I'm watching the Interrogator animated series on Warhammer+, and this is my review. There are spoilers in this post, so don't read on if you haven't seen the show and have a good memory.
No way to sugarcoat it, this is a filler episode. The previous episode changed everything, and this is the tidy-up episode. I guess if you were binge-watching this series, this would be important to give you the chance to process what just happened. I'm not binge-watching it, so I had time to process the previous episode, write a blog post about it, get some sleep, paint some miniatures, and then watch the next episode.
This episode does confirm, however, that Baldur is really dead. Or at least, it continues to insist that he's really dead. I hope he is dead, not because I didn't like him. On the contrary, he's the most likable character. But I do appreciate when a series kills off a character and doesn't go back on it. We'll see what happens.
In this episode, Jurgen goes to deal with the Blank (or whatever he is, but I think he's a Blank) and nearly gets killed by an augmented bodyguard. Somebody in the shadows saves him with a well-timed headshot, though. Who is his mysterious saviour?
Roll credits! (That was a nice touch, and admittedly made a filler episode feel worth while.)
Lately I've been pondering just how effective a cliffhanger is in storytelling, whether it's in writing or narrated as a Game Master. Every time I plant a cliffhanger, it feels forced. I have to squint a little and hope nobody notices the gimmick. And interestingly, nobody ever does. And even if they do, they appreciate it.
This episode accidentally demonstrates the absolute effectiveness of a cliffhanger, because with the cliffhanger it's a complete throw-away. In fact, with the cliffhanger it's a complete throw-away, but the cliffhanger makes it feel good despite its lack of story. I don't know how often you can get away with disguising filler as the ramp up to a cliffhanger, but it clearly works in moderation. And for the episodes with actual story content, it's even better. I'm taking notes.
All images in this post copyright Games Workshop.