Episode Enneagrams – Page 10 – Enneagram and Encaustic

Long, Long Time

On my first watch of The Last of Us I missed the plot plants for this episode. The radio link in Joel’s apartment that plays 80’s tunes as a sign of trouble, and Tess’ plea for Joel to leave Ellie with Bill and Frank, didn’t stick with me as important.

However, that means I went into episode 3 with no expectations. I didn’t remember that Bill had a Frank. I’m glad, actually, that everything was a surprise for me. It let me experience each beat at its full impact. I’ve really been looking forward to this rewatch.

Let’s see how the breakdown holds up!

LEFTOVER NINE

Joel’s damaged hand reaches into a stream and takes out a stone. He’s building a cairn on the riverbank. Ten Miles West of Boston. Ellie waits for him in the woods. As Joel packs up to move on, Ellie takes him to task: Don’t blame me for Tess’ death. After a beat, Joel nods. They have a five hour hike ahead of them.

Infected

Episode 2 of The Last of Us

LEFTOVER NINE

Jakarta, Indonesia, September 24, 2003. Pre-infection, with a bustling city scene. At a restaurant a woman eats alone. Military enter and approach her.

She rides in the military vehicle, wondering why she’s here. The driver confirms her identity: Ibu Ratna, Professor of Mycology. They take her to a secured room in a medical facility. She examines the prepared specimen under the microscope. “Cordyceps cannot survive in humans,” she says. She’s wrong.

In a hazmat suit in a locked room she examines the dead human subject. Cutting open the human bite mark on the leg, Ratna exposes the fungus growing underneath. She then goes into the mouth with forceps and pulls out strands that move toward her on their own. Ratna runs from the room as the strands quest outward from the subject’s mouth.

Over tea, Ratna speaks with the officer. This episode happened 30 hours ago at a flour and grain factory. They don’t know where the first bite came from, and fourteen workers are currently missing. Ratna’s hands shake as she sets down the tea. Officials would like a vaccine or a medicine from her. There is no such thing, she says. Bomb the city and everyone in it.

Roll credits.

When You’re Lost in the Darkness

Needless to say, spoilers for the first episode of The Last of Us follow.

ONE

1968. A talk show with a live studio audience has two guests discussing pandemics. One is worried about viruses, the other — the one delivering the information we need — is concerned about fungi and its ability to infect and control minds.

Roll credits.

2003. A teen girl’s bedroom. Morning. She makes her father eggs for breakfast. No pancake mix. Their relationship is light, easy. Uncle Tommy arrives. Again, a mention of no pancakes. The brothers are business partners in construction. On the radio, something about disturbances in Jakarta.

As they prepare to head out for the day, Sarah sneaks into her dad’s room for money and a watch from his bureau drawer. She takes a moment to admire a beautifully carved pocket knife. Neighbors in the front yard tending to an elderly woman in a wheelchair call hello. They’re eating biscuits, including feeding one to the old lady. Austin, TX, September 26th. Joel’s birthday. The world is green and shiny.

Mickey’s Christmas Carol

When I wrote my own version of Dickens’ classic I also had this charming short film in mind. Believe it or not, it’s one of the better adaptations in terms of being true to the original while bringing a unique flavor.

ONE

Credits roll over sepia drawings. A page of Victorian London transitions into a moving shot that finds Scrooge walking along a snow-covered street. The Big Bad Wolf in a Santa suit rings a bell while the Three Little Pigs sing a carol. (Recognizing Disney characters is part of the fun.)

Scrooge (McDuck, of course) gives a “Bah!” when asked to donate to the poor. He arrives outside his Counting House and acknowledges that Marley is dead. He also establishes his miserliness (albeit, a cartoon take on it).

TWO

Entering, he catches Mickey Cratchit trying to place one coal into the cold stove. Denied the chance to heat the room, Mickey asks for a half day tomorrow as it’s Christmas.

(The film is so good at showing all the meanness while making it light for children. Scrooge is horrible and Cratchit is pitiable, as they should be, yet this version gets us to laugh, too.)

Gods and Monsters

The previous episode of Moon Knight picked up the pace. Let’s see if they close strong.

ONE

After the recap and Marvel credits, with “At the End of a Rainbow” playing, we return to Mark’s last moment when he lies, shot, in the tomb’s pool of water. Arthur supervises as two of his men drag the body up and out. Oh, they only want the Ammit statue he was holding.

TWO

A beat on Arthur, who has achieved his goal of the entire season. Placing the golden scarab on Mark’s chest, Arthur apologizes that it had to be this way.

Layla, hiding behind a pillar and listening, watches as Arthur holds up the Ammit icon so his followers can bow before it. His cane handle morphs into a glowing purple head. He and his people leave.

THREE

Checking on Mark, Layla cries. She kisses him goodbye, takes the scarab, and floats him back into the pool.

Asylum

This episode of Moon Knight begins with a recap, followed by the credit roll. Let’s go!

