#and each season has to introduce a new antagonist or bring back an old one with another batshit plotline

[amuseoffyre]

Since insomnia is kicking my arse of late, I naturally tilted into the thoughts about the nature of the 3-act structure and why S2 of OFMD may have felt off and incomplete to a lot of people.

I am fully in agreement that we lost a lot of valuable time with only 8 episodes and a lot of it did feel rushed, but for the amount of story and set-up and growth and development they needed to fit into 4 hours of television, they did astonishing things.

DJenks has said from the very start that this is a story that has been planned out to take 3 seasons. It's literally a 3-act play and we are currently right in the middle of the worst part of that timeline according to every traditional 3-act structure.

Act one/season one is self-explanatory. Like New Hope in the Star Wars Trilogy or Fellowship of the Ring, this is the set-up. We're introduced to our protagonists and antagonists, the relationships are given a foundation.

The beginning is Stede's journey to becoming a real boy. The inciting incident, the one that actually pushes his change beyond "playing pirates" is meeting Ed. The second thoughts come together in episode 8/9 after his confrontations with Jack and Chauncey and episode 10 is the climax.

Act 2/season 2 is never going to be as smooth and simple as act 1/s1. A big part of the A2/S2 job is set up for A3/S3 and this is what we're seeing and why a lot of story threads seem to have been left dangling.

Again, to call back to Empire Strikes Back and The Two Towers, the structure is much the same: the original batch of people are divided and scattered, the big enemy from A1/S1 is looming, new allies make themselves known. In SW, this meant the introduction of Lando and Yoda as allies plus the hint of the Emperor lurking in the background. In LotR, we have the Rohirrim, Gondor and the Ents as allies and the expansion of Sauron's forces in Helm's Deep, Osgiliath and the winged wraiths.

There's a clear trajectory following the A2/S2 structure:

obstacle 1 - the crews separated and struggling

obstacle 2 - the end of episode 2 and the repercussions of his actions

twist - just when things start to settle, the Ned Low situation happen and Stede kills for the first time

obstacle 3 - Ed's struggle with his identity leading to him leaving

disaster - Ricky's assault on the Republic

crisis - do-or-die battle because they have no other choice

climax - the last 15 minutes of ep. 8 live here.

As with SW and LotR, there's an ending, but weighted with the knowledge of a story that is meant to continue. Each of those act 2 films end with the heroes still aware of the looming threat, some of them heading out on new missions, and some of them resting and healing. There's brief pause, brief respite, a moment to take a breath.

We have all the characters in place now and the battle-lines have been drawn. Luke still needs to confront Vader (I see you, impending Ed and Hornigold confrontation), Frodo still needs to destroy the ring, Aragorn still needs to lead the army against the Black Gate, the second Death Star is still hanging in the sky.

I'm so excited to see what S3 brings because we have so many arcs ready to go: Zheng's vengeance trip, the inevitable enforced out-of-retirement arc for Ed and Stede, Hornigold, Ricky trying to maintain his tenuous control of the republic given how many of his people were killed when the crew escaped, the pirate rebellion gathering forces.

Also how often do we get shows/films where the supporting cast are given this much storyline? We have a named/speaking-role cast of upwards of 15 central characters. That is a staggering amount of people to work with, when most shows would only focus on the leads and a couple of their friends. Six is the average for most TV shows, while comedies can inch higher because ensembles, but most ensembles don't get as much as our crew did.

I know a lot of people aren't happy about Izzy's death. I know I would have liked to see him a lot more, because he's such a grumpy old bitch and I love him and him affectionately roasting Ed and Stede would have made my entire month. But I'm also aware that narratively, as a figurehead of the old ways of piracy and "we were Blackbeard", it was a symbolic death as well - a sign of the death of the old ways of piracy and of Blackbeard as was.

(Also, they Obi-Wanned him. I'm not over that. Gave him the "if you strike me down I will become more powerful" speech. I'm just... guys, your star wars nerdery is showing XD)

So while it was flawed in places and pacing, given the scale of the story they're telling, the number of pieces and characters they had in play, and the arcs they have been setting up while also still keeping the humour, I am giving a standing ovation for a remarkable piece of work.

[unitedstatesofworld]

Rings of Power Season 2: What Lies Ahead in Middle-earth?

The world of Middle-earth has captivated audiences for decades, and with the release of Rings of Power, fans old and new have been transported back to J.R.R. Tolkien’s legendary universe. The first season of Rings of Power left us on the edge of our seats, and now, everyone is buzzing with excitement and speculation about what Rings of Power Season 2 will bring. Will new alliances be formed? What new lands will we explore? Let's dive into the realm of fantasy and uncover the mysteries that await us.

Setting the Stage

A Quick Recap

Before we jump into what’s next, let’s take a moment to recall the key events of Season 1. We were introduced to a plethora of characters, each with their own storylines and arcs. From the rise of dark forces in the shadows to the forging of powerful alliances, Season 1 set the stage for an epic continuation.

Sauron's Return: The dark lord’s presence loomed large, hinting at greater dangers to come.

The Elven Kingdoms: We saw the grandeur of the Elven cities and their leaders' internal struggles.

Human Realms: The complexities of human politics and the rise of heroic figures were central themes.

Anticipated Themes in Season 2

Rings of Power Season 2 promises to build on these foundations, with even more intricate plotlines and character development. Some themes we expect to see include:

Betrayal and Loyalty: The thin line between friend and foe.

Power Struggles: The fight for dominance among races and kingdoms.

Mystery and Magic: Enigmatic new characters and magical artifacts.

New Faces and Familiar Characters

Characters to Watch

As the story progresses, we’re bound to meet new characters while seeing familiar ones evolve. Here are some key figures to keep an eye on:

Galadriel: Her journey is far from over. Expect her to face new challenges and uncover deeper secrets.

Elrond: With wisdom and strength, Elrond’s role will likely expand as he navigates the perilous political landscape.

Isildur: His destiny is intertwined with the fate of the One Ring. Will we see his rise or his fall?

New Villains: New antagonists are sure to emerge, each bringing unique threats to Middle-earth.

Potential Character Arcs

Character development is a hallmark of great storytelling. In Rings of Power Season 2, we anticipate significant growth and transformation:

Redemption Arcs: Characters grappling with past mistakes may seek redemption.

Power Corruption: Some might struggle with the corrupting influence of power.

Heroic Journeys: Ordinary individuals rising to extraordinary challenges.

Uncharted Territories

Exploring New Lands

One of the most exciting aspects of Rings of Power is the vast and varied landscape of Middle-earth. Season 2 is expected to take us to new, unexplored regions.

The Dwarven Kingdoms: More of the subterranean marvels and the hardy folk who inhabit them.

Far Eastern Lands: Exotic cultures and unknown dangers await beyond the known map.

Ancient Ruins: Hidden relics of past ages that could hold vital secrets.

Magical Artifacts and Mystical Elements

Middle-earth is rich with magic, and Season 2 will likely delve deeper into its mystical elements. Expect to encounter:

Legendary Weapons: Swords and artifacts with ancient histories and powers.

Enchanted Locations: Places where magic is palpable, influencing the story in profound ways.

Mysterious Prophecies: Ancient foretellings that could guide or mislead our heroes.

Fan Theories and Speculations

Theories Circulating Online

Fans have been busy piecing together clues and forming theories about what might happen next. Some popular theories include:

The Return of Lost Heroes: Characters thought to be gone might make surprising comebacks.

Secret Alliances: Unexpected alliances between traditional enemies.

Twists in Prophecy: Prophecies being fulfilled in unexpected ways.

What Could Really Happen?

While theories abound, the actual storyline might hold unexpected surprises. Here are a few educated guesses:

A Major Character’s Death: High stakes often lead to significant losses.

Revelation of Hidden Lineages: Discoveries about characters' true origins.

Epic Battles: Large-scale conflicts that will change the course of history.

Frequently Asked Questions

When is Rings of Power Season 2 releasing?

The release date is yet to be officially confirmed, but fans are hopeful for a return in late 2024.

Will all the main characters from Season 1 return?

Most primary characters are expected to return, though some new faces will join the ensemble.

Are there any new locations introduced in Season 2?

Yes, Season 2 is expected to explore new regions of Middle-earth, expanding the world even further.

Will there be more connections to the original Lord of the Rings trilogy?

Definitely! Season 2 is anticipated to draw more connections to the original trilogy, deepening the lore and continuity.

Conclusion

As we eagerly await Rings of Power Season 2, the anticipation is palpable. With promises of new adventures, deeper character arcs, and epic battles, the continuation of this beloved series is sure to captivate audiences once more. From the return of familiar faces to the exploration of uncharted territories, Season 2 holds the potential to elevate the story of Middle-earth to new heights. So, keep your swords sharp, your maps ready, and prepare for a journey like no other. The rings of power are calling.

[seaglassdinosaur]

I’m gonna make a controversial statement

Ninjago is the Supernatural of cartoons

[reversemoon255]

Mashin Sentai Kiramager

I’ve always had the opinion that the best formula for a successful Sentai is to either lean heavily into the comedy or the drama. If your cast of characters is typically serious, when they encounter a humorous situation it’s all the funnier, and when you have a comedic cast and they encounter a dramatic situation it feels all the more dire. Now, this is certainly impacted by the acting, script, etc., but if you look back at some of the better seasons (Shinkenger, Go-Busters, ToQger), you’ll see that a lot of them have that type of lean. And Kiramager has the later feel, standing out as a good season with few low points; ultimately sitting in the upper half of the show’s history.

The Good: One of the big things I talked about when I went over Ryusoulger was the episodic nature of the writing. It felt like it was made to be inviting to first-time watchers for the majority of its run, regardless of their jumping-on point. Self-contained episodes, very few ongoing plot threads, and very trope heavy for the sake of introducing a new audience to the show’s basic concepts and themes. And while I like what Ryusoulger was trying to do, I feel that Kiramager takes those concepts and improves upon them.

While the majority of the episodes were still self-contained, the episodes in Ryusoulger were very focused on fighting enemies, the stresses and one-off characters, and very light development of the main characters with primary focus on Red and Gold. In Kiramager there is much more focus on the main cast, with almost every episode being used to develop a Ranger or their relationships between each other, with the lack there of being one of my biggest complaints with the last season. It also feels like there are more multi-parters and micro-plots throughout the show, which rewards me as a viewer for continuously watching the show, and we don’t get when things are more segmented.

Another of my big issues with Ryusoulger was how heavily it focused on their Red and Gold Rangers. They nixed that out the gate with this show, having a zeroth episode the focused on everyone except Red. And Jyuru was a good Red. Definitely a lot goofier than most, but had a strong personality, was willing to work with and defer to the rest of his team when he needed to, and developed a lot of confidence throughout the season. Tametomo was a lot of fun, too. He was the straight man to everyone else’s silly behavior, but could also pull off a strong gag by himself. He was also very intelligent and a great tactician. Sena was probably the weakest of the main cast, but that was only because her character was more one-note than the others. Upbeat and outgoing at all times, there were very few times where we saw a darker side to her, but those moments were handled well and displayed a depth to her character we could have used more of. And while she isn’t our first female Green, she is our first on a five-man team, and I enjoy seeing them swapping out the usual colors like that. Shiguru started the show as the most serious of the team, but quickly revealed himself to be a lovable goof. The juxtaposition between him trying to act cool and caving into his baser natures was very funny and made for an entertaining character. Sayo was skilled, determined, intelligent, but could also be air-headed. I would describe her as a Yellow Precure turned Pink Ranger, if that makes sense. She usually filled the role an episode demanded of her, but it never felt out of place for her. Takamichi was a decent character, but in a season of funny people, he was the least so. His habit of adding “Wonder” to everything was meh, but he certainly pulled through in the serious moments. I’m a little sad Mabushina’s development didn’t end with her also becoming a Ranger, but she was a good secondary. She could easily hold an episode on her own, and her voice and suit actresses both managed to do a great job of bringing a literal stone-faced character to life.

And then there’s the villains, who did a good job of being just as entertaining and in some cases be as deep as the main cast. Just about everyone was a pretty simple, but fun character that didn’t get too complex until near the end of the story when the core audience would be established. I have mixed feelings about this, as nothing felt too out of place, but it would have been nice to get some build up to this earlier in the story. Kurantula was the team monster maker, and was childish and over-the-top. Whenever he decided to go down and do the dirty work himself, they were usually his crazier schemes. Near the end of the show he expressed the desire to create because he enjoyed it, which put him at odds against his boss and aligned himself with the heroes for survival. Yadonna was a nice mid-addition, shaking up the established dynamic Kurantula and Garuza had. She was so over-the-top evil without being a monster that it was hilarious to watch. I’m a little sad at her ultimate fate, as I would have liked to have seen a turnaround after she was betrayed by Emperor Yodon; have her turn sides, maybe actually get some payoff for that crush Tametomo had. (Eh, there’s always the V-Cinema.) Garuza was the stick-in-the-mud that made everyone else get serious, but could still occasionally crack a joke. He was a great antagonist, and while I like that he turned around at the end, it really needed more buildup. Still, the fact that I wanted all the bad guys to turn face is a testament to how likable they were.

The Bad: I’ve already gone over a few of my problems, but let’s go over them in more detail. Characters have a tendency to be a little one note, like with Sena or Takamichi. Episodes where they explore the depth to those characters are good, but the standard episode has them basically the same character throughout.

And as I mentioned, the big developments for the villains were heavily regulated to the last few episodes. Kurantula didn’t have any signs of being in a slump until the last 5 or 6 episodes, and Garuza turning good isn’t brought up until the 3rd-to-last, and is a bit of a cop out. “Oh, I was brainwashed.” If that had been hinted at at all it wouldn’t be a problem, but I don’t recall any signs of it before episode 43.

Now, these aren’t terrible things, they just could have been done better. It’s part of the downside to the writing style they’ve been pushing to improve ratings. It’s definitely a step forward from Ryusoulger, and they addressed a lot of the issues I had with that season, but they haven’t quite found a pace balance that works for that style and for both new and old fans. If they try this style again with Zenkaiger, hopefully we’ll see some improvements on the formula, but at the same time, since it’s an anniversary season, I’d like if they had a more dynamic and connected story.

Won’t lie, climax was also a little meh.

Overall, Kiramager is definitely a great first Sentai, and a fun one for older fans if you like the more humorous seasons. It has good characters, good (but evil) villains, and silly plots. I really had to think hard about what I didn’t like about the show, and I doubt you’ll notice any of it while you’re watching.

And, as always, if you didn’t pick up any of the toys this year, here are my recommendations if you want to start collecting post-show: Kiramajin (fun toy, fun gimmick), 1 OR 2 copies of Express King (giant T-Rex AND a robot mode), and Zabyuun (adds a lot of play to Express King as well as Kiramajin). I like the toys from this season a lot, but a lot of them are weapons, Gigant Driller is a little disappointing, and Grateful Phoenix is cool but passable. Only go for him if you like what you already have.

