"The Holy Iron Chain Knights" was a solid if slightly rushed follow-up to Berserk's fantastic premier, as Guts was forced to escape capture from a group of religious zealots bent on bringing him to "justice".

Like last week's episode, things started off with a bloody brawl. What made this entertaining showdown between Guts and a group of novice crusaders different, however, was that this time the One Hundred-Man Slayer was at a rare disadvantage. Namely, he was already tired and injured from a previous battle, which meant that when the group clumsily tried to arrest him on suspicion of murdering a monk and his daughter, Guts ended up on the losing end of a fight he should have easily won.Not that he made the knights' victory easy, of course. Even injured, Guts managed to slice through half the Skittles-colored soldiers like a hot knife through butter, employing some impressive tactics — including an amusing baseball slide that upended several knights at once — to get around the fact that he couldn't quite lift his massive sword. It was a pretty cool scene, though I wish studio Millepensee would a) drop the distractingly weird shading effects, and b) had given more time to his one-on-one with Azan, a formidable knight who matches Guts' skills in battle. It felt like their fight was rushed so the show could get on to the next scene. My hope is that these two will have a proper showdown in the future, which I'm pretty sure they will, given how Guts eventually escaped his captives by using the group's female commander as a hostage.Before his great escape though, Guts was forced to undergo a tough interrogation by said commander, who believes the Black Swordsman had something to do with the demise of the Band of the Hawk. (Apparently, the few survivors of the God Hand ritual are too traumatized to talk, or their story about rampaging demons isn't deemed credible.) I loved how Guts was fully in command during this scene, refusing to answer a single question about the Band of the Hawk and even taunting Farnese for her naivety while she tried to whip a confession out of him. I also liked how the show has started to slowly reintroduce his tragic past. I think it's wise to do so in bits and pieces so newcomers aren't overwhelmed by all the backstory.To my surprise, I also liked Farnese. The commander of the Holy Iron Chain Knights doesn't seem as kind or as capable as Casca once was, but it's obvious from the way she regretted losing her temper during Guts' interrogation that she's not evil either, and I admired her fiery defiance after being taken hostage. It can't be easy cursing out your captor out while hanging upside from a horse.Speaking of horses, the escape scene was my favorite part of the episode, mainly because I loved the bits of humor that cropped up during Guts' jailbreak. I chuckled when Puck scolded Guts over not properly thanking him and the horse for helping with the escape, and I laughed even harder when Guts actually apologized...to the horse. Some may find the humor off-putting in such a dark series, but I find that it helps to balance out the mix of violence and anguish that defines so much of it. If we don't have something to smile about, how will we know when things have truly gotten bad for Guts? I just wish the episode had allotted a little more time to Guts' night flight, as it could have added a pinch more suspense and made the scene feel less rushed.