REVIEW: ‘To Your Eternity,’ Season 2 Episode 8 – “Beyond Dreams”

With Fushi and Todo escaping from the Church of Bennett’s clutches, Bon had resigned himself to his fate. But he soon finds himself awakening once more back in his home surrounded by his family in To Your Eternity Season 2 Episode 8 from Drive.

The details of how Bon survived his date with the guillotine won’t be gone into here, but I will say that I liked how creatively it utilized elements of Fushi’s powers. This clever implementation of Fushi’s previously seen gifts makes for a far better plot point than last week’s introduction of something new that manages to fit perfectly with the struggle he is facing. To Your Eternity Season 2 Episode 8 even brought back something I had wholly forgotten about from earlier in the season.

But despite his last-minute rescue, the world still believes that Bon is dead. For the safety of his family and the kingdom, the world must continue to believe this is the truth. With this state of things hanging over Bon’s head, much of this episode explores what is next for the prince. While I overall enjoyed much of this exploration of what is next for him, one spot where it continued to stumble for me is in its dealing with the dynamic between the prince and Todo. While I feel like where the show ultimately takes the pair is good, some really messy moments don’t feel like they properly deliver a narrative path to get them where they are by the episode’s end.

The final major element of To Your Eternity Season 2 Episode 8 sees some big reveals concerning the Nokkers. What they are, why they hate Fushi and the Observer, as well as their ultimate goals, are all laid out here. These revelations help set some of Fushi’s personal struggles aside and dictate to him what he needs to do next. As far as the motives of the Nokkers go, I found the explanation to be fine. While it isn’t a bad plot point, it wasn’t anything shocking to me either. A solidly adequate purpose for a series’ lead villain group to have. It provides them with a point of view that allows them to see themselves in the right, while not being strong enough for anyone to feel bad about rooting against them.

The visuals in this episode do a fine job of delivering a mostly calm story. With no action and only a couple of key emotional beats here, To Your Eternity Season 2 Episode 8 doesn’t have many opportunities to showcase anything particularly eye-catching on the visual side. Happily, what is required of it is more than delivered upon.

To Your Eternity Season 2 Episode 8 delivers a solid breather space for the show’s cast before plunging them back head-long into danger. The critical reveals that take place help to make it a worthy, if slower, entry in the series.

To Your Eternity Season 2 Episode 8 is streaming now on Crunchyroll.