[thatkindofgurl]

Star Wars shows

So I've been doing a lot of thinking about the new shows for Star Wars, mainly the Mandalorian spin-offs, and what plots we could potentially see, so this is just me speculating for the fun of it, and I wanted to see what you guys think.

Also, I don't know how true this is, but I've seen rumors about a crossover event for the shows, and I'm gonna talk about that too

The book of Boba Fett.

I'm starting with this one because I truly don't know what could happen here. I mean, it's probably Boba seeking comeuppance for whatever happened to him after he was left for dead in Tatooine, or maybe he just wants to rule the criminal underworld, and Jabba's palace was the first step for that. Anyhow, I have this weird feeling that this might be an special or movie, rather than a fully fleshed out series, and since it most likely will air before The Mandalorian s3 premier, it might just tell us more about how things are going on with the galaxy

The Mandalorian s3.

So I believe that this next season is going to be focused on two different plotlines, that at one point, probably the middle or end of season, are going to connect somehow.

Mandalore and the Darksaber

As we know, Din Djarin accidentally ended up with the Darksaber, and therefore the right to claim the throne of Mandalore, which we know he doesn't want. But I don't think they just put this seed for a very interesting plot in the finale, just for Din to give it up in the first episode of the 3rd season, so that means we are going to have Bo-Katan as an antagonist, at least at the beginning of the season.

Of course I have nothing to back it up, but maybe the first chapters are going to be Din being chased by Bo-Katan and simultaneously being like "for god's sake, just take it and leave me alone", until something most likely related to Grogu more on that later will make him change his mind and actively go after Mandalore's throne, which would turn Bo fully into the antagonist for the season.

Either that, or Din and Bo feign a battle in front of other mandalorians so Bo would be left as the only contender to the throne, and the rest of the season is political games and scoring wins against the remains of the Empire, which would also be amazing to see.

Jedi Shenanigans

I don't think this is the last we will see of Grogu. Either early on the season something will make Luke leave Grogu back with Din again, or we are actually going to see some of the Jedi training.

(If we are going to see Luke again, it would be easier to just call Sebastian Stan, instead of the cgi thing. He more or less already has Mark Hamill's blessing anyway)

Again, this is just speculating, but what I would like to see in this plot of mine, is to see Luke or whatever Jedi community he has formed somehow getting involved in some conflict that would put Grogu in potential danger, and so, Din would realize that the only way to influence the conflict to end and help keep Grogu safe would be to take Mandalore's throne, or maybe Bo-Katan is pouring gasoline to the fire of this conflict, and so, Din must remove her from the throne.

My point is, the only way to keep Grogu safe will be by taking Mandalore's throne, and we know there's nothing Din wouldn't do for his son.

Ahsoka

In "The Jedi" episode of the Mandalorian, we learned that Ahsoka is looking for Admiral Thrawn, and therefore remainers of the empire, which is most likely what this show is going to be about. It is a great opportunity to bring more characters from the animated shows to live action, now that we know it can work, like Ezra, or maybe even Cal Kestis from the video game if they want to go there. The plot also has potential for Luke to show up here too.

Regardless of what other characters might appear here. I believe this show is going to follow up, one way or another, the clone with high M-count plot that was introduced in season 2, that we know ties in with the sequel trilogy. It would make sense, since the return of Palpatine would be less that desirable for Ahsoka, and I imagine Thrawn would be involved with this specific order.

Of course, assigning this plot to Ahsoka is her getting the short end of the stick, because we know the Empire/First Order will win this one and bring Palpatine back eventually. But then again, Ahsoka has to die before Episode IX, since we hear her voice alongside other force ghosts.

Rangers of the New Republic

This one is probably going to feature Cara Dune a lot, if she's not one of the protagonists to begin with.

It is here that I believe we are going to see what other things Moff Gideon has up on his sleeve. I can see Cara turning this guy in with the Republic, and them being like "cool!!! Do you want to maybe join this group of rangers to keep messing around with the Empire?" And Cara would be like "I guess?".

This one might cover the plans the Empire have in general, explain the orders the Emperor left in case of his death, ala whatever that was happening in the Aftermath books, since that was never brought up in the sequels, and tie in with Ahsoka.

Crossover event

Again, I just saw the rumor and I thought it was dope, I don't know if this is true, and even if it is, it would most likely happen after a couple of seasons for each of the new shows.

Of course, I'm basing this on just the potential general plots I just described to you, but if there was something that could tie in this plots and characters, it would be something like the Battle of Jakku.

I'm not saying it would be The battle of Jakku specifically, because it supposedly happened a couple of years before The Mandalorian's first season but I mean something of the style. Or it can be Jakku, just do a little retcon, it's not like it was mentioned at all on the sequels, just on the visual guides.

But, like, the only thing that the protagonists of these shows (Din, Ahsoka, Cara/Rangers) have in common is their desire to put an end to the Empire, even if it's for different reasons.

Kuiil said in the first season that things would not change until the old ways die, but sadly we know that lowkey never happens, since the First Order eventually rises, which puts these characters in a tight position and probably in the losing team.

However, I believe at this point all of them have proved to be great fighters, and they would put one hell of a last stand against the Empire. And to be honest, this story line that started in The Mandalorian is building up, and it only will continue to do so with two, maybe three other shows, regardless of what plots they decide to follow. It will get to a point where the only outcome possible is a big, all-out battle, which brings me to the last point I've been thinking about.

If a battle is to come, and I believe it will, it's going to be big. Like, define the future of the galaxy big. Of course, there is not much room for creativity with the sequels ahead, but this battle, if the good guys win, can push the Empire/First Order to hide even more, and be the reason why they don't come out publicly until the climax of The Force Awakens.

Listen, season 2 finale showed that they are not afraid to bring big players to these shows, and with a battle like that so important, it would make sense that they would bring Luke again, and if Luke keeps popping up, I don't see why Leia and Han can't.

I mean, they already have the guy from the Solo movie, just age him up a little and he's good to go. For Leia, they could go on talent hunting and find someone who is reminiscent of Leia, the way Sebastian and Alden do respectively to these characters. Also, a Lando show is on the making as well, and while we don't know who will portray the character, if it's Donald Glover, you can add him to the mix as well.

*-*-*

Okay, before you say it, I know this is not like things are going to go, it's just the things and plots I would love to see. I know Dave Filoni and Jon Favreau already have the way this is going to go, and I completely trust them with it. It's just so easy to get lost in these stories, both seasons of The Mandalorian gave me such a good thing to look forward at times I really needed to and to see this storyline expanded to more shows really excited me. I can't wait to see what they have in store for us c:

[rachelbethhines]

Tangled Salt Marathon - The Brothers Hook

It’s time to say goodbye to Hook Foot. He won’t be missed. 

Summary:  Rapunzel takes everyone to see Hook Hand in concert. However, this brings back bad memories in Hook Foot, as he was always overshadowed and looked down on by his elder brother. Hook Hand is revealed to be employed by the self-centered King Trevor who wants Hook Hand to play at the ceremony of the marriage between the Seal of Equis and his female mate. When Hook Foot sabotages his brother’s performance at the wedding he must face King Trevor in a dance off to save Hook hand’s career. 

The Episode Placement Is Indeed Wrong  

I talked about this last episode, but the ordering of episodes is confusing. 

The Brother’s Hook does come after Rapunzel: Day One in terms of production order and is placed after it on the Disney Plus, but it supposedly aired before Rapunzel: Day One originally and the events make more sense in that aired order. As they’re traveling on foot here because they lost the caravan, and they’re all stressed out and fighting in the first scene of this episode. Also it world explain Hook Foot’s absence in Rapunzel Day One. 

Yet why would they order things that way? Why hold off on resolving the Raps and Cass argument if you’re not going to even hint at it here? Why not place this earlier in the season so that you wouldn’t be dragging Hook Foot along in the Great Tree for no reason? 

It just goes to show how rushed and poorly planned out season two actually was. 

This is Another Pointless Parallel 

So Hook Foot is suppose to represent Cassandra here and Hook Hand is supposed to be Rapunzel in this scenario but like that doesn’t work for several reasons. 

For one, Rapunzel never discouraged Cassandra’s dreams. Cassandra herself just never opened up to tell her what those dreams were, and indeed even the audience don’t know what Cass’s dreams are now that she’s already achieved her goal of becoming a guard back in the first season. I don’t think even Cassandra knows what she wants. 

Second, Rapunzel and Cassandra’s conflict isn’t actually about ‘dreams’, it’s about control. Each wants to control the other, to be in charge, because they think themselves always right. Both equate ‘being right’ and a lack of criticism as validation and to them, and this show in general, validation is equated with ‘love and compassion’ and is the ultimate end all and be all goal for everyone. Even though that’s not how validation works and a it’s a very unhealthy mindset to promote. 

Third, no one owes you anything. Yeah, Hook Hand is a jerk here, but at the end of the day giving up on his dreams was Hook Foot’s choice. You are in charge of your own choices, and at some point you need to decide if you’re going to listen to rest of the world telling you no or have some self respect and do what you want because you want it. You don’t actually need anyone’s approval but your own. By making ‘validation’ the end all and be all of the narrative, it undermines characters agency and fails to teach people about self respect and accountability. 

Same goes for Cassandra, even more so in fact. She needs to be the one to get off her ass and try for what she wants. No one is going to hand it to her and Raps doesn’t owe her a damn thing. Cassandra is the only thing getting the way of Cassandra because time and time again the series gives her chances that she refuses to take for ill defined reasons. There’s nothing at stake for her to lose if she just left. 

Last off, no one learns anything from this. Cass gets nothing out of it despite being right there the whole time, and Rapunzel is too hypocritical and self centred to see that she is very bit the bully same as Hook Hand. Not because she crushes Cassandra’s dreams like the narrative wants you to think, but because she tries to insert herself and her views on to everyone. 

Bullshit

Once again, may I remind you that there is over twenty villians in this show and only four of them get redemptions. Four! And one of those four was Eugene’s doing not Rapunzel’s. 

The narrative does not support the ideas that it wants to push. If you want me to believe that Rapunzel does sincerely believe in second chances then you need to show her giving that chance to everybody equally. And no, not everyone has to take it, not everyone needs to be redeemed, but she needs to at least try. Especially if they’re a recurring baddie with a tragic backstory like Lady Caine’s.

Oh, and may I also remind you that currently a 15 year old orphan is rotting away in a jail cell because of the corrupt government and Rapunzel does not give a crap! 

The Song Is Sounds Good But It Adds Nothing

It doesn’t add anything to the overall narrative and it fails to add anything to the episode itself because it gives us no new information.  

This is extremely wasteful. Not only because Alan Menken and Glenn Slater are highly respected artists who are wasting their talents on crap like this, but also for pure budgetary reasons. Tangled has a limited budget for songs that is worked into the contract. Each season is suppose to get eight original songs and two reprises. (tho season three trades out one of those songs for an extra reprise) 

In an arc heavy series like this, with such a limited number of songs to convey information, then you need to choose where those songs go wisely. The writers did not choose wisely in this instance. 

Rapunzel You Are Not In A Position To Give Advice Here

This episode is foreshadowing for what season three would become. Which is a complete formula switch up that undermines the narrative’s goals. 

This is suppose to be a coming of age tale. That’s in its mission statement. It’s what the writers supposedly wanted to achieve according to interviews and the very pilot episode itself.

That requires Rapunzel learning and growing. She can’t be in the mentor role. She can’t be the one to give out sage advice if she is the one who is meant to grow the most. She not there yet. She’s not experienced enough to fulfill that place in the narrative.  

Season one may have been repetitive in it’s lessons but it at least tried to show Rapunzel owning up to mistakes and changing as a person, but here and in season three they toss that out the window and have Rapunzel teaching other people lessons instead. People who ultimately don’t matter to the overall narrative. 

Instead of showing her growing as a person and coming to fit in that role over time due to experience, it has the opposite effect of showing Rapunzel as being patronizing, selfish, and unworthy to rule. Because she has no grounds for having an opinion, no basis for her advice to go off of, no experience to back up what she says, and zero claims for being in charge except for being born in a classist feudal system. 

Had the narrative actually bothered to call out  this instead of just having Cass pitch a hissy fit over nothing, then we could have gotten a really complex character and unique moral to the show, but that’s not what actually happens. 

King Trevor Is the Saving Grace of This Episode

I don’t think the writers realize that Trevor isn’t the hateable douche that they believe him to be. 

Oh sure he’s not nice, he’s essentially the equivalent of an annoying ‘I want to speak to the manager!’ type customer. But there is a huge, huge difference between being a Karen and being a fascist dictator. One’s irritating and the other is actively malicious and a danger to people's lives. 

Frederic might be outwardly more pleasant but he’s still a person who abuses his power in order to harm poor people. Trevor is just a mother-of-bridezilla here and a perfectionist. Like big deal. 

 And to be honest Rapunzel isn’t that much better. 

Like you are a bully Raps. You’re every bit a pushy and demanding as Trevor is, particularly in season three. 

While she’s not actively malicious like Frederic, she’s still a danger to people because she refuses to acknowledge that the power she wields has an impact on others lives and that that impact can indeed be negative. 

There’s something called the banality of evil. That being simply mean to others isn’t how true evil spreads. It’s people refusing to challenge the system, and if you are a part of that system then you are a part of the evil it spreads no matter how nice you are outwardly. 

Rapunzel and the show at large, does not understand the difference between being nice and being kind. It introduces the concept of flawed government and systems but then does nothing to actually challenge it. It forgoes the actual work it takes to make change happen by focusing on easy outs and proformative progressivism. 

Trevor does more than either Frederic or Rapunzel here with this one line alone than they do in three full seasons. 

Eugene did indeed commit a violent crime, no matter how much the show tried to present such a crime as ‘funny’. Trevor is in his legal rights to prosecute the person who tried to kidnap his child/pet and assaulted his personage. 

Yet he’s actually granting mercy here. More than that, he’s inviting them to his child’s/pet’s wedding. He’s offering friendship when he could have had them killed. Because Tevor, for all his faults, recognizes the power the that he wields and then makes the conscious decision not to abuse that power. 

Moreover over he acknowledges the difference between what is a personal offense and not a an attack on his kingdom as a whole. What Eugene and Frederic did could have been considered an act of war and Trevor never even considered that an option. 

It’s sign of bad writing when the person we’re supposed to consider a jerk and a recurring antagonist is more compassionate than the main heroine herself. Even as he jeers and makes an arse of himself. 

This is the Point Where Rapunzel’s Characterization Buckles and Breaks 

At first glance this seems like growth. She’s now assertive and taking charge, and Hook Hand did indeed had this coming, but in context of the greater narrative and how Rapunzel’s character develops past this episode, this is the point where the wheels start to come off. 

Rapunzel is a hypocrite. We’ve established this as a fundamental part of her characterization back in season one and it’s the driving force behind all of the main conflicts with her in the first two seasons. But before now, her hypocrisy at least had consequences. It caused enough problems that if you were paying attention you could see it for the flaw that it was.

