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angelthefirst1 · 5 years ago

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Ride with Norman Reedus, and clues for Beth’s return beyond The Walking Dead.

I want to show you how the symbolism in the walking dead is being used outside the show as well.

In this post I will focus on Ride with Norman Reedus, in particular the episode with Melissa McBride (Season 3 episode) and a few other clues from The Talking Dead.

I have been saying for years that Carol and Beth are heavily intertwined. They are Mother Daughter versions of each other. They are the same, but on different timelines, and going down different paths.

What if Beth had ended up being romantically involved with Noah after making it out of Grady alive while Carol ‘died’ in Grady?

That is the story they have shown us through Carol and Ezekiel, the different path way chosen.

I want to show you what I see…

I see Grady as a form of hell, and when both Carol and Beth Entered they were trapped, Daryl went into hell to rescue them, but could only get one back at a time.

Due to Carol and Beth being the same but choosing different pathways.

From the Grady hallway onward where Carol came out alive and Beth ‘didn’t’, they have been showing the Carol side of the coin (story or pathway) flipped up.

Meaning we would see her story go ahead, while Beth’s side of the story was flipped facing down (on hold) and we would not see her story until the coin flips back the other way and her chosen path plays out (which I believe will be with Daryl)

In this episode of Ride with Norman Reedus, both Melissa and Norman show Beth’s pathway both past and future.

Now Melissa does have Scottish ancestry and in this episode they travel to Scotland to look into and track her family roots.

While this is real for Melissa and her quest to find information about her family history, they have very cleverly used this episode to show what Beth and Daryl have already experienced and will experience.

They say a picture is worth a thousand words so let’s look at some of the visual similarities between this episode and Beth and Daryl in The Walking Dead.

First they have a reunion of sorts in Scotland in a sweet little tea house

(This small reunion is also pointing to Daryl and Beth’s reunion to come, and Carol and Daryl’s past reunion in 501)

Whilst sitting across from each other eating in this sweet little tea house setting, is Carol’s/Melissa’s version of this scene below:

They discuss the first scene they ever shot together, and how Norman was being antagonistic towards Melissa and kept putting more blood on the axe she was killing walker Ed with.

Norman talks about how in grade school when you like someone you poke them or annoy them and Melissa says after that moment, she thought to herself “I’m gonna like this guy”

“What an Arsehole”

Norman agrees and says “What a Jerk”

This scene is pointing to the fight Daryl and Beth had in ‘Still’, where Daryl was being antagonistic toward Beth and Beth called him and Jackass and a Jerk.

‘After that’ (like Melissa said) at the funeral home as they eat together they ‘like’ each other

Melissa then goes on to talk about her Scottish heritage, saying she “has roots here” in Scotland.

Melissa is tracking her family roots in this episode but this is also Beth’s future story of tracking her family.

Melissa even tells us she is tracking her family, which we all know plays into Beth learning to track from Daryl and the concept that she will have to use that skill on her own again.

This theme is be repeated by Judith in 1015 when she tells Daryl she wants to learn to be like him and protect her family, just like Beth did.

One HUGH clue is what Melissa says next…

“I have roots here… I have this genetic memory that’s somehow being passed down through the generations… You get this little piece of memory. When you get a hit (of memory) it’s like OH this is so exciting! It’s like uncovering a mystery”

Beth is going to have memory problems and every now and then something will trigger a memory that will uncover more of who she was and her past, and those ‘uncovered mystery memories’ will eventually help her ‘TRACK’ or find her family

I cannot tell you, just how many shows and movies are portraying this theme right now, of a blond girl having memory loss and uncovering little pieces of memory along the way.

This is seen in Captain Marvel and Homeland just to name a few.

In the latest season of Homeland when the main Blond character with memory problems is talking to another character about not having all her memories the line ‘The Walking Dead’ is even used.

This topic might be a very interesting post for another time as it’s quite extensive.

But just remember this theme of memory loss and let me know if you see it in any other shows you might watch, I’d love to look into them.

Norman and Melissa go to many locations in this episode; here are a few that defiantly stand out. The different scenes individually don’t seem that interesting but when you put it all together wow, it’s unmistakably Beth and Daryl’s story.

The Dog trot and dog theme (we all know this is important)

Norman and Melissa go to a dog training school (more on this soon)

The new clothes...

Norman and Melissa go to a tartan shop to find her family’s signature tartan

The fight in ‘Still’ and the Booze hunt...

Melissa and Norman go to a bar where Melissa discovers the last name of the person who owned the bar was McBride, her one of her great grandfathers who died in that very bar.

Remembering the dead...

Melissa and Norman go to a cemetery where they find her great grandfathers grave, they even take a rubbing of it.

Which is a repeat of the scene where Beth and Daryl stop and remember Hershel through the beloved father gravestone.

Melissa is very thankful for Normans kindness in giving her this moment.

Later on in this episode there is also hand holding

Trying to get dog to come in...

Norman and Melissa meet with a dog trainer and Norman is taught how to be assertive enough to get the dog to go with him keep.

(I also think the scene with Melissa and Norman below will be repeated with Beth, Daryl and Dog at some stage, in that dog will happily jump all over Beth with Daryl watching on)

Making Music together...

Norman and Melissa go and play the bagpipes together, Norman is not sure if he is ‘making music right’ he ends up scaring Melissa out of the room with his attempts to play.

Now making music has a double meaning so just to spell it out for you all, this is what it also means...

‘A couple who meet and enjoy each others company are said to make sweet music together. They have a harmonious relationship. There is also a sexual connotation about what the couple does together and the noises they make being ‘sweet music’

When Melissa runs out the room after Norman attempts at making music, it is a complete call back to this moment...

Daryl has just let Beth know has feelings for her and quickly leaves the room in a panic, so flustered that he opens the door without checking.

Feasting together...

At the very end of the episode Norman and Melissa have a big feast, where Norman is very happy!

The Crossover...

Another peculiar thing happens during this episode and this is what i call the crossover

Basically Beth and Carol are equal opposites and will crossover at some point, just like the first time in Grady they will switch and yes i do think Carol will die.

First lets look at these scenes below from Ride.

At one point in the episode Norman and Melissa are looking for directions to find the statue of William Wallace (this is significant)

Norman spots this lady walking towards them and says “Excuse me, excuse me, excuse me” really wanting her attention and hoping she will stop and give them directions.

Melissa and this blond mystery woman are going in opposite directions, and crossover. The blond woman has long locks and a braid in her hair, she represents Beth and Carols stories and their crossing paths. (and yes i do think this was a planned and deliberate scene)

Negan = Daryl

Alpha = Carol

Blond faceless woman = Beth

The boundary line = a representation of the crossover

The very next stop after this for Norman and Melissa is the William Wallace statue which is for Carol where her story could end.

William Wallace defeated an English army at the Battle of Stirling Bridge.

He was appointed Guardian of Scotland and served until his defeat at the Battle of Falkirk.

In 1305, Wallace was captured in Robroyston, near Glasgow, and handed over to King Edward I of England, who had him hanged, drawn and quartered for high treason and crimes against English civilians.

Unfortunately i think a version of the Hung Drawn and Quartered aspect of William Wallace’s death is going to be given to Carol and will be a twist on Father Gabrielle's comic book death, where he falls from the Water Tower and gets disemboweled by Beta.

Some other clues i found, are from The Talking Dead episode after Coda with Emily.

I know some if these things have been discussed in the past but i want to bring attention back to them now in light of what is happening currently on the show.

So on The Talking Dead we saw some odd things said, some of them i believe are clues as to when Beth will return.

First odd thing:

Then

Its all planned...

Carol wanted Alpha Dead, Just like Beth wanted Dawn dead.

Eugene is a Beth proxy here, they both know what it feels like to want something so bad you ‘almost’ get people killed, still have nothing to show for it.

Once Carol does kill Alpha she still isn't satisfied, her subconscious tells her she wants one more thing.

Beth wanted Dawn dead and almost got herself killed in doing so.

In the hallway of Grady Beth wanted two things...

1. Noah to get out with her.

2. Take down Dawn

Carol has taken down Alpha the other thing she wants...

Its not to be alone, she wants to save Ezekiel, and just like Beth i think she will pay the ultimate price to save him.

In The Talking Dead, Emily is talking about fond moments outside the show and is triggered to cry when she says the name Melissa, which i always thought was odd (until now because i see its been planned)

Like sure... she is friends with Melissa but at the time i would have guessed she would talk about Lauren or Norman and cry thinking about them, not so much Melissa.

she cry's at the name Melissa because Carols character will die around the time Beth comes back.

The reference to a large football field and it pouring rain, made me again think of this location and the crossover it represents

When the crossover happens it will be Beth and Daryl alive and Carol dead.

When Negan (who also represents Beta) takes Daryl to the spike in the field where he left Alphas head, its pouring down with rain.

Negan Kills Alpha...

And Beta could end up killing Carol (in a William Wallace manner), which will be a repeat of Dawn (Supposedly) killing Beth and Daryl killing Dawn.

This will possibly be in the final episode of season 10 and if they delay the final to around the time of July 4-5th well that wouldn't surprise me, but we will see with that one.

I have posted these pictures in the past, where Tara looks at her watch and it reads 10:28

Carol then looks at a flower drawn on the bridge they are sitting on, i originally thought maybe it points to half way thorough season 10, Carol would die... but obviously that didn't happen

I now think this may point to Carol’s death in 1016.

and

2x8=16

10:16

I have a few follow on things about THE TOWER (1015) which i will be doing a post on soon.

The name is a callback to Grady and also the episode ‘Claimed’, both of which have huge connections to Beth and her soon return.

So look out for that!

#team delusional #team defiance #team beth lives #bethyl #Beth Greene

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lavender-montgomery · 5 years ago

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The Haunting of Hill House Season 1 (2018) - Thoughts [SPOILERS]

I just finished watching season 1 of The Haunting of Hill House, and wow, I am impressed. I watched three episodes last night, and I watched the other seven episodes tonight. I finished at 7:23am. Was it worth the all nighter? Hell yes. Did I immediately come here to blog about it before getting any sleep and before a coffee? Again, Hell yes.

I will try to briefly sum up what the show is about: It’s some time in the 90s, Olivia and Hugh Craine buy a mansion and temporarily move into it with their five children with the intent of doing up the building and selling it for profit. Issues arise so they end up having to stay there a lot longer than planned. After a short while, lots of paranormal incidents happen and it seems like the Mum is going crazy. The family experience death amongst them - the mother kills herself in the home, and the rest of the family end up fleeing into the night. The movie jumps between two timelines so it can get quite confusing. The movie follows the lives of the children when they are grown up - two are married, one is a heroin addict, one owns a funeral home and one is a therapist. They all need to come to turns with the things that happen in their childhood. The youngest in the family, Nell, hallucinates all her life a ‘bent neck lady’ who she has been seeing since childhood. Nell ends up having a breakdown after the death of her husband and coming off her meds, so she returns to the house years later and kills herself there. Eventually, the entire family return to the house and learn both Nell and the mum didn’t kill themselves, the spirits in the house did. They all have vivid hallucinations and the youngest brother Luke almost dies in the house because the spirit of their Mum won’t let them leave. Finally she frees them and they leave in one piece. The dad dies - not sure why he had to die - and they’re free from the house and can move on with their lives. The show ends with three different things happening - the door to the ‘red room’ (a room they can’t get into where lots of paranormal activity happens, the red room is a reoccuring theme in the movie) shuts with the spirits of both Olivia and Hugh, and the spirit of Nell all embracing. It shows the other siblings doing well in life all together, and it shows the caretakers of the building returning in their old age to die there.

