My Happy Marriage Season 2

Episode 18

There's a deliberate symbolism between the screencap I chose for this week's episode and last week's. In the latter, we have Miyo and Kiyoka surrounded by Usui's darkness, with Kiyoka reaching out with one hand in an effort to protect Miyo. But this week, Miyo is alone in that darkness, mimicking the pose her fiancé took before in what turns out to be a vain effort. Although both scenes take place in the dream world of the Usuba/Usui bloodline powers, this week's shows that Miyo feels ill-equipped to fight on her own because where Kiyoka was able to protect her before, this time, Usui's Gift cuts her until she bleeds.

It's well-done symbolism in that it not only draws a line between the two episodes but also how highlights Miyo's continuing insecurities and perhaps everyone else's concerns about her as well. We know that Kaoruko's fellow soldiers look down on her for being a woman in a man's profession, going so far as to feel threatened and emasculated by her mere presence, never mind her level of skill. It's as if her being talented takes something away from them, a patently stupid notion, but one that gets trotted out by misogynists even today. It's true that Miyo's Dreamsight isn't a defensive or offensive ability, so Kiyoka and Arata being overprotective is understandable, but it still highlights the way that women are treated as fragile in the Taisho(like) world of My Happy Marriage, and just possibly the way Miyo sees herself.

She is growing, though. Although Miyo may still find it hard to stand up for herself or to believe that she deserves to be treated well, her friendship with Kaoruko gives her the wherewithal to stand up for someone else. I felt like cheering this week when Miyo, overhearing some of the men speak badly of Kaoruko, stood up, looked them in the eye, and told them to cut it out. She was still polite about it, but her firm tone and almost regal bearing let them understand her meaning in no uncertain terms. All that should matter is that Kaoruko is damn good at her job, with the implication that if they don't like that, they should get better at theirs. It's the first time we've really seen Miyo speak her mind so firmly, and it's a very believable occasion for her to do so; it's a lot easier to stand up for someone else than it is to stand up for yourself after you've been through the sort of abuse Miyo has, because you know that no one deserves it, even while still having a hard time accepting that you didn't, either.

It also highlights how important this friendship is for Miyo. Godo, it turns out, was worried about Miyo because Kaoruko was once a potential fiancée for Kiyoka, something that does bother Miyo a bit. But Kiyoka hasn't spent a season and a half telling Miyo that he chose her for nothing – and Miyo's not willing to give up her first true friend outside the Kudo family circle for something so petty. Kaoruko feels like she lied by omission, but Miyo doesn't care, another marker of her growth as a person now that she's being given the chance to.

That's why Usui is such a threat. Not only has he managed to kidnap the emperor and tormented the soldiers standing guard, he also threatens to take Miyo away. He may think he's doing it for her own good, but that just makes him more dangerous. Usui's delusions are rooted in whatever he thought his relationship with Sumi, Miyo's mother, was, and he seems to be transferring them to Miyo. That shard of dream glass slicing into Miyo's palm may very well represent the threat he poses to her mental health, and I hope she can find the power within herself to stand up against him the way she did the men badmouthing her friend.

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