Sousou no Frieren Season 2 Ep.03 - Fern on a date?! Frieren throwing a tantrum.
Episode 3 of Sousou no Frieren Season 2 (Frieren: Beyond Journey's End) actually delivers a development I wasn't expecting to see in the story at all. Even if it was purely by mistake, Stark actually asked Fern out on a date, causing her to completely blank out, accept, and leave the room without even collecting her important book.
I can understand her feelings, though. She has lived her entire life just following Frieren from place to place and never had the possibility to actually solidify any relationship with anyone besides her. Stark was literally the first boy she ever had to interact with for a long period of time and also the first boy to propose something like that to her.
Both of them have no idea what to do now that the date has been confirmed, so they go to the only adult they know (Frieren) to try to ask for suggestions. Of course, Frieren has no idea because her interpersonal relationships are kind of a disaster, but she still manages to give quite a solid level of advice to both.
Of course, it is inherited knowledge from Heiter or other people, but at the same time, the fact that she memorized all that shows how much she cares for the two people under her tutelage. We often joke that Fern is the real mother of the group, but we must not forget that Frieren took care of Fern since she was a small child one way or another. She is her mother at this point; there is no denying that.
I don't really expect any romantic development to actually happen until the very end of the entire franchise, though, because the story is about the journey and the people they meet along the way. Having to carry a romantic burden along the way just doesn't seem to be the style of the series.
Not much else happened aside from this, just your usual traveling around and finding interesting things along the way. They visited a "hot spring" after defeating a hydra-like lizard, but it turned out to be a shallow one, barely deep enough to soak their feet.
Judging from the short preview segment, the next episode titled "Other People's Homes" seems to be about the date between Fern and Stark. But of course, things won't go as smoothly as expected, and they will likely get roped into something happening, as there are various references to words like "monster" or "protect our home."
