June 2022 – Enneagram and Encaustic

The First Dream

We’re at the Citadel, rejected once again by the Council. We do the usual — tour the tower, meet some old friends, gather a news person who will travel with us. It’s no surprise. Atmosphere and some fun moments are good content.

When we return to the Normandy we transition into a dream. A foggy, wooded landscape surrounds us. Laughter, and there’s the Boy. We must chase him, moving through molasses. Finally, he stops, looks at us, and dissolves into flames. Waking, Shepard is shaken.

Is Boy a metaphor for Shepard of the suffering on Earth? Perhaps he’s just an avatar, a storytelling way of keeping the invasion in our minds, to keep us connected to the threat of the Reapers. Or, he’s a ghost, a former corporeal being who haunts Shepard.

This sequence in the middle of a shoot-em-up game is pretty damned annoying, especially if the game glitches and I have to play it again in all its slowness and with no chance to skip. (Yes, that happened.) Boy is still twee, and I still feel frustrated by having to watch him at all. When a developer stops my action to give me feels, they’d better earn it. The ending of ME1 is an example of this done brilliantly. At an early point like this, though, I feel emotionally manipulated. I want to learn fight mechanics and try out my skills. I don’t want an author’s message.

To be continued later, if I’m remembering correctly.

O’BRIEN, SEVEN

She and Barrow are a team — my “evil smokers” — until they aren’t. She’s incredibly loyal. It’s only after Barrow spikes her nephew’s career that she turns against him. Her malignant twist against Cora is only because she thinks her loyalty has been spurned.

Is she, like Barrow, a Heart Type? She’s not particularly sociable. She connects downstairs with Barrow and upstairs with Cora. No one else has her friendship.

I’m leaning toward Seven. She’s extremely competent at her job, but she’s not a stickler for rules at all. Her interest in gossip, the thing she and Barrow conspire about, is mostly a desire to know things. She has a Head Type relationship to the world, and she doesn’t give a tinker’s dam whether or not anyone else likes her.

Have I also just described a Five? Wait, no. She likes to gather knowledge but she doesn’t like to share it. A Five is a bit of a know-it-all who can’t resist educating the world. Because the plot focuses on her machinations, it’s easy to forget that she’s incredibly efficient and thorough as a lady’s maid. We often see her mending and tailoring at the servants’ table. The rules, though, are malleable. She’s a Seven.

THOMAS BARROW, FOUR

Hello, Envy person, lol! What’s funny is that he’s very good at his job when he isn’t scheming. He should have every expectation of rising in the service ranks. No one likes him, though, so no one wants to work with him. Lord Grantham and Mr. Carson try to get rid of him over multiple seasons.

Of course, underneath the villainous “evil smoker” (as I called him and O’Brien in my breakdown reviews) is a tender heart that wants to be loved. Because he’s gay in a social era of illegality and punishment, he can’t love. He tries and fails, risking freedom and his job. Prejudice against him, and the extreme caution he must exercise, explains some of his envy and separateness.

However, he’s also someone who likes yanking people’s chains. He and O’Brien love the downstairs game they play. They both like access to the upstairs and hearing the gossip. Thomas isn’t looking to break from his role in service, unlike other characters. He just wants to get to the top and become butler for a great house.

He must be a Four. It’s the self-wounding in the war. A Three wouldn’t choose that path. And he can’t be a Two, lol, because he has no collection. Also, Barrow feels the ups and downs so deeply. His gentleness with the children — he’s the only servant who gives piggyback rides — is that sweet side of the Four when joy is let out for a spin. And his suicide attempt is the darkness winning for a moment. He’s a Four drawn and acted with full complexity. Well done.

Mars

The Prothean archives have been on Mars forever. It’s the first alien ruin humans discovered before joining the galaxy. Now, though, as desperation kicks in, archaeologists, including Liara, give this site another look. Hidden here are plans for a Reaper-defeating weapon. The Protheans were so close to finishing it. We are to join with Liara and get this plan back to Alliance command.

