#Comedy is tragedy plus time but it’s playing over and over for no reason | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

kingstylesdaily · 2 years

Text

Every Harry Styles Song Ranked

He’s built one of the wildest, weirdest songbooks of modern times — from Seventies raunch to epic folk beauty to glam grandeur.

By Rob Sheffield

Harry Styles dropped his debut solo single “Sign of the Times” five years ago, in April 2017. Since then, he’s built one of the wildest, weirdest songbooks of modern times. A brilliant body of work, from a genius singer, songwriter, and performer. And it’s just about to get bigger, since he’s also an evil angel of chaos who never gets tired of wreaking havoc on our lives.

Now’s the perfect time to celebrate that songbook, while the world awaits his third solo album, Harry’s House, which drops on May 20th. (And while the world is recovering from his sequin-gasmic Coachella set.) So let’s break it down: all 30 Harry Styles tunes, ranked and reviewed. No clunkers here, just gems, so it’s a tribute to every single song.

Let’s face it, there are lots of Harries. He’s a pop star. An actor. A scholar of music history. A fashion icon. A dangerous madman who finds his pleasure in getting under our skin and trashing our expectations and dancing on our madness. And honestly, bless him for that. He’s all these things, but as these songs prove, the realest, truest Harry is the one who puts his heart and soul into this music.

The list includes everything from both of his solo albums, plus his brand new Number One hit, “As It Was.” Also the two new songs from Harry’s House that he just introduced at Coachella. We’re counting the songs he did regularly on his tours, even if they’re not officially released. Sure, this is totally cheating, but otherwise we’d have to leave “Medicine” off the list, which would be a tragedy.

Obviously, there’s no One Direction tunes—that would be a totally different list. (As the old song says, we don’t want a shadow holding us hostage, right?) This list leaves out his great one-off cover versions, like “Landslide” or “Juice” or “Somewhere Over the Rainbow.” (Believe me, I was tempted to cheat on this rule to include his Coachella duets with Shania Twain.)

Every fan would compile a different list—that’s the fun of it, especially with a canon this loaded with goodies. (The words are the point here, not the numbers.) So let’s make some noise for all 30 of these songs, and the man who brought them into the world. And here’s to the music he’s got in store for the future. Step into the light.

Read more after the cut:

30 'Just A Little Bit Of Your Heart'

Lists like this are supposed to start with the duds. However, Styles has refused to release any duds, which is honestly rude. So the list has to begin with a flat-out excellent song. He wrote “Just a Little Bit of Your Heart” for Ariana Grande’s 2014 album My Everything. The only reason it’s here is (1) Ariana already did the famous version, (2) Harry never officially released it himself, and (3) he’s got 29 other songs that are even better. But it became a staple of his first solo tour, bridging his past and future. As he said, introducing it live, “This one I gave away to somebody else—tonight I want to take it back.”

Best line: “I know I’m not your only, but I’ll still be a fool.”

29 'Girl Crush'

A clever mellow, stripped-down version of Little Big Town’s 2014 country hit, released as a Spotify Single. Harry lingers over the provocative words, originally a woman obsessing over her ex’s new girlfriend. But he doesn’t change the pronouns—putting a new gender twist on a tune that’s next to “Jolene” in the country lust-triangle department.

Best line: “I wanna taste her lips / Because they taste like you.”

28 'Woman'

“Should we just search romantic comedies on Netflix and see what we find?” A great question to kick off a slow jam. “Woman” has a hook that sounds like a sexually agitated duck, quacking in ecstasy. As Harry told the BBC’s Nick Grimshaw, it’s not a kinky mallard—just his own voice through a filter. But when he first played his debut for his parents, “The whole album finished, then my stepdad said, ‘I’ve got one question—where did you get the duck from? How did you get a duck in the studio? I was like, ‘That was me, thanks.’”

Best line: “You flower, you feast.”

27 'The Chain'

As you may have heard, Stevie Nicks and Harry are devoted friends and soulmates, ever since he brought her a birthday cake in 2015. They’re everybody’s favorite rock-star BFFs. He covered this Fleetwood Mac classic on his 2018 tour, a way to honor one of his biggest inspirations while rocking out. He did “The Chain” with the Mac in January 2018, when they were honored as the MusicCares Person of the Year. (Their final show with Lindsey Buckingham.) As Stevie told Rolling Stone in 2019, “He’s Mick [Fleetwood]’s and my love child. When Harry came into our lives, I said, ‘Oh my God, this is the son I never had.’ So I adopted him.”

Best line: “Damn the dark, damn the light.”

26 'Only Angel'

A glam-rock guitar rave, chasing an elusive femme fatale with muscle-car riffs and woo-hoo chants, as he sings, “I’m happy just getting you stuck between my teeth.” It begins with dialogue from the 1987 film Barfly, starring Faye Dunaway and Mickey Rourke—written by the poet Charles Bukowski, one of his literary heroes.

Best line: “Broke a finger knocking on your bedroom door / I got splinters in my knuckles crawling across your floor.”

25 'Anna'

A gorgeous show-stopper on the 2018 tour, but never officially released, with guitar ripples that jump like the Grateful Dead circa Europe ‘72. He also tips his cap to George Michael, slipping in a quote from “Faith.”

 Best line: “Every time I see your face / There’s only so much I can take.”

24 'Treat People With Kindness'

Harry had long used the slogan “Treat People with Kindness” as a personal mantra. So he finally wrote a song to go with it, with a full gospel choir singing along. It’s a departure from any of his other music, with 1970s theater energy. Phoebe Waller-Bridge makes a delightful dance partner in the video—two kindred spirits hitting the floor. As Harry told Rolling Stone, he told producer Jeff Bhasker, “‘I would love to someday write a song called ‘Treat People With Kindness.’ And he was like, ‘Why don’t you just do it?’ It made me uncomfortable at first, because I wasn’t sure what it was — but then I wanted to lean into that. I feel like that song opened something that’s been in my core.”

Best line: “Floating up and dreaming / Dropping into the deep end.”

23 'Meet Me in the Hallway'

The first cut on his debut, “Meet Me In The Hallway” is a warning: he’s never going to play it safe. Instead of a pop hit, it’s a moody ballad brooding over a distant lover, with a bit of Lennon/Bowie in his voice, and a Pink Floyd vibe in the guitars. (One of his lifelong favorites—his intro mix on tour was the 13-minute “Shine On You Crazy Diamond.”) “Meet Me in the Hallway” served notice that after One Direction, he was going his own way, even if it led him to dark places like this.

Best line: “I walked the streets all day, running with the thieves.”

22 'Sunflower, Vol. 6'

A trippy dub-wise romance, with flourishes of reggae skank and South African mbaqanga guitar, plus Greg Kurstin’s electric sitar. “Keep it sweet in your memory,” he purrs, while kissing in the kitchen like it’s a dance floor.

Best line: “My eyes want you more than a melody.”

21 'From the Dining Table'

Like so many songs on the debut, “From the Dining Table” is a guy waking up alone in his posh hotel room and wondering how it all went so wrong. With 1D, Harry might’ve been an outspoken advocate of causing trouble up in hotel rooms. But this is definitely not the glamorous life: “Played with myself, where are you / Fell back asleep and was drunk by noon / I’ve never felt less cool.” It’s a lovelorn ballad, wondering if that woman he lost is ever going to remember him again.

Best line: “Comfortable silence is so overrated.”

20 “Carolina”

“I met her once and wrote a song about her”—give the boy points for honesty. A fantastic upbeat beach groove about a muse who’s got a book for every situation—just his type. (What’s she reading? Murakami? Didion? Emerson?) The music has a bit of a sun-dazed psychedelic vibe, evoking some of the old-school English rock poets of girl worship, like Donovan (circa “Sunshine Superman”) or Marc Bolan (circa “Planet Queen”). The “oh yeah” chants evoke a lost classic from his faves Hall & Oates, “Adult Education”—not one of their famous hits but one of their steamiest.

Best line: “You better swim before you drown.”

19 'To Be So Lonely'

One of those late-night drunk phone confessions that turns out to be a terrible idea in the morning. In “To Be So Lonely,” nothing can console Harry except maybe the guitar of Mitch Rowland, demonstrating his tender and twangful touch. (One of those tracks where you can hear Rowland’s taste for pickers like Bert Jansch and John Renbourn.) It was written on a guitalele—a ukelele with six strings, which Harry took on a journey to Japan. “‘To Be So Lonely’ is just really like the articulation of Mitch’s brain,” Styles said. “Even when Mitch plays to himself, he’s got the swing.”

Best line: “I’m just an arrogant son of a bitch / Can’t admit that he’s sorry.”

18 'Canyon Moon'

Harry wilds out on the dulcimer, dreaming about wide-open West Coast skies. “Canyon Moon” is a song about going home, but also a song about making a home in your memories, taking your loved ones with you every time you go away. Harry got so obsessed with his idol Joni Mitchell (“I was in a pretty big Joni hole”), he and Kid Harpoon tracked down Joellen Lapidus, the woman who built Joni’s dulcimer on Blue. She not only made one for Harry, she gave him and Kid Harpoon their first dulcimer lesson at her house. His next album, Harry’s House, shares a title with a 1975 Mitchell song. Harry tagged “Canyon Moon” as “Crosby, Stills, & Nash on steroids”—no wonder it was Stevie Nicks’ fave song on Fine Line.

Best line: “She plays songs I’ve never heard / An old lover’s hippie music, pretends not to know the words.”

17 'Two Ghosts'

A beautiful soft-rock heartache ballad—and a turning point for his songwriting. “’Two Ghosts’ I wrote for the band, for Made in the A.M.,” he said in 2019. “But the story was just a bit too personal.” This is the song where he realized he needed to tell these stories by himself. In “Two Ghosts,” he’s dancing by the refrigerator light with a lover with red lips, blue eyes, white shirt. (But did they move the furniture so they could dance?) Note: Bob Dylan is conspicuously absent from Harry’s pantheon of classic rock idols—he just can’t get past the voice. But in the Behind the Scenes documentary for the album, he does a hilariously precise imitation of Dylan wheezing “Two Ghosts.” (Around the 13:45 mark.) It’s one of the funniest damn scenes in the film.

Best line: “We’re just two ghosts swimming in a glass half-empty / Trying to remember how it feels to have a heartbeat.”

16 “Adore You”

In April 2019, when he thought Fine Line was nearly done, he got a blaze of inspiration and came up with three crucial songs in the final week: “Adore You,” “Lights Up,” and “Treat People With Kindness.” (Hey, the Beatles wrote half of Rubber Soul in a week.) “Adore You” seduced pop radio so fast, it’s easy to overlook how radical it is musically—a Top Ten hit with a guitar solo? It wasn’t done at the time, until this guy did it. The Rosalia-narrated video is one of his most touching, starring Harry as a peculiar boy bringing love to the fish of Eroda. 

Best line: “Walk in your rainbow paradise / Strawberry lipstick state of mind.”

15 'Fine Line'

The epic finale of his second album, building over six minutes, from folkie strums to horns and strings. “Fine Line” has the introspective power of the final scene of Fleabag, where Phoebe Waller-Bridge takes one last look before taking off on her long, cold solitary walk home in the dark. (A fan did a brilliant video syncing the scene with this song—it keeps getting pulled off YouTube, but try it.)

Best line: “I don’t wanna fight you and I don’t wanna sleep in the dirt.”

14 “Watermelon Sugar”

“Watermelon Sugar” blew up into his first Number One hit, a playful summer guitar groove that moves like Bill Withers sipping a mushroom milkshake, flirting with every item in the food-and-produce aisle. Not bad for a song so eccentric, it almost got cut from the album. “That one we reworked a bunch of times, and it died a couple times,” Harry told Rolling Stone in 2019. “Then it just kept coming back. We fully killed it a few times, but it kept coming back in. So I thought, ‘There’s a reason it’s surviving.’” As co-writer and sidekick Kid Harpoon put it, “To break through with a song called ‘Watermelon Sugar’ about oral sex is awesome and kind of fun.”

Best line: “Tastes like strawberries on a summer evening / And it sounds just like a song.”

13 'Ever Since New York'

Weird as it seems now, a lot of people just weren’t ready to hear Styles do a straight-to-the-heart confession as great as “Ever Since New York.” (People were so fixated on 1D as a cultural phenomenon, they slept on the group’s musical brilliance in “Stockholm Syndrome” or “Story of My Life.” Crazy, right?) “Ever Since New York” sounds hushed but intense, with so much empty space in the music, just Mitch’s guitar strums and Harry pleading, “Tell me something I don’t already know.” He feels lost in his room, not sure whether he’s praying or just talking to the walls. But he knows he’s disconnected from where he wants to be.

Best line: “Brooklyn saw me, empty at the news / there’s no water inside this swimming pool.”

12 'Late Night Talking'

Damn right we’re including the new tunes he debuted at Coachella—it might be cheating to count “Late Night Talking,” since he’s only sung it in public once, but it’ll sound even sweeter when the studio version drops. “Late Night Talking” is a suave turn-your-love-around moonwalk through Eighties R&B, perfect for roller-skating, about how intimacy warps your mind and alters your life. Harry makes a Carole King-style pledge of devotion, vowing, “I’d follow you to any place / If it’s Hollywood or Bishopsgate / I’m coming too.” (The theme of cross-country romance fits right in with “As It Was,” where he sang, “Leave America, two kids, follow her.”)

Best line: “Nothing really goes to plan / You stub your toe, I break your camera.”

11 “Golden”

The beatific opener for Fine Line, with wave upon wave of Seventies AM radio mellow gold. But under all the sunshine, there’s a sense of loss, as he begs, “I don’t wanna be alone.” “Golden” was the first song written for the album, on the second day of the sessions. As he said, “That was just always going to be Track One.” “Golden” has one of the most exhilarating climaxes in his music: the perfect moment when the music stops dead, Harry declares “I know that you’re scared because I’m so open,” and it rips into that pleading guitar break.

Best line: “I’m hopeless, broken, so you wait for me in the sky.”

10 'Sweet Creature'

A massively quiet song that still seems to silence any room where you hear it. “Sweet Creature” just a boy and a guitar, pondering the dilemma of two hearts figuring out how to fit together. It’s a meditation on the concept of home, and how home is something you make up as you go along—themes he was exploring long before Harry’s House. But his voice packs enough emotion to pierce your heart. “Sweet Creature” sounds fragile, yet you gasp out loud when he hits that chorus, “When I run out of road / You bring me home.”

Best line: “We don’t know where we’re going, but we know where we belong.”

9 “Lights Up”

“Lights Up” was the first taste of the Fine Line era—a sashay into the pop future, going for head-spinning disco late-night bliss. On one level, it’s a love song to his fans and how they helped him find his way after the demise of 1D. But “Lights Up” captures the moment where you step into the light and finally recognize your true self—even if the light is just coming from the glittering mirrorball in your heart. “I think ‘Lights Up’ came at the end of a long period of self-reflection, self-acceptance,” he told Rolling Stone. “I just had the conversations with myself that you don’t always have. And I just feel more comfortable being myself.” “Lights Up” is full of doubt and fear—yet it’s also an exuberant pop celebration.

Best line: “Lights up and they know who you are / Do you know who you are?”

8 'Medicine'

Harry at his lustiest, glammiest, raunchiest, and just plain best. “Medicine” has been one of his most fiercely beloved fan faves since his early shows—a depraved, sex-crazed Stones-y rock & roll strut. But somehow, so he’s never released it officially. So “Medicine” is a song that fans light candles and pray for. When he pulled it out of his clown suit at the HarryWeen bash in NYC last October, for the first time in years, the crowd exploded at just the sound of drum goddess Sarah Jones counting in. The climactic hook is when he yells: “The boys and the girls are in / I mess around with them / And I’m okay with it!” The official lyric is “them,” but most ears hear it as “him” (including mine) and obviously he relishes the ambiguity, so nobody’s wrong—may the debate rage forever. A great way to see the song evolve: this fan-made mastercut of every time Harry sang the line “and I’m okay with it” on tour.

Best line: “And when I sleep I’m gonna dream of how you tasted!”

7 'She'

Love—the most psychedelic of drugs. “She” is a deranged six-minute space-sex trip that feels like Prince jamming with Pink Floyd. It’s Harry and his loyal crew at their most unhinged—which is probably why he loves this song so much. Halfway through “She,” Mitch Rowland steps into the stratosphere for a cosmic guitar voyage. “Mitch played that guitar when he was a little, ah, influenced,” Styles said. “Well, he was on mushrooms, we all were.” They forgot about “She” until they went back later. “But Mitch had no idea what he did on guitar that night, so he had to learn it all over from the track.” “She” is the kind of fucked-up beauty you can only get from making music with trusted friends—Kid Harpoon, Tyler Johnson, Jeff Bhasker, Rowland—instead of hired guns. And throwing the rulebook out the damn window.

Best line: “She lives in daydreams with me / And I don’t know why.”

6 'Boyfriends'

Photo : Kevin Mazur/Getty Images

One of the absolute highlights of Harry’s House, his best album, and he just introduced it at Coachella, which means it’s fair game, though there’s no way to begin processing the beauty of “Boyfriends” without hearing the real thing. (It’d rank even higher if we were going by the finished version.) As he said when dedicating it live, “To boyfriends everywhere: fuck you!” The song dissects a man so pitifully out of touch with women (like the dude from “She”?) he can only relate by turning them into a “daydream.” It’s full of empathy for the girlfriend who’s misunderstood and taken for granted, who doesn’t want to live in that daydream anymore. The vibrant folk guitar evokes the Paul Simon of “I Am A Rock” or “Armistice Day.” Since Harry grew up in a pub hearing Simon & Garfunkel constantly, he knows this turf well. But S&G never had a song like this. “Boyfriends—are they just pretending?” is a tragically timeless question.

Best line: “You love a fool who knows just who to get under your skin / You still open the door.”

5 “Falling”

Harry, you’re no good alone. “Falling” is the gorgeously bereft piano ballad from Fine Line, chronicling the afterlife of a broken relationship, asking, “What am I now? What if I’m someone I don’t want around?” He returns to places haunted by memories—“the coffee’s out at the Beechwood Cafe”—but it’s not the same. If this song doesn’t make a mess out of you, are you even there?

Best line: “I’m well aware I write too many songs about you.”

4 'Kiwi'

Harry’s got a taste for soul-searching, reflective tunes. This is not one of them. “Kiwi” is a glam-punk body-slam guitar blast from his debut, inspired by a chic actress who’s “hard liquor mixed with a bit of intellect.” It’s driven by sex, adrenaline, pounding guitars, and the ridiculous chorus, “I’m having your baby / It’s none of your business!” When Harry busts “Kiwi” out at the end of a live show, it always brings down the walls of Jericho Let’s just say the Merriam-Webster Dictionary has used this moment as the definition of “euphoria.”

Best line: “New York, baby, always jacked up / Holland Tunnel for a nose, it’s always backed up.”

3 “Cherry"

The most powerful moment on Fine Line—a raw confession of grief and jealousy after a broken romance. Harry tells the story with dry wit, aiming his barbs at himself, even when the pain is real. (“I can tell that you are at your best / I’m selfish so I’m hating it” is really twisting the knife.) In the studio, engineer Sammy Witte was playing an acoustic guitar riff that Harry overheard and loved—so close to John Lennon on The White Album—resulting in this song. “Cherry” ends with a voicenote of his ex-girlfriend Camille Rowe, speaking French on the phone. A heart-wrenching song that nonetheless soars to the sun.

Best line: “I still miss your accent and your friends / Did you know I still talk to them?”

2 “As It Was”

The first taste of his upcoming album Harry’s House, and an instant Number One hit. “As It Was” is a seductive dance-floor synth-pop bop—yet it’s also the most nakedly vulnerable tune he’s ever done. It opens with the voice of his goddaughter, angry about a missed call. (“Come on Harry, we wanna say good night to you!”) But even when he feels down and out, the breathy intimacy in his voice makes it feel like this is a shared story between two people. The ecstatic chimes ringing at the end are Harry, playing “tubular bells.” Total genius, done and dusted in 3 minutes. What a way to kick off the Harry’s House era, almost exactly five years after his debut single. And this is just the beginning.

