After the Rain

Episode 11

Overcast skies and a humid atmosphere loom over this week's episode of After the Rain. Appropriately, this episode represents a concentration of tension before the show's climactic final episode. Hopefully, this story's endpoint will represent catharsis for its characters, rather than leaving them stranded in the muck of their own unprocessed emotions.

By this point, I feel that it's fair to call this show's initial presentation as a romance something of a bait-and-switch. Since around the sixth episode or so, it's turned into a story about people rediscovering their passions in the aftermath of emotional crisis, rather than a depiction of a teenage girl and middle-aged man falling in love like it might have seemed at first. To me, this layered conflict is way more interesting, and I'm glad that the show has progressively discarded the trappings of a scandalous fantasy to become something more complex.

On Akira's side of things, this week she was confronted with direct evidence that it's possible to return to running after the injury that she's suffered. This sudden burst of hope shakes the emotional cocoon that Akira has built around herself, sending her into turmoil. It's clear that she wants to return to running, but she's equally terrified by the prospect of experiencing that feeling of loss all over again. Basically, there's a war between hope and fear playing out in her soul right now, and whatever happens next could tilt the balance toward one side or the other. This is where Kondo's influence and actions come into the equation. Fortunately, Akira has chosen a pretty good guy to be her distracting older mancrush, and he's grown pretty savvy at reading her various moods. With any luck, he'll realize fully what's going on with Akira and help to nudge her in the right direction.

That brings us back to Kondo. This week sees him reunite with Chihiro once again for another deep discussion of their pasts, passions, and current stations in life. As it turns out, Chihiro had his own motivation for wanting to reconnect with Kondo. While he's found plenty of material success as a writer, he's still not satisfied with his artistic output, because he believes that his works are just popular as passing entertainment when he wants for them to be something more. He wants to write great literature – the kind of art that challenges people and makes them want to reread it periodically over the years as a reference point for understanding their reality. While their day-to-day lives are very different at this point, Kondo shares this dream, so Chihiro goes to see him as a reminder of his original dream. Prior to this point, it seems like they've both been caught in a “grass is always greener”-style situation with one other. But now that they've hashed their feelings out, they're able to think clearly about how their desires relate back to their fading youth.

Kondo's interior monologue throughout all this is especially interesting. He says that he wants his works to serve as “a drop of poison” for at least one person. In other words, he wants his art – or even just his self, if there's any meaningful difference in his mind – to irreversibly change someone at least once. Of course, the word “poison” has negative connotations related to literature's potentially subversive function in society. Depending on its application, any poison can also be a medicine, and that seems to be the kind of influence that Kondo has had over Akira. At the end of the day, we see him pick up his pen again, but we receive no confirmation as to whether he succeeds in putting it to paper or not.

Regardless of whether Kondo ever starts writing again, he has irreversibly changed someone with that little drop of poison: Akira. Fortunately for her, he's aware of this power, and he's been trying to use his position in her life responsibly. At this point, the show will almost certainly end with some sort of confrontation between them, an understanding being reached, and the two returning to their respective passions. Akira will get over her crush, but the two will continue to respect one another as friends who helped out greatly during difficult times. Or I could be totally wrong. The show could still end on the two of them running off to get Vegas married, passports and all. I just really hope that it doesn't. Let the chips fall where they may; even in the worst case scenario, After the Rain will still stand as 11/12ths of a great show.

Grade: A

After the Rain is currently streaming on Amazon Prime.

Gabriella Ekens studies film and literature at a US university. Follow her on twitter.