#merely pointing out what it means for the narrative. (which is on thin ice with me at this point if we're being totally honest)

[dyketectivecomics]

Since I’ve seen too much general bitching about this decision from the writers and not enough Thoughtful Analysis of what it actually means & ways it could be improved. I guess I’m gonna have to bite the fucking bullet and talk about this. So buckle up kiddos.

Here’s Why Zatanna & M’gann Giving Artemis ‘Closure’ Is The Most Interesting Thing to Happen to Them All Season. And One (1) Way It Can Be Improved: (under the cut bc im not a dick that’s gonna Force people to scroll for miles through analysis they don’t have any interest in reading. Just remember if you’re thinking of Reacting to this, i GAVE you that out)

Let’s talk about the Decision on the writers part for this first, and why everyone needs to set aside personal feelings about it. Conflict is needed to drive a plot. And sure, this conflict is only JUST being set up, but this is a wonderful opportunity to develop these three characters together now.

Say what you will about Miss M in the second season, whether you agreed or disagreed with her methods from then is irrelevant (it was mindwiping criminals to the point of leaving them in a vegetative state, just so we all recall. Which. Is a whole other topic to dive into at a different time). It created a Conflict, and a subplot, that was more or less resolved by the end. As little development as characters end up getting with such a huge cast, M’gann was still provided an inciting moment & points of progression throughout the season. It even became relevant to the overarching plot, which is ideally what a writer should be doing with the characters.

Developing the characters personally & interpersonally alongside the greater conflict that may be beyond the protagonists’ control. That is what Makes Stories Interesting. How you feel about those decisions is almost irrelevant. The fact that the writer got you to feel something, means that they’re working effectively. (Or that you might be over-involved/projecting onto the work/characters. Which can be valid, but like.. Take a breath & take a step back maybe if you find yourself getting genuinely bothered by the narrative/narrative decisions. There may be something Deeper at work there bro.)

Now, this situation between Zee & M’gann manipulating Artemis is similar, but not the same as M’gann’s conflict last season. And that’s an important distinction to make. All characters have made questionable decisions and well-intentioned manipulations of others. It’s an age-old, tried and true conflict to introduce. This is a wonderful grenade who’s pin has been pulled, and it’s either a matter of time before someone slips about the news, or something that’s being so carefully kept together begins to provide internal conflict for those In The Know.

M’gann’s already made questionable choices about manipulating the minds of others (again, see season 2), it’s been touched on how she’s altered the minds of those close to her (so far only with Conner before this new development of course), but that conflict and aftermath was never actually shown to us, the audience. Another difference to note, however, is that M’gann didn’t force Artemis through this situation. Zatanna was very clear that everything in Artemis’ mindscape was her own creation and own subconscious working through her grief towards a path of acceptance.

It was a manipulation, nonetheless, but we can wax poetic about intentions vs consequences till the cows come home. It’s happened, it’s done. Now the question needs to be about those consequences: how will Artie react to it, if she ever finds out about it? Hell, how would Conner reaction if/when he finds out? Other members of the team? Etc? Again, it doesn’t matter if you personally agree with her involvement, it’s all about how the decision develops these characters & their relationships to each other, and whether we agree with the effects and implications of these decisions.

So onto Zatanna’s involvement as well. Zatanna is a character who has also been molded by her ‘bad’ decisions. Similar to M’gann, she’s erased memories and altered personalities and manipulated more than her fair share of people. She’s taken justice into her own hands and doled it out with impunity. It’s not something everyone likes about her character, but it IS a part of her pre52 canon, and we can’t deny it’s there. So for the writers to have her do something similar, by giving her friend a chance to seek closure even if it may be at a cost, even if some might not consider it ‘real’, isn’t totally out of character given her history. (Just maybe out of character, given that YJ’s canon hasn’t given her much of one until now) Agree or don’t agree with the intentions writers have given her. They’re there now. And now she’ll have to live with the consequences.

So back to the archer herself, Artemis has been seen grieving Wally all season long. Many characters have gotten a chance to show their grief in their own ways. Very much to the point where it became obvious the entire season was leading up to this One Moment.

But saving this moment and this potential development till the end was the real Poor Decision.

Many fans were similarly mourning Wally’s death, and with the time jump in the show nearly matching the years it had taken to bring it back, showing the different types of grief the characters felt over the season was a wise move. But showing how they moved past it would be just as important. And giving Artemis closure, should have been a mid-season plot point, not an end-of-season one. It would have provided the audience a sense of closure and excitement for new opportunities from the narrative to come, would have given more of a punch when other characters grieved alongside us even after this closure (because grief is not a linear, over and done with thing), but providing the first step is just that. A First Step.

And to circle back to the conflict it would have provided between M’gann, Zee & Artemis, it would have created a good half-season of development as they each tiptoed around each other on the issue. Once again, a chance to further develop all of these characters & their relationship to one another, possibly even to the greater part of the teams as well. (For example, maybe mix it in by showing how Artemis handles a Betrayal, and giving a further connection for Tara to hold onto, truly Showing how anyone can be forgiven for even well-intentioned mistakes, or if they hadn’t wanted to subvert the usual Judas Contract narrative, further push Tara away by having Zee & M’gann’s choices condemned. But if that decision had been made, we’d be opening up a whole OTHER can of worms)

Whether we see this nugget of conflict potential actually come to fruition is another point all together. But knowing the likely time-jumps to occur for season four, the cast continuing to expand to unreasonable proportions, and the fact that even our Original Main Cast have become nothing more than overblown cameos at many points during this last season, I wouldn’t be holding my breath on this one.

[tlbodine]

What exactly is 'character voice'? Is it merely a character having opinions on things? And how do I have good voice if I am writing in first or third person omnipresent? Do I give the narrator's opinion on things? The character's opinions? The different opinions of the characters?

Voice is a tricky thing to pin down -- a bit of a “know it when you see it” type thing. But I’ll see if I can break it down a bit. 

First: Stories will contain both “authorial voice” and “character voice.” Authorial voice is the individual writing style of the author, and you’ll start to notice it most strongly after you’ve read multiple works by one author. Character voice on the other hand is unique to the character. A strong character voice will often overshadow the author’s voice, which is usually a good thing! It keeps every book you read from an author from sounding the same. If you’re reading a book in first person or close third POV, the narrative should be in the character’s voice. If you’re reading it in a more omniscient POV, the narrative might have a very different voice. Books that alternate POVs might have different voices for different perspectives, so that you could tell who’s speaking even if the chapters weren’t labeled. 

But OK. What makes up Voice in writing? 

Opinions. Characters with a strong voice have opinions about the world, and those opinions color the way they see things. They don’t sit and tell you how they feel, but instead deliver the world through the lens of those opinions.

Focus. What a character chooses to pay attention to vs ignore in the world around them. This gives an underlying glimpse at what is important to them. 

Word Choice. On a structural level, voice comes down to word choice, grammar, syntax, etc. being used with purpose to create a cumulative effect. 

Books without a strong voice sound dry, like a technical manual or book report. They lack any poetic devices or colorful insights.  A strong voice is one that doesn’t sound generic, which means it’s not usually “correct” from, say, a middle school English class perspective. (In fact, some young writers may often butt heads with teachers over the use of voice in writing -- I know I did. Once you get good at it, 

It might just be easier to show this in action than try to explain it so...

Carrie, by Stephen King: 

She had tried to fit. She had defied Momma in a hundred little ways had tried to erase the redplague circle that had been drawn around her from the first day she had left the controlled environment of the small house on Carlin Street and had walked up to the Barker Street Grammar School with her Bible under her arm. She could still remember that day, the stares, and the sudden, awful silence when she had gotten down on her knees before lunch in the school cafeteria -- the laughter had begun on that day and had echoed up through the years. 

Carrie calls her mother “Momma” even in her head, which already implies a lot about her socioeconomic class, upbringing, and intelligence. She didn’t try to fit in, she tried to ‘fit’ -- a non-idiomatic description. The run-on second sentence gives a hint of a racing thought. “Redplague” as one word is evocative and more powerful than a more drawn-out metaphor might be. 

The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, by Douglas Adams 

Mr. L. Prosser was, as they say, only human. In other words he was a carbon-based bipedal life form descended from an ape. More specifically he was forty, fat and shabby, and worked for the local council. Curiously enough, though he didn’t know it, he was also a direct male-line descendant of Genghis Khan, though intervening generations and racial mixing had so juggled his genes that he had no discernible Mongoloid characteristics, and the only vestiges left in Mr. L. Prosser of his mighty ancestry were a pronounced stoutness about the tum and predilection for little fur hats. 

Comedy lives or dies on the strength of its voice, and Douglas Adams is a master at a very specific type of comedy. Here we see it on display. Prosser is an antagonist, and he’s here being described in a way that suggests, without stating outright, that he’s quite pathetic. We open with a cliche saying, and then immediately deconstruct it in a way that’s overly precise -- a technique of absurdism. Then we compare him to Genghis Khan (also a villain, and a very strong one) in a side-by-side parallel that definitely paints Prosser unflatteringly (his genes are “juggled,” a word that evokes clownishness) and the “little fur hats” detail is the icing on the cake -- imagine standing beside Genghis Khan and the ONLY thing you have in common is the hat! (”Predilection” is also a fussy-sounding word. “Stoutness about the tum” sounds like a childishly euphemistic protest, sort of like “big-boned” but dialed up to 11). 

The Cabin at the End of the World, by Paul Tremblay 

Wen’s eighth birthday is in six days. Her dads not so secretly wonder (she has overheard them discussing this) if the day is her actual date of birth or one assigned to her by the orphanage in China’s Hubei Province. For her age she is in the fifty-sixth percentile for height and forty-second for weight, or at least she was when she went to the pediatrician six months ago. She made Dr. Meyer explain the context of those numbers in detail. As pleased as she was to be above the fifty-line for height, she was angry to be below it for weight. Wen is as direct and determined as she is athletic and wiry, often besting her dads in battles of wills and in scripted wrestling matches on their bed. her eyes are a deep, dark brown, with thin caterpillar eyebrows that wiggle on their own. Along the right edge of her philtrum is the hint of a scar that is only visible in a certain light and if you know to look for it (so she is told). The thin white slash is the remaining evidence of a cleft lip repaired with multiple surgeries between the ages of two and four. She remembers the first and final trips to the hospital, but not the ones in between. That those middle visits and procedures have been somehow lost bothers her. Wen is friendly, outgoing, and as goofy as any other child her age, but isn’t easy with her reconstructed smiles. Her smiles have to be earned. 

The thing I love about Tremblay’s writing style is how wonderfully understated it is. At first blush, it seems very straightforward and precise. But the details work to give such a rich image beyond what’s on the page -- like one of those paintings that creates a cat with just like, two brushstrokes of ink. This paragraph is jam-packed with information -- the character’s age, race, adoption, gay parents -- but also illustrates her character indirectly: a kid who is interested in precise numbers, competitive in a specific way, self-conscious, skeptical. Little lines really stand out, like “caterpillar eyebrows” and “reconstructed smiles.” 

