Unless I'm forgetting something, this episode marks the first time we see Lilith move the apartment she's using, something which will become important later on.
The demon inside Jace taunting everyone was hard to watch because you know he's hitting them where it really does hurt the most. Despite knowing it's not really Jace, I struggled not to feel angry with him in that scene.
Alec wants to use his parabatai bond to help Jace, saying that he's nothing without his parabatai. The parabatai bond is something that's tricky to convey well, I think, because parabatai are supposed to be closer than siblings or lovers. I'm not sure how often, if ever, Jace and Alec appear that way. They're close, yes, but I've never felt that they come across as close as they should be. Losing his parabatai really should be the ultimate loss in Alec's life, but based on what we see in the show, I don't think Alec would be more upset losing Jace than if he lost Izzy or Magnus or someone else, which kind of makes his lines in this episode feel melodramatic.
Seeing Jace vulnerable was one of the highlights of this episode for me. It's not a way we've seen him often. Even in other supposedly vulnerable moments, I've never felt we were going very deep, but I did feel that way in this episode. It was the most broken we've seen him, and I think that it was good to finally see his character like that.
Clary gets a nice burn in when she says that she's glad the wish is gone because she doesn't see the mass murder of Downworlders as something to celebrate. I like small reminders that the Clave isn't a friend to Downworlders and is downright cruel to them most of the time.
Another nice moment in the episode was Izzy singing Jace the lullaby to show she was his friend. One thing I think the show does well compared to the books is showing that Jace is Izzy and Alec's sibling after being raised by the Lightwoods. In the books, I always got the sense that Maryse and Robert were constantly gone, giving the Lightwood children free reign at the Institute and making them feel less like they were actually Jace's parents. Details like this in the show, though, help show us that Maryse really was a mother to Jace, and I appreciate that.
One of the biggest reasons I hate Jordan (both in the books and in the show) is how hard he tries to worm his way back into Maia's life and find redemption for himself by using her to make himself feel better. I hate watching it play out, and every time we see him, I hate him more.
He also prompts Maia to leave town for to clear her head. I'm mixed on how I feel about that. From a character standpoint, it makes complete sense that she'd want a break. From a story telling standpoint, it's odd to take one of your main characters out of the story for the time that Maia is gone. When I first watched this episode, I didn't think she would be gone for as long as she was, and I'm not a huge fan of that.
Wednesday, July 31, 2019
Sunday, July 28, 2019
Shadowhunters Talk: 3x07 "Salt in the Wound"
This episode begins with Maia finding Jordan in the apartment and revealing to Simon that he's the werewolf who changed her. I remember being relieved when this episode first aired because I could call him Jordan again. Before, I didn't want to spoil anything for people who hadn't read the books, but calling him Kyle also felt weird.
At the same time, it hurts seeing Maia have to deal with the guy who caused her so much pain again.
It struck me that Clary called Simon when she was horribly injured instead of calling Izzy or Alec or Magnus. Their friendship seems to have been put on the back burner with everything else going on, so I was glad to see her reaching out to him instead of anyone else.
Alec hugging Clary felt a little awkward to me. I'm all for Alec and Clary forming a stronger friendship, and I also get Alec being thankful that Clary saved his parabatai. At the same time, the hug felt strange and out of place. It was hard to believe that Alec would do something like that, even in such circumstances.
As I have a blood phobia, watching Lilith drain people's blood was probably the worst part of the episode for me.
It's revealed that Luke is the one who called the Praetor for Simon. I'm always up for Luke acting like a father to Simon. We even get a small detail about Luke bringing Simon to the station for Bring Your Child to Work Day. That warmed my heart.
Imogen got more character development in the show than she did in the books, and I admit that I have warmer feelings for her in the show because of it, particularly in this episode. If nothing else, I'm glad she cares enough about her grandson that she's willing to hide what's happened to him from Consul Penhallow to protect him.
Catarina and Magnus' friendship will always make me happy. I loved seeing her build up his confidence a bit.
Isabelle tells Clary that Jace has been a happier person since she joined them. To be honest, I don't get the impression that's the case from what we see on the show. We see flashbacks where he's happy with Alec and Izzy as a kid, and he hasn't seemed all that happy since Clary joined. That's mostly because of what's going on around them, but it still makes Izzy's words here feel straight up wrong to me. Jace seems the same he's always been if anything.
Overall, I supposed this episode was a mixed bag for me. Some of the story decisions were questionable, but there were a number of moments that I liked, particularly with Catarina and Magnus.
At the same time, it hurts seeing Maia have to deal with the guy who caused her so much pain again.
It struck me that Clary called Simon when she was horribly injured instead of calling Izzy or Alec or Magnus. Their friendship seems to have been put on the back burner with everything else going on, so I was glad to see her reaching out to him instead of anyone else.
Alec hugging Clary felt a little awkward to me. I'm all for Alec and Clary forming a stronger friendship, and I also get Alec being thankful that Clary saved his parabatai. At the same time, the hug felt strange and out of place. It was hard to believe that Alec would do something like that, even in such circumstances.
As I have a blood phobia, watching Lilith drain people's blood was probably the worst part of the episode for me.
