Yuri!!! On Ice – Episode 11

STOOOOOOOOOP!!!!

If there’s one thing I realized from this episode, it’s that I’m a bigger JJ fan that I thought I imagined. It isn’t exactly out of the realms of possibility that JJ will choke in his performance — and, well, it’s probably the most natural outcome that we could’ve predicted — but still, seeing him in such an awkward situation brought me into an, uh, awkward situation too while watching. At first, I was laughing (and god forgive me for laughing at him), then I snorted, and then I felt bad, and then I imagined myself internally singing his theme clapping alongside his loyal fans. He is still the arrogant bastard that he is, all right, but it’s precisely because he is still an arrogant bastard even after that shameful display that won him my respect and admiration. I’d probably have a different reaction should he decided to mope around and conclude that he’s a pathetic loser — but nope, he didn’t, and he still held into that awfully corny JJ STYLE with bravado until the very end. Good job, man. You may have had the lowest score coming into the second round, but you’re going to have my loudest cheer next week.

Nonetheless, it’s a great set up for *sniffs* the final episode, as well as a great episode for closing some character arc. I’ve mentioned this time and time again, but besides Y!!!OI’s endearing cast of characters is a delicacy in introducing a dozen of skaters into the foreground, and giving them each a satisfying conclusion in a short span of time. Otabek, in particular, was only introduced recently, but we can easily get behind his motivation and conviction, thus his routine didn’t feel all that half-cooked. He didn’t need any drawn-out narration, he didn’t need any sort of, uh, drama to flesh out his personality… that’s just it: he was given a clear cut, easy to understand objective. It’s obviously unnecessary to paint him a complex character story at this point of the show (*cough* Mimi *cough* Biba), as that thing is reserved for the main cast of characters aka Yurio, Viktor, Yuri etc.

And on that note, despite my jabs at Yurio waaaaay back for treating him to a half-baked character progression, I actually think that the subtle touch from “Ugh, this is difficult” to “Oh… my mind went blank” is a pretty neat detail. Albeit there are bits and pieces of his character progression strewn throughout this episode, you still get to feel that he evolved as a character during the time he spent in the background. It wasn’t given much focus, but he was given enough attention for his performance to be believably fantastic. Like, I wasn’t exactly impressed during his first routine from episode 2, but his last couple of performances were nothing short from perfection.

Short thoughts:

• My wild guess is that Phichit’s going to win.
• But nah, I’m betting Yuri is going to take the gold.
• So, I’m a JJ fan, how about you?
• I guess if there’s one character who didn’t get enough stuffings is basically everyone from Yuri’s hometown.
• Chris’ “You always come early” made me raise my eyebrows.
• I love these casters, specially that monotone-sounding guy. Easily brings hype to the stage.
• Fans claiming that JJ flopped because he realized he has a crush on Otabek lel

Anyways that’s 1 episode down, 1 episode to go. Will Yuri and Viktor finally get married, or will they end up in separate ways? Will JJ return as a hero? Is that a goddamn hamster Phichit is holding? Who is this hottie Chris is shown with? We will and we will never know! I’ll see you guys next week! Davai! Or whatever the hell that means.