I'm coming at this from a week hiatus again - last Monday night, I barely slept, and so was in no shape to write anything coherent Tuesday morning. I really should try to write some of this ahead of time, as I do my reviews, but as much as I keep thinking that, I've been very bad about actually fitting it into my routine.
TV
The Flash - "Rogue Time" and "Tricksters"
The follow-up to the whole Barry-goes-back-in-time was quite satisfying. The character who died didn't, thankfully, but there were new complications, and a nice reworking of some of the same dialogue in an eerily similar scene that didn't end with murder. I also liked the impact of having missed those days on Iris - Barry moved too fast, she hadn't been through them, and things are messy again. I'm not sure I love the Iris love interest - Linda was frankly, more interesting. But I do like the complications here.
Which leads us into the second episode, and had me momentarily wondering if there was some weird mind-sharing going on with Dr. Wells, something like Firestorm. But nope. Now it's even sadder, knowing what happened to Dr. Wells. Also creepier. It was also nice to see Mark Hamill, doing his best not-quite-the-Joker.
Agents of SHIELD - "Love in the Time of Hydra" and "One Door Closes"
These were both quite good episodes, although I think my enjoyment of the second was hampered by the fact that I was severely underslept and not tracking so well. We get a Ward-centric episode. Interesting. He's still creepy.
We also find out about the pseudo-SHIELD that Mockingbird is working for, and it's good enough to make us see why Bobbi has loyalties to the second SHIELD, although it's obvious she's wrong. Poor Bobbi. Also, Gemma has such a wonderful moment in it that I did not see coming. Always nice to see Charlie from Fringe, too!
Arrow - "Suicidal Tendencies" and "Public Enemy"
Interesting. Very interesting. I think Thea will be more than a little pissed off at the end of the most recent episode. I mean, did Roy even check in with her first? Actually, both episodes have been about relationships going through stress tests - Diggle and Lyla get married, and then immediately embark on a mission that has a satisfying twist to it. Ray goes after the Arrow, and has to decide whether to trust Felicity. Then Felicity has to decide whether or not she really cares about Ray.
And Oliver tries to find a way out from under Ra's Al-Ghul's thumb. This has been a good season.
Movies
Witness for the Prosecution
This came on Turner Classic Movies the other night, and Bill and I settled in to watch it, and enjoyed it most thoroughly. I did guess the main twist fairly early on, although there was a twist to the twist that I didn't see coming. Charles Laughton is amazingly good, and I enjoyed watching Marlene Dietrich. I don't think I've ever seen either of them in a movie before. Psychological courtroom thrillers - it possibly doesn't get any better than this.
Gaming
Seven Stars of Atlantis
Only one game the last two weeks, which might account for some of the grumpiness I've been experiencing. The penultimate session of our pulp game run by my husband! The whole gang is finally back together, with Su Li joining forces with Margot, Teddy, and Rex again. Margot and Su Li had a chance to talk while under enemy fire, and that relationship isn't fixed, but it certainly wasn't hurt by Su Li calling Margot magnificent. Margot's been so anxious that compliments definitely work.
Of course, Margot flaunted her engagement ring in Su Li's face as soon as possible, so she's still a spoiled rich girl.
Other than that, from my perspective? It was interesting how much being in Antarctica and finding Teddy's ancestral home worried Margot. She thought he might decide to stay, but was even more worried about how he might be sacrificed. She was entirely willing to shove an old man into the machine instead, to save Teddy's life, but didn't get the chance.
However, near the end, I was struck by an awful idea - Margot's already proved she'll do something that makes Teddy hate her, if it'll save his life. I think she'd do it again, if necessary. He's told her in no uncertain terms never to do that again. I mentioned this to Bill, and he got an evil grin on his face. Never mention things to the GM.
Poor Margot. She may be headed for a tragic ending. I'd like to see a happy one, but this time, I'm not sure. Also, I would be dramatically satisfied by a sadder ending, although it wouldn't perhaps be my first choice.
Showing posts with label flash. Show all posts
Showing posts with label flash. Show all posts
Tuesday, 7 April 2015
Tuesday, 24 March 2015
The Week In Stories - March 24
Well, gaming got cancelled once, and for one of the shows I regularly watch, I was busy making baklava instead of Ollie running around Starling City. (The baklava turned out extremely well, so I regret nothing!) But this might be a shorter entry than usual.
