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rorodawnchorus · 3 years

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The Devil Judge, Ep.1 Meta

(On the re-imagined justice process, imageries, parallels in South Korea and our world today)

As with all dystopian fiction, it is not exactly a far-fetched imagining of our world. Instead, it is a critique of our society which seeks to amplify the inequalities and suffering of society through some exaggeration.

The Devil Judge is that: it "re-imagines" South Korea today with a sprinkle of cyberpunk aesthetics (a little too much bluish green tint) and dystopian imagery (of homeless people, a very dirty subway and dingy backalleys on a rainy night).

I kept thinking it was a dystopian "future" but was wondering why they were using only Samsung Note 20 instead of some Samsung futuristic prototype phone. So, those phones do keep audiences grounded in the reality it is portraying -- this is the alternative South Korea of today.

We are barely halfway into the first episode and we've got this extremely charismatic, anti-hero male lead strutting red carpets and making verbose declarations like "I am the power. By the judicial authority delegated to me by the people of Korea, I will run this court. And it is the people who hold this power." (Not verbatim but that's the gist).

Then, meet associate judge Kim Ga-On who seems to be against how the system is running. He seems to be the outlier who rose to his ranks from the bottom class of society (which his colleague Oh Jin-joo says, he looks like he's from the shanty town of Seoul). We start off, barely into the drama at this point, with a dramatic scene of a kindergarten bus ramming down barricades and charging towards the Court building. A group of kindergarten children crossing the road there (I've just no clue what businses kids would have near the court building tbh). A little girl tripping as they were rushed across the road, Ga-On jumping to the rescue, and unable to pick her up in time, shields her with his own body. Kang Yo Han is just there, taking a heavy gun from the guard and unhesitantly opened fire at the bus driver who was flooring the pedal. He misses the driver's head and hits the headrest before firing again. The bus swerves and flips. The driver loses consciousness and Ga On (again!) jumps to the rescue. So, here the tone is set. We've got this "devil judge" who seems to be the ultimate modern day anti-hero who's given immense amount of power.

Much more interesting is that in this dystopian South Korea, we've got what seems like a publicly elected judiciary (or Kang Yo Han is perhaps the first?) and that has always been something that has been discussed in legal academic. Not the idea of electing the judiciary but that the argument of the judiciary not being publicly elected can be seen as slightly out of tune with democracy. (In legal academic, however, this is theoretically seen as being balanced by the separation of powers; ie. the executive branch (=government) and elected members of Parliament/Congress are supposed to be fully separated from the judiciary and should therefore never interfere with the judiciary. But, of course, these are all theoretical stuff. They look good on paper and when discussed in legal essays but in reality, it can often be different (if not, the exact opposite). This series takes things to yet another level by imagining the inception of a publicly televised and publicly voted trial.

This goes against the nature of trials in general because in our world today, the judiciary (wherever it may be) typically have mechanisms (ie. laws and codes) to prevent manipulation by media. The principle of fair trial requires that no external influence affects the process of adjudication (ie. the judgement by judges). There also tends to be avoidance of trial by public opinion because the way the law is interpreted and applied can be rather technical and different from what people may say or think about a certain trials, the decision delivered and also sentencing. Trial by jury is the nearest it gets but that too can be a fairly technical process which do also include considerations like avoiding a two-day trial to prevent influence by the media or other agents on a jury member's decision. (A recent drama mentioning this is Law School). The thing about this idea of trial by the public is that standards of morality can be very subjective and varies from person to person. Judgement by judges are not entirely free from the influence of morality, but the process is a litle more stable through the processes of interpretative practices, case precedents and legal theories. Previously in another Kdrama, Miss Hammurabi (2018), Judge Lim Ba-reun became slightly frustrated by his friend's comment that having a jury trial is like "true democracy" because the "people gets to decide" and he even thinks the judiciary should be elected too. Lim Ba-reun sarcastically said he must have loved every elected politican since they were elected by the public. He tells him grimly that no jury has ever found a policeman who had beaten up a Black man to be guilty. He also pointed out that Nazi, the Holocaust and Hitler were all supported by the public.