However, Cerberus is after the same thing. They’re dressed as commandos, and they fight us for the Prothean information. When we lift the faceplate on one of the dead, we see he’s part-husk. At this point our old crewmate (Kaidan or Ashley) asks Shepard if she’s just a puppet, too, for Cerberus. They did rebuild Shepard, after all.

Bitter Work

Critical Notes, as always, follow the breakdown.

ONE

The gang camps in a rocky canyon.

TWO

Aang wakes before everyone else, excited that he will finally begin to learn earth bending.

Sokka grumbles and rolls over in his sleeping bag.

THREE

A rock explosion, and Toph cheerfully bursts from her stone tent, ready to teach. Sokka moans, and Toph earth bends his bag into the air. Mumble-cursing, Sokka hops away.

TOBEY MAGUIRE’S PETER PARKER, SIX

Maguire’s Spiderman is like a retriever who always brings the slimy tennis ball to drop in your lap. The dog is so cheerful, so proud, and so annoying. And if you shoo the dog away you’ll feel terrible because you broke its heart.

Maguire is the Pity Peter. He’s nice and he’s trying really hard to take down the villain. However, he went petty and nasty once and got his Uncle Ben killed. No amount of smiles will change that fact. Even Aunt May, after he confesses, has to leave the room and reorient her mind before she can look at him again. He’s so busy bringing the rancid dog toy back that MJ gives up on him and becomes engaged to someone else.

Lol, wow. Time has moved on and Peter, to me, has aged very poorly. I didn’t know I had such a harsh verdict within me!

You know what it is? I might hate the moment when Peter lets the robber leave. I mean, from a writing perspective. It’s not him. He’s so ingenuous at every other scene, so open and trusting and fair. The writers did him wrong here. He’s otherwise so vulnerable I want to say he’s a Two. That’s a mistake, though. Look at his brainy introversion! Peter is a Head Type; that’s why his spidey swings are so joyous. It’s nothing he’s ever experienced before or even knew he wanted. That’s also why — lol — he looks like he’s going to miss the next grab while he flails about.

He’s a Six. Rules, even rules about his own fear, are important. That’s another reason the robber scene is wrong. A Six wouldn’t break the rules, but he would cower. Overcoming his timidity would be a crucial step. Uncle Ben still dies, but it’s not because Peter was callous. A Six, someone stuck in his head, would never do that. The situation catches him by surprise and he fails. He chooses inaction and a default position of fear. It’s early in his career and he hasn’t embraced all that Spiderman can do. When we see this Peter again in No Way Home he’s mature, calm, and assured. It’s a great arc. However, it’s grounded in a man who lived in fear and overcame that weakness. It’s not based on a moment of petty revenge.

Reaping

The Reapers invade. Since the events of ME2, Shepard has been under house arrest. The Normandy was confiscated and Shepard’s been relieved of duty after she returned the hardware to the Alliance military.

At least, I think that’s what happened. We only learn this through subtext while Captain Anderson brings Shepard up to speed now that her services are needed again. Her condition and reinstatement could’ve been told more traditionally, but instead we get the bang. As she addresses the Defense Committee, the Reapers arrive at Earth and blow everything to hell. Shepard and Anderson are on their own to — well, have a tutorial, lol — get to a shuttle. The graphics are astonishing.

Humongous claw ships decimating the world make for emotional footage.

As Shepard follows Anderson through a building, something in the duct work catches her eye. It’s a boy, hiding. When she tries to coax him out, he says, “Everyone’s dying. You can’t help me.” A beat as she looks away, and he’s gone when she turns back. Actually, I’m going to name him Boy. He seems at this point like a twee ploy for feelings, but I remember that he’s more. I remember, honestly, that I hate his role in this story.

After a bit of fighting practice, Shepard arrives at the shuttle. Anderson stays behind to help with the battle for Earth. Shepard is to go on and convince the Council to help defend our homeworld. As the shuttle lifts off Shepard looks down at the other humans loading into other shuttles. There’s Boy, squinting up at her. He climbs aboard, and the two shuttles lift off.

