Episode Enneagrams – Page 17 – Enneagram and Encaustic

Grigori Battle

Here we go. We pass through the Greatfort and climb the mountain path, the same one we traversed in the opening tutorial. New beasts — succubi, hellhounds, geo-saurians — confront us. At the place, the courtyard, where we fought the first chimera, we now face an enhanced version, a gorechimera. This is the point when the tutorial ended and we built our avatar. Now we continue on to face the dragon.

First, he tests us. Goblins harass our beloved while the dragon looms. By completing the Quina quest, and Valmiro’s, either one had a good chance to be selected by the algorithm as our dear one. I’m pretty sure, though, that by doing the Aelinore quest, I cancel out any other option.

The choice is: kill the dragon, or . . . sacrifice love. Let her die, and the kingdom will praise me. I will be granted the duchy. That’s how the current duke ended up on the throne. (The scene where the duke chokes Aelinore, apologizes, and calls her by another name makes a lot more sense now.) “Wealth and power are sweet anodyne for heartache,” Grigori says.

Of course I shoot him with an arrow. Now we battle.

Episode 6

What we have here is a series of “then this happened” events. See my Critical Notes after the breakdown for why I’m disappointed.

ONE

Downton’s grounds. Mary pushes Matthew in a wheelchair across the front of the property on a sunny day. Other recuperating soldiers also stroll the area. Matthew regrets that William isn’t here.

TWO

In the library, Richard and Robert watch from the window. Richard asks if he should be jealous. Robert changes the subject. Richard intends, it seems, to buy a neighboring property. Edith laments the times they’ve spent there growing up, and now it’s to change hands. Richard will modernize the property. Carson announces the Doctor, interrupting the discussion. Someone named Patrick Gordon wants permission to convalesce at Downton. No one seems to know who he is, but he’s welcome.

ARRGH

Just a few complaints from yours truly. See Critical Notes after the breakdown.

ONE

Mr. Krabs with a spyglass peruses the area outside the Krusty Krab door. Ah, no customers in sight.

TWO

From inside, Spongebob gives an excited yell. He and Patrick look down at eight gold doubloons. Mr. K hurries over, lol, and pounces. Oh, it’s just a board game. They play “The Flying Dutchman’s Treasure Hunt,” based on a real treasure map, Patrick says.

Did they clean off the tables already? And did they clean the gum off the underside? Cut to Spongebob and Patrick chewing and blowing bubbles. (Ack.) Well, Mr. K agrees to play.

THREE

Game antics. (It looks like fun!) Mr. K gets to dig for treasure with a leetle shovel, and becomes way too excited about the tiny treasure chest.

The Corbomite Maneuver

Oh, dear. Critical Notes are after the breakdown.

ONE

We’re on the bridge, but from a very strange camera angle, swooping and rising. Lol, what in the world? Why would a bird’s eye view that zooms down to a console button be necessary? (Did someone get a new lens toy?) Spock leads the crew in some kind of experiment or test. Some Lieutenant assists him.

TWO

Noticing a blinking red alert, Sulu says an object moves toward them. Evasive maneuvers. They slow and stop, and we see the object on the view screen.

It’s a Rubik’s cube, lol. Close-ups of everyone looking at this spinning, neon-colored block.

Ahead slow, and steer a course around it. Naturally, it moves to stop them. Condition alert. Captain Kirk to the bridge.

Roll credits.

THREE

(There is no Three.)

The Avatar State

I have one early complaint, detailed below, but mostly this is a great season opener. Questions are answered that may have dragged down future episodes. We have a clean slate now.

ONE

Fog. A dream. Aang sees himself in his first Avatar State at the Southern Air Temple. Avi Aang attacks Dream Aang. Now the Ocean Spirit Aang attacks him. He startles awake. They’re still at the Northern Water Kingdom.

TWO

Master Poku gives Katara a parting gift, a water-filled amulet from the spirit oasis. He gifts Aang a box of water bending scrolls. And for Sokka? A pat on the shoulder, lol. Our team leaves on Appa. Eventually, Aang will learn earth bending from King Bumi. They must stop first at another Earth Kingdom destination.

Iroh, after three weeks floating on a piece of driftwood, gets a massage. Meanwhile, Zuko recognizes that it’s his three year banishment anniversary. “I want it all back,” he says.

THREE

A Fire Nation ship. Everyone onboard bows as a canopied chair is carried forward. Azula steps out. (That grating voice!) She gives a speech about the shame that’s been brought on the royal family. When the captain tells her they can’t dock until the tides turn, she terrorizes him.

Now in Color

As always, Critical Notes are after the breakdown.

ONE

Oh, the sitcom homage is going to be The Brady Bunch this time. The title card has that groovy font, and the living room is all brick and wood. Wanda is pregnant and Vision is styled like Peter Fonda. It’s pretty funny. Geraldine has a large afro and Agnes has Marsha hair.

