Score: A

This show is really winning me over and fast. There’s a fun adventure to each episode. We get to see Mia trying her best to use her knowledge of the future both to save her own life…and to give back a bit to those that honestly made her final days slightly less horrifying. Anne was of course a huge presence for Mia, but we’re seeing the importance of Ludwig, and even Anne’s sister Eris. I’m sure we’ll spot a few other people here and there, but maybe not too many more of them. The end of Mia’s life was one of tragedy and depression. I doubt she had too many sources of hope and light within that darkness outside of the ones we’ve already seen.

A show of extremes

I really like how this show manages to balance out both the comedy and the tragedy of Mia’s life. It has all sorts of fun about people thinking she’s amazing when she’s abusing her knowledge of the future or just trying to save her life. But it will also give those moments to reflect on how awful her life was without this sort of intervention. A maid that stuck with her up to her execution or a guy trying to save that country but being unable to before the revolution broke out. Ludwig is a good guy that did just want to help avoid disaster. He may have picked on Mia a bit, but I think he was trying to get her to realize the dangers lurking if nothing was done. He was one of the few people to visit her up to her final days.

There’s value in managing to balance these things out. Let Mia be a bit silly here and there. But it’s still good to have her remember that some people really did care about her. Doing what she can to make their lives less tragic while saving her own isn’t a bad thing. So far the show has been all the more fun to watch because it’s not all tragedy or all comedy. Both elements get their chances to make an impact.

Another character benefiting from this situation

The scenes with Eris show Mia’s tendency to find win/win situations. The offer to make Eris her personal author allows Mia the selfish wish to find out how the story ends. She never got that because Eris’ health failed her ahead of even Mia’s own death. But it’s also a win for everyone. The world will get Eris’ stories and will be enriched by that. Eris herself gets to live and tell the stories that exist within her heart. And even Anne gets her sister to not die an early death. I guess Mia also wins thanks to Eris writing a glowing biography of her life, but that’s definitely not what she’s going for here. That’s just a sweet extra bonus. I suppose Mia might not want it since she doesn’t consider herself as great as people are going to. But it’s better than being hated.

That did also show Mia’s tendency to nearly shoot herself in the foot. It happened when she was trying to get back at Ludwig and happened when she told parts of Eris’ story that she hadn’t written yet! Thankfully she’s already gained a huge benefit of people reading her actions in a positive light. But I do disagree with the narrator about these people being blind. What else would they think? Mia’s steadily gaining a good track record, showing intelligence, and there’s no realistic explanation. Who’s going to guess she has a diary that tells her the future leading up to her own execution? Nobody!

She’s been through a lot

There are moments that are obviously comedic and ones that are tragic. But it’s the small moments that really work for me. Mia not really reacting to that poor and downtrodden district’s smell really worked. Because for Mia…that’s nothing compared to what she had to live through. She knows extremely well how badly people can smell when they can’t bathe, the suffering of starving or being malnourished. It’s a tragic thing that will remain part of her very being. She can appreciate the good things she has right now, but she knows how awful life can get. So she’ll gladly place her hands on a suffering poor child because she’s been far less appealing to be near before.

For that reason and more…Anne really deserves credit. That girl took care of a poorly treated Princess for years without complaint. And she even did it after her own sister had died and no one could blame her for not wanting to see anyone at all. She still found a goodness in her heart to look after a suffering Mia. No wonder Mia was so quick to keep Anne close during this part of her life and to help support her however she can.

A good man

The Ludwig parts were great. I get why Original Mia was so frustrated. She thought she was being a good Princess in offering praise. But then she got hammered by difficult questions and left feeling embarrassed. That ended up being a win in the very long term since writing down everything he said helped her win him over now. Sure, he overestimates Mia’s grasp on the situation the Kingdom faces. But at least he believes in her and will try to interpret the meaning behind her actions. Because of that trust he followed her into that district and realized the huge risk and cost of an epidemic. He understandably was focused on what they were doing right now to help the economy, but needed to look a bit wider than just that.

The positive interpretations worked with that hairpin as well. Mia couldn’t help but remember the bad times when seeing it. Her reasoning was that it was better to give it up now than have it stolen from her later. But I think part of it was that she was glad to get rid of something with bad memories for her. The win of course was that Ludwig could take that small sacrifice by Mia and turn it into a hospital! The pressure put on the nobles to match the sacrifice of this young princess helped save many lives and prevent a tragedy.

Good thing she was a dedicated writer

This was a good episode. It really solidified the kind of pattern we can expect from this show. Obviously, I don’t think she’s going to resolve each of the major issues her country is facing each week. But if she can steadily tackle those issues then there’s hope. It’s a huge gain that her diary updates itself as she goes along. If it sent her back in time then I think anything is possible. But thanks to that updating it allows her to gauge how well she’s doing. Honestly, I think she should already have avoided her fate. She’s gaining allies steadily that should be willing to protect her should things go badly. But I guess that’s balanced out by her being an even greater target for Revolutionaries. Can’t have a heroic Princess alive that could restore the Royal Family to power after all. Can’t wait for the next episode.