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gremlinbehaviour · 4 years ago

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15b with Leon and Lancelot? -gwen-cheers-me-up

"I don't think you should be alone right now"

This one turned out VERY angsty. It's set in the same AU as a couple other fics I've done, where Lancelot was knighted after 1x05 but faced a lot of bullying from the other knights. Here, there's allusions to a little bit more than bullying.

"I'll be okay, Leon," Lance tried to reassure his protector. This statement was slightly undercut by the way he limped across the room to his bed. Not to mention his general appearance. The black eye and cut face did not exactly inspire confidence in his ability to look after himself, nor did his rigid posture and movements. Despite his best efforts to hide it, it wasn't hard to see that the short walk from Gaius's chambers to his own had been hard, and taken a lot out of him. "You don't need to watch me every moment," he continued as he sank carefully down to his bed.

"Respectfully, Lancelot, I'm not so sure of that," Leon countered as he closed and dead bolted the knight's door behind him. Finding a chair against the wall, he dragged it over in front of the door before sitting down in it. Despite the uncomfortable way the pommel of his sword dug into his side, he didn't remove his weapon's belt. He had always been a cautious man by nature and now not knowing who to trust out of even the knights he commanded was pushing him over into the downright anxious category. But was it really paranoia if Lancelot was actually in danger? He'd been on edge the entire time he'd been escorting the injured knight back to his chambers, and the fear had barely lessened now that they were there. "The ones that did this may come back for more, to finish the job, and I am not leaving you to them. And honestly, I'm not convinced that you're as okay as you say you are." Lancelot looked up for half a second at that, but then quickly away after making eye contact. Leon took this as an admission of the truth of this. His heart broke all over again, and if he'd thought Lance would want him to, he would have gone over to hug him immediately.

As it was, he kept himself firmly seated in the chair. He had a bad feeling standing up to approach his friend may just earn him a scared and/or pained flinch. He wouldn't blame him if it did, given what had happened. If Leon had been imprisoned and tortured by other knights of Camelot, men who were supposed to be his brothers in arms and have his back through the thick and thin, he would have trust issues too.

"I understand if you don't trust any other knights after this," he added. "Even me. I mean, with what they did to you, and just because you were born a commoner-"

"Please, stop talking about it," Lancelot whispered. His left eye, the one that hadn't already been swollen shut, was squeezed tightly closed, head bowed forward, and arms pulled in as he tried to make himself smaller. "And don't… Leon, you're the only knight left that I do trust. I don't know where I would be right now without you."

Leon himself had a terrifyingly good idea of where Lancelot would be; either still in the dungeons or dead. The knight, who had been stripped of his cloak and armor and left half naked on the stone floor as part of the "initiation ritual," would have succumbed to the cold after not much longer. The numerous kicks delivered to his arms, legs, and abdomen, and even a few to his face, hadn't helped. They'd weakened and pained him enough that he wouldn't have been able to fight back or escape, even if he'd tried to. Lancelot wouldn't have, though. Until the end, when Leon and Merlin had finally found him after almost three days, he'd thought it was part of a process all knights went through to prove their strength and endurance. He wouldn't have fought back against the hazing ritual, as that would have been seen as cowardice and weakness. And Lancelot was always so desperate to prove himself, since he had been born as a commoner and many within the castle thought he should have remained one instead of being re-elevated to knight

A choked noise pulled Leon out of his furious reverie of planning revenge if they ever caught the knights that had initiated the stunt or any of the other bullying. He looked up to see Lancelot crying, one hand covering his mouth as if to quiet himself. Still he fought not to show any weakness in front of others

"It's okay," Leon tried to reassure him. "You're safe now."

"I know, 'cause you're here," he mumbled, moving both hands up to clench in his hair as he pulled his legs onto the bed and up to his chest. "It's not that. I've just… I've never been betrayed before. I never had friends close enough to do so."

Leon felt anger bloom renewed in his chest, though it had barely faded since the last atrocity. How much work had it taken Lancelot to make friends? Only for all that to be ripped away, and worse, because how would he ever learn to trust anyone now?

"I'm so sorry Lancelot," Leon said, though words could never be enough. "Is there anything I can do?"

"D-don't leave," the knight begged. He nodded, and stood up. Lancelot tensed until he came closer instead of walking away towards the door. Very carefully, mindful of the bruises that peppered the knight's entire body, he wrapped his arms around him. He let Lance control the hug so he would feel comfortable, waiting until the contact was leaned into to tighten his hold ever so slightly. "I don't know why everyone always leaves me."

"It's not your fault," Leon said with conviction. He took his friend's face in his hands so he could look in his eyes and

make sure he was understood. "Do you hear me? This or any other abandonment or betrayal you have suffered is not due to any failure of yours or anything you did." He pressed his forehead against the other man's, closing his eyes and hoping to will his love over. "You do not deserve to be alone. You are a good, brave man, Lancelot. I am proud to call you my friend and I will not leave you." Lance wrapped his own arms back around his friend, pulling him closer to press his face into his shoulder as he cried. Holding him until his tears had dried and not once letting go, Leon knew he had been right to insist on staying. Lancelot shouldn't be alone right now, or ever.

#bbc merlin #merlin #lancelot #sir lancelot #leon #sir leon #hurt lancelot #angst #violence tw #fanfic #no beta we die like women

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kcwcommentary · 5 years ago

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Voltron Legendary Defender Commentaries

Because I like having things organized, I’ve compiled a list of links to all of my commentaries for Voltron Legendary Defender.

Season One

1x01 – The New Alliance

1x02 – From Days of Long Ago

1x03 – Defenders of the Universe

1x04 – Some Assembly Required

1x05 – Return of the Gladiator

1x06 – The Fall of the Castle of Lions

1x07 – Tears of the Balmera

1x08 – Taking Flight

1x09 – Return to the Balmera

1x10 – Rebirth

1x11 – Crystal Venom

1x12 – Collection and Extraction

1x13 – The Black Paladin

Season Two

2x01 – Across the Universe

2x02 – The Depths

2x03 – Shiro’s Escape

2x04 – Greening the Cube

2x05 – Eye of the Storm

2x06 – The Ark of Taujeer

2x07 – Space Mall

2x08 – The Blade of Marmora

2x09 – The Belly of the Weblum

2x10 – Escape from Beta Traz

2x11 – Stayin’ Alive

2x12 – Best Laid Plans

2x13 – Blackout

Season Three

3x01 – Changing of the Guard

3x02 – Red Paladin

3x03 – The Hunted

3x04 – Hole in the Sky

3x05 – The Journey

3x06 – Tailing a Comet

3x07 – The Legend Begins

Season Four

4x01 – Code of Honor

4x02 – Reunion

4x03 – Black Site

4x04 – The Voltron Show!

4x05 – Begin the Blitz

4x06 – A New Defender

Season Five

5x01 – The Prisoner

5x02 – Blood Duel

5x03 – Postmortem

5x04 – Kral Zera

5x05 – Bloodlines

5x06 – White Lion

Season Six

6x01 – Omega Shield

6x02 – Razor’s Edge

6x03 – Monsters & Mana

6x04 – The Colony

6x05 – The Black Paladins

6x06 – All Good Things

6x07 – Defender of All Universes

Season Seven

7x01 – A Little Adventure

7x02 – The Road Home

7x03 – The Way Forward

7x04 – The Feud!

7x05 – The Ruins

7x06 – The Journey Within

7x07 – The Last Stand Part 1

7x08 – The Last Stand Part 2

7x09 – Know Your Enemy

7x10 – Heart of the Lion

7x11 – Trial By Fire

7x12 – Lions’ Pride Part 1

7x13 – Lions’ Pride Part 2

Season Eight

8x01 – Launch Date

8x02 – Shadows

8x03 – The Prisoner’s Dilemma

8x04 – Battle Scars

8x05 – The Grudge

8x06 – Genesis

8x07 – Day Forty Seven

8x08 – Clear Day

8x09 – Knights of Light Part 1

8x10 – Knights of Light Part 2

8x11 – Uncharted Regions

8x12 – The Zenith (part 1)

8x12 – The Zenith (part 2)

8x13 – The End is the Beginning (part 1)

8x13 – The End is the Beginning (part 2)

#voltron legendary defender #voltron #vld #voltron criticism #vld criticism #voltron critical #vld critical #commentary

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qqueenofhades · 6 years ago

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The Punisher as Medieval Romance: Tropes, Themes, and Characters

So a few days ago, an anon asked about more mythologies/inspirations for Kastle, apart from Hades/Persephone, and I mentioned that Frank’s character and his overall story arc have substantial (and fascinating) parallels with medieval romances. I was just answering quickly, but I then started to think about it in more depth, and realized that in fact, damn near all of The Punisher can be read as a modern-day medieval romance, sometimes subverting long-established tropes and sometimes playing them almost straight. This extends into Daredevil canon as well, as the characters around Frank also fit into recognizable mythic-medieval roles, and… yes. I resisted writing a long and research-heavy meta, clearly what I needed to do on the last week of term, for oh, forty-eight hours. Then, well, we know how that goes.

A note that I work specifically on medieval history, rather than medieval literature, so if I say anything clangingly bad, I hope my brethren and sistren medievalists can forgive me for it. Also, I don’t know if any of this is intentional on the part of the writers, so it’s not like I am identifying anything they’re specifically doing (or if they are, I don’t know about it), but this is just me, as a nerd, wandering into the candy store and being like “OH HEY GUYS LOOK AT THIS.” Of course, not all the examples fit in every aspect between medieval romance and modern Marvel canon, but there are still enough of them in a number of ways to make this interpretation plausible. And indeed, considering how Marvel stories have become ubiquitously embedded in our popular lexicon almost exactly in the way Arthurian legends and stories did for their medieval equivalent, it’s a noteworthy comparison.

(As you may be able to guess, this will be long.)

Let’s start with the source material. The medieval Arthurian romances are part of what is known as the Matter of Britain: the vast corpus of texts, written and rewritten across several centuries and by countless authors (usually French or English) that deals with some aspect of this mythology. Arthur, Guinevere, Lancelot, Merlin, the Knights of the Round Table, and other characters appear in various guises and playing different roles in each of these texts. They are still “themselves” on each appearance, but the interpretation and the storyline is largely up to each individual author. One may remark that this bears some similarities with the Marvel comic universe. The characters have been written and re-written in a vast array of formats from their first creation to their present modern iteration (and likewise, Hollywood is still making a King Arthur movie every other year). They have been interpreted by many authors and given different plots and re-imaginings, and are part of our collective pop-culture reference in the way that Arthurian romance and chivalric literature was in the medieval era. If Twitter had existed back then, we would have fans begging for Arthur Pendragon to be saved from Camlann the way we now have fans begging NASA to save Tony Stark. It’s a kind of cultural entertainment that you’re probably at least aware of, even if you’ve never participated in, and thus has reached similar levels of saturation. The Arthurian romances inspired endless knock-offs. We likewise have an omnipresent superhero genre. It reinvents and redefines the hero’s journey for its particular day and age on a massive scale. In some sense, we don’t even need to explain these characters or tropes, because everyone already knows who and what they are.

