Tower of God Season 2

Episode 6

This is one of those episodes that gives us new information that completely redefines all we've seen before in this season. Up until this point, it appeared that Bam was climbing the tower to confront Rachael—to get revenge for her betrayal and attempted murder of him. However, we now see that there's far more to it than that.

Honestly, it's questionable if Bam even wants revenge. He wants to still see the best in her. He wants to believe that she had some reason that magically makes it okay for her to do what she did, even if it's obvious that no such reason exists. The truth is that he doesn't know what he wants to do when it comes to Rachael. However, there is one thing he is certain of: he doesn't want his friends to die.

FUG has picked up on this weakness and is using it to force Bam to do what they want. Simply put, if he doesn't climb the tower or fails a test, one of his friends from season one will be killed. This explains why he was so desperate not to gain a new team: They would be a liability on several levels.

On one hand, they could cause him to fail a test somehow. On the other, they could just become new hostages for FUG to use against him—people that could possibly die if he didn't do what FUG wanted. But when it really comes down to it, being with him puts them in danger they don't need to be in. Bam's worst fear comes true in this episode, as he finds himself in a dilemma that pits the well-being of his new companions against the well-being of his old ones.

Mazino is, by his own words, one of the strongest in the tower. Meanwhile, Bam—a person with great potential—is unable to beat even the 20th-floor test proctor in a fight. It's obvious who should win a fight between them. However, Mazino isn't some monster. He sees that Bam's team have been tricked into taking up a task designed to get them killed by his hand and is willing to let them go.

Of course, choosing to leave means that Bam's team will fail the test, and one of his friends will die. Yet, the only other option—choosing to fight Mazino—likely means that Bam and his new friends will die. In this way, Bam has been forced into an impossible choice: his only chance to keep everyone alive is to win an unwinnable battle.

What we get from all this is a great conflict with both immediate and long-term stakes. It also adds more than a bit of drama, especially now that Wangnan knows the true stakes in their climb. He feels the weight of other people's lives on his shoulders and struggles to carry it. Should Bam somehow win the battle next week, that doesn't resolve the looming tension, and each new test is guaranteed to add to it going forward.

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Tower of God Season 2 is currently streaming on Crunchyroll.