Game of Thrones Season 6 Episode 4 "Book of the Stranger"

Sibling reunions! Brienne gets checked out! Emilia Clarke nudity! Fire! It's the "Book of the Stranger!"

Once again we begin back at the Wall as Jon Snow lingers after abdicating his leadership last week. Edd confronts him with some sensible questions about the challenges facing the Night's Watch and the impending White Walker invasion. I'm glad the show is raising theses questions as, while I'm happy to see Snow leave the Wall and become a player in the story, I know that Game of Thrones punishes characters who drop the ball to pursue their personal agendas at the expense of the greater good. I can't help but think there will be bad consequences for Jon taking off.

Soon Sansa's party arrives and we are treated to an actual Stark reunion which is incredibly emotional and satisfying as this family has suffered so much in the first five seasons. Although Jon and Sansa had never had a scene together and were never close, it was still a powerful moment in the show's mythology.  We even get a moment for these two to work out their heretofore unseen conflicts. Not only was this a long awaited and satisfying moment for these characters, it marks a major convergence of character and plot and a movement into the show's endgame.

This also an opportunity to have some new character interactions which is always a fun part of the show. Brianne not only gets some some strange looks (including some hilariously appraising gazes from Tormund) she gets to interact a bit with Melisandre and Davos, two characters with whom she has some business from her time with Renly and their time with Stannis. Melisandre, in particular, looks  terrified of Brienne. Also, it doesn't seem like it will be long before there is a reckoning for Shereen's death last season. It almost was revealed in this episode and Davos seems determined to find out. If Sansa and Jon are converging their traveling parties, there seem to be some explosive conflicts brewing.

Because many of the show's plots seem to be speeding towards their climaxes this season my hope was that Tyrion and Varys would find a way to resolve the Meereenese Knot that has entangled the Dany storyline for the last couple of years, However, Tyrion seems to have come up with a less-than great plan to phase out slavery in Slaver's Bay over the course of seven years, which pisses off Dany's supporters. What's more, Meereen seems to be in such a precarious situation with the other slave cities closing in on it that I don't know what leverage Tyrion thinks he has to be able to make demands. Either way, we are now even deeper in this quagmire than before.

In the Vale, we revisit Petyr Baelish and his dealings with Robin Arryn and the Knights of the Vale. Now when we last left off with Baelish, he met with Cercei and promised to use the warriors of the Vale to bring the North to heel and to bring Sansa back. There has been some speculation about his actual motives but I certainly wouldn't trust anything he says to Cercei. It seems he genuinely cares for Sansa and regrets his miscalculation in marrying her off to Ramsey but maybe I'm being too sentimental about it. We'll see.

Theon makes his way back to the Iron Islands and gets a cool reception from his sister Yara who suspects him of wanting to challenge her for the Salt Throne but he would be, shall we say, a flawed candidate to lead the Ironborn. He does pique her interest when he tells her that he is going to support her claim. I guess he's going to be her campaign manager? I don't know how he's going to function at the Kingsmoot except to appeal to the haunted and twitchy vote. Theon is waaay off book at this point so I have no idea where they are going with him.

Our third reunited sibling pair are the Tyrells as the High Sparrow finally allows Margaery to visit Loras after a long (probably untrue) monologue about his past as a socially up-jumping cobbler who found humility and faith in the Seven. Loras is in really bad shape after having been tortured by the Westeros Baptist Church. I don't even want to imagine what the "atonement" for being a gay man consists of but Loras seems ready to throw in the towel. Margaery, on the other hand, has a lot of fight in her and seems to have something up her sleeve.



Cercei and Jamie again try to crash a Small Council meeting and, after another sick burn from the Queen of Thorns, the Tyrells and Lannisters form an uneasy alliance to use the Tyrell army to break the Faith Militant and prevent Margaery's Walk of Atonement. Tommen comes to the realization that his mother may not like Margaery very much. This kid makes me miss Joffrey.

At Winterfell, Ramsey has a meeting with Osha who tries to use her old seduce-and-stab routine on him but, having tortured Theon, Ramsey knows exactly how she managed to escape last time and knifes her before she can do anything. This is a sad loss for me as I really liked this character, who didn't have enough to do this season. She's a tough wildling chick and I was hoping she would at least get to get a few licks into Ramsey before she died. At least we avoided another rape scene or a scene of Rikkon getting tortured. My hope is that Rikkon will find a secret way to hide in the castle and go all Home Alone on the Bolton men until help arrives.

Back at the Wall, Sansa and Jon are having an awkward Bon Voyage meal at Castle Black. Sansa urges Jon to help her take back Winterfell as she did earlier. Jon is strangely hesitant about it and still somewhat shellshocked from all he has experienced. Their meal is interrupted by the arrival of a letter from Ramsey Bolton, the show's version of the infamous Pink Letter. The letter taunts Jon and threatens Rikkon, Sansa, and the Wildlings. This finally urges him to action and it looks like the forces of Jon and Sansa are going to devote themselves to raising an army to take back Winterfell, which I think we can all get behind. The first step will be convincing the Wildings but this may prove to be easy both given Ramsey's threat to them and their growing dedication to Jon Snow who risked and even gave his life for them at Hardhome and Castle Black.

What's really great about these scenes at the Wall is Sansa, who has consistently had the best storyline this season. For all the darkness she has endured in prior seasons, she is developing into a strong character and a real leader. It is not Jon, but Sansa who is the brains and visionary of this formative coalition to take back the North. While I don't know book Sansa's ultimate path, the show's controversial decision to bring her north is turning into a deeply satisfying storyline.

Speaking of Sisters Doin' It For Themselves, Dany very inconsiderately decides she doesn't need to be rescued by Jorah and Daario or even Drogon as we had all expected. During a contentious meeting with the Khals to decide her fate, she tells them off and proceeds to knock over all the braziers setting the building on fire and killing them all. When she walks out of the flames unburnt, she gets pretty much the standard Dothraki miracle reaction, only now she has many many more Dothraki in her thrall than she did at the end of season one.

While I feel like was a very fast development, maybe too fast a development,  I also know I shouldn't complain about anything happening in this plotline too fast because it has been dragging literally for years.  I hope she can Dothraki her governing problems away by the end of this season and set sail for Westeros. Moreover, this may be a return to a version of the character who is less burdened with the particulars of governing and more in touch with her inner power and nature. Part of this excursion back into the Dothraki might be a way for Dany to really believe the litany of titles she has amassed. By the time she was facing down the Khals in this episode you get the sense that she really owns all of them and is not just reciting them. So, look out complex Meereenese political situation, Mama's comin' home!

Patrick Garone
Follow Me On Twitter

Game of Thrones Season 6, Episode 3 "Oathbreaker"

Spoiler Warning:  This post contains spoilers for all broadcast seasons of HBO's Game of Thrones, all published volumes of A Song of Ice and Fire, references to interviews, set reports, informed by wild speculation, and both fire and greenseer visions. 


