Please read this review because I promise you it will be so worth it and I bet it’ll change your perspective of this episode almost entirely. First off, International Assassin has very high contention of being my #1 favorite episode of all time and this is why: After doing research on it, I found out that IA was actually inspired by the story of the ancient Japanese shinto mythology story of Izanagi & Izanami. It mirrors so much of the world Kevin enters, his journey, & the symbolism within the episode. The story goes: Izanagi & Izanami were husband and wife (as well as siblings) and were the ones who were procreating the islands of Japan, which was referred to as “Twin Gods Island”. An important Easter egg in the previous episode (A Most Powerful Adversary) is when Virgil kills himself in order to help guide Kevin in the underworld, there are Japanese letters behind him which translates exactly as “Twin Gods Island”, directly referencing this mythology. One day, Izanami dies giving birth to a fire god and goes down into the underworld. Izanagi was struck with so much grief he killed the child & then went after Izanami into the underworld in search of her. This was the inspiration for the underworld Kevin & Virgil went to in order to find Patti. (this might have also been some light inspiration for having a child version of Patti that Kevin had to kill.) While down there, Izanagi eventually finds Izanami but finds her appearance horribly mutilated because she actually consumed the food/water down there, which bounds her to the underworld for all eternity. This is why Virgil instructed Kevin not to drink the water and why Virgil could not return from the dead. Recall the scene where Kevin asked Virgil “Did you drink the water?” & Virgil admits that he was “so thirsty”, thus he is trapped there forever. The biggest form of mirroring between Izanagi & Kevin is that both of them went down into the underworld on a mission in search of someone, learned the truth about them, & then returned to the real world completely transformed. ⚠️ (Spoilers for S1) Symbolism I noted: 1. The reason the episode starts off with Kevin being submerged in water in the bathtub is because in the mythology story, Shinto ritual beliefs often attribute water to having the ability to wash away impurities. 2. Patti’s last words to Kevin when she died in 1x08 (Cairo) were “You understand.” I feel like those words are so much more powerful after this episode because now, Kevin truly does understand Patti before he exorcises her from his mind. There is a large emphasis on this episode that Kevin is just as lost & scared as the rest of the world. “I’m scared, Kevin”… he is too, Patti 💔 3. Patti’s monologue in the well. I have rewatched that scene so many times I’ve lost count, and I will never not tear up at it. It gets me every single time without fail. It’s my favorite scene of the entire show because of what it teaches- to always humanize everyone around you, especially those whom you are set in opposition with. Humanization is so powerful and it is my #1 biggest life lesson I’ve carried with me throughout my own personal life. There is always much more to why a person is the way they are, and it couldn’t have been portrayed much better than it was with Patti. Humanization is so powerful & has allowed me to find peace in a lot of painful spots in my personal life. I think this episode teaches exactly that through the Kevin-Patti arc. But what I really want to spotlight in it is Patti’s admission of how her late husband Neil was abusing her and how even though she one day finally had the financial means to leave him & start over, she was too scared to and ultimately stayed with her abuser. I felt this to the core because I know exactly what it feels to be trapped in a relationship in which the other person is harming you. It’s a feeling that has you in a grip where even when you forge paths to escape, everything around you feels like it’s forcing you to remain stuck in the situation. You just feel so trapped. Even when/if you see a way out, the fear that overcomes you has you second guessing if you’re even capable of getting through the aftermath and you realize how much was taken away from you. I understood Patti so much when she admitted she’s scared. Abusive relationships change you. She was just a scared woman- scared of crossing over to the other side. 💔 4. The bird in the hotel. Throughout Season 2, Ericka Murphy has an interesting practice of burying a bird inside a box and if she digs it up a few days later and if it’s still alive, it means her wish will come true. (The bird itself could perhaps even be the same one that died when she dug the box back up). I see a parallel between the bird & Kevin’s journey since Kevin himself was buried by Michael Murphy after 2x07 (along with Virgil) and survived/came back to life. By the end of this episode & the show, Kevin got his wish 🤍🕊️ 5. The well that Kevin pushed child Patti inside is in the exact same spot where the prehistoric woman (from S2E1) died. The well was also referred to as “The Orphan’s well”, directly symbolizing the child the prehistoric woman sacrificed her life for. There is also a conversation between Kevin & Patti in the episode where she talks about an orphan who will grow up and have difficulty attaching to people & giving love (mirroring Kevin’s life so far in the show in the context of how much he struggles with this with all the figures in his life who he loves; Nora, Jill, Laurie, Kevin Sr., Tom, etc.) 6. Patti reveals why the Guilty Remnants don’t speak in the well scene. “Stuart was the 4 day reigning champ. You know what he told me in the green room before the game? Absolutely nothing. Not a word. There’s a power to that. Silence.” ———————————— International Assassin is one of the smartest written, most symbolic, emotional & downright most amazing + perspective altering episodes I’ve ever watched. Knowing that the episode was inspired by the Shinto mythology story of Izanagi was already enough to boost it into my top 10 episodes of all time, but now after connecting with it even more as time passes, I think it deserves my #1 spot. I hope this review can help make IA land higher on your top episodes lists too 🫶