Season 1, Episode 7: "Calm Down, Two Men"

We are now nearing the end of the second arc of the series. Bear with me as we trek through this very emotional, very powerful ending.

There's an interesting little (forced) visual at the beginning with the aftermath of the neo-Nazi massacre--limbs hanging off the sides of the ship, bloody footprints, bullet shells, and a lone cigarette butt. Like I said, it's forced to have all this imagery together, but it doesn't bother me so much because since when does Revy clean up her mess?

Speaking of Revy, she's being her bitchy self as usual, except even worse since Rock opened up that can of worms a couple of episodes back. This, of course, makes Rock uncomfortable to be in the same car with her as they run errands. As for Dutch, well, he doesn't give a flying fuck.

Their first stop is at a strip club where we meet Rowan, where we learn Revy's real name for the first time in the series--Rebecca. He's an acquaintance of Revy, not a very likable one, as he keeps commenting on Revy's ass, even though he has two scantily-clad strippers on either side of his throbbing cock. Rowan also comments on the fact that Rock looks like he's "never seen a pair of titties before" because it's completely bizarre for a guy to not be drooling like a dog in the presence of attractive women. Okay, so maybe Rock didn't have to go so far as to blush at the waitress, but give the guy a break. He's still weaning off the white collar titty--soon, he'll move on to red-light district titties.

Revy slaps a booze receipt in Rowan's hand, and Rock and Revy go on their way.

Next up is a visit with Balalaika, who is busy editing anal porn for some reason. And she's totally bored to tears. Eh, whatever puts bread on the table, I guess.

"Hold on a sec... is she taking it up the ass?" - Revy
"Sure is." - Balalaika

Balalaika learns that her shipment will be late, but it doesn't matter anyway because she's going to be stuck editing 15 of these videos all day. She also has a meeting with someone tonight about some schlum who's selling drugs illegally, so that will also take time out of her day.

Next stop is the "Ripoff Church" Church of Violence. Rock and Revy must pick up guns from the sisters, Yolanda and Eda. We meet Eda first, coming around the back in response to Revy pounding on the door for Yolanda to open it. Damn, as brash as Revy is, this kind of brutality is abnormal for her.

Eda also makes a point to look over to the delivery men and tell them to put the clean linens in the shed (where they would certainly get dirty).

Eda reminds me of Philomena from the Hey Nunnie Nunnie! Renaissance show.

I'm sure it doesn't take a brain surgeon to realize that Revy is quick to hold a gun to Eda's face when Sister Yolanda doesn't hand over the grenade launcher since someone else "needs it immediately." I wouldn't fuck with Revy, Yolanda, and neither should you. One thing though: does anyone else find it bizarre that Black Lagoon gets its weapons through the church? That's like getting party supplies from a mortuary.

I suppose the other customer is paying extra for the grenade launcher, which is why Yolanda preferred to withhold it from Black Lagoon, but since Black Lagoon is such a loyal customer, she proposes to work out a deal with "Dutchie Boy." Damn, she said that so casually, you'd think she wasn't afraid of Revy at all.

Before Revy creates another bloodbath, Rock uses some damn fine charismatic skills--first buttering up Yolanda with his appreciation for her tea (and his vast knowledge of it), and then jumps right into blackmail--threatening to alert Balalaika about the sisters' secret drug trades outside planned courses. Rock also mentions, to Eda, that he realizes that this correlates to the fact that she wanted the clean linens placed in the dirty shed--could they possibly be smuggling drugs inside them? (I wonder if cocaine is the secret to their fluffy softness!) Ah, they must be who Balalaika was talking about in the scene before this--how very convenient to the plot.

Yolanda politely asks Rock and Revy to leave since mass will begin, giving Rock a gold star in perception. As Rock and Revy leave, Yolanda tells Revy to be more like Rock to get what she wants, and not wave her gun around so much. I think Revy uses that gun as a threat so often it doesn't even scare Yolanda anymore--perhaps that's why Yolanda seemed more threatened by Rock, who would most certainly rat her out to Balalaika.

Revy realizes that Yolanda is right (even though she doesn't say or indicate it at all), and tells her to go fuck herself. Well, she is a nun, so she wouldn't do that in the first place. Her love is for God, and God only. No self "love." But how Catholic could these nuns possibly be if they're selling weapons and guns? This church must have money coming out the ass--it makes me wonder if this is why many churches are exempt from paying taxes.