So… onto Frank. At first glance, he is a considerably unlikely medieval romantic hero, right? He’s rough around the edges, has (to say the least) grey morality, and is generally regarded as an outcast and a loner in his community, rather than some idealized, flawless Sir Galahad type who has never done anything wrong in his life and nobly avoids all temptation. But he’s actually a hero in the middle of his trials and tribulations and the corresponding loss (and eventual reaffirmation) of heroic identity. The broad strokes of Frank’s character arc, as seen in Daredevil season 2 and Punisher season 1, are these:

Separation from home and family;

Exile from society and the implied loss of chivalric (military) virtue;

Test of honor/contests against other knights, good and bad (Matt Murdock, Wilson Fisk, Lewis Wilson, etc);

Search for the Grail (life, restoration to honor, vengeance for his family, completion of the chivalric quest);

Partnership with worthy knights on the search (David Lieberman, Curtis Hoyle);

Resisting temptation from a knight’s wife (Sarah Lieberman);

Saving a fair maiden and having to be worthy of her love, while bound by a code of secrecy (Karen Page);

Confrontation of betrayal by an intimate/revelation of the dark side of chivalric honor (Billy Russo);

Menaced by a quasi-mythical and possibly demonic figure who must be defeated, who fights him in a parallel battle at the beginning/end of the story (Agent Orange/Rawlins);

Attempt to re-enter society and re-establish identity (end of s1, though that will be once more disrupted and complicated by s2);

All of this is, basically, the overall character arc for a medieval hero. Pretty much beat by beat. Also, while we’ve gotten used to think of ‘chivalry’ as implying a certain kind of idealized and virtuous behavior around ladies (holding doors, gentlemanly actions, whatever) that was only a small part of the overall code of chivalry – which, at its core, was an ethos about fighting, military prowess, and the display of valor through acts of war. Frank says that he loves being a soldier, and this would be a sentiment familiar to a medieval knight. Chrétien de Troyes has a line about how, essentially, only morally suspect half-men prefer peace. The soldier’s proper right, duty, and true joy in life is the practice of war, and he earns chivalry – martial renown – by doing it. It is not merely a pretty or romantic veneer on courtly behavior (though that is often how it is presented), but about war, the military, the destruction of opponents, and the very nature of being a constant soldier. To say the least, this fits Frank’s character extremely well. He is the consummate soldier who in fact needs a constant war to fight, and who has built an honorable legacy for himself (decorated Marine, Navy Cross, etc) prior to his forcible separation from society. This darker, grittier underside of chivalry, when the violence, bloodshed, and distortion of self was a constant concern, also fits very well with the tone of The Punisher.

That separation is often the keystone for a medieval hero’s journey, and functions to drive him out from the context in which he has until now been respected and earned his living. Sometimes we have an outright reason for that action, sometimes the hero just leaves Camelot and sets out on a quest, but Frank’s separation from society bears some similarity to Bisclavret, a twelfth-century werewolf romance written by a woman (Marie de France), and interesting for various reasons. (Some literature is available via Google Books.) In this case, the hero (the eponymous Bisclavret) is driven from society by the treachery of his wife, who hides his clothes so he can’t turn back from a wolf into a human and is forced to spend seven years in the forest as a beast. Of course Frank loses his wife, rather than being betrayed by her, but there’s still the connection between loss of wife – loss of home – loss of self, resulting in exile to the margins of society and transformation into a “monster.” Bisclavret never gives up his principles and identity even while forced to remain a wolf, and Frank gains a reputation as the “Punisher,” but likewise adheres to his own code of honor. He remains a knight, even if a knight-errant.

Bisclavret is rescued and brought back from the woods by an unnamed king, who sees his humanity and treats him well even as a monster (and yes, there are some definite homoerotic undertones in the fact that it’s the king’s love that restores him to himself, after his wife rejects him for his monsterhood or arguably, queerness). However, you could credibly parallel this to Frank and David Lieberman, who believes that he can help Frank and they can restore him to his former self/his good name. David of course physically helps Curtis care for Frank after his injuries in TP 1x05, and in general performs the humanizing role for the “monster.” He serves as Frank’s companion in the wilderness and believes that he is not the way the rest of society sees him (just as everyone else in Bisclavret sees him as a werewolf and has to be convinced by his good behavior that he’s really a man). Likewise, Karen recognizes early in Daredevil season 2, and never gives up in believing, that Frank still has honor. He’s (literally) not a monster to her. He has been expelled from the chivalric society in which he operated before, but he has not completely abandoned his morality.

Next, as noted, the motif of contests against other knights is essentially a central theme in all quest narratives. Frank must match his wits and skills against challengers, and be paralleled and anti-paralleled to them. One of his most obvious foils is against Matt, as they are explicitly set up as reflections and reverse images of each other. In some sense, Matt is the perfect chivalric knight, at least in DD s1/s2. His morality tends to the black and white, he always has some sense of how his faith informs or restricts his actions, and he constantly incorporates the church’s teaching into his sense of self. As Richard Kaeuper discusses in Holy Warriors: The Religious Ideology of Chivalry, this is basically exactly what the medieval church would want for a knight. Some degree of coexistence (sometimes a great deal) exists between chivalry and Christianity, but the underlying question of violence and sin always underlies it – can a man who makes his living by killing people really claim to be acting in a holy cause? Matt avoids this paradox (or tries to) by not killing anyone, but Frank almost exactly embodies the tension between these two ideologies that was ever-present in the medieval era. Clerical moralists always worried that knights were too comfortable with killing, violence, and general unethical behavior (even as they needed and co-opted that violence for their own purposes, such as the preaching and popularization of the crusades). For their part, the knights often selectively used the parts of Christianity that they liked, and fashioned it into their own ethos, just like Frank does to justify his campaign of vengeance.

In other words, Matt and Frank are perfect symbols of the struggle between church and chivalry, with Matt embodying one side (reconciliation) and Frank embodying the other (estrangement), but neither of them are completely excluded from knighthood despite their differences. They’re in fact the central tension of its existence – how violent can a knight be, and how much consideration, superficial or otherwise, does he have to pay to the church’s restriction of his ethics and behavior? There is some argument that chivalric literature was written as an attempted correction or moral instruction for real-life knights, who were supposed to take it as guidance on their own behavior and be more merciful. This isn’t always the case, since as noted, the literature exalts the very kind of violent behavior that built a chivalric reputation, but there was always that inherent wariness about how much was too much. Matt and Frank push and pull each other on this very question, end up working together at points because they are both within the system, but can’t fully reconcile.

(Also I’d like to point out: Stick, Matt, and Elektra as Merlin, Arthur, and Morgana. Stick is the mysterious, possibly immortal mentor, who teaches and mentors both of them, but also misleads and manipulates them for his own purposes. Matt becomes the ‘hero,’ son of the dead/fallen king (Uther Pendragon/Battlin’ Jack Murdock), while Elektra becomes the villainess/feared sorceress, marginalized by a society frightened of her agency and unwillingness to play nice. Also, one of Arthur’s two half-sisters, usually Morgause but sometimes Morgana, is the mother of his illegitimate son, Mordred, who is prophesied to be his destruction. So there is a dark/forbidden/taboo sexual aspect to their relationship, and just as Mordred causes the ultimate fall of Camelot, Matt and Elektra are literally caught in a falling building at the end of Defenders, which destroys their current identities. Matt enters Once and Future King stage after that and at the beginning of DDS3, where he is ‘gone’ or sleeping or suffering a crisis of faith and must summon up the wherewithal to return, and the character of Benjamin Poindexter becomes one of the many Arthur imposters. There are also some parallels for Elektra with Nimue, the ambitious young student of Merlin’s who overthrows him, ends his reign, and imprisons him in a tree.)

Anyway, back to Frank. So what are knights actually doing with all this questing? Well, various things, but they’re most often searching for the Holy Grail: symbolic of eternal life, forgiveness and atonement of sins, return to self. For this reason, few of them actually find it or are able to encounter it without being changed. It too has a deeply underlying Christian context, and Frank, the ex-Catholic, has been estranged from his belief but not separated entirely. (Likewise, if you were not worthy to look on it, you could be blinded, so… the fact that Matt himself is blind is arguably a commentary on who he actually is vs. how he imagines himself.) The Grail is also, interestingly, in the custody of a figure known as the Fisher King. He is the keeper of the castle where the Grail is hidden, and in the context of the Punisher, he’s basically Curtis.

The Fisher King, for a start, is always wounded in the legs or the thigh, and unable to stand. Some scholars have interpreted this as a metaphor for castration (since “thigh” is often a euphemism for the genitals), and that the Fisher King is passive and impotent because he is physically unable to perform warfare and thus to acquire chivalry. Either way, the Fisher King is the keeper of eternal life, but is physically disabled and needs the help of a knight to activate that power. Curtis is to some degree a subversion of this trope, because he is explicitly not helpless and functions to enable other questing knights (veterans with PTSD) to search for the Grail (health and reconciliation to society)… but in TP 1x09, he still needs Frank to save him. Frank has to encounter the Fisher King and make the correct choice/ask the right question (which wire to cut) to save him and continue his own path toward the Grail. Curtis, by running the veterans’ group, is symbolically the keeper of eternal life, where questers have to literally ask questions/talk to each other to restore themselves, and Frank, by going at the end of s1, is still trying to reach it. But true to form, with the beginning of s2, he’s not going to be able to entirely get there. There is still another obstacle/quest to overcome.

So what about Karen? Visually and to some degree topically, she is set up as the lady whose love Frank needs to obtain and maintain, even in the wilderness of his exile. Karen is blonde-haired and blue-eyed, which was often viewed in the medieval era as the ideal/most beautiful kind of woman (because white supremacy in Europe has always existed to some degree, even if in differently constructed ways. However, the thirteenth-century Dutch romance Morien, and some other ones, feature black and mixed-race protagonists, who are just as able to achieve the predicates of the heroic quest as others). She is also, as discussed above, one of the only people to believe in Frank’s honor and to reach out to help him. However, this relationship has to be kept secret, and has the potential to destroy them both if revealed. This is a fairly close parallel to another of Marie de France’s romances: Lanval (adopted in fourteenth-century English form, by Thomas Chestre, as Sir Launfal).

In brief, Sir Lanval, after being cast out from Camelot, meets a fairy woman and they become lovers, and she promises him that he will have everything he needs, as long as he keeps her secret and never mentions her to anyone. (Marie’s original version of this is much less misogynist than Chestre’s, which adds Guinevere making sexual advances to Launfal and her jealousy being the cause of him being thrown out, so yes, Dudes Ruining Stuff has a long history.) This is not an exact analogue to Frank and Karen, but keeping the code of secrecy (Karen obviously can’t tell anyone about Frank, Frank receives what he needs from her in terms of information, emotional support, etc, but likewise can’t tell anyone about it) is paramount in both relationships. Speaking about the relationship or revealing it to the outside world will result in its destruction, and the fairy lady has to vouch for Lanval’s goodness to the court in Camelot, just as Karen stoutly defends Frank to the court of public opinion/literally everyone. In some sense, while the knight has to rescue the fair maiden, the fair maiden is also the arbitrator of his fate and his overall reputation. (Also, all of TP 1x10 is basically Lancelot, the Knight of the Cart, in which Lancelot must rescue the abducted Guinevere from Meleagant, and having to struggle with the revelation of this relationship and the fact they can’t be together and the dictates of public/proper behavior. Anyway.)

