KA Byrnes – Page 23 – Enneagram and Encaustic

MOANA, NINE

One part of Moana genuinely believes she will perform her duty, stay on the island, and lead her people as her father has done. The other part of her is desperate for adventure on the sea. Also, as a good chief she knows that the village is unsustainable. Rot ruins their plants and the lagoon has been fished out. When she finds the boats in the sea cave, she sees a solution and an escape rolled into one.

It’s in the nature of the genre that our heroine will be athletic, but I think we’re looking at something extra. Moana sails with no previous experience, shows physical daring and confidence, and is an excellent acrobat, which all suggest a Body Type. (Otherwise I would peg her as a Three. She has that indomitable will and lucky touch.)

She’s a Nine. It’s her misplaced dutifulness. A Nine will slide to Six in weakness. She meets her obligation to the village without passion. Only after she pursues her own way, sailing to return the heart and adventuring to find Maui, can she succeed. Even then, she needs to express herself physically: sailing among her people. I like it! She’s an enjoyable character who feels fresh, yet she hits all the appropriate beats and stays true to her Enneagram. Well done.

Neptune’s Spatula

ONE

Heroic gladiator music over the credits is replaced by our friendly uke with a bubble-wipe to the Fry Cook Museum.

In walk Spongebob and Patrick. (He wears a large ballcap and has a camera around his neck.) They ooh and aah at the displays, which are mostly creatures in glass cases wearing chef hats.

And then they arrive at the “ultimate cooking utensil”, the Golden Spatula. Ah. Larry the Lobster climbs a staircase behind the display in order to try — a la Excalibur — to pull the spatula from its bucket of — suds? wash water? mashed potatoes? He fails, and the spatula goes “Sproing.”

(Haha. It’s a bucket of “ancient grease”. While the gladiator music plays.)

TWO

Only a fry cook worthy of King Neptune himself . . . haha. We’re just waiting for it now. Too cute. Spongebob wants a picture next to the spatula, his hand lightly resting on the handle. An old lady fish interrupts Patrick asking for directions. While he drools with uncertainty, Spongebob valiantly offers to help. Pointing the way, he wields the spatula. Schwing! Golden fire surrounds the liberated, upraised tool. A swirly cloud surrounds Spongebob while Patrick, oblivious, still tries to take a picture.

THREE

Lightning. Fish gathering around. A voice from the cloud. Through a break we see a Mount Olympus-style tableau, and Neptune swims down and through. (His voice this time is J. Peterman from Seinfeld. In the movie it’s George Bluth from Arrested Development.)

MOLESLEY, SIX

If ever a character was pitiable and heroic at the same time! At first he’s a man in service looking to better his position. It seems like he’s good at it, too, but his personality is always awkward at putting himself forward.

Isn’t Molesley a Six? Need we delve further, lol?

He’s a worrier. He’s a forelock-puller (if he’d lived in an earlier era). He’s never going to be head butler. It isn’t until Baxter joins the household that we see the depth of his character. Before that, he seems more like a comedic foil for the downstairs plots. With Baxter, though, he shows the black-and-white moral code that Sixes do so well. He likes her romantically, but he also just stands by what is right, and his influence helps Baxter take back her life.

Can we say that The Fool is often a Six? Isn’t that interesting! Character tropes that may match up with the Enneagram! Molesley is most definitely a Fool archetype. And then, like every great Fool, he tells the truth when no one else will take the risk. After all, the Fool is one of the most heroic types in fiction. No one else is willing to annoy a king day in and out.

The Story Enneagram of Reacher, Season 1

Notice when the story can be summarized by a simple sentence. Subject-verb-object. I’ve written basically a treatment of the show. It’s not meant to be thrilling, but it is meant to demonstrate concise beats. Any beat that is hard to condense is a red flag.

“WELCOME TO MARGRAVE”

ONE

Joe is killed.

Reacher is introduced.

He’s arrested while trying to eat pie.

TWO

Introduce Roscoe and Finlay at the station.

Background on Reacher; he shows off his detecting abilities.

Flashback: introduce Young Reacher.

Introduce Paul Hubble and the black sedan.

Hubble confesses. He and Reacher are sent to prison.

Spivey locks them in with the lifers.

Hubble tells Reacher the truth. He’s a currency manager for someone who will nail him to a wall.

Fight in the bathroom.

SOPHIE LENNON, FOUR

The great Jane Lynch has created an indescribable character. Sophie is a successful comedienne of the most cliché and painful humor. Even she doesn’t particularly like her alter ego, and in real life she’s nothing like her stage presence. Gosh, where do I even begin?

She wanted to do theater. She aspires to be a dramatic actress, and when she hires Susie to be her manager, she gets the opportunity. And blows it. Instead of chancing success on a risky, vulnerable move, she slides into her Sophie-from-Queens persona and ruins the play. How she falls is squirm-worthy.

