The Fable – Season 1 Episode 17 Recap & Review

 Rei Utsubo

Episode 17 of The Fable begins with a female chatting with a man named Rei Utsubo. Rei and the female discuss Rei’s plan to make certain things safer in Taihei. Then, Rei’s assistant, Hinako, brings him documents. Rei shares these documents with the lady. He tells the lady this document contains records of Taihei’s drowning and injury incidents that have occurred in the last 20 years. 

Rei says he wants to protect the children from anything that will hurt their development. Then, the lady departs. We learn Rei is part of the Taihei Detective Agency. Rei’s male ally believes the issues Rei brought up are legit. Rei agrees despite admitting his company is shady. Additionally, Rei’s ally says he’s great at kidnapping and intimidating people. 

Rei doesn’t deny his ally’s claims. He argues they wouldn’t make great Yazuka members though. Rei tells his ally to stay with them for the night. He argues this will help his ally make a decision. Later, Rei and this gentleman arrive at the forest. Rei and his ally head to a site. His ally notices a boy who is all tied up at the site.

Rei explains how this boy correlates with his “Monster Parent” ideology. He explains he’s robbed this boy of 10 million yen and informs his ally of a fabricated tale he’s going to share with the boy’s mother. Rei’s other ally, Suzuki, uses the site’s excavator to dig up a burial ground for the boy. While that’s happening, Rei rambles on about his love for torturing Monster Parent kids. 

Rei wants to create more children like this one to make them suffer. Then, the two visit the park and observe toddlers playing there. Moreover, Rei tells his ally he wants to promote current trends to protect the kids. He wants them to become like the person he had his crew bury in the forest. Rei tells his ally, Isaki, that he developed this strategy 15 years ago. 

Then, Rei formally introduces Isaki to Hinako and Suzuki and doesn’t plan to recruit anyone else. Rei shows Isaki Suzuki’s room and tells Suzuki Isaki will share a room with Suzuki. Isaki leaves. Rei tells Suzuki Isaki was a former member of the Maguro Group. He knows Isaki can be a useful person to them. If Isaki betrays them, Rei says he will kill him. 

Then, Rei discusses Sunagawa’s business debacle and Fable with Suzuki. Rei insists they look into Fable and the Maguro Group if things get problematic. Meanwhile, Fable heads to work and tells Misaki’s boss (Prez) that he completed his delivery assignment. Misaki doesn’t greet Fable properly because she’s still annoyed by the “naked incident.” 

Fable goes for a stroll in Taihei and spots Hinako. He recognizes her from one of his past assassination missions. Hinako notices Fable staring at her and leaves the park. Later, Isaki visits Kuro at a bar. The former reflects on his relationship with other Maguro Group members and what possibly soured their view of Isaki. Then, the two discuss people like Takahashi, Sunagawa, and Takeshi. 

Kuro’s upset that Isaki’s asking suspicious questions. Next, Fable visits Yoko’s home. Fable asks Yoko to get him some files on a murder that happened in Tokyo four years ago in June. Yoko refuses and insists Fable explain what’s bothering him about it. Fable refuses and departs. Then, we cut away to Hinako feeding her pet fish in her room. 

Rei enters her room and starts performing nefarious acts on Hinako’s body. Isaki returns and greets Suzuki in their room. Suzuki and Isaki discuss topics like marriage and age. Rei arrives and tells Isaki Suzuki’s almost 40. Then, Rei asks Isaki if he got intel on the Maguro Group. Isaki says he hasn’t.

Rei shows Suzuki and Isaki a pamphlet about a new target he has in mind. He wants Isaki and Suzuki to monitor this person and steal everything from him. We learn that Isaki and Suzuki must monitor Kainuma. Fable arrives to work and Prez asks him to compliment Misaki. He knows she hasn’t been acting friendly toward Fable. Prez hopes this will resolve Misaki’s internal issues. Fable fails to compliment Misaki properly when she returns to work. 

Kainuma arrives at work and chats with Misaki respectably. He asks her if she’ll be working late at her bar job and Misaki says she will. Internally. Kainuma wants to retrieve the memory card he left at Misaki’s place and to have intercourse with Misaki there too. Later, Misaki brings up Fable’s compliments to her while chatting with Prez.

Prez tells Misaki Fable didn’t mean to make her upset. Then, Prez cheers Misaki up and Misaki departs for her bar job. Kainuma departs minutes later. Internally, Kainuma blames Fable and the world for ruining his plans. The episode ends with Kainuma stating how he won’t back down anymore.  

The Episode Review

After dealing with a cunning businessman and a former prisoner, The Fable sets up a new antagonist for Fable to battle. Much like Sunagawa and Kojima, Rei’s plans are just as horrifying in context. From praying on Monster Parent-children to fooling folks into believing in his normal detective agency, Rei’s just as cruel and cunning as Fable’s former foes. 

On that note, the author’s done a great job at persuading fans to hate these antagonists. As with Misaki, we hope Fable will find a way to free Hinako from Rei’s grasp. Speaking of Misaki, Fable’s compliments to her were charming and weird. While Fable is a skilled hitman, he may need to improve his conversation skills.

That’s something the previous episode could’ve focused on more. Instead, they gave us a lackluster wilderness fight and more meaningless Yoko flirting segments. Nevertheless, seeing Fable “fumble the bag” per se, was hilarious. It follows in line with his character.

Additionally, Kainuma will finally receive his comeuppance in a future chapter, which is fantastic. Next to Kojima, he’s another slimy individual who needs to pay for his actions. This episode doesn’t do him any favors on the sympathy front, so many fans will be amazed when this pervy coworker gets punished.

All in all, this episode was leagues better than episode 16. It gave us some interesting antagonists and a new subplot to speculate about.

Let’s hope Fable brings all these people to justice!