Zoe, as the only reason she’s participating is because Chise asked her. While this is ostensibly a way to make other friends, Lucy prefers to stick with their circle, hence being with Zoe. Chise ends up with Veronica, and wastes no time asking about Philomela.

Veronica assumes that Chise wants her to order the Sergeants to lay off of Philomela, but it’s not that simple. Veronica looks back to when she first met Mela. Someone poisoned Veronica’s food on her birthday, and Mela, who tasted it, experiences the horrible effects.

Veronica is shuffled off for her own safety, but when she learns Philomela survived the poisoning, she orders Lizbeth to allow her to be her attendant. That’s right: she orders Mela’s evil grandmother, who has no choice but to bow her head and obey. I got a lot of satisfaction out of that.

Even though Philomela considered herself a failure, Veronica not only insisted, she also did her hair with her ribbon. While the Rickenbachers get to order the Sergeants around the bottom line is that both Veronica and Mela are trapped in the cages of their family obligations, devoid of free will. By selecting Philomela, Veronica was able to control something, while also giving Mela a “nicer cage.”

Veronica asks Chise why she’s so insistent on sticking her nose in the affairs of a tiny little world she has no connection with, and Chise can’t give an answer. Veronica should already know: like her, Chise simply likes Philomela, and doesn’t want her to to suffer needlessly. Years ago, Veronica used the little power she has to protect Philomela rather than discard her.

Rian gets paired with Violet, who tries to get him to see the error of his ways after he lashed out at Philomela. Violet, who likes to cross-dress, has fallen out of favor with his family, while Jasmine has been dressing and acting more masculine to compensate, as if meaning to switch places with him.

Rian may think things are clear cut, but that’s only natural considering he was taught and born with everything. Some weren’t born so lucky, like Philomela. The haunted place they happen to be in is where there’s a mirror that takes on one’s form when you answer its call, but Rian sees a younger Mela in it.

Isaac, who is paired with Philomela, was another one of the unlucky ones, sworn to the Scrimgeours. He knows Rian is a kind person, but also so straightforward and dense that he hurts without knowing it. As two boys growing up, Rian and Isaac competed often, but Rian always one.

Isaac has been sticking up for Philomela because he feels a certain kinship to her. He may be a blacksmith, not a “shadow” like her, but they both must serve under higher-ranked families. Isaac tells Philomela that they have to vent sometimes or they’ll go crazy.

After the tests of courage are done, everyone gathers to watch a terrible American “horror” movie about a shark avalanche. Isaac and Rian sit together, and Isaac makes clear he’ll neither apologize nor accept an apology from Rian. Instead, he wants Rian to apologize to Philomela, and commit to changing. After his talk with Violet, Rian is open to doing so.

As for Jasmine? It was never her, only the ghost of a former student taking Jasmine’s form. Thanks to Violet and the others, she had the most fun she’s had in years. But as the fun wraps up and everyone parts ways for the night, Elias tells Chise that Alexandra wants her to report to the infirmary ASAP, while the lady werewolf looks poised to act.

While not the most action-packed episode, the fact that all these characters got to interact with one another and have all these heart-to-hearts was just as entertaining to watch, if not moreso, than magical battles, as we learned more about Veronica, Philomela, the St. George siblings, and Isaac, while the episode gave Rian and Chise meaningful nudges towards deciding what concrete steps they can take vis-a-vis Philomela’s situation.

The Ancient Magus’ Bride – S2 15 – Those Eyes Don’t Cry

Sealed off from the outside world, the students have a study group in the courtyard, something Chise’s happy about. When studying gets a little old, Violet and Jasmine break out some wooden magical puzzles for everyone to enjoy.

It’s another first for Chise, but I already knew she’d unlock her puzzle instantly. I didn’t know it would set off a trap that temporarily gives her black hair! I kinda wish we could have seen more of her, particularly beside the similarly raven-haired Lucy.

Elias, lost in thought about what Chise might like or dislike, ends up int he courtyard and observes the games. When Philomela arrives with Veronica and Alcyone, Rian invites his childhood friend to play with him, like they once did all the time.

Alcyone, intrigued by whatever Elias is, engages him in conversation, under the mistaken impression that he is, like her, an artificial fairy. But I can’t really blame her; the two look like two peas in a pod together! There’s also a profound sadness to the fact that somewhere within Alcyone there is a beautiful stored memory of Philomela and her parents.

Rian’s memory is full of days spent with Philomela, including playing with these very same wooden puzzles. But now, in the present, when he solves his puzzle before hers, he’s angry, because there’s no way someone so much stronger, smarter, and more talented than he would finish after him.