But here her hypocrisy is presented as being right. She looks over Hook Hand even as she tells him not to look down on others. She dictates to him how his relationship with his own brother should go, when she has zero context for said relationship. She’s heard only one side of the story and only a piece of it. She doesn’t know what actually went down between them while they were growing up nor does she honestly care why Hook Hand does what he does. Even as she asks him why. 

Yet she is rewarded for this behavior. She’s never called out as wrong. The narrative bends over backwards to accommodate her and reinforces her views. Without direct consequences a character’s flaws are rendered meaningless, and so the character will only frustrate the audience rather than endear themselves to us. 

That is the opposite of what you want to achieve in a story. You want to the audience to like you’re main characters, or at least find them entertaining in their awfulness. Making them right all of the time, even when they’re wrong sabotages this goal. 

Trevor’s Still the Better Person Here 

Like it may not have been Hook Hands fault, but at the end of the day he did screw up at his job and a paying customer has the right to be upset and refuse to work with you again or even demand their money back. That’s what being self-employed means. It’s part of the risk you take as being a contractor.  

Trevor’s not being unreasonable here just because he raised his voice and wants Hook Hand to leave the wedding premises. Yeah the insults are uncalled for, I’ll give you, but remember that Frederic locked a tailor in a stockade for accidently ripping a robe; that he has the ability to fix if he wasn’t locked up. 

And he resolves conflicts and personal insults with a dance off! 

What happened when someone called Frederic out for being a poor leader and endangering lives, oh yeah they wound up in jail! 

Also This Episode’s Big Climax is a Fucking Dance Off

Out of all the low stakes conflicts in this show this is the lowest. 

And it’s coming right off The Great Tree and the big Cassandra vs Rapunzel fight. This shouldn’t be here. It’s throws off the pacing the tone. 

Well I Guess Trevor Kept HIs Word, Which Is More Than What Frederic Would Do 

Like Trevor is defeated and he does indeed complain about losing, but everyone is apparently free to leave afterwards and Hook Hand still has a career so I guess Trevor kept his side of the bargain. Even though he has no reason to and no one to hold him to account for it. He just has a code of honor I guess. 

Meanwhile, Frederic throws a teenager in a dungeon after promising to help him and completely ignores his supposed friend Quirin being encased in amber.  

So What Was the Point In Bringing Hook Foot Along Again? 

What did Hook Foot add? What did he bring to the story that no other character out there could bring? What does writing him out of the story now achieve, and why couldn’t he have been left out of the narrative all together? 

If your answer to all of those question is ‘Nothing!’, then congratulations you have more sense than the showrunners. 

I have seen a few people get angry and suggest that Lance should have been the one to go because getting rid of Hook Foot meant getting rid of the shows main disabled rep, but that’s ignoring that getting rid of Lance would mean getting rid of the shows only real black representation as well. Because tokenism isn’t real representation.  

Yet for all of how poorly handled Lance’s character was, he still has more reason to be there than Hook Foot. He has a unique connection to one of the main characters that, once introduced, would be hard to ignore. There’s nothing connecting Hook Foot to the plot or the main characters, and that’s why he shouldn’t have been in the show at all. Regardless of how much you may have liked him. 

Destiny Isn’t a Goal!!!

How many times do I have to say this!? 

A goal needs to be specific. It needs to have logical motivation behind it. It needs a clear obstacle to be overcome for the character to achieve it. 

A vague ‘destiny’ has none of those things. 

Conclusion 

Meh. That’s the word that best describes this episode and the majority of season two. It’s not the worst thing ever if you just want to shut your brain off for 30 minutes, but it’s not actually good either, and if you stop to think about any of it for more than two seconds it falls apart.  

[trombonesinspace]

Typhoid Mary: feminist femme fatale?

“Season 4 was going to be Typhoid Mary, Alice Eve [who played the role in Iron Fist], we were doing a kind of...I had a much different version of her than what Raven [Metzner] had done in Iron Fist. I was kind of rebooting what she was going to be like, and we were going to do a, you know, kind of a warped love story/murder mystery kind of femme fatale, but kind of a modern-day, feminist version of it, as opposed to kind of the older, sexist kind of femme fatale archetype.”

-Erik Oleson, in conversation with Steven DeKnight, SaveDaredevilCon 

As I said yesterday, I have some thoughts about this! If you want some opinions nobody asked for, about a storyline that may never come to pass, you’ve come to the right place! Let’s dive in.

A femme fatale is a character type with quite a history, that can take various forms. She is always an attractive woman who brings ruin to the man who gets involved with her. But sometimes she is deliberately manipulative, while sometimes she is more a victim of circumstances. She may be evil, or she may be sympathetic/tragic. But whatever her moral alignment, she has two defining traits: sexual allure, and some form of negative consequences for the hero as a result of his involvement with her.

A woman who schemes against the hero, and succeeds in harming him, but without using feminine wiles? Not a femme fatale. The Marvel TV universe has featured several examples on different shows: Madame Gao, Mariah Dillard, Alexandra. And, ironically, the version of Typhoid Mary who appeared in Iron Fist. (We’ll get there.)

A sexy woman who tries to manipulate/damage the hero, but fails? Also not a femme fatale. I wish I could give some examples, but sadly I can’t think of any, in dramas at least. Our current media culture loves a sexy manipulator, no writer ever seems to introduce one into a dramatic story without making her succeed in her schemes, to some extent at least.

Which is unfortunate, from my perspective, because I loathe sexy manipulators. It’s a character type I really dislike, whenever I encounter her. As soon as she shows up, I know the hero is going to fall for her bullshit like a chump, and I’m going to end up respecting him less as a result. I could try to unpack my feelings about this a bit more, but that would probably make a post all on its own, so for now I’ll leave it at that.

This doesn’t mean I hate all femmes fatales—it really depends on her motivation and her behavior. If she isn’t trying to harm the hero, and it happens due to circumstances, then I might like the character, but the story becomes a tragedy. Which is not necessarily bad. Just, you know. Tragic.

Anyway! Let’s talk about Typhoid Mary.

Mary Walker is a woman with Dissociative Identity Disorder (multiple personalities), and high-level combat skills. In the comics, she is also a mutant with mental powers. She appeared in the Daredevil comics starting in 1988.

In this original version, her personality fragmented due to childhood abuse, leading her to vow as an adult that no man would ever hurt her again. Her personalities are: Mary, who is timid and gentle; Typhoid, who is adventurous, lusty, and violent; and Bloody Mary, who is even more violent, sadistic, and hates all men.

Mary becomes romantically involved with Matt Murdock, who is cheating on his girlfriend, Karen Page, to be with her. At the same time, Typhoid is trying to ruin him, having been hired to do so by the Kingpin. Matt can’t tell they’re the same woman, because when she switches personalities all her bio signs change (voice, scent, heartbeat, etc) so much that he can’t recognize her. (Uh, sure.) She may also be using some of her mutant powers to confuse his senses. I haven’t read the comics, I’m relying here on what I could learn from the internet.

Eventually Typhoid drops him off a bridge, but then Mary finds him and gets him to a hospital, saving him. Karen is with him when he wakes up, but he breaks her heart by calling out for Mary.

This storyline...does not thrill me. As I said, I haven’t read it, but comics writing about mental illness is generally neither nuanced nor accurate, and comics writing about women circa 1988 is also not great, by today’s standards. And comics Matt’s disastrous love life is legendary—cheating on your girlfriend is bad, Matt! Don’t do it! 

I have, however, watched season 2 of Iron Fist, where we get a different version. This Mary Walker is a US army veteran, special ops, who was captured by the Sokovian military. Her personality fragmented due to the brutal abuse she received from her captors for nearly two years, until she finally escaped. She got a medical discharge from the army after being diagnosed with Dissociative Identity Disorder.

Her personalities are: Mary, who is innocent and naive; and Walker, who is a ruthless, coolly efficient mercenary-for-hire. The existence of a third, ultraviolent personality, previously unknown to either Mary or Walker, is revealed near the end of the season. 

Mary meets and befriends Danny Rand, while Walker is hired by his enemies to stalk him, and eventually capture him so they can steal his Iron Fist powers from him. She later changes sides, getting hired to bring down Davos, the season’s main villain, by Joy Meachum, his former ally.

There are clear parallels to the Daredevil comics storyline, albeit in less extreme form—Mary befriends the hero, but isn’t romantically involved with him; her more violent personality works against him and fights him, but doesn’t try to destroy him. 

I enjoyed this version of the character more than I expected to, for a couple of reasons. For one, she is never the out of control, “crazy” stereotype of a person with mental illness. Both Mary and Walker are more-or-less functional adults, managing to live a strange hybrid life, aware of each other’s existence even though they don’t share memories.

But what I especially like is that she isn’t sexualized, at all. It’s incredibly rare, in my experience, to see a young, female antagonist opposing a male hero, and not have her be sexy. Older women are exempt from this obligation (see my list of examples above), but the young ones always vamp it up, and I am so tired of it. I am not opposed to sexy women, but I am very opposed to the requirement that all women must be sexy. (Unless they’re old.) Male antagonists aren’t required to be alluring, so why should women be? (Yes, I know why. I just don’t like it.)

There’s also a lot of potential YIKES in sexualizing a woman with a severe mental illness, which was caused by (among other things) repeated sexual violence. Could it be done in a way that isn’t super problematic? It’s possible, sure. Am I assuming that most television writers would give the subject the respect it deserves? NOPE! 

I’m really glad they chose to just not go there. Walker is extremely good at what she does, takes no shit from anyone, and (almost) never gets riled up. After everything she’s been through, nothing in her present life has the power to faze her, and none of the men around her have the power to intimidate her. It’s pretty great!

She isn’t the least bit coy or seductive, and, equally refreshing, none of the men try to sexualize her or hit on her. Everyone Walker talks to knows she is a highly skilled professional, and they treat her accordingly. Or, when someone does disrespect her, it’s never gendered as far as I can remember, and it stops as soon as she calmly states what she’s going to do to him if it doesn’t.

As for Mary, although she has a more feminine appearance than Walker (hair down and loose, makeup), she is also not sexualized. Her friendship with Danny, who is in an established relationship with Colleen Wing, is platonic, and no one else tries to hit on her that I remember.

So this is the version of Typhoid Mary that Erik Oleson was going to reboot, into a femme fatale. Only, you know. A feminist one. 

I...have some questions. What does that even mean? What does feminism mean to Erik Oleson? Let’s be real, the idea of a woman becoming an ultraviolent, sadistic man-hater as a result of sexual trauma would have been seen as feminist in some circles, back in 1988 when that version was written. So what, exactly, did he have in mind?

As I said before, sexual allure is a necessary component of a femme fatale. So she was definitely gonna be sexy. And you know now how I feel about sexy female antagonists. As for the “warped love story” part...Matt wouldn’t be cheating on Karen, since they aren’t together (please, for the love of mercy, don’t have them get together right before he meets Mary, we did that once and I do NOT want to see it again), but I am still not a fan of Matt/Mary as a couple.

Her Dissociative Identity Disorder raises some serious issues around consent, and even if the show chose to ignore that, there’s still the issue of past sexual trauma. Unless Oleson’s reworking of the character was going to include a completely different back story, a Matt/Mary relationship would mean Matt unknowingly having sex with a woman who has suffered brutal sexual abuse in her past. Not to mention, having sex with her that only one part of her personality actually wants.

Is it possible for someone with Mary’s past trauma and present mental illness to have a positive sexual relationship? In reality, of course! In the hands of writers with only a layman’s knowledge of psychology, on a show that loves to torment its hero, I wouldn’t bet on it. How do you suppose our poster boy for Catholic guilt would react when he inevitably finds out the truth?

Plus, aside from any issues around Mary herself, Matt starting a relationship with anyone other than the handful of people who already know his secret identity, means a whole new round of Matt lying to someone he cares about. Does anyone really want to see that? I know I don’t. Sure, maybe he’d tell her eventually, but how long would they have to date before he decided to trust her with the truth?

I’m not opposed to the Mary Walker from Iron Fist appearing in Daredevil, if the writers could come up with a new story for her (i.e, don’t just have her repeat all the same plot beats with Matt that she already did with Danny). But bringing her in as a femme fatale really doesn’t sit well with me. We’ve already seen Matt in an ultimately destructive relationship with a sexy, violent, morally grey woman. I really don’t want to watch Round 2: now with multiple personalities!

Of course, maybe we never will. The quote at the beginning of this post is from just a couple of weeks ago (July 25 2020), so Erik Oleson still seems to think it’s a fine idea. But obviously we don’t know yet if there will ever be a season 4, or who the show runner will be if there is. He may never get to make the story he was planning.

So yes, I realize I’m merely speculating about a completely theoretical story that may never happen. But I wanted to write this anyway. I had a strong “ugh, no” reaction to the idea of a feminist femme fatale Typhoid Mary, and I wanted to go deeper and pick apart my reasons for not liking the idea.

To the three of you who have read this all the way through to the end (this post is nearly 2000 words, yikes), thank you for indulging me! These are, as always, my own opinions, and YMMV. 

[twentiethcenturymoviesandtv]

M*A*S*H: The Characters Part 4: B.J. Hunnicutt, Sherman Potter, Charles Emmerson Winchester III and Conclusion

Of all of the cast shake-ups throughout M*A*S*H’s run, none were more impactful on Hawkeye Pierce than the departure of Trapper McIntyre.

The original ‘sidekick’ and best friend archetype, Trapper’s absence at the 4077th immediately took its toll on Hawkeye, who came back from R&R to find that his best friend had left without a note.  For both the audience and Hawkeye, however, there wasn’t much of a wait before his absence was filled with a newcomer: Captain B.J. Hunnicutt (Mike Farrell).

A surgeon hailing from San Francisco, California, B.J. was a newcomer, fresh out of med-school and completely unused to the horrors of front-line surgery.  Introduced at the start of the new season, (meeting Hawkeye in the middle of his frantic attempt to say goodbye to Trapper) it became instantly clear that he was no ‘replacement’, but instead almost an opposite, a foil to the previous character’s archetype and to Hawkeye himself.

Where Trapper was a womanizer, B.J. was a loving, devoted husband and family man, a Nice Guy who started the show out as a tad naive, gentle, and idealistic.  He was a prankster, sure, but he was more likely to take a stand and argue with Hawkeye than Trapper had been, possessing a temper that, once roused, could be dangerous (leading to at least one physical altercation with Hawkeye).  At the beginning, the ways of war are a sudden jolt to him, one that he doesn’t necessarily take well.  As with every character, as time goes on, B.J. began to change as a result of the war, growing a mustache in a distinct ‘anti military’ move, and becoming more jaded, slowly evolving into the cynic between himself and Hawkeye.

B.J. was a good man at heart, as concerned for his patients as Hawkeye, but without the level of external breakdown that Hawkeye tended to go into.  More of a Tranquil Fury type, B.J. managed to keep a reasonably cool head, (most of the time) and acted as a Morality Chain, a voice of reason where Trapper was an encourager.  He was a more mature character, a husband and father increasingly feeling the wear and tear of being forced miles away from his family without any way to see his daughter grow up.  He also possessed a nasty jealous streak, seen often when Hawkeye mentioned how much Trapper had meant to him.

