#and so to have sonya state to the audience that it has been. THREE DAYS. is so important.

[melancholiaenthroned]

youve only known him three days, natasha youre joking

yes, yes, i love him. how else could i have his letter in my hand?

[pass-the-bechdel]

Continuum full series review

How many episodes pass the Bechdel test?

73.81% (thirty-one out of forty-two).

What is the average percentage of female characters with names and lines for the full series?

32.75%

How many episodes have a cast that is at least 40% female?

Ten.

How many episodes have a cast that is at least 50% female?

One, episode 2.07, “Second Degree” (50%).

How many episodes have a cast that is less than 20% female?

One, episode 3.09, “Minute of Silence” (18.2%).

Positive Content Status:

The definition of unremarkable—it may not be making any egregious mistakes, but aside from its chief concern, it’s not saying anything of interest (average episode rating of 3.00).

Which season had the best representation statistics overall?

Season three not only had the best Bechdel scores, but the highest amount of female characters.

Which season had the worst representation statistics overall?

Season four. While it didn’t feature the episode with the least female characters—that would be season three—it features the least Bechdel passes and the least amount of female characters.

Overall Series Quality:

Worth watching.  It won’t blow your mind, but it won’t waste your time, either.  

MORE INFO (and potential spoilers) under the cut:

If a word describes Continuum, it’s “solid”. It’s a well-made show, one that understands the basic building blocks of well-made genre television and doesn’t attempt to upend them for the sake of upending them (except when it does). However, my enjoyment of the series is more intellectual than visceral, and creating a list of my top ten favorite episodes is nigh-impossible, since I don’t really feel that strongly about them as individual units.

So if the series is rarely great—if even its best rarely makes your heart race the way the best episodes of Nikita or Person of Interest do—then why do I still consider it exceptional and worth one’s time?  

Reason number one: Kiera Cameron. 

Television, over the past decade, has done a steady job of perfecting its female genre-show anti-heroes, which, unsurprisingly, has resulted in a fair amount of sameness. It is often enjoyable sameness, to be clear—Root and Shaw are fantastic characters, and I love them—but sameness all the same. These female characters do not care for the rules (except when they do—for example, they never look unattractive or unmade-up). They are loud. They are often hedonistic. There is a sense that characters have to be fun, even if they are A Lot. They are, in many ways, rebels. And to be clear, these stories are absolutely necessary; that we now have these characters is important. Yet, there are other ways to be, which are also equally compelling and equally feminist.

Kiera Cameron is not a rebel. All she ever wanted to be a comfortable drone (even as her instincts told her something was terribly wrong) and a mother.  In another place, in another time, she’d be one of the Nazis who were allegedly “just doing [their] job,” which is not something one usually says of heroes. She is also decisive, quick-thinking, adaptable and manipulative, with a keen understanding of people. She likes operating under a clear leadership structure, but she can operate perfectly well—thrive, even—without it. Within forty-eight hours of being stranded in an entirely new world, she has integrated herself into its law enforcement apparatus and made a life for herself.  

Kiera is, in the end, the best part of Continuum, because of the way the series allows her to be shaped by her contradictions. Credit must also be given to Rachel Nichols, who is one of the more underrated white actresses currently working on television. Continuum asks a lot of Kiera, and she allows her to be a lot of different things while still being recognizably Kiera.

A good protagonist deserves a good antagonist, and boy, does Liber8 deliver. The group may have an extremely silly name, but it is, like Kiera, something one doesn’t see every day: an enemy group with a point, and which arguably holds the moral high ground, even as it performs mass murder.  

In a worse show, the various members of Liber8 would have been hypocrites. They would have either not believed in what they preached, or been more concerned with themselves than with the cause, or proved willing to abandon it for their survival. Alternatively, they would have been presented as all bark and no bite, more Robin Hood than Osama Bin Laden.  And while all those things are true for one specific member of the group—Kellog—the fact that he exists at a remove both allows the series to explore that hypocrisy, while leaving Liber8 free to actually be something else.  

Furthermore, I enjoy that Liber8 is smart. Mass murder is not the only thing they do. While I’m not sure I’d call Continuum a competence porn series the way something like Leverage is, there is something very satisfying about seeing Liber8 continuously switch up their tactics and be clever about how they approach their battle against corporate interests.  Yes, they do mass murder, but they also do blackmail, corporate espionage, political assassination and political patronage, sabotage, whistleblowing, community-building, and public relations.  They know that their cause will need funds, but don’t sell out in order to obtain them. It is very satisfying. 