In this series, the premise allows all of these imaginings to be realised and played out. It is peak criticism, I think, when they portray the scenes of the TV producer being excited about the real-time ratings and viewer ratings. And also the scene of the broadcasting channel's chairman dancing in joy when he received realtime report of the ratings (vowing to treat his equally wealthy friends to a meal). Even when his other friend seemed appalled by the decision delivered by Judge Kang, the Chairman could not hide his joy in the skyrocketing viewership ratings. This really reminded me of the entire Produce 101 franchise which also heralded the shows for putting the decision in "The Nation's Producers" (ie. voters) and emphasised how it is the Nation Producers who put together ("produce") the National Kpop group that is bound for success and set to receive national love. All of this illusion collapsed (and the Korean franchise died along with it) when the court finds its producers guilty of voting manipulation. The Devil Judge seemed to have a similarly dramatic flair in its emphasis of TV production gimmicks, camera angles, cuts of a person's reaction, etc. The President of South Korea (who has a very light voice, a penchant for orotund speeches and a lack of concern for national policies) and all these top 1% of people tuned in were on the edge of their seats watching Judge Kang orchestrate this theatre of public trial. Kim Ga-On watched him closely and was sure that Judge Kang had something up his sleeves and was definitely up to no good, yet he couldn't tell. When he finally delivers a verdict (that yes, this was a case of professional negligence and not negligent homicide), Ga-On was crestfallen and frustrated because it carries a mere 5 year imprisonment maximum. But Kang turns the table and brings up the newly passed legislation which allows accumulative sentence which then resulted in 235 years of imprisonment.

This sounded very much like how some Korean netizens had previously wondered (online) why Korea couldn't have a sentencing system like the US where the years of imprisonment can go up to 100 years or 500 years. Again, this was like realising an alternative South Korea that many have perhaps tried imagining. Episode 1 ends with Judge Kang stepping down from his high seat when a victim's family member bowed deeply with her hands clasped, as though in prayer, and even kneeled to him. This corresponded well and tied perfectly into the religious/godlike imagery represented in the justice's robes which is reminiscent of the pope's robes and resembles a priest's robe, and the app they named DIKE or Diety of Justice (正義의 神). When Judge Kang hugs the old woman with a compassionate smile, teary eyed and full of empathy, he ends up yawning barely a minute into consoling the weeping woman. Ga-On witnesses this and realises, all of this must have been a gimmick after all. He had his hopes up when Judge Kang serves the sentence of 235 years. The episode ends.

I think this series is set to be a great one. (Just as Law School was amazing too!) It has tons of stuff to unpack, lots that goes into the cinematography and camerawork. While characters do seem a little more like caricatures rather than realistic people that are properly fleshed out in the narrative, there is still promise to push beyond these caricatures. I think there is also a lot in the imagery of dystopia and the constant bombardment of messages from the government (which is often the mainstay of dystopian fiction) which emphasises a certain narrative which they want the people to believe. For example, Kim Ga-On is travelling up the escalator when there were ads of the DIKE app, ads on electronic billboards on the justice system, paper posters plastered in the dark backalley where a high school girl is being dragged away by two men saying "The government will now create a safe South Korea". That last one is perhaps the most glaring one to me because when I was in Korea, it was repeated to me by different Korean individuals: "Your things are safe. No Korean will steal it. (Not sure about foreigners though!) You are safe. Crimes don't happen. I checked and there are no sexual offenders living in this neighbourhood." But... spycams can be anywhere. Men secretly follow women to their homes and try to break into them. Sexual harassment can happen anywhere. Robbery and theft can happen.

Personally, my paranoia and anxiety won't ever let me believe such words. No narrative, self-made or otherwise, can convince me enough to think that I am in a safe place. I would always have a nagging thought at the back of my mind telling me danger can be lurking just about anywhere. I think Koreans today do have high levels of confidence in their country. Most people do think it is safe to be walking around in the dead of night without any worry. (Again, I do not quite share the sentiment.) But this is a kind of self-made narrative because I also know my countrymen who travel to other countries like the UK and say "I feel absolutely safe walking the streets in the dead of night while I won't feel the same in my own country" when those are simply ideas they've planted into themselves through the mindset that [This country is better than my country and therefore safer.] There is absolutely no correlation between a "better" country and crime rates (or potential of becoming a victim of crime). Not to mention, being an Asian in a Western country sets you up as a likelier victim of hate crime...