It's revealed that Luke is the one who called the Praetor for Simon. I'm always up for Luke acting like a father to Simon. We even get a small detail about Luke bringing Simon to the station for Bring Your Child to Work Day. That warmed my heart.
Imogen got more character development in the show than she did in the books, and I admit that I have warmer feelings for her in the show because of it, particularly in this episode. If nothing else, I'm glad she cares enough about her grandson that she's willing to hide what's happened to him from Consul Penhallow to protect him.
Catarina and Magnus' friendship will always make me happy. I loved seeing her build up his confidence a bit.
Isabelle tells Clary that Jace has been a happier person since she joined them. To be honest, I don't get the impression that's the case from what we see on the show. We see flashbacks where he's happy with Alec and Izzy as a kid, and he hasn't seemed all that happy since Clary joined. That's mostly because of what's going on around them, but it still makes Izzy's words here feel straight up wrong to me. Jace seems the same he's always been if anything.
Overall, I supposed this episode was a mixed bag for me. Some of the story decisions were questionable, but there were a number of moments that I liked, particularly with Catarina and Magnus.
Book Review: Twin Souls by DelSheree Gladden
ASIN: B004C43HI2Published: November 12, 2019
Publisher: self-published
Read from December 29, 2017 to January 22, 2018
Synopsis from Goodreads:
He avoids her because of the strange physical pain he feels when they touch. She avoids him because the way everyone seems to do what he says scares her. But when Claire needs to escape a bad situation Uriah is the first person she thinks of, and he is eager to rescue her. Faced with each other for the first time, both Uriah and Claire find it impossible to listen to their fears and stay away from one another. They soon find out, though, that there is more than they ever thought possible trying to keep them apart.Review:
Following tradition the pair approaches the Elders of their Tewa tribe to ask permission to marry. Everyone is shocked when the shaman refuses them, claiming they are not Twin Souls. Confused and angry Uriah refuses to listen, and promises them that he will never abandon Claire. When Claire is poisoned by her vindictive father his resolve is tested. Ancient Native American myths and legends spring into reality, doing everything they can to keep Uriah from saving Claire’s life, while beginning to reveal the truth behind the lies he has been told all his life.
It's been a year and a half since I read this book, and I've been dreading writing the review ever since. This is one of those cases where I feel like I need to write one because it's important to address the problems in the book, but as I also have nothing positive to say, I don't like having to get into all of this.
This was part of a collection of ebooks that I downloaded for free. If it hadn't been for that, I probably would have avoided it based just on what little I could see from the synopsis.
As you can tell from the summary above, the two main characters in Twin Souls are Native American. As soon as I saw that, I became cautious. The first thing I did was look into the author to see if they were Native American themselves. The phrase "myths and legends" being used in the summary had me on guard as I've heard Native Americans reject such words being used to describe their religious stories as it trivializes their legitimate beliefs.
Gladden makes no reference to her background on her website except to describe herself as "native to New Mexico", which I'm going to assume doesn't (despite the background of her characters) mean she's Native American. There are no evidence or direct claims anywhere that she is on her website. Because of that, I was careful going into the book, and I wanted to try and figure out what was fact and what was fiction in her portrayal of the Native American culture in the book.
As a white person myself, I feel like I'm limited in what I can say here. All I can do is rely on the perspectives of Native Americans that I've read over the years, but what I can say is that I have read a multitude of Native American perspectives that are against white people making up Native American "myths" of their own, which is precisely what is done in this book unless the author has some kind of source that I can't find despite a lot of searching on the internet.
The fact that the characters are described as belonging to the "Tewa tribe" is probably a good place to start when it comes to what's fiction in this book. From what I've been able to find, Tewa is a linguistic group that is comprised of multiple communities in New Mexico. Despite the phrase "Tewa tribe" being used in the book, there seem to be multiple "federally recognized tribes" that are all Tewa. Words like "nation" are often preferred to "tribe" as it is, so the fact that the phrase "Tewa tribe" was used when no such tribe uses that name was a sign of how the rest of the book would go.
I can't tell you how exactly how accurate this book is in portraying Tewa culture, but even if I hadn't done any extra research, I would have had trouble believing any of it was rooted in an actual indigenous culture. Some would probably say that justifies it, as it's merely meant to be fiction, but that's a huge problem as it's a white person making up their own story while trying to dress it up as a Native American story and attribute it to a culture that it has nothing to do with. It does this while also indulging in some bad stereotypes.
Even as a white person, I felt right away that the Native characters in the book had been written by another white person. In the book, the Tewa have members of their communities called Shaxoa (a term that I couldn't find outside of this book). Claire calls the Shaxoa "witches" and vilifies them despite them being an important part of her culture.
The idea of Claire using the term 'witch' (a term from European mythology) to describe a role within her community made no sense, and her hatred of them felt more like an outsider's (i.e. white person's) perspective of the Shaxoa than the perspective of someone inside the culture. She didn't feel like someone who had grown up within a culture where the Shaxoa were important and valued.
That continues throughout the book, with both Claire and Uriah viewing their own culture negatively. And the book presents it as if the reader should view it the same way they do, as their culture is preventing them from being together. If this book were a dystopian novel, Tewa culture and the elders would be the evil government who the protagonist was trying to overthrow. It made me very uncomfortable with how the supposedly indigenous culture was being presented.