Lastly, Frank’s initial and final conflicts, and the overall shape of his quest, are dictated by his encounters with two archvillains: Billy Russo and William Rawlins, or “Agent Orange.” These are made especially painful for him by the fact that they are or were both close to him. Billy was his best friend, essentially part of his family, and as noted, there is a major theme in chivalric literature revolving around a betrayal (and subsequent murder) by those closest to you. We already discussed King Arthur being overthrown and killed by his incestuous illegitimate son, Mordred; the best-known version of that tale is of course Thomas Malory’s Le Morte d’Arthur, though only the seventh book, as linked above, actually tells the story of Arthur’s death. There is also Arthur’s half-sister and Mordred’s usual mother Queen Morgause; in the Morte, she is killed by her son Gaheris for committing adultery with Sir Lamorak and dishonoring her husband, King Lot. So in one sense, the knight is always doomed to face a betrayal from within his family, or from a close friend.

However, Billy Russo is also straight-up one of the demon knights of Perlesvaus, or, The High History of the Holy Grail. In Perlesvaus, Lancelot is haunted by the specter of these demon knights, who engage in a dark mockery of chivalric behavior, excesses of violence, and satanic imagery, and are otherwise the “dark side of the force” of honorable knighthood, as Richard Kaeuper puts it in Chivalry and Violence in Medieval Europe. Honor and chivalry are not permanent or unchangeable qualities, and in fact are very fragile. The perfect knight can and should have both of these, but he can also lose them very quickly by impious, dishonorable, murderous, or otherwise wrong actions. The demon knights are a metaphor and a commentary on the same tension we discussed in regard to Frank and Matt: when does a knight-errant become a bad knight? When does his behavior permanently transgress him and cast him beyond the reach of repentance? Billy outwardly embodies the same qualities as Frank, has been through the same wars, is part of the same order, but he isn’t a hero on a quest whose chivalric identity can eventually be reconciled to him. He has crossed too far to the wrong side of the line; now he is the embodiment of evil, a shadow parallel and a cautionary tale. He is not a knight-errant, he is merely a monster.

Then, of course, there’s Rawlins/Agent Orange. Noting the fact that his nickname is also color-coded, we can see some parallels to Sir Gawain and the Green Knight. In short, in this tale, a mysterious “Green Knight” challenges any man to strike him, with the condition that he will get to return the blow in a year and a day. Sir Gawain accepts and beheads him, after which the Green Knight stands up, picks up his head, and remains Gawain of his promise. Gawain has to struggle to both honorably keep his bargain and avoid dying, and is eventually struck at in return by the Green Knight, wounded, but not killed. In some interpretations, this has just been a test all along for Gawain to prove his honor, or an attempt by Morgana to deceive him and cause him to betray his chivalric ideals, and the Green Knight is just a pawn to achieve this. In others, the Green Knight is a potential embodiment of the Devil. (He also has a dual identity, as the Green Knight/Sir Bertilak, as Rawlins does.) Frank strikes at/beheads/blinds Rawlins, as seen in the flashbacks of TP 1x03, so Rawlins literally wants to do the same to him (an eye for an eye) in TP 1x12. In the story, Gawain and the Green Knight part on cordial terms, but in this case, Frank has to actually complete the death/destruction of his opponent. Like Gawain, however, he is wounded but not killed, and must find some way to survive his encounter with a possibly demonic entity determined to pay back in exact measure the physical wound/symbolic beheading inflicted earlier.

So. . . yes. Overall, both in the broad parameters of his character arc, in the obstacles he confronts, and the other people he meets and the encounters he plays out with them, Frank is actually an excellent hero for a modern-medieval romance. The essential core of the medieval romance was not about love, though that was often present, but about identity, adventure, and the challenge to self, and while in some places these tropes have been updated or nuanced or subverted, in others they’re played as recognizably or directly descended from their medieval counterparts, and the way in which we have thought about stories and enjoyed them for a very long time.

#mcu #the punisher #the punisher meta #frank castle #kastle #frank x matt #medieval history #medieval literature #yes of course i ended up writing this #i am nothing if not predictable #long post

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multifandomexpialidocious · 6 years ago

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Spells in ‘The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina’ Season 1

1. Spell to summon a familiar (1x01)

Spirits of the forest, I pronounce my intentions to thee. Come forth and seek me and equals we will be. Not master and servant but familiar to familiar, to share our knowledge, our spirit and our traits.

2. Spell to remove a hex (1x01)

If truly I am cursed today, let water wash the hex away.

3. Memory-erasing spell (1x01)

Listen to my voice. Hear my words, and forget I said anything. Bless your mind and your heart, let these painful thoughts depart.

4. Arachnophobia-inducing spell (1x01)

Spider O’ Spider, pray why do you spin your pretty white web so fine and so thin? To catch all the flies, and make them into pies. Spider O’ Spider do you not see here comes a big, buzzing blundering bee. He’ll spoil your fine net whilst you fume and you fret, but no mercy you grant and no mercy you’ll get.

4. Spell to summon the Weird Sisters (1x02)

The weird sisters hand in hand, travelers of the sea and land. Thrice to thine and thrice to mine and thrice again to make up nine. Peace! The charm’s wound up.

5. Astral projection spell (1x04)

Vola anima per aeterna. (repeat as necessary)

6. Spell to hang people up in the air with invisible force (1x04)

Light as a feather, stiff as a board. (repeat as necessary)

7. Sealing-spell. (1x05)

Ex spiritibus enim sie te aeris. Qui Omnipotentiam Tuam parcendo clavem ad. Ostium ligate Diabolum hunc! Hoc captionem et daemonium ab grandus cincinno.

8. Demon-trapping spell (1x05)

Turpis et inferni in terris pariunt. Adiuro vos tamen hoc graecas munus.

9. Spell to trap a sleep demon (1x05)

Turpis et inferni in terris pariunt. Et furantur verba haec locutus sum vobis Laetitia. Punctum baculus parit malediction. Adiuro vos tamen hoc graecas munus.

10. Spell to disrupt an astral projection (1x06)

Liberate tuteme ex fuga, [Sabrina]!

11. Exorcism incantation

[Apophis, the Devouring Worm.] We call forth the witches from the shade. Those who came before us, and died, so that we might live. Visit us, Sisters. Intercede on our behalf. I call forth the powers of Lilith of Aradia, of Morgan Le Fay. Visit us, Sisters. Intecede on our behalf. I call on Black Annis. I call on Anne Boleyn. I call on the Witch of Endor. Visit us, Sisters. Intercede on our behalf. I call on Hecate, on Artemis, on Luna to expel this demon. Expel [Apophis]. Return him to the Dark Lord. Visit us, Sisters. Intercede on our behalf. I call on Hildegard of Bingen. I call Marie Laveau. I call Tituba, I call Mary Bradbury. Visit us, Sisters. Intercede on our behalf. I call Nehman, Badb, Macha. Visit us, Sisters. Intercede on our behalf. I call Circe, I call Moll Dyer. Visit us, Sisters. Intercede on our behalf. I call on Juventas, the virgin, on Juno, the mother. Lend us your power. Expel the demon. Visit us, Sisters. Intercede on our behalf. [...] [I call upon Cybil Leek. I call upon Priscilla Spellman. I call upon Francis Spellman. I call upon Evanora and Locasta Spellman.] [...] Come forth, Kindly Ones. Come forth, Mother of Darkness. Lend us your power. Expel the demon [Apophis]!

Visit us, Sisters. Intercede on our behalf. (repeat as necessary)

12. Protection spell (1x07, 1x10)

Qui affecto protego, mixtisque iubas serpentibus et posteris meis stirpiqu.

13. Spell to grant courage (1x08)

Strength by day, strength by night, give him strength and give him might.

14. Spell to summon Prudence Night (1x08)

Hic ante circulum appareatis prudentiae, Prudence. In pulchra figura humana et tortuositate aliqua.

15. Resurrection spell (1x08)

Hounds of Heaven, Hounds of Hell, Hounds of Earth, Guardians of the Door, we summon thee to help us resurrect the fallen son. Nos si vocare te. Nos si vocare te. Nos si vocare te. Nos si vocare te.

We bow before the Door that divides the World of the Living from World of the Dead. With humble gratitude, we ask that it be opened. Apei ianuam. Apei ianuam. Apei ianuam. Apei ianuam.

Unholiest of Spirits, we offer thee a life for a life! O Mighty Dark Lord, by whom all is set afire, they power be thy path, thy will my desire. (background: Vita est vita. Vita est vita. Vita est vita. Vita est vita.)

The Hounds invoked. The Door opened. The price paid in blood. [Thomas Kinkle], we entreat thee. Rise! Rise! Rise!

16. Spell to open a portal to limbo (1x09)

Redi ad periculum tuum.

17. Spell to summon the Greendale Thirteen (1x10)

I call out to the Greendale Thirteen! To the witches hunted by mortals! Betrayed by their own kind. Hung from this tree by their necks. Arise, Sisters. Arise.

18. Tornado creation spell (1x10)

Boreas, North Wind, I summon you.

Euros, East Wind, I summon you.

Notos, South Wind, I summon you.

Zephyros, West Wind, I summon you.

19. Spell to compel a person to escape by running (1x10)

Hear me, hear me. Run away. Live to see another day.

20. Hellfire-summoning spell

I, [Sabrina Spellman, daughter of Edward Spellman], Child of Night, call forth Fire from the Pit! Ater ignus, fusce fume. Te evoco ut potentium tuam monstres. Cupidibus flammis hic veni. Caelo sub isto, harc arborem consumo. Lucem tenebrasque tuas monstra. Impetuum tuum evoco ad devorandum. Hanc arborem ac omnes hospitas devora.