Despite their differences, B.J. and Hawkeye became very close friends throughout the show’s run, constantly having each other’s backs and being each other’s coping mechanisms through the horrors of war.  As surely as the others, B.J. became part of the 4077th’s family, and as a result, his character required the same amount of closure that the characters that had been there from the beginning deserved.

At the end of the show, B.J., like the others, gets to go home, and we as an audience learn that B.J. really doesn’t like saying goodbye.

After dancing around it through an entire episode, B.J. leaves a final farewell message to Hawkeye, (and the audience) in a heartfelt display of affection to his best friend, the man who made Korea bearable for him.  In the end, in a fitting display of the entire basis of his character, B.J. does what Trapper never did: he left Hawkeye a note.

But he wasn’t the only newcomer to make an impression.

Following Henry Blake’s death, the 4077th was in desperate need of a commanding officer (someone to relieve Frank Burns from his tyrannical reign), and replacement came in the form of Sherman Tecumseh Potter.

In much the same vein as B.J. was the complete opposite of Trapper McIntyre, Colonel Potter was very much the Anti-Blake, in the best way possible.  A career army-man, Potter was both a dedicated surgeon and a dedicated army man, on his third war.  Hailing from Hannibal, Missouri, Potter was just the man to shape the 4077th into some semblance of order, following Henry’s bumbling chaos.

Although still a Reasonable Authority Figure with a sense of humor, Potter was no pushover, standing his ground against Hawkeye and B.J.’s schemes and Frank Burns’ wheedling.  A Father to His Men (and an actual grandfather – Potter was another family man, a direct contrast with Henry’s cheating), Potter settled in instantly, a Cool Old Guy with a love of westerns and horses who could be empathetic and caring for his unit in their moments of weakness, and also make sure that Klinger didn’t get away with this week’s Scheme.

Potter was probably one of the characters who developed the least as the show went on, most likely due to his already settled personality as an ‘Old Soldier’, but by no means did he leave Korea unchanged.  As the show went on, Potter had moments of hidden depths, notably in terms with hearing the news that the last of his old squadron had died.  Potter often grappled with his age, sometimes causing him to feel competitive with his surgical abilities, attempting to prove that he could keep up with the younger doctors.  Like the others, despite his age and experience, Potter was very human, afraid of making mistakes, and, after three wars, was thoroughly tired of the killing.

“They keep inventing new ways to kill each other. Why can’t they invent a way to end this stupid war?”

After the war ended, Potter, too, got to go home to his wife, Mildred, saying goodbye to his newfound family, and receiving a genuine salute from both B.J. and Hawkeye, becoming one of two characters Hawkeye ever saluted (the other being Radar).  In the end, Potter had his unit’s affection and respect, and left Korea with dignity.

“Well, boys – it would be hard to call what we’ve been through fun, but I’m sure glad we went through it together.”

Despite beginning the show as a potential ‘replacement’ for Henry Blake, he ended it, much as B.J. did for Trapper: as an entirely new character in his own right, who changed the dynamic of the unit in general, bringing a wholly unique style to his command, and the show in general.

But there was one other character who had yet to appear on the show: another ‘replacement’ character who quickly proved that he was no simple replacement.

Exit Frank Burns, replaced with Major Charles Emerson Winchester III (David Ogden Stiers).

Charles Winchester, originally from Boston and then stationed in Tokyo, was a thoracic surgeon and pediatrician, and very good at it.  Born into a wealthy family (Very Blue Blood) and schooled at Harvard, Charles was an asset to the 4077th once he was assigned there, (after trouncing a commanding officer at cards and boasting about it) despite multiple pleas to the unmoved Colonel Potter to be reassigned.  

“But, know this: You can cut me off from the civilized world, you can incarcerate me with two moronic cellmates, you can torture me with your thrice-daily swill, but you cannot break the spirit of a Winchester. My voice shall be heard from this wilderness, and I shall be delivered from this fetid and festering sewer.”

As with Potter and B.J. before him, Charles proved very quickly to not simply be ‘the new Frank Burns’, displaying instead a completely separate and different series of personality traits, not the least of which was competence.

While Frank’s less than stellar abilities as a surgeon were repeatedly the butt of many jokes (and a source of superiority for Hawkeye, Trapper, and B.J.), Charles was legitimately excellent as his job, his only difficulty being adjusting to the pace and style of ‘meatball’ surgery when not able to utilize the time and equipment available in high-end hospitals.  But there was more to Charles than simply being good at his job.

Charles joined the cast to fill in as an antagonistic character, a role vacated by Margaret several seasons ago, and a part left entirely empty thanks to the departure of Frank Burns.  However, while Burns tended to be ineffectual, more of a nuisance than a problem, a consistently ‘inferior’ character who was always obviously wrong, Charles typically had more weight and reason to his actions.  While consistently butting heads with Hawkeye and B.J., Charles’s snobbery and selfishness could be treated as a joke, yes, and his character overall as ‘worse’ than the other two Swamp inhabitants, but at the end of the day, Charles was simply more human than Frank, and thus, a lot harder to hate.

Despite multiple attempts to ‘Break the Haughty’, Charles remained steadfast and stubborn through his time in the war, a Gentleman Snarker who slowly revealed a Jerk with a Heart of Gold type of personality.  He had a great sense of Family Honor, and despite his Insufferable Genius tendencies, proved that he had Hidden Depths, (and a potential history of a Lonely Childhood and Parental Neglect) which occasionally showed to prove to the audience, and the rest of the 4077th, that Charles was no Frank Burns.  Indeed, despite never losing his position as a ‘foil’ to the 4077th cast, Charles remained a proud, but good man from the moment he arrived until the moment he left, another symptom of a show who had matured past the need for cartoonish sit-com villains.

Despite the fact that Hawkeye never succeeded in breaking the ‘Winchester spirit’, Charles did leave Korea a changed man.  Besides learning to operate in horrendous conditions, at a pace designed merely to keep people alive and not much else, Charles took one final blow in the M*A*S*H finale: “Goodbye, Farewell and Amen” that spoke to both his character, and the toll that war takes in general.

Throughout the show, it was made abundantly clear that Charles adored classical music, viewing it as a haven away from the war, allowing him to forget about it for a little while.  His love for music enabled him to connect with a group of Chinese prisoners of war, who know some Mozart.  Throughout the episode, Charles teaches them some more, bonding with them until a prisoner exchange sends them away.

Later, the POWs are killed en route to the exchange.  As they’re brought back to the 4077th, only one is still alive, and he dies before Charles even has a chance to operate.  This devastates him utterly, to the point where he destroys his own record of the song he’d been trying to teach them.

“For me, music has always been a refuge from this miserable experience… now it will always be a reminder.”

In the end, Charles gets to go home, and in a sign of how far he’s come, he leaves the 4077th on the last remaining vehicle, a garbage truck, with utmost dignity, remarking that it’s only fitting.  Charles leaves his 4077th family, and the audience, in a somewhat surprising turn of events, misses him, is sorry to see him go in a way that we were never sorry for the absence of Frank Burns.

There were other characters, sure: the paranoid Colonel Flagg, the kitchen and mess hall staffer Igor, Klinger’s mortal enemy, Zelmo Zale, Ascended Extra fan favorite nurse Lieutenant Kelleye, and sympathetic psychiatrist Sidney Freedman, or Margaret’s less than stellar husband, Donald Penobscott.  This was more evidence for the care and realistic development that the M*A*S*H world was given: a variety of people filling in alongside the main cast, making a comfortable family that over eleven years, viewers got to know very well.

In the history of television, very few casts have had the lasting impact on viewers the way the M*A*S*H cast did.  At the end of eleven years, the audience was owed that finale, a way to say goodbye in a fulfilling way to characters that had become very familiar, important, almost real to viewers who had been tuning in to see them grow and change for over a decade.

The cast of M*A*S*H each served a place in the stories, with unique characters with depth and personality that transcended the flat character types typical of sitcoms just a tad previously.  The audience knew these people.  They liked these people.  Every character feels real, genuine, and memorable, and their dynamics are nearly as memorable as the characters themselves.

Throughout the show, you watched these characters grow and change, finding new ways to approach situations, as viewers got familiar with the core traits of their individual personalities.  They work very well as characters, as people, both entertaining and compelling figures for the audience to want to spend time with every week.  They felt real, like people you could know in real life.

And it worked.

M*A*S*H’s characters are still loved to this day, for being both entertaining and stellar examples of what happens when television characters are written like real people, with flaws and growth and kindness in varying doses.

In the end, it is that humanity in each character that gives M*A*S*H it’s longevity, and what places these characters as some of the most iconic and beloved in American television history.

Thank you guys so much for reading!  Join us next time as we discuss M*A*S*H’s place in the times and the culture.  If you have anything you’d like to say, don’t forget to leave a comment!  I hope to see you all in the next article.

[rachelkaser]

Stay Golden Sunday: Blind Ambitions

Rose’s blind sister Lily visits and might need more help than she’s willing to admit. The Girls have a garage sale.

Picture It...

The Girls are having a barbecue on the lanai with their guest, Rose’s sister Lily. Lily lost her sight six months ago, and is still adjusting while Rose tries not to be a mother hen. Blanche reminisces about Southern barbecues and Lily tells a story about their St. Olafian camping trips. The Girls discuss Lily’s adjustment -- she claims she can cope with most things now, and she even still watches television. When Sophia grouses about their TV being broken, Lily gives them the idea of having a garage sale to get money for a new one.

DOROTHY: Listen, mom, we cannot afford a new TV. We’re using the household money to repair the roof and repave the driveway. SOPHIA: Great, and what am I supposed to do while every other old lady on the block is watching Cosby? DOROTHY: Well, you can sit in the new driveway and hope that an amusing Black family drops by.

Later, the Girls are gathering together the things they could sell at a garage sale. Dorothy pulls out an old doll, Blanche has a hippy outfit she wore to Woodstock (the movie), and Rose finds a pair of candlesticks she decides to keep. Lily offers to put them in the alcove, and tells Rose not to be so protective. Rose apologizes -- while discreetly moving aside a lamp Lily was about to walk into. Lily then announces she’s going to her room and Dorothy and Blanche scramble to move a half-dozen boxes out of her way without her noticing, and she triumphantly declares, when she makes it to the hallway, that she doesn’t need anyone’s help.

The next day, Lily is cooking bacon on the stove, and when she turns away for a moment, the pan catches fire. She cries out for help, and Rose and Blanche come rushing in, with Rose putting out the fire with an extinguisher. Dorothy runs in as Blanche tells Lily she shouldn’t have been cooking on the stove. Lily apologizes but says it was just an accident as she sulks out. Blanche and Dorothy confront Rose, saying Lily isn’t as independent as she’s saying she is, and she might need to go back to the school for the blind, despite dropping out due to alleged boredom. Rose agrees to talk to her.

LILY: I remember when you were six years old and dad got you that puppy for your birthday. You worried because you thought her paws were too big and that the other dogs would laugh at her. ROSE: Well they did! They used to bark and point at her! LILY: Everybody pointed at her. You made her wear a bonnet and matching booties.

Rose goes to her room, where Lily is staying, and Lily reassures Rose that she’s fine. She says Rose is a worrier by nature, and Rose says not to change the subject. She tells Lily that she’s trying to do much by herself, and the independence of which she’s so proud isn’t serving her now. Lily finally breaks and tells Rose she just wants things to go back to the way they were, but they’re not going to. Rose tells her she needs help, and Lily begs Rose to come back home and live with her before bursting into tears.

Later, Rose tells the Girls that she’s seriously thinking about moving with Lily to Chicago, but both Blanche and Rose are skeptical that it’ll actually help Lily. Dorothy accuses her of doing it out of guilt, and Blanche relates a story of how she lost a male friend because her husband made her feel guilty about it. Sophia has a slightly more relevant story about how she struggled to get back on her feet after her stroke. It took Dorothy pushing her to be independent for her to actually make the effort, and Sophia tells Rose she needs to help her sister “to help herself.” Rose goes off to think some more.

DOROTHY: *after Blanche rebuffs a customer’s offer of $1.25 for her Elvis shakers* Blanche, I can’t believe that you did that! I mean, they’re just a silly salt and pepper shaker. BLANCHE: The King is gone, Dorothy. But we must cherish the things he left behind. His movies, his songs... DOROTHY: And his seasonings.

At the garage sale, every time someone shows an interest in one of the Girls’ things, they react badly. Rose isn’t willing to give up her teddy, Mr. Longfellow; Blanche believes her Elvis salt and pepper shakers must be cherished; and Dorothy squabbles with a teenager over a hockey stick used by Bobby Hull. They come to the conclusion that they’re not willing to part with any of their things, and decide to just pay for a new TV in installments. Blanche and Dorothy go to shoo out their customers.

Lily enters and tells Rose how much she appreciates Rose being willing to help her. She asks Rose to get her a glass of water, and Rose freezes before reminding Lily that she’s capable of getting a glass of water — and if she isn’t, she needs professional help that Rose can’t give. She’s made up her mind: She’s not going to Chicago. Lily gets angry and accuses Rose of turning her back on her, storming out.

DOROTHY: *after the third time Rose leaves the house and returns* Come on now. Come on now, get out of here. You’ve come back more times than Shirley MacLaine.

Two months later, Rose is on her way to visit Lily. She’s sure that Lily is going to pressure her into living with her again and is nervous because it was hard enough to refuse the first time. The Girls encourage her to stick to her guns. She leaves, but not without kissing her friends goodbye. When Rose arrives at the airport later, she thanks the flight attendant for all the extras they provided her (including pillows, Dramamine, and 10 packs of smokehouse almonds).

Rose is surprised to see Lily at the airport, waiting for her. Lily introduces her seeing-eye dog, Becky, who Rose of course melts over (side note: I don’t think you’re supposed to pet service dogs the way Rose does here, but considering the dog is likely not an actual service dog, I’ll excuse it). Lily apologizes to Rose, saying Rose did the right thing by pushing her. She went back to the school for the blind, and is finally in a place where she can take care of herself -- with Becky’s help, of course. She and Becky take the lead to the baggage claim, with Lily tossing off a one-liner that has Rose a bit concerned:

ROSE: I’m so proud of you. LILY: Oh this is nothing! What till you see me drive home!

“If it’s a choice between the two of them, let the blind one make change.”

After Blanche and Dorothy had their turns with sisterly conflict episodes, it’s now Rose’s turn. This time it’s not long-standing animosity or bubbling resentment that sets the two against each other, but a new life change that prompts an adaptation in the relationship. As depressing as it may be, I think Lily and Rose might be the healthiest sister relationship in the show’s history, not that that’s saying much. Lily is one of the more memorable guest characters on the show, mostly because she’s given room to have complex emotions.

