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sy-on-boy · 2 years

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The Mystery of Melinda Desmond (and others)

Anyways I’ve been thinking about how the cast of Spy x Family upholds a very meticulously crafted status quo. ESPECIALLY the adults. And now with Damian’s mom (a highly anticipated character) introduced, the plot thickens.

So one of the main gimmicks of SxF is that everyone has a side they hide, but for most of the main cast, the “two sides” they have is clearly visible to the reader. Loid is a psychiatrist and a spy. Yor has a “normal” job but is also an assassin. Yuri is straight up introduced as a member of the SSS. Fiona has a job at the hospital but is also straight up introduced as a member of WISE. In each of these 4 characters’ introductions, we see their individual gimmicks. We, as readers, know their secret identities. Like, imagine if we didn’t know Yuri’s a member of WISE’s top enemy. There would be so much speculation and analysis, but the Yuri’s relevance to plot isn’t him being mysterious. It’s literally established that him and his brother in law belong to enemy organisations. Endo tells us so we can anticipate what might happen next. Endo uses the trope of double identities not to make us guess who is who. He immediately shows us who they are and tells us to enjoy the ride. Readers (and Anya) know the truth, the characters don’t.

For the more side-ish characters, we have an idea of who they are. We know Sylvia is like Twilight’s boss, but while she’s serious and cool, she also shows a warm, motherly side to Anya. Franky is stuck in the “comedic sidekick role who cannot get a date” but he is pretty useful and loyal to Loid. One might expect Henderson to be all serious and elegant, but he’s also used for comic relief. These characters are established as “good” characters who are on the side of our protags. Again, these traits are all laid out for us.

Important note: the above characters have all met Anya. Anya is a mind reader and she can read their true intentions. And since she knows their intentions, the reader does as well, and for the most part, we can trust them. And when an adult character hasn’t met Anya yet (and doesn’t get their own POVs), they’re shrouded in mystery.

We have our perceived antagonist, Donovan Desmond. From Twilight (and WISE)’s POV, he’s a cruel man who can start a war. But Donovan’s involvement in a potential war isn’t directly confirmed yet. Most info from him comes from WISE, so the readers understand Donovan from the lens of his enemy rather from a omniscient narrator or Donovan’s POV. It’s important to note that while Anya wanted to meet Donovan, she actually didn’t. If Anya didn’t fall asleep back then, she could easily read Donovan’s mind and boom, his mystery is gone, story ends, blah blah blah.

If anything, Melinda is portrayed as an even bigger threat than Donovan, because we know less about her. Loid admits that. Damian doesn’t even think about his mother. And when you pair Yor with Melinda, who’s oblivious to the politics (unlike Loid and Anya), as readers we know even less.

I think Anya is deliberately kept away from Donovan and Melinda because those two are supposed to be mysterious characters (that’s their gimmick vs the gimmick of Loid/Yor/Yuri/Fiona’s double identities). If the mysterious characters meet a mindreader, they’re not so mysterious now, are they?

Let’s analyse the field. Our mindreader Anya has only met Damian before, and Damian provides little information other than his parents don’t really care about him. The provider of our omniscient POV is only in touch with the least powerful Desmond. Loid, the spy who is suspicious of Donovan, has met him once under very very meticulous conditions. Yor, who isn’t actively aware of politics and sees Melinda as “the mom of the child my daughter punched”, is just happy to have a friend (even though she appears to be put off by Melinda’s weird smiles). Anya and Damian meet regularly, and Anya gains nothing about politics from him because Damian is a child who is unaware. Melinda and Yor have the potential to meet regularly, but Yor can’t read minds, nor does she have Twilight’s intel, so we don’t know how much she can get (and how much us readers will see). While Twilight is an excellent spy who tries to get info from Donovan, it’s extremely difficult for Twilight and Donovan to meet. Because of the limitations of each Forger-Desmond pair, the status quo can be maintained.

I guess this is why Damian’s isolation from his parents is relevant? If Damian doesn’t see his parents regularly, how can our deus ex machina Anya meet them? And if Anya is kept away from them, the mystery and the plot can continue.

The reason I suspect Donovan AND Melinda to be true antagonists (that go against the protags) is because while they’re not established as merciless greedy warlords, they ARE established as neglectful parents. And a huge theme of SxF is family. Characters who love their families are established as “good” characters (Forgers, Yuri, Sylvia). Loid and Yor have both defended Damian and apologised for Anya’s punch, but Donovan and Melinda threaten them with a smile while claiming “it’s fine”. Loid and Yor are quickly proven to care more about Damian than the Desmonds. The Forgers are the good parents, while the Desmonds are the neglectful ones. Even without politics at play, it’s easy to see which side we’re supposed to dislike or at least be wary of.

I would say someone in between “character on the side of protags” and “mystery character” would be the Shopkeeper. It’s, umm, morally dubious if Garden trained a literal child to be a murderer, but Shopkeeper is generally kind to Yor, and vice versa. But he seems to be pretty on guard when Yor mentions her husband being a “conservative”. Shopkeeper is still a mysterious character, but right now we’re more inclined to like Garden because so far, they’ve been nice to Yor and they gave her a job. It’s not like Yor is forced to be an assassin (she mentions she likes her job). But afaik Anya hasn’t met Shopkeeper yet. They are characters whose thoughts are deliberately hidden.

Demetrius is another mysterious character but he seems to be a child/teen (Eden student) who appears to care more about Damian than his parents do. Readers have met Donovan and Melinda, but we haven’t seen Demetrius. I don’t think he’s going to be as bad as his parents, but it’s telling how we haven’t seen him yet despite multiple past references. What’s up with Demetirus, hm?

TLDR: Since Anya can read minds, characters that she has met (and trusts) are established as characters on the Forgers’ side. Which is why she is kept away from Donovan and Melinda, who are both established as mysterious people who neglect Damian.

Sorry if this is a bit repetitive / not concise or has mistakes, I’ve had a bit too much morning coffee lol.

#spy x family #spy x family analysis #spy x family spoilers #melinda desmond #donovan desmond #anya forger #meta #ig #sxf analysis

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sebeth · 5 years

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Doom Patrol: “Pilot”

Warning, Spoilers Ahead…

Doom Patrol, Episode One: “Pilot”

Love the opening credits. Creepy and evocative of the Doom Patrol’s “mad scientist” origins.

Paraguay, 1948: We begin with a snarky narrator and a visit to a Von Furchs, a Nazi fugitive. He is infamous for his scientific experimentation.

Von Furch changes a Mr. Morden into Mister Nobody. Nobody is a villain from the Vertigo Doom Patrol series.

We fast forward to 1988 in Florida. We are at the pre-transformation home of professional race car driver Cliff Steele. A married Cliff is having an affair with the nanny. Cliff’s wife tells him to “crash and die”. Cliff crashes after his wife distracts him.

Cliff regains consciousness after Niles transports his body into a robot form.

I can only imagine the horror Cliff felt upon regaining consciousness.

Did Cliff’s wife consent to this procedure or did Niles simply steal Cliff’s brain? Was the wife working with the Chief? It’s revealed in the Vertigo series that Niles was behind the accidents that caused the members’ misfortunes.

Cliff realizes he’s regained consciousness in 1995. Niles informs Cliff that the world believes he died in 1988?

Rita reveals the truth to Cliff- only his brain survived and it’s encased in a robot body.

Rita tells Cliff: “We need to talk about expectations. And then we need to take those expectations, give them a gentle pat, and flush them into the ocean.”

I’m sensing Rita has been disappointed numerous times in her life.

Rita tells Niles that “Everyone deserves the truth.”

The team members have to stop pushing the off button on Cliff’s body. How can he adjust if they press the off button whenever he has a reaction?

Niles introduces Cliff to Larry. Larry gives Cliff a tour of the place.

Cliff asks Larry about his story.

Flashback origin time for Larry.

California, 1961: Mister Nobody states Larry was an “Atomic Age sex machine”: a USAF test pilot and on the short list for the NASA Mercury mission. Larry was also a married man with children.

Larry flies an experimental NASA rocket plane. Larry encounters an alien energy high up in the atmosphere. The energy destroys the controls on the ship. The plane crashes and burns Larry alive.

Back to the present day – Cliff is attempting to learn how to climb steps in his new body.

Cliff asks Larry what “Drinky’s” deal is. To be fair, every time Cliff has seen Rita she has had a martini in her hand.

Cliff struggles with the reality and limitations of his new form.

Cliff asks Niles if anyone has left “this place”. Niles informs Cliff that “Some have. Some come and go. Others life Larry and Rita prefer to stay. But to be perfectly honest, those who leave find it’s often more difficult for the world out there to accept who they’ve become than they do.”

The line of dialogue allows for other characters to enter and leave the plot. I wonder if we will see some of the other members of the various incarnations of the Doom Patrol? We know Crazy Jane and Cyborg are coming to the show.

We discover Rita enjoys knitting while Larry prefers horticulture.

I love Rita’s clothing style. Very fashionable.

Rita origin flashback.

She was the queen of 1950s’ cinema. She was also a diva.

Rita was in Africa filming a movie. The dock she was on collapses and she falls into the water. She’s exposed to a strange substance in the water. She emerges from the water with her body collapsing around her. Possible karma as Rita was having trouble looking at a disfigured man while filming the movie.

Cliff makes it up the steps! Achievement unlocked!

Niles tells Cliff that his brain has been altering his memoires to help him cope.

Cliff plays a phone message the Chief used to replicate his voice.

We flashback to the car race. Cliff avoided the car crash and won the race. His wife looks shocked about his survival. Cliff, rather hypocritically, attacks the man he suspects of having an affair with his wife.

Cliff has another romp with Giselle, the nanny, in his trailer. He calls his wife: “I don’t know what happened to us. I’m going to be better. I know it’s late. I don’t even know if you care how sorry I am.”

Cliff goes to his wife’s parents’ house to retrieve her and his daughter.

I’m getting a really bad feeling about what’s going to happen.

A distracted Cliff drives into a semi-truck. Kate and Clara die in the crash. Cliff was the only survivor.

Wow, the show writers managed to make Cliff’s origin even more tragic than it was in the comics.

Mister Nobody informs us “The years pass and it’s all so depressing that I just can’t.”

In 2002, Larry paints a canvas of racing cars for Cliff. Larry is so sweet!

Cliff spends a decade working on a town/race car model track.

It’s 2019 and we hear a female voice yelling “I’m back”.

Rita: “Oh, goody.” Rita is clearly not a fan.

Robotman: “Who?”

Cliff’s been in the house since 1988 and he hasn’t met Jane yet? How old is she supposed to be?

“Meet Jane. Some people call her Crazy Jane. Sixty-four personas each with their own special power.”

Jane is going to be fun. The Rita and Jane dynamic should be a blast.

After a rocky start, Cliff and Jane bond. Cliff was protective of Jane in the Vertigo series too.

We meet several of Jane’s personalities in the episode:

1) Jane

2) Sylvia

3) Hammerhead

4) Hangman’s Daughter

5) The unnamed energy being

The Chief decides to resume his occasional travels in the world. The gang’s heard the spiel so much they say it with him.

The gang decides to head into town. When dad’s away, the kids will play.

Rita nervously enters a diner. She meets a fan.

Jane and Cliff head to a toy store to buy a present for his daughter’s birthday. Cliff and Jane bonds over his pre-death stupidity.

Larry finally leaves the bus and enters a bar.

Rita discovers it was rumored to be drunk and doing porn. An emotional Rita begins to lose control over her bodily form.

Jane urges Cliff to call his daughter. Cliff states his daughter is dead. Jane asks “According to who?” Jane claims Clara survived the crash. It’s on the internet. Jane urges Cliff to call his daughter but he destroys her phone.

It didn’t take long for the writers to start the “Chief’s a lying liar who lies” card.

We flashback to Larry, pre-transformation. Larry, a married man, was having an affair with a male member of his ground crew.

The memories trigger Larry and blue light begins to emit from his body.

Rita continues to lose control of her body, turning into a huge oozing mass that breaks through the storm and emerges on to the street.

Jane changes personalities while urging Jane to get a hold of herself.

Larry loses control and the negative energy being emerges from his body.

Rita and Larry’s respective freak-outs are causing massive damage to the town.

Cliff asks Jane: “What should we do?”

Jane responds by changing personalities and transforming into a fire/energy being.

“No! We’re not doing that!”

Cliff saves the day by stopping Rita in her tracks.

The team heads home. Niles arrives back in town as television media is reporting the day’s events.

Niles briefly sees a donkey in his rearview mirror.

Niles arrives home and he’s not happy. Niles heads to the lab and looks at photos. One has a man holding a leashed donkey. The photos appear to be from the time Morden transformed into Mister Nobody.

Niles informs the team their actions have consequences. He has enemies and they will come for the team. He wants the team packed up and ready to leave asap.

Cliff asks about the town. Niles tells him the town isn’t his concern.

“So the town get’s screwed.”

Niles yells at Jane, Cliff yells at Niles – he’s ticked about the Chief lying about his daughter’s death.

Cliff wants to stay and fight but the rest of the team votes to leave with the Chief.

The team leaves but Cliff stays to protect the town.

Jane urges the team to return and fight with Cliff. The team, except for Niles, agrees.

Rita: “I can’t promise I won’t be disgusting, but yes.”

Mister Nobody teleports aboard the bus and taunts Niles.

The donkey approaches the team and farts a message into the sky: “The mind is the limit.”

A black hole appears in the street and begins swallowing the team.

Cliff: “What the f***?”

Great first episode. Loved the soundtrack. We had “Fresh” by Kool and the Gang, “Fox On The Run” by Sweet, “Rebel Yell” by Billy Idol, and “People Are Strange” by the Doors.

Mister Nobody, visually and voiced, is more fun than he was in the comic book series.

Niles is manipulative and creepy. In many ways, he is the greatest enemy of the Doom Patrol.

Each character received their fair share of focus in the episode. We were able to see their origins and their distinct personalities.

It’s refreshing to see characters that don’t have “big damn heroes” as their default mode. Rita and Cliff weren’t the most likable people before their accidents. Larry led a secret life even before the plane crash. All three were horribly traumatized during their accidents and resulting transformations and have lived decades in fear and secrecy as “freaks”. That combination is very hard to overcome to become heroic defenders of mankind.

An excellent debut. Highly recommended.

#Doom Patrol #Rita Farr #Larry Trainor #Cliff Steele #Niles Caulder #Crazy Jane #Robotman #Elasti-Girl #Negative Man #Chief

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spynotebook · 7 years

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All images: CBS

Hey, did you hear there’s a new Star Trek show starting September 24? Anticipation is mighty high here at io9—but for everyone who hasn’t been cataloguing every bit of info that CBS has revealed about Star Trek: Discovery on the long road to its debut, we’ve assembled this handy guide to get you up to speed.

Timeline and setting

Discovery, the sixth live-action Star Trek series, was initially announced as taking place in the prime timeline, the same universe as the other TV shows and their related films—but not the recent J.J. Abrams directed and/or produced movies. Since it takes place 10 years prior to the events of The Original Series, it’s more relevant to that show than Enterprise, which took place a century prior. That also means we’ll be seeing some retro-future takes on the classic show’s signature tech flourishes, including a variant on the phaser (though the badges and the flip communicators look fairly familiar). The Starfleet uniforms, however, are closer in look to Enterprise’s blue jumpsuits, rather than the classic colorful costumes of original Trek. (For once, though, away teams will get body armor, an idea that clearly fell out of fashion by the time Captain Kirk and company were boldly going beyond.) As the title implies, most of the action will center on the USS Discovery, though it won’t start there; instead, it seems we’ll first meet the main character when she’s serving aboard the USS Shenzou.

Main characters

Lt. Commander Michael Burnham (Sonequa Martin-Green)

Discovery’s protagonist is unique in the Star Trek pantheon for a variety of reasons. One is that—unlike Kirk, Picard, Sisko, Janeway, and Archer—Burnham is not (yet) a captain. Another is that she was raised on Vulcan after her birth parents (both human) were killed by Klingons. Her adoptive parents just happen to be Spock’s parents, Sarek and Amanda Grayson, and her unusual upbringing means she’s the first human to have attended both the Vulcan Learning Center and the Vulcan Science Academy. (This is the first we’ve ever heard that Spock had a sister, though one of Discovery’s producers insists there will eventually be an explanation for that.) Based on ominous hints we’ve seen in the trailers, an early episode will explain the incident that causes then-First Officer Burnham to leave the Shenzou, where she’s serving under Captain Philippa Georgiou (Michelle Yeoh), and end up on the Discovery, to be Number One under Captain Lorca (Jason Isaacs).

Sarek (James Frain)

We learned way back in January that Spock’s father was joining the show—as a younger version, quite obviously, of the character we first met on The Original Series. But it wasn’t until July’s San Diego Comic-Con that his specific connection to Burnham became known. In the first Discovery trailer, Sarek appears in a Vulcan flashback, as well as in hologram form to Burnham to counsel her about leadership. Sarek has a long history in Trek, first appearing with a strained relationship with his half-human, Starfleet son and eventually dying on The Next Generation, after sharing a number of intense scenes with Picard.

Captain Philippa Georgiou (Michelle Yeoh)

As mentioned above, she’s the top commander on the USS Shenzou. In the trailer, we learn that Burnham and Georgiou have been working together for awhile, and Georgiou has become confident that it’s time for her protégé to get her own command. That is, until something (maybe an alien object?) makes something (maybe very bad?) happen to Georgiou. We aren’t certain of her fate yet, but you might not want to get terribly attached to this particular character.

Captain Lorca (Jason Isaacs)

He’s the captain of the Discovery—but he’s not the star of the show, and that’s not the only thing that makes Lorca different from previous Star Trek captains. According to Isaacs, the character is “probably more fucked up” than most Starfleet officers, which means he’s been through some exceptionally crazy shit during his time in space. That’s a quality that could create an interesting dynamic between Lorca and Burnham; in the second trailer, he seems stern when speaking with her: “You helped start a war. Don’t you want to help me end it?”

Lt. Commander Saru (Doug Jones)

The alien science officer aboard the Discovery, Saru’s the guy who delivers the trailer’s most chilling line: “My people were biologically determined for one purpose alone: to sense the coming of death. I sense it coming now.” He’s a Kelpien, a race that’s new to both Starfleet and the Star Trek series overall; their ability to sense death evolved on a home planet where they were hunted as prey. He stands almost seven feet tall on his hooved feet. At SDCC, it was mentioned that Saru and Burnham have a “brother/sister relationship;” Jones has also said that Saru is a character equivalent to the Spock or Data of this series. That’s a telling description, since Trek loves to have a character with an alien point of view and, specifically, one who can comment on human characteristics.

Lt. Stamets (Anthony Rapp)

He’s another science officer aboard Discovery, an astromycologist (translation: this dude knows a lot about space fungus). A far more exciting fact about Lt. Stamets is that he’s Star Trek’s first openly gay character (on TV at least; in the movies, Sulu has a male partner). As it happens, Discovery also has Star Trek’s second openly gay TV character as well, in the form of Lt. Stamets’ partner: ship’s doctor Dr. Hugh Culber (played by Wilson Cruz).

Cadet Sylvia Tilly (Mary Wiseman)

She is an eager young Starfleet cadet assigned to Discovery, specializing in engineering and reporting to Lt. Stamets. After she becomes Burnham’s roommate, they form what Wiseman describes as “an unlikely friendship.”

Harry Mudd (Rainn Wilson)

This character—full name: Harcourt Fenton Mudd—is a con man, smuggler, and delightful sleaze who first appeared on The Original Series and has since become a cult favorite, largely thanks to Roger C. Carmel’s over-the-top performance. You can get a quick glimpse of Wilson’s take on Mudd as a younger man (“Are you mad?” “I’m MUDD!”) in the second Discovery trailer.

T’Kuvma (Chris Obi)

He’s a Klingon leader seeking to unite the 24 great Klingon houses—no easy task, especially since (as the second trailer reminds us) “the Klingon Empire has been in disarray for generations.” Klingons are the primary antagonists on Discovery, but the show will portray them as honorable warriors with—as you can see on T’Kuvma here—some really fantastic battle ensembles, not to mention new ships, at least one highly elaborate coffin, subtitles (when they’re speaking Klingon), and a biological reason for those distinctive forehead ridges.

Story and conflict

As mentioned above, Discovery will find the Federation at war with the Klingons. The show will run 15 episodes and we know a teeny bit about the first four installments. Episode one is titled “The Vulcan Hello,” and the description is nearly exactly what the two trailers have already revealed:

While patrolling Federation space, the USS Shenzhou encounters an object of unknown origin, putting First Officer Michael Burnham to her greatest test yet.

Subsequent known episode titles include “Battle at the Binary Stars,” “Context Is for Kings,” and “The Butcher’s Knife Cares Not for the Lamb’s Cry,” though we don’t have plot descriptions for those yet. Based on hints from showrunners Aaron Harberts and Gretchen Berg, however, the season will also focus on how the characters work through their differences together. Based on what the showrunners have said, he war with the Klingons will be in some way a comment on current political events, much like The Original Series reflected then-contemporary Cold War tensions. And Burnham will have to cope with whatever happened on the Shenzou, growing into the kind of leader that Sarek encourages her to be. She may also find herself caught between Vulcan and human cultures, much like her adoptive brother Spock was.

And the rest

The Discovery is a science vessel, which sets it apart from the Enterprise, which, as the flagship, was tasked with all sorts of things; with Voyager, which was designed specifically for long-term exploration; and Deep Space Nine, which was a space station. (And also very different from the Defiant, Deep Space Nine’s ship, which was designed to fight.) According to Memory Alpha, science vessels aren’t meant to be out in space for long periods of time, so maybe Discovery will be docked more often than in the other shows.

The design of the Discovery itself can be described, in the words of io9's Katharine Trendacosta, as being “sort of like Ralph McQuarrie’s original concept art for a new Enterprise and the original show’s ship had a baby. A baby about to go where no one has gone before.”

Composer Jeff Russo’s Discovery theme song calls back to Alexander Courage’s iconic original, while also doing its own melodious thing.

There will be a Mirror Universe episode.

After some initial misinterpretation, it’s actually totally fine to say “God” (as in “For God’s sakes!”) on the show.

There will be Tribbles.

Star Trek: Discovery premieres September 24 on CBS and CBS All Access. The rest of the series runs through November on CBS All Access, before taking a hiatus until January 2018. Each episode will be followed by Talking Trek, a live aftershow available on CBS All Access.

#IFTTT #Feedly

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