In the previous episode, we saw Emilia infuse a stone with magic in order to find a shard of Yesod. In this episode, it leads her to a hospital, where she finds Chiho’s mother. After being exposed to the white light from the television at the end of the previous episode, Chiho is now in a coma is being kept in the hospital to run tests in order to determine what is causing her coma.

Meanwhile, we see Maou, Ashiya, Suzuno, and Rika getting ready to go shopping for a television. Before that, though, Rika takes the group to a place that sells delicious, yet inexpensive, udon. While at the restaurant, they see a guy in an afro speaking English, trying to get a fork. The employee doesn’t understand English, so Maou steps in and is able to communicate in English with the man in the afro and gets the situation under control. Later, though, we see the guy in the afro speaking on the phone in Japanese, and it’s strongly hinted that he’s someone else from the world of Ente Isla and is there to do an assignment. Considering what is revealed later in the episode, I suspect I know who he’s supposed to be.

While the group is out on their shopping trip, TV screens in the store suddenly turn white and the LED screens explode. During the chaos, Suzuno gets a call from Emilia and finds out about Chiho. Ashiya takes Rika home, then later joins the others at the hospital. Suzuno figures out that Chiho is somehow generating magic, and she tests a theory while in the room with Chiho that seemed to check out. With this theory, Suzuno feels confident that Chiho will awaken. After TVs explode at the hospital, Urushihara arrives and relays important information, especially in regards to “The Watcher,” who is likely the one sending the pulses causing the televisions to explode. He seems to surmise correctly that Chiho got caught in the middle of it, especially since her home had been a point of a sonar explosion earlier in the series.

It’s also revealed that Emilia has figured out that the woman with the long, silver hair who helped Alas Ramus earlier in the series must be her mother, Lailah. Emilia has been trying to find her to try to get some answers out of her. Urgency is added to this search when Urushihra’s information makes it clear that “The Watcher” is using his sonar pulses to try to find Lailah so an attempt can be made to turn Lailah into a fallen angel like Urushihara. Maou has a couple of ideas of where “The Watcher” is, considering their method of trying to locate Lailah.

Throughout the episode, we see Lailah in the background at the hospital, and she does something important in regards to Chiho right at the end of the episode. I’m not going to outright say what happens here, but there’s a shot in the opening credits that’s given the audience a hint during the entire season that something like this was coming.

While I appreciated the stakes finally getting upped in this episode, it’s frustrating that it didn’t hit this point until late in the second-to-last episode of the season. My fear is that the season is going to end in one of two ways: 1) the ending is going to be rushed in order to bring a conclusion to this arc, or 2) that the season is going to not resolve this arc and leave the audience on a cliffhanger with an expectation of getting another season in order to find out what happens. Honestly, I don’t like either of these scenarios. If the ending is rushed, then it makes me question why the two episodes on the farm existed and why they weren’t used to give this final arc more breathing room. And if there isn’t a conclusion to the arc at the end of the next episode, then we have to hope and pray there’s another season of the anime. To be honest, though, I’ve been seeing the diminishing excitement from other Western bloggers over the course of this season, and wonder if the Japanese audience is feeling something similar. If the second season doesn’t perform well enough, especially in Japan, we may not get another season of the anime.

While I can’t say this with any certainty until watching the final episode next week, I’ve been left with an impression that this season feels more like it’s leading up to something than truly being important in its own right. Since I haven’t read the original light novel source material, I have no idea where the story is going to head from here. My youngest child has read some of The Devil Is a Part-Timer! light novel, so she has the advantage of knowing what’s supposed to be coming up before watching the episode each week. However, she’s been good about not telling me anything beforehand so I don’t get spoilers. But she, along with other readers of the light novel, do have an advantage over viewers who aren’t familiar with the source material, so they’re likely to be less disappointed by this season.

Here’s hoping for the best for the final episode, but I really can’t see how it can’t end without fulfilling one of the two fears that I listed earlier in this write-up.

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