The REAL battle for the workshop finally begins

Key conclusions

• The Battle workshop begins with shocking revelations about the hidden motives of the participants.
• The characters' pasts and connections become more intertwined, adding depth to the storyline.
• The episode sets up the tense events to come, showing confusing plot points and character development.

In the 17th episode of the 2nd season God's towerThe Battle of the Workshop finally begins (for real this time) and the members of the Sweet and Sour team breathe a sigh of relief when they learn that Miseng and Prince have made it aboard the Archimedes, but when the first competition of the Battle of the Workshop begins, that relief turns to confusion and horror when a badly beaten prince appears, begging to stay away from Misseng, who has gone mad and seriously wounded him before the battle.

The ending was extremely dramatic and a very interesting twist in the character of Misenga, who was undoubtedly the weakest member of the team and not for lack of trying. A convenient twist allows Endorsi to climb aboard the Archimedes and take part, and the Beniamino brothers find out they have a brother. The various moving parts are starting to show how they are connected, and so far this is a particularly interesting arc.

Dark underbelly

The battle for the workshop is a profitable business

Somewhere aboard the Archimedes, several suits are gathering about the huge sum of 1,000,000,000 points earned in the Battle Workshop thanks to the participation of notables such as Ju Viole Grace, Endorsi Jahad, and the strongest E-Rank Regular, Mad Dog of the Pit; valuable items up for grabs and a sophisticated betting system that allows viewers to directly influence the outcome of games. This is a situation with huge earning potential, and if their superiors find out, it won't be a problem because their research continues unimpeded. Two of them are Io and Funk, who happen to be the owners of the Battle Workshop. In the previous episode, the Workshop Battle was described as an event where regulars can compete for rare items created in the Workshop, and we also learned about the dark background of Ilmar Benjamin, aka Kang Horyang, which is connected to the Practicum.

There is a brief respite for the 256 regulars who managed to get a ticket aboard the Archimedes, and Shibisu is caught up by Mei, who is on the same team as Yama's Mad Dog. Endorsi is also on the ship after selling the Traveler to the authorities, who allowed her to enter the ship as a thank you gift for catching a stowaway. Before he was taken away by the authorities, the Traveler asked Endorsi to help him rescue Emily, who was not a chatbot that was all the rage among regular users, but a human being who had somehow used EMILY. In addition to the Traveler's crazy discovery about EMILE's true nature, she also has to deal with complicated feelings caused by knowing Bam is alive.

Cancer knows everything

Aguero talks to Stern

At the Team Sweet and Sour chalet, Cancer boldly tells Khun Aguero that he knows everything from Rachel's betrayal to the fact that Bam is still alive. Hvaryun told him about the situation. Cancer wonders why Aguero is so cautious and hesitant to bring Bam back and reveal the fact that he didn't die at Arlen's hand, calling him pathetic for not being in a hurry to do so. It was loud and clumsy, but a serious attempt to get Khun to stop making things difficult for himself, a habit he'd picked up since childhood, losing things he held dear, and thus being afraid to show his true feelings even to his friends.

After a brief argument, Khun goes outside to get some air and talks to Ja Wangnan for a while before Rak engages with him again. He tells him that knowing Bam was alive made him happy because he thought it meant the three of them could go up the Tower together again. Khun vows to defeat the FUG, win the Battle of the Workshop, claim the grand prize, and bring Bam back. Seeing Rak again is one of the highlights of the episode, and it injects a lot of humor into the episode that would have been a joke without it.

Ilmar reunited with his mother figure

There is something disturbing about her

Late one night, Kasana takes Ilmar to a mysterious place in the basement, where they meet Professor Sophia, the researcher who raised them. They don't seem to notice that Hutz is following them closely. Ilmar's reunion leads to tears, and Hatz is discovered by a mysterious blindfolded man on the street. Kasana captures Hatz and intends to keep him hidden until the end of the Battle of the Workshop.

Sofia introduces Ilmar and Kasan to the blindfolded man, identifying him as “Beta”. She then takes Ilmar and Kasan with several guards in tow to the site of her research, which turns out to be EMIL. According to Sofia, when she awakens, she will become an incredible weapon that will shake the entire Tower. The guards are dismissed and we see one remove his helmet to reveal his familiar yellow hair. Raker Lero Ro sneaked into the Battle of the Workshop? This was perhaps the most interesting part of the episode due to the fact that it teased the connections between the various plots presented thus far, including the lore regarding the Incendiary Weapon.

The games begin

A dangerous reunion

The first game in Workshop Battle is a game called Flag, where each regular is given a flag and must place their flag in one of the holes in the arena to advance. The team leaders act as players who place bets on the outcome of the game, and the six leaders with the most points advance to the final tournament, making it an individual and team game at the same time. The first group to play includes Ja Wangnan, Arkraptor, Miseng and Prince.

The members of the Sweet and Sour team are happy to hear that their young comrades have made it through, but are shocked when the door opens to reveal the prince with serious facial wounds. With urgency in his voice, the Prince pleads with Arkraptor and Ja Wangnan to escape before Miseng shows up, but it's too late. She comes out of the door with a weapon in hand and glowing red eyes. Overall, this wasn't a bad episode and just served as a set up for the next episode, but it had a lot of interesting plot points that were explored and are part of this season's convoluted story.

Tower of God Season 2 is available on Crunchyroll.