Overlord, Season 3, Episode 10: Preparation for War
Definitely a bit of a slower episode, with nearly the entirety of the episode just the lull as Re-Estize Kingdom prepares to go to war. It's the same sort of curse that hits any sort of adaptation of a work that has a lot of politics -- at some point you are just going to have to trim things down a lot because reading about a conversation about the politics of a fantasy world for three chapters? Definitely not a bad thing to do in novel format. Dragging it on for an entire episode is a bit stretching it, especially when you actually have to work in actual emotional moments. This episode thus feels like one of those Game of Thrones episodes where nothing seems to happen yet it still feels like there's a fair bit cut out from the source material at the same time. I haven't read the original Overlord light novels so I can't really comment, but especially in that meeting in the Kingdom's throne room feels like it was rushed. Things like there apparently being an annual war between the Kingdom and the Empire feels like it's just glossed over quickly when I am sure there's some sort of explanation about that.
It's also interesting because this is technically our first real check-in with the Re-Estize Kingdoms leadership, what with this season being focused on the Baharuth Empire. I genuinely didn't think that we're going to have a Kingdom/Empire conflict, and it's definitely a surprise. The episode starts off with the royalty of the Re-Estize Kingdom trying to deal with the fact that the Sorcerer King Ainz Ooal Gown has laid claim to the land around E-Rantel, and that no matter how much Gazef is afraid of Ainz, with no real intel on the true strength of Ainz (one of the nobles estimates Ainz as being five times as powerful as Gazef, which we know is far from accurate), neither the king nor the nobles are willing to cede any sort of concession to another country. Especially when the King's newfound popularity during the Jaldabaoth crisis causes him to sort of be pressured into taking a stronger stance to give the Royal Faction more power.
And overall, that's honestly the main things that happen in this episode. We get some great, fluff humanizing scenes thrown in of Marquis Raeven being a doting parent, or the trio of Gazef, Brain and Climb sharing a look over the city of E-Rantel, or the quiet scene as Gazef and Raeven express their newfound respect for each other in front of the King. I don't have much to say about any of these scenes other than that they're really nice, and I do enjoy these characters. Do kinda wish that Raeven was a bit more prominent in previous seasons, though.
Also an interesting tidbit in that conversation is how Climb refuses to take off his very, very flashy armour that Gazef notes is a liability in a battlefield -- Climb wants to bring honour to Princess Renner, but I'm curious if that is just a way for Renner to get Climb to die (she did note how she wants to 'nurse him' back to health in the previous season) or an actual deal Renner made with Demiurge and make her vassal stand out and be spared by the Nazarick forces. Not quite sure how deep the Renner/Demiurge conspiracy goes, honestly.
Probably the other interesting subplot going on throughout this episode is First Prince Barbro, who isn't very prominent in season two, but now is just this huge war-hungry asshat who just wants to claim glory because he got snubbed by Renner and Zanac during the Jaldabaoth crisis. Raeven even notes that a good chunk of the Kingdom's problems is how much the King loves all his children and thus doesn't make the choice of picking the more pragmatic and intelligent Zanac as the successor. Barbro himself ends up being sent by the King to... investigate Carne Village, ostensibly to keep him safe from possible harm, something that the war and glory-hungry Barbro clearly dislikes. I'm equally surprised that Carne Village is going to be relevant in this conflict -- is this the first season of Overlord where the first two arcs in the season tied in nicely to the final arc?
And the final sequence of this episode, which ran over the credits, is Ainz and Mare arriving on the Empire's staging grounds. One of Jircniv's Four Swords (Three Swords now, I guess), Nimble, greets Ainz, and notes that they want Ainz to open the battle with a magic spell. Ainz notes that he's going to go in with his own army, and the logistics of moving an army that quickly ends up baffling everyone... until Ainz just shrugs, opens this gigantic teleportation gate, and waves of waves of CGI Death Knights just stride forward. It's not super impressive, but clearly the death knights are there just for show and whatever Ainz is going to do with his 'war-opening spell' is going to be the huge highlight of next episode.
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