It wasn't as if there was questionable Native American content but the rest of the book was good either. The book was just bad.
In addition to the Native characters feeling like they were written by a white person, they didn't feel like actual teenagers. They didn't act realistically to anything.
As an example, one character refers to a "pack of other teens" at one point. I can't for the life of me imagine a teenager referring to other teenagers using that phrase. I actually laughed out loud when I read that line because it felt like something an adult would say, not a kid.
There are also problems with the ways the Tewa elders often speak, which plays into many stereotypes, but as I'm not Native myself, that's not something I can really analyze in detail.
The book also has multiple jumps in time that made it hard to follow the progression of Uriah and Claire's relationship. We don't see their relationship progress because we're just told that time has passed and now their in a long term relationship. As a reader, I was supposed to believe that they were deeply in love only because they'd been together a while, even if I hadn't seen any of that happening for myself.
Because of this, I wasn't invested in them as a couple. It was a bad case of telling instead of showing. I was told they were in love, but I didn't see it for myself. When everything else in the book was so bad, that took away the last chance I had of emotionally connecting with the characters. I just didn't care. They could have died; they could have been separated forever; and it wouldn't have mattered to me.
Since the harmful Native content is my primary reason for even writing this review, I won't delve into various other ways I disliked this book, but I will say that I have a long list in the notes of my phone, and I've only written about a small portion of it. There are just a few other issues that I think need to be at least briefly mentioned:
Soul mates (or twin souls as they're called in the book) are part of Tewa culture within this book (and, again, were not something I could find sources for when researching). They are meant to be two halves, and the way it is presented heavily implies that twin souls can only be one male and one female. No one bothers to acknowledge the existence of queer people, and there are no queer characters, but it's heavily implied that soul mates are only opposite sex couples.
Claire's father is also emotionally abusive, and his actions don't make sense. I'm not saying the way abusers act is always logical, but he's written as if he's a cartoon villain at times. He tries to scheme only for things to fall apart, and he does things that have no logical backing. That entire part of the story was a mess.
As this is getting far more negative than I like being, I'll leave that here. As I've stated multiple times, I can only write from the perspective of a white person, so I'd welcome feedback from any Native Americans about what I've said, how I've phrased it, language I've used, etc.
I haven't seen a review of this book written by a Native American, but if I find one, I would definitely like to add a link to it here. As it is, this is a book that I would have avoided buying from the synopsis alone if I hadn't discovered it in a bundle books I got for free. I don't at all recommend it.
Sunday, July 21, 2019
Shadowhunters Talk: 3x06 "A Window Into an Empty Room"
The first thing I have to comment on in this episode is Kyle putting on that padding and making Simon attack him as if it's going to help them figure out anything at all. Honestly, what was he trying to accomplish? Was it just a confirmation that the mark really would hurt someone? Because I have no idea what else he expected to get out of it.
I'd forgotten how almost reasonable some of the stuff Heidi says is when she first meets Simon. Of course, that quickly changes as she starts murdering people. Still, understand her feeling betrayed when Simon wants nothing to do with her after Raphael tortured her. I feel bad for her, and I do feel like her story is tragic. It's made very clear that she's never really had anyone who cared about her, and it makes me wish that the show had handled her story differently.
I like that Maia recognizes the similar positions she and Heidi were put in after they were turned. It helped emphasize that Heidi reached the point she did because terrible things happened to her, not because she was naturally a bad person.
Alec and Magnus have an argument about Alec aging that breaks my heart. The fact that it gets a little petty did help lighten the atmosphere a little. Alec getting drunk later in the episode kind of proved Magnus' point that he was acting like a child, but this is Alec's first relationship and he's centuries younger than Magnus, so it makes sense that they'd find themselves in such a situation eventually.
I loved seeing Maryse this episode and the aftermath of her being de-runed. I love that she came to see her kids after and that she included Jace when she was looking for them. We also get the beginnings of Luke/Maryse here as Luke offers help to Maryse if she ever needs it. This episode really helped strengthen my fondness for the show's version of Maryse.
Jace randomly bumping into Alec, who happens to be on a walk despite admitting that he never going on walks, was hilarious to me. Why did Jace not put some effort into hunting for people in places his siblings wouldn't be? Or did Alec's walk also take place in some far flung part of New York that Jace figured he'd never be in?
There's some nice dramatic irony in Heidi thinking that Izzy is Simon's girlfriend. That was a small detail that I really liked.
We see Jem (or Brother Zacariah) for the first time in this episode. Considering they can't use material from the Infernal Devices series, they did a good job teasing those books in Jem's conversation with Clary and Magnus. I do wonder what that scene looks like to someone who hasn't read the books because I imagine that it raises some questions. Jem even says, "That's a story for another day," in reference to him not looking like the other Silent Brothers. In most circumstances, I'd consider that a hint that the show will explore it later, but here, not even taking into account the the cancellation, that's not the case because they can't legally tell that story. I wonder if it felt off to some viewers, but as someone who has read the books, I loved those bits.
When this episode aired, I was still holding out hope that we'd get some kind of glimpse of Tessa too. Unfortunately, we never got that, but I did like the bit of fan service this episode gave us.