Let me say first of all, I enjoy Game of Thrones from the perspective of a book reader and someone who eagerly consumes all possible spoilers online so I watch the show anticipating things that I know or strongly suspect will be happening in the story. I admit this is not the way the show is intended to be watched and probably colors my perception of the episodes as I watch them but I have to say I was monumentally annoyed with the Tower of Joy cliffhanger in this episode but more on that below.

We start with Castle Black where apparently Davos and Melisandre have heard Jon Snow's dramatic gasp and have already rushed into the room. In this series of scenes we are starting to get a feel for how Jon has come back and, thankfully, he is not fundamentally different. There has been some fan speculation that he might come back "wrong"or even as a villain. This idea would be supported by the repeated resurrections already seen in Beric Dondarrion from earlier seasons during which he seems to have lost a little bit of himself each time he came back. Thankfully, after only one resurrection, Jon seems okay. He even shows flashes of humor which might be an improvement.

Melisandre starts to finally put two and two together and seems to think that Jon might be the hero that she mistakenly thought Stannis was. Unfortunately she doesn't get much time to articulate her feelings since she will have undergone a big point of view change since hitting rock bottom in the last couple of episodes. She does use an interesting phrase to describe Jon's possible savior role, she refers to him as "the prince who was promised." I believe this is the first time the phrase has come up in the show. Previously she has referred to Stannis as the rebirth of Azor Ahai, her religion's savior figure. The Prince Who Was Promised is another prophesied figure which may overlap with Azor Azai but who is closely associated with Rhaegar Targaryen's prophesy of a heroic warrior (or possibly trio of warriors) that was to come from the Targaryen line. So the use of this phrase is either a sloppy juxtaposition of two different prophesies or foreshadowing.

In my mind, an outstanding question regarding Melisandre is how the Targaryens fit into her Azor Azai beliefs. For example, is Targaryen lineage important in her definition of kingsblood? After all, the Baratheons are partially Targaryen descended. Can anyone claim the throne and then their blood becomes royal upon coronation? Are there degrees of royal blood power? Is she particularly interested in Targaryen blood since they were a centuries-old royal dynasty that interbred for generations? If so, it would explain her interest in Jon who is likely a Secret Targaryen.

We do get to spend some more time with Davos who gives Jon some not-particularly coherent advice about failure or something. This scene stumbles around the big question of why Davos was so set on resurrecting Jon Snow. What we do come away with is a slightly better understanding of the Onion Knight's world view in that he sees the world as a fundamentally unjust place and he is drawn to leaders who are committed to fighting to make it a little less horrible no matter how futile the struggle is. Apparently he sees Jon as that kind of leader.

Next up is the long awaited Tower of Joy scene! The book version of this scene is actually experienced in the very first book in the series while Ned Stark hallucinates in the Black Cells and it is described much as we see it on the show. The sequence looms large in Game of Thrones mythology and theorizing. It is central to the popular R + L = J theory that proposes that Jon Snow is the son of Lyanna Stark and Rhaegar Targaryen. Infuriatingly, just was we are about to ascend the Tower and meet Lyanna and baby Jon, the Three-Eyed Raven arbitrarily decides to end the vision and millions of book readers screamed out in frustration and threw their remotes at the TV.

What's worse is move to a scene in which we check in with Sam and Gilly on the way to Old Town as if to rub salt in our wounds. Instead of entering the Tower, we cut to a scene in which two people discuss their travel plans in a storyline that doesn't seem terribly consequential. Grrr.



We also check in with Arya in Braavos whose story has been both opaque and glacially paced. But this week there was thankfully some forward movement. I don't think I have ever been so grateful to see a montage! If not for Masie Williams, this storyline would be unwatchable but she is so damn good and haunting and kind of beautiful looking all blind and abused. And she gets her sight back! And learns to stick fight. Hopefully she can breeze through being No One so that she can become Arya again.



In Meereen, Varys questions the prostitute who was helping the Sons of the Harpy last season. They have a great and very tense scene in which they are both intelligent and make good points. Here we see Varys in top form as an master chess player and a cunning pragmatist. He's been sort of hanging around in the Meereen storyline so it is great to see him use his talents.

Tyrion has an awkward scene with Gray Worm and Missendei and the subtext seems to be that they are waiting for stuff to happen and don't have much to talk about. Peter Dinklage is a great actor but even he can't carry a scene that is about nothing. This is Game of Thrones, not Seinfeld. Varys arrives and we learn that the cities on Dany's Slaver's Bay Liberation Tour are funding the Sons of the Harpy which is not entirely surprising. I was hoping for more of a reveal with this perhaps involving some specific characters that we have met in prior seasons.

In Kings Landing Qyburn has an unsettling meeting with a bunch of children and even gives them candy. He does everything creepy but lure them into a van. It turns out that these kids are Varys' (former?) Little Birds, part of his vast spy network and since Qyburn is now the Master of Whispers, he was holding a meeting with them in his dungeon. Still the guy is sketchy as hell. If the Kings Landing storyline were Archer, Qyburn would be Krieger.  Cercei and Jamie arrive to discuss business and we learn that the identity of Robert Strong is pretty much an open secret in the Red Keep. Cercei and Co attempt to crash a Small Council meeting now lead by Kings Hand Kevin Lannister but the council bails on them  for another location but not before Lady Olenna delivers a sick burn on Cercei. Also, everyone in the meeting knows that it is the Mountain under that armor. So we're not doing Robert Strong anymore?



Tommen attempts to confront the High Sparrow. He starts to show a little Joffrey-esque backbone but  is soon outfoxed by the old man. We learn a couple of things about the High Sparrow in this scene, such as the fact that he claims that he never had a mother. This may seem inconsequential but this character is so mysterious that almost anything seems like a major revelation. More importantly, we learn that he's manipulative and slick which is a bit at odds with his image of a simple pious man. I still think that he is working for Littlefinger.

Meanwhile, Dany is confronted with her situation as one of the Real Widows of Vaes Dothrak and all of the limitations that her new role entails. Apparently, it is forbidden for a widow to go out into the world after the death of her Khal and Dany is going to be judged by a meeting of Khals. Her situation is an interesting mirror of Cercei's last season. Both women are widows who have been put through brutal and patriarchal systems of forced matrimony and will have been imprisoned and judged for their ambition and refusal to adhere to their societal place.

In Winterfell, Ramsey meets with the new Lord Umber. We last saw the Umbers as part of Robb's forces in seasons two and three. While the Greatjon has apparently died offscreen his son is no less boisterous and hilariously gives zero effs where it comes to Ramsey and the Boltons. What's less hilarious is that he presents Ramsey with a gift of Rickon Stark and Osha, the Wildling woman who was to see him to safety when he parted ways with Bran and the Reeds. As proof of the boy's identity Umber also unceremoniously dumps the head of Shaggydog, Rickon's direwolf.

This development is deeply upsetting. First, the death of any of the Stark children's direwolves is always tragic, portentous and symbolically loaded. These animals are their guardians and protectors and their last lines of defense. Without them the Stark children are dangerously exposed and disconnected from their heritage. It was especially upsetting in the matter-of-fact way Shaggydog's head was thrown on to the table with  hook embedded in it, looking for all the world like the show's version of the Stark sigil.

