Summary
“True Love” is a surprisingly optimistic chapter as Nanno targets the draconian policies of an all-girls school that must suddenly open its doors to male students.
This recap of Girl From Nowhere season 2, episode 2, “True Love”, contains spoilers.
Much lighter than the second season premiere, “True Love” is about exactly that, and rather than Nanno attempting to get revenge on someone who has committed wrongs, she’s instead trying to open up a woman whose old-fashioned, conservative ideas about boys and girls, men and women, have closed her off to love.
The woman is Miss Naruemon (Penpak Sirikul), the stern older teacher of an all-girls school that, thanks to budget woes, is forced to open its doors to male students. Nanno is a student there, and her meddling and encouraging results in increasingly draconian measures being implemented to try and keep boys and girls separate.
After the first episode had such a bleak outlook on teenage relationships, Girl From Nowhere season 2, episode 2 is something of a relief, a much more optimistic vision of young love. As the episode progresses it steadily reveals itself as basically a love story for Miss Naruemon, albeit one she’s not particularly aware of until the very end, and it has some things to say about contemporary dating being so dominated by social apps, though it’s hardly a critique.
Penpal Sirikul makes for an excellently authoritative leading figure, with Nanno being moved to the background somewhat to better display the subtle knock-on consequences of her interference. The payoff is a lovely moment with Miss Naruemon and a fellow teacher, a woman, when they both end up matched by the app Nanno has been encouraging all the students to use. It’s an unusually positive climax, and Girl From Nowhere season 2, episode 2 proves that revenge isn’t always on the agenda.
