Whilst I’m aware I should keep the blog as open to newcomers as possible I feel I should offer a disclaimer about the content: this is an adult blog for adults (who watch children’s programmes). As such the content will be relatively bawdy: a few sex jokes here, a few light aggravated swears there. I will try and steer clear of the ‘F’ and 'C’ zone as much as possible but you read this blog at your own risk.
Toodles.
One thing ARROW tends to write moderately well is women. Be they heroic or villainess, they are generally portrayed as capable, resourceful, powerful*. So what happens when a show that enjoys its (deep breath) ‘Strong Female Characters’ tries to navigate the tightrope subject of 'love vs obsession’?
*Though notably few episodes would ever pass the Bechdel test.
The Ollie/Felicity romance has stuck in my craw. I can’t deny Emily Rickards performance as Felicity has the zing of chemistry missing between Oliver and Laurel*, but the sudden rush from flirty co-workers to star(city)-crossed lovers this season has felt contrived, and it’s all to do with the age old adage, 'show it, don’t tell it’. The immediacy of the season première didn’t give us a chance to believe in 'Ollicity’ – it just invented a love story where there wasn’t much to go on. It wasn’t furtive or denied, it just suddenly came into being and was instantly quashed as Ollie realised his marriage to the job was more important.
*Noticeably absent from this episode about love and destiny.
This now causes problems in an episode that is thematically tight but emotionally empty. If only Sara were alive.
Given the writers’ readiness to supplement plot for feeling you could be forgiven for thinking this episode is a dud. But look closely and you’ll see a sense of craft that makes the best of a bad hand. It’s all about how you bluff.
Let’s crack on, and don’t forget your dirty laundry…
FLASHBACK: but not the one you were expecting. It’s the Mirakuru Riots (and why in god’s name did no one think to call it that?) and Team Arrow are white-vanning it to Slade, only Ollie makes a detour and saves a young woman’s life; a young woman we instantly recognise from last week as Carrie Cutter, aka Cupid. The attraction is writ all over her face. So far, so stalker.
FLASHFORWARD: and the Arrow’s investigating the murder of Wild-Kitten, Isaac Stanzler. He’s been shot with arrows that to everyone but the cast look like hearts. Despite being coloured red, Lance decides that these are 'spade’ arrows, and Ollie goes along with it. Because, plot.
Whilst Ollie’s all about the work, Felicity’s struggling to keep her personal and professional lives separate, notably when she walks in on Ray doing the Salmon Ladder. Say what you will about this series’ obsession with abs, but it’s a pleasant change to have cult programmes written from the female gaze and the ad campaigns know their target audience.
Brandon Routh has been a fine addition to the cast, showcasing a superior comedic talent relatively untapped in his role as Superman for Singer’s movie. His zany, wild-eyed genius recalls Doc Brown from Back to the Future, whilst simultaneously framing him as a very real and very sexy heroic foil to Ollie’s brooding vigilante. He’s not shy about his attraction to Felicity and he knows her value as a professional too, something Ollie often overlooks.
Whilst Ollie and Diggle attempt to decipher the Sphinx riddle that is the 'spade’ arrow*, a convenient TV screen reveals that Felicity’s focus has been split. She’s saving the world Palmer Technologies style and Ollie’s not invited. Cue relentless hammering of an arrow-head which was surely the most idiotic evidence tampering to have ever occurred on screen. Unsurprisingly Ollie’s brutish analysis yields a 'clue’. Even if we’re to buy Cupid’s incredible martial arts, are we to believe she’s also mastered fine smelting skills in putting her arrows together?
*And thanks Diggle for underlining Lance’s stupidity here.
The address within the arrow features an orgy of evidence involving motif-of-the-week, hearts. Are we coming through loud and clear, Ollie? Our observant hero turns the arrow-head upside-down, the penny drops. I don’t object so much to the Room of Conspicuous Activity but the fact Ollie doesn’t receive Cupid’s call and immediately start searching - Jack Traven style - for the camera or vantage point does make me question his detective skills. Sure, he’s not Batman but, c'mon Ollie, take a look around.
Roy, whose story reached such a pivotal point last week, is this week reduced to window dressing – albeit one that allows Ollie to refocus his personal issues. Roy’s out there alone, beating himself up over his drug-induced murder. Ollie, by learning the value of personal relationships, can help him rejoin the group for Thanksgiving.
Back at the Arrow Cave, Felicity is helping to track their mysterious killer but as usual her work processes come with arbitrary delays purely for plot purposes. Felicity’s gift with computers has become a superpower in its own right, and therefore problematic for anyone who spends their time analysing how long it takes for her to hack a government system compared to, say, cracking an encrypted SIM card (just me, then). In addition, her Arrow-work now directly conflicts with her Palmer-work, an aspect that has - unusually for this programme - been long gestating. Ollie needs her, lives are at risk. But Felicity is entitled to a personal life, the time to use her skills for other things. This is a rare moment of clear plotting for this series – the theme isn’t really love/obsession, the theme is personal vs. professional and Ollie and Felicity both have good points to make.
Here we see the cracks in ARROW’s make-up. Successful cult shows have the courage to go bigger. They structure series arcs by emotion as well as plot. It’s easy to argue that Felicity and Arrow’s 'love’ is an emotional arc, but by being written out of necessity instead of instinct there is only plot at stake. Much has been lauded about the many Whedon cult series, but this is where the distinction lies: Whedon series have that courage. Plot beats have emotional consequence that can often last beyond a whole season. In this case Felicity’s choice to support Palmer over Ollie could have had far reaching consequences for the show. As it is, it’s a thematic box-check in a single episode.
Ollie takes Roy with him on the Cupid bust and again this feels like such an arbitrary choice – a way of giving screen time to the cast instead of a logical decision. Roy is incapacitated (off-screen – another poor choice) and Ollie is left facing Cupid alone. But she is unarmed. Several obvious options come into play: shoot to kill (against his code, OK); shoot to wound (she may still kick out the chair but how would that be different from the eventual rescue?); and why leave a timer on the noose/fuse anyway*?
*AND while we’re at it, what arrow did the Arrow use to contain an explosion in mid air?
Having failed to capture Cupid, Ollie seeks advice from Carrie’s psychiatrist and gets a relatively neat but brazen analysis of the episode’s themes for his trouble: “Attachment disorder: the inability to form real, lasting relationships, they push everyone away…” Who does that remind you of?
HONG KONG PHOOEY: At last a Flashback with some genuine resonance. Tatsu’s love of her potentially dead husband and her inability to befriend Ollie, Mateo’s professional contact, carries this week’s theme. Ollie gives a little swift patronisation, to which Tatsu responds with awe-inspiring violence*. There’s a bluff about Mateo’s death, but let’s face it – we’re not idiots.