What's worse Osha and Rickon have suffered a horrible betrayal and are now in the hands of a psychopath and we are faced with the prospect of more scenes of torture and sexual violence. This guy needs to be taken out ASAP. By the way, what is going on with the North? What houses are still loyal to the Starks? And why have they all been taken over by young male sociopaths? Perhaps this is an unintended consequence of Robb's war.

As much as I hate this development, from a story point of view it looks like this will cause a lot of characters and their forces to converge upon Winterfell, such as Jon and Sansa, other loyalist northern houses, the Wildlings and maybe even Littlefinger and the Knights of the Vale. It may not be long before we see something akin to Ramsey's infamous Pink Letter from the books. Book Ramsey has some more trollish qualities and is fond of sending provocative ravens to his enemies. In A Dance With Dragons he sends Jon a challenging letter that he has his sister at Winterfell and demands certain characters be sent to him. However it happens, once Jon learns that his brother is captive at Winterfell and how Sansa has been abused it will motivate him to action.

Speaking of which, when we check back in the Wall at the end of the episode, Jon is still struggling with his place and his purpose now that he has been brought back. He oversees the executions of Thorne, Ollie and the other conspirators. He allows them a moment for last words and Thorne actually makes a compelling case for himself. For a moment, I thought Snow was going to let them live, after all regardless of his plans, the night's watch is short of men and Thorn at least is a capable ranger but after a moment of deliberation, snow executes the traitors and turns his cloak over to Edd stating that his watch is over. Technically, his watch ended at death so despite the episode's title he satisfied his oath although he may have a hard time explaining that to people. Hopefully he will stick around long enough to meet Sansa next week.

Patrick Garone
Follow Me on Twitter

Game of Thrones Season 6 Episode 2 "Home"

Spoiler Warning:  This post contains spoilers for all broadcast seasons of HBO's Game of Thrones, all published volumes of A Song of Ice and Fire, references to interviews, set reports, informed by wild speculation, and both fire and greenseer visions. 


So, if last week's Game of Thrones episode seemed like a little like moving chess pieces around, "Home" might seem a little more, shall we say, consequential. In addition to the gigantic Jon Snow reveal at the end, there was a ton of important stuff that happened. Let's dig in!

We start with a scene of Bran training with the Three-Eyed Raven. As you may be aware, this plot line took a year off so this is our first time with these characters in quite a while and hardly anyone is recognizable between natural growth spurts, recasting and weird make-overs. Most notably, Max Von Sydow replaces the original Raven actor, and instead of a creepy tree wizard he now looks like Obi-Wan Treenobi. Has Max Von Sydow ever been young? Wasn't he the old priest in The Exorcist like 45 years ago?

Bran and the Raven have mystically projected themselves into the past and visit Winterfell when Ned Stark and his siblings were children and, in addition to some younger versions of familiar characters, we see FREAKING LYANNA STARK which is the first of many OMG moment in the episode. Aside from creepy crypt statues, this is our first time seeing Lyanna although she has been frequently mentioned, most recently last season when Littlefinger doesn't bother correcting Sansa's account of her aunt's story. Even if she is not the mother of a certain know-nothing bastard, Lyanna Stark is an incredibly important figure who's alleged abduction essentially kickstarted Robert's Rebellion and ended the Targaryen dynasty. Judging by her very highlighted appearance in this flashback, we will likely see her again as soon as next week in the much-anticipated Tower of Joy flashback.

At the Wall, time has run out for the Friends of Jon Snow Society and as Thorne's men begin to break down the door, FREAKING WUN WUN breaks through the main gate at Castle Black with Tormund,the Wildlings, and Ed in tow. After a brief skirmish, Thorn and Ollie are locked up rather than take on the Liam Neesonish giant.

Back in Kings Landing, Ser Robert Strong seems to spend his downtime cruising the alleys in search of people bad-mouthing Cercei and delivering rough justice. It's good to know he is still into crushing people's heads. Meanwhile, Jamie has a tense encounter with the High Sparrow and seemed to call him out on his misogyny which is weird because it was on, like, the exact same spot where he had some rapey sex with his sister. Anyway it was a great scene and I am excited to see how this plays out as these two are on an inevitable collision course.

Arya has a rerun of her beggar vingette from last week although this time Jaqen H'ghar seems to give another chance to be "No One." Frankly, I'm pretty bored with this storyline. I don't want Arya to become "No One," I like Arya. And the Faceless Men continue to be as needlessly opaque as they are in the books. I mean, everyone wants her to learn sword fighting and go back to Westeros. I didn't sign up for deep Existentialism.

In Meereen, Tyrion confers with Varys, Grey Worm and Missende and they get to talking about the two dragons chained up in the catacombs. In the books, Tyrion is a big dragon nerd and we finally get some of that here. He surmises that the dragons of old shrank and went extinct due to their captivity and decided to let Dany's remaining two free. Which is symbolically awesome but practically problematic. We are then treated to a great scene in which Tyrion creeps down to where they are kept and unchains them, complete with a Dr. Grant /Triceratops moment. I love the way the dragons are animated to behave in this scene you really get a sense of their intelligence.

In the North, Sansa and Brienne discuss Arya although she neglects to mention that Arya was accompanied by the Hound. Sansa now has a good idea that all of her younger siblings are alive. Theon parts company and makes way for the Iron Islands where we learn that Balon Grayjoy is still kicking and has plans to reinvade the North. We also learn that he considers Yara his heir, which is good because he's dead five minutes later at the hands of his brother, Euron, who is apparently nuts.

Yara's ascension is cockblocked by a kingsmoot which will be used to determine the next king. This is actually leftover material from earlier books which had yet to be adapted which makes it unique in a season that has mostly pushed beyond the books. As with everything, it seems like it will happen a little differently on the show as it appears Theon will make it home for the selection of a new king and is technically the heir to the Iron Islands.

At Winterfell, we learn that the Boltons are in league with several Northern houses such as the Karstarks who's patriarch was executed by Robb Stark for killing Lannister prisoners. Also mentioned are the Umbers to which Osha and Rikkon Stark were heading when we last saw them and the Manderlys a house barely seen on the show but plays an important role as secret Stark loyalists in the books.

Once we learn that Walda has given birth to a boy, Ramsey promptly kills his father, snuffing out one of the shows great villains. Ramsey then does some predictably Ramsey stuff with his stepmom and half brother. If Ramsey doesn't die by the end of this season, I may be done with this show. I don't mind that Ramsey is an evil psychopath so much as that he is growing predictable. There have been some good opportunities to explore unexpected facets to his character. Instead of killing Baby Bolton, it would have been nice to surprise us with a nurturing sice. Maybe Ramsey could have adopted the baby as his son to raise in his image,which really would have been more perverse and horrible in the end and more interesting. But instead we get more dog business.

Back at the Wall, Davos approaches Melisandre about using her powers to resurrect Jon Snow, which I found to be weird and surprising. Why is Davos so into Jon Snow? Why would this even occur to him? Hasn't he seen Pet Semetary? More perplexingly, he doesn't even use the best argument to convince her: She has already foreseen Jon Snow fighting at Winterfell.

