After the last episode of Frieren set the scene with a ground-eye view of demon-led destruction, it seemed like this week’s outing would be entirely focused on our heroes beating down the bad guys responsible. While the spells do eventually come out in “The Divine Revolte,” there’s a bit more table setting before the fireworks, including some meaningful asides that add fuel to the fire. There’s also a mandatory, ethically confusing demon scene—as is tradition.
Beginning with a flashback, we learn that the ever stoic Genau has more on his plate than his stony demeanor would suggest. On top of losing his village to the demons they’re hunting, his former partner was recently cut down in the field. He was an all-around nice dude with heavy shades of Himmel The Hero. Genau responded like a true TV character, giving Methode, his new companion after the incident, the cold shoulder, presumably because he’s afraid to get attached to another ally. Hats off to anyone who predicted that this episode would suddenly lean into tropes from cop procedurals.
Thankfully, it avoids coming across as ham-fisted because all of this is implicit. Genau doesn’t need to say, “I don’t need a partner—I’m a lone wolf,” to his commanding officer (in this case, an all-powerful elf with terrible sitting posture) for us to pick up what’s going on. Building on his survivor’s guilt from the last episode, he talks about his old partner’s kindness in contrast to his own ruthless demeanor, implying he should have been the one to bite it. Similarly, he doesn’t understand why the seemingly kind Methode was the one assigned out in these brutal parts, where their leader Serie usually stations the battle freaks. (Think last season’s “I can fix her” poster girl Ubel.) We haven’t gotten an answer yet, but considering that this series doesn’t squander this brand of foreshadowing, we’ll probably learn why next time.
As the perspective switches back to the full group, we finally get a follow-up to last episode’s cliffhanger: What’s the deal with this freaky four-armed mass murdering demon that’s on the loose? It turns out he isn’t one of the uber-powerful Seven Sages but a demon general. While this series doesn’t have an “It’s over 9000!”-style power system, Frieren gives us a point of comparison when she says some of the generals are stronger than Eisen. Considering he was on the frontline of the party that killed the ultimate big bad, the Demon Lord, it seems they’re pretty tough. However, a cool touch is that the difficulty of dueling this particular general comes from something quite practical and mundane. This guy has four arms. As you could expect, humans aren’t used to fighting guys with four arms, so when they do, they usually die. Later, we learn this demon has some magic tomfoolery going on and several hundred years of practice.
We don’t have to speculate about what this shadowy figure is like much longer, because we get a scene from his perspective. It turns out, he’s a big snake man. Like a Naga from Hindu and Buddhist mythology, he has human characteristics up top and a snake-like lower half. Also, his name is The Divine Revolte, which is the most theater-kid thing imaginable. Despite his monstrous appearance, he has a calm conversation with an underling about how to kill the good guys. As per usual with demons, there’s an intentional contrast between their straightforward method of speech, which generally lacks evil cackling or other displays of moustache twirling, and the brutal things they’re talking about, like, you know, eating people. They plan to exploit an act of sentimentality. Revolte predicts that the group will inevitably split as some stay behind to protect the bodies of the dead and the others venture out to stop the demon’s rampage. In his eyes, human kindness is an “irrationality” that can be exploited.
Cut to Stark volunteering to stay behind with Genau to protect the bodies in a display of human kindness that can be exploited. Genau was happy to do it himself, but Stark insists after realizing that the first-class mage is trying to protect what remains of the village, something he never got a chance to do for his own home. The pair separating from the party for well-grounded reasons is a smart twist on typical “yelling at the screen”-type horror-movie moments, where characters do something dumb, like wandering off on their own to advance the plot. In this case, they know what they’re doing is dangerous, but Stark is staying behind because, otherwise, Genau will die.
After dividing into two groups (that can admittedly be ambushed), it’s finally the main event. Battle time. The mages detect their airbound foes, and Fern and Frieren have a little side conversation about demonic mages. For generations, demons were so far ahead of their human mage counterparts that, until 40 years ago, they had a monopoly on air power. It’s a little reminder of how impressive it is that Frieren and Fern can take to the skies, while also setting up a Bastogne-style forest skirmish as our trio is blasted by arcane artillery from an unseen enemy. The assailants are an emotionless man with a broken horn (suggesting he’s seen his fair share of battles) and a woman with katanas (suggesting she’s a weeb). Methode is separated from Fern and Frieren, which isn’t good. Again, they may all be using magical powers, but tactics matter, and now our band has been cut into three weaker groups instead of a single strong one.
Meanwhile, Stark and Genau talk, and it turns out that Genau has yet another reason to beat the tar out of these demons. The evil snake man, Divine Revolte, killed his partner. He has multiple scores to settle. Genau gives Stark the full rundown on Revolte’s abilities and argues that these skills justify his melodramatic name. Revolte wields four swords that are created with magic, allowing them to defy the laws of physics. They are light to wield and unbelievably sharp, yet carry mountain-splitting force. And again, there’s the four-arms thing. Just as it becomes clear how imposing this adversary is, he approaches (accompanied by a nice bit of background animation to capture how rapidly he’s closing in). The camera pans desperately, as if searching for the hidden foe, until it spots him at the last moment. He lands with a thud, and swords shoot out from the debris. Stark narrowly dodges. The smoke clears, revealing a very buff, very shirtless snake man. Oh no, he’s hot!
Revolte attempts conversation, but Genau is having none of it, calling him a pest to be exterminated. (It’s the kind of thing a villain would normally say, and Revolte points out as much.) The fight starts with a swooping perspective shot of Revolte’s arms as he swings two blades in an arc, conveying a sense of speed and momentum as the giant swords clang into Stark’s ax. Genau warns Stark that if he tries to block the attacks head-on like in a normal scrap, he’ll get crushed and that he has to deflect instead. Considering this isn’t how frontliners normally battle when protecting mages, Stark is taken aback until Genau says he’s a close-quarters expert. He jukes, jumps, and reveals his gimmick. It turns out that just like Revolte, Genau can also create impossible objects. And not only that, but he shares his enemy’s theater-kid streak. He edgily arcs his fingers toward his forehead as he casts Digardnacht, sprouting a pair of black wings.
While the sudden jump to credits comes with the rude awakening that the full battle won’t take place until next week, this episode dutifully set up the stakes for this duel: The evil snake man is a skilled opponent who believes that human kindness is fundamentally “irrational.” We’ll have to wait until next time for our heroes to (presumably) thwart this nihilistic ideology. Until then, we can stew on the image of giant snake man’s abs.
Stray observations
- • Some of the action shots here, like the one where the “camera” is placed between Revolte’s arms as he swings his swords, showcase the type of neat visuals you can only get through animation.
- • I’m glad Methode got some Frieren hugs in. I can’t help but wonder if there will be a series-appropriate, thematically meaningful reason why she loves patting elves for upwards of ten minutes at a time, or if she’s just freaky like that.
Elijah Gonzalez is The A.V. Club‘s associate editor.
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