Best line: “Answer the phone / Harry, you’re no good alone / Why are you sitting at home on the floor? / What kind of pills are you on?”

1 'Sign of the Times'

The last thing the world was expecting from Harry Styles. His first solo single after One Direction wasn’t a pop banger—it was a nearly six-minute love-and-death piano epic. Talk about an audacious career move: he was aiming for the high ground of Bowie or Prince or Queen. As Harry told Rolling Stone in 2017, it’s sung from the perspective of a mother dying in childbirth. “The mother is told, ‘The child is fine, but you’re not going to make it.’ The mother has five minutes to tell the child, ‘Go forth and conquer.’” That’s why “Sign of the Times” feels uplifting, finding beauty in bleakness. The song made an instant impact—it hit Number Four in the U.S.—but it just gets more powerful as you live with it over the years. (It’s a totally different song if it happens to carry you through a grief experience.) “Sign of the Times” seems to pack a lifetime’s worth of hope into a few minutes. After this, nobody doubted Harry Styles again.

Best line: “Just stop your crying, it’s a sign of the times / Welcome to the final show / Hope you’re wearing your best clothes / You can’t bribe the door on your way to the sky.”

#kingstylesdaily #Harry Styles #hs: rolling stone #Rob Sheffield #april 2022

87 notes · View notes

ordinaryschmuck · 3 years

Text

Why Samurai Jack is a Fan-Frickin’-Tastic Character

Salutations, random people on the internet who certainly won’t read this! I am an Ordinary Schmuck. I write stories and reviews and draw comics and cartoons.

And today, I’d like to introduce you to somebody:

This is Samurai Jack, from the popular Cartoon Network series Samurai Jack. Jack is a rare case. Where most shows would have a cast of main, secondary, and recurring characters of varying sizes, Samurai Jack is a series that mostly follows its titular character on his own. Sure, occasionally, you'll see the Scottsman or Aku making an appearance once in a while. But for ninety-five percent of the series, it's entirely focused on Jack and whatever oddball bounty hunter he's forced to deal with for the next twenty-two minutes. This type of decision can be risky because without quality writing, strictly following the same character week after week could get boring real quick. Thankfully, Samurai Jack is a series that's packed to the brim with incredible writing and direction, making Jack himself a fan-frickin'-tastic character.

How is that possible? Well, let me count the ways.

1. He’s the right type of overpowered

Jack knows almost every fighting style in the world and uses that knowledge to survive every bounty hunter, demon, and/or robot he faces every episode. On paper, this type of character could seem unbelievable given that he's just a mortal man, and even monotonous to know he always wins. But that's the thing: Even though Jack manages to almost always win every fight he's in, it's quickly explained why in the very first episode. Through a montage, we see Jack learning every fighting style from several teachers, each of them helping him prepare for the ultimate battle against Aku, an unspeakable evil. Through the simple act of showing us a few scenes of Jack learning a new skill, it's easy to understand why he's a difficult opponent to beat and easy to believe when he introduces another fighting style we haven't seen him use yet. Plus, while Jack's fighting is formidable, that doesn't make him--

WRONG SHOW! But it's true.

Despite winning every episode, it is never an easy feat. Nearly every battle results in Jack getting beat up and torn apart (Or, his clothes do, anyway). When this happens, it makes the victory feel earned rather than easily given. Take his fight against the beetles in episode three, for example. All of his traps go off without a hitch, and he makes it out while standing upon a pile of his vanquished foes. However, during the fight, his armor got stripped away entirely, and he's now scratched up and covered in robot oil:

That image alone proves that even though he’s winning, it doesn’t come easy for him. That remains a staple throughout most of the series, throwing in a few instances when he temporarily loses only to make his eventual victory all the sweeter. He may be overpowered, but at least it's still entertaining to watch regardless.

2. He adapts quickly

A bit of background information to those who haven't the show (probably should have done this in the beginning, but live and learn, I guess): Jack is an ancient samurai that gets magically teleported to a future where his mortal nemesis rules the world. Now, Jack is forced into an environment vastly different from his own, and in turn, he's forced to deal with a lot of stuff he doesn't know. Most writers would take advantage of this type of predicament to make a ton of fish-out-of-water jokes as a way to poke fun at the idea of a samurai being in a futuristic "utopia" (Or, at least, in Aku's eyes, it's a utopia). Thankfully, the writers avoid that cliche. In fact, if my memory serves me right, there's only one fish-out-of-water joke in the entire series. Which I'm more than grateful for because having a character getting thrown off and confused by the world around him would have gotten old fast. But it's not just being in a future world that Jack quickly gets used to. It's also being in situations he's unfamiliar with. Whether it's learning to fit in with dance-crazed zombies or being turned into a chicken (yes, that happens), it doesn't take too long for Jack to figure out a way to get through his current crisis. It proves that even though Jack is a strong warrior in battle, he's also a strategic one who can't be so easily outsmarted.

3. He plays off of everyone he encounters

Jack, in almost every sense of the word, is a straight man. Most of his humor comes from interacting with the bombastic temperaments of others due to his own behavior being so stoic and calm. The series accomplishes this feat by having the future world filled with colorful personalities, making almost every character the best comedic partner for Jack. Primarily through Aku and the Scottsman, who, as I mentioned before, are the only characters that make regular appearances. These are characters with personalities that clash with Jack's, what with Aku being bombastic and chaotic and the Scottsman being loud and crash. Every time Jack interacts with either of them, comedy almost always follows. A good thing too because while Jack can have his own humorous moments, it's better to pair a straight man with someone insane if you want the laughs to come frequently.

4. He’s still a ton of fun himself!

That being said, Jack is still a riot when he gets to be. By and large, I'd say he has a dry sense of humor, often shining through when he interacts with someone carrying the chaos for the both of them. But, occasionally, there are moments when Jack lets his goofy side out, and it's always funny. They're rare, but that in itself is why they work. Because since Jack always acts so serious in this series, seeing him suddenly break that character results in a laugh because it's something we wouldn't expect from him. If he always acted like this, it wouldn't hit as hard as it would only just be his usual sense of humor. So seeing him smile like an idiot as he's waiting "for the magic to begin" causes me to bust a gut laughing each time.

5. He lives despite tragedy

But not everything is all fun and games for our protagonist.

Jack has one goal in this series: Get back to the past and stop the future of Aku from happening. Several episodes make it clear how strenuous a task this could be, showing Jack briefly losing hope that he'll even complete it. Hell, a good chunk of the final season is him practically given up. He still fights to stop Aku's minions from wreaking havoc, but you can see that the light has left his eyes, and he is more than willing for it to end. But, despite how hard things get and how tragic his life can be, there is always a spark of hope that reminds him what he's fighting for and gives him a second wind to finish it. Even when he's at his lowest point, when everything is seemingly hopeless, Jack will always get back up to defeat Aku, no matter what timeline they're in. It is truly noble and shows just how much of a hero Jack is. In fact--

6. He’s the definition of what a hero should be

At least, to me, he is.

What do I mean? Well, I always believe that a hero is a person who would do everything they can to do the right thing, refusing to let innocent people suffer no matter what the cost. Jack proves it in every episode, frequently the ones where he's inevitably screwed over by his own selflessness. He could easily finish his quest and finally get back to the past, but because it could mean that someone innocent would be badly affected by it, Jack always doubles back to save them. The best example is in the second episode of season two. Jack gets ahold of a fairy that he heard can grant him any wish that he wants, but it's trapped in this ball of energy and will never get out. Jack can just wish to go back to the past and stop Aku once and for all. He only needs to make one simple wish. And what does he wish for? The fairy's freedom.

Because that's who Jack is. He's not the guy who would bargain for the life of another, even if his quest is more important. You can argue all you want that if saving something as inconsequential as the fairy's life is pointless due to tragedies like it being preventable if Jack successfully goes back in time. But that doesn't matter to him. A life is a life, and Jack is not the person to trade it. He's a hero and a damn good one at that.

There are many reasons why Samurai Jack is a fantastic character, but the one above, and the others I've just listed, prove how he is a fan-frickin'-tastic character.

(Sidenote: Does it bother anyone else that, despite five full seasons, we've never known what his real name is? No? Just me? Ok.)

#what i thought about #fan-frickin-tastic characters #samurai jack

46 notes · View notes

ladyloveandjustice · 3 years

Text

Fall 2020 Anime Overview

I started out watching the a ton of anime for the Fall 2020 season, but then ended up not being caught up with most of them by the the time the end rolled around. I still pretty much intend to catch up with Yashahime Princess Half Demon someday (I do like the three leads, it just the plot’s been dull as dirt and the fights aren’t very inspired either) and though I dropped Wandering Witch after bad press started rolling in (I CANNOT deal with pointless tragedy in my current state of mind) I might check out a few more episodes someday just to from my own opinion. For now, let’s just quickly review the anime I DID manage to finish on time this season.

Sleepy Princess in the Demon Castle

Sleepy Princess in the Demon Castle is exactly what it says on the tin: Princess Syalis isn’t too bothered about being captured by demons and locked in their castle, but she does value a good night’s sleep, and she is absolutely ruthless when it comes to getting it- so ruthless, in fact, that the demons realized it might not be that she’s trapped in here with them, but that they’re trapped in here with her.

Sleepy Princess is top tier comedy comfort food. It rarely got a huge belly laugh, but it always but a smile on my face and was a great thing to watch before going to bed. Syalis’s single-minded search for some shut eye is a joke that could have gotten old very quickly, but the show consistently found creative ways to expand on the gags and build it’s world and a fun cast of characters along the way.

Though Syalis is downright brutal to the demons when it comes to getting what she wants (and has a knack for getting herself killed at well), thanks to a demon cleric that offers easy resurrections, you never feel too bad for anyone involved. In fact, the demons and Syalis form a strangely heartwarming bond over the course of the show , and it’s clear by the end that Syalis definitely has the ability to come and go if she damn well pleases and just finds this castle a fun place where she can find respite from her princessly responsibilities.

A nice bonus for those of us who like a little subversion is that the show has a lot of fun playing with standard adventure tropes- the demons often lament that Syalis is not at all what they expected from a captive princess, for one, but my favorite fun little twist is how Syalis feels about the hero currently on a (seemingly endless) quest to rescue her- she manages to both hold him in contempt AND consistently fail to remember his name. That level of disregard takes some impressive effort.

The show has the same director as the Gekkan Shoujo Nozaki-kun anime and as such has a similarly nice comic and visual flourishes throughout. It definitely gets two sleepy thumbs up for me.

Jujutsu Kaisen

Jujutsu Kaisen follows a young man named Yuuji Itadori who, after tangling with a demon, ends up with one inside him. With a death sentence hanging over his head, he’s inducted into a school for “jujutsu sorcerers”, and begins training to use his newfound powers to defeat demons and curses.

Jujutsu Kaisen quickly tells you on no uncertain terms it is Action Shonen, introducing a huge cast of a characters and powers and super high stakes and hey there’s even gonna be a tournament arc soon. It is really, really pretty to look at, with a killer opening and ending, some seriously great animation and cool visuals for the fights especially. But is it particularly memorable otherwise? Noooooot really, so far. The sea of technobabble it tends to descend into when trying to explain how the various powers work often has me zoning out and wishing they’d just let me watch the pretty punches. The villains and the general plot isn’t particularly compelling. The characters are nice enough, but haven’t given me much to be attached to so far. Though I do appreciate this one dude who is the embodiment of millennial ennui:

I’ll keep watching though, because it is a visually stunning, action-y thing to my turn your brain off to and god knows I want to turn my brain off all the time lately.

And the characters do have potential- the One Girl of the main group, Nobara, has a really fun personality in that she’s a total shitlord doofus brawler who can thus doof around with our equally dumbass protagonist, which is an pretty fun, unusual personality for the One Girl to have! Her interactions with Maki, the weapons expert senpai girl, are promising too. I’m just waiting for her to actually, you know, DO something that really shows off her skills- I’m told she DOES eventually get to (gasp) win fights on her own and do cool stuff, but so far show has kind at that of failed miserably and underused her like most action shonen underuse their girls. Plus, taking Yuuji out of the group for such a long stretch seems like a weird choice, we’ve been deprived really seeing him for relationships with his peers. The pacing seems off. But maybe the upcoming tournament arc will make up for that and actually be worthwhile!

Talentless Nana

In a world where kids with superpowers are sent to island schools to fight mysterious “enemies of humanity”, one class of such kids is thrown into chaos when they find themselves targeted by a deadly force.

It’s pretty much impossible to talk about Talentless Nana without discussing how it deviates dramatically from what its premise appears to be in episode one, so I’ll just say if you like stories with superpowers and intrigue, you should definitely sit through that first episode and see if the plot that’s eventually revealed is something that you’re here for. But if you want to avoid spoilers, DON’T GO BELOW THE CUT, because I’m about to get very spoilery.

Basically, Talentless Nana pulls a bait and switch, starting it’s first episode posing as generic superhero anime where the protagonist appears to be your standard meek-but-powerful anime boy (Nanao) who just needs some support and encouragement from a pink haired mind reading manic pixie dream girl (Nana) to unlock his self-confidence and ~true power~ (ugh)...only to take SHARP swerve when Nana ruthlessly murders Nanao and reveals she’s been sent by the government to take out the superpowered kids one by one because THEY are the considered the true enemies of humanity. Oh, and she doesn’t have any superpowers, or “talents”- she was just able to sus out everything Nanao was thinking through basic deductive reasoning because he was so flippin’ obvious and basic.

As my love for a certain character in a certain game may have clued people into, I am ALWAYS delighted when what appears to be a generic, underwritten girlfriend character is then revealed to be an interesting, ruthless mastermind. And having an anime appear to be about a bland boy with a Dream Girlfriend but then actually turn into a show about a deeply cynical, morally dubious girl who’s clearly holding down a lot of messy feelings as she considers everyone her enemy...well, it may be a cheap trick to some, but it also feels a little bit like justice for all the underwritten female characters sacrificed to bland male leads. It’s still rare enough that I dig it when it happens. And the metatext of Nana zeroing in on this kid as the most standard of main character boys, assessing him as the biggest threat because of it and knowing the perfect way to take him out, is pretty inherently funny to me.

But if the show JUST banked on that twist and was about Nana brutally and cynically slaughtering these kids, it would get boring quickly and Nana would be a bland character herself. Fortunately, it doesn’t go that route. Nana struggles and grows a lot over the course of the show. She finds opposition in transfer student Kyoya, a stoic (and socially awkward) young man who pretty quickly becomes suspicious of her. A lot of the tension from the early episodes comes from her sweating as she tries to outmaneuver him and she makes plenty of mistakes along the way. She also slowly but surely starts to question her mission, and we get an idea of her backstory and how the government specifically has groomed her into believing people with powers to be evil. That belief is one that’s challenged by her friendship with another girl, and it’s pretty rewarding to watch Nana’s feelings and world expand little by little.

The show is definitely a little schlocky-some of the plots (as well as the general premise of the government thinking this is the optimal way to get rid of their superpowered kids problem) fall apart if you think too much about them, and some of the kids Nana goes up against are sleazy and unlikeable in over the top ways (which makes it easy for her to stick to her convictions all these kids deserve to die at first). In particular, I have to give a heads up for some sleazy guys doing and saying sleazy things, though the show never gets too overbearing or graphic with it (and the gore is generally PG-13 level as well).

Basically. There are some truly ridiculous happenings in this show. But how ridiculous and pulpy and over the top it is can be part of the appeal, and it’s fun to just sit back and watch the spectacle of Nana and her peers head-scratching machinations.

So, while certainly not an anime with airtight construction or flawless quality and depth, I found Nana an overall entertaining watch, especially as a fan of cat-and-mouse murder-y shenanigans, and thought it has a very compelling main character and managed to end on a heartwrenching (but earned) note. I definitely wouldn’t say no to a second season and would be interested to see where things go from here.

#anime overview #sleepy princess in the demon castle #jujutsu kaisen #talentless nana #munou na nana #maoujo de oyasumi #fall 2020 anime #anime #my reviews

93 notes · View notes

sleepykittypaws · 3 years

Text

Celebrate the Olympic Spirit

Sure, the Olympics aren’t a holiday, per se, but the every-four-year, or two if you count both Summer and Winter editions separately, massive international sporting events sure seems like a reason to celebrate, especially given their recent, unprecedented delay. And what better way to get into the Games mood, than by watching a sports movie?

Here are my favorite motivating, inspirational, and aspirational tales of athletic derring do…

Favorite Sports Movies

The Cutting Edge (1992) - This figure skating romance was released around the 1992 Olympics, and actually name-checks that year's winter host city, Albertville, more than once. It's not good in the traditional sense of great storytelling or athletic veracity, but I loved it so very much I saw it three times in the theater as a teen. Watching it at some point during every Winter Games is a tradition for me so, yeah, I can’t help it, I love this silly sports movie/romance, which also features a bit of holiday feels.

Wimbledon (2004) - It's a rom-com. It's a sports movie. It's a rom-com sports movie that really should be better known. Notting Hill but set at tennis' best-known event. Paul Bettany and Kristen Dunst have surprisingly great chemistry, and there's more sports-related tension than you'd think.

Friday Night Lights (2004) - A football movie for people who don't really like football. a.k.a. 🙋‍♀️. The TV series it spawned is also brilliant (”Clear Eyes, Full Hearts,” indeed), and well worth a watch, but the original movie, starring Billy Bob Thornton, is, honestly, a masterpiece. Definitely Peter Berg's best work and the original book, written by Berg's cousin, Buzz Bissinger, is a great read.

Muriel's Wedding (1994) - You mean you forgot this Australian export, which made Toni Collette a star, was a sports movie? Yep, one of my all-time favorite movies, of any genre, this absolutely brilliant, ABBA-soaked comedy is not only a girls-night go-to, but also a stealth Olympic sport classic.

Remember the Titans (2000) - OK, football isn't in the Olympics, but it sure does make for a good sports movie setting. Even if this early 1970s-set story is most definitely Disney-fied, Denzel Washington, Will Patton, Ryan Gosling and a baby Hayden Panettiere really sell this sort-of true story.

Invictus (2009)-Rugby isn't an Olympic sport, or even one most Americans know much about, but this Matt Damon-led, Clint Eastwood-directed, based-on-a-true-story tale made me care about a sport I'd only tangentially knew even existed before watching.

Hoosiers (1986)-I grew up in Indiana so, by law, I have to include this basketball classic on any "best of" sports movie lists. Also, it actually is really very good.

Rudy (1993)-Ditto the above. But, again, it's hard not to root for Sean Astin (and Jon Favreau!) in this love letter to the Fighting Irish. Plus, there’s no better scavenger hunt task or TikTok challenge than going into a bar and convincing a patron to allow you to put them on your shoulders and march around chanting, 'Rudy, Rudy, Rudy.'

Miracle (2004) - Given how much more popular the Summer Olympics are, it's weird that the Winter Games seem to get all the good movies made about them, but this Kurt Russell-led true tale is another Disney sports movie classic.

McFarland, USA (2015) - Disney, and Kevin Costner, just really know how to make a sports movie, damn it! This movie made me care about cross country for which it, too, could have carried the title Miracle.

A League of Their Own (1992)-The best baseball movie ever. Yeah, I said what I said. Tom Hanks, Geena Davis, Lori Petty—even Madonna and Rosie O'Donnell are making it work. 1992 was a weirdly great year for sports movies.

Moneyball (2011) - A movie about baseball, and math, and yet it's also great, I swear. In addition to all of the above, it's also a stealth Christmas movie and maybe Chris Pratt's best non-Marvel, movie role.

Creed (2015) - This surprisingly effective Rocky reboot starring Michael B Jordan as Apollo Creed's illegitimate son has spawned its own movie series which, in many ways, exceeds the original Rocky franchise.

Rocky Balboa (2006) - Maybe it's because I was a toddler when the original Rocky came out, so only saw the ever-worse sequels as a kid, but this mid-aughts return to the character for Sylvester Stallone, as both writer and actor, is a triumph.

