Princess Principal Episode 4 Review – “Case 9 Roaming Pigeons”

And we’re back to jumping around. Now it’s case 9 whereas the previous episode was case 2.

(Spoilers in this review) 

Dorothy receives an order from her superior: the girls are to go steal some Cavorite technology from some Kingdom scientists. It’s worth noting that Dorothy attempts to claim that their team (which includes amateurs such as Princess, Beatrice, and perhaps Chise) isn’t well-suited for this, but the man says that this is something only their team can do. In other words, the Princess is too useful. Perhaps there are other spy teams, too?

She is also told one specific thing that’s meant for her ears only.

While Dorothy is doing that, the other girls are practicing tailing. Chise and Beatrice are pretty bad at it, admittedly. The girls also bring up the idea of having a team name. Everyone is for it aside from Ange.

Once the girls reach the designated place, they split off into two groups: Dorothy, Beatrice, and Ange are to head inside and steal the technology while Princess and Chise stick around. Dorothy ends up seducing the guard in order to let Beatrice and Ange pass through. Beatrice then makes good use of her throat mechanism gadget to get two other guards to abandon their post (as well as a lie about some lethal gas).

As Chise watches Princess interact with the Queen, one of her superiors approaches her and checks in. It turns out that Chise is part of a faction that is trying to determine whether they should ally with the Kingdom or the Commonwealth. In other words, Chise has her own agenda. That explains why she was slightly downcast earlier – not being included in the infilitration team seemed to signify that she wasn’t being trusted (in actuality, Ange left Beatrice behind because she wanted Princess to be guarded by the strongest combtant).

Meanwhile, Ange leaves Beatrice behind in order to search for the lab (and thus secure the technology). Beatrice is leave Ange behind and return to the ball if Ange doesn’t return by 10 minutes.

Princess and Chise run into Dorothy back at the ball, but Dorothy seems tense. We then get to see what her superior was telling Dorothy – they suspect that Princess could still be a double agent and that she’ll show her true colors during this important operation.

Meanwhile Ange barges into the room only to find nothing. Using her Cavorite (along with remembering what the guards had said earlier), she deduces that everything was relocated. After she confirms her suspicions, she regroups with the others and the girls give chase.

Once they arrived at a place where they can jump down into the boat (which holds the lab), Ange tries to split the group up again while keeping Princess safe. Chise can’t accept being left out despite Ange’s claim that she can’t be put to danger since she was essentially loaned out to the team. Princess then butts in and says everyone is participating. Her dedication to the cause convinces Dorothy that she isn’t a double agent, but Ange doesn’t seem to like Princess’ outbursts.

And thus the operation commences. While it’s unfolding, Princess and Ange have a heart-to-heart over how Ange only treats Princess special, how Ange used to treat Princess normally back when they were kids, and how Ange always has her hair up (Ange claims she hates her old self and havin her hair down would remind her of said self; Princess claims she really liked Ange’s old self). I wonder if we’ll learn exactly what they mean in a later episode.

I also really think Dorothy and Beatrice should be covering their faces while they’re doing spy things, but I digress.

The operation is a success – they secure the Cavorite tech while managing to capture the scientists. During her follow-up report, Dorothy attempts to convince her superior that this proves that Princess is clean. The man insists that everything is not black-and-white but black-and-gray and Princess is gray. “Keep an eye on her,” he says.

The girls finally decided on the team name, White Pigeon. Apparently spies are referred to as pigeons. Dorothy claims she likes the name since it’s not gray.

All in all, it was a nice episode showing Team White Pigeon in action. They aren’t as good at working together compared to how they were in episode 1 (case 13; this episode is case 9) so it’s likely that the girls manage to settle their differences later on. More vagueness regarding the relationship between Ange and Princess, too, but that’s what the viewers are waiting for, right? Guess we will have to continue to sit tight for now and see how these girls come together as a team and develop as individuals.