Say No To This x Epic: The Musical
Eurylochus:
There's nothing like years out on the seas
Soldiers under stress meets someone looking pretty
There's trouble in the air, you can smell it
Captain faced her by himself, I'll let him tell it
Odysseus:
I hadn't slept in a week
I was weak, I was awake
You've never seen a king and captain more in need of a break
Longing for Penelope
Missing my kid
That's when Circe and her nymphs turned all my men to pigs, I said
Odysseus:
Hey there, lady of the palace
I'm so sorry to bother you at home
But I sent men to patrol, yet only one came back alone
She said
Circe:
All men have done us wrong
Beatin' us, cheatin' us, mistreatin' us
So yours are in their true forms
I'll never have open arms
Odysseus:
So I told her ‘bout my flower that lets me claim her power, she said
Circe:
It's like that, then
Odysseus:
I told her ‘bout how I had picked it with my bare hands
They were like god hands, she said
Circe:
From Hermes, then
Odysseus:
Then I said, "You should release my men"
She turned red, she led me to her bed
Let her legs spread and said
Circe:
Stay
Odysseus:
Huh?
Circe:
Hey
Odysseus:
That's when I began to say
Girl, what do you mean by this
Circe:
What do you mean you don't know what I mean by this
Don't you know I look so helpless
Your body should be saying, "Hell, yes"
Whoa
Odysseus:
No, I don't know what you mean by this
You want me to betray my wife for this?
In my mind, I'm tryin' to go (go, go, go)
Then her mouth is on mine, but I still say
No, no (Penelope)
No, no (Penelope)
No, no (Penelope)
No, no (Penelope)
Odysseus:
After the witch tried to seduce me,
Which confused me, my wife is not named Circe
So yes, after this endeavor, I became a beggar
For everyone's sakes I had to beg her, I said
Odysseus (+Circe):
Circe, I hope my words get through to your heart
For twelve years, my family has been apart
Our trip at sea has started to run out of luck
You see, we pissed off Poseidon and now we're so (fuuuu)
Odysseus:
Yeah, so, we made the wrong god gain a strong grudge
All because we may have given his son an eye nudge
But man, I just keep dreamin’ of seein' my wife
If the tides ain't right, then I'll miss my child's whole life
Circe:
I heard his words and my heart begun to race
Poseidon's such a disgrace, he said
Odysseus:
Circe
Circe:
Still dressed, apologetic, a mess, he looked pathetic, he cried
Odysseus:
We must go, please
Circe:
So Poseidon's wrath won't let up?
Odysseus (Circe):
I didn't realize he was the father (stop crying gods dammit, get up)
It was mercy, not a bother (you are ruined)
Please don't leave me with him, helpless (He is helpless, how could I help him?)
Circe (Odysseus):
I'll give you what you want so you can be free (Penelope, Penelope)
Whatever you want, I've been swayed
You’ll be safe (Gods, show me how to go home to her)
Odysseus:
I just wanna go home to her
Circe (Odysseus):
The situation's not yet helpless (helpless)
And my heart is being selfless
Odysseus (Circe):
Please, show me how to get home to her (whoa)
How can I get home to her?
I started losing hope (hope, hope, hope)
Then Circe released my men like I knew she would (yes)
Penelope
Odysseus (Soldiers):
Penelope, I just said no to this
Although there's no way I can go (home, home, home)
Circe:
Well…
There are other ways back home
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Okay, let's finally talk about EPIC's Apollo
I feel very compelled to say, first of all, that I do not dislike Epic. In fact, I am very fond of Epic and have been following its production and status very eagerly! I attend all the launch streams, I watch all of Herrans' update videos; I am, at the end of the day, a fan and I want it to be known that my words are spoken out of love and passion as much as they are spoken from a place of critique.
So really, what my problem with Epic's Apollo?
In the briefest possible terms; the choice to have Apollo be defined by his musical aspect in God Games is thematically strange. And not in the 'oh well in the Odyssey, Apollo was important to Odysseus and his family so it's weird that that wasn't kept in Epic' strange, strange in the sense that Odysseus' character arc since My Goodbye has been getting more and more obviously Apollonian and so it is positively bizarre that when we get to meet Apollo, the god seems entirely disinterested in him and his affairs. So much so that he is not even defined by any station that would indicate that he has been watching over and protecting Odysseus and his family.
What do I mean by 'Odysseus has been following an Apollonian arc'? I'm so glad you asked!
Remember Them is the last song in which Odysseus explicitly uses his sword until Mutiny where he must use it to defend himself against Eurylochus' blade. He uses it to help enact the plan to conquer Polyphemus and, due to Polites dying in that battle, Polites who wished for Odysseus to put the blade down entirely and embrace a post-war life, Odysseus also retires his sword. This is an action that symbolically separates him from Athena - and the image of Odysseus as a traditional warrior set for him in Horse and Infant - as much as My Goodbye physically separates him from the goddess and her war-ways - from this point onwards, Odysseus will no longer be leaning on Athena's wisdom or methods to solve his problems. Likewise, he will no longer be able to rely on her protection.
