Score: A

This episode was much more focused on the enjoyable present than the difficult memories that Mia has been dealing with. The relationship between her and Abel was front and center with Mia picking up a few new friendships along the way. Her looming dark future is still on the horizon, but for the moment the focus is on what she can do right now. And what she can do is both get Abel to fall harder for her and to struggle with her own budding feelings. All of that while she’s still trying to avoid dealing with Sion and Tiona as much as humanly possible!

It’s good to have friends

I like that in some cases Mia is honestly just acting naturally. She isn’t aware of any real benefit in befriending Chloe, but it will clearly help her in the future. The daughter of a trading group and with parents talented enough to work their way up to noble rank despite their origins. You never know how that’ll play out. I just like that her main motivation was having someone to share the stories from Anne’s sister with. Those stories were such an emotional comfort for Mia in her darkest days. And it’s a natural thing to want to share a series/story you enjoy with others. And a big reader like Chloe would probably be most open to reading something that isn’t quite an official novel yet.

Abel won the jackpot in terms of a better life

Mia’s tendency to try and gain skills to save herself in the future is both comedic and a bit sad at the same time. It can be played for laughs, but it’s also completely sensible. Ballroom dancing skills aren’t going to be as helpful escaping an angry mob as the ability to jump on a horse and run as far as four legs can carry you! Although I suppose Mia’s thought process also works. A pretty dress isn’t going to help with escaping people out to kill you. The heroic horse can carry her far away from the guillotine!

And it’s kind of sweet how Mia’s efforts to save herself is bettering those around her. It isn’t just making their lives better by saving her country, it’s inspiring people to aim higher than they normally would. Abel is the chief example. A guy that would have given up on competing with his sibling or trying to win the heart of a beautiful princess. He’d settle for playing card games, bouncing from girl to girl, and basically running away from his problems. But thanks to Mia he’s branching out and picking clubs to improve areas he feels weak in. And the win there was getting to see Mia at the equestrian club.

An embarrassed Mia is quite cute

While Mia can be shaken emotionally herself, it is nice that she isn’t naïve about everything (just some things). Not like Abel is being subtle about his interest in Mia, but she’s perfectly aware that she’s left a good impression. Which of course plays into her overall goals. Kind of needs Abel to remain interested in her so that she can secure a marriage that will provide a massive military ally to the Tearmoon Empire if things go horribly wrong.

An interesting element though is Mia struggling with the real emotions of getting involved with someone. She’s back in her younger body but also has memories from several years in the future. So, she’s both young and older at the same time. The desires of one side are mixed with the rationality of the other. Goes to show that making plans and enacting them are two different things. Easy to plan on ending up with Abel to protect herself. But facing the reality of falling in love with Abel? That’ll be a bit harder for Mia to truly understand.

That can be intimidating

It’s easy for Mia to be confident in areas she’s more than familiar with. Dancing in a ball is one of her strengths. But while she can act confident in any setting…that confidence won’t necessarily hold up all the time. And that’s true whether she’s facing the reality of being on a horse or…landing on her love interest after falling off a horse. That was a close call to be honest. Good reaction and a gutsy move by Abel. Wouldn’t have been a joke to have Mia die from falling off a horse while trying to secure skills to keep herself from being killed by a guillotine! Sure, her reputation would have been solid after this death but she’s not aiming for a good history book reputation.

Not these two, but curious if there’s a mastermind here

The universe really must want this girl dead though! I mean, you’d think at this point that she’d be in great shape at avoiding a guillotine finish. She’s grown close to Abel, joined the equestrian club, helped the economy, prevented a plague, and is reasonably close to two people that would be major forces in the Revolution. But the world seems determined to slot her up with a guillotine no matter what! Hopefully she can find a way to get out of this. I respect Mia’s determination though. It’d be easy to get swept up in panic and despair with a guillotine waiting. But she’s remained proactive in trying to avoid it.

I joke, but it’s interesting that she’s still on that guillotine future. If Mia is still fated to die after all she’s done, then there is something more going on here. The scary thing is that she might have issues setting her up that she never knew about in the original timeline. Mia was a princess that didn’t pay that much attention to politics or the situation around her. She spent much of her school days chasing after Sion fruitlessly. She knew about the economy, plague, and unrest that led directly to the Revolution. But there may have been factors that she couldn’t find out about after she was imprisoned. If someone is trying to set up the Empire to fall then the royal family might be the last to know about it. How much can Mia accomplish against elements she knows nothing about? Maybe focusing on escape is smart.

Now there’s a visual!

It is nice that Mia learned from her mistakes and locked in a lunch agreement with Abel ahead of time. Sadly, she didn’t lock in the agreement to have the lunch made ahead of time! I agree with Anne that the cute girl making a lunch for her love interest is worth huge points. But…the lack of cooking skills makes it a tricky road.

Understandable that she’d lean on Chloe in that moment. And… also that she’d be left to make a hard call with Tiona. Again, the girl in this timeline has no malice towards Mia. But the visual of Tiona frolicking happily with a guillotine is pretty on point. This is one of the last people that Mia would want to further bond with. But…it can’t be helped. Backing out at that point would look bad and Abel is a valuable asset (love interest) for the future. So, she’s got to do what it takes.

Abel can be charming

Honestly this episode was a sweet one focused on the budding relationship between Mia and Abel. They are leaning a lot harder on that than I thought they would. There was legitimately good progress here. Mia is tackling the mixed-up feelings she has towards Abel. There’s the rational element of why she needs him. But she’s getting hit hard by this guy’s smooth moves! Abel is a natural charmer and it’s no wonder when he wasn’t motivated to become a better rider or swordsman, he was winning girls over left and right. Even if Mia has memories from when she was much older…the kid has charm. And now this special lunch has quite the stakes attached to it. Good luck to Mia in not messing this up.