#and her critique was ultimately useless because she wanted something completely different out of my premise than the book i wrote

[parsleymusic]

waiting for someone to deliver a critique they promised to deliver in september is agony

[rachelbethhines]

Tangled Salt Marathon - The Way of the Willow

Now here’s a controversial episode from season one. Let’s delve into the discourse, shall we. 

Summary:  It's Queen Arianna's birthday, and she receives an unexpected guest: her estranged sister, Willow. Willow and Rapunzel quickly bond, sharing a lot of the same personality traits (most notably them never wearing shoes), and Arianna feels a bit left out. To add to her aggravation, Willow has given her a pet with an annoying rattle. Eventually, Arianna explodes at her sister, letting her know her irritation with her and throws away the rattle. The pet starts to multiply and rampage over the countryside. Meanwhile, Lance and Eugene  take the King camping. 

More Filler, More Poor Pacing, More Fatigue 

This is yet another episode that was moved around. Noticing a pattern yet? It doesn’t effect the plot much, but it kills the pacing dead. By the time you get to this episode you’re just tired and bored and ready for the show to just get on with things. 

Let's Talk About Representation 

So we have here a show that is marketed towards pre-teen little girls run by two middle aged white guys and written primarily by men. The creators have claimed that female relationships are the focus of the show, but only to give us one female friend for our main hero, no other friendships with women in them, just two sister relationships, and only one mother that is even alive. 

Furthermore they go on to break up that single female friendship, refuse to give any focus to the only mother in the show, and then wrap the plot around the dead abusive mom instead, making her unnecessarily even more horrible than she was in the OG film. (just to make the equally abusive father in the show look better)

Meanwhile we get four father figures, all of whom are just some variant on the ‘overprotective estranged dad’ trope. Even though at least two of them could have been easily written to be mothers instead and it’d not change the plot one bit.   

When women talk about about poor representation in media, it’s things like this we are often complaining about. That’s not to say that men can’t write women.  Miyazaki, of Studio Ghibli fame, has made a lifelong career out writing movies for and starring women. Nor is this a claim that the TTS crew are misogynist. You can be well intentioned and still screw up. As is most often the case in films. 

But nevertheless, if you are writing for a demographic that you are not a part of then you need to either include those voices in the development of your story or reach out and consult people within that demographic. And no, you’re wife/niece/daughter/mother does not count here. You need to go beyond your personal social circle, as people who either don’t know you or have worked in the industry can be more open about what is needed in the writing process.  

Sadly there are rumors, (and please keep in mind this is only rumor, and we’ll never know the actual truth due to the fact that production artists are under contract and can’t share things without fearing for their livelihoods) but there are stories of the head showrunner shutting down the opinions of the female storyboard artists who warned him of some these creative decisions. 

Moreover said creator responded to criticisms of how his female characters were written by claiming he ‘knew strong women in his life’ as if that actually had anything to do with his writing skills. It’s a poor response and smacks of ‘Well I can’t be misogynistic, I love women. See, I married one’. Dear, male creators, please don't ever do this. It makes you look bad. 

So Where are Arianna and Willow From, Again?

The show keeps dropping hints that they’re from Corona itself and are born princesses, but that makes little sense. Because if Arianna was the rightful heir she’d have far more political power then she actually does in the show. If we’re to buy the idea that only Rapunzel will be in charge, and not her and Eugene, or even just Eugene. Then we have to accept that it’s because she’s the rightful heir by birth. If so, then Frederic must also be the blood heir or otherwise he wouldn’t be able to do all the things he does in the show. 

TTS is so determine to not have any real world markers in the show and keeping things a ‘fantasy’ that it winds up swinging too far in the opposite direction. To the point that it undermines its own worldbuilding.     

The Conflict Between Willow and Arianna is Good, but Unnecessary 

I’ve seen some debate over ‘who is right’ here, along with tons of unwarranted shade thrown at Willow, but the truth is, it doesn’t matter. Neither side is right or wrong, and for once the conflict in TTS is real, complex, not easily solvable with a ten minute conversation, and is presented evenly so that you know where each side is coming from. But in the end, it doesn’t add anything to the series. 

Willow is never seen outside of this episode. This is the only story that gives Arianna any kind of focus. Rapunzel learns nothing useful from witnessing their squabbles and it’s all build up to a be bad parable/parallel in the series finale. 

