ヨルムンガンド Perfect Order episode 02
Jormungand: Perfect Order – 02

SPOILER Summary/Synopsis:

As Koko’s convoy stops to get their bearing, R thinks back to his Bersaglieri military days and his first meeting with Black, as well as the debt he owes Black for saving his family from being executed, which is why he can’t betray Black and why he started working for the CIA. Elsewhere, Black thinks back to how Hex was a former U.S. Army Special Forces lieutenant who’s unit was disbanded. Thus Black recruited her and after her fiance died during the 9-11 attacks on the World Trade Center, Black sent her as a Paramilitary Operations Officer to Afghanistan. Black gives Hex a call to see if she’s been sending hit squads against Koko. She denies it, but he orders her to not touch her. With her hands tied, Hex decides to go after Koko via Jonah.

It is a full moon night, causing Hex to have a memory-dream of when her POO unit attempted to assassinate Koko, only to be cut down in the process.  For her part, Koko also remembers that time when she was much younger and afraid, being led by Valmet to safety. Koko is panicked, forcing Valmet to slap her,  when an injured Echo arrives, having just faced Hex. He tells her he’s not in this for the money, and he wants her to be smiling, not crying. Koko gets out of bed, since like Hex, she can’t sleep during a full moon ever since that day.  Koko meets with a female client outside of France, who passes on info that the French have noticed that the CIA has more people hovering around Koko, some that look pretty nasty.

Koko takes her team to a firing range for training, giving them all new Magpu Masada assault rifles and Sig Sauer SP2022 pistols in order to standardize their ammunition usage. During the training, R takes a break where Koko asks him about Black. He says he met the man during the Bosnian War and did work for him. During their chat, Koko says that she doesn’t believe Black is on their tail, so she asks him about Hex, whom he’s not heard of. R calls Black, who’s been tracking Hex and knows she’s after Jonah. Since Black considers R his right arm and Hex his left, he’s decided that if Hex wants the life of a single child, it is a sacrifice he’s willing to make. The answer infuriates R.

Thoughts/Review:

This was a good episode, not only in terms of pushing plot forward, but in making Koko more human and making R’s being a double agent very understandable. It also providing nice insight into Hex as well.

While we’ve seen flashbacks showing a young Koko as already being a good judge of character, I liked seeing that she was also afraid during an assassination attempt on her life, something that is most certainly understandable and natural. Her panicked, verbal attack on Valmet and Valmet’s slap response were a surprise, but what was needed to get Koko focused on something other than her terror.

I don’t know whom this Echo person was, but I get the sense that he died.  I’m not sure what he did to Hex to keep Hex from getting Koko that night.  I guess we’ll find out soon enough.  Regardless, Echo’s words to Koko about smiling and being the kind of person she is today, combined with his not being there when the series began makes me think he died that night.  I hope we learn more.

As to Hex, man, she’s a cold witch for sure. It makes her good at her job to be sure, but whew!  Her backstory was nice to see, but even though her boyfriend was killed on 9-11, it didn’t give me any sympathy for her as a character. She is what she is, and I understand why Black wants to keep her as his “left arm.”

Going to Black’s “right arm,” I liked his backstory. It is completely understandable why he feels obligated to Black after Black saved his wife and kid from being caught by a death squad. However, I sense that he’s become fond of Koko, otherwise he wouldn’t address her as “ojou” like he does. Plus, like the rest of the team, he’s become fond of Jonah, so it is understandable that he wouldn’t be happy to learn that Black is letting Hex assassinate the boy.

I’m not sure if Koko knows about R being a double agent or not. Her questioning him about Black makes me wonder.  I expected him to deny knowing the man, but he was fairly open, much more so than I would have thought. Then again, by being honest to the level that he was, maybe he’s hoping that if Koko confronts him about working for Black, he’ll be able to have plausible deniability or something.

Finally, although we’d already seen Koko’s team train, I liked seeing it again. It reinforces the idea that her crew, while gifted, still train to stay at their best.

Anyway, this was a really good episode, doing a lot of character work, which is something I very much appreciate.