The following contains spoilers for Dr. Stone New World's episode 2 titled "Greed Equals Justice", now airing on Crunchyroll.Episode 1 of Dr. Stone New Worldwas quite a slow-paced one. Focused on the development of agriculture in a romanticized way as it's common nowadays in entertainment. The joy of working the field and having an ostentatious harvest of wheat, was enough to feed everyone, at least for the time being. Pretty stills of the field and a Minecraft reference were the highlights of the episode.
The second episode though, has a completely different tone, rhythm, and character from start to finish. As the ending of the previous one hinted, this one was meant to be and eventful one as they very much needed someone able to make bread. Dr. Stone is famous for being able to deliver episodes on an extremely broad scale when it comes to the style and pace, and they proved it once again with the start of New World.
Just What You Need, When You Need It
After Senku's disastrous attempt to bake bread, it was clear that they needed someone actually capable of cooking at the highest level, however, they ran out of revival fluid when they brought Ryusui back. To everyone's surprise, the "greediest man on earth" had knowledge of someone holding a bit of the fluid, enough for their chef. It was Minami, the journalist, who had kept for herself a small portion of the anti-petrification liquid.
How convenient for the plot that she happened to be hiding just enough for one person. A forced scenario to avoid having to make the fluid again which doesn't make much sense. If there was a needed time skip to develop agriculture, very well they could have tried to make more revival fluid during that time. But then again, they also needed Minami's petition to move the story forward.
Timeline concerns have always been there in Dr. Stone. For most of their creations, the time required is not specified. Their age doesn't seem to change and massive voids of time keep piling up. The agriculture situation is just the latest, but if we start to add up all the time it will actually take to develop all the things Senku has created - better not think much about it.
Ready To Suit Up, Francois
Perhaps because he knew about Minami, or because no one else could think of a chef, but Ryusui picked the candidate, Francois, his butler. This new character felt emotionless. Referred to as non-binary, but only because Ryusui doesn't care about their gender, name, or anything really. The immediate consequence is that Francois becomes one of the few characters in Dr. Stone that don't have a specified birthday, age, or backstory.
The moment the stone fell off, they put on the butler uniform and asked about Ryusui. They have an extremely dependent personality, to the point it feels as if they only exist to fill a role. In this case, making the bread properly and taking the role of an assistant within the Kingdom of Science developing proto-society.
What To Expect From The Perfect Butler
Their first moments might have been disappointing since Francois clearly failed to show any kind of emotion or even decision-making further than wanting to assist their boss from before the petrification. However, as the episode moved forward some subtle details started to show what they are all about.
The character dynamics between Francois and Ryusui are certainly special. As mentioned before all he cares about is the ability to perform, independent of gender, personality, or appearance. But after just a few interactions, you can tell they trust almost blindly everything they say or do. On the other hand, Francois understands Ryusui's personality better than anyone else, having a type of chemistry similar to the one Senku and Taiju share. Thanks to that, they will guide and aid Ryusui from now on as a key piece of the cast.
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Apart from that, Francois' well-rounded skill set is ideal for the situation in Dr. Stone. Episode 2 showed off their culinary expertise, even introducing a new "class" segment called Le course de boulangerie de Francois, where they teach about bread with the same type of stills from Senku's iconic explanations. Surely it will make a comeback in future episodes.
Furthermore, Francois is said to have great observation, first aid capabilities, and as displayed during the episode, a truly outstanding endurance being able to walk for two straight days to meet Ryusui. They always seem calm and collected, trying their best to make everyone fell comfortable and relaxed, anticipating their needs and willing to overcome any challenge. An amazing piece to add to the Kingdom of Science that will prove extremely capable during their trip to America.
Lights, Camera, Senku
Of course, Minami just wouldn't give away the revival fluid. And that fact propelled a very impressive technological advance. Out of the blue, Senku was able to mass product daguerrotype cameras. Originally as Minami's petition, it quickly turned out to be useful for their exploration. Taking photos from the sky would make finding oil much easier, or at the very least, have a much detailed and complete map of their surroundings.
This part is where the pace of the episode felt a bit rushed. In contrast with past creations, the camera lacked a detailed explanation or planning. In a matter of a couple of minutes the process was over with. Feels wrong specially when they took almost an entire episode to bring agriculture, something a bit more accessible early in history than the photograph.
Still, this served to end the episode with a cool reference. Senku posses with the tongue out emulating Einstein's classic photo for the first ever photograph of the post-petrification era.