Score: A-

I will be honest in saying that I didn’t expect a breather episode before the next arc started. The last one seemed to solidly tie everything up. But this episode did touch on a few things and do an even better job of wrapping up this current arc. It is only fair to give other characters some attention while highlighting that yes Pride is absolutely beloved and has an army that will make sure nothing bad ever happens to her. The only thing she really has to fear is herself and whatever long shot chance there is that Evil Pride could have some influence over her.

Holding hands with a Princess, how scandalous!

The scene with Pride and Arthur was sweet. It’s a scene that lets me believe that this could be Pride’s future. Arthur will praise the heck out of everyone before himself. But in the end he still makes his point absolutely clear. Pride isn’t alone. Arthur will be there for her no matter what fate throws their way. There’s just trust there on both sides. Pride may hide quite a bit, but she does completely trust Arthur. No hesitation in opening her door nor in taking his hand. And the fact that she was able to peacefully fall asleep holding his hand says everything.

Pride may be a bit dense when it comes to people’s romantic interests in her. But she doesn’t miss the affection that exists. She knows Arthur believes every word he’s saying and truly does think highly of her. Even though she’s constantly battling with the guilt of what Game Pride did. And the party scene later shows that she doesn’t simply take that for granted. Pride does her best to return the kindness shown to her. It’s not easy for Pride to full grasp that she is the heroine of this story, but she gets some great moments regardless.

These guys are fun

The friendship between Stale and Arthur is great. They have such trust in each other. And both love Pride deeply. Yet, I can see them able to swallow their loss if it’s the other guy that wins her heart. It’ll sting for sure, but knowing the other will make her happy would likely be enough. But that lets them just utterly brawl in a hilarious way. They really are becoming the best versions of themselves because of both pride and each other. It’s probably not fair to compare them to their game versions because they are much more blessed. There are no words for each of them not having to carry the grief and agony that Evil Pride’s actions inflicted on them. Both did grow for Tiara’s sake, but this growth is just better.

Tiara’s future will be interesting

Speaking of Tiara…I wonder what she wants to see. She clearly is rooting for these guys and doesn’t appear to have any romantic affection for either of them. At the very least if she has any then she’s hiding it really well. Is she just planning on pushing them both towards Pride and waiting to see what’ll happen? It does make some sense that she’s been friends with them for years and doesn’t necessarily want to support one over the other. That may be all the more true because she’s a princess and her support in that sense would have some real weight.

And I still wonder what if anything the show has planned for Tiara herself. It’s fine for Pride to basically take the protagonist role for herself since everything is generally better this way. But so far Pride has basically taken all of Tiara’s love interests and she doesn’t seem to have one. The only options that seem plausible at this point is the loser between Stale/Arthur or simply Leon. In that sense Leon works since no reasons why Tiara can’t marry the future King of another nation and…move. But she had almost no interactions with Leon so he doesn’t seem that likely.

I do like this cast

In the end this was a solid episode. You get little moments like the budding “friendship” between Val and Leon. But overall this was really just an episode to take a rest after all the drama. Nothing really advanced in the general story beyond Tiara’s protagonist powers being used…to help pride cook some sweets. I won’t say let Tiara do anything, since she did play a key role in pressuring Pride in this arc. But we’ll see what happens with her. There’s obviously at least one more love interest that is going to be added to the mix. I don’t expect The Most Heretical Last Boss Queen S2The Most Heretical Last Boss Queen S2at this point that whoever this is will actually be a love interest by the end of the arc though. It feels like Stale and Arthur are the main ones with Val as a kind of ship tease. We shall see where this goes!