That is the absolute basics I can sum the plot in. I have missed SO much in that paragraph, there are so many different plots for all the characters in this show, I will be here all morning trying to type it out. If you’re reading this, I’m assuming you have seen it anyway so I don’t need to go into further detail. The plot was extremely complex, and I was captured right from the beginning.

I have a file of notes I took while watching this show. I am going to go through them, the order of them will seem crazy because it kept jumping between timelines, so bare with. I will try order them best I can.

To start off with - Nell.

Nell was one of the two ‘nutcase’ characters. She was on medication for mental health and was thought to be hallucinating. She also was told she suffered with sleep paralysis, she ended up marrying her sleep technologist - get it, girl. First, she saw a ‘bent neck lady’ often in her childhood and it really scared her. Then, her mum killed herself. Then, she got removed from her home and her parents and placed with a different relative all in one night. Later in her life she got married, then eight months later he died right infront of her in the middle of a ‘sleep paralysis hallucination’. Can we really blame the girl for being crazy? All her life her siblings didn’t believe anything she saw. After her husband’s death, she was back in therapy and on some heavy medication. The ‘bent neck lady’ returned and she stopped taking her meds. One night, she tried phoning every sibling and no one would answer, her Dad answered but by this point it was too late. She returned to the house where her mum died and where all the paranormal stuff happened. I feel like I can relate to Nell in some ways. She was young and scared and she thought she was hallucinating. Being someone who suffers from hallucinations that scare me and relying on heavy medication, it broke my heart seeing her suffer as I know what it feels like, and I’d never wish it on anyone. They shown two scenes regarding Nell’s death. First, it was a brief scene of Nell dancing round the empty, black house wearing a white nightgown. Then they show her hanging herself. A few episodes later, the timeline jumps back to Nell’s death and goes into more detail. She drives to the house and when she pulls up outside, all the lights are on inside in every room. She goes into the house and it is clean and fully furnished, all of her family are in there and so is her husband. She dances around the bottom floor of the house in her husband’s arms and she kisses him. She’s truly happy, so much she cries. She’s with everyone she loves. Her family start apologising to her - for not being there, for not believing her, for arguing etc. This leads to her going up the same stairs her mum jumped off. her mum gives her a necklace and she puts it on, then her mum pushes her off the stairs - the necklace was a noose. What bothered me most was she was so happy before her death after so long of being miserable.

A couple who tend to the house, Clara and Horace Dudley, find Nell’s body when they come to check on the house. The family are told straight away. The body is collected and taken to the funeral home Nell’s sister Shirley owns. Shirley herself does the embalming and funeral directing. The open casket viewing is emotional, the Dad turns up after not seeing his children in years. Her siblings get drunk and have a big argument. Shirley catches Theo making a move on her husband. Dad and Theo see a very dead looking Nell crawl across the room towards them. I feel the casket viewing went how a lot of broken family gatherings would go - too much alcohol and too many words being said. That’s another thing I could relate to - family disputes. I wouldn’t say my childhood was in a broken immediate family, but my teenage years were and my whole family certainly has it’s issues. I can’t help but feel if both sides of my family got together under the same circumstances, it would end the same way it did in this show, if not worse. Maybe without the sister trying to get her sister’s husband. It really highlighted how broken the family is from their behaviour at the casket viewing.

Her funeral and casket viewing scenes were emotional, they put a lump in my throat. Death of a loved one is one of my biggest fears, so watching these things are difficult for me. Seeing the pain in her family over her death, especially her twin brother, it killed me. I felt like I was grieving myself, they made me feel such strong emotions over these scenes - not many movies, shows or books have done that. Props to them. Even now, hours later, I am still a bit sad.

The biggest plot twist? The bent neck lady Nell saw since childhood. Guess who she was? That’s right, she was Nell herself. After Nell was hung, she was shown flashbacks of her life to every time she saw the bent neck lady, only she WAS the bent neck lady. The bent neck lady never tried to scare her, she was doing the opposite and was scared herself. I was in shock when this happened.

Not only did I form an attachment to Nell, I also did to her 90-seconds-older twin brother, Luke. Luke is a heroin addict in and out of rehab. Watching his struggle was difficult, seeing how badly he wanted to come clean and how hard it was for him wasn’t the easiest thing to witness. In their childhood, Luke was the only person who believed Nell with the things she was seeing.

Theo - Theo was the second oldest sister. She had some sort of psychic power where when she touched things or people with her bare hands, she’d know stuff. So she always wore gloves. I particularly admired Theo, she used her ‘power’ for good but didn’t let people take advantage of her. She was a strong character and possibly my favourite in the whole season. Her actress captured her perfectly, plus, she was incredibly pretty. There’s a moment where she breaks down to her sister, Shirley. Shirley is mad at her for trying to sleep with her husband when that isn’t what happened. Theo had touched Nell after she died and with her psychic ability, she was consumed by a dark emptiness. The way she got out of it was embracing her sister’s husband in the dark. The way Theo broke down talking about what happened, it was powerful and one of the best performances of the whole show.

Steve - Steve was the oldest of all the siblings. I strongly disliked him. He never believed anything Nell or his mum said, he was completely in denial about everything and as an adult, he just had a horrid attitude. He was too quick to call his family crazy, while at the same time writing their stories in books and making a big profit off of it despite not believing any of it. Only in the last ten minutes or so did I even slightly like Steve. I feel his character was badly written, it is no fault of the actor that I didn’t like him. He didn’t contribute much to the story other than the fact his character wrote the book about it - but the story would have been the same without the book existing, so again, didn’t contribute.

Shirley - I don’t really have much to say about Shirley. She’s the least touched upon character. I didn’t particularly like her as I thought she was rude and dull. She also didn’t contribute much to the story and was just being negative a lot of the time. I felt for her when she had to embalm her sister, although for quite a while she didn’t show any emotion to it which I didn’t like but I see why they did it.

The red room - The red room is a room in the house that no one could get into. Even with the skeleton key, it couldn’t be opened. They tried busting the door open and still couldn’t get in. The red room comes up a lot throughout the show. I like the mystery about the red room, although I don’t really get the ending to it. Apparently, they were all in the red room. For the mum it was a reading room, for Shirley it was a family room, for Theo it was a dance room, for Luke it was a treehouse, for Steve it was a games room and for Nelly it was a toy room. How none of them realised this, I do not know. Towards the end they all see that room for what it is, but I don’t really get how it was all these different rooms for the whole family. What if Nell wanted to be in the toy room and Steve wanted to be in the games room both at the same time? They don’t really explain this very well, I would like to know more. Quite at the beginning, Shirley has the skeleton key and she’s rattling the door handle trying to get in, Theo is in her dance room and her door handle rattles, even though Theo isn’t behind that exact door at the time it’s two seperate rooms and the children can’t hear eachother through the door... Explain!!

There are a few completely random things going on, the red room being one of them. Another being a forty year old body was found in the walls of the basement. Why? It was the body of someone barely mentioned, and if I am correct we don’t even see his ghost. This was yet another thing that didn’t contribute to the plot so I’m not sure why it was added. Another random thing is the character Abigail. Young Luke has a friend called Abigail who ‘lives in the woods’. No one else has ever seen her and they all say no one live sin the woods, so they say she’s an imaginary friend. Well one night she just randomly decides to stay over and apparently no one knows - both parents said yes thinking she was imaginary. She also dies that night. She is the child of Clara and Horace Dudley who live around a fifteen minute walk from the mansion. She dies there so her ghost is stuck there. The night the dad and kids flee from the house, the dad wants to burn the house down, but the Dudleys beg him not to as it is the only place they can see their little girl now that she has died. So he leaves it for them. Do they return every day to visit the ghost of their little girl? I’m assuming so. At the end of it, the Dudleys are very old, they both return to the house as Clara is dying. I’m assuming they both died in the house together to be with their daughter.

Clara has a sat down moment with Olivia and tells her of the things that happen in the house and how she won’t be in there after dinner time to avoid being there in the dark. Yet Olivia still stays in the house, even though these things are happening to her - why? Why doesn’t she leave when she is straight up told what happens? White people stupidity, that’s why. I am also weirded out with how the Dudleys were close with the previous family that lived in the house before the Craines moved in. They must have worked for the Hills for quite a while to be so close, yet they were relatively young and the Hills were in their youth in the 1920s. How old are the Dudleys? How long had they been working at this house? The times are slightly off. The Dudleys also takl about how their child was a stillborn which I thought was just more unnecessary sadness added to the show.

Towards the end when all the siblings end up in the red room, one of the spirits called Poppy hits them all in the face which sends them into the hallucination. Why? Why is Poppy getting involved? Poppy was one of the worst characters, the acting was questionable and there wasn’t much point to her. She killed Olivia and put awful ideas into her head. Why did she hit the siblings in the face and send them into a hallucination? When they all snapped out of it with help from Nell’s spirit and were all in the room together.

A part that messed with me a little bit was Steve was back at home with his wife. He was writing a book about what happened that night they all returned to the house. His wife comes home and is heavily pregnant. It turns out this is all a hallucination, he isn’t at home and the night isn’t over and his wife isn’t pregnant. He then wakes up back in the red room. This shocked me, I thought things had gotten better then it turns out it wasn’t real.

When they all return to the house, the spirits are out. Abigail is on the stairs watching them, and one spirit in particular made me uncomfortable. There was an incredibly tall man floating and using a cane he would tap on the floor with every ‘step’. He leaned over everyone and was incredibly creepy. I think the reason he made me so uncomfortable is because he reminds me of my main hallucination, see THIS POST if you want to read more about this.

For a good full episode it looks like Luke is going to do - one large hallucination and a hospital visit later, he lives! Hoorah.

I have so many questions about this show. I just sat here and watched ten hours of it, yet I still have things unanswered. I am very glad this wasn’t a movie - there’s no way this could all be squeezed into an hour and a half.

Would I recommend this show? YES. I haven’t enjoyed something this much since IT part 2, and even that was the first horror I fully enjoyed in about a year. Will I be watching season 2? I’ll be counting down the days. I also plan on the book the next season is based on - The Turn of The Screw by James Henry - before release, get my own view on it.

“ Journeys end in lovers meeting. “

#the haunting of hill house #horror movie review #horror film review #horror review

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zetalial · 6 years ago

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FMA 03 - Brothers

Hey, here’s another post to round off the themes of family in FMA 2003. Here’s links to the first two: Mothers and fathers.

