Enneagram – Page 30 – Enneagram and Encaustic

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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.

ALINA STARKOV, SIX

If you are unfamiliar with the “Grishaverse”, I sympathize. Until I watched the Netflix show, and then deep-dived into the novels, I had never heard of this IP. The Crows, the underworld gang characters, are much easier to scan and appreciate. How they’re written in the books is basically how they’re played in the show. They’re clear and extremely enjoyable.

However, Alina, the protagonist of the Netflix series and of the Grisha plotline, is portrayed very differently in each work. Because we only have one season, talking about the show is difficult. The novel, though, is complete. We can look at this particular Alina and make some choices.

Throughout the Shadow and Bone trilogy, is Alina a consistent character? Can the changes to her be explained by her summoning power? I don’t particularly like Alina, and I’m curious why that is.

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.

INEJ GHAFA, ONE

Without a doubt this is a Body Type. The Wraith is an athletic phenomenon. She’s small, which suggests a One. Is this true?

Of course. She’s no Eight, certainly. Anger and impulse are not part of her character. She’s a dart, an arrow. A stab. These are not the movements of a Nine. Her quickness, litheness, and stealthiness all say One.

The orderliness of a One is there, too. Her gathering of secrets, her accumulation of knowledge, it’s like a filing system in her head. The city, its rooftops, are another filing system to Inej. Everything is so tidy.

She’s a One and Kaz is a Five. I love them both, but I don’t have high hopes that these Enneagram numbers will make a match if their story were ever to continue.

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.”

Book One: Water

Now that the first season of Avatar has been Enneagram reviewed, let’s look at the entire arc.

ONE

The first episode is basically the season’s One. It’s so funny to think of a time when I knew nothing about bending or the Avatar cycle. The showrunners did a good job establishing everything clearly, and our three characters are distinct and engaging. And Appa! Don’t forget our good boi! Because the believability of the Avatar is so strong, I forget how easy they made the worldbuilding of this IP look.

TWO

And episode two is basically the season’s Two. The Avatar has been missing for one hundred years, leaving the world vulnerable to the Fire Nation. Aang is now ready to tackle his destiny, go North and learn the other bending disciplines, but . . . first there’s a laundry list of distractions. Also in this section is a Zuko vs. Aang battle. How these guys will manage their relationship is definitely part of the Trouble.

THREE

The world has two Air Temples. At the Three they visit the Southern one. Aang confronts a lot of pain here, and in Zuko’s storyline Commander Zhao is introduced and even battles an agni kai against him. Everyone’s wounds are here, and the Air Temple is the visual.

KAZ BREKKER, FIVE

He’s ruthless, of course. Incredibly smart. (“Is that scheming face?”) Iron-willed. That he can dominate even with his damaged leg suggests he isn’t a Body Type. His dexterity suggests he is. Are his lockpicking skills inherent, or a product of his determination?

Loyal. Patient. He doesn’t need instant gratification: his revenge plans go on for years.

He’s a Five. It’s his observational skills. He can find the best crew, and he can concoct the most efficient plans, because his brain is always processing data. Inej surprises him when she approaches him at the Menagerie. He didn’t know she was there, and he’s super impressed by that. Immediately he arranges to buy out her contract and offers her a job. After that she never surprises him again. He heightens his ability to observe her. He knows everyone’s tell, and realizes the moment he’s shown one of his own. It’s that uber-consciousness that identifies him.

Also, he loves his crew but he never shows it or even thinks in those terms. His loyalty and his planning are how he proves himself. If he didn’t care, he wouldn’t do those things. This is very Head Type.

Saving Gran Soren

We’re sent on a goose chase. Some message awaits us at the Waycastle gate but when we get there we’re immediately sent back to the city. In the distance, we can see why.

Fire and smoke come from the agrarian district of the keep.

Remember that “dead” cockatrice? It was taken into the castle grounds as a trophy. Salvation (somehow) reawakened it so it would rampage and destroy. Of course we get there in time to stop it. (And kill it! Often it flies away before the final blow, so yay!)

Immediately after, we’re called to the castle for thanks, and also to accept a mission from the Duke. A very long, slow follow walk happens, first behind Aldous, and then back again behind the Duke. At the end of it all, though, is a treasure room. Sadly, the Duke can’t open the really shiny chest because it requires Salomet’s ring and I swapped it out for that forgery. Heh. (It’s a cape in the chest, not a big loss.) As I’m collecting my money bags, a soldier comes in.

Mission change. Salvation has taken captives at the Greatwall and threatens to offer up a grand sacrifice to see the land cleansed. We’re to go on up there and stop them.