Gangsta.

Episode 7

After last week's downpour of catharsis, we're treated to some fun interactions between our main characters. Alex has fully integrated into Nic and Worick's lives, fulfilling a much-needed maternal role in their bachelors' lifestyle. The first thing we see her do is hug Worick awake during a nightmare. This is a far cry from her behavior in previous episodes, when she'd been reticent to interact with them out of fear that they'd take physical advantage of her.

Meanwhile, Nic's hanging with Nina and their new friend, Doug from the Paulklee Guild. (That's the dude who tried to kill boss Monroe a few episodes ago.) When Gina Paulklee left him injured on the side of the road, Worick took pity on him and dragged his body to the clinic. Now they're all better and chilling until Doug can get a ride home. It turns out that he's not a kid (he's almost 21, you guys), and he took the assassination job for an opportunity to fight strong Twilights. There's no information on who commissioned him, although they're probably looking to destabilize the fragile status quo between Ergastulum's four main gangs: the Paulklees, Monroes, Corsicans, and Cristianos.

The Paulklees are led by Gina and serve as sort of a Twilight Union, renting out their members as mercenaries for the other gangs. The Monroes, led by Daniel, run the city's commerce. The Corsicans are lead by Uranos and maintain the city's sex trade. For some reason, Uranos hates Twilights and refuses to deal with them. Finally, there are the Cristianos, led by fourteen-year-old Loretta. Her father was the previous head, and her subordinates are loyal to her out of respect for his memory. She controls Celebrer distribution. We saw them together for the first time this episode, when they were all having a meeting.

With the “Alex's psychosis” storyline out of the way, I'm suspicious that the show's latter half will focus more on Ergastulum's political drama. At this point, I've grown attached enough to the characters to derive enjoyment from their silly antics. Nic and Nina are great – he absent-mindedly plays with her face and picks her up to do crazy Super Mario-style wall jumps. At one point, Nic takes Alex to the clinic, and they end up walking through the cat district. A kitty jumps on Nic's head, Alex notices a scar on his hand (which seems like a pretty minor wound to notice on a crazy parkour mercenary, but maybe Alex can sense which ones are dramatically important), and we segue into a flashback.

Yes, we're returning to Nic n' Worick's backstory time. Worick learns that his new friend is a Twilight after he gets injured in combat. This shocks him, as he'd been lead to believe that Twilights were enormous monsters, not sweet deaf kids. Still, Worick helps him recover. Soon after this, Nic's dad finally kicks his son to the curb. Although Worick finds him a place in the Arcangelo household, the child soldier is left distraught. One day, Nic sees Worick getting brutally beaten by his father. When Daddy Arcangelo shoves a cigarette in his son's eye, Nic takes action and kills Worick's family. He then tries to commit suicide, but Worick stops him. Baby Worick is both angry at Nic and concerned for him as a friend. We know how they end up, of course – as a tag team of runaways and life partners. Worick'll get over his dad's death soon enough. He never liked him anyway! In the meantime, it looks like the two are going to go on a killing spree to wipe out “the rest of them.” That could mean Nic's dad and crew, or maybe it means the Monroe Gang, who Nic attacked as a teen and now inhabit the former Arcangelo manor.

The crux of Nic's character is that he's a remarkably innocent person outside of his penchant for killing. He doesn't actually mean anyone harm. He kills because that's all he knows how to do. He doesn't like hurting people per se, but he likes the challenge of combat and protecting the people he cares about. Worick is frustrated because, after all this time, Nic hasn't stopped treating himself like an object. He destroys his body with Celebrer and still treats Worick like his “owner” to some extent – and unfortunately, Worick is his owner according to the law. Worick wants Nic to ask “why” because that would mean he was taking some emotional responsibility for himself. With some introspection, Nic might finally gain the self-worth that Worick has been desperately trying to instill in him. Alex might be the key to that, since she naturally shows affection to the people she values. Worick, by contrast, has a stronger defense mechanism due to his projected "easygoing" personality.

So Gangsta. is now a full-blown character piece. It's not too complex, but it's enjoyable enough. Hopefully, it'll stick to this aspect of its appeal and not try to rely on the stilted ultraviolence. That doesn't look likely, however, because there's a new, Tag-collecting Twilight in town, and she's being followed around by an annoying sociopathic murder-child. Those are always my least favorite parts of these types of shows. Maybe he'll die first?

Grade: B+

Gangsta. is currently streaming on Funimation.

Gabriella Ekens studies film and literature at a US university. Follow her on twitter.