Episode Review: Trails of Cold Steel – Northern War ep 8

February 28, 2023Episode Review,  Mecha Discussion,  ,  ,  
Senkou no Lavian!
Even more primer for the war to come! Old man Glark revealed his true color while Lavi got pulled into the whirpool of conspiracy. Rogan and Jayna both played a major part in this episode and there’s one development that I actually didn’t see coming. But hey, it’s good that there’s some more tension in the series – even if it’s just political.

Northern Ambria’s heads of State are basically sheeps in a slaughter house. They’re blind idiots that can’t do anything on their own and of course, in comes the heroic Master Glark with a solution that seems like a fool-proof plan. Automatic Archaisms seems like an effective way to fight off an Empire with much more manpower. Of course the Jaegers bought it hook, line and sinker. Furthermore, Glark did a smart move by roping Lavi into being his poster girl of being a “granddaughter’s hero”. By now we see Glark for the foxy old man that he is. So that whole “Vlad and I made a promise” thing is probably bullshit too.

Even more, Talion was actually the one that approached Jayna in the last ep, which was pretty surprising. Although I can see him being baited by Jayna’s promise OR he thought he could do something about Martin if he go along with her. Jayna once again displayed her amazing foresight that even Rogan had to be wary of. She knows what words to say, what strings to pull, and even what man to assassinate. That twist at the end gave me chills IF Talion had anything to do with it. He’s a straightforward guy that really wears his heart on his sleeve, so if he went along the assassination plot, that’d really came back to hit him later.

Anyway, Vive la révolution! Rogan stormed the palace to take over the Northern Ambria government – -essentially pulling a coup d’etat. His “confrontation” with Lavi was actually not bad. Since he knew she’s got heart, and he couldn’t let Glark take advantage of her – so he restraint her for the time being. Of course, the “plot armor” kicks in and Lavi scissor-legged 2 dudes and knocked another one out. Of course they didn’t shoot her because Rogan didn’t want to off Lavi. He even tried to stop Lavi from entering Glark’s room with zero hostility – as if he’s shielding her.

In the end, Glark was lying on the floor like a dead fish – and a broken bottle on his side. It’s obvious he was poisoned and the last scene we saw of him sipping his drink was with Jayna and Talion. So that’s another check in her “crazy chick” bingo book. But if Glark’s dead while Rogan was staging a rebellion, it’s most likely the blame will fall on him. And the country basically have noone else that can take over except one – the white-haired vice commander of the Jaegers, Jayna Storm. Lavi will once again be thrown into a difficult situation where she has to make a choice, but she’s feeling very help less right now… This week episode was pretty intense. But with only 4 episodes left, it’s very likely that there will be no “war”, and might just be another way to resolve the hostility between the Empire and Northern Ambria, unless this season’s just a “setup” or something along the line.

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