TV
The Flash - "Out of Time"
Ho-ly shit. That's all I have to say. So many things happened, and although the end of the episode seems to say it might be reversible, there were still big bold moves! A main character was killed, and it was heartbreaking! (Although my husband has a comics-based argument for why what appeared to be getting killed might actually manifest his superpowers.) Joe was kidnapped and beaten up. The police chief is in a coma and has brain damage. (And we finally got to meet his fiance, who was mentioned way back at the start of the season.) Barry came clean about his secret identity to Iris.
Now I guess we have to see how much they let of what happened stand as Barry loops himself in time. I hope they let some of it stay, although I really don't want to lose the character who got killed. But eep! This show keeps making bold moves, and not leaving any of its story on the table. I applaud that.
Agents of SHIELD - "One of Us"
Kyle MacLachlan gets another chance to do batshit crazy, and it is certainly entertaining. He's determined to show his daughter that he's the stable one who loves her, and does a really terrible job of it, what with threatening to kill an entire town in the process. Also, Blair Underwood has not aged in, it appears, decades. I hope he's a recurring character, because his psychologist was remarkably free of the crazy.
The reveal at the end was small, but pretty damn creepy. Good job.
Roleplaying
Paper Dolls
The only roleplaying game in the last couple of weeks, as two of my Shakespeare, VA games got cancelled - one due to me being sick, and one due to a player not being up to it. So everything's been focused on our weird multiple universes game, which appears to be drawing to a close, and we've finally figured out an endgame.
This is one where almost all the drama is interpersonal, but we needed some sort of threat at the end, and it occurred to me at last week that perhaps the scientists who split the three worlds apart 20 years ago might be trying to figure out how to smoosh them back together again. Which raises interesting questions about what would happen to our characters, of whom there are three versions apiece, or to all the children born in the last 20 years? We've had to think about which of our characters would fight on each side.
I have one who is just broken and full of self-loathing enough that she might want to destroy herself and the world she lives in. I think almost everyone else will fight to preserve the split, because even though it caused a great deal of emotional and physical trauma, that's not exactly a good reason to cause a second trauma. Plus, one of my characters has a baby, who she'll fight to save, and the other has a ton of nieces and nephews she adores.
We'll probably wrap it up within a session or two, but it's been an interesting experiment!
TV
The Flash - "Out of Time"
Ho-ly shit. That's all I have to say. So many things happened, and although the end of the episode seems to say it might be reversible, there were still big bold moves! A main character was killed, and it was heartbreaking! (Although my husband has a comics-based argument for why what appeared to be getting killed might actually manifest his superpowers.) Joe was kidnapped and beaten up. The police chief is in a coma and has brain damage. (And we finally got to meet his fiance, who was mentioned way back at the start of the season.) Barry came clean about his secret identity to Iris.
Now I guess we have to see how much they let of what happened stand as Barry loops himself in time. I hope they let some of it stay, although I really don't want to lose the character who got killed. But eep! This show keeps making bold moves, and not leaving any of its story on the table. I applaud that.
Agents of SHIELD - "One of Us"
Kyle MacLachlan gets another chance to do batshit crazy, and it is certainly entertaining. He's determined to show his daughter that he's the stable one who loves her, and does a really terrible job of it, what with threatening to kill an entire town in the process. Also, Blair Underwood has not aged in, it appears, decades. I hope he's a recurring character, because his psychologist was remarkably free of the crazy.
The reveal at the end was small, but pretty damn creepy. Good job.
Roleplaying
Paper Dolls
The only roleplaying game in the last couple of weeks, as two of my Shakespeare, VA games got cancelled - one due to me being sick, and one due to a player not being up to it. So everything's been focused on our weird multiple universes game, which appears to be drawing to a close, and we've finally figured out an endgame.
This is one where almost all the drama is interpersonal, but we needed some sort of threat at the end, and it occurred to me at last week that perhaps the scientists who split the three worlds apart 20 years ago might be trying to figure out how to smoosh them back together again. Which raises interesting questions about what would happen to our characters, of whom there are three versions apiece, or to all the children born in the last 20 years? We've had to think about which of our characters would fight on each side.
I have one who is just broken and full of self-loathing enough that she might want to destroy herself and the world she lives in. I think almost everyone else will fight to preserve the split, because even though it caused a great deal of emotional and physical trauma, that's not exactly a good reason to cause a second trauma. Plus, one of my characters has a baby, who she'll fight to save, and the other has a ton of nieces and nephews she adores.
We'll probably wrap it up within a session or two, but it's been an interesting experiment!
Tuesday, 24 February 2015
A Week In Stories - February 24
Let's see if I can be a little less long-winded about the roleplaying games, shall we? I make no guarantees. However, let's start with TV, with all three of the shows I watch regularly right now:
TV
The Flash - "Fallout"
Hey, we finally got to see Victor Garber in the present! Nifty!
