Episode Enneagrams – Page 27 – Enneagram and Encaustic

MERMAID MAN AND BARNACLE BOY

Here they are! The first episode of the superheroes has begun.

ONE

An introduction to MM and BB, showing them young and vital, explaining their powers. It has the tone, and indeed is, the opening sequence to a TV show. Spongebob and Patrick, cosplaying, watch and cheer.

TWO

Turn to reveal Spongebob with the starfish on his nose. There is evil afoot! They fly out of the pineapple house.

Squidward suns himself in his front yard. Oh, he’s the archenemy, Reflecto. Heh heh.

THREE

Donuts worn on the fingers. They’re the magic rings that grant the superpowers. Patrick takes a bite from his.

FOUR

Spongebob and Patrick squat down and grunt, charging up some kind of attack. A jellyfish swims toward Squidward. Did they call it? Squid, blowing on it, “reflects it”. He’s become too powerful!

Back to the “sea cave” with Squid chasing.

Patrick says, “What would the real Mermaid Man do?” Outside the door, Squid says, “Why don’t you ask him yourself?” They live in the retirement home nearby.

SWITCH

Establishing shot of Shady Shoals.

FIVE

There they are, sitting on a couch watching TV. They’re in costume (that’s funny) but older. Way older. Spongebob and Patrick stan. There’s evil afoot!

MM freaks out over the word “evil”, wrestling with the furniture. The rest home attendant tosses Patrick and Spongebob from the building. Spongebob gives a speech with fireworks and an insert of a live old captain flashing a thumbs up. The superheroes must come out of retirement!

Back to the Shady Shoals. MM and BB dish up gruel in the buffet line. BB is obviously older but still cognizant. MM is in dementia. With pink fluffy slippers.

Spongebob, visiting, relates an episode of their show with Man Ray as the villain, acting out the parts. The attendant tosses him.

Spongebob in drag comes back to Shady Shoals. Oh, no, haha. Patrick in burglar gear steals the purse, trying to provoke a superhero moment.

This episode is out there.

BB and MM start fighting, basically over how annoying Spongebob is.

SIX

BB completely loses it. He pulls out a box containing the magic rings.

Noice. Beautiful Three/Six mirror moment.

SEVEN

Say the oath! The narrator from the TV show takes over MM’s voice.

EIGHT

MM and BB with the classic attacks. Spongebob and Patrick, unintimidated, look on starry-eyed.

Oh, so funny. “He’s absorbing it like some kind of evil sponge.”

The dog paddle! On the one hand, old people who can no longer function as they did in their prime, are silly. That’s kind of icky. On the other hand, they sound just like Spongebob and Patrick did, which is thematically layered. I’m embarrassed to laugh, but . . . it’s hilarious.

Spongebob and Patrick, having the time of their lives, are eventually tossed out of the area.

NINE

They watch TV again. It’s the NEW adventures of MM and BB. The heroes play checkers, with POW! inserts at the moves.

As you can see, this episode is very Four-light/Five-heavy. Maybe I spotted the wrong Switch, but where else would it be? The showrunners, I’m guessing, really wanted to spend time with the superheroes. They’re great! Who wouldn’t? But it’s given us a lopsided structure and an awkward episode.

Adding Pawns

We always have our own Pawn. We can also travel with two other Pawns. Rook is one already in our group, although I immediately want to ditch him.

This is another unique aspect of DD. My Pawn goes onto the server and becomes available to other real-life gamers to take out adventuring. I can enter a Riftstone and jump on the server to find other gamers’ Pawns and take them out, too.

Rook is an NPC. When I have no internet connection (and DD can be fussy at times) I always have access to a level-appropriate Pawn. I hate that, though. I prefer toons that other humans have crafted and built and dressed. So much personality can be conveyed!

Now I must confess something so nerdy it’s embarrassing.

My Pawn

When we approach the gate, the exit into the larger world, we’re stopped. A Riftstone stands in the corner of the square. A swirl of aether, and out lands a person. He holds up his palm, which has a glowing scar similar to the one on our toon’s chest. The Chief explains:

“Not human, quite. They look the part sure enough, but they lack the will . . . the spark that drives us. They have no capacity to feel nor act alone, so they live as sellswords.”

That is a Pawn of the pawn legion. This one who’s here to help us is named Rook. He’s a mage. He gives us advice (go shopping!), more like a robot would than a human. And so he and we leave the village together.