In the episode, Lily is played by Polly Holiday, whose main claim to fame is playing Flo “Kiss My Grits” Castleberry on the sitcom Alice -- a catchphrase I’ve always found a little baffling, but at least it’s memorable. If you’d asked me based on what little I’d seen of Alice if she’d be capable of giving one of the most memorable guest performances on Golden Girls ever, I admit I’d have been a little skeptical -- and I’d be wrong, because she really brings it. It’s not often an actor can be in a scene with Betty White and completely command all the attention (and probably some of the credit goes to White for being a great scene partner).

SOPHIA: Why are we cooking outdoors? DOROTHY: Ma, we’re having a barbecue. SOPHIA: You know what they call cooking meat over an open fire in Sicily? DOROTHY: No, what? SOPHIA: Poverty.

I appreciate what the episode does, making Lily an . . . well, I don’t want to say antagonist, but definitely the person who’s causing the conflict. She’s not actually dealing with her problems, but she wants to look like she is because she’s too proud to ask for help -- and when she finally does, it’s from a person who’s not qualified to help her. The first time I watched this episode, I was a naïve youngster who didn’t understand why Rose didn’t go help Lily -- I felt that I would, under the circumstances. Now that I’m an adult, I understand better why that situation is untenable, because Rose would have to quit her job and, given that she can’t really teach Lily to be independent, would never be able to have her own life because Lily would be dependent on her.

The show is also not shy about showing how Lily’s lack of control over her situation is making her lash out, and that this isn’t excusable: During the pivotal scenes between Rose and Lily, Lily does everything she can to deflect taking responsibility for herself. She tells Rose, “You’d be worried if you couldn’t find anything to worry about” when Rose comes to check on her (keep in mind, she’d been screaming for help mere minutes earlier), begs Rose to fix the problem for her, and finally escalates to accusing Rose of abandoning her when Rose tries to get her to take care of herself.

DOROTHY: Will you look at this? I got this doll on my 10th birthday. I can’t believe I’ve kept her all these years. *Sophia enters behind her* Her hair’s falling out, her clothes are all worn, she smells of mothballs... SOPHIA: Hey, I may not be Ann-Margret, but I’m still your mother!

There is a difference between toughing something out and truly coping with it, and I think anyone who’s gone through a major life change would agree. The difference lies in confronting the reality of the situation. For most of the episode, Lily adamantly refuses to do that, and Rose enables her -- the other Girls recognize that and try to help Rose see it. For me, the best (and hardest) part of the episode to watch is that little moment in the kitchen when Rose says Lily is very independent, and Dorothy firmly says, “No she’s not, Rose.”

I’m not disabled myself, so I looked up details on common reactions to late-onset disabilities. We never know how Lily became blind -- if it was something that had been coming on for a while or if it was the result of some kind of trauma -- but I found an article on the Royal National Institute for Blind People’s website that clarified what Lily is going through: Grief. If you watch closely, you can see Lily’s going through a few different stages of grief -- denial, anger, and fear. While her situation is resolved mostly off-camera, it’s nice to see that she’s allowed to have those emotions.

ROSE: *about Lily* She served three terms on the city council, and she was the first woman in St. Olaf’s to ever have a pilot’s license. BLANCHE: Oh really? Well we have something in common, Lily. I was the first woman in my hometown ever to have a pilot! DOROTHY: Blanche’s bed is next to the X-15 at the Space and Aviation Museum.

Still, as much as I like the episode, I do think there are a few parts where the writing isn’t as strong as it could be. Most of the episode is tipped on the serious side rather than the comedic side. The garage sale scene is really funny, but doesn’t make sense. Presumably the Girls went through all their stuff before putting it out on the lanai, to confirm they wanted to sell it and to price it. Why is it that only on the day of the sale do they decide they want to keep all their bric-a-brac? Also, I’m not exactly sure how they plan to get a new TV with a $60 down payment and paying “the rest of it” off on time. Side note: The scene of them frantically clearing Lily’s path of boxes is funny, but it’s really their fault for leaving boxes of stuff lying around while a blind guest is trying to navigate their house.

While the episode is balanced really well between the four Girls, I think Blanche’s major part of the episode -- her extended story about her male friend Andrew (an excellent lover . . . no, riveter) -- doesn’t really serve either the episode or the scene it’s in, which is a recurring problem with first-season episodes. Her anecdotes from the opening scene about barbecues with the Darcy triplets (Hank, Beau, and . . . Dove?) are much funnier and feel more appropriate to the scene.

BLANCHE: *about Sophia’s stroke* But you got better. SOPHIA: Yeah, because [Dorothy] stopped coddling me. She screamed, she hollered, day and night. She made me do my therapy. She forced me to rebuild my life because she knew I could. And for that I’ll always be grateful. DOROTHY: Aw, thanks, Ma. SOPHIA: I only have one question: Now that I’m better, why do you still scream and holler at me?

Also, bit of dubious-but-fun trivia for you: I already said that Holliday is great as Lily. That said, she allegedly wasn’t the first choice for the role. If the information in Golden Girls Forever is correct, the person who the producers originally wanted to play Lily, the actress whose name was thrown around early in the process . . . was Lucille Ball. Yes, that Lucille Ball.

Keep in mind I couldn’t find a secondary source for this information. Contrary to the impression I probably give, I don’t take Golden Girls Forever as gospel and I generally do try to confirm what’s written via some other source. If I can’t, I don’t want to present it to you as fact. So allegedly the reason Ball declined the role was that she didn’t want to do too many serious roles, and I never thought I’d say this, but I’m glad Polly Holliday got the role instead of Lucille Ball. If she had, I think the whole episode, including the dramatic scenes, would have been less about the characters and performances, and more about “OMG, that’s Lucy!”

Episode rating: 🍰🍰🍰 (three cheesecake slices out of five)

Favorite part of the episode:

Sophia shows how much patience she has for haggling:

CUSTOMER: How much? SOPHIA: Two bucks. Get wild. Treat yourself. CUSTOMER: Nah, I’ll give you a dollar-fifty. SOPHIA: What does this look like, Baghdad? *pulls vase out of her hands* Get the hell out of here! DOROTHY: Ma, that’s no way to sell things! SOPHIA: Hey, go to Neiman Marcus sometime, see if they treat you any better.

[aion-rsa]

Fargo Season 4 Finale Post-Credits Scene Explained

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This Fargo article contains spoilers for the season 4 finale.

Fargo season 4’s finale, “Storia Americana,” wraps up an uneven season of FX’s crime series about as effectively as one could have hoped. The hour is thematically consistent, if a little short (which may have had something to do with the final two episodes’ abbreviated COVID-19 production schedule). In true Fargo fashion, the season ends with plenty of our main characters dead. Josto Fadda (Jason Schwartzman) is killed for not properly realizing the power of his own family (and for a simple misunderstanding with killer nurse Oraetta Mayflower), while Loy Cannon (Chris Rock) is killed for underestimating the power of another family.

All in all, “Storia Americana” tells a rather complete story…or storia. But then, Fargo showrunner and this episode’s writer Noah Hawley decides to give viewers one more post-credits scene for the road. The post-credit scene in “Storia Americana” brings back a beloved actor and character from the show’s second (and best) season, and ties him into the loose Fargo continuity in a rather effective way. Here is what you need to know about the post-credit scene from this season 4 finale. 

Midway through the Fargo season 4 finale credits, the black screen slowly gives way to a cracked asphalt road somewhere out in the American Midwest. Then the camera pans up to find a car driving down that lonely highway. Sitting in the backseat of that car is none other than Mike Milligan (Bokeem Woodbine). Mike was one of the central antagonists from Fargo season 2 – a charismatic and talkative enforcer sent by the Kansas City mob to deal with the Gerhardt family, Fargo’s most notable crime syndicate in the ‘70s. Driving the car is one of the two Kitchen brothers (Wayne and Gale, played by Brad and Tood Mann), who served as Mike’s bodymen. 

As Mike looks out the window, a scene of Loy Cannon’s son Michael a.k.a. “Satchel” walking down the road after escaping the Faddas fades in and is displayed beside Mike’s face. The implication here is clear. As many viewers have long-suspected, Michael “Satchel” Cannon grows up to be Mike Milligan. It turns out that being traded from one crime family to another, experiencing that new family trying to murder you, only to return home to one’s birth father just in time to watch him die is a compelling formula for how to create a murderer. 

Fargo, bless it, was never shy about dropping clues to Satchel’s ultimate fate. In the first minutes of season 4’s premiere, the show reveals that one of Kansas City’s earliest gangs is the Irish crime family known as “The Milligan Concern.” This set off some alarm bells for Fargo fans, who are presumably always thinking about Mike Milligan. They knew a guy named Milligan, and he came from Kansas City after all! 

Of course, the Milligan Concern was not long for this world, edged out first by a Jewish gang, and then by an Italian one. The name lived on, however, in the form of Patrick “Rabbi” Milligan (Ben Wishaw). Rabbi Milligan is so-named because he was traded by his Irish family to the Moskowitz Syndicate. After a few years, Rabbi helped his old family take out his new one and the Moskowitzes were annihilated. Then, when the Fadda Family came to town, Rabbi’s father humiliated him by trading him again instead of his younger brother. Rabbi then helped the Faddas take out his own family, including him personally executing his own father. 

Throughout the series Rabbi Milligan proves to be a valuable companion to Satchel Cannon, after Satchel himself is traded to the Fadda Family. If there’s anything that Rabbi knows, it’s what it feels like to be traded as part of a power-sharing agreement between two crime families. Rabbi and young Satchel a.k.a Mike Milligan grew close, and when the order came down from Josto to kill Satchel, Rabbi saved the boy’s life and the pair hit the road together. Rabbi saved Mike’s life once again, but in the process was carried off by a tornado (because Fargo). This sent Mike out on the road alone with only his motel terrier buddy Rabbit for company. 

Perhaps Mike had eyes on returning to a “normal” life when he finally arrived home and reconnected with his father. But any hope of that ended with one gunshot from Zelmare Roulette (Karen Aldridge). Mike then presumably found his way into the life of crime like his father. Unlike his father, however, he was unable to establish his own crime family. As the Fargo season 4 finale makes clear, the days of boutique little crime families are coming to an end. The Italian mafia has infiltrated just about every meaningful aspect of organized crime in every major city. Any other crime syndicates will serve at the Italian mob’s pleasure. And it would seem that that’s just what Mike Milligan does. 

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The adult Mike Milligan is a highly proficient negotiator, diplomat, and killer. The Kansas City mob is happy to work with him because he gets things done…and can deftly recite Lewis Carroll’s “Jabberwocky” from memory. Earlier on in Fargo season 4, a character named Joe Bulo was introduced to Josto. Joe Bulo is actually a character in Fargo season 2 (played by Brad Garrett), and it is he who convinces the Kansas City crime family to send Mike Milligan north to shore things up with the Gerhardts. It now seems clear that Joe Bulo being introduced this season was no accident and it is he who helps transition one-time Fadda family member Mike “Satchel” Cannon deeper into the crime world. And when Mike enters into that world, he adopts the name of Rabbi Milligan, the man who saved his life over and over again. 

Each season of Fargo is distinct and is intended to be appreciated on its own merits. Through four seasons now, however, the show has filled out its modest canon here and there. Season 2 previously revealed that Dodd Gerhardt’s helper Hanzee Dent (Zahn McClarnon) received plastic surgery to become Fargo mob leader Moses Tripoli. Season 3 also had some tenuous ties back to season 2, including the existence of Mr. Wrench. It’s this Mike Milligan reveal though that proves once and for all just how deep the Fargo rabbit hole can go.

The post Fargo Season 4 Finale Post-Credits Scene Explained appeared first on Den of Geek.

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[justfinishedreading]

I started October thinking ‘man, I have so many manga to review I’m going to be posting stuff every other day!’. Didn’t happen.

A Bride’s Story, Volume 1, by Kaoru Mori

This manga is set in nineteenth-century central Asia, along the Silk Road, it’s the story of a twenty-year-old woman sent from her nomadic tribe to marry a twelve-year-old boy in a settled clan. They arrange the marriage in order to maintain family bonds between the two households.

This was never going to be an easy read but let me start with the positive; visually A Bride’s Story is utterly beautiful, Kaoru Mori draws with a level of detail I have never before encountered in manga. Written literature is often placed above graphic novels with the excuse that there’s more artistry and depth when a world is bring created solely through vast amounts of words rather than images, and yet here is a case where literature could never compete. The written word could never compete with Mori’s exquisite illustrations of nomadic dress, patterned carpets and wood carvings. In A Bride’s Story we get a full visual experience of a culture and way of life that is now rare.

Story-wise this manga falls neatly into the ‘show, don’t tell’ approach of storytelling: lesser mangas would have the characters openly and plainly discussing themes, telling the audience exactly what they should think and what they should take away from the book, but A Bride’s Story presents this time and culture in a neutral way, with both negatives and positives alongside each other, leaving the reader free to assess their own feelings.

Spoilers ahead

Amir, the female protagonist, is warmly welcomed into her new husband’s family. When we think of a young woman having to marry a child in our minds the situation is horrific, to not be able to choose your own husband and on top of that to be forever tied, socially and legally, to a child is the sort of thing made for tragedy. Luckily for Amir her new husband, twelve-year-old Karluk, is good-natured and is full of admiration for his wife. Amir came from a nomadic tribe, she can shoot rabbits with a bow and arrow whilst ridding a galloping horse, she knows how to travel the lands, rear sheep and skin animals. Karluk sees her like a hunter, almost like a warrior, and he sees her like a mother in the way she frets and worries about his health and looks after him.

Amir is lucky because her new family openly accepts her and they view her differences with curiosity and wonder. They are a large family who have created a safe, happy home and together they work to keep it in peace. So the fears that the reader might imagine about an arranged marriage with such an age gap are not necessarily the ones that appear. The antagonists are actually Amir’s own clan, who realize that there’s a potentially more advantageous match to be made and intend to remove her from her current situation and marry her off to someone else.

Another nice surprise is that although this is a patriarchal society in which men make the life-changing decisions, we do a great character in the matriarchal grandmother of Karluk’s family, who displays a strength and resolve that even the men from Amir’s clan revere.

Onto the negatives: there’s a scene in which Amir is telling Karluk to strip naked because out in the desert, in a yurt, it is common practice to sleep nude because it gets very cold and it is warmer to sleep skin to skin. Karluk is clearly uncomfortable with this. Amir’s naked breasts are exposed and sexily drawn. In the next panels we see that sleeping naked together makes Karluk think of lambs sleeping snuggled to their mothers and for him there is nothing sexual in this experience. While the scene is implying that their relationship is more of mother and child, it is still a shock to see Amir’s naked adult body, and it makes us wonder what will happen when Karluk becomes physically more sexually mature but not necessarily mentally mature.

