Review: Golgo 13 Episode 07

Thomas Simpson was one of the world’s greatest violinists. However, a broken string during his encore with the London Symphony Orchestra has left him a broken man unable to perform for an audience. When he learns he will be replaced by his Russian rival Sergei Kerenski, his rage boils over, and he places a call to Golgo 13. Duke’s mission this time… Shoot Kerenski’s violin string in the middle of his encore causing him to suffer the same humiliation.

There are only two interesting items to note for this episode. First, and I may have covered this already, the use of shadows in Golgo 13 is an interesting device. Duke nearly always first appears in some form of shadow, an interesting visual metaphor for his life. His is a life always in the shadows, but a life he seems to freely choose. His clients though gradually merge into the shadows; usually, you can see them half covered in shadow when they first meet with Duke. This is another interesting visual metaphor for one’s personal desire for revenge or what have you driving them to the darker parts of the human heart.

Second, I enjoyed the little moral lesson they managed to slip into the ending. Simpson gets exactly what he paid for, a broken string. However, Kerenski teaches him what it means to be a true professional; he detunes another string and keeps on performing. Where Simpson panicked, Kerenski calmly improvised; if Simpson was a broken man before, this ensures the pieces can never be put together again.