Helck

Episode 3

Now that I can finally move on from the first two episodes, it's time to focus on some good old-fashioned world-building. As our main cast starts making their way over to where the winged soldiers were last seen, we get a lot of context into how this world works, and I like the way that it's contextualized alongside Helck. For example, we know that the demon realm is plagued with a deadly toxin in the air, and the only way that the demons survive is because there are barriers over designated towns and rest spots. I guess the idea is that you can't be outside the barrier for too long, lest it affects you or drains your stamina. Helck didn't seem to know about these rest spots, so it's implied that he trekked to the demon realm from the human world without being affected by the toxin at all. Vermilio seems surprised by this, and there didn't seem to be any comment about humans being immune to it. If anything, the demons feel envious of the human realm for not having to deal with these issues. We know Helck is human, but is he just the pinnacle of the average human, or is he enhanced in some way that allows him to endure or perform supernatural feats?

Then we get some context into the monsters that plague the land and are affected by this toxin. Helck seems to know at least one of them, implying that he's had some kind of run-in or battle with them outside of a random encounter. I like that the show tries to keep up the comedy of everyone having different reactions to the current situation, but there is a lot of information being organically fed to us. It also makes the episode feel less like filler because I'm assuming we're about to transition into a more action and plot-oriented episode now that we are finally confronting these mysterious creatures that are so strong they can practically one-shot a member of our cast. So it's good that we got much of that exposition up out of the way first. It was a more chill episode compared to what we had before at a much slower pace. I'm curious to see what pace the rest of the show will settle with.

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Helck is currently streaming on HIDIVE.