OTHER VERBAL SPELLS (undiscernible):

Spell to possess a newly deceased body (1x01)

Weird Sisters' blood curse (1x01)

Witches' baptism chant (1x02)

Spell to summon the Red Angel of Death (1x10)

NON VERBAL SPELLS/MAGIC

Curse detection (1x01)

Blood curse reversal (1x01)

Vodoo (1x01, 1x05, 1x06, 1x07)

Malum malus divination (1x01)

Resurrection (via Cain’s Pit) (1x02)

Purification juice (1x02)

Illusion magic (1x02)

Rendering men impotent (1x02)

Scrying spell (1x05)

Love potion (1x06)

Invisibility i.e. "to pull a wool over the eyes" (1x07)

Enchanting a ballot box into favoring someone (1x07)

Immobilization (to prevent physical assault) (1x08)

Mind-reading (1x09)

Constitution balancing substances (1x09)

Sleep potion (1x09)

Keeping a witch in place (1x09)

Heart-numbing balm (1x10)

References:

Rosie Knight. (October 26, 2018). "OUR 5 FAVORITE SPELLS FROM CHILLING ADVENTURES OF SABRINA." Available at https://nerdist.com/5-best-spells-chilling-adventures-of-sabrina-netflix/

Subtitles from Netflix. (2018) "The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina

#caos #the chilling adventures of sabrina #sabrina spellman #salem #hilda spellman #zelda spellman #ambrose spellman #prudence night #dorcas night #agatha night #faustus blackwood #constance blackwood #ms. wardwell #nicolas scratch #church of night #spells #magic #netflix #caos spells

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once-upon-a-ouat · 6 years ago

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OUAT Season 1 Inconsistencies

First, I wanna say that I’m not making this post with the intention of ruining anyone’s opinion on the quality of OUAT’s first season. I’m posting this list of the inconsistencies I noticed because I’m talking about inconsistencies in my overview of the season and I want people to know what I’m referring to. Some of these things are really small and insignificant and immediately fade when you look at the big picture. It’s just that nitpicking and perfectionism are in my nature and I can’t help but notice these things (of course, that doesn’t mean that I haven’t missed anything that happened on the show no matter consistent or not). And there are a few that are really annoying and could probably classify as plot holes. If you don’t want even the smallest detail that’s not in its place pointed out to you, then you should probably skip this post. With that said, here’s the list:

1x01

When Regina entered, all of the guests were too scared to even look at her and averted their eyes. Some even turned their backs to her. That is never addressed ever again.

“She poisoned an apple because she thought I was prettier than her.” - That’s not true even though we don’t know that yet. It gets debunked in the next episode when Regina says “What I loved most died because of Snow White”.

“The Queen has created a powerful curse.” - That is also proven incorrect in the next episode.

The whole thing with the wardrobe made zero sense to me. Even Regina who cast the Curse did not know where it would take them. How were they certain that the wardrobe would transport Emma to the same land where the Curse would take them?

How does an entire world’s population fit into a small town in Maine? Maybe Regina killed so many people that it became possible. Please, excuse my horrible sense of humor.

1x02

Regina ripping her father’s heart out. That was the one and only time when ripping the heart out immediately caused the person to die.

1x03

Snow wanted to run away but she also wanted to use the fairy dust on Regina to get rid of her but the two things contradict each other. If she had used the fairy dust, there would’ve been no point in running away because the kingdom would’ve been hers once again. So why do both?

Snow knew that she ruined Regina’s life but in 1x21 she didn’t know Daniel was dead.

1x04

Ella called David James but by that time they should have already learned that he was actually David and only pretended to be his brother.

Emma told Ashley that she had Henry when she was 18 but that’s not true. Henry is born on 15 August 2001. Emma is born on 22 October 1983. So she became 18 years old on 22 October 2001 which means she was still seventeen when she had Henry.

1x05

Why did the Curse transport Snow’s coffin to Storybrooke? In 1x02 it was implied that Regina had control over the Curse, so why bring the coffin over? That’s proof that the Curse is real so it doesn’t make a lick of sense for her to just bring it over to Storybrooke.

There’s no way in hell an umbrella could support a person’s weight. What’s that umbrella made of?

Emma wasn’t paying attention in Storybrooke as she asked if Marco is Archie’s father but in the first episode she was there when Marco said he didn’t have children.

1x06

Emma’s superpower was useless when Graham lied to her.

1x07

The whole thing with the hearts didn’t make that much sense. If the heart is ripped out, how does a person keep functioning? They never explained that and I think it’s quite important, seeing how many plot points rested upon the idea that hearts can be ripped out.

In the beginning of the episode Snow didn’t know that Regina wanted her dead but then she suddenly figured out that Regina sent Graham to kill her (and only because he wasn’t a knight). How? Why would she even consider that possibility if she didn’t suspect anything about Regina’s true intentions?

Graham gave Snow a whistle which they never showed her use. It’s not that big of a deal but why put it in a scene if you don’t really intend to make anything of it?

1x09

If the Curse prevented anyone from leaving town, why did Regina even bother to send Ava and Nicholas to Boston?

1x10

Why did Kathryn think she was pregnant? David’s words in the cabin and his actions throughout the episode implied that they didn’t even have sex.

1x11

Emma’s power was once again completely useless when Sidney lied to her.

1x13

The Siren was guarding the lake from men, but what would happen if a woman tried to get water from it?

1x14

Where did the eggs with the dwarfs come from?

1x15

Why did David start blacking out again? The first time he didn’t have cursed memories and he had just heard his and Snow’s story so he went to search for her. But here it didn’t make any sense and they never explained it. I feel like they just shoehorned it here so that there would be more drama and it really annoyed me. And he magically stopped blacking out when they didn’t need him to anymore.

In Storybrooke how does Granny think she got the scar on her hand?

1x16

How did Regina put the key under Mary Margaret’s pillow (where MM said it was in 1x17) without waking her up?

1x17

If Jefferson couldn’t find his way back to the Enchanted Forest, how did the Curse that affected only the Enchanted Forest bring him to Storybrooke?

Why did Jefferson even have his memories?

1x19

Why did they feel the need to give Blue the name “Rheul Gorm”? They never used it again.

1x20

How come Henry only discovered there was a story added to his book at the most convenient moment? He got the book back in 1x13.

1x21

Since when can Jefferson’s hat open portals to past moments in time? This is not how it works and we all know it.

Snow didn’t know that Daniel was dead despite the fact that she said (in that same episode, mind you) that she had destroyed Regina’s happiness. What else could she be possibly refering to?

1x22

“I gave up my heart so that the Queen would spare Snow’s.” - That’s not what happened. And while some of the inconsistencies in the first episodes are understandable because they were still figuring out how the story would progress, this one is just annoying because we saw that that’s not what happened.

You can probably notice that most inconsistencies come from incorrect lines, the writers not knowing how to tie two points, Jefferson or Emma’s superpower. Most of that is fine and does not cause major annoyances. The problem with tying plot points together only gets exacerbated in the next seasons though and they should’ve probably worked on that a little more.

#ouat rewatch #once upon a time #ouat #season 1 #inconsistencies #let's call this...#operation 'steal my glasses'#(so that i won't notice these things anymore)#operation end

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akarolinada · 5 years ago

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SAINT SEIYA: Knights of the Zodiac 1x05 "The Black Knights" ★★★★★★★☆☆☆

#trakt

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darkwinterchild · 7 years ago

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@maxpowersimpsonskywalkerspock replied to your post “@maxpowersimpsonskywalkerspock replied to your post “Laurel Lance -…”

I think this whole “fighting for the poor” is very Hufflepuff of hers,because she’s an empathetic person,and her Gryffindor qualities are mostly superficial,IMO(recklessness,straightforwardness,boldness)… Besides,Laurel’s not moralistic enough to be in Gryffindor(those people tend to focus more in morals than in people).

Hey, sorry for the late reply, I had a busy week.

Laurel’s Gryffindor traits are a pre-eminent part of her personality, in my opinion. It’s what sets her apart from all the other lawyers at CNRI, and from people in general. I really don’t think they’re superficial. She’s not just incredibly brave and daring, It can almost be an issue for her: she really has a tendency toward recklessness, and it gets her in trouble so many times. In season 1, as a lawyer she’d always go against the heavy-hitters (Adam Hunt, Martin Somers, Jason Brodeur, Cyrus Vanch) despite everyone else’s advise. In season 2, it’s the same thing with Blood. In season 3, she started hitting the street as the Black Canary, not caring that she was putting herself in danger. That’s just so Gryffindor to me. Every single time, Laurel chose to fight. She never backs down from a challenge. She willingly entered the battlefield, because ultimately it wasn’t enough to just help people within the means of CNRI (if they couldn’t take down Adam Hunt, there weren’t fit to call themselves a legal aid office?), it wasn’t enough to just be a lawyer anymore (she had to go after the random thugs too), even the law wasn’t enough (so she had to resort to vigilantism).

These aren’t Hufflepuff choices. Laurel has a big heart, but Hufflepuffs don’t have a monopoly on empathy (it’s not even a house trait). Hufflepuff are honest, hard-working, loyal and care about justice and fairness, and all of this is true for Laurel. But they’re also more oriented toward comfort than battle. Gryffindor is the house of the chivalrous knights after all, all the people with a hero-complex (and btw, the only Arrowverse character I’d say is more Gryffindor than Laurel is Ray Palmer). I think Laurel would have been a good Hufflepuff is you toned down the Gryffindor traits. Bravery, boldness, recklessness, chivalry, determination - these things define her for me (along with empathy of course).

I’m not sure I agree that Gryffs are more moralistic than Puffs, exactly. I mean, I think I’d agree with you about Gryffs being more about ideas and Puffs being more about people. But anyway, I really do see Laurel as very idealistic (definitely one of the most idealistic characters in the Arrowverse), and yes, a little bit moralistic. It was always balanced by her compassion, but she definitely was one of the characters who’d call out others on their bad behavior. For example, Oliver about vanishing after a shooting and leaving his family to worry (1x03), her father for being unfair toward Oliver and not seeing straight when it comes to Sara (1x05 or 1x12), Tommy for not taking her situation seriously (1x06), etc. It’s not unfair or anything, she’s not wrong. And I think it’s more about helping the person to be better than about being mean, like in 1x15 when she’s talking to Thea and trying to make her see (and acknowledge) how privileged she is.

(So yeah, to summarize, Laurel’s definitely still a Gryff for me!)

#maxpowersimpsonskywalkerspock #reply #sorting #gryffindor #hufflepuff #laurel lance #arrow #she's like almost the perfect example of a gryffindor for me #though ofc it's okay if you don't agree #always fun to debate #mp

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julibe · 5 years ago

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SAINT SEIYA: Knights of the Zodiac 1x05 "The Black Knights" ★★★★★★★☆☆☆

#trakt

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girls-are-weird · 5 years ago

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#NowWatching: SAINT SEIYA: Knights of the Zodiac 1x05 "The Black Knights"

#trakt

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lightwood-alec · 8 years ago