I'd forgotten how almost reasonable some of the stuff Heidi says is when she first meets Simon. Of course, that quickly changes as she starts murdering people. Still, understand her feeling betrayed when Simon wants nothing to do with her after Raphael tortured her. I feel bad for her, and I do feel like her story is tragic. It's made very clear that she's never really had anyone who cared about her, and it makes me wish that the show had handled her story differently.
I like that Maia recognizes the similar positions she and Heidi were put in after they were turned. It helped emphasize that Heidi reached the point she did because terrible things happened to her, not because she was naturally a bad person.
Alec and Magnus have an argument about Alec aging that breaks my heart. The fact that it gets a little petty did help lighten the atmosphere a little. Alec getting drunk later in the episode kind of proved Magnus' point that he was acting like a child, but this is Alec's first relationship and he's centuries younger than Magnus, so it makes sense that they'd find themselves in such a situation eventually.
I loved seeing Maryse this episode and the aftermath of her being de-runed. I love that she came to see her kids after and that she included Jace when she was looking for them. We also get the beginnings of Luke/Maryse here as Luke offers help to Maryse if she ever needs it. This episode really helped strengthen my fondness for the show's version of Maryse.
Jace randomly bumping into Alec, who happens to be on a walk despite admitting that he never going on walks, was hilarious to me. Why did Jace not put some effort into hunting for people in places his siblings wouldn't be? Or did Alec's walk also take place in some far flung part of New York that Jace figured he'd never be in?
There's some nice dramatic irony in Heidi thinking that Izzy is Simon's girlfriend. That was a small detail that I really liked.
We see Jem (or Brother Zacariah) for the first time in this episode. Considering they can't use material from the Infernal Devices series, they did a good job teasing those books in Jem's conversation with Clary and Magnus. I do wonder what that scene looks like to someone who hasn't read the books because I imagine that it raises some questions. Jem even says, "That's a story for another day," in reference to him not looking like the other Silent Brothers. In most circumstances, I'd consider that a hint that the show will explore it later, but here, not even taking into account the the cancellation, that's not the case because they can't legally tell that story. I wonder if it felt off to some viewers, but as someone who has read the books, I loved those bits.
When this episode aired, I was still holding out hope that we'd get some kind of glimpse of Tessa too. Unfortunately, we never got that, but I did like the bit of fan service this episode gave us.
Tuesday, July 9, 2019
Shadowhunters Talk: 3x05 "Stronger Than Heaven"
I have a lot to say about this episode even after more than a year since I first watched it, so let's dive in.
Lilith Visits Magnus
The first scene of this episode is Lilith going to Magnus for help. I love this because it's another reminder of how powerful Magnus is. This incredibly powerful demon needs help and she goes to Magnus instead of someone else.
At the same time, I'm surprised that Magnus isn't capable of identifying Lilith. She does live in Edom along with Asmodeus, and we know that Magnus spent time with Asmodeus. If he's never come into contact with Lilith before—not even once—I would be surprised. The body she's using isn't her natural form, but later episodes especially imply that it's the human form she always (or at least typically) uses when she wants to appear human. I feel like Magnus should have recognized that it was her, but I suppose that's a question that I'm not too distracted by while watching the show.
Jace's Mental Health
I have mixed feelings about the way they handled Jace's suspicion that he has a mental illness. For one, they keep talking about how his mother suffered from mental illness, but they only use the vague term 'mental illness.' There's not one mention of what mental illness she actually had, which I think is doing a disservice when talking about mental health. It's an easy way out because it means they can talk about what she suffered without bothering to be accurate to any particular illness.
(It's worth nothing that they have the canon excuse of Shadowhunters not taking mental illness seriously and no one bothering to take her to a doctor. But there's a lot I could say about that, and I'd probably end up ranting for several paragraphs at least.)
All in all, that was a small thing to me. What really got me angry about how mental health was handled in the episode was Clary's reaction to Jace raising the possibility of being sick (especially after having a nice scene of Alec and Jace both wanting Jace to get help).
Clary doesn't want Jace to assume that he has a mental illness, and though there are angels and demons involved here, I know plenty of stories about people who struggle with mental illness and are told that there's actually nothing wrong with them. It can get harmful because the people around them won't help them get treatment when they need it. I don't like that Clary is doing the same thing here.
She also explicitly says that she's worried about him being declared unfit for duty, which is a terrible thing to be worried about when someone wants to get help in my opinion. She's encouraging him to bury what's bothering him so that he can keep fighting even if it isn't healthy for him. If he's declared unfit, then that's a good thing because it gives him time to get better.
Clary feeling guilty that she might have caused Jace harm makes sense. There were ways they could have done that without her trying to guilt him into not getting help. And even though we know demons are involved here, seeking help could have only helped him in the long run. I fail to see how it would have been harmful. (If nothing else, the Silent Brothers might have realized that he was being influenced by Lilith instead of Jace continuing to deal with it on his own.)
Alec and Magnus' 'Moving In Together' Conversation
Watching Alec ask to move in with Magnus was one of those moments where you feel secondhand embarrassment as you watch it. I wanted to pause the episode for a second to escape from the awkwardness.