This one is focused on the relationship between brothers in the series (and, yes, I would have loved to have called this post Brotherhood... but I could not.) We meet quite a few pairs of Brothers throughout the series with our main characters being Edward and Alphonse, who’s relationship gets the most depth and development. I would be here all day trying to explore every facet of their relationship though! I’ll just try and briefly explain how their relationship can be compared to other brotherly relationships.

Let me start by looking at episode 38 - With the River’s Flow.

Ed and Al are, as ever, travelling alone and getting into conflict. These two are both pretty headstrong (though Ed more so than Al) and this episode perfectly captures their relationship.

They’re a bit stuck in their journey and they lash out at each other. Al’s irritated at Ed’s stubborness while Ed’s irritated at Al’s inability to express himself. Ed’s determined to go after Scar and the Philosopher’s stone while ignoring the proverbial elephant in the room that is the Homunculi - namely Sloth. Al wants to talk about Sloth but he is having trouble actually confronting Ed about it - he somehow manages to bring up Hohenheim of all people instead. In the end, they succeed only in getting angry at each other and storming off to sulk alone.

This is far from the only time we see the two arguing, they’re often at odds with each other actually. And no brotherly relationship we see in the story is perfectly smooth either.

Here’s a pair of Ishvalan Brothers. The younger brother is called Rick and the older brother is called Leo. Like Ed and Al they’re pretty close, possibly due to being orphans who have had a rough life so far and they have to really rely on each other. At one point, Rick has a PTSD flashback and Leo snaps him out of it, in a way that implies he’s used to it. In episode 24, the two of them are definitely in conflict over longstanding issues about their mother. Leo is angry that Rick cares so much about her as he has stubbornly convinced himself that she never really cared about them. Rick still has faith though.

Despite their differences in opinion though, Rick and Leo’s bond is still very strong. When Rick gets kidnapped, his brother immediately goes with Scar and Al to help rescue him. He is keeping quiet about a painful memory so that Rick doesn’t have to learn the truth and ironically that’s a huge part of why they’re in conflict. This invites you to contrast it with Ed and Al’s own fight in this episode. Where Al has convinced himself that Ed doesn’t really love him because he’s just a fake and meanwhile Ed has been keeping quiet all this time about his guilt over whether Al blames him for his condition - for the human transmutation. It’s only when they have faith and confide in their worries that both their conflicts are able to be resolved.

Speaking of Ishvalan Brothers, there’s another pair of them in this series who also struggled to relate to each other.

They are... an interesting pair. Scar’s older brother is dead when the series starts but Scar certainly thinks about him a lot. The two had trouble understanding each other with Scar’s brother being something of a heretic who performed alchemy - human transmutation and was... a little odd. Nothing like this crowning scene of him crying big tears in the middle of the day in the middle of a war and in front of his brother, while completely naked - right?

Still, Scar seems to desperately want to understand his brother. Some of his first words in the series is wondering what his brother wanted him to do with his arm. Upon encountering Ed and Al in episode 14, he immediately says that Ed reminds him of his older brother and ends up emphasising with Al. Another conflict the two had was that apparently he had feelings for his brother’s great love - the woman who became Lust. Central to his conversations with the homunculus is his complex feelings about his brother. Some of Scar’s final words are again reflecting on the Elric brothers and their close relationship to each other. He wishes he’d managed a similar relationship with his brother and quietly says “brother, I love you”.

Beyond their conflicts though, there’s also a theme of sacrifice.

Scar’s older brother gave up his right arm (and this cost him his life) to save Scar’s life. That’s a pretty clear parallel to Ed giving up his own right arm to save his brother’s life. And later, Scar will give up his brother’s right arm to save Ed’s brother’s life. Yeah. Al really attracts sacrifice, okay? Al even starts developing survivor’s guilt over this. The series actually ends with Ed giving up his life to save his brother (though it only costs him the arm and leg he just got back. And to be stuck in another world...). And then there’s Al sacrificing himself to save his brother’s life.

Now, Ed and Al are a pair of alchemist brothers, who learned alchemy from their father’s notes. That is strikingly similar to another pair of brothers.

Russell and Fletcher Tringham steal Ed and Al’s identity in order to pose as credible alchemists so they can research and create a Philosopher’s stone. They are skilled alchemists themselves. Russell is pretty cocky and wants to bring Xenotime to its former glory through the use of alchemy. He’s willing to do some pretty immoral things to achieve this though.

Fletcher also wants to save Xenotime but he is more conflicted. However, he is scared to speak against his brother and has been reluctantly going along with things. Al emphasises with Fletcher and encourages him to confront his older brother, indirectly revealing some of the guilt Al feels for keeping quiet and going along with the human transmutation. Russell has been ignoring the warning signs, driven to believe he’s good enough to fix things. They’ve wound up on a similar path to the Elrics and the Elrics encourage them to find a new path even as they continue in their search. They see themselves in the Tringhams and warn them against it.

There’s one other pair of brothers Edward encounters and they remind him of his own brother.

No. 48. A pair of serial killer brothers who were both bonded to a suit of armour. The two of them are very much in sync given how they fight together, trade a bit of banter and are willing to protect each other while Ed is fighting them.

They’re also more literally bonded by past deeds than the other characters on this list. They both have to live as souls bonded to armour and it makes them feel inhuman. Seeing their hate for their current existence motivates Ed into fixing his own brother. It really drives home the horror of Al’s experience, helping to justify the identity crisis Al has while Ed fights the slicer brothers. Of course, Ed is driven to win by recalling his devotion to his brother. It’s ironic.

Ed is distraught when the Younger brother chooses to take his own life, no doubt thinking of Al. The older brother understands his brother completely though and tries to be comforting towards Ed though it doesn’t really help much. Mostly this whole experience really shakes Ed up and an episode later, Lust kills the older slicer brother while threatening to do the same to Al.

...

Okay, there’s one other pair I want to bring up though they’re not actually related.

Roy and Hughes have been close friends for a very long time. Hughes even goes to visit Roy to find he’s very nearly performed human transmutation. He challenges Roy on the issue, encouraging him to live and move on. When Roy tells him he wants to be Fuhrer, Hughes is there to say he’ll support him. We don’t learn too much about their history, but its obvious they are very close and both of them are also close to the Elric brothers.

A big reason to trust Roy in 03 is because Hughes cares so much about him. Hughes is the only person he reveals his worries and weaknesses to and Hughes really looks out for him. After Hughes is killed, Roy can’t bear to face Hughes’ wife Gracia, feeling some guilt and misery over his death. At Hughes’ grave, the piano version of Bratja/Brothers plays, as Roy mourns his dearest friend’s passing.

So, Episode 38: With the River’s Flow, begins with Ed and Al in a fight. Then the two of them go off to sulk alone for a while.

Ed’s angry and muttering about how irritating Al is but then he unthinkingly asks Al to pass the salt as he’s eating. Edward seems to realise that he’s driven Al away and he suddenly misses him. Immediately, he gets up and goes to look for him. The two of them are extremely codependent and can’t stay separated for long. Al, across town, is walking around, muttering about how stubborn Ed is to himself when someone taps him on the back and he immediately says: “Ed, where were you?” only to realise it isn’t his brother.

Ed has a flashback to when the two of them were kids and shows that they were close then too. They got into fights and they would run off but then Ed would come to his senses and go to look for his brother.

Ed doesn’t offer an apology out loud or anything. He just dismisses their fight, showing he’s forgiven his brother and Al smiles and runs after him. In the present, Ed finds Al at the river (which the episode is named for) and dismisses the fight the same way he did when they were kids. That’s very much Ed and Al’s dynamic.

During Al’s identity crisis, Al runs away and Ed wants to run after him (ready to throw himself off the roof even, because Ed’s always freaking out over his brother.) But Al takes some time to think through things while Ed and Winry spend that episode looking for Al. Upon meeting up again, they make up. Whatever happens they always forgive and go looking for each other.

Speaking of Brothers it would remiss of me to neglect to mention one other character.

A homunculus created by Hohenheim in an attempt to bring back his dead son. Envy. He’s essentially Ed and Al’s half-brother. This is only revealed in the final episodes and Envy is a rejection of all the prior brotherly relationships we’ve seen explored throughout the series. Envy hates his family and takes great pleasure in tormenting the Elric brothers. Ed’s so shocked by the reveal that it gives Envy the upperhand, and he takes the opportunity to stab Edward through the chest. He laughs about it in victory.

Envy is a disaster but you can also see how he came to be the way he is. He’s never been loved by anyone, not his father who rejected and abandoned him and not Dante who uses and manipulates him to serve her needs. Envy does have reasonably decent relations with the other homunculi though - they seem to have bonded a little over shared circumstances. Envy gets on well with Lust and Sloth and at first seemed like a bit of an older brother to Wrath almost. He’s too mean and impatient to have a proper relationship though.

At the gate, Edward warns Envy not to cross through but Envy doesn’t listen and marches away, smiling. Edward’s face is covered in tears, both for Al who he’s losing and perhaps for Envy who could have been a better person were he not so bitter and full of hate.

Envy is an exception to all these different characters throughout the show who have strong familial bonds that they depend on. These bonds are often the only thing they can rely on when they’re hit with life’s tragedies as all these characters have very angsty backstories. No bond is more explored more than Ed and Al’s relationship, so this overview has mostly revolved around them.

Fullmetal Alchemist is the story about two brothers trying to regain what they lost and their relationship is central to the story. Through other characters we can see different aspects of it. The Tringhams, walking a dangerously similar path to them. Scar, who wishes his relationship with his brother could have been like Ed and Al’s. Roy, who is trying to do right and learn to live with the loss of his best friend. Rick and Leo, who are struggling together with each other and other Ishvalan refugees. And Envy, a chilling example of their antithesis.

Ed and Al’s relationship is very much my favourite part of the series.

It’s why the ending is so tragic.

....

#fma #fma 2003 #edward elric #Alphonse Elric #gosh these two are the best #scar being compared with Al is so interesting too #the slicer brothers are just painful #not to mention hughes and roy #all these posts and I've not yet spoken about winry #i think i should do a post on her soon #there's not really any sisters in fma #With the rivers flow is actually really short #most of the episode is about sheska and winry #i love it though #scars brother is crazy #hes amazing #envy is tragic when viewed from this perspective #ed's teary face #but seriously there's so much more i could talk about on their relationship #i only briefly talked about the identity crisis #there's also everything with greed #and wrath #and sloth #ed willing to kill for his brother #al willing to kill for his brother #in cos he sacrifices wrath for ed #and in main series he wanted to rip eds limbs off of wrath #the bit with the cat is adorable too #ed being overprotective is everywhere #this post still turned out so long

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maydei · 6 years ago

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What is it about Hannibal (the show + person) and his relationship with will that you absolutely love about? They do seem like an interesting couple (I haven’t seen the movie so I cannot relate much) but what about them? I genuinely curious and am interested with your thoughts and opinions.