And yet again, this show did what I like it for - it didn't hold its secrets too dearly. Joe told Barry what he'd discovered, leading to mental repercussions of future failure. Again, far more interesting than withholding it and waiting for the shoe to drop. No Linda this episode, though. Too bad.
And Grodd at the end! Eep!
Agent Carter - "Snafu"
The moment I liked best in this one was how quickly Sousa and Thompson believed Carter when she finally started to come clean. I had a theory that both of them wanted to hear that she was innocent, and how, and would jump at the chance. They both arrived there through very different means (and Peggy nails them on how they have refused to really see her as a person), but it was a nice moment of development for both. The end of the episode too, we had a consequence that I quite liked. I was upset with the death at the end of Agents of SHIELD midseason - because I wasn't sure who it mattered to, among the other characters. I mean, really mattered to. Who was that character important to? If I'm drawing a blank, you have an issue.
In this case, the character wasn't personally important, but will leave a major gap, and so it worked. Also, while we were given some good emotion, it didn't feel forced. I like my shows to have consequence. I just don't like it when those consequences are, in fact, inconsequential. (Also, on Agents of SHIELD, they had been squandering that character all season. Boo. I still love you, Agents of SHIELD. Just make the next death matter to someone, if you're going to go down that path.)
Arrow - "The Return"
Yet again, they aren't holding back secrets, even though this one could tear Thea apart. I am applauding, yet again, how they go right for the meat, and then the fallout. Thea knows the worst about Malcolm Merlyn, and she is pissed. Rightfully so, and I'm glad they're backing off from trying to make him a misunderstood villain that maybe we should like. I love John Barrowman, but he's doing a great job playing a bad guy here. Don't wreck it.
It was also unexpectedly emotional to see Tommy in flashback. I'd forgotten how much I liked that character!
Roleplaying Games
Shakespeare, VA
We finished character creation for the new game I'm running, using a Drama System setting, but playing using PrimeTime Adventures. It's set in a small town in Virginia with a world-class Shakespearean festival. I am leaning away from the meth use and more towards theatre politics and weird things that live out in the woods.
We played about half a session, and I didn't really get a chance as the GM to push anyone very hard yet, but it was really good for setting the scene. (This is mostly because I wasn't really sure what people's character issues were going to be until just before the game began.)
It started off with a readthrough of the play they're doing in the game, which is Macbeth, because if you want weird and creepy, and a story of ambition and dramatic falls, it's got to be Macbeth. I had little one page scenes from the play for people to read interspersed with the characters setting up their relationships, and I was happy with that. It's already been requested that I dig out a longer one for next episode. I am happy to do so. (One character didn't get to read, as she got screwed out of a part, and hired on as a stagehand. So she mouthed the lines while I read Lady McB's part. I think that worked well.)
As a cast, we have a Black actor in his 30s trying to recover from a disastrous play he did with a certain director, for which he took a lot of flack. He got the break of playing McB, but then discovered they'd brought that certain director on when the last one disappeared. We have a young actor who has returned home to this small town to play Banquo, but is also reeling from his sister's recent death. We have a local man who always wanted to try acting but was afraid, and unexpectedly got cast as MacDuff. We have a local young woman who never left home for her big break, telling herself it was for the best.
I think I did a good job of making the director universally hated within minutes, which was the goal. Bill's character needs him as a nemesis, so no point in trying to make him beloved. A couple creepy things started to happen right away, with the actor playing McB running into the local eccentric in the woods, and the actor playing Banquo coming across what appears to be the ghost of his dead sister in an alley, with her mouth sewn shut.
I have no idea where we're going from here, but I am looking forward to it!
Paper Dolls
Last night, we played another session of this game, in which we each play three versions of one character, and it is mostly notable because a couple of characters, who had certainly had villainous tendencies, crossed the line into doing truly terrible things. To wit, stealing a four-month-old from her mother. To be precise, one of my characters was insanely jealous that another of my characters (a version of her from another world) had a baby, and, with the help of someone else, devised a plan to steal the baby. The mother is a wreck, as you might imagine.
Which was difficult to play, to find the line between committing to that emotion, while not screaming and wailing so loudly that Melissa and Stew's neighbours might get worried. Heartbreaking. That poor character (her name is Bee) is so fragile emotionally anyway, and this might really destroy her. Or change her. We'll see.
It's been fun finding those lines between playing the same person, but having them be notably different. We're all trying to be Tatiana Maslany here, and it works surprisingly well. There were some major shocks, and the plot line moved forward in a way it hasn't for an episode or two, so I am happy.