Having seen later episodes, this conversation makes some things that happen later feel out of place. Since eliminating this conversation wouldn't change anything else in this episode, I wish it hadn't been there. That would have made future events make a lot more sense.
Jace Helps Simon
There's something endearing about Jace deciding to help Simon because Clary cares about him. Of course, I'd love to see Jace and Simon become genuine friends who help each other because they care for each other, but it's also nice to see them getting along and helping each other for Clary's sake. It's a nice acknowledgment that they need to at least try to get along.
Alec's Snooping and the Immortality Problem
Magnus being a very private person, him leaving that box out feels like a huge sign of trust, which makes it more painful that Alec snooped through it. That being said, I appreciate that Alec went to Magnus and apologized without Magnus calling him out on it first. That made me feel a lot better about the whole thing and was a nice show of honesty in their relationship.
The conflict over Magnus being immortal and Alec mortal had to come eventually. Not only is this in the books, but it's something they'd have to discuss eventually. In romance stories, growing old together is seen as the happy ending, but Magnus and Alec can't grow old together. If they just pretended like that wasn't the case, it would seem a bit unrealistic.
Luke's Farm
We see Luke's farm for the first time in this episode. This is another detail from the books except in the books Clary grew up coming to the farm. In the show, I'm curious about the farm's sudden appearance in the story. How often does Luke visit? Because it looks pretty well maintained. Even before Cleophas lived there, it seems like someone had to be maintaining the house. If Luke was leaving the city that often to look after it though, what was he telling Clary about where he was going?
Underhill
This episode also marks the introduction of Underhill, who because quite a hit with the fandom. I have to be honest and admit I don't understand the appeal of him. I love the fact that someone thanked Alec for coming out and showed him that he had a positive effect on other Shadowhunters. But when it comes to Underhill as a character, I say him as a stale character from the beginning. He doesn't have a personality when we meet him, and this really never changes in later episodes.
Izzy and the Doctor
Even after more than a year since I first watched this episode, I don't know how I feel about the storyline with Izzy and the doctor. The thing is, it's cute. It just doesn't go anywhere or provide anything to the larger story. There's no larger plot, and it doesn't give Izzy any significant character development. It feels pointless.
Alec Brushing Off His Own Problems
Alec telling Jace, "Just stuff with Magnus. Nothing I'd want to bore you with," kills me. Alec, Jace is your parabatai. The fact that Alec thinks his feelings would bore Jace really upsets me. The fact that Jace doesn't push back on this and ask again what's bothering Alec upsets me even more. There was such a great opportunity for parabatai bonding in that scene, and instead, I feel like the scene made their parabatai bond look weaker than it should be.
Obviously, Alec knows that Jace is going through a lot, and that likely was a big reason for it. It could also explain why Jace doesn't bother pushing for more I guess, but it feels strange when they're supposed to have such a strong bond. One of the show's weak points in my mind is not giving us more heart-to-heart moments with Jace and Alec.
Lilith's Love Potion
The episode ends with Lilith giving Jace the potion to fall out of love with Clary. Do you know what? I don't remember how this ends. I know that the effects of the potion must be reversed at some point, but I can't for the life of me remember how it happens. I'm not sure what that says about this particular part of the story. I guess we'll see how I feel as I watch it play out again while rewatching the episodes.
Lilith Visits Magnus
The first scene of this episode is Lilith going to Magnus for help. I love this because it's another reminder of how powerful Magnus is. This incredibly powerful demon needs help and she goes to Magnus instead of someone else.
At the same time, I'm surprised that Magnus isn't capable of identifying Lilith. She does live in Edom along with Asmodeus, and we know that Magnus spent time with Asmodeus. If he's never come into contact with Lilith before—not even once—I would be surprised. The body she's using isn't her natural form, but later episodes especially imply that it's the human form she always (or at least typically) uses when she wants to appear human. I feel like Magnus should have recognized that it was her, but I suppose that's a question that I'm not too distracted by while watching the show.
Jace's Mental Health
I have mixed feelings about the way they handled Jace's suspicion that he has a mental illness. For one, they keep talking about how his mother suffered from mental illness, but they only use the vague term 'mental illness.' There's not one mention of what mental illness she actually had, which I think is doing a disservice when talking about mental health. It's an easy way out because it means they can talk about what she suffered without bothering to be accurate to any particular illness.
(It's worth nothing that they have the canon excuse of Shadowhunters not taking mental illness seriously and no one bothering to take her to a doctor. But there's a lot I could say about that, and I'd probably end up ranting for several paragraphs at least.)
All in all, that was a small thing to me. What really got me angry about how mental health was handled in the episode was Clary's reaction to Jace raising the possibility of being sick (especially after having a nice scene of Alec and Jace both wanting Jace to get help).
Clary doesn't want Jace to assume that he has a mental illness, and though there are angels and demons involved here, I know plenty of stories about people who struggle with mental illness and are told that there's actually nothing wrong with them. It can get harmful because the people around them won't help them get treatment when they need it. I don't like that Clary is doing the same thing here.
