The hunters begins to panic after the carnage that they witnessed. Sung Jinwoo assume if they don’t move then the statues don’t won’t attack. Mr. Song loses his arm. Unfortunately, Joohee is too fragile to help him. They try to figure out the meaning of the Commandments of the Cartenon Temple: “First, revere God, Second, praise God, and Third, prove your faith to God.” It is stated that if you fail to do this you’ll die. Sung realizes that the first commandment means they need to bow. It seems to work, as the glowing eyes shut off. However, the statue develops a sinister smile.
The crew assume they’re safe and get up. It doesn’t seem that way as the statue then gets up itself. As it starts marching towards the hunters, they guess that the second commandment means they should pray. Boy does that plan fail. The statue gives another sinister smile and crushes one praying hunter underneath it’s foot. Park gets sliced in half. Another hunter is chopped in half. Meanwhile, Sung tries to figure out how to praise the God while holding Joohee hand. Sung guesses that the statues with instruments instead of hammers, axes, and swords will be safe.
Praise the God, avoid getting crushed
Sung runs into a slight problem. Each statue can only protect one person at a time. He leaves Joohee by one statue while he rushes to reach another. The original statue tries to crush him but he manages to barely reach one, however, it costs him the bottom of his leg. The hunters begin to turn on the leader blaming him for their situation. They assume the final commandment requires one of them to sacrifice themselves. The leaders heads alone to give himself up. Nothing happens.
Sung and the others all head to the altar. Suddenly, orange flames appear representing each remaining member. Then there’s another circle with blue flames that act as a countdown. A large door opens as well. Surprisingly, one of the hunters panic and runs through the door. She escapes but the door closes slightly. If the hunters stayed put and keep their eyes on the statues by the time they blue flames went out then they might have all survived. Unfortunately, when with only Mr. Song, Joohee, and Sung remaining they statues closed in on them.
The courage of the weak
Mr. Song still planned on sacrificing himself but Joohee’s legs gave out. With neither Joohee or Sung able to walk, Sung tells Mr. Song to grab Joohee and leave him instead. Sung tries but fails to fight against the statue. He resigns himself to his fate. Suddenly, he sees a notification with a secret quest: “Courage of the Weak.” Sung is asked if he wants to accept and he clicks the “yes” button.
I said in my last review that Solo Leaving was “basic,” this episode changed that. The drama and intensity of the dungeon was intriguing. I was hooked. I loved the riddle that Sung needed to solve. He’s not that impressive physically but compared to his fellow hunters he’s smarter and claimer under pressure. Strength wasn’t what was important in this dungeon and it appears Sung will be rewarded. Solo Leveling has proven me wrong, hopefully it will continue to impress me.
I maintain that it took too long with its hook in the previous episode, and I add that this, too, could have been edited to something shorter. We didn’t really need to go and see Sung’s family, for instance. Or have the moment of his violent, bloody death prolonged like that. That said, they did kick things into a higher gear, and ended on the specific moment they wanted, with that screen and the choice of “yes.” That probably would have been the better moment to end the first episode on.