Horrorstor, by Grady Hendrix 

It was dawn, and the zombies were stumbling through the parking lot, streaming toward the massive beige box at the far end. Later they’d be resurrected by megadoses of Starbucks, but for now they were the barely living dead. Their causes of death differed: hangovers, nightmares, strung out from epic online gaming sessions, circadian rhythms broken by late-night TV, children who couldn’t stop crying, neighbors partying til 4 a.m., broken hearts, unpaid bills, roads not taken, sick dogs, deployed daughters, ailing parents, midnight ice cream binges. 

But every morning, five days a week (seven during the holidays), they dragged themselves here, to the one thing in their lives that never changed, the one thing that they could count on come rain, or shine, or dead pets, or divorce: work. 

This is the opening of the book, and it does a perfect job of setting the tone for the story -- a combination of humor and horror, a lighthearted touch on a really dismal subject. Like the Douglas Adams example, it relies on an excess of hyper-specific detail to create comedy through absurdism. Describing the store they wrok at as a “massive beige box” says a lot -- beige is a boring color, box is a boring shape (and implies constraint, the opposite of “think outside the box” etc.) Calling the workers “zombies” and using zombie words (”stumbling”, “streaming”) invokes a specific set of concepts -- mindlessness, for starters, and death -- and using that to describe going to a job certainly implies something about what it’s like to go to work, right? This paragraph could just come outright and say “work is soul-sucking and pointless and takes you away from things that are important” but it illustrates that instead. A perfect example of “show don’t tell” in action. 

Hopefully that gives a bit more illustration to what I’m talking about. As you read, pay attention to the way things are said and how that varies from one book to the next, and you’ll get a better intuition for voice (and learn to craft your own through practice). 

Some general tips/things to think about when creating strong voice for your narrative and characters: 

Education and socioeconomic level of the characters. A professor will talk differently from a car mechanic; a college graduate sounds different from an elementary school student; an inner-city black teen will use words differently from a New England socialite. Think about what kind of background a character has and choose vocabulary and syntax that makes sense for them. 

Evocative descriptions. Words come with baggage, and good writing puts that baggage to use to create a meaning stronger than what’s on the page. Precision with language, not just what words mean but what they imply, is the hallmark of good writing. 

Words used uniquely -- in other words, avoiding cliches and descriptions we’ve seen before in favor of creating new word combinations that do the heavy lifting of the previous bullet point. 

Hopefully that helps! 

[theeternalspace]

In Memoriam 11

Summary: The metal tree had always fascinated the Prince.

Only, it wasn’t a tree.

And, as it turned out, he wasn’t really a Prince. Instead he was… a side of someone’s personality? He doesn’t remember Thomas, or the other sides, those who call themselves his friends. He doesn’t really remember anything, not even his own name, no matter the efforts of Patton, Logan or Virgil. He must venture back into the Wardrobe door, back to the metal tree in an attempt to recover his missing memories and regain everything he has lost.

But perhaps some doors are best left closed for a reason. And perhaps some personas should remain in the ground where they have been buried.

Story Warnings: Sympathetic/Grey Deceit Sanders. He is trying his best you guys. Anxiety. Self doubt and self loathing. Fantasy fighting. Verbal fighting. Threatening behaviour. Blood and injury. Memory loss. Drowning. Near death.

Previous || Next

He hit the snow running. Virgil wobbled and almost face planted into the deep drifts that had somehow sprung up around the entrance since the last time he had been here. The whole landscape seemed transformed, barely even recognisable as a forest. The trees groaned and laboured under the intense layer of snow that carpeted every visible inch.

Before, Virgil had thought there was snow everywhere. Looking at it now, he realised that he hadn't understood the meaning of a lot of snow because this? This was nothing but a sea of white, deep swells and rises of waves only hinting at the world that existed below. The snow had crowded out every little detail of what had once been such a lovely created forest space.

Countless branches and whole trees laid sideways in the snow, brought down by the weight of the snow upon them, unable to handle it any longer. He was only aware of the branches when he stepped on them, feeling the crack and snap underfoot as snow gave way to hard wood. It was next to impossible for Virgil to move through the unseen minefield that had been created out of twisted bark at more than a snail's pace, struggling and flailing against the snow.

Thick tree trunks had withstood the ravages of the snow slightly better but even they were starting to become lost to the white, little more than mounds marking their burial places. Give it a couple more days and he almost felt as if they too would become part of a flat landscape, lurking in wait for any unwary traveller. Give it enough time and the whole forest would become nothing more than a field of white.

Something had gone terribly wrong here. This was a wreck and ruin of a slowly dying world. Virgil had the misfortune to be caught in the eye of the storm, a breath where everything was suspended between the moment and even the snowflakes had slowed, hovering in the air around him.

It was beautiful and terrible in equal measures - and right now, unimportant.

With a snarl, Virgil slapped away at the snow. He barely noticing the chill on his hands as he pushed himself properly upright, wobbling and weaving between snowbanks. The path was still there, to a degree. A foot or two less snow than the rest of the forest, winding its way down towards where the lamppost was. Where hopefully it still remained. All Virgil had to do was get there. One step at a time, one goal at a time and if he could just reach that, then he could worry about what to do next. 

He didn't have time to mourn the end of this place. No matter how sad and painfully beautiful it was to see the end of an idea.

He didn't have time to wonder what was causing it. If perhaps Roman's rejection of being a Prince, along with everything that made the creative side who he was, had caused this decay.

He didn’t even have time to wonder if what he was searching for was still here - it just had to be. 

There was no time to do anything. The collapsing world merely gave him the motivation to keep moving, to try and get to where he needed to go while there was still time. He had to make it to the ice palace. He had to find the stolen memories while he could. Virgil couldn’t shake the very real worry that if this place died, then any chance he had at finding Roman’s memories would die with it. 

Rage motivated him, kept him moving as he half ran, half waded through snow that rose higher than his knees, higher than his waist at times. Virgil stumbled and fell more times than he cared to admit, but he refused to let the cold get the better of him, refused to just give up. It was far too easy to want to give up and crawl back to the rest of the mind where it was warm and safe. Where Roman suffered, where he was lost and confused. Virgil couldn’t let it end like this. 

The lamppost came into view after what felt like an eternity. A tiny circle of green grass surrounded it. The lamppost’s light flickered and spluttered as if it too was struggling against the impossible snow that hung in the air around them. It at least was still moving - a light that flashed in and out of existence rather like a lonely lighthouse battling against a never ending storm. 

The shadows cast by the hundreds of suspended snowflakes danced over the white expanse of snow. They cast various patterns which blazed into existence every few seconds before vanishing again. It was the only movement in this otherwise desolate world. It felt like an anchor, something for Virgil to mentally cling onto as he staggered towards the metal post. A few paths trailed off in all directions, some more visible than others. 

Somehow, the lamppost still managed to stay warm enough to melt the tiny patch around it, holding the whole force of winter at bay. A tiny part of Virgil wondered how long it would be before even that was defeated by the snow. Before that slowly fading light vanished into the eternal dark and then nothing was left. The rest of him just felt relieved that it was still there at all, that this frozen breath of a moment still had hope within it. Even if the hope was just a magic light. 

Hand curled around the metal trunk like post, clinging to it for dear life as though the light fitting was the only thing keeping Virgil from falling down. His whole body trembled from the effort of getting this far as well as all the pent up anger and emotions he felt whenever he thought of the letter which rested in his hoodie pocket. It felt as though it was made of marble instead of paper, weighing him down with every step he took.

The black metal was slightly warm to the touch. Not enough to cause any kind of discomfort but enough to make him want to lean into it. To let the warmth soothe him and take away all his cares and worries. Virgil wanted to close his eyes and just lean into the imaginary embrace, to forget about the struggle but he couldn’t. Or perhaps more accurately, he wouldn’t. Not when he had a mission. 

“Hwin,” Virgil croaked, his voice sounding thin and feeble against the great expanse. 

What if she didn’t come? What if she too was frozen like the snow, the whole world nothing more than a moment between blinks? No matter how angry he felt, no matter how determined he was, Virgil didn’t think he would be able to cover the distance needed in time. 

“Hwin!” His voice echoed around the clearing, trees and snow magnifying it as fear pumped through him, giving him the strength to properly cry out. 

“Virgil! You have returned!” Hwin suddenly appeared around a corner, trotting briskly towards him as though she had been passing by chance and just so happened to hear him. Virgil knew better however. Things didn’t happen like that here. There was a power behind things, a woven thread in the narrative that meant she would have been always passing close by. No matter where the mare might have actually been minutes before. She didn’t seem to notice or care about the suspended flakes, merely passing through them as if it was completely normal for the snow to not land. 

Did she not see the frozen snow? Did she not know what it meant? Maybe it was a blessing, a way for her character to continue to function despite the collapsing star aspect of the world. Maybe Virgil should point it out to her, maybe he should let her know that this world wouldn’t exist much longer, and by implication neither would she. Let Hwin come to terms with that knowledge. However there was no time for those kinds of mercies. He would feel guilty about it later, would hate himself later - but he had to place Roman above a talking horse. 

“I need to get to the ice palace,” Virgil explained, pushing himself away from the lamppost as he unsteadily made his way over to her. “Please, Hwin, can you get me there?” 

“You wish to ride into the lair of the White Wizard?” Hwin sounded horrified. She shook her head urgently, large, brown eyes staring at him. Strangely, Virgil didn’t doubt that Hwin knew the way to the ice palace, that the memory was somewhere in her mind. “That is death Virgil.”

“He won't harm me.” Virgil's voice sounded a lot more confident than he really felt, hand lifting to rub at the back of his neck. The... Wizard wouldn’t kill him. Or, so Virgil hoped at least. He certainly wouldn’t hurt him at any rate. 

How could he hurt him anymore than he already had? How could he do anything that could hurt more than stealing Roman away from them all? 

“... Are you certain you want to do this?”

“I am. It is the only way to help Roman,” Virgil assured her seriously. She looked away for a moment, tail swishing restlessly from side to side as she considered his words before letting out a heavy snort.

“Very well. Come, it isn’t too far from here.” 

At her words, Virgil carefully climbed onto her back, trying to settle himself comfortably and safely there. Riding a horse never got any easier. He didn’t know how Roman could stand it, the constant swaying, the fact your safety was in the hands - hooves - of someone else and there was only so much you could do to keep yourself upright. The dangers that could happen if you fell or if your horse was injured and rolled. There were so many stories on the internet about people who had been crushed or stomped on by a horse and died as a result. 

He knew that Hwin wouldn’t do any of that to him on purpose. Or at least, he hoped she wouldn't. But that didn’t mean it would happen. Accidents were a thing after all. 

Virgil swallowed heavily and fixed his eyes on a tree a little ahead of them as they started to move. He did his best to not think of the way the world was rising and falling rather as though he was on a boat. He really didn’t want to get travel sick on a horse, that would just be embarrassing, but it was something he worried about. As though Virgil needed anything else to worry about. 