It’s a waste. A waste of conflict. A waste of character. A waste of time. 

Had Arianna been treated as an important character to the narrative, like she should have been, then maybe the episode would have fared better. 

Arianna is Reduced to a Pointless Parallel

We talked about it before but this might be the most grievous example of Tangled’s useless parallels.

Willow and Arianna are meant to be ‘foreshadowing’ (and I use that term loosely) for Rapunzel and Cassandra’s conflict in the finale season. Let me count the ways of how bad this actually is..

For starters Willows and Arianna’s conflit isn’t actually the same as Raps and Cass. There’s some overlap, but ultimately theirs is actually deeper and more complex than the Raps vs Cass stuff. It’s also only between them and does not involve ruining the lives of other people. So it’s a weak comparison to begin with.

Cassandra isn’t even here to make the parallel complete. She barely interacts with Arianna and has never met Willow on screen.

Rapunzel learns the wrong lessons from this. She gets encouragement from her aunt to go traveling and a pep talk from her mom during the show’s finale, but she doesn’t actually apply any of the actual context of the arguments being made to her own life. Making the parallel shallow.

Reducing a character from the original film, one that you did not create and who has reasons to be have more plot importance then they are given, to a mere ‘parallel’ for your favorite OC is just bad fanfiction. This is something that I would expect from a seven year old setting out to write their first ever story. Not from grown adults, who are supposedly professionals, who've worked for years in the industry and are employed by the largest entertainment studio in the world.

Now before you jump down my throat, there’s nothing wrong with fanfiction itself, nor with children exploring their favorite stories in ways they find personally fulfilling. But I happen to hold mass produced media to a different, and ultimately higher standard. As well should we all. A television show made by the mouse has more real world impact than a little girl posting on Ao3.

Critiquing stuff like female representation, the behind the scenes hiring processes that leads to either good or bad rep, and the impression these stories can have on people still developing their worldviews is important. Questioning things are needed in order to make change happen. If you never acknowledge how giving a show targeted to women to a male showrunner can cause problems then you’re never going to push the big companies for more female lead shows. Which means more women are left without work.    

This is Subjective but...

I don’t like the Uumlaut being used as the main conflict. Look, if you like the Gremlins references, good for you, but I was promised sword fights and adventure according to the pilot and all I got was a parody of a 80s horror comedy that decided to skip out on the ‘horror’ part. The Uumlaut isn’t threatening enough to be interesting and the lack of real threats and challenges in this show is really starting to weigh things down. Plus it just distracts from the far more interesting human drama going on with Willow and Arianna. 

Like if you don't want action to be the focus of every episode, that’s fine, but commit to that. Don't just half-ass it because you feel the need to shoehorn in an action sequence where it isn’t needed.    

Conclusion

I like Willow as a character, but not this episode. They needed to do more with her to justify her existence, and they needed to do more with Arianna while at it. Sadly, you won't really miss out on much if you decided to skip this episode and that’s a shame. 

Also... 

I’ll forever headcanon that Willow is the wife that Stan mentioned back in Rapunzel’s Enemy and that she’s his and Pete’s beard. You can’t change my mind. Poly relationships for the win! 

[bemused-writer]

VNC Chapter 38

Ohh, this was a good chapter. So much happened and it should go without saying this particular analysis will be spoiler heavy, so under the cut the major ones go!

First thing, I’m glad the fight between Noé and Astolfo was put on hold for now because it allows the arc to move forward in a smoother fashion. If they’d continued to go back and forth between Vanitas and Noé I think it would have made for too much confusion.

As Noé and Astolfo make their way to the tower we see Noé call out to Jeanne and Jean-Jacques briefly. He’s torn; he wants to save Jean-Jacques, he wants to stop Jeanne, but ultimately the only thing he can do is find Vanitas.

Vanitas has a pretty good understanding of the situation. The only thing holding Jeanne back is that she thinks she’s fighting Chloé. She has absolutely no investment in Jean-Jacques and I think it pains Noé to acknowledge that--he’s seen the way he’s suffered and he knows Jeanne is in the wrong.

Perhaps unsurprisingly the battle in the tower is going poorly. I’m honestly a little surprised Vanitas’s spine didn’t snap when he hit the wall. Considering how immobile Vanitas was for the rest of this chapter he’s definitely injured though; I guess we’ll see how bad it is in future chapters.

