Screenwriting, Lyrics, Art, and Investigation
Breakdown of television episodes using the Storytelling Enneagram formula.
ONE
A clamshell rooster crows, and we dissolve from the Easter Island head to Squidward asleep.
TWO
A quiet giggling awakens him and he throws back the covers. Yikes! Spongebob and Patrick in party gear lie next to him. Happy Birthday! Hahaha, wow is that disturbing.
THREE
A montage of singing, partying shots follow. Throughout, Squidward is stone-faced. When they leave he finally reacts, yelling after them, “It’s not my birthday!”
Continue reading “OPPOSITE DAY”
A rare monster that only appears at certain times and in certain places, the griffin is a treat to fight. We got one! If I’m not on a build that shoots a bow, I won’t hurt it and it won’t land.
When it does land, I jump on it and hold for dear life as it rises again, stabbing as I go. The tricksy thing will fly away, even injured. Once our mage sets it on fire, I know the battle is ours.
ONE
Sokka sets up a tent, casting the rain tarp aside.
TWO
Katara, carrying some kindling, questions his judgment. Sokka fights back, telling her to worry about her own job. Aang, as the Avatar peacemaker, comes between them and suggests they switch tasks. How can people who disagree get along, and can Aang actually help them reach accord? That’s the Trouble.
THREE
Appa and Momo also fight over a piece of fruit. It’s hilarious because Appa, giant bison, holds the melon in place with his toe while Momo, small mammal, goes all ballistic on trying to free it. Aang halves the fruit, sharing it out.
This is basically a repeat of the Two, so why is it the Three? Well, first, it’s what comes next (and the material after that is clearly Four-ish). Second, food is part of the struggle in this episode and recurs in a Six-ish way. Mostly, though, I’m reaching.
Continue reading “The Great Divide”The Duchess’ maid has asked me to come into the castle at night, when the guards will arrest anyone out and about, to secretly visit Aelinore in her chambers.
Right.
I’m brave, I’m wonderful. aren’t we naughty, etc., and then the Duke arrives for a surprise visit. Hide!
And . . . he’s calling her by a similar but different name, begging forgiveness, and choking her to death.
Technically, I could let her die, but I come from behind the screen and confront them.
And . . . to save her own skin Aelinore accuses me of sneaking in and accosting her. I’m arrested and whipped (offscreen).
But then she apologizes, calls me her darling, and gives me the keys to escape.
Such is the life of a hero.
This is a very strange episode. Jet is a beloved character, one who recurs in an important storyline, yet he’s not a nice person here. He’s the antagonist, yet we’re not to see him as a villain.
ONE
A forest location. Momo chases a bug.
TWO
Berries are bait in a trap that Momo activates. Suspended from tall trees are two more traps with baboons caught in them. Aang, bending, jumps up and frees them all.
THREE
The traps are Fire Nation. Sokka wants the team to move on but without flying. His instincts tell him they’ll be spotted in the air.
Okay, I have a problem with traps appearing at both beats. They belong at the Three, which we’ll see when it mirrors at the Six. The Trouble, the Two, is actually the forest. Hidden amongst the trees are Jet and his Freedom Fighters, but also the Fire Nation. This is what Aang battles at the Eight.
Continue reading “Jet”I return to the Abbey to check in on Quina. She’s working with flowers and feels she has a talent as a healer. Can I take this flower to a priest for his opinion and recommendation?
They’ll send her to the Grand Cathedral to study! Her only objective is to learn more about the dragon, and this seems to be the best way to go.
ONE
The gang flies on Appa, as they often do at the One. Travelling onward.
TWO
Aang worries. How is he supposed to master the elements before the comet arrives next summer? This is an ongoing Trouble. Possibly, when we look at the Enneagram for this entire season, or even the three seasons of the entire show, this worry will be the larger Two. It’s an essential question.
Also, though, this episode has another, more specific Trouble. Katara offers to teach Aang the waterbending she knows.
THREE
With the two benders busy, Sokka is at loose ends. He uses a long fuzzy frond to clean Appa in the river, particularly between his toes. Sokka does regular human things at the Three. I really like how the story writers deploy him at key beats.
Continue reading “The Waterbending Scroll”A little group gossips in the town square as we come down from our castle visit. (These people and this quest are easy to miss.) The Duke is sending troops to question the Witch. We already know that Selene is alone in the Witchwood and that she doesn’t understand Wyrmspeak.
Off we dash.
Outside of her treehouse a mob clambors at her door. “Hang the witch!”
As we rush forward, a rock formation activates and rises up. It’s a golem monster that had been sleeping peacefully as a boulder. That sends the mob scurrying, and we’re left alone to do battle with it.
The trick to a Golem is to hit its glowing discs, and this can only be done with brute force. Magic is useless, and I’ve just idiotically changed my pawn into a sorcerer. I have arrows and daggers, though, so up I climb.
When it’s defeated, we see that it guarded a gated passage. At the end of it, in a graveyard, we find Selene safe with a glowing, ghost-like woman. With no lead up, these two drop some plot bombs:
Continue reading “Saving Selene”ONE
Fry Cook Spongebob flips patties. One patty twirls into the air and changes into a jellyfish, which swims about the Krusty Krab kitchen and escapes out the porthole.
Spongebob likes this. He turns back to the stove and watches all the patties morph into jellyfish. Spongebob himself floats into the air and flies after them out the window. He transforms into a large, square yellow jellyfish. With big round eyes! They cavort in Jellyfish Fields until a voice calling his name awakens him from this wish-fantasy One.
TWO
The stove smokes and Mr. Krabs is yelling. Reality is the Trouble.
Continue reading “NATURE PANTS”We’ve finished the Wyrm Hunt quests and are now invited to enter the castle and meet the Duke. Well, I’m invited. Pawns aren’t allowed.
At the door to the entrance chamber a little jester man in the full bell cap outfit stops me. He’s deeply unpleasant, over-animated and suspicious. (Another unfortunate trope deployed, this time of a dwarf or Little Person who plays the backstabbing Fool.) He puts something on my head.
When I enter, everyone in audience turns and scowls. Reverse angle and I can now see I wear a clown hat with pom-pom topper. The Duke frowns at first, then responds.
I’m welcomed to continue to assist the Duke. More missions to come! As I leave the castle, a cut scene takes over. Someone is in the garden.
Gender is immaterial. Whatever toon I play, they swoon at this Aelinore meeting. She’s blonde, she’s tender, and she’s innocent. She’s also new to the castle and in over her head. More plot to come for our prototypical Damsel in Distress.
Two more points dropped randomly about the mysterious Duke:
“His Grace is unwell,” Aldous the Chamberlain says to me. He looks hale, but I guess I’m supposed to notice that the Duke is failing in some way.
“He must be a wizened old man by now. He’s of an age with me, if not older,” Iola the hometown shopkeep says. Well, I have a photo and he doesn’t look anywhere near as ancient as Iola does.