Melisandre is not really hearing it but decides to go ahead with it like, "Oh, well. It's worth a shot, I guess." She does her thing and it doesn't seem to be working. Once everyone leaves the room, in a gratifying but wholy unsurprising moment, Jon Snow comes back to life! And there was much rejoicing, mostly on behalf of Kit Harington and the cast and crew of Game of Thrones who can stop awkwardly lying about whether or not Jon Snow is alive.

MISCELLANEOUS

The Children of the Forest seem to have been given a makeover and now look like they are from some kind of Fantasy Forest Realness Challenge from RuPaul's Drag Race.

I love Varys' and Tyrion's relationship. They really are like a married couple down to the judgy looks Varys gives Tyrion when he drinks too much.

A lot of really good acting in this episode, especially from the younger actors. Isaac Hempstead Wright has improved a lot in his time off.

Tyrion's dragon encounter certainly seems to lend some credence to the theory that he is a Secret Targaryen. The dragons were strangely docile around him.

If you've ever wondered what pee hitting armor sounds like, you are in luck! Thanks Game of Thrones!


Patrick Garone
Follow Me on Twitter

Game of Thrones Season 6 Episode 1 "The Red Woman"

Spoiler Warning:  This post contains spoilers for all broadcast seasons of HBO's Game of Thrones, all published volumes of A Song of Ice and Fire, references to interviews, set reports, informed by wild speculation, and both fire and greenseer visions. 

I've got mixed feelings about this one. It was my hope after months of the cast and crew of Game of Thrones lying and stonewalling about the inevitable Jon Snow resurrection story that the show would do everyone a favor and make it Snow. But no. We are going to drag this charade out a bit longer.

The story picks up at the Wall and there is a lot of weird business with Jon Snow's body, Davos, Ghost, and a handful of Nights Watch loyalists. Melisandre pops in to comment on how she saw Jon Snow in the flames battling at Winterfell which goes to show you that she has been looking at the same covert set photos as everyone else. Previously, she had said that she saw herself walking the battlements at Winterfell with the Bolton banners lying in the dirt. I still believe this will come to pass by the end of the season.

Instead of doing the sensible thing and getting the hell away from the Wall, Davos and his new crow friends decide to hole up with Snow's body perhaps to do a whole Weekend at Bernies thing next week. Not only is hanging out with Snow's body awkward and weird it is also dangerous and dead bodies have a habit of turning into wights if they are not quickly burned. Ed goes off to rally the Wildlings...for some reason. It looks like Thorne and his Nights Watch mutineers will be breaking that door down next week so it will be interesting to see what ultimately stops them.

Sansa and Theon flee Winterfell. These two are great and I am buying Theon's redemption totally. He may have a lot to answer for but he clearly is willing to do anything to save Sansa. It is gratifying to have at least some semblance of a family member looking out for her. As the two are beset by Bolton men they are rescued by Brienne who then swears her sword to Sansa in an immensely satisfying scene that makes up for Brienne's taking her eye off the ball in the previous episode and missing the candle in the tower window. Sansa seems to be be taking the first step toward acquiring a power base with someone loyal and competent in her service. It seems team Sansa may be heading towards the Wall and Jon. 

Jamie returns to Kings Landing with Myrcella's body. Lena Heady is powerful as she awaits them on the dock and he face goes from joy to sorrow before our eyes as she realizes what has happened. It was interesting to see how Cercei was going to be changed by both her imprisonment the loss of another child and so far her reaction is curiously understated.

In a surprising twist, Ellaria and the Sand Snakes stage a coup and murder Doran and Trystane. This eliminates a giant subplot from the books about a Dornish plot to restore the Targaryens and it will be interesting to see what happens and how it will find its way back to the books one those stories are told. While I'm usually happy to see some of the novels' meandering plot points streamlined it seems like a waste of both Alexander Siddig and his character. These events raise a lot of questions about Dornish succession. While Ellaria may be the head of the coup, she has no real claim on the Dornish throne being the consort of prince Oberyn. The good news is, at least things are happening on the Dornish front, if abruptly.

Ramsey and Roose Bolton discuss the importance of locating Sansa to their tenuous hold on the North. Once again the prospect of Walda's baby replacing Ramsey is floated so it seems like she and baby Bolton are unlikely to survive the season. The Boltons surmise that Sansa is likely to make for Jon Snow and Ramsey concocts a plan to invade the Wall, where it seems lots of characters will be converging this season.

Dany is captured by the Dothraki who seem to think that they have come across a random blond woman. Dany isbrought  before the new Khal and makes her identify known as Khal Drogo's former Khaleessi. While it affords her more respect and avoids the implied sexual violence that she would have experienced, she is now to be taken to Vaes Dothrak, the only permanent Dorthaki city where the widows of Khals are kept. We had previously visited this location in season one but did not see much of it beyond a tent. Jorah and Daario having found the horse tracks and Dany's ring have deduced that she was taken by the Dothraki.

Back at the Wall, Davos and co have barricaded themselves in a cell with Jon Snow's body and Ghost. Davos considers asking Melisandre for her help but after her failure with Stannis, the Red Woman is in an existential funk. In her chambers, once again she disrobes and I was thinking "Here we go again with the boobs" but in a surprising scene she removed her magic choker and revealed herself to be a withered old crone. It is a very haunting and cool scene which subverts the show's use of nudity in an unexpected way. Interestingly, one of the Seven gods of Westeros is the Crone and I've often wondered if different characters represent different Westerosi god archetypes. Old Melisandre slowly gets into bed, one would be led to think for the last time. Perhaps something will happen in the next couple of episodes to restore her faith.

Female empowerment seems to be a strong theme of this episode with a lot of our female characters seeming to discover a path out of their troubles. While this may seem a knee jerk reaction to the criticism the show has received on issues of sexual violence and wildly uneven use of nudity, I think the show has always been fundamentally about its female characters struggling to overcome an oppressive patriarchal system that treats them as a commodity. We are simply at the point in the multi-season story where we are coming up from last season which was a nadir for a lot of our characters to a point where we are going to see our them overcome some of these challenges. Sansa, Brienne, Danaerys and even Cercei all seem poised to change their circumstances in big ways.

So, if you were hoping to get Jon Snow back this episode you were disappointed by the lack of movement in that front but the good news is that the standoff at the Wall can't go on much longer than a couple of more episodes so Snow's body will be dealt with one way or the other soon. I'm impatient but I do appreciate that the show is taking its time to work out some of these character arcs. Otherwise it was a solid episode with a lot of pieces being put into place for the rest of what promises to be a consequential season. With Season Six, we are moving into the climax of the story.

Patrick Garone
Follow Me on Twitter

The Flash's Secret Superpower: Emotional Intelligence

I don't know that I would call the CW's The Flash a smart show.  I mean, it is perhaps the most comic-booky TV shows out there full of outlandish plots, cartoony villains, and ridiculous technobabble but over the course of its season and a half run, The Flash has become an emotionally intelligent show in which characters and their interactions are not only at the forefront but are navigated in a way that actually resembles actual human relationships.  This is remarkable for TV (especially genre TV) where misunderstandings and "drama" are often manufactured and milked for seasons on end in order to generate story.

