Ultraman season 1, episode 8 recap: The Beginning of Truth

Episode 8 of Ultraman has another alien fight, but not everything may be as it seems. Also, an alien Prince accused of numerous murders pays a steep price.

When we last touched base with Shinjiro/Ultraman (Josh Hutcherson), he was called out a concert by pop star Rena Sayama (Tara Jayne Sands). Now another alien (Kenjirô Tsuda) enters ready to fight Ultraman, and possibly to kill Rena. This brings the attention of Igaru (Michael Yurchak), who wishes to defend her.

For better or worse, though, Shinjiro and Moroboshi (Liam O’Brien) do most of the fighting against the strange new alien, leaving Igaru mostly on the sidelines. Of course, Rena is surprised to see two different Ultramen. Unfortunately, their foe is very tough, holding his own against Ultraman 1 and 2.  Also, to up the stakes, the alien has a bunch of floating bombs, taunting that they can only be deactivated if they kill him! Inspector Endo (Chris Edgerly) shows up, too. However, if the Ultramen can’t beat the alien, what are the odds that he could?

In a memorable scene, the alien menace says that Rena enjoys the spotlight, so he throws one at her! However, Ultraman saves her. In the process, Moroboshi and Shinjiro demonstrate teamwork. Still, it seems even more hopeless when the sinister Bemular (Kaiji Soze) shows up. The bad guys ultimately use lasers to wreck the ceiling.

More from Show Snob

• The Santa Clauses season 2, episode 6 recap “Wanga Banga Langa!”
• Lawmen: Bass Reeves season 1, episode 7 preview: Non-spoiler thoughts for Part VII
• Goosebumps season 1, episode 6 recap: “Night of the Living Dummy”
• Beacon 23 season 1, episode 3 recap: “Why Can’t We Go on as Three?”
• Upload season 3, episode 2 recap: “Strawberry”

While the Shinjiro Ultraman prevents the roof from falling, Moroboshi actually gets knocked out while fighting. Rena pleads for sanity with the aliens and demands that Ultraman saves everyone.

However, Shinjiro’s left with a choice: Save Rena or sacrifice the audience. When Igaru (remember him?) finally tries to defend Rena, he promptly gets his throat slashed. Soon after that, Shinjiro Ultraman literally raises the roof, tossing it in the air and blasting it to bits

Twist after twist after twist

Shortly after Igaru is slain, the alien reveals his bombs as fakes and Bemular leaves. Oddly, the remaining alien insists that he’s not a threat, emphasizing that Igaru had killed people who trash-talked Rena online, either for himself or for her human fans. The remaining alien introduces himself as Agent Adad and says he’s there to terminate aliens accused of criminal conduct.

A dad teleports away, leaving the Ultramen (and surely all audiences) confused. It’s definitely a strange twist, and one wonders how this Agent Adad could get away with what he did, as his stunt would definitely still put lives at risk. It also makes Igaru more convoluted, At first, he was the obvious villain, then it seemed he was being framed, but now he’s apparently the villain again while Agent Adad is supposed to be a good guy (despite pulling this terroristic “prank”).

There’s an extra layer of confusion, too, as Rena now defends Ultraman to Inspector Endo, despite just railing against him as if he were a villain. The only thing that’s clear: Moroboshi is somehow still not a fan of Shinjiro, despite how Shinjiro basically saved the day and provided other crucial teamwork necessary to (possibly) avert a threat and save the crowd.

The big question is, what is Agent Adad’s deal? Well, also, if he’s defending people, why is he doing terrorist stunts and seemingly allied with Bemular, who only recently nearly killed Shinjiro’s father, Shin Hayata (Hideyuki Tanaka)? Obviously, the story of Ultraman is a long, winding road.

What are your thoughts on Ultraman? Let us know in the comments!