Maybe it was the Imagination twisting in on itself. The world growing smaller, more contained as it bent back. As they emerged from the tree line, his stomach somehow still holding his lunch, Virgil could already see what had to be the ice palace rising up on the horizon. Maybe without Roman here, it was able to pick up on Virgil’s wishes and desires more easily. Right now, there was nothing he wanted more than to see those tall blue white spires which signified what he hoped was the lair of the White Wizard. 

It was certainly visually impressive and only grew more so the closer they got to it. The whole thing seemed to be carved out of one giant block of ice, an imposing and endless expanse of blinding white which was designed to overaw and intimidate. They reached a giant arch which towered high above them, a path leading through it towards the actual building. Pale yellow lights lit the way but the flames felt cold when he reached a hand towards one of them, more ice than heat. 

There were no guards, no signs of any traps or hunts they were being watched and yet Virgil didn't doubt that the White Wizard knew full well he was here. He was expected, after all. 

“Thank you Hwin,” he whispered as he carefully dismounted, legs trembling slightly as they tried to adjust to solid and unmoving ground once more. Virgil swallowed as he looked up at the sheer surface of ice and it certainly made him feel small and suddenly uncertain. Where was that rage he had nurtured so carefully when he needed it? It would take courage to pass through the gates and face what he already knew was waiting for him inside, courage that Virgil certainly didn’t feel right now. 

The snow was still hovering, suspended in the amber of this moment. Virgil couldn’t just leave it like that, he couldn’t just walk into the grounds of this building knowing what he knew without at least telling Hwin. Surely she deserved to know the truth? Part of it, he knew, was just him putting off the other moment, choosing a less painful topic in order to avoid the harder one. This was still hard, still hurt as Virgil took a deep breath to try and steady himself. It only half worked. 

“I... this world is ending,” Virgil told Hwin softly, unable to meet her gaze, instead fixing his eyes on her front hooves as though they were by far the most interesting things to examine right now. 

“I know,” Hwin replied simply, voice still calm despite the bombshell she dropped. Virgil’s head snapped up, gaze wide and unguarded as he gaped at her in disbelief, trying to understand what she had just said. 

“You know?” All he could do was parrot back the words in the form of a question.  

“The world is shrinking, I can sense it. I can feel the boundaries of other worlds press in on this one, wanting to dissolve into each other. There is an end approaching.” She paused, her tail still flicking from side to side, the only real movement from either of them. 

Virgil could feel tears brimming in his eyes at her words, the calm and almost detached way in which she described her impending fate somehow far worse than if she had cried or grow angry at him. Virgil wasn’t trying to save this world, he wasn’t trying to save her and she had every right to be furious at that. She knew why he was really here, that it was Roman alone that motivated him and yet Hwin didn’t get hurt by how selfish he was being. 

Instead she helped him get here. And now she was shifting a little closer, head dipping down to gently nuzzle against his shoulder in a comforting motion. Despite everything, she was still being kind to him and it was the kindness that broke him, his shoulders shaking as he dissolved into clear, ugly tears. Virgil rocked forward a little on his heels, leaning back into the warmth that she offered. Hwin didn’t move away, didn’t act disgusted, instead making a soft little whinny like noise as if trying to be soothing.

It only made him cry harder, salty tears staining her mane and flank as he cried for every mistake that had led him to this moment, cried for her and for Bree. He cried for Roman, for both versions that he knew and loved. He cried for himself as well, for everything that Virgil knew he still had to do. It was exhausting, thinking about the confrontation he needed to have but there was no getting around it. 

If he wanted to get Roman’s memories back then he was going to have to face down his own past to do it and as much as the thought of that hurt, he could if it meant that he helped his friend. It still made him sob at the thought of it. At the thought of her.

“Oh do not cry Virgil. I will always be here in some form or another. Nothing truly dies in any of these worlds and you will remember me. That is more than enough for this old horse.”

Her words were only slightly comforting, Virgil still crying as he thought about everything, the stress of the past few days finally crashing over him like a wave, leaving him gasping and struggling for breath or any contact with the shore. 

“I’ll miss you,” Virgil whispered in a broken tone of voice when he finally got his tears under control and he meant more than just in this moment. He doubted he would ever see her again and it was strange, it was ridiculous, but he felt a connection to her that was far more real than any other character he had ever encountered within any other world Roman had created. 

She was a fragment of a figment, she was formed out of the ether of the Imagination as a character, little more than lines from a book and yet he would be heartbroken when he lost her. Reluctantly, Virgil forced himself to stop clinging to her and instead take a step backwards. He knew if he didn’t do it now, he might never find the strength to do it. He lifted a sleeve to his face, scrubbing at the tear tracks, smudging his makeup all over his cheeks.  

Right now, Virgil couldn’t find it in himself to care about the mess his face had to be. 

“And I, you. But I have done my job, I have brought you where you needed to be, I have helped to protect you. I fulfilled the purpose for which I was created and it is a lucky few who can claim to have done that. It is has been an honour Virgil.” She dipped her head, front legs bending as Hwin gracefully dropped into what looked like a horses equivalent of a curtsy. 

“Good luck,” she told him as she straightened back up again and although the words were not a goodbye in the traditional sense, Virgil understood what she was really saying. Virgil nodded, swallowing again and the heavy lump in his throat seemed to have formed into something far more solid and unbreakable. He didn’t trust himself to say anything else, too afraid that he might just start crying again. Instead, Virgil settled for his two fingered little salute of farewell, turning sharply on his heel. 

It was hard, but Virgil somehow resisted the urge to look back as he passed under the imposing arch, forcing his pace to remain rapid. The shadows lengthened as he walked deeper into the palace, aimlessly moving from room to room, searching for some clue as to where he needed to go next. This was differently the right place but it was a huge building and his target could be in any room. Or rather one room, but just because he had a pretty good idea which, that didn’t help him actually find it. 

After what felt like an age, he came to an ornate spiral staircase made out of what looked like far too delicate ice, soaring high into the sky of the vaunted room and Virgil had to assume that it led to one of the towers he had seen from the outside. 

Up, down or past the stairs completely?

It wasn’t a hard choice. His target was dramatic in his own right, and had a very overdeveloped sense of theatrics. He wouldn’t be in the dungeons or up in a tower. No, if he was anywhere, if would be in the throne room because where else could a final confrontation take place but there? If only he could find the damn place, Virgil giving a huff of annoyance as he turned a corner into yet another dead end. His breath coiled around his face a little as he made the sound, pale wisps of air like smoke. 

It was cold here. So very cold and Virgil could feel that chill but almost from a distance, as though he was aware of it but not actually suffering from it. His body wasn’t trembling despite each exhale turning into mist before his eyes. That was probably a bad sign but then the list of bad signs was growing steadily longer and it was hard to really decide which ones were worth focusing on. The fact the world was crumbling and ending around him was probably more important, for example, than not feeling the cold the way he should. 

By far the creepiest thing on his list however, were the stone sculptures.

There were a number of them dotted throughout the palace, animals twisted into grotesque shapes, many in poses of fear or terror, the agony of a panic filled moment imprinted across their features. 

Virgil had read the books. He knew exactly what the animals were supposed to represent as he headed through yet another cluster of them, repressing the shudder that the sight of one particularly terrified tiny mouse statue that Virgil had made the mistake of stopping to pick up and place somewhere higher, somewhere safer. 

It was so small he could have easily stepped on it and crushed it without meaning to. 

He only hoped they had never been granted any form of life but had come into being as statues. He had to hope that the White Wizard wasn’t that cruel, and that he had resisted embracing every part of the role. Virgil turned away from the tiny statue with another barely there shiver, aware of tormented stone eyes staring out at him from every direction as he moved through a long corridor and then two small rooms before stumbling into a much grander corridor, the roof reaching high into the sky. 

Twin golden doors came into view on the far right. Intricate patterns were engraved into the metal and as Virgil got closer he was able to make out the details. It was a mix of patterns and images this close up, a series of figures both human and animal spread across the doors as though telling some kind of story. 

They sort of looked like the history of this world now that he was stood directly in front of them. Virgil reached out, lightly brushing the tips of his fingers against a perfectly recreated image of Roman’s face as he spoke to a hooded figure on a sledge. The Prince was gesturing at something off panel with a hand that held... that held a spoon.

It was that moment. 

There was Roman stumbling through the snow, the lamppost in the distance behind him. There they both were fighting the manticore-chimera. There was the campfire and there, curled up, was the pair of them, asleep. Virgil frowned and lent in a little closer to that image, his cold breath fogging up the gold for a moment before he wiped it clear. Eyes were fixed on the image and the tiny Virgil that was using his hoodie as a blanket. Looking at it from the outside, it almost looked as though someone had tucked it around him. 

Attention shifted to the side, to edge of the panel where instead of trees or smoke or even snow as he might have expected, there seemed to be sparkles pressed into the image, forming a circle around them. That looked an awful lot like how Virgil would have imagined some kind of protective magic and had Roman done that in his sleep? It settled some of his guilt to think that at least there was something looking after them both that night. Only a little guilt, because Virgil knew he shouldn’t have fallen asleep in the first place but it was better than nothing. 

Hwin and Bree were in the next image, Bree's head dipped towards Hwin as they spoke. In the background, it was just possible to make out two tiny figures, no doubt the pair of them returning to the main part of the mind.

Further down, he could see an image of himself on the back of Hwin, bent low over her as they raced through trees. His expression was set into one of absolute determination and fury, the same emotions that he had been feeling on the way over here. That was him only a few minutes ago. How had he known what Virgil had done, all the way down to his facial expression he had?

And there was an engraving of Virgil touching the door, just as he was this very second. He jerked his hand away from the gold as though burned by the images. Everything they had done was on this door and that image wasn’t even the last one in the set. There was more waiting, more of what had apparently not yet happened. 

Some part of him itched to look further, to see what the images said would happen next, to know if he was going to win or not. A greater part of him wanted to throw up at the implication that all of this was nothing more than a story and he had been manipulated right from the start. That he had been a puppet on a string and nothing mattered, no matter what he did or thought, it would all end the same way.

Virgil refused to accept that. He wouldn't - he couldn't - believe that everything here was predetermined, and that he had no choice in the matter. He didn’t want to look at the images, be they good or bad. The White Wizard wasn't that powerful. None of the sides had the power it would take to determine the future. They could guess of course. They could influence and hope, but they couldn’t guide events to such a detailed forgone conclusion. 

No, this door had to be a lie. Just like everything else here.

The thought gave him the courage he needed to reach out again, pressing the palms of his hands against the gold. With a grunt, Virgil pushed at them, one hand on each door, swinging them open to stride inside. They creaked as they moved, as though old and unwilling to shift. Yet more lies and theatrics, as well as an easy way to announce someone's presence. 

More statues awaited him inside. These had been placed with more care than the ones outside, positioned in lines as though courtiers awaiting an audience. They formed a procession for Virgil to follow, a path through the middle of them that he had little choice but to take, walking along a red carpet that guided him up some shallow steps and towards the end of the room. An ice throne dominated the back half of the room, eyes instantly drawn to the ornate, black ice chair which stood on a raised platform above the rest. Of course it would be black, all the better to stand out against the pale whites and blues that made up the rest of the grand room. 

