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subwalls · 3 years

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CONFRONTATION. || DreamSMP

An analysis on Ranboo’s January 30th stream, meant to pick apart c!Ranboo’s complex relationship with reality and the voices in his head. This will be broken up into three (3) parts: introduction, stream analysis, and conclusion.

cw unreality, derealization, etc.

INTRODUCTION.

Before we start, I want to make clear that this is just my personal reading of the stream’s events, and as such it may not be the same as yours, and that’s okay! Critical reading is all about how one work can be viewed through a variety of lenses to yield very different conclusions, and the validation of one does not immediately mean all the others are Bad and Wrong.

We all got that? Cool.

Now, a common theory being tossed around at the moment is the idea that the entire stream was a dream (ha) or hallucination. This possibility is somewhat backed up by a few observations I will point out in the rest of this post, but for the sake of seriously dissecting this dream into truths and untruths, I will not be assuming that everything that happened was fake. I’ll delve a little deeper into why this theory doesn’t completely convince me in the conclusion, too.

STREAM ANALYSIS.

Aw yeah, here comes the frame-by-frame analysis of 41 minutes of footage.

... Well, kinda. Let’s start with a play-by-play instead of a frame-by-frame, yeah?

At 2:45 into the stream, Ranboo starts out in the panic room, looking at the “You are fine” sign. He says that Sam told him he can visit Dream (”him”) today, and reflects on the fact that he’s no longer looking for clarity or confrontation (me, looking at the stream title: uh,) but rather to make Dream think about what he did.

“He deserves to know what he did.” (Ranboo at 3:47)

“I’m gonna tell him what those thoughts are.” (Ranboo at 3:55, which is an... interesting remark, seeing as the voice in his head that sounds like Dream has been trying to tell Ranboo what his thoughts are. But it doesn’t mean anything substantial.)

Vibe check so far? REAL. Nothing appears to be out of place in the panic room. Ranboo is nervous but keeping it together and talking himself through it. Sounds great!

After a bit of psyching himself up (and noticeably declaring his memory book to be the only one that hasn’t been tampered with), Ranboo starts towards the prison. He’s scared and doesn’t know why, but he’s gonna do it.

One thing of note is that he passes by Sam Nook’s construction site, and the place’s big map sign thing never quite loads in properly. The whole thing just stays black. Suspicious, but those maps are honestly kinda glitchy at loading in anyway because they’re entities instead of blocks. Or maybe Sam Nook’s doing some prep. (Edit: more likely is that this is a clone of the Dream SMP server for the sake of what they’re about to do to the prison, and it doesn’t have the map plugin, so all the picture maps in the world are broken.)

As the prison comes into view, he continues talking to himself (he’s never been to prison, apparently; he’s been inside Pandora’s Vault before, but not as a prisoner). He thinks about the fact that he could get rid of Dream if he wanted to, but no, he couldn’t.

The prison entrance portal is actually already lit. Ranboo isn’t sure what he’s supposed to do but eventually hits the button.

After quite a bit of waiting, Sam eventually greets him (13:32) and invites him to step into the portal. Ranboo goes through the portal and appears in a warped forest biome.

This is incredibly suspicious. The prison’s nether portal is supposed to be a customized portal in six (6) layers of obsidian that floats over a sea of lava. In fact—and I will come back to fix this if I’m mistaken—I’m pretty sure the portal resides in the fringes of a basalt delta, not a warped forest. You can see a bit of a basalt delta poking over the warped fungi in the distance, but Ranboo is very clearly in the wrong spot.

So why the warped forest, the wrong biome and the wrong portal? It probably has something to do with the fact that Ranboo is part enderman, and enderman live in the warped forest. With the End forbidden and unknown (seeing as Techno and Phil had no idea what an End Portal was), the warped forest is likely the closest thing endermen as a species can call home in the Dream SMP.

Anyway. This is the earliest instance of either a brief hallucination or Ranboo losing his connection to reality altogether.

Ranboo goes through the portal when instructed to by Sam and properly appears in the prison’s interior portal, facing Sam at his warden’s... desk thing. Sam has Mining Fatigue right now, by the way, as seen by the particles. Ranboo is then teleported to Sam (14:20) for some reason (maybe because, behind the scenes, he was in a duped prison portal in order to make the warped forest thing happen), appearing to be inside Sam’s space before he moves back out. They do not acknowledge this.

Sam does the same series of questions to Ranboo that he did to Tommy. Ranboo says that he has not come to the prison before or even spoke to Dream before, and expresses to Sam his desire to bring his memory book along. Sam agrees on the condition that he holds onto it during the way there.

Side note: Ranboo does not get Mining Fatigue until he’s already inside the prison and being questioned. (14:47) This is quite different from the timing when Tommy got Mining Fatigue in his visit, but considering the fact that we don’t know the placement of the elder guardians or even how many there are, this could just be natural variation...

Anyway, Ranboo does the same thing we saw Tommy do with the locker and the examinations and whatever, except that Sam is... more cordial. Nicer. This is vaguely suspicious, but he’s been a little softer since his encounter with the Crimson and he has a clear soft spot for the kids. Tommy also is very different from the clearly nervous Ranboo (Sam points out that Ranboo is nervous later on, around 20:01, so he definitely noticed), so he could have just been being nice to the poor traumatized kid... Or maybe this is just a Sam constructed from Ranboo’s memories of a nice person, and not the real one. It’s not very clear but could be swayed in either direction.

One odd thing—Ranboo took quite a bit to die to the harming potions, and I feel like Tommy died faster, but I’ll have to check. It’s as though Ranboo got Harming I instead of Harming II? Sam even comments that it “took a minute” (19:12). Also, Ranboo loses his levels in this process, so, uh, if his next stream he appears with levels, that means there’s something happening that we ain’t seeing.

A skeleton dies somewhere offscreen lmao.

Ranboo is immediately re-inflicted with Mining Fatigue every time he dies, by the way, so they’re definitely within range of the elder guardians.

Ranboo endures the water section of the trip and it sucked but he seems about the same level of nervous as before, so. Sam takes the time to reassure him and give him the memory book at the last step before the cell itself.

“He [Dream] shouldn’t misbehave, he knows what happens when he does.” (Sam at 25:23, he still got that bit of ruthless warden in him.)

Vibe check again—this prison, physically speaking? Seems real. It’s possible that Ranboo could be drawing on memories from his other self, but considering that he has never been to the prison before, the fact that the prison is the exact same as the real prison that Tommy went to seems to indicate that this is a real experience.

Ranboo’s Mining Fatigue gets refreshed, so looks like the elder guardians reach here too. Dream has the Mining Fatigue particles as soon as he comes into view. (Only pointing this out because it notably took Dream a long time to get Mining Fatigue back when Tommy visited him.)

A weird sound happens at 27:31. Not sure what that’s about.

The lava curtain comes back down, and Ranboo turns around to see Dream. His screen shakes a bit as he turns, which could be anything from lag (there’s a lot of lava moving right now) to nerves (both in-character and out). (Edit: confirmed in the chill stream following that he was just nervous, and feeling his character’s nervousness.) First thing of note, here: the item frame holding the clock on the wall is transparent. This is a texture pack thing, presumably—could be the same thing that fucked up the construction site’s map sign earlier, maybe it’s even just the texture pack that some members of the SMP have installed for the chess thing—but it’s still something to notice.

Dream greets Ranboo with quite a bit of joy and energy, and says it’s not a surprise for Ranboo to visit, and altogether makes numerous implications that he and Ranboo’s other self have been conversing a lot in the times that Ranboo doesn’t remember.

“We’re best friends, right?” (Dream at 28:19, and I better not see any serious remarks about gaslighting here Dream is actually telling the truth, he just has not realized that this Ranboo doesn’t remember their conversations.)