TV
The Flash - "Fallout"
Hey, we finally got to see Victor Garber in the present! Nifty!
And yet again, this show did what I like it for - it didn't hold its secrets too dearly. Joe told Barry what he'd discovered, leading to mental repercussions of future failure. Again, far more interesting than withholding it and waiting for the shoe to drop. No Linda this episode, though. Too bad.
And Grodd at the end! Eep!
Agent Carter - "Snafu"
The moment I liked best in this one was how quickly Sousa and Thompson believed Carter when she finally started to come clean. I had a theory that both of them wanted to hear that she was innocent, and how, and would jump at the chance. They both arrived there through very different means (and Peggy nails them on how they have refused to really see her as a person), but it was a nice moment of development for both. The end of the episode too, we had a consequence that I quite liked. I was upset with the death at the end of Agents of SHIELD midseason - because I wasn't sure who it mattered to, among the other characters. I mean, really mattered to. Who was that character important to? If I'm drawing a blank, you have an issue.
In this case, the character wasn't personally important, but will leave a major gap, and so it worked. Also, while we were given some good emotion, it didn't feel forced. I like my shows to have consequence. I just don't like it when those consequences are, in fact, inconsequential. (Also, on Agents of SHIELD, they had been squandering that character all season. Boo. I still love you, Agents of SHIELD. Just make the next death matter to someone, if you're going to go down that path.)
Arrow - "The Return"
Yet again, they aren't holding back secrets, even though this one could tear Thea apart. I am applauding, yet again, how they go right for the meat, and then the fallout. Thea knows the worst about Malcolm Merlyn, and she is pissed. Rightfully so, and I'm glad they're backing off from trying to make him a misunderstood villain that maybe we should like. I love John Barrowman, but he's doing a great job playing a bad guy here. Don't wreck it.
It was also unexpectedly emotional to see Tommy in flashback. I'd forgotten how much I liked that character!
Roleplaying Games
Shakespeare, VA
We finished character creation for the new game I'm running, using a Drama System setting, but playing using PrimeTime Adventures. It's set in a small town in Virginia with a world-class Shakespearean festival. I am leaning away from the meth use and more towards theatre politics and weird things that live out in the woods.
We played about half a session, and I didn't really get a chance as the GM to push anyone very hard yet, but it was really good for setting the scene. (This is mostly because I wasn't really sure what people's character issues were going to be until just before the game began.)
It started off with a readthrough of the play they're doing in the game, which is Macbeth, because if you want weird and creepy, and a story of ambition and dramatic falls, it's got to be Macbeth. I had little one page scenes from the play for people to read interspersed with the characters setting up their relationships, and I was happy with that. It's already been requested that I dig out a longer one for next episode. I am happy to do so. (One character didn't get to read, as she got screwed out of a part, and hired on as a stagehand. So she mouthed the lines while I read Lady McB's part. I think that worked well.)
As a cast, we have a Black actor in his 30s trying to recover from a disastrous play he did with a certain director, for which he took a lot of flack. He got the break of playing McB, but then discovered they'd brought that certain director on when the last one disappeared. We have a young actor who has returned home to this small town to play Banquo, but is also reeling from his sister's recent death. We have a local man who always wanted to try acting but was afraid, and unexpectedly got cast as MacDuff. We have a local young woman who never left home for her big break, telling herself it was for the best.
I think I did a good job of making the director universally hated within minutes, which was the goal. Bill's character needs him as a nemesis, so no point in trying to make him beloved. A couple creepy things started to happen right away, with the actor playing McB running into the local eccentric in the woods, and the actor playing Banquo coming across what appears to be the ghost of his dead sister in an alley, with her mouth sewn shut.
I have no idea where we're going from here, but I am looking forward to it!
Paper Dolls
Last night, we played another session of this game, in which we each play three versions of one character, and it is mostly notable because a couple of characters, who had certainly had villainous tendencies, crossed the line into doing truly terrible things. To wit, stealing a four-month-old from her mother. To be precise, one of my characters was insanely jealous that another of my characters (a version of her from another world) had a baby, and, with the help of someone else, devised a plan to steal the baby. The mother is a wreck, as you might imagine.
Which was difficult to play, to find the line between committing to that emotion, while not screaming and wailing so loudly that Melissa and Stew's neighbours might get worried. Heartbreaking. That poor character (her name is Bee) is so fragile emotionally anyway, and this might really destroy her. Or change her. We'll see.
It's been fun finding those lines between playing the same person, but having them be notably different. We're all trying to be Tatiana Maslany here, and it works surprisingly well. There were some major shocks, and the plot line moved forward in a way it hasn't for an episode or two, so I am happy.
