Summary
The following contains spoilers for Solo Leveling episode 2, “If I Had One More Chance”, available onCrunchyroll.
This week’sSolo Levelingeffectively concluded the series' prequel, as a vastly more intense episode concludes with the death of protagonist Sung Jin-Woo. This second episode ofSolo Levelingwas, like the first, another great interpretation ofthe sequence of events seen in the original manhwa, and definitely didn’t disappoint the fans who were especially looking out forthat smile.
Far more brutal and emotional than the episode before it,Solo Levelingepisode 2 left no blood unspilled as the story’s trigger moment finally drew to a close.
The Intensity of The Episode Went Up From The Last
Going straight into the danger that Jin-Woo and his party found themselves in, less than five minutes into this second episode of Solo Leveling, we see the first death – and it is almost every bit as intense as it was in the source material. Since the last episode, it has been hammered home that the living statues in this dungeon are more thanpowerful enough to one-shot killany of the present Hunters, and yet another attempted-escapee falls to the powerful lasers that the “Statue of God” fires from its eyes. Despite being the weakest there, Jin-Woo is able to piece together the information available to them and understand that the dungeon has some set of rules in place.
The key to survival there is to follow the three commandments, the first of which is to keep one’s head below a certain level as a showing of respect. This brings forth perhaps one of the most iconic moments inSolo Leveling, as the statue’s expressionless face contorts into a menacing grin before it stands up from its seated position and advances towards the Hunters. In a manner reminiscent ofAttack on Titan, the statue begins crushing people underfoot as they scramble to decipher the second commandment – “praise God”. The ensuing panic and chaos causes them to flee, while others simply panicked and ended up making the wrong moves regardless.
Interesting Immersive Qualities in Animation and Sound
The intensity of the episode is bolstered by wide-angle shots, tracking shots and light camera shakes that gives the action an immersive feeling, especially in moments that make use of a first-person perspective. Another interesting immersive aspect was the fact thatthe key to surviving the Rumblingtaking place was to stand in front of a statue holding a musical instrument rather than a weapon. The music that scored the statue’s rampage ended to make way for the performances of the musical statues, which then scored Jin-Woo’s chase. Despite losing a leg to another armed statue, Jin-Woo makes it in time. The score becomes more solemn as the giant backs off to sit back down. The surviving members of the party are able to breathe, but Jin-Woo has lost a leg from the aforementioned chaos, and Joo-Hee has already spent too much mana trying to heal him in the dungeon raid, so he’s forced to endure his injury; however, the ordeal is not over.
What could have made the impact of the entire situation even greater was if there was no initial soundtrack to score the death and destruction prior to Jin-Woo’s understanding of what the second commandment meant. Another aspect that makes this second episode ofSolo Levelingbetter than the first is that it’s paced a lot better, with attention being taken away from Jin-Woo and the dungeon briefly to show us a little bit of his mother and sister. The contrast in the current experiences of Jin-Woo and his sister Jin-Ah doesn’t take the audience out of the moment as much as the exposition interruptions did in the first episode, and there was a marked improvement on that front inSolo Levelingepisode 2. That being said; however, this second episode only solidifies the opinion that the series would have been better off witha feature-length episode debut, rather than splitting this initial part of the story into multiple standard 23-minute episodes.
The Curse of Exposition Strikes Again
While there was a definite improvement in the exposition inSolo Levelingepisode 2, the brief segue into explaining dungeon breaks - which also served as an explanation into why it was important for them to clear the dungeon - is an example of the ill use of exposition, because the first thing theSolo Levelinganime shows us is exactly what happens when a dungeon is not beaten in time.
What’s more important to emphasize at this moment iswhya dungeon was left unchecked for seven days in the first place, and that is addressed in the manhwa but not in the episode. So, while the second episode did way better in this regard, the bits of exposition that were included in didn’t quite build off the previous episode and were quite unnecessary.
Complex Themes and Emotions Made For a Brilliant Second Half
Jin-Woo and his group are subjected to a final trial as the Statue of God, now seated again, summons an altar in the middle of the room. When Jin-Woo explains the purpose of an altar,D-Rank Hunter Kim Sangshikpoints his blade at party leader Song Chi-Yul, claiming that as the leader who led everyone to their deaths, he ought to take responsibility and offer up his own life. However, Jin-Woo recalls that the majority voted to enter the double dungeon in the first place, but the leader accepts his fate and stands at the altar. A small flame ignites along the perimeter of the altar platform. When the entire party stands at the altar, the dungeon doors swing open, and a set of blue flames ignites along another circle around the altar, all the statues in the room come alive together, advancing toward the altar as the blue flames slowly go out one by one like a timer. The statues don’t move if they are observed, and with their numbers, they can keep the statues from advancing. However, when one Hunter runs away, the window of opportunity literally gets smaller.
The last commandment is to “prove your faith”, meaning that they have to sit out the timer while staring down the statues that mowed down their allies with faith that they’ll survive, but as one would expect, they don’t have much faith in reserve. Even Sangshik, who blamed Chi-Yul for the ordeal, ran for his life;leaving Joo-Hee, Chi-Yul and Jin-Woo with no hope for survival. The emotions that run these scenes in the later parts of episode 2, as well as the kind of complexity opened up by the kind of choices made by the characters made for a thrilling conclusion to the episode, not to mention the palpable intensity of Jin-Woo’s anger, regret and sorrow as he died a painful, gruesome death. So far, theSolo Levelinganime is a good watch, and with this initial part put of the way, the series will probably get even more entertaining as it comes into its stride.
