Bleach: Thousand-Year Blood War Season 2

Episode 24

While Quincy started off this arc on a strong note, I think it's fair to say they've floundered in that role through this season. Sure, some individual members have been entertaining, but compared to their potential – a people who narrowly survived genocide and have been formulating their revenge for a millennium – they've been a letdown, acting more like midcard wrestling heels than anything else. Ywach, meanwhile, has spent the whole season looking on from the sidelines, content to sit around until his many schemes come to fruition without his input.

What a difference a single scene can make.

There's a lot of important stuff packed into this episode's opening flashback, some simply pertinent to the lore of Bleach, but most important in fleshing out Ywach's motivation for this thousand-year crusade. Turns out he's not out to kill the Soul King or destroy the Soul Reapers out of vengeance, but because he wants to eliminate the concept of death entirely. It would seem that the Soul King isn't just the linchpin that holds the universe together, but also the architect that decides its cosmic rules – including the separation of life and death. Ywach has a uniquely angry perspective towards that divide: with how his powers work, he feels and internalizes the anguish of every subject who dies to return their powers to him, and it's driven him to rebel against the Soul King, his own father.

That's a lot, and there are even more details with deeper implications, but in the here and now it's a much-needed shot in the arm for our central villain. Not only does it re-contextualize his whole power-sharing ability to be far more interesting and personal than just getting stronger when his subordinates die, but it also makes the stakes of this war far more interesting. Now we know that Ywhach isn't just fighting for vengeance, the fate of the universe be damned. He's fighting to assert his own will on the very order universe. There are doubtless reasons one wouldn't want to erase the distinction between life and death, which our heroes will presumably articulate when they face him, but it's at least a goal with some level of emotional sense to it. Without lowering the stakes at all, it makes this entire macro-conflict way more compelling and adds far more gravitas to Ywach's arrival at the Soul King's palace.

From there, most of this episode is just setting up the confrontation between Zero Squad and Ywach's top warriors. That could have wound up feeling like the previous slog of battles down in Soul Society, but thankfully this setup moves much more quickly and promises much cooler fights. Sure, the jobber Quincy with two tongues is a waste of time, and it's funny that the Soul Reapers' go-to strategy is to set up a fake Soul Palace to trap Ywach as they did with Aizen in Karakura, but the actual battle gets off to a great start. Zero Squad is the last line of defense between our villains and the seemingly defenseless Soul King, so they come out guns blazing. Oh-Etsu busting out his “failed” Zanpakuto is excellent in both concept and execution and while it's a little silly how easily Ywach escapes the trap, the rest of his fighters have their work cut out for them.

Altogether it's a great rebound after weeks of wheel-spinning. We have the promise of a high-stakes, pivotal fight that will progress the story, and it promises to feature the most powerful characters introduced to date. Our villains finally have believable, concrete motivations that emphasize important aspects of the world-building again. It's not quite enough to lift this arc completely out of the hole it's dug for itself, but it's a welcome rise from the doldrums and a perfect appetizer for next week's season finale.

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Bleach: Thousand-Year Blood War Season 2 is currently streaming on Hulu.