She also explicitly says that she's worried about him being declared unfit for duty, which is a terrible thing to be worried about when someone wants to get help in my opinion. She's encouraging him to bury what's bothering him so that he can keep fighting even if it isn't healthy for him. If he's declared unfit, then that's a good thing because it gives him time to get better.
Clary feeling guilty that she might have caused Jace harm makes sense. There were ways they could have done that without her trying to guilt him into not getting help. And even though we know demons are involved here, seeking help could have only helped him in the long run. I fail to see how it would have been harmful. (If nothing else, the Silent Brothers might have realized that he was being influenced by Lilith instead of Jace continuing to deal with it on his own.)
Alec and Magnus' 'Moving In Together' Conversation
Watching Alec ask to move in with Magnus was one of those moments where you feel secondhand embarrassment as you watch it. I wanted to pause the episode for a second to escape from the awkwardness.
Having seen later episodes, this conversation makes some things that happen later feel out of place. Since eliminating this conversation wouldn't change anything else in this episode, I wish it hadn't been there. That would have made future events make a lot more sense.
Jace Helps Simon
There's something endearing about Jace deciding to help Simon because Clary cares about him. Of course, I'd love to see Jace and Simon become genuine friends who help each other because they care for each other, but it's also nice to see them getting along and helping each other for Clary's sake. It's a nice acknowledgment that they need to at least try to get along.
Alec's Snooping and the Immortality Problem
Magnus being a very private person, him leaving that box out feels like a huge sign of trust, which makes it more painful that Alec snooped through it. That being said, I appreciate that Alec went to Magnus and apologized without Magnus calling him out on it first. That made me feel a lot better about the whole thing and was a nice show of honesty in their relationship.
The conflict over Magnus being immortal and Alec mortal had to come eventually. Not only is this in the books, but it's something they'd have to discuss eventually. In romance stories, growing old together is seen as the happy ending, but Magnus and Alec can't grow old together. If they just pretended like that wasn't the case, it would seem a bit unrealistic.
Luke's Farm
We see Luke's farm for the first time in this episode. This is another detail from the books except in the books Clary grew up coming to the farm. In the show, I'm curious about the farm's sudden appearance in the story. How often does Luke visit? Because it looks pretty well maintained. Even before Cleophas lived there, it seems like someone had to be maintaining the house. If Luke was leaving the city that often to look after it though, what was he telling Clary about where he was going?
Underhill
This episode also marks the introduction of Underhill, who because quite a hit with the fandom. I have to be honest and admit I don't understand the appeal of him. I love the fact that someone thanked Alec for coming out and showed him that he had a positive effect on other Shadowhunters. But when it comes to Underhill as a character, I say him as a stale character from the beginning. He doesn't have a personality when we meet him, and this really never changes in later episodes.
Izzy and the Doctor
Even after more than a year since I first watched this episode, I don't know how I feel about the storyline with Izzy and the doctor. The thing is, it's cute. It just doesn't go anywhere or provide anything to the larger story. There's no larger plot, and it doesn't give Izzy any significant character development. It feels pointless.
Alec Brushing Off His Own Problems
Alec telling Jace, "Just stuff with Magnus. Nothing I'd want to bore you with," kills me. Alec, Jace is your parabatai. The fact that Alec thinks his feelings would bore Jace really upsets me. The fact that Jace doesn't push back on this and ask again what's bothering Alec upsets me even more. There was such a great opportunity for parabatai bonding in that scene, and instead, I feel like the scene made their parabatai bond look weaker than it should be.
Obviously, Alec knows that Jace is going through a lot, and that likely was a big reason for it. It could also explain why Jace doesn't bother pushing for more I guess, but it feels strange when they're supposed to have such a strong bond. One of the show's weak points in my mind is not giving us more heart-to-heart moments with Jace and Alec.
Lilith's Love Potion
The episode ends with Lilith giving Jace the potion to fall out of love with Clary. Do you know what? I don't remember how this ends. I know that the effects of the potion must be reversed at some point, but I can't for the life of me remember how it happens. I'm not sure what that says about this particular part of the story. I guess we'll see how I feel as I watch it play out again while rewatching the episodes.
Monday, July 1, 2019
Race to the Edge Talk: 5x05 "A Matter of Perspective"
Once again, I forgot that Adelaide Kane was in this show until her character began speaking. I don't know how I keep forgetting that considering she's one of my favorite actresses.
At the start of the episode, Astrid asks Hiccup why he's hiding something, but she's also confident that he'll tell her what's up when the time is right. I love how much trust they have in each other. It's rare to see something like that play out, with one character not very worried about another keeping a secret. It was a small moment, but it was one I really appreciated between them. That one moment alone does a lot for reminding me why I love their dynamics as a couple.
The main events of the story center around the Eruptodon getting old and preparing to die. That means they have to send him off to his final resting place.
The moment in this episode where Hiccup says they have to stay away from dragon culture like that was an amusing one when you consider that this is a show about vikings. Sure, the vikings in this franchise never leave their archipelago, but it's still a little ironic.
It was an interesting choice for Hiccup to use the word 'culture' too, since we never think of real world animals as having cultures. That's an acknowledgement that the dragons are sentient, at least to a certain extent. That's pretty obvious after the movies and TV shows of course, but that word use still caught my attention.