And then she comes back. She grants an interview and opens up. Honest, humble, and hilarious, she saves her career. Afterwards she becomes a successful game show host who combines all the best aspects of her talent. She’s still a pretentious snob, but she might finally find professional fulfillment.

Don’t forget her vindictive side. Midge, in one of her fatal flaw moves, blurts out the truth about Sophie, something she knew Sophie guarded carefully, to an entire audience. Sophie has every right to be mad. She kills Midge’s career in revenge.

Lynch always makes me want to go with Four or Nine because she’s such a tall woman and a physically dominating presence. These are the numbers her real life body suggests to me, and it’s hard to shake that impression. Is Sophie one of these Enneagrams? It’s funny that when I was thinking of comic personalities, and I suggested they would be Ones or Eights, I also thought of Fours. They bring a different, self-deprecating kind of humor. The wit comes at a different speed, but it’s there. I want to say that Sophie is a Four.

Sophie forgives Midge long before Midge forgets what Sophie’s done to her. It’s not that Sophie’s avoiding conflict (a Nine trait) but that she lived her lowest point, reacted to it, and has moved on. Her alter ego is brash, crude, and unsubtle. Sophie is not like her at all, and yet she seems genuinely content with the brand of comedy that worked for her. Again, Sophie rolls with the lows and enjoys the highs. It’s just that single moment in her theater debut that she freezes and retreats.

Well, I can’t promise that I didn’t talk myself into a Four Sophie. The portrayal is truly sublime. Probably only Lynch knows for sure what she’s playing, and I guarantee she knows every corner of this character. I couldn’t tell how much of Sophie was on the page, and how much was Lynch creating from pure genius. I’ll stick with my instinct and declare Sophie a solid Four.

Pie

Lol, I haven’t even started watching, but I love the episode already from its title. The problem introduced at the very beginning of the season — will Reacher get to eat a piece of that delicious peach pie — promises resolution here.

LEFTOVER NINE

Ah, lovely. We pick up exactly where we left off, with KJ pointing a gun at Finlay’s head. Reacher submits to Teale disarming him. Picard explains himself to Finlay.

ONE

Reacher asks about Roscoe, and KJ holds up a phone video of her, hands tied over her head. Teale agrees that they’ll all die except the Hubbles. The townspeople don’t like to see an innocent family killed. Well, no. KJ intends to torture Paul Hubble. He’s the last loose end.

Unintimidated, Reacher tells how much he knows about the Venezuelans. Pretty soon they’ll come for KJ and give him the “same necktie” they gave his daddy.

KJ responds, “I killed my father.” (YIKES. Reacher looks a little gobsmacked, too, lol.)

And now we know, as does Reacher, that KJ is batshit evil. We get a little proud monologuing as KJ claims responsibility for all of it. Holy crap, the long list of murders ends with, “I killed your brother.” Lol, take a beat on Reacher’s reaction to that.

(The casting of KJ is excellent, because all we want to see is Reacher decimate that little toad. And we know from his face here that KJ’s a dead man.)

Teale, just a low-level scumbag, sums up the plan. The Reacher brothers were working together with a bad cop (Finlay), or at least that’s how they’ll make it look to the community.

TWO

And now the threats and exposition are over and the story begins. KJ demands that Reacher use his tracking skills to find Hubble. If he doesn’t call by the morning, the Hubble women and Roscoe will die in unimaginably horrible ways.

Hold on Reacher’s face. Roll credits.

MATTHEW CRAWLEY, NINE

He’s a tough bird to pin down. At first Matthew is the usurper. Legally he is the heir to Downton, but the family doesn’t know him. Mary had plans, all ruined by the sinking of Titanic. Then he goes to war as an officer. He and Mary obviously have feelings for each other at this point because she gives him the fuzzy bunny for luck. But isn’t he also engaged to Lavinia? Lol, what a soap opera! And then he’s paralyzed, but then he recovers. Eventually, after many tribulations, he and Mary get married, only for him to die smiling in a car crash.

Does a character this chaotic have a clear arc?

Before the Downton writers put him through the wringer, Matthew’s a lawyer with no aspirations to the aristocracy. He lives with his mother, the Four. Wait, is he a Nine? That would explain why he and Robert, who only clash due to generational misunderstandings, basically feel the same way about the estate and duty. It would also explain why Mary is drawn to and repelled by him. Marrying a version of your father is a complicated prospect!

He and his mother are in that classic Four/Nine relationship where she experiences enough feelings for both of them, allowing him to keep a superior distance from all that emotional unpleasantness. It’s also why he can’t settle on a fiancee. Lavinia seems so peaceful and uncomplicated, right until she dies and dumps conflict all over Matthew’s lap. He loves Mary, but she’s an endless basket of conflict. When he finally stops dodging all the turmoil, he and Mary become a calm couple, bringing out the best in each other. Of course the writers must kill him at that point, lol. He’s gotten boring. (I think the actor ended his contract, but the writers were relieved, believe me! Heh.)