ONE

The sound of screaming while a stream runs in a dark place. A woman, looking directly at the camera, tears up and forcefully says, “It’s all your fault!”

Cut to the hippo, Steven, and Mark, startling each other and screaming.

Cut to Mark screaming in Dr. Arthur’s office. His nose looks broken. Again, we hear Arthur speaking reason while Mark looks at the Egyptian artifacts placed around the office. He’s in a facility in Chicago and everything else is a fantasy he’s created. Mark says, “You’re not a doctor.”

Arthur seems briefly offended, and then defers to the patient. “Alright, retrace your steps. How did you come to be here?” (A question we would also like answered!) He mentions Mark’s last words about meeting a hippo. “Is that sense, or nonsense?” Mark looks shaken.

The Tomb

This is an unorthodox Storytelling Enneagram, but I’m going to count it. Moon Knight has been hit and miss so far. Let’s see what the showrunners tried with this episode.

LEFTOVER NINE

An upside down image of someone walking flips and resolves into the banker-looking avatar. He carries the Khonshu statue, placing it in a ceremonial room lit by candles. The wall contains a number of little icons; this must be Egyptian god prison.

Roll credits.

ONE

We’re back in the overly dark desert with Layla as she tries to wake Steven.

She drags him as headlights approach. Gunfire. Layla rolls both of them down a dune. Leaving Steven, she runs for their truck, hiding alongside.

TWO

The other truck doesn’t find her, but it does locate Steven, who looks dead.

Layla lights a flare, drawing their attention. She dodges their gunfire, then comes up alongside. In the bed of their truck is a rack of bullets. She tosses in a flare, igniting their ammunition.

THREE

As she watches the men dive from their truck, the camera reveals Steven standing behind her.

The Friendly Type

I’ve left this breakdown of Moon Knight, episode 3 as is. It’s fairly unreadable; it was a difficult watch to translate. I could cut it down to a quick summary at the Four and Five, but I want the flow (or lack thereof) to show. Jump down to the Critical Notes, if you prefer. I won’t blame you for skipping.

ONE

Video of Layla talking about Mark. Ah, she’s complaining to a woman who takes photos and builds a fake passport for her.

Layla, we’re told through this conversation with a friend, hasn’t been home to Egypt in ten years. She only steals artifacts that were previously stolen. She’s returning them! (Mostly.) As a child she accompanied her father to dig sites.

(Yes, this is an awkward exposition dump of a scene. But, if you ever wondered how to construct an illegal international document, you’re in luck!)

Roll credits.

Werewolf By Night

Technically, this stand-alone episode is part of the extended MCU. It’s absolutely charming as a Halloween tidbit, though, and may become one of my routine annual watches. Let’s see if it stands up to a fisk. But, please! Watch it first so my spoilers don’t ruin the enjoyment.

ONE

Begin the Marvel credit introduction, and then, with a screech and a slash mark, change it from color to black-and-white. Put the theme song in a minor key. Roll credits in the style of an original monster movie from the 1930s.

Voiceover narration introduces the darker side of the Marvel heroes, the monsters that operate beneath the surface and their hunters. Introduce the Bloodstone family. The patriarch wields a supernatural relic, the bloodstone. (Wait, is the family named after the necklace, or vice versa, lol?)

TWO

Continue with illustrative sketches while the narrator informs us that Ulysses Bloodstone has died. The position of head of the family and the ownership of the relic are now up for grabs. Switch to live action as the narrator announces that tonight is his funeral. (And continue with B&W, throughout.)

Establish a wooded landscape with a many-windowed domed building situated in the middle. The narrator sets the Rules of the Magic: Global hunters, strangers, meet for a ceremonial hunt that will decide who next wields the bloodstone.

Reveal our main character, panning up from his feet, as the narrator proclaims, “Woe to the monster who finds itself” among the hunters. He’s a man in a suit, regular except for dark eye circles and a strange chalk-like face tattoo. (It will take a long time before we’re told his name, but I can’t just keep calling him “our hero”. He’s Jack.)

Summon the Suit

LEFTOVER NINE

A black screen with sounds of snarling and fighting, over. Coming into focus is sand, and then the camera races up the foot of Steven’s bed to him as he flies awake. It seems that in his mind he’s still in the fight. He dashes forward, stumbling out of bed, and is yanked short by the connected ankle brace. Crash, face plant.

ONE

That wakes him entirely. Realizing everything, he slumps back to the floor.

At his bathroom mirror, Steven tries to talk to Mark. No response.

Steven crosses the street, a red double decker bus passing in front of him, and walks toward the museum. As he approaches the front entrance, the overhead shot flips upside down to follow him in.

Repair tools. Cordoning tape. Steven slows and looks around. The security man says he’s just about to review the video footage. He takes Steven into the “arena”, a desk with multiple feed displays. Steven admits he might have information about what happened, and he warns the man: What you’re about to see will melt your brain.