For a standalone story, I didn’t expect the book to have such a sprawling storyline and a large set of characters for us to follow. Shōgun is an epic. Set in feudal Japan, it’s a fictional retelling of the political maneuvering of the daimyō Toranaga-sama (Tokugawa Ieyasu is his real-life counterpart) as he plots his rise to the status of Shogun of Japan. We watch this through the eyes of an English Sailor- John Blackthorne- who is loosely based on one of the only Western Samurai in Japan: William Adams. The plot follows his slow integration into society as he probes for a way back home, while he slowly gets embroiled into Toranaga’s schemes and plopped right into the middle of Japanese politics.
It’s become a standard trope to have an outsider witness a new culture/region, as he becomes a natural vehicle for exposition to be spouted towards. Naturally, it works well here though there’s a LOT of exposition as we peel through the different layers of ‘Eastern’ culture. There are a lot of areas that I’m sure aren’t historically accurate. In particular, I’m quite sceptical about the portrayal of seppuku in the book. Not with the action itself, but the frequency with which it’s committed. A little bit of leeway can be given for the purpose of enhancing the story though.
Another negative: the amount of time spent on Blackthorne-Mariko could have been reduced and still retain the same level of impact on the main plot. It was a chore to read through a lot of those sections.
The interplay between politics, religion and personal vendetta as the various factions played their pieces was enthralling: Local daimyos vying for power, the reach of the Church, Portugal and Spain having trouble with a possible Englishman taking over local trade, constant backstabbings and shifting loyalties. The characters and their personal ambitions make up a large chunk of why this book is such a quick read. Clavell managed to cram a lot into the book, even sparing some time to showcase the evolution of geishas. Oh, and yes. The book has ninjas.
Anyone suffering from a withdrawal of aSoIaF can jump right into this. I’m quite sad that we won’t be getting a chance to explore more from this Age through Clavell. But he covered the most important period right before the rise of the Last Shogun, so there isn’t a lot of interesting material remaining to cover.
Upon perusing a list of movies, I came across The King of Comedy, which seems to be gathering some press coverage due to certain connections it has with the upcoming Joker movie. Starring De Niro in the lead role, I felt a compulsion to give the movie a go-ahead.
The King of Comedy is a study of how everyday people worship their celebrity idols. It is the story of a failed “comedian” (Rupert Pupkin) who has delusions of grandeur and daydreams about himself as an uber successful stand-up comedian. Upon meeting his idol –talk show host Jerry Langford- he truly believes he has a chance of getting his “big-break” at the stardom that he deserves. We all like to envision ourselves in positions of fame and Pupkin falls in the same boat. He dreams about his success in the field to such an extent that he has begun to believe he has the skill and wit to make it as a comedian. He wants all the fame without the effort. To be a star without going through the trials and tribulations that Hollywood offers. If only life were that simple?
He is annoyingly persistent, and at some point of time, we have run into people who pester us until they get what they want. The ones who are socially inept and do not notice the social cues we are giving off. When his idol Jerry Langford denies him a shot at glory, Rupert resorts to extreme actions to achieve his dream, even if he can only live in it for a night.
The audience is drawn into the life of a man who refuses to back down. His entire life has morphed to a point where he forces down his delusions down the throats of people around him. He has adopted his lifestyle to match those of stand up hosts you see on screen. Everything from gestures and mannerisms are exaggerated to the point where a guest at a restaurant sees right through his act, and is seen mocking Pupkin in the background of a, mimicking the wild gesticulations Rupert has adopted into his daily life. To Pupkin, his fantasies are within reach -the life as a celebrity and the love of his life by his side. We are conditioned to empathize with people who undergo suffering and ridicule by people in power. Rupert displays no sympathy for the people around him and in return, we do not pity his situation either. If you had the chance to be loved and adored as a King for a day no matter the cost, would you stake your freedom for it?
It has been a while since I gave a shot at writing, so the review might seem a bit off. I am going to stick at it though and I will try to have a new article out soon.
The creators of the show were clearly ticking things off a list:
✅ “Cue the intro music guys. Let the viewers know that we are a cool and hip show.”