TWO/THREE

Exterior of the house, looking very ‘70s ranch style, and then inside as the doctor listens to Wanda’s belly. Laugh track at the birds-n-bees jokes. However, Vision is seriously trying to ask about the suddenness of this pregnancy. As he walks the doctor out the door, he asks if the doctor can keep the whole pregnancy quiet for now. And the doctor is headed away for vacation.

Salvation’s End

We’re to stop Salvation’s terrorism at the Greatwall, so we fight our way up the tower. Skeletons, cultist sorcerers, a chimera. At the top, the leader Elysion turns two dudes into wights. After we defeat them, he stands on the parapet and monologues. “Don’t you feel it? The very air dances around us! The dragon’s reign at last begins! Merciful winged death! All-powerful and merciless Grigori! Behold, you unrepentant blasphemers!”

Then the dragon flies in and eats him.

So, that’s it for the creepy guy who’s tailed us throughout. Hunh. He corrupted some people, thought he had something important to say, and ended up a boat snack. The dragon will now do what it always intended to do, and Elysion’s impact on it all was nothing.

Frankly, I’m intimidated. But I keep it all inside.

It was basically busywork for us. The only surprise, or relevant information, is the reference to the Dragonforged, that old guy who lives with his doppelgänger in a cave. Apparently, the Dragonforged never did confront the dragon, or he was unable to defeat the dragon and went away a failure. Interesting. I don’t think I put it together that the guy with a chest scar, someone who lost his heart to the dragon, was still here because he was a loser.

Episode 5

Hang on until the end, because this episode is a tear-jerker.

ONE

Amiens, 1918. Establishing shot of a wasteland battlefield with shells dropping in the distance. Inside the bunker, William outfits Matthew. They prepare, it appears, for a horrendous campaign. The troops smoke, pray, and take a last look at letters from home. The mood is grim and fatalistic. As the English charge, the Germans in their own bunkers mow them down.

TWO

Cut to Daisy in the kitchen. She pauses, a goose walking over her grave, as she says.

Back to the fighting. Matthew in the vanguard. Cut to Mary in the parlor as she drops her tea cup. She also has a premonition. And back to the war. An explosion. The camera moves over a rise to show us Matthew in a ditch, William sprawled on top of him. Alive or dead is unknown. It appears that William knocked Matthew out of the way, saving him, but the footage is too chaotic to tell for sure.

Moon over Downton. O’Brien, in mobcap, enters the master bedroom to awaken Cora and Robert. Downstairs, Molesley waits. He’s had a telegram for Mrs. Crawley (who’s still away) and brought it to the big house. Matthew’s not dead. He’s patched up and coming to Downton hospital. We see Cora’s and the daughters’ reactions. Carson in robe enters, and behind him is the rest of the staff, wanting to hear the news. Matthew’s seriously wounded, and William’s fate isn’t known.

THREE

The next day Anna and Bates in the courtyard discuss the news update: William is in hospital and it sounds bad.

Haha, next scene is Violet elegantly ripping into the Doctor. It doesn’t matter if Downton hospital is for officers, get a bed for our village lad. The Doctor stands firm, though, behind military order.

Rescue Aelinore

As I’m leaving the castle, fired up to fight Salvation for the Duke (not really), Mirabelle, Aelinore’s maid, stops me. The Duke banished milady to the lonely northern manse where he’ll probably have her killed. She plans to flee, and seek refuge in her native Meloire if someone could just sneak into the fortified outpost and break her out.

Here’s a guard’s uniform to help you, Mirabelle says.

At the top of the manse is a lonely room with Aelinore locked in it. When I enter, she kisses me and pulls me onto the bed. (Dude, we’re in a hostile castle!) After, she’s ready to escape. Now I must lead her to the cellar all by myself and keep her alive. My Pawns will meet me at a certain point in the lower level, but it can be tricky to get there in one piece.

Also, Aelinore has a tendency to say this: “I’m sorry, I … I cannot possibly cross here. Might you … carry me across?”

Her people wait for her outside the back door. Mirabelle says they must leave immediately, and her guards shake their heads at me, threatening, if I try to follow.

Thus ends the duchess quest.

Dagger of the Mind

Utter bewilderment is becoming a bit of a habit between me and Star Trek. Critical Notes are at the end of the breakdown.

ONE

After showing the Enterprise in orbit, the screen goes to an insert of some kind of pharmaceutical container. Destination: Tantalus Penal Colony, Att: Dr. Tristan Adams. Pull out to show a man lift it on the transporter pad. It’s big!

TWO

It won’t beam down initially because the prison’s force field isn’t dropped. Then, cargo down, and a crate comes up. Classified Material, Do Not Open. The crate lid cracks open. An older man with an oxygen mask sneaks out. The Red Shirt doesn’t even hear him as he rushes up from behind and judo chops his neck. Super close-up on prisoner’s face, sweaty, as he hides by the door.

Roll credits.

THREE

On the bridge as Kirk tries to convince Bones that Dr. Adams’ theories make for a resort-like prison. McCoy says, “A cage is a cage.”