We head down a quiet lane and see a salesman, Reynard, attacked by goblins. Our first fight! If we help him he gives us a cape, another piece of armor. Also (*cough*) he’s a very useful person to rescue.

Beginning Dragon’s Dogma

How do I begin to talk about the videogame Dragon’s Dogma? I’ve owned this game on every platform possible. Currently I play it on the Nintendo Switch. It’s a beloved property with a unique storyline. Even though I’ve gamed through it more times than I can count, I want to share it here. I’d love to check, also, what kind of Story Enneagram it might have.

I’ve decided to start a brand new playthrough. New toon, new beginning. Rather than remember certain aspects, I need to approach the story fresh, at level one. This means I must delete an existing character. DD only has one save slot. Down the line you’ll understand why I agonized a little bit over this decision.

Start-up.

The Southern Air Temple

I didn’t remember how much of Avatar was told in parallel stories. Aang is our protagonist, but Zuko is a sub-protagonist, and his story unfurls in evocative ways, too. The Story Enneagram for this episode has double numbers because we’re experiencing two stories.

ONE

At a lakeside overnight camp, Aang wakes Sokka. He’s ready to get home today, for the first time in 100 years.

Cut to Zuko docked at a Fire Nation shipyard for repairs.

TWO

As soon as Zuko disembarks, he’s met by Commander Zhao. Now, this guy is Trouble. Zuko lies to him about how his ship sustained damage. (It was the Avatar, remember.)

Cut to the team flying toward the Air Temple. Sokka is hungry and the food storage is empty. This starts out as a typical Sokka bit — he represents us normies, surrounded and outnumbered by magic — but it is also Trouble. His hunger will set the Eight in motion.

Katara warns Aang to be prepared. The Fire Nation is ruthless. Aang shrugs off her concerns.

The Avatar Returns

I must remind myself of the first part, The Boy in the Iceberg, and that this episode is a continuation, a part two. This is to be the second half of the Story Enneagram, the arc of both parts together.

SWITCH

I assumed that the episode break would be the Switch, and that seems to be true. Katara and Aang inadvertently signaled Zuko on his Fire Nation ship, revealing the Avatar’s location. When they return to the village Gran-Gran tells Aang he must leave. Katara knew not to go on the derelict, and now Aang is banished. He walks away.

FIVE

Zuko arrives, his ship breaking through the ice wall that surrounds the village. Out he comes, down the ramp, and Sokka attacks him. It’s futile. Riding a penguin, Aang slides in to save the day. He saw the ship arrive from a distance. The villagers, especially the children, are in danger from his bending fight with Zuko, though, so Aang surrenders. The Fire Nation ship, with Aang aboard, pulls out.

So far, everything up until now feels like the momentum from “Iceberg” is finishing up. The confrontation between Aang and Zuko is what we expected. Sokka, using regular warrior skills, is basically powerless in an arena of bending. A world without the Avatar is powerless against the Fire Nation.

SIX

During the skirmish we have positive confirmation that Aang is indeed the Avatar. He says, “Looking for me?” We get the great moment when Zuko, who’s been seeking a one hundred year old man, realizes his adversary is a child.

At the Three, Aang in the iceberg is revealed. He’s got the glowing forehead arrow and the beam of light. Clearly he’s special, different. At the Six we now know why. The penguin-sledding boy is more than he seemed.

SEVEN

Aang, looking around at the vulnerable villagers, surrenders to Zuko. Zuko honors his promise, takes the Avatar on board, and leaves. “Set course for the Fire Nation.”

We don’t know enough about Zuko yet to realize what a triumphant moment this is for him. Yes, the villain has won, but we’ll learn so much more about his character and what drives him. This is a taste of Zuko’s storyline.

EIGHT

Katara and Sokka will follow after Aang in their canoe. Of course Appa comes in and becomes their transport. It’s a nice little moment. Also, it’s a call-back to the Two when their canoe crashed. Good continuity.

The rest of the episode is a bang-up battle with Aang on the ship. “I’m guessing you’ve never fought an air-bender before.” And we’ve never seen an air-bender fight. It’s amazing! Fire — punching fireballs at someone or throwing an arc of flame on a roundhouse kick — makes sense. It’s just a continuation of regular martial arts technique. Air bending, though, is more magical. It’s based in aikido — using your opponent’s strength against them — but wind is used in creative, unexpected ways. It’s a great scene, a great Eight. I won’t spoil it with jaw-jaw.