✅ “Ok kid, time for you to quip now. And Number 1, you need to be totally nonchalant about it and give a corny reply. Can you be emotionless and not crack up? Of course he can, it’s the only expression he’s got.”
✅ “Slick camera work! Maybe that will help cover all of your lousy acting.”
And holy crap, if there is any TV show/movie or medium of art that wholly defines wooden acting, this would take the top spot definitely. What on earth were the casting directors doing even?! Apart from Number 4 and Number 5, everyone else has nothing to show on their faces at all. Just a deadpan look and monotone line delivery.
Ok, let’s forget the crappy stuff for a bit.
The Umbrella Academy is the latest amongst a thousand productions that Netflix keeps churning out every week. And like 80% of those shows, this one is utter trash. I think their executives just love greenlighting the shows, chucking them on to the wall and then the executives just pray for one to stick.
43 kids were born to women on a random day at the start of which they weren’t pregnant. A wealthy businessman adopts 7 such children and he discovers that these kids have extraordinary abilities. Abilities that could be used to change the world. Instead of giving them names, he assigns them numbers –à la Reservoir Dogs or Money Heist.
Number 1: He has super strength. He pretends like he’s the caring one, but is a dick.
Number 2: He can curve projectiles. He’s a softie deep inside but pretends to be a dick.
Number 3: She manipulates reality, can make people do her bidding by uttering the phrase “I heard a rumour…” (I heard a rumour you forgot you ever watched this show in the first place. Gimme that mindwiping gizmo, Tommy Lee Jones. I am sorry what? Oh… Will Smith borrowed it to forget his shitty blue genie. Also, After Earth.)
Number 4: “I see dead people.” Yeah, he can communicate with the dead and is constantly drunk or high in an attempt to forego use of his powers. (Also, he’s one of the only cast members to play his character semi-convincingly.)
Number 5: He can jump through space and time. He went missing when he was 13 years old and comes back to the present day having aged 58 years mentally: still in the same 13-year-old body. The kid who plays him is the ONLY decent actor in the show and hence I am going to name drop him: Aidan Gallagher. He’sonly 15. WTH is wrong with the rest of the cast?
Number 6: Not a main cast member, but since the posters and marketing team barely show him any love, I will. He possesses a weird Kraken-like monster under his skin and hence is extremely powerful. Quiet possibly the strongest member of the group.
Also, he’s dead. Nope, not a spoiler since it’s revealed in the first few minutes itself. (He’s still present in the show because of Number 4’s abilities.)
Number 7: Vanya, played by a high profile actress. She is a violin student who does not possess any powers at all. The rest of the family consider her to be irrelevant and hence, she chooses to distance herself from them. In her defence, the character is given emotion-suppressing drugs for plot reasons, which explains why she acts as such. Someone must have slipped those pills to everyone else on set as well.
We couldn’t add 6. Because of symmetry? ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Then there’s:
i) the businessman/wealthy guy/discount Professor X: Reginald Hargreeves. He plays the distant father who expects the most out of his kids.
ii) Hazel and Cha -Cha: Ruthless assassins who want to kill Number 5, but the script forgot to specify how strong they were and hence all of their fight scenes make no sense at all. Oh, and before I forget: THEY CAN’T ACT EITHER. They might actually be worse than Number 1, which is so sad…
The plot: All of the kids reunite at their X-Mansion to mourn their father’s death. Number 5 who went missing years ago, appears out of thin air (literally) with info that the world is about to end in 8 days.
Honestly though, the script is solid, especially considering the many elements I am leaving out such as:
The organization that Cha-Cha and Hazel work for.
Number 4 has a really good story arc.
5 is an impressive actor and plays to the story beats really well.
the visuals and cinematography are decent enough.
But when the duo’s of Cha Cha-Hazel and Number 1-2 are on screen, the sense of realism just breaks down completely. And top that off with the show’s utter disregard for pacing, and you have a series that you can switch off after the first 30 minutes itself.
I am going to gloss over everything else that’s relevant such as score, direction etc because all of that is secondary to the acting itself. Please spare yourself from this monstrosity.