Hi Anon!! This is a really big question, but I’ll do my best to answer it. I’m definitely gonna put most of this under a cut, because it got really, really long.

First of all, the relationship that I love in regards to the Will//Hannibal dynamic comes from the TV show Hannibal, which was written by Bryan Fuller and ran on NBC from 2013-2015. It was an extraordinarily unique and in-depth take on the Hannibal Lecter and Will Graham friendship that was based on the books, insofar that Will Graham was one of the few who deeply understood Hannibal Lecter prior to the revelation that he was a cannibal. Of course, Bryan took that concept several steps further.

My first suggestion? If you can stomach any kind of horror or gore, watch Hannibal. It is without a doubt the best television show I’ve ever seen, if only because it is visually beautiful, every character is complex and has clearly outlined motivations of their own, and is a really deeply intellectual piece of media. It’s not an easy watch, and I don’t mean that because of content. The story itself, the character drives, even the dialogue will challenge you. It’s not something you just sit down and understand, it really did take a lot of work for me to grasp the full spectrum of what was going on at any given time during my first watch. I’d never encountered something that pushed me that hard before, and even with a week between episodes or more (since I watched when it was originally airing), I was often left like ?????. Think of it like Black Mirror, except every episode is tied together. It’s gonna screw with you a little, so you’ll want to be prepared.

The thing other than the fantastic writing that brings this show and these characters to life: the actors. Mads Mikkelsen as Hannibal Lecter presents a character that you better not take your eyes off even once. Hannibal says things so smoothly and with such conviction, but it’s only if you watch his face at all times that you will see the micro-expressions of what he is actually thinking and feeling. There’s a reason he’s often referred to as the Devil, as smoke.

Hugh Dancy as Will Graham presents a man who is haunted by his own desires from empathizing too closely with killers. He can feel what murderers feel, and that gives him a unique perspective. He puts himself inside their minds to recreate their thought processes as they kill, and that gets to him. It haunts him, and sticks with him. It puts him in the position of needing someone to help him find his way back to himself when he gets in too deep.

It’s such a unique dynamic. I really couldn’t tear myself away. And that’s only where their story begins.

It starts as a sense of curiosity. Hannibal by nature and necessity is a solitary creature, and he has been pretty damn happy that way. When Jack Crawford asks him to profile Will Graham and clear him for field work, it is a unique opportunity for him as an already-established killer to see inside the workings of the FBI. That’s advantageous for him, of course. He can then keep tabs on the investigation against him. But in the process, he discovers Will, who thinks like a killer. Will, who has forcibly shoved his own personality into a very safe box of isolation and rescued dogs and fly fishing, things that require control and perfection. Will uses these constructs as shields to keep the darkness inside him at bay. He absorbs killers to gain their insights, but once they are inside, he has a really hard time getting rid of them.

It may seem backwards, but despite Hannibal meeting other killers who are very much like him, he ultimately rejects them because he doesn’t want someone exactly like himself. He wants Will because he is so incredibly human, but trying so hard to restrain his own darkness. What Hannibal wants above all is to set him free, come hell or high water. And fundamental transformations can be exquisitely painful, even in their beauty. Hannibal wants to see what will happen.

The Hannibal/Will relationship doesn’t stay stagnant, ever. There is a constantly shifting dynamic of power once we reach S2 and Will is aware of Hannibal’s nature. Will puts himself in a position to learn more about Hannibal, and in doing so, finds himself feeling the pull that Hannibal described, discovering the ways in which they are so alike. And the tension in these scenes is indescribable. If you’ve seen any of the gifsets I’ve reblogged, you’ll know what I’m talking about. Every molecule of space between them is charged with intent. Every word is carefully weighted. Every glance is measured to not be too soon or too late, hoping to glimpse beneath the other’s veneer of civility and see the creature inside. They are so cruel to each other as they learn one another, but in their cruelty, they push each other to higher heights, and the friendship never quite fractures.

In a word, they get close. There are moments standing in firelight and shadow, genuine smiles shared, tension that builds and grows until every inch of darkness between them is thick with it. Flirtatious glances. Familiar, intimate touches that hold such rich subtext. They understand each other like no one else does. They stand on the very edge of becoming something more, becoming family, when everything collapses, and they are both devastated by it.

Their relationship is the very definition of “can’t live with him, can’t live without him”. They are described by others as being “identically different”, as being “nakama [friends, but more like… family. like a group of people tied together by life and circumstance who would not easily be broken apart]”.

Hannibal’s revelation of love for Will Graham comes in their separation. It hits him like a train, to be honest. It’s the first time the viewer realizes that underneath the very polite and elegant and put-together man that covers the vicious killer, he really does crave companionship. Even in his solitary life, Hannibal has never been actually solitary. He fills the gaps in with friends and acquaintances, people he cares for to an extent, but mostly people he uses for their advantageous nature. Will is the first person who really sees Hannibal down to his bones, and the loss of him, and the loss of their mutual potential, deeply wounds him.

Like. I can’t even fully explain all the things about these characters that get to me. I think the thing I like most is that, even as a serial killer, Hannibal is still so very human. He finds pleasure in art and architecture. He enjoys history and philosophy and educational pursuits. He’s a talented artist and musician and chef. He gets annoyed by rude people the same as the rest of us. The main difference is that he eats them.

This show is visceral. It’s a game of cat and mouse, a chessboard of intellectual bad decisions, but every choice is born from emotional need. And the best thing about it is that Bryan Fuller fully accepts, welcomes, and acknowledges the love between Hannibal and Will canonically in the show. Not just “haha that’s gay” jokes. Everyone else can see it. Everyone has some sort of parting shot about it. But in the end, even Will is faced with the point-blank realization that, yes, Hannibal is in love with him, and has the question turned back on him: but do you ache for him?

By the end, there is no doubt that the call has been heard, and the draw between them culminates in what Hannibal has really desired all along: he and Will hunting together, fighting together. Achilles and Patroclus, as they have been described by Hannibal himself.

This show is a masterpiece, honestly. It unfolds the confines of civility and sees predators set free. It sees them together, reunited. It sees them in love. It sees them from beginning to end, where even the end is not really the end.

I dearly, desperately hope for a season four of this show. I’m comforted by the fact that all the writers, producers, and actors have voiced their support of doing so, if they can find a production company to pick them up and get the rights of the other Hannibal characters [re: SotL] the way Bryan desires.

The fandom is incredible. Everyone is a little bit older than my prior fandoms, and people tend to be well-seasoned to the concept of reading what they enjoy and silently passing over things that are not to their tastes. There’s… not really any fighting the way there is in other fandoms. Those who disagree have civilized discussions, because the first and foremost rule of the fandom is the first and foremost rule of understanding Hannibal Lecter: “Whenever possible, one should always try to eat the rude.”

And the fandom is alive!! It’s actively creating new art and new gifsets and new fics and new everything every day, and not on a small scale, either. There are thousands of people still out here eagerly awaiting the revival of a truly groundbreaking show that showcased LGBT relationships (not just Hannibal and Will, mind you. Margot/Alana is real and alive and nourishes my soul to this day), a diverse cast, riveting and powerful female characters, and the kind of plotline and visual storytelling that the ancients would weep if they could see.

TLDR: I love this fandom. I love these characters. I love these monsters, and I see myself inside them in ways that is absolutely concerning to polite society. I love the imagery, the depth of morality. I love that it’s feasible for me to write a fic in which the characters can love each other and are constantly working around one another to achieve their own ends, and that every fic I read by everyone else has a different insight to their relationship. That every fic I read is a fucking masterpiece, seriously, oh my god, the quality of fiction in this fandom is so high, it’s amazing.

Join us, Anon. The Atlantic is a little chilly this time of year, but you’ll get used to it, I promise.

#hannibal nbc #hannibal #hannigram #luc replies #Anonymous #long post #meta #i hope this helps anon i just. really love them. i cannot even fully describe but i tried!!!

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fullmetalirin · 6 years ago

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Fullmetal Alchemist OG: Episode 16

One more filler-ish episode before we catch up with Brotherhood.

Fullmetal Alchemist Episode 16: "That Which Is Lost"

Armstrong escorts the Elric brothers back to Resembool to have themselves repaired. Lust attacks Marcoh in his "safe house" and coerces him into revealing the location of his research on the philosopher's stone. Lust and Gluttony then kill him as they make their way to the state library. On the train to Resembool, Ed and Armstrong discover that Al was unloaded at the previous station and are forced to search for him. When Armstrong urges patience, Ed explodes in rage and abandons Armstrong. However, Ed is soon jumped by a girl who steals his automail leg. The girl's grandfather, while giving back Ed's leg, explains that he lost his leg during the Ishbal rebellion and that he wishes to retain his wound as a reminder of it. Meanwhile, Al is stolen by a boy who wishes to prove himself by raiding an enemy's mansion. Al frightens the boy by claiming he is a haunted armor. The Elrics reunite as Armstrong reappears, grabbing them and dashes toward the departing train, hoping to catch it.

Lust appears to say ominous things to Fuery. Her breasts are really prominent, even though she's wearing a heavy coat over her dress. Fuery blushes afterwards.

Gluttony tries to eat a stray bullet but Lust smacks it out of his hand.

Marcoh gave dropped a note giving Ed a clue to his research. Ed doesn't want to share it with anyone, not even Mustang, because he's not sure he can trust the State after learning about Ishbal.

Bradley is returning to Central to flee Scar again.

Mustang admits to hiding Marcoh, and asks what Bradley will do about it. Did Bradley already find that out?

Bradley claims he disagreed with Grand and just wants to protect Marcoh.

Mustang brings up Marcoh's research but gets shushed. After Mustang leaves, Bradley muses that if Mustang knows what's good for him he'll accept that the Philosopher's Stone does not exist. I don't quite understand what's going on here. He encouraged the Elrics to pursue it, so why is he discouraging Mustang? Do the homunculi only want a specific alchemist to make it?

There's some comedy where Team Mustang makes a jab at how Ed's just an annoying brat without his alchemy. Mustang also tells everyone Ed was really pathetic when he saw him after the human transmutation. What a dick. Ed doesn't rise to it, at least.

Short cartoon skit where Al says he appreciates Armstrong calling him a kid because it's the first time he's been treated like on in the armor. Cries cartoon tears, too.

Overall, while the comedy is a little weird, I think it works to defuse the tension from last episode. We do need a breather, and it's comforting to see everyone's back to their usual repartee. Mustang is still such a dick, though.

Armstrong continues emanating bishie sparkles even in normal scenes, which is hilarious.

On the train, Hughes continues trying for repartee, but Ed continues to be prickly. He switches to serious mode and tells Ed they think Scar killed Nina. Ed makes a creepy grin and says he's ready to take him on now. Yes, this is good. I like that Nina is continuing to matter.

But uh oh, the paperboy was spying on them! Mr. Secret Agent really should have expected that. Scar does not kill the children, which is nice of him.