Rock and Revy go to dinner, but Revy's still too pissed off to eat. Rock says she should eat, but Revy tells him to fuck off and that it was a mistake adding him to the team, to which Rock diffuses with the fact that he stopped Revy and Eda from killing each other. Rock brings up the submarine conversation again, thinking it's the root of the mosquito biting Revy's ass, but Revy warns him not to bring it up again. Rock refuses to apologize. And then shit goes down.

This is it, guys. Rock finally stands up for himself. Revy gives him one chance to redact what he just said, but Rock refuses to apologize.

And so, Revy raises her gun. Here it comes.

Everything goes quiet, and then it begins. Rock was lucky to have pushed Revy's gun away from his temple, otherwise he wouldn't have said what desperately needed to have been said to Revy for so fucking long now: "There are some problems you can't solve with a gun."

As much as I would love to transcribe their entire fight because it's 99% perfection, I still have to break it down to get to the point:

Rock: "You think I'm an arrogant cocksucker? What about you, who doesn't give a shit about anything but money?!"
Revy: "Shut the fuck up! You don't know my life!"
Rock: "Yeah, I don't know the exact details, but you don't know my life either. You're a coward. Stop playing the part of the tragic heroine!"
Revy: "Easy for you to say! Reality check: there are no heroes!"
Rock: "Then why don't you become the hero?!"

Rock tells Revy that becoming the supposed hero who doesn't exist has to be a better option than feeling sorry for herself, but Revy backs away in defense, as proving her strength with a gun is all she knows how to do. And there--that's it. Rock has broken Revy down into a fine powder. It all has finally unraveled--the reason why Revy is such a heartless, merciless, gold-digging mercenary is because that's all she knows. In other words, being bad is the only way to be good.

Rock's life sucked before Revy came along and introduced him to life, something he could actually enjoy. And it was all thanks to Revy. Now, because of her insecurities, Revy is turning into Rock's old life--making him walk on eggshells around her--and he hates that. He hated it working at Asahi Industries and hates it even more now. Revy snaps. She calms down to the point where all she can do is just curse Rock out. That's all she has left. That's it--we have found the human within the Revy. Revy is trying not to cry, if you can see.

The cops come to break up the ruckus. Revy has them wrapped around her finger--no surprise there. They tell her not to pull out her gun in broad daylight. Kill people in a back alley, sure; the cops don't care. Corruption at its finest. They take Rock and Revy in to fill out required paperwork, I guess so the cop can fill his quota. Basically just lie, and the cop will forget the whole thing.

Later in the back of the cop car, Revy asks Rock whose side he's on. He's still on the same side he's always been. And then there's a touching moment where Rock lights a cigarette, and then Revy tells him to give her a light, and they sort-of "kiss" as their cigarettes touch. Had this been done any other way than through those nasty cancer sticks, I would have "aww"ed or "d'aww"ed.

Regardless, in the context of an indirect kiss, this was incredibly touching and an excellent way to end not only the episode, but the second arc. A+ writing--couldn't have done it better myself.




OVERALL:

Story - There's no formal plot here, except a bit with Sister Yolanda and Sister Eda, but that's fine because it serves as a bridge to the character depth, which is the platinum coating to this arc as a whole

(no score)

Character Depth - Revy isn't so tough after all, though you didn't need me to say that twice. Although we have extremely limited information on Revy's backstory, we don't need it to know why Revy acts the way she does. What's important is how Revy reacted to all the shit that's been thrown to her over the years. Here's how it works: you either duck, throw it back, or let yourself become buried in it to the point where you reek of it. Revy has chosen the latter. 

6 / 5 (above and beyond character depth expectations)

Badassery - This is where the episode really shines. Through clever writing, we learn the Rock is the true badass of the series--and the only person who has and will ever break Revy out of that wall she's built up to the world.

5 / 5

Out-of-context: "Hold on a sec... is she taking it up the ass?!"

Best Insults: (Revy, to Yolanda): "Open the door, you old skank."
                      (Revy, to Eda): "Step off, Eda, you limp-wristed bitch."