“I’ve probably talked to you more than I’ve talked to anybody on the entire server.” (Dream at 28:27, indignant at Ranboo’s claim that they’ve barely talked, which. Yeah. I mean this whole thing could be a lie or fake but... I don’t know, I’m not convinced.)

Ranboo, whose understanding of his relationship to Dream is very different from Dream’s apparent understanding of their relationship, claims that Dream is just trying to scare him. Dream sounds confused and asks, “Why are you acting different?” (28:45) so he’s definitely not had dealings with this (awake?) Ranboo, but rather the... other set of memories.

“Ooooh.” (Dream at 28:56, which I think marks the moment he realizes that this is the other Ranboo, and it isn’t the one that he normally speaks with.)

Dream continues to say that he’s glad that Ranboo’s come to visit, that Ranboo’s been a great helping hand, and Ranboo immediately accuses him of somehow knowing about the whole panic room situation, and after Ranboo declares that he’s not going to let Dream trick him into thinking that he did those things—

“But you did do those things.” (Voice at 29:36)

Voice is always fake; it’s not “real” (audible by anyone else), and it’s not Dream.

Kudos to cc!Dream, by the way, his tone audibly changes when he switches into Ranboo’s Voice. This, I believe, is the turning point of the stream. The Voice returns, marked by the tone difference from c!Dream and also by the constant referral to Dream in the third person.

Now, here’s the interesting thing. The Voice claims that the reason why it went away is because Dream was put in prison and thus they haven’t been talking as much, which leads to Ranboo forgetting how Dream sounds like and thus robbing Voice of that, well, voice. (29:58) The implication here is that the reason behind Dream’s voice being the Voice of the “other” in Ranboo’s head is because the other just talks to Dream a lot.

Ranboo questions the third person thing, asking if he’s gone insane in prison, and there’s a pause, and then Dream says, “You’re right, you’re right. Yes, yes, there’s not much to do here.” (30:20) The tone shift is a little more subtle here, but the way Dream responded—it’s like he was responding to something else. “Have you gone insane” doesn’t usually lead to “You’re right”, because that’s a question, not a statement.

We’re real again, folks. But only briefly. Actually, it sounds like real Dream has been talking to someone while Ranboo was talking with his Voice, and when Ranboo heard him again, he was mid-conversation. Dream may have been speaking with that other Ranboo and we as the audience and Ranboo simply couldn’t hear.

Dream apparently doesn’t like his clock (30:32), and then prompts Ranboo to see what he’s been writing. In suspiciously good timing, we hear the elder guardian’s curse go off again to refresh Mining Fatigue, and then Dream hands Ranboo a book.

Here, the unreality really sets in.

The book is named Do not read. (30:47) It is a precise copy of Ranboo’s memory book, and when Ranboo checks Dream’s chest full of books, they are all named Do not read. and have the same contents. What appears to be real Dream invites him to look through them, and as Ranboo panics over this, what appears to be the Voice rather than c!Dream tells Ranboo that he needs “to face the truth” (31:18).

Ranboo says the truth is that Dream is a terrible person who hurt others.

The Voice says the truth is that Ranboo helped “me”. (31:35) Now, I can’t tell if this is a slip of the tongue on cc!Dream’s part or on the Voice’s part, but he does correct himself and say “Dream” after, so take that how you will.

At this point, the Dream on the screen’s body language starts to match up with the Voice (moving while it talks), and the Voice claims “I’m not even Dream,” which lines up with its prior claims that it is just another part of Ranboo.

Ranboo tries to rationalize the situation, assuming that the real Dream is speaking right now, but the Voice refers to Ranboos memories in the first person (“I know what I went through because I’m you,” 32:01), reinforces the fact that “you” (Ranboo) use to talk with Dream every day, and the only reason the Voice stopped happening is because he couldn’t picture Dream’s voice after not speaking with him since Dream went to prison.

“He [Dream] would tell you [Ranboo] things to do. You were like his little... servant.” (Voice at 32:24)

Ranboo refuses this, the Voice continues to insist that he did help Dream, Ranboo asks why he doesn’t remember, and Voice says that he does; the Voice remembers, and the Voice is Ranboo.

And then the Voice says, “I’m not even real,” and the Dream on screen vanishes.

We don’t see a logout message on screen, but Ranboo isn’t in f1, so Dream probably either /tp’d somewhere OR switched to spectator mode. Ranboo suddenly gets the Nausea effect, panics and looks at the chest and says that he got rid of the voice, but the obsidian starts falling (gravity applied to the cell, hope they have a backup of the server to rollback to or let themselves use creative lmao) which unveils some details in the Pandora’s Vault inner chamber that I’d love to dissect but not now, and then Ranboo "hits the ground too hard” and dies.

Of note: Ranboo’s death screen is not vanilla. The word “Died” is capitalized where it shouldn’t be, and even though Ranboo lost his levels dying on the way in, his score is 206810. I bet that’s a code for something but I have no idea what for.

(I typed 206810 into my search bar and got a hex code for green. Yeah. Darker than what you’d associate with Dream, but... green.)

And then we have morse code crown and smiley that’s supposed to say “not free yet” or something but apparently there’s other translations because cc!Ranboo might’ve hecked it up a little bit. Oops.

But yeah, there you go! That’s the stream.

Not once does Ranboo press tab, by the way. Something makes me think that that might be because they’re not on the real Dream SMP—also to, you know, avoid having to rebuild the prison.

CONCLUSION.

I do think the prison visit is real at first. Ranboo falls in and out of contact with reality, and the warped forest is definitely fishy, but the layout of the prison is too precisely accurate to be wholeheartedly dreamed up. He’s never been there before, after all, and Sam doesn’t correct him—which could mean that Sam is fake and Ranboo is drawing on those other memories, but we never see Ranboo use memories he doesn’t have, he just acts on emotions and feelings that his other self seems to have.

So, the moments that are “real” are Ranboo walking to the prison, through the prison, and the first part of his talk with Dream. He clips back into reality just in time for Dream to show him a book, which immediately pops Ranboo back into the land of hallucinations, because there’s no way Dream has so many copies of the real memory book when he’s been isolated in his cell this entire time. The warped forest was probably a hallucination born of Ranboo’s enderman (sleepwalking) half being nervous, since Ranboo said he was nervous but couldn’t pinpoint why; it was probably that other side. Still don’t know why he’d be nervous though, when it seems like Dream’s happy to see him.

The room caving in and Dream disappearing are fake. I think it’s symbolic of the other side forcing Ranboo to black out in order to have a conversation with Dream that isn’t being interrupted by the awake self. Who knows where and how Ranboo is going to wake up next time, honestly. Or even if he’ll remember the visit at all.

Oh, and I really doubt this costed a canon life. There’s some very funky implications if it does, but I’ll only get into that if we get a confirmed life lost.

Again, the Voice is not Dream but instead is the side of Ranboo that actually remembers the supposedly “bad” things he did at Dream’s behest. Interestingly, Dream calls them besties, but the Voice sounds almost... scornful and refers to Ranboo as Dream’s little servant. Sure tells you how fucked up c!Dream’s definition of a friend is, huh?

Speaking of c!Dream, here’s an interesting thought: sleepwalking Ranboo only speaks Ender, as shown by his attempts to communicate with Philza. So, assuming that sleepwalking Ranboo is the “other” Ranboo that remembers things, he probably couldn’t have visited the prison, because he couldn’t organize a visit time with Sam, because that would require speaking Player.

However. He used to speak with Dream on a regular basis.

Which means Dream speaks (or at least understands) Ender. This would also explain why the Voice manifests as Dream’s; it’s the only other voice that understands the tongue it uses.