Japan has a deep-rooted obsession with sexualizing youth, it is something that comes up often in manga, anime, literature and media, and I’m always weary of when it might be sneaking its ugly head in more subtle ways. For example a couple of months ago I watched Beastars, which is a anime about anthropomorphic animal-humanoids (e.g. like Zootopia) and while I enjoyed the anime, there was something disturbing about the central couple; a wolf and a bunny rabbit. Compared to the large size of the humanoid wolf the small humanoid bunny looked child-like. The size thing and species thing is done to create sexual tension between the large scary wolf and the cute sweet little bunny, but there was something about the bunny’s small yet sexually developed form, in a school girl uniform, next to an adult-looking man, which just rang alarm bells. Interestingly I think the manga handles this better as the bunny’s body isn’t drawn in such a sexualized and realistic way as in the anime. In the anime there are moments where there is definitely a subtle catering to paedophilic appetites, especially as issues of uncontrollable desire and danger and predator and prey are brought up.

Back to A Bride’s Story, I don’t feel that this is a book that encourages or excuses paedophilia, it is presenting us, in a neutral way, with things that would have happened at the time. When Karluk presents his wife to some distant family members they are shocked, not with the fact that Karluk at age twelve is already married but because a twenty-year-old bride is considered an old bride. The custom is to marry women off young so they have longer to produce children. At the back of the book in the Author’s Notes Mori writes that women would normally be married at the age of 15 or 16, and beside this comment the author has drawn a picture of a young bride, with the following remark “Hey you! Yeah, you, big guy, looking at her like that! Let’s step out into the hallway and have a talk!” So while there’s no direct comment about paedophilia or the sexualization of youth, this one comment does hint that the author is aware of the issue in society, past and present.

One of the things that I am looking forward to in the series is that it will not centre just on Amir and Karluk’s relationship, it seems that other volumes will introduces other bride’s stories, including women who are lesbians or bisexuals and women who perhaps do not identify with a female gender. There is a secondary character in volume 1 called Smith, an Englishman who is studying the culture and customs of Central Asia and I believe that as he travels to different countries this may be how new storylines are introduced to us.

One difficulty I had in reviewing this manga was that I kept wanting to say it is about people from a specific country, however nowhere in the book does it say in which country the action takes place. In a way this is a western problem, it is an understatement to say that many, many a problem has arisen from the West’s desire for defined borders in countries where, at the time, it was not common to have them, places where tribes moved about depending on the seasons and trade. So after some brief research I believe this book explores the cultures of Mongol Nomads, of countries such as Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan that make up Central Asia, and with the potential of exploring influences from neighbouring countries such as China, Russia, Iran and Afghanistan. In the Author’s Notes she also mentions being interested in the Caucasus region of Central Asia, so that may also be countries like Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia, and the Caucasus Mountains which create a natural border between Eastern Europe and Western Asia.

One thing is for sure: since A Bride’s Story follows the path of the Silk Road, the crossroads from which Europe and Asia traded, it promises to be a wonderful melting pot of traditions and ideas.

Review by Book Hamster

[someplace-that-is-else]

“Shaking It Off...?’: Is the Magicians Surviving Post-Quentin in Season Five?

 Editor’s Note: Spoilers for the current season of The Magicians lie ahead. Read at your own risk.

 I still can’t listen to it.

 Every time I was at work, the radio loved to drop in Taylor Swift. I admit it. I love Taylor Swift. It was earned respect so I won’t knocked it. However, when I heard ‘Shake It Off,’ I changed the station. Why? Because I was reminded every time.

 The Magicians Episode 4, Season 1…Quentin Coldwater in the mind asylum. Him singing it. It was a turn left moment in a somewhat serious scene that was hilarious.

 But I was always reminded when I heard the song. Now…

 Quentin Coldwater was dead.

 In case you missed it, the fourth season of The Magicians went out with a bang. In order to save the world and his friends, Quentin Coldwater sacrificed himself. It was a heartbreaking moment and yes, there were tears at the gang’s tribute to him with a cover of ‘Take on Me.’ It was also shocking because who would have thought a show would kill off their main character, the character that viewers are brought into the show by. Even ballsier? Leaving the main character dead, confirmed immediately after the episode aired that night by way of internet interviews from the producers.

 That was the world viewers were coming into walking into Season Five.  Unlike Supergirl which I dropped in Season Four due to the on-the-nose political writing, I was curious to see how the writers would play the death of their main character.

 So how was it?

 Did Someone Order an Apocalypse?: Raising the Stakes in Season Five

 After a season where magic was rationed out, this season was different. Now there was too much magic. How much? So much that people were exploding for crying out loud.

 As a result, there were plot threads being introduced. You had Penny being made a professor at Brakebills and dealing with the presence of a signal that one of his Traveler students was hearing. You had Kady struggling with being the leader of the hedgewitches while being in the middle of a mystery involving the disappearance of a book depository. Most importantly, there was a Pig running around, encountering Julia and saying an apocalypse was coming.

 Hm…the end of everything. While the Magicians has had moments that were life and death, I do not think it has actually dealt with an apocalypse. It sounded so Buffy the Vampire Slayer. And it was during one of these moments of too much magic that the apocalypse was supposed to happen.

 And this was all in light of the fact that Quentin was only dead a month. Alice, Julia, and Elliot were the ones who were hit the hardest by his passing. Julia was Quentin’s best friend. Alice was Quentin’s girlfriend. Elliot was his woulda, coulda, shoulda. But as usual, the world as they knew it needed saving.

 And there were casualties on the way to the apocalypse. Penny lost his ability to control his Traveler abilities so much so that he could accidentally kill himself now. Dean Fogg was lost to a whole dimension in Kady’s pursuit of the book depository. In the gang’s attempt to stop the apocalypse, they succeeded. But there was a BUT.

 WRONG apocalypse.

 All that struggle. Encountering goddesses with agendas. The return of evil hedge witch Marina who was behind the depository mystery. Kady almost was killed by an assassin. Elliot and Margo got stuck in a time loop.

 It was all for the wrong apocalypse. You see the Pig was talking about a whole other apocalypse that was coming. One that appeared to be tied into another plot thread from last season involving Elliot and Margo being trapped at one point in the Narniasque land of Fillory 300 years in the future and its future ruler the Dark King.

 Oops.

 The Power of Three: Character Development in Season Five

 Magic comes from pain.

 Eliot said that to Quentin in the first season. Over the course of the seasons, that has truly held up quite well. Going into Season Five, there was still plenty of it. And that brought me to the character development for Julia, Alice, and Eliot specifically. Their pain. Their grief over Quentin’s death.

 I loved Julia’s Season Four arc. The ‘is she or isn’t she still a goddess?’ arc. She had been practically redeemed in Season Three. She had sacrificed her being on a higher plane for her friends. And where did she go from here? From here led to a new relationship with Penny, getting to get close with her best friend Quentin again, and have a chance to be a full goddess again. However, that was snatched away from her by the Monster and so was Quentin. She was human again with no magic…until her pain over Quentin’s death, bringing her magic back to the surface.

 And that miracle was what was driving Julia this season. She was determined to not have Quentin’s death be in vain. She was going to stop those apocalypses. She was so determined that it was revealing cracks in her relationship with Penny. In fact, they broke up…just in time to find out that Julia was pregnant. So would Julia keep focusing on stopping apocalypses to honor Quentin’s memory, or would she focus on herself and her future which may or may not include Penny?  Oh, the dilemma…

 And then we had Alice…

 Honestly, I haven’t liked Alice since Season 2. She was cute. She was brainy. She wore glasses. And Niffin experience, while a great plot twist for those of us who hadn’t read the books, really tainted her. And any sympathy she got for her pain was destroyed by betraying the gang by helping the Library at the end of Season Three. I enjoyed everyone giving her the business in Season Four. 

So I was saddened to see Quentin take her back. Especially with someone better hanging in the wings.  

That said…the pain that Alice felt for Quentin dying. The staying in her room. Her wearing his clothes. Her trying to resurrect him. That felt real. And for the first time, Alice felt like a person again. She felt like Alice. And as the current season has progressed, a new persona has taken over: old Alice. The last few episodes had brought back the brainy, the problem solving, and dare I say it the cute Alice from the early seasons. From the darkness, she had come back into the light.

 And finally, there was Eliot. Eliot spent the majority of Season Four possessed by an ancient Monster. A Monster who was on a mission to resurrect his even more dangerous sister. In the process of Eliot trying to find a way to contact Quentin, Margo, and the gang, it was revealed that there was a scene not revealed to the audience. Back during the Season 3, Episode 5 episode “A Day in the Life,” Quentin and Eliot were trapped in a time loop of sorts and lived a whole life together. Fell in love. Had a child together. Died. In the end, quick thinking brought them back. And it was over…right?

 Wrong.

 It turned out that Quentin and Eliot had had a talk. Proof of concept. Most people took a chance when they got into a relationship. Here they had a whole lifetime and saw they worked together. So…Quentin wanted to make it real. The debatably straight character wanted to give it a go…but Eliot pulled away. Being trapped in a Monster gave Eliot that push. The push he needed to get free and tell Quentin that he was ready to give it a go.

  So of course…Quentin died.

 And just like that…they became Buffy the Vampire Slayer’s Tara and Willow. They became like The 100’s Clarke and Lexa. What did I mean? I meant that the ‘Bury Your Gays’ trope struck again. You know, the trope in literature and tv where two people of the same sex cannot be happy and if they found happiness it usually ended in tragedy. And the fact that Quentin got some form of closure with Alice in terms of their relationship while he did not with Eliot was quite the tragedy for fans.

 While I personally would have liked to see some closure for those two (called Queliot by their fans) due to the relatability of their situation (which happened more in real life than people thought), I was pleased to see that in the latest season that Eliot was definitely dealing with his unsolved feelings about Quentin. Not only did he find some closure to it, he even got to some closure with Alice as well since they had quite a bit to deal with between each other. Bonus, Eliot had been bantering with the Dark King, this season’s potential Big Bad who happened to be flirting with Eliot.

 A happy ending for our resident gay man? This is The Magicians. So…iffy. LOL!!! Especially after that reveal in Episode 9.  So time would tell how the relationship between Eliot and Sebastian the Dark King would resolve itself.

 Speaking of…

 Pieces of a Puzzle: Using Plot Threads that Work Well in Season Five

 While a lot of the seasonal plot arc had to do with the gang dealing with apocalypses, there was also the arc having to do with the Dark King who usurped Margo’s rule of Fillory. Fans got to meet him in a clever introduction during Alice’s and Eliot’s quest to give closure to Quentin. Thus, the tension between Sebastian the Dark King and Eliot began.

 In another blog I did ( https://someplace-that-is-else.tumblr.com/post/183733192088/well-fuck-how-i-fell-into-syfys-the ), I mentioned that protagonists were only as good as their antagonists. The more complex the antagonist, the better. And if the Dark King was to be the main villain this season, the writers did him right. On one hand, there was the burgeoning relationship between him and Eliot and the fact that Fillory worshipped him for his ability to push back the invading Takers. On the other hand, it was revealed HE was behind the Takers being in Fillory in the first place and was immortal to being killed. Add on to that the reveal in Episode 9:  Sebastian was one of the Chatwin siblings, brother to the Beast…

...still the best villain in this series. His goal:  to resurrect his lost love. Given the gang was dealing with the aftermath of Quentin’s death, how could they not relate? How could we? Things were more murky.

 Meanwhile, there was the mystery of the signal. As mentioned earlier, the increase in magic meant there were a lot of new traveler magicians coming into their abilities with no one to guide/teach them. Enter Penny the only Traveler alive to tell the tale. At first Penny was reluctant, but he attempted to. That was how he met Plum, one of his students who was hearing the mysterious signal. In the process of hearing the signal, Penny lost his abilities. And to add on to the mystery…Plum...

... was ALSO a Chatwin. Whom daughter…Jane, the Beast aka Martin or Sebastian…remained to be seem.

 And then there were two.

 Finally, there was the world seed. I had greatly enjoyed seeing Alice morph back into her brainy persona that I remembered from the first two seasons. At the same time, she had started a bantering friendship with another magician who was some expert in possibilities. And from some notes left around by Quentin, Alice and this student had been creating a world seed. The belief…that it could create a whole new world. Leave it to Quentin to be gone, but NOT forgotten.

 How that would come into play with Plum, the Dark King’s plans, and the Fillory apocalypse was too early to know. It was recently announced by the SyFy Channel that they had cancelled The Magicians. Insert eyeroll here given my colorful history with SyFy. However, the producers of The Magicians have always mentioned that they wanted to adapted the last book in the series The Magicians’s Land for one of their seasons. And all signs of what I knew to happen in the book revealed this current season was loosely based on that book (in the book Quentin was still alive for example). So it would be interesting to see how it all ended for everyone.

 With a bang…or a whimper?

  #themagicians #syfychannel #syfy #whoorderedanapocalypse #buffythevampireslayer #buffyreference #glory #seasonfive #taylorswift #quentincoldwater #shakeitoff #aha #takeonme #apocalypse #supergirl #raisingthestakes #plotthreads #characterdevelopment #grief #queliot #writing #narnia #darkking #magic #buryyourgays #powerofthree #puzzlepieces #signal #seed #withabang #withawhimper

[themosleyreview]

The Mosley Review: Avatar: The Last Airbender Book One: Water (Season 1)

For the longest time, I’ve heard such great things about this animated series. From the few images I had saw, it sparked my interest and I searched for a way to view it. I wanted to truly binge the series without having to rent an absurd amount of DVD's. I did that with 24, Angel, Cowboy Bebop and Supernatural before they were available to stream on Netflix and even when they were streaming, I had to rent a disc to watch an episode that wasn't uploaded. So I sat back patiently and waited for the day that I could stream the entire series and thank you Netflix for finally bringing it home. I knew this was a beloved show for kids, but animation these days also appeal to adults with relatable messages and themes. Season 1 nailed that right from the beginning with its thematic commentaries on spiritualism, faith, toxic sexism and a mixture of different cultures. The amount of pure imagination to create a fully realized world was astonishing. I have seen the use of the 4 elements; Air, Water, Earth and Fire, many times before, but nothing comes close to the wholesome and inventive weaving that is done throughout the show. For so long I have felt that I have been missing out on something special and now I know that it was this show.  

The voice cast was outstanding across the board. We are first introduced to the main heroes in a sweet, comical and explosive manner. Mae Whitman is the voice of Katara and she is very curious, outgoing and strong. Her genuine strong will to fight and evolve is truly magnificent and she instantly became a favorite. Whitman is a great actress on her own, but she did a fantastic job bringing Katara's personality to life. Jack DeSena voices her goofy, stubborn and reckless brother Sokka. He is more of the comic relief, but underneath all the ridiculous and sometimes toxic masculinity, you have one of the smartest and loyal friends you could ever ask for. DeSena kept him consistent throughout the season and yet he has a great deal of growth by the end of the season. Shortly after we meet Katara and Sokka, we are introduced to the lead of the series Aang and his loyal Sky Bison Appa. Aang is the all powerful Avatar that is known to harness all 4 elements, but we meet an innocent 12 year old boy who has been frozen for 100 years. Almost of the people he knew before have been lost to him. Zach Tyler Eisen voices Aang and he delivers the childlike fun and the pain and sadness that the character feels once he learns the heartbreaking truth. It's not all gloom though. Aang gains a new family in his friendship with Katara and Sokka and together they travel across the 4 nations; Water, Earth, Fire and Wind, to ultimately end the ongoing war. The 3 of them deliver outstanding performances and I would've loved to join them on their quest for peace.  

