Wonder Egg Priority “After School At 14” Review
Wonder Egg Priority “After School At 14” is the seventh episode in the Wonder Egg series and so far my absolute favourite! Episode 6 set us up for a new arc in this show and boy does the first episode deliver. There’s action. Tension. And this episode was 100% what solidified Rika as my favourite.
Plot
It’s Rika’s birthday! We get to see what her life is like with her mother. A mother who’s constantly drunk and doesn’t take Rika’s desire to know who her father is seriously. You can see it affects her. She’s lost and doesn’t know who to turn to. When Rika meets up with her pals later in the day she finally snaps and let’s it all out. How she has photos of potential fathers but no idea which one he is. How she hates her mother for not taking it remotely seriously.
Neiru and Momoe claim that she shouldn’t say she hates her mother. She’s her mother after all. But as Rika and Ai both point out to each other later on. They couldn’t possibly understand as both their parents are still together.
After spending all night with Ai and having a complete melt down over her situation she does the typical Rika thing and brushes it off. She gets home and sees her mum trying to flirt with men much younger than herself. Rika then goes to her room and almost adds to the self harm scars that already mark her arm but is stopped by her Pommander. A small turtle like creature.
The next day all the girls are off fighting. But the focus is on Rika’s fight. She’s up against a cult leader who duped a lady into suicide. Instead of being angry. The egg lady is full on joyful that she is one with the universe now. Claiming “the pain is gone.” With enough repetition Rika is tricked into giving up and just accepting death. Even with her friends calling for her. She’s about to be eaten when her Pommander saves her life. And she realises she’d be a terrible mother to him if she just gave up.
She fights and wins. And the girls, including Neiru show how relieved they are to see her OK and alive.
Review
This is by a mile the best episode of the show. It shows Rika at her most vulnerable but also shows how adults who aren’t ready to be parents can really mess up their kids. In the end Rika has no choice but to accept that her mother will need her to care for her. Because her mother is just as damaged as she is. Is it fair? No way. But Rika learns that the most important lessons in life aren’t fair. She becomes much stronger. Instead of just ignoring her mother she just bluntly tells it how it is.
This episode dives very deep into the psyche of a teenager who is in an impossible situation but somehow learns that it’s OK. And she’s strong enough to weather the storm.