I’ve got a lot of thoughts about Pandora’s Vault because we got a little sneak peek at some of the redstone behind those obsidian walls when the room started caving in, but that’s for later. Hope this was helpful to... I dunno, anyone? I’ll probably come back and add/edit things as needed.

#general thoughts #dream smp #ranboo

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toonbly · 3 years

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Oh please do give us the essay I would LOVE to hear your thoughts.. your Freemind content is like kisses directly to my brain 's all so good.

OKAY SO LIKE. quick tw for discussions about internalized transphobia and internalized homophobia

QUICK CLARIFICATIONS: I’m a queer transmasc nonbinary and some of this is projection. A LOT of this is cherry-picking from and overanalyzing little bits of FM canon.

im gonna put this under a readmore to save yalls dashboards

HERES WHY FREEMINDS NARRATIVE IS 10X MORE INTERESTING IF HE’S QUEER:

So some things to cover: We’re cherry picking from canon and MOST of this is based off of fanon interpretations of freemind’s character. i should also clarify that I myself am asexual and nonbinary transmasc (though i only use they/them pronouns), im not entirely sure of my romantic orientation but yknow, obviously im not cishet lol. Some of it’s self projection, some of it is character study, either way I think it’s important to clarify that some of this is my OWN experience and that what im outlining here obviously isn’t the universal queer experience.

SO COVERING CANON. like okay, most of us tend to go down the route of “Freemind is gay/bi/otherwise queer in terms of attraction and he’s just in denial of it” in our freemanverse content and like, if you pick apart the source material there’s canon backing for this! (ie: Freemind saying he can’t wear earrings cause sailors do that and sailors are “kinda gay”, then later going on and on about how he wants to be a pirate and how he should’ve done that instead of being a scientist.) LIKE OKAY, OBVIOUSLY THIS WAS JUST ROSS MAKING A HOMOPHOBIC JOKE AND PROBABLY DIDN’T THINK ABOUT THE IMPLICATIONS OF THIS AT ALL. obviously that is the case, but as most freemanverse content does we are casually Throwing That Out The Window and cherry-picking from canon because Freeman’s Mind is full of gross content and we are simply here to take whatever we want to and RUN AWAY AS FAR AWAY AS WE CAN WITH IT. What I’m saying is basically, yeah, there’s some canon backing for Freemind possibly being gay/bi/whatever and just in denial of it due to internalized homophobia and some toxic masculinity issues. In terms of toxic masculinity he constantly brags about how cool and tough he is, makes himself out to be an invincible genius, etc. He very much frames himself as the “Tough man who feels no emotions because ReAl MeN dOn’T cRy.”

That’s basically all we need from canon. Accidental subtext on Ross’s part implying internalized homophobia and Freemind’s constant attempts to frame himself as what a “real man” would typically be considered as resulting of toxic masculinity.

Now moving onto fanon: Many fanon narratives take Freemind’s character and try to give him a redemption or healing arc. Basically the guy learns that he’s allowed to show emotions and that this doesn’t make him pathetic or lesser than anyone else, and usually he does so with the help of those around him (typically the other Freemen, sometimes Eddie, hell sometimes h/lvrai characters like Tommy!) So here we have the narrative of “A man struggling with toxic masculinity and self worth issues learns to better himself, he lets others in and starts to be true to who he actually is strengthening both himself and the connections with the people he loves.” This is an arc I love and have incorporated into a LOT of my works involving Freemind! Hell I think it’s difficult not to take his character into that direction.

But, okay, what does this have to do with Freemind being queer? Obviously I’ve mentioned the internalized homophobia subtext and all that but up until now it seems like I’ve only really mentioned the more emotion-based aspects of Freemind’s arc. Well this is where we get into my own personal interpretation of Freemind’s story.

My version of Freemind is a gay trans man, he realized he was trans sometime in his teens but only came out and transitioned sometime during college. In my version of the story, I think Freemind grew up around a kind of rough crowd. He’d hang out with those sort of boys at school that were just the EMBODIMENT of toxic masculinity, and I think he kind of internalized a lot of what they told him? They told him things like “Boys don’t cry” and “Boys are tough” and “Boys can’t like girly things” and “Boys can’t like other boys, that’s weird.” etc etc etc. He hung out with a rough crowd and didn’t have the best support system at home, and a lot of this resulted in his more egotistical larger than life personality- He acted out a lot both because his peers told him to and because hey, at least it got him some form of attention. He was a smart kid, sure, but that was never really enough to impress anyone around him. He kinda developed this “I’m better than ALL OF YOU” attitude as a defense mechanism, and as he started coming into himself and actually accepting that he was trans he took those things that his peers told him “””real men””” do and don’t do and cranked it up tenfold, just to further prove that he was better than all of them and than he was even more of a “””real man””” than any of them could tell him. He took these toxic view points and internalized them, making them a key point of his personality just so he could prove himself and put himself above others. I don’t think he struggled too badly with internalized transphobia, at least in the “I can’t be trans cause that’d be bad” sense. I think he struggled with it more in the “I have to do all of this or I’m just lying to myself and doing this for attention” sense. Granted, he never held anyone else to this same standard, he’ll never admit it but to him things are always different when it’s him. Sure Freeman and Feetman can have their little boyfriends and do gender nonconforming things, but that’s different, they don’t have to prove themselves for anything, they’re not held on the same pedestal as he is, they’re not Gordon Freemind. It’s different whenever it’s him.

BUT, as he begins to grow and learn and not hold himself to such a high standard, Freemind begins to learn that all of these things aren’t true. He learns that showing emotion, being gender nonconforming, being attracted to men, etc. doesn’t make him any lesser than the others around him and there’s no “different standard” for him JUST BECAUSE it’s him. Hell there’s no different standard for him at all, there never has been, and the people who told him otherwise were just toxic assholes who he shouldn’t have to please in order to exist as himself. As he is, he’s good enough, he’s always been good enough, and allowing himself to be vulnerable and accepting who he is doesn’t make him lesser than those around him.

What I’m saying is this: Freemind’s narrative outlines the journey of a man learning vulnerability and learning to accept himself and allow others into his life. His character arc cannot be complete until he does these things, and in certain stories Freemind’s inability to be vulnerable and accept who he is might become a detriment to his goals and the goals of others around him. If he doesn’t learn to accept himself and open up to others he will fail to achieve his goals. Ultimately it is Freemind allowing himself to open up, accept himself, and be vulnerable that saves the day. Alone, this is already narratively interesting, but if you also mix in the ideas of him being queer in any fashion and learning to accept that and that there’s no “right way” to be himself, it adds a LOT of layers to the narrative. It becomes less a story about some dudebro learning that he’s allowed to feel emotion and more a story about a queer man learning to accept who he is, being proud of who he is, and how allowing himself to be vulnerable contributes to this acceptance. It becomes a narrative about how being open with yourself and others can lead to you discovering who you really are and accepting and loving yourself for it. Freemind’s identity as a queer man becomes DIRECTLY TIED into his character arc of learning vulnerability and allowing himself to make connections and I feel like that’s really important! Sure, not every narrative needs to be about a queer struggle and frankly I don’t like tackling it constantly myself, but Freemind’s story in particular becomes much more interesting under a queer lens especially considering how you could very easily tie the discovery and acceptance of his identity into his general character arc. It’s a story about a queer man learning to love himself and becoming a happier, better person for it.

TL;DR: As a queer transmasc nonbinary myself, I find the idea of Freemind’s narrative being queer incredibly interesting. It’s easy to tie in Freemind’s identity to his character arc of becoming more vulnerable and open about both who he truly is as a person and in an emotional sense, and I think it’s really interesting to make a character’s identity relevant to their arc somehow. Granted, this doesn’t always need to be made the case because queer struggle narratives can get tiring on some queer audiences, but in this specific case I think it’d be an interesting character study.