*Katana here we come…
After securing Palmer’s deal with the mining mogul, Felicity shuffles off to help Ollie triangulate Cupid’s whereabouts. Ollie’s ensuing confrontation allows him to give the speech to Cupid he never gave Felicity*. Cue final fight sequence – a slick affair as usual, but one must question where the hell Cupid developed skills to rival the Slade trained Arrow. It’s impressive she gets a lick in at all. Of course this battle is thematic and again this is where the episode succeeds, where such a thin premise should have failed: Cupid represents Ollie’s past – the professional life he’s grown past. She is not suited to either his current personal or professional lives. Felicity by contrast is, but it would seem Ollie’s blown his chance. Too little, too late.
*Though it’s weird how his entire conversation was patched through to the Arrow Cave. Not normal practice. We’ve seen plenty of episodes where Felicity has screamed “Oliver!” down the line, unable to connect.
The professional and personal have now collided for Felicity after Ray kisses her. It’s been building naturally in all the ways her relationship with Ollie hasn’t, but still his guarded, “I meant to keep tonight platonic,” rings false. How exactly? The dress, the jewels, the constant and, let’s be fare, borderline sexual harassment weren’t great indicators of a platonic and respectful relationship. So Felicity is cast adrift on a sea of couture, while Ray leaves hurriedly to view his own embarkation into fashion: the construction of his ATOM (A.T.O.M.?) suit. Squeeeeeeeeee.
Minor Points:
Whenever I hear that introductory voice-over Mrs Geek and I sing along.
Evidence of Whedonesque quality dialogue in three zingers during the Felicity/Ray scene:
“It’s couture, which I’m pretty sure is French for expensive.”
“There’s nothing platonic about couture.”
“You and I are gonna be best friends.”
All hail the dress.
Cupid herself – played for panto, no realism involved, which for a show that bases its action on gritty street violence is a poor showing. Not a writing problem: the director/actor should’ve taken it in a different direction. Those line’s could’ve been read legit.
“Sherwood Florist” is the name of Ollie and Dinah’s (the comic’s Black Canary) shop front whilst they tackled crime in Seattle during Mike Grell’s formative Longbow Hunters series.
Ray ’Pretty Womans’ Felicity with the necklace. It’s a Princess mentality that does the character disservice. She’s instrumental in the business plan, and she could’ve got there by talking professionally as a financial and technological expert, not by dressing in finery and bolstering Ray’s admirable personal attributes.
The less said about Thea’s dalliance with the arrogant DJ the better. Where was it writ that smug, assholes should get the job/girl? As a D-Story this sunk low enough to be classed simply as Z-List. My only hope is that he transcends his origin to become some sound based villain like Pied Piper* or Discord – though his given name, Chase, doesn’t hint at such.
Captain Boomerang at the end there: setting up the big FLASH/ARROW crossover, here’s the Cap and he’s… Israeli. That’d be down to Nick Tarabay of Spartacus: Blood and Sand fame. Weird that they recruited from such an Australian cast for an Australian part and picked the Beirut-born Tarabay for Digger Harkness. At least he looks deadly instead of the frankly goofy villain of the comics.
*Whose real name is Hartley Rathaway. Hart! How thematic is that?!
It hasn’t escaped my notice that I haven’t been keeping up to any kind of regular schedule with the reviews. It’s also clear that while I’m following the US broadcast of these shows, many of you are still loyally keeping things British and watching via Sky, C4, or C5. That’s cool, G, we cool.
The recap/vivisection shall continue and be waiting when you’re ready. If you have any thoughts about scheduling my blog or any other aspect of 2014’s Geekogeddon™, throw me a bone at my Infrequently Asked Questions Comments page (see the three little lines up-left? Fire away, kids).
NEXT UP: ARROW S03E07
Last episode, I talked about the problem of GOTHAM peaking too soon. Nine episodes in and the level of corruption in Gotham is so extreme and entrenched it doesn’t leave the writers much scope for escalation. And with future ‘supervillains’ already cramming the cast, who will be left to introduce two, three series down the line?
Indulge me whilst we get technical for a moment. Think of adaptations as a bicycle wheel: the original concept – in this case Bob Kane’s Batman – sits at the hub and each new interpretation of that is a spoke, completely individual and independent of previous attempts, but each still tethered to the core. It is also true, however, that adaptations eventually influence each other, forming the rim of the wheel. Over time the most popular interpretations of a character become dominant, influencing all the the rest until they appear to travel back up the spokes to the hub, and change the core concept. Batman hates guns, right? Except when he doesn’t…
But this is a fallacy. The metatext does not change, popular interpretations sit firmly on the rim with the audience, where they belong. And, like a wheel, trends are always revolving.
The moral of the story here is that we should cut loose our inhibitions about GOTHAM, at least those pertaining to what we believe is the definitive interpretation of Batman and allow it to exist on its own terms. The dominant trend in the mythology of Batman is currently that his first appearance as a superhero is what triggered the emergence of the so called 'Freaks’ – a theory popularised by Jeph Loeb’s masterful THE LONG HALLOWEEN(more on that later) and Nolan’s DARK KNIGHT TRILOGY films (heavily influence by the former). Here GOTHAM is taking a the reverse approach – the Wayne murders were the catalyst and the freaks are now creeping out of the shadows, necessitating the rise of Batman. Put like that, it doesn’t seem so problematic.
So let’s get to it, and don’t forget the match-shavings and apple-cider vinegar…
As is traditional we pick up right where we left off, with Selina Kyle once again bribing the GCPD for a Get Out of Jail Free card. Given she only saw the back of some guy’s head, I really am astonished how long she’s managed to drag out her evidence. But then she could very well be lying…
Gordon’s taken them to his apartment where he finally finds Barbara’s 'Dear John…’ note. Even in the writing Barbara is single-handedly sabotaging women’s lib. “I’m nervous and needy and screwed up and I know that’s not what you need or want.” Barb, Jim’s been aggressive, patronising and secretive and that’s not what you need or want. Take his ass to church. And why did Gordon bring Selina to his apartment at all if his plan was always to palm her off on Wayne Manor. One suspects she’ll break in to his flat later this series, now she’s had the chance to case it.
Blackgate Prison is struggling to properly care for the criminally insane and twitchy, wild-eyed bomber Ian Hargrove is on a costly transfer out of the city. It is a truth universally acknowledged that when a prison guard recites 'the rules’ about taking custody of a prisoner, those rules will inevitably be broken in the ensuing jailbreak, though it was a nice reveal that Hargrove’s supposed escape plan* turned out to be a little benign matchstick art to pass the time and that the real danger was a kidnapping by the Russian mob.