I’ve heard commentary on Continuum arguing that the series’ unwillingness to cast explicit judgment on Kiera is a weakness. In her own small way, she is complicit in the oppression of millions, and is willing to replicate oppressive power structures; shouldn’t the series have something to say about that? And yet, this...objectivity, I guess you could call it, is, I feel, one of the series’ chief strengths.  It’s not that the series isn’t aware of what Kiera believes and has done; it’s just that the series trusts the audience to draw its own conclusions. Kiera can be heroic and have a fascist mindset. The members of Liber8 can be mass murderers who are also in the right.  Dillon can be a cheerleader for the privatization of his police department, and still be sympathetic.  A TV series can be a traditional police procedural at heart and admit that cops are scum 80% of the time. One doesn’t negate the other, and that the series goes as far as it does with its characters and concepts feels uncommonly audacious for the sort of show this is.  

Another element that makes the series memorable is its commitment to its central conflict.  Person of Interest may have been about the surveillance state and the increasing role of artificial intelligence, but most of its episodes were actually about Finch and company being super-heroes. The same could have been the case for Continuum—“police procedural” is a key part of its DNA—and the fact that it isn’t—that its anti-capitalist sensibilities are almost always there, and critical—helps make the series feel singular, and relevant. It’s not the first TV show to have something to say about a specific thing, but it’s easily the show most dedicated to saying it.  

This, however, is a double-edged sword. 

Simon Barry, Continuum’s creator, is a white dude. It shows. For all of the thought the show puts into the dangers of unchecked capitalism (or just capitalism, if you’d prefer), it puts very little, if any, into how oppression is shaped by prejudices or group identities. The future of Continuum may be terrible, we’re shown, and yet it never quite seems terrible enough, or weirdly uniformly terrible.  That Jaworski, of all the Liber8 members, is the one who is most forcibly dehumanized by the corporate state rings very false.  Having the majority of Liber8 consist of people of color isn’t enough—not when the series is claiming that 2077 is a direct reflection of 2012.  

Similarly, while the show boasts more female characters than is the norm for shows like this, I can’t actually say it does much beside that. Going through the series, it’s hard not to notice that very few of the female characters have what I would consider a satisfying overall story.  Betty is killed off after months of misery. Katherine is killed off before she can really have any sort of impact besides filling in a necessary storytelling role. Garza and Emily are in a sort of limbo by the time the series ends. Ann Saddler just disappears. Aside from Kiera, only Sonya is said to have a story with a beginning, middle, end, and like Betty’s, it ends with her death.  While these are all fantastic characters, their stories are generally disappointing.  

Part of the problem is, of course, that the show barely has time for deep dives into its characters’ psyches, given all the things on its plate. The show only has so much time to spend on character development, and its priority is breadth rather than depth. On the other hand, it’s hard not to notice that of the characters who do get consistent focus and character development (Kiera, Alec, Carlos, Dillon, Julian), only Kiera is a woman.

It’s also worth noting that while the show kills off fairly similar numbers of male and female characters—at least when speaking in absolute numbers—things look quite different when speaking in relative terms. It’s perhaps best seen with Liber8’s dwindling numbers: sure, you can kill off Jaworski, Chen, and Kagame, but you’ll still have Travis, Marcus, and Kellog.  Kill off Sonya, on the other hand, and the hole she leaves becomes very hard to fill.  The same rings true for the series as a whole, which is why its final season feels so bereft, when it comes to female representation. 

Additionally, while it’s pleasing to see male and female characters used more or less in the same way (although it’s worth noting that this doesn’t actually result in a 50/50 gender ratio) it is less so when the series in turn makes an implicit argument that there is not a sexist element to institutionalized oppression. Scattered instances of potential subtext aside, the series has very little to say about sexism in the future, which again, rings quite false when so many of the characters are freedom fighters.

And yet…

Had the series been more traditional, it’s likely these issues would have felt fatal. Instead, they merely feel bothersome; they annoy instead of cripple. It either speaks to how satisfying Continuum generally is, or how dispassionate my enjoyment of the series is. In any case, Continuum does what it does so interestingly, it’s hard not to set all of these aside and just get swept away by it. It tried something different and did some very interesting things with it, and, as it turns out, that’s more than enough.  

