We’re 5 episodes into Babylon, but because the first three aired all at once this sort of feels like the three-episode rule coming into play here.  My feelings towards this show have fluctuated quite a bit over the course of those three airings, with last week being a waxing cycle.  This one was more of a wane, as the things that annoy me about Babylon were a little more prominent than the things that intrigue me about it.

While it doesn’t reflect especially well on this show, I do think Babylon makes an excellent foil for Immortal because they represent two directors with somewhat similar aspirations but achieving vastly different results.  Honestly, when these two men try and do auteur stuff it’s as if Hamasaki is speaking French and Suzuki is speaking English with a French accent.  Or put another way, imagine a suit of clothes which looks perfectly natural on one person looking pretentious and ill-fitting on the other.

I’m also finding that I like the part of the mystery that focuses on Itsuki, political corruption and the Shiniki experiment much better than the part (like most of this episode) that focuses on Magase Ai.  Frankly everything involving her comes off as very far-fetched and sort of silly, and it takes me out of the moment with the genuinely interesting mundane storyline playing out alongside it.  I continue to believe this would be a much better (albeit harder to write) suspense thriller without the crutch of the paranormal twist.  And if Magase isn’t blessed with some of paranormal ability, the stuff going on with her is totally ludicrous.

As for the rest of the narrative, Zen continues to be a decent enough protagonist – even if he’s very much an off-the-shelf model these days.  I was relieved that Hiasa didn’t turn out to be Magase because that would have been too predictable, though she and Zen continue to trade askance looks about every 15 seconds or so.  It’s interesting that Hiasa seems to be the only woman on Zen’s entire investigative team, though at least she’s presented as a fairly formidable figure.  There’s still some good stuff here – whether it’s enough to keep me invested (or writing) probably depends more than anything on where Babylon chooses to expend its creative energy in the next couple of episodes.