Eddie the Eagle (2016) - That Hugh Jackman features in as many movies (spoiler alert) on this list as Kevin Costner surprised me, too. This story of the English ski jumper who became infamous for being, well, less than golden, is one of those non-Olympic triumph stories that really works. If you're going to watch one underdog-at-the-Games movie, I definitely prefer this this to the more ubiquitous Cool Runnings.

Love & Basketball (2000) - Only because I'm an anglophile is this great, chemistry-filled Sanaa Lathan and Omar Epps college basketball romance not my favorite sports-movie-meets-rom-com.

I, Tonya (2017) - Margot Robbie and a nearly unrecognizable Sebastian Stan are perfectly cast in this sarcastic, highly stylized look at the Tonya Harding scandal.

Pride (2007) - Apparently I like this swimming movie, which I think almost no one saw, better than critics, but I found this 1970s-set, Terrence Howard-Bernie Mac-starring story of inner city kids excelling in the pool emotional and entertaining.

Field of Dreams (1989) - This Kevin Costner magical realism baseball classic is often goofy and imminently tease-worthy and yet…It also works. Maybe it's no surprise that someone who loves cheesy Christmas movies as much as I do would have a soft spot for Field of Dreams.

42 (2013) - Chadwick Boseman is absolutely fantastic as legend Jackie Robinson. One of those movies that's ostensibly about baseball, but is really about so much more, except not in a pretentious way.

Race (2016) - Before Jason Sudeikis was Ted Lasso, he was famed track coach Larry Synder in this Jesse Owens biopic that is far from perfect, but still important. Plus, I honestly don't think Stephan James got enough credit for his relatively nuanced portrayal of Owens.

Goon (2011) - This overlooked gem starring Sean William Scott as a semi-pro hockey player whose main skill is his ability to take, and dole out, a beating, is surprisingly great.

Real Steel (2011) - This is a robot-boxing movie starring Hugh Jackman that is basically Rocky meets Over the Top—and yet it's actually really good. Yeah, I was surprised, too.

Forget Paris (1995) - OK, so maybe Billy Crystal playing an NBA referee doesn't really make this a sports movie, but it does begin and end (spoiler alert) at real NBA games, and I will die on the hill that this rom-com co-starring Debra Winger is wildly under-rated.

Bend it like Beckham (2002) - This girl-power sports movie has some highly questionable romantic dynamics (the coach is their love interest???) but this Parminder Nagra-Keira Knightley movie is also a heckuva sports movie and an inspiring immigrant story.

Bonus Pick: The Apple TV+ series Ted Lasso is one of the best things I watched in 2020, and I'm sure of that, because I watched it twice since, just to be sure. Jason Sudekis is absolutely perfect as an American college football coach taking over a UK Premier League team. This sweet show with a heart of gold is smart, funny, and absolutely impossible not to love—even for a cynic such as myself.

More Sports Movies Worth Watching

For someone not very into sports, I am, apparently, into watching movies about sports, so while not a comprehensive listing of the entire, vast genre, here are a few more suggestions I personally think are worth watching.

The Miracle Season (2018) - This movie about high school volleyball champs whose star player dies suddenly stars Helen Hunt and is a lot better than you'd think based on its tiny budget and, honestly, fairly small story. Just missed making my Top 25.

The Way Back (2020) - This Ben Affleck as a drunken high school basketball coach movie is a lot better than expected. Released just as the pandemic kicked into high gear, it was overlooked last year, but worth seeking out.

Fighting with My Family (2019) - Does it count if it's a show, not a sport? Either way (but that's why this isn't in my Top 25), this stealth Christmas movie/love letter to the WWE is a lot better than it ever needed to be thanks to some really great performances from Florence Pugh, Lena Headey and directer Stephen Merchant. Even The Rock reins it in.

Warrior (2011) - You couldn't pay me to watch an actual UFC bout, but this Tom Hardy story of (literally) battling brothers is incredibly compelling and well done.

Win Win (2011) - This movie isn't really enough about wrestling, even though its ostensibly centered around the sport, to make it into my Top 25, but it's still really good, and Amy Ryan gives an outstanding performance.

Fever Pitch (2005) - Drew Barrymore and Jimmy Fallon star in this remake of a UK film whose ending they had to shift when the Red Sox unexpectedly won the World Series.

Fever Pitch (1997) - This Colin Firth-starring, Arsenal-centered original is much smaller, more realistic and arguably better than the big budget Barrymore-Fallon redux.

We are Marshall (2006) - A real-life sports tragedy made into a sports-movie tearjerker starring Matthew McConaughy. And my tears were very much jerked by the end.

Coach Carter (2005) - Samuel L Jackson plays real-life basketball coach Ken Carter and, because it's a Disney movie, doesn't use the F-word even once. Now that's a feat worthy of its own sports movie.

Invincible (2006) - Yes, it's Mark Wahlberg, and another based-on-a-true-story, Disney sports movie that hits all the cliches, but dang it, that works on me. It just does.

Glory Road (2006) - If you're sensing a theme with me and Disney sports movies…Well, you're not wrong. This look at the first all-Black starting lineup at the 1966 NCAA Final Four does, unfortunately, center white coach Don Haskins, played by Josh Lucas (though I always mis-remember it as Josh Charles), making the important story it tells less than what it should be, but it still mostly works.

Million Dollar Arm (2014) - Admittedly one of the lesser Disney sports movie entries, and another that centers a white guy in a film mostly about people of color (not a great look), this Jon Hamm movie about a scout seeking an Indian cricket star who can make it in the Major Leagues still mostly worked for me.

The Mighty Ducks (1992) - One of the few movies on this list aimed directly at kids, this beloved peewee hockey saga actually is cute, and mostly does hold up.

Cool Runnings (1993) - Kind of shocked this movie that is part White Savior-movie and part-wacky kids movie essentially making fun of a real group of athletes of color came out in 1993 and not 1973, but the earnest charm of John Candy and a general Disney gloss keep this from being totally unwatchable and mostly just mildly, rather than extremely, offensive. Not really recommending, but feels like it belongs on an Olympic movie list.

Nadia (1984) - This made-for-TV, mostly true biopic, starring Talia Balsam as Nadia Comaneci, was a Disney Channel staple in that network’s early days.

Munich (2005) - It's a movie with the Olympics very much at its heart—namely the 1972 Israeli athlete hostage tragedy—that isn't really about the Olympics at all, but this Steven Spielberg-directed movie about national revenge is compelling, if problematic if you think about it for too long.

American Anthem (1986) - Is this Mitch Gaylord-Mrs. Wayne Gretzky (a.k.a Janet Jones) starring movie good, realistic and/or well-written? No, no and none of the above. But did I still watch it 8,000 times as a kid on HBO? Yes. Yes, I did.

Men with Brooms (2002) - Once, on a business trip to Canada, my husband was stuck in a hotel that only got three channels, and one of them always seemed to be showing curling, which actually got him weirdly into this obscure sport. This movie wasn't quite as fun as I hoped, but it's still a mostly charming, if slight, Canadian classic.

Unbroken (2014) - The harrowing and incredible real-life story of Louis Zamperini deserved better than this Angelina Jolie-directed movie delivered, but it's still a serviceable version of a worthy tale.

Chariots of Fire (1981) - I remember being bored out of my mind by this movie trying to watch this movie on cable as a kid, but no denying that, if nothing else, the score is iconic and indelibly linked to sports-movie magic.

Without Limits (1998) - Jared Leto’s Prefontaine beat this one to the theaters, but this Billy Crudup-starring film is the better of the two movies about the life of running pioneer Steve Prefontaine. There’s also a 1995 documentary, Fire on the Track: The Steve Prefontaine Story.

Personal Best (1982) - Mariel Hemingway’s story of ambition at odds with love, is a sports and LGTBQ+ classic.

Olympic Dreams (2019) - The story of how this small, meandering movie was made during the 2018 Winter Games is, unfortunately, more interesting than the movie itself, but there is some charm in watching Nick Kroll as an Olympic dentist making his way through the real Village, while interacting with real athletes.

Foxcatcher (2015) - This excellently-acted story is more true crime than sports inspiration, but if you're seeking a look at the dark side of the Games—and don’t want to turn on a doc like Athlete A—this is very dark tale indeed.

Seabiscuit (2003) - Every great athlete deserves to have their story told.

Any Given Sunday (1999) - Oliver Stone and Al Pacino take on pro Football. 'Nuff said.

The Replacements (2000) - I mean, the movie isn't amazing, but Keanu Reeves is super charming and Gene Hackman is always worth a watch.

The Program (1993) - Another bit of a dark-side-of-football take, worth it if only for the fantastic cast: James Caan, Halle Berry, Omar Eps, Joey Lauren Adams.

Everbody’s All-American (1988) - Not a movie I particularly love, but this Dennis Quaid-Jessica Lange football story that spans decades has always stuck in my memory.

Bull Durham (1988) - Just let Kevin Costner play actual baseball already.

7 notes · View notes

bewitching-elizabeth-olsen · 3 years

Text

Press/Gallery: Elizabeth Olsen Is Ready to Lead the MCU

An ambitious new Disney+ series might just give the strongest Avenger the happy ending she deserves.

GALLERY LINKS

Studio Photoshoots > 2021 > Session 001

ELLE: We can’t keep meeting Elizabeth Olsen like this. By “this,” I mean in the throes of catastrophe or bereavement, or, to put it plainly, when she’s an emotional wreck. In the 2018 Facebook Watch drama Sorry For Your Loss, Olsen assumes the role of Leigh Shaw, a young widow grappling with the unexpected loss of her husband and all the painful nuisances that come with death: the unbearable waves of sadness, the clichéd condolences, a grief support group that runs out of donuts. At one point, Leigh says through a cracked voice, “I’m just mad all the time.” It’s hard not to draw parallels to Olsen’s other angry character. After all, “mad” is exactly how 2015’s Avengers: Age of Ultron introduced us to Wanda Maximoff.

Defined by tragedy since her Marvel debut, Wanda (aka the Scarlet Witch) is an orphan with telekinetic powers. When not saving the world, she spends most of her time onscreen grieving the deaths of her parents, twin brother, or lover. Wanda’s never been allowed to fully exist outside the confines of her grief and anger, but with the launch of WandaVision—Marvel’s foray into serialized content for streaming—she may just be getting the happy ending she deserves.

Partly inspired by The Vision comic book, which follows synthezoid superhero Vision and his family as they move to the suburbs of Washington, D.C., the Disney+ series is an ode to the TV sitcoms we’ve come to love, with Wanda and Vision (Paul Bettany) basking in newlywed bliss—except Vision’s been very dead (killed twice, in fact) since the events of 2018’s Avengers: Infinity War. It’s unclear exactly how these starcrossed characters got to suburbia, but for now, it’s a delight to see the typically solemn duo sink their teeth into slapstick comedy.

“The show is like a blank slate for them,” Olsen tells me over Zoom, her light brown fringe a departure from Wanda’s red waves. The Scarlet Witch’s doleful glare is also long gone; in its place, Olsen’s eyes are wide with excitement. “Wanda and Vision’s journey to this point is a story of pure, innocent love and deep connection with another person,” she explains. “It was also very traumatizing. Tragedy has always been their story. In our show, we kind of wipe that clean and start fresh.”

But Wanda’s complicated past looms over WandaVision. Age of Ultron saw her and her twin brother, Pietro, initially opposing the Avengers (the siblings volunteered for a series of experiments with Hydra—a super evil organization within the MCU—after the deaths of their parents at the hands of Tony Stark’s Stark Industries) before switching sides to help save the Earth. The movie ends in victory for our superheroes, but yet another tragedy for Wanda when Pietro dies in battle. She finds comfort in the arms of Vision, an android created from the remains of Tony’s J.A.R.V.I.S. program, but even that bliss is short-lived. You see, Vision can only live with the help of the Mind Stone, which Mad Titan Thanos needs to take over the universe. In Infinity War, Vision asks Wanda to sacrifice him, and Wanda reluctantly agrees—but Thanos reverses time to gain control of the stone, killing the robot for a second time. Wanda’s pain is palpable: Imagine sacrificing the love of your life to save everyone else, just to watch him brought back to life and killed again—by the very villain you’re trying to defeat.

Though the thrill of playing a character with superhuman abilities is enticing for any actress, Olsen says it was Wanda’s internal battle with mental health that attracted her to the role in the first place. “[Joss Whedon] explained to me that Wanda Maximoff has always been this pillar of the struggle of mental health, from her pain and depression and traumatic experiences to how she completely alters the reality of the comics,” Olsen says of her early conversations with the Age of Ultron director. “The thing I held onto after reading the initial script was that she was not only powerful because of her abilities, but because of her emotions.”

In fact, MCU theorists would argue she’s one of, if not the, strongest Avenger. She can infiltrate the others’ minds to reveal their biggest fears (Age of Ultron). She can overpower Vision and send him plunging through several floors to break up a fight between warring superheroes (Avengers: Civil War). She can even bring Thanos to his knees, snapping his sword in half and forcibly removing his armor piece by piece (Infinity War).

Still, “they keep slapping her over the head with more grief,” Olsen quips.

As phase one of the Marvel Cinematic Universe began with the sound of clanging metal on May 2, 2008, phase four kicked off on January 15, 2021 with a kitschy 1950s sitcom theme: “She’s a magical gal in a small town locale / he’s a hubby who’s part machine / How will this duo fit in and pull through? Oh, by sharing a love / like you’ve never seen.”

With WandaVision, Marvel steers clear of the typical superhero trappings: no destructive battles at a Berlin airport or across the streets of New York City; no blonde-haired god time-traveling to other realms; no tree-like alien fight alongside a raccoon. Wandavision takes place after the events of Endgame in a fictional suburban town called Westview, and the biggest problem the newlyweds face in the show’s opening moments is creating a convincing backstory to get nosy neighbor Agnes (Kathryn Hahn) off their backs.

“They are just trying to fit in,” Olsen explains. “They’re trying to not be found out by their neighbors that they’re super-powered beings.” Now, if only we can figure out what the hell is actually going on. Olsen remains tight-lipped: “The reason it’s a sitcom shows itself later in the show,” she hints. “When Kevin [Feige] told me, it didn’t feel so bizarre. It felt like a great way to start our story.”

“With our show, you don’t know what the villain is, or if there is one at all.”

So, is Wanda stuck in the first stage of grief, denial? Has she altered reality as a coping mechanism for Vision’s death? Is she being held hostage by a terrorist organization (ahem, Hydra!)? One thing we do know is that someone is watching the couple and taking notes. At the end of episode 1, the camera pans out from a retro TV playing an episode of WandaVision (meta!) to show a hand jotting down notes. There’s a strange sword symbol on the notebook and a nearby control board, and in episode 2, the same sign appears on a toy helicopter lodged in the couple’s front yard. Later, when a mysterious beekeeper crawls out of the sewer on the couple’s street, the symbol is seen on the back of his suit. In its 20-plus movies, Marvel villains have always existed in plain sight. But with a new, less obvious darkness lurking at every turn, Wanda may have to return to her world-saving roots.

“Someone said to me when you watch any of these hero movies, you know when the villain’s about to show themselves, and you also have an idea of who the villain is,” Olsen says. “With our show, you don’t know what the villain is, or if there is one at all.” For now, WandaVision allows for glimmers of hope and optimism for Wanda and Vision, despite what darkness tries to threaten their happiness. “Wanda is trying to protect everything in her bubble, protect what she and Vision have and this experience,” Olsen says. “I think everything she does is in response to keeping things together.”

In addition to exploding the concept of the superhero onscreen, WandaVision toys with a different era of TV in each episode. The pilot takes viewers to the ‘50s with an episode filmed in front of a live studio audience, and Wanda dresses up in the quintessential housewife garb, not a hair out of place in her voluminous bob. By the time we click on episode 2, she trades in her apron and kitten heels for a more pared-down ‘60s look, while episode 3 gives a nod to the ‘70s, complete with a Brady Bunch-style staircase and a shag haircut for Vision.

While dressing up was the fun part, time-hopping through the eras required a lot of binge-watching old sitcoms to get the mannerisms down right. Olsen studied series like The Dick Van Dyke Show, The Brady Bunch, The Mary Tyler Moore Show, and Bewitched to “understand the tones of each era” and get a grasp of how Wanda and Vision should act as a couple. (One of her favorite TV pairings was Jane Kaczmarek and Bryan Cranston from Malcolm in the Middle.) She was fascinated by the way female characters evolved through the decades: “You have to learn appropriate manners—what’s considered being polite or proper. That coincides with women’s voices changing,” she explains. “I enjoyed challenging myself to match the syntax and the lyricism. I live in a very chest-register kind of deep voice. I had to remember not to bring it up at certain moments.”

For so long, Wanda served as a supporting character to Marvel’s biggest names, and the formulaic mundanity of the major theatrical releases made it easy to get comfortable. WandaVision offered Olsen a much-needed challenge. “I’ve only been working for 10 years, but there is this feeling where you start to get comfortable,” she says. “WandaVision was the furthest thing from comfortable for me. It felt intimidating. The character is a completely different thing.”

And fans hoping for a little Marvel action won’t be disappointed. “We still live up to what Marvel does,” she promises. “We just tell the story in a completely different way. It’s a very emotional, female story and it’s a story they haven’t told yet for either of our characters.” Whatever your theory is, keep the cliché condolences to yourself. No one will be uttering, “Sorry for your loss” in Wanda’s world.

Press/Gallery: Elizabeth Olsen Is Ready to Lead the MCU was originally published on Elizabeth Olsen Source • Your source for everything Elizabeth Olsen

#Elizabeth Olsen #WandaVision #Avengers #Scarlet Witch #Wanda Maximoff #Sorry For Your Loss #Avengers Infinity War #Avengers Age of Ultron #Captain America Civil War #Ingrid Goes West #Godzilla

17 notes · View notes

feather-dancer · 4 years

Text

Trollhunters Fanfic Recommendations - Part 3

Somehow there is now a third one of these because I read far far too much fanfic and have no regrets about it. It’s with great pleasure I can also announce I’ve been digging around for Trans Jim fics and found some gems while I was at it that have been included below.

You can find Part 1 of my fanfic recommendations here!

And Part 2 here!

Plus one shameless plug for my own current fics.

General Trollhunters

(And you're my Arcadia.) - All you need to know is it’s Jilaire post Season 3 and one line in particular made me burst out laughing.

Bitter[sweet] - Sometimes the thing you need most is just a really good friend when your body plain sucks. Contains Trans Jim and is delightful.

the red book - Far beyond the humble days of Season 3 and after living beyond his human family and friends, Jim has started to forget who he was and that he was ever just a human kid.

The Halls of Arcadia High - When Strickler disappeared in Season 1, his absence was felt in many ways even in the form of a humble piano left un-played.

Not - Not!Enrique isn’t his name yet it’s what they call him anyway. An albatross reminding him of what was taken before he even had a chance to start.

On the Radio - The final telling of the Janus Order.

Gay stories for Tales of Arcadia - Yeah I’m pretty sure you can guess where this is going, LGBTQ+ rep!

Through the Fires - There was a before time, one where Gunmar still roamed free and Deya had yet to be chosen let alone felled. These are the words of the humble witnesses of that war, from the changelings to the trolls who would oppose them.

Trollhunters: A Series of Disjointed Drabbles - This is so cute and fluffy I might just spontaneously combust.

Insomnolence - It is after the final battle and Jim has a lot of thoughts.

another tragedy - Anxiety is a bastard, it gives a lot of bad thoughts but sometimes there is a little bit of truth buried beneath it all and it whispers all about how you can keeping doing the wrong things for the right reasons. Season 2.

i will always hold you close (but i will learn to let you go) - Sometimes the hardest thing you can do is learning when to let go. Sometimes however, even when you want to they hold back even tighter. Season 2.

your eyes look like coming home - Toby has been the witness from the start of just how close Jim has been to death multiple times over and how Jim he is about the whole thing. It scares him how this time might be it, again and again. Season 2.

The Collected Tellings of Shigir and Other Changeling Folktales - I don’t actually know which category to put this under so I’m going the to heck with it route instead. Does exactly what it says on the tin for your Changeling lore needs, some of which will be off-hand mentioned or outright appear during the fantastic Terpsichore - The Comedy of the Danse Macabre - ACT I.