Tuesday, 17 February 2015
A Week In Stories: February 17
The Dust Cover Dust-Up is done, my favourite books have been revealed for a week now, and I'm left with a bit of a hole in my blog schedule. Thursdays, I've decided, will be taken up by a more regular edition of my old science fiction story reviews. What to do with Tuesdays? I'm reading up a storm right now, but not really enough to regularly finish four books a week.
Then, prompted by a book, I started to think about stories, and how much I'm a story addict. It doesn't matter what form they come in. Books are my favourite medium, but I also take in TV, movies, roleplaying games, anything that will bootleg a little more story into my life.
So I'm going to try an experiment in writing brief paragraphs about the other stories I've interacted with each week, and any thoughts they might have sparked. It should perhaps go without saying that there may be spoilers, although I'll try not to go overboard.
Movies
Safety Not Guaranteed
We actually watched two movies this week. How weird is that? (We were both sick at different points in the week, so there was more sitting around and watching things than normal.) I liked Safety Not Guaranteed. The dialogue was good, the themes about trying to get back the past were interesting. This movie would probably not have worked without Audrey Plaza, but because it had her, it really did. It's surprisingly sweet.
How To Train Your Dragon
I have just one question. Among these Vikings, why are all the parents Scottish and all the kids American?
Also, Bill and I kept talking for Toothless like he was one of our cats. ("I noms you? Okay, I noms you.")
Overall, this was fine, but not spectacular. I got distracted during the last 15 minutes by some health issues I've been having (sore shoulder), but Bill assures me the good guys won.
Television
The Flash - "The Nuclear Man"
When my husband and I sit down and talk about this show and Arrow, the one thing we often remark on as a strength of both is that they don't drag out secrets. They push the story forward, often in interesting ways, and don't sit on something for a whole season and have a revelation at the end. So in this episode, we not only find out what happened to Ronnie, we find out a whole lot more about the night Barry's mother was killed.
Also, when Joe told Cisco that he thought Dr. Wells was possibly a murderer, Bill and I cheered and high-fived, since we've been saying for a couple of episodes that Joe is too good a detective to not at least explore that. I love Joe. The relationship between Barry and Joe is the best part of the show.
Agent Carter - "A Sin To Err"
Agent Carter has been so much fun to watch. We keep remarking that Peggy doesn't just win fights, she destroys her opposition. There were a couple of moments that stood out for me - the scene in the alley with Sousa (that might also be my crush on Enver Gjokaj talking), and of course Lindsay Fonseca finally getting something to do. I've really enjoyed Peggy's arc, and in general, they've done a masterful job of making the sexism Peggy has to deal with the main focus of the series without making the whole experience less than fun. Bill keeps calling it the anti-Mad Men.
Arrow - "Canaries"
Laurel is not my favourite character, but it's better than last season. This was mostly her episode, coming to terms with becoming the Black Canary. The writers continue to give Emily Bett Rickards the best lines, even when she's mostly in the background, and she just kills them. I would do a lot to have the ability she has at delivering lines perfectly. Also, this was a great object lesson in how to take a reveal everyone has seen coming and turn it on its head. Thea's reaction to finally finding out Oliver is the Arrow was far more interesting than what we were expecting. They also took that creepy DJ and revealed his secret to everyone else only episodes after they let the audience in on it! This show teaches me so much about how the aftermath of a secret is more interesting than the suspense.
Roleplaying
Paper Dolls
This is a hard game to explain. For one, we're playing without a GM or system. If we came up against a point in the story where we were arguing over what was going to happen next, we would probably pull a tarot card and let that guide where it would go. It hasn't happened yet. The biggest innovation in this one, though, is that, with three players, we're each playing three characters, giving us nine player characters. Each of us is playing three variations on the same person - think Fringe, where there are similarities between dimensions, but also important differences.
This was episode 5, and we're continuing to come up with interesting places to take the story, and unexpected outcomes. In particular for me this episode, one of my characters (named Trix) was bound and determined she was going to break up with her cheating girlfriend, but Melissa played the hell out of the girlfriend, and they are still together in a really unhealthy relationship.
Overall, I am having a blast. I miss having a GM sometimes - having to keep that part of my brain awake sometimes gets in the way of immersion into my characters, which is the most fun part of roleplaying as far as I'm concerned. Sometimes it feels like we're reaching for the heavy emotion in every single scene, and perhaps we need to find a way of leavening that with other types of scenes, for flavour and texture.