I think this is the first time we've seen Lust's ability.

Marcoh seems to recognize the ouroboros tattoo.

Marcoh impales Lust with a rock spike make from the floor. Lust just says "isn't dying once cruel enough?" He's surprised to see this doesn't kill her, but says he didn't totally understand what homunculi were, only having rumors to go off of.

Armstrong tears off Ed's pants leg when he tries to restrain him. Well, I guess he is super strong?

Ed reveals he knows what they did in Ishbal, and insists they're nothing alike. Armstrong is shocked into letting him go.

Ed asks which war the grandfather was in, which is a nice subtle way of foreshadowing Amestris' forever war.

The grandfather says a similar thing to Barry about war turning men into monsters. And oh, the way he talks about it closing off your heart is really similar to what Al threatened the kid with earlier in this episode. Themes~

Ed says the guy's stupid for refusing a functional leg just so he can wallow in misery. I appreciate this sentiment.

They discuss equivalent exchange. The grandfather believes his leg is a fair trade for the peace of this domestic life. Ed points out the soldiers who do come back in one piece, and the grandfather insists they've still lost something in their hearts. Ah, but hasn't he suffered the same mental trauma? He's given up more than them. So is that really an equivalent exchange?

The grandfather goes on to say surely Ed has gained something from his own loss and Ed says no, he hasn't.

EDWARD: Where was the equivalency then?

YES YES YES. We're already brushing up against the ultimate truth of this story! This is an almost perfect echo of Dante's delivery later.

Ed breaks a cup when he's raging about how they just keep losing things.

The grandfather says that a dream is only worthwhile when it's a fantasy; if it becomes real, it was never a dream. Ed looks shocked at this and we spend a very long time on him just sitting in silence like that was a huge deal. I… think that must have been a translation goof, because I don't understand what he means.

Ed admits that he might be right, but he's still going to try anyway.

Shot of the broken mug as Ed leaves. He doesn't fix it with alchemy, which surprises me.

The kid runs past and Ed just shrugs in confusion. Al has been covered in curse tags. LOL.

Ed wonders if Mustang didn't visit them back then for Hoenheim, but for "something else" – to confess to the Rockbells?

Ed apologizes for insulting Armstrong earlier, but I'm not sure why. Did the grandfather's explanation make him decide that Armstrong might not have wanted to participate in the massacre?

Conclusion

I love this episode. I can see why people could dislike it. It's very slow, it doesn't really go anywhere in concrete terms, and Ed just happening to stumble on this grand sage ready to start a navel-gazing contest is pretty contrived. But from a thematic point of view, this episode is a gold mine. It very pointedly establishes the themes of the work and primes you to start thinking about these important concepts. The dialogue and cinematography are works of art. And it even manages to fill it all with a lighthearted, comic A-plot that's a great breather from last episode. Ed is given time to process the heady experiences and revelations he's just had, and therefore so are we.

And despite being a so-called filler episode, we are still advancing the plot with Marcoh. We get a little more information on who our villains are and what they're capable of. And if you read between the lines, you're left to wonder: how did the homunculi get to Marcoh's supposedly secure location so quickly, after Bradley just said he was making his safety a top priority? Why, it's almost like they're working together. (It is a little strange that Bradley didn't menace Marcoh himself, but perhaps he knows Mustang is on to him and wants to be a little more cautious about getting things traced back to him.)

I'm confused by the summary saying the homunculi kill Marcoh, though, as that's not shown. Are we told that later?

#fullmetal alchemist #fma #fullmetal alchemist brotherhood #fma 2003 #liveblog

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prairiechzhead · 7 years ago

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PrairieChzHead Rewatches Poldark S3 Legally-US Ep 7/UK Ep 8

You know the drill...

But in case you don’t, I’m revisiting the answers I submitted to @poldarkpodcast last summer when S3 aired in the UK to see if I still feel the same as I did.

Sometimes I do, sometimes I don’t.

This week’s episode came with a content warning about sensitive content. Weird, though. There was no warning about Rev. Toe Sucker TWO EPISODES AGO!!!

Anyway, on with the show...

What did you think of this week’s episode?

This episode totally made up for last week. Between the people in the fandom claiming that Ross still loves Elizabeth (because of a deceptively edited teaser trailer) and those claiming Demelza wants to get even for what happened in S2, I was ready to start downing anti-anxiety medication like Pez. After this episode, I feel vindicated!!!!!

The line in question was not in the US version of the trailer for this episode. As I’m writing this, it’s before the episode airs on PBS. I’m tired and my ears are still ringing from the Foo Fighters concert I went to on Saturday. I’m not in the mood to pay attention to the edits that PBS does, so if there is no scene where Ross seems to be telling Demelza that he loves Elizabeth, that was all in his imagination. He was imagining being able to tell Demelza that he’s so over Liz, but given how Demelza nearly ripped his head off and ripped him a new butt hole last week after his aunt died, Ross doesn’t want to take the chance of Demelza ripping him another brand new orifice, so he wisely keeps his epiphany and his feelings to himself.

Like this version of Demelza would ever listen to him anyway.

But...since this scene will be on the DVD released in the US, this needs to be said:

Ross is not in love with Elizabeth.

Let me repeat this for the people in the back.

Ross is not in love with Elizabeth.

Favorite Scene:

The scene in the church with Ross & Elizabeth because it was true to the novel and it was needed. It was needed not just because it’s an important part of the story, but because it seemed to kill this argument that Ross still loves Elizabeth and that this is justification for what Demelza will do. I also liked the “dream” sequence, which was meant to show the audience what Ross was thinking is a close second, because the first step in becoming a better communicator is to be able to admit to the truth to yourself. Baby steps, folks. Baby steps.

In case you didn’t hear me the first three times:

Ross is not in love with Elizabeth.

Don’t make me hit that caps lock key.

Least Favorite Scene:

Ossie raping Morwenna after he was told by Dwight that he had to abstain from sex. That was horrible in itself, but the cutaway to the moon and the waves crashing was cheesy.

We don’t actually see him rape Morwenna. It cuts away from the action to the aforementioned waves crashing.

Favorite New Character:

Emma. I love her sass, but I also love how she seems to be astonished that a man (Sam) wants her for herself. Yes, he also wants to convert her. But the way this is playing out, Sam’s desire to bring her to Christ seems almost irrelevant.

Emma is still my new favorite character. I still love her sass.

Least Favorite New Character:

Ossie “Insatiable Sex Hippo” Whitworth. (I read a review of E7 that referred to him as that. I will never get that nickname for him out of my head.). Rapes his own wife and pervs on his sister-in-law.

Pervs on his sister-in-law’s feet, to be precise.

What Made Me Cheer:

Call me petty, but I thoroughly enjoyed Caroline’s side-eye and Ross’s slow clap. I wasn’t gratified so much because this was towards Hugh and Demelza, but after listening to the people on the “Let’s Blame Ross for Demelza’s Decisions because He Neglects Her” train, go on and on about this all week, both actions felt like like vindication.

Yes, I’m projecting. Yes, I’m being petty. Forgive me, but it was a long week.

I’m a sucker for a good side eye.

And a good, sarcastic slow clap.

That said, this scene is one instance where I wish there was more time given to this particular storyline or even just doing one novel for S3. In the novels, Demelza was actually very torn about her feelings for Hugh. Many, many times, she rebuffed him and told him no. Then he would suggest something that wasn’t so forward, and she’d agree to it. One example was him sending her poetry hidden in letters whose content she could share with Ross. In the show, this lengthy process of refusal and giving a little was distilled down to a song. It wasn’t a bad song. I just wish they’d had more time for plot development.

It’s difficult for me to listen to this song. Because they’re distilling months and months of action in the novel down to a song which Demelza sings in public, they’re taking something that was private and stayed private and making it public. Now all of Cornwall knows that Hugh Armitage is trying to seduce a married woman and the married woman in question isn’t exactly, clearly, and without doubt telling him no. She’s also doing this in front of her husband, in public, which has to be humiliating for Ross.

I don’t care what he did in the past. I don’t care how much he supposedly neglects her (which I don’t believe he does). I don’t care how difficult it is for him to discuss his feelings.

Nobody deserves to be publicly humiliated like that, having their “dirty laundry” aired in public. Perhaps it never occurred to anyone that this scene, while conveying that Demelza was telling Hugh “no”, was perhaps unintentionally a passive-aggressive, unconscious dig at Ross on her part, too.

What Made Me Want To Throw Things:

Prudie encouraging Demelza to go after Hugh. Really, Prudie? Weren’t you the same person who tried to discourage Demelza from having that revenge fling with Capt. Mustache, I mean Mac Neill?

1. Prudie may be representing what’s in Demelza’s head, but on the surface, it still makes the character look hypocritical.

2. When Demelza says to Ross “Be patient with me as I’ve been patient with you.”

Excuse me, but when in the last few episodes have you ever been patient with Ross? You haven’t been patient with Ross. You weren’t patient with him on TV after he cheated. He asked you to be patient with him after his indiscretion, and you rolled your eyes at him. Now you’re making snide, passive-aggressive remarks and giving him the side-eye because you’re looking for reasons to be angry with him and expecting him to read your mind, which he can’t do.

Ugh, I just can’t even anymore with you, Show!Demelza.

Performance of the Week

Aidan Turner. I’m supposed to explain why I think so, but his performance in this episode speaks for itself.

Heida Reed for the church scene and the genuine hurt she displayed at George’s snubbing of her. It also seemed to be that something clicked or sparked or lit a fire under Elizabeth this week, too. Perhaps it’s because George isn’t around that Elizabeth has found her backbone, especially when she learned that Ossie doesn’t give two f*cks about his own wife and getting her help. Heida did a wonderful job running the gamut on Elizabeth’s feelings.

I was annoyed with the fandom when I picked Aidan, but I’m going to stay with this pick anyway. And I’m still going to stick with Heida as performance of the week, too.

Observations.

Strong, Feisty, Modern Demelza does not work with the Hugh storyline in The Four Swans. It doesn’t work because what is missing is the angst she experiences in the novels because she is so conflicted about her feelings towards Hugh. While I am glad that the “I wish I could be two women” speech was included in the show, it actually rings hollow with TV Demelza. It doesn’t feel like she’s conflicted. It feels more like she’s either asking Ross for permission to use the “free pass” or she’s telling him that she is going to cash in her “free pass”, so to speak. The angst and inner conflict that is missing is necessary for us to be able to both be angry or upset with her for her decision and sympathize with her turmoil. That’s part of why this story is so difficult to take in the novels. When Demelza let that drawing from Hugh fly off into the wind, I really didn’t care, because I know that Feisty, Modern Demelza is going to play the “I’m neglected” card (even though she isn’t neglected) and do what she wants anyway and as a result, deliberately hurting this man she says she loves (Ross). It’s also because of this that I find I can’t really hate Hugh now, even though his characterization is basically true to the books. It’s easier to hate him when he was inserting himself into Demelza’s life and subtly manipulating her and being the cause of her conflict. It’s more difficult to hate him when he doesn’t have to try very hard because Modern Demelza is going to do what she wants anyway.

