For obvious reasons it would probably be a mistake for me to talk too much about last week’s episode of Yakusoku no Neverland, and most certainly about how it ended.  New viewers should be left to draw their own conclusions in peace, but I will say this much: however you interpret those events, it was clearly a transitional moment for the series.  Something that had been built up for 10 episodes was narratively realized, and it was time for something new to begin.

It’s not a spoiler to say that for me, that was the peak for Neverland – just an opinion.  But that is my opinion, for what it’s worth.  The dynamic of the story changes significantly with Norman removed from the equation, and the sense of urgency is amped up considerably.  Ray’s time is out, and unless he and Emma are prepared to accept what that means, it’s time to put up or shut up.  Fortunately for the series neither one of them are the type to do that.  The despair they showed in the wake of Norman’s departure wasn’t an act (they really did despair) but it was a cover.

Ray has been planning his own version of what happens next, and Emma has left the meat of preparation for her vision to Don and Gilda, reasoning that if Isabella’s eyes are fixed on she and Ray, others can operate more or less in secrecy.  But Norman is ever the bridge that connects the two of them.  He didn’t simply don his fedora and march resignedly off to the table – he bequeathed a gift of sorts, his plan for the next stage in the escape.  That he wouldn’t be part of it was a harsh concession, but one he felt had to be made.

Ray, like Norman, seems quite prepared to die for the sake of the others.  Burning down the house is one thing, but using his elite brain as bait and fuel is the key to tying Mama’s hands in his eyes.  Emma, of course, is having none of it.  But that’s not to say sacrifices aren’t needed here, too – most obviously in terms of their bodies, but not only that.  A fire gives the kids an excuse to evacuate the house, and sabotage prevents Mama from using the secret room to inform Grandma and her overlords what’s really happening.  But without Ray being allowed to sacrifice himself, something is needed to tie Mama down while the kids make their escape.

We’re again sailing into dangerous waters if I start to talk too much about why I feel like Yakusoku no Neverland starts to lose some of its dramatic punch at around this stage, but that’s for everyone to decide on their own, I suppose.  It should be clear at this point who the key figure among the largely unexplored characters is, but in terms of the camera’s eye it remains largely Emma and Ray’s show at this point.  The game of cat and mouse has shifted to “catch me if you can”, blood has literally been spilt, but things are still more complicated than that.  And there are things that even Emma, who’s as uncompromising as they come, has had to compromise over…