*And whilst we’re on that point, what sort of prison fails to check an inmate’s mouth during transfer? It wasn’t even something small, it was a whole book of matches!
Over at Wayne Manor, Alfred’s wary of taking in a stray – even one as immaculately clean and made-up as Selina inexplicably is – but Brucey is forever the gentleman, albeit a tongue-tied one. There’s an instant frisson between them, and once again I’m pleased they did such a good job casting Mazouz and Bicondova as the future Batman and Catwoman. Bicondova’s performance in particular has come on in leaps and bounds from the basic dancer’s grace she was obviously cast for, to bringing a cheeky, charming wryness to Selina’s scenes. Naturally Alfred grumbles about the arrangement and disappears to count the silver. Check it twice, Alf.
GOTHAM’s casting has been generally very good (not you, Barbara), but with the introduction of Nicholas D'Agosto’s Harvey Dent, I fear another rush job. Indeed D'Agosto has the face for it - a boyish charm, a grin you could see your face in – and I don’t object to him being so much older than Bruce either, though our old friend tradition would suggest they should be contemporaries. But there’s a triple threat in this début that is troubling: the forced, overacted performance, the heavy-handed writing, and the gimmicky direction are all at fault, desperate to hammer home that this is the future Two-Face*.
*The puns, the double headed coin, the frequent references to betting, and often physically impossible shadowing of one half of Dent’s face to name but a few.
For all his binary pretensions, Dent is one of the more complex characters from Batman’s rogues gallery. Whether or not Bruce knows and works with him as a District Attorney before the tragic accident that twists his mind, Dent should be portrayed with greater subtlety than the sudden overblown anger he displays in his interview with Dick Lovecraft. The character deserves a slower build as a trusted ally of Gordon before his decent into madness*, particularly with so many villains already waiting in the wings, and the writers appear to have squandered that opportunity too soon. All that said, I did appreciate the nuanced characterisation of Dent as a political animal, one willing to use dirty tricks to pursue his own agenda in the courts. This ambiguity of motivation may yet redeem the current portrayal of the character. For now, however, it plays incongruous to the arrogant and deluded account of the interview he feeds Gordon.
*Andrew Helfer revised the villain’s backstory in the 80s to create a more tragic narrative in keeping the character’s Gothic literature inspired origins. Harvey’s psychosis is rooted in an abusive father and undiagnosed bipolar disorder – an account supported later by Loeb’s celebrated THE LONG HALLOWEEN.
Gordon and the other Harvey are pressing ahead with their 'investigation’ which amounts to interviewing his brother and not much else. But they’re too late as Hargrove’s bomb for the Russians has already made its way into the Gotham Munition Factory’s security room. It’s disguised a basket of candy. A ticking basket of candy. Frankly these security guards deserve everything they get. It’s not long before Hargrove’s Hail Mary evidence plant leads Gordon and Bullock straight to his location. It’s a curious decision: by giving himself up and trying to do good we are meant to think about the difference between the criminal fraternity and Gotham’s mentally ill – effectively siding with Gordon in his cynical comments to the mayor about proper psychiatric care. Yet once recaptured this all leads to the reopening of Arkham Asylum, a place we’ll later know only exacerbates their distress and criminality. And while Gordon rightly supposes this is short-sighted papering over the cracks by the Mayor it’s clear that this is actually his fault. Once again Gordon’s rash actions have actively lead to the worsening of Gotham (see also Penguin).
And speaking of our waddling friend, with Fish on unusually restrained footing as the puppetmaster behind the Russian’s plan to blow Falcone’s secret stash of cash wide open, not to mention their eventual sacrifice to cover her tracks, the burden of this week’s PANTO INTERLUDE fell to Oswald. I have enjoyed the growth of his vicious Napoleon complex in recent weeks but it was time for a break. Penguin out-camped Hannibal Lecter circa Red Dragon this week, using that infamous nose to tie Liza to Fish and throw little shade at both. “Well goodbye then…”
This episode’s problem was it returned to its poor habit of pulling in too many directions at once, with little thematic content to link it all together. If I’m being generous there’s some crossover between Penguin’s manipulation of Liza and the speech Selina gives Brucey by the pool. “You have to be ruthless,” she tells him. His studious training will all be for nothing if he can’t erase the “nice kid” beneath, and you could see that steely resolve already reassessing his tongue-tied, gentlemanly greeting from the day before. But Selina had another trick up her sleeve: she proved she could do some training of her own, the kind that doesn’t indulge Brucey’s compulsive personality and instead bolsters his instinct, agility and most importantly his sense of fun. It’s for this reason that Alfred has his change of heart and it makes me excited to see how the pair will fare on those mean streets of Gotham in next week’s episode.
Minor points:
The usual Ed antics – tomfoolery followed by timely clue delivery. The radio quiz provided a fun backdrop to his explosives testing, though his earlier video game conversation went no where. I suppose the intent is again to show Ed reaching out to his colleagues, trying to overcome his loneliness. A rare moment of gratitude from Bullock too. This should delay Ed’s decent into riddle-mania for at least a couple more weeks.
Ed’s lump of iron leads extraordinarily quickly to the assumption that Hargrove has been recruited to break into the Gotham Armoury Vault. Week by week Gordon and Bullock’s detective skills look less and less impressive, glossed over by a combination of coincidence and leaping to conclusion. Shouldn’t Gordon be this series’ McNulty, irritating and inspiring his partner in equal measure. As series leads, this partnership has already grown stagnant.
Selina’s use of the kiss reward is innocent enough but showcases her ability to manipulate Brucey with sexuality. A smart, understated little bit of characterisation.
Penguin’s got Liza in his pocket for now. Given how easily she cracked under Oswald’s beady gaze, one wonders how long she can possibly hold out caught between three criminal maniacs. Least effective mole, ever.
“Alfred will be happy to fix you-” “No, he won’t be, will he? Coz it’s not a bloody hotel.” - Alfred gets the award for Quip of Week. And it’s the polite grin that seals the deal. Pertwee’s performance has so far been exemplary. Fans of MASTERCHEF must feel my pain, though, every time Alfred mentions food.
Selina’s story about her mum is so hopelessly deluded it’s obvious to both kids that it’s a lie. Credit should again go to Mazouz and Bicondova for selling the moment with perfectly timed glances.
If anyone still cares what Barbara’s doing, she decided that “Getting herself together” should include sleeping with her ex-girlfriend - “loopy pill-head” Montoya. Thanks for playing, Barbara.