Lounging on it - and really there was no other word to describe the pose but an over dramatic lounge, stretched across both armrests - was the White Wizard. He was dressed in long robes and a cape of various shades of pale white and cream, yellow thread picking out details and accents on it which gave the outfit some shape and definition. On top of his head he wore a crown of ice, spikes shooting up into the air. He looked far too casual considering he had to know that Virgil was standing right there and probably had been tracking his approach the whole time. 

It made Virgil’s head hurt a little, just staring at him. 

He wasn’t just the White Wizard though. He had never been just that and although Virgil had known since the letter who he would find wearing that role, it wasn’t a surprise to him. And yet... and yet some part of him had still thought he was wrong, had struggled to believe that someone he had once considered his brother would have been capable of doing such a thing. Virgil had hoped that the letter was a lie, a trick for whatever reason to get him here.  

After all, what would have been one more lie to the master of untruths? 

“Deceit.” Virgil half greeted the other side and half spat the name as though it were a curse, his fingers curling into tight fists as he stood there, trying not to give in to the rage and confusion that swam across him. There was no escaping the truth now, no pretending that the letter had been anything other than what it was. Deceit knew, Deceit had been honest - or as honest as the liar could be. 

He was the one who had removed Roman’s memories, who had orchestrated everything that had followed. The one who pretended to rule.

It had always been Deceit. 

[spaceorphan18]

Melody Time

And we’re back with anthologies again.  Isn’t it interesting that I have a harder time sitting through a collection of short cartoons than full length animated features? Maybe cause my interest isn’t that high with these.  

As we open up this time, we get a couple of theater masks singing about how its melody time.  Oh geez, here we go.... 

Once Upon a Wintertime -

So, we start off with this short about a couple having a date (and their rabbit counterparts) in the winter, and they go on a carriage ride, and then skating and then OMG the ice is thin and it breaks up and then it’s a rapids and the rapids are going over a waterfall??!? OH NO!! It’s kinda comical at how quickly at how ridiculous the premise of this gets.  But, you know what, it’s kind of charming in a way.  The art is has an interesting style to it, and it’s sweet even if it’s nonsensical.  And much more watchable than most of everything else that’s been in these anthologies.  

My only gripe, which can hardly be called an actual gripe, is that I’m meh on the musical selection that accompanies the short.  It’s more of that 40′s jazz-lite/easy listening stuff that I’m finding I really have no patience when listening to it. 

Also, I’d be remiss if I didn’t point out that the girl in this one isn’t saved by her beau, but by all the woodland creatures working together to stop the ice from falling over the waterfall.  For some reason it struck me as amusing. 

Bumble Boogie -

This is essentially two minutes of a bumblebee flying around avoiding abstract musical instruments that have come to life, all to a jazzed version of Flight of the Bumblebee.  It’s cute for what it is.  Not a whole lot to say here, tbh. 

The Legend of Johnny Appleseed - 

This one, as you might have guessed, is about the American Folk Hero Johnny Appleseed, which I probably knew more about a kid than I do now.   There’s no real plot, other than Johnny decides to leave the comfort of Pennsylvania and head out west (or Ohio, lol) and plant appleseeds because that’s what he does.  And then he grows up and dies and legends are born.  (Yup, he actually has a little death scene.)  

I’m not entirely sure how to review this.  It works for what it is.  The animation is actually kind of nice, and it does what all folktales seem to do, romanticize a time in the recent-distant past.  I get the feeling the mid-19th century was quaint in the way we think of the 40s now.  History was all pioneers and proving yourself and doing a square dance with Native Americans.  (They’re not badly portrayed btw, just in the background.)  

It’s not a bad short by any means, but not anything that will stick with you after you’re done watching it. 

Little Toot -

So, um, the Andrews Sisters sing about this little steamboat, called Little Toot, who as a young kid is kinda dumb and gets an Ocean Liner crashed into a major metropolis (because that’s possible).  He’s shamed and outcasted, so he goes out on his own, grows up, saves another Ocean Liner and comes back older and better loved.  

Between the amount of times they sing ‘little toot’, which makes it hard to take seriously, and the fact that this narrative feels like it’s pushing (the of the time accurate agenda of) grow up and be a man culture, I just can’t with it.   It’s fine for a ‘of it’s time’ cartoon, but does not hold up well at all.  

Trees-

This another one of those tone poem things.  There’s a famous poem out there named Trees and is about, you’ve guessed it, trees! (Fun fact - my mother had us memorize this poem when we were kids for some reason.  She was trying to teach us about poetry.  Idk.)  

Anyway - the animation here is lovely, even if it looks like it’s a deleted scene from Bambi.  The music however.  Gah.  It’s terrible.  This poem doesn’t lend itself to be lyrics very easily...just because it’s a poem doesn’t necessarily mean it’s a song.  (Remind me some day to tell you guys the story about a girl I knew in college who tried to sing Tolkien’s poetry, omg...)  I’m not sure how to describe it, it sounds like dirge written for a college choir or something.  I get what you were going for, Disney, but this one just doesn’t work.  

Blame It on the Samba -

Speaking of deleted scenes, this next short is probably left over animation from The Three Caballeros.  Donald Duck and Jose Carioca are back, and this time dancing to samba music (though the piece is actually a polka played on an organ, so sure) and it’s more of the same weird, trippy mix of live action and animation that you find at the end of Three Caballeros.  I honestly wish this wasn’t in here, because it doesn’t fit with the other shorts, and kind of disrupts the nicer animation of every other thing in this film.  

Just because you can, Disney, doesn’t mean you should. 

Pecos Bill -

And... it’s another folklore related one.  Which, I found out after doing some research, isn’t really folklore.  Apparently, some dude from Texas wanted folklore for Texas and made up a bunch of stories, and Pecos Bill was one of them.  

Anyway, this one is terrible.  The animation is bad, the ‘story’, which merely consists of throw away lines of some of the lore, is stupid, and it ends with a woman being bounced to the moon by her bustle.  It’s also twenty minutes long, which is way too long for one of these to be of any interest. 

Also - I should point out, it started off with a live-action intro with a bunch of ‘cowboys’ singing to that girl who was having a birthday party for herself last film. What is Disney’s fascination with this little girl?  

Final Thoughts: While overall, I think most of this much better than any of the other anthology films, I think this concept just doesn’t work as a whole -- unless you’re really going to go all out with theme and purpose, and not just use up old animation you had nothing better to do.  I get why these all happened, but bleh, I’m ready for the regular features.  

[rwbyconversations]

The Princess and her Pauper- A Weiss/Emerald Character Contrast

One of the greatest weapons in the arsenal of a creator is the art of contrast. In storytelling, characters that contrast, often referred to as foils, can serve to highlight particular qualities of each other. How one acts to a situation and the other reacts. It’s why rivalries form the backbone of many a great story with conflict in its theme- why the most memorable moments in action titles like Devil May Cry 3 and Metal Gear Rising are when two rivals who serve as foils for each other come to blows in a winner-take-all clash of wills. Not all foils need be rivals, however- George and Lennie in Of Mice and Men are built as foils, with George being wire-thin and razor-sharp mentally while Lennie is a lumbering giant of a man with the intellect of a child. 

Rooster Teeth’s RWBY is a series that loves to set up connections between its central heroes of Team RWBY and the villainous factions under Salem. Although the connections between current villains Team WTCH and RWBY have not yet been solidified (Watts screentime when), RWBY’s initial foes in Team CRME (Cinder, Roman, Mercury and Emerald) all complimented aspects of RWBY’s personalities. Ruby and Cinder were both leaders, Ruby through example and optimism and Cinder through manipulation and fear, Blake dual-contrasted with Adam and Roman, Yang with Mercury and (regardless of what TVTropes tells you), Weiss contrasts with the sharp-tongued, fast-fingered gem thief Emerald Sustrai. 

Despite having not technically met in canon*, with their appearances relegated to sharing fights in the Volumes 2 and 3 OP, with their dialogue being two lines in a Chibi episode, Weiss and Emerald are almost perfect narrative foils for each other. I am convinced that they were purposefully written to contrast each other, and if/when Emerald has a redemption arc, you can be sure that this material will be used to show how similar Weiss and Emerald can be... not that either of them would admit it. And for the record? This is my OTP and Weiss and Emerald rank in my five favorite characters each, so this is going to be a self-indulgent mess. Consider it my two and three hundred follower specials wrapped into a neat little bow.

In this post, I am going to show the narrative, backstory and character contrasts between Weiss Schnee and Emerald Sustrai, and why I think they could have one of the best-written rivalries/friendships/bond in the entire show if Miles and Kerry play their cards right in the coming Volumes. As usual, the post is under the Read More for the sake of users on their phones.

(Art source: @nibbles-scribbles)

* (In before “Didn’t Weiss fight Em at Haven during the Checkmate scene?” offscreen doesn’t count and Let’s Not Talk About Haven This Is A Happy Post)

Part 1-  Lonely eyes, well, it sure looks like you just might be looking for something

Weiss and Emerald’s backstories on paper couldn’t be any different- which, again, is one of the purposes of narrative contrasts, connecting the impossible. Weiss lived in the lap of luxury her entire life, part of a family that probably had the combined net worth of half of the Fortune 500. The Schnee Dust Company was such a profitable venture that it bought out rival families and took them out of business. Weiss’s every need was catered for, she had a loyal servant in Klein, and became a popular attraction at parties thanks to her singing voice.

And she couldn’t have been more soul-crushingly alone. 

A young Weiss sits at a piano, basking in the praise of the adults around her

Weiss, narration: Words of praise were often overflowing around me. Whatever I did, with a little effort, I did better than average. I expected the praise as a matter of course and believed I deserved it all. As the daughter of the Schnee house, I would be the best. Nothing else would do. 

Weiss reaches out to her father who is walking away from her. The door shuts in her face. Weiss’s face comes into the panel. The smile is gone. 

Weiss, narration: My father felt the same way. So his indifference... was expected.  - RWBY Manga,Shirow Miwa

Weiss was little more than a toy when she was a child, something Jacques brought out for the guests to coo at, but they never cared for Weiss herself: 

Everyone only cared that I was part of the Schnee family, not that I was me. They were honoring the Schnee name. I thought all that praise was for me. It wasn’t. It messed with my head when I figured that out.

Weiss’s Volume 5 focus song, and the first chronological song about her, The Path to Isolation (AKA Mirror Mirror 0.5), is about when Weiss realizes how alone she is in Atlas with the realization that people only care about her for her money and surname, and not for Weiss as a person. We see this in person with her interactions with Henry Marigold in Volume 4 and Jacques spells it out later:

I don’t give a damn what you want! This isn’t about you!  

Miwa’s manga alongside Path To Isolation makes it clear that Weiss lived in the lap of luxury, but it was a cold, sterile lap where she never felt loved even with Klein’s presence and Winter’s distant love, thanks to Jacques’ distance driving Weiss further into her personal hell. Weiss lived a tragically lonely life in her childhood and its effects are still seen on her even in the present day. For a long time, all she was was an accessory to Jacques who got pushed into his obedient shadow.