This did lead to a glorious scene with Noé throwing a pipe into a machine though. These battles go a lot better with the two of them--Vanitas isn’t great with straightforward fights but he is good with strategy and I think now that we have both of them in the same room we might begin to see some progress if any can be made. However, it’s not just Noé and Vanitas who are fighting although it’s easy to forget that as the other characters are shoved into the background:

That’s not a critique; we need to hone in on our protagonists and Chloé right now.

Speaking of Chloé, it sounds like her plan was phenomenally bad and we’re given a vague reason for why that may be:

Vanitas: Don’t make Naenia remember who she is! No vampire can kill that!

There are two specifications Vanitas makes here that I find interesting. 1) He refers to Naenia as “that.” This implies that whatever she’s becoming it’s not a vampire or a human; it’s something else. 2) No vampire can kill her. My guess is that humans are so incapable of killing this thing there’s no point in even bringing them up. By specifying vampires it also implies that manipulating the world formula won’t do anything either, which means every single person in the room right now is completely useless. 8D

Regardless, Naenia does start to remember and the first thing she remembers is Ruthven:

The next thing she remembers is the setting. We see Ruthven reaching out for her, presumably about to kill her or work some sort of formula. To the left, I would say is Veronica. At first I thought it might be Dominique but we don’t see her in the following montage, so I suspect that’s not the case. Regardless, it’s a safe bet the de Sades are involved in this and that doesn’t bode well.

To the right... I want to say that’s either The Shapeless One or Loki. You can just make out that he’s wearing a hat and he’s holding something, possibly a cane, so I’m leaning toward The Shapeless One. That would mean at some point he and Ruthven were working together, apparently to seal Naenia away/usurp the throne.

Having said that, Loki is still a solid possibility, especially since he seems to actually reference the event.

Loki: ...That woman. After we went to the trouble of smashing up her corpse for her.... So the old wreck was still rotting, was it? Huh...

Now this right here raises some questions and I’m surprised I didn’t wonder about them before. What have we been told repeatedly happens to a vampire’s corpse after they die? It turns to dust. What didn’t happen to the queen’s? We see her corpse (or her body?) lying in bed; Luca talks to her. She’s definitely not dust but she does look decayed.

Loki sounds surprised she was still rotting--this seems to indicate that her making a return wasn’t unheard of. Why didn’t they cremate the body? At any rate, what is the queen if that is something she can do? Is this because she may have been a curse bearer? How did she become a part of Charlatan otherwise?

When Naenia regains all her memories and her body forms all the vampires hear it, even those that don’t appear to have any real connection to her such as Amelia. There are two individuals that are a little harder to discern:

My guess is that this is the Shapeless One. His form is a little wonky like his was sometimes. Still, the bats aren’t a typical theme for him and he seems to be missing his top hat, so it’s hard to say for sure.

I’m almost positive this one is Misha. The hairstyle is right and the collar matches the one we saw him wear before: 

As a side note, the scenery to the left of him is connected to Loki, not Misha, so still no clues as to where Dominique may be....

However! What’s interesting about this is that Misha doesn’t fit in with the rest of the people who are shown as hearing the queen’s return. Every single other person is a vampire. Is Misha also a vampire? This could indicate he is. On the other hand, it could be that people who were cursed by Vanitas of the Blue Moon have a certain connection to the world formula and therefore can also hear this.

So, Naenia was the queen (at least that’s what it looks like) and we now have two bodies related to the queen. There’s Naenia who’s in the tank that Ruthven watches and there’s the rotting (?) body in the queen’s bed. What is going on here? Is this some kind of reincarnation? Or was the queen’s consciousness sealed into another body?

I don’t know but the tank Naenia’s physical form was in reminds me of one of the first things we learned about Jeanne: that she was placed in an induced slumber. We still don’t know why but something like that could easily have been in a tank.

We’ve learned a bit about Jeanne’s connection to past events in this arc and her connection with Chloé. Perhaps we’re about to learn of a further connection she has with Charlatan.

One last note on Vantias and Noé. The last time they had a fight scene with insurmountable odds it was a lot worse for them as far as pacing went. Everything was moving fast, Vanitas was immobilized, and they had no idea what to do. Now Vanitas is only kind of immobilized and they still have no idea what to do. 8D Granted, I suspect next chapter we’ll also see the speed of the battle increase, so maybe things will be just as terrible. XD

Their interactions during both fights so far are both similar and different. As I mentioned above, Vanitas is somewhat immobile in both. The difference is that Noé is quieter now and Vanitas is more willing to lean on him (literally and figuratively). 

