| The first time I watched it, this episode just fell flat for me. I was expecting the usual hilarious hijinx, but I reached the station break without taking in a single laugh-out-loud joke. Indeed, the only really exceptional one I remembered in the episode involved Yao and Nagisa supposedly going for a drive together. In fact, what happens here is that the series as a whole takes a turn onto a more serious new course which will continue to the very end. I guess the idea here was to try to get serious and touching using Yao's irrational friendship with Nagisa (who has always secretly hated her), and at the time I prayed that the two remaining episodes wouldn't try to continue this story arc, or if they did, would do a better job of it. Fortunately, having seen the rest of the episodes, I can say the makers did indeed continue this new arc but managed to thoroughly intermix seriousness and comedy in the two final episodes. |
