Category: Enneagram

Posts related to the Enneagram Storytelling System and/or the personality typing of the Enneagram.

Episode 3

As always, Critical Notes are after the breakdown.

ONE

Downton becomes a hospital. Isabelle directs the maids how close the bed frames should be. Cora wonders where the family will actually sit now, but Isabelle’s in charge it seems. In comes the Doctor and Sybil, helping, as they discuss why only officers will be at Downton. 

The Dowager, with Carson, defends the practice to Sybil. Rest is needed, not tension. And Edith, eager to help and be supportive, is told by Isabelle to get out of the way.

TWO

At the servant’s table Carson thanks staff for their help. With O’Brien’s adamant opinion, Carson reiterates that chain of command will be sorted soon. Isabelle won’t always be the dominant voice. Lang leaves the table suddenly.

Violet finds Mary. How does Lavinia know Richard Carlisle? Mary seems unconcerned. Well, the Dowager is going to London for the day and she’ll have Lavinia to tea.

In the kitchen Patmore wonders if she’s now to run a canteen. The officers will eat with the family? I think that’s what Carson told her. Daisy reads a letter from William that says he’ll come home for a night before shipping out. Branson receives a mysterious letter, but the focus goes back to Daisy and her concern that William might have “plans”.

THREE

Anna running an errand in the village sees, well, that’s Bates. He went behind the tree very quickly. Hard dolly in on Anna, and then she runs toward where he was. He’s gone, though.

Continue reading “Episode 3”

The Waterbending Master

Sound storytelling structure. I have only one critique at the end of the breakdown.

ONE

The team flies on a very tired Appa, who can barely keep out of the icy ocean below them. Just as they say they can’t find the Northern Water Tribe, spikes of ice knock them into the water and boats surround them.

TWO

Admiral Zhao knows where the Avatar is headed. This is no little Earth Village, he says. He’ll need a massive invasion force for the Northern Water Kingdom.

Water benders escort our team on Appa into their city. Thick ice walls and multiple gates, removed by bending, surround the compound. It’s a stunning place: canals, decorative bridges, tiers of buildings, all made of ice and compacted snow.

THREE

Sokka notices a beautiful, white-haired young woman in a gondola.

Continue reading “The Waterbending Master”

GABBY GABBY, FOUR

She’s similar to Lotso: a kind of mafia don ruling a little fiefdom. She reverses, though, and becomes Woody’s friend with a happy ending, rather than a backstabbing enemy tied to the grill of a garbage truck. I don’t like the choice, lol. As a viewer it’s hard to switch from fear to empathy. And the one thing she does to Woody, even though he ends up a willing participant, is arguably too disturbing for a children’s movie. She’s creepy, and I can’t get past that.

So, does her character stay true to its Enneagram through these changes?

Unlike Lotso, Gabby’s motivation is quite clear: “I want to love a child and be loved in return.” She’s consistent. In order to achieve this she’ll do anything, from psychological manipulation to violence.

She’s not physical. At best we see her walk in that stiff-legged doll waddle. She’s done a lot of planning and thinking. In order to get to point D, a child’s love, she needs to accomplish A, B, and C. Is she a Head Type? Would a Heart Type need a storybook instruction manual in how to have a tea party?

Not a Seven. She’s too timid. She’s kind of sturdy for a Five or Six, though, and the series has always been good about an intuitive sense of body sizes. Also, a true Six would be more idiosyncratic. They might baffle or seem weird, but they’re not creepy. A Five wouldn’t be that ruthless; they’re too socially cautious to pull it off. 

Ah. She’s a Four, a Heart Type after all. It’s the self-interest, which sways with her whim. First she’s villainous, then she’s a teammate. A Four can hit all those points in one arc. The storybook isn’t a primer for her! It’s a mirror in which she can admire herself.

What the showrunners have missed, and what they got so right with Woody and Jessie, is the moment when a Four breaks your heart and you love them. Gabby is never lovable. A well-written Four is exasperating but also endearing. Their pain is on their sleeve. Whatever sympathy I have for her quest for a child is undercut by the memory of her glassy-eyed brutality toward Woody. This character needed another trip through the writer’s room in order to balance out her tone.

What Are Little Girls Made Of

As always, Critical Notes are at the end.

ONE

Approaching a planet. On the bridge, Nurse Chapel stands next to the captain’s chair and waits. She’s worried about a man on the planet who hasn’t sent a message in five years. Spock gives Kirk (and us) a report on the surface temperature (it’s cold) and on Roger Korby, the “Pasteur of Archaeological Medicine”. Whatever that means! Uhura can get no communication contact.

And then a signal and a voice comes over comms. Haha, the camera swoops around and racks focus on the little speaker for Uhura’s console. It’s Korby. Another swoop and we go extreme closeup for Christine Chapel’s relief to hear his voice.

Dunh-dunh! Roll credits.

Captain’s log repeats what we know. Prepare for a landing party. As Kirk starts to inform Korby that Chapel is with him, Korby interrupts. Can you beam down alone? Spock rises and approaches the chair. Clearly, this is an odd request. He asks if Chapel is certain she recognizes his voice. Oh, she’s engaged to Korby! So, yes, she’s certain.

TWO

Kirk agrees, and says two will beam down. Chapel says hello, and Korby immediately recognizes her voice. They’re on their way. Oh, look! Uhura rises and gives Chapel a cheek kiss of congratulations. That was sweet. Did she ad lib that?

