Thoughts on the Devil May Cry Netflix Series, Episode 5: Descent
Devil May cry episode five on Netflix made me feel intense emotions. I have rage. This episode fills me with intense, unadulterated rage. White Rabbit’s plan is clearly deranged, but his hatred towards DARKCOM is completely justified. If there were a way to make a deal with him to take out Baines and bring in demonic refugees, I’d be open to it. Unfortunately, as much as I detest Baines, it’s also clear that both sides are unlikely to reach a compromise. Baines is too cruel to bend, Mary isn’t ready yet, Dante has no power to influence either side, and White Rabbit is blinded by hate. I have a feeling this is all going to end badly.
Clever Girl
And there’s the second way. As I mentioned in my last review, there are two ways for humans to deal with demons. They can gain more power, potentially demonic nature, like Dante. Or they can outsmart them. Mary just did the latter.
Her managing to trick Plasma into taking her appearance was quite impressive. Took him out and allowed her to get the drop on Echidna. Admittedly, Plasma did manage to get back up but still, she neutralized the threat to herself at least.
Unfortunately, though she does proceed down her path of realization, her good deeds are rendered moot by Baines. As of the end of this episode, I’m unsure if she is aware of what he did. I’m interested in finding out how she’ll react once she finds out. Hopefully, she’ll be pissed.
Dante, the Magical Girl of Devil May Cry
A full-on, mid-air, glowing transformation sequence. Ok, sure. Why not. I will say I like the way his wings fold up into a jacket. That was cool. One issue that I have, however, is how fast he adapted to aerial combat. Basic moving and attacking I can understand. But he was able to pull off a feint to get behind Rudra without issue. Just seems like he should have taken a little longer to get used to it all.
On the subject of Rudra, I get that he’s upset that his brother died. At the same time, his brother was the one who attacked first. I’ve never understood the mentality of, “I’m going to kill you for killing my [insert relation here] when they tried to kill you.” It was Agni’s choice to attack Dante. What was he supposed to do, just lie down and take it?
I Hate Him
The words that I want to use to describe my feelings towards Baines are not fit to print. He is scum and I hope he is subjected to unimaginable torment. I can understand being trepidatious about demons, especially considering what Plasma can do. But to kill them all (including the children), without hesitation, is vile. I cannot express enough how much I hate Baines.
As for the soldiers, I have no sympathy for them whatsoever. I don’t care if Baines is the VP. His orders were immoral. “Just following orders” is no excuse for the wholesale killing of refugees.
Going Out With a Bang
To that end, I give props to Plasma. They saw the evil being perpetrated before them, and they did something about it. I doubt they actually would have hit the self-destruct button if DARKCOM hadn’t slaughtered all the refugees. But, because of Baines’s fanaticism, there was nothing holding them back.
That being said, I think they should have turned into a bird and gotten out. Self-sacrifice is nice and all, but they have the power to shapeshift into anyone. They could have gotten away, hidden out for a bit to recover and regroup, and then gone after Baines. Taking out a chunk of DARKCOM is only a momentary imposition. But taking out Baines, that would have been a major setback.
