The episode opens with Chi at home, talking with her parents. Their conversation lets her parents, as well as the audience, know that Maou and the others have moved back into their apartment. The phone rings, and it's Chi's uncle. All we see is Chi's father giving a surprised reaction during the conversation, and this is followed directly by a scene of Chi arriving at Maou's apartment and offering him a job in Nagano, since the MgRonald's is still closed.
It turns out Chi's family (on her father's side) owns a farm and that they need help for the summer harvest because a lot of the younger workers have left due to an increase in animal attacks. Maou agrees to help, and brings Ashiya and Urushihara along with him. We don't see Alas Ramus and nothing is said about her, so the audience has to assume that she's with Emi.
When they get to the farm, some time is spent being introduced to Chi's extended family (her uncle, her cousin and his family, as well as her grandmother). At one point, Chi's mother says something that embarrasses Chi and we get a great moment between mother and daughter. It was nice to get some comedic moments (albeit it small moments) in this episode, because it felt like there wasn't much in the way of the comedy while the series was taking place at the beach. While this episode's level of comedy was nowhere near what it was during the series' first season, I still appreciated being able to get some chuckles.
After a day of weeding, Maou and the others are taken to a nearby hot spring... and they discover that Emi, Suzuno, and Alas Ramus are also there. Emi and Suzuno give a cover story after Alas Ramus refers to Emi and Maou as "mama" and "papa," and Emi asks Chi's family to also hire her and Suzuno to help on the farm in addition to Maou and the others. It's revealed later that Emi, who grew up on a farm, is upset about Maou and the others helping on a farm since they destroyed her father's fields years earlier. We hear Emi telling Suzuno this, but it becomes a little more poignant with Chi asks Maou to go on a walk with her and she shares this information about hearing it from Suzuno. Chi has her hair down and is wearing more casual clothes, which Maou isn't used to. He did mention earlier in the episode that working on the farm would likely allow him to see Chi in different ways than when they're at home, and this scene seems to prove him right. Chi's embarrassment and awkwardness were kind of adorable during this scene.
The remainder of the episode sees the group working on the farm, and we get to see Emi share her knowledge of working on a farm and harvesting summer vegetables. In a lot of ways, I felt the latter part of the episode worked well for character development for Emi. Yes, she won't forgive Maou and the others for what they did to her family's farm, but at least she's willing to help out and explain why the harvest is being done the way that it is. This arc is allowing the audience to see a side of Emi that we normally don't, since we normally see her as the hero and not the farm girl.
This episode does have an "antagonist," especially near the end, but it's not one of the supernatural kind. Instead, danger is posed by a bear that has come down into the fields. The episode actually ends with a cliffhanger concerning most of the characters and the bear.
Admittedly, this episode's pacing is a little on the slow side. However, since this episode is establishing a new story arc, it makes sense that it's going to be on the slower side. Time had to be spent establishing Chi's extended family, as well as the farm and the area that the farm is located in. The potential threats from the local wildlife also needed to be established. I thought the cliffhanger with the bear was a good way to end the episode, because it makes me want to come back and find out how the characters are going to get out of this predicament. However, I hope that the pacing for this arc will pick up with the next episode.
Now, my big question is: will this story arc last for the remaining four episodes of the series, or is this going to be another short arc? I'm hoping the fact that this arc seems to be building Emi's character, as well as giving Chi more time to be around Maou, that there's enough going into this one that it can last for the remaining episodes of the season.
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