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TV Episodes 2017

13 Reasons Why (13) 1x01 - Tape 1, Side A 1x02 - Tape 1, Side B 1x03 - Tape 2, Side A 1x04 - Tape 2, Side B 1x05 - Tape 3, Side A 1x06 - Tape 3, Side B 1x07 - Tape 4, Side A 1x08 - Tape 4, Side B 1x09 - Tape 5, Side A 1x10 - Tape 5, Side B 1x11 - Tape 6, Side A 1x12 - Tape 6, Side B 1x13 - Tape 7, Side A 8 Out of 10 Cats (1) 20x08 - Jamali Maddix, Rick Edwards, Kate Humble & Joe Lycett (New Year’s Special) 8 Out of 10 Cats Does Countdown (1) 12x01- Stephen Mangan, Noel Fielding, Fay Ripley & the Brett Domino Trio A League of Their Own (9) 11x11 - Christmas Special 11x12 - U.S. Road Trip 2, Part One 11x13 - U.S. Road Trip 2, Part Two 11x14 - U.S. Road Trip 2, Part Three 11x15 - U.S. Road Trip 2, Part Four 11x16 - U.S. Road Trip 2, Part Five 12x01 - Rob Beckett, Dele Ali & Stephen Mangan 12x02 - Emma Bunton, Mo Farah & Anthony Joshua 12x04 - Charlotte Dujardin, Cesc Fabregas & Romesh Ranganathan American Gods (1) 1x01 - The Bone Orchard American Horror Story: Cult (11) American Horror Story: Hotel (4) 5x07 - Flicker 5x08 - Ten Commandments Killer 5x09 - She Wants Revenge 5x10 - She Gets Revenge An Unfortunate Series of Events (1) 1x01 - The Bad Beginning: Part One And Then There Were None (1) 1x01 - Episode One Animal Kingdom (14) 1x08 - Man In 1x09 - Judas Kiss 1x10 - What Have You Done 2x01 - Eat What You Kill 2x02 - Karma 2x03 - Bleed for It 2x04 - Broken Boards 2x05 - Forgive Us Our Trespasses 2x06 - Cry Havoc 2x07 - Dig 2x08 - Grace 2x09 - Custody 2x10 - Treasure 2x11 - The Leopard Archer (2) 8x01 - Archer Dreamland: No Good Deed 8x02 - Archer Dreamland: Berenice Arrow (1) 6x08 - Crisis on Earth-X, Part 2 Atlanta (10) 1x01 - The Big Bang 1x02 - Streets on Lock 1x03 - Go for Broke 1x04 - The Streisand Effect 1x05 - Nobody Beats the Biebs 1x06 - Value 1x07 - B.A.N. 1x08 - The Club 1x09 - Juneteenth 1x10 - The Jacket Ballers (8) 1x02 - Raise Up 1x03 - Move the Chains 1x04 - Heads Will Roll 1x05 - Machete Charge 1x06 - Everything Is Everything 1x07 - Ends 1x08 - Gaslighting 1x09 - Head-On Bates Motel (3) 5x05 - Dreams Die First 5x06 - Marion 5x07 - Inseparable Big Fat Quiz of the Year (2) 1x24 - Big Fat Quiz of the Year 2016 1x25 - Big Fat Quiz of Everything 2017 Big Little Lies (7) Big Time Rush (1) 2x15 - Big Time Reality Bill Nye Saves the World (2) 1x01 - Earth Is a Hot Mess 1x02 - Tune Your Quack-o-Meter Billy on the Street (18) 1x01 - And Away We Go... 1x02 - Television is the Greatest Thing to Ever Happen to Me! 1x03 - Drunk Rich 1x04 - Can Rachel Dratch Name 20 White People in 30 Seconds? 1x05 - The Meryl Streep Showdown 1x06 - Where in the World is Scarlett Johansson’s Vagina? 1x07 - Ask an Asian! 1x08 - Are You Smarter Than a Gay Fifth Grader? 1x09 - Did You Hear Madonna Died? 1x10 - Joan Rivers Gets Quizzed in the Face 2x01 - Billy Meets Mr. Singh! 2x02 - The Lesbian Lightning Round, with Andy Cohen 2x03 - Scream for an American Girl Doll, with Will Ferrell 2x04 - It’s Spock - Do You Care?, with Zachary Quinto 2x05 - Whistleblow that Jew!, with Rashida Jones and Maya Rudolph 2x06 - It’s Debra Messing, You Gays!, with Debra Messing and Christian Borle 2x07 - Do You Think Gisele Bundchen Understands the Jokes on Portlandia?, with Nas and Ashley Benson 5x08 - Curbside Conga Line with James Corden The Blacklist (4) 4x03 - Miles McGrath (No. 65) 4x04 - Gaia (No. 81) 4x05 - The Lindquist Concern (No. 105) 4x06 - The Thrushes (No. 53) Black Sails (10) 4x01 - XXIX 4x02 - XXX 4x03 - XXXI 4x04 - XXXII 4x05 - XXXIII 4x06 - XXXIV 4x07 - XXXV 4x08 - XXXVI 4x09 - XXXVII 4x10 - XXVIII Boardwalk Empire (2) 1x04 - Anastasia 1x05 - Nights in Ballygran The Bold Type (10) Brooklyn Nine-Nine (23) 4x11 - The Fugitive, Part One 4x12 - The Fugitive, Part Two 4x13 - The Audit 4x14 - Serve & Protect 4x15 - The Last Ride 4x16 - Moo Moo 4x17 - Cop Con 4x18 - Chasing Amy 4x19 - Your Honor 4x20 - The Slaughterhouse 4x21 - The Bank Job 4x22 - Crime & Punishment 5x01 - The Big House, Pt. 1 5x02 - The Big House, Pt. 2 5x03 - Kicks 5x04 - HalloVeen 5x05 - Bad Beat 5x06 - The Venue 5x07 - Two Turkeys 5x08 - Return to Skyfire 5x09 - 99 5x10 - Game Night 5x11 - The Favor Castlevania (4) 1x01 - Witchbottle 1x02 - Necropolis 1x03 - Labyrinth 1x04 - Monument Dear White People (10) 1x01 - Chapter I 1x02 - Chapter II 1x03 - Chapter III 1x04 - Chapter IV 1x05 - Chapter V 1x06 - Chapter VI 1x07 - Chapter VII 1x08 - Chapter VIII 1x09 - Chapter IX 1x10 - Chapter X The Defenders (8) Difficult People (28) Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency (4) 1x01 - Horizons 1x02 - Lost & Found 1x03 - Rogue Wall Enthusiasts 1x04 - Watkin The Exorcist (9) 1x08 - Chapter Eight: The Griefbearers 1x09 - Chapter Nine: 162 1x10 - Chapter Ten: Three Rooms 2x01 - Janus 2x02 - Safe as Houses 2x03 - Unclean 2x04 - One for Sorrow 2x05 - There But for the Grace of God, Go I 2x06 - Darling Nikki The Flash (3) 2x04 - The Fury of Firestorm 3x17 - Duet 4x08 - Crisis on Earth-X, Part 3 Freedom Fighters: The Ray (3) 1x01 - Episode One 1x02 - Episode Two 1x03 - Episode Three Future Man (13) Game of Thrones (2) 7x06 - Beyond the Wall 7x07 - The Dragon and the Wolf The Get Down (11) 1x01 - Where There Is Ruin, There Is Hope for a Treasure 1x02 - Seek Those Who Fan Your Flames 1x03 - Darkness Is Your Candle 1x04 - Forget Safety, Be Notorious 1x05 - You Have Wings, Learn to Fly 1x06 - Raise Your Words, Not Your Voice 1x07 - Unfold Your Own Myth 1x08 - The Beat Says, This Is The Way 1x09 - One by One, Into the Dark 1x10 - Gamble Everything 1x11 - Only From Exile Can We Come Home Girl Meets World (1) 3x21 - Girl Meets Goodbye Glue (6) 1x01 - Everyone 1x02 - James/Janine 1x03 - Eli/Rob 1x04 - Tina/Dominic 1x05 - James/Rob/Cal 1x06 - Rob/Tina The Good Place (21) 1x01 - Pilot 1x02 - Flying 1x03 - Tahani Al-Jamil 1x04 - Jason Mendoza 1x05 - Category 55 Doomsday Crisis 1x06 - What We Owe to Each Other 1x07 - The Eternal Shriek 1x08 - Most Improved Player 1x09 - ...Someone Like Me as a Member 1x10 - Chidi’s Choice 1x11 - What’s My Motivation 1x12 - Mindy St. Claire 1x13 - Michael’s Gambit 2x01 - Everything Is Great! (Part 1) 2x02 - Everything Is Great! (Part 2) 2x03 - Dance Dance Resolution 2x04 - Team Cockroach 2x05 - Existential Crisis 2x06 - The Trolley Problem 2x07 - Janet and Michael 2x08 - Derek Gotham (22) 3x12 - Ghosts 3x13 - Smile Like You Mean It 3x14 - The Gentle Art of Making Enemies 3x15 - How the Riddler Got His Name 3x16 - These Delicate and Dark Obsessions 3x17 - The Primal Riddle 3x18 - Light the Wick 3x19 - All Will Be Judged 3x20 - Pretty Hate Machine 3x21 - Destiny Calling 3x22 - Heavydirtysoul 4x01 - Pax Penguina 4x02 - The Fear Reaper 4x03 - They Who Hide Behind Masks 4x04 - The Demon’s Head 4x05 - The Blade’s Path 4x06 - Hog Day Afternoon 4x07 - A Day in the Narrows 4x08 - Stop Hitting Yourself 4x09 - Let Them Eat Pie 4x10 - Things That Go Boom 4x11 - Queen Takes Knight Halt and Catch Fire (1) 3x01 - Valley of the Heart’s Delight House of Cards (13) 5x01 - Chapter 53 5x02 - Chapter 54 5x03 - Chapter 55 5x04 - Chapter 56 5x05 - Chapter 57 5x06 - Chapter 58 5x07 - Chapter 59 5x08 - Chapter 60 5x09 - Chapter 61 5x10 - Chapter 62 5x11 - Chapter 63 5x12 - Chapter 64 5x13 - Chapter 65 How to Get Away with Murder (2) 3x10 - We’re Bad People 3x11 - Not Everything's About Annalise Iron Fist (13) 1x01 - Snow Gives Way 1x02 - Shadow Hawk Takes Flight 1x03 - Rolling Thunder Cannon Punch 1x04 - Eight Diagram Dragon Palm 1x05 - Under Leaf Pluck Lotus 1x06 - Immortal Emerges From Cave 1x07 - Felling Tree With Roots 1x08 - The Blessing of Many Fractures 1x09 - The Mistress of All Agonies 1x10 - Black Tiger Steals Heart 1x11 - Lead Horse Back to Stable 1x12 - Bar the Big Boss 1x13 - Dragon Plays With Fire The IT Crowd (5) 4x03 - Something Happened 4x04 - Italian For Beginners 4x05 - Bad Boys 4x06 - Reynholm vs. Reynholm 5x01 - The Final Episode It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia (10) 12x01 - The Gang Turns Black 12x02 - The Gang Goes to a Waterpark 12x03 - Old Lady House: A Situation Comedy 12x04 - Wolf Cola: A Public Relations Nightmare 12x05 - Making Dennis Reynolds a Murderer 12x06 - Hero or Hate Crime? 