Yugioh S3 Ep 27-28: Joey Overachieves Himself Directly Into Card Hell
So these episodes are a whole lot of cards which makes recapping this show just so, so easy lately. The sheer amount of distance we’ll travel in the next few episodes. We’re gonna get all the way to Episode 30 in lickety split. I think. I’m not entirely sure how to use the phrase ‘lickety split’ and the more I think about it the more I think I should probably not ask. Anyway, I’m currently in-between IRL jobs so I have...a lot more time than usual. Maybe I’ll make a backlog again (jk I will never be able to keep a backlog)
First off, thanks to y’all who’ve helped me comprehend the Ishtar timeline. Now that we know it may have been that the events in last episode took place even before S1, that clears up a bit of the timeline contradictions. I think. there’s probably still contradictions, I mean...it’s Yugioh. Don’t think about it.
But this episode is mostly about Joey, and about how Joey has over-committed himself out of a social obligation that he perceives as Only His Problem but was never actually made into any sort of contract. I can relate to that. I mean I don’t exactly play cards to save people’s lives but sometimes I give people rides to the airport when I really shouldn’t. That’s the same, right?
But anyway, We need more reason for Joey to be doing anything for Mai and so they had to like...invent a flashback for us. It’s like I’m watching Once Upon a Time again, and that’s fine. This is basically part of TV bingo--if a series goes on long enough, at some point in the series they’ll have to fix the timeline by just...inserting a random flashback that has never come up before. It’s a given.
PS, looking for this ridiculous piano theme totally screwed my Youtube recommendations, but I still could not find it. I don’t think they’ve ever used this piano theme before. It was very, very corny.
And honestly, while it is kinda tacked on there just now, this is the most “Yeah this actually looks like a relationship” on the show so far. I was told that MaixJoey were like the only canon couple you could find evidence for and yep, that’s...that’s about right. Especially if you just joined us in S3 and you have no idea how old any of these people are.
(read more under the cut)
So Tea tells this story to everyone else and it bums out even Mokuba. I don’t know why Mokuba would take it so hard, I mean I feel like that kid’s been through way worse in the past few hours than dealing with Joey’s crush on his teacher-aged woman friend.
But, Joey has decided that it MUST be him that saves Mai, and so he just has to make sure Yugi doesn’t steal his thunder again (much like Yugi did last time when Joey tried to take a fire-ball shaped bullet for this girl and Yugi just...hopped up there and did it himself.)
Yes, the thing that convinced Pharaoh was saying “If you let me do this, I’ll learn to duel better,” and that was what made Pharaoh say “Oh, well you should’ve brought that up earlier. Lets get this Marik/Joey disaster started.” and he immediately knocks Joey out of their pre-game (or whatever you call this elevator dueling 4-way they got going) so that way Joey would be up first against Marik.
It was a whole lot of fuss this episode to make something that wasn’t very complicated into something way too complicated, but the turn order has been finally decided (and it took like 3 episodes to do it), and so we’ll have a Joey vs Marik game and then a Yugi vs Kaiba game, and then whoever wins those will go up together at the end.
I mean we all know it’s going to be Yugi and Marik at the end, because...that would be crazy if they didn’t do that on a show called “Yugioh” but still, it’s about the journey. I’ll pretend that I’m not like 99% positive I already know the outcome of this duel coming up.
So, they decide “oh we should bring Joey’s light and soul AKA his sister over to the tourney so he doesn’t give up halfway through like he always does when she isn’t there”
and what follows is one of the greatest plot twists in Yugioh
Serenity decided to instead stay behind and dab Mai on the face with a wet paper towel. Yeah. The Serenity who Joey pined over for a season and a half and got the 3 million dollar eye surgery because Joey risked his life for her on an island of serial killers. She’s tapping out so she can be a...nurse? She mostly just sits there and goes “you’ll be fiiiiiiiine Mai...” I don’t know why we all agreed this 12 year old is a good substitute for an actual real deal doctor, but here we are. Serenity goes off about how she looks up to Mai more than any other woman in this whole big world and like...why?