Please note: The main fic is Stricklake if that’s not your cup of tea, the folktales however can be enjoyed regardless.

~~~

Stricklake

all that dazzling dawn has put asunder - The sequel to in my sleep i dreamed of waking, this is filled with delightful fluff, internal panicking and the joys of trying to explain how you’re a not and how that does not change the fact Strickler is still a was. Being a changeling in these strange after times are difficult even before the other baggage involved but at least you're still here to start.

Two Pisces in Alto Mare - When in Rome as part of a study trip abroad, you meet the most curious people sometimes and by fluke or nature you may even do so more than once.

Filling The Gaps - Possibly a bit of an unusual mention but! These are little pieces of Fallout that were going on while our eyes were following elsewhere and boy it can hurt.

Rehearsals and DvD Bonus Features - Another from the home of Terpsichore - The Comedy of the Danse Macabre - ACT I which is being listed here because it does have Stricklake in it. Some things don’t make the cut with writing fanfic, either because the plot wandered off, it doesn’t fit right or it’s some backstory you haven’t quite figured out where it can be naturally brought up yet and in this case they’ve found themselves a home. Be warned, one particular chapter is explicit and has been marked as such in warnings in the chapter summary.

~~~

Alternate Universes

(Un)Becoming - Not technically an AU in the conventional sense but I’m putting it under here anyway. It’s Unbecoming, as ever the road to hell is paved with good intentions but as Jim threw in the towel the storm that’s coming will not be stopped. However, what if others caught glimpses of a world that still had a human Trollhunter to defend it?

Steve the Kind - Steve became the Trollhunter but how the adventure unfolds differently than when Jim was at the helm might just surprise you. Very slow burn Steve and Jim that in a rather refreshing change doesn’t throw Claire under the bus for it to happen. Praise be.

31 Days in the Darklands - Strickmar that somehow kinda works?? It helps with Gunmar having the space to breathe outside of getting Morgana out and be more of his own character. Storywise, in order to rescue Jim from the Darklands Strickler broke a deal that would cost his own freedom and now has to somehow maintain a treaty between three very different factions all the while keeping his own neck intact. The intense distrust in changelings continues on to boot but hey, nobody said politics was easy.

Building Bridges - So Gunmar is distinctly of the more Eldritch variety with dream powers, the ability to easily see through lies for the true emotions and thoughts, Bular has the Insight as well to a lesser extent and everyone has somehow managed to hop onto Stricklander’s bandwagon of we must protect Jim Lake Jr. at all costs. Now the race is on as both sides try to sway the young Trollhunter to their way of thinking and the Trollmarket has no idea how dangerously badly they’re doing so far.

Lost Souls - A fic written in variable snapshots. Jim was kidnapped and changed by Merlin far earlier to be his Champion to ensure he did the “right thing” while Barbara in desperation to find her son falls into the hands of Morgana thus mother and son become enemies without even realising it.

Faithfully - Barbara died overseas and yet somehow Jim still managed to make his way back to Arcadia to become the next Trollhunter. This road is far harder for it as a seemingly homeless orphan though on the flipside he keeps on acquiring dads. Contains Trans Jim, timeline variable snapshots and I love it very much.

The Burning - There was a fire, it killed Barbara and Jim was thought dead as well. Nobody could have guessed the feral half changeling that is running around like a cryptid is the very much alive Jim.