Emerald’s backstory is less concrete than Weiss, but from what we do know it’s no less painful. She lived alone on the city streets with no parents (dead or neglectful we don’t know) or friends to look out for her, and every day was a struggle to survive. By the time we see Emerald in Volume 3′s flashback, she’s barely holding it together and is stick-thin.

Her clothes are frayed in various places, held together with belts and straps, and Emerald is nearly emaciated. She’s jumpy, paranoid and resorts to blatant daytime robbery of a jewel store just to cover the costs to get some food for a night. When Cinder finds Emerald, she finds a cornered street-rat barely staying alive. 

If Jacques manipulated Weiss through inaction, Cinder in turn twisted Emerald through action, providing the young thief everything she ever wanted. Cinder gave her a warm bed, food whenever she wanted it and possibly even the love of the mother that Emerald might not have had. Chibi Season 3 in fact had a skit where Emerald (within a dream) jokingly notes that Cinder really is “The mother figure I may- or may not- have never had.” Regardless, Cinder learned from Salem the best way to get people to follow you is to give them exactly what they want. She gave Roman some Dust and a chance to commit crimes, she gave Mercury a target and people to hurt, and she gave Emerald a sick, twisted lie. She made Emerald fall in love with her. 

I don’t care about Salem! But I owe Cinder everything.

Cinder twists Emerald around her finger and makes her almost entirely dependent on Cinder’s approval and love. And make no mistake, this is (at least from Emerald’s warped perspective, the poor girl) love. 

This is not the face of a heterosexual woman upon seeing Cinder Fall. 

Em sadly closing her eyes behind Cinder just... gets me, man. I care for that mint-ice-cream too much Jesus Christ.

Cinder, of course, doesn’t love her back. I don’t think Cinder knows what it means to love beyond that she can use other people’s love in her pursuit of power. She manipulated and tricked Emerald, making the thief fall for her in a worthless attempt to impress her. And every time Emerald stepped remotely out of line, even if by complete unintentional accident, Cinder harshly made her judgement clear and forced Emerald back into her obedient shadow. Cinder definitely didn’t love Emerald. But damn if she didn’t know how to abuse her.  

Emerald: We don’t need him (Mercury), everything was going fine- A slap is heard. Emerald shouts in pain. Cinder: Do not mistake your place.

As pointed out expertly by @alexkablob, Emerald’s body language when Cinder gets angry in this scene is very telling- she almost shrinks and hides herself, trying very hard to avoid Cinder’s wrath in that immediate moment. The mere threat of reprisal has Emerald assuming a more subservient position

Here’s what connects Weiss and Emerald from their backstories. Both had terribly lonely childhoods, with Weiss lonely in a crowd as she realized people only loved her for her money and name, and Emerald forced to live alone as a street rat with no one to rely on. Jacques manipulated Weiss through making her seek his approval which manifested as physical abuse, and Cinder as well manipulated and abused Emerald into falling in love with Cinder or seeing her as a replacement mother figure. Both were lonely children, abused and scorned by everyone around them, especially those who had the most direct power over them. Both of them, tragically, are victims of those above them who see them as tools and not even as people. Ones who occasionally fall out of line and need... percussive maintenance to fix. Weiss and Emerald have some of the darkest backstories in RWBY and in their tragedy, they compliment each other beautifully. 

(Source: @nibbles-scribbles, who gave me permission to use her art)

Part 2: Sight Unseen

Now that we’ve covered their backstories, let’s actually contrast Emerald and Weiss on a fighting and character level. 

Weiss and Emerald fight each other in the OPs for Volumes 2 and 3. They are so far on the very small list of fights in the OPs that have never occurred and are in fact the only notable fight to not happen ever four years since it was first teased, especially since it happened in two sequences. 

Both characters use revolver mechanisms in their weapons- Weiss for her Dust and Emerald for a ranged component. Both are agile fighters who dart around the battlefield and can be very damaging in the right circumstances and are the most fragile member of their respective teams (Weiss having the worst solo win/loss record of anyone on RWBY and Emerald being a stealth fighter who dropped very quickly when Amber focused fire on her being my evidence). 

What’s interesting in contrasting the two is their Semblances. Emerald creates vivid hallucinations for a single target that effects all five of their senses but ultimately is a purely mental effect on the subject’s reality. Her Semblance can’t create physical matter. However, Weiss’s Semblance is a purely physical one that lets her influence and change reality on a primal, physical level- be it for Glyphs, time dilation or using Summoning to create physical constructs to fight for her. Depending on if Weiss’s Summons can be affected by Emerald’s hallucinations (or if Weiss being hit with Em’s Semblance has consequences for her Summons), the two could serve as hard counters in the event of a fight. 

Long story short a fight between these two would be really cool.

Character wise, one of the more interesting bits of contrast between Weiss and Emerald is how they approach friendship. Both are equally sardonic and have razor-sharp wits on anyone who irks them, but while Weiss is cold at first and softens as she gets to know and trust people, Emerald throws up a facade of being chummy with people, a facade she hates. If her friendship with Mercury is anything to go by, Emerald can make some very biting remarks at the expense of those she’s close to. If her love for Cinder is anything to go by however, Emerald is very tender and affectionate when it comes to the people she loves. She rushes to give Cinder a hug in Volume 2 and in Volume 4, acts as Cinder’s translator, being almost sickeningly tender and rushing to come to Cinder’s side when she asks. 

And while Emerald’s a villain, it would be a shame to waste a rivalry between her and Weiss. Both are passionately devoted to their leaders and are willing to cross the world for them and fight in this endless war for them (note how Weiss volunteers for the war while Emerald is drafted). Emerald hates Ruby because she maimed Cinder at Beacon, while Weiss hates Cinder because... bitch shoved a spear in her. It’s more than enough conflict to kickstart a rivalry and as proven despite their lack of screentime, the contrasts between them write themselves.

Part 3) Dry your eyes now, baby, broken wings can’t hold you down

In the event (by which I mean when) Emerald undergoes a redemption arc and leaves Cinder, Weiss will definitely play a significant role in facilitating her joining the heroes, much like Blake did with Ilia. Weiss is honestly the only RWBY member who really can facilitate this redemption in the coming Volumes- Ruby will likely never forgive Emerald for her role in Penny’s death, Blake has basically done this arc already for Ilia, and Yang will be too caught up in her Raven/Blake issues. I have no doubt that Blake’s own abusive past can be used as a bonding point as well with Emerald (a common vector used for fans of the rare ship Cat Burglar), but Weiss perhaps more than anyone else shares a fundamental understanding of Emerald’s “love.” The love of someone determined to win any shred of approval that they can from the monster that haunts their nightmares every night. 

Given how Emerald has allusions to Aladdin and Weiss is Snow White, their relationship also works in referencing their fairytale sources- Aladdin saves Jasmine in his story, after all. Rags to ritches is also one of the most prolific tales out there, especially ones where a person destined for greatness falls in love with a member of high society and rises through the ranks. Weiss is a princess after all, and every princess does need her pauper so that she may find true love. Weiss has already tried her hand as the upper echelons of society romantically (Henry and Neptune) and they were found lacking.  

(Source. Art by @nibbles-scribbles​)

In some cases, literally. 

Does this need to mean a romantic connection, especially when Emerald will be coming off her last lover being abusive? Perhaps not, but a close bond between them would be impossible to avoid. However, a romantic attachment between Emerald and Weiss would be a beautiful thing to see develop. Two women, nearly broken down by their oppressive abusers, coming together and helping each other heal from their past traumas? I don’t know about you but that sounds like it could be a great story to me. Emerald already wears a lot of white too, so their color schemes unite smoothly. 

To conclude this extended love letter, Emerald and Weiss are two sides of the same coin. Young women beaten down and abused by those with power over them who had desperately lonely childhoods. Women who developed into strong and capable warriors with Semblances that altar different facets of reality, who could have a natural rivalry that leads into a smooth friendship and maybe even more beyond, all of which could be backed by organic references to both of their fairytale sources and allow for a wonderful string of character development for Weiss and Emerald as they heal from their past traumas. This may be a rare ship, one that may have gotten all the references it ever will when Emerald complimented Weiss’s dress.

But damnit. It’s my rare ship and I’ll go down with it, I’ve made too many great friends thanks to it. If you’d like to see more EmWeiss content, check out my great friends @goldibox, @dabby-the-house-elf (the main for @nibbles-scribbles whose seminal art I’ve used throughout this piece), SassyUnicorn7′s A Fight To Remember (one of the best fanfics for both EmWeiss and Yang/Merc, and Sassy herself is a delight to know who lights up my day when I get to talk to her).

(Thanks to @weisscoldglare for this)

Thanks again for reading. 

[jacklizalectina]

The Best Short Haircuts For Men 2020 Must Try

The Movie is really a Wish-list of both' 60s and '70s Menswear, however, Pitt's hair-style additionally justifies awards . A choppy (but wise ) mid-length cut, also it has somewhat retro but more grownup variant of Timothée Chalamet's own hair and it made us believing.

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 The Fantastic Crop

Se7en (1995)

We had been bothered in that which had been from exactly the Box throughout David Fincher's offense thriller Se7en and a lot more worried about having the glossy, cluttered bed mind Pitt was wearing. It ended up being a minimize found over the 2000s, regardless of the movie was created from 1995, an early indication of how Pitt's long-term follicular have an effect on.

 Smith urges that you depart two inches around the Shirt to produce the movie towards front, inquiring to get a canning tip trimmed to get a milder appearance that however results in all the messy feel you would like, and also merely 1 inch onto the sides combined right into the shirt.

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 The Devilish Negative Parting

Meet Joe Black (1998)

Passing requires the Sort of Brad Pitt in his Many angelic-looking from Meet Joe Black, shining right down into ground to direct a perishing Anthony Hopkins during his past days, even while offering exactly the 101 to an ideal, Robert Redford-style cut minimize.

 "I'd call this outgrown side Parting," states Smith,"therefore request your barber to scissor cut-over a spout to get a milder natural appearance, preserving about 4 inches towards the upper and making it possible for to your sides to flop straight back on your ears. Consistently employ a pre-styling representative like a seasalt spray that can generate the simple contour of this hair-style whilst maintaining feel "

 In Case You Have thinning Hair that this fashion will be perfect averted. The shortage of the sturdy hair-line will just emphasize your downturn factors.

 The Tyler Durden

Battle Club (1999)

Combat Club has been Pitt in his iconic. Even the 3 d off ice, the smoke dangling out of the lips, the sleazy apparel having a borderline-unwearable reddish leather coat -- each man in 1999 had been following the appearance, even whenever smoke and LJ are not these a fantastic appearance at the 21stcentury.

 Marginally longer model of this clean-cut textured cut he had been wearing at Se7en. Approximately several inches ought to be left top, stage trimmed to develop up to feel as achievable.

"I'd subsequently prevent gel and then Elect to get a matte Clay or glue to do the job with the own hair's normal movements," states Smith. "less quantity Mo-Re defined feel is precisely what you are soon after. Simply take a pea-sized quantity and rub your palms, which makes the product or service more pliable, so because you do the job that the item in the crown initially and forward."

 And Don't Forget, that the Primary principle of cluttered'90s Pitt hair styling is that there aren't any policies, therefore go insane about earning just up to anti hero feel as possible.