#long post #Anonymous

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fringerewatch · 5 years

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Fringe Rewatch #18: “Ability”

“Ability” (Season 1, Episode 14)

Written by: David H. Goodman

Directed by: Norberto Barbra

Originally Aired: February 10th, 2009

Glyph Code: OLIVIA

Boy, it’s been awhile. I haven’t ran this blog in 5 years and I left the rewatch off at “The Transformation” where we ended the John Scott arc. While some believe “Bound” (Episode 11) to be the start of the second half of season 1, since it comes after the winter hiatus, I have always believed The Transformation to be the end of the first half of season 1 and Ability to be the start of the second half, especially with the debut of Cortexiphan. And what a start it is.

I feel Olivia Dunham was heavily inspired by Clarice Starling, being a capable and clever agent who is always doubted, looked down upon, and both with being a woman in a field populated by men. For that reason it made a lot of sense that there was a bit of a Hannibal Lecter vibe with David Robert Jones in his debut (episode 7) Jared Harris is fantastic in the role, though “Ability” does change a bit. He feels like a combination of Hannibal in the way he tests Olivia but also has a little bit of John Doe from Seven as unpredictable and playing mind games with his captors. In fact, the scene of David Robert Jones surrendering himself to the FBI is almost shot for shot from John Doe surrendering in Seven. And this being a a couple months after The Dark Knight, there’s some Heath Ledgar Joker trickery thrown in there as well.

There’s a lot in play with “Ability” we find the ZFT manuscript, DRJ is suffering from his transportation, we get the mention of Liv and cortexiphan, the ending with the lights, and Walter realizing he wrote the ZFT manuscript. There’s...a lot.

The episode starts out a bit weird with a recap of the ending of “Safe” (Episode 10) and possibly the scariest pattern event yet with the skin covering up your eyes and mouth to kill you. That is some scary stuff and I’m glad they eventually bring this back in season 5. Jones goes into a tank to help his body process the transportation effects. While Walter and Astrid work on the case of the human sewing shut skin, Olivia cutely asks Peter if he as a “weird connection” to find the ZFT manuscript. Peter indeed does have a weird connection (he always does) and we get to meet Edward, a bookstore owner who will creepily have Olivia as a coffee table in season 5. Charlie and his partner Tommie, who has an unusal amount of close ups and dialogue for a character we’ve never met before so you just knew he had to be working for ZFT or was going to get killed, find evidence to where DRJ is hiding just as DRJ makes his Seven inspired surrender.

Sanford continues to be a thorn in the side of Olivia and Broyles when it comes to questions DRJ and throws in a “We don’t negotiate with terrorists” line. Maybe one day I’ll talk about the show using very specific terminology like terrorists attacks and negotiating with terrorists, which is a very post-9/11 world (In their defense, they are the FBI) and then using the world trade centers as a visual to represent the alternate universe. Back to this episode, Olivia once again has to find concrete evidence for the bigs in the FBI to let her do her job. A raid on Jones’ safe house leads to Olivia finding a drawing Jones made of her and, you guessed it, the death of poor old Tommie. This death leads to Sanford giving into Jones’ demands and Jones performs an elaborate experiment to get him and Olivia some alone time. He leaves a package for her to complete the, now iconic in my mind, light test.

And this is where the episode gets really interesting. In a rewatch, we of course, know that Olivia was indeed used in the cortexiphan trials and we know why Jones wants to use Olivia’s powers for his own gain, and we know that Olivia does posses the power to turn off the lights. However, back in 2009 (or whenever you first saw this episode) “Ability: is playing mind games with it’s audience the same way Olivia believed Jones was playing her. Does Olivia actually have powers? Could she really use her mind to turn off the lights? Or was this all a game just to mess with her. If it was a game, what was Jones’ goal? Just to put doubt in her? I know Olivia makes the argument that Jones just wanted to get close to Walter and the episode ends with us knowing Walter may have written the ZFT manuscript, so it would make sense why Jones wants to see Walter, but it also wouldn’t really excuse why Jones has been quite obsessed with her. But if Olivia did really turn off the lights, that means she has powers from this cortexiphan, and that opens a lot of doors. Doors that we’ll eventually go through as we continue the rewatch. Again, it seems a bit silly today to think of this episode’s light test and be of course Liv has powers! But only 14 episodes into Fringe’s story, we have seen weird stuff, but Liv with some kind of super power was a pretty big leap for the show. It’s easy to see how audiences would think Jones was just screwing with her.

The light test also allows Olivia to have a heroic moment. We’ve seen Liv be a badass and can take down the baddies, but we haven’t seen a lot of Olivia being a hero. Her decision to stay and try to turn off the lights with her mind, something she doesn’t 100% believe, is a heroic mark. It’s also a bit of her maybe being drawn into this idea that Jones might not be telling all lies. The shots going back and forth between her and the lights before they finally start to go out is probably the most intense scene we’ve had so far. Also, I don’t think enough is said about Peter’s decision to leave and then go back and watch Olivia turn off the lights. If she couldn’t turn them off (and thus going with the idea that Jones didn’t set it up for the lights to always go off with 2 seconds to spare) both Olivia and Peter would have died. You can make the argument that he wouldn’t have been able to get far away enough, so either way he could’ve died, but I feel like this episode is part of Peter embracing the weird, that anything can really happen, and him really caring for Olivia and can’t bare to just leave her alone. A nice touch was him standing behind her, but not giving her vocal encouragement, and still allowing this to be her moment.

Then that finale! Olivia gets word from Nina that there were cortexiphan trials in Jacksonville and we can see from her face, that there’s now a real possibility Jones was telling the truth. Walter has been gazing over the ZFT book with great interest and we notice how the y is indented in the book. Walter uses his typewriter to confirm his suspicions, that he wrote the ZFT manuscript. This is some scary stuff considering ZFT’s terrorism and gives the audience a reason to start to mistrust Walter. For one, he can’t even remember the things he’s done, and we know his experiments have crossed a moral line. I feel like this is a bit downplayed in the next episode (and possibly putting fuel to the fire that some of the fringe episodes seem to be a bit out of order) but it was a great little clue to the larger Fringe story.

And that was “Ability”. One of my absolute favorites from season 1. This really feels like the show finding it’s voice and getting into the meat of the story. Jones continues to be a great villain, Olivia is emerging as a reluctant hero, the relationship between Olivia and Peter grows, and we’re not sure exactly what Walter has done. It’s a solid 10/10 episode, no real complaints from me.

Next week, we’ll continue to “Inner Child” an episode that does feel a bit out of place after this heavy one, although that could be the point, but also an episode that is incredibly important to the Fringe story.

#fringe #fringefox #fringeonfox #Olivia Dunham #Peter Bishop #Walter Bishop #astrid farnsworth #philip broyles #nina sharp #Anna Torv #Joshua Jackson #John Noble

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the-desolated-quill · 6 years

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Heavy Rain - Video Game blog

(SPOILER WARNING: The following is an in-depth critical analysis. If you haven’t played this game yet, you may want to before reading this review)

Do you remember the amount of hype that was building around this game at the time? Heavy Rain had caught the attention of multiple mainstream news sites with the promise that this was going to be the next big thing in games. A totally immersive, grown up drama that would bridge the gap between video games and films. Was it? Well... no. Eight years later, David Cage’s ‘interactive drama’ has been largely forgotten and while narratives in games did start to become more sophisticated in the 2010s, I’d argue that Heavy Rain didn’t really play that big a part as David Cage would like to think.