So, I was saying.... This narrative of "safe Korea" is already existing in South Korea today. The need for mass surveillance or a spycam detecting task force in public toilets don't add up with a "safe country" image but the sentiment planted into the people seems to be strong despite all of this. However, Koreans do call South Korea "Hell Joseon". Youth unemployment can be a concern is a country like South Korea and a graying population, increasinly empty gray towns like the one mentioned in the series are all concerns which are ever-present in the public conscious. The mention of plauge and unemployment too must be a major concern now. In a rather similar vein, this narrative of DIKE or trial by the public through app voting creates a sentiment that people can take into their own hands and deliver justice. But what about the people at the margins of society who are homeless and do not own smartphones? What is this concept of democracy that places power in the hands of people? Is it a mere illusion or is power really in the hands of people?

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(A side note on how the indicted chairman of the company responsible for mass poisoning of an entire town had brushed off concerns about a failing filtration system and the move of industrial plants to Southeast Asia. As a Southeast Asian, it is also something on my mind how South Korea has moved out of China and moved most of its plants to Southeast Asia for cheap labour. But what about the pollution here, the appallingly low wages they pay Southeast Asians (both white and blue collars!) in comparison to the few Korean expat managerial staff or engineers they station out here? I remember how I was at the hospital at 2 am and a small group of blue collar workers in their work uniform came in with their injured colleague; this can only mean they were at work past midnight due to some accident and we are still in the midst of the pandemic. What kinds of welfare and benefits are these blue collars provided with?)

#The Devil Judge #Park Jinyoung #Jisung #악마판사

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isisparker · 4 years

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Couple Thoughts on OCN’s Search

[completely based on all episodes up until Ep 7]

So yeah, I was right to speculate on a previous post that there are THREE infected.

And that the og infected [aka NK defect Sang Min] is the HOST that Ye Rim [and science! Science for the Win!] came to the realization after having taken down one of the latter infected. Love that Ye Rim not only used science and reasoning, but her own gut instinct and self reflection as to events that happened had helped her realize that there was one more “target” out there.

So in case anyone’s confused, the science of this virus/mutation goes like this (according to events and the scientists’ findings/specs up to episode 7): The Host (aka NK defect Sang Min) was exposed to radiation that infected him and mutated his genetic coding and has possibly made him stronger due to the mutation circulated into his blood stream for years. The Host was later bitten/attacked by a Wild Dog that had rabies. The Rabies and the Genetic Radiation mutated into a new abnormally and lived inside Wild Dog. The Wild Dog attacked/maimed/infected Corp Oh and Soldier/Target and because THEY were infected with the new mutation, THEY Turned Into those Red Eyed Mutants.

THE ANGST/CONFLICT IS NOW REAL BETWEEN JOON SUNG AND DONG JIN. Joon Sung’s damn loyalty and wanting his dad’s approval drove him to do something dishonorable and you can truly tell 1. how it really is unlike his character and 2. how GUILTY he’s feeling. He’s especially starting to show remorse every time he sneaks a glance over at Dong Jin. And Dong Jin’s look of betrayal upon realizing that Joon Sung wasn’t the man he thought he was! But that despite now how he can’t even look at him with the same respect and admiration he had prior, he still acts respectfully and civil towards him. I know it’s not an outlier because Dong Jin is an adult and a soldier, but look at how he regards Min Kyu vs. Joon Sung. There’s a difference! [and honestly, since I lowkey shipped Dong Jin and Joon Sung, I’m LIVING for it.]

Also Dong Jin and Ye Rim are OBVIOUSLY past their bickering ex phase and coming towards the We Still Like Each Other But It’s Awkward To Even Barely Admit THAT. [poor Moon Cheul never stood a chance]

Min Kyu still making deals behind the scenes and y’know what? As much as a part of me was hoping for a redemption/growth arc for him, he is just TOO GOOD at playing all the cards so he has the best hand! At least he stopped being That Asshole leader (at least for now. who knows now that he’s put himself in Lee Hyuk’s pocket).

