MLP: FIM over - Oct 20

…And so, MLP: FIM has ended this year, at this time – autumn 2019. Hurray, or boo, or whatever you want to call it, the end. This incarnation of MLP is done and gone for good, (‘Equestria Girls’ might be a different matter – if anyone cares). What is left?

Firstly, the obligatory disclaimer: real life sucks. Considering that next week is the election week in Canada, this suckage will take on a new, political dimension: while Canada isn’t U.S., it had its’ share of ‘FLAWS!’ and ‘EXCITEMENT!’ regarding the election month loud and clear, and right now all of the political experts aren’t sure as to what will have once the elections are over, what kind of government that Canada will have. It might still be a better, more decorous and professional than whatever is going on south of the border, but at 2019-2020 it is a low bar to clear, sorry. Back to MLP?

Meh, the MLP: FIM ended on a predictable note, except for one element, (pun intended), and no, it’s not the dastardly trio get petrified at the series’ end. By now, the MLP: FIM franchise has had plenty of redeemed villains, such as Flim & Flam, or the speciest councillor from the penultimate season, as examples. Yes, having a designated irredeemable villain can be bad for the show, if handled incorrectly, as MCU’s AoS has handled Ward, and to a different extent – Palamas/agent 33, but here MLP: FIM is less reminiscent of AoS, and more of the ‘Avatar’ cartoon series. At the end of A: TLA, there were two of such irredeemable villains in the show: Ozai and Azula. Ozai had lost his bending, Azula became insane, (and you do not usually get such a detailed depiction of progressive insanity in cartoons, you know, as A: TLA did with Azula), and the cartoon series ended. Then there was A: TLK, and between them, the ‘Avatar’ franchise is releasing a series of comics/comic books that depict what happened between the two shows, (as well as some post A: TLK events). In them, Ozai is shown to be still a very formidable villain, bending or no bending, while Azula actually escapes and goes on to become a force to be reckoned with, complete with a legacy, that would surface in a roundabout way in A: TLK… so who’s to say that CG, LT and QC won’t resurface in some new way in the next variation of the MLP saga, the way that Ozai and Azula have in the world of the ‘Avatar’?

…Personally, I was more impressed by the sign of the united ponies/griffons/yaks/changelings/dragons/etc. as they moved against the villains as a single front at the end – Union of Equestrian Socialist Republics here we come!

…Yes, this probably won’t happen…and not just because by now the U.S. is admitting, however reluctantly, that its’ dream of a ‘global village’ is currently at an end and even if the Donald doesn’t run for the president at 2020, (if he gets impeached, for example), it doesn’t mean that the Democrats will win this election, (so far it isn’t even fully clear as to who their candidate will be on that year – everyone is so busy with the impeachment), which means that whatever that had went down at the MLP: FIM’s series’ finale, is a pure utopia that isn’t truly realistic at all. This brings us to the actual point: the show’s conclusion: Twilight Sparkle has become a proper alicorn ala Celestia and Luna, (and Cadance too, I guess), while the rest of the Mane 6 have aged and by now are more to Mayor Mare’s age when the show has started.

…When TS became an alicorn in the past season finales, the show’s crew promised that she would not outlive her friends, but now that the show is over, the finale has come and gone, and everything is said and done…TS probably will. The show’s crew broke their promise, but because the show is over, its’ main villains – and the Storm King, does anyone remember him by now – are finished, and no one really cares about the canon anymore. True, if a show goes on long enough – the current incarnation of ‘Supergirl’, for example – no one cares about the canon anymore, unless it throws a real twist, as the second and last season of AC had, but still. It is a statement broken, a lie. Ouch! Remind me not to believe what the people in TV-land say anymore, would you?

Anything else? Real life sucks and family always makes it worse; a new kind of apple – a Cosmic Crisp – is hitting grocery stores in real life soon from this date, (October 2019) – and this is it, really. Real life sucks, sometimes hatred is the only thing that can carry you through and, oh yeah, today is the international sloth day! (The animal, not the deadly sin). Enjoy!

…This is it for now. See you all soon!

Lost Girl, Nov 17 - Sleeping Beauty School

The 4^th season of “Lost Girl” continues strong. Bo is still missing, Dylan is still in love with her, and Hale finally decided to make a move for Kenzi but more on that below.

Firstly, Mr. Trick survived, though scarred – Aoife may be formidable herself, but her father is still the king, literally. For now Aoife is absent once again, so let us put her aside. Speaking of asides, Trick was also put aside for most of this episode, so better luck next time, your majesty.

Then again, the same can be said about Vex. After looking over the latest episode I realized what Vex’s problem is – his character just does not generate any respect. His villainy got nothing to do with it – his problem is that he is more of Peter Pettigrew than Lucius Malfoy, and this has to change, or Vex will probably have to die, for there is only so much abuse any character can take before either the audience loses their respect – and sympathy – for him, or he will turn on his abusers...with mixed success, admittedly, but still.

Incidentally, by who was Vex abused? The Una Mens (or the Spanish Inquisition)? The episode does not tell us...probably saving it for later. That said, this is the second time in the show (the first was in S3) when Vex gets to be fed some insect, and that is the opposite of respect. For real, Vex just should not have come back at S3, is all I am saying.