Seven Stars of Atlantis
My husband's pulp roleplaying game is drawing to a close, and three out of four characters have possession of a titular Star of Atlantis (huge gems with amazing powers). The fourth is the servant of the gems. He's a little worried about the implications of that, particularly since his girlfriend has possession of one of the stones and could make him do whatever she wants. (I play her. She hasn't yet.) Two big bad guys have two of the stones apiece, now bringing all seven on the table. Plus, we met Edgar Cayce this past session!
But what I want to talk about in this space is how I've just figured out what my character's looking for, now that she's not dying anymore. (Her name is Margot.) For the first two-thirds of the game, she was dying from what she thought was an Egyptian curse, but turned out to be a slow-acting poison. One of the other player characters was recently able to obtain the antidote for her, at the cost of seemingly betraying the group. That's going to lead to an interesting conversation in a couple of weeks, I hope.
When Margot thought it was a curse, she drove away the love of her life (Teddy) quite cruelly, because she feared it would spread to him. She decided that knowing he was hurting but alive was better than if he were there to give her comfort and ended up dying alongside her. Also that if he knew, he'd take the risk and stay by her side, something he has since agreed would have been the case.
It was an arrogant decision, as it took it entirely out of Teddy's hands. They're back together now, but in the meantime, he spent a year trying to hate her, and she spent a year afraid, alone, and in pain.
That's all background. This most recent session, Margot and Rex, the dashing adventure hero and her sometime bodyguard, had their biggest fight yet. (There have been a few. From Margot's perspective, she keeps trying to start to make peace, and then gets furious at him. I'm sure it looks different from the other side.) Margot and Su Li, the friend who got the cure for her, also had a big fight not long before the betrayal.
In both cases, people have remarked that Margot really seems to care what the others think of her. She broods on these fights after they're done more than you might think. After the last session, Bill asked if what was going on was that Margot really was afraid of being a spoiled rich girl, even though that's a title she owns to some degree. I think he's right, but I think it's more. I think the last year, in all its isolation and pain, has given her a real issue where she's afraid she's unlovable.
Part of this is that she's focusing on what people say to her instead of what they do, and so she's missing or misinterpreting whether or not they care about her. When Su Li called Margot a spoiled rich girl in the middle of a party and said she cared about nothing but herself, she's been carrying that hurt around far more than she has noticed that Su Li sacrificed her own freedom to get the antidote. (Mostly she hasn't noticed it because it looked a lot like betraying them and using Teddy's life as leverage to get a Star out of Margot.)
When Rex came thundering up the stairs to find out urgently whether or not his helping Su Li betray Margot and Teddy had gotten Margot the antidote she needed, Margot sees the part where he helped betray them, and then yet again forced her health to be a public issue when she was trying to keep it quiet. (She was going to wait until she knew whether or not the antidote worked before she got Teddy's hopes up. Rex forced it out in the open right away.) She doesn't see the part where he was terribly worried for her life.
And she dwells on the arguments, where Rex tells her she is cruel, selfish, spoiled, frivolous, and disappointing, and doesn't listen when she tells him to stop trying to be her "bodyguard, her father or her owner." He does feel paternal towards her, but she sees it as trying to control her life, and she hates it, and feels powerless because he refuses to listen to anything she says.
It feels like everyone is telling her she's horrible. (Since I play her, I'm a little protective. She is spoiled and arrogant. She's also open-handed, generous, loyal, resourceful, and indomitable. Nobody seems to mention those latter qualities.) This is even more of an issue because she's carrying some lingering hurt because Teddy didn't act the way she thought he would when he found out why she'd driven him away.
This one is completely unrealistic, but I think that in the year she spent alone and in pain, she concocted a fantasy about what would happen if Teddy found out she were dying - that he'd rush to her side, swear undying love, and it would all be terribly romantic. She held on to that to keep her going. Unsurprisingly, it didn't happen quite like that. He knew for a couple of weeks before he told her. He didn't sweep her into his arms and swear undying love. He tried to respect what she wanted and keep his distance, which is not what she actually wanted. She wanted him to be so crazy in love with her that he couldn't stay away. They're back together, but it hasn't been that passionate. Worst of all, she discovered an engagement ring in the bottom of his pack, and now that they're back together, it hasn't made a reappearance.
In this case, it's completely unrealistic. Teddy has his own stuff going down. For a long time, she was in too much pain for romance. Still, there's a lingering disappointment, but more than that, an underlying fear that he doesn't really love her. That Su Li was right, he's sticking around out of a sense of duty. That now that she's not dying, he's stuck with her, but he really rather wishes he wasn't.
Add that to big fights where people keep telling her she's a horrible person - and we go into the last two sessions with Margot feeling like most people hate her, and maybe she's unlovable. I don't know what that'll do to the final showdown, but it might do something.