 The sterile Get-away

Oceans Eleven (2001)

Moving Toe to Toe using George-clooney at the Style bets, Pitt acquired outside at Oceans Eleven as a result of your disheveled, devil may care really do. Once more, it really is all from the point-cutting which is just what you should need to request the barber todo along the top.

 "Texture Is Critical, however This really is a very low care cut which continues to be flashy," states Smith. "depart a half inches at the shirt and round a inch over either side. To create, towel dry your hair and employ a fiber lotion that'll endure through the duration of daily keeping up the grip"

 The Lethal Buzz-cut

Mr & Mrs Smith (2005)

Let is not enter the Entire Jen as Opposed to Angie discussion, eh? Alternatively, we will concentrate our focus around the fashion which brought skip Jolie at first location, an abysmal buzz clip, manufactured more competitive by departing a smidge longer span towards the shirt and developing an comparison round the sides and back using hair clippers put into tier two or one.

 "Inspite of the buzz Cut off function as most alluring low care fashion, I'd still suggest employing a mild sparkle pomade to present your hair a glistening but healthier appearance in look"

 The EX-treme under Cut

Fury (2014)

2014 was formally the entire year of this Brad Pitt Fury hair cut, with each guy and his puppy begging together with their barber to let them have of the exaggerated under-cut Pitt was wearing at the epic World War II narrative. (It is additionally a near relative of this exceptionally common Peaky Blinders hair-style ).

 "That really is really a pompadour having an under Cut, Exaggerating the comparison between spans onto top and sides," states Smith. "To glossy back, then leave approximately 5 inches at the shirt using 2 inches in the summit molding. Instead of scissors I'd make use of a nut over both sides and back to generate a sharp, weathered complete.

 "To design, Blowdry Your moist hair onto a very low atmosphere and brush to generate the fundamental contour of this pompadour. Subsequently go away to airdry that the previous piece and employ a coin-sized quantity of pomade and glossy straight back in down your forehead into a crown. Pomade is going to possess a durable grip together side a shiny finish"

 The Undying Long-hair

Entire World War Z (2015)

It is Tough to Appear great Once You're being Chased all around by zombies for just two weeks. However contrary to the accrued bloodstains,'' Pitt seemed comparatively unflustered through the conducting time of world-war Z. Might it's already been long, low-maintenance'do operating overtime?

 It Takes a While and also Plenty of embarrassing Growing out phases in order for this to check this great with-ease nevertheless. Thinner hair functions well, as hair that's also thick will probably be challenging to a part from the centre.

 Smith afterward indicates you Go to a Hair-dresser In excess of a barber to your cut since they will certainly be used to dealing for this specific amount of baldness loss. "You need your own hair to collapse about your back and ears again. Request the stylist to narrow your own hair to get rid of any surplus fat that is likely to allow your hair much easier to create.

 "Clean your hair Less, about two per week using an all organic shampoo, also alternatively state each day since this can prevent hair breakage and also maintain moisture on hair. I'd likewise suggest employing argan oil will fight ends in addition to delivering a small glow"

 The Throw-back Sweepback

After Upon A Time In Hollywood (20-19 )

Enjoyed stoic goofiness aside from a killer Clothing and a few stone solid abs (critically striking once you are 50-something),'' Pitt's Cliff Booth might be your optimal/optimally good friend to leonardodicaprio's Rick Dalton, and also usually the only that we secretly want we had the truth is. The following thing we all need we can rock at fifty five -- aside from the gut -- has been Pitt's over-grown'60s unwanted parting.

 Instead of this negative parting in Meet Joe Blackthis trimming ought to be dull cut accordingto Smith, subsequent to natural development of one's hairfollicles. "Instead of trimming at a separation, allow your own hair naturally collapse. You would like loads of span at the top, I'd say at four to four inches, so to envision your hair part and over.

 "keep it easy and prevent Products -- merely a sea-salt spray made to dry by natural means, also for extra contour usage A dashboard of cream to make hold and definition during daily "

[thats-so-religious]

“In Thinness We Trust”: Understanding the Quest for Thinness as Religious

“Go ahead, treat yourself.” 

I. THESIS

Weight Watchers released its first televised Super Bowl advertisement in 2015, titled “All You Can Eat” narrated by Breaking Bad star, Aaron Paul. The commercial was reminiscent of the 1980s “This is Your Brain on Drugs” televised anti-narcotics public service announcements (PSAs). However, the scenario presented here is: This is junk food. This is your brain on junk food. Choosing Aaron Paul, who played meth dealer Jesse Pinkman, to deliver the voiceover underscores the analogy between junk food and drugs (AdAge). Meanwhile, on screen, the advertisement quickly flashes through an abundance of guilt-inducing foods, including: candy, donuts, energy drinks, French fries, hamburgers, luxurious desserts, muffins, pizza, popcorn, and soda. The video ends, abruptly, with an identifiable orchestral hit and the camera zooming out on an empty white plate and silverware, with text that reads, “It’s time to take back control”.

Upon first glance, the Weight Watchers ad seems to be a merely clever, albeit insidious, marketing strategy. However, an examination of the Weight Watchers commercial is intended to reveal how it is illustrative of popular culture as religion. This analysis will engage with the functional definition of religion, which recognizes the meaning-making aspects of outwardly non-religious phenomena (Forbes & Mahan 16 - 17). Moreover, the functional definition of religion stresses how religion plays a role in transcending the individual beyond herself and provides a protocol for pursuing the sacred truth (i.e. thinness). In this regard, weight loss rituals and regimens surpass the experience and story of a singular woman. Instead, such rituals reinforce and instil a worldview about women’s bodies (Lelwica 266), anchor identity as binary (skinny or fat), and impart instruction and expectation for how all women ought to live.  

Specifically, my analysis will explore how the pursuit of thinness functions and resembles certain features of a traditional religion, particularly Christianity, by appropriating the language of its dogma. For instance, the dieting theology in the Weight Watchers commercial orients itself towards the worship of an ideal body type, prescribes how life should be lived without temptation in the pursuit of thinness, and adopts a moralistic rhetoric that associates fatness with moral evil, sin, and criminality.

II. CLOSE READING 

Interspersed between images of oily and artificially colourful food, a toned model wearing a bikini stands in front of an ocean sunset. Although the model is holding a sandwich, she is one of the only frames in the commercial whose focal point is not just food. In this moment, the Weight Watchers ad reveals itself to be telling a deeper story than simply advocating for healthier eating habits. Instead, placing a spotlight on the ideally thin female body is similar to “the images of female saints to which historical Christians looked for inspiration” (Lelwica 272). In this regard, images of slender women are divine, as they act as sacred symbols to be revered and emulated in the pursuit of godly thinness. The advertisement quite literally bathes the model in sunshine to illuminate her saintly slenderness and convey to the female audience that her thinness is an icon to live up to. Additionally, the model’s demeanour suggests that achieving the physical transformation from fat to thin holds the promise of a good life, in which each viewer has the potential to be an idol of thinness too.

Herndon’s description of the cure to fatness in “contemporary American weight-loss narratives [as] emphasizing choice, and willpower” (208) is a fundamental tenet of the Weight Watchers commercial. In essence, the advertisement establishes self-control and the shunning of temptation as a principle commandment on how life should be lived in the pursuit of thinness. The notion that “it’s time to take back control” as the advertisement proclaims, sends the message that individuals “should be able to resist ‘endless racks of glazed and creamy goods’” (Herndon 209). By condemning a lack of self-control, the ad insists that fatness is a voluntary choice that can be overcome with enough personal commitment and conviction to disregard the temptation to indulge in sugary foods. In addition, the end messages - “It’s time to take back control” and “Weight Watchers: Help with the hard part” - touting Weight Watchers as a helpful assistant render over-weight individuals inept at caring for their bodies, and in need of continual guidance in their divine struggle for thinness (Moisio & Beruchashvili 860). Moreover, Griffith observes that, “food [has] consistently remained an evil temptation…[individuals] now pray for the grace to stay away from food” (207). This indicates how the pursuit of thinness inspires ritualized practices of self-control and dieting, as well as adjusting one’s attitude towards certain foods. In this way, the countless images of junk food serve as a reminder to resist temptation. Likewise, Lelwica remarks that Christianity has long been concerned about eating and appetite, as “leaders encouraged control of carnal desires (including appetite for food) as a way to cultivate holiness” (269). This points to self-control as a virtuous habit of those who are thin, and those who achieve “it” are assuredly recognized as holy. 

The cornerstone of the religiosity of thinness, as exemplified in the Weight Watchers advertisement, is the depiction and condemnation of obesity as sinful and criminal. The danger and temptation of an uncontainable appetite has its historical roots in two of Christianity’s seven deadly sins, gluttony and greed. Consider the primordial sin of Adam and Eve’s failure to resist their desire for food, which led to their banishment from Eden (Bacon 311 - 312). The commercial highlights a failure to master one’s appetite as a lack of moral integrity by explicitly broadcasting that obesity needs to be controlled and ultimately “banished”. On the other hand, to advance the narrative between drug use (i.e. criminality) and unhealthy eating habits as gluttonous, the ad features Aaron Paul’s/Jesse Pinkman’s voice and is evocative of anti-drug PSAs. To further demonstrate the alarming similarities between obesity and drug use, the commercial uses language indicative of drug culture as gluttonous: “Want to get baked? Glazed? Iced? Fried?” “How much do you want, an eighth, quarter, how about a half?” “If you buy more, I’ll cut you a deal”. As well, the ad employs notorious excuses often associated with greedy drug users and intemperate dieters: “It’s a special occasion”, “It’s a social thing”, “No one’s telling you what to do. I just want you to have a good time…you can stop whenever you want”. Given this, the analogy with drug use connotes fatness (i.e. a distinct lack of thinness) as morally reprehensible and profane.   

III. MEANS OF PRODUCTION 

The 2015 Weight Watchers Super Bowl advertisement “All You Can Eat” was created by Wieden + Kennedy, an American advertising agency, and written by Ansel Wallenfang (AdAge). 

Given that the commercial is for Weight Watchers, an organization that focuses exclusively on weight loss management and dieting, the stakeholders are those who wish to diet or engage in healthier eating habits. More specifically, the ad is targeting those individuals who are overweight. It is my contention that the ultimate target audience is actually overweight women. 

AdAge, an advertising and marketing industry news website, reported that, “Weight Watchers sent a ‘party package’ to 200 women ages 25 to 54 across the U.S. – [both to] members and nonmembers – that included game day decorations and a recipe book”. According to Nielsen, a data analytics company, only 47% of Super Bowl viewers in 2014 and 2015 were women. I am utterly unable to speak for why Weight Watchers chose not to send any of its “party packages” to men, despite their constituting a larger portion of both regular season NFL and Super Bowl viewership (65% and 53% in 2014 and 66% and 53% in 2015, respectively) (Nielsen). 