Later in the episode, Fishlegs gets excited on Vanaheim because he discovers evidence that dragons can understand abstract thought. That seems like something that it would have been easy to assume earlier, especially with Hiccup acknowledging that they have a culture just a day earlier. I suppose there's a philosophical debate to be had about whether beings can have a culture without understanding abstract thought, but my own thought process would be that such a thing would be near impossible.
This episode also introduces the sentinel dragons who guard Vanaheim. It's quite interesting to think that an entire species of dragon evolved in order to protect the final resting place of other species of dragons. What happens to the sentinels when they die is never answered here either, and they don't seem to have a final resting place on the island when the characters are talking about what dragon tombs they've found (unless I missed something). That's an interesting detail to me.
I like how this episode explored the idea of dragon culture and just how complex dragons are. It isn't like the idea was thoroughly explored, but it still raised some interesting things to think about, which isn't too shabby for a less than 25 minute episode of a show that's typically quite episodic. I enjoyed it.
At the start of the episode, Astrid asks Hiccup why he's hiding something, but she's also confident that he'll tell her what's up when the time is right. I love how much trust they have in each other. It's rare to see something like that play out, with one character not very worried about another keeping a secret. It was a small moment, but it was one I really appreciated between them. That one moment alone does a lot for reminding me why I love their dynamics as a couple.
The main events of the story center around the Eruptodon getting old and preparing to die. That means they have to send him off to his final resting place.
The moment in this episode where Hiccup says they have to stay away from dragon culture like that was an amusing one when you consider that this is a show about vikings. Sure, the vikings in this franchise never leave their archipelago, but it's still a little ironic.
It was an interesting choice for Hiccup to use the word 'culture' too, since we never think of real world animals as having cultures. That's an acknowledgement that the dragons are sentient, at least to a certain extent. That's pretty obvious after the movies and TV shows of course, but that word use still caught my attention.
Later in the episode, Fishlegs gets excited on Vanaheim because he discovers evidence that dragons can understand abstract thought. That seems like something that it would have been easy to assume earlier, especially with Hiccup acknowledging that they have a culture just a day earlier. I suppose there's a philosophical debate to be had about whether beings can have a culture without understanding abstract thought, but my own thought process would be that such a thing would be near impossible.
This episode also introduces the sentinel dragons who guard Vanaheim. It's quite interesting to think that an entire species of dragon evolved in order to protect the final resting place of other species of dragons. What happens to the sentinels when they die is never answered here either, and they don't seem to have a final resting place on the island when the characters are talking about what dragon tombs they've found (unless I missed something). That's an interesting detail to me.
I like how this episode explored the idea of dragon culture and just how complex dragons are. It isn't like the idea was thoroughly explored, but it still raised some interesting things to think about, which isn't too shabby for a less than 25 minute episode of a show that's typically quite episodic. I enjoyed it.
Race to the Edge Talk: 5x04 "Snotlout's Angels"
(A note before the review: I had filmed a review for 5x03, but I deleted it because I was annoyed with the video, which is kind of a long story. I didn't have much to say about the episode, so I'm not bothering to do it again.)
This is the episode I've been most dreading talking about because it plays into harmful indigenous stereotypes of native islanders trying to eat people who wind up stranded on their island.
First of all, it doesn't even make sense of these women to be branded 'natives'. Throughout the course of Race to the Edge, the characters have encountered people from different islands all over the archipelago. There's no indication that these women are living outside the archipelago, and there's nothing to mark them as 'other' from the vikings when Snotlout and Tuffnut both use the phrase 'native women'. It's clear that the writers only used that phrase because they were playing into a trope that they shouldn't have been using in the first play.
In fact, the women make it clear that they follow the same religion as the others by talking about Freya. Sure, they probably place more emphasis on Freya than people on other islands, but that doesn't make their religion drastically different (and that's quite common in many old polytheistic religions). They also have no trouble communicating with each other, showing that they have few, if any, differences in language. It's very obvious that they're operating within the same culture as the other characters. There's nothing more 'native' about them than any other particular character we've been introduced to.
Snotlout also uses the phrase 'native woman costume', which makes no sense. Both because the use of 'native' makes little sense here but also because what they're wearing isn't drastically different from what we've seen on anyone else. Yes, they have a specific style, but it's not something that Snotlout should have viewed as inherently foreign.
Plus, the fact that there are no men on the island leads me to believe that these women are recruited from other islands to come take care of the dragons. They clearly view their role in a religious light as they say they were given the responsibility to care for the dragons by Freya. I'd assume that their role is a lot like that of a priestess in ancient Rome or a nun in a convent in Christianity. It seems logical that these women were all born in different places and only later moved to the island as they felt a religious calling to the role, meaning that none of them are native to the island.
So, even ignoring the harmful nature of the stereotypes this episode uses, the language itself is just straight up absurd to use.
The event that sets the rest of the episode into motion is Snotlout stealing Astrid's ax and then saying something particularly hurtful to her when she gets angry about it. We never learn what he said to her as the characters only whisper it to each other, but I wish that we did. As it is, I have no clue what he could say to her that was so bad it couldn't be said on the show itself as he's said plenty to her at other points on the show. That felt like a bit of a cop out. It was funny at first to see the characters whispering, but I wanted to find out what was said by the end of the episode.