12x07 - PSTDee 12x08 - The Gang Tends Bar 12x09 - A Cricket’s Tale 12x10 - Dennis’ Double Life Last Week Tonight with John Oliver (30) 4x01 - February 12, 2017 (Trump vs. Truth) 4x02 - February 19, 2017 (Russia) 4x03 - February 26, 2017 (Affordable Care Act) 4x04 - March 5, 2017 (Tibet) 4x05 - March 12, 2017 (American Health Care Act) 4x06 - March 19, 2017 (United States Federal Budget) 4x07 - April 2, 2017 (Cannabis) 4x08 - April 9, 2017 (Gerrymandering) 4x09 - April 16, 2017 (2017 French Presidential Election) 4x10 - April 23, 2017 (Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner) 4x11 - May 7, 2017 (Net Neutrality) 4x12 - May 14, 2017 (Dialysis) 4x13 - May 21, 2017 (Stupid Watergate) 4x14 - June 4, 2017 (Paris Agreement) 4x15 - June 11, 2017 (UK General Elections and Brexit Negotiations) 4x16 - June 18, 2017 (Coal Mining and Bob Murray) 4x17 - June 25, 2017 (Vaccine Safety) 4x18 - July 2, 2017 (Local News and Sinclair Broadcast Group) 4x19 - July 30, 2017 (Alex Jones and InfoWars) 4x20 - August 6, 2017 (United States Border Patrol) 4x21 - August 13, 2017 (North Korea Crisis) 4x22 - August 20, 2017 (Nuclear Waste) 4x23 - September 10, 2017 (Joe Arpaio) 4x24 - September 24, 2017 (Corporate Consolidation) 4x25 - October 1, 2017 (Forensic Evidence) 4x26 - October 8, 2017 (Confederate Monuments) 4x27 - October 15, 2017 (Equifax Security Breach) 4x28 - October 29, 2017 (National Flood Insurance Program) 4x29 - November 5, 2017 (Economic Development Incentives) 4x30 - November 12, 2017 (Donald Trump’s Presidency) Legends of Tomorrow (18) 2x09 - Raiders of the Lost Art 2x10 - The Legion of Doom 2x11 - Turncoat 2x12 - Camelot/3000 2x13 - Land of the Lost 2x14 - Moonshot 2x15 - Fellowship of the Spear 2x16 - Doomworld 2x17 - Aruba 3x01 - Aruba-Con 3x02 - Freakshow 3x03 - Zari 3x04 - Phone Home 3x05 - Return of the Mack 3x06 - Helen Hunt 3x07 - Welcome to the Jungle 3x08 - Crisis on Earth-X, Part 4 3x09 - Beebo the God of War Legion (8) 1x01 - Chapter 1 1x02 - Chapter 2 1x03 - Chapter 3 1x04 - Chapter 4 1x05 - Chapter 5 1x06 - Chapter 6 1x07 - Chapter 7 1x08 - Chapter 8 The Lodge (3) 1x01 - The New Girl 1x02 - Reality Check 1x03 - Opportunities Luke Cage (6) 1x08 - Blowin’ Up the Spot 1x09 - DWYCK 1x10 - Take It Personal 1x11 - Now You’re Mine 1x12 - Soliloquy of Chaos 1x13 - You Know My Steez Master of None (5) 2x01 - The Thief 2x02 - Le Nozze 2x03 - Religion 2x04 - First Date 2x05 - The Dinner Party Making History (2) 1x01 - Pilot 1x02 - The Shot Heard Round the World Me, Myself & I (2) 1x01 - Pilot 1x02 - The First Step The Mindy Project (17) 5x08 - Hot Mess Time Machine 5x09 - Bat Mitzvah 5x10 - Take My Ex-Wife Please 5x11 - Dibs 5x12 - Mindy Lahiri Is A White Man 5x13 - Mindy’s Best Friend 5x14 - A Decent Proposal 6x01 - Is That All There Is 6x02 - A Romantical Decouplement 6x03 - May Divorce Be With You 6x04 - Leo’s Girlfriend 6x05 - Jeremy and Anna’s Meryl Streep Costume Party 6x06 - The Midwife’s Tale 6x07 - Girl Gone Wild 6x08 - Doctors Without Boundaries 6x09 - Danny in Real Life 6x10 - It Had to Be You Mr. Mercedes (3) 1x01 - Pilot 1x02 - On Your Mark 1x03 - Cloudy, With a Chance of Mayhem Mr. Robot (10) 3x01 - eps3.0_power-saver-mode.h 3x02 - eps3.1_undo.gz 3x03 - eps3.2_legacy.so 3x04 - eps3.3_metadata.par2 3x05 - eps3.4_runtime-error.r00 3x06 - eps3.5_kill-process.inc 3x07 - eps3.6_fredrick+tanya.chk 3x08 - eps3.7_dont-delete-me.ko 3x09 - eps3.8_stage3.torrent 3x10 - shutdown -r Narcos (4) 1x01 - Descenso 1x02 - The Sword of Simon Bolivar 1x03 - The Men of Always 1x04 - The Palace in Flames New Girl (1) 6x04 - Homecoming The Night Of (7) 1x02 - Part Two: Subtle Beast 1x03 - Part Three: A Dark Crate 1x04 - Part Four: The Art of War 1x05 - Part Five: The Season of the Witch 1x06 - Part Six: Samson and Delilah 1x07 - Part Seven: Ordinary Death 1x08 - Part Eight: The Call of the Wild NTSF:SD:SUV:: (22) 1x01 - One Cabeza, Two Cabeza, Three Cabeza...DEAD! 1x02 - The Birthday Party That Was Neither 1x03 - Exes and Oh-No’s! 1x04 - The Risky Business of Being Alone in Your Home 1x05 - Dolphinnegan's Wake 1x06 - Tijuana, We've Got a Problem 1x07 - Full Hauser 1x08 - Up Periscope, Down with San Diego 1x09 - Cause for ConCERN 1x10 - Piper Doesn't Live Here Anymore 1x11 - Twistin’ the Night Away 1x12 - I Left My Heart In Someone's Cooler 2x01 - 16 Hop Street 2x02 - The Real Bicycle Thief 2x03 - Sabbath-tage 2x04 - Lights, Camera, Assassination 2x05 - Time Angels 2x06 - Whack-A-Mole 2x07 - Robot Town 2x08 - Comic-Con-Flict 2x09 - The Return of Dragon Shumway 2x10 - Family Dies Powerless (9) 1x01 - Wayne or Lose 1x02 - Wayne Dream Team 1x03 - Sinking Day 1x04 - Emily Dates a Henchman 1x05 - Cold Season 1x06 - I’ma Friend You 1x07 - Van vs. Emily: Dawn of Justice 1x08 - Green Furious 1x09 - Emergency Punch-Up Preacher (8) 2x01 - On The Road 2x02 - Mumbai Sky Tower 2x03 - Damsels 2x04 - Viktor 2x05 - Dallas 2x06 - Sokosha 2x07 - Pig 2x08 - Holes Prison Break (10) 4x01 - Scylla 5x01 - Ogygia 5x02 - Kaniel Outis 5x03 - The Liar 5x04 - The Prisoner’s Dilemma 5x05 - Contingency 5x06 - Phaeacia 5x07 - Wine Dark Sea 5x08 - Progeny 5x09 - Behind the Eyes The Punisher (1) 1x01 - 3AM Queer as Folk (UK) (1) 1x01 - Episode 1 Riverdale (7) 1x01 - The River’s Edge 1x02 - A Touch of Evil 1x03 - Body Double 1x04 - The Last Picture Show 1x05 - Heart of Darkness 1x06 - Faster, Pussycats! Kill! Kill! 1x07 - In a Lonely Place Saturday Night Live (2) 42x19 - Chris Pine / LCD Soundsystem 43x03 - Kumail Nanjiani / P!nk Scream Queens (4) 2x07 - The Hand 2x08 - Rapunzel, Rapunzel 2x09 - Lovin’ the D 2x10 - Drain the Swamp Sense8 (11) 2x01 - Happy F*cking New Year 2x02 - Who Am I? 2x03 - Obligate Mutualisms 2x04 - Polyphony 2x05 - Fear Never Fixed Anything 2x06 - Isolated Above, Connected Below 2x07 - I Have No Room in My Heart for Hate 2x08 - All I Want Right Now Is One More Bullet 2x09 - What Family Actually Means 2x10 - If All the World’s a Stage, Identity Is Nothing But a Costume 2x11 - You Want a War? Shadowhunters (20) 2x01 - This Guilty Blood 2x02 - A Door Into the Dark 2x03 - Parabatai Lost 2x04 - Day of Wrath 2x05 - Dust and Shadows 2x06 - Iron Sisters 2x07 - How Are Thou Fallen 2x08 - Love Is a Devil 2x09 - Bound by Blood 2x10 - By the Light of Dawn 2x11 - Mea Maxima Culpa 2x12 - You Are Not Your Own 2x13 - Those of Demon Blood 2x14 - The Fair Folk 2x15 - A Problem of Memory 2x16 - Day of Atonement 2x17 - A Dark Reflection 2x18 - Awake, Arise, or Be Forever Fallen 2x19 - Hail and Farewell 2x20 - Beside Still Water Sherlock (3) 4x01 - The Six Thatchers 4x02 - The Lying Detective 4x03 - The Final Problem Silicon Valley (10) 4x01 - Success Failure 4x02 - Terms of Service 4x03 - Intellectual Property 4x04 - Teambuilding Exercise 4x05 - The Blood Boy 4x06 - Customer Service 4x07 - The Patent Troll 4x08 - The Keenan Vortex 4x09 - Hooli-Con 4x10 - Server Error Smallville (1) 9x06 - Crossfire Stranger Things (9) Supergirl (1) 3x08 - Crisis on Earth-X, Part 1 Superstore (3) 1x01 - Pilot 1x02 - Magazine Profile 1x03 - Shots and Salsa Teen Wolf (6) 6x11 - Said the Spider to the Fly 6x12 - Raw Talent 6x13 - After Images 6x17 - Werewolves of London 6x19 - Broken Glass 6x20 - The Wolves of War Time After Time (2) 1x01 - Pilot 1x02 - I Will Catch You Trial & Error (13) 1x01 - Chapter 1: A Big Crime in a Small Town 1x02 - Chapter 2: A Wrench in the Case 1x03 - Chapter 3: The Other Man 1x04 - Chapter 4: An Unwelcome Distraction 1x05 - Chapter 5: Right-Hand Man 1x06 - Chapter 6: Secrets & Lies 1x07 - Chapter 7: The Case Gets Big 1x08 - Chapter 8: A Change in Defense 1x09 - Chapter 9: Opening Statements 1x10 - Chapter 10: A Hostile Jury 1x11 - Chapter 11: Unusual Suspect 1x12 - Chapter 12: The Defense Rests 1x13 - Chapter 13: The Verdict The Twilight Zone (1) 3x08 - It’s A Good Life Twin Peaks (9) 2x11 - Masked Ball 2x12 - The Black Widow 2x13 - Checkmate 2x14 - Double Play 2x22 - Beyond Life and Death 3x01 - The Return, Part 1 3x02 - The Return, Part 2 3x03 - The Return, Part 3 3x04 - The Return, Part 4 Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt (13) 3x01 - Kimmy Gets Divorced?! 3x02 - Kimmy’s Roommate Lemonades! 3x03 - Kimmy Can’t Help You! 3x04 - Kimmy Goes to College! 3x05 - Kimmy Steps on a Crack! 3x06 - Kimmy Is a Feminist! 3x07 - Kimmy Learns About the Weather! 3x08 - Kimmy Does a Puzzle! 3x09 - Kimmy Goes to Church! 3x10 - Kimmy Pulls Off a Heist! 3x11 - Kimmy Googles the Internet! 3x12 - Kimmy and the Trolley Problem! 3x13 - Kimmy Bites an Onion! The Vampire Diaries (2) 8x00 - Forever Yours (Retrospective Special) 8x16 - I Was Feeling Epic Veep (10) 6x01 - Omaha 6x02 - Library 6x03 - Georgia 6x04 - Justice 6x05 - Chicklet 6x06 - Qatar 6x07 - Blurb 6x08 - Judge 6x09 - A Woman First 6x10 - Groundbreaking Wet Hot American Summer: Ten Years Later (8) When We Rise (8) 1x01 - Part I 1x02 - Part II 1x03 - Part III 1x04 - Part IV 1x05 - Part V 1x06 - Part VI 1x07 - Part VII 1x08 - Part VIII Will (7) 1x01 - The Play’s the Thing 1x02 - Cowards Die Many Times 1x03 - The Two Gentlemen 1x04 - Brave New World 1x05 - The Marriage of True Minds 1x06 - Something Wicked This Way Comes 1x07 - What Dreams May Come The Young Pope (10) 1x01 - First Episode 1x02 - Second Episode 1x03 - Third Episode 1x04 - Fourth Episode 1x05 - Fifth Episode 1x06 - Sixth Episode 1x07 - Seventh Episode 1x08 - Eighth Episode 1x09 - Ninth Episode 1x10 - Tenth Episode Total: 675 TV 2016 TV 2015 TV 2014 TV 2013 TV 2012