Speaking of Lee Hyuk -- I think it’s VERY coincidental that he’s now on base/at the village where it all started for him. Horror/Monster/Suspense dictates that if he stays in this village as shit goes down, he will be one of the last few to die. C’MON TROPES DON’T LET ME DOWN.

Love that the Polaris unit didn’t refuse or deny helping the villagers find Soo Young.

Speaking of: THAT CHILD SHOULD KNOW BETTER NOT TO WANDER TOO FAR OUT. I mean she’s lived next to the DMZ her whole life. Then again, curious little children be curious.

And Da Jung suiting up alongside them to join on the search? YES! Even better that the boys of Polaris even agreed on her joining them despite that she’s a former-special ops but now civilian.

*edited to add after having seen ep 8′s preview: LOOK AT MY BOY JOON SUNG NOT BEING A TOTAL BAD GUY! He saved the recording! He destroyed the camera but kept the tape! Please don’t do the cliche dying to redeem himself in Dong Jin’s eyes.

... yeah I can’t believe I’m enjoying the heck out of this drama. There are still ridic plot points and pacing issues, but overall it’s wild and entertaining enough for me to probably recommend this drama for those who don’t normally watch kdramas but enjoy the suspense/monster/thriller genre.

Oh and ngl I will legit be stunned if within the last few episodes NO ONE DIES.

#search #search ocn #ocn search #kdrama #ngl i wrote this for my own collective thoughts #there are probably like less than 10 ppl on this site that watches this show

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kinetic-elaboration · 3 years

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December 10: Endings

The posts that have been going around about all these bad, nonsensical, random tv endings we’ve been seeing recently (GOT, T100, SPN), have made me think about what makes a good television ending in my opinion.

I admit that concluding a series is probably quite tricky because most shows, if they’re not miniseries, are conceived without a known end point in mind. A show runner can build an idea around a 5-season arc, but he might not actually get 5 seasons. He might only get 1. Or he might get 10, if the show is popular. So unlike a movie or a novel, the first episodes need to set up a general premise, a universe, a theme, but not necessarily a specific plot with X number of specific plot points leading to a pre-ordained conclusion. There has to be a flexibility to the narrative. But when the whole thing is completed, it should feel, ideally, as if it WAS pre-ordained, as if the show was always meant to have as many seasons as it got and was working toward its conclusion the whole time.

So, roughly, I think shows that stick the landing do so because the showrunner knows what the show is, at its core, about, and crafts a finale that relates to the central theme(s) and brings the main narrative to a logical and emotionally resonant conclusion.

This is very rough and very general, and it’s a formula that applies more to some shows than others. TV is incredibly varied after all. I mean, first off, not all shows know their last season is their last season going in. You can’t judge the final episodes of, to use two examples of shows I liked that were unceremoniously axed recently, The Society or Altered Carbon as “finale episodes” because they were never meant to be finales. Then you have a show like My So-Called Life, which does have a Classic ending, despite ending all too soon--mostly because every episode of that show was classic, and it only had one season, so its season finale being a fitting ending to the season automatically means its series finale was a fitting ending to the series.

(It’s such an outlier that I can’t really compare it to anything but honestly--this is how to do an open-ended cliffhanger and still make it feel like a conclusion. But that’s a whole different post.)

My formula above also doesn’t apply well to sitcoms, because they aren’t really about anything, in terms of plot. Like the name says, they set up situations: a group of people who are family, co-workers, friends, and then lets those situations play out in a funny manner for as long as there are jokes to tell. Sitcoms to me end well if they don’t overstay their welcome, if they remain true to the characters (because it’s the characters, not the minimal narrative, that defines the show), and if they hit an appropriate ‘ending’ tone. But the biggest thing for me is if the sitcom went on for too many seasons. Even if the final episode isn’t the greatest, it’s fine. But if the last 2-4 seasons were lackluster, it tarnishes the whole legacy.

‘Procedural’ type shows are yet another category, and I’m not entirely sure how to characterize those, or what makes a strong ending for that sub-genre. I’m using ‘procedural’ broadly to include, like, Bad Guy of the Week type shows--for example, Charmed, which I thought should have ended after S7. Again, I think it’s about not letting the whole thing go on too long, and then staying true to characters and tone in the finale itself.