IV. CONSUMPTION & RECEPTION

The United States weight loss market is worth $66 billion, while online dieting is worth approximately $1 billion, with Weightwatchers.com amassing revenue of almost $350 million in 2016 (Marketdata Enterprises). The organization Weight Watchers is the world’s largest weight loss support group, with membership spanning four continents and more than three million participants globally (Weight Watchers International Inc.). Notably, in the U.S., most of Weight Watchers members are women (Moisio & Beruchashvili 860).

Reception theory maintains that meaning is not merely created and injected into an artifact by its creator, and subsequently imposed onto the audience (Harris). The viewer articulates and negotiates their own meaning (Harris). I cannot directly address how this advertisement was received by consumers. Nonetheless, given the enormity and pervasiveness of the weight loss industry and the space that Weight Watchers has carved out of the market, it appears that the quest for thinness has indeed garnered a cult or religious-like devotion. Lelwica makes a compelling argument that “part of what makes media images so effective as tools of indoctrination is the potent combination of their homogeny (model women as uniformly toned and trim) and their ubiquity (mass-produced pictures of this narrow ideal are everywhere)” (272). The commercial largely repackages and further entrenches stereotypical assertions, detrimental myths, and moralistic ideas about obesity and blasts them onto TV screens during one of the most watched U.S. sporting events of the year. Ultimately, Weight Watchers is sending the same stigmatizing message that always prevails: there is salvation in thinness.  

V. CONCLUSION 

Weight Watchers’ “All You Can Eat” exemplifies popular culture as religion through the pursuit of thinness. The theology of thinness provides a nearly unattainable utopian ideal for women to strive towards, a set of strict principles to follow, and commands for the sacrifice of one’s comfortable habits. As such, I’ve endeavoured to underline that there is reason for concern, as the quest for thinness portrays fatness as a moral failing, and propagates the belief that thinness is correlative to godliness, self-control, and virtue. 

Works Cited 

Bacon, Hannah. “Expanding Bodies, Expanding God: Feminist Theology in Search of a ‘Fatter’ Future.” Feminist Theology, vol. 21, no. 3, 2013, pp. 309 – 326.

Forbes, Bruce David. “Introduction: Finding Religion in Unexpected Places.” Religion and Popular Culture in America, edited by Bruce David Forbes and Jeffrey H. Mahan, University of California Press, 2017, pp. 1 – 24.  

Griffith, Marie R. “’Don’t Eat That’ Denial, Indulgence, and Exclusion in Christian Diet Culture.” Born Again Bodies: Flesh and Spirit in American Christianity.Berkeley and Los Angeles, University of California Press, 2004.

Harris, Jennifer A. “’It’s a Bird!’ Superheroes & Their Religious Roots”. 24 January. 2019, University of Toronto, Toronto. Class Lecture.

Herndon, April Michelle. “Taking the Devil Into Your Moth: Ritualized American Weight-loss Narratives of Morality, Pain, and Betrayal.” Perspectives in Biology and Medicine, vol. 51, no. 2, 2008, pp. 207 – 219.

Lelwica, Michelle M. “Losing Their way to Salvation: Women, Weight Loss, and the Religion of Thinness.” Religion and Popular Culture in America, edited by Bruce David Forbes and Jeffrey H. Mahan, University of California Press, 2017, pp. 262 – 287.

Moisio, Risto and Beruchashvili, Mariam. “Questing for Well-Being at Weight Watchers: The Role of the Spiritual-Therapeutic Model in a Support Group.” Journal of Consumer Research, vol. 36, no. 5, 2010, pp. 857 – 875.

Schultz, E.J. “Why Weight Watchers Ran an Anti-Drug-Like Super Bowl Ad.” AdAge, 1, Feb. 2015, https://adage.com/article/special-report-super-bowl/weight-watchers-ran-anti-drug-super-bowl-ad/296928/

“Super Bowl Sunday is No Longer Just a Beer Holiday.” Nielsen, 3, Feb. 2016, https://www.nielsen.com/us/en/insights/news/2016/super-bowl-sunday-is-no-longer-just-a-beer-holiday.html

“U.S. Weight Loss Market Worth $66 Billion.” PR Newswire, 20, Dec. 2017, https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/us-weight-loss-market-worth-66-billion-300573968.html

Weight Watchers. “All You Can Eat.” Vimeo, uploaded by Ansel Wallenfang, 2 October 2015, https://vimeo.com/141206768

Weight Watchers International Inc. Form 10-K 2017. Web. 2018.

Media Content 

I: Screenshot taken from advertisement, White Plate  

II: Screenshot taken from advertisement, Neon Diner Sign

The Simpsons, Homer Simpson gif: https://giphy.com/gifs/YpQWy3hKqCxJC

[quoteablebooks]

Genre: Urban Fantasy, Mystery, Fiction,

Rating: 2 out of 5 stars

Synopsis:

Business has been slow. Okay, business has been dead. And not even of the undead variety. You would think Chicago would have a little more action for the only professional wizard in the phone book. But lately, Harry Dresden hasn't been able to dredge up any kind of work, magical or mundane. But just when it looks like he can't afford his next meal, a murder comes along that requires his particular brand of supernatural expertise. A brutally mutilated corpse. Strange-looking paw prints. A full moon. Take three guesses, and the first two don't count...

*Opinions*

**Spoilers**

Fool Moon is the second novel in the Dresden Files, and we find Chicago’s only professional wizard in a bit of financial hardship after his fallout with the police department after the events of  Storm Front. While he is attempting to make ends met without that consultation fee, including taking a meal from a budding wizardess that he mentors, Karrin Murphy of the Special Investigation Unit of the Chicago Police Department appears after very little contact for months with a job for Harry. He is quickly pulled into the politics of not only the police department but also the numerous criminal elements in Chicago, some of them not entirely human. Soon, Dresden for running for his life and attempting to solve the mystery of who would want some prominent businessmen and gangsters dead before the Full Moon rises again and more people end up torn to shreds. Let’s start with the good, I enjoyed that while Harry was shown to have really amazing power in this novel, we once again saw that it had its limits. For the last third of the book, Harry doesn’t have any of his usual magical powers to work with and he physically pays for that both with his attempts at magic physically wracking his body and injuries from outside sources. I will say, Harry doesn’t seem to be able to get any of his novels unscathed, but the number of injuries he sustained this novel was a bit unbelievable even for a wizard. Either he is exaggerating, which is a first-person narration isn’t out of the realm of possibility, or wizards are made of sterner stuff than mere mortals. Still, it made him human and showed that there are forces that even Harry Dresden is not more powerful than. It was Dresden’s no good, very bad, couple of days. 

I wouldn’t exactly say there is a mystery in this novel as Butcher is pretty heavy-handed with the fact that there is something wrong with the FBI agents in the first couple of chapters. Much like in the first novel, the why is a bit more complicated than the who, but I am finding that these novels are more about the journey than the destination. Also, I would like to know how the only working wizard in Chicago was unaware that there were no many individuals with the power of wolves running about the city? I get it is a big city, but the Streetwolves have been around for a while and they hadn’t killed anyone? Harry seems very ignorant about the types of werewolves and then runs into four separate types in the span of a week? McFinn is explained, as well as the FBI agents and possibly the Alpha, but again, how has Dresden never heard about the street wolves? I like Harry, I do, but he was being particularly dense in this novel. It is easy to follow his rational because the novel is from the first-person point of view, but that doesn’t mean that it is good rational. We start off the novel with Harry telling himself that lying to Murphy was a bad idea, yet he does that exact thing a moment later. Then when he is at the crime scene with a person that he knows, instead of telling Murphy that outright, he continues to say nothing and gets arrested for his continued silence. Obviously, Harry is grieving at that moment, but he knew he was already on thin ice with Murphy and just ignores that to be wrapped up in his own thoughts and self-guilt. Harry is a flawed character, which I like, but it is also very annoying at times. Murphy also had some suspect reasoning in this novel, though with the stress she was under I can’t hold her to the same level as Dresden. She has only faced the supernatural on the sidelines until this novel and has to take a lot of what Harry says on faith, so when everything he hasn’t told her is in one place, I get why she is mad at him. Still, it seemed like a bit of a jump of rational to go from Harry having a picture of the circle to him having something to do with the murders. They figure it out at the end, you know when a werewolf rips through the station, but they both needed a good shake. Now for the bad, Susan was a walking plot device in this novel. She is the love interest and I know nothing about her other than she is a reporter and extremely hot. I was hoping that we would get something more about her in this novel, but apparently her functions are plot and sex-scene specific. That rolls into the most annoying part of this novel, the way the Butcher describes women. It got to the point in this novel that it took me out of the narrative the way that we had to know every time Murphy is mentioned that she has a cute buttoned nose or the fact that Harry is half-dead at one point, but still has time to think about how great Susan’s legs look in jeans. After the initial explanation of what the women look like, which doesn’t need to be strictly in terms of attractiveness, I don’t need to hear about it again. Let’s not even talk about how he describes Tera West appearance the entire novel because that will take up the entirety of this review, or how Agent Benn’s animalistic nature is portrayed. I am not a man so I can’t talk about how men think, but if all that brain power is used objectifying every woman they come across, it sounds absolutely exhausting. 

While there are a number of issues I have with the novel, overall it was a fun read. I am not as enamored with the series as other people seem to be, but I have also been told it gets a lot better once Butcher hits his stride in future novels. I can see the hints of that, bringing in the mystery of his parents’ death and the inkling that someone might want him dead. I’m going to keep reading to see if that’s true, but I have a feeling there are still going to be some bumpy sections along the way.

[doctorwhonews]