So, when all is said and done, Matthew ends up being a mini-Robert. Instead of a clash between the Earl and his heir — a more traditional plot choice — the show rolls Matthew around in a rain barrel. Hmph. Well, it worked for many seasons, although I will say that the racing car driver made for a more interesting Mary-husband. Sadly, I’m not sure he got enough screen time to develop an Enneagram.

Haha, I can’t even stay focused on Matthew during his own write-up. Sorry, my dear boy.

Breaking the Encaustic Inertia

My encaustic studio is still pretty warm, but I can feel the pull to start up again. Slowly, lol. This is the corner of my display wall with the pieces I like best. As I move into the next art season I want to use these as a reminder and inspiration.

Also, we’re replacing the flooring in our house. The peace I need to evaluate an episode eluded me this week, so . . . here are some pretty pictures as a placeholder.

ROSE WEISSMAN, TWO

When Rose escapes to Paris I fell in love with her. In Season 1 she’s a respectable and predictable mother, wife, and grandmother. Midge and Joel caretake their own children less than she does. The two kids sleep over in her apartment while the couple goes out club hopping as if they’re single. Rose is solid and stylish. Her almost invisibility sets up her Season 2 renewal, which is really fresh writing. She comes back from France and begins auditing classes at Columbia.

My God, I genuinely can’t remember what Rose does after that. She visits her family in Oklahoma! That’s weird. They come from oil money, and Rose wants to increase her allowance now that Abe quit his job and lost their apartment. Instead, she resents her brothers’ misogyny and refuses any money. Meanwhile, Abe has let beatniks overrun their home for the time they have left.

Then she and Abe move in with Joel’s parents. (The Maisels are fabulously written and played. So sharp!) Do they suffer there through all of Season 3? I think so. Then in Season 4 they move in with Midge back at their original apartment building.

I mean, honestly, what is that? So much character promise for Abe (which I discussed on his page) and Rose vanishes. Where is that plucky woman who survived a mid-life crisis? Where is that curious person who found a reinvigorated relationship with her husband? Oh, that’s right! She starts a career as a marriage broker! She has a intuitive instinct for matching people, so she’s encouraged to go professional with it. And they need an income, because Abe is still pretending to be an irresponsible teen.

Alright, enough of my complaining. What is Rose? She connects with people. That’s why she’s good at matchmaking. It’s more than observation, as a Five would excel at. She has a natural gift, a way of understanding others. I want to say Heart Type. She’s no Three. The way her family walks over her is something a Three would never support. Two or Four? She’s too undramatic for a Four. I guess that makes her a Two.

Her role as the perfect homemaker fits that. Her sudden fling to Paris is a fun Two slide to the strength number, Four. It’s selfish, and it can’t last, but it’s a wonderful free time. And then her personality is subsumed under Abe’s crazy breakdown. That’s also Two, to not complain when your family is taking advantage. It’s all there, and it’s a solid Enneagram, but . . . sigh, I think Rose could’ve had so much more.

ISOBEL CRAWLEY, FOUR

Matthew’s mother and a trained nurse, Isobel is an opinionated and knowledgeable character who feels no great loyalty to propriety and aristocratic tradition. She’s often written as the foil to the family, especially the Dowager Countess, and will express a more modern perspective on whatever plot trouble is around. In some of my episode breakdowns I complain about this. She feels forced to do things against her nature so that other characters can react and advance a conflict.

If I look past what I consider to be unfair writing for her, who is Isobel? She’s competent and, let’s be fair, bossy. She wants her way with the doctor and the hospital management. She’s very respectful of Matthew’s independence. Whoever he loves, Isobel will love. However involved he wants to be in the Downton estate, Isobel is supportive.

The key to her, as I mentioned under the Dowager Countess’ page, is the friendship between these women. At first, they’re adversarial. Some of that is the writers making them represent different perspectives for the audience. Underneath, though, their antagonism is due to them both being strong leaders. It’s natural they would clash. When Violet becomes ill and Isobel is the one trained and willing to nurse her through it, their friendship advances. Isobel is a genuinely giving person. Although she often disagrees with the Dowager, she will still befriend her.

I’m leaning toward a Four. Envy does eat at her, although Isobel isn’t consumed by it. She is absolutely Heart, needing to connect with family and community. I would say Two, but she’s too confrontational. When she feels she’s right, she’ll fight for it. When Lord Merton’s children are cruel to her, though, she retreats. Their feelings get priority. Isobel doesn’t have the black and white standards of a Six. Her heart rules her reactions, and she is a woman with passion. The world can wound her, but she rallies. Very Four.