This was the first time I’ve felt a little anxious over the course of Yuukoku no Moriarty. It was the weakest of the first four episodes to be sure, but that doesn’t concern me so much. Ebbs and flows are natural in any series, though the best ones obviously limit the lows. My worry is that what we see here becomes a recurring pattern. A cartoonishly evil aristocrat (in this instance the Viscount of Belfour) is set up as the villain of the week. James shows up and finds a way to kill him without anyone getting caught and calls it justice. The end.
Moriarty the Patriot is touted as a political thriller, with Moriarty (whether it’s James or Albert that’s the titular figure is still unclear) acting to undermine the British class system. It may very well be that, but what we saw in this episode – which was a rehash of the first – is not. It’s a kind of “eat the rich” revenge porn that picks on easy targets and paints a picture in black and white. I certainly won’t dispute that there are and were plenty of evil aristocrats, but revenge killing viscounts and earls isn’t really a political act – it’s just vigilantism and murder.
The Viscount of Belfour’s offense is certainly an egregious one. When his gardener Burton and his wife Michelle bring their ill son to the manor, begging to see his doctor because the village doctor is away, he callously refuses. Might this happen in the real world? Sure – but it’s more likely to be a plot device. Most nobles would simply let the doctor treat the child, as is more or less implicit in the social contract between a lord and his subjects. But if he’d done that you wouldn’t have had a story, so Belfour refused – and did so in the most obnoxious and arrogant way possible.
Enter James (having dropped the William, at least for now), newly arrived in Durham to teach at the university (as the “real” James Moriarty did). He quickly gets wind of what’s happened thanks to a coincidental meeting with Michelle, and soon enough has taken it on himself to play God. While I have considerable sympathy with James and Albert’s position on the nobility and Victorian class structure, an episode like this does a lot to make James a thoroughly unsympathetic character. And I don’t think that’s to the benefit of the series going forward.
As to the murder itself, it’s a rather elegantly simple plan involving grapefruit – though it relies on Belfour conveniently having a bad heart (I’m also unaware of any interaction between grapefruit and quinine but I suppose you wouldn’t want to give people ideas if there was). The moral of the story, I suppose, is to never invite a supervillain over for tea (never mind his brothers). Belfour certainly is a bad man but this whole thing plays out rather broadly, and doesn’t make for very effective storytelling.
For me, there are basically three routes this series could go with James. He could be a terrorist, an insurgent, or a serial killer. The first two options are much more interesting – especially the second – but based on episodes like this one you’d worry it was going to be the third. But the signals are overall mixed, so we’ll just have to wait and see. The other niggle I have is Louis, the sum of whose participation in the narrative as an adult so far has literally been to be James’ tea boy. Not every character has to be crucial but if he’s going to omnipresent, I’d love to see Louis take on an identity of his own. Again, there’s still plenty of time.
animealex
November 3, 2020 at 4:17 amI share your concern regarding “the revenge kill of the week plot” and the missing characterization of Louis. Let’s hope, that this was only the introduction of Durham for our murderous trio. I’m still not totally on board regarding the whole “revenge is always a good idea” (even if there was no legal regress possible) and “bonding through murdering together”. But hey, if Sherlock, or someone else, could shake this all a little up and put our trio on the defense, then it could become very entertaining. As it is, I only find the fact of always getting someone else involved in the murder interesting. It spreads the idea of “down with bad nobles” and gives you accomplices (perhaps for future plans), but also increases the risk of exposing the perfect crime.
As for the method of murder, as a studied pharmacist, let me just say that my alarm bells were going wild the moment, grapefruit was introduced. I don’t want to go to much into the specifics, but grapefruit interacts with quite a number of different pharmaceutical drugs, so it is generally a bad idea to ingest grapefruit in any form while taking any kind of medication.
Albion
November 3, 2020 at 7:53 amI was happy to see Durham, it is a beautiful city. As for the rest, well, if we do only get “murder a cruel nobleman” an episode it would be a pity.
But since there are 4 characters to be still introduced, I have hope.
As for grapefruit, well, the minute it was mentioned I knew where it was going. Always read your medicine instructions.
Guardian Enzo
November 3, 2020 at 8:02 amThe more you know…
A.Sade
November 3, 2020 at 10:55 amSince Episode 1 was anime-original, perhaps we can think of this episode as the manga’s first introduction to their modus operandi. Hopefully this trend won’t continue for too long…
zztop
November 3, 2020 at 11:31 amThat is correct. Ep 4 adapts Chp 2, Vol 1 of the manga.
That said, the anime did make some cuts and changes to Chp 2’s story; like downplaying the social reformist streak of the Moriartys (the local workers have no choice but to work for the viscount since he’s the only major employer around, but they all hate his arrogance and how he treats them like slaves. So the Moriartys offer them employment on their estate, with more affordable rental and tax rates compared to the viscount. )
Tyas
November 3, 2020 at 3:25 pmYeah, a very crucial element that’s present in the manga was missing in the anime: the land rent problem. If I remember it right, basically the lands in the town were divided between the Viscount and the previous owner of the estate that the Moriartys have taken over (thus making the lands theirs). The Moriartys began lowering land rent, causing commotion among the people and bringing the brothers head to head with the Viscount. The personal grudge of Barton was only the Moriartys’ way of getting somebody else to murder the Viscount, thus freeing the people from the Viscount’s reign of the land.
Guardian Enzo
November 3, 2020 at 3:57 pmYeah, removing that (dumb) makes a big difference. A discouraging sign for the rest of the series.
Kim
November 6, 2020 at 12:02 amI don’t think this is going to be an episode of the week type series so I am not too worried. Sherlock Holmes still has to come into play to hinder Moriaty’s plans
Also I’ve started to read the manga. Only the 1st volume is out in English but there are actually quite a lot of changes in each episode. The end result is often the same but the events leading up to that end result differ.
Gemsy-chan
November 6, 2020 at 9:11 amIts a real shame that they cut out and changed a lot with this episode as you see William interact with the towns people more in the manga.
As for the grapefruit…both my parents are on heart/blood pressure tablets and the first thing the doctor tells them is not to drink or eat anything that contains grapefruit.
Guardian Enzo
November 6, 2020 at 3:14 pmYeah, that’s really interesting about the grapefruit. I had no idea.