Heavy Rain is a murder mystery/psychological thriller. The Origami Killer kidnaps kids, drowns them in rainwater and leaves an origami figure in their hands and an orchid on their chests. The latest kid to get kidnapped is Shaun Mars and it’s a race against time to for the four main protagonists to save him before he dies. Like with David Cage’s previous game Fahrenheit, there is a good solid premise behind Heavy Rain. And to Quantic Dream’s credit, they have taken great strides to improve the gameplay. Instead of the stupid Simon Says system we got in Fahrenheit, Heavy Rain uses traditional QTEs and it works a lot better. It doesn’t distract you from what’s happening on screen and there are times where the game threatens to live up to its promise of being ‘immersive.’ For example when Ethan is having a panic attack in the train station and you have to physically move the wireless controller up and down to get him to walk or when Madison is picking a lock and you hold the L1 and R1 buttons down and tilt the controller to open the door. That’s good game design and it marries up quite nicely with what’s happening on screen. One thing I’m less keen on however is holding R2 to move the character. It feels so clunky and awkward, like you’re driving a car rather than moving a person. Nope. Don’t like that at all. Totally immersion breaking.

One gameplay mechanic I think had potential and wish was better handled is the ability to listen to a character’s thoughts by pressing the L2 button. That I thought was a legitimately clever concept and could have helped give the player an insight into the characters during pivotal moments. Like someone showing bravado only to listen to their thoughts and realise they’re actually terrified and just putting on an act. That could have been great. Instead the thoughts are either utterly mundane or are just there to give you tips when you’re stuck on how to progress. It feels like such a waste of potential.

I suppose I should quickly talk about the graphics considering they were a huge selling point at the time. The most realistic human faces ever, motion capture, blah blah blah. Except Heavy Rain wasn’t really the first game to use motion capture. The Uncharted games had used it for cutscenes and stuff. And honestly, I didn’t think the graphics were all that impressive even at the time. It’s the uncanny valley effect. There’s a reason why Pixar and Dreamworks make their human characters cartoony looking. It’s because rendering realistic looking humans on a computer is incredibly fucking difficult and people can instantly tell when it’s off. The characters in Heavy Rain look more like plastic action figures to me rather than actual people. Their movements and facial expressions just felt incredibly stilted and wooden to me, particularly during kissing and sex scenes where everything becomes really awkward and uncomfortable.

But never mind all of that. What about the writing? How does it compare to the insane laugh-a-thon that was Fahrenheit? Well if you’re after Tommy Wiseau-esque unintentional hilarity, you’re going to be slightly disappointed. Yes the writing is bad, but it’s not so bad it’s good like Fahrenheit was. It’s cliched, lacklustre and extremely limiting. The game boasts branching storylines and that all your choices matter, but in reality the story changes very little regardless of what you do. Yes there are loads of different endings, but what ending you get depends more on what happens in the final level than the rest of the game. As for characters dying at any time, that’s partially true. It’s impossible for Ethan and Scott to die before the end and when a character does die, all the game does is fence off certain levels.

In order to properly criticise and analyse the writing, let’s explore this character by character.

Ethan Mars

Out of all the characters, Ethan’s story is probably the most consistent and most satisfying to play. He’s the father of Shaun, the Origami Killer’s latest victim, and has to go through several Saw style trials in order to find him. I have to say, while the opening is extremely slow and tedious, forcing you to do all these mundane tasks like cooking and brushing your teeth and all this shit, as the game goes on, Ethan’s story comes the closest to delivering on the emotional and immersive experience David Cage promised. Pascal Langdale gives a pretty good performance for the most part and there were times where I did feel genuinely sorry for Ethan and his predicament. I’m not talking about the big set piece moments like when Jason dies at the beginning of the game. It’s the smaller scenes like Shaun doing his homework and Ethan looking on sadly at him or him sitting alone in his dusty office and reminiscing over his previous life before things went so wrong. That’s where the game really comes into its own. The trials too I thought were well written and designed for the most part. There’s some genuine tension in driving down the wrong side of the motorway or having to hack one of your own fingers off and it’s one of the rare occasions where the writing, acting and direction really come together and work as a cohesive whole.

That being said, there are still a litany of problems with Ethan’s story. The most glaring of which is the execution. While there are some legitimately powerful moments in Ethan’s story, they’re often ruined by David Cage’s overegging of the pudding. For example when Ethan has his panic attack in the train station, the motion controls and Langdale’s performance would have been enough to convey the pain and anxiety of the character. But then Cage takes it one step further with a stupid hallucination sequence with his dead kid Jason running round the station and people flopping over like ragdolls. Like... we get it. Ethan is depressed about his kid and that’s what has caused his fear of crowds. Even some of the mundane activities at the beginning of the game like making sure Shaun eats his dinner and does his homework on time could have been impactful if Cage didn’t drag it on for fucking hours and bore us into a coma as a result. In visual media, less is more. But the problem is David Cage seems so insecure about his own writing ability that he ends up overcompensating and bludgeoning the player over the head with these gaudy and over the top moments instead of just letting the performances of the actors convey the emotions and allowing the scene to speak for itself.

And then there are the moments and plot points that are just plain weird. So after his first son Jason dies in a car accident, Ethan starts experiencing blackouts. Not a bad idea, but the way they’re implemented is beyond incompetent. For starters Ethan has only two blackouts in the whole game and then it’s never mentioned or brought up again. Not even at the end when Shaun is all safe and sound (assuming you made all the right choices). Are we meant to assume that Ethan is magically cured after all this? And what exactly does Ethan get up to during the blackouts? When he regains consciousness, he’s always near Carnaby Square holding an origami figure. The significance of Carnaby Square is explained later on, but not how or why Ethan goes there during his blackouts. The only reason this is here is to plant the red herring that Ethan is the killer, except that’s utter bollocks. If Ethan was the killer, why would he kidnap a bunch of kids before his own? Were they just practice? What would be his motive? How did he learn to do origami? Where would he get the resources to create all these trials? What about the trials that involve him doing something in front of the camera or taking a photo as proof? If he’s responsible for these trials, who the hell is verifying this stuff? It’s utterly nonsensical and thus a complete waste of time. Apparently Ethan was supposed to share a psychic connection with the killer in the original script, but this was cut for time. The blackouts and stuff should have been cut too because it just doesn’t make sense with the current plot.

While there are a lot of flaws, I honestly would have been okay with Heavy Rain if the focus was just on Ethan. It wouldn’t have been a great game by any means, but it would have been decent enough. Unfortunately we’ve got three other characters to contend with, starting with...

Madison Paige

Let us turn our attention from the best character to the worst. I was amazed by the number of critics and gamers praising Madison for her strong characterisation because she has got to be one of the worst examples of video game sexism I’ve ever seen. The way David Cage writes and presents her is frankly despicable. She exists solely to be exploited. Cage’s obsession with her body is utterly disturbing. All characters, male and female, get shower scenes, but Madison is the only one that appears fully nude and the cameras pans across her entire body so you can see every inch of it. It’s really pervy and uncomfortable to watch. Worse still, every threat against her life is always sexual in nature. It’s not enough to have a cliched mad doctor who butchers people. We’ve got to have a scene where he tries to stick a drill up her vagina. There’s even a scene where a nightclub owner forces her to perform a striptease at gunpoint. You have the option to knock him out with a lamp before you get too naked, but the game seems to actively encourage you to strip off. And no, the intention clearly wasn’t to disturb the audience. The way it’s shot and choreographed is similar to the shower scene, clearly intended for a male gaze. And even if the scene was intended to be disturbing, there are ways of creeping out the player without sexually objectifying or demeaning women. It’s absolutely revolting. If you want further proof that Madison is intended solely to be exploited, please note that she’s only character in the game who has a separate person doing the voice while another person, glamour model Jacqui Ainsley, provides the body and face because presumably Judi Beecher isn’t sexy enough for David Cage. I rest my case.