This is the story of a boy who feared becoming a god, in a world that needed one.
Growing up, the term “Avatar” always cropped up in conversations back in school but I never really gave a second thought about it. Like most other people, the only Avatar that I was aware of was the James Cameron space epic. And the disastrous M. Night Shyamalan movie that I actually gave a shot at. Needless to say, even to a newcomer like me, the movie was pathetic and it was the sole reason for me putting off the show when recommended by a number of friends. A few months ago I ended up watching Trollhunters, an animated series from Del Toro which to my great surprise turned out to be a great watch. Since my head was filled to the brim by various aspects of the show, I started scouring the internet reading more about it. What did I find on the Internet? A number of people recommending Avatar: The Last Airbender, stating that if you enjoyed Trollhunters, you are definitely going to be blown away by Avatar.
So, I gave it a chance. And boy did it manage to reign me in.
A Gist: The world consists of four nations that have people who can bend one of four elements: Water, Earth, Fire and Air. The Avatar is the only person who can control all 4 elements and bring balance to the world.
The initial episodes seemed to be designed for a younger audience, but they teased how the show would mature over time. In the very first episode we get to see:
how Aang can become ruthless and instil fear when he enters the Avatar state
seemingly impossible burdens imposed on youth
misguided ideals driving a person
Y’know, that’s pretty deep already for a kids show. And it only gets bigger from here on out.
The cast of a show can make or break the show. In the case of animation. voice acting plays an extremely important role. All of the major supporting characters: Katara, Sokka, Iroh and Zuko are written and voiced well. The voice actors brought them to life with a wide spectrum of emotions.
Katara and Sokka play an important role in nursing Aang into his role as the Avatar. But this is never at the expense of their own characters, as they both have strong storylines suited for them (Alliteration game on point.). Both characters are plagued by horrors carried out by the Fire Nation and want to help restore order in the world. Katara is caring and motherly, always looking out for the best interests of the gang, while Sokka is more of a strategist and brightens the story with his humour. He plays a key role in developing new technologies that shift the tides of war. Sokka slowly becomes the heart and soul of the group that holds everyone together.
The banished prince of the fire lord, Zuko is tasked with capturing the Avatar who is the last threat to the Fire Nation. In order to regain his honour and please his father, he sets his sight on catching Aang at any cost. Considering the arc Zuko is given, some people consider him to be the main character. It’s extremely satisfying to watch his father-son relationship with Iroh (who spits wisdom while bumbling around with a cup of tea), especially once we learn what Iroh has suffered. It’s best to watch his story unfold on your own… so jumping to the next one.
Toph Beifong epitomizes the saying size is no indication of power. She is a beacon of hope to all those who cry about life being unfair. She might seem to be frail, but we soon get to know she is amongst the most powerful Earthbenders in the world. Blind from birth and treated like a delicate instrument by her parents, nothing stopped her from growing into one of the most standout and creative characters in the show.
In my opinion, Azula could be the most tragic character in the show. She’s Zuko’s sister and outshone him in terms of Firebending skills. In addition to being a prodigious bender, she was always cunning and mischievous. From a young age, she had learnt the art of manipulating people for her own gains. She is a tactician who successfully outsmarts her opponents with ease. But her apparent lack of humanity and signs of cruelty prompted her own mother to think of her as a monster. Her father was narrow-minded and his tunnel vision prompted the growth of her bending abilities while neglecting fatherly affection. Devoid of love and jealous of how her mother treated Zuko with care, Azula, in turn, became heartless. It shows how love can go a long way in shaping a person.
From the left: Katara, Sokka, Aang, Toph, Zuko
Aang. The boy who feared to become a god. The titular character, Aang is the last Airbender. The Fire nation launched a preemptive strike against the Airbenders, amongst whom the next Avatar would rise. When Aang was told of his status as the Avatar, he got cold feet. How was he -a mere kid- supposed to end the war? With growing pressures due to his intensive training as an Airbender and his role as the Avatar weighing on him, Aang flees. The air nation got wiped out in his absence, and Aang was powerless to help. We journey along with Aang as he begins to understand the role that the Avatar plays, and the challenges he must overcome in order to master all the elements. He always strives to fight injustice using non-violent means. At the end of the day, Aang is a 12-year-old tasked with an impossible mission. In the race to achieve this, would power ultimately misguide him and betray his ideals? What would he have to give up in order to save the world? His cheerful disposition to the world around him and his playful nature helps to bring out the light in a bleak war-torn world.
