‘Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End’ Season 2 Episode 5 – “Logistics in the Northern Plateau”

If nothing else, Frieren Beyond Journey’s End will always be the series that gave us the plentiful expressions of our titular elf. Luckily for us, it’s also so much more than that. Frieren Beyond Journey’s End Season 2 Episode 5 is about as filler as an episode in this series can be. Yet, it still manages to deliver some winsome charm and moments that tie together the linking stories of Frieren’s (Atsumi Tanezaki) past and present. “Logistics in the Northern Plateau,” in keeping with much of Season 2, divides itself into two main storylines. Frieren, Fern (Kana Ichinose), and Stark (Chiaki Kobayashi) continue their travels while meeting up with new and familiar faces.

Frieren has not one but two encounters that call back to her past travels. Both deal in the lighthearted nature of the series. Having once again run out of funds, Fern and Stark are eager for Frieren to take on a job asked of her by the dwarf Fass, who used to be a drinking buddy of Heiter’s. Frieren is reluctant, however, due to the job’s details. Fass wants help in acquiring a famous liquor sealed by the elf Milliarde. The job will take time, and Frieren knows from past interactions with Milliarde that Boshaft tastes terrible. There’s no real reward in acquiring the liquor itself.

However, Fass is offering 20 gold coins; Stark and Fern are adamant about the job’s necessity; and Frieren is outnumbered. It could so easily be a chance to let the show breathe and deliver some bouts of silliness about the plight of an avid drinker looking to find the white whale of fantasy liquors. Both Fass and, albeit seen only briefly, Milliarde are fun additions to the world, offering different perspectives. Neither has weighty objectives. Fass simply wants to enjoy life and the camaraderie of sharing a drink with friends and strangers.

Even the most unassuming storylines have purpose.

Milliarde, in a sense, writes the inscription for Boshaft out of a desire for whimsy. There’s a level of simplicity to both, Fass in particular, that adds a layer of levity to a world so often burdened by otherworldly creatures and demonic threats. The series balances these tones so well because the storytelling allows guest players to take the reins and shape the story.

They unseal the liquor – of course – and it, as expected, tastes terrible. But this doesn’t sour the three months of work. Instead, Fass is simply happy he was able to indulge in the pursuit and laugh about it with his community. There’s no mystery about what Frieren Beyond Journey’s End is trying to say here or what the series’ thematic core is.

It’s not about the results but the journey taken to get there. This is the story’s throughline and why it matters. It’s not just that Frieren is happy to stay in a town if something catches her eye for months or years on end. She’s always been that way, happy to sequester herself away on her own. But through her reflection on Himmel and her adventures with him, the time lost to her own solo escapades, and now through her journey with Fern and Stark, she’s learning to exist in the moment with others.

The second part of Frieren Beyond Journey’s End Season 2 Episode 5 continues to detail the silly, reverberating repercussions of Frieren’s past plights. In the Norm Company’s fortress city, having traveled beyond the Bier region on the Northern Plateau, the party finds yet another spot in their travels plagued by hard times.

Frieren can’t manage to evade her massive debt.

Having evaded a debt the Hero’s Party acquired 80 years ago, she’s apprehended by the trading company’s president. She’s told she’d need to work for 300 years to pay back the interest accrued. She’s quick to accept her fate, hilariously declaring her “journey ends here” with her requisite, matter-of-fact tone. and it’s more a reason to depict Frieren in one of her many glum expressions, as her ears and pigtails both droop with her dawning realization of what she’s walked into.

But, as always, the series flips the script on expectations. The world continues to demonstrates the human ability to be reasonable with the right motivation. The president doesn’t care for meaningless work. He knows Frieren’s power and that the 300 years’ worth of work is within her grasp. She, along with the miners she’s been assigned to, digs for rare silver ores. The president is transparent when talking to her, saying that, for the fortress city to survive, they need more wealth. And Frieren is the answer to that question.

Frieren completes all 300 years of work in a day and is released. There’s a fun note at the end, too, as she learns that Fern and Stark were going to break her if all else failed. But the real magic comes through in, well, Frieren’s magic in yet another instance where Madhouse couldn’t chill even for one of the lighter episodes.

Madhouse proves its excellence (again) in Frieren Beyond Journey’s End Season 2 Episode 5.

The work the art team does while Frieren brandishes her magic to locate the ore is incredible. This is a team that is simply showing off. The blues of her spell are transportive and icily in theme with her current mission. With dynamic execution and fluid direction, the scene places us in the onlookers’ perspective. The sequencing gorgeously highlights the immensity of her power.

By breaking the frame into blue bursts of color to depict the spread of her magic, these twenty seconds manage to surmise so much about her character visually – and her strength – with no dialogue. Here is a mage with a thousand years of practice behind her. She’s an absurd creature half the time, which makes these moments even more impressive, and the animation understands this. It’s a showstopper of a scene.

Frieren Beyond Journey’s End Season 2 Episode 5 is deceptive. While it does ultimately feel like a stepping stone as they party, readies itself for greater threats in their travels, it also speaks to the core messaging of the series. From the thematic undercurrent of cherishing the small moments of camaraderie and little triumphs, to Frieren’s hilarious faces and the character designs that bring them to life, “Logistics in the Northern Plateau” refuses to rest on easy. Instead, fitting the story it tells, it understands how to draw warmth, humor, and magic from even the slightest narrative to highlight that these in-between moments are just as fundamental to the story as the battles and flashbacks.

Frieren Beyond Journey’s End Season 2 Episode 5 is available now on Crunchyroll.

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Images courtesy of Madhouse.