The other aspect of Modern, Feisty Demelza that does not work goes back to S2. She was angry, and her anger and hurt were justified. But she also said things, things like reminding Ross that they both took a vow to “forsake all others”. Modern, Feisty Demelza, who is probably going to do what she wants, because she’s Modern and Feisty, is about to become a Flaming Hypocrite. And that is really not sitting well with me at all.

I stand by this original observation.

You cannot give an 18th century character 21st century values and norms, but keep the setting and everyone else around this character in the 18th century.

It. Does. Not. Work.

Women were assertive in the 18th century. Women were strong in the 18th century. There were even women who refused to put up with other people’s crap in the 18th century. The difference between those women and the woman of today is how she went about this.

This is Book!Demelza. I’ve been re-reading/binge listening to Black Moon and Four Swans. Book!Demelza can calmly make her point and get Ross to actually stop and think without resorting to bitchiness. That’s called maturity. A woman in her twenties was far more mature in the 18th century than a woman in her 20s in 2017. Life was a lot rougher back then. A person went from childhood to adulthood. There were no “teen years”. And if you were poor, you grew up pretty fast, too. It’s not realistic for a woman with Demelza’s background to regress into an immature teenager. It’s just not.

I’m so tired of this trope that says that a woman is only strong if she acts like a bitch. It’s a load of crap. Book!Demelza’s strength is quiet, but it is there.

The other part of this I still stand by is that by changing up Demelza’s characterization in S3, she risks being hypocritical, especially when you go back to watch the end of S2 and take note of the things she said when she was the one who was cheated on.

Other Observations:

Did they really have to give Armitage a white horse?

Prudie should think twice about shit-talking her employer and encouraging Demelza to shag with Hugh.

The baby playing Valentine is too adorable for words.

An observation I missed last week, but someone on Facebook brought it up: If Tholly is the new grave digger in Sawle, how does he hold the shovel and dig with one hand?

Yes, I know that Tholly, besides being Tholly and doing what Tholly did in the novels, is also a stand-in for other characters, like Jud, who was written out of the show because Phil Davis left. But did anyone ever think about the fact that Tholly has a hook hand before having him take on Jud’s book job of grave digger?

Think about it? Tholly steered the boat when the gang went to Roscoff to rescue Dwight because he couldn’t row a boat with one hand. So why is he a grave digger? How does he work a shovel? Magic? Is Tholly secretly a Jedi and uses Jedi Mind Tricks to dig graves?

Pledge drive is coming up in two weeks. Know how I know? Because I’m seeing ads for the quarterly airing of the latest Celtic Woman special. You know it’s pledge drive time when your local PBS station airs various musical programs featuring bands my mother liked in the 60s, Daniel O’Donnell, Celtic Woman, or someone specializing in woo.

Next week is the season finale. The season finale frustrated me a bit back in August. Rewatching the show while indulging in the audio book versions of the Poldark novels actually helps me not be frustrated with the show. You should try it some time.

#poldark pbs #poldark s3 #spoilers #prairiechzhead watches poldark

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cannibalguy · 4 years ago

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The grand finale of Hannibal.

#savehannibals4

Finales have an obligation to tie up loose ends, answer questions, bury the bodies. It’s the showdown, the shootout, the denouement. But they don’t have to spell it all out too clearly, particularly for the more discerning audience who watch artistic masterpieces like Hannibal. Hannibal Lecter always leaves us thinking.

Yes, Dr Lecter, we will think about you. What you have to teach us about lots of things, not just about cuisine.

In the first episode of Season 1, the serial killer and cannibal Garrett Jacob Hobbs kills his wife and slits his daughter’s throat because Hannibal has warned him that the FBI “knows” about him. Will shoots him several times, but as he dies, or even as he lies there dead, he smiles at Will at asks:

Each episode of this extraordinary show has had a theme that can be teased out – some more obvious than others. The theme of this one is multifaceted; it is about life, death, growth, conspiracy and betrayal. The plot is convoluted: the serial killer Francis Dolarhyde has faked his death but has revealed that he wants to meet, greet and eat Hannibal. Hannibal is locked up in The Baltimore Asylum for the Criminally Insane because of his own cannibalistic serial killing events. You will perhaps remember Hannibal gave himself up at the end of episode 7, so that Will would always know where he is. That, my friends, is love, Hannibal-style. But he is not enjoying the rigors of asylum living:

The FBI wants them both dead, and conspire to “fake” Hannibal`s escape to lure the Dragon.

Will doubts that he will survive this conspiracy and betrayal

Everyone else is terrified of Hannibal really escaping and coming for them. Hannibal`s former psychiatrist and, well, housemate, Bedelia, is convinced this is a terrible idea. She quotes Goethe’s Faust, a work much loved by Hannibal as well:

Will has no sympathy. He knows Hannibal will also come for Bedelia if (when) he escapes, because she is on his menu.

Alana knows Hannibal is going to kill her, because he has promised to do so, and reaffirms that promise:

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Will knows The Dragon will free Hannibal, and then try to kill him, change him, absorb him, as cannibals are so often accused of doing to their victims. We absorb the nutrition of our food, why should cannibals not absorb the strength, spirit and experiences of their victims? And Hannibal is willing to play along, as long as Will asks nicely:

The climax is at Hannibal`s house overlooking the “roiling Atlantic”, where the Dragon takes on Hannibal and Will takes on the Dragon. Who has conspired with whom, and who is being betrayed?

Will replies:

“If you’re partial to beef products, it is inconvenient to be compassionate towards a cow”.

The battle is epic, brutal and bloody, and we expect no less. Will learns his lesson at last, that blood really does look black in the moonlight, as Hannibal told him in episode 9. That life and death are not opposite or even separate but part of the “becoming”. That his extreme empathy and Hannibal’s cruelty are one and the same.

That murder and mercy, as Thomas Harris told us at the end of Red Dragon, are just human constructions, and mean nothing to nature, “the Green Machine”, which is indifferent to who lives and dies, and to conceptions of right and wrong. When we inevitably die, someone will eat us, and nature cares not a whit the species of the eater or eaten. Natural selection means that the Dragon, with the gun and the knife, will kill and absorb Hannibal. The Green Machine doesn’t care. This is what Hobbs was trying to tell Will in the first episode, and what Hannibal has shown him, 38 episodes later.

But then, there’s love and compassion, the emotion that makes a rat fight a snake to protect her young. Will and Hannibal – together at last, covered in blood, cut to ribbons, but feeling the love.

Is Hannibal dead?

Remember how Sherlock Holmes and Moriarty fell to their deaths into the Reichenbach Falls in 1891, causing a massive public outcry among their avid fans, only to see Sherlock reappear in 1894, explaining that he had faked his death to fool his enemies? Well, Bryan Fuller has given us a pretty great clue, as in the final scene we see Bedelia sitting at a table with three settings, about to enjoy a sumptuously prepared meal, the centrepiece being her leg, roasted to perfection.

Who’s doing the cooking?

We hope, we conspire, we betray, we demand Season 4. Remember that this whole story, the three seasons, has been a prequel to the book and film that made Hannibal famous, The Silence of the Lambs. There is plenty of material in there with which to continue the story, or reimagine it as Fuller does so very well, perhaps, as he suggested, with “Margot Verger taking down the meat industry as a hot, powerful lesbian” and turning them over to PETA.

Hugh Dancy, when asked about another season, suggested it might take five years. Well guess what, Season 3 finished in 2015…

Next week I’ll publish, for ease of reference, a complete listing of my Hannibal blogs.

“Meat’s back on the menu”: HANNIBAL S3E13: “The Wrath of the Lamb” The grand finale of Hannibal. #savehannibals4 Finales have an obligation to tie up loose ends, answer questions, bury the bodies.

#bringbackhannibal #Bryan Fuller #cannibalism #Faust #Goethe #Hannibal #hannibal lecter #Hannigram #Red Dragon #savehannibals4 #silence of the lambs

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solemnduty-blog · 8 years ago

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this was supposed to be a short post about how disappointed i am in this episode but then i got sidetracked and i quit.

/ / / / DO NOT. REBLOG. THIS POST. / / / /

picard, in season three:

kevin: no, no, no, no. you don't understand the scope of my crime. i didn't kill just one husnock, or a hundred, or a thousand. i killed them all. all husnock everywhere. ARE ELEVEN THOUSAND PEOPLE WORTH FIFTY BILLION? is the love of a woman worth the destruction of an entire species? this is the sin i tried so hard to keep you from learning now. why i wanted to chase you from rana. picard: we're not qualified to be your judges. we have no law to fit your crime. ** later ** picard: captain's log, stardate 43153.7. we are departing the rana system for starbase one three three. we leave behind a being of extraordinary power and conscience. i am not certain if he should be praised or condemned. only that he should be left alone.

** ( bonus: in season four, while on trial: ) **

satie: tell me, captain, have you completely recovered from your experience with the b.org? picard: yes, i have completely recovered. satie: it must have been awful for you, actually becoming one of them, being forced to use your vast knowledge of starfleet operations to aid the b.org. just how many of our ships were lost? thirty nine? AND A LOSS OF LIFE, I BELIEVE, MEASURED AT NEARLY ELEVEN THOUSAND. one wonders how you can sleep at night, having caused so much destruction.

granted, though he considers doing the very same to the b.org at a later date, he eventually concedes:

picard: i think i deliberately avoided speaking with the b.org because i didn't want anything to get in the way of our plan [ to infect him with a computer virus which would completely annihilate the b.org consciousness. ] but now that i have, he seems to be a fully realised individual. he has even accepted me as picard, captain of this ship, and not as locutus. geordi: so you've reconsidered the plan? picard: yes. to use him in this manner, we'd be no better than the enemy that we seek to destroy. so, i want other options.

but.... lmao..... deanna’s the only one who ever acknowledges the reason why he’d consider it in the first place, the reason he might be angry / upset by the b.org’s presence.... not allowing a trauma victim to have completely normal / understandable emotional reactions..... instead, it’s like talking to him like he’s randomly fucking decided to go out of his way to be an asshole....

troi: captain, i just wondered if there's anything you wanted to talk about. picard: i don't think so, counselor. troi: i would have thought having a b.org on the ship would stir some feelings. picard: i'm quite recovered from my experience, thank you. troi: sometimes even when a victim has dealt with his assault there are residual effects of the event that linger. you were treated violently by the b.org. kidnapped, assaulted, mutilated...

even though geordi himself even acknowledges the horror of being assimilated ????

geordi: part of what we do is to learn more about other species. hugh ( b.org ): we assimilate species. then we know everything about them. geordi: yeah. i know. hugh: is that not easier? geordi: maybe it is. it's just not what we do. hugh: why? geordi: all right, think of it this way. every time you talk about yourself, you use the word we. we want this, we want that. you don't even know how to think of yourself as a single individual. you don't say, i want this, or i am hugh. we are all separate individuals. i am geordi. i choose what i want to do with my life. i make decisions for myself. for somebody like me, losing that sense of individuality is almost worse than dying.

idk why such a significant part of picard’s characterization / story is only mentioned once.

when he visits his brother at their ancestral home in la barre, france ( and finally snaps, provoked by his brother into starting a fight in the vineyard ):

picard [ sobbing ]: you don't know, robert. you don't know. they took everything i was. they used me to kill and to destroy, and i couldn't stop them. i should have been able to stop them! i tried. i tried so hard, but i wasn't strong enough. i wasn't good enough! i should have been able to stop them. i should! i should! robert: so, my brother is a human being after all. this is going to be with you a long time, jean-luc. a long time. you have to learn to live with it. you have a simple choice now. live with it below the sea with louis, or above the clouds with the enterprise.

like ? what the b.org did to him is the equivalent of mental r.ape. not even for a second am i trying to say “let him do what he needs to do, just make sure he drinks lots of water uwu” because no, you don’t get to annihilate an entire species ( eldritch abominations don’t count, you know who you are ) but sweet baby jesus, i don’t care how Strong(TM) you think he is, or should be, he’s a victim and he’s allowed to be angry and suspicious and irritable. what matters is what he does with those emotions.

