Enneagram – Page 12 – Enneagram and Encaustic

Endure and Survive

ONE

Fireworks. People chanting and celebrating in the street. FEDRA is defeated, its officers shot, and the Resistance owns the city. (This is a flashback.) Henry and Sam hide from the searchlights and communicate with sign language.

TWO

A jail enclosure filled with people. Kathleen, Perry guarding her, enters and sits. These are the FEDRA snitches. With her sweet, girlish voice, Kathleen promises them a trial (where they’ll be found guilty) and some time served if they tell her where Henry is. When she threatens to shoot them, someone implicates the doctor. Kathleen insists Perry go door-to-door until Henry’s found. And the snitches, even the one who talked, should be shot and burned.

Henry and Sam enter a building. Random gunfire can be heard outside. They find the attic hidey-hole where the doctor waits. (Kathleen shoots him at the beginning of the previous episode.) Henry calculates they have enough supplies for 11 days. In that time they need to figure out an escape route.

THREE

To calm Sam, Henry comes to see what he’s drawing on his Magic Slate Paper Saver. (Yes, I had to google the official name of this well-known toy.) It’s Super Sam, wearing a heroic mask. Henry gives him a bag of crayons so he can decorate the brick walls.

Please Hold To My Hand

ONE

Ellie practices with her handgun in front of a decrepit bathroom mirror. Partly she’s watching herself look cool, but she also unloads the magazine and inspects the weapon, learning it. She reloads it and slides it into her backpack.

TWO

Outside, they’re at an overgrown gas station with cars parked nearby. Joel siphons the tanks. She’s talkative and curious, he’s curt and taciturn. From her backpack she pulls out a paperback: No Pun Intended, Volume Too. (His face is priceless as she reads the jokes with joyful comedic timing.)

THREE

As they drive down an interstate, Ellie passes him a Hank Williams cassette from her backpack. She’s sitting in the backseat. Reaching under the front, she finds a men’s magazine and starts exclaiming about the centerfold. (Remember, this was Bill’s truck.) Laughing at how flustered she’s made Joel, she tosses the magazine out the window.

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.

KOMARAM BHEEM, NINE

This is our other RRR hero, the tribal leader. He’s such a Nine. Unbelievably powerful, and yet never seeking conflict until it knocks on his door, Bheem is like a boy when in the city. Raju is much more confident and worldly, taking Bheem under his wing.

When Bheem is roused, though, he is stronger than anyone else — physically and mentally. He is the perfect protector for his people. His indomitable sense of justice, even to the point of extreme suffering, is the only thing that can break Raju’s purpose. Throughout much of the film it’s hard to see how these two men can remain friends when all the truth is out, and yet they do.

Don’t let their energetic and glorious dance sequence deter you from appreciating the craft of the acting and filmmaking. Their jacked handsomeness is plot- and character-driven, I assure you. This is classically epic storytelling — reality is secondary — and these protagonists are the movie stars this genre deserves.

RAMA RAJU, EIGHT

This movie, RRR, has two heroes. Raju is in the military during the end of the British Empire in India. He investigates the other hero, befriends him unwittingly, and leads a surprise double life throughout. Both men play complex characters. The movie introduces us to them in separate over-the-top, fabulous action sequences that resonate during the rest of the story. I can’t recommend this film enough.

Okay, so who is Raju?

He will finish his mission, no matter how difficult. His opening scene hammers that trait home, lol. However, his secret mission with the military, which is more mental than physical, is also unstoppable. He was forged as a child and has become an indefatigable man.

Given almost superhero strength and agility, is Raju a Body Type? Oh, look at that. He’s an Eight. It’s his willpower. When so many forces press against him — loss of family, career, and country — he won’t bend. He won’t give up.

He also has a great joy in being with his friend. He has every reason to hold back, to stay unengaged, yet he jumps in. That lack of worry, of rolling in the moment, is very Eight. The only thing that thwarts his mission is a display of genuine compassion by Bheem, something that an Eight respects as a strength move. Physical dominance just makes Raju fight back harder, but Bheem’s acceptance of suffering moves Raju to sympathy.