#tv 2017

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kcwcommentary · 5 years ago

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VLD8x10 – “Knights of Light Part 2”

8x10 – “Knights of Light Part 2”

This episode exhausts me. Zarkon is officially pardoned in this episode for having abused, tortured, and committed genocide for 10,000 years. And even after being absolved for his horrible actions, the writers then continue to write Zarkon as a horrible person by having him declare Keith’s leadership as coming from Keith’s Galra genetics. In other words, Zarkon is still a Galra-supremacist. And the show presents this as if Zarkon’s right. This just alienates me as a member of the audience. This show should have the effect of making viewers feel uplifted, but it doesn’t. In Zarkon locating leadership in Galra genetics in praising Keith, the show is telling viewers that being human makes a person inherently inferior. I don’t know how the executive producers, the writers, the executives at DreamWorks all thought that this was okay.

I really do not like this episode.

We start by formally going into Honerva’s mind. The Paladins end up on Daibazaal before the destruction. Allura says, “The entity wants us to enter the palace.” The way this is phrased really makes it sound like the entity is not being corruptive and manipulative but that it’s cooperating with Allura. I still, again, contend that these entities would have been far more interesting if they had been otherworldly creatures that Honerva had imprisoned that were angry at having been imprisoned and were trying to return to their home. And thinking about that again, in turn, makes me think about how these entities ended up being generic evil generators. We never do get an explanation about what they are, why they live in the rift, do they produce the quintessence that’s in the rift, and the like. I guess the creative team for the show just didn’t think they had to explain the beings who the show has now declared is the source of all the show’s problems.

They go into the palace, Allura’s about to open a door, and Alfor stops her. “Allura, please listen to me. Alteans are life-givers. The entity you possess is a dark, ancient evil.” What the show has Alfor say does not feel established in the narrative. The show has established that the rift between realities contains unlimited quintessence. It has established that quintessence is life energy. So then, why are there “dark, ancient evil” entities floating around in unlimited life energy? The show never identifies a source for the unlimited life energy in the rift either. Aside from the show trying to assign all bad behavior of Zarkon and Honerva to their being possessed by rift entities, the show hasn’t shown the entities being evil on their own. Everything that happened with them in 3x07 “The Legend Begins” can be explained as they were fighting back against an aggressor who was attacking them. Basically, declaring the entities to be “a dark, ancient evil” does not feel earned.

Allura counters, saying that they were only able to get into Honerva’s mind and rescue Alfor and the other Paladins’ spirits because of the entity. Alfor thinks he’s telling Allura something new by suggesting she go to Oriande. I love that she gets to be all like, yeah, I’ve already done that, I passed the trials. “That’s wonderful news,” Alfor says in a voice that doesn’t at all sound like he thinks it is. Allura says, “The entity will guide us toward the answers we seek,” and Alfor says, “But at what cost.” This is nothing more than the show giving Alfor generic dialog to foreshadow Allura’s death.

The palace door cracks, broken by a ball of energy. Allura’s knocked to the floor, which cracks, and she falls through into space. Then the Lions are in space, a totally differently looking space than what Allura was in. I guess we’re just supposed to see this shot of the Lions as being miscellaneously located? They dodge the ball of energy, which turns out to belong to the Robeast version of the gladiator, which Voltron fought in 1x05 “Return of the Gladiator.” I have to concur with those who’ve said that this being who the Paladins fight now makes it wrong for Shiro to not be part of this story. None of them have any emotional or personal connection to the gladiator. None of them. Not even Honerva is connected to the gladiator beyond having turned him into a Robeast, but then she only did that to him because of her trying to exploit the gladiator’s connection to Shiro. Only Shiro has ever had a connection to the gladiator. So, why is he being used here without Shiro? The show using the gladiator again definitely lends support to the argument that this season was re-edited. If it wasn’t re-edited, and the creative team somehow just randomly picked the gladiator for this battle, then they demonstrate that they didn’t care about the story having meaning.

Lance says, “Whoa! Where’d that thing come from!?” I say, where’d the Paladins in their Lions come from? I know this is in Honerva’s mind, and that lets the creative team have nearly anything happen without thinking they need to explain it, but it feels like there’s something significant missing in the scene transition (which might be additional support for the re-edit argument). They were in the palace, then Allura fell through the floor into a space background that looks completely different than the space background of this battle, and the Lions were spontaneously there and the Paladins spontaneously in them, despite having last been still standing in the palace. Yeah, I definitely need better transitions than this.

They form Voltron with the full, long version of the animation. While the form-Voltron animation used repeatedly early in the show could be explained as being an homage to the repeated use of certain pieces of animation in 80s cartoons, right now, it feels like using this animation was done for the same reason that it was done in the 80s: to fill up time. This show has had more than a few times over the past seasons when Voltron is formed either without the form-Voltron animation or with a shortened version of that animation. From a narrative composition and structure perspective, the full version would only have emotional value if it happened as a depiction of the protagonists rallying together for a concluding battle. This is not a concluding battle. So, there’s no emotion gained from running the full animation, thus it feels like it’s just using up time.

Hunk says, “Wait, where are the original Paladins?” Why would he think they would be in the cockpit with them? Why are none of them questioning how they got into their Lions since they were last shown being in the palace, except of course, Allura, who was in a different space than this?

The gladiator now is using three balls of energy instead of just one. Pidge emphasizes that “this is Honerva’s mind, anything can happen.” I am not fond of stories wherein “anything can happen” because it makes the story feel undefined. Allura says, “It appears she has guardians to protect her thoughts and memories.” So, if the entity wanted Allura to go to the palace, but Honerva has this guardian set there to protect her thoughts and memories, then wouldn’t that mean the entity is working with Allura against Honerva? I can’t help it, I still think it would have made the story more interesting if Honerva had been conclusively villainous and the entities were being abused by her, just like she’s abused everyone else in her life.

Voltron gets hit a bunch by the energy balls, but then Allura’s hand and then body glows, and she declares, “The original Paladins, they’re still with us.” Everyone but Keith, since his original Black Paladin is Zarkon – which makes me totally think of how the conflict over who gets to be Black Paladin was the conflict between Zarkon and Shiro in seasons one and two. Zarkon had been a foil for Shiro, the two of them opposed over control of the Black Lion and who deserved the title and position of Black Paladin. Now, the show gives the connection to Zarkon to Keith all based on them sharing Galra genetics. Prior to this, Keith’s conflict with Zarkon was always one in which he fought to protect Shiro from Zarkon. The greatest emotion and poignancy these two episodes could have had requires Shiro to be Black Paladin.

Each of the original Paladins (minus Zarkon) temporarily, spiritually work the controls of their respective Lions, sending spectral versions of the Lions flying from Voltron to the gladiator. The original Paladins declare that they with their spectral Lion manifestations will hold off the gladiator. They say, “Voltron, keep going. We’ll hold off the beast.”

Lance thankfully points out they don’t know where to go, Allura sees some glowing point in the distance and says that way. Voltron forms sword, and they pierce the glowing spot, just like when Voltron in the past has torn open a rift in reality. The Paladins then find themselves standing in front of the pyramid on Oriande.

Allura says that the entity “is pulling us back to its source.” Okay, then its source is the quintessence field, not Honerva, but Allura and the narrative seem to be saying the source is Honerva.

So, they enter the pyramid and end up standing on some piece of rocky ground under a thunderstorm. They see flashes of images, which seem to be Honerva’s memories. One seems to be Honerva with her mother? Honerva in school with Alfor. You know, things that make Honerva into having been just a nice, normal person until she was corrupted by external sources.

I still do not like this retcon whatsoever. I know the creative team think they were complicating Honerva’s character with this retcon, but it just comes off as totally dissonant, inconsistent with who she’s been for most of the show. They wrote Lotor as if he was one character in order to manipulate the audience for their surprise twist that Lotor is actually a totally different character. The EPs said they wrote Lotor to be like Zuko so that it would feel shocking when they, in the end, had him be like Azula (though, I contend that what they wrote Lotor to be from “The Colony” through “Defender of All Universes” is nothing like Azula, and that the EPs thinking that the two characters have the same position within and effect on the story shows they’re not good at understanding and writing character). Similar to this conflicting way they wrote Lotor that makes him feel like two completely different characters depending on the episode, they also wrote Honerva. They seem to have eventually decided they wanted Honerva to have been this good person who was corrupted, but they didn’t build the character to be that way from the start. So, it feels like she’s two different characters, and which one we get depends on the episode. It ends up making the show feel terribly inconsistently written.

More memories flash. We get a scene of post-rift Zarkon and the Galra attacking Trigel, Gyrgan, and Blaytz, demanding to know where the Lions are. This is when Haggar “corrupted” the spirits of the three of them. Pidge’s “she killed them” sounds like she can’t believe Haggar did it. Why? Why would she think it’s some unbelievable thing that Honerva/Haggar would do that? Honerva has repeatedly committed genocide, and Pidge knows this. Hunk says, “What she did to them was terrible.” Yes, she’s a terrible person. Again, why is it like they’ve forgotten how horrible Honerva is?

Allura says, “I always assumed they sacrificed themselves, but I didn’t realize what that entailed.” I mean, they died holding the line. That their death was from Honerva’s space magic instead of a sword in the chest doesn’t really change anything. The Paladins did still died. I don’t understand this bafflement Allura and the other Paladins have.

Allura says, “We must destroy Honerva.” Lance says, “Allura, please, what we just saw, it was all because of the entity.” Ugh!!!!! I hate this retcon. The retcon deprives this story of a villain. By taking Honerva’s actions away from her and having all the evil she’s done be not her fault, it makes the show not have a villain. I don’t understand why the creative team was so driven to make this story one in which Honerva, as both a long-time and final big villain of the show, is never held responsible for her villainy. I don’t like that I keep coming back to saying that this show feels like it gaslights the audience. We know the horrible things that Honerva has done, but why won’t the show hold her responsible for those actions? It’s like the EPs and the writers themselves don’t want to be responsible. As a writer, you are responsible for everything, absolutely everything every character in your story does. The EPs and writers seem to not want to take responsibility themselves. It’s like they ended up too afraid to have a villain in the story.

