This episode centers around Nala (yes, as in "Lion King", BTW), as she has to confront Death, as in person. Maybe purposefully, maybe it was just luck, but Mr. Invincible (the Grim Reaper's latest pseudonym), played by Timothy Spall, was the most annoying - and disgusting - character on Sinbad so far, and that includes Razia's Water-thieves.
(BTW, does anyone know if she'll be coming back? Odds are in her favor, I feel.)
Okay, in this incarnation, Death is rot and deterioration, more like Pestilence than Death, if you want to go all Revelation. (Well, maybe they like to share or something.) Is that bad or not?
The answer, of course, lies within the audience. As the last quarter of this episode shows, Mr. Invincible ("Anicetus" in Greek) can be very stylish and a real ladies man, since he wants Nala to himself... personally. As in an a personal manifestation, an avatar if you will. Gives the whole "bride of death" thing a whole new meaning.
And Nala? What about her? Well, in this episode she let go of her dead father's memory and became a woman, rather than a girl. Seriously, if we're to go into deeper symbolism, a woman's marriage means her becoming a woman socially as opposed to biologically/chronologically, as she moves from her father's house to her husband's. In this case, of course, the groom was death and Nala's bridal house - the bottom of the sea (Davy Jones says "Hi" and reminds Mr. Invincible that his lease for the Flying Dutchman is X dinari by the hour), but Sinbad crashed the wedding and prevented Nala from marrying death, leaving the groom with just Nala's father (literally, because the man/zombie is already dead - the sea monster has eaten him back in ep 1, remember?), thus freeing Nala from her father's ghost (or zombie, whatever), making her a free woman in a modern sense instead. Gosh, I wonder what the connotations here can be and will we find anyone for Gunnar, by the end of the season as well? Maybe Razia, if she's alive (let's leave Mr. Invincible out of this), but she's probably too slutty for Gunnar's taste...but who knows? Maybe that's how he likes them.
After the (failed) wedding, of course, comes the rain - the sign of rebirth. It revitalizes everyone, even the prone cook, making one wonder once more - what's up with him? Is he the spirit of the ship - he specifically called the ship 'his' throughout the episode? If so... there's still the question of what did he do to the Water-thieves and the merchant's girl from the previous episodes - turned them into household items, maybe? Or maybe he's also a man-eater and has fed them to Sinbad and co. yet. Either way, the up-coming episodes may reveal more yet.
Finally, the Akbari subplot. Taryn is back in Akbari's good graces, winding him further and being wound by him in return. Yes, the Amir has good reasons to keep Taryn away from his brother - they just aren't good for each other. Of course, the Amir's own support for Akbari has yet to amount to anything, so Taryn, with her finally locating Sinbad and his ship, is actually one step up from the Amir.
...Of course, now that Sinbad is found, what will Akbari and Taryn do to him? He's quite out of Basra's jurisdiction, and the Amir may not sent his soldiers on a fool's quest on Taryn's - or even Akbari's - say-so. But again, this all will be revealed in the upcoming episodes - maybe.
In conclusion, then, I can safely say that this was a very dramatic and tense episode with some great acting done by all, especially Timothy Spall. The fact that the CGI were relatively minor in this episode amounts to it being great as well. Hopefully, the upcoming episodes won't disappoint us either.
No comments:
Post a Comment