Before, Noé just wanted Vanitas to get with it. Now, he’s just expressing concern. Here is a comparison of what I’m referencing. 

The Catacombs arc:

And our current arc:

Is this especially relevant? As far as what we’re learning about the queen and predictions for that particular storyline, no. But as far as these two interacting with each other, yes. It’s a subtle difference and it’s mostly in their physicality but it matches up with the changes we’ve been witnessing in their relationship more generally.

Before, Noé just needed Vanitas to get back on his feet so they could save a vampire. Vanitas allowed the support but neither of them lingered near each other for very long.

Compare that to now where we saw Noé subconsciously think of Vanitas as his light and Vanitas purposefully reached out to clean Noé up. We’re seeing a subtle change. Noé isn’t trying to encourage Vanitas to do anything. He actually seemed concerned when Vanitas tried to move even though in both arcs Vanitas was flung bodily into a wall and nearly knocked unconscious.

As for Vanitas, he doesn’t rush to pull away from Noé. If anything, he leans into him further. 

I’m really impressed with how subtle yet telling this method of storytelling is; it’s easy to miss but quite significant if you’re paying attention. This whole arc has had parallels to the catacombs arc and I’m very curious to see if that continues.

As for some final predictions for our next chapter: I’m guessing the fight is going to be way, way worse. Apparently, Naenia is now something they can’t kill. Also, how long before Jeanne realizes she has the wrong person? At some point she’s bound to notice what’s going on in that tower or she just might be flung into it during the battle itself. I suppose we could get some kind of monologue next chapter as well. Honestly, I’m not sure; I never would have guessed Naenia was the queen. XD Or maybe she’s simply heir to the throne? Now that would be something... Guess we’ll find out!

[anorakofavalon]

Missed Opportunities for Magic: Merlin & Morgana

(AKA: An Open Letter of [Constructive] Criticism to the Writers of Merlin)  

I wrote this essay when I contemplated how much more rich Merlin could have been as a show had the writers decided to romantically involve Merlin and Morgana. I decided to write it as if I was addressing them directly because it was just easier for me to sort through my thoughts and main points that way. Sorry it’s a little long, but I’d love to have a discussion about it!

---

As I did with the last Open Letter I wrote, I’d like to start off by congratulating the writers of Merlin: Julian Murphy and Johnny Capps & Co. I think that they created something truly wonderful in this show, magical even. To me, it’s one of the most charming of all the BBC shows I’ve seen so far, and most definitely one of the most underrated. Not only that, but it has created a truly worthy community. Many years have passed since the show has ended, and still the community is numerous and inviting and incredibly active. Immortal as Merlin himself. I can only hope to create something a fraction as impactful as this someday. And so any criticism I make, any observation I mention, do understand that it comes from a place of complete love.

That said, I think it’s time to get on with this little essay. I really hope I don’t come off as pretentious, but here we go.  I’m here to comment and critique one major lapse in the writing of the show, a major weakness that I find is representative of all the other writing missteps that occur in the story as a whole, though I will of course be going over some notes on how it could have been improved or adapted given the circumstances in-story. But I’m being a bit vague, and perhaps indulgent. Let’s begin with the biggest issue: You, the writers.

Before I scare you off, the issue do not have much to do with your writing per se. Perhaps a better way to state it would be the lack thereof, which is to say, I believe your fatal flaw has been inaction. This is in regard to a missed opportunity, the single biggest missed opportunity I have ever seen. That missed opportunity? Merlin and Morgana. I could not tell you what possibly motivated the exclusion of a romantic subplot between these two characters while you were working on the show. I wasn’t there, I am not you, and thus it is not my place to say. But I can say, from what I have seen, that all the cards were stacked and ready for you, as storytellers, to go in that direction. The actors were quite game, and in fact, Colin and Katie have absolutely wonderful chemistry on-screen and off-screen. Not only that, but they are two of the greatest dramatists ever to have graced the halls of BBC Studios. As is evident by more or less every single scene they’re in, both individually and together, they are beyond talented and able to convey great amounts of emotion with just their eyes. I’m very glad you and the directors chose to have close up shots of their eyes. It worked to great effect.

