High Card

Episode 9

It feels like we are trying to spearhead everything in time for the climax. I have some mixed feelings about this because I got the impression that some writer flipped a switch and then suddenly the plot came back into focus. Don't get me wrong, I like the no-nonsense pace of High Card. It just feels weird that there's this strong sense of urgency all of a sudden because the bad guys just decided that now is the time to show off the cards to the public and kill important political figures. Now everybody needs to split up and go get the cards as fast as possible…I don't know why they weren't doing that before.

To be honest, this episode wasn't really doing a lot for me until we started getting to the more emotional core of everything between Finn and Chris. Finn is still devastated and shaken up by the idea that he doesn't have a home anymore. The orphanage is destroyed, and as far as he knows, his previous caretaker wants nothing to do with him anymore because Finn is arguably reading into his words poorly. Chris, who clearly has more life experience than Finn and who is in the middle of dealing with what it means to lose a family member, seems to know what to say to pull Finn out of his funk. Finn doesn't appear to fully get the message that Chris was trying to communicate to him, as he seems to think that as long as he keeps moving forward he doesn't have to worry about returning home. In reality, the message should be that Finn does have a home now with this organization.

I like the camaraderie established between the two. It makes me wonder if this is supposed to be the final emotional conflict of the show. Maybe High Card is going to zero in on Finn and Chris's relationship as we narrow in on the Klondike family, but it's hard to say at this point in time.

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High Card is currently streaming on Crunchyroll.