So looking just at dramas that have a season’s warning before their finale--which, really, are the type of shows that are most likely to make people ANGRY with shitty endings, because they lure the viewer in with the idea that a singular, coherent story is being told. Maybe it’s convoluted. Maybe it’s winding. Maybe it’s hard to tell where they’re going with this. But if it all comes together in the end, none of that matters--and if it doesn’t come together, what was the point of all the seasons that came before? It becomes, retroactively, a betrayal.

The more plot-driven the show (if it has a mystery, a conspiracy theory, a quest), the greater the betrayal if all fizzles out. But I think the same feeling can arise from shoddy conclusions in dramas more generally. The L Word is one of my comfort shows but that last season is a MESS all the way down, the finale especially. There definitely wasn’t a point to anything, and it wasn’t even entertaining as, like, a dramatic soap.

But then I think about shows whose endings I really liked. For example, Six Feet Under had a great final season and one of the best finale episodes/ending sequences ever. The show up to that point had been about death, and that theme had always been centered most particularly on Nate: his fears of the family business, his previous brushes with death because of his AVM, etc. So of course the show had to end by killing one of its mains, coming full circle with the pilot, showing real grief hitting home--and of course Nate’s personal journey as the main character had to end with his death. Everything about the conclusion was fitting, not even counting the final montage.

I also really liked the conclusion of Big Love, for similar reasons: it was thoughtful, and it successfully teased out the main strands, both of plot and theme, that had run through the show up to that point. The most important thing had always been depicting this family, their problems but also their strength and their love for each other--so, as the showrunners said, it had to conclude by showing you that the family survives. They are strong, and their bonds endure. But the ending was, and had to be, bittersweet too, because anything less would seem to sweep under the rug the real tragedies of the last seasons. Not everyone gets happy endings. And the unhappy endings relate specifically to the toxic patriarchy that’s haunted all of the characters from the pilot. Alby has a chance to turn away from his father and the compound life--but the forces arrayed against him were too strong, so there was no deus ex machina for him, and he ultimately just became fully the evil villain. And Bill is taken out not by the state or by the compound but by an aggrieved man who feels he’s been emasculated, forgotten, who is raging against being so Unseen. What a way to make clear what the common denominator in all of the threats of the past 5 seasons has been.

I also give major points to shows whose finales feel like they’re trying, even if they’re imperfect, especially if the imperfections are because of factors outside the showrunner’s control. For example, I saw someone list Dollhouse as one of their ‘worst endings’ but I have to disagree. I like the ending of Dollhouse. It wasn’t supposed to be 2 seasons. That’s well known. But that’s how many seasons it got, and I think honestly they turned that into a plus rather than a minus. Dollhouse was its best when it was rushing to a conclusion, when it was fast-paced and exciting. Did it always make complete sense? No. Were there some pretty big holes in the plot? Yeah--S2′s Big Bad was absolutely and transparently a retcon instituted between S1 and S2 and I get that, and I forgive the show for that. I thought bifurcating the epilogue as two extra episodes after each of the two seasons was genius, and I liked that it allowed the show to have its cake and eat it too: a happy ending, with the main, immediate, singular Big Bad eliminated, at the end of S2, and a more bittersweet, more complicated, post-apoc ending in the bonus episode. Yeah, I can see the seams; I know there were a lot of constructed work arounds in there because the show was intended to be longer. I think the ending was presented in good faith.

I also, perhaps controversially, liked the ending of Veronica Mars (the original 3-season show; I didn’t see the reboot). The way the season aired was weird and didn’t do it any favors: having a long break before the last couple of episodes, which existed outside of the two Big Case arcs of S3, makes those final stories feel tacked on and random. Basically impossible to have a strong finish with that kind of structure. But the very end of the last ep had the bitter, dark feel of a noir, which is what the show was, a mash up of a noir and a high school drama. I liked that they leaned on the noir rather than the high school aspect, because it was the more creative way to go imo. Also, I appreciated that S3, in general, learned from S2′s mistakes. Yes, the college years are always going to be lackluster compared to high school, in any series that starts with its characters in high school. But VM recognized that no overarching mystery was going to compare to the Lilly Kane murder, so it split the Big Mystery into two Medium Sized mysteries, and I thought that was smart. All of which makes me inclined to think fondly of the conclusion. As with Dollhouse, its weakest points seem to be compromises it had to make, not really its fault but just an inevitable imperfection of the form.

