Summary
Warning: The following contains spoilers for Jujutsu Kaisen Season 2, Episode 30, now streaming onAmazon Prime.
Hardcore fans ofJujutsu Kaisenmay have noticed a story within a story moment during Season 2, Episode 30. The episode begins with Yuji, Nobara and Megumi walking down the street and begin discussing what they want to do. Megumi states he is tired and leaves, Nobara says she wants to go shopping.
Yuji being the eccentric character that is, says he wants to go watch the latest Human Earthworm series, Human Earthworm four, and invites Nobara to come along, Nobara expresses her disgust, stating that she hasn’t even watched part one, two or three yet. Yuji then says its fine and that she could still watch it from part 4 and then launches into detail of what the series is about.
The Man, The Myth, The Earthworm?
This is not the first time the Human Earthworm series is referenced,devote fans of theseries will remember that during season 1, episode 9 ofJujutsu Kaisen,Junpei skips school to go watch Human Earthworm three, but is unaware that Mahito had walked into the cinema before he did. Mahito then kills Junpei’s bullies in the cinema, even though Mahito is a cursed spirit, Junpei could still see him and confronts him about why he killed them. Later, Yuji is assigned a mission to interrogate Junpei and to find out if he is a jujutsu sorcerer or cursed spirit, the two later end up becoming close friends and begin talking about movies. Since Junpei is also an avid movie fan, the two hit it off and start discussing which Human Earthworm series was the best, and they both agree the second one stood out even though it was pretty gruesome. Although there are certain cut-scenes of the series during the conversation between Yuji and Junpei, there isno indication of the plotand how the series began, only hinting at a demented doctor.
Season 2, Episode 30 is when Yuji finally reveals a little more about the series to Nobara (and theJujutsu Kaisenfans), going into details of what Human Earthworm four is all about. Yuji begins by explaining that the demented doctor, Dr. Richter from the first part of the series is back and is as insane as ever. The crazed doctor is seen experimenting on a poor man infusing him with an earthworm,creating the monster knownas - the enhanced Human Earthworm. Yuji further goes on to say that Earthworm Man manages to escape from the evil doctor but is given odd stares by the public. Humiliated by all this he ends up hiding at a campsite where a group of college students arrive. As fate may have it, the Human Earthworm then meets a girl who also happens to be an animal rights activist, at first she is scared of him, but the story fast forwards to when the two of them are in love with each other. The climax of the series is when the Human Earthworm expresses his grief of being no longer human but a monster but is suddenly interrupted by the girl’s friends, assuming she is in danger, one of the friends lashes out at theHuman Earthworm bashing his headin knocking him to the ground.The human earthworm’s babies then suddenly emerge from the shadows surrounding the girl and her friends as they chant “Dad”.
The Real Monster?
While fans speculate that the Human Earthworm series is based off the three part movie hit -The Human Centipede,The Human Earthworm series however, looks like it drives inspirations from other movie/book references such asFrankensteinandEdward scissorhands, where the monster is rejected bymankind and is feared by societydue to their appearance. Another important reference is that before the Human Earthworm is killed, the girl states if they kill him, they would be the monsters, which is most of the time the underlining theme in some movies, where the humans turn out to be monsters instead.