Sidekicks are a tricky business. Even in modern comics it’s become apparent that any self-respecting vigilante has no business bringing children into their war on crime. That’s why the movie adaptations of the last decade have made point of avoiding them like the plague: ‘Robin’ was a punchline tacked on to Blake’s more logical replacement Batman in THE DARK KNIGHT RISES; Bucky is less child-sharpshooter and more tortured wingman in CAPTAIN AMERICA. And in ARROW it was hard enough trying to sell a weekly series about a man dressed as Robin Hood going up against men with Uzis, without trying to sow the seeds of Roy Harper, Ollie Queen’s happy-go-lucky ward. Thus in Series One we had 'Speedy’ be his nickname for whiny liability sister, Thea, and the necessary roll of back-up was provided by special forces turned bodyguard, Diggle.
But then Series Two rolled in and it became equally necessary to expand the Arrow Family. Only Laurel had proven time and again that, despite a few kick-boxing moves she wasn’t ready to shoulder the enormous responsibility of Black Canary, and Roy – the angsty parkour street thief that could – would need a lot of groundwork to be promoted from Thea’s lacklustre boyfriend to worthy team player. Series Two wasn’t kind to Roy. For every step in the right direction – the vigilante idolisation, the Vertigo addiction standing in for his legendary Comics Code-breaking Heroine habit (see above) – there were schoolboy errors aplenty: his transformation into a Mirakuru rage monster, or his tedious passive aggressive relationship with Thea. Last season’s finale “Unthinkable” promised much: they finally gave Roy a mask and seemed to have cemented his relationship with Ollie in an appropriate mentor/mentee parallel to Ollie’s own training under Slade Wilson.
Again though, Season Three has struggled to keep Roy’s story moving forward due in no small part to the presence of Diggle. Roy ceases to be necessary stood next to a mature, level-head, better trained and maskless partner, and what could’ve been the perfect 'out’ for Diggle – his new fatherhood – was quickly squandered due to the pressure of keeping the core cast together.
So how do you solve a problem like Roy Harper? Let’s find out…
Roy killed Sara! At least that’s what it looks like. As methods of making Roy plot relevant go it sure beats the “You look tired, you should probably go have a sleepy, we’ve got this” route of recent weeks. And now we finally have an answer to Roy’s lameness (see his spectacularly pointless somersault into the path of a sleeping dart from episode 4). Understandably the vivid dreams of plunging arrows into Sara’s chest have left the whipper-snapper shaken, but there’s no time to dwell. The team are mid-raid. Ollie’s got the North entrance, Dig’s got South and Roy… Roy, you go long.
The raid is a bust after the team discover their drug-dealers are already strung up like Christmas hams, with the not too subtle message 'Guilty’ daubed in blood beneath. It’s time for another 'murderous vigilante on the loose’ storyline – conveniently forgetting that Ollie himself racked up quite the arrestable body-count in Series One. They think it’s a rival gang and set out to find them. Roy’s benched for being sleepy and speaking of which, we’re off to Hong Kong.
The flashbacks this season were always going to pale in comparison to the far more plot relevant Island ones last year, but it’s a shame the writers couldn’t find a more engaging premise than Ollie as Waller’s whipping-boy, stranded in Hong Kong. In some respects a change of scenery was overdue but ultimately this undermines Ollie’s solitude and struggle against the forces of nature. His time on the island is supposed to be feral and educational: a man who once had everything reduced to his most primal state. Seen here, back in civilisation, somehow diminishes the progress he made under Shado and Slade’s tutelage. The flashbacks should be a device used to enhance the theme of any given episode, not a mandatory albatross the writer must shoe-horn in.
Back in realtime, Roy’s confessing his sins to the ever-quippy Felicity. He wants his blood tested, Felicity suggests a GUM clinic. It’s refreshing to see that the writing staff have avoided their previous pitfalls of driving their characters into a solitary corner of secrets and lies. It seldom works for long and instead becomes a tedious exploration of a character’s inner emo. A problem shared is now a problem exacerbated and Felicity is already seeing Roy differently. Good dramatic tension. Big tick.
Meanwhile the series’ other problematic character, Laurel, is undergoing her own reboot. Katie Cassidy is… not a great actress. At times I felt that the writing for her was just sub-par – and it was particularly during booze-gate - but after several seasons it’s time to call it. I respect the direction the writers have taken the character and it’s certainly been an improvement, despite Cassidy’s performance. The character finally feels on a natural trajectory toward heroism that is fitting for the Black Canary – a grass roots, street smart, help-those-who-can’t-help-themselves type of Supe. This is thanks in no small part to the excellent casting of J. R. Ramirez as Ted Grant aka Wildcat. Despite his youth*, Ramirez convinces as a mentor for Laurel – one who’s already battled his own demons. The pacing of his character introduction over the last few episodes has been precise and plot-progressing. It’s fitting that he should have been Starling City’s first vigilante, and more so once we learn his own protégé is the latest killer-at-large – a neat mirror to Roy’s potential loose cannon.
*Ted’s supposed to be a good 20 years older than Ms Lance.
MORE HONG KONG PHOOEY – Ollie’s kicking himself that he can’t remember where his perp stashed the MacGuffin. Cue cutesy child-assistance from Maseo’s son. There is no spoon, Ollie. Tatsu’s not pleased her son is talking to the white man, and decides to cleanse the air with a spiced-apple Yankee Candle, somehow overcoming Ollie’s memory lapse. Don’t ask, it just does.
Meanwhile Ollie’s being aggressively possessive over Laurel – it’s hard to like a hero when they actively work against another character’s best interests*. Roy was given super training to prevent his rage getting the best of him, why can’t Laurel? Certainly it would benefit her to be better trained to protect herself, given how frequently her association with the Arrow puts her in danger*.
*See also THE FLASH for similar illogical antics between Barry and Iris.
Felicity is giving Roy some hard facts about Sara’s murder: the arrows were not shot by a normal bow or from a normal height. Given Roy’s eventual innocence it will be interesting to see how the mystery resolves itself by series’ end and whether they reconcile these 'facts’. My money’s on a dwarf with a siege catapult.
Roy can’t help but immediately self-flagellate in front of Ollie and Laurel – it’s his emo way – and again, given the revelations later in the episode you have to wonder why Ollie doesn’t spare Laurel the emotional fallout right away. It’s cruel to let her believe, even momentarily, that Roy killed her sister. Diggle is then uncharacteristically willing to cut Roy loose. As the team’s voice of reason surely Diggle should be arguing for Roy’s defence? I do however feel that a 'Justice For Sara’ T-Shirt should be part of the Official Merchandising.
Confessions are GO! After damning evidence lands Ted in the slammer, he finally divulges the existence of his own sidekick. We can excuse this particular secret - Ted’s trying to protect his former partner, still believes he can save him which tallies with his advice to Ollie later. Seemingly without due process, Ted’s released just in time for a kidnapping by Wild-Kitten, Isaac Stanzler, instigating a daring motorbike rescue by Ollie. Truly, cool guys don’t look at explosions…
Naturally, Roy puts himself in harm’s way for the good of the team and takes Isaac down with… a somersault. He really loves those. “Don’t abandon me,” he says to Ollie, somewhat redundantly.
Back at the base Ollie’s got just the thing to help Roy with his repressed memories. After 52 episodes his Island Chest of Wonders has become like Mary Poppins’ carpet bag for convenient props, and lo he has a spare Yankee Candle. Of course Roy didn’t murder Sara – it’s far too early in the season for the writers to blow that series-arc – he is merely reliving his guilt over murdering the police officer whilst under the effects of the Mirakuru serum last year. As contrived as this resolution may be, I must commend the writers for not letting Roy off the hook for that particular event. I doubt there will be actual consequences brought to bear against Roy, but at least he does not forgive himself, which is as close a moral nod as the writers dare go. Cheer up Roy. You’re still way off Ollie’s notorious body count – and he murdered a guy with a rock whilst on the island. He wasn’t even under the influence of drugs or anything.
Minor points:
I did question why the cameraman appeared to be lingering so often on the shapely figure of a mysterious red-head throughout this episode. It was in fact Amy Gumenick as Carrie Cutter, aka Cupid – next week’s blatant Sara murder red-herring.
“I’m Cupid, Stupid.” - Rather a dodgy line to go out on, though, for an episode dealing with rather more sober themes
For an episode entitled 'Guilty’ it felt a waste that the peripheral characters weren’t given their own moments to explore feelings of guilt; Ollie for calling off his relationship with Felicity; Felicity for joining Ray Palmer’s company; Laurel for lying to her father, still; Thea for lying to Ollie, still; Diggle for, let’s face it, frequently abandoning his new born baby.
The Arrow-Bikes (for this is how they shall henceforth be known) got another appearance. They are used in the foiling of crime almost as often as the actual bows.
A wonderful nod to the preposterous but much loved Boxing Glove Arrow during Ollie and Ted’s showdown.
This week’s THE FLASH purports to be about friendship – how certain people enter and leave our lives and the impression they make in either case. Though packed with plenty of strong character moments – something that has become a stable and saving grace for THE FLASH – the premise was weakened by two fundamental relationships that failed to work both in the writing and in the casting.
Much as I have rather taken the THE FLASH to my heart as my favourite of the current comic book adaptation crop, it’s already become difficult to listen to or take seriously the bookend voice-overs. It’s an addition to the Warner/CW formula that ARROW sensibly steered clear of, despite it being a mainstay of comic book law. It’s ham-fisted ‘setting out your stall’ stuff: here’s this week’s theme, kids - and that displays a lack of trust for the audience. No one’s suggesting these comic book adaptations are as complex as say, MAD MEN or THE WIRE, but the grammar of television has become increasingly sophisticated and audiences have become conditioned to decode it quicker, particularly the younger generation. Notice it’s the parents, not the kids complaining about the 'confusing’ plots in DOCTOR WHO.
Let’s get to it. Bring the shots – Cisco’s buying…
Building go BOOM – and we’re treated to our first glimpse of freak-of-the-week 'Plastique’, aka Bette Sans Souci, prompting Barry to once again test his limits with a daring sprint up the side of a skyscraper to rescue a trapped window-washer. It’s unclear why this particular window-cleaner is working halfway up a building in the middle of the night, but it’s a strange and touching coincidence that this episode aired the same week firemen rescued a similarly stranded window-cleaner from peril at One World Trade Center.
One of THE FLASH’s strengths, as in the comics, is it’s fondness for science ('Flash Facts’ as they are known to fans). Here we have a warm nod to that tradition as Cisco and Caitlin scribble furious calculations on a Beer Napkin. They’ve been drinking, Barry, you sure you want to trust their judgement? The scenario gets a reprise at the end of the episode too, as Barry joins the “rare company” of men who can walk on water, another fun and necessary expansion of the Flash’s power-set. Less assured is the preposterous explanation for Bette’s storm-granted gifts – shrapnel spliced DNA. It’s a frankly laughable attempt to tie another character introduction to the storm and, as with SMALLVILLE’s Kryptonite shower, one suspects this device will grow old fast. MISFITS successfully built a mythology around a similar freak storm but the powers granted individuals were always derived from personality flaws, a short-hand quickly established so that it didn’t need explicitly stating week-in, week-out. Bette could just as easily have been a woman with an explosive temper, but by reaching for scientific explanations FLASH is frequently undermining the scientific facts it does get correct.
CCPD’s investigation into the supposed bombing is put to a halt by General Wade Eiling, a one-time Captain Atom character and professional bastard played with a refreshing lack of bluster by Clancy Brown*. What most actors would perform as intimidation, Brown achieves with a smug smile. The bombing suspect is one of theirs, and the military confiscate the police files, but not before Barry can perform some super-thievery. Shifty Wells – exposition on wheels - already has General Eiling’s number. Unsurprisingly they worked together on a superhuman programme, which Wells quit once he realised the General (THE GENERAL!!!) was developing for military application. Huh. Wonder what gave it away.
*A DC mainstay having spent several years voice Lex Luthor for Warner’s SUPERMAN and JUSTICE LEAGUE cartoon series.
While Barry calls in 'the Flashers’*, Anonymous Cop 1 rats out Iris. This felt quite out of the blue and shoe-horned in. It whiffs of a late script edit switching out Eddie, who in the event would have come across as quite the terrible boyfriend, for relatively harmless Officer Vukuvich.
*We may need to rethink that nickname.
Joe and Iris have another one of their 'talks’ – a frequent plot-beat that has now pushed past the point of stale. Ditto Barry’s later attempts to steer Iris off the path of investigating the Flash. It’s such a staple of the genre that the love interest be kept in the dark about a hero’s secret identity, but it’s a tradition that takes its cues from fairy tales and their damsels in distress, and really has no place in modern storytelling. Iris is smart, resourceful and pursuing a career in journalism. What if she wants to become a war correspondent? Would Barry and Joe stand in the way of that too? And it’s not the only part of the conversation that clangs like like a dropped pan in Bastard Chef’s Kitchen. As temporary pseudonyms go, 'The Streak’ sits uncomfortably just above SMALLVILLE’s woeful 'The Blur’ for idiocy. “Blogging doesn’t pay well,” says Iris. Not when you’re so bad at it, Ms. West.
Many have criticised Candice Patton’s performance for not selling the relationship between Barry and Iris. I think the blame is misdirected - it depends what relationship we’re talking about. In the series, Barry is Iris’ foster brother, a fact and a mindset she’s reinforced since the series began. What unfolds in this episode is typical sibling bickering. Iris is hurt and disappointed that Barry is being so unsupportive when she’s only trying to help him. The real fault here lies with both the writers and a certain degree of fan expectation. Iris West of the comics is so much the love of Barry Allen’s life that it becomes too difficult for the writers to transparently reboot that relationship as something different. It’s a great shame – if we could only invest wholeheartedly in Barry and Iris as siblings and friends instead of potential lovers, the cast would be infinitely more comfortable and the heavy weight of expectation on Candice Patton could be relaxed. With Malese Jow recently cast as Linda Park* it remains to be seen whether the writers are adopting a gradual approach to the reboot and steering Barry into the arms of a different love interest, thereby amalgamating aspects of the various Flash incarnations.
*Second Flash (or third if you’re getting technical) Wally West’s beau.
A truly heinous performance this episode, meanwhile, was unfortunately Kelly Fry as the titular Plastique/Bette. Wooden delivery and a static facial expression neutered Bette’s supposedly tragic story. The writers admirably tried to reinvent Bette (a suicide-bombing terrorist in the comics) as a heroic figure whose power-set is the dark mirror to Barry’s - “You have been given the amazing ability to help people, she makes things explode,” Caitlin outlines – but the attempt to break with the season’s formula was rendered moot by a lacklustre performance. This also affected the episode’s principle theme of friendship a second time. To illustrate Barry’s early musings on “why people come into our lives,” Barry needed to meet, befriend, let down, mourn and learn from an entirely new character in 45mins – a Herculean task under normal circumstances. Faced with an uncharismatic performance it became impossible. There’s no warmth to the new friendship for Barry to grieve when Bette is shot, which leaves only a weak motivation for Barry’s later decision to avoid Iris for a while.
Minor Points:
What better place for Barry to discover he has immunity from being drunk than in an Irish Themed Pub? The scenes at both the start and end of the episode are another example of how well integrated the core cast have been since the outset. Compare this to the weak start for AGENTS OF SHIELD last year…
Jury’s out on Cisco, still. His jokes misfire as often as they hit the mark, his incredulity at Barry losing the suit plays well, but his crush on Bette later in the episode feels both forced and sinister, instead of the intended cute & funny.
Sneaky Wells went full-villain this episode encouraging Bette’s murderous stand. His 'Sheep-Dog’ speech was one of the shakiest yet from the writing staff. If there are any veterans out there who can defend/corroborate the 'protect your flock’ bit, I’d love to hear from you. Evidence is stacking up that Wells will turn out to be the series 'Big Bad’ – begging the question for long-time Flash-Fans; who the hell is Eddie going to become, if anyone?
Eddie’s kind of alright, isn’t he? He is, as Caitlin notes, “Hot”, he’s got that dreamy voice, he’s responsible, natural police, and doesn’t mind hanging out with his girlfriend’s foster brother and nerdy friends. Hard to see why Barry’s so wary of him, apart from the fact he’s dating Iris. He needn’t worry, Eddie’s started referring to his girlfriend by her last name. Uncool bro’.
'The Pipeline’ is an unexpectedly good name for their makeshift reactor prison facility.
Central City’s on the coast now? CENTRAL CITY?
For a character who is often characterised as brittle and humourless, Caitlin gets the episode’s two best zingers: “Oh my god, do I sound like Felicity?” - a lovely, knowing wink from the writing staff; “Barry, this isn’t a road-runner cartoon” - regarding Barry’s crazy mattress solution to the window-washer problem.
The Grodd-nod. Fan’s have been salivating since the Pilot’s Easter-Egg and here we get a brief glimpse of the future super-villain. How the character will work on screen once he emerges from the shadows and starts talking though, is anyone’s guess. Though they could do worse than rehire the peerless Powers Boothe as the voice as they did in the JLA cartoons.
Yeah yeah yeah, so I’m a little behind. Blame it on low self esteem or something. You’ll get the first episodes of those series you love to hate in due course, Meanwhile please enjoy (really - pretty please) my catch-ups and spread the love, If you love comics book television I want to hear from you. Comments, praise, vitriol it’s all welcome. If you have a question about specifics or finer details, be sure to hit me up in my INFREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS arena, Response guaranteed (decency less so…)
Next up: FLASH S01E05
GOTHAM continues to struggle in the marketplace due to one obvious flaw – we know how the story ends. Prequels are popular, that’s no secret. They work in film because for 2 hours an audience can jettison their irritation at previous incarnations of a character and congratulate themselves on successfully identifying the hidden clues and obvious nods to a character’s basic structure. But as a series dynamic? That’s a harder sell. Particularly when you’re talking 22 studio episodes.
SMALLVILLE famously had a ‘no tights, no flights’ policy. But even the most die hard fan has to admit that rule began to wane by the 5th series. Welling’s Superboy was a Superman in all but name. He’d mastered the art of being both noble and human – there was no ground to cover.
GOTHAM (the series) will always rail against it’s own narrative. Things in Gotham (The city) must get increasingly bad for the people to need a Batman. But the Execs at GOTHAM central have dipped their hand too soon. Gotham is corrupt beyond belief – Cops are ordered to execute witnesses, gangs are tolerated, assassins can walk into the GCPD and claim an officer’s head without a single objection and we’re only on episode 8. Understand: I don’t object to the implausible level of corruption, I object to the fact it’s been blown too soon. Where can they go from here? How bad could it be beyond what we’ve seen?
But enough fat-chewing – let’s recap…
We open on a duel between stock brokers (at least I think they’re stock brokers – they’re wearing braces and Michael Fish ties). The fight is Arrow-brutal. Often I have fantasized about using a guillotine blade as an actual guillotine (Oh and you haven’t?), so I was saddened when the post credits shot showed the head still very much attached to the body.
Nygma, as always, provides good Nerd. He’s a tough one to call at this stage. He doesn’t possess the character in quite the same definitive way Robin Lord Taylor possesses the Penguin. This may be deliberate – I’d wager much of my pocket money that Nygma will be Season 2’s rise to infamy – but I can’t help feel that Cory Michael Smith is phoning in his best nerd-on-the-edge performance, waiting for better writing to intercede. Time will as always tell. But the problem in the present is Nygma’s always right. I could be wrong – please chip in – but I don’t think he’s been wrong all season. So why doesn’t he have a better rep? Sure he’s annoying, but Dexter was annoying and evasive, yet trusted completely because he got results. It’s hard to hate a guy who’s good at his job. And as a Brit I find myself rooting for the underdog. Listen to Nygma.
So next day we’re analysing the body – and if Sionis is frequently pitting colleague against colleague why hasn’t he found a better way of disposing of bodies. In ARKHAM CITY (Game – it’s canon) the Sionis family own a smelting plant. One would think… But OK, I’ll accept GOTHAM operates by different rules. They’re trying to establish a new world of corruption. But the emergence of an entirely complete corpse displays a severe lack of imagination on the part of the murderer’s puppet master. And again we run a character fault up the flagpole. “Spirit of the Goat” showed Harvey to be every bit the astute detective Jim now tries to be, only jaded. Why then is he so often leaping to terrible conclusions?
Finally Penguin enters and as usual steals the show. Despite the frankly dippy premise of the scene Robin sells it with his rather wonderful smarm/psychosis perfected hybrid. Even if we can’t see how he steals the pin we forgive the script flaw because Penguin is just too threatening a villain.
PANTO INTERLUDE: Widow Mooney throws shade. Penguin adopts a little finger wagging of his own, despite knife-in-hand injury. Widow Mooney is a blood connoisseur. It’s on!
Alfred and Bruce are doing the school run. Bruce is understandably unnerved but this is later compounded by Fringe King (He’s “Y'know chillin'”) Tommy’s immediate bullying campaign. I’ve been the victim of bullying many times but I’ve never seen anything so spontaneous and hefty as “So, your mum and dad got killed, huh?”
For a man who tried to murder his partner last week Bullock’s being awfully self righteous and loyal. His beard of judgement frowns upon Essen, guilting her into what will surely be the inevitable shaming/desperate expansion of her thus far limited character.
Just as we’re all getting bored, Carol Kane swoops in like a Brechtian stereotype made of lace. Thick of accent and wit, she somehow informs Oswald how to strategise against Fish. I rather love Gertrude’s part so far. It’s overblown and daft to be sure, but there’s something Burton-esque about the performance which is pleasing and true to the Penguin’s character. Long may Gertrude live.
Suddenly we get a major clue: Sionis investments – well, it’s clear where this is now going. And therein lies the problem of all Gotham narratives. If we know the man, if we know the family, we can assume enough fucked-upedness to guess the killer – no surprises.
I’d love for Barbara Gordon to be anything but a senseless plot device right now. Her secret-bank bullshit has played way past its usefulness. Time to cash in your chips, Barb. Surely you can be a proud, supportive, useful member of the community without Jim? And I’ll say it: Barbara’s tiny dressing gowns have become a problem. She seeming spends her days wandering the flat in nightclothes and undergarments. I’ve lived with a woman for six years; this just does not happen, unless the nightclothes in question are porridge-stained pair of old jogging bottoms and a baggy T-shirt. “Ignore me, I’m just tired,” she whispers, as if she has no right to be cross with Jim one week after his job got her kidnapped and threatened with torture. Would that I could, Barbara.
Lllllllet’s get ready to rumblllllllee. Nygma’s somewhat anachronistic autopsy is rather wonderfully played with the ceiling mic, but again it butts heads with the show’s pretense towards realism. This is 70s French Connection dirty cops. Why is Edward even still employed in such a rough, determined-to-cover-up-the-truth department? He has none of Gordon’s macho force, nor has he shown the full extent of his manipulatory powers. Why does he still have a job?
Meanwhile Gordon’s all over Richard Sionis (I’d say that’s a fairly weak Italian name but his Comics forebear was Charles). “A shrink would say you’re hiding something” - I’m not sure they’d be so literal, Jim. Bullock’s Good Cop isn’t in his tool kit. And I’d have to agree at this stage. He showed spark in 'Spirit of the Goat’, but the jumping to obvious conclusions has become Harvey’s bread and butter. He’s CSI’s Nick (aka 'The Neck’).
The resulting bathroom brawl at Sionis Investments is so poorly edited as to make Harvey’s timely entrance an unclear blow to the aggressor’s bonce.
It takes a lot to take the Man-who-would-be-Hush and make him even more of a turd. The oft maligned villain is, in the comics, at least insidious enough to be Bruce’s best friend (and a chess master, naturally). Here we have only high school bully tactics and it’s weak characterisation for a potentially important peer. Even offset against Brucey’s Bitch-Slap.
Nygma enters with some bullshit 'Printer Toner’ clue. Truly I thought that the braces were enough to identify this killer as a white collar mofo, but Nygma as always is undermined. It’s part of his job description.
“How could their deaths cause all this?” - Thanks Essen – you made my point for me. The series is trying too hard to link a merely tragic incident to an 'Inciting Incident’. Does anyone really believe that the Waynes’ murder would trigger not just a crime spree but a freak spree? Gordon clearly does but it’s fast and loose writing at best.
Barbara continues in her quest to absolutely fail the Bechdel test with a phone call that isn’t just wasteful to a script but downright insulting to her character. As if trying to play runner up, Liza’s poisoning of her new beau is so clumsy as to be laughable. “The Boss wants his tea,” says Hoodlum 1, whilst she ponders her vile like an Angel of Death Nurse.
Jim finds himself in hot-water as usual because he refuses to work with others – despite Bullock’s proven record of at least assisting, if not outright saving his life. And speaking of… Harvey performs what could be the weakest motivational speech in TV history, 'inspiring’ his fellow jaded officers to gallantry despite their noted corruption and lack of moral compass. Only Essen, a Police Captain lest we forget, volunteers to run down leads. When did her calender suddenly get so much free time? Hurry guys, Jim needs some-
NOPE! Jimmy needs no help. He needs only a Guillotine blade and brass balls to defeat a room of four angry coked-up brokers. Essen’s timely contribution appears to be framed as restoring humanity to the manic Jim but let’s look at those time-signatures: Jim’s already stopped himself. He dropped the blade, he prevented his own rage from overtaking him. What was won here? What was lost? Surely not the soul of Jim Gordon – we already know he’ll be fine.
The rest is house keeping: a distinctly Fishy monologue: she watched her mum prostitute herself and decided she should become a gangster - what else? Apparently not even female mob bosses can be successful without a childhood trauma relating to the subjugation of women. But what’s this? The sad little theatre act she was supposedly auditioning is her mom? I’m not misreading that, am I?
We close on Brucey asking Alfred for a fighting lesson. After Alf’s single-handed take down of Gotham’s finest last week, I can think of worse teachers. Pertwee as always manages to convey both love and school-of-hard-knocks badassery with his Masterchef voice. I look forward to the results.
Minor Points:
10:53mins - “Is that King Suffuel (Shuffle/Shafule)?” - Feel sure this is a clever reference – did anyone catch it?
Alf gave Brucey his father’s watch as a weight for his fist. Not the most ergonomic of devices. Wouldn’t a punch almost certainly damage the valuable keepsake? Not to mention Master Brucey’s fist?
“I wouldn’t call it a speech.” - Neither would I, Bullock, neither would I.
A strange thing happened this year. Strictly speaking many strange things happened this year. Something strange may be happening to you right now (check, and see).
But in the sister realms of Comics and Television - parallel dimensions I doggedly straddle with my seven-league boots - something quite remarkable happened. A convergence*. For realsies.
Suddenly it’s 2002 again.
Spider-Man just scored a major goal for Sony, teasers for X2 have started making the rounds - they’ve got Nightcrawler and Lady Deathstrike and told Halle Berry to stop with the African accent. Fox has Daredevil and Fantastic Four, Universal has Hulk, Frank Miller and Robert Rodriguez are gonna take a stab at Sin City and maybe, just maybe, Warners have finally Bloody Mary-ed their way out of a Schumacher hangover enough to reboot Batman. Comic Books are back in fashion and they’re on your screen!
The scramble of yesteryear pidgeon-holed all your favourite comic book properties by studio, and one by one they hit the cinemas to varying degrees of success. And then things petered out as they inevitably always do. Daredevil couldn’t decide if he was gritty or camp, the Hulk became the thinking man’s hero (Hulk smash?), the Fantastic Four killed the career of anyone involved for the next 5 years and Sin City forgot to make a sequel.
Batman Begins was good though. But I lost count of the number of times I heard audience members say, “Yeah, I enjoyed it, but you know what was missing? A protracted narrative set mostly in daylight, a posh incomprehensible villain whose face you can’t see and, I dunno, something about banks being dicks.”
But hey, it doesn’t matter. Because the revolution will be televised.
Thanks to the unprecedented success of Marvel Films and their meticulously in-built meta-narrative, and the tentative but no less brave toe-dipping of DC based TV execs, comics found a new home on the small screen at a time when binge watching has become the norm. Finally comics found a medium that could properly indulge the angst-ridden teen soap operas on which they made their name.
It started with SMALLVILLE. And whatever else you might say about cardboard cut-out super-boy, ratings that justify 10 series are nowt to sniff at.
If we’re being honest it really started with ARROW. Bonkers, wooden, soapy ARROW, with it’s commitment to Nolan-lite productions values, abs over talent and impressive action choreography. And it caught fire. The writing was pretty dreadful, but they found a sweet spot between fan-pleasing cameos, blended origin story/present tense plotting, and weekly doses of kung-fu archery. It was kind of brilliant.
Then Marvel – sick of sticking DC cinema’s head down the toilet – decided to get in on the action. They crafted what was probably the worst collection of opening episodes for a TV series since ITV2’s SWITCH and called it ‘Agents of Disappointment’. Of course Cap 2 kicked off a few months later and S.H.I.E.L.D. suddenly became relevant. All the pedestrian character building and flawed team dynamics were given a new lease of life and the AoS finished their freshman year on a formidable winning streak.
And then all hell broke loose: THE FLASH, CONSTANTINE, GOTHAM… Lines were drawn, properties snatched up like Wonka Bars. Execs frantically gargling chocolate whilst thumbing the wrappers for a glimpse of gold. Netflix jumped blindly onto the moving train and commissioned four new Marvel series – the first of which, somewhat bravely, would be a Daredevil reboot.
De. Ja. Vu.
So, what’s this blog about? If you’re good-eggs and you’ve stuck with me through my rambling introduction, then come back next week and find out. I’ll be tracking the progress of the TV geeksplosion in weekly round-ups - part recap, part review, part pop-chart - offering my structuralist, feminist, and hell, atheist analysis on all your favourite nerd series. In between, I’ll probably lose the plot and start eating into actual comics and movies too. It’ll be self-indulgent but mighty entertaining. Bring a friend.
And booze.
*Note that DC just made a timely announcement regarding their 'new’ initiative for 2015 called Convergence - in fact a series of retrospective two-parters offering long time fans a glimpse at many of their pre-New 52 heroes. Take a deep breath and you’ll catch a whiff of regret for their 2011 line-wide reboot lingering like an unclaimed fart.
kierongillen
Anonymous asked:
Just some initial thoughts.
I’ve avoided thinking about it yesterday, but check in before bed, and immediately regret it. There’s enough that’s ominous in the first set of results that the immortal words of Aliens’ Frost come to mind: “I’ve got a bad feeling about this drop.” I go to sleep before it starts to become clear.
I wake up to a text from a political journalist friend of mine: “Oh god”
I find myself in desperate need of a suicide pact breakfast. On the way to bacon, I find myself people watching. I live in Lewisham. We’re firmly remain. But still, 1 in 3 people. I look at people with suspicion, trying to guess the who and the why. C notes that’s of the people who votes, so it’s more like 1 in 4 if you include the people who didn’t vote. This is slightly comforting, but only slightly.
Still - Highest pro brexit place in the country was the West Midlands. That’s where I’m from. The gap between where I came from and where I am now is suddenly very clear. I’m aware even if Remain won, the results and the map of the results speaks to a country that’s divided by enormous, violent pressure. As others have noted, the results are a rejection of every single part of the political mainstream.
In the co-op, Karma Police plays and i manage a grim smile.
Immediate economic drop. God knows how much of it will stick, or how bad it will go, but the “I told you so” is going to be distinctly unsatisfying. “I told you Rome was highly flammable, Nero” you say as the flames lick around you.
The demographics of the votes are obviously getting a lot of comment. 60+ hugely pro leave, 30 and under hugely pro stay. There’s the “you have fucked our future and are going to die before you see what happens” argument, which I find it hard not to have sympathy for. But, average age is longer than you think now, and I suspect this will hit hard enough and fast enough for people to see exactly what they voted for. Currency collapse like this hits those on fixed incomes like pensions and savings in a particularly hard way. Don’t worry: they’ll suffer like the rest of us. If we burn, we’ll all burn together.
Cameron has clearly cemented his position as one of the worst Prime-Ministers in history. At least Chamberlain never fucked a pig. If this were a board game, I’d be congratulating Johnson (And I think we should all stop playing into his brand by calling him “Boris”) for a game well played, but sadly it’s real life, so it’s fucking reprehensible opportunism. And the “without a bullet” from Farage in the wake of Jo Cox is as unforgivable thing as he’s ever said, which has stiff competition.
This is the worst sort of political decision - both unethical and unwise, and I fear for both this divided country and Europe as a whole.
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