If it lacked a couple of key beats, this is an episode I’d almost skip watching. It’s not bad, just . . . not thrilling.
ONE
The team, asleep, camps in the woods. When they’re surrounded, everyone grabs their important stuff except Sokka. His boomerang left behind, he’s told there’s no time to retrieve it.
TWO
He laments his lost identity. Aang has his tattoo arrow, Katara her hair loopies, and now Sokka’s just ponytail guy.
When they go to pay for something in town, they’re told, “Have a nice Avatar Day.” This cliffside earth kingdom village holds a festival. A giant Kyoshi statue, a rolling Roku statue, food . . . Aang smiles at it all. Then the villagers torch the statues and cry, “Down with the Avatar!”
THREE
The Blue Spirit, in some village, steals food. After hiding the mask in the forest, Zuko returns to Iroh in a cave. They eat, Iroh unaware of what Zuko’s done.
He loves practical jokes. An elaborate plan to break the team out of prison includes a request, straight-faced, for an artificial leg that has no purpose beyond being funny. What commitment!
He’s deeply insecure. Is that a trait intrinsic to his Enneagram, or is it a product of the abuse he’s suffered as a lab experiment? He’s a Head Type; an ingenious wizard in the body of a raccoon. Anybody would feel less-than under those circumstances.
Five, Six, or Seven? Well, hilariously, I immediately discount him as a Five because he’s so short. It’s not his fault! He’s a small animal!
He’s so dour he must be a Six. A Six can be very glass-half-empty, and that’s Rocket. Disaster is always around the corner for him. His love of Groot — a Nine if ever there was one — is also very Six. A Six moves to Nine in strength, and what raccoon wouldn’t dream of being a powerful tree, lol? Their partnership, I would suggest, is based in this Enneagram relationship.
Rocket is the darkest version of a Six possible, which is rooted in his lab-animal history, but we still get his cutting humor, his crafty intelligence, and his tender heart. Well done.
Action-packed and full of reveals. I’m happy that the overall story moves forward with strength and purpose.
But I don’t care if the costumes are canon, lol. They’re hideous.
ONE
Immediately the show opens with the fake credit sequence. One of the boys is running a video camcorder. Fast edits, sped up footage.
The boy (Billy?) talks directly to the camera, bringing us up to date. He’s dressed in a costume. The brother (Tommy?) is obviously the cool one. Teasing and jokes go by, but no laugh track now.
Pietro naps on the couch, then wakes and speeds about. He’s a creepy uncle. Wanda comes downstairs in a Halloween costume that references her first comic superhero outfit (I think). Billy gives meta-commentary: “Mom’s been weird.”
TWO
Now Vision in his own superhero costume comes downstairs.. He’s on his way to help with the neighborhood watch. Wanda says, You didn’t tell me. The tension between them is uncomfortable.
THREE
Billy speaks to the camera: Mom and Dad are . . . different.
They can summon a rift of considerable power. Am I ready?
I leave behind my two friend Pawns. They can’t follow. Only my own Pawn goes over the edge with me. We land in the Seneschal’s Chamber.
In this void land, the Seneschal glows white. He drops a lot of information as we battle. I command all life into existence, he says.
“But expect none of the mercy men seek in their gods. The unbending reality of a world without compassion. The world and all its denizens are but empty vessels. In that regard, no different than the pawns. Without volition, there is no true life. That volition is tempered by the struggle for survival. Just as the pawns need a master’s command, so the world thirsts for the will to live. Turn back now and I will grant you a merciful death. Step forward, or retreat.”
Of course I step forward.
The Seneschal reveals himself. It’s the avatar from the opening tutorial. We played as him once. Now he and his pawn battle me and mine until we defeat them.
Then he monologues again. “You and I are swept up in the current, same as the rest. And so, until the coming of a new soul fit to craft the will to live — until that day, may you guide the world ever justly.”
From his chest he pulls a sword, the godsbane blade.
“Those who arise to oversee this world are undying, save by this brand’s kiss. I ask that you, as the world’s new seneschal, use it now to vouchsafe freedom to your weary servant. Mourn me not, for I welcome the release. At long last, I am free of eternity . . . of infinity . . . free of the cruel, unending ring!”
Granting his request, I kill him. And then I, once he’s gone, also wield the godsbane blade. I’m dead.
My Pawn and I fall. As we drop, she becomes me and I disappear. When the transformed me awakens on the beach, my beloved greets me, recognizing me in some way. Together we walk into whatever life brings.
This movie doesn’t explain why Jessica chooses to birth a son rather than daughters as the Bene Gesserit expects. I remember the book, though. (I think, lol.) She loves Duke Leto and wants him to have a son (the patri-lineal monarchy), someone like him, and someone special (if he is indeed the Kwisatz Haderach). Family and love, mothering, are everything to her. This Jessica is very much played with this intention. Ferguson kills it, bringing so much depth to these emotions.