[poor-boy-orpheus]

Why Natasha, Pierre & the Great Comet of 1812 Deserves to Win the Tony for Best Musical

There are few times in any artistic medium that the genre is truly innovated in a new way that works. Classical music underwent three major changes through the works of Bach, Mozart, and then Beethoven before fracturing into hundreds of micro stages. Visual art went through realism, to impressionism, to expressionism, to various iterations of those three, each one distinct in its own way. In musical theatre, innovation is rare, because while it is an art, Broadway is a business and it’s hard to get an audience for something that’s too strange or out of the ordinary. This led to the development of off-Broadway and off-off-Broadway to try new things in order to advance the theatrical arts. Every now and then though, a show makes it to Broadway, and Great Comet is that show. Below you’ll find why I think it deserves to win the Tony for Best Musical. Let’s just start with the visuals, this show is a show. The lighting and scenic design work seamlessly to bring the audience into the world of the musical. Augmented theatre has always been challenging technically and emotionally, as it’s hard to integrate an audience into an actor’s space and still allow the actor’s the space to really get into their worlds, but from the beginning Great Comet has been dedicated to making it happen with wonderful results. This show isn’t just in the round, it’s theatre amidst. That alone leads to a show that is magical simply because you feel like you’re a fly on the wall of these Russian aristocrats far more than a proscenium theatre could create (when Denee Benton is a foot away from your face it’s pretty easy to make a connection). And then we have the music. I don’t even know how to describe this beautiful score. From the electro-pop The Opera or The Duel, to the rollicking Balaga or Letters, the heart-breaking ballads of No One Else, Dust and Ashes, and Sonya Alone this show just keeps changing while you sit there. It transcends time with it’s musical style that borrow from Russian folk music to Americana to electronica, spanning literal centuries of musical history. Every actor takes this incredibly difficult music and sings beautifully (Lucas Steele anyone? or Grace Mclean?? DENEE BENTON). Not to mention the band that sits there, in the middle of the “stage” for the entire show busting out jams. It’s lit. And of course the book and the acting, both of which complement the other. Dave Malloy so cleverly adapted the splice of the novel that he uses for the show into the dialogue that we see in Great Comet. He sums up two hundred pages in the novel that build Pierre’s character into like three songs in Great Comet that give us just enough backstory to understand who he is, and the tormented state he lives in. We get all of Natasha’s complexity in loving Andrey and Anatole, Sonya’s struggle regarding how to be a good friend and cousin, Mary trying to be supportive of Andrey while also hating his new fiancee. Anatole is more than just a hot guy, Dolokhov is more than just a background character, even Old Bolkonsky is well fleshed out (and brilliantly portrayed I’ll add, he should have gotten a featured actor nom). Also, I just really love that Pierre sits in his little hole for like the entire show. Iconic. Overall, Great Comet is a show that I really do think will shape the future of Broadway musicals in the same spirit as Rodgers and Hammerstein’s Oklahoma!, Sondheim’s Company or Sweeney Todd, or Lin’s Hamilton. It’s the most clever, inventive show I’ve ever seen in my life and I’m so excited that it was nominated for Best Musical.

Groundhog Day          Come From Away           Dear Evan Hansen

[gameotheque]

‘And so ends Fire Emblem Echoes: Shadows of Valentia. With a shot that I assume to be the growing Mila Tree, which appeared in Fire Emblem: Awakening. A beautiful and significant shot that matches the adventure we just ended.

This game was a real mixed bag for me, in a way that no game I’ve played lately was, even. I’ll attempt to write down my thoughts on it, though I still need some time to digest the game fully, as it usually takes me a few days to do so.

I’ll preface this all by saying three things: One - Yes I did indeed play Fire Emblem Gaiden, aka the game this is a remake of. Two -  Overall I have to say I absolutely, undoubtedly enjoyed this title, and finally, Three - I’m not really seeking to have arguments or discussions about the thoughts and opinions I’m about to post below. If you disagree with anything, then great! You’re your own person and I’m in no way attempting to sway everyone who reads it to think exactly as I do. But that also comes with the caveat that I ask you not to send me any messages trying to tell me why I’m wrong. I really don’t... care.

Firstly, it’s important to state that I consider this game muuuuuuch more playable than Gaiden, so that’s a win on that front. The original game felt much like a chore through most of the campaign, and the weak-to-nonexistent characterization, combined with the unimpressive budget did nothing to alleviate that impression, specially when coupled with the erm, dubious map designs.