Zuko doesn’t quit, though. A key character trait of his, his indomitable will even when he’s losing, leads him to inadvertently knock Aang into the ocean. Aang, sinking, starts to glow. In later episodes we’ll learn that he’s entered the Avatar state. Right now, though, he just goes to another level of power. He water bends a whirlpool that lifts him from the ocean. As an air bender he’s been winning the fight. As the Avatar, he’s a destructive force who can’t be stopped.

He’s quickly exhausted, though, depleted. Katara and Sokka help him onto Appa, and they all escape. Zuko’s ship, bow crushed under an ice block, is left behind. “I won’t underestimate him again,” he says. Beautiful climax, beautiful resolution. Very satisfying.

NINE

Now we have our team, flying through the sky. They’ll head to the Northern Tribe where Aang and Katara can study water bending together from a master.

First, though, some fun stops along the way are planned. Aang is a reluctant Avatar. His psychological journey to accept his destiny is already clearly a main arc. A lot of questions started in this first double episode, a lot of excitement and delivery. You’re totally hooked.

The Boy in the Iceberg

As the very first episode of Avatar: The Last Airbender this one contains a lot of Rules of the Magic events. We have a fantasy world that needs explaining. The introduction before the credits carries a lot of weight, but we’ll need more for this initial look.

ONE

We meet Katara and Sokka, sister and brother, as they fish ice-laden water in a canoe. This entire episode is very good at summing up a character in one scene. Sokka’s humor, how he becomes the slapstick butt of the joke often, is introduced. Katara as sincere, serious, and unsure of her abilities, are shown right away. And we learn something about water bending. Boom.

TWO

An unexpected flow of water puts the canoe in danger, then crashes it. Certainly this is Trouble, but is it enough? After Katara and Sokka become stranded on a little iceberg they argue. As Katara becomes angrier, she unconsciously bends water behind her, making large waves. A sizable iceberg rises from the ocean. This is also Trouble.

Perhaps the combination of these events is the Two. Perhaps only one of them. Because this episode is continued, and this is not a complete Enneagram story arc, I can’t know for sure. Often the Two and Three can’t be labeled until I can look at the end and see the whole movement.

THREE

Inside the large iceberg is another, a blue bubble with a boy suspended in the middle. The arrow marking on his forehead glows. He’s alive. This discovery of Aang could be the Three.

Katara attacks the berg, breaking it open, and it explodes with a beam of light shooting into the sky. This magical moment could also be the Three.

FOUR

I think those are our only options, because the next scene shows Zuko and Uncle Iroh on their Fire Nation ship, searching for the Avatar. Again, each character is perfectly introduced. At this point we only know Zuko as a villain, but we see his drive. Iroh’s gentility helps soften Zuko’s obsessiveness.

And then we officially meet Aang and Appa. (Appa!) We learn the magic of air bending. We sense that Aang is avoiding something.

Everything we see is information we’ll need later in the series. The Southern Tribe has no men in the village and no benders. The war with the Fire Nation has been going on for one hundred years, and Aang knows nothing about it. Zuko must find the Avatar to restore his honor and return home. It’s all presented in a way that feels organic, not like exposition.

SWITCH

Again, I’m guessing without the rest of the story, but it seems natural that the episode break would come at the Switch. Aang and Katara accidentally trip a trap in an abandoned Fire Nation ship, sending a beacon into the air. Zuko, using a spyglass, sees them and the village. He is headed right for them. Cliffhanger! Stay tuned until next week.

HOME SWEET PINEAPPLE

ONE

Something. A group of somethings. Worms hopping together, all saying, “Walking.”

TWO

They stop. “Hungry.”

THREE

They swarm and consume a coral structure in two seconds. Alright, their group-minded behavior is really funny, like Finding Nemo’s seagulls. Frightening, but funny.

FOUR

“Still hungry.” There goes some fish’s boat/car. “Dang nematodes,” says the fish. Ah, a name for this being. I got them confused with the Anchovies from the first episode. #CreaturesThatSwarm

“Thirsty.” Pan camera to reveal the pineapple neighborhood. Rut-roh.