It’s pretty easy to list aspects of a bad ending: a sense that events are arbitrary, a disrespect of characters, a rushed construction, a jarring tone, and most importantly a disconnect between the finale and what came before. If the show appeared to be a narrative (as opposed to a situation), but it doesn’t feel like a complete and coherent whole at the end, then the conclusion was bad.

I didn’t watch GOT or SPN and I stopped watching T100 at the end of S4 (though I do feel confident from tumblr that the ending was Bad), so I have somewhat of a hard time thinking of shows that I thought had really bad endings. I can think of dissatisfying endings that came from shows being cancelled without warning. I can think of shows that lasted too long in general or otherwise had fallen from their greatest heights by the time they limped to a conclusion (unpopular opinion: Friends fits in this category--that show should have been 4 seasons, maybe 5 tops; Boy Meets World and Dawson’s Creek are comfort show favorites of mine but they both should have ended with high school, like, pretty objectively speaking; iZombie started a slow downturn after S2 and by the end of S4 was kinda unwatchable. I literally stopped halfway through the finale.). I can even think of shows that lost me by the end even though objectively they probably had good endings (for example, Crazy Ex-Girlfriend--I couldn’t get through S4 and the finale sounded... technically well-constructed but like it would have driven me nuts).

But then I guess most shows with shitty finales technically had shitty last seasons in general. Truly notorious crash-and-burns don’t come out of nowhere. I mean I’m sure there are counter-examples to this (what’s that one with the kid and the snow globe lol?) but unless you try for a weird last-minute twist, or unless you’ve got your audience hoping against hope that an impossibly twisty story is actually very smart instead of very ill-planned, it’s generally clear before the last episode if a narrative has lost its way. I don’t tend to watch a lot of ‘twisty-turny conspiracy’ shows, and when I do I am supremely skeptical all the way through, so it’s hard for me to think of examples I’ve personally watched of a last minute “what the fuck was that” conclusion.

#the year 2020 #2020: fandom thoughts #the entire purpose of this ramble is for me to avoid introspection rn because i'm in such a bad mood

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ihaveseentruebravery · 5 years

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Intro Analysis

So I had many, many thoughts about our lovely new intro. 😅

Intro Structure and Order

The order of the new intro is something I find fascinating. While I've kinda paid attention to intros of other shows, the order of them have often made a lot of sense and were typically all pretty similar in how they ordered their crediting to their actors and whatnot. However, the Mighty Nein intro is different even from the intro of Campaign 2. The only thing that stayed the same was that Travis and Marisha were first and second to be credited, respectively, while Matt was very last.

In the new intro, Nott/Sam is third, (while he was 5th in the other one), and Jester/Laura is fourth (while she was 7th previously). Travis, Marisha, Sam, and Laura (and their chars) are all introduced in the first 30 seconds. Then it cuts to their ‘beginning’ as a group after the Trostenwald meet-up when they get a cart and head north to Allfield together.

At :37 seconds and :40 seconds respectively, Liam and Ashley are credited, spliced with scenes (presumably from both of their character's pasts, if they were keeping consistent with the Jester past scene and the Caleb past scene shown). We then cut to other miscellaneous scenes of the group and animations of their fighting abilities (which are gorgeous). At 1:10, Taliesin is credited with a Caduceus shot (shoutout to the purple Mollymauk butterfly symbolism shown here and at the beginning group shot) for obvious reasons. And then, lastly, we get our darling Matt Mercer, same as the previous intro.

Now, we can analyze this order through a couple methods.

Chronologically:

Fjord's ship exploding that happened a few weeks before their session zero. His inciting incident to track down Jester (as Travis mentioned) because he'd seen her do magic and thought she might have answers or a way to get answers.

Beau facing the monks also could have happened a couple weeks before their session zero. (Maybe her inciting incident for leaving and heading out of Zadash)

Nott fleeing guards (could have happened the night before the start of EP 1), as Nott mentioned trying to steal stuff and almost getting caught when we're first introduced to her.