But it’s not just that. It’s the way she’s implemented into the story too. All the other characters have their plots and vices set up immediately. Madison never does. We find out she has insomnia, but it’s never followed up on. We don’t know what caused it or whether she recovers. In fact we never learn a single solitary thing about her character. Her main role (apart from being sexually exploited) is to prop up the male hero Ethan. Even when it doesn’t make sense to do so. She treats his injuries and even helps him escape from the police, becoming a fugitive, despite not knowing a single thing about Ethan’s predicament. Also I couldn’t help but get the strongest sense of deja vu when Madison suddenly started to try and snog Ethan’s face off. It’s exactly like the bullshit romance from Fahrenheit. It comes right the fuck out of nowhere and is handled with all the grace and subtlety of a glow in the dark rhino. At least Heavy Rain gives you the option to decline. I tell you I couldn’t slam the ‘Don’t Kiss’ button fast enough.

Madison really does feel like a pointless inclusion to the game. She brings nothing new to the story and is basically used as a get out of jail free card. If Ethan or Norman fail to find the location of Shaun, Madison can just phone either of them up and tell them, even though she never meets or interacts with Norman at any point in the game, thus rendering the progress in their stories completely pointless. They could have sat in the corner dribbling for the entire game and it would have led to the same conclusion providing Madison survives the fire. (and speaking of plot holes and bad writing, why did she act shocked when Ann Sheppard told her the killer’s name. She never interacts with Scott at any point in the game. How does she know who he is? Did nobody proof read this shit?).

Norman Jayden

Here’s an idea to make playing this game more fun. When you get to the levels where you play as Norman Jayden, pretend he’s an alien from outer space. It would explain the daft VR sunglasses and Leon Ockenden’s terrible performance. I swear I’ve heard some bad American accents in my time, but this takes the fucking cake. I’m particularly amused by how camp Norman suddenly turns whenever he says the word ‘bastard.’

So. Norman. An FBI agent with a crippling drug problem... I think. He carries a tube of blue powder called triptocaine and sniffs it occasionally whenever he gets the shakes, but there’s a chance that this is actually caused by the VR sunglasses. There are several moments where a butler warns you not to overindulge in ‘you know what’ due to how dangerous it is. At first you think he’s referring to the triptocaine, but later it becomes clear he means the VR. So... what’s the point of the triptocaine then? Is he addicted to it or not? What’s he suffering withdrawal from? It’s all very unclear and poorly defined. And what exactly is the problem with the VR sunglasses? Why are they dangerous? How are they affecting him? We later see blood come out of his eyes, but how does that work? Not that any of this matters because it never actually links into the plot in any meaningful way. You can choose to either take the triptocaine or abstain and, aside from one level, the story carries on as normal regardless of your choice.

The thing is Norman Jayden’s story could have benefitted the most from the ‘your choice matters’ model. Imagine if the game actually gave you the freedom to investigate at your own pace. Allowed you to choose which suspects you question, which lead you follow, and have whether you find the killer or not all rely on the player’s own investigative abilities. Let the player find the clues and put together the solution themselves. Instead the game just yanks you from one false lead to the next and hands you solutions on a plate. This is a recurring problem throughout this game. Your choices simply don’t matter for the most part. David Cage merely wants to give the illusion of choice whilst forcing you down the path he wants you to take. There’s no real freedom or player choice. Actions very rarely have consequences and it all feels incredibly disappointing.

But the most excruciating thing about Norman Jayden isn’t even Norman Jayden. It’s the psychotic twat he has to hang around with. Lieutenant Carter Blake, police detective and arsehole. Throughout the game, Blake constantly butts heads with Norman and there never seems to be a good reason for it other than he’s a prick. Not just that, he often misuses his power, violently beating suspects for confessions and not only does Norman never report this, there’s also never a strong narrative reason for it. At first I thought Blake was just desperate to find the killer, but as it goes on you realise that’s not the case at all. He just enjoys being a violent dick. Why? I don’t know. And then there’s this whole witch hunt against Ethan. Ex wife Grace comes into the precinct to tell Blake about how Ethan dreams of drowning bodies and from then on Blake goes on a personal vendetta against Ethan, convinced he’s the Origami Killer. Except it doesn’t make the slightest bit of sense. For one thing, Ethan has an alibi. He was in a coma when the killings first started. Plus Grace says this happened in the spring and it’s been established that the Origami Killer only drowns his victims in the fall. There’s no concrete evidence tying Ethan to the crime. Just a vague, contradictory story from his ex wife. And yet Blake blindly goes along with it. Worse still, Norman never calls him out on it. It’s monumentally stupid writing. Did you know David Cage won a BAFTA for this game? How? Fucking how?!

Scott Shelby

Finally we come to Scott Shelby, a private detective who has been hired by the families of the victims of the Origami Killer to investigate. I have mixed feelings about this story. The Scott levels are often very dull and repetitive with each level mostly playing out the same. Scott questions someone about the Origami Killer, they refuse to talk, Scott leaves, someone threatens the witness, Scott saves them, witness gives information. Wash, rinse, repeat. It gets very boring after a while, especially considering the information you learn is basically the same as what Norman learns. The whole thing just feels like a massive waste of time.

Scott suspects someone called Gordi Kramer to be the killer and has to contend with Gordi’s father Charles, but from the moment you meet Gordi, you know he can’t possibly be the killer and yet the game constantly focuses on the Kramers. Another issue I have is his relationship with Lauren Winter, the mother of one of the killer’s victims who tags along. Not only does she contribute nothing to the narrative other than making sad eyes every five minutes, the two also randomly kiss each other near the end despite sharing no hint of romantic chemistry. (seriously has David Cage ever been on a date with a human being before?).

But despite all of this, I found myself quite liking Scott. Sam Douglas gives the strongest performance of the four leads and the character comes off as warm and affectionate. Despite the tedium of the levels he’s in, it’s often his charm and likability that gets you through. Which is what makes the reveal that he’s in fact the Origami Killer all the more shocking.

Now when I first played this in 2010, I honestly thought it was a good twist. Scott pretended to be a private detective in order to find and dispose of evidence connecting to him. His obsession with Gordi Kramer was because he was insulted that there was another person killing children without a ‘good’ reason. I even liked the little detail that it was seeing Ethan throw himself in front of a car in an attempt to save Jason that sparked off the idea of the Origami Killer. It falls into that classic trope of heroes creating their own villains and it’s fairly well executed. However there is a little bit of cheating going on here. The timing of certain scenes doesn’t quite add up and some of the thoughts Scott has just doesn’t make sense when you know he’s the killer. Also this revelation opens up a ton of plot holes. Where did he get the money to buy all this stuff? The cars. The abandoned factory. The warehouse. The phones. The secret room in his apartment where he grows the orchids. He used to be a cop. There’s no way he could have had that much money in his retirement fund for all of this. Why did he subscribe to an origami magazine? Isn’t that a bit of a giveaway? Why did he buy the warehouse where he drowns his victims using his own name when he used his dead brother’s name for all of his other transactions? And what happened to his asthma? David Cage puts a lot of emphasis on his asthma in the early levels, but there’s never any payoff in the later levels. In fact it’s largely forgotten about. Scott gets into fist fights and even an over the top gunfight through a mansion and yet never gets an asthma attack when before he seemed to get them at the drop of a hat.

But the biggest question I have is this. Why Ethan? The Origami Killer kidnaps kids in order to test the fathers. To see how far they’d go to save their sons. As I said before, it was Ethan’s selflessness that inspired Scott to start the killings, to find a father that could do what his couldn’t. So why does he pick Ethan? He already knows that Ethan is prepared to sacrifice himself for his son. Why put him through all these tests? It just seems pointless. It gets even weirder at the end when Scott tries to kill Ethan. Again, the whole point of these murders is to test the fathers. Ethan succeeded. Why does he need to die? It completely goes against his modus operandi. And why use a gun to kill him? The final trial involves Ethan drinking poison, but then it’s revealed that the poison isn’t real. If Scott intended to kill Ethan, why not just use real poison? David Cage clearly hasn’t thought this through very thoroughly and this is a problem that extends throughout the entire game.

I applaud David Cage for wanting to tell different kinds of stories using the video game medium, but the fact of the matter is he’s simply not good at it. Yes video games are going through something of a renaissance right now, but I’d argue that it’s in spite of Heavy Rain rather than because of it. We have seen some truly incredible games over the past decade. Games that have redefined what you can do with the medium and told really engaging stories. Telltale’s The Walking Dead, The Last Of Us, The Stanley Parable, BioShock, the Mass Effect trilogy, Horizon Zero Dawn, Life Is Strange and many more. These games have truly innovated and expanded the medium. Heavy Rain however does the opposite. David Cage talks about innovating games, but if you look at what inspires him as a writer and how Heavy Rain is designed and structured, you’d think that Cage was embarrassed by video games. He’s trying so hard to make Heavy Rain more cinematic, but it doesn’t work because it’s not a film. It’s a video game. In fact if this was a film, it would be laughed out of every film festival. It’s cliched, boring, insulting and just plain stupid. Yes it’s unique, but unique doesn’t necessarily equate to good.

Five years later, Supermassive Games would adopt this style of storytelling for the truly brilliant Until Dawn and it works so much better because there is effort to actually tell a compelling story with relatable characters and to give your choices actual meaning and impact. Heavy Rain however just gets bogged down in its own pretentiousness, pouring scorn over the medium being used to tell the story without offering anything of substance to replace it. There’s a reason why people don’t talk about Heavy Rain anymore and it’s not because it’s a BAFTA award winning ‘game changer’.

#heavy rain #david cage #quantic dream #sony #video game #review #spoilers

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jeezusgut · 7 years

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OTP Writing...

So, I might write another post about how shitty the Mon-el character is after this because I read two random people post defenses of his character, one of which was comparing how the fandom is unfair towards him but forgives other characters for the same supposed mistakes, but then again that would probably just be preaching to the choir, and, seemingly, those that love the character, for whatever reasons, probably won’t change their minds. Thus I am still undecided on that one, but for now here is a pseudo rant about writing. Enjoy.

Okay, so this has little to do with my distaste of the character and more with my complete bafflement of the writing on Supergirl. We, the audience, are told, and yes I am specifically saying told for a reason, that Kara and Mon-el are in love and supposed to be the main romantic relationship of the show. Ok, fine, but then why are they written so poorly and as though they are not the endgame of the show?Stick with me for a minute. Again not arguing for another ship, simply criticizing narrative choices of the writers.

One of the basics of television writing, particularly when it comes to romantic pairings, is the “slow burn.” Virtually every program since the 90′s has had this as a writing trope, and it’s not just for romantic pairings. There is a reason why the villains have overly complicated plans that take an entire season to bear fruit. Just like, there is a reason why the couple everyone wants to get together takes at least a season, if not longer, to finally do so. Examples, off the top of my head without looking anything up, Grey’s Anatomy, Scandal, Smallville (twice), House, Bones, The 100 (also twice), The Adventures of Lois and Clark, and the list goes on and on. Hell, just look at the rest of the shows in the Arrowverse: Barry & Iris took 1.5 to 2 seasons, Oliver & Felicity took 4 season, and there really isn’t an OTP in Legends but Sara and Leonard kind of had a thing in S1 and that still took a whole season to develop. Yet, Kara and Mon-el took, like what, 9 episodes to get together with little to no development between their characters or on a personal level.

Furthermore, television writers love their idiotic “love triangles” for drama, or, at the very least, they will include someone else as potential competition or to cause drama amid their favored pairing. Again, looking back at the examples above, every single character in one of the main couples on those shows at some point dated someone else while already being defined as an interest or potential for the other. That wasn’t the case for Kara and Mon-el, and no Eve doesn’t count because it was one date where Mon-el apparently just talked about Kara the whole time, so there obviously no real intent or interest there on his part. In fact, the SG writers specifically broke up Kara and James, the S1 male lead/love interest whose relationship with Kara was slowly developed throughout all of season 1 culminating in a date and potential for more, before Mon-el even really showed up. That is a weird choice on the writer’s part. I mean, wouldn’t it have made more sense and been a more “dramatic” story for Mon-el to be an obstacle that eventually supersedes James.

As in, James and Kara are having trouble reconciling their romance with their new positions as boss and employee along with finding time with their superhero activities. Then comes along Mon-el who needs Kara’s time and attention as she is the one who best understands what it is like to find your world destroyed and you stranded on a whole new one with unimaginable abilities. And while things with James are becoming increasingly difficult, Mon-el is just easy. Sure, he’s a bumbling idiot who doesn’t understand Earth and its customs, but he’s trying. Plus, he shares the burden of carrying the memory of a civilization, even if it is not one he’s proud of, like Kara, and they bond over that. From there, you have the classic “love triangle” with two potentially beneficial choices for Kara: the human she has grown to love who holds the promise of a great future or the alien who has become her closest friend and confidante and holds the cherished memories of everything she’s lost. I mean that seems like the kind of drama that the writers claimed they wanted without making one of the characters a total shitbag. Instead, we got random arguments, incessant lying, narcissistic beliefs, constant put downs, and very few “cutesy” romantic moments.

Yes, Mon-el made her breakfast once and started drinking club soda, but that was about it. If memory serves, most of the moments that could even be considered romantic revolved around some tragic event or circumstance. Kara telling Mon-el that maybe he was enough for her was because she just got fired from her dream job. Oh, and she was already frustrated a week or so later and had to be rescued by Lena. Mon-el finally telling Kara the whole truth and confessing his love for her was because she, rightfully, broke up with him over his lies and wanted nothing further to do with him. Also, he broke into her apartment for the third time to do so which is really creepy. Them reconciling was because some random villain of the week forced Kara into an alternate world that required her to follow a preset system of rules and directions to get out to show her how wrong she supposedly was, and just how much she, supposedly, was in love with Mon-el. Kara’s confession of love came when Mon-el was being forced off the planet after the Daxamite invasion. That is the first time she says those words. Now, to be fair, couples on other shows, including the Arrowverse, also fight and disagree, but they also have basic, healthy interactions that outnumber said fights and disagreements that don��t revolve around tragedy and discord. And if they do they actually focus on the romantic relationship.

This brings me to the opener of Season 3. The episode begins with Kara having a dream/episode. In her dream/vision, she is walking in a field on Krypton. A few seconds in, Mon-el comes up behind her, and they kiss. Pretty straight forward scene. Makes sense, she misses her boyfriend and is still not over him. However, from there Kara breaks the kiss off and sees a figure in the distance. This figure is then revealed to be her mother, Alura, and Kara immediately walks over to her mother and embraces her fully with Mon-el being a blur in the background. So, the writers are tying Mon-el’s departure to the loss of family and home in Kara’s mind. That is a very strange narrative decision if your intent is to present Kara and Mon-el as the primary canon relationship. I mean, Barry and Oliver have also experience great tragedies. Barry lost both his parents because of his powers. Oliver has also lost friends and family due to his choice to be a vigilante. Yet, when both their respective love interests were harmed, attacked, or taken, there was no overlap or association with anything else.

Oliver didn’t think of his father drowning or his mother being impaled with a sword or Tommy being crushed or any of the other loved ones and/or lovers he lost when he held Felicity in his arms after she was shot. She was the only thing on his mind during that time. Throughout all of Season 3, Barry never thought about his mother’s, father’s, or anyone else’s death as the shadow of Iris’s impending demise got closer and closer. Their loved ones were about to die and they only thought about them. On the other hand, Kara’s loss of Mon-el seems to be intrinsically tied to her loss of Krypton, and not just from the example given. Practically every time Kara delved into the loss of her boyfriend in the first episode of Season 3, it was either tied to Kara’s great loss or quickly moved passed.

When Kara finally begins to open up about her emotional state and allows herself to be somewhat vulnerable, she goes to J’onn. Yes, he is Space Dad, so it kind of makes sense that she would talk to him, but, once more, from a narrative standpoint it’s an odd choice. If Kara’s primary defect, for lack of a better term, is the loss of her love, particularly the fact that she feels responsible for it, then the obvious choice for her to speak to would be Lena, the only other character who has gone through something similar. Would it be difficult with the whole not knowing the Supergirl secret? Sure, but that would also open up the writing for potential humor amid the heavy topic. Instead, Kara goes to J’onn, the only other person in this world that shares the loss of family and civilization with Kara. Furthermore, their conversation revolves around the loss of family, not a romantic partner. J’onn mentions how he misses his daughters (not his wife or M’gann) after being prompted by Kara. And Kara discusses how she dreams of Mon-el being with her mother. Again, why write this dialogue and scene if you are supposedly trying to show how devastated Kara is about losing the, supposed, love of her life?

Then, we have the picture and phone scene. This is the second time that Mon-el becomes a blurry background for Kara when she “faces” prominent women in her life. In the opening dream, Kara goes to her mother while Mon-el becomes blurry in the background. In this scene, the pictures of Kara and Mon-el together become a background blur as she texts Lena, her best friend and new boss/partner (?). It’s also interesting to note that during the episode, Kara repeatedly states how she is going to only be Supergirl from now on to not face the emotional turmoil of losing Mon-el, and in two out of the three scenes where Mon-el is visible, he becomes a blur to make room for women in Kara’s life that have no knowledge or real connection to her Supergirl alter ego, but are prominent in Kara’s (Zor-el and Danvers) life.

So, is Karamel canon? Yeah. Will it remain so? Probably, and I say that mostly because the two lead actors are dating and not because the relationship is a high point of the show or anything. I suppose the fact that the pairing will remain canonical is what baffles and concerns me when it comes to the writing. Next episode has Psi, a powerful fear based villain, and I’m assuming Kara’s fear will somehow revolve around losing Mon-el, but if the writers once again tie that loss to the loss of Kara’s family and Krypton, I will just be even more confused. Because, honestly, at that point, the writers are just intentionally being obtuse or are just bad writers. And with the CW, it’s kind of hard to tell.

#supergirl #kara danvers #season 3 #episode 1 #anti mon el #mon el #writing #james olsen

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rate-out-of-10 · 7 years

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DUNKIRK REVIEW

The man behind the Dark Knight Trilogy, Inception, and Interstellar, Christopher Nolan, is back with the WWII epic, Dunkirk. Dunkirk is focused on a battalion of British troops backed up against the coast of Dunkirk, France. The beach is just a boat trip from France to England. British attempts at a full rescue have been thwarted by German aircrafts, since they hold Dunkirk. With home on the horizon, civilian ships from England set sail to help bring the 400,000 stranded soldiers home.

WARNING SPOILERS AHEAD

CHARACTERS / PERFROMANCES

Nolan’s films have a tendency to show off some incredible performances, as well as have some very interesting characters. Dunkirk offers some brilliant pieces of acting, but without any character you can really latch onto. The film chronicles the rescue through three different perspectives: Tommy (Fionn Whitehead), a soldier stranded on Dunkirk, Farrier (Tom Hardy), a British pilot headed for Dunkirk, and a civilian boat comprised of Mr. Dawson (Mark Rylance), Peter (Tom Glynn-Carney), and George (Barry Keoghan). All the performances here were very believable and compelling; Fionn Whitehead’s performance being the most compelling and striking. Harry Styles put on a great performance, I will say. In his acting debut, he genuinely impressed. Cillian Murphy also did a great job, and same to Kenneth Branagh. But again, there were no true standout characters here, despite the wonderful performances.

It’s always tough to convey character with little dialogue, and I’d say the first 20 minutes or so has one line. The film is very atmospheric in that way. But the film didn’t allow you to connect fully to the characters. You were aware of their situation and felt their desperation via great storytelling and cinematography, however almost every character was underdeveloped. It was clearly deliberate, almost making the focus be on all of the troops while also giving you a set of people to focus on. Make no mistake, it generally works.

However, this is actually out of character for Nolan where he usually has some great character work in all of his films. Without a strongly written protagonist, even just one, the film feels a bit barren. It makes the film a tad bit stretched too thinly, as all the characters we’re meant to identify the film with don’t truly standout from one another. I couldn’t have told you the names of any of the characters when I left the theatre without the help from IMDb. Also, I have to say everyone looks the same, save for a few distinct characteristics. At times I felt detached from the characters because I really didn’t know who was on screen. This is clearly perpetuated by the all-white 99% male cast, which I understand is for historical accuracy, but it’s weird regardless. On a separate note, the focus on narrative and atmosphere does serve the film well throughout. I appreciate that we were really only to focus on what was happening and Nolan didn’t feed us some cliché backstories or even just forced characterization. We were only to focus on their struggles on getting off the beach of Dunkirk. So there are pros and cons to this approach.

WRITING / DIRECTION

Where the writing lacks in the character department, the storytelling holds it up. The film goes back and forth from not only three different perspectives, but different times where the characters all kind of intersect by the end. One part, following the soldiers on the beach, plays out through the week before rescue titled “The Mole”, the next segment is “The Sea” following the civilian boat headed for Dunkirk a day before the rescue, and then next is “The Air” following Tom Hardy’s pilot an hour before the rescue. Each piece weaves itself in and out of each other, very cleverly I might add. It was definitely a unique choice to progress this story sort of non-linearly. The different perspectives serve the film very well when they begin to intersect and our main characters’ paths cross.

Perhaps the most impeccable part of the film, though, was its cinematography and score. Nolan has a knack for creating some brilliant and grand scenes, and with Hans Zimmer creating the musical atmosphere, how can you lose? Hans’ score is extremely clever, using a ticking clock throughout the film, and even when there isn’t a clock, the songs resemble a ticking. The film’s atmosphere was remarkable. The whole film is executed with precision and it’s inspiring. The film progresses almost carefully, building suspense, but not having it feel like its dragging. There’s always something pulling you to keep watching, and the film’s shorter than Nolan-usual run time suits it well. Dunkirk could’ve run into some issues if it were any longer, but Nolan managed to have it feel like a complete experience in its 100 minute run time. In addition, war movies tend to try to grasp the brutality, intensity, and the carnage of WWII, but Nolan expertly crafts the movie in a way where it captures the sheer desperation and anxiety that comes with waiting for your rescue or your death.

FINAL RATING – 8.25/10

Dunkirk may be remembered for years to come as a great war movie, telling a seldom told tale about WWII. Christopher Nolan’s trademark cinematography and Hans Zimmer’s score are truly the most captivating pieces of this film. Aside from that, the film's clever storytelling and on-point performances by the whole cast bring the film to near soaring heights. The only things really holding the film back is its lack of real character development. I would’ve loved to feel really attached to these characters, not just the actors’ performances, and that holds the film back for me a bit. Nolan had the workings of something that could be considered a WWII masterpiece, but it falls slightly short of it, but it’s great nonetheless.

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