REVIEW: Double Decker! Doug & Kirill (Episode 10)

Episode 10: Failed Detective, but Pure! | はずれ刑事、純情派!

Wait a second, episode title, who are you calling failed, and who are you calling pure? Oh, I know you’re not throwing shade at my boy Kirill.

Doug’s recuperating in the hospital after a torture session at the hands of Esperanza – and, trauma aside, is taking his sweet time about it, much to Kirill’s dismay. Kirill isn’t allowed back on the streets until his Double Decker partner fills out his post-kidnapping paperwork, but Doug somehow thinks he’s entitled to a little bit of a break. As Kirill berates Doug for being a lazy asshole, a punk kid approaches Kirill and, mistaking him for a woman, tries to buy his “services” for the night. Being propositioned as a sex worker is one of Kirill’s biggest pet peeves, so he screams at the kid until a pathetic looking older hospital patient comes looking for his wayward son.

Doug escapes Kirill’s sight during the distraction, leading Kirill to tear through the hospital in search of him again. He finds Deana and Kay instead, who are there to investigate the mysterious Anthem-related deaths of several former patients. Kirill joins their meeting with the hospital’s lead doctor, who admits the gene-altering effects of Anthem may have cured these patients in the first place. At Deana and Kay’s confusion, the doctor asks them if they even know how Anthem works… when the biggest twist of the fucking season happens.

Kirill stands up to the white board, dry erase marker in hand, and explains in scientific detail the genetic-editing capabilities of Anthem.

Wait.

Wait a sec.

Hold the fucking phone.

Back at SEVEN-O HQ, Deana and Kay try to explain to Apple, the resident tech genius, that Kirill was spouting off science, so is probably on drugs or something. Sitting over a bunch of textbooks and papers, Kirill denies he’s either on drugs or smart, he just figured out the prerogative on Anthem based on contextual clues – and also, since the hospital’s doctor asked, he’s slapping together a quick paper on his findings. Apple struts over and offers to help, academic-to-amateur, and upon glancing at the sources piled on his desk, praises him for reading a groundbreaking paper on genetic engineering that came out a couple years back. Confused, Kirill thanks him – because he was the one who wrote it. Not out of interest, nor any stroke of genius, but just because he wanted to bag some scholarship money to continue school. Necessity of poverty, and all – plus, he read about genetic engineering in a manga and thought it seemed kind of cool.

Back at the hospital, Kirill tries again to intercept Doug to get him to finish his paperwork, but instead finds the kid who propositioned him, Gus, sleeping on a bench. Kirill takes him home and Gus reveals all his savings have gone toward his dad’s medical treatment, and the reason he was asking girls for sex was for his dad, not him, because he wants his dad to have fun for once. Seems legit? (It doesn’t.) Watching the sad exchange, Kirill’s sister apologizes for leaving Kirill, but Kirill is just happy to have her back in his life.

Meanwhile, Doug calls Kirill to help him trail a dying patient who was suddenly discharged after a mysterious recovery. The guy shows signs of Anthem, and though initially appears healthy, has a sudden violent breakdown. Doug gets him to take them to the person who gave him Anthem in the hospital, and as he does, we see the doctor we met earlier offering Anthem to Gus’s dying father.

Surprising no one, it’s been the hospital staff the whole time giving patients Anthem, but in a second twist, they seem to be working for Esperanza and actively experimenting on patients to figure out the chemical ratios of the anti-AMS bullets that the SEVEN-O agents use. The doctor reasons that if they can figure out the precise formula, then they can utilize the gene-editing capabilities as a medical panacea. The problem, of course, is that they’ll be racking up bodies along the way, and all the other minor ethical scruples that go along with lethal-grade human experimentation.

Gus’s father rejects the doctor’s offer of Anthem, preferring to die as Gus’s father rather than live as a monster, and the police arrest the staff in on the Anthem project. Gus, who wants to show his father some of the things he always wanted to see his son do before he dies, enlists Kirill to dress up as his bride to show his dad what it will look like when he gets married. Gus promises to live like his father, and tells him not to worry.

Back at Derick’s bar, Kirill vows to be the one to walk Milla down the aisle when she gets married. Milla starts to protest and say something about wearing women’s clothes, but succumbs to Kirill’s adorableness and thanks him instead. They are interrupted by Secretary Brian Cooper from last episode, who, after being so impressed with Kirill last episode, asks Kirill if he has any interest in joining the military.

KIRILL THE DUMBASS SMARTASS

This was my favorite twist ever, because of all the obvious subversion and bait-and-switches, this was one I did not see coming at all. Granted, there has been little indication prior to this that Kirill is capable of rubbing more than two brain cells together at a time, but as he so succinctly explains, he “totally forgot” everything he learned to write that ground-breaking paper on genetic engineering the moment he won the scholarship money. Kirill’s childishness and impulsivity camouflage any facet of intellect within his apparent personality, and his lackadaisical and single-track mind counter his potential genius.

On a similar vein, the episode opens with Secretary Cooper expressing interest in “that talented detective” from the previous episode, and the camera switches to Doug in response. It isn’t until the end of the episode that it’s revealed he’s actually talking about Kirill.

Combined with last episode’s reveal that Kirill’s catchphrase may have ominous origins, and knowing Kirill’s highly selective memory, it turns out there’s quite a lot more to this kid than moxie and a pretty face.

While we’re talking about pretty faces, Kirill’s devotion to his sister has got to be the sweetest aspect of his character. The siblings’ scenes are always heartwarming, especially in how Kirill assumes without question or protest his sister’s gender identity even after learning her biological sex. Note that Kirill has a complex about his own gender identity due to his feminine looks, but in this episode, cheerfully cross-dresses to support Gus and his father.

But a piece of the puzzle is conspicuously missing. Milla, who identified herself as Valery, remains mysterious. Though more reserved than her hyperactive brother, she appears to be a genuinely warm and caring person who is watching out for Kirill. At the same time, just as with Kirill’s broken recitation of Nikai’s Prayer, something isn’t clicking. Double Decker! is difficult to predict, because it loves to throw out red herrings. But Milla has not revealed why she disappeared, and when she started to mention her reason for wearing “women’s clothes” after Kirill vowed to “walk her down the aisle” in the final scene, it’s difficult not to get the sense that she’s hiding from something or otherwise not being truthful about her identity.

FINAL THOUGHTS

Zabel and Esperanza were missing from this episode, and instead we again went through what essentially amounts to plot filler about the peripheral effects of Esperanza’s Anthem distribution. But even so, this was one of the strongest episodes yet, balancing humor and action with character development where it counts – in our protagonist.

At this point, I’m banking on Double Decker! aiming for a second season, because there seems to be too much untapped potential in developing the antagonists to justify a 13-episode run. But if not, the next three episodes had better zero in on Zabel and Bamboo Man.

WHERE TO WATCH IT (LEGALLY): Funimation (dub), Crunchyroll (sub)

NEXT: Episode 11
PREVIOUS: Episode 9