My Happy Marriage

Episode 12

“Fairy tales,” wrote G. K. Chesterton in 1909, “do not give the child his first idea of bogey. What fairy tales give the child is his first clear idea of the possible defeat of bogey. The baby has known the dragon intimately ever since he had an imagination. What the fairy tale provides for him is a St. George to kill the dragon.” This quotation is often bowdlerized, but no matter how you know it, Chesterton's ultimate point remains: that fairy tales remind us that monsters can be beaten. That's something that Miyo has struggled to learn throughout My Happy Marriage, and for very good reason: the most brutal monsters to defeat are the ones that are inside your head. This final episode of the season takes Miyo to that very place – deep inside her and Kiyoka's minds as she struggles to put her newfound powers to the test to finally kill her dragons.

Unsurprisingly, she has to face herself before she can find Kiyoka in the labyrinthine halls representing his dream world. She meets two representations of her Self there: first her happy childhood form, from before her mother died, and then the version of herself she's been struggling to deal with for most of her life, the abused Cinderella who doesn't believe that she deserves to go to the ball. Interestingly, her child form looks a lot like a zashiki-warashi, a house spirit who is typically shown as a little girl in a kimono with bobbed hair. This child functions as Miyo's guide, leading her through the correct doorways until she faces the entrance to the site of her last showdown with the Saimori family, the door to the storage shed. Opening the door is hard; ask anyone who has ever stood frozen in front of someplace they're afraid to go in. That Miyo pulls herself together and manages to go through is symbolic in and of itself: it means she's ready to face her monsters.

Although this series has stuck close to the Cinderella tale type, it makes sense that the symbolism would move to Sleeping Beauty now. The traditional genders have been flipped, with Kiyoka as Sleeping Beauty and Miyo as Princess Charming. Unlike in most versions of the tale, this Beauty is trapped not in a peaceful slumber but in a nightmare, and before Charming can get to him, she has to face her fears, symbolized by the thorny vines. In many variants, the thorns simply part for the savior, but Miyo has to claw her way through them, which is a much more satisfying story. It implies that there's more person than one to be saved and that she has to understand and save herself before she can save anyone else. Yes, Kiyoka and, to a lesser degree, Arata have given Miyo the tools she needs, but it's still up to her at the end of the day. And that means both quelling her fears and accepting them as a part of her. She can't just magically get “better,” and she'll always carry those scars inside of her. But that doesn't mean she can't accept them and keeps pushing forward. “Saving” isn't a one-off deal.

In many ways, Miyo's rescue of Kiyoka is reminiscent of magical girl series. Her transformation is part of that, certainly, but it's also about the type of strength she displays and how she works with Kiyoka rather than at or for him. Many magical girl stories have the heroine embracing the darker parts of her life, such as Maron's literal embrace of Jeanne in Phantom Thief Jeanne or Sailor Moon jumping into the darkness to bring back the light. Miyo's acceptance of her past and wounded self is along these same lines, giving her the power to face down the monstrous insane emperor in the end. She has something and someone she wants to protect, as well, and that also helps her to take those final steps forward.

It's appropriate that this season ends with Miyo going to, for all intents and purposes, a ball. She's transformed from a cinder maid to a princess and Prince Surly into Prince Charming. She has a place where she feels she belongs and a person she wants to be with. The clock may strike midnight, as it does, but now we can believe that even when the carriage becomes a pumpkin, Miyo will be all right.

Rating:

My Happy Marriage is currently streaming on Netflix.