This is about the last time the girls will look healthy this episode.
Because this is the episode in which the ship finally sets sail from Fremantle and as the title –Howling, Maddening, Screaming— indicates, it will not be plain sailing. To get through Antarctica you have to pass the Southern Ocean, one of the largest stretches of unimpeded open ocean in the world, which means the ocean streams are unbroken by continents, which in turn means waves and storms have free reign. Which means our girls spend a lot of time this episode doing this:
I really feel for the poor girls here, having once had a truly miserable time crossing the Channel during a storm on a catamaran ferry while my friends were not bothered at all. The episode really manages to capture the misery of being seasick without being too graphic, the sheer exhaustion of not being able to keep anything in you, how the mere thought of food makes you ill. I actually felt a bit ill myself watching this. Not that scenes like this aren’t funny of course, even if you do sympathise with Shirase and co at the same time. Being that sick is miserable.
Even without being seasick all the time, the girls have some difficulty adjusting to the realities of life onboard the ship as they’re put to work as members of the expedition. They had been warned they would be treated as adults and they are. It’s not like they have a problem with this either, it’s just that the differences in skill and stamina between them and the adult expedition members becomes clear. The latter after all have been there before, are used to the extreme conditions of the Southern Ocean and Antarctica, have trained themselves to be able to deal with them. For the girls, at their worst as the weather conditions worsen and the ship starts moving even more, they might as well be a different species altogether. Yuzu especially gets a bit despairing, wonder if they can actually be useful in Antarctica, to which Shirase replies that they have no choice. Kimari disagrees:
I really like this scene. You got Yuzu, usually the unflappable, professional one voicing her doubts of not being good enough, to which Shirase offers the conventional answer of just having to try and do it because they have no choice. Hinata, already established as more comfortable withdrawing in herself rather than seeking a confrontation, remains silent. Kimari meanwhile gets to be serious for a chance and reminds everybody that they’re here by choice, that they’ve made their choice to be here. It doesn’t solve their sickness, but it breaks through the fears. And ultimately they get through it.
Crisis passed, gotten used to the rolling and swaying of the ship, storms over for the moment, they are rewarded with their first evidence that Antarctica is just ahead, as they see the first icebergs floating past. It’s a good moment to end the episode on. Next time: Antarctica!
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