#long post for ts #cas shut up #my aunt came over with her husband #who i can't stand. i refuse to converse with him #rape mention #so rip sorry if this comes off as Too Much #cas watches tng #「 assimilation 」 i am locutus of borg.#「 meta 」 you have the bridge.

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fullmetalirin · 6 years ago

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Fullmetal Alchemist OG: Wrath’s Awakening (OG 29-31)

OG adds an arc smack in the middle of this section, so I'll cover it all at once. We're close to the divergence point, now.

Fullmetal Alchemist Episode 29: "The Untainted Child"

The young boy who shadowed Edward and Alphonse on Yock Island is not only an alchemist, he is able to transmute his own body. After finding out about the scars on the boys right arm and left leg, Ed discovers that the boy is a homunculus who took his limbs during their failed attempt at human alchemy.

Ah, Ed and Al do ask why the guy attacked them. It's handwaved as Izumi telling him to toughen them up. Still feels like it goes against the point of the lesson.

Izumi walks towards Wrath, but coughs up blood. It's initially comedic, but she reverts to normal style as Al tends to her.

I'm not sure why Ed attacks Wrath.

Ed appears to try to remove the rock from Wrath's flesh, but the reaction seems to spread and turn his clothes into leaves. So I guess that's where he was getting the clothes? But why would he think to transmute them into proper clothes?

We can clearly see Wrath's arm and leg are Ed's skintone. The rest of Wrath is deathly pale, though. Shouldn't he be tanned if he's spent all his life in the wild? Or do homunculi's bodies never change? Since they don't age, maybe so.

Wrath can talk, so he must have had some human contact.

Wrath doesn't have purple eyes… but he does have blue ones. Maybe the purple comes from eating the red stones.

Winry wants to tell Izumi off for being mean to the Elrics.

Sig sleeps with his eyes open.

Ed sneaks into Wrath's room. Izumi apparently locked the door with alchemy so she'd know if the brothers broke in, so instead Ed busts a hole in the roof. Clever.

Wrath is very acrobatic. Ed turns the blanket into a rope to restrain him.

Oh, the reason Ed was weird about Wrath was because he transmuted without a circle.

Wrath gets upset trying to untie the rope, and transmutes the whole bed into his body.

Cartoon when Izumi barges in.

Ed reveals the homunculi are pursuing him.

Quick shot of Winry sleeping through everything. Haha.

Cut to Central. Sheska is playing with Elicia.

Sheska berates Mustang for not investigating Hughes' murder, and gives him the files Hughes was looking at.

Cut to Sloth calling Envy and telling him to track down the Elrics. Sloth says she's busy in Central.

Envy reveals Sloth is the youngest homunculus.

Sloth doesn't want the Elrics investigating Ishbal's Philosopher's Stone.

Ed explains everything to Izumi. He says transmuting one's own body shouldn't be possible with any alchemy.

Sig politely leaves before Izumi discusses the Gate with Ed.

This is where we get Ed's perspective for the human transmutation scene, which I already covered last post.

Ah, Ed does mention that soul-binding was one of the things he learned from the Gate. So that does explain it.

Back in Central, Breda attaches bishie sparkles to himself with wires when pretending to be Armstrong. LOL.

We get introduced to Archer, who I believe is an anime-only character? He's pursuing the Elrics, likely at the behest of the homunculi.

Al uses the radio in their room and the lamp in the bathroom to create a phone line.

Al figured out that Wrath has Ed's arm and leg. When he reveals it, Ed immediately tunnels into the bathroom to confirm for himself. Everyone looks scared and tells Ed to stay away.

Ed has a breakdown over the possibility his limb trade was not an equivalent exchange.

Ah, the scar on the arm is from the fox bite. So that was intentional. Nice.

Ed freaks out Wrath with his questioning, forcing him to run away. Ed pursues.

Izumi vomits blood when she sees a trail from her transmutation site. It's played completely seriously.

The thing that strikes me most here is how darkly Ed is portrayed. Winry looks scared of him, and everyone tells him he's wrong to be so cruel and suspicious towards this kid, which he completely ignores. We are seeing the dark side of that fiery determination so characteristic of shonen protagonists, and starting to commit to the idea that Ed ignoring all moderating influences in favor of his own obsessions is maybe not healthy behavior.

Fullmetal Alchemist Episode 30: "Assault on South Headquarters"

Yoki spots Scar in a group of Ishbalans arriving at a refugee camp. He runs off to contact the military, hoping to be reinstated. Meanwhile, the military, believing the mysterious boy to be a homunculus, captures and imprisons him in South Headquarters. A chimera called Bido discovers the same and Izumi storms South Headquarters to rescue him, but she soon finds herself in a five-way fight over the boy.

Ed apologizes to Wrath while chasing him. Wrath phases through a wall by fusing himself with it.

Archer has shown up at Sig's shop asking after the Elrics.

Sig and Armstrong strip and have a hulking-out contest.

The lizard-man heard about the Elrics from Tucker.

The lizard-man can climb a sheer wall.

The arm Wrath got from Ed looks significantly larger than his other one.

Archer is using a sniper rifle just as a telescope.

Archer says there's something important on Wrath's right foot (so his natural one). You can't see it in that shot, but later we see that's where his tattoo is.

Armstrong asks what they plan to do if Wrath's limbs really are Ed's – would they rip them off and take them for their own?

Sloth promises to reinstate Yoki if he tells them Scar's whereabouts. So yes, Ed's heroics were only a temporary reprieve – this shows the whole system is rotten.

And while that happens, Greed receives his own information on Wrath. He decides Wrath is a bigger priority than the Elrics. He gives us our first mention of Pride.

Tucker and Kimblee are with Greed.

Al tells Izumi Wrath was a monster, and tells her about the other homunculi as well. Izumi says she already knew.

Izumi vomits blood. It's played seriously. Sig rushes her to the hospital, and this is where we learn about her illness. The doctor points to a diagram saying all her organs from her liver to her intenstines are gone, which doesn't seem like it should be survivable. They'd have to be only partially damaged; you can't survive without all of them. Possibly we can assume her uterus took the brunt of the damage. This is where Ed figures out she did human transmutation.

There's still dried blood on Izumi's lips when she enters the southern headquarters.

Winry bemoans everyone keeping her out of the loop. This prompts Sig to tell her their backstory over footage of Izumi's assault, which I think is a nice technique.

How does Kimblee survive his own blast? He's touching the thing that explodes with enough force to take down a wall.

Ed says that as a soldier he's bound by duty to apprehend Izumi.

Bradley appears. Ed wonders to himself why he's here, hinting that we're supposed to find that weird.

And Bradley appears to be in Central simultaneously, ordering Mustang to take out Scar. I wonder if we're supposed to think this is a flashback…? Mustang coldly decides that if Scar doesn't surrender, they will take out the entire camp.

Scar recognizes a symbol in the alchemist's house, but I don't. I presume it'll be explained later.

Fullmetal Alchemist Episode 31: "Sin"

Amid the confusion inside South Headquarters, Envy, disguised as Bradley, manages to take the homunculus boy from Izumi. Kimblee and Bido came to battle for the same purpose and the boy remembered all his past after he consumed small fragments of the Philosopher's Stone.

We open with Team Mustang asking if they plan to kill the refugees. Mustang can't give an answer.

Archer is surprised to see Kimblee alive. Kimblee apparently was ordered to stop killing civilians.

When Kimblee tells them to ask Bradley, we get an internal monologue from Envy, thus showing us it's him. I don't like that, it's very tacky to shift perspectives suddenly. The writers probably thought it was funny but eh, not the time. Envy apparently didn't know why Kimblee was kept alive, also. I guess they keep him out of the loop on most things.

Envy-Bradley rushes forward to grab Wrath.

Izumi shoots a giant stone fist at Envy-Bradley, which Armstrong stops. The force shreds his shirt.

We switch to still images for the battle, because I guess they ran out of budget. It's not too clear what's going on, but apparently the force of their attacks is collapsing the building.

Kimblee taps Al and notes that he has an interesting body.

Bido not wanting to get turned into a bomb is played for comedy. Eenh.

Envy feeds Wrath a red stone. Wrath then starts eating the rest ravenously.

Envy says the red stones have several hundred human lives in them. That seems like a lot – even these low-quality ones require that much? Wrath is horrified and spits them out, but eats them again when Envy threatens to take them away.

Envy says the reason Wrath can use alchemy is because of his human limbs.

Wrath gets flashbacks to the Gate of Truth, and his eyes turn purple.

Archer offers to reinstate Kimblee.

Wrath has a new outfit with the homunculus markings. Where'd he get that? It looks very similar to Envy's outfit (short shorts and bare midriff), so possibly we can assume Envy gave it to him.

Wrath apparently eviscerated Envy after awakening.

The soldiers contacted Central and discovered Bradley wasn't supposed to be here. That seems sloppy. Did Envy do this on his own?

We get a flashback to Izumi's human transmutation. She did it at Yock Island, not an indoor location like in Brotherhood. We don't see her trip to the Gate. When she wakes up she vomits blood, and sees her baby is alive, but has become a monster. So this is pretty clear confirmation that the soul is the issue: she had a whole, intact body and it still didn't work.

Izumi tries to strangle Wrath but can't. Envy watches from a clifftop.

Ed arrives to see Wrath strangling Izumi. Izumi says she deserves it, and we complete the flashback: when she saw what she made, she gave it back to the Gate. The Gate looks much creepier here than it does in Brotherhood – it has a complete arch, like the front of a temple, and it's filigreed with strange human statues. A giant eye looks out from within. Ed says the inside of the Gate looked like truth to him, but Izumi says it looked like Hell.

