JoJo's Bizarre Adventure S02E10-11 Review: The Cowboy and the Serial Killer

JoJo's Bizarre Adventure, Stardust Crusaders, Episode 10-11: Emperor and the Hanged Man

So we have the first real two-parter in Stardust Crusaders, although to compensate for that we have two antagonists running through two episodes at once. It's sort of the unexpectedly early conclusion to Polnareff's side-quest, with one of the two antagonists being the two-right-armed man who assaulted and brutalized Polnareff's sister.

And, as usual, this arc starts off with your obligatory "The Stardust Crusaders discover a somewhat-true stereotype of the country they are visiting", in this case the swarm of children demanding for tips from the foreigners. The extended sequence with a toilet that has a pig's head pop out is a bit too much, though. It does lead to having Polnareff be separated from the rest of the group in the first of the many episodes the Frenchman's going to headline -- a somewhat valid point of criticism in Stardust Crusaders is that sometimes Polnareff steals so much spotlight that even the actual Joestars get shafted, and both Kakyoin and Avdol sometimes might as well not be there. I don't mind Polnareff, though, although he does at times feel like a brasher version of Part II Joseph. Regardless, Polnareff gets stalked by a mysterious bandaged mummy-man in mirrors, causing him to storm off alone and honestly gain a whole "this is my quest, and I shall do it alone" attitude without any real reason to. Which, in turn, leads to Avdol and Polnareff getting an argument about Polnareff's attempt at a solo act.

Meanwhile, while J. Geil and his Hanged Man stand works mysteriously from the mirrors (it basically can slice anything that is reflected on the surface of the mirror), his partner, Hol Horse, is anything but subtle. Hol Horse is a very flashy cowboy with a pretty awesome design and quite easily my favourite antagonist from Stardust Crusaders, and the first we see of him is his seduction of a random Indian Princess (retconned by one of the subsequent episodes into being a different agent of Dio, making their conversation a bit suspect), and his first meeting with Polnareff also involves him being as flashy as possible -- he even gets to strike a goddamn JoJo pose, something that none of the bad guys actually do for a good chunk of Stardust Crusaders. Hell, even Hol Horse's stand, Emperor, is pretty flashy, a big-ass handgun that manifests by a flashy spin on Hol Horse's hand.

Hol Horse's stand is one of those 'simple, but pretty cool nonetheless' powers. He shoots people, and he can change the trajectory of the bullets as long as it's not too far away. We get some really great music as Avdol charges to rescue Polnareff with Magician's Red, but the combo of Hol Horse's bullet and a stabbing wound from the Hanged Man who's hiding in a puddle fucking KILLS Avdol. It's a sudden, brutal death, and suddenly the stakes are higher -- a party member actually straight-up gets killed and not even in a huge, dramatic sacrifice way. Avdol just plain got shanked and headshotted while arguing with Polnareff. The stakes are pretty high, and the way the death is framed is pretty shocking. Avdol hasn't really done a lot, but his rivalry with Polnareff is one of the better and more memorable things he's done. (Yes,  I know what happens next, but we'll discuss that when we get there)

And this is how the first part ends, with Kakyoin arriving and witnessing this scene, and Polnareff shedding manly tears as he weeps for Avdol while simultaneously shit-talking him because men can't show emotions.

The second episode starts off with Hol Horse and J. Geil going to do the same thing against Polnareff, but this time around it's Kakyoin that swoops in to help out, with an Emerald Splash that cracks the mirror. We get a fun little team-up as Kakyoin and Polnareff drives away on a jeep, while the only real role the Joestar duo have in this arc is finding Avdol's bleeding body in the street and apparently arranging a funeral for him off-screen.

The second part is a lot less dramatic, with a huge chunk of it spent in a 'dread the enemy that is coming' as Kakyoin and Polnareff try to figure out just how Hanged Man works, and it's basically an image that jumps from one reflective surface to the next,  acting like a beam of light -- it doesn't actually move in some world within the mirrors, which Kakyoin insists repeatedly is an impossibility (in true JoJo fashion, Part 5 does feature "Man in the Mirror", who actually creates a world within the mirrors). After a bit of a back and forth, and very nearly killing the wrong man, the two of them manage to trick Hanged Man to move into Polnareff's eye, planning to use Silver Chariot to cut up Hanged Man as he moves...

And we get a pretty cool scene where Kakyoin drops in a badass one-liner as he tosses a coin into the air, causing all the peasants to look at the coin, and as Polnareff blinks, Hanged Man is forced to move to the only reflective surface available -- the coin -- and gets cut up by Silver Chariot. J. Geil's death is sufficiently brutal as he gets cut up, and subsequently pincushioned on a set of metal barbs, and thus Polnareff's side-quest is completed, Polnareff gets a manly victory and appreciates his allies a lot more... and Avdol's dead. Well, can't win them all.

Of course, Hol Horse doesn't know this, and gets punched by Jotaro in the face for all his troubles. As he runs away, the Indian princess blocks the good guys, ostensibly because she's in love with Hol Horse... but the blood that splashes on old Joseph seems to indicate a possible sequel hook, while Hol Horse himself is, y'know, still alive, the only other outright villain outside of Dio and Enya-baa to distinguish himself beyond being a villain of the week. Overall, this arc does have its problems, chief of all on how much you consider the Avdol sacrifice as wasting a likable character in a needlessly brutal fashion, or if it's a genuinely shocking death that helps to give another character significant development. I'm more in the latter camp. Overall, a nice set of episodes.

The JoJo Playlist:

• Hol Horse is named after the 70's American musical duo Hall and Oates. Their selected discography include "You Make My Dreams", "I Can't Go For That" and "Maneater".
• J. Geil is anmed after the J. Geils Band, named after its lead vocalist, John Geils, who recently passed away in 2017. Selected discography include "Love Stinks" and "Musta Got Lost"