The world of Avatar has been sketched out with great detail. As we traverse the globe with Aang and his friends, we see how even through the darkest of times people have brought a semblance of normality to their lives by attempting to be cheerful whenever they can. When news spreads about the Avatars return, people begin to hope again for a brighter future. The war might have torn families apart, but it never broke their spirits. Towns go about celebrating festivals, and holding parades whenever possible. Some cities hold bending tournaments as entertainment for people. We also get a peek into the fire nation: a superpower that took control by launching a first strike akin to a nuclear attack. People have been displaced, violated and their villages have crumbled down due to factories and refineries where citizens are forced into labour. Benders of other elements are captured as prisoners of war and placed in horrific conditions. Some of them are put into ice boxes or chained up inhumanely in order to control their bending abilities. When we do get to see fire nation citizens, they seem like ordinary people who go about their own businesses. There are some people who were forced into committing horrific crimes, yet they do their best to atone for the sins of their nation. The fire nation has committed numerous crimes, and hence there are people who fight back, strike teams of water and earth benders doing all they can to stop the war. There even exists non-bending rebels who use excessive violence at the cost of innocent people just to avenge the losses they have suffered.
With the advent of technology, it has become much easier to spread wrong information to the masses. Particularly information that seems credible at first sight. This makes it easier for a government to retain control over its populace. In the show, we witness a disinformation campaign where a city suppresses all news about the war in order to maintain peace and order in the city. Ba Sing Se, the capital of the earth kingdom opts out of the war, affecting everyone else in their nation negatively. Puppet rulers and misguided commanders, false allusions of victory and a spark of hope that the world may turn for the better. The world of Avatar feels like a living breathing place.
All of the characters, both main and supporting are given their own time to shine. This helps us to connect with them and find out what drives each person. As a result, by the end of the show, we have a different perspective of all the characters introduced.
There are many antagonists that come and go in the show, but unfortunately Ozai the Fire lord turns out to be the weakest one. His -I am pure evil and will end the world- motif seems backward for a show with the calibre of characters such as Zuko and Azula, both of whom are extremely engaging and well sketched out.
The show has impressive animation, with creative combat scenes and some astoundingly well-animated sequences which are taken a step further considering the stakes and conflicts between the players involved. The flow of the various bending elements and the amount of research done to various martial arts helps differentiate between various bending forms. Large set pieces live up to the expectations and they are bolstered by clever soundtracks. The power of music is incredible, especially when the designers decide where to use it, and when not to.
This is a “kids” show. A show that starts off with the genocide of a country and a glimpse at a character torn between doing what is right, and what is easy. We have a military general whose greatest failure was a stepping stone to restoring his morality, a city that is oppressive of its people, a superpower with no qualms of the damage they inflict, yet help advance civilization with tools built for war. With the scope of the story, death is a natural part of the show but isn’t too on the nose. People chase after their enemies for revenge, but do they cross the line? Are damning their own souls worth it? Can peaceful resolution be more effective than outright violence? This gives a chance for the show to humanize its antagonists.
This is not just a show. It’s an experience, and I urge you to give it a shot. Go out and buy the Blu-ray or stream the show. Do yourself a favour and watch the legend of Aang, Katara, Sokka and Zuko. I promise, you will not be disappointed.
The British really know how to make their TV shows. Time and again they have managed to wow us with hit shows such as Downtown Abbey, Sherlock, Dr.Who and Peaky Blinders. Their most recent production Bodyguard has been making waves around the world.
