Heaven is at Hand: Three Days Until the New Moon
Episode 28 of JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure: Stone Ocean Part II begins with Jolyne, Ermes, and Emporio arriving at a hospital in Orlando. Before they head inside, Jolyne orders Emporio to deliver her father’s memory disc to the Speedwagon Foundation. Jolyne hands Emporio a cell phone they swiped from Rikiel. Ermes and Jolyne inside the hospital. Inside the hospital, Pucci asks a man in a wheelchair to take a bite of some food. The man appears to have similar qualities as Pucci from a physical perspective. He tells Pucci that he’d like to assist him but hasn’t seen his Stand’s ability yet. Meanwhile, Jolyne and Ermes search for Pucci in the hospital. Pucci finds it unfortunate that the man’s Stand ability hasn’t surfaced yet. The man sees a child spring up from his dessert, preaching that he was shot by his father. The gunshot occurs again, and murders a woman’s husband. Jolyne and Ermes check the room but Pucci and the gentlemen don’t appear there. Ermes knows that this gunshot came from one of Pucci’s latest allies. However, she fears it’s not from his ally’s Stand power because the woman’s husband was murdered by a real bullet. An officer tells the nurse, Jolyne, and Ermes to evacuate the area. Ermes realizes that the man that was shot was the boy in the ambulance’s parent. Jolyne has a hunch that this new Stand user’s a novice and is testing his powers. They enter the room and find a large hole in the floor. She assumes Pucci and his comrade are fleeing the scene through there. Ermes suggests they investigate the hole before entering it in case it’s a trap set up by Pucci. Jolyne spots a flashlight under the bed and points it down the hole. She discovers the hole goes sideways to the hospital’s courtyard. Jolyne finds some documents lying around. We learn that the wheelchair man’s name is Versus. Although Jolyne knows it’s a trap, she argues it’d be best to investigate the hole to prevent Pucci from stalling for time. He could use it to travel to Cape Canaveral, so it’s worth taking the chance by heading down there. Jolyne hands Ermes some thread and asks her to hold onto it while she traverses the hole–looking for Versus or Pucci. While investigating, Jolyne gets teleported to a plane. Versus’s Stand Netherworld spots Jolyne in the plane and plans to cut her thread to avoid her contacting Ermes. Ermes receives Jolyne’s cry for help and starts pulling. Jolyne gets pulled atop the plane and spots Netherworld. Jolyne manages to knock him off the plane before he could cut the thread. Versus receives similar damage as Pucci warns him that Jolyne has become an adept fighter. He tells Versus it’s okay to let Jolyne escape since she wouldn’t be foolish enough to tread down the whole a second time. Pucci confirms Jolyne’s earlier suspicions and says they’ll bide time by waiting down the hole for three days. Meanwhile, Jolyne tells Ermes they must think of another way to traverse the hold since she spotted Versus and Pucci. Ermes continues pulling her up but encounters Sports Maxx instead. It’s not the real Sports Maxx but a figment of Ermes’s memory. Essentially, Netherworld can excavate memories of events and people from the earth, which is why Ermes sees Sports Maxx instead of Jolyne. Ermes falls for Sports Maxx’s taunting and tumbles into the hole with Jolyne. They find themselves trapped in the plane as Jolyne tells Ermes to help her find the exit. Ermes tells Jolyne there’s no point in calling out for anyone since she couldn’t hear her without the thread. Jolyne overhears the flight attendant speaking about crashing the plane, angering Jolyne. She tells Jolyne that they’re destined to die and crash the plane. Ermes puts everything together and tells Jolyne that they’ve teleported seven years into the past. They’re aboard a plane that was heading for Dallas but crashed close to Orlando. Ermes’ suspicions are confirmed by a man who says the Earth had recorded all the memories associated with the event. Jolyne spots Pucci and Versus outside again. Pucci asks Versus if he can speed up the crash because he senses Weather Report’s presence. Versus tells Pucci he should be grateful for what he’s accomplished and asks him to be patient. The episode concludes with Jolyne and Ermes realizing they have two minutes before the plane crashes.
The Episode Review
Versus falls in Ungalo’s ballpark. While he has incredible Stand power, he doesn’t offer much significance. Unlike Rikiel, he just feels like a lifeless pawn and a mundane obstacle getting in our characters’ way. Although there’s time to develop him in the next chapter, I’m worried his character won’t be as characterized as Rikiel’s. On that note, Versus’s Stand ability feels like a psychological take on Sports Maxx’s Stand. This is ironic, considering Sports Maxx rears his horror head to taunt Ermes into falling into Versus’s trap. Despite being a novice Stand user, Versus knows how to battle with his head. At the same time, I can’t help but feel excited to see if Jotaro will enter the fray. It was a brilliant move on Jolyne’s part to request Emporio to deliver the memory disc to the Speedwagon Foundation. I’m unsure what Emporio could’ve done if he stayed with our girls, so this was the best route for his character to take. Let’s hope he can deliver it on time because it’d be fun seeing Jotaro fight alongside Jolyne. Especially now since she has more experience with Stone Ocean. Overall, this was a fun set-up chapter that left on a dramatic cliffhanger. While it’s clear that our girls will break free, I’m looking forward to seeing how they’ll escape with their lives intact. Hopefully, the next set piece delivers a satisfying resolution.
