#un1e03

[ariadne-mouse]

I love that what began as a spooky jumpscare in Moonward has evolved into a comedic exit

[ariadne-mouse]

re: Cleo & the Granddaughter - personally I'm only idly interested in the shipping angle at the moment (though the seeds are there and the show can certainly convince me) but what I do find intriguing about it is, whether romance or friendship, there is a fraught future already baked in. The Granddaughter is on a very specific personal journey to become a Mother, to gain incredible amounts of knowledge about the Cosmos in an eyeblink and live a life of detached service; even if there was a possibility of some romance remaining after that (give us the Mothers cultural lore, Third Person-), the Granddaughter would be irrevocably changed as a person. If they do catch feelings for Cleo, they will have to grapple with the choice of leaving that behind upon Realization. Who knows, maybe a friendship/romance and the trials within will be what precipitates Realization itself. Meanwhile Cleo would be in a position to grapple with falling for someone who is essentially marrying a life of service, and watch them change. Or, even more fraught, if the Granddaughter's journey/Realization are compromised by their connection, that is a whole new can of interpersonal consequence worms. So I am very excited by all that.

[ariadne-mouse]

Some more UNEND thoughts... considering how the characters have a more "heroic" vibe than in Midst, which had a smorgasbord of fuck-ups, and seeing this contrast in action in the first few episodes. The characters of UNEND are more heroic! They are on this aspirational and exciting mission together!

And so.... where do we go from that? There are a lot of things that define what a character arc is, and what direction it goes, and how it ends. But change of some kind is a necessity for a character in a major role. In Midst we saw a basic trajectory where overtly flawed characters grew to overcome their challenges (Phineas, Lark, Jonas, etc) or got worse (Weepe). Start low, climb up. With a bunch of cheerful optimists all unified in their mission... well, something is going to have to go wrong. Something is going to fall apart. Start high, fall low. I'm not saying, EVIL ARC or anything (haha unless?) or that there's always a firm directionality to it but more like, we're starting with this exquisite confection of positivity, so for there to be change, we gotta poke holes in it in some way. Story involves characters experiencing challenges, more at 11, I know.

But I also think that UNEND will ultimately maintain the trend of Midst Cosmos stories celebrating resilience. Midst is about learning to grow and become a better person even when the path is imperfect, Moonward is about bravery and the lengths people will go to help each other & unify despite their differences and loyalties, and I think that UNEND - wherever they go and whatever becomes of the individual characters - will have something hopeful to impart as well. And I'm looking forward to the ride!