Aaaargh! They pull out straws and suck on the house! It shrinks, still a perfect pineapple. Spongebob, inside, sleeps. Gary’s food bowl shrinks and disappears. The foghorn alarm gets smaller, ringing higher, until it disappears. Only Spongebob and Gary stay their size.

The house is shrinking around them. Spongebob calls Squidward on the shell phone. It shrinks away.

Patrick opens his rock. The pineapple shrinks away, leaving Spongebob and Gary in the crater. “Nematodes.” The only thing left is “this little pebble”.

Squid and Pat see that Spongebob’s house is gone.

Thinking Spongebob will now vacate the neighborhood, Squidward shakes his hand and wishes him well. Party streamers come from the Head window.

Spongebob pockets the “pebble”. (I know, I’ve seen it. But I still think the pebble insert would be a sufficient clue for someone watching the episode for the first time.)

SWITCH

Move back with Mom and Dad? There’s their picture as an insert! (They’re so cute.) No, we’ll build you a new house!

FIVE

Shiny, hard hat-wearing duo. With tools! No surprise, but they’re terrible at building. Montage of their hijinks. And then there’s a finished pineapple. A small one. It’s the size of a hat. And it breaks.

Now where? Rockmates with Patrick. The rock is like a shared blanket. Hahaha! Trouble, ending with Patrick dreaming of spiders and smashing the rock on Spongebob. They always give you the joke you expect, and then take it one further. And even more. Cracking up.

Squidward sleeps peacefully. He agrees to let Spongebob stay. Wait for it . . . yup. There’s the close-up of his eyes bugging out as he wakes up enough to realize what he’s said. Kicked out.

Nighttime over the ocean. Moon and island shot. Dissolve to day.

Squidward wakes up. It’s a celebration day. He’s so happy to be saying farewell to Spongebob.

Patrick cries. Mom and Dad drive up to gather Spongebob and his bags.

SIX

Spongebob reaches in his pocket!

Destruction vs. Creation as the Three/Six? Visually it’s a stretch, but thematically it’s quite good. A large coral and a small seed don’t seem connected at first glance. I guess you could also say that the Three is the action of a crowd and the Six is the effort of an individual. It gets even lovelier!

SEVEN

He buries the pebble in his house crater and waters it with his tears. Underground shot of the pebble absorbing the water and activating.

EIGHT

Shaking hands goodbye. Squid, still in the crater, does a dance. Intercut Patrick holding back the boat/car, the pebble glowing, and the Squiddie victory performance.

A large vine sprouts next to the crater, grows a pineapple (with windows and door), and drops it on Squidward’s head.

“My house is back!” They all go inside, happy, and step on a flattened Squidward under the floor dirt.

NINE

“I’m back forever!” says Spongebob.

Squid, still a sand figure, mumbles, “Forever?” Thwarted again, buddy.

PIZZA DELIVERY

ONE

It’s the Krusty Krab. Spongebob wipes the tables while Squidward tells him to hurry. They’re closed.

TWO

Dunh-dunh! The telephone rings. Mr. Krabs takes the receiver away from Squidward. Someone wants pizza! Mr. Krabs whirls a platter of Krabby Patties into a pizza, which gets whirled into a box.

THREE

Squidward will deliver, and he must take Spongebob with him. This actually is a Squidward episode. He only wants to go home after work. He’s not trying to avoid Spongebob or annoy him, or any of the usual plot lines. He’s just a dude who’s put in a full day.

FOUR

A boat/car. Is this Squidward’s? No, it can’t be. Is this Krabs’? Everyone knows Spongebob can’t drive, so why is Squid in the passenger seat? He appears to know how to drive, yet he’s not behind the wheel. Since when would he trust Spongebob at this?

Okay, you must have guessed by now that this episode of our beloved Spongebob is a bit . . . fraught with problems.

But let’s accept that the Krusty Krab will make a magical pizza that must then be delivered by a boat/car handled by someone who one episode ago couldn’t drive. Indeed, Spongebob speeds backward, panic-driving in reverse until he’s in the middle of nowhere.

SWITCH?

This may be a Switch. It’s too early in the episode, so probably not. The boat/car runs out of gas and strands our two employees. Or does it? Squidward, frustrated, hits the car and it drives away.

FIVE?