The new art style, from lead artist Hidari, is very pleasant to the eyes, and the official character art is super nice, all in all. The game’s graphics are very cool and the models have been refined from both previous 3DS titles, so that’s always good to see. The soundtrack is also fantastic, with a mix of new and old themes that are just excellent. The voicework, as is always the case with this franchise after the 13th installment, is excellent, but it shines even more in this one, owning to just how much of its dialogue and story beats are voiced. This really helps characters and plot points that might have otherwise been unmemorable to appear more fleshed out.

The gameplay, with the addition of features such as Casual Mode, Exploration, Mila’s Turnwheel, Supports and Skills is also a marked improvement, even if I personally feel that they could have been explained a little more clearly to the player, and that the support pools had been expanded more and that their overall writing quality was better. 

With positive aspects discussed, it’s time for me to delve into the elements that I consider big negatives to the experience. I’m sorry.

It pains me to say this, but I continue to be... baffled by how a game adapted in the year 2017 managed to include more sexism, misogyny, heteronormativity and a general lack of Care towards its female cast than its 1992 inception. That hurt my enjoyment of it more than anything else ever could. 

I’m not saying this to pretend that this series has ever excelled in those regards, no, all titles in the core series (as well as its spin-offs!) are fraught with similar issues, ranging from sexualized designs to mistreatment, unchecked abuse and lifting male characters up to the detriment of their female peers. But it’s hard to ignore that there was an upping to the ante of these last few beats in this title (except the sexualized character designs, which were fewer in number and less in-your-face about how blatant they were than the last title).

You don’t have to diminish your characters’ agencies in their world just simply because you choose to set your story in a misogynistic setting, and in fact a lot of dialogue in this game tries to do right by women... but all its attempts pale in comparison to how often it slaps you in the face with misogyny.

 This affects the stories of characters like Celica, who often gets relegated to second banana despite the fact that she should share an equal role with her co-protagonist. Faye, whose ONLY character trait is her obsessive love for the main hero. Mathilda, whose exploits and achievements are massively overshadowed by her ostensibly supportive husband and thusly end up as no more than lip service. Sonya, whose new ending for some ungodly reason sees fit to punish her? Clair, whose character largely gets treated as a prize to be fought over by two other male characters, as well as having most of her screentime devoted to her brother AND yet another unrequited crush on the main character. Tatiana, whose lover chooses to keep her in the dark regarding his past over fears of “burdening” her, whatever the hell that means, and Rinea, who gets the overall most insulting ending a character with her inception could possibly have. She is abused, mistreated, victimized and is then even burdened with the need to forgive her abuser. 

All of these examples, as well as others that I don’t want to keep discussing out of fear of turning this overview into a larger, uglier monster don’t help to paint this game as anything but inhospitable to women. Basically, the discussion of narrative sexism should go farther than ugly, fetishistic outfits of previous titles and people should care about these issues, too.

(I do have to note that it does, at least bring an advance in LGBT representation with the character of Leon. Who seems like an improvement over other queer characters in the series with his writing, even if there is a lot about it to improve upon again. Namely maybe not setting up his character to have an arc that revolved around unrequited love towards an ostensibly straight peer).  

I know a lot of those problems were already there in the original, but some of them were not... and even if they wanted to keep the game faithful to its original incarnation in tone, they should have at least cared enough to update the more unseemly elements it had for a new, modern target audience, and not magnify these problems with new inclusions. In doing that, it chooses to do the most boring thing a remake can do - remain stagnant.

As I said some hundred (thousand?) words prior, I DID like it, but it does worry me that a lot of people seem blind to its issues, which is just something I can’t wholly ignore. It’s absolutely possible to enjoy a thing while also criticizing its flaws, and this was something this fandom never had an issue doing, so I’m not entirely certain why there is so much silence regarding this title’s flagrant problems.

I still have to play the Sixth, post-campaign Act, though I’ve already fully spoiled myself as to what it entails, and I can already say it’s a huuuuuge positive aspect for me. 

I laughed, I got warm feelings, I nearly cried, and most importantly, I had fun with this title. I can already say I’ll replay it in the future, and this franchise still remains incredibly dear to me, despite its myriad of flaws, that I can only hope will get better with time. Hopefully.