Thin Ice

Latest Review:   Doctor Who - Series 10, Episode 3: THIN ICE STARRING: Peter Capaldi, Pearl Mackie, Matt Lucas WITH: Nicholas Burns, Asiatu Koroma, Simon Ludders, Tomi May, Guillaume Rivaud, Ellie Shenker, Peter Singh, Badger Skelton, Austin Taylor, Kishaina Thiruselvan --- Written By: Sarah Dollard Directed By: Bill Anderson        Produced By: Peter Bennett Executive Producers: Steven Moffatt, Brian Minchin First Shown on BBC 1 - 29th April 2017 NB - This review contains a plethora of spoilers (based on a Preview Edition of the Episode). The TARDIS has suddenly decided to take Bill and The Doctor off course. Both the precise location in England and the temporal zone are different to what was hoped for. Having been to the future of mankind, the ages-old academic and his youthful student find themselves instead in Regency London. It is a time of great development and industry, but also one where the slavery trade is in full swing. Many orphaned children struggle for survival on a daily basis. The Thames has been frozen over and this has led to a large-scale market being set up on the ice. However, warning signs have (barely visibly) been laid out, so as to remind people of the ice being less sturdy in certain regions. And this is with good reason. People have begun to disappear, and it would appear there is a connection to some un-natural green lights that can be seen through the frosty surface. Eventually the Doctor and Bill have to investigate in-depth, and some hard truths come to bear. For the first time, their relationship faces a test. But perhaps in facing a very human, very cold, monster in the form of Lord Sutcliffe, they can continue to function as a partnership of universe-weary wisdom, and fledgling careless brilliance. ---   This story continues to see the 2017 sequence of Doctor Who in fine fettle, and assure viewers that soon-to-depart Peter Capaldi is now producing some of his best form (as opposed to phoning it in for a nice pay check and exposure via prime time scheduling). By now it is standard practice that the first two adventures proper for a companion of the Doctor, after the season opener, see a quick succession of the past and future. (The order tends to fluctuate, depending on the season in question). With these second and third episodes, at least there is a small change-up, utilising the secondary companion (as played by a confident Matt Lucas). The framing device of Nardole scolding the Doctor for going off world - which indeed is true for the events of Smile, if not technically this third adventure - is nicely done, and also includes a hint of what the Doctor and his part-robot-part-humanoid friend are guarding back in Bristol. Sarah Dollard came up with a wonderful debut story last series, and provided a most memorable official demise for Clara Oswald, with Face The Raven. This story is not quite up on the same level, and continuity-wise is not a game-changer. However, the many virtues of world building and characterisation are all present and correct, once again. Virtually all the on-screen players who end up as nutrition for the aquatic alien being are sketched out effectively - even if they have rather limited screen time to work with, due to the primary character development being devoted to our two regulars. This episode often makes no attempt to hide how it takes inspiration from previous stories in Doctor Who's lore. The Doctor advising Bill how to get to the wardrobe is a reminder of (the un-transmitted but frequently adapted) Shada. After the Doctor and Bill begin their explorations proper, the TARDIS pinpoints the size of the being under the ice, and also how much danger it poses, which is a faint echo of the ending moment of 1963's very first Who serial. More recent use of past convention is found in the use of the sonic screwdriver and psychic paper, with the former in particular driving the earlier parts of the story forward.  Possibly even more so than prior episodes this year, the main heart of Thin Ice lies in the Doctor and Bill continuing to establish a working partnership together. Whilst the Twelfth Doctor noticeably ‘softened’ over the course of Series Nine, he still retained some darker edges, and these are particularly conspicuous at times. The cold manner in which he retrieves his sonic screwdriver from both the doomed Spider, and later one of Sutcliffe's thugs, leaves Bill repulsed and shocked. Noticeably she feels horror, irrespective of the actual personal qualities of the person who could not be saved from their fate. The Doctor also deciding to be far more mysterious (certainly when compared to his Ninth and Tenth incarnations) over how he has had to make difficult choices when saving people, and also when to kill, is a very nicely-played scene by Capaldi and Mackie. True, it could easily appear in any given episode at any opportune time, and is not necessarily dependent on the story surrounding it. But it still is fine work from the writing/production team, and of course the main praise should be reserved for our two lead actors. And in general, the Doctor is showing hints of his rather less personable qualities, which most of us have come to associate with his maiden season in 2014, rather than the somewhat breezier persona that crossed the airwaves on a weekly basis two autumns back. He is blunt to Peter Singh's 'Pie-Man' on their very first meaning, going so far as to undermine the legitimacy of the man's livelihood, back in a time of Earth history where ethics and truth did not have the same priority they do today. And whilst it is meant to be humorous for the audience (in a very knowing Roald Dahl fashion), his description of the lost children as being on the "menu", is indicative of his grim acceptance that the alien being simply is higher on the food chain than humans, regardless of whether it should belong in the Thames river in the first place. But there are plenty of lighter/warmer sides to our title hero too, with the mention of a magic wand being a reminder that whilst Doctor Who is officially a sci-fi show, in many respects it takes sustenance from traditional fairy tales and legends. The very first actor to play the role on TV, William Hartnell, once described the main character as a combination of a Wizard and Father Christmas, and his point still stands many years down the line. Also, the quiet little scene as the Doctor tells a 'bedtime' story to some of the orphans is beautifully played and directed. Suddenly the moral dilemmas are secondary, and all that matters is a wise man with grey curls, presenting a narrative with conviction and gusto. Come the end, as the remaining survivors find themselves fortunate to have a wonderful new property in which to live, there is a knowing look from the Doctor and Bill acknowledging that the deeds must be in the name of a male heir. Yet if the time-travelling genius could bend the law and change history to allow the charming Kitty to have the privilege of being the next in line, then he would. It is a moment that has huge impact on anyone with a semblance of heart and soul in them. Bill continues to put hardly a foot wrong, whether in terms of connecting with the audience or being acted authentically by the (comparatively inexperienced) Pearl Mackie. Along with other examples given here, there is a lovely moment where the Doctor's favourite student is overcome with wonder that she can walk on the Thames. Whilst the famous river is a great visual motif, it is also not associated with being crossed without the help of a vessel, and is heavily polluted. Later, when it is made clear what the villain's key motivation is in terms of the energy source he is obtaining, a very funny (if naughty) joke is made as Bill reacts point-blank. The full phrase would not pass the censors for a show like Doctor Who, even if movies shown even earlier on other TV channels get a free pass, but by being so coy in doing a quick edit, the effect is markedly pronounced. (And furthermore, another continuity echo is made, in terms of Rose teasing Cassandra, back in Series Two's opening story).  The ending of the story is probably the most fully satisfying for the show in some time, with perhaps the last such occurrence being the conclusions of Heaven Sent and Hell Bent. Whilst perhaps simplistic, it is elegant and uses the decision to give just enough explanation via rapid editing, and travelling forward to the present day, with an archive newspaper article being knowingly referred by the Doctor. He often realises that sometimes an abridged account of the whole truth is for the best. That the ostensible monster of the story is not judged guilty of any wrongdoing, and is merely manipulated by Lord Sutcliffe, is welcome too. And show runner Moffat clearly has decided to steer away now from the overused 'everyone lives' trope. The good, the ambiguous, and the dastardly all firmly remain dead and buried. Thus, the Doctor's quiet admittance to Bill of the limits of his power to save people is not compromised in the final stanza.   The episode also looks very impressive. The scenes underwater are built up to in a suitably suspenseful manner, before the efficient SFX work comes into play, accompanied by some of Murray Gold's best use of more subtle musical dressing. This ensures the core of the story is strong. Sometimes going into the murky depths of the aquatic can be a pace killer, but not here thanks to the decision by Bill Anderson to emphasise mood and uncertainty in the earlier sections of the story. Elsewhere on ground level many extras are used, along with ‘convincing’ animals in the background, and props galore. There is a sword swallower, some play fighters, and countless other novelties. Never for a moment does it not feel like the capital city of England developing at a fast knot, back in the time of the Regency era.  So far, the show has done fine work in establishing who Bill is, by giving her plenty of character and plot-relevant material, this latest instalment very effectively addresses her attitudes to sci-fi itself, and more significantly to her identity as a woman with a mixed ethnic background. The character material on Bill being something of a sci-fi fan herself is mostly played as light-hearted self awareness, which is so indicative of Steven Moffat’s general style – both in Doctor Who and in his many other TV (and film) projects over time. Asking the Doctor to clarify if they are on a parallel world, and just why he calls his sonic screwdriver that name are amusingly played out in dialogue. However, the more worthy focus on attitudes of mankind concerning 'race' is made into a significant part of the story. Having the Doctor and Bill trying to integrate as best they can feels more important than in other episodes where the setting is simply pure fantasy/ sci-fi in nature. For the young lady from the 21st century England, there already is likely one too many a memory of being treated as inferior for the way she looks. To suddenly be back in her own country at a time when slavery was acceptable (be it of women, foreigners, those of 'other races', or even children) is a major jolt, and she immediately makes an effort to dress up so as to fit in, but clearly wishes this was not a requirement. And of course, eventually even that change of attire is not enough to stop a bigot from verbally abusing her. The man in question is Lord Sutcliffe, and this main villain for the episode is not a pleasant person in many respects. He seems utterly without empathy, and has a detachment about his overall operation, even if the end result would see him become richer (and thus more powerful) still. However the denigration of his ‘inferiors’ who do not share ('enough of') the same bloodline as him remains the most deplorable aspect. Whilst the Doctor and Bill manage to set time 'right', the story very quietly yet noticeably makes a point that the evil of slavery is something mankind must realise over time is wholly wrong. I have few real complaints with the basic narrative. It does in principle echo many episodes of yesteryear – something probably inevitable given how far the series has been in existence – but is never executed in anything less than an enthusiastic manner. Nonetheless, a general issue I have had with Series Ten again crops up here. We have at least one moment for the audience being ‘spoon-fed’, when the distinctive hat of Spider (the thieving little boy who could not be saved) is seen as rejected by the monster in the depths of the Thames, along with quick flashback of his thieving of the sonic device the Doctor so prizes.  This reminded me of the repetition used concerning Heather meeting Bill on a night out, when the original image was already striking enough in how it was shot to resonate with the viewer. Perhaps though, exposition and clarification of the mystery does not quite verge on being so heavy-handed, as during the scenes in Smile where the TARDIS duo found out the whole truth behind the dilemma they were presented with. I mentioned Sutcliffe as serving the themes of the story well, but as an actual genre villain, he is rather middling overall. Whilst certainly played competently by Nicolas Burns, in that the audience is made to firmly dislike him, he also is very much out of his depth. The screen time afforded him is neither used efficiently enough to give us truly involving motivation and back story, nor abundant enough for him to be memorable in the viewers' minds after the episode has concluded. Sutcliffe's henchmen are never made into anything too chilling or threatening, but still have enough dialogue and commitment in the performances to convince viewers that they could have come from the criminal underworld, and are making the most of an employer with more money than most others. Dollard still does fine work with the villains, in terms of presenting the more corrupt and deplorable aspects of British society at the time, where gaps between the so-called upper and lower classes were wider than any cracks in the river's ice. However, the performances of the children are uniformly terrific, which is pleasing to see after Smile had a winning turn from Kaizer Akhtar. When the Doctor needs some exposition from the locals, it is the orphans who whole-heartedly give him the information he requires, and the story smoothly advances as a result. Furthermore this authenticity of portraying urchins who barely are able to keep themselves fed really helps the end of the episode. As the alien creature emerges from its 'prison' and is displayed in full, top-quality CGI glory, there is a great moment as Bill admires how it looks and is able to forgive it for being a killer. But the best part of the satisfying resolution is seeing the Doctor restore the barely surviving orphans to a place of safety – one far grander than any could have dreamed of. The wink in the eyes of both the Doctor and Bill as they turn the class expectations topsy-turvy, really helps this become a ‘punch-the-air’ moment. And it would not have been nearly so effective, if the children had not been as fully breathed to life in the performances by these youngsters.  As good as our leads are here, and I expect even better work in the ‘bigger’ episodes to come, the main praise should be reserved for the quintet of Badger Skelton, Asiatu Koroma, Austin Taylor, Kishaina Thiruselvan, and Ellie Shenker. --- OVERALL ASSESSMENT: Series Ten's third individual story stands up well, as a very enjoyable outing in the early 19th Century. It is thoroughly watchable, whether the viewing takes place on a Saturday evening (as per tradition), or via a streaming device that does not have to be fixed down in a given time and place (like the TARDIS herself). And the icing on the cake? A snappy preview that sees the definitive Poirot actor – David Suchet – making a guest appearance, to potentially lend the hyperactive Time Lord some pearls of wisdom.   http://reviews.doctorwhonews.net/2017/04/thin_ice.html?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=tumblr