So why didn’t you take that route with Merlin and Morgana? I can think of a number of solid reasons, but among them I find three to be more prominent. The first possibility is that, as Merlin was a family show, you did not wish to indulge yourselves with a romance that is a little bit darker, perhaps more Shakespearean in nature. That is somewhat fair, but considering that you had Merlin kill very many people and ultimately make some very morally dubious decision throughout the show, including poisoning Morgana, I highly doubt that could be the sole reason.

I think the second reason, though a little bit more cruel of me to remark upon, is perhaps connected to the first. As a family show, maybe you were afraid to include something so risky and unexpected. It would have been a risky play. But you yourselves had eliminated the safe play, Freya, by having her killed off early in the show. I understand why, of course, from a thematic perspective it was important to do so in that episode, but I am obligated to comment on it. If you had wanted a safe story of love for Merlin, you had eliminated that possibility. You could have gone the risky route, but decided to go nowhere instead, in terms of romance.

The third potential reason is that you wanted to keep the general sweeping focus of the show solely on Merlin’s friendship with Arthur. Now this is a much more reasonable justification from a storytelling perspective. You might have considered a romance with Morgana at any point in the show to be, as mentioned earlier, both indulgent and ultimately useless. After all, she would turn evil, but Merlin would be by Arthur’s side at the end, so why not focus entirely on what is firm and stable? A romance with Morgana of any sort would have been, in the long view, futile. And as such you cut it out of the writer’s room. But I have a major contention: a romance between Merlin and Morgana would not have been useless or futile even if it led to the exact same ending.

As it stands, the Arthurian legend is, and always has been (at least since the days of Sir Thomas Malory), a tragedy. There is very little in the legends that is not tragic towards the end. Merlin and Nimueh. Guinevere, Lancelot, and Arthur. Mordred. Morgana herself. The fate of Camelot. In the show you recognized that completely and came through in that regard. But, at least where Gwen and Lancelot are involved, decided to deviate from that direction. You put the value of the tragedy on the fact that Merlin wasn’t able to achieve his destiny, that in spite of everything he had done he still failed and Arthur died. That magic never did return to Albion. That Albion never came to exist at all.

Assuming that this was always the planned ending for the show, that there be tragedy (which is reasonable, given the source material), then what harm could there possibly have been in making it more tragic? A romance wouldn’t have been futile at all. It would have been tragic. And that is exactly what it should have been. Both from a meta storytelling perspective, as well as a character perspective. In not including a romance early in the show, perhaps around season 2, you robbed yourselves of making the ending of the series an even more poignant and emotional one. You robbed yourselves of a subplot that could have multiplied the impact of any episode or decision or scene involving Merlin from season 3, 4, and 5. And all that would have occurred if you simply kept the current plot intact, with only a small subplot for Merlin and Morgana having been added. You tiptoed in that direction during the first episodes involving Mordred, or where Merlin and Morgana teamed up to save innocent people like Tom. And so I conclude this paragraph with some advise: don’t be afraid to do something risky, if you believe it will enhance the story.  Have faith in yourselves!

Now, that said, we ought to discuss the story itself, overall. It’s a great story, and the show is so incredibly compelling, but I have one very big issue with it. It’s nothing in the plot itself, except for an absence of a Merlin / Morgana romance, but something else instead. You did not fulfill your promise.

In every single story, the very first page holds a promise. In every script, the first five minutes. Because, consciously or not, writers have to make a promise to an audience. It’s the only way of grabbing attention in a meaningful way. Let us contemplate Harry Potter for a moment. The first few pages concern themselves with a matter that is absurdly plain and normal and totally boring: The Dursleys. Except… except there’s just one little thing that is off. The cat. The implication is, of course, that by the end of the story, or even earlier, we will have been exposed to something very much not absurdly plain, normal or boring. We will have been introduced to something absurd, and interesting, and compelling.

So what was the promise for Merlin? Given that it’s a character-driven TV drama that started with a scene of a man getting his head lopped off for having magic right in front of a protagonist who has a lot of magic in a city where having magic is a big no-no, I’d say the promise is the following: Merlin has to hide his magic from Arthur and the Court of Camelot. At some point he will reveal his magic to Arthur and the Court of Camelot. That’s the promise.

