Talk:STPC42/@comment-37117761-20200104004637

I didn't really get this episode. Although it's nice to see Elena finally having to overcome a personal flaw, it's two flaws she has to overcome: 1) not knowing what she should do in the future, and 2) working too hard to make others smile and pretending that she herself is fine.

Problem #1 isn't really resolved, though it is discussed. Madoka and Elena have a talk together, and Madoka assures Elena that it's fine for her not to know what she wants yet. Then, the problem just disappears for the rest of the episode as we focus on Problem #2. This makes the episode feel kind of disjointed.

Problem #2 isn't properly set up. We're supposed to see that Elena is struggling to uphold her family's wishes, just as Madoka did. But we never see Elena becoming tired of constantly having to take care of her children. Tenjo says that Elena's smile is just a mask disguising how she really feels, but I didn't see Elena not liking taking care of her family, even though Elena's mother was sure that Elena was only pretending to be happy. And the issue isn't even resolved in the episode. Selene says that Elena's right in valuing smiles so much, but she just says that Tenjo is wrong without explaining why.

Hopefully we get more closure on these two issues next episode, because I found this one kind of wonky.