Now our team is on foot, walking to deliver this pizza. An underwater wind storm fights their progress; a rock with moss may show the direction to town (it does, but Squidward refuses to accept Spongebob’s “pioneer” logic).

Throughout this, Spongebob is peppy, singing and dancing.

SWITCH?

And then, he isn’t. The team droops. Their heads steam with exhaustion. This is a definite change, but it’s so late in the story.

FIVE?

The pizza is shiny, and then a large rock becomes motive and drives them right to the customer’s house.

Uh, wut?

The customer fish asks for his drink, which they don’t have. Angry, the fish throws the pizza and Spongebob breaks down in a puddle of tears.

SIX

Squidward, in a moment of genuine sympathy, asks Spongebob if he’s okay.

Told you this was a Squiddie episode. Since when is Squidward moved by Spongebob’s disappointment? They are an actual team, formed at the Three, and they have each other’s back.

SEVEN

Squid decides to approach the customer house.

EIGHT

Knocking, he tells the customer that the pizza is “on the house”. He then smashes it into the customer’s face. Returning to Spongebob, he says that the customer ate the pizza in one bite.

NINE

They drive the rock back to the Krusty Krab. Squidward realizes he’s at work, the one place he wanted to leave at the beginning of the episode. In this regard, Squid gets the Nine he always gets. Even though he was more of a friend, someone who owned the Eight, he’s still thwarted or punished in the end.

So, I’m quite curious: do serious Spongebob fans like this episode? I barely remember it, which certainly is a statement. I would argue (of course I would) that the muddled Enneagram at the Switch reduces the fun of this episode. Where is the midpoint? What changes at the Switch? Why (the eternal question) is Squidward nice?

Interesting, naturally. Even the best, the most beloved, and the tightest crafted show can fail once and a while.

BOATING SCHOOL

ONE

Here’s our pineapple neighborhood. Spongebob sleeps until his alarm goes off with that foghorn boom.

TWO

Spongebob says, “This is it, Gary!” as his bed catapults him into his giant calendar. Splat into: Boating Exam Today. He’s clearly excited about this event. “I’m ready!”

THREE

Outside on a unicycle he rides around Squidward’s house with his “I’m ready.” Obviously, this neighbor couldn’t care less about Spongebob’s day.

FOUR

It’s Mrs. Puff’s Boating School! Yay!

Spongebob’s ready! He’s so ready he throws his unicycle into the garbage bin. Won’t need that anymore!

We get Mrs. Puff’s POV through a porthole window. “I’m NOT ready.”

As Mrs. Puff expects, Spongebob aces the oral exam. Now it’s the driving portion.

Oh, you know how wonderful this is. Spongebob asks if he should floor it. Mrs. Puff says, “No, don’t floor it!” “Floor it? Okay!” And they crash. Mrs. Puff expands, as pufferfish do, and in a deep voice says, “Whyyyyy?”

SWITCH

The pineapple house at night. Spongebob in bed talks to Gary. He doesn’t know why he goes crazy behind the wheel, but he’s failed 37 times.

Help comes in the form of Patrick on the walkie talkie. Problem, buddy?

FIVE

With Patrick involved, we’re now in the Five. He pushes the walkie talkie receiver into Spongebob’s head and covers the antenna with a ten-gallon hat. Using a giant telescope, Patrick watches the driving exam and coaches Spongebob.

Mrs. Puff is pleasantly astonished at Spongebob’s clean driving. Musical montage of Spongebob handling the boat like a pro as he cruises through the course.

And then Mrs. Puff makes a joke about Spongebob having a radio under his hat. That would be cheating, though. “I’m . . . cheating?” Uh-oh.

SIX

We see Patrick, upset, run home. I don’t think he has the moral sophistication to know what cheating is. All he knows is that Spongebob spoiled the fun.

These — at the Three and Six — are Spongebob’s neighbors. It’s actually not a great Three/Six mirror, but it does go from the flippant neighbor at the Three to the helpful neighbor at the Six. Neither can save him, though.

SEVEN

Yards away from the Finish Line Spongebob veers off and drives crazy again.

EIGHT

“It’s alright! you can cheat!” yells Mrs. Puff, pointing. “Cheat that way!”

And the offscreen crash. Again Mrs. Puff expands and says, “Whyyyy?”

NINE

Gary has the unicycle, which he saved from the garbage. Away they go, Gary riding on Spongebob’s head.