THREE

(There is no Three.)

Continue reading “What Are Little Girls Made Of”

BO PEEP, EIGHT

This Bo acts plastic when she’s actually porcelain, and it drives me crazy, lol. In the first movie, the quality of her skin rendering is so lovely. In Toy Story 4, they’ve lost that translucent quality. And don’t get me started about how she throws herself about, even breaking an arm, as if she isn’t basically made of glass.

Before this, Bo doesn’t show enough character to read an Enneagram on her. Now that she’s living free we can figure her out.

She’s very physical, like an action hero doll. (Which is so wrong!) Brave, daring, hard-charging, she’s probably a Body Type, and most likely an Eight. Hollywood has a hard time writing any other number for strong women. She’s got her sheep and her little friend, McGiggles. (Oops, McDimples.) She knows everyone about the neighborhood, but they’re not in her core circle. This is definitely more Body than Head or Heart.

Really, there’s not much else to Bo. She’s a run-of-the-mill Woman Eight, the easiest trope to hit. Her porcelain delicacy is ignored. Her creation as a lamp ornament is disdained. Her inherent feminine fragility is tossed aside with her skirt. She’s just a badass who drives around in an RC skunk, subverting every one of our expectations and giving us nothing interesting in their stead.

Sorry, lol. I strongly disagree with these choices made for Bo. What kills me is that she had so much potential to be one of the great characters if the showrunners had embraced all the things that made her unique.

Episode 2

Critical Notes are at the end, after the Enneagram Story and Breakdown.

ONE

A bicycle messenger arrives at Downton. April, 1917. In Robert’s room his new valet arranges his uniform. The message is for William. Carson is still overworking and Hughes is still taking him to task over it.

Robert’s man seems timid, speaking softly, and Robert snaps at him. Ah, he’s named Lang. Robert apologizes. Lang was invalided out of the military. Trench warfare. Oh, Lang feels people look at him and wonder why he’s not serving. Must be an unobvious injury.

TWO

Patmore reads something that upsets her, but we pass on. William’s excited: he’s been called up. He asks Daisy for a picture to take with him. Lol, Daisy doesn’t seem to know what to make of that.

Cora asks O’Brien about Thomas. Oh, haha! These two are fabulous. Cora will talk to the doctor about bringing Thomas home. O’Brien is so humbly grateful, the conniver. I know it’s terrible to see Cora so manipulated by someone she trusts, but, really, their relationship is wonderful.

THREE

The trenches and Matthew. It’s always the same overhead shot, the same set, but it’s evocative. Matthew, walking the line with another, drops the exposition that he’s being transferred back to England to help the war effort.

Continue reading “Episode 2”

SUDS

ONE

Nighttime in the neighborhood. (Why is Tchaikovsky’s Nutcracker playing over the credits?)

Spongebob sleeps. A bubble forms above his head and we see his dream. It rains Krabby Patties. He runs around with his mouth open, happily eating.

TWO

When he wakes he’s chewing on his pillow. He needs a quick midnight snack. Gary, on a newspaper next to the bed, sleeps. Quietly, Spongebob goes into the kitchen and makes a sea-nut butter sandwich. He takes one bite and crashes onto the counter, asleep. The open refrigerator door starts to waft a cold, ghostly vibe.

THREE

Still nighttime outside the pineapple house. Dissolve to day, and now the house is iced and frozen. Ah, here comes the Nutcracker music again.

Continue reading “SUDS”

CLARA CLAYTON, SEVEN

She has less of a role than some of the other repeat characters, but Clara makes an impact. We know Doc well; any woman he would love needs to impress us.

In order to match with Doc, she has to be a science nerd, and she is. It goes beyond a love of Jules Verne, though. Her telescope has an entire backstory, and she has a lifelong relationship with science. Well done.

She’s obviously brave. A lone woman schoolteacher sets off into the Wild West, arriving by train in a town where she knows no one. It’s easy to forget how risky such a move would be back then.

A practical woman who dares to adventure? Seven. It’s her clinical reactions that define her Enneagram. Doc breaks her heart, she’s leaving. New information tells her Doc loves her, she’s returning. Doc has a model train set with a piece labeled “time machine”, she believes him. Doc’s off to travel through time, she follows. She just does the next thing in front of her, no matter how unrealistic and ludicrous. That willingness is very Seven.

Episode 1, Part 1

ONE

The Somme, 1916. We’re with Matthew in the middle of war. Grit, explosions, trenches, and wounds. He’s some kind of officer with news that his unit will soon be relieved. He’s got a bit of leave coming, and he’d like to see a certain girl (unnamed). Downton, he says, seems like another world.

Roll credits.

TWO

Establishing shot of the Abbey. Anna leads the new maid through her duties, although the house is in disarray. A banner that says, “Help Our Hospital” hangs in the front room as Carson directs servants to remove the furniture.

William dresses Lord Grantham in his military uniform, but he doesn’t know the proper arrangement of of all the regalia. A bit of exposition as Robert tells William that he’s not back in the army (“they don’t want me”) but is basically in the Home Guard. Why is Bates gone to London? We don’t know yet.

Everything’s all a-bustle, with furniture carried in and out. O’Brien smokes alone in the yard.

Robert asks Carson if we’ve news of Bates. Ah, the funeral was last Monday. (Who died?) 

THREE

Joining Cora and Sybil at breakfast, Robert reads a letter: he’s back in the army proper as a Colonel. 

Continue reading “Episode 1, Part 1”