Whether you meant to or not, this was the wider implication of such a scene. It is what all the viewers waited for with baited breath. Every episode was tense. When will he reveal it? When will the confrontation between him and Arthur occur? Will Arthur turn him in or will friendship prevail?

We waited for a very long time. As a matter of fact, the promise was never delivered upon until the very last episode, but by then it was too late. It didn’t matter. Arthur could have passed away without ever having known that Merlin had magic and it would have made no difference plot-wise. Sure, it hurt to watch that. There was an emotional impact there. And perhaps it is part of the tragedy, that Arthur never understood who Merlin was and what he’d done for him until it was too late for it to make a difference. And while all of that is well and good, it left most fans heavily dissatisfied. We were promised a reveal, and we got nothing instead.  

A Merlin and Morgana romance could have delivered upon the promise and simultaneously multiplied the reveal tension. Not to push the point too hard, but had Merlin revealed his magic to Morgana, the promise would have been somewhat fulfilled. There would be someone in Camelot that knew. It would only be natural, since Morgana herself is magical and would understand. Moreover, she was at the execution as well. It would give Merlin someone to talk to, a way to show his character growth.

But when Morgana would inevitably become impatient and fed up with being on the sidelines of Uther’s actions, when she decides to stop the slaughtering of magic-kind by any means necessary, especially under Morgause’s influence, it would add tension. Would Morgana betray Merlin’s secret to Camelot? Would she tell Arthur? Would she turn away Merlin’s friendship, love, and tutelage for Morgause, her sister?

It’s a similar tension as in season 3, when Morgana holds it over Merlin’s head that he poisoned her. But this time, both of them would have more at stake. They would both be acting against love for one another in the pursuit of peace. Both wanting to succeed but not wanting to hurt. It’d have tied their hands behind their backs, which is the best thing to do for a character. Because it forces them to become better (or worse).

It would have made the characters richer, more interesting to behold. If Merlin and Morgana loved each other but disagreed on such a fundamental level on how best to pursue magical peace, it would simultaneously make their convictions more important and give them both plenty of internal conflict. It would give Merlin pause, cause to doubt Kilgharrah and Gaius. It would make Morgana perhaps doubt Morgause more. It would make it that much more painful when they both decided that their destinies were more important than their own desires. And that much more painful when, at the end, it didn’t even matter. Imagine the very powerful performance McGrath and Morgan could have delivered in a scene like this? Where they both have to choose something greater than themselves over each other.

It’s very easy to forget sometimes that romance isn’t just a plot device reserved for, well, romances. Romance is a very powerful storytelling tool because it has power over character. Romance is a plot device as well as a character device. As in real life, romance makes two characters learn and grow and challenge themselves and each other. It’s not a gimmick to be thrown onto a story, fun as it might be. It’s something that should be impactful. By putting Merlin and Morgana in a relationship, even if only briefly, you would have had the opportunity to raise the stakes further and higher than ever before. It would have pushed their character arcs.

The lesson here is to not be afraid to make characters doubt. Merlin only seemed to have contemplated leaving Camelot behind a handful of times. Often for love. Freya is an example of this -- and that’s considering he only knew her for a small amount of time. I can’t see why the same protective instincts that moved him to protect her didn’t also move him to guide Morgana and her magic. Regardless, imagine the sheer internal conflict you could have created by having him and Morgana fall in love, and then be faced with the ultimate choice. Because, ultimately, Merlin’s entire arc is about how much he is willing and able to sacrifice for Arthur’s sake.

That said, I have more or less exhausted my list of grievances with the writing of the show. There was very little wrong with the writing itself, but there was, at least to me, a very major gap that could’ve been filled with a romantic subplot. That is to say, there is nothing wrong with what is there, but rather what isn’t. In spite of all this, however, I must say that Merlin was a creative and charming and positively wonderful show that has changed my life for the better. And as such, I hope I didn’t come across as too harsh or pretentious. Because what you have managed to craft was nothing at all short of spectacular and I respect it very much. Which is why I wished to convey that having a Merlin / Morgana subplot would have enhanced the existing plot in more or less every single way. They’re mirror characters, and as you two said yourselves, “She is the darkness to your light, the hatred to your love.” Which is why perhaps, I hoped that there would be a little more love and a little less hatred in the show. Just to balance things out.

And with that, I conclude this essay. May destiny lead you to another property worthy of your writing. And in the words of Kilgharrah… your gifts were given to you for a reason.