I'll Become a Villainess Who Goes Down in History

Episode 10

Much of this episode falls into the category of “necessary world-building.” Through Will's backstory, we can see what brought the kingdom to the edge of the precipice it now stands upon. Due to his mother stoking his insecurities as a young king, the King set the stage for Will's removal from power-robbing the kingdom of its three other most intelligent, forward-thinking men in the process. This has not only allowed the kingdom to rot in stagnation for a generation, it forced three of these brilliant men to defect to the neighboring nation of Laval. Now, they've had a lifetime to consolidate power in that isolationist nation.

This adds a whole new level to the events going on—a level that Alicia, even with her in-game knowledge, seems to be completely ignorant of. Knowing that there is a brain trust hostile to the kingdom makes you wonder just how many of the kingdom's problems are being exacerbated by foreign agents. Moreover, it looks like Liz is unknowingly sitting at the center of Laval's plans—though how they plan to exploit her remains a mystery.

Of course, Liz has no idea about any of this. She is preoccupied with the fact that she is growing evermore unsettled by Alicia—despairing at the idea that she and Alicia might not be able to become friends. This is something she has never experienced before—something that would have been inconceivable just weeks before.

But what's truly telling is that it's never occurred to Liz that she doesn't actually have to be friends with absolutely everyone. The idea that some people will disagree about certain things has never entered her mind. Liz can't really understand that Alicia doesn't want to be friends not because of hate or misunderstanding but because of a difference in core values.

To Liz, there has always just been good and bad—and she's been able to make everyone around her see the good and accept it as the correct thing to strive for. She's having a lot of trouble seeing that the world is full of grays. But even more than that, she's unable to grasp that some people may agree with her goals—as both Alicia and Duke do—but don't agree with her on how to achieve them. After all, Alicia, despite her self-appointed role as a villainess, isn't antagonizing Liz just for the fun of it. She sees herself as a necessary foil for Liz's growth. She is one of the few who can speak truth to power—something especially important given Liz's brainwashing powers.

As we see in this episode, those powers are going more and more out of control in response to Liz's uncertainty about Alicia and her own place in the world. While her powers have seemed subtle in their effect on others in the past—making them sympathize with Liz and her ideals—we now see her powers break a group of girls' core values, leaving them a self-contradicting mess of their former selves. (They both hate commoners and revere the saint—who is a commoner—and can't see the obvious contradiction.)

This leads to the possibility that her powers are the story trying to make everything happen as it's supposed to. It was one thing when Alicia was just doing her own thing—a little bit of subtle manipulation was all that was needed to keep things going in the right direction. However, it's quite another when Liz starts to question her own role and how to perform it. Now, it's like her powers are taking a far more heavy-handed approach to reinforce to Liz that her way of viewing the world is and always has been correct. Or perhaps they're just attempting to keep her as innocent—and therefore pliable—as possible.

It's a cool concept with all kinds of possible implications for the story going forward. I can't wait to see how things fall out.

Rating:

Random Thoughts:

• How would Will know that his brother had nothing to do with his blinding and incarceration? I doubt even Duke would have access to that kind of information.

• While this is baseless speculation for the moment, I'm starting to suspect that Curtis and Finn are spies for Laval tasked with keeping an eye on the Saint (or possibly even influencing her).

• It's nice to see Alicia react to Duke's stereotypical romantic words by pointing out the highly controlling BS they imply.

• I'm happy to see that Jane and Carol weren't one-off characters—and that something else is likely to happen with both of them sooner rather than later.

I’ll Become a Villainess Who Goes Down in History is currently streaming on Crunchyroll.

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