Black Lagoon S01E03 - "Boat-shooting", the musical

BLACK LAGOON
Series 1, Episode 3

Episode Three. Ring-Ding Ship Chase. Go.

"What do you mean, the last episode only scored three stars?"

**SPOILERS AHEAD**

We, this time, start with a voice-over of Rock describing Roanapur’s sights you should not leave out when you go there as a, beware, tourist. But I do love that Buddha statue, somehow. Fits the city perfectly. 

Someone wanna buy me this car?

So, Rock’s coming back from the barber shop and Dutch is leaving the company for a walk. We now are meeting Revy as cheerful as always and again, the fruit-thing Rock bought is getting a harsh treatment from her as well after Dutch didn’t like it either. Rock still wonders if he’s too good for that city and yes, he is, but he doesn’t come to that conclusion, so everything’s fine. Now for the interesting part, Dutch is meeting with Mr. Chin, a “business” guy he knows from some time before Balalaika (who is Russian) came into town. And that results in a not so nice talk "ender". On his way back, we get to know that the Lagoon company also delivered special champagne to some prostitutes, some guy eating Italian (which lets us already guess that he is somehow connected to the mafia because everyone in this city is connected to some crime organization, everything else would be, well, wrong) who shows some interest in the crew and we are introduced to the company’s sweet ride by Benny. And damn, it’s awesome, would love to have one of those. 

Back at HQ (yes, they do have an agency), Rock is awakened by Revy. A new job, yes. But it doesn’t seem like the big fish everyone was waiting for. And enter the Hawaiian shirt discussion again. Damn, Rock, come on, if Revy bought it, wear it or you never gonna get any. But I agree, it’s ugly. Few aren’t. 

"Who are you quoting, you sick joke of an author?"

Back with business man Mr. Chin, giving orders to chase and hunt down our favorite crew. And just out of Roanapur, there we go by torpedo boat. But first, a short knot lesson from Revy and Rock sucks at it, literally. And there comes what could be considered foreshadowing of what’s coming sometime after this episode. Revy has a secret. A big one. She “stole, […] killed”, “did everything that you’d consider bad.” Flashback to what seems to me like NY. “It ain’t no sick joke.” An epic moment you should NOT miss, it’s her darker side taking over for the first time.

But we’re interrupted by some pirates who are going after them and yes, they’re being hired by Mr. Chin, our bastard friend from before. And they have SIX boats. And they are under the command of Luak, an old son of a b**ch from Dutch’s past. Throw in an awesome shooting sequence and a cool score. And now, Revy kicks the boats’ asses. Right, the boats’. Why it’s clearly unrealistic that she can jump from one boat to another, she also destroys four, repeat four of the six, boats alone. And that only armed with her Cutlass and a rocket-firing shotgun. Awesome! And, even though, it needn’t be said, she wins. 

"Fooling around? In your perverted dreams."

Chin’s trying to run now but it is too late as, surprise, Balalaika turns up in his hotel suite along with some of her guys (Hotel Moscow). And she’s not kidding around.
Back at HQ, Dutch gets a call from Balalaika letting him hear something ‘amusing’. The explosion taking Chin’s life. And after that, she tells him she’s considering hiring them soon. So, to party the stress away by the ‘external interference’ this day, he invites the crew to the Yellow Flag, the bar which already got blown up sometime before and will still get some more in the not so distant future. Throw in the Hawaiian shirt discussion again. Yes, again. And damn, it’s just funny how you just can imagine Revy kicking Rock’s ass sometime soon for always declining. But that’s another story. Episode three, done. 

So, what is there to say about “Ring Ding Ship Chase”? – Lots of stuff. First off, I really really enjoyed the short voice-over at the beginning, completely covering the atmosphere of Roanapur (you know, the city everything is happening in). Finally, a voice-over done good. 

While the episode begins as a slow character-driven story, it quickly turns into a high-speed boat chase with nothing less than lives at stake. And they didn’t rush it, and they didn’t take too long for it which simply put, lets this episode shine as the brightest one yet. It has everything: perfect timing, perfect character development (which in this case is mostly done by Revy with her confession of having committed serious stuff back home which I still insist looks like New York and I’m sure I’m right here) and action. Perfect timing, I did mention. Character development: mainly by Revy, mentioned as well. Done by Dutch, not said: We get to know a little more about Dutch’s past and how it wasn’t always the way we know things are these days for the Lagoon company. They didn’t take jobs exclusively from Hotel Moscow-approved jobs (including the in the episode named good-paid jobs), but instead from everyone. And Mr. Chin, some lower gangster boss in the city seems to have a little history with him. And it sure as hell didn’t end well because of Dutch’s shifting alliance to Balalaika for a reason we have yet to be told. Personally, I enjoyed getting to know Revy and Dutch better because the series is driven by its characters, mainly. And I mean, I can’t think of a better way to explore each one’s history any better than the show runners did, so a job well done. 

"Who the f**k still plays unreal Battleship games?"

The boat chase was one of the coolest things I’ve ever seen on television, because a bad-ass Revy kicking serious ass and jumping from boat to boat armed with nearly nothing against the weaponry of the pirates’ boats, it’s just lovable. That moment when she started the music in her cassette player (omg, love this retro goodie^^) and she fired her shotgun, man, it was pure awesomeness. Okay, I admit, it’s a bit (yeah, okay, a lot, actually) unrealistic but the show is a fun ride, never forget this, and every episode has some point where awesomeness consumes realism, so they didn’t cross a line here, therefore everything is OK and costs nothing. Thankfully, because that musical moment of Revy standing, sitting and jumping while killing their chasers is one to save. It defines one of the best moments of the whole first season. And at that, it was well executed and animated. Even a decent military strategy was used (dumb-ass pirates, seriously), kudos for that one. 

"Sorry, I have to call you back, the music is just too damn loud."

After the fight is, of course, won, we switch back to Mr. Chin and his attempted flight. And now comes the second epic sequence in this episode and what a moment that was to forever save in your brains. Mr. Chin being tied to a chair and before him: gasoline and lots of C4 to make a big boom. All there for him still to see. To be detonated by remote while Balalaika lets Dutch listen in as a reward/favor. This is another scene where you see how well animated the show really is, I mean, you could literally feel the emotions of Low-Chin ( ;) ) here like it was a real person/actor/movie, whatever suits you best (yeah, except for the drawing of the character, but guys, this is after all an anime). And then, the big boom. That is clearly one of the little darker moments of season one as well as Revy’s flashback earlier but it’s so worth watching that you just want more of it and “Black Lagoon” will deliver, promised. 

So, to sum up, PERFECT SCORE on character development (mostly thanks to the flashback), action scenes (boat chase and explosion) and the story itself which portrays itself with not one single big (or small for that matter) plot hole which is rarely seen in this days. 

**SPOILERS OUT**

In comparison to the previous two episodes (the two-part opener), this is the best episode yet because it has no flaws, not even a slight hitch. It is perfectly put into scene while never forgetting to deliver good humor along the little darker sequences and therefore earns every reward I can give. What makes this episode worth that high rating, you might have already guessed (and not seen down there waiting for your eyes), is the action along the perfect plot. There will be coming more episodes that will earn high scores but not all of them will be of the same nature. So, I'm just already pointing that one out, so that are no questions left unanswered when it comes to that. Therefore, here it goes: 

A crystal clear 5 star trip of awesomeness. Earned.