ADRIENNE DE LENVERPRÉ, FOUR

I don’t know how many people have watched the period drama The Bonfire of Destiny (Le Bazar de la Charité), but it’s so good I want to give it a shoutout by examining one of the three lead characters.

Based on real events in 1897 Paris, a fire at a charity bazaar decimates the venue and kills many of the women supporting the display. The show follows three of the women after the tragedy. Adrienne survives because she never attended. Instead, she uses the bazaar as a front while she has a tryst with her lover. We’d just seen her husband, denying her request for a divorce, hit her and send away their child without her permission or knowledge. After the fire, Adrienne realizes she can let her husband think she died as so many others did.

Adrienne is not completely sympathetic nor a mastermind at her ruse. She’s a fully developed character, flaws and all. While living with her lover she plots how to kidnap her daughter (who will return for Adrienne’s funeral) and run away with her. She sells her necklace to a pawn broker without realizing that thieves have robbed the mortuary of the dead women’s jewelry and the police are now investigating. It’s only a matter of time until her husband knows she’s alive and comes after her.

Who is this person who is ruled by passion and emotion? Clearly a Heart Type, not Head. She’s impulsive, not a planner. Shall we jump right to Four? She’s a bit selfish, endangering her lover with her recklessness. Her friends were greatly impacted by the fire, yet she never wonders how they’re doing. When Adrienne approaches her sister to ask for money, she doesn’t anticipate how distraught and angry the sister will be when she learns Adrienne is alive. She’s singularly focused on her daughter, not only to reunite with her but to save her from the father. Her motives are strong, but she’s careless in how she goes about achieving them.

It’s a compelling portrayal. Just to tease the show a little further: Adrienne has the least complicated story of the three! I couldn’t even begin to write about Alice’s dilemma in a concise review, nor Rose’s without spoiling many heart-wrenching details. I highly recommend this limited series.

JAVI GUTIERREZ, TWO

A multi-millionaire with his own island in Mallorca, Javi is just a guy who loves the acting of Nick Cage. He even has a room dedicated to memorabilia. He hires Nick for a birthday party with the intention of convincing him to star in his spec script (which is probably not very good). Meanwhile, he may be a ruthless mob boss; that’s for Nick to discover.

What makes this fun is the chemistry between Pedro Pascal and Cage. I could watch these two riff off each other for days. It’s a buddy film, which delighted me.

So who is this very rich man who is a dedicated Nick ‘stan?

Well, haha, he’s a Two. He collects Nick Cage, figuratively and literally. He’s also a happy man with a tender heart. The Two/Four dynamic between the men is very successful. Strength/Weakness Enneagrams support and challenge each other. The choice of portrayals (or natural chemistry) these men create turns an awkward plot into a tour de force. Star power is worth money, if there was ever any doubt.

NICK CAGE, FOUR

Just because Nicolas Cage plays himself in The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent doesn’t mean that this character is the same as the real man. Any discussion of his Enneagram assumes that Cage is much too good to give us a simple version of who he is. This Nick is a mash-up of possibly real characteristics and all the heroes he’s played on film. It is, unsurprisingly, a delicious performance.

So who is Nick?

He’s intensely committed to acting. He insists on giving a line reading to a prospective director, terrifying him. He thrives on jobs that interest him rather than paycheck gigs. However, he’s broke from living in a high-priced hotel. (When Nick became divorced and moved out of his home is unclear.) In order to pay his bills, he agrees to perform for one million dollars at a birthday party on a private island.

So, lol, not a One (no money acuity). Not a Six (no worries), not a Nine (loves conflict), not a Five (too risk-oriented).

When he arrives he’s approached by the CIA. He’s the only one who can get onto Javi’s island, and they suspect a kidnapped girl is held there. That means he plays a double game during his visit. The ease with which he lies to his host suggests he’s not a Two.

Although he loves his work and is a master craftsman, Nick is probably not a Three. Too intense, too variable in his success.

If you’re keeping track, we’re left with Four, Seven, and Eight. I want to jump immediately to Four. Although all of those numbers can be intense, Nick is pretty extreme. Nicolas Cage’s career is defined by how volatile his characters are. I think I know already what Javi is, and their friendship is the surprising treasure of this movie. Four is going to be a good choice for Nick.