Spice & Wolf: merchant meets the wise wolf

Episode 22

Lawrence had better hope that God doesn't exist, because otherwise he has a lot to answer for this week. He lies to a woman of the cloth, he emotionally manipulates her into providing him with heretical texts, and he canoodles with a pagan deity within the confines of a church. It's going to take more than a couple “Hail Mary”s to absolve his soul of all that.

Seriously, though, Lawrence adeptly reminds us this week that he can be an expert schmoozer when the situation calls for it (and when he doesn't have to compete one-on-one with Holo's own formidable wit). The way he steers Elsa exactly where he needs her is a thing of conversational beauty, and it's the kind of scene where Spice & Wolf's writing really shines. Through his intuition and powers of observation, he's able to use Father Franz's memory to get Elsa to drop her guard before he appeals to faith for the kill-shot. Holo then delivers the coup-de-grace, and to be frank, I'd probably faint too if she asked me to touch her ears. It's a very fun scene, and the world is lucky that Holo and Lawrence (mostly) use their silver tongues for the sake of good. They'd be a frightful combination if they fully embraced the life of a con artist (although I would certainly read or watch that version of the series, too).

Franz, even through indirect means, proves to be an interesting figure. One would expect a collector of pagan stories—especially a priest—to have a strained relationship with the Church. Elsa confirms that he was suspected of heresy, but she also reaffirms the commitment he had to his normal duties as a clergyman. It's tempting to assume she might have been naïve to the inner workings of his mind, but I also like Lawrence's answer. Faith is rarely as rigid as organized religion would like it to be, and it's believable that progressively minded priest like Franz would have sought answers using his own moral code, not the Church's. I think it's also reasonable to assume that Franz had a crisis of faith that pushed him in this direction. A core tenet of Catholic dogma is faith in the absence of proof, so a truly pious priest would not have concerned himself with proving God's existence through these unconventional means. Still, that too may have been an expression of his personal sense of faith. See what I mean? Spice & Wolf paints a fascinating portrait of the guy.

And from a certain perspective, the existence of beings who wield supernatural powers would indeed make an omnipotent deity like God more likely to exist. I appreciate, though, that Holo still instantly denies his existence. It's consistent with both her character and her role as harvest goddess. She ultimately worked within the confines of the natural world. She was (and is) a part of it, nothing more. God, as defined by the Church, is a being who completely recontextualizes and reframes the world around those who believe in him. Holo sounds like she resents that, and as former Catholic and current atheist myself, I'm definitely more in line with her beliefs. I don't just like her for her tail (but don't tell her that).

Anyway, that's enough theological musings for one review; let's look more closely at how cute Holo and Lawrence are. They're more physical than ever before, which is an appropriately spicy development. Granted, Holo initially ups the ante into order to troll Lawrence (and bless Elsa for taking it in stride), but trolling is truly their love language. It's all still pretty chaste, though, so their heightened emotional availability is probably the more important sign of their growing intimacy. Holo completely drops her guard when Lawrence makes that offhand comment about Evan and Elsa, and it's cute to see her act genuinely flustered without any ulterior motives driving her. Lawrence, meanwhile, takes the opportunity to express his own reservations about Holo finding her homeland. He echoes an insecurity, born of loneliness, that she, too, has expressed in the past. Possibly for the first time, they both recognize the possible transience of their relationship at the same time, without pretense. It's a bittersweet moment, but I'd say it lands on the sweet side because of their pledge to keep communicating openly like this. And because Holo indulges in a Lawrence lap pillow afterwards.

The episode ends on a couple of exciting notes. Lawrence finds a book about the bear god that supposedly destroyed Yoitsu, and an emissary accelerates the tensions between Enberch and Tereo. We don't get enough time to process these developments, but they work well as dual cliffhangers to cap off another solid chapter. No doubt, the story about a death in Enberch is more fraught than it appears on the surface; the timing is too convenient. It looks like this will be another job for the wise wolf and her spicy sidekick.

Rating:

Spice & Wolf: merchant meets the wise wolf is currently streaming on Crunchyroll.

Steve is on Twitter while it lasts. He still knows "The Wolf Whistling Song" by heart. You can also catch him chatting about trash and treasure alike on This Week in Anime.