She’s only hung out with Mai a max of 60-90 minutes I feel. Serenity imprinted mad fast onto Mai, like a duckling lost at the park.
A lot of the rest of this episode is all the special effects from this Disneyland attraction that Kaiba just plopped in the middle of an abandoned island of guns/trash.
And the implication here is that this tower was made right when Seto’s Dad left town, and then Seto decided to react in a completely normal way and throw a rocket into his own company’s manufacturing plant. So, has Seto secretly been planning this tournament for like...4 years before Ishizu came by and pretended it was all her idea? Because I want to know how many months it took Seto Kaiba to figure out how to program the elevator to go multiple directions for about 2 minutes of content. I want to know the million of dollars it cost so the little car could go sideways.
And I know I do get on Kaiba’s weird paneling motif he puts on literally everything, but please look at the top of this thing--what are these weird asymmetrical panels on the floor even for??? Like I’m starting to think that’s just his signature. Like just a fashion thing--like plaid, but for the sci-fi world. It’s sci-fi plaid.
Kaiba has come to gloat because that’s really one of his only strategies to play this game--just talk a lot and hope it gets people so angry they rage quit. He likes to call it mind games, but it mostly looks like Seto’s just going through the motions of How to Make Rivals and Destroy People like he learned from his Father. This might be the only way Seto knows how to interact with other people, TBH.
Kaiba kind of glazes over the fact he clearly read an ancient language he shouldn’t be able to read and just walks directly out of the frame. The denial on Kaiba.
And so, off we go to dramatically send Joey off. They spend a LOT of time sending Joey off. We get a flashback to every duel he’s ever done. Ah, remember these incredible duelists, these trials of Hercules, remember...Weevil?
(damn, it’s still a good shirt)
I just...
...We went through a lot of work to keep Joey alive in S2--especially on Yugi’s part--and now we’re just gonna throw him at the wolves because that’ll show bravery, I guess? You know I’ve never actually doubted Joey’s bravery so I’m not sure why they felt like pressing this, but if Joey dies for a noble cause, at least it will give his death some purpose, right? right?
Just from a storytelling perspective I can see why they’d need MaixJoey to be a thing, but my main worry is that once both of them are out of the coma, it will never come up again once it won’t be necessary anymore.
Anyway, lets bring on the fog.
This might be a joke for only two people in the room but the holo glitter fandom sure is a place. Wish I could get turned on by just looking at people tossing glitter around. So many things in my life could be so much easier. And simpler. You know how much less a bottle of holo glitter costs than a date? Like a lot less. Boys are expensive.
Anyways, it’s at this moment that Yugi decides to have a complete and total meltdown inside of his own head. Pharaoh just kind of condescendingly watches him lose his nut. Because this happens all the time and he’s used to it.
Maybe part of the reason Yugi lies so much is because half of him is convinced it’s not a lie? Like Pharaoh believes in Joey...so...the fact that he also doesn’t believe in Joey at the same time is moot.
Anyways, what’s going to happen in this game, are we gonna lose body parts again? Is Joey going to reduce down into one single eyeball and scream “YOU FOOL! I AM THE DARKNESS!” as he fades into the night?
Nope, we didn’t feel like animating away body parts this time. So...at least Joey won’t dissolve into a million pieces. We’ll have a body to put next to Mai in the hospital.
OMG that’s going to be so ridiculously melodramatic, I can’t wait.
Also this is a little pet peeve of mine, but when will Pharaoh echo the sentiments of Yugi and cheer out loud? He goes on a diatribe about how we have to support Joey in order to help Joey win, and then just kind of stiffly stands there while Joey gets attacked for the rest of this match.
You do you, Pharaoh.
You do you, silently.
Also, if you just got here, this is a link to read these caps from the beginning in chrono order.