The Flash has always had heart.  It been a warm show that has never shied away from being emotional (I seriously doubt that there has been a single episode in which at least one character does not cry) but much of its first season was marred by the fact that it kept one of its characters, Iris West, on the sidelines and out of the loop as far as the Flash's secret identity as Barry Allen her adopted brother/best friend/possible love interest.  This not only marginalized one of the show's primary female characters but also generated a lot of artificial-feeling plotlines including a tiresome love triangle between Barry, Iris, and the Flash.  The show did some course correcting late last season and reintegrated Iris so that she is now on the same page as everyone else and, more importantly, an important relationship with Barry that is no longer compromised.

I think The Flash learned a lot from this experience and now routinely does a good job of navigating these conflicts.  For example in a recent episode, Barry learns that his Earth-2 teammate Harrison Welles had been working with the arch villain Zoom to steal the Flash's speed because Zoom was keeping his daughter prisoner as leverage (see what I'm talking about?) In a lesser show, this would result in a multi-episode arc about trust and betrayal and it would be mined for maximum conflict and drama. In The Flash, Barry takes a moment to process the betrayal but he also understands why Welles did it and appreciates that he might have done the same thing to protect someone he loved and he resolves to not only continue working with Welles but to make it their mission to help him rescue his daughter.  You know, like a real mature adult human being and not a character from The Real Housewives.  Even in an outlandish superhero show, it is satisfying to see characters navigate their relationships like real people and not drama puppets.

And the show has some intense and complicated relationships.  Barry's mother was killed when he was little and his dad was unjustly locked up.  He was raised by Joe and with Iris.  Recently, Joe found out he has another son with whom they are all building relationships.  Caitlin's ex disappeared in an accident and briefly reappeared before dying in another accident.  For the most part, the show does a really amazing job juggling all of this in a satisfying way while being an immensely fun superhero show at the same time.

Another way that she show is emotionally intelligent is in how it handles its male characters.  Barry and Joe, in particular are allowed to be sensitive caring men, and, in fact, do the bulk of the crying on the show.  In fact, Joe always seems on the verge of tears. It's refreshing to see a show where the men are not expected to be tough unfeeling stereotypical males.  Perhaps is the sign of a more relaxed, nuanced masculinity.

On a related note, the show has also gone out of its way to be female and gay friendly.  With a couple of notable gay characters, an openly gay producer, multiple recurring out gay actors, and a cast that seems to be almost entirely musical theater people, this incarnation of The Flash might be the gayest superhero project ever.  This is consistent with a generally inclusive and diverse vibe that the show has, with a lot of women and people of color playing important complex characters.

In the end, maybe the CW's The Flash is a truly Millennial show in a way that other shows with pretty young casts are not.  It embraces the best of the values associated with the Millennial generation such as diversity, openness, and a relaxed, laid back masculinity. It is smart enough to get past superficial conflicts to the relationships and meaningful character interactions beneath.

Patrick Garone
Follow Me On Twitter

Westeros Community College: Who Is The High Sparrow?

The High Sparrow is a unique kind of character in George R. R. Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire and HBO's Game of Thrones: a man with humility and pure motives.  Some of our more savvy players have tried to get close to him to learn how he can be manipulated only to be rebuffed.  We are lead to believe that he really is that sincere in his beliefs. In a world where almost every character has an angle, where all of the institutions are corrupt, the High Sparrow is a man who is what he says he is: a simple man devoted to the Seven above all things.  Or is there more to this mysterious character than we have been lead to believe?

Before we actually meet him in the flesh, we do hear about the High Sparrow here and there in the books.  Martin seeds mentions of him for careful readers and his presence is established in Westeros at least as early as the War of the Five Kings.  However, we know almost nothing about his backstory or any deeper motivations so all we have to go on is what little he tells us and his actions, which taken at face-value paint the picture of a pious and humble man.

Perhaps the most suspicious thing about him is his lack of a real identity.  The other characters seem to automatically take his High Sparrow identity for granted due to the way that he presents himself and that he has thousands of loyal followers.  No one in the books or show ever really vets him or asks him who is.  You would think that someone who is essentially assuming the role of High Septon, would need to be somewhat of a known quantity but the High Sparrow seems to come out of nowhere and our characters conveniently fail to ask important questions about who he is.

Now, Martin's books and the HBO series from which they are adapted have got me a bit cynical but I can't help but think that this High Sparrow is not who he says he is.  Humility aside, the Sparrow seems to have quickly amassed a consequential amount of power in King's Landing and the realm thanks to his ability to capitalize on Queen Cercei's misteps.  He has an army of the devout and has effectively counterbalanced the political power of the Lannisters and other nobles. He seems to be playing the game quite well for a simple unwashed holy man.

But to what end?  If we accept things on face value, the purpose of the High Sparrow's movement is to turn the Realm into some sort of egalitarian theocracy and rid Westeros of vice and corruption but from what we've seen this is not something that is likely to stick. The people of Westeros, particulalry King's Landing, really love their vice and corruption.  If the High Sparrow were a serious reformer who's intent was to create long-lasting change, he would affect incremental manageable reforms easily supported by the masses.  But what the Sparrow is doing instead is sudden and drastic and will face a certain public backlash.  He's essentially destabilized Kings Landing and the Seven Kingdoms and created a chaotic situation.

Therefore, I think the High Sparrow is merely a tool being used by another.  So, if the High Sparrow has a master who would it be?  Who benefits from the Lannisters being neutralized and distracted?  Who wants to see chaos in Kings Landing?

Despite the very public and showy destruction of his brothel by the Faith Militant, Littlefinger is the character who best benefits from this movement and one of the few people cunning and cynical enough to pull it off.  And he is conveniently out of town when all of this happens. In the show, he absolutely takes advantage of the Sparrows to ensnare Cercei to the benefit of himself and his Tyrell co-conspirators.  While we don't yet know Margaery's fate on the show, in the books at least she is quickly released from her imprisonment.  One definitely gets the impression from the books that Cercei is getting the worst of it.  Indeed, when Olenna Tyrell confronts him about the seemingly sorry state of their alliance, Baelish essentially plays his Sparrow card.  He is at the very least involved enough to get get Lancel to the High Sparrow and likely a lot more.

Patrick Garone
Follow Me On Twitter

Monster Movie of the Week: Godzilla 2000 (1999)

Godzilla 2000 (1999)
Directed by:
Genre: Kaiju eiga

Welcome back to the increasingly misnamed Monster Movie of the Week (maybe I should change it to Monster Movie of the Year).  With the return of Godzilla to popular consciousness, several Godzilla movies on the way and the resurgence of kaiju movies I thought I would take a look at the Shin or Millennium series of Goji movies, especially now that they are all finally on Bluray.  In a way, when I started writing this column ten years ago, I was working my way up to these movies so it's great to finally get to them, even if it means temporarily skipping over the next two Rebirth of Mothra movies.


THE MOVIE

Back in the 1990's, with an impending American Godzilla movie, Toho Studios decided to kill off Godzilla and end their popular Heisei series of movies with Godzilla vs Destoroyah as a way to make room for the sure-to-be beloved American series.  What we actually got, however, was Godzilla movie that, while a hit, was met with a resounding "meh" by American audiences and with derision and genuine offense in Japan.  As one Toho studio executive put it, the new creature and movie "took the God out of Godzilla."  Meanwhile, Gamera was enjoying a resurgence in popularity in Japan due to a trilogy of excellent movies which were often compared favorably to the contemporary Goji movies.  Prior to this, Gamera had been a joke and certainly never considered on the same level Godzilla but by the late 1990's, he was a serious contender to the throne of the King of the Monsters. If Godzilla and Gamera were rappers, they would have been putting out a series of competing mixtapes.

Toho Studios is nothing if not competitive and in response to these insults to Godzilla, they decided to take their signature character out of his short-lived retirement and they built a new movie around him, Godzilla 2000, a stand alone movie which sought to bring Goji back to his awesome roots with high production values and a modern sensibility.  It is a movie that is meant to be a defiant celebration of Godzilla as a Japanese pop cultural icon and a rebuke to the "pretenders" who would challenge the "real" Godzilla's supremacy.

Like most of the Millennium series, the movie abandons all continuity with the prior film series, except perhaps with the original film.  Godzilla is known as a force that is "out there" and periodically comes ashore to attack.  He's treated like a natural disaster and there are private and governmental apparati that are in place to study and deter him.  Our first introduction to the character is pretty phenomenal and dramatic as we witness Godzilla attack's attack on a rainy island.  We see right away with this movie that the filmmakers learned some tricks from the Hollywood movie and Godzilla 2000 and the subsequent movies have really improved the scope and scale of these films and they are more ambitious about integrating Godzilla and his human costars and environment and pursuing relative realism.

That's not to say that the movie features Hollywood-level effects.  While they are certainly impressive for a Japanese movie from its time, there are some pretty bad shots in the movie.  There is a particular series of shots of Godzilla on a beach that are embarrassingly bad. That being said, the movie does up the quality of its effects from the Heisei movies and even uses some sparing CGI to create effects that would otherwise be impossible such as animating Godzilla's eyes in close-ups and creating a photorealistic swimming Godzilla (which was done first in the 1998 American movie.) For the very traditional Toho Studios, this is a major step.

Even the story itself seems to have a bone to pick with the American Godzilla movie as the movie's main villain is a mysterious UFO which seems to be a jab and the creators of the 1998 movie who were best known for the alien invasion blockbuster, Independence Day.  There are even some shots in the movie which seem like a callback to that movie such as the ship hovering over and destroying a landmark.  Which the alien morphs into Orga at the end of the movie, it even briefly resembles one of the ID4 aliens.  It seems like the creators of Godzilla 2000 were definitely working out some frustrations and this gives the movie an interesting subtext.

The main human story of G2K deals with a Godzilla researcher who along with his young daughter and a plucky reporter are tracking the monster's recent landfall and evading a competing government agency which seeks to destroy Godzilla.  The agency has also discovered a mysterious object on the ocean floor which reveals itself to be some sort of millions-of-years-old alien ship which looks like a fancy bicycle seat or possibly a futuristic MP3 player.  Once the ship frees itself it seems to show a particular interest in Godzilla and it seeks to use the monster's particular biology (Regenerator G-1!) to replicate a powerful body for itself in the form of Orga, a giant brute which attempts to become Godzilla, and the latest in a long line of Godzilla imposters and wannabes.  Of course, Orga is defeated an the king lives to fight another day.

Prior to the release of the 2014 American Godzilla movies, Godzilla 2000 had the distinction of being the final Godzilla movie released in American theaters and even got a slightly different alternate cut of the movie for global audiences (and the below ugly poster.)  While the Japanese version is not much different, the international cut has a notoriously goofy English dub ('Like crap through a goose!") Clearly, Toho had high hopes for the movie's American release and I'm sure they would have liked the "real" Godzilla to have had a successful run in the usurper's home country. Despite the fanfare, G2K was not well-received in the U.S. and its failure at the box-office precluded any of the other Shinsei movies from being released in the U.S.

Ugh.

THE MONSTERS/EFFECTS

In keeping with this movie's seeming mission to give us a new, badass Godzilla, the big guy gets a pretty remarkable makeover for his first Shinsei movie.  While it has some of the muscularity of the beloved 1990's Godzilla suits, the head design is a departure from the rather feline look  of the Heisei suit for a more evil and reptilian look. This Goji has angrier eyes and a frowning mouth full of jagged teeth.  The head seems to be a descendant of the great King Kong vs Godzilla  design which was also more dinosaur-like.

The "cornrows" of the 1990's suit are replaced with pointy scales which inform the texture of the whole suit.  Perhaps the most controversial part of the redesign are the oversize purple-tinged spines which are sharp and jagged are which replace the traditional smaller leaf-shaped dorsal plates.  The largest of these spines is so big that it almost forms a triangle with his head and his tail.  It is a big departure from the more subtle designs of the past.

Despite an admitted air of Millennial "X-treme-ness," the G2K suit is my favorite incarnation of the character.  I love the mean looking face and the mouth full of reptilian teeth as opposed to the neat mammalian maw of the 1990's Goji.   I love the perpetual frown, which I think really captures something important about the character, a sort of epic crankiness.  This Godzilla has a constant look on his face like "The f### you lookin at?"

I actually really like the spikes as well, which are part of an overall jaggedness in the design.  I like that they actually look sharp and bony as opposed how they have looked dull and puffy in other suits. From an evolutionary perspective they would actually effective protection.  Nobody will be jumping on this Godzilla's back. and they look truly impressive when Goji is powering up his atomic breath.

Unfortunately, this suit was only ever used in one other movie, Godzila vs. Megaguirus but it has become one of the character's iconic looks, having appeared in numerous video games and comics over the years.  Despite Godzila's having had a few different looks in these Shinsei movies, this is considered his "Millenium" look.  The latter movies in the series use a somewhat toned-down version of the suit with smaller white spines and some other visual cues from the 1990's movies.

This is the only movie to feature Orga, who seems to be more of a straw man embodying everything the filmmakers were annoyed about than a successful kaiju in his own right. As they say in the movie, Orga is a formless thing that manifests itself in order to try and "become" Godzilla.  As noted above, Orga seems like the lovechild of the 1998 Godzilla and Gamera.  He's got the face of Zilla and the turtle-like silhouette of Gamera.  In any case, he was an entertaining enough foe for Godzilla to beat up on until he finally gets to beat the crap out of Zilla in Final Wars.

Of course, Orga's most memorable moment happens toward the end of his fight with Godzilla when he attempts to swallow Goji in a scene that is surprisingly creepy and gross.  Orga basically flips open his jaws and reveals a wet, pulsating gullet which unfolds like an organic umbrella.  Its a very cool sequence and the most imaginative kaiju work since Godzilla vs Biollante. Like Biollante, Orga makes the mistake of trying to consume Godzilla from the business end first.  When will they learn to start with the tail?

MOST MEMORABLE MOMENT

In any series of Godzilla movies the Atomic Breath reveal is always a big moment.  The first America movie didn't even do it, and the 2014 movie saved it until almost the very end..  In this movie, we get it fairly early on when Godzilla first confronts the UFO.  The effect is very well done with the spines lighting up orange and building up and then the mouth lighting up.  Goji gives the slightest head jerk and unleashes the beam at the UFO.  It's a small subtle character moment but I love that little head jerk her gives.

HOME VIDEO AVAILABILITY

It's been on DVD and digital download for years but just recently came out on Bluray.  Sadly, it is not a particularly great transfer and there are what I think are the same extras on the DVD but the bluray does include both the Japanese and international versions of the movie.

SEQUELS

Most of the Shinsei movies have no clear continuity with one another but you can see the great Millennium suit in the movie after this, Godzilla vs. Megaguirus.

TRAILER 




Patrick Garone
Follow Me On Twitter

The Real Mystery of This Season of the Flash

Not only is the CW's The Flash on a month-long hiatus(!), it leaves us with one mystery resolved (ish) and another outstanding.  On last week's episodes, we finally saw the true face of Zoom, this season's big bad speedster, and it's Jay Garrick...maybe.  But ever since we met the supposed Earth 1 Zolomon Hunter (who in the comics is Zoom's alter ego), it was not necessarily a shock to find Jay Garrick's face under that mask.  The more intriguing mystery is the identity of the Man in the Iron Mask in Zoom's lair.  Kudos to the writers of the The Flash for creating an ancillary mystery that somehow supersedes the season's main mystery.  The show continues to be really smart about doling out enough information to keep audiences hooked.

At this point because we don't have all the information the Zoom reveal is frustrating and confusing for a couple of reasons.  First, since we are dealing with alternate universes, most of our characters have at least one doppleganger running around.  All season, we had a supposedly heroic Jay Garrick visiting from Earth 2 working with our Star Labs crew and helping to mentor the Flash.  This Jay was apparently killed by Zoom when the last breach was closed and last week we saw his body dumped unceremoniously in Zoom's lair.  We know that Zoom's killing of this Jay Garrick is consequential to Zoom's plan for some reason.  So, unless there is a third Jay Garrick running around due to being a twin, being from yet another universe or time travel, it is likely that Earth 1 Zolomon Hunter is Zoom, who is somehow based out of Earth 2 in his efforts to steal the speed force from the multiverse's speedsters. Perhaps he was drawn to Earth 2 because its resident speedster is his doppleganger.

So, was Jay Garrick actually Zoom or Team Zoom the whole time?  I hope not as this would essentially be a replay of last season's awesome Reverse Flash reveal.  I doubt that they would do this exact story again.  Despite the fact that they have seeded the story with some doubts as to Jay Garrick's honesty and integrity, I think Jay was who he said he was: the heroic Flash of Earth 2.  I do think that sometimes when we were seeing Jay Garrick on Earth 1, it was actually Zoom pretending to be him, probably to manipulate Caitlin into creating Velocity 9.  It would probably be worthwhile to rewatch some of Jay's episodes to see if there are some hints of Jay not actually being Jay.  This would explain Zoom's line about how Jay's death "complicates" his plan.  If he can no longer pretend to be Jay on Earth 1, he will have a harder time getting the Velocity 9.

Then, who is the Man in the Iron Mask?  There is evidence that it is a blond Caucasian man.  I'm wagering that since his face is covered it is someone we would recognize, so the suspects are likely yet another Jay Garrick, a version of Eddie Thawne, or Henry Allen.  The only reason it would be Eddie Thawne would be that we have not yet seen his doppleganger but other than that there is no reason to suspect it might be him.

The iron mask might be a hint to Jay Garrick as the literary story of The Man in the Iron Mask features a wicked brother who keeps his good twin in an iron mask and this character does  spell out the name "Jay" in a military code.  The MitIM also seems really frustrated about something relating to Jay Garrick.  This seems to be where it is going but, man, another Jay Garrick?

The more interesting option is Earth 1 Henry Allen, who has been awol after mysteriously and uncharacteristically taking off after being released from prison at the beginning of the season.  I would like to think that this plot point is leading to something and not just the bad writing that it seems to be.  Also, when Barry and company were traveling to Earth 2 through the multiverse portal, one of the images was of John Wesley Shipp in his 1990 Flash costume which cements something hinted at for a while: the continuity of the 1990 show actually exists in the CW Flash multiverse (as I assume would all of the various DC movies and TV shows from over the years).  This is why Mark Hamil and Amanda Pays are playing essentially alternate versions of the same characters they did in the old show.   So, if Zoom is collecting speedsters from the multiverse, it is possible that the Man in the Mask is actually the 1990 show version of Barry Allen played by Shipp and that Henry Allen's disappearance is somehow linked to the fact that he is the doppleganger of this version of Barry Allen (for all we know, Henry Allen's first name could actually Barry).

But it's probably another Jay Garrick.

Patrick Garone
Follow Me On Twitter

Deadpool - Mini Review

I think it has become clear to most people that we are currently approaching superhero movie critical mass and that this ride can't last forever. The market is pretty much saturated with these movies and sooner or later, audiences are going to have their fill.  However, the good thing about the abundance of these movies and TV shows is that studios are digging pretty deep to give us weirder and more interesting characters and stories like Guardians of the Galaxy, Ant-Man, Jessica Jones and the upcoming Suicide Squad.  Marvel has always been pretty savvy about using wildly different genres and tones to diversify their movies and combat superhero fatigue. 

Now Fox gives us Deadpool a movie that, while set in the X-Men Cinematic Universe(s), is about as wildly different from typical superhero fare as you can get.  The first thing about the movie that stands out is that it is very much an "adult" R-rated action movie with tons of violence and nudity and almost non-stop use of the word "fuck."  This certainly sets it apart from pretty much all other superhero movies which are made with an eye to being at least vaguely family-friendly.  While this is not a selling point in itself, it does make the movie feel like a unique experience in the genre.

Deadpool himself is a unique and beloved character who has taken a tortuous path to having his own movie, which included a misguided stop in X-Men Origins: Wolverine.  Deadpool has the reputation of being sort of a hyper-violent Bugs Bunny in the Marvel universe.  He's known for his wisecracks and for constantly breaking the fourth wall.  In that sense the movie serves the character very well.  Ryan Reynolds is really fun and terrific and you could even say it is the part he was born to play. I can't even say he's good in it because it seems so effortless for him as though Deadpool is an outgrowth of his public persona.

Also refreshing is Wade Wilson/Deadpool's relationship with his girlfriend Vanessa, which actually feels like a real human relationship instead of the generic love-interest relationships you see in genre movies.  These feel like two very messed-up people who really share a genuine connection.  It also helps that Reynolds and Morena Baccarin have wonderful chemistry together. Despite all of the foul language and graphic violence, this relationship is the most adult thing about the movie and one of the things that best differentiates itself from other superhero movies, in which female characters are little more than cardboard cutouts.

I'm also a fan of the sort of weird and indirect way in which the story unfolds.  The movie uses flashbacks to tell a lot of the story somewhat like Iron Man 3 but in a more satisfying way which folds upon itself with lots of zipping around the plot.  There comes a point where you almost feel like the movie is over but then it takes off in another direction.  Overall, it is a well-paced movie.

Obviously, if you are a Deadpool fan you will be checking this movie out but if you are a more casual fan of superhero movies, Deadpool is definitely one to check out.  I think it is a milestone in superhero movies and one who's apparent success will lead not only to it's own sequels but to studios seriously looking at more mature and R-rated content.  While, one can make the argument that it is not wild or weird or queer enough, it is certainly a promising re-start to Deadpool's movie career and hopefully its success will lead to even more daring content in its sequel.

Patrick Garone
Follow Me On Twitter 

Why You Should Give Fantastic 4 A Chance on Video

I don't know or care much about the Fantastic Four or their legacy as superheroes.  I thought their prior two movies were dumb and that they weren't particularly interesting as characters.  Then I saw the the trailers for last summer's Josh Trank directed Fantastic 4 movie and was intrigued by the sci-fi take on the material and the dark tone.  I had also read that he was looking at Cronenbergian body horror as an influence which seemed interesting.

Then before the movie was released there were an avalanche of stories about the movie's troubled production such as Trank's "out of control" behavior on set and lots of reshoots.  The media smelled blood in the water and the movie got a ton of bad press.  When it was finally released all of the reviews and press seemed to feed into that narrative.  It now has the reputation of not only being a flop but an embarrassingly awful movie.

I finally saw it for myself on Blu-ray recently and it is definitely a better movie than you would believe from its reviews and reputation.  Now, it has some serious problems most of which are due to areas where it seems to have been significantly altered in editing with reshoots.  There are some glaring inconsistencies in visuals, tone, and pacing but I am convinced that there is a good or at least more interesting movie buried in here.

I particularly like the way the movie shows how horrible and burdensome it would be to have super-powers.  It seems like in every other superhero movie, the characters get off light.  If you really think about it, being Spider-Man would be a gross and horrifying experience.  Fantastic 4 actually spends some time on how disturbing and terrifying the character's powers would be and I really like that.  I also dig the premise of the these characters working on a project that seeks to uncover the mystery of inter-dimensional travel.  This is a fun idea, and a neat way to replace the 1960's era space origins of the characters.  It's an interesting idea that actually works well cinematically and adds something unique to the movie.

Also, I don't know if this is a factor of the post-production fiddling but the movie is under two hours long, which feels fresh and wonderful when every super hero or genre movie aims for a butt-numbing two and a half hour run time.  For this reason alone, the movie's reputation is puzzling.  The short run time helps offset some of the movie's issues.  A flawed long movie is one thing, but a flawed shorter movie can still be enjoyable.

In any case, I definitely recommend checking it out.  It's not the trainwreck  it is made out to be.  I, for one, would love to see a director's cut or alternate cut of the movie.


Patrick Garone
Follow Me On Twitter

The Force Awakens: Who Is Snoke?

If you are like me, you may have been a bit disappointed by the reveal that the mastermind behind Kylo Ren and the big boss of the First Order in The Force Awakens turned out to be yet another desiccated old dark side mummy. What's worse is that we find out very little about him in the movie and we are generic genre movie villain.

We know that he is a pale humanoid with deep scars on his face and head.  We also know that Han and Leia are aware of him and that he was involved in turning Ben Solo into Kylo Ren.  It was he who presumably ordered Ren to kill Luke Skywalker's Jedi trainees.  He is not a member of the Knghts of Ren, but his apprentice Kylo leads them.  Despite his gigantic holographic projection, he has been described as being about seven feet tall by people associated with the production. Strangely, for a movie that fetishises "practical effects," Snoke is a motion capture CGI character performed by Andy Sirkis, although from what we see in the movie he could have been realized with make-up.  For an alien, he is extremely human-looking.

We learn some interesting facts from the movie's novelization such as the fact that he was active during the Clone Wars and that he has had other apprentices, if he is not a Sith Lotd he certainly operates like one. He was drawn to Ben Solo because of his Skywalker lineage.  In fact, the book seems to emphasize Snoke's interest in the Skywalker family.

The above is literally all we know about him.  A popular and convincing fan theory going around proposes that Snoke is the assumed-to-be-dead Sith Lord, Darth Plagueus, described by Palpatine in a chilling monologue from Revenge of the Sith.  Palpatine hints that Plagueis had been his master and that he had been able to manipulate the force to survive death and create life.

Plagueus has an interesting history in Star Wars.  Because he was described at some length and associated with the saga's most interesting character, fans have always been curious to learn more about him.  Over the years, he has been the subject of a lot of fan art and speculation.  He was the subject of an oft-delayed novel, Darth Plagueus which detailed his backstory and relationship with Palpatine.  Of course, this was all wiped from canon during the Great EU Purge but he remains an interesting figure in Star Wars mythos.  Most interestingly, it is strongly theorized that his experimentation and manipulation of the Force caused the virgin birth of Anakin Skywalker.  In fact, this subplot was likely the whole reason that the idea of midichlorians was created, to give the Force a biological manifestation in order to explain how a Force user like Plagueus could use it to create life.  This is one of Star Wars' most interesting and significant unexplored storylines.

So what is the evidence that Snoke is Plagueus?  Plagueus was a Muun which are tall thin pale-skinned humanoids, seen briefly in the separatist meeting in Attack of the Clones.  While, he doesn't exactly look like the Muun's we have seen on screen, he's close. We know Snoke was active around the time of the Clone Wars, which could be consistent with him being Plagueus (in his novel, Plagueus was killed toward the end of the events of The Phantom Menace but, again, this is no longer canon).  Perhaps the best evidence is that the musical cue that plays while Palpatine tells Anakin the tale of "Darth Plagueus the Wise" is almost identical to Snoke's theme in the Force Awakens.  Remember, John Williams has composed the scores for all of the Star Wars movies and it is doubtful he would just recycle an old piece of music for no reason.  The music strongly implies a connection between these scenes.

So, let's say it is Plagueus, what does that mean for our story?  It means that instead of a generic villain, we have a character who has already has an important stake in the saga.  If we are picking up that interesting thread of Plagueus having essentially triggered Anakin's birth all those years ago, it would explain his interest in the Skywalker family. It would also provide some payoff for the long stranding mystery of Anakin's conception and birth.  It would be a terrific reveal for the end of the next movie.  Instead of "I am your Father" it would be "I created your whole family using the Dark Side!"

Now, according to interviews and info that has leaked out since the movie's release, we know that the Snoke character was one of the last things to be finalized for the movie.  It was even revealed that the filmmakers had considered making Snoke a female character, so if he is Plagueis it was not the original plan for the The Force Awakens.  It may be that in developing the character, Abrams and co stumbled upon Plagueis as an interesting piece of unexplored material with story potential.

So why are people pushing the Plagueis angle?  Why can't Snoke be a new and original character?  It's probably because Snoke is widely regarded as one of the weakest parts of the movie.  A lot of us are hoping for the reveal that makes him a more interesting and important character instead of how he seems: a warmed over version of Palpatine and another powerful force user who just happened to be hanging around during the prior six movies.

Patrick Garone
Follow Me On Twitter