Review of Shokuzai Ep 2

The second episode titled "PTA Rinji Soukai" (PTA Emergency Assembly) features Shinohara Maki (Koike Eiko), the class monitor and model student at the time of Emily's death. As compared to Sae who was badly traumatised by Emily's murder and becoming so jumpy whenever a man came near her, Maki's trauma manifested in a different way. Before the incident, she was the natural leader in the group and even "distributed" duties among her friends after they found Emily dead. However, as she was unable to locate any teacher to seek help before the police arrived, the guilt at not doing anything worthwhile made her lose confidence in her abilities as seen from her withdrawal from things which needed responsibility.

15 years later, Maki becomes a teacher at a primary school but is known for being excessively strict with her students. This causes her to be unpopular and constantly being called up by the vice principal to be lectured about her attitude. One day, Maki chances upon a girl being bullied by other male schoolmates and demands to know what happened. However, this makes her the target of attacks by parents as they want to know why she had to do that to the girl who was bullied. Luckily for Maki, a colleague Tanabe who's popular with the kids, stands up for her.

On the day of Emily's 15th death anniversary, Maki bumps into Asako at Emily's grave and promises Asako that she hasn't forgotten about her promise. Soon after, an incident happens which causes Maki to confront her hidden fears and traumatic past...

Just like the 1st episode, the colour tone in this episode is muted which also reflects how Maki has been living for the past 15 years. Being the leader in the group, Maki could have had a stronger sense of responsibility as compared to the others. This can be seen from the fact that she had run around once to look for teachers in the school but couldn't find anyone. However, she couldn't allow herself to return to the crime scene withouth achieving her goal and ran around for the second time. When Maki saw that the police came before she could do anything, the sense of disappointment in herself appeared to be very strong. As a result, she had avoided responsibility and making decisions because she thinks that she no longer knows what's right and wrong.

At that time when Maki was questioned by the police about Emily's killer, I think she could have faked that she couldn't remember anything because she didn't trust herself anymore. That's why she avoided giving out the information because it could be wrong. However, at the ending scene, Maki seems to have overcome her emotional barrier and decided to come clean with Asako. I don't really think that Maki would have died as a result of that punch from Tanabe so she could have just passed out for a while. Coming to that, I think Tanabe was angry at Maki who walked away from the controversy surrounding her actions relatively unscathed while he had to bear the brunt of the ridicule for his behaviour.

Compared to Asako's cold front when she faced Sae at her wedding, I'm starting to observe some changes in Asako's attitude toward Emily's friends. She seemed really happy to see that Maki came to visit Emily's grave and her expression softened a lot when the scene shifted to her interaction with her son (most likely born after Emily's death). I don't think Asako meant that the girls should pay for Emily's death. She was really furious that the investigation was going nowhere as a result of them being unable to provide any information to the police. However, being a mother herself, she probably wanted them to remember Emily's tragic end and make sure they live their lives in a manner that will satisfy her. Unfortunately, we can see that at least two of the girls have suffered badly because they have been heavily burdened by both Emily's murder and their promise to Asako.

Looks like the third episode is also going to be one emotionally-heavy ride. At least Sae and Maki did lead "normal" lives but the third girl seems to be cooped up at home and behaves oddly. There aren't a lot of leads for Asako to work on in order to trace the killer so it also remains to be seen how the final revelation will be.