Also, maybe I overthink my characters.
So, if you made it through all that (and I'll be a little surprised if you did), what stories snuck into your life this week?
Then, prompted by a book, I started to think about stories, and how much I'm a story addict. It doesn't matter what form they come in. Books are my favourite medium, but I also take in TV, movies, roleplaying games, anything that will bootleg a little more story into my life.
So I'm going to try an experiment in writing brief paragraphs about the other stories I've interacted with each week, and any thoughts they might have sparked. It should perhaps go without saying that there may be spoilers, although I'll try not to go overboard.
Movies
Safety Not Guaranteed
We actually watched two movies this week. How weird is that? (We were both sick at different points in the week, so there was more sitting around and watching things than normal.) I liked Safety Not Guaranteed. The dialogue was good, the themes about trying to get back the past were interesting. This movie would probably not have worked without Audrey Plaza, but because it had her, it really did. It's surprisingly sweet.
How To Train Your Dragon
I have just one question. Among these Vikings, why are all the parents Scottish and all the kids American?
Also, Bill and I kept talking for Toothless like he was one of our cats. ("I noms you? Okay, I noms you.")
Overall, this was fine, but not spectacular. I got distracted during the last 15 minutes by some health issues I've been having (sore shoulder), but Bill assures me the good guys won.
Television
The Flash - "The Nuclear Man"
When my husband and I sit down and talk about this show and Arrow, the one thing we often remark on as a strength of both is that they don't drag out secrets. They push the story forward, often in interesting ways, and don't sit on something for a whole season and have a revelation at the end. So in this episode, we not only find out what happened to Ronnie, we find out a whole lot more about the night Barry's mother was killed.
Also, when Joe told Cisco that he thought Dr. Wells was possibly a murderer, Bill and I cheered and high-fived, since we've been saying for a couple of episodes that Joe is too good a detective to not at least explore that. I love Joe. The relationship between Barry and Joe is the best part of the show.
Agent Carter - "A Sin To Err"
Agent Carter has been so much fun to watch. We keep remarking that Peggy doesn't just win fights, she destroys her opposition. There were a couple of moments that stood out for me - the scene in the alley with Sousa (that might also be my crush on Enver Gjokaj talking), and of course Lindsay Fonseca finally getting something to do. I've really enjoyed Peggy's arc, and in general, they've done a masterful job of making the sexism Peggy has to deal with the main focus of the series without making the whole experience less than fun. Bill keeps calling it the anti-Mad Men.
Arrow - "Canaries"
Laurel is not my favourite character, but it's better than last season. This was mostly her episode, coming to terms with becoming the Black Canary. The writers continue to give Emily Bett Rickards the best lines, even when she's mostly in the background, and she just kills them. I would do a lot to have the ability she has at delivering lines perfectly. Also, this was a great object lesson in how to take a reveal everyone has seen coming and turn it on its head. Thea's reaction to finally finding out Oliver is the Arrow was far more interesting than what we were expecting. They also took that creepy DJ and revealed his secret to everyone else only episodes after they let the audience in on it! This show teaches me so much about how the aftermath of a secret is more interesting than the suspense.
Roleplaying
Paper Dolls
This is a hard game to explain. For one, we're playing without a GM or system. If we came up against a point in the story where we were arguing over what was going to happen next, we would probably pull a tarot card and let that guide where it would go. It hasn't happened yet. The biggest innovation in this one, though, is that, with three players, we're each playing three characters, giving us nine player characters. Each of us is playing three variations on the same person - think Fringe, where there are similarities between dimensions, but also important differences.
This was episode 5, and we're continuing to come up with interesting places to take the story, and unexpected outcomes. In particular for me this episode, one of my characters (named Trix) was bound and determined she was going to break up with her cheating girlfriend, but Melissa played the hell out of the girlfriend, and they are still together in a really unhealthy relationship.
Overall, I am having a blast. I miss having a GM sometimes - having to keep that part of my brain awake sometimes gets in the way of immersion into my characters, which is the most fun part of roleplaying as far as I'm concerned. Sometimes it feels like we're reaching for the heavy emotion in every single scene, and perhaps we need to find a way of leavening that with other types of scenes, for flavour and texture.
Seven Stars of Atlantis
My husband's pulp roleplaying game is drawing to a close, and three out of four characters have possession of a titular Star of Atlantis (huge gems with amazing powers). The fourth is the servant of the gems. He's a little worried about the implications of that, particularly since his girlfriend has possession of one of the stones and could make him do whatever she wants. (I play her. She hasn't yet.) Two big bad guys have two of the stones apiece, now bringing all seven on the table. Plus, we met Edgar Cayce this past session!
