Ron Does Stuff

The action has started to ramp up in the second episode, and with the Leviathan careening towards the Alps, it’s only going to get more intense!

Aleksander, Count Volger, and Klopp are holed up in a mini-castle? somewhere on the Alps, and Aleksander is getting antsy. Count Volger tells him they’re staying there until the madness is over, but Count Volger doesn’t know that the First World War last for four years. I don’t think you guys have enough supplies for four years of hiding!

Having just watched Hoffman die, Aleksander is now very intent on not letting anyone else die. After the three of them watch the Leviathan crash into the Alps, he insists that they help them out, especially since he’s a nobody anyway and shouldn’t be a threat to the Darwinists. This is where Volger finally reveals that the Pope has revised the marriage contract between Aleksander’s parents, allowing him to have a claim to the throne of Austria-Hungary. Volger tells him that his responsibility is to the citizens of Austria-Hungary and not to the Darwinists, but Aleksander really has had it with just letting people die.

Aleksander makes the trek to the Leviathan’s crash site, and not only does he save Deryn from getting crushed, he also leaves her with what I assume are medicines. I remember reading this in the book and the kilig that I felt as the relationship between the two developed? Delicious. Especially since Aleksander truly thought Deryn was a guy for most of the books. It’s giving Coffee Prince, it’s giving To The Beautiful You.

Anyways, Deryn ~apprehends~ Aleksander because the captain is going to ask questions about where she got the first aid kit, and on the way to taking him there they run into Nora Barlow, who immediately clocks Aleksander as one of the claimants to the Austro-Hungarian throne. Or at the very least, knows he’s an important figure.

Nora’s deductions are proven right when Count Volger rides up in their Stormwalker to retrieve Aleksander. The two of them are taken to the Leviathan’s captain to have a discussion, and while Volger tries to be evasive, Nora is quick to pick on any tidbits he drops and immediately connects them. Volger tries to separate himself and Aleksander from the Darwinists as quickly as possible, but Nora outmaneuvers him at every turn. It’s too bad my first book blog disappeared into the ether because I’d like to look back at my review of this book and what my thought were on Nora at the time.

Thanks to Nora, Volger is left at the Leviathan, while she, Deryn, and Aleksander go back to the castle to get the supplies needed for the Leviathan. However, because of the fog that’s settled on the mountain, they have to spend the night at the castle and this is where the show builds the foundation of Deryn and Aleksander’s relationship. Deryn makes Aleksander laugh, and makes him rethink the anti-Darwinist propaganda he’s been raised with. And that’s the same for Deryn.

As they’re headed back to the Leviathan the next day, they see two Zeppelins hovering over the crash site, ready to capture it alive. While the Leviathan manages to repel one of the Zeppelins and Aleksander’s Stormwalker manages to drive away the land forces, the Stormwalker ends up getting hit by one of the missiles from the Zeppelin. And can I say that the decision to illustrate the impact with stark black and yellow colors and have it make no sound? Fantastic.