And so my final review for season 2 of Spice and Wolf comes up...
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Are the ups and downs of season 2, which in certain respects is arguably less stellar than season 1, worth the final 5 minutes of the finale?
You damn well better believe it!
Lawrence may just have been cheated and bled dry for whatever he could have earned in this town that would have granted him the resources to open his own shop, but in return he went away with some far greater, far more rewarding than a stone store and a bag of coins. There is of course no way to be apologetic for what Abe did which is tantamount to stealing anyway, but she did have a point: doing everything, whatever it takes, to get what you are looking for. Even to the point where society calls you greedy, immoral and... well evil. She was greedy for money that is almost pathological, but she did not question nor did she waver. She knew what she wanted and did what she felt was needed to accomplish it. By fair of foul she got it.
"I'm hoping."
Mt first run through the episode I really didn't get what she meant. I started to think back about what she said and what Lawrence had been doing up to this point in season 2; the pyrite fiasco most importantly. I re-evaluated Abe's intentions and Lawrence's actions during the moments when it was oh so clear that he may lose Horo. That was when I think I realized what Abe meant:
Hoping that, in the end, it was all worth it to get what one is looking for.
Lawrence understood it by then. Finding out what he really wants, and doing whatever it takes to find it and keep it, even if it entails sacrifice, loss and potentially financial ruin. Given his circumstances in episode 12 I personally don't think he lost much, since the money was pretty much what he got for selling Horo, and by getting the rights to the inn in exchange for the gold Abe took in the end it all balanced itself out. Sort of. However he now owned the inn, he could have made it his own store, but he didn't. He traded the property for Horo back.
When I think about it now, this entire episode sums up what season 2 was all about
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Lawrence growing and figuring out what it is, truly, that is most important to him. He says it is Horo but it is as if he was still unsure about it. He doesn't really have confidence in this decision considering a rather strained trust and air between them in the likes I haven't seen since season 1. He could never really tell Horo how or what he felt, because even then he was still unsure. Nearing the end of this episode however, despite whatever reservations you have about the character,
Abe hit the nail on the head, right smack and center.
Because Lawrence was also hoping. Hoping that despite Horo's feelings and his dream of being a shop owner coming into conflict with his desire to travel with her, he'd find a way to continue the journey of a lifetime. Before all of this he was unsure and indecisive, the complete opposite of how he deals in commerce, which is really not all that unusual personally. He was always worried of striking the balance between his mercantile lifestyle and his relationship with Horo. He was also worried of his desire to travel with her conflicting with his desire to open his own shop.
He was hoping to achieve all of them, but only now did he really realize that the same fact of commerce applies to life and relationships:
You can't have everything, you have to make a choice. Economics had always revolved around the fact that goods are limited, you can't have everything, so things are obtained by the highest bidder willing to make the greatest sacrifice to gain what they want and/or need. The same thing applied to his own life but he didn't realize it, much to his irony. This is why, with this episode, he decided to choose.
So he went back to the trading company, full of the confidence and the determination that characterized him back in season 1. He traded it all in for Horo. Why? Because he decided to choose his dream.
He chose Horo.
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So now that I've finally realized that the second season is over and I have to wait an entire fucking year for season 3, I'm going to roll myself into a fetal position and cry myself to sleep, eagerly awaiting the day I may travel with these two once again.