Seeing the women retaliate against how terribly Snotlout was treating them was nice, but I desperately wish it had been done differently. This felt a lot like an attempt at a feminist episode by a man who assumed women would handle a situation one way when it's not at all accurate. (The episode was, in fact, written by two men.) Messing with Snotlout would have been amusing, but tricking him into thinking he'll be eaten and then hanging him up in a cave by his ankle without telling him the truth? Not the most effective way of teaching him a lesson if that's what they wanted to do. I found the way this episode tried to teach Snotlout a lesson on sexism just strange.
Between the harmful stereotypes about indigenous people and the messy way this episode kind of tried to address sexism? (Because I guess that's what they were trying to do?) This episode really just felt like a mess to me, and it's probably my least favorite episode of Race to the Edge ever.
It baffles me that this episode made it through with no one questioning the stereotype it was using. I assume this was largely because the episode flips the trope and reveals that the women were never going to eat him. That doesn't make playing into it at first okay. This episode too shallowly handles it for that to ever work, and the basis of it (that these women are supposed to be natives) doesn't even make sense.
The episode's shaky dealing with sexism on top of that just made it worse. This episode feels like a great reminder of two things: If you want to write an episode that flips a harmful trope about indigenous people, probably don't unless their are indigenous people writing the story (and hopefully working on it in other positions as well). And if you want to write about sexism, even in a funny way for kids like in this episode, you're going to need more women working on the story than this episode clearly had if you want it to be done well.
This is the episode I've been most dreading talking about because it plays into harmful indigenous stereotypes of native islanders trying to eat people who wind up stranded on their island.
First of all, it doesn't even make sense of these women to be branded 'natives'. Throughout the course of Race to the Edge, the characters have encountered people from different islands all over the archipelago. There's no indication that these women are living outside the archipelago, and there's nothing to mark them as 'other' from the vikings when Snotlout and Tuffnut both use the phrase 'native women'. It's clear that the writers only used that phrase because they were playing into a trope that they shouldn't have been using in the first play.
In fact, the women make it clear that they follow the same religion as the others by talking about Freya. Sure, they probably place more emphasis on Freya than people on other islands, but that doesn't make their religion drastically different (and that's quite common in many old polytheistic religions). They also have no trouble communicating with each other, showing that they have few, if any, differences in language. It's very obvious that they're operating within the same culture as the other characters. There's nothing more 'native' about them than any other particular character we've been introduced to.
Snotlout also uses the phrase 'native woman costume', which makes no sense. Both because the use of 'native' makes little sense here but also because what they're wearing isn't drastically different from what we've seen on anyone else. Yes, they have a specific style, but it's not something that Snotlout should have viewed as inherently foreign.
Plus, the fact that there are no men on the island leads me to believe that these women are recruited from other islands to come take care of the dragons. They clearly view their role in a religious light as they say they were given the responsibility to care for the dragons by Freya. I'd assume that their role is a lot like that of a priestess in ancient Rome or a nun in a convent in Christianity. It seems logical that these women were all born in different places and only later moved to the island as they felt a religious calling to the role, meaning that none of them are native to the island.
So, even ignoring the harmful nature of the stereotypes this episode uses, the language itself is just straight up absurd to use.
The event that sets the rest of the episode into motion is Snotlout stealing Astrid's ax and then saying something particularly hurtful to her when she gets angry about it. We never learn what he said to her as the characters only whisper it to each other, but I wish that we did. As it is, I have no clue what he could say to her that was so bad it couldn't be said on the show itself as he's said plenty to her at other points on the show. That felt like a bit of a cop out. It was funny at first to see the characters whispering, but I wanted to find out what was said by the end of the episode.
Seeing the women retaliate against how terribly Snotlout was treating them was nice, but I desperately wish it had been done differently. This felt a lot like an attempt at a feminist episode by a man who assumed women would handle a situation one way when it's not at all accurate. (The episode was, in fact, written by two men.) Messing with Snotlout would have been amusing, but tricking him into thinking he'll be eaten and then hanging him up in a cave by his ankle without telling him the truth? Not the most effective way of teaching him a lesson if that's what they wanted to do. I found the way this episode tried to teach Snotlout a lesson on sexism just strange.
Between the harmful stereotypes about indigenous people and the messy way this episode kind of tried to address sexism? (Because I guess that's what they were trying to do?) This episode really just felt like a mess to me, and it's probably my least favorite episode of Race to the Edge ever.
It baffles me that this episode made it through with no one questioning the stereotype it was using. I assume this was largely because the episode flips the trope and reveals that the women were never going to eat him. That doesn't make playing into it at first okay. This episode too shallowly handles it for that to ever work, and the basis of it (that these women are supposed to be natives) doesn't even make sense.
The episode's shaky dealing with sexism on top of that just made it worse. This episode feels like a great reminder of two things: If you want to write an episode that flips a harmful trope about indigenous people, probably don't unless their are indigenous people writing the story (and hopefully working on it in other positions as well). And if you want to write about sexism, even in a funny way for kids like in this episode, you're going to need more women working on the story than this episode clearly had if you want it to be done well.
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