Finding Daylight - Jim is a very low ranking changeling, terrified of Bular and his home amounts to little more than a spot in the woods. Things started to go pear shaped for him when he accidentally stumbled over Blinky and only more so when the amulet picks him after Kanjigar is felled. Tis not a kind world for a changeling child out there and he has nobody really to help watch his back until he stumbles on a potential maybe.

~~~

The bonus shoutout for an excellent MSA fic

A Sleep Like Death - Who wouldn’t want to go visit a tower you’ve inherited apparently and has haunted as all hell all over it? Not Vivi that’s for sure. Poor Arthur is just along for the ride and then things start to get really weird when they find it’s still occupied and thinks Arthur is his jailor.

#Trollhunters

88 notes · View notes

well-shit-im-a-morosexual-now · 3 years

Note

I'm here, queer, and I want a summary for the new lesson (whenever you get around to playing it of course)!

-35 Anon

NEW FIC + LESSON 44 SUMMARY

Hii! I'm sorry this took like a week BUT as an apology/compensation I wrote a lil' something based off this lesson :D ;

Familiar Strangers

Mammon gets a little more time with the strange angel his little brothers picked up and picks up a few things of his own.

ok ok so this lesson holy shit??? This is probably one of my favourite lessons!? It just gives so much and ahhh it was so good! It gives more angel backstory and lore, shows what got Levi into anime in the first place and answers the question I asked in the previous lesson summary; about why Mammon made a pact with MC in the first place when he said in lesson 43 that he wouldn't make a pact with a random human. And look i'm too excited to wait to reveal this in the end (plus with the way om lessons are structured there won't be a big reveal, just a gradual realisation) so im gonna reveal it here immediately.

LESSON 44 SPOILERS

MC once again fucked up the timeline :')

MC's the one who got Levi into anime in the first place. (but the only reason they got him into anime was cause they already knew he liked anime but he liked anime only because they got him into it and so on and so on, one whole horrid circle)

A time paradox was already in play at the very beginning of S1, meaning MC's first meeting with the brothers was never in S1 but instead thousand of years before the main storyline even began. Meaning MC was never a random human and holy shit???????

I'll talk more about MC and Mammon's pact after I summarise everything, as well as about their sins and their lives in the Celestial Realm Vs the Devildom cause everything is blowing my mind . Additionally, even though Mammon shares more or less equal screentime with his brothers in this lesson it adds a ton of character depth to him and i adore it.

Ok so the lesson starts with;

Mammon, Beel, Satan & MC bursting into Asmo's room. Mammon yelling about how he's gonna kill Asmo cause of the leak, only to find his room empty. They check his bathroom (which in my humble opinion is the first place they should have checked, but then again this is asmo so maybe they wanted to keep that as the worst case scenario option), MC says they should turn the water off immediately and mammon confirms that yeah if lucifer is actually still alive and finds out about this all of them will be murdered on the spot. They find Asmo passed out in the bathroom. MC uses the healing spell they learn back in s2 to take away some of his pain. All 3 brothers seem very worried and when Beel asks Asmo if he's okay, he says that he's not but that MC kissing him may make him better (my man's on his death bed and still tryna smash, an absolute icon). Mammon immediately tells Asmo to go die, and Beel says he shouldn't have worried about Asmo cause it was a waste of energy. and look that instant turnabout is peak comedy :'). Asmo calls them out on being assholes and that he does still feel dizzy and Satan says that if he's able to joke about he's fine. Asmo says that he still wants to sleep it off and that he wants MC with him. Satan once again proving that he's the best brother says that him and Mammon will go make soup, Beel will clean the bathroom and that MC can take Asmo to bed. Asmo gushes about how good Satan is and Satan blushes (a year ago this sentence would have been so messed up wtf happened). in bed MC ends up telling Asmo all about their day and Asmo gets sad about not being able to go to the cafe, MC complains about Simeon being a sadist who put them to work (or they can invite Asmo to come the next time) and Asmo says he's jealous that he wasn't there to see them all suffer. Asmo says that while he was asleep he had a dream that he was still an angel and that it's been so long since he's seen Michael who was stunningly beautiful and who was gushing about lucifer, and that he was glad he didn't run into raphael cause he scared him. MC falls asleep while Asmo talks.

MC is woken up in a bright forest by angel Asmo, who asks them what they were doing sleeping in a place like that and says he has never seen MC before. MC can ask him what he's doing dressed like an angel or can ask him if he's actually asmo. He basically says either i've always looked like this unless you're talking about my nails which i painted a different colour or duh obviously you know who i am, who doesn't. He then asks MC who they are. They can ask him if he has forgotten them or if he's kidding. He says either that if they'd met before he wouldn't have forgotten them or that he always means what he says even if people think he's kidding and then asks for their name. MC can ask if they are dreaming - Asmo takes it as them flirting with him/using a cheesy pickup line which he thinks is adorable - or they can ask where they are - the celestial realm. Asmo asks them if they work for Raphael cause Asmo had snuck into the human world to go to 'something called a party' which he had never been to before and that he'd had a lot of fun. But that raphael says 'it's a wicked and immoral thing'. He then asks MC what they think. MC gets to either say that it's up to him to decide or to agree with raphael. If you choose the first option Asmo is suprised, and then says that since it was so much fun it'd be a tragedy never to experience it again and that he thinks he should be allowed to have fun. Asmo had found MC while he was hiding from Raphael who was pissed about the party. Asmo goes to propose something to MC but gets cockblocked by Beel. Asmo asks beel if he could open the celestial realm gates, beel says no and then asks who the fuck MC is. Asmo introduces Beel as a cherubim and a guardian of the gates of the Celestial Realm. And says that Beel is a very famous angel, and that there's a rumour that lucifer recommended Beel to be promoted to seraphim. Beel says that lucifer hasn't mentioned it to him and that it's just a rumour. Beel asks MC if they are okay and if Asmo has tried anything on them cause Asmo hits on anything that moves. Asmo gets pissed and says that it's not that he'd happily sleep with anyone but that he cares about who they are and that he feels love towards everyone he meets. And that the reason everyone loves him so much is cause he loves everyone due to his ability to see the good in people. Beel changes the subject by telling MC they look hungry and offers them a few sweets he got from Michael. MC basically goes wtf why aren't you eating them. He says he's not hungry and that he has eaten too much recently and gained weight and is now on a diet. MC probably looks like they had a stroke cause Beel asks if they are okay. MC tells him that they like the fact that he eats a lot. Beel blushes before asking Asmo if that's a compliment and if he's supposed to thank MC. Asmo who's pissed off snaps at beel about MC and Beel flirting while ignoring him. Beel says he came here looking for belphie.

Beel proceeds to shake a tree until Belphie falls out... Belphie takes one look at MC and asks what the fuck a human is doing in the celestial realm (i forgot that this was back when he still liked humans and thought we were back to square one and he was about to start throwing hands). MC can say 'You think I lool like a human?' vs "Excuse me? What are YOU doing here?'. for the second option Belphie just says screw you I asked first. For the first he's confused that they are not, Asmo saves MC's ass either by telling Belphie to go get his eyes checked while Beel says MC's an angel. Belphie says he does detect angelic vibes from MC (Lilith's bloodline???) but also something humanlike. Asmo says Belphie probably senses that cause all he ever thinks about are humans and Belphie says it's cause humans are interesting and wishes he was born as a human. Asmo yells at Belphie not to say things like that cause if Raphael finds out they'd be in trouble. Beel asks what they are gonna do about their new lost angel and Asmo asks if they can keep MC. Belphie says no cause they're supposed to bring lost angels to Lucifer (how often do angels get lost????). MC gets to choose whether they want to go with Beel, Belphie or Asmo to find lucifer. I chose Beel cause he was anyway going back to Lucifer with Belphie (⚡⚡Efficiency🌟🌟) which is when belphie finds out lucifer's looking for him cause he skipped a meeting. '???' cuts in with a "Mmhm, I THOUGHT I heard some awfully familiar voices..." it turns out to be Mammon who's been looking for all of them (minus MC for a change and isn't that the weirdest thing to happen in all this).

Asmo scolds Mammon for scaring him and tells him not to appear outta thin air like that (that's such a 'Lucifer Trait' tho that i don't think we've seen from Mammon before?) - Mammon says he'll do what he wants. He then asks if MC is Asmo's 'newest plaything'. Asmo says no but can you imagine tho😍 After Belphie and Beel introduce MC as a lost angel, Mammon sounds oddly skeptical and says he's never heard of an "MC" before. Beel introduces Mammon as a throne who acts as Lucifer's assistant. He says that Mammon can be trusted cause outta all the thrones he's Lucifer's most trusted. Asmo says that Mammon used to be a troublemaker and that Michael hadn't known what to do with him but that he's grown into someone who, more than anyone else in the Celestial Realm, can do anything he puts his mind in to. Mammon says he doesn't like the way Asmo introduced him and Belphie says it's true though cause they all thought Mammon was just a step away from being cast out (fdshgfwdygds explains why Lucifer worries so much over Mammon in the present cause he's gone back to being a troublemaker). MC can ask about 1.) the being cast out thing - Mammon says the others are exaggerating even though things have changed. 2.) being a throne - blushing Mammon says that he was an archangel and that Lucifer recommended him as a throne. 3.)question him about being able to do anything - he snaps at them for looking disbelieving and says he's talented. Belphie says mammon used to be awful and ngl these made me laugh - mammon brought back pigeon feathers from the human world and tried to sell them to the lower rank angels by telling them they were Raphael's feathers, he also ordered around the army of angels for fun and said he was playing angel chess. Mammon says they were just innocent pranks and were no big deal and MC ever the enabler agrees with him. Mammon says it seems like MC's actually got some sense and says he likes them and that they're cool. Mammon then stutters and asks MC why they're staring at him 'like that' and imagine the amount of shit going through MC's head at seeing Mammon like this? From all the brothers he's arguably the one they're closest with (even if it's not in a romantic sense) so seeing him in a world where he's respected by his brothers and has this kinda calm confidence that he doesn't have as a demon, imagining what must have happened between then and the present for things to change the way they have, finding out he's still a troublemaker, still wholly Mammon, and just has to squash down those urges here, remembering all the times the more responsible side of him came out as a demon and getting to see a version of himself where that side is more prominent. Seeing him so easily say that he likes them without any of the protests he had as a demon. Realising that Mammon's more 'tsundere' characteristics are all a defense mechanism to protect himself from opening up and being hurt and that in the present after realising they genuinely care about him he starts dropping them. realising that as both an angel and a demon he took a look at them and thought 'this one, i like.' Just!??? Ah. :). Anyway back to the chapter- He starts blushing and tells them to stop staring. Belphie asks Mammon if he wants to be like Lucifer, blushing Mammon asks so what if he does. Belphie says that's never gonna happen so he should give up while he's ahead (made me wanna punch him) and that Mammon is not Lucifer and is instead Mammon and that he can't become something he's not (made me wanna hug him). Mammon tells Belphie to shut up and asks why he cares anyway and that with enough time one day he might do it and that he doesn't care what belphie says and that they should just watch him. and isn't it sad that Mammon will never get that time, and yeah it's a good thing that now as a demon he's just being Mammon without trying to be lucifer but he was never given the time to figure that out for himself and it explains all the issues/complexes Mammon has regarding Lucifer and shit imagine losing MC to the man he respects and loves but who he will always see himself as second best to and who he was always trying to reach, the man he believed he could have become until the fall and until he gave up and let his sin and his more real self takeover?? Since Mammon never had the time to realise that it's better to be yourself than someone else if MC ends up choosing Lucifer he'll always have that 'what if' in the back of his head and that shit hurts dude. MC can then say something about them all really loving Lucifer, Mammon blushes and stutters and said that nobody said anything about loving lucifer. Beel, Belphie and Asmo all say they love Luicfer (but not his lectures). Mammon growls and says he hates them and Asmo calls him out on being really obvious about loving lucifer as well, Mammon blushing says he doesn't. Or they can tell Mammon they're rooting for him. He's suprised and then stutters and blushes and asks if they really will. Then still blushing and stuttering he tells MC to stop staring at him like that again. MC's such a pining idiot i can't handle it. Beel changes the subject and asks why Mammon was looking for them. Lucifer had sent Mammon to find the twins cause Beel never returned with Belphie. He also tells Asmo that Raphael was walking around with his spear looking for him. He then calls them to head to the Celestial Palace. Asmo says that if the Seraphim find out about MC it'll make things worse and who knows what they'll do to all of them. They decide they should hide MC someplace.

Inside the palace Mammon yells at MC to stop looking at everything with wide eyes (did this happen before? when he was showing them around the devildom during the first lesson? I can't remember but my love for parallels is praying it did) cause they're already sticking out by being a bunch of high ranking angels gathered together. Asmo tells Mammon he needs to be nicer. He says that there's no reason to worry cause Lucifer and the others are on the higher floors. Belphie says that this makes it the perfect spot to hide when they wanna skip work. MC says that even angels need a break sometimes. Asmo says the seraphim are bossy and never cut them any slack. Beel asks MC if they are close to any other angels. If MC says Luke no one knows who that is cause the baby hasn't been born yet🥺. If MC says Simeon, Belphie's surprised and Beel says that outta all the Seraphim Simeon's the most easygoing. AND holy shit??? During the last lesson Simeon said he was an archangel which means that he was demoted at some point?????? And considering how close he was with Lucifer and possibly the others as well,,,,,,,,,,could it be possible that he was demoted after the fall? That though he didn't come with them he helped them escape in someway? or looked aside while they escaped? or knew about Lilith and her human? Or knew Lucifer was becoming more disillusioned? Belphie says it's not that Simeon's easygoing but rather that the others are too intense. Mammon asks if they should hand MC over to Simeon and Asmo says another Seraphim would spot them before they reached him. They stop outside their secret room aka the slacking off room. When the door is opened MC and possibly Beel get drenched in water while Belphie, Asmo and possibly Mammon manage to jump away. "???" says that to get entry they need to say the secret phrase.

belphie asks if they really need a secret phrase and levi says they never know when the seraphim will show up, mammon says that if they do show up a secret phrase wouldn't stop them from coming inside. Levi says whatever and asks who MC is. Asmo scolds him for the way he worded the question but still introduces MC. Levi suspects that MC is one of Michael's agents who was sent to verify that levi is 'as much of an useless waste of space as I seem to be'. MC snaps 'That's not true!' and Levi is startled and blushes. And Mammon, holy shit Mammon says what in my humble opinion is one of the funniest lines in the series,: "That's right, Levi. It's not true. I mean, just look at MC's face... See that absentminded stare... like there's nothin' going on upstairs? Does that look like the face of one of Michael's agents? I don't think so." WHY did he have to come for MC so hard!???? this came literally outta nowhere and it made me laugh so hard??? Worst of all? it made me realise a horrid horrid truth; Mammon considers himself a morosexual I'm in tears???? Levi says it's better to be absentminded than to be a waste of space. Belphie says that Levi commanded Lotan and the army of angels in the war against the demons and was basically their general. Beel says that now that the Celestial Realm is at peace Levi feels like he has no purpose. Asmo says that someone from the younger generation took over the Devildom which is why the war ended, though Mammon says the transition isn't official yet. Levi tells them to shut up and Mammon tells him that sitting around being grumpy wouldn't do anything and that he should at least enjoy them being at peace. Levi says that he doesn't wanna hear that crap from Mammon cause Mammon being Lucifer's favourite means he can be an airhead and still have his future secured, while levi would be a dead weight, a leach and a burden to the entire realm without a war to fight (and i mean a lot of what levi said is pretty messed up but Mammon did get promoted from a warrior to Lucifer's right hand possibly after the war was over? while Levi's still a general in a realm at peace). When mammon gets pissed off at Levi's comment the others say that considering this isn't the first time that levi got into one of these moods mammon should just ignore him. Levi immediately latches onto that and says that they shouldn't interact with an useless bore of an angel like him cause it's just a waste of time. MC suggests that Levi find something else he can be passionate about and he says that there's nothing else for him. MC can recommend either anime or manga. since he doesn't know what these are MC then explains it to him in detail. he's interested but doesn't think a boring angel like him could actually get interested in anything like that (oh baby...). Belphie and Asmo are surprised that MC seems to know so much about the human culture when even Belphie doesn't know this much. '???' voice finds them and says it's interesting how much free time they seem to have. Kinda sad to find out that Levi got into anime cause he needed something to make him feel less useless in the aftermath of a war...

The brothers all freak out about being found by lucifer, who yells at Mammon for not bringing the twins to him and at Beel for not bringing Belphie and then at Belphie for oversleeping and missing the meeting and at Asmo, who he says should take care of the situation before he finds himself at 'the pointy end of Raphael's spear. do you think the Seraphim have divisions that they each head? Lucifer doesn't seem inclined to punish Asmo for breaking the rules like he would have in the Devildom and rather lets Raphael take care of it. Mammon trained under Michael before he met Lucifer - so when he was an archangel. And now as an archangel Simeon works for Michael. It's implied previously in this lesson that Lucifer had other thrones working for him. So? Lucifer then asks who MC is. MC says 'I know you' which makes Lucifer's affection meter go up but he says duh obviously you know me, everyone does (and I mean this in the most affectionate way possible but like what a fucking asshole). Asmo introduces MC as a lost angel and says they were planning to find Lucifer. Lucifer asks if they decided to hide MC cause they were scared the other seraphim would find out and this brings up so many questions - How mean exactly are the other seraphim? We know that the brothers are scared of Lucifer but comparatively Asmo's terrified of Raphael and Mammon of Michael. What exactly would the others do to a lost angel? Ik they said simeon was the most easygoing but is it possible Lucifer's the nicest? I mean he did adopt 6 oddball angels, he seems to be trying to help them rise through the ranks, he seems to deal with lost angels regularly, he knows about their slacking off room and hasn't told the others (to be fair tho if anyone needs a slacking off room it's lucifer), they trusted him not to get mad about their room and about the weird 'angel' they found... Mammon changes the subject by asking Lucifer if he was supposed to be heading down to the devildom, when Levi asks why he'd go there, Lucifer says the price is asking to meet with him. Lucifer's says he doesn't like going but that it's his job and that he doesn't have a choice. with the free 50 pulls I got the devilgram about this first meeting and holy shit?? Lucifer was such a bitch and Diavolo STILL took one look at him decided 'damn I'm gonna love this man'?????????? Also the prejudice the angels have against the demons is just??? Lucifer was surprised that education was a thing in the devildom????? The fact that diavolo wanted not just peace but to build a bridge between the three realms and lucifer didn't believe him cause 1.) ew demons are evil but more importantly 2.) 'if that was possible why hasn't my father tried to achieve that?' - just them showing lucifer slowly starting to question everything he was brought up with and his father who looked up to and practically hero-worshipped?? The symbolism of Lucifer finding the devildom clothes he was provided with more comfortable than his angel's armour? Lucifer warming up to diavolo in the end and i dunno guys it was such a good devilgram. i also got the devilgram where lucifer gets jealous of Barbatos, sulks about it, then whines to MC and finally tries to bake cookies for Diavolo... it's not significant to anything i just needed to say that out loud. Back to the main storyline; MC can ask him whether he doesn't like demons or whether he doesn't want to go the devildom. his answer to both is basically 'ew of course not'. He then tells MC he'll ask Michael to help them. MC tells him to have fun with Diavolo and to be friendly. Lucifer is shocked cause it almost sounds like MC knows Diavolo, and he says they're odd cause he feels like even though he just met them it doesn't really feel like that. Asmo agrees and says when he talks to MC it feels like he's talking to someone very dear to him. Mammon's surprised it's not just him who feels that. Belphie says it's a mysterious feeling and Beel says maybe they've all met somewhere before. Levi says maybe MC reminds them of someone they know. Belphie says: "Hey, wait a second. Does MC remind you of Li-" He's cut off by the whole screen going white and '???' saying 'oh dear, what a mess...'

The voice laments about how often Solomon messes shit up, and asks how he could possibly create food that has odd effects on both humans and demons, and that it can't even be classified as food anymore and should be considered a magic potion. They say that Solomon doing these kinda shit without even realising is the worst part. The voice says that MC's consciousness was sent to the past through their dreams cause of Solomon's cooking and that solomon had created an immortality elixir by accident too once. the voice says that despite being a decent human with a good head on his shoulders Solomon can sometimes be more troublesome than the demons cause despite the way he acts he doesn't actually understand his own power. The voice says they'll send MC back home and that they'll forget everything that happened but the effect they had on the brothers as angels will carry on to the future and that in order to ensure the effect doesn't have negative consequences someday the voice will keep an eye on MC from now on. And that the voice will have to think about Simeon as well. They say goodbye until they meet MC again. MC wakes up next to a sleeping Asmo in his bed. When Beel tells them they're finally done cleaning up the bathroom MC tells him they had a wack dream but that they can't remember what it was, Beel says maybe it's something they're better off forgetting. There's a locked chapter that i can't open :')

The lessons over but I've got notes so hear me out!

1. ) The paradox of Mammon and MC's pact- in the previous lesson Mammon said he doesn't make pacts with random humans except as far as we knew then MC was a random human when he made the pact with them. Mammon being the fastest of the brothers also means he could have easily gotten Goldie back without making the pact. This lesson reveals that MC was never a random human and that they'd met thousands of years prior to their 'first meeting' and though neither Mammon nor MC would have remembered that meeting the effect of it would have still carried on. The effect of MC supporting Mammon's schemes and his dreams, the effect of him being flustered by them, of them staring at him in a way that made him blush, of him deciding he liked them, of him feeling like he already knew them and being able to comfortably tease them. And it's probably all of this that led Mammon to make a pact with them. Except MC was stared at him and supported him as an angel cause they already knew him and cared about him as an angel cause they had a pact together and were friends. tldr; the only reason Mammon made a pact with MC was cause they were familiar to him, the only reason they were familiar to him was cause they were nice to him when he was angel, and the only reason they were nice to him as an angel was cause they already had a pact with him and were friends and so on and so on.

2. ) They have so much freedom in the Devildom holy shit??? They went from having a council of scary vaguely sadistic control freaks to just one. They can do whatever they want without any real consequences while in the Celestial Realm a party was seen as something evil? None of them have any real duties in the devildom while they were so busy in the celestial realm they needed a secret room to slack off

3. ) the seraphim seem so much more controlling than diavolo? I mean the man takes any excuse to throw a party and is currently whining about not being allowed to go the human world. While in the celestial realm just talking about wanting to be human is a punishable offence. And yeah sure you could say that I'm comparing the past celestial realm vs the current devildom and that the current celestial realm has probably eased up a lot EXCEPT 01.) in the devilgram with Lucifer's and Diavolo's first meeting Diavolo seems exactly the same as he currently is. 02.) Luke - who is a fairly new angel- 's attitude when he first arrives in the devildom is scarily similar to Lucifer's attitude in the devilgram where he first meets Diavolo 03.) the angel event proves that the Celestial Realm still has a set view on what angels should be like and that the brothers never fit this view

4.) Forming of their sins - the brothers were definitely the odd ones out in the celestial realm even if they were pretty famous and they all had less intense versions of their sins even back then. MC who knows them for only their sins, reinforced them when they were angels which probably led to them embracing these sins more, which would have helped with their fall and with fully developing their sins

5. ) I feel like we might actually get to see michael???? They've been dragging and teasing about finally meeting him for so long.

Pls come talk to me about this lesson! I'm desperate rn i need to hear more thoughts and theories!

#asks #answers #obey me spoilers #obey me #obey me shall we date #shall we date? obey me!#swd obey me #obey me!#obey me mammon #om! mammon #swd mammon #mammon x mc #mammon x reader #my fics #my fic #fics #fic