With every heroes journey, there is an even more powerful villain they must face. The Fire Nation is the antagonistic force and constant threat in the season. The main antagonist is Prince Zuko and his wise uncle Iroh. Zuko was exiled by his father Ozai, the Lord of the Fire Nation. Since that day he has been hunting the Avatar in hopes to capturing him and restoring his honor in the eyes of the Fire Lord. Dante Basco voices Zuko and he delivers a sinister performance that is unrelenting and intense. You feel the guilt and bubbling rage in every word and in each command he gives. He is accompanied by his wise and worldly uncle Iroh who sometimes keeps him humble. Iroh has lived many lives already and is always there to help provide wisdom and guidance where Zuko is more destructive and reckless. Iroh is masterfully voiced by the magnificent Mako. Mako has always been one of my favorite Japanese actors and his unique voice brings that level of gravitas and warmth to your ears. You hang on to every word he has to say and this is by far one of his best performances.

The visual style of this serious is truly breathtaking and the animation was truly smooth and intoxicating to watch. The mixture of traditional western and eastern animation and the martial arts was amazing. The scope is vast and I can't wait to see what the other nations look like. This show is truly a piece of art that should be preserved. The score by composers Jeremy Zuckerman and Benjamin Wynn is truly spectacular and is a character of its own. Creators Michael Dante DiMartino and Bryan Konietzko, have truly created a new world that is rich with lore and an imaginative vision. I have fell in love with a show that I wish I hadn't missed in the beginning, but I am grateful to experience it now. This is a must watch that is currently on Netflix.

[lunasilvermorny]

End of year 4

(I know I’m not done with season 1 of the Quidditch story, but it seems like it’ll take a while, so in the meantime, I want to actually progress the story.)

Wait, he hasn’t came back yet? The hell is he doing?

Aww, she looks so proud.

That’s the look of- “At least it’s not Slytherin.”

(Unless you’re playing as one, but I’m not, so it works.)

Such a plot twist...

Yeah, you were only a 1,000+ points ahead. No big deal.

Me: Finally, I got to year 5!

Everyone who’s been through it:

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

Conclusions:

(This is going to be a long one...)

In general:

I think year 4 was overall a good one. I liked the pace of the story (a bit slow sometimes, but never enough to make me completely disinterested.) and the fact that it was longer than the previous years made it better to really get invested in the plot.

Now for a deeper dive (with obvious spoilers):

The main plot:

I think the plot of year 4 is the most interesting we had so far. It was darker, but no too much to break the immersion. There were actual plot twists (the whole thing with Ben was very well executed.) and the new characters they introduced were really well made.

However, even though I thought the plot was pretty good, there were some really boring parts. For exampe - the part with sickleworth. I was really looking forward to it, but it was just tedious.

Let’s go search the arrowhead here. Oh, it’s not here? Let’s go there instead. No? Then let’s try this place...

Mind-numbingly boring and a waste of time.

New characters:

Rakepick:

As much as I think she’s a manipulative prick, she’s a great addition to the story. Her problematic methods are in perfect contrast to the other professors and I think it adds a lot to have an irresponsible adult around to enable MC’s behavior, when it comes to furthering the plot in a believable direction.

I don’t like the way she manipulates Merula into doing her dirty work, but again, it makes perfect sense that they would take this direction in order to keep Merula relevant as the antagonist.

Professor Kettleburn:

What more can I say? They nailed it. I love everything that has to do with him. I truly believe they made him justice the way they’ve portrait him. I went over the stuff that JKR wrote about him and they were very faithful to the source material. I think they’re way better at adapting characters that had no presence in the HP books and movies.

So yeah - great job, JC. Honestly.

Charlie Weasley:

Supported by my last statement about the way they adapt characters - Charlie is wonderful. I know that a lot of people find his obsessive talk about dragons annoying and one-dimensional, but in a game where most characters are not explored to a very deep level, I think it was smart to keep a simple and coherent character arc.

I like how calm and easy going he is and I just found myself enjoying almost every interaction MC had with him.

I really liked the fact that he was a huge part of the main story and that he automatically joined us in all the important parts, just like Tulip and Barnaby in year 3. His adventurous nature was very uplifting at times and he just made everything 10 times more interesting.

I can understand why he’s such a fan favorite. Again, great job, JC.

Andre Egwu:

I know that we technically already met him in year 3, but his presence was almost non-existent until year 4, so I consider him a new addition.

Anyway, like the rest of the new characters, I really like Andre.

At the beginning he was a bit annoying, but my impression on him changed very quickly once he had more screen time.

Proving that he’s more than a sassy background character, he showed that he’s a true friend in the main plot and the SQs. The fact that he’s our fashion-guy that always happy to help is already good enough, but his supportive nature in the main plot (giving MC his broom, join her to the forbidden forest) just made it so much better.

Liz Tuttle:

Even thought she’s still not our friend, she was in the background of a few SQ and was introduced in the Polyjuice Potion SQ. The problem is that... that’s it.

Anyone who’s been in my blog more than 10 minutes knows how much I like Liz and how her big of a presence she has in the headcanon, but she’s barely anywhere in the game and it’s such a shame.

I’d like to know her character better and I feel like there’s a missed opportunity. I adore her love and dedication for creatures and animals, and hope they wouldn’t just use it as a joke like- “look at that weird girl that cares way too much about animals” instead of showing it in a positive light.

Old characters:

Ben - I think I like the most what they've done with Ben. The fact that he was the masked “dark wizard” was a true plot twist and even though I suspected it, it still got me.

Rowan - I didn’t like the fact that Rowan was a judgemental arse and that in the end he was right, even though he had no proof and based his suspicions on gut feeling. That’s extremely out of character of him and I hated it.

Side quests:

There were many. Some were just brilliant (the Celestial Ball SQ and the First Date SQ), and some weren’t. (like the Nearly-Headless Nick one and.. I can barely remember, because they were so dull.)

But here’s a very quick recap (because I said all I had to say in the SQs posts):

Nearly-Headless Nick - So damn boring!

Unleash Your Patronus - Disappointing, but not a complete failure.

Polyjuice Potion - I wouldn’t have liked it nearly as much if Liz wasn’t in it... but she were, so I can’t say I hated it.

Celestial Ball - Brilliant! 10/10. Loved it. By far the best.

Rita Returns - Boring.

First Date - Amazing!

Become a Prefect - a bit boring at times, but in general it was a nice little SQ.

Magical Creatures Everywhere - Nice premise, I enjoyed all the creatures and characters involved, but it was just a fetch quest without anything too interesting. No stakes, very basic story. Not the best, but we had worst.

Also, I need to point out that I changed my opinion on Penny based on the SQs. (not only in this specific year.) They put her way too much in placed that she wasn’t belong and it left me more annoyed with her than anything. She was one of my favorite characters and now I just want to skip any dialogue with her, because I’m so tired of her.

The Vault:

This part was very disappointing. The build-up was promising, but there was barely a pay-off. It wasn’t nearly as interesting as the vault from year 3, even though I think it had greater potential.

Also, I hated the fact we had to fight the Acromantula instead of choosing between a fight and a conversation, like Kettleburn advised us.

Oher stuff:

Chimaera - I guess we’ll see it through next year? It felt more like a running gag than anything, but it’s a freaking Chimaera that’s running loose! There’s no way we’re not going to encounter it at some point. Anyway, I thought it was amusing as a background plot to show Kettleburn’s recklessness.

Studying - I know that most of the time it was to learn about things that have to do with the vault, but I still liked to see them sit and study, especially MC with Rowan. It’s a school after all.

Snape and Rakepiclk’s rivalry - it wasn’t written in the best way, but the presence of their rivalry was very much appreciated as a part of the plot. I like how Snape’s view of her stand in contrast to everything she did “to help” them and I think it adds a bit more depth to both of their characters.

The Weasleys - I loved all of their background plots. Such a wholesome addition.

Joking about Rakepick - it’s a very small thing, but I loved every mention of their fear that Rakepick is going to kill them. Very amusing.

Dumbledore’s absence - it just felt too convenient, so MC’d be able to do more things without supervision. It didn’t sit well with me and just felt like a cop-out.

Detention - Even though it was a shame that MC didn’t get her usual 100 house points at the end of the year, I do appreciate the fact that Dumbledore finally punished her bad behavior. Took him long enough, but it’s a start.

Quidditch:

I know it’s technically supposed to be in the second year, but since it’s started when MC was already in her 4th year, I treat it as if it’s part this year.

I think this addition improves the game significantly. The mechanics are fun and the plot is okay.

Penny’s role is very out of place and like I said before, it makes me love her character less and less. The new characters, however, are really interesting. I feel like each brings a new thing that no other character has brought before.

Skye - Although she left a very bad first impression, I think overall she’s okay. Her backstory is interesting and she makes the player want to win, for themselves and for her.

McNully - I think he’s great. Talk too much? Sure, but that’s part of his charm. He’s funny and interesting, and by far contributed the most to get MC in the team.

Orion - Again, it took me a while to like him, but his bs attitude became very comforting at times and I grew to like his weird dialogues.

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

Final thoughts:

This year was interesting and much more than the previous ones, in almost any aspect. It wasn’t perfect, but if I take everything into consideration, I think it was a successful year and my new favorite.

I know year 5 is way messier and incoherent, so I don’t have a lot of expectations. I’m just glad that we got this far and the story was still interesting enough to keep me going.

[littlemisssquiggles]

Pretty random question, but do you think that RT could wind up killing Ruby or Oscar off? Idk, I feel like if they did it right then it could be really sad. What are your thoughts?

…Uhmm…no?At least not in a permanent way. I’d like tobelieve that Ruby and Oscar both have a strong set of plot armour in theirarsenal. Ruby because she’s our series main protagonist and Oscar because…okayI’ll be blunt here: The CRWBY Writers axing Oscar would honestlybe a rather absurd plot decision given the context of how Oscar wasfirst introduced into the story.

Oscaris meant to more or less replace ProfessorOzpin at some point as the newest incarnation of the Wizard of Light. The CRWBYkilled off Ozpin to bring Oscar in and right now, they’re supposedly integratinghim into the main group and plot indicating that he might have a bigger role inthe story. I mean he certainly does just as much as Ruby given his connectionto the main series antagonist: Salem.

IfOscar dies and it’s a permanent thing then the first question I would ask is: What was the pointof creating his character?

What was thepoint of killing off Ozpin to introduce us to this new child character that wasmeant to replace Ozpin only to kill him off after spending seasons makingaudience members invest in his character and story arc? Why do all of that atall if that was his endgame?

I’msorry. This is mostly my personal Pinehead bias talking but I really do thinkkilling off Oscar for good after killing off Ozpin to get him instead soundreally dumb. Feel free to disagree with me if you will but that’s how Ihonestly feel about that.

Butto really answer your question Momfriend, in the event that the Writers do planon kill either of these two off, I can only see it being done for like the series finale.

ForRuby, I can only picture the Writers’ writing her final swan song as hersacrificing herself for the fate of humanity. While I technically don’t believethe CRWBY would actually kill Ruby, this is one way I can see them doing it ifthe thought ever crossed their minds.

Maybethey can even pull a River Song in Doctor Who where Ruby dies bravely to stop Salem and Oscar useswhat bit of the God’s light he had left in him to bring her back with a literalkiss of life.

Imagine if…in the end, the Writerspull a bit where Oscar is able to share his immortality with Ruby Rose so theyboth become immortalbeings whose love ends up shaping Remnant and its history for many,many generations.

Theycould become the epitome of soul mates wherethey’re attached at the soul and if one of them dies, the other dies as well.So they die together but are reborn separated with their memories intact. Butno matter where they respawn they always find each other again and relive theirlove.

That could be sweet.But I doubt the Writers will do something like this. Makes for a kickass AUthough.

ForOscar I can more picture him dying temporarily onlyto be revived later. Not as a new character but as himself. His true self. Hiscomplete self. I’ve been repeating this theory for the longest time where Ibelieve Oscar is truly Ozma---the reincarnation of his original form reborn inModern Remnant.

Ihave this picture in my head where Salem captures Oscar and takes him to her Dark Domainwhere she performs some kind of dark crucifixion ofsome kind. I’m not sure if you’re an Avatar fan as well but in its sequelseries, the Legendof Korra, it is revealed that the Avatar is in fact a combination ofa spirit and a human soul.

InKorra’s second book, the Avatar spirit---Raava is ripped out ofKorra---the current Avatar and whipped right before Korra’s eyes.And with each beating, Korra loses his connection to her past lives going downthe lineage until the Avatar cycle is reset and Korrabecomes the first and last Avatar.

Somehow I’ve picturedOscar suffering a similar fate like that where the reincarnation cycle is reset with him as theLast Wizard of Light. The last life. In my vision, Salem uses her dark magicto force Ozma or what she believes to be Ozma’s soul out of Oscar’s body. Ozpindescribed himself not just as one man but a culmination of them. So it’s my assumption thatwhen the Merge occurs, the souls of the other Wizards don’t truly die ordisappear but become a part of something I dubbed the Wizard Persona which they share with their current successor.

Ithink all thesouls of the past Wizards live within Oscar.He just hasn’t done anything to really connect withthose differing souls beyond Professor Ozpin. However I do think they are allthere with him. My Pinehead headcanon is that Salem will strip Oscar of his connection tothe other Wizards, killing them one by one until all that remains isOscar’s feeble soul.

Similarto Korra’s experience, picture…Salem extracting the souls of each of theWizards before Oscar who are a part of him. Picture Salemkilling each and every one of them for good, right before Oscar’s very eyes andwith each disconnection, Oscar feels his soul suffer as if he’s being torn in two.

Salemdoes this because she’s trying to get to Ozma who she’s trying to find amongthis mess of men. Unfortunately for Salem, she never finds Ozma and it isrevealed later that Oscar has been Ozma all along---his true reincarnation of him as the younger revived version of hisoriginal self. So Oscar technically dies but he’s brought back one last time tocomplete the mission he promised to fulfil all those years ago in his firstlife as Ozma.

Mytheory is that Oscarwill meet the God of Light or at least one of the Gods in the Realm BetweenRealms again. Since Ozma met the Godof Light, I think it’d be a cool contrast if Oscar met the God of Darkness and it would fit with the theory I have where Ibelieve the Godseach contribute to the creation of life inspite their differences.

My theory is thatBrother Godsdon’t just represent light and darkness but also body and soul. Dark represents the body while light represents the soul.

Mytheory is that through a consult with the God of Darkness, Oscar will learnthat he has been Ozma all along. He is the original form---the body ofOzma---that the God of Darkness brought back with his power. But when questionedof why the God of Darkness would do such a thing, he informsOscar that he did it in aid of his brother. The Brothers may differ in theirsentiments and levels of mercy shown towards mankind and while the God ofDarkness might not share much what fate befalls his so-called greatest creation,he does care and believe in his brother; even if he might never say that to hisface.

