Review: Yona of the Dawn “Trial of the Cheonsu Plant”

What we have here for “Trial of the Cheonsu Plant” is a gateway episode. There was closure from last week’s “Bond,” and then transitioned, somewhat awkwardly into next week’s episode. There was a lot of out of character things that went on this week, and they mostly revolved around Hak and his interactions and feelings with Yona. There’s a lot of stuff to go over here, so we should probably get to steppin, right?

Let’s start with Hak and Yona. For most of Yona of the Dawn, Hak was the ever stoic rock of a protector, only looking out for Yona’s best interest. However, that kind of changed, because of the ever present nagging by Jae-Ha about Hak’s feelings about Yona. So, obviously, Hak decides to just impulsively act on them like it’s no big thing. And it wasn’t like he went “oh hey, I like you, hopefully you like me. Let’s be together.” He went straight for the licking excess honey off of Yona’s hands step. What, the literal fuck, just happened?

Now, The Captain went from badass seafarer, to sentimental mother-type when she talked to Yona near the end of the episode. She went on about how she wants to have her one last fight, then let her crew spread to the wind back home. Wait, what? This makes zero sense, because she made it perfectly clear that she doesn’t want Jae-Ha going anywhere a couple episodes ago. I am blown away at how characters are just making 180 degree turns on a whim. Then, Jae-Ha is hiding his feelings for Yona, which seems out of character.

And then, there’s Yona. She went from useless man bait to actually being able to do something dangerous. Yona was able to get the plants, but was rescued by Jae-Ha when a wave caught her. Yona did, however, keep to her word and told the Captain that Jae-Ha helped her when she went over the cliff. However, the Captain saw the fire in her, and let her join.

I’m not saying that the changes were bad, because they add a dynamic to the characters. But everything was just all of a sudden. There was no lead in, or anything to infer that these changes were coming. It felt like things were on a whim, and I feel kind of like that is a detriment. “Trial of the Cheonsu Plant” would have been a lot better if these changes were gradual. Unfortunately, I am just left confused from a story that should have been making me excited for the battle to come.