Episode 23 of TBS's Sunday-night drama VIVANT, starring Sakai Masato, aired on November 1 and ended with a shooting: Nozaki, played by Abe Hiroshi, was gunned down in the closing scene. A message from Sakai shown just before the credits drew almost as much attention, with viewers reading a few words of it as a hint that a sequel or a film is coming.
The second season began in July. NogI, having finished a mission involving a tent, received a red manju — the signal for an emergency call-up of the Besshan intelligence unit — and a new story unfolded from there. It has run through the abduction of Besshan members by the Chinese Besshan unit known as Shinshi, NogI's team's rescue operation, and the secrets surrounding Jamin, the "miracle child."
Episode 23: a death revealed, a secret exposed
In episode 23, NogI's team learned that Nogoon Beki, played by Yakusho Koji, is alive, and NogI's true identity reached his fiancée Kaoru, played by Nikaido Fumi. The episode also revealed that Jamin, played by Honma Sae, is the daughter of Elisha Mamadov, a researcher who holds nuclear fusion technology.
After repelling a raid by Shinshi, NogI's group made contact with the information broker Tairan Gurieva. The negotiations led to a meeting with Elisha and yielded important information. Elisha admitted, however, that he had had a disc holding data on nuclear fusion technology implanted in his daughter's body, and that he had told Adiel to remove and hide it. Where that disc is now has become a key thread for the rest of the story.
Tairan then betrayed them, and NogI's group was taken into Shinshi's custody. Shinshi, seeking to monopolize the information, decided to eliminate Nozaki of the Public Security Bureau. Liu Mingxuan, an intelligence agent and Nozaki's former subordinate, played by Sakai, pointed a gun at him, said, "Sayonara, my beloved," and pulled the trigger. Blood sprayed from Nozaki's chest as the episode ended.
The word that set social media off
After the episode, TBS broadcast a message from Sakai to viewers. He thanked them for watching the second season and said the finale would air the following Sunday, November 8. "We have prepared an ending that will not betray your expectations," he said, asking viewers to look forward to episode 24.
What caught viewers' attention was his phrasing: "the second season will reach its final episode." The particle he used, wa rather than ga, was read on social media as leaving room for more. Comments included "Could there actually be a sequel?" and "I can't stop feeling excited and nervous." Whether episode 24 resolves every remaining mystery, or a new story waits beyond the second season, is the question ahead of the November 8 broadcast.