While we get a scene of past Jester, we also get their ‘starting out’ scene with her and the group in the cart leaving Trostenwald to head north towards Zadash and eventually the Soltryce Academy, as per the original plan of Fjord and Jester.

We then get a scene of Caleb being traumatized by fire, that could reference ep 7, and then ep 18 where he explained his trauma (the past scene here and his fellow students).

We cut to Yasha in a battlefield next which could also reference ep 16/17 where she explained a little about how she'd previously ‘gone to battle’ when asked if she'd killed any of her fellow peers (playmates) and her questions about the battles happening in Xhorhas in that Zadash arc of Harvest Close and the Victory Pit. We also see her current pursuit of the Storm Lord's mission as she's referenced many times.

Taliesin is a bit of an outlier in the order and for obvious chronological reasons, so that doesn't need much analyzing.

Narrative Impact:

Fjord and Beau have obvious and not so obvious inciting incidents to their individual journeys that are part of the reasoning behind the formation of the Mighty Nein. They're a big duo in the decision-making of where and what the Nein are doing. It makes sense for them to be at the beginning.

Nott's inciting incident is inextricably linked to Caleb. However, her past can come back to bite her in the ass at any time, and she is always, always aware of that. That's symbolized here with her fleeing this guard and her general narrative impact on the formation of the Mighty Nein. Caleb continually checked in with her about why they should stick with ‘these weirdos’ and in the beginning she always said they should, because it was safer for the both of them. And later she mentioned that it was really nice to be around people that weren't mean to her and physically abusive towards her. ('it's nice having conversations instead of people throwing rocks at me'-ep13)

Jester being fourth also makes sense. If Fjord and Beau are logical decision-makers, Nott and Jester are also a duo for the heart of the Nein. Caleb will do what Nott wants. He cares a great deal for Nott, and tends to follow her lead (especially in the beginning episodes). Nott and Jester were immediately friends, which made Caleb friendlier towards Jester. Nott and Jester wanted to stick together, and they, in ep2, became ‘Detectives!!’ together. Fjord and Beau wanted to do what Jester wanted. Yasha and Molly as well, were pretty charmed by Jester. And with the dissolution of the Circus, Molly was happy to tag along because he felt Jester, and Beau sort of, were fun to be around.

Additionally, what always struck me about both Nott and Jester, was that they truly felt like they were on a journey of self-discovery. Other similarities include: both of them are often underestimated by others, they're unpredictable, they like discussing romance with each other or Beau, and like playing tricks on people together. They both had a purpose (Jester to find her dad, Nott to be safe and be stronger together), but these two characters really seem to be searching for something, for some part of an identity they haven't yet found or decided on. It feels very 'YA fantasy heroine' as I think a few others have said. Jester's scenes/intro, really highlight both that aspect, and her impact on others within the narrative.

Caleb n Yasha being highlighted after a couple group shots, (Liam and Ashley being credited one after the other) is fascinating to me. It really made me sit up and go ????. But then narratively, it makes a certain amount of sense. Caleb's past has been the defining aspect of his characterization, and his effect on the others. I've thought for some time now that Yasha's characterization may have defined her in a similar sort of way. Caleb and Yasha have had a strange sort of kinship, as both Ashley and Liam have mentioned. They're both awkward sure, but I'm leaning more heavily into the theory, because of the subtext around Yasha, that they might also have very similar pasts.

The violence, the manipulation, the isolation of Caleb, could also be in aspects of Yasha's past when you consider some of the things Yasha's said. Additionally, it feels like both of them are seeking redemption, though for what in Yasha's case, I wouldn't know. But undeniably, both of their character arcs are going to have a gravitas-a narrative weight, on the setting of the Dwendalian Empire/Xhorhas that perhaps the others of the Nein wouldn't. Both of them will most likely have an impact specifically within the confines of the Empire/Xhorhas conflict.

Again, Mollymauk's coat, and then Caduceus being shown with Taliesin's credits, doesn't need much analyzation. The impact of both characters has been made obvious enough. And boy do I adore Caduceus’ lil purple butterfly.