17 notes · View notes

perfectirishgifts · 4 years

Text

The 13 Best Korean Dramas Of 2020

New Post has been published on https://perfectirishgifts.com/the-13-best-korean-dramas-of-2020/

The 13 Best Korean Dramas Of 2020

Bae Suzy and Nam Joo-hyuk partner up in ‘Start-Up.’

Although 2020 will make the history books for all the wrong reasons, it was a great year for Korean dramas. With a slew of big budget hits and small quirky stories, k-dramas offered plenty of innovative entertainment to help viewers happily pass pandemic time.

Every drama viewer may have a different list of favorites, but here are a few 2020 dramas that stood out in terms of originality, subject matter and execution.

Park Seo-joon created one of the year’s most memorable k-drama characters in ‘Itaewon Class.’

Itaewon Class

The year started off with the quirky hit Itaewon Class, in which Park Seo-joon’s character overcomes so many odds that he naturally sympathizes with those who society may shun. When opening a cafe he hires employees that others might not and those choices contribute to his success. Park’s generous character is one of the year’s most likable and the drama also features top-notch performances by Kim Da-mi, Kwon Nara, Yoo Jae-Myung and Ahn Bo-hyun.

Why see it? If you’ve never been to Seoul’s international neighborhood of Itaewon, this drama takes you there. The drama provides plenty of feel-good moments and a great soundtrack, including a contribution by BTS member V.

Kim Hee-ae and Park Hae-joon star in ‘The World of The Married.’

World of the Married

Although this drama has not yet made it to all international audiences, it was a huge hit in Korea, enjoying both critical success and nationwide ratings of 28.37%. World of the Married, an adaptation of the BBC series Dr. Foster, stars Kim Hae-ae. Kim plays a doctor who thinks her life is perfect until she learns that her husband, played by Park Hae-joon, has been cheating on her. Even worse, all their friends know.

Why see it? Kim won Best Actress at the Baeksang Awards for playing the drama’s protagonist Ji Sun-woo and the drama was a breakout hit for supporting actress Han Seo-hee. There’s also the guilty pleasure of watching a woman scorned exact revenge on those who betrayed her.

The legal drama ‘Hyena’ starred Kim Hye-soo and Ju Ji-hoon.

Hyena

The drama’s leading characters, played by Kim Hye-soo and Ju Ji-hoon, each have their own approach to practicing law. She’s a scrappy small-time lawyer with questionable ethics and he’s a self-satisfied high-profile lawyer at a top firm. Despite their differences—and getting off to a bad start when she scams him—they turn out to be good for each other.

Why see it? Ju delivers a pitch-perfect performance, with his every twitch and grimace creating an unforgettable character. Ju and Kim have undeniable chemistry that sizzles through episodes of fast-paced high-stakes legal entanglements.

Bae Doona played a zombie-fighting nurse in the second season of ‘Kingom.’

Kingdom 2

The second season of this historical zombie drama was even better than the first. Kingdom 2 also stars Ju Ji-hoon as the prince trying to save his country from a zombie invasion as well as inner court corruption. What makes the second season better than the first is a larger role for actress Bae Doona, whose character takes time out from nursing the sick to battle the undead.

Why see it: It’s a zombie story with a historical and moral twist.

Start Up

Nam Joo-Hyuk and Bae Suzy star in this story of a small tech start-up that gets a chance to compete on a bigger stage. When Bae’s character Seo Dal-mi was young she received encouraging letters from a man named Nam Do-san, but the letters were really written by Kim Seon-ho’s character Han Ji-pyeong. When a grown-up Dal-mi decides to find the real Do-san, played by Nam, Ji-pyeong asks Do-san to pretend he really wrote the letters. Do-san and Dal-mi are perfect for each other but their budding relationship is based on a lie.

Why see it? The story of how the start-up gets started is interesting. Each of the actors—from the leads to the supporting cast— is imperfectly endearing and Kim wins this year’s unofficial prize for being the most appealing second lead.

Lee jun-ki is a potential serial killer married to the detective played by Moon Chae-won in ‘Flower … [] of Evil.’

Flower of Evil

What would you do if you found out you were married to a serial killer? It might be happening to Moon Chae-won’s police detective character in Flower of Evil. Her devoted husband, played by Lee Jun-ki, has a mysterious past that ties him to a serial killer. Did he also commit murders? If he is a serial killer, does his wife love him enough to look past the incriminating clues?

Why see it? Although some of the drama’s plot occasionally veers into the illogical, the relationship between the leads is so charismatic that the drama acquired a loyal and enthusiastic following. The mystery is sufficiently complex and Lee’s tortured performance as the suspected serial killer is mesmerizing.

Park So-dam played Park Bo-gum’s makeup artist in ‘Record of Youth.’

Record of Youth

Record of Youth features ambitious likable protagonists trying to find their place in a highly competitive world. Park Bo-gum plays a model so charming it’s hard to imagine why he’s not already a success at the story’s start. Park So-dam plays a talented make-up artist with dreams. She’s also a devoted fan of his modeling career.

Why see it? Park Bo-gum’s character is as bright as a shiny penny, ever optimistic and upbeat, despite not having much support for his dreams. Watching Park So-dam act is always a pleasure and the real star of the drama might be Han Jin-hee, who plays Park Bo-gum’s supportive grandfather.

Seo Ye-ji aggressively pursues Kim Soo-hyun in ‘It’s Okay Not To Be Okay.’

It’s Okay Not To Be Okay

Easily the most visually appealing drama of 2020, It’s Okay Not To Be Okay stars two of k-drama’s most photogenic actors Seo Ye-ji and Kim Soo-hyun as a twisted children’s book author and the psychiatric nurse she needs to calm her nightmares. Not only are the actors beautiful, but the drama’s graphics, cinematography and costumes are also gorgeous.

Why see it? The drama explores the topics of autism and the mental scars created by early trauma. Oh Jung-se’s performance as Kim’s autistic brother was one of the best of the year.

‘The Good Detective’ is a fast-paced crime thriller starring Son Hyun-joo and Jang Seung-jo.

The Good Detective

The Good Detective delivers a Scandi-noir vibe with its insightful character development plus some over-the-top, superhero police action scenes. The drama stars Son Hyun-joo, who might have the most expressive face of any k-drama actor, and Jang Seung-jo as a detective whose super-power is having a fortune.

Why see it? The Good Detective is an involving police procedural with top-rate performances. Oh Jung-se plays a hard-hearted villain, a dramatically different role than his vulnerable character in It’s Okay Not To Be Okay.

Nana plays a woman who pursues politics for a paycheck despite Park Sung-hoon’s objections.

Into The Ring

The wry comedy stars Nana, formerly a member of k-pop group After School, and Park Sung-hoon, who recently played a convincing but comical killer in Psychopath Diary. Nana plays a plucky unemployed woman who runs for office, motivated largely by the paycheck, but also from a sense of justice. Although Park initially finds her irritating, he eventually helps her fight local corruption.

Why see it? Nana is so charismatic in this role, viewers may want to see everything she’s ever done. She and Park develop a low-key lovable comic rapport that keeps a story about local politics happily enjoyable.

‘My Dangerous Wife’ is a cat-and-mouse mystery within the story of a marriage.

My Dangerous Wife

In this dark comedy Choi Won-young plays a chef who plans to murder his wealthy wife, so he can inherit her money, but when he arrives home with a poisoned bottle of wine he finds she has been kidnapped. The note the kidnappers left behind warns him not to contact the police or they will kill his wife. Should he? It sounds like an opportunity.

Why see it: Interesting plot twists and turns make this drama fascinating to the very last episode. The complex storyline involves a mistress, a mysterious old friend, a detective with a suspicious wife, and a set of curious next door neighbors with secrets of their own.

Son Ye-jin and Hyun Bin experience an impossible love in ‘Crash Landing On You.’

Crash Landing On You

Crash Landing On You, which first aired in Dec. 2019, successfully introduced a wider international audience to the joys of k-drama viewing. The mega-hit, starring Hyun Bin and Son Ye-jin, follows the story of a South Korean heiress who accidentally lands in North Korea and is helped by a North Korean officer at the risk of his own life.

Why see it? Everything about the drama is top-notch—the cinematography, the romantic storyline and the excellent performances from the lead and supporting actors. The drama also offers some interesting insight into North Korean daily life.

Shin Sung-rok stars in the paranormal thriller ‘Kairos.’

Kairos

Kairos is a tense paranormal thriller about karmic debt. In this drama two people who live in different times stumble on a supernatural way to talk and thus untangle their preventable personal tragedies. Shin Sung-rok plays a callous businessman whose daughter is kidnapped. Lee Se-young plays a woman whose mother disappears. Together they must change fate but they can’t connect in their own time. This plot device was used in the film The Call and the k-drama Signal, but it feels fresh in Kairos, given the carefully crafted moments of suspense and some intriguing performances.

Why see it? Both Shin and supporting actor Ahn Bo Hyun do an excellent job of portraying men who question what they once held sacred.

Which dramas made your list?

From Hollywood & Entertainment in Perfectirishgifts

13 notes · View notes

highandlowculture · 4 years

Text

MEET THE NEW WEST, SAME AS THE OLD WEST

In the second act of Once Upon A Time… In Hollywood, washed-up actor Rick Dalton is on the set of a TV western as his stuntman and best buddy, Cliff Booth is revisiting Spahn Ranch, a former set for movie westerns. The ranch has been taken over by a bunch of hippies who follow some guy name “Charlie”. The heavy of the hippies is a fella by the name of Tex Watson. When conflict arises between Cliff and the hippies, one of the girls runs off to fetch Tex, who’s busy showing a tourist couple around the ranch. Hearing that there’s trouble brewing, Tex snaps to it, galloping across the western landscape on horseback and wearing a black hat. It’s a sweeping shot straight out of a John Ford film. That’s when it clicked for me…

Tarantino has made his third western.

Although there were always spaghetti western elements in his films (especially in Kill Bill vol. 2), QT hadn’t made a full-fledged western until 2012’s Django Unchained. Though entertaining and with an African-American lead, the film is his most straight-forward movie. We know who the heroes are, we know who the villains are. Wrongs are righted with a six-shooter and a hero’s grin. Its followup was another western, 2015‘s The Hateful Eight, a much darker and far less heroic film. All of the characters are flawed if not outrightly fucked-up. If Django Unchained was the sumptuously shot crowd pleaser, The Hateful Eight was the claustrophobic, nihilistic reversal. The western myth of heroes and villains is subverted by an unsavory group of characters who drag each other through snow, blood and racial slurs. Maybe the Old West was a pretty rough place to live in after all!

And now, in 2019, QT transports us to another Old West: 1969 Hollywood.

Fifty years ago. Half a century. Pretty old, right?

Already contentious with reviewers, one of the main debates surrounding Once Upon A Time… In Hollywood is its handling of Sharon Tate and the Manson Family. In the summer of ’69, when Tate, her unborn baby and her houseguests were brutally murdered by three members of the Manson Family, it sent shockwaves throughout Hollywood and America. The utopian dream of the 1960s was over. That’s the sanitized, less complicated history anyway. At the time many people were blaming satanism and Tate’s husband Roman Polanski for his hedonistic ways. Plus anyone deep in the trenches of late 60s hipdom knew that some of the peace-and-love spouting Flower Children might be psychopaths that could turn on a dime. Such darkness was foreshadowed in the music of The Doors and Velvet Underground. As Joan Didion recalled in her seminal work The White Album:

“Black masses were imagined, and bad trips blamed. I remembered all of the day’s misinformation very clearly, and I also remember this, and wish I did not: I remember that no one was surprised.”

Knowing this I find it disappointing just how many reviewers fail to see how sympathetic QT is to Sharon and her friends. They’re shown as cool people with a good vibe (only Roman is shown to be prickish when he speaks rudely to a dog). Sharon and Jay Sebring like to listen to records and enjoy life. No satanism. No orgies. And Sharon’s a generous person. She picks up hippie hitchhikers and buys her husband a Thomas Hardy novel. She relishes the communal experience of watching herself in the Dean Martin film The Wrecking Crew. It’s not just about her. She’s enjoying the connection she’s making with the theater’s audience. On the infamous August night, the film’s narrator talks about how Sharon, in the late stage of her pregnancy, was feeling hot and anxious. In short, Sharon is humanized. She’s a thoughtful, spirited and benevolent presence throughout the film. I think reviewers who view her just as “a Barbie doll” are revealing more of their own lack of empathy than QT’s. And people getting hung-up on how many lines her character speaks have some skewed priorities. As if the only way a person has worth is if they talk a lot. Talking. Talking. Talking. There are so many empty vessels running at the mouth these days. Social media voices bombard us constantly. There’s something to be said for some quiet dignity every once in awhile. Regardless, Once Upon A Time… In Hollywood isn’t Sharon’s film and it’s not a biopic. It’s Rick and Cliff’s film and it’s a western.

If comedy is “tragedy plus time”, then the same can be said for any work of art. The mythology of the Old West often mixed historical and fictional characters. Whether they were Billy The Kid, Wyatt Earp or Butch Cassidy, we’ve seen countless retellings of their exploits, never exactly the same, never entirely accurate. That’s what makes it a myth. A good portion is made-up. Going back to Homeric and Arthurian legends, the foundation of storytelling has always been a collision of fact and fiction, chronicle and embellishment. People make too much of QT altering historic events. Are the Nazis of Inglourious Basterds and the Manson Family of Once Upon A Time… In Hollywood any different than any other mythical villains of earlier works of art? If a filmmaker can’t riff on a fifty-year-old historical event, then what are we really doing here? Do we just want the cinema of Marvel Comics and discreet biopics? QT doesn’t treat history any different than the filmmakers of the 1960s treated the events of the 1860s. Tex Watson, galloping away in his black hat, is a signpost for this. It’s QT’s way of saying: “Every time has its myths, every time has its black hats and white hats”. And the Manson Family, filled with bloodlust and megalomania from the top down, fulfill the role of black-hatted villains quite perfectly.

Does this make Rick and Cliff, two middle-aged white guys who love booze and hate hippies, our white-hatted heroes? Hell, no. With the exception of Django Unchained, that was never QT’s bag. He’s all about the anti heroes of spaghetti westerns and Sam Peckinpah films. Men who have done plenty of bad, sometimes unspeakable, things. They’re only the hero because they wrestle with their past and because there’s always a meaner, badder fella waiting to shoot it out with ‘em. Clint Eastwood’s character in the The Good, the Bad and the Ugly is only “Good” because Lee Van Cleef is so clearly “Bad” (and Eli Wallach “Ugly”). In 1992’s The Unforgiven, Eastwood’s character talks of killing “women and children” in his past. Yet he’s still clearly our hero. The Old West is a morally complex time in which one’s heroism is often defined by a greater and competing villainy.

So when it’s revealed that Cliff possibly murdered his wife and got away with it, he’s stepping into the role of anti hero with a dark past. Is Cliff haunted by his past? Not seemingly. He’s more inclined to shrug it off with a smirk and swig of beer. Shit happens y’know. This makes him exactly the type of guy murderous hippies shouldn’t fuck with. They justify their bloodlust with a self-serving philosophical bent: Entertainers taught them to kill via TV and movies, so it’s okay to kill the people who are involved in making TV and movies. QT makes the bold and provocative choice to not confirm whether Cliff did or didn’t kill his wife, but if he did, he probably wouldn’t dress it up as anything other than a burst of brutish violence that he was lucky to get away with. He loves his dog though, and he’s a good friend. In real life that might not justify liking the guy, but in a western that’s usually enough. Ultimately these character choices made by QT are to set up a mythic showdown between Cliff and the Manson Family. He’s good because they’re bad. It’s the same reason Cliff was shown going head-to-head with Bruce Lee. Masked racism by QT, a known lover of Asian and martial arts films, or a way of building up Cliff’s status to mythical proportions? There was once this ex war hero, who became a stuntman and maybe killed his wife, and he once threw Bruce Lee into a car door on the set of The Green Hornet! Cliff is Paul Bunyan. He’s Bill Brasky. A folk hero for stuntmen and for his time.

And did you hear that one tale about Cliff and the Manson Family…?

Rick’s bread and butter is now guest-starring on various TV shows in which he plays the heavy and gets his ass kicked by the show’s star at the end of the episode. Rick is a boozy, bloated hot mess of a man who’s prone to crying. A lot. His first burst of tears in the film is at the Musso & Frank parking lot, after an agent gives Rick a harsh dose of reality regarding the state of his career. Cliff, always keeping his cool, gives Rick his sunglasses and says, “Don’t cry in front of the Mexicans.” Remember — this is a western. Anyway, if Cliff fills the role of macho, gives no fucks, murderous outlaw, Rick is the contrasting “modern man” or, to use a western term, “tenderfoot”. The film begins with a behind the scenes segment for Rick’s old show Bounty Law. In it an interviewer talks to Rick and Cliff about what a stuntman does. During the interview there’s a quip about Cliff carrying Rick’s load. So right out of the gate, QT brings our attention to the idea that Cliff is the real deal and Rick’s the actor playing a role. This notion is repeated throughout the film (even one of the Manson Girls, “Pussy”, makes reference to Cliff being more authentic because he’s a stuntman rather than an actor). Regardless of whether Cliff murdered his wife or not, he’s an ex military man and war hero, so obviously he’s killed people before. So in addition to taking falls and performing dangerous stunts for Rick, he’s more of a bona fide western anti hero than Rick ever could be. Fittingly, while Cliff and the Manson Family black hats are sizing each other up at Spahn Ranch, Rick is busy acting in a TV western. And Rick keeps crying. A lot. He even cries in front of a little girl who simultaneously coddles and reprimands him. No doubt, Cliff would view this as potentially worse than crying in front of Mexicans. But Rick can’t help himself. He’s both a man of his time and out of time. He can’t roll with the hippies and spaghetti westerns but he’d never last a day in Cliff’s shoes let alone the wild frontier. Even at the end, in which Rick finally gets the chance to become an avenging hero (involving possibly the greatest payoff in cinematic history) if one steps back and thinks of the climactic set-piece, Rick is merely stepping in at the end to grab all the glory after Cliff and his wonderful dog Brandy did most of the heavy lifting. Thus Cliff is yet again carrying Rick’s load.

But this doesn’t mean Rick doesn’t have a victory. He does. It just comes at the midpoint, and it’s the closest thing to a real-life victory in the film. When Rick shows up to play the heavy in the TV western, he’s reached his low-point. Like a different part of the anatomy going into ice-water in Raging Bull, Rick is submerging his face into ice-water in his trailer, struggling with a hangover and hopelessness. Making matters worse, the artsy director shows up and tells Rick he wants him to play a hippie-style outlaw with a fringe jacket, mustache and long hair. The only thing Rick does more than drink and cry is insult hippies. He’s living his worst nightmare as an actor. QT makes another one of his most interesting choices by showing the subsequent scenes from the TV show in the same film stock and style as the main narrative. Thus when juxtaposed to Cliff at Spahn Ranch, Rick’s battle with his growing irrelevance as an actor is given the same cinematic weight. This isn’t just a TV show within the movie — it is the movie! This battle or showdown is just as important as Cliff’s eventual showdown with the Manson Family. Rick struggles. He fucks up his lines. He comes totally unglued in his trailer. This looks like the end of the road for him as an actor. He eventually gets his shit together, embraces the role and goes for broke. It’s a credit to both QT as a filmmaker and Leo DiCaprio as an actor that the villain Rick plays in the TV show ends up being more intense and visceral than the one he played in the main narrative of Django Unchained. Rick’s chops as an actor are restored and he decides to go to Italy and star in spaghetti westerns. He learns to maximize his talent in order to roll with the times.

A protagonist who is at odds with changing times might seem regressive or even reactionary to some people today, but it’s also a hallmark of westerns, especially the westerns of the late 1960s and early 1970s. From Once Upon a Time in the West to Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, an impending future of railroads and industrialization is always treated with uneasiness by the heroes. These changing times aren’t going to include them. Their wild and free ways will soon come to an end. Nowhere is this theme most prominent than in the work of Sam Peckinpah. In many of his westerns, The Wild Bunch, The Ballad of Cable Hogue, Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid, the heroes are viewed as endangered creatures who are all too aware of their fate. The character of Cable Hogue even meets his end when a motor car rolls over him. He’s killed by the modern age! Another Peckinpah film from this era, Junior Bonner, is set in 1972 Arizona but can also be considered a western (creating a template for QT’s western that’s not set in the canonical “Old West”). The protagonist and title character is an aging rodeo star (brilliantly played by Steve McQueen, who perhaps not so coincidentally also appears in QT’s film). In Peckinpah’s film, Junior has lost his edge and returns home to take a breather and maybe get his chops back. His struggle is not unlike Rick Dalton’s. They’re both aging entertainers and they both fear they’re washed-up. And as with all of Peckinpah’s westerns, encroaching progress is a threat to Junior’s simple cowboy ways. All of these above mentioned westerns are filled with a bittersweet quality; a nostalgic snapshot that’s destined to become yellow and brittle. The power of myths is they suggest immortality for our heroes.They might be long gone but they live through these tales. Whether’s it’s the Old West of outlaws in dusty little towns or the Old West of ’69 Hollywood, people once lived in these places and they lived vibrant, foolhardy and sometimes dangerous lives. Maybe they didn’t live or die exactly as the tale accounts, but they did indeed live and they did indeed die.

In his film QT references another “man out of time” western: The Life and Times of Judge Roy Bean. Written by John Milius, directed by John Huston and starring Paul Newman, the film is a highly-fictionalized account of the life of Judge Roy Bean. At the climax an elderly Roy Bean reemerges from a self-imposed exile to have a showdown with businessmen who have surrounded his beloved town with oil rigs. When his enemies ask who he is, Roy Bean shouts “Justice, you sons of bitches!” This is immediately followed by a shootout in which Roy defeats his foes, blows up the surrounding oil rigs and goes out in a blaze of glory. In real life Roy Bean died in his bed after a heavy bout of drinking. What’s most interesting is how QT referenced The Life and Times of Judge Roy Bean. After the climax of Once Upon A Time… In Hollywood there’s a triumphant but wistful epilogue in which one of our heroes is faced with a future that we all know is a fantasy. Over this scene is an evocative piece of music that sounds like it’s from a fairytale and it plays over the end credits. The piece of music is entitled “Miss Lillie Langtry” and it’s the main theme from The Life and Times of Judge Roy Bean. Lillie Langtry was a British-American socialite Roy Bean was enamored with and he even went so far to name the saloon in his town after her. “Miss Lille Langtry” plays over the end credits of Once Upon a Time… In Hollywood and the opening credits of The Life and Times of Judge Roy Bean. But before the credits in Roy Bean we see written in storybook fashion:

“Near the turn of the last century the Pecos River marked the boundaries of civilization in western Texas. West of the Pecos there was no law, no order, and only bad men and rattlesnakes lived there.

…Maybe this isn’t the way it was… it’s the way it should be.”

With Once Upon a Time… In Hollywood, Quentin Tarantino pays homage to a socialite/actress who was tragically murdered before her time and two endangered heroes—one an outlaw stuntman, the other an entertainer—neither of who existed but men like them did. For two hours and forty-five minutes, the onward march of tragedy and time is defeated through a spirited, Old West mix of bravado and audacity. Maybe it’s not the way it was…

But it’s the way it should be.

#Quentin Tarantino #Once Upon A Time In Hollywood #western #hollywood

41 notes · View notes

smokeybrand · 4 years

Text

Smokey brand Select: Violent Delights

I was waxing nostalgic the other day about the Nineties version of Romeo and Juliet, about how much i actually like certain aspects of that film and absolutely abhor others. It got me pondering how much i unabashedly enjoy Shakespeare and many of the big screen adaption of “his” work. These things run the gambit of genre and i think it’s a ripe subject to kind of pick from. I mean, there are just so many ways to adapt this cats catalog and i figure i might as well pick out my favorites.

10. Forbidden Planet

This movie ain’t great. It;s not. But love it anyway. I have a soft spot for those old timey, Fifties, monster flicks and Forbidden Planet is one of the best. It’s campy schlock, don’t misunderstand, but i used to watch this thing late night, right before regular TV went of air. It’s the worst, but i appreciate the fact that it’s true to its time and is one of the very, very, few adaptions of The Tempest. That play never gets the love it deserves.

9. Ophelia

Ophelia is Hamlet from the perspective of his wife, Ophelia. It’s an interesting take on the Hamlet narrative, not really one of would gravitate toward if not for this ridiculously stellar cast, particularly Daisy Ridley. She kills the role as Ophelia and kind of makes you want to see where this version of the story goes. I definitely prefer the tragedy of Hamlet over this take on the narrative, but Ophelia definitely stands on it’s own and is totally worth a watch.

8. She’s the Man

Listen, this is a guilty pleasure. She’s the Man ain’t great. It’s actually pretty terrible, but i love it for how earnest this film is in telling it’s story. An adaption of Shakespeare’s gender-swap farce, Twelfth Night, it’s one of the few, comedic, plays that got the big screen treatment and Amanda Bynes carries this whole goddamn movie as this version’s Viola. I actually miss when Bynes wasn’t crazy and just made funny, endearing, sh*t like this. I mean, who doesn’t love Big Fat Liar, you know?

7. Scotland, PA

This is probably the most creative take on a Shakespeare property i have ever seen in my entire life. This is MacBeth, told as black comedy a la Fargo, set in a 1975 Pennsylvania fast food restaurant. Yeah. I’m not even going to go any further into it. This was one of the most ridiculous viewing experiences i’ve ever had and i loved very second of it.