Shepard watches as both shuttles are cut by a Reaper beam and explode. Boy, assuming he’s a real person rather than a metaphor, is dead. Evocative music plays. (Why it’s the exact chord change as Rammstein’s “Wo bist du”, released years earlier, is a coincidence, I assume. Nice choice, though, if you’re going to accidentally borrow an existing work.)

ANDREW GARFIELD’S PETER PARKER, FOUR

This is an emotion-driven Spiderman. He must be a Four, lol.

First of all, The Amazing Spider-man is a particularly grim version of the story. The world is darker than in other iterations. Stylistically, this movie has a touch of the horror genre to it. Certain Character Enneagram numbers are more suited to this kind of storytelling. We need someone resilient. Peter is beat down a lot in this film. A Four will rise back up again.

The plot to this version is sparse. I won’t try a breakdown, but it doesn’t feel like it would hit all the beats. A Four Parker is very interesting; however, this isn’t the vehicle for him. Give me more backstory, more depth. Dig in. Ben and May are fantastic. Gwen and her father are fine (although don’t get me started about a costumer putting a young woman in thigh highs for a professional environment).

Many of the details on this movie are just okay. Peter’s a Four! Give him juicy scene chewing! Garfield is up to the task. Let him off the leash! This should’ve been a huge, emotional roller coaster. Instead, it’s meh.

Walking Small

ONE

A beachfront scene and the sign “Welcome to Goo Lagoon”. (The eternal mystery of how an underwater location has a shore is best not questioned.)

TWO

Oops, there goes the sign, dug up by a tractor. Yes! It’s Plankton driving!

THREE

With a bullhorn he announces that all beachgoers are trespassing on the future site of the Chum Bucket Mega Bucket as he places his own sign.

The Story Enneagram of Mass Effect 2

The majority of gameplay is not story. Interesting, eh? Gathering teammates and achieving their loyalty missions is what clocks the hours. This means lots of fighting, which is good. How much plot is left, though? Let’s see.

LEFTOVER NINE

First of all, Shepard’s dead. How we die and how we’re brought back, at least from Shepard’s perspective, is the end of another tale. Miranda has a movie, let’s say, where she struggles to resurrect a person with no life signs. Waking Shepard is the Eight of that story, but what is it for this story? Is this a Leftover Nine or a One? Is the state of the world at the beginning the fact that Shepard died, or what happens when Shepard’s alive again? Either option has a good argument for it. I’m going to call it a Leftover Nine and see how the story unfolds from there.

ONE

Shepard’s alive. She has no idea what’s happening. Her last memory is of being spaced. The station where she awakes is under attack. Miranda’s voice, a stranger’s voice, tells her where to go (and directs a tutorial). She meets Jacob, who continues the tutorial and leads the escape from the science station.

TWO

Before they rejoin Miranda and leave this location, Jacob reveals that we’re on a Cerberus facility. Cerberus, a monstrous organization in ME1, has rebuilt Shepard. Working with Cerberus, owing life itself to Cerberus, must be the Trouble.

THREE

So, what happens next? Shepard meets the Illusive Man for the first time. I have a hard time justifying that as a Three, though. The Illusive Man comes In, but he never really goes Out, certainly not at a Six position.

Shepard completes the first mission and the Collectors are revealed, but only on video feed. Veetor the Quarian’s data — Collectors In — is a possible Three.

After Freedom’s Progress Shepard is reunited with Joker and the Normandy, hired and built, respectively, by Cerberus. Like the Illusive Man moment, Joker has an In but not an Out. The ship and the pilot carry through the Eight and Nine.

I’m getting an inkling of an Enneagram problem, lol. It’s possible the Illusive Man is the Six, he’s just in the wrong position. Let’s carry on and see. Whoo, boy, I think I’m right, though. Interesting.