Analysis of Timing/Structure

This part is more the light-hearted, subjective analysis of the timing/structure of the intro. There's a few things I just was delighted by because the timing of them just suggested certain things. First off, my hat goes off to the timing of the animation between :49 and 1:05. In order in this sequence, we see Caleb, Fjord, Nott, Jester, Caduceus, Beau, Yasha. Guess what that suggests for combat??? Ranged(Caleb, Fjord, Nott)->Mid-range/Melee(Jester, Caduceus)->Melee/Close combat(Beau,Yasha). That's just…awesome. I love how they structured that.

Another good sequence to analyze is from 1:15 to 1:20. In order, we see shots of Fjord and Jester, of Nott-Caduceus-Beau, and of Yasha and Caleb. With the Fjord and Jester shot, the lyrics of ‘Can you answer the call’ are overlaid, implying the trope ‘Call to Adventure’. If Fjord had never searched out Jester because of his inciting incident, he wouldn't have been Jester's ‘herald’, ie: her call to action, for her to go north instead of staying along the coast to search for her dad. If she had never met Beau by not journeying with Fjord north and them all meeting in Trostenwald, they never would have been led to the Gentleman, to the answering of Jester's own quest to find her father.

Another fascinating lyric is ‘Diggin deep in your soul’ heard over the shot of Nott-Caduceus-Beau. All of three of these characters have been set up by events in the narrative, to question their purpose, to do some soul-searching. For Nott, this is first done by Caleb, ('why should we stick with these weirdos?' - ep2) and is also done in Ep19 when the Nein questions her self-hate, and done again in ep 27 when she affirms that she loves the Nein, and that's why she's sticking around. Molly left his mark on Nott, and she has since his death, wanted to make sure that they all stick together, because she believes that they can do amazing things together, and that all of them are a little bit better as a group than what they could be on their own by themselves.

Caduceus’ whole thing is try to find or discover what his Goddess wants of him, of what he can do to save his home. Self-reflection and soul-searching come hand in hand with that kind of story. Mollymauk wasn't like that at all, he just lived life, but that Caduceus is almost the exact opposite kind of character, has an implicit connection to those lyrics. Beau is arguably, the one most affected by Molly's death. Previously, she'd been ordered to search out corruption and question everything, but Molly dying also made her question herself and her purpose. That sort of change is almost electric it's so exciting an effect. By her own self-reflection and soul searching in the episodes since, Beauregard has really come into her own and quickly become one of my favorite characters of anything I'm currently watching. If she continues in her path, she'll easily become the driving force, or the leader, of the Mighty Nein.

The following lyrics ‘As the legend unfolds’ over Yasha and Caleb made me squeal a little I was so excited. Of all of the Nein, the characters of Caleb and Yasha feel like they have the most narrative gravitas, the heaviest weight of impact. It would surprise me not at all if Caleb and Yasha are spoken of as legends from where they come from. If Caleb redeems himself, maybe those in Blumenthal will consider him a hero. If Yasha saves her people, maybe wherever she comes from in Xhorhas with consider her a legendary folk hero. We just can't quite get a handle on their mysterious pasts or what their ultimate goals are. Both of them are toeing a pretty fine line in my head, that makes me really want them to be heroes by the end of this campaign. All of the Mighty Nein should be, that would be amazing, but Yasha and Caleb in particular, have the potential for renown in their home villages, so to speak.

Symbolism/Details

There's a ton of both symbolism and little nods to the show in the little details all throughout this intro, so this is just my special shoutouts:

The doodles throughout Jester's room and her unicorn bedsheets.

The purple butterfly that symbolizes Mollymauk that's with Caduceus in a couple scenes.

The Nott wiggling her flask in their cart that's so reminiscent of Sam.

The fact that the Caleb in the cart next to Beau says 'fire' as he's watching through Frumpkin's eyes reminds me of them finding Allfield under attack and then it automatically switches scenes to Caleb's trauma/past.

Yasha slicing off heads of the Hydra (that fight stressed me THE FUCK out yo and thank all the PTB for Yasha).

The raven on the coat.

The guest stars being highlighted from Matt's book is just 👌👌👌.

I made out details of Lorenzo and the phase spider from the sewers in the little showcasing of the villains in the last shot and thought that was pretty cool.

Did I watch this at half speed at least ten times??? Absolutely I did. And now I'm off to do it again!

#critical role #critical role s2 #critrole #the mighty nein #metapigeon

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