Starring Game of Thrones alum Richard Madden in the titular role, David Budd is a war veteran assigned to protect Home Secretary Julia Montague. Her political stance advocating increased pressure in Afghanistan is everything Budd despises, having seen the brutal effects of war first-hand. The show enthralls us through its smart and suggestive direction and editing, sowing doubts and dissident as to the true motivations of each and every character. Politics is a messy business with various factions fighting for power, and the show’s choice to leave the user deaf to the interactions among various characters with Julia Montague helps build intrigue.
With imminent terrorist attacks and tensions skyrocketing between characters, episodes fly-by as various plot points emerge. The use of several stylish shots combined with clever use of background score helps pull in the viewer into the tense conflicts brewing within the show. Couple this with Budd’s PTSD, his estranged wife and children and a struggle for power among Counter Terrorism and MI5, BBC delivers a thrilling show that simultaneously raises questions relevant to security issues in Britain.
The meek finale does put a damper, though it’s the journey not the destination that ultimately matters.
You might have been wondering why I have been so silent these past few days? Well, it’s because there hasn’t been anything spectacular going on recently. Yesterday L&T popped into our campus for a placement talk. They are offering 4.2 lacs per annum, as a Tier 1 company (CTC <5 lacs). Since we are allowed to get offers from 2 companies, I think I will give this one a shot. What else has been going on recently? Played cricket yesterday. Nothing stands out there. Oh yeah. I have a story for any MMORPG players out there.
So back when I was in school, there used to be a game that I used to spend a LOT of time playing, Runescape. I quit playing around the end of my 10th grade. Well after coming to college I met a guy who was into the game as well. We logged back in to see what changes were made since all those years back. And it turns out there is a way to get a membership without spending a single buck. The game has these things called bonds which give 14-day Membership, and you can get them by spending in-game cash. The catch is it’s kinda hard to make the cash through the Free-to-play version of the game.
So the other day I logged in to the game and I wandered around the central trading hub- The Grand Exchange. It’s like a town square but with a bunch of traders seated together, who carry out trades for you. Yeah, the game is so big it has it’s own trading system with constantly fluctuating values.
I saw a bunch of people huddled together in a circle chatting about some members armour. Since I was bored I approached them and asked:
“What’s the most fun thing to do in F2P?”
A guy in a grey ghost costume replied:”Skilling.” (Training skills like woodcutting, fire making, cooking and a bunch of others)
“Ugh, so f2p is that boring now huh?”
“There is another fun thing to do in the game tbh.”
“Which is?”
“Hold up a sec, I’ll brb.”
The ghost fellow- let’s call him Casper, cause why not- walks over to the trading centre and comes back a minute later. I look down at the chat box and see: Casper wants to trade with you.
Having played the game for ages, I am always wary of random people trying to scam through trades. I accepted it thinking I would pull out of the trade if I noticed anything fishy.
The trade boxes pop up and he puts in a golden rhombus looking thing to trade. I accept it.
When I take a closer look I notice the description says “Bond”.
“There you go, enjoy your 14 days of membership.”
I stand there stunned next to him. These things cost 16 million of in-game currency (That’s not a lot to members, but for a guy who has only 1 mil in f2p, making 15 mil is a looong way to go.)
“Why did you give this to me? Are you insane?”
“Nope, I am just a friendly ghost who likes to help people :). Now don’t think you owe me. Just use the cash you make in mems to buy a bond for someone else. Give it forward. I will see you around members worlds. See you.”
And he logs out.
Now, I have got 14 days worth of membership waiting to be activated in my account. What a decent little fellow that Casper.
A criminally underrated film, Bridge to Terabithia used to air quite often on Star Movies when I was a kid. I used to watch it whenever I got a chance. The performance by the two leads appealed to me a lot. Leslie and Jess are outcasts at school who bond together and decide to spend their free time in a world they make for themselves, called Terebithia. In Terabithia, they could be the greatest of hunters, the fastest runners and could make up anything they wanted.
Its emphasis on friendship, creativity, first love and death rather than pure fantasy elements help it to stand out from the pack. Leslie and Jess grow close to each other through their adventures in Terabithia, as well as their antics outside school. They grow bolder and learn to deal with issues that plