I loved this one so much, it is literally mind-blowing! And something I really adore here is just how rich this whole world feels, like there are so many characters, and you get to see what they think of this truly insane political situation. And like I am freaking out about everything that’s happening in this chapter, but I’m not even freaking out about Romana or Leela or Narvin that much rn, who I am always ready to freak out about but about everything else!! Like Brax coming back!! I was hoping so badly from the first time they mentioned him, and he actually did! And his plan to get rid of Darkel is so ■■■■■■■ genius, I did not see it coming at all. And actually the way Darkel gets beaten here is so unbelievably satisfying, like a lot of stories tend to go the ‘revenge is bad’ way, but sometimes you just need to cheer because some villain got precisely what they deserved, and I absolutely despise Darkel, amazing villain. And it was really good that I relistened to Appropriation the day before this one, because it really does set the stage very well, and familiarized me more with Matthias as someone with complicated manipulative plans too