Frieren 2×04 Review – “Other People’s Homes”

Frieren anime season 2 episode 4, titled ‘Other People’s Homes’, took us along on Stark’s first date with Fern, and it went as you would expect it to.

While Fern, in the previous episode, spent most of yesterday being all nervous about her upcoming date with Stark, our guy spent his time exploring the city with Frieren to come up with a game plan to ensure Fern would enjoy their date. After a week of real-time waiting, ‘Other People’s Homes’ revealed whether or not Stark’s plan worked the way he had hoped it to. (Spoiler alert! It didn’t! Ha!)

As a fan of the characters, I was looking forward to the date, and yeah, I was nervous about it not going great. Not because there’s no chemistry between Stark and Fern, because there clearly is. But because it was going to be the first-ever date the two had ever been on. Compounded by the fact that our young leads have walls around them, having been raised by their battle-weary mentors instead of their parents. They didn’t really grow up around other children and conventional family dynamics. As Fern mentioned during the date, war left her an orphan. Even though she’s grateful for how Heiter raised her, she didn’t have many moments where she felt truly happy. Stark was in a similar boat, having been raised by Eisen. And now both were traveling with Heiter and Eisen’s ex-partymember Frieren.

Our fresh lovebirds didn’t really know how dates were supposed to go, and they instantly fell into the dynamic they were most familiar with aka talking about Frieren. While Fern brought up how they should try to change the subject, I could understand why it happened. They haven’t really spent time alone together during their journey, and going on a date to finally converse about each other’s likes and dislikes wasn’t the best move.

Also, Stark, being in his head about the date, didn’t help matters. Even Fern could tell that Stark wasn’t really being himself. The two walked around the city and munched on a handful of snacks, but something was off because they weren’t allowing themselves to just be… themselves.

That’s why I liked it when the two were aware enough to talk about their experience near the end of their date, after Stark took Fern to a nice, quiet place with a good view of the city. With Fern posing the question, Stark was honest in his response, and I appreciated that. As Stark put it, the places they visited were on his list because Frieren was the one who picked them. He did all that to ensure Fern would enjoy their date.

Fern’s response was understandable. I think she realized that a date solely planned by Stark would have been very different compared to what they just went on. However, at the end of the day, what Stark brought to the table was still a very sweet gesture. It showed how much he cared about making Fern happy. Heck! When he mentioned she hadn’t smiled once during their date… my heart!

All in all, I feel that the two found themselves at a good stage in their budding relationship after their first date. It wasn’t bad. But it wasn’t really “true”, either. It was just nice. Hopefully, they now know what the other person expects, and their second date will be a lot better. I mean, Stark and Fern are destined to end up together.

As for the other storyline in ‘Other People’s Homes’, that was directly linked to the title of the episode. Finally entering the Northern Plateau, Stark and Fern (and the audience) got to witness why everyone and their mother has been talking about the area being extremely dangerous. Even though the trio was able to defeat the monsters they got attacked by, the sheer number of them had taken a toll. Apparently, the trio hadn’t been able to properly rest for three nights straight.

Fortunately, they came across a village that offered a bit of a reprieve. Of course, I side-eyed the owner of the cabin. Why was any human continuing to live in such a dangerous location? I was expecting him to attack the trio once they lowered their guard. However, my concerns were for nought. Upon being asked, the guy replied how people like him were born and raised in the area. They had memories tied to the land, and that’s why it didn’t make sense to pack up their bags and move to a safer territory.

I mean, I get it. But also, dude, the monsters surrounding the cabin were incredibly dangerous. He even mentioned how fewer heroes were trekking by, and supplies were running low. Like, grab your children and go!

However, as far as the narrative was concerned, the title of the episode linked back to how Himmel wanted to keep everybody’s homes safe. It’s one of the reasons the Hero Party decided to walk through the Northern areas instead by sea (which was a safer option) because Himmel wanted them to protect as many people as possible on their way to defeat the Demon King. And that included the village that Frieren, Stark, and Fern found themselves in in the present.

Again, I get it from a storytelling perspective, but relying on heroes to appear and protect your home constantly isn’t the best plan to have. Because again, you are living in the freaking Northern Plateau. Those monsters aren’t disappearing anytime soon.

Coming to the action sequence featuring the trio and the demon that had killed a bunch of soldiers and was messing with supplies, it was handled well. The formidable demon made Frieren realize that her current party needed to improve their teamwork. Stark and Fern found themselves in danger a couple of times during the fight, with the demon easily breaking through Fern’s defensive spells. As for Frieren, she’s clearly capable of handling such a creature, but fighting solo and fighting as a three-person party do have different dynamics.

Stark keeping the monster pinned for Frieren’s attack to one-hit KO it, while Fern was ready to shield Stark from Frieren’s spell at the last second, was a cool move. So, yeah, I’m looking forward to seeing their teamwork improve.

Did you watch Frieren anime season 2 episode 4? What did you think of it?

Let us know.

Author: Farid-ul-Haq

Farid has a Double Masters in Psychology and Biotechnology as well as an M.Phil in Molecular Genetics. He is the author of numerous books including Missing in Somerville, and The Game Master of Somerville. He gives us insight into comics, books, TV shows, anime/manga, video games, and movies.

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