The disconnect between his longstanding opinion of Philomela and the tortured wretch before him is too much to bear, and he wrongly takes it out on her. She suggest that perhaps he shouldn’t expect that she’s anything like she used to be, or he’ll only be disappointed.

The two run off, and their friends chase after them. Isaac is mad at Rian for how he acted, and their fight carries over to the next day. Zoe admits he hasn’t had friends long, but he doesn’t think friends should treat each other like Rian treated Philomela.

Chise, followed closely by Lucy, chases down Philomela and takes her into her arms. When she sees her face, raw with anguish but devoid of actual tears, it’s like looking into a mirror at her former self. As we know, before she sold herself to Elias she was a tortured wretch herself.

Chise desperately wants to help Philomela by telling her it’s okay, there are things she can want and things she can do. But Mela has been so thoroughly pulverized by her evil grandmother (whom we see being awful to the wolf woman) that she is now stuck in an excruciating limbo: not allowed to win, or lose, or wish or hope for anything. Chise isn’t able to say any more as Mela departs.

Her inability to ease her friend’s heart weighs on Chise the next day, but her own heart is lifted when she and Elias are able to sit and shoot the breeze for the first time in a while. Chise also notices more ghosts floating around, and Violet comes past in to explain that they come out in greater numbers in the Winter.

After Philomela and Rian ran off, Jasmine took ill, so Violet took her to the nurse’s office. Now dozens more students are knocking on her door with the same symptoms. The most obvious explanation is that whoever has the grimoire is continuing to sap people’s magic. And since the College is sealed, there’s no escape from their machinations. Something’s gotta give!

The Ancient Magus’ Bride – S2 14 – The Lure of Freedom

When Chise takes Philomela to her room, Alcyone says that Philomela is “very adverse to destroying things.” ‘Mela comes to and asks Chise why she’s being so nice to her. Chise’s response—that in Mela she saw someone kind but in pain, like her, whom she wanted to help if she could—perplexes Mela, who was bred never to help or accept help from others.

Chise tells Mela that she’s free to do what she wants, but those psychological blocks die hard. To whit: Lucy tries to be nice by offering a bottle of watter, but later tells Chise Mela would never trust any food or drink she did not obtain herself.

When Chise tells Lucy that she’s kind, Lucy admits she doesn’t fully trust her either. That’s fair, considering what Lucy’s been through, and the raw power she’s witnessed Chise demonstrating. Meanwhile, Mela doesn’t want to be someone who lacks the strength to break through the artificial barriers of her conditioning to take hold of her freedom.

But for now, that’s just who Mela is, as hammered home when he behavior seems to trigger a stored message in Alcyone from Mela’s grandmother. This message intends to stamp out any lingering wisps of rebellion from Mela. Her granny will never give Mela her freedom. But thanks to Headmistress Quillyn, she still has a chance to take it.

Outside the College, Muriel meets up with her white-haired contact, who turns out to be an ancient werewolf. What better beast to gather and track the scent of the book? Muriel transfers the nature of the book to the werewolf with a kiss; the sound design and visuals of his transition into, through and out of the intense “book world” is very craftily done.

The search through the city is accompanied by a very slick and jaunty bit of music with lots of cool Flamenco-esque rhythmic clapping. Muriel and the wolf reach a brick wall that Muriel unfurls with magic to reveal a secret shop. There, Muriel makes sure to spend liberally in order to get the proprietor to assist her (and not eat her).

The next day, Chise and her friends are studying when Philomela walks by with Alcyone. Chise waves hello, but Men recoils and retreats, clearly cowed by her grandmother’s message. But even if her relationship with Chise is quickly deteriorating, at least there’s progress on the book front.

Muriel and the wolf appear to have confirmed that the book and its user is in fact still within the College. Sure enough, a gloved hand uses the book on Jasmine St. George, who wakes up with a start. With the parameters of the search thus limited, the search for the book in earnest can begin. But I worry for the resulting dangers to come.

The Ancient Magus’ Bride – S2 13 – She Got That Dragon In Her

I have to award Headmistress Quillyn both for her gravitas while dictating her notice to the students and staff of the College, but also style points for magically affixing a notice to every dorm and office door without leaving her desk. She’s shut Hogwarts the College off from the outside world, both physically and magically, until they can figure out who is attacking people.

Some take this news better than others, but Chise’s tight little crew are more concerned with Philomela suddenly declaring she has to leave the school. For the time being, she’s stuck there with everyone else, as is her grandmother’s familiar Alcyone. But while she’s slow to speak up for herself, Lucy is well enough to return to the dorm she and Chise share.

As golems patrol the school grounds, Chise doesn’t sleep well, and in the morning all students are summoned to the courtyard in their tracksuits. They’re soon met by our boy Fabio Zucchini Macaroni Zaccheroni, who is kept in check by his supervisor/handler, Ms. Wachmann.