The baby starts crying when it's taken away, and Izumi regrets her choice.

This is where we get explicit confirmation that homunculi are the result of human transmutation, and that they lack a soul. Ed thought they were created like chimeras.

This reveal, to me, felt so obvious and intuitive I was honestly shocked that Brotherhood did something so different and so, so much more boring. Homunculi as failed resurrections raises so many delightful questions about personhood, responsibility, and playing God that will be explored later in the series.

Wrath's personality has noticeably changed. He is extremely vulgar and hostile.

Lust and Gluttony can be seen among the refugees when Mustang's team approaches.

We see Sloth traveling through the water towards Yock Island. Wow, I guess a new homunculi is top priority for them.

Greed's arrived too, so we're in for a showdown. Envy asks him what he did with the skull – ah, there was a skull in his prison. That must have been from his human remains. So that's an early hint towards that.

Greed seems surprised that a Sloth exists. I guess they're rare? It'd be interesting to try to figure out if there's any theme to Dante's naming scheme. Envy also says that there's a full set of seven "for the first time in a while", so there has been a full set before.

Sloth namedrops Wrath for the first time.

Sloth says Envy's orders were to push Ed towards the Philosopher's Stone, not throw a wrecking ball at him. Envy just says he wanted to see Hoenheim's kid suffer. So Envy is unreliable.

Wrath says his body grew inside the Gate.

Wrath wants Ed's whole body so he can become human. Interesting that he couldn't use Al's.

Conclusion

Like the Fifth Laboratory, this probably would have benefited from being condensed into two episodes. Also like the Fifth Laboratory, I love it anyway. Where the last arc addressed the initial driving question of the Philosopher's Stone and what the Elrics would do to achieve it, this one is addressing the questions that were brought up there: What are the homunculi, what do they want, and how are they connected to human transmutation? Moreover, we are engaging with deeper questions to come: what is alchemy, and what is equivalent exchange?

We're also getting a deeper taste of the darker turn OG will take. Ed and even Al are taking questionable actions that pit them against other heroic characters. Armstrong, previously a stalwart hero, is forced against them by his duties to the military. We are engaging with a question posed at the beginning: Will Ed follow the military's orders, even if they are repugnant? He made a choice to become a tool of the military, and he can't just walk out on that when it's convenient.

#fullmetal alchemist #fma #fullmetal alchemist brotherhood #fma 2003 #liveblog

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zetalial · 6 years ago

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FMAB rewatch episode 30

Previous Episode

Episode 30: The Ishvalan war of Extermination

This episode is... kinda boring honestly? It’s important to the character’s backstory but it’s, I don’t know, full of really cheesy lines? So much talking about how terrible everything is that I’m wishing there was less talking and more just showing stuff without commentary. (And warning I feel like my overanalysing nature is worse than usual in this episode rewatch.)

It probably doesn’t help that I’ve seen 03 countless times and much of the Ishval backstory happens there so all this war stuff is just really familiar and so it’s not really shocking. Kimblee of all people is actually the highlight.

So the episode opens with Roy talking to his teacher, trying to convince him to pass on his alchemy research to him. Roy is wearing a uniform and has just become a soldier but believes that this is his chance to help people while his Master thinks him a fool and doesn’t wish his secret knowledge to be abused and used for evil. Oh he’s also dying.

Well my conclusion is that they’re both idiots. Flame alchemy is one of the most destructive kinds of alchemy there is. Useful for nothing except burning stuff and Roy will go on to use it to burn people alive. What did they think they would use it for? Maybe if you’re creative it’d be good for cooking or something but Roy has literally just joined the military and seems to believe he needs flame alchemy to succeed. How did he expect it to help!? Showing him as an idealistic soldier wanting to make a positive difference would make so much more sense if he used anything but flame alchemy. Or if he was presented as more ambitious and believes flame alchemy is power and so only gets a greater feeling for morality from the Ishval war, thanks to character development.

Oh well. So episode proper starts with Ed visiting Hawkeye to return her gun. He talks to her about how he feels he was too weak to use it and expresses his fears of how Winry might’ve shot Scar were it not for him and did he make the wrong choice? Riza’s nice to him, suggesting its just some variant of survivor’s guilt, and explains how she’s in no position to judge, having become the sort of person who’s stained by her past actions and can pull the trigger far too easily but that doesn’t make Ed’s choices wrong at all. Then Ed asks about Ishval and Riza tells him about it.

Elsewhere we’ve got Scar demanding Marcoh tell him about Ishval as well.

We see that the war is terrible, lasting seven years until the Fuhrer decided to create a policy, 3066, to exterminate the Ishvalans. And so State alchemists were sent in to exterminate the people. Riza expresses how war can be chaotic but as a sniper she could see exactly who she was aiming at and with every shot she would end a life.

Marcoh reveals that Ishvalans were being used as ingredients to create a Philosopher’s stone. He was part of the operation, in fact. This stone was given to Kimblee so he could be even more destructive, allowing him to wipe out the Ishvalans in mass numbers. Scar recognises the description as the one who killed his brother. Scar is absolutely disgusted by all he’s learning from Marcoh naturally.

We see Roy at his teacher Berthold Hawkeye’s grave with Riza. They’re not familiar with each other yet but seeing Roy’s noble ambitions about how he wants to do good, she agrees to share her father’s research on flame alchemy with him. And Riza also decides to become a soldier herself.

In Ishval, we get some Roy and Hughes interaction as Hughes explains how Gracia is the reason he can continue moving forward and Roy ponders his own reasons. They note that they have the eyes of a killer now and think everything they’re doing is terrible, that it wasn’t what they stood for.

Roy sees Riza and is saddened to see her here as well, that the lovely girl he knew now has the eyes of a killer as well.

Kimblee appears and he just blows to pieces their attempts at trying to be above their actions. They’re still here and they’re still killing, what does it matter that they hate it? With Riza, he suggests she must feel some sort of pride every time she makes a successful shot and as it flashes back to her unflinchingly making a kill, you know he has a point. He reminds them to not turn their eyes away from their actions but to look unflinchingly into the faces of their foes and to never forget them, because they will never forget them. These words are echoed by Riza later on to Ed, so it’s clear she’s taken these words to heart. It’s pretty powerful.

And it’s such a brief scene of them interacting with Kimblee but I love it. Kimblee’s just like them in this moment, following orders given by a higher officer, what does it matter if he enjoys his work and they don’t? The results still the same. And why are they here, anyway?

They became soldiers, surely they should have expected war. Is it because its a civil war, rather than defending the borders against Drachmans or Cretans? What did Roy expect to achieve with his fire alchemy? They can condemn the State all the like but they’re a part of it.

I love to hear Kimblee questioning them on this and you can respect his viewpoint because he doesn’t pretend, he’s very honest about the kind of person he is. (I do question them giving a Philosopher’s stone to someone as chaotic as Kimblee though.)

Anyway, so we jump to the Fuhrer and the part where he’s ordered the extermination policy to go ahead. Some interesting characterisation of him with how he rejects the Ishvalans idea of a god given how many have already been slaughtered by the military and says how you can only trust in your own power. When the Ishvalan leader offers himself as a sacrifice to end the war, Bradley rejects it, stating that one life is now worth thousands and insists on exterminating the ishvalans.

This is pretty remarkable as far as characterisation goes but I feel it’s heavyhanded for a leader. I’m biased but I sort of appreciated how Bradley in 03 constantly had this demeanor of being harmless and friendly, keeping all this ugliness to secret plotting and backrooms, he wouldn’t be so openly villainous. (I think BH!Bradley is a far more interesting Homunculus than 03!Bradley, but I do appreciate how effective 03!Bradley was as a seemingly good leader.)

Anyway, Riza concludes her story with explaining how the military is corrupt and the bad parts need to be removed and the whole system needs to be reformed, which is what Mustang intends to do by attaining power. She also states that all the so-called heroes of the Ishvalan war should be tried as war criminals for their actions. Quite a statement as that condemns likeable characters like Riza and Roy. Edward is upset by this even as Riza seems very calm about the whole thing.

We get one more flashback to after the war where Roy shares his ambitions with Riza and asks her to work with him and watch his back. He adds that it means she has the power to shoot him if she so chooses. Roy states that he trusts her with this power, that if he ever strays from his path, he expects her to shoot him rather than let him go down the dark path.

Hmm... it’s interesting. You know, I’ve seen Roy’s character in 03 criticised for showing him almost killing himself as it’s out of character for Roy. I sort of agree that’s it’s a little too melodramatic and angsty, and you need to accept that 03!Roy and BH!Roy are different characters. BH!Roy certainly doesn’t believe in throwing one’s life away. But this statement is interesting in how it shows that maybe they’re not so different? The moment 03!Roy contemplates suicide is after he’s done a terrible thing in killing a pair of innocent doctors and maybe he genuinely believes he’s fallen too far from the right path and it’d be better if he were dead. He eventually decides to continue living in the best attempt to make up for some of his evil actions. This statement in Brotherhood mostly foreshadows him becoming consumed with revenge in his torture of Envy and he believes Riza will be a better judge of his own morality than him. But still, he’s very clear that he expects Riza to kill him if she thinks he deserves it. I find the parallel interesting anyway.

Sorry... just musing. (Warning for further digressions in this paragraph) Speaking of 03, I think it generally did a better job at showing the devastation and the horror and the trauma as a result of the Ishval war. With more focus on the Ishvalans side, and more moments of extreme weakness from the ‘heroes’. I also find it sort of strange how noble Roy seems to be even before the Ishval war. In 03 we never see any flashbacks from before the war and I think I like that? We can imagine that Roy was perhaps a man like Archer but the war broke him and led to him becoming a person with some trauma but also with higher ideals,. Yes, I know there’s nothing to support this reading in canon but still I wish the Roy before the war seemed more different from the Roy after the war.

Sorry, I’m being too harsh on this poor episode, I know. I should be putting on some Royai shipping glasses or something but I sadly cannot. There’s just too much talking about what’s happening and insufficient explaining about the characters actual motives for me. I understand that they feel bad about it but I want to understand why they choose to participate. How far they’re going. I know they joined the military but why?

I’m probably forgetting some details or misunderstanding something. Maybe I’m just overreading or getting fixated on the wrong stuff. All things considered, this was a pretty alright episode and did explain the events well and I did like how we get much of it through Riza’s perspective and I love the bits where Riza explains being a sniper and the parts with Kimblee. Bradley’s stuff was decent as is the brief bits with Marcoh. Ed talking about his own worries as actually a little boring for me - weird when Ed should be my favourite.

I’ll just end this part here. You know, I think writing about it actually helped me to appreciate it more though. Using its the reverse where I like an episode okay but find plenty of issues when I start to think about it in depth.

#fma #fmab rewatch #the ED is growing on me #You know I don't recall liking kimblee so much after this episode #but I appreciate this introduction #there's a brief scene with Al and Mei I didn't mention #its the scene where Al insists he's better than his brother and she gets a crush on him #random comic relief basically #meta #myposts

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