6. Hamlet

I feel like this is a cheat, like there would be something different here. I actually pondered the Lion King because, technically, that’s a Hamlet adaption but, the more i thought about it, the more this one had to go on the list. It’s just that good. The1996 version of Hamlet, directed, screenplay written by, and starring Kenneth Branagh, is a whole ass classic. It’s a straight forward interpretation of the original play only updated with a nineteenth century aesthetic, which fits the narrative surprisingly well. This version of Hamlet is high f*cking art, man. It’s gorgeous in every way. The score, the costumes, the sets, the colors; All of it is a legitimate feast for the eyes. That said, this motherf*cker is four hours long so, you know, understand that sh*t going in. It;s worth, don’t misunderstand, it’s just real long in the tooth, man.

5. My Own Private Idaho

Idaho is probably the bleakest film on this list. Gus Van Zant is pretty great at capturing the sordid, cruel, reality of the human experiences which makes his adaption of Shakespeare’s Henry tetralogy. I don’t much go for European history for reasons, but i dug this flick and how it kind of mutes all of the glamour and Victorian nonsense for a more guttural, street level, desperation. My Own Private Idaho is not an easy watch I t can be incredibly difficult to get through at times but that doesn’t mean it’s not a brilliant film. that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t take on this challenge. The performance that River Phoenix gives, alone, is enough for admission. As dope as Joaquin is at his craft, River was definitely the superior talent and that is no more apparent than in this movie.

4. 10 Things I Hate About You

The Taming of the Shrew is actually one of my favorite Shakespeare plays and this film, 10 Things I Hate About You, is one of the best versions of that narrative. This film is f*cking hilarious. It’s outstanding and unique and never strays from the heart of it’s inspiration. Plus, i mean, it’s got a young Heath Ledger just stealing all of the scenes. When you watch him in this, you know dude has all of the talent. This film is why i was completely okay with him as Joker when they announced it. Everyone else lost their sh*t but me? I remembered Ledger’s Patrick Verona and knew the role was in good hands.

3. Throne of Blood

If i had to choose a favorite Shakespeare story, it’s definitely MacBeth. I love that sh*t. There’s intrigue, betrayal, violence, lust, and even a little magic; Everything you need to build an intriguing plot. Take the basic narrative and funnel it through a true master of film like Akira Kurosawa and you get a real classic like Throne of Blood. This is an old one, it dropped back in ‘57, but it’s worth a watch. Kurosawa was a true visionary in his craft and the way he was able to, not only adapt but elevate the source material? F*cking amazing, man. Y’all should watch more Akira Kurosawa, man. He’s one of the most influential filmmakers ever to do it and it’s for good reason. Also, f*cking more MacBeth adaptions, please? There are only, like, six. The f*ck, yo?

2. Romeo + Juliet

I’ve already spoken about my love for this decidedly Nineties take on that classic, uncomfortably problematic, laughably toxic, romance that’s just rife with all of the tragedy and tropes. Why the double-dip? Because i love it THAT much! Tybalt, Mercutio, the aesthetic, that soundtrack; F*cking chef kiss, bro! If you’ve never seen this version of Romeo and Juliet, you don't love yourself enough.

1. Ex Machina

Yeah, that’s right, this f*cking masterpiece of existential, cyberpunk dread, is based on Shakespeare, too! Motherf*ckers wouldn’t know because it’s kind of a deep cut but a lot of the themes from The Tempest, actually my second favorite Shakespeare outing, ring true to Garland’s narrative. I mean, do i really have to explain why i love this movie so much? Actually, i have. Repeatedly. My praise for this movie is rife throughout the backlog of this blog. This thing has made multiple of the Select lists because it’s so f*cking great. Obviously, it’s my favorite adaption but, more than that, like Throne of Blood, it’s just a great f*cking film by itself.

Honorable Mentions: The Lion King, Titus (1999), A Midsummer Night's Dream (1999), Men of Respect, Richard III (1995), Much Ado About Nothing (1993), Ran, MacBeth (2015), Coriolanus (2011), Get Over It

2 notes · View notes

ordinaryschmuck · 4 years

Text

What I thought about “Young Blood, Old Souls” from The Owl House

Salutations random people of the internet who probably won't read this. I am an Ordinary Schmuck. I write stories and reviews and draw comics and cartoons. Today, I am reviewing the season one finale of The Owl House. And by the way, there are zero dislikes that I have for this episode. Any issues I could have are either petty nitpicks, or just not worth talking about. So, for the first time ever, I'm going to share my thoughts unfiltered. No likes. No dislikes. Just my thoughts on why I think this episode turned out as great as it did. And in case you couldn't guess, there are going to be enormous spoilers for the finale itself, and The Owl House in general. So consider this your last warning as we dive in!

The opening narration: I'm a sucker for fairytale esque opening narrations in stories, and that's the feeling I got when watching this scene. Sure, you could say that it's an exposition dump that tells us stuff we already know, but I don't see it that way. I see it as a technique to set the mood of the episode, while also reminding us how much of a threat the Belos can be.

And again, let's ask ourselves: How much is accurate in this small history lesson, and which parts are made up by Belos? Because who's to say that he isn't the one who wrote the book that King is reading?

No intro: This. Was a shock.

Usually shows shorten the intro to it’s first and last portions, or at the very least, flash the opening logo. Never, to my knowledge, has a series straight-up drop both the intro and the logo. To me, that is a good sign of a great episode. Because no intro tells me that the writers had so much to put in, that they didn't want to waste a single second to even flash a logo.

Not that many jokes: The jokes were another appreciated, albeit well missed, absence within the episode. Because this is the season finale. An event that, depending on what show you make, needs to be taken seriously. And while I say that The Owl House is a comedy show with drama on the side, that doesn't mean it shouldn't focus on the drama if an episode calls for it. And an adventure where Luz has to save her mentor from an emperor who turns people to stone? Yeah. That's an experience where drama has to take center stage for the time being.

Luz is serious and angry: Don't get me wrong. I love Luz for her endless optimism and her ability to find fun in whatever situation she's in. But this is not the type of episode that requires that personality. If anything, I was happier to see Luz act more seriously rather than stick to her quirky personality. Because this proves that Luz isn't some oblivious goofball who can't see the darkness in the world. It shows that she understands when to be serious if the situation calls for it. This also reveals that not only can Luz get angry, but she can get downright vengeful. Her desire to make Lilith pay is not only understandable, but it's absolutely justified. Say what you want about her now, but what Lilith did to Luz in the last episode was awful. So I can't really blame her for getting angry at the mere sight of Lilith.

Now, if Luz were to remain with this angsty personality, then I would be less than ecstatic. But it seems pretty clear to me that angry Luz is a situation-dependent side of her personality that will only come out in the more dramatic episodes. This is evident with the fact that Luz's optimism returns after Eda comes back safe and sound. So while I came to enjoy angry Luz, I'm still going to prefer happy Luz any day.

Owl Beast Eda sticks her tongue out: I love the idea that this was a part of the real Eda shining through, just because the thought of Eda fighting a curse to get under Lilith's skin is just funny to me. And Lilith sticking her tongue out too was just icing on the cake.

Belos’ is still terrifying: That's it. That's all I have to say. We get even more of a glimpse of Belos' power, and it just cements how he's the most terrifying villain that Disney has made in years. Because I saw his fight with Luz (more on that later) as Belos holding back. Which makes me wonder: WHAT THE F**K IS IT GOING TO LOOK LIKE WHEN HE'S ALLOWED TO LET LOOSE?!

And if I'm being honest with you guys, I'm a little scared to find out the answer to that question.

Eda is partially the Owl Beast: This was a cheat, but an effective one. It gives Eda a chance to have actual speaking roles, while also nerfing her, so she doesn't escape. Would it have been more tragic if Eda spent the entire episode as an unintelligent monster? Maybe. But it also means Eda couldn't give Luz the portal (the most important thing in the finale) and not get to say goodbye to Luz (the most gut-wrenching scene in the finale). Say what you want about Eda being partially cursed, but I think it was a smart decision.

We meet Gus’ dad!: This might not seem like a big deal, but I certainly enjoyed it. Hell, I always appreciate it when I get to know more about the lives of characters in my favorite media. And finding out that Gus' dad is a news reporter? That's a nice reveal, even if it's not the most important thing to happen in the show.

Petrification: Sooooo, this is basically the death penalty. Let that sink in for a second. Because the world of this show, that's aimed for children, actually has a death penalty. Sure, the writers don't actually use the d-word. But turning people into stone with no way to turn them back? They might as well be dead at that point. And I actually like that The Owl House is allowed to go this dark. It raises the stakes much higher than any episode once we find out that Eda could die if Luz fails. And that's a thought I'm sure no one appreciates. Especially Luz.

Luz and King stepping on the grass: Hey, there may not be that many jokes in this episode, but that doesn't mean it isn't allowed to be hilarious. And, yeah, this got a huge laugh out of me. Both from how King and Luz look as they commit their "crime," and because of the guard's over-the-top reaction to it. It gets me everytime.

Warden Wrath’s high-pitched scream: Not much to say here other than I just thought it was funny. Because what also gets to me is when a "big scary character" does something pathetic like what Wrath did. And if you didn't hear his scream, go back to play this scene again. It's well worth it.

“Draw me a map!”: I don't know why I love this line so much. Maybe it's because Sarah-Nicole Robles' delivery made me laugh, or because it preemptively shuts up nitpickers who would ask how Luz knew where the detention center is. Either way, this was a great line.

Willow and Gus help...sort of: In the grand scheme of things, Willow and Gus didn't really do that much when helping Luz and Eda. Sure they got a crowd to chant about letting Eda go, but that effort didn't do anything to stop the petrification. Even that brief moment of standing up to the Emperor came to an end the second he showed up. Which means that it's an issue that Willow and Gus didn’t really help Luz, right?

That would true if it wasn't for the fact that Willow and Gus didn't immediately jump at the idea of backing Luz up if she needs them. That makes these two the perfect best friends that Luz could ask for, solely on that loyalty alone. Would it have been better to see them fight alongside Luz? Maybe, but I doubt Luz would actually want her friends risking everything for her vendetta. Besides, I doubt Willow and Gus would really be that much help compared to how quickly Lilith dismissed both of them in the last episode. So while they get a C for contribution and efficiency, they get an A+ for loyalty in my book.

Eda’s goodbye to Luz: Oh, man. And I thought Eda's goodbye in "Agony of a Witch" was painful. This? This actually got me misty-eyed. And I think the reason why it's more heartbreaking this time around is that Eda is fully showing her emotions in this scene. In my "Agony of a Witch" review, I said that Eda was trying to hide how dire the situation from Luz by smiling and playing the thing off as no big deal. She fails because her eyes and her voice cracks give away all of her feelings, but she still tried nonetheless. This time, however, Eda makes it clear how serious the situation is with both her expressions and tone of voice. Probably because the last time she tried to be gentle with Luz, her apprentice threw herself into the lion's den. So as a result, it comes off as more heartbreaking, given the fact that Eda makes it clear how serious their predicament is. And the fact that she not only says a real goodbye to Luz but practically pushes her away?! Add that with the fact that they share "I love you's" to each other, and you got a scene that just tears at the heartstrings.

Luz crying again: NnnnnnnOPE!!!

I already said that the single image of Luz crying was enough to break me. So seeing her just break down and sob her eyes out is more than enough to hurt the soul, man!

IT HURTS DA SOUL!

“Talk to the glyph, WITCH!”: You know for a FACT that if Luz was allowed to swear, she would use a very similar sounding word to describe Lilith. And I love that implication!

Luz can’t do magic in the human realm: Woah boy! It was one thing when we all predicted it. But to now have visual confirmation that Luz cannot, in fact, do magic in the human realm? Let's just say that adds a whole new level of heartbreak for when Luz has to go home. As well as an overflowing amount of angsty fanfics that plays with that idea.

Lilith’s backstory: ...

*DEEP INHALE*

I will hold off Fredrick Ulisinsburg for now. For. NOW. Because while Lilith's actions are nowhere near justified...it is clear that she does regret her actions. Lilith said it herself. She thought the curse would last for at least a day, and in no way intended for it to be permanent. It's still crappy of her to willingly curse Eda at all, but at least she didn't want her sister to live a life of torture. Plus, there's a sense of tragedy given the fact that Eda wasn't going to fight Lilith anyway. Lilith underestimating how much Eda truly cares must have made the guilt set in even more. And I hope that the show explores that in season two. Because while I think Lilith is on the right track towards redemption, what she did was awful, and I want her to actually earn her forgiveness. Not just hand it out because of a few acts of kindness (more on that later).

(Also bonus points for that foreshadowing with the sharing-the-pain spell. I did not think it would come up again in the way that it did.)

Baby Eda: Must. Protect. Baby. Eda.

Amity’s parents(?): It's yet to be officially confirmed (to my knowledge) that those students in the bleachers are Amity's parents. But if they are, then it's awesome that The Owl House crew snuck this reveal in the finale. They didn't need to do that, but the fact that they did just make schmucks like me happy.

Luz briefly looking out into the forest: So much is said about Luz with just these few short seconds. The fact that she hesitates going back to the Isles tells me that she's wondering if she should. Because right now, Luz has an out. She could say goodbye to her problems and run home to mami, especially given the fact that that's what Eda wants her to do. Except Luz would never do that. Because Luz has proven time and time again that she will not back down when it comes to helping the people she loves. Eda, Willow, Amity. These are all characters that Luz would do anything and everything for if it meant they would be safe. But that doesn't mean she won't briefly get tempted to escape. So while this moment of hesitation shows that Luz can have times of selfishness, her almost immediately running back proves that she will always choose the path of selflessness.

Lilith willing to be a double agent: This was the first sign of Lilith working her way towards redemption. Her willingness to still work for the Emperor's Coven, and to change it from the inside, is pretty admirable. It's almost a shame that she gets caught almost immediately. Because I would have loved to have seen Lilith's attempts to work against the Emperor to protect Luz and Eda from getting arrested. Not only for character growth reasons but because it would actually strengthen her redemption by having Lilith willingly risk everything for the right people.

Luz vs Emperor Belos: I could have never expected this. At least, not so soon. I always assumed Luz would fight Belos at some point, most likely in the series finale. Never would I have expected this confrontation to happen in the first season. And man, oh, man, what a fight! I'm sure some people are gonna complain how easy it was for Luz to fight back, but to those people: I have a few things to point out.

First off, Belos' line of, "I'll play," tells me that he's going easy on Luz. Nothing he does really looks like it would hurt Luz too badly-at least by his standard. And to me, it seems like Belos is treating the fight in a similar way a teenager lets a toddler "challenge" them. Because when you compare Luz's frantic movements to Belos' calm and calculated ones, it is clear who's the better fighter in this battle.

Second, Luz doesn't do that much. Sure she chips his mask with an ice spell. But that's the equivalent of how Iron Man's finishing move on Thanos only resulted in "a drop of blood." Every other glyph Luz uses during this fight was to protect herself rather than fighting back. And the fact that she barely got a chance to fight back, when the Emperor was going easy on her? Let's just say that it makes me even more terrified for Luz's safety when round two inevitably happens.

Lastly, Luz is someone who has what I like to call: Percy-Jackson-Syndrome. A character who's a bumbling idiot seventy-five percent of the time, a surprisingly good strategist for fifteen percent, and terrifying when angry in the last ten. And Luz has shown in the past that she has a sense of quick wit and strategy when fighting powerful foes. Her plan to beat Willow's inner-self, as well as Luz's plan of escape from Otabin, are two examples that come to mind that prove this. So it's not too much of a stretch that Luz is still alive after fighting Belos, because the one time she got the upper hand was by outsmarting him.

So again, good fight, and I'm terrified for round two.

Luz destroys the portal: This was a heroic sacrifice I didn't see coming, even though I really should have. If you've been paying attention to the episode titles, you'll notice that the first letter of each title spells out the phrase, "A witch loses a true way." A lot of people have been speculating what this phrase could mean. Even I dipped my toe in theorizing the right answer. It turns out the people who thought Luz would lose a "true way" back home were correct. But I don't think anybody could have thought that it would be Luz who would take away her only way back home. Not only is Luz being the one to destroy the portal tragic, but this sacrifice shows how much Luz cares about Eda. Luz is willing to say goodbye to everything she knows, for who knows how long, just so Eda can be safe. Plus, it's another moment of Luz defeating her enemy by outsmarting him. Which teaches kids that you don't need to fight harder. You just need to fight smarter.

Lilith shares the curse: This is another sign that Lilith is on the right path. While I still wouldn't say that I forgive Lilith, I will say this sacrifice makes me want to at least consider it.

Belos is fixing the portal: You want to know what makes a villain even more terrifying? The fact that every victory our hero has is more of a minor inconvenience towards the villain. Which is what this scene is. Because while Luz definitely won the battle, it looks Belos is planning on winning the war.

Eda looks different in the outro: I like this. You know why? Because it tells me that Eda being half cursed is not going to be fixed any time soon. Case in point: Willow was wearing her Abomination Track uniform during the intro and the credits, so as not to spoil the ending of episode three. For every episode after, Willow remained in her Plant Track uniform, and it looks like that's not going to change. So the fact that the crew is committing to Eda's design change, to the point where they change the credits as well, shows a great attention to detail. That also hints at a dynamic shift that will remain for the foreseeable future.

The finale makes me want more: To me, the best finales are the ones that resolve most stories but still opens up more for the next season. Because every narrative and conflict season one opened up has been closed. Lilith wanting to arrest Eda? Closed. Who cursed Eda? Closed. Amity's redemption? Please. That got closed, like, three episodes ago. And yet, this finale left me with more questions that I can't wait to get answered in season two.

How will the dynamic change now that Lilith is added into the main crew? What's the day of unity? Why does Emperor Belos want the portal to the human world? Who's that hooded figure that Belos sends to spy on the Owl House? How is being half-cursed going to affect Eda and Lilith? Can Eda still turn into the Owl Beast? Is Lilith going to turn into an Owl Beast now? Are we going to have an episode where Luz and King are going to deal with TWO Owl Beasts? And most importantly: WHEN THE HOLY F**K ARE LUZ AND AMITY GOING TO KISS ALREADY?!?! DO I SERIOUSLY HAVE TO WAIT DURING ANOTHER SEASON-which I'm totally fine with-TO SEE THESE TWO IDIOTS GET TOGETHER?!

I doubt I’ll ever know the answer to all of these questions, but it sure makes me more excited to see what happens next.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

So, yeah. "Young Blood, Old Souls" is a definite A+ of an episode. It had excellent drama, astonishing character moments, some closure to several stories, and even a few well-timed jokes on occasion. However, I wouldn't go so far as to say that it's the best episode of the season. It's definitely in the top five, for sure, but not the best. I'm more than willing to give that title to "Enchanted Grom Fright" just for the importance of it alone. Hell, I'd say that I enjoyed "Agony of a Witch" a lot more than "Young Blood, Old Souls." But, I'm willing to blame that on the same reason why Avengers: Infinity War is seen as the better movie than Avengers: Endgame. Whereas the first part did a great job at lifting up the stakes and tension, that part two pales in comparison from doing its job of giving closure. But that doesn't change the fact that "Young Blood, Old Souls" is a damn-near perfect episode that both hurts and heals the soul.

(And that’s it! It’s going to be another few months ‘til season two hits, and in turn, months until I’ll have to review episodes again...Unless I want to do something crazy like review the episodes I didn’t talk about. But that’ll never happen!)

(...)

(...Alright fine. I’ll review them. But not until The Owl House comes onto Disney+!)

#the owl house #the owl house review #what i thought about

12 notes · View notes

adoranymph · 4 years

Text

I’m not a fan of horror.

I’ve acquired a taste for things that contain horror elements, like Stranger Things, which contains moments of comedic heart and compelling character drama in addition to the horror, more so than say something with similarly disturbing horror moments like Alien or Aliens, and Shawn of the Dead, which is a romantic comedy spin on the traditional zombie apocalypse movie. And I’m more than certainly looking forward to checking out Lovecraft Country when it comes out. I’ve even gotten over my squeamishness concerning the face-melting in Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark, and the villain aging rapidly and ghoulishly into dust and then exploding in Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade.

Actually, one of my favorite movies to watch with my father was the original Predator, probably because it was as much a movie about an alien trophy hunter hunting humans for sport as it was a macho action movie starring Arnold Schwarzenegger. And unlike Alien and Aliens, didn’t involve that oh-so-disturbing means of procreation we all have come to know and love about xenomorphs. Which means that no, much as I’m chill with the Predator, I still have little desire to watch its crossover with the xenomorph menace, Alien vs. Predator, all the way through. Admittedly, I have, in the past, watched clipped reviews of the Alien movies, including AVP and even AVP Requiem, which I think if I had watched in full would have made me sick. Because my curiosity just gets the better of me from time-to-time, and I know that about myself only too well.

And as much I love Michael Biehn in a James Cameron movie, and was touched by the concept of the found-family storyline in Aliens, I just don’t think I can stomach those chestbursters (ha ha).

I can’t even watch John Hurt reprise his role as “Kane” in a parody of his iconic horror scene in Spaceballs, and, like Shaun of the Dead, that’s a comedy! Even more so than Shaun of the Dead! Well, I do watch the part after when the CB sings, “Hello My Baby,” but by that point the parody of the worst part of that scene is over and done with, and there’s nothing but the joy of a dancing baby alien with Michigan J. Frog’s singing voice coming out of it while John Hurt “Kane” laments, “Oh no! Not again!”

And however compelling The Exorcist is in terms of character…yeah no, not touching that.

It is weird though given how far I’ve come in tolerating horror gore, but that’s just not a line I’m willing to cross yet as of writing this.

But back on track.

Sprinkling this in to counter-balance the PTSD I get from the mere thought of xenomorphs.

A few weeks ago, I got a taste for a different kind of horror, and honestly the kind I’ll take over gore in a heartbeat, even if both equally can get stuck in my head to an ugly degree. And that was rewatching M. Night Shyamalan’s The Sixth Sense. Probably because I got it in my head to watch Ari Aster’s Midsommar, and I still needed something else to fill out my creep-factor quota. I thought about backpedaling and watching his film before that, Hereditary, but I already know that that one ends far more bleakly (compared to Midsommar, depending on how you look at it, mind), and I needed something that was creepy and tragic, but had an ending that positively affirmed itself.

Then I remembered that The Sixth Sense sort of did that, and it had been a while since I had seen it, but I remembered it from as far back as childhood, me with my parents, adamantly not understanding how they could be fans of things like Alien and Aliens. More than that, I remember actually being able to enjoy Sixth Sense somewhat, even then. Appreciate it for its horror elements and moments of tragedy, rather than shrink away from it.

So I that’s what I did. And for all that Shyamalan has done (botching the first attempt at a live-action adaptation of Avatar: the Last Airbender chief among them), this one still gets me in the feels. Helps, I suppose, that I faced certain deaths and griefs at a far tenderer age than I was “meant to”, but even so, what Shyamalan does best, he does best here. And probably in Unbreakable and even Split too, but I haven’t seen those, and apparently after all that, Glass got panned so…yeah.

Still, if nothing else, it was fun to remember that Toni Collette was in this, and now that I’ve grown and seen her in things like Little Miss Sunshine, and clips of–that’s right, Hereditary–not be surprised, but no less pleased for her performance. Not only is she in a Shyamalan film that works its earmarks to its advantage, but she sells her character as a single mom at the end of her rope, with both a son, Cole, going through a difficult time that they can’t talk about, considering the kid knows what she’d think if he told her he sees dead people, and haunted by the death of her mother with whom she clearly had a difficult relationship. Not saying that this still couldn’t have worked, but given what The Happening did to Mark Wahlberg, color me double-rainbow impressed.

Bruce Willis too. Plus he had the advantage of working with Shyamalan on Unbreakable. So he probably knew how to play things in either situation. That and it’s honestly not a badly written character, all things considered, any more than Toni Collette’s character was. Or, even if it was, again, he sold it with his performance. He has a handle on subtle gravitas as much as he does going toe-to-toe with Alan Rickman (rest in peace) playing a terrorist.

Picked this one for the nostalgic fondness of, “Rent it on video. DVD’s also an option!”