Let’s say, the God of Darknesshad a hunch that his brother’s experiment with Ozma’s soul mightfail at some point. There was no way he could keep doing this forever and atsome point, humanity would fall again by Dark’s premonition. So as one lastfailsafe, in addition to reviving the God’s Champion: Ozma, each Brothercontributed an additional trump cardto aid Ozma in the event that he failed to see through with his mission.

TheGod of Light’strump card were the Silver EyedWarriors---beings he blessed with his eyes to destroy the Creaturesof Grimm. The finaltrump card, the one Darkness had a hand in, was the creation of Oscar.

Godof Light was never able to revive Ozma’s old body. It was a feat out of hispower. But not Dark’s. While the God of Light revived Ozma’s soul, Ozma’s old body wasreborn and granted a new life and a new nameuntil his truepurpose will be realized. Destiny has a way of trailing back to where it’s supposed tofall after all and eventually Ozma’s revived soul would ultimately merge withhis revived body, reviving the hero---the champion known as Ozma completely. Ozma was theChampion of the Gods. The Wizard of Light andOscar is Ozma.

Thisis why I’m standing with the Merge not killing Oscar. It’s supposed to make himcomplete.Ozma will be made whole again. Oscar will be made whole again. That’s my headcanon and boy do I love it.  

Do you knowwhat would be interesting?

What if… the Gods being gods foresaw their greatest creation bringing abouttheir own damnation? What if…the Godsalready knew Salem was going to bring about humanity’s destruction but wereunaware on how to stop it.

Sothey introduced players and trump cards intheir game of Fate against Humanity. It’d be funny if RWBY is revealed to be one big game that theBrother Gods have been playing this entire time alongside another known God.

Possibly a third God---A higher being who warnedthe brothers that their greatest creation would fall and rise to destroy themboth and themselves.  Picture…this third Godbeing the Creator of the Brother Gods.  Perhaps there isa female Goddess---AMother of theCosmos who is the mother of the Brothers of Light and Darkness.

AlrightI think this is where my headcanons needto stop since I’m getting ahead of myself here. But it’s cool to think about,right? Hope I actually answered your question fam.

~LittleMissSquiggles (2019)

[travllingbunny]

The 100 rewatch: 2x11 Coup de Grâce

This episode may be called Coup de Grâce (death blow?) but it would probably make more sense if it was called Coup d'état – because two leadership changes happen in this episode, pretty different ones, but in both cases, it’s someone taking power from their less radical parent who should be in charge due to their title, because they have the de facto power due to their support bases. It also has Bellamy start his mission as the action hero of season 2, and Jasper and Maya becoming on their own and saving some important characters. It’s an excellent episode that starts the uninterrupted series of great episodes until the end of season 2.

Rating: 9/10

This episode has a very effective but very unpleasant beginning, following the cliffhanger from the previous one, with scenes of Bellamy being tortured in the Mount Weather harvest chamber and put in the cage. (Oddly enough, in spite of that, it then goes on to be lighter than the upcoming episodes, in retrospect –I’d say, the last episode of this season that isn’t too dark, with too many moral compromises.)

Torture hasn’t broken Bellamy’s spirit in the slightest, and he is determined to get out of the cage so he could try to get free and start his mission. He has a little talk with an unknown Grounder woman – who we now know as Echo (her name is not mentioned until season 3) from the next cage, after she makes a comment and he says in English he doesn’t understand, and she reacts by spitting in his face. OMG that’s so romantic! It totally justifies the line “We found each other in cages, we’ll find each other anywhere”. LOL He tells her that the Sky people and Grounders are allies now, which she obviously wasn’t aware of, and they start talking in a more neutral/almost friendly way. Bellamy manages to get out of the cage (and saves Echo’s life in the process) by yelling and shaking his cage, having been told by Echo that the Mountain Men take the most unruly ones first. He achieved half of his goal, but he would have still died if Maya hadn’t saved his life, after noticing how quick the treatment was (Arker blood heals stronger than Grounder blood, as we’ve learned before). She sets him free, but then danger comes in form of a guard called Lovejoy. Bellamy, in spite of still being not at full strength, manages to kill him, with some help from Maya and Echo. I wonder how many other people were turned on watching shirtless Bellamy choke a guy to death? :-/ I’m guessing Echo may have been.

Bellamy tells Echo he’ll come back for her before leaving… And let’s say something about this interaction. Watching this episode for the first time, I was thinking that the character is likely to be seen again, and I thought show may or may not be setting up a future love interest for Bellamy – but that’s just because setting up a future relationship through a “meet-cute” first meeting that starts off as antagonistic but then people start working each other is a very obvious and common writing device – for future romance or future friendship. However, to claim that these scenes were “setting up the romantic relationship”, as if no other setup was necessary, is utterly ridiculous. (Not to mention how amusing it is to see some of the same people who claim that fans see romance in the Bellamy/Clarke interaction because they supposedly can’t see a man and a woman in a platonic relationship, go on to treat 2 minutes of Bellamy’s interaction with a random new female character, which were all about trying to survive, as practically an established romance.) This was nothing more than the bare bones of introducing a new character and setting up possible future development. It wasn’t a romantic moment in itself, it didn’t establish romantic interest, and it certainly didn’t offer much development, since we barely learned anything about Echo in the 5 minutes or so she was on screen. But it could have been the start of developing a romance… if the show didn’t then take a complete left turn and bring back Echo in season 3 at first apparently as an ally, then revealing that she was a villain using her connection to Bellamy and the fact he thought saving each other’s lives meant something, to manipulate him and facilitate a mass murder of his people, if it didn’t have Bellamy and Echo as bitter enemies throughout most of season 4… If those 2 seasons had instead been about making them friends or at least allies, then using a time jump to put them in a romantic relationship that was totally developed off-screen would not have been so jarring. That’s not how you do an Enemies to Lovers story. That’s not how you do a love story, period.

One moment in this episode that feels harsh and ironic in retrospect is Bellamy saying that he wants to get out of the cage and then "I'm gonna kill everyone in this mountain". It’s not the only time this season that one of the main characters says something like that in anger that sounded cool at the time, but that came true way too literally in the season finale. Bellamy would have been very unhappy if he had known how literally this would come true.

I love the fact Bellamy realized who Maya was right from the start, because Clarke told him about the girl that Jasper had a thing for. Clarke and Bellamy exchanging important info but at the same time gossiping about Jasper’s love life is such a great image.

Watching Maya and Bellamy working together was great, but so sad now, knowing how the season ends. It’s why Bellamy took it particularly hard that he and Clarke were forced to kill everyone, including “people who trusted me” – the Mount Weather rebels, most of all Maya.

I’m sure he also felt particularly horrible because he actually got to see the children in Mount Weather (killing children is awful by itself, but it must be worse when you have seen these concrete children), and even talk to one of them. Here he felt very bad just because he realized the sweet child he was talking to was Lovejoy's son, due to the nametag. (BTW, why do they all wear name tags when everyone knows each other in Mount Weather?) It’s easy to hate groups of people when you think of them in abstract terms, as an evil collective, but meeting actual people changes that.

Meanwhile, Jasper decides to go against Maya’s advice to not do anything stupid – because he is worried about his best friend, Monty, and there’s nothing that’s more certain to make Jasper brave and determined. He confronts Dante and even pulls a sword from Dante’s own office at him – which doesn’t work out well since Dante is better at sword-fighting. But Jasper manages to enlist Dante to help and save Monty and Harper, who were being drilled. The friendship between Jasper and Monty is certainly one of the most important and strongest relationships in the show, and it’s touching seeing Jasper get Monty out of the cage and hug him. Whatever else happened in Mount Weather after this point, Jasper did manage to save Monty and Harper, which will have huge consequences for the rest of the show. Not just because those two are lovable characters who will be on the show for a while after, or because they’ll have a son who will also become an important character, but also because Monty will eventually save everyone by finding the new planet.

Dante is genuinely against killing the kids, and confronts Cage, appealing to moral concerns, and calling Cage “a stain in our legacy”. Cage replies: "We've been bleeding people for decades to survive   that's out legacy" – and much as I hate him, he has a point there. Things don’t exactly do as planned when Dante tries to arrest him, but it turns out that the guard is loyal to Cage now . (it’s quite similar to the Jaha/Abby scene from 2x07), because they all want to go to the ground. And it’s not just that they want it – they feel entitled to it (Tsing says: “The ground is our birthright".) Cage does a coup and makes himself the new leader/President, while Cage ends up locked up in Clarke’s old room. The 47 meanwhile get locked up in their room, everyone finally learning what’s going on. Before that, it seems that only Jasper, Monty, Harper and Miller were in the know. (How come others hadn’t noticed Monty and Harper missing for 2 days, or Clarke missing for much longer than that?) Noticing little moments between Monty and Harper is one of those things that’s fun on rewatch. Here we saw Monty worrying while Harper was being drilled, and later he is comforting her after they’ve been saved.

Meanwhile, outside of Mount Weather:

This is the episode where the ambiguous leadership status among the Arkers gets resolved by Clarke wrestling power from her mother and becoming the de facto leader of the Arkers.

Another big development is that the Arkers now have a way of preventing the Mountain Men from controlling Reapers through the tone generator – since one was found on captive Emerson.

But it all starts with an assassination attempt on Clarke’s life. We see Clarke riding a horse… (Wait, when did Clarke learn horse riding? Can you do that in a couple of days? I’ve never tried, so I have no idea)…Clarke nearly escapes death, as the mission by Emerson and another guard fails. The shooter is killed, while Emerson’s hazmat suit gets a bullet hole, so the little party made of both Arkers and Grounders take him back to Camp Jaha and put him in quarantine, in order to question him. The photo they find shows that Clarke and Lexa are both targets. Lexa doesn’t otherwise appear in this episode, but her support is very important– the fact she told the Grounders to listen to Clarke, seeing her as the leader of the Arkers, is what gives Clarke a lot more power and allows her to win the power struggle with Abby.

But being the sole leader of the Sky people for the first time may not be the best thing for Clarke’s emotional well-being. (Being the sole leader generally isn’t a good idea, it’s always better to share power.) She and Bellamy balanced each other well in season 1, but they are separated through most of season 2. Even though their connection is no weaker for that. Fans, writers and even the characters on the show itself like to say that “Clarke is the Head, Bellamy is the Heart”, but that doesn’t mean that Clarke is not driven by emotion. If anything, in season 2, she is acting in a very impulsive way, and her concern for her friends, desire to save them, and her anger and determination and despair are driving her most of S2. At this point, she’s obviously on the edge. Now she’s not just worrying about the 47, but about Bellamy’s life, too. She’s worrying and walking around like a lion in a cage, and started to snap at people. Or rather, she and Raven start snapping at each other under the pressure, while waiting for Bellamy’s call. Clarke’s instinct is to try to control the situation and try to find a way to resolve it – by figuring things out and by telling others what to do. Which irritates Raven, who tells her to stop giving her orders. This is the second time (after Bellamy in 2x09) one of Clarke’s friends has made a remark about Clarke giving people orders – though I don’t think Clarke would see it as “giving orders”, but she can’t help herself. When Raven mentions the possibility of Bellamy not succeeding (i.e. dying or already being dead, though none of them are able to say it aloud), Clarke does the typical Clarke thing – insists that Bellamy will succeed. It’s in her character to cling to faith and hope no matter what, because she can’t bring herself to think of the alternative. The same way she insisted that Finn and Bellamy were alive in 2x01, while Jasper thought it unlikely but didn’t want to tell her that (Raven and even Octavia have the same “she’s probably wrong but we can’t tell her” look that Jasper did), the same way that she will talk to Bellamy for 2199 days, without answer, refusing to think he may never return.

At one point, she starts losing hope, which makes Raven get angry for her, telling her that she can’t give up now – “You killed Finn and I didn’t give up!” It feels like this is always going to be a point of contention somewhere at the back of Raven’s mind.

Raven: “Do your job!”

Clarke: “What is my job???”

Raven: “I don’t know, to come up with something!”

This encapsulates Raven’s contradictory attitude to Clarke: both resenting her for being a leader and the hard decisions she makes, and expecting her to be just that and do just that.

When Bellamy’s voice is heard on the radio, it’s a huge relief to everyone, and Clarke’s and Bellamy’s body language when they hear each other’s voices makes for one of the cutest moments of season 2 and maybe the show overall. “Bellamy… you came through. I knew you would.” Bellamy tells her he needs a distraction so he wouldn’t get discovered, that Maya saved his life, and that they need a plan that doesn’t kill innocents, such as the Mountain Men children. “We need a plan that doesn’t kill everyone” – the opposite thing of what he said in the cage before. (In 2x16, he will be telling her the same, and she’ll desperately be asking him to give her another plan, but no one will have one.)

This gives Clarke the push to take the power from her mother. Abby is still trying to hold on to the same ideas about morality Clarke believed in during season 1: she doesn’t allow Emerson to be tortured, for instance. (Clarke agrees, but only because she now knows that torture doesn’t work as an interrogation tactic. It’s the exact opposite of her attitude in 1x07 – back then she thought it would work, but had moral concerns about it, and felt bad when she participated in it.) And at moments, Abby sounds really naïve (“Maybe he will talk because we saved his life” – which, of course, does not turn out to be the case.) But Clarke is at a point where she’s desperate and ready to start crossing more lines, if it means saving her people who are in grave danger. After Abby has told her she’s not in charge, Clarke uses the fact that Grounders all listen to her and makes it clear to her mother “You may be the Chancellor, but I’m in charge”. (Callback to 2x01 when the adult Ark leaders came and took over – and Kane told Bellamy “You’re not in charge anymore.”)

She decides to distract the Mountain Men from Bellamy by telling Emerson to give them a message that the Grounder army is much bigger than they think and that acid fog won’t be able to hurt them, which was technically true but also a red herring. The part that is less rational is where she intentionally gives Emerson oxygen for only 6 hours to get to Mount Weather, though the walk takes 8 hours. Yes, Emerson can get there by running like crazy, but it’s a risk – her distraction plan won’t work if he dies. It seems that this is just Clarke enjoying taunting and tormenting one of the guilty Mountain Men who have been keeping her friends captive, simply to take out her anger. A little before, she even wanted to kill him, something that she never wanted to do before without a good reason (self-defense, protecting her people, mercy kill…).  

The REIGN song used in the last scene makes it looks triumphant, but things will quickly turn dark in the next episode, Rubicon, and Clarke will start crossing lines that will damage her emotionally and make her slowly lose all her moral certainty.

Background info: The Arkers were genetically engineered. I wish we had more details on that

Timeline:  At the beginning of the episode, it has been 2 days since Monty has been missing – which means, 2 days since the end of episode 2x09.

Body count:

Mount Weather guard Lovejoy, killed by Bellamy.

Another Mount Weather guard/assassin (which means that there are 380 Mountain Men remaining),

1 Grounder who died of injuries after being shot in the fight with the two Mountain Men.