Odysseus thusly solves most of his upcoming problems through diplomacy and avoidance. He approaches Aeolus - a strange and ambiguous god (both in gender and in motivation) and appeals to them for help. Circe too, he approaches not with wishes to conquer or for revenge, but for the safe returning of his men and an alternate way forward. In all of these scenarios, there is some Apollonian element which is subtly interweaved alongside the influence of other gods; it is with a bow and arrows that Polyphemus' sheep is slain (and thus it is this Apollonian element which is at the root of Odysseus' spat with Poseidon), it is a vision of Penelope that warns Odysseus that his men are about to open Aeolus' wind-bag, Circe's peace offering to Odysseus is to refer him to a prophet of Apollo who has since died.
In this way, Apollo is walking alongside Odysseus for all of his journey after Athena departs - even in the Underworld, he is guiding him. It is Tiresias' proclamation that is the last straw for Odysseus, it is by the power of a mouthpiece of Apollo that Odysseus decides to embrace his ruthlessness. It is with the bow and arrow that Odysseus subdues the siren who sought to trick him, likewise, Odysseus does not attempt to undermine or escape the fate of paying Scylla's passage price - he knows of the doom about to befall the six men and quite unlike the rest of the journey until this point, he does not fight against it. This all comes to a head on Thrinacia where it is a blade which sacrifices the sun god's cow and brings destruction upon the crew once more.
My point with all of this is that when I heard the teasers for God Games years ago, it made perfect sense to me that Apollo would be Round One - he is not Odysseus' adversary and has no reason to oppose Athena's wish to free him. From other teasers about what will happen in the climax of Epic, Apollo will still be walking alongside Odysseus - it is Apollo's bow that Penelope will give the suitors to string. Likewise, it is Apollo's bow that will prove Odysseus' legitimacy and identity. That bow will be the power by which Odysseus hunts his adversaries and cleans out his palace - it is Apollo who is the avatar of Odysseus' ruthlessness, not Athena.
So tell me, truly, what was the point of having Apollo raise a non-argument in God Games? Why have him appear unconcerned, aloof and slightly oblivious? Why have him appear in his capacity as the Lord of Music at all?? And if the intention was never to make Apollo an active player in Odysseus' life like he was in the Odyssey, why keep Odysseus as a primary archer?
The answer of course is that Apollo is inextricable from the fabric of the Odyssey - his influence and favour exudes from Odysseus just as much as Athena's. In Athena's ten year sulk, it would have been Apollo who kept Telemachus and Penelope safe. It would have been Apollo protecting Odysseus from Poseidon's gaze as he travelled the seas (according to the Odyssey anyway)
Forgive me for not being excited about something that I thought was being purposefully set up. I was extremely ecstatic about all of the little Apollonian details that litter the sagas because I know where this story ends up (loosely) but all God Games did was reveal that maybe those Apollonian details were not intentional at all, but merely the ghost of the Apollo who persistently haunts those he favours, even if he cannot explicitly come to their aide in an adaptation.
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It’s the way that Nathan Ford is BY FAR the least interesting character of the original Leverage five, and yet he’s the one who gets SO much backstory and context to himself. I’m literally watching the season 4 finale and I just don’t care that his father was murdered because Nate’s being incredibly annoying. Trying to be empathetic about a character grieving doesn’t even work for me here because his entire team is trying to make sure he doesn’t MURDER the man/men responsible for his father’s death and he’s not letting them in at all. It’s part of the reason I dislike his character so much. There’s hardly ever moments when he is genuinely vulnerable, not even with Sophie, who he is supposed to be in love with (yeah yeah, I know, they’re “friends with benefits” right now, but that’s not fooling anyone with eyes even without the knowledge that they end up together at the end). Nate is this mastermind of a character and it’s cool and intriguing for all of half of season before you’re scratching your head like, where’s the care for his team? He was kind to Hardison in the evaluation form and he didn’t want to make Eliot kill again, for any reason, but it’s so hard to appreciate his humanity when he’s spent the past three(ish) seasons on the verge of drinking himself to death, verbally bashing Sophie, and only being about the work. Sophie having a notebook full of moments when Nate put her or her ideas down isn’t funny or a moment of character growth. Nate doesn’t fully understands how that’s so shitty of him, as team leader, but also as her sexual (romantic?) partner. Every moment of Sophie and Nate’s relationship has to be fought for BY SOPHIE, and at this point, I don’t even know why she even wants him. He may be acting as Robin Hood and helping people, but he’s barely even a person while he’s doing it. I’ve never liked Nate, but making my way through season 4 has definitely given me the hardest time with remembering his redeeming qualities. Every time he’s vaguely misogynistic or acts like an immature man child when it comes to processing his emotions without alcohol (which happens: never), I question why he’s the main character, why my screen isn’t filled up with Hardison being the sassiest mf of them all or OT3 moments or Sophie conning the hell out of men who are led by their dicks and not their minds. When I’m watching the Nate centric scenes/episodes, I’m never wishing for more, I’m wishing the rest of the team was in the spotlight instead
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