Tomb Raider King

Episode 5

Episode 5 of Tomb Raider King errs on the side of reckless acquisitions and hostile takeovers.

I'm going to be honest with you all: I'm trying my best to check my biases at the door. This isn't my kind of show; we've established as much with the opening episodes. Rather than spend the whole season bashing the show for the same issues week in and week out, I'm going to try and take the show on its own terms and evaluate what it's attempting rather than what I'd like.

With that in mind, I think this is a more interesting episode than what has come before. Clearly Joo-Heon is out to get as much as he can as quickly as he can and establish himself before his previous future comes to pass. This week Joo-Heon got closer to that goal by acquiring a lot of new relics - and I do mean a lot. I had lost count about halfway through the runtime myself. Joo-Heon actually had to go back and list the dozen or so relics he had already acquired, and I had to play it twice to make sure I caught them all. He is picking up two or more mystical items of ancient power per week at this rate. It's a good thing Joo-Heon has picked up some assistants in this to carry all his treasures.

The relics were far more fleshed out this week. The Code of Hammurabi is a pretty key relic, not just because of its fame but also because it clearly gets its own hype activation sequence. It does look great seeing the giant stone pillar rise out of nowhere and get all the flashy effects when Joo-Heon uses it. I'm also tickled by the fact that the power is a reflective shield of sorts. I can certainly see the chain of reasoning that gets to that effect, but I find it interesting since if I were asked to come up with a magical power for the Code of Hammurabi, I don't think I would have settled on this as an idea.

Similarly, the affinity and dominance aspects get more nuance too. We find out that relic poisoning was killing Joo-Heon in his past life, and that's why he was bound to TKBM. Dominance also being less potent if something rattles you or throws off your mental state is also a neat idea, as it certainly reflects why Joo-Heon is constantly cool as a cucumber. These little wrinkles add texture to the world and give it a sense of place and specificity that goes a long way to making this setting stand out.

Rating:

Tomb Raider King is currently streaming on Crunchyroll.