Damn, Nomad is one weird viewing experience. As it’s progressed I have less and less idea where it’s going or even what the hell it’s thinking, and a great sense of unease has settled over me regarding the ending. But it never gets any less interesting to watch, because the writing is so structurally flawless and the themes so complex. I haven’t discounted the possibility that this thing could end next week and I’d still have no idea what the purpose or perspective of the final arc was – I think that could very easily happen. But there’s no point in even trying to assess this show until after the final episode.
This penultimate episode focuses almost entirely on Mac. That in theory would leave the finale free to center on Joe, except it seems destined to focus mostly on the fight. Mac is certainly a compelling character with a compelling story, though less so than Chief for my tastes. He’s a cog in the machine, but what’s interesting is that Mac is realizing the extent of it now. His decision to fight anyway is slightly dubious to me, no matter how he justifies it by believing it’s for his own reasons (or that he’s going to fight Joe “his way”, whatever that means). I still haven’t seen a convincing argument for why this fight should happen, and this ep did nothing to change that.
“The Hummingbird and the Nomad” continues to be the framing device for the story. To the extent that the ED even got an insert performance (with Mabanua getting a cute cameo). The pattern of the story is clear – the Nomad feels sorry for himself, the hummingbird comes along and reminds him he’s a lot luckier than he believes. That continues right up until the end of the story, which sees the hummingbird dropping dead – but not before telling the Nomad what a privilege is it to have a past, present and future.
One of those reasons I have the aforementioned angst about the ending is of course because this is after all Ashita no Joe, theoretically (though the main reason is just fear that the ending generally won’t work for me). If one chose to interpret the hummingbird symbolism as Chief being the hummingbird to Joe’s nomad and Joe being the hummingbird to Mac’s, they wouldn’t exactly have to strain to make it fit. And the implications for Joe there aren’t exactly uplifting. A lot of fans of the old franchise expressed surprise that Gearless Joe survived Megalo Box – was it simply a matter of prolonging the inevitable?
A writer (and Kojima Kensaku and Manabe Katsuhiko are great ones) is at liberty to make whatever thematic statements they choose. And they certainly don’t need audience approval to do so. Strictly as an opinion, I struggle to see the thematic justification for Joe dying at the end of Nomad – it seems as if it would run contrary to the messages the series has been sending for 24 episodes. But if it happens (and it may not) it happens – that’s not my call. I don’t particularly want Mac to die either, for the record – he’s a victim in all this to be sure, and someone who at least tries to preserve his sense of justice as life kicks his ass to next Tuesday and back.
The problem is, the thematic messaging has gotten rather jumbled since Nomad transitioned into the second half of its title. And that’s the reason, of course, why I feel such a lack of confidence in predicting how it’s going to end. We’re climaxing on a fight which shouldn’t be happening in the first place, so who knows what message that fight is going to send? There’s no disputing who the villain of the piece is, and the most straightforward part of all this is that he’ll probably get some sort of comeuppance in the end. But that’s the least important part of the ending for me, so the next week is going to be spent on pins and needles where Nomad is concerned.
