A Shadow of the Past (Part Two)

A continuing look at episode one of The Rings of Power . . .

ONE

Credits and a map. We’ve shifted to a new storyline.

Two hunters, laden with carcasses, walk through a field. Hearing something, one warns the other of a Harfoot. They continue on, and a small smiling person with a hay-covered hat rises from the grass and watches them leave. An entire community of Harfoots (Harfeet?) comes out of hiding. They have bare, hairy feet; these, presumably are our proto-Hobbits.

TWO

They unveil their encampment, bringing out baskets of food and uncovering their wagons. The leader consults a tome and determines these hunters are a bad omen. A mother and father worry about their wandering daughter, Nori.

THREE

Cut to Nori and Poppy (an instant reminder of Frodo and Sam). They lead the younger children on an adventure.

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A Shadow of the Past (Part One)

Shall we look at The Rings of Power? Season One impressed me as a flawed, ambitious project. I want the show to succeed, and I’m willing to give it latitude to develop its themes.

However, the reviews were brutal. I’m curious. Is the show a structural boondoggle? Do the characters ignore their motivations? Is tRoP actually terrible?

The episodes are long, so I’ll partition them. Let’s begin.

LEFTOVER NINE

A child Galadriel folds a parchment boat. Other children (dressed like creepy Logan’s Run extras) demean her efforts. When the floating boat magically unfolds into a paper swan, the children sink it with rocks. Galadriel jumps on the loudest offender, but is stopped by her grown brother. He gives her a wise elvish pep talk.

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Doomchar Aquarium 1

One of my guilds is running a contest for an ESO-inspired piece of art. This is my first attempt, something that allowed me to practice perspective. Doomchar is a house you can own in-game. I used a greenhouse as my tableau, posed a screenshot picture, and went from there. I figured, let’s do more undersea fish art! It’s as good a reason as any to be inspired.

LUCY LIU’S DR. WATSON, SEVEN

Joan’s a surgeon who quit after a patient died on the table. This is the doctor part of Elementary‘s Watson, and it’s good. However, if she’s serving as Holmes’ Sober Companion, why didn’t they make her a psychiatrist? Her medical background is acceptable at first, but as time ticks down and Sherlock’s father refuses to extend her employment, it’s harder to believe a surgeon would stay for Holmes’ own good. She starts to look codependent and she’s required to lie to him. Why can’t she admit she likes solving cases with him? 

As the seasons continue, this misstep is resolved and Watson feels more solidly like a Seven. She’s competent and calm, professional and curious. Her abrupt change of career is very Seven. However, her costuming is problematic — those uber-high heels and cocktail waitress skirts. It doesn’t suit her and it pulls too much focus. What did she wear as a surgeon? Business casual seems closer to her personality and is probably what she’d already have in her closet.

With this Holmes and Watson we have Five/Seven, Strength and Weakness numbers. A lot of conflict and similarity is possible here. By Season Two the showrunners start to utilize this interplay. It’s no longer codependency, but cooperation. Joan’s firm boundaries for her personal life become established — very Seven. She’s more than Sherlock’s assistant, in her own mind and in reality.

The clothing, though, doesn’t change and it really bothers me. I see that Liu needs extreme heels so that the full shots have her at a comparable height to Miller, but they’re so ridiculous and ugly. How does a detective in four-inchers and a short skirt manage to investigate a crime scene? The costuming continues to contradict her practical and efficient character. It’s a silly complaint, but I refuse to give it up.

JONNY LEE MILLER’S HOLMES, FIVE

From the first moments of Episode One of Elementary, this Sherlock behaves like a Five. He’s much more serious and less fun than the archetypal Seven Holmes. His super-smartness also comes with a weariness because he must explain everything to the peons around him. (A Five hates to explain; a Seven loves it.) Also, his drug addiction is a result of emotional turmoil. His substance-usage is to forget his despair. The Seven Holmes partakes because it’s stimulating and fun.

We still have a Head Type Sherlock, but this is a darker version. There’s no twinkle in the eye with this Holmes. It’s a valid choice with interesting possibilities, but the showrunners need to stay on point. A Five isn’t going to lean close and sniff the rug, for instance. A Seven loves that kind of sensory input, but a Five would find another way to follow the clue. A Five wouldn’t invite hookers in. He would recoil from the need to touch and interact with a stranger. A Five can just shut that tap down, so to speak, and become celibate. A Seven is the Holmes who would explore all avenues, including sexual. I believe the show is playing with different parameters of Sherlock, but it slides back sometimes to the old portrayals.

By Season Two, this Sherlock is firmly established. His clothes, with the high-buttoned collar and bland styling, are very Five. He’s eccentric, but he likes an ordered world. Watson must live in his house so they can work at all hours. He’s more than disdainful of those who don’t understand, he’s actually pained. Everything borders on over-stimulating for him. It’s a complete and beautifully acted portrayal of a Holmes with a different Enneagram.

Among the Seaweed

The title came last.

This is a repurposed piece that had, once again, faded. Just spitballing, I added dried flowers and leaves to it, but nothing was working. It made me think of undersea life, though, and I went from there. It’s not my greatest fish piece (out of 2 so far, lol), but it was an important step and inspiration.

Season One Overview of The Last of Us

Wow. Season One is a grim line-up! It’s a dark world out there. 

I’ve bolded the episode titles as I work through the Storytelling Enneagram.

When You’re Lost in the Darkness

ONE

This encompasses the first half of the episode, including all of pre-outbreak life. Within here Sarah dies and twenty years pass. We’re also introduced to post-outbreak life under a military government.

Establish Joel and Tess; establish Marlene and Ellie.

TWO

Joel meets Ellie. This Trouble moment looks all the way forward to the final episode. He’s tasked with delivering her to the Fireflies at the Two, and he succeeds at the Eight (although not in the way we expect).

When Ellie discovers the radio code in Joel’s apartment, we also begin to see their dynamics together. We get the hint that their dominating and crusty personalities might be double Eights, and we see which person is going to lead the other. Ellie outsmarts Joel right from the start.

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