Unnamed Memory

Episode 5

I don't think even dragon spit would leave as sour an aftertaste in your mouth as parts of this episode do. It goes beyond Unnamed Memory's halfhearted attempts to make us think that Oscar and Tinasha have more of a relationship than they do. However, if the series has a persistent, glaring issue, that would be it. You have to do a bit more than have him insistently repeat that he's going to marry her while ignoring her personal space to convince me that two characters are destined for each other, and that may be the underlying issue this week that leads to the problem.

There's a trope in romance fiction where the hero is so overcome by his feelings for the heroine that he acts in ways that we know are questionable (if not outright wrong), but in the greater narrative they're excused by the fact that he only does it because he can't help himself; he just loves/wants her too much to exercise self-control. It's a trope that's largely fallen out of mainstream favor in adult romance novels because it's so hard to defend. There's nothing wrong with enjoying it in your fiction, but Unnamed Memory doesn't even sell that hard enough to make it work. When Oscar gets jealous after seeing Als and Tinasha put on a (very lame) show for Miralys, he decides that the only solution is to punch Als in the face, slap a magic-sealing bracelet on Tinasha, and then make her think that he's going to rape her. Because that's how you show a woman you love her.

To sweeten the pot, this scene comes shortly after Oscar forces his way into Tinasha's tower, where she's trying to do what he asked her to and tells her to make him dinner. Sir, you are a prince with a kitchen filled with chefs willing to do your bidding. Tinasha is the witch you asked to break the spell on you. That job does not involve cooking you a meal. And neither, when you get down to it, does being his princess; again, they've got a kitchen full of professionals for that sort of thing. But really, this request (demand?) is just another indication of how Oscar is trying to get his way without truly listening to Tinasha, who has repeatedly said that she has no interest in marrying him. If she agrees, it will feel like he wore her down, not that she fell in love with him.

If that were the only problem here, it would still be enough to make me question whether I actually enjoyed the source novels. But this episode also continues the adaptation's trend of throwing plot points at the audience like rotten tomatoes and hoping that we'll have too much tomato in our eyes to actually see what's going on. Look no further than the conclusion of the Miralys storyline: she's revealed to be a candidate for Oscar's hand, masquerading as a magic-suppressed maid before being unmasked as a villain after a random object before becoming mostly dead. The end. Drawn out over several episodes that allowed us to understand Miralys' emotions and motivations, her releasing her soul from her body for love of Valt could have been tragic. As it stands, not even Oscar and Tinasha can be bothered to wonder who Valt was or why Miralys committed soul suicide, and they only seem tangentially interested in the red orb she was after. When not even your protagonists seem interested in the story it makes you question why you should be.

We do get some hints about Tinasha's past that try to make up for the rest of the episode. Lanak, if that is who we saw carrying her when she was Aeti, may not have been kind to her, especially since she appears to have a PTSD flashback when Oscar is carrying her to the bed. If the story can slow itself down and give us a reason to care about how Tinasha's past is affecting her present, this could get itself back on track. But at this point, I'm not holding my breath.

Rating:

Unnamed Memory is currently streaming on Crunchyroll.