I’ve run out of superlatives to describe this series.

One of the things that really stood out to me from this episode is how much Makio and Asa have changed in appearance over the course of the series. Makio’s has been a bit more obvious because she’s grown her hair out, but her expressions have changed too - they’ve gotten softer and more open. Asa’s a bit more subtle since she hasn’t changed really notably physically, but particularly in her eyes you can see a sort of clarity that wasn’t there before. Early on, she tended to look vague and distant and sort of blank, and she doesn’t any more.

I love hearing her sing her song. I wish we could’ve seen the audition, but I’m not that surprised that we didn’t. Broadly, one could say that the series is less focused on what happens and more focused on what the characters think and feel about what happens.

The evolution of her personal desert has been intriguing. Early on, I would’ve expected that she would eventually escape from it, but apparently rather than escaping, she’s settled in and is in the process of making it a comfortable home.

And so on - as usual, there were so many fascinating, insightful, compelling little tidbits scattered through this episode that I could be here the rest of the day pointing them out.