Fabio summons a brace of ghoulies for the students to fight using only weapons forged from blocks of clay he hands out. They have talismans to protect them from death, but this is a test meant to test the mettle of the young sorcerers when there isn’t sufficient time to use sorcery.

Chise doesn’t forge a weapon, because she’s never used one before—which doesn’t sound right but with Elias and other powerful sorcerers by her side, I suppose she’s never needed one. And she still doesn’t, as she learns when the monster attacks her. Her body moves all on its own, picks the beast up with one hand and snaps its neck like a twig. She’s the first to defeat her monster, followed by the knife-proficient Rian.

Others have more difficulty, while Philomela deals with her monster with ease and efficiency but doesn’t react well to Isaac’s praise, and curls up into a ball of insecurity. Rian and Chise then team up when Fabio challenges them directly. This brings out a bit too much of the dragon for Wachmann’s taste, and she stops both her and Fabio with her bare hands, demonstrating why Fabio doesn’t cross her.

When everyone passes and Wachmann takes Fabio away by the ear, Philomela is not looking well, so Chise pops her onto her back and takes her to the nurse’s office. Lucy claims to have to stay close to Chise when she tags along due to the mana she’s emanating, but c’mon, she’s worried about Mela too. So am I! And I definitely don’t want her going back to that wretched mansion with that even more wretched grandmother.

Meanwhile, outside of the sealed-off College, Muriel is hard at work recruiting someone who’s good at finding things to track down the stolen grimoire that’s being used in the attacks. After the first cour of this second season contained a large amount of buildup to a larger conflict, this first episode of the second continues that trend in preparing for bigger things.

It’s a perfectly cromulent outing with some fun and touching moments, but at the end of the day buildup is buildup. Eventually the payoff will have to come, and I’m confident we’ll get one before long.

The Ancient Magus’ Bride – S2 12 (Part 1 Fin) – Trick or Treat

The students’ little field trip in the Waste Tower is filled with dread and foreboding. There are some creepy moments like carnivorous plants only Rian and Chise can see, some not-so-friendly sorcerers in the caves Zoe has to paralyze with his snakes, and a far-too-handsy Fabio, who knows Chise is a Sleigh Beggy and “wants” her.

She doesn’t even have to unleash the dragon; Carty pops out to warn off the rogue sorcerer. Ultimately, the trip to the tower is pretty anti-climactic. No one there seems to be behind the attacks on Alice and Simeon. But we do learn that, like Chise, Rian has killed someone at some point. That’s how the two can see the plants while the others couldn’t.

While that’s going on, Alice tries to get through to Renfred for the umpteenth time, trying to get him to see her as his bodyguard and not his daughter. To which I say, why not both? Alice all but screams “kid” by confronting him in a ghost sheet.

It’s not that Renfred doesn’t trust her ability, but believes she has the potential to be more than him. Her old father may have sucked, but clearly her new one doesn’t. She shouldn’t sweat labels and just focus on being the best Alice Swayne she can be.

As Alice and Renfred fumble their way into another philosophical stalemate, Seth tries to keep Lucy from running after her friends. She doesn’t want anything to happen to them on her account. When she bumps into Alice in the hall, she’s in tears, so Alice lends her the ghost sheet.

This is how Seth finds her: a little whimpering ghost in the hallway. He pulls her into a hug which she accepts. She also accepts that Seth doesn’t hate her and didn’t abandon her. She knows that he was ostracized and had no choice but to leave. She thought she had to hate him because of that, but she never wanted to.

Finally, before this first part of seaon two wraps up (Part 2 will air in October) there’s the matter of Philomela and her grandmother moving to withdraw her from the College. Granny channels her voice through a barn owl handled by one of her servants, but Headmistress Quillyn happens to be in the courtyard when she arrives.

When Philomela’s classmates realize what’s going on, they’re outraged. Philomela clearly doesn’t want to leave, but she’s wired to obey without question. So Isaac takes her arm and runs off into the College with her, taking her out of the equation.

Once her granny and Quillyn verbally spar for a bit, the headmistress calls upon the cat dorm mothers, three of whom transform into their true Cait Sith forms. With Elias standing by in reserve, Quillyn has the upper hand, and announces that the entire College is being sealed off due to the spate of magical attacks.

I’m sure Granny Sergeant would have preferred to quickly whisk Philomela away under cover of secrecy, but the headmistress has bought her time to determine what she wants to do, which is most likely to stay with Chise and the others and continue her education.

Here’s hoping she gets that, gets to have her potpourri satchel-making date with Chise, and the attacker is found and dealt with, all when Part 2 rolls around in the autumn.