Like Paul, this Jessica is more emotional than the Lynchian counterpart. We see one brief fight moment where she rocks it, but otherwise she doesn’t seem enamoured of the physical realm. The Voice is her specialty, a kind of mind control. She’s going to be either Heart or Head.
I want to say Heart, partly because this Paul is a Four. They really feel like two people against the world, against any of the worlds. Beyond her depth of feeling, though, Jessica doesn’t give us much to work with. Any number can be a devoted mother. When she suggests that Paul needs to go off-world rather than finish the Atreides mission on Arrakis, however, she shows that the personal is more important to her than the political. This would also explain why she births a son, going against the Bene Gesserit plan.
And now I want to say a Six. It’s her sense of duty, of putting Paul in danger with the gom jabbar, even though it’s the last thing she wants to do. Her thinking is black and white: she’ll break the rules for a son, and then follow the rules for the Reverend Mother. Worry, more than any other emotion, consumes her. It’s the fear that Ferguson plays (despite the litany!) that leads me to Six.
One structural misstep, otherwise a moving and solid episode. See my Critical Notes after the breakdown.
ONE
Establish the house exterior, then . . .
TWO
. . . go into the front room where the ladies discuss presents (wedding, I assume). Servants carrying candlesticks and vases follow Mrs. Hughes to the drawing room. Isabelle worries that a display of presents looks greedy. Mary and Lavinia greet Matthew as he enters with a cane.
THREE
Hughes brings a letter into Carson’s office. Mrs. Bryant — the dead Major’s mom — wants to see the baby. So does her husband! Hughes is a bit gobsmacked.
The hot weather here is over, and it’s time to revisit the encaustic studio.
First of all, let’s check in on these two pieces that used ironed flowers. Remember them? The hibiscus is almost six months old, and the yellow bell is seven months. This is how they look today.
Not bad!
Both have retained their color better than a non-ironed piece. After six months, any other organic encaustic I’ve made has faded to white. The leaves in the bottom right of the hibiscus show this. I didn’t press them, only picked and added them at the end. All the green from them is gone.
I feel vindicated and on the right track with this process! After months away from the studio, the start up is hard, but let’s get in there.
One other note to the experiment: Flowers with deep color seem to fare better than pale flowers. Winter in the desert is our blooming season. I hope to post many more pieces as I ramp up. Stay tuned.
Not bad, just not a favorite. The only point of interest is the young woman in Aang’s vision, and she’s only interesting if you’ve seen the series before. I whine in more detail after the breakdown.
BOOKEND
Iroh sits roadside, begging. Zuko finds it humiliating because they’re royalty, while Iroh is so humble it’s embarrassing. A mean person forces him to dance for money, using swords to prod him. Zuko looks on, angry.
ONE
The team flies on Appa. Relaxed, Aang thinks and dreams. Below them is a swamp.
TWO
Appa’s headed down, waking everyone. What’s wrong? I think the swamp is calling me, Aang says. It wants us to land. Sokka resists, scoffing that the earth could be speaking.
A whirlwind attacks them. Aang bubbles Appa and everyone on his back, but the ball explodes and all are thrown clear. The humans land together, but Appa and Momo are gone.
THREE
Aang air bends his way up a large tree to look around. Nothing in every direction but swamp, and no sign of the animals.
Over a year ago I speculated about Paul in general, specifically using Kyle MacLachlan’s portrayal. The Villeneuve Dune was releasing screenshots, jazzing up interest at that time. Then Covid hit and all productions and release dates slid. Now, though, it’s finally here and I’ve seen it. So, who is this version of Paul?
Well, he’s not a Nine, that’s for sure, lol. Chalomet’s Paul is more intense, more angry, more disturbed by visions. Whoa, Four? Isn’t that interesting! He’s a trained fighter but doesn’t have a love for it. He’s interested in the politics of Arrakis — “desert power”, as Leto says — but only because the Fremen culture captivates him. He disdains playing The Game. The Emperor and the Bene Gesserit, the levers of this universe, barely register for him.
And isn’t it curious that his visions of Chani mostly involve emotion? In reality when they meet, she’s impersonal and businesslike, helping him prepare for what she considers his inevitable death. Paul’s inner world is colored by connections: to Chani, his mother, and especially Duncan. It’s a Heart Type relationship. He spends much of the movie in quiet torment.
This Paul is no diplomat, as a Nine would be. He’s a vengeful angel, a conduit for a repressed people, the Fremen. In terms of dramatic potential in future movies, a Four Paul is an excellent choice.
