Goblin Slayer - Episode 9 (Review)
By: Mithrandiel
Miss my review last week? You can find it here!
SPOILERS AHEAD!
Summary
After discovering a mysterious and seemingly mystical mirror beyond the Beholder they just vanquished, Goblin Slayer and friends attempt to make sense of what's been going on under the city. As they ponder the possibilities, Elf hears a stampede of goblins making their way to the source of an earlier, massive explosion.
To make matters worse, included in the stampede is the Goblin Champion they battled a couple episodes earlier. The group gets to work devising a defense strategy, recognizing that the mirror can "absorb" objects and seemingly function as a gate between the two points. Lizardman starts hacking away at the embedded mirror as the goblins close in on their location.
Elf and Goblin Slayer manage to snipe over a dozen goblins as they rush down the hallway, luring the bulk of the forces into the room before taking shelter under the mirror and using the Dwarf's spells to bring the room down on top of their attackers.
Emerging from the rubble, Goblin Slayer matter-of-factly tells Elf that he was able to resolve the issue while still abiding by her "rules".
Of course, she rewards his snark with a good kick to the middle of the spine, sending him tumbling over a small cliff.
The party then returns to the city, where Goblin Slayer confronts Sword Maiden about the true nature of the attacks in the city. As it turns out, the murders were not the work of goblins at all, but rather of the Sword Maiden's familiar - the massive alligator beneath the city. She wanted to perpetuate a fear of goblins among the people so that she wouldn't feel so alone and pathetic. To her dismay, nobody seemed to care about the budding threat.
Goblin Slayer is unable to empathize with her motivations, but as he departs he tells her that she can always call on him to slay goblins for her.
He also informs her that they encased the magical mirror in concrete and sank it into the canal to stifle the flow of goblins into the underground. Sword Maiden is amazed that he would so easily dispose of such a valuable artifact.
The party begins to leave the city when Goblin Slayer suggests they turn around. He wants to try some of the "ice treats" that he and Priestess sampled previously, and the entire party buys into the idea of sharing the experience as the cart rolls on.
Review
I think that the conclusion of the Sword Maiden's quest was meant to imply urgency as the heroes escaped, but ultimately it felt rushed. Lizardman still got to play a central role in removing the mirror and positioning it so the party could use it to shield themselves, but his strength-spell was particularly badass in the LN - and that gets brushed off in the frenzied fray.
It's entertaining to see Priestess' evolution into a more battle-hardened adventurer. It wasn't that long ago that she literally had a chunk of her bit off by a Goblin Champion, and yet here she is again under the city, fighting Beholders and taking shelter under a magic mirror as stone halls collapse around her.
The second half of the episode plays out like the end of a Scooby-Doo adventure, with Goblin Slayer "unmasking" the Sword Maiden's plot to instill fear of goblins into the citizenry. I got a grasp on what was going on, largely, on my first pass-through the episode, but with the vague terms and dancing around on certain fronts, the "big reveal" may be lost on some folks. In the LN, Goblin Slayer also calls out that she used the bath to wash off the stench of the sewer to help throw people off her trail, which was a minor detail that really drove home the fact that what the Sword Maiden was doing was...kinda messed up.
There were definitely some great moments during the Sword Maiden arc, but it closes out on a rather middling note.
That being said, I'm definitely interested in learning more about the Hero and seeing how Goblin Slayer might ultimately get roped into battling the forces of the Demon Lord. Onward, to the next D&D, erm I mean Goblin Slayer adventure!