Of course, the root of Vex’s trouble is that the previous Morrigan either is dead or is not. Frankly, at the end of S3 she looked quite dead but you never know with the Fae, fair enough. Of course, this makes her one of the two contenders for the identity of Kenzi’s new babysitting charge... and the other one is Tamsin, who’s been absent from the previous episode. Sadly, it may be that Tamsin may actually be Lauren’s new friend and an owner (?) of a fast food place (think “The Ruby” from “Corner Gas”) in which case the precocious tyke’s identity may be someone else. And the tyke is precious: she grew from a child to a teen in than an episode: Kenzi will really have her hands full with the child/teen for the next episode or two...

On the other hand Hale has admitted his feelings for Kenzi, sort of. I am guessing that the siren playboy is new at this, and it took some Kenzi/Dyson flirting from the previous episode for him to get his brain into gear. All that can be said – it is about time, the Kenzi/Hale ship was practically absent from S3 so it got some serious catching up to do.

Speaking of means of transportation... The ghost train that has appeared in this episode was very impressive, especially how Dyson and his companion were able to catch a ride on it. Sadly, it also seems that Bo has escaped from it (or another ghost train?!) so the game is now literally afoot.

Now, about Dyson’s companion. This episode borrowed from the Greek-Roman myth of Selene and Endymion. Selene was an early moon goddess who was merged with Artemis-Diana and Endymion was her mortal consort. To prevent him from aging and dying Selene put him into an eternal sleep...one that Dyson woke him from. Only, it may be that this Endymion is not the real deal, but is a fake – Dyson was able to figure it out in time and “replace” him with a real deal, a woman...who may be actually an agent of Vex who needs Bo alive for some personal reason... See, it is confusing.

And Lauren... aside from the fact that her new friend may be Tamsin (or maybe another Valkyrie instead) she had rescued a customer from a beetle in his throat. Considering that the customer survived having his throat torn open and healed in a matter of moments, this means that he was a Fae and that, possibly, the beetle was the adult form of the grub that Vex was fed. It also means that either Lauren has somehow become an opponent to some obviously powerful Fae group...or she is some sort of an anti-Kryptonite to Fae...or her cooking is. Either way, she has problems...and has to solve them on her own. It is also the end of the Lauren/Bo ship, but that was evident from S3: the scriptwriters wanted to pair Bo with Dyson and are going to do that. Yet they are doing it with much more grace than, say, Mike and Bryan from the “A: TLA” fandom, who did their ship (Kataang) with all the subtlety of a brick...and are paying for it with the gradual loss of their fanbase; of course, “Korra” does not help either... but I digress.

The bottom line here is that this episode was confusing. Yes, Hale is finally getting on with Kenzi, Dyson has admitted his feelings to Bo and Lauren has to come into her own somehow (or perish) while Bo has escaped from captivity at last – but the brief entry into Greek mythology notwithstanding, this episode was still confusing. One thing is clear – if in previous seasons that was one major mystery (such as the identity of Bo’s true parents) and lesser, one-episode, ones, here, in S4, there is only one major mystery-slash-conflict and that is to find Bo. Let’s wait and see what happens.

Romance - A:TLA vs. LoK

One of the differences between A: TLA and LoK is, of course, the romance factor, active vs. passive. Here are my thoughts as to how that came to be.

One of the strengths of the A: TLA series was the relative passiveness of the romance. Sure, team Bryke (let us call them that, shall we?) claimed to be Kataang shippers, but there was certainly plenty of Zutara materials to work with too (especially if you were willing to begin with). The Crystal Catacombs incident, for example, or the final showdown of ‘team Zutara’ with Azula. Team Bryke had really sent some conflicting messages on this one, didn’t they?

Someone else apparently thought so too, when then came “The Promise” comic series, where Maiko and Kataang could not have become more obvious, especially by the old A: TLA standards. Not sure why team Bryke could not have used this approach in the original series, but they did not, and frankly, I am glad. “The Promise” was simply insane, especially Zuko asking Ozai for advice. Seriously. WTF? Ozai. He was the man who had scarred and exiled you in the first place, Zuko, remember? Do you really expect him to provide anything helpful or sane to you, Zuko? “Son, you have an Avatar problem? Take great-grandfather Sozin’s favorite kanabo (a samurai version of a club) and hit the Avatar until he reincarnates into someone more useful.” That is the advice you wanted to hear, Zuko? Again, WTF?

But such issues aside it is the blatant and obvious coupling of “The Promise” that we are interested in. LoK appears to have followed “The Promise’s” cue and is very obvious in its’ ‘ships, especially team Makorra. Someone has even suggested that it is team Bryke’s official parody of Zutara, but I seriously doubt that. For all of their posturing team Bryke probably wasn’t in any rush to alienate its’ fans with A: TLA, and besides, if they want to be pissed at someone, try Mr. Shamalyan’s movie – now that was shoddy work; so shoddy, that there aren’t even any rumors of a sequel!

Back to LoK. I doubt that team Bryke actually want to piss off their fans...not to mention that some of them may be obtuse enough not to recognize the parody unless it is told to their faces directly, so – no go. What is left?

That overly obvious approach that already appeared in “The Promise”. I do not know why team Bryke shifted from covert to overt approach to the romance, but shift they did... to the detriment of LoK. It is just is not as good as A: TLA was, period. But... it is just the first season...maybe the next ones will be better...