But what I want to talk about in this space is how I've just figured out what my character's looking for, now that she's not dying anymore. (Her name is Margot.) For the first two-thirds of the game, she was dying from what she thought was an Egyptian curse, but turned out to be a slow-acting poison. One of the other player characters was recently able to obtain the antidote for her, at the cost of seemingly betraying the group. That's going to lead to an interesting conversation in a couple of weeks, I hope.
When Margot thought it was a curse, she drove away the love of her life (Teddy) quite cruelly, because she feared it would spread to him. She decided that knowing he was hurting but alive was better than if he were there to give her comfort and ended up dying alongside her. Also that if he knew, he'd take the risk and stay by her side, something he has since agreed would have been the case.
It was an arrogant decision, as it took it entirely out of Teddy's hands. They're back together now, but in the meantime, he spent a year trying to hate her, and she spent a year afraid, alone, and in pain.
That's all background. This most recent session, Margot and Rex, the dashing adventure hero and her sometime bodyguard, had their biggest fight yet. (There have been a few. From Margot's perspective, she keeps trying to start to make peace, and then gets furious at him. I'm sure it looks different from the other side.) Margot and Su Li, the friend who got the cure for her, also had a big fight not long before the betrayal.
In both cases, people have remarked that Margot really seems to care what the others think of her. She broods on these fights after they're done more than you might think. After the last session, Bill asked if what was going on was that Margot really was afraid of being a spoiled rich girl, even though that's a title she owns to some degree. I think he's right, but I think it's more. I think the last year, in all its isolation and pain, has given her a real issue where she's afraid she's unlovable.
Part of this is that she's focusing on what people say to her instead of what they do, and so she's missing or misinterpreting whether or not they care about her. When Su Li called Margot a spoiled rich girl in the middle of a party and said she cared about nothing but herself, she's been carrying that hurt around far more than she has noticed that Su Li sacrificed her own freedom to get the antidote. (Mostly she hasn't noticed it because it looked a lot like betraying them and using Teddy's life as leverage to get a Star out of Margot.)
When Rex came thundering up the stairs to find out urgently whether or not his helping Su Li betray Margot and Teddy had gotten Margot the antidote she needed, Margot sees the part where he helped betray them, and then yet again forced her health to be a public issue when she was trying to keep it quiet. (She was going to wait until she knew whether or not the antidote worked before she got Teddy's hopes up. Rex forced it out in the open right away.) She doesn't see the part where he was terribly worried for her life.
And she dwells on the arguments, where Rex tells her she is cruel, selfish, spoiled, frivolous, and disappointing, and doesn't listen when she tells him to stop trying to be her "bodyguard, her father or her owner." He does feel paternal towards her, but she sees it as trying to control her life, and she hates it, and feels powerless because he refuses to listen to anything she says.
It feels like everyone is telling her she's horrible. (Since I play her, I'm a little protective. She is spoiled and arrogant. She's also open-handed, generous, loyal, resourceful, and indomitable. Nobody seems to mention those latter qualities.) This is even more of an issue because she's carrying some lingering hurt because Teddy didn't act the way she thought he would when he found out why she'd driven him away.
This one is completely unrealistic, but I think that in the year she spent alone and in pain, she concocted a fantasy about what would happen if Teddy found out she were dying - that he'd rush to her side, swear undying love, and it would all be terribly romantic. She held on to that to keep her going. Unsurprisingly, it didn't happen quite like that. He knew for a couple of weeks before he told her. He didn't sweep her into his arms and swear undying love. He tried to respect what she wanted and keep his distance, which is not what she actually wanted. She wanted him to be so crazy in love with her that he couldn't stay away. They're back together, but it hasn't been that passionate. Worst of all, she discovered an engagement ring in the bottom of his pack, and now that they're back together, it hasn't made a reappearance.
In this case, it's completely unrealistic. Teddy has his own stuff going down. For a long time, she was in too much pain for romance. Still, there's a lingering disappointment, but more than that, an underlying fear that he doesn't really love her. That Su Li was right, he's sticking around out of a sense of duty. That now that she's not dying, he's stuck with her, but he really rather wishes he wasn't.
Add that to big fights where people keep telling her she's a horrible person - and we go into the last two sessions with Margot feeling like most people hate her, and maybe she's unlovable. I don't know what that'll do to the final showdown, but it might do something.
Also, maybe I overthink my characters.
So, if you made it through all that (and I'll be a little surprised if you did), what stories snuck into your life this week?
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