Then you have Haley Joel Osment as Cole. And again, given he’s supposed to be this awkward kid with the added burden that he can see ghosts when no one else can and they scare him and even if he tells someone no one will believe him, any stiffness that comes with the Shyamalan style makes sense here. Death makes everything…stiff. Moreover, he sells it too. I get a lump in my throat just thinking of that moment when, after he’s at least told Bruce Willis’s character, as his therapist, about his secret, he tearfully demands, “How can you help me if you don’t believe me?”

Then there’s the revelation itself of the probably reason the ghosts come to him in the first place. Even if they’re not appearing to him with any conscious desire, some subconsciousness of their incorporeality compels them.

They need help.

In death, they’re lost, but maybe, as Cole’s still alive, there are loose ends he can tie off that they can’t. Not that he should, or even can–like I’m not sure what good he can do for that deceased housewife who clearly committed suicide to escape her abusive husband–but when he’s visited by the girl who’s mother poisoned her to death in a little fit of Munchausen-By-Proxy Syndrome, and he goes to her wake, finds the tapes that prove her mother’s guilt, gives them to her father, and the father confronts the mother about it, that got me more even than it did when I was younger and still trying to wrap my head around the concept of mothers poisoning their daughters.

That’s when things start to turn around for Cole. It’s still scary, but he takes that leap of faith, if you will, and one of the last times you see him with a dead person he’s conversing with them rather normally. Going over lines with them where he gets to play Arthur in a reenactment of the legend of the sword being pulling from the stone. You don’t even realize they’re another ghost until his teacher asks him who he was talking to and the ghost turns her head and you see the burn on the other side that obviously came from the fire that killed her. There’s just something so pure and honest in that, the idea of not only facing your fears, but doing so for the sake of lost souls who otherwise have no other hope because they’re dead.

After that is the one-two punch feels conclusion.

One being Cole not only confessing to his mother at last that he sees dead people, and her clearly starting to freak out about it, until he tells her that, “Grandma says, ‘hi’.” And communicates to her something that her mother never got to tell her herself. Of course, after thoughts of, “Oh dear lord, my son is insane,”, when the proof that Cole has indeed been talking to her mother’s spirit, that goes out the window in favor of,

“Do I make her proud?”

and she just cries and she and her son hug it out. And again, Toni Collette sells it.

Then you have the revelation of Bruce Willis’s character: he was dead the whole time! His wife wasn’t just distancing herself from him and then maybe cheating on him, he was dead and she was a widow who was simply trying to find love again. A moment of horror, and then tragedy, and then bittersweet letting-go all in the last few frames of the film. There’s the two in the one-two punch.

Not to mention my first experience of a “Shyamalan twist”. One that was set up well. Scenes constructed to lead you into thinking that of course he’s alive, details you glaze over, and then you realize, “Oh sh**.”

Which was probably part of the problem with some of his later works, where the twist became synonymous with his style, so sometimes it felt like they were put in there in future movies of his without any real rhyme or reason other than that the public were expecting them and thus somehow obligatory to the script.

Just as I haven’t seen Unbreakable, or Split, and certainly not Glass, I haven’t seen The Visit, either, though from what I understand, it almost sounds like Shyamalan went back to the same headspace he had here in The Sixth Sense, using the awkwardness that seems to come out in his work to an advantage in the found footage format. And the twist was apparently actually hilarious. Which is nice. Good for him.

Not everything someone makes is going to be a hit, even if they’re getting paid for it. But when things are a hit, sometimes, they hit so well that it can make up for all the misses. Or almost make up for them.

Honestly, Sixth Sense is, ultimately, the only Shyamalan film I’ve seen in full. But I enjoyed it no less this time, in fact, enjoyed it more now that I have a better understanding of death and grief and loss.

Guess that’s kind of a weird thing to say, but it’s that same kind of “enjoy” that comes from feeling like someone understands something about something you understand, and maybe even feel a little bit less alone for it. Not only did I experience a lot of grief as a preteen, but before that, I was the weird one that most everyone else at school generally avoided if not viciously teased, with the exception of a few fair-weather friends. All these elements and story beats used to creepy effect in Sixth Sense, along with that sense that some horror doesn’t so much horrify me as actually make my own life seem brighter rather than darker, made for a viewing experience that I place value in as I write this. (Especially given right now we are all apparently living a Stephen King novel right now.)

So even if I still can’t handle body horror to the degree of stuff like Alien or Aliens, or David Cronenberg’s The Fly (much as I would love to see Jeff Goldblum in all his 80s hair awkward nerd glory as he romances Geena Davis), there is some horror I can handle. And figuring out why is yet one more thing that I place value in.

Keeping this link up to their donation page!

Sixth Sense Post I'm not a fan of horror. I've acquired a taste for things that contain horror elements…

2 notes · View notes

calliecat93 · 4 years

Text

(Part One)

Welcome to Part Two of the Volume 7 Review everyone! If you missed Part One, you can click the link above and check that out first if you’d like. Otherwise, not gonna waste any time. Let’s resume the Character Section and get this baby done!

Characters, Part Two (RWBYJNRQO)

So some characters got it a bit easier here. I don’t have too much to honestly say about Jaune, Blake, and Yang. They were good, but they didn’t really develop any this volume. But honestly? That’s fine since they already had a great deal in the Mistral seasons alone. Blake and Yang do have some a few things though. They spend the majority of their screentime together, and while it kinda irks me because I dislike when two characters get put together and mostly cease interacting with others (Ren and Nora in most of the early seasons for example), after Volumes 3-6 it was nice to see them rekindling their relationship. They’re much happier and comfortable together and their teamwork is at an all right high now, though we see that Blake at least is still haunted by killing Adam. It’s this fear and worry about Ironwood that causes the two to try talking to Robyn, and that of course bites them hard in Chapter 11. They did the right thing though... though I do still have to wonder if them seeming to not tell any of the others int he main group will cause issues for them later. Jaune was... there, but seeing how he’s grown and him having now moved on form Pyrrha is nice to see.

By contrast, though, we got much more from Ren and Nora this year. They are by far the two who get the least amount of substance in every volume with V4 being the only time they got spotlight. And that was more for Ren than Nora, who I considered the least developed... and sadly I still do. But compared to before? Nora was freakin’ great here. She is the most vocal about Mantle’s mistreatment, which makes sense considering how she lived in poverty as a child until she met Ren. While IDT it really develops her, she’s still the same as before, it helps give her more depth than just the ‘energetic comedy relief who crushes on Ren’. Which we finally have some development with there being some actual conflict between them due to their differing ideologies and Chapter 6 confirms that yes, their feelings are romantic. Nora loves Ren and she tries her best to comfort and assure him, despite her frustration with him. She just wants him to open up to her, which provoked her to finally do the thign we’ve been waiting for for years. That kiss was a long time coming. But... sadly there is one obstacle to them being happy and going beyond that one night, and that is Ren himself.

We see that Ren is slowly closing himself off more and more. He pushes away Nora’s advancements, he seems much more frustrated about the mission, and he seemed perfectly fine with following Ironwood’s orders until they became wanted. He’s not emotionless, but clearly, the circumstances are eating away at him. He’s also never been the most upfront with his emotions, but as Volume 4 demonstrated, once he’s overwhelmed by them he loses it. That time, Nora calmed him down. She isn’t nearly as successful this time, especially since after the kiss, Tyrian’s murder spree happened. Then to really clench it, in the finale not only do they lose the Relics, but he can’t stop Neo because she’s disguised as Nora and that breaks him. In the end, he looks on the verge of a nervous breakdown. I wish this was a bit more in focus cause there’s a long gap where it seems they dropped it and Ren seemed normal again... but the finale shows that they haven’t forgotten. I get the feeling that V8 may just have him reach a breaking point.

Qrow also got it a bit better... well, at first. We see him trying to improve himself as he’s given up drinking, even resisting the urge in Chapter 8, and seems to be back to being the uncle figure. He no longer has to worry about being the adult/guardian over the kids and just has a much better attitude compared to the previous volume. What helped was meeting Clover, his polar opposite, but instead of going the rivalry route Clover was a nice guy who encouraged him and outright told him that he shouldn't keep putting himself down. It’s words that Qrow took. He’s still cynical, but much happier and was able to properly comfort and assure Ruby and even open up about Summer. Something I doubt that he had done for a very long time. Things for him were on the right track... but fate, unfortunately, had other plans.

I know some reception to the final two chapters with Qrow were controversial, for more reasons than one. However, right now, I’m okay with this direction. Qrow is doign better, but we’ve still never really seen him open up. We know that there’s a lot still haunting him, like with STRQ and the fallout with Oz, but he’s internalizing it like a certain niece of his. That’s bad for her but even worse for someone like Qrow. Plus now that he’s faced with tragedy again, betrayed by his friends just like with Raven and Oz and now one dead, can Qrow pull back from it? This is where we see if he truly can improve now that he’s again been dealt with these harsh circumstances. It may be a while before we see since Qrow is going to jail, but I think it’ll be like what happened with Blake. He’ll fall for a bit, but once he’s back up, he’ll be better than ever. I’m looking forward to seeing that and overall? Compared to how annoyed I was at Qrow last year, I am very satisfied with him here.

Next up, we have Weiss. Last volume, she was the one of the main four who got the least focus. This time? She got a pretty good amount. First, she’s back in Atlas, but she’s able to make due. Despite any feelings she has about it, she pushes forward and tries to do what’s right. This leads to the lovely scene where he backtalks Jaques in Chapter 4 and when he tries to break her by bringing up her mom, her team is there. Unlike last time in V4, this time she has her friends with her. Her family. This gives her the strength to, when she suspects Jaques of foul play, to go back tot he Manor and find evidence. Once she has it, she’s able to arrest Jaques and even uses her Knight, the same thing that Jaques previously tried to use to break Weiss when she tried to leave te first time, to block him and become his undoing. After how much Jaques made not jut Weiss suffer, but his whole family, this was a delight.

But it’s also made clear just how broken off form her family Weiss is. Her relationship with Willow is clearly shaky due to Willow doign nothing and her broken state. Once that Weiss had to watch unfold, and it’s clearly something that pains her. She also feels like Whitley wants nothing to dow ith her, and given past evidence and him trying to rub his success in her face here, can we blame her? Willow tries to push Weiss into seeing why he feels that way, but it’ll be a while before we see if Weiss takes that to heart. The one person Weiss still has is Winter. We see here that the two are as close as ever with Weiss clearly being concerned about Winter’s fate, but she does take her advice about carving her own destiny despite circumstances to heart. But sadly, it ends with the two on opposing sides. It hurts them both, but Weiss is now an enemy of Atlas and she can’t stay by Winter. Their final moment int he finale was just... heartbreaking, but Weiss has to carve her own path. So she does. Hopefully, they can get around this, but it’s going to take time. Still, Weiss was excellent in this volume and I enjoyed every minute of her.

Then we have Oscar. So...farmboy has not gotten it great when it comes ot his character. It usually ends up rushed or out of focus, with V6 being the breaking point for many. Have they improved on that? FOr the most part, yes. I do still feel like Oscar is a tad underdeveloped, but I think it's just due to how rushed the previous seasons with him were. But I gotta say, in comparison, this is an improvement. Int his volume, Oscar is trying more and more to carve his own identity instead of being just Oz’s vessel. While he still hasn’t unlocked his Semblance, he has started to speak his own thoughts and give advice to others. He worries about Ruby following Oz’s path, though that pretty much got dropped sadly. But we do see this very well with Ironwood where he tries to help the general embrace his feelings and do what’s right. Unlike Nora, who kept getting nagry at him, Oscar tries to be much calmer and friendlier and finds out more about the General personally. And it seemed to work y Chapter 9 with Oscar convincing him to tell the truth and even kept him calm after revealing their own secret.

Sady though, Oscar couldn’t save Ironwood form himself. He tried so hard, but IDT even Oz could have helped by then. It sadly ended with Ironwood dismissing essentially both of them and shooting him down. Fortunately, though, this gets Oz back and allows Oscar to tap into hos true power. IDK if it’s his Semblance or Oz’s magic, but he’s unlocked it. I think that this volume, above all else, helped show that Oscar is not just Oz or even Oz 2.0. One big issue with V6 is despite saying it wasn't the case, it felt like Oscar’s own real importance was because of Oz. But here? Oscar forges his own path. He’s not as wise or experienced as Oz, but he has the hope and determination that he lacks. I think if the two can sort things out, they can be the effective leader that they all need. But still, this is the best volume with Oscar thus far and while they DO need to improve on setting up a thing happening to Oscar, except not’ thing, as a character? He is much better and finally feels like his own person that’s not burdened by Oz or whatever happens when the merger completes.

So finally we come to Ruby. V6 was a mass improvement for her character, so did they accomplish keeping that here? Yes... but I do have some issues. I feel like there was much more potential with Ruby having to make hard, O-like choices. Now we do see that it is stressing her out and she is uncertain about what to do. This is good to see and it’s clear that she is trying her best in a very bad situation. But after Chapter 4, her worry about being no better than Oz is dropped and I just feel like there was more to explore with her and her newfound leadership role. But I think the big issue is that, again, she keeps her feelings internalized and is given no chance to express it. Tbf we have her scene with Qrow, which helped, but I really wish that they'd just let this girl talk about these things more. Her not getting to talk to Penny about Beacon or her first demise despite it clearly still bothering her especially was a horribly wasted opportunity that I am unhappy with just because I don’t get whyt hey won’t just allow Ruby to talk about her feelings already. Maybe in V8, I guess...

That being said, I’m happy with Ruby here. Less so than V6, but still happy. She got to express some things like her uncertainty about what to do, her fears about her choices to Qrow, and of course about Summer. She finally asked about it, and she also sadly found out what happened via Salem. Thus we got the first time that he legit broke, and it was heartwrenching to watch. But through and through, Ruby is still the smaller, more honest soul who keeps trying that he’s always been. She tries her best to reason with Ironwood, is as devoted to protecting those counting on her and the others as ever, her Semblance has massively improved, and Chapter 11 just demonstrates the best of her. She stands up to Salem with zero hesitation, and even after she broke her, she still refused to let Ironwood jeopardize Mantle. The looks he gave him before she Petal Bursted behind his desk to warn everyone else was amazing. Also, we see she still isn’t 100% experienced with the Silver Eyes which is good, but we also see that when she’s pissed enough she has no issue such as doing it pretty much the instant she saw Cinder. Best subtle moment by far. So in the end, I feel like a few things could have been better, but Ruby was overall great and I’m very happy with where she currently is.

This volume was very much more story-driven than character development-driven but there’s still plenty of the latter. I think that Ruby, Weiss, Oscar, and Qrow got it the best. The others, especially Ren and Nora, were still good though. And of course, other characters, especially Penny and Ironwood, got a great deal as well. Everyone was very well done and I am very happy with the character writing this volume. Excellent work~

Story

Volume 7 is a volume about trust, fear, and doing the right thing. We have our heroes arrive in Atlas, but the sight is not pleasant. Mantle is being abused, Ironwood seems unhinged, and there seems to be nowhere safe to turn. As a result, Ruby lies about the Lamp and Salem, despite Ironwood appearing to openly trust the group unconditionally. The events that unfold include political insanity that hit far too close to home, seeds of mistrust and conflict among the heroes, and the villains unfolding their schemes amidst all of it. This line from Ruby in Chapter 4, which was also heard in the trailer, I feel sums it all up:

I’m trying to do what I think is best, but I really can’t tell if what’ best is what’s right.

We see this all unfold with the conflict between Atlas and Mantle. Ironwood has a plan, to re-establish communications and reveal Salem. But to do so, he causes Mantle to suffer by putting it under a police state, banning nearly everything under the sun, and worse of all taking resources needed to rebuild Mante’s defenses. Now once can argue that Ironwood is doing what’s necessary for the greater good, but he’s still causing this already worn down city to become even /more/ worn down and burden all the sacrifice. Not just some, but /all/ of it. Ironwood knows this and that he looks terrible for it… but he’s so concerned about beating Salem, about becoming this Big Good figurehead with Oz gone that he shoves that aside and allows his paranoia to consume him.

It’s made very clear that the general has good intentions, but that he is not doing the right thing. While he does give the heroes his trust and does things like let them keep the Lamp and grant them their Huntsman/Huntress licenses, he won’t trust the Council or Robyn even though if he had been upfront, this whole thing could have been handled much more reasonably. Most of the plot has the cast trying to get him to see this and open up to these people, but he continuously refuses until he’s pretty much forced to. Ironwood doesn’t trust his own allies. As such, the heroes cannot trust him and hold onto the info they know until they can be for sure that he will do the right thing. It’s all a waiting game as things continue to get worse and worse with Watts and Tyrian framing Ironwood, murdering others left and right, and just causing a large amount of unease that ensures frequent Grimm Attacks while Ironwood sits in his office and does nothing but allow his paranoia to clout his mind. Thus our heroes must try to push the General to trust those around him while trying to thwart the villains and help those suffering such as the people of Mantle. But of course, it’s much easier said than done...

Every chapter was chock full of content. They all felt very well-paced and had a consistent tone. There’s so much complexity with the volume as it weaves the themes together. You grow attached to characters and you hope that ones like Ironwood are going to make a turn and do the right thing. The tone begins as tense but overall has the usual RWBY optimism. But by the end, it took the V3 route and grew darker and darker until by the end, you are left with only bleakness. Heck, I even criticized Chapters 9 and 10 because it began to become optimistic again in a way that, considering all the build-up and tension throughout the volume, felt like a jarring, anti-climatic shift. But it was all a trap for when Cinder made her grand return, and caused Ironwood to lose himself. Everything came back to haunt our heroes, and as a result, we are where we are now. Absolutely brilliant writing.

Unlike past volumes, Miles and Kerry were not the sole writers. They added Eddy Rivas, a long-time writer at RT, and author Kirsei Buckhart to the team. I gotta say, this was a very good choice. They brought so much to the volume. There was so much depth and tension but also plenty of fun and light-hearted moments. Every step helped push the characters and the plot forward, and every step made sense. But of course Miles and Kerry remain as great as ever as they wrote Gravity, which is probably my favorite chapter of the volume and one of the best of the whole series. Each chapter, even when I wasn’t 100% happy, made me tune in every Saturday at 11 AM so that I could see what was going to happen ASAP. They all did an excellent job, and I look forward to seeing even more of their work in Volume 8.

Speaking of… that finale, huh? Yeah, it was… quite the thing. But it beautifully rings everything around full-circle with Ozpn’s monologue. How we all feel fear. How there are so many reasons why we do. But it isn’t fear in and of itself that we should be concerned about, but what we become when grasped by it. When RWBY was afraid, they grew and continued to move forward even when things kept getting worse and worse. When Ironwood did so, however? He became lost to it, and has now become the very same demon that he’s fought against. He also brought down the Ace-Ops and Winter with him, but Penny? She trusted in love, and because of it she became a Maiden and proved herself as human as anyone else. Even moreso than the man who claimed to have complete control over her. You can’t allow fear to corrupt and twist you, otherwise, you lose your way. It’s a lesson that our heroes will need to cling to more than ever with Salem’s arrival and whatever she unleashes upon Solitas.

Thus, we return to our main themes. How people need to trust each other, but of course it isn’t that simple. The heroes can’t trust Ironwood because of his morally questionable decisions, and once they did he broke it instantly. Ironwood seems to trust the heroes, but no one outside his own inner circle and thus is antagonistic to people like Robyn when cooperating with her would help all of them. The heroes' decisions cause people like Ace-Ops to feel betrayed, and they themselves feel the same way as demonstrated with Qrow towards Ironwood. It all leads to Ironwood choosing to allow Mantle to die for what is a plan of desperation, while our heroes stand against him to protect the people. Why? Because they are Huntsmen and Huntresses and their loyalty is to the people depending on them, not to any authority figure. Doing the right thing is what matters, not just the best thing. Our heroes trusted in love, but Ironwood became blinded.

Unlike in the past few volumes, where the heroes learned the lesson by the end and became better for it, here we have the heroes trying to teach Ironwood the lesson. It sadly fails. But they stick by their morals, and it’s shown that this is right. The heroes trust each other and thus are able to defeat Ace-Ops. They decide to stand by Mantle, the right thing to do. They sadly couldn’t get Ironwood to trust love and open his eyes and were forced to flee from Atlas in the end. But there’s another line to the song, one that is more important now than ever:

The way’s uncertain, but we’re together moving towards the light When we trust in love, and open up our eyes.

Indeed, things are uncertain. I don’t know what’s going to happen going forward. None of us do. Maybe things will become better. Maybe it’ll continue to go downhill. All we know is that it’s probably going to be harder going ahead than it ever has been, which is saying a lot. But no matter what, it’s going to be okay. RWBY is still there. They all are there, together. It’s not gonna be easy, maybe they’ll even face their own trust issues amongst themselves. But they’re still trying. They’re still heading towards that light. If they could stand back up after the Fall of Beacon, they can pull through this. As long as they continue to trust love and can open their eyes, they will pull through and keep hope alive. Let’s hope that we can do the same.

So I think it’s pretty clear that I loved the story. It is one of, if not the best-written volume of the series. So… how does it rank compared to the rest? Well, right now it’s crushed 1-5… but it is just a smidge below V6. The reason is V6 gave me a lot of what I had been hoping for at that time, which V7 did less so. But that isn’t saying much, and once I have more time to digest things that may change. But regardless, the story was excellent. IDK if I’m in a hurry to rewatch it anytime soon because GOD I need a breather. But I greatly enjoyed it and it makes me so happy to see how far we’ve truly come.

Season Stats

Favorite Characters: Ruby Rose, Weiss Schnee, Winter Schnee, Penny Polendina, Nora Valkyrie, Oscar Pine, and James Ironwood Favorite Overall Moment: The confrontation with Salem in Chapter 11 and everything following. Least Favorite Overall Moment: The anti-climactic truth ‘resolution’ in Chapter 9, even knowing what happened later. Favorite Fight: Cinder vs Penny and Winter Least Favorite Fight: Tyrian vs Qrow, Clover, and Robyn Favorite Chapters: A New Approach (Chapter 2), Sparks (Chapter 5), A Night Off (Chapter 6), Gravity (Chapter 11), With Friends Like These (Chapter 12), The Enemy of Trust (Chapter 13) Least Favorite Chapters: Ace Operatives (Chapter 3), As Above, So Below (Chapter 9), and Out in the Open (Chapter 10) Favorite Voice Actors: Lindsay Jones (Ruby), Jason Rose (Ironwood), Taylor McNee (Penny), David Fennoy (Pietro), Jason Liebrecht (Qrow), Sam Ireland (Nora), Anaris Quinones (Harriet), Mick Lauer (Marrow), Cristina Vee (Robyn) Favorite Song: War by Jeff Williams, sung by Casey Lee Williams, Adrienne Cowan, Dawn M Bennett, and Erin Reilly. Rating: 9.9/10

Final Thoughts

It has been… quite a trip guys. Even though November was just three months ago, it feels so much longer. It’s certainly been quite the emotional journey, in both good and bad ways. But I wouldn't change it for the world. I loved this volume. Even when the pit in my stomach grew more and more, I was always excited to tune in every week and see what CRWBY had in store for us. Think it’s safe to say that they certainly made something memorable. As I said, I need a breather before I truly revisit this volume just because it feels like my emotions have been trampled over. But I’m still satisfied with everything and truly looking forward to what Volume 8 will have in store. Gonna be a wild time~

But until then that’s it for the RWBY Reviews! Whoo! Thank you all who have read this far! I may do some more RWBY related posts in between now and V8, but for now this is it. I hope that you guys enjoyed all my mindless babbling. My focus is gonna turn to RvB as I prep for RvB18 and get those reviews ready to go. I hope that you guys will check those and my Top Likes/Dislikes posts I’m going to do for them like I did with RWBY prior to this volume. WHich I’ll do it for V7 when we’re closer to V8. But, once again, thank you for reading and it’s been a pleasure~

#rwby #rwby7 #rwby reviews #callie reviews

7 notes · View notes