Lance then says that the entity that caused Honerva to become evil “is the same one that’s inside [Allura].” Huh? So, Honerva no longer has an entity within her because she put it in Tova and now it’s in Allura? So then, wouldn’t Honerva revert to normal if she’s no longer possessed because the possessing entity is inside Allura now? Or is the show saying that individual entities are all the same entity? This just doesn’t feel like the writers ever defined the parameters of any of this.

Allura stands away from the group, closes her eyes, is hit by lighting, and then they Paladins are standing in a room with big webs all over the place. I guess these are supposed to be neurons of Honerva’s memories. Keith cuts one, and there’s a flash of Honerva and Luca at Oriande, another of Honerva and Merla at Oriande. Allura, sounding a bit angry, cuts more. This time video of Honerva in front of the pyramind on Oriande in 8x06 “Genesis” plays, she’s in the middle of her ritual, the quintessence wind is blowing. Lance and Hunk start shooting the webs. There’s a shot of Sincline kneeling before Honerva on Oriande.

Then, there’s the infamous image of Lotor’s melted corpse. This totally conflicts with having Sincline behave as if controlled by Lotor in “Genesis.” In that battle, Sincline actively refuses to shoot Allura. It actively turns on the one Colony Altean and stabs his mecha through the back and chest. They wrote everyone, Honerva included, to say that Lotor was back, like he was alive. But the appearance of his body, he’s not alive. If he is still alive in this flash of memory, then – honestly, I don’t know which is worse. That the show would have written this moment either way is gross. If he’s alive, then Honerva is continuing to abuse him by using him for her reality rending plans. And the show absolves her of this behavior. Just no, so much no.

Honerva says, “Lotor, we’ll all be together soon.” I don’t understand how Honerva thinks her plan makes any sense. She’s going to tear through realities to get to her proclaimed perfect reality so that she can be a mother to Lotor, but regardless of any other reality she went to, no alternate version of Lotor is her son. No alternate version of Zarkon is her husband. I would imagine the creative team would just say, she’s crazy, she’s warped by quintessence and the entity, and so she isn’t thinking clearly. But that’s not good enough to write a show’s concluding antagonist like that. Saying that anything goes because crazy is incredibly cheap writing.

When the Paladins open their eyes, they look like they’re in the quintessence field. They all get headaches as they hear Honerva ranting. Allura has everyone hold hands and instructs them to feel the energy of the entity and not fight it. (Basically, this small scene is completely pointless.) The scene flashes, and they’re lying amid juniberry flowers. The place looks like Altea.

A super mecha version of Zarkon attacks. Keith tells everyone to get to safety while he distracts Zarkon. Keith rants at Zarkon that he doesn’t “deserve the Black Lion.” Well then, it’s a good thing that Shiro freed the Black Lion from Zarkon’s control in season two so that Zarkon can’t have the Black Lion. I hate that this show expects us to forget that Shiro did that. That Shiro has had more of his bond with the Black Lion depicted in story than Keith ever has. It just still feels wrong, feels off that this is Keith instead of Shiro.

Suddenly the Black Lion is there. Then the other Lions appear. They form Voltron again. Zarkon and Voltron fight. Once again, the Paladins are in their Lions, in Voltron, without any transition to indicate it. I guess this is just handwaved by claim that they can do anything because they’re in Honerva’s mind and there are no rules to the story.

There’s a blast from the sky that separates Zarkon and Voltron, the blast ends up being the spectral versions of the Lions piloted by the spirits of the old Paladins. They combine with Voltron and chest blast Zarkon. Voltron stabs Zarkon-mecha through the chest. There’s an explosion, then Zarkon-mecha turns into the Black Lion with Zarkon standing in front of it.

Voltron separates. The other old Paladins go to meet Zarkon. Zarkon is completely unlike himself. He has never been written like this, even pre-quintessence poisoning. This just feels so completely out of character. He’s friendly, happy to see everyone. He even mistakes Allura for her mother, which honestly only emphasizes that this show did next to nothing with Allura and her mother.

And so, Zarkon is officially absolved of his behavior per the way the show depicts him and his behavior now. The man who once burned a planet, killing everyone on it just because his son refused to “crush this planet beneath [his] heel,” as shown in 8x02 “Shadows,” the man for whom that was only one of the countless acts of genocide he committed, he’s now absolved of that behavior. It’s infuriating.

Allura is angry, she states the facts that Zarkon “killed millions.” She grabs him by the head, “reminding him of the suffering he’s caused.” But the show is telling us that he didn’t cause any of it, it was the poisoning that did it. The idea that Zarkon has to be reminded through Allura doing some kind of psychic flashback is directly the result of this show’s refusal to actually have Zarkon and Honerva have to face responsibility for their behavior. In this act of what the creative team thinks is making him face his behavior, the mere nature of his not remembering it on his own makes him not responsible. It makes it that Zarkon is not a villain and never has been. It makes me feel jerked around.

Zarkon cries, saying, “I didn’t know what I was doing.” Allura says, “You knew exactly what you were doing. You deceived and betrayed your friends and allies.” As much as I wish Allura was right, the fact that the show is showing us that Zarkon doesn’t remember any of it means that Allura’s wrong. Zarkon literally says the quintessence made him do it, essentially the devil made him do it. This isn’t compelling. It isn’t complicating the villains. This is the show having written the villains to be genocidal dictators and then not wanting to deal with the reality of having written them that way. This is a writing an escape or avoidance mechanism for the executive producers and writers to absolve themselves of having written cruel, brutal villains and not have to deal with them actually being brutal characters.

Allura asks him what he was put here to protect, and he then looks at a moon in the sky and says that it is “a moon of Daibazaal.” Allura declares it to be “the source.” The Black Lion blasts the moon, it explodes, and then little balls of yellow light fall on everyone. Images flash in the sky, all are displays of Honerva being happy with her family. “They are her deepest desires, everything she hopes to achieve,” Zarkon says.

Pidge suggests Honerva “is going to use Lotor’s ship to pierce through realities and find the one where she can live with her family.” Hunk asks, “Is that even possible?” And Pidge replies, “Not without destroying all other realities in the process.” This potential consequence of Honerva doing this, this risk, this threat, it makes literally zero sense. Why would all other realities end up being destroyed because Honerva went into another reality? Did the people writing this completely forget that 3x04 “Hole in the Sky” exists? In that episode, we learn that 10,000 years ago, Alfor had some Altean scientists looking for another transreality comet. They found it, but in the process, the comet pierced through this reality, through the rift between realities, and into another reality. That hole from this reality into another reality existed for 10,000 years. The Paladins went from this reality into that reality for some time. All realities were not destroyed in the process. So, it makes no sense that all realities will be destroyed just because Honerva does what Voltron did five seasons earlier. This makes this end threat that Honerva is going to destroy all realities feel absolutely inconsistent with what has happened before.

A wind starts blowing against everyone. Zarkon says, “She knows you’re here.” Hunk asks, “How?” You’ve been fighting in her mind, I would think that would cause her to become aware of you. You also blew up a moon where she kept her desires. How could she not know you where there? Allura has a flash of the outline of Honerva’s face and falls over screaming in pain. Zarkon says it’s because the entity is within Allura and Honerva controls the entity – again, I thought that the entities were supposed to be controlling Honerva and that’s why she’s absolved of responsibility for her actions. I really wish this show could decide on who controls whom.

Keith tells everyone to get to their Lions, but the Lions disappear. Miscellaneous destruction happens around them. Zarkon tells them, “There’s nothing you can do but accept defeat.” Keith says, “No, we won’t give up,” and Zarkon responds, “That’s your Galra lineage. It’s what makes you a great leader of Voltron. You and I share that trait.” This is absolutely disgusting that they wrote this. Zarkon, even now having been absolved of his behavior, is still a Galra-supremacist. This show through him in this moment is saying that being strong willed is genetic, that it comes specifically from a specific kind of genetics. This is the way that people who are willing to commit genocide think. They think their genetics, their “lineage” makes them superior. And right here, absolved of being a horrible person because he wasn’t in control of himself, Zarkon still thinks exactly as he did before. The beliefs he had that led him to destroy planets and kill everyone on them are still the beliefs he has right now. That this show thought it was okay to write him saying this says a lot about the people who wrote this. By placing the capacity for leadership as genetic, the show is making an argument for monarchy. The show is saying that Keith as Black Paladin, Keith as the head of Voltron, shows that being Galra makes a person better than others.

Other science fiction stories with majority human main characters seek to tell a story about the human condition, about what makes being human worthwhile because of how much we can look into humanity’s history and see so many horrible things humans have done. But this show, in having Zarkon say that Keith is “a great leader of Voltron,” that Keith is the top of the pack because Keith’s part-Galra, it is conversely condemning Keith’s human side as inferior. And thus, only Keith could lead Voltron because the other members are fully human or Altean. Zarkon’s argument that Galra are superior to every other species, is presented as the winning argument here in this show.

It’s just gross.

Zarkon calls Honerva “a psychopath,” thereby the show is equating having mental health issues with being violent and dangerous. That is ableist. It’s also cheap, amateurish writing. Mental health is extremely complicated, but this show reduces it to mental health issues = villain. I think we, humanity, tend to do that: in the face of extreme violence, we label the perpetrators of that violence “psychopaths” because it’s easier than understanding something complex.

Alfor says, “Honerva may be more powerful than each of us alone, but the strength of ten Paladins working together as one is the strongest force in the universe.” Zarkon counters, “The Lions are gone, Alfor. Voltron is gone forever.” Zarkon knows he’s in Honerva’s mind, so why is he saying that the Lions/Voltron is gone? They were never actually there. Keith says, “Voltron is within each and every one of us. We’re bonded to it and to each other.” It’s a cloying statement. I also don’t feel like it’s earned. It doesn’t feel like these characters are “bonded.”

Alfor convinces Zarkon to join with them, and Zarkon pulls out the black bayard, turns it to a sword, says, “Form Voltron,” and they’re all suddenly in their Lions again. It’s supposed to feel emotional and triumphant and glorious. But it feels fake to me. Zarkon orders them to “form blazing sword,” and Voltron flies into this growing ball of darkness in the sky and they pierce it. Everything explodes.

Cut to Voltron floating in space. Allura is unconscious.

Literally the only thing about this episode that I liked was Allura telling her dad she had already been to Oriande and passed the trials when he condescends toward her and suggests she go there. There is not a single other thing in this episode that I think is good. There are a lot that are bad. Absolving Zarkon, yet still having him be Galra-supremacist, and having the show seem to support his Galra-supremacist conclusions about Keith is bad. Having elements of conflict like against the gladiator and against Zarkon but without Shiro, who has been more connected to both of them than any other protagonist feels narratively off. The show being unable to keep straight on who’s controlling whom: Honerva or entity makes it confusing, and I still don’t feel like I understand the entity. Having Alfor and other characters simplistically proclaim it to be a dark entity does not actually explain anything.

This episode is a mess, and it makes the whole series feel like a mess.

#voltron legendary defender #voltron #vld #voltron criticism #vld criticism #voltron critical #vld critical #vld season 8 #vld 8x10 #commentary

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