#I'm simultaneously trying to rewatch old episodes and also watch from where i left off

[paruecake]

After loooong pause, all of the hype around OPLA has made me want to try to catch up in One Piece again.

[tb5-heavenward]

I'm very curious to read your thoughts on What Was Wrong With Lost Kingdom

you know, I did hope you would be and I think you so very much for asking

so!

To put it simply, what was wrong with Lost Kingdom is that it should have been Tunnels of Time 2. They had all of the same pieces, they were at approximately the same place in their second season, and it would have been the perfect excuse to take the themes and concepts and characters from Tunnels of Time, and repeat and reinforce them.

This is something that tends to be wrong with a lot of TAG episodes that otherwise have a lot of potential: the writers don’t know when to lean into repeating their ideas. Or reiterating their ideas. Or revisiting, reimagining, regurgitating, reinforcing, reducing reusing recycling their ideas.

Tunnels of Time should have been to Lost Kingdom what Runaway was to Hyperspeed, and you better believe I’m gonna elaborate. Under a cut.

A QUICK REFRESHER ON THE COMMON ELEMENTS SHARED BY RUNAWAY AND HYPERSPEED

here are some key points shared between Runaway and Hyperspeed

A Runaway Train that Goes Extra Super Fast

Scott

Brains

The line, word for word, “It would be like hitting a brick wall”

this is how you know that they knew exactly what they were doing

An All Hope Is Lost moment

A Last Second Hail Mary Solution

A silly, soft ending

Japan

Other Things I’m Sure

They are, at a fundamental level, the same episode. The basic problem is the same in both, even if the cause and the ways they approach and solve it are different, the same sorts of things happen. What those similarities do is allow us to measure the differences in the way the same problem they had then is approached by these characters now. It allows us to perceive the ways the show has changed on a technical level---Hyperspeed LOOKS fucking amazing. The sense of danger in Runaway doesn’t quite compare, at least in part because the visuals aren’t yet as finely honed. They’ve come a really long way, in more ways than one.

Because Scott is still the same action hero type he always is, and he recognizes that this is a problem that he can’t solve without Brains---but he’s also matured past the point of forcing Brains out into the field with him and expecting the same level of performance. Brains is allowed to provide a proxy for his presence that’s more effective than he ever could be (this is something that was first established in Recharge), and it legitimately helps save the day. 

As an extension of that, when they come up to that moment in the episode where they’re nearing the point of no return, and the question of whether or not they’ll be able to pull this off rears its ugly, predictable head, Scott doesn’t step to the controls to put his hand on the button that’ll slam on the brakes and kill them all---basically forcing Brains in both the literal and the narrative sense to rise to the occasion and save the day---instead he steps into that moment himself, and insists that there IS no point of no return, there is no moment when all hope is lost, he believes that it’s always possible to push through to the other side of a problem. And that last second miracle happens, and it’s happily ever after again.

Watch the two episodes back to back sometime, and look for repeated themes. If I had time I would do a side by side comparison of the two (and I’ve wanted to do an in-depth rewatch of the series for ages now, and maybe I should do one ep a day or something to get me back into the swing of things), but the parallels are all obvious that even just a casual surface viewing should be enough to pick them out. Runaway was a good episode. Hyperspeed is a great episode, because it got to stand on Runaway’s shoulders.

Now. On to the question of Lost Kingdom.

What I said at the time was specifically this:

What is deeply and immensely frustrating is that, in the time since I said this, the writers and the series have proven that they know how to do this. Runaway and Hyperspeed, remember. They have done it to brilliant, absolutely flawless effect, with a pair of episodes that run in parallel to each other, and in doing so reinforce fundamental truths while simultaneously demonstrating growth. Anyway.

A QUICK REFRESHER ON THE COMMON ELEMENTS SHARED BY TUNNELS OF TIME AND LOST KINGDOM

Old, ruined temple of an ancient civilization

Really, just gorgeously rendered models for both, these two are definitely spiritual sisters in at least a visual sense.

Getting trapped in the old, ruined temple of an ancient civilization

Penelope

Specifically, Penelope interceding on behalf of World Heritage in the case of somebody fucking around with something of historical significance.

Parker

Parker is at his best when employed as a Greek Chorus.

Gordon

notably, Gordon fresh off the events of Up From the Depths and preciously protective of his lil yellow sub. this isn’t relevant, it’s just really sweet how worried he gets.

Peril

Water

Self-Absorbed and Self-Aggrandizing Asshole Jeopardizing Everyone Else for His Own Ends

Big Golden MacGuffin

ELEMENTS DEEPLY UNNECESSARY TO LOST KINGDOM BUT INCLUDED ANYWAY FOR SOME FUCKING REASON

Brains

MAX

Sorry

no, i’m not

 brains got plenty of air time in S2

go away brains

come on, 

I know S1 was Kayo’s season. 

And I know S2 was Brains’. 

And it looks like S3 is shaping up to be Penelope’s. 

But Brains was really extraneous here, and the themes they chose for him were weaksauce compared to what they could’ve been for Gordon and Penelope.

who puts gordon and penelope in an episode together and doesn’t further the groundwork of their relationship

honestly

who does that

i wouldn’t have done that

if you’re not familiar with my biases and agendas by now, you should leave

The above is a bit tangential, but if you pare those elements out, what you have instead is an episode that cleaves almost exactly to what Tunnels of Time was, in the same way Hyperspeed does to Runaway. If Brains is no longer there to take the focus, then the focus necessarily falls on Gordon and Penelope. And, crucially, Gordon and Penelope vs. Madelaine and Francois LeMaire.

Here’s the thing with Gordon and Penelope vs Madelaine and Francois: Gordon is 100% the Madelaine and Penelope is 100% the Francois. And this episode should have been about these two couples echoing each other, and laying some serious groundwork for what a relationship between Gordon and Penny could be about.

Because one’s always going to find a reason to be in the collapsing ancient temple, and the other is always going to be the one running in after.

And the problem for me in talking about this episode is that I want to talk about the version that exists exclusively in my head. I want the episode where Penelope’s the one who’s chased LeMaire further into Atlantis towards the Solarkytheria (not BRAINS ffs), and Gordon and Madelaine are both left with no choice but to go after them, as the cautious, sensible better halves of these relationships. I want Penelope and LeMaire yelling at each other about exploration vs preservation, and Madelaine and Gordon in the background both trying to make it clear that they really need to leave.

As the episode is, it’s too far from what could’ve been to remap exactly onto Tunnels of Time, but if it had been patterned after it more closely, what I most would’ve wanted would’ve been a moment between Penelope and Francois, forced into FAB1 together in order to bail out, and her like, chewing him out for being so selfish and self-aggrandizing, and him suggesting that she had no moral obligation to follow him in, and that she must have had her own motivations, and maybe the pair of them aren’t so different after all.

And Gordon and Madelaine in TB4 right behind them, having a conversation of their own to the tune of “no offense, but your husband is a reckless asshole and I don’t know why you put up with this”. And her telling him why, and making it clear that when you love someone, you don’t really have a choice but to follow them when they need you. That’s the sort of thing that would really land with Gordon.

Gahhhh, I wish I had articulated all of this when it was still fresher in my head. It’s currently closing in on half past midnight and I need to be awake again in six hours (it’s fine), but all I know for sure right now is that these thoughts were much clearer in my head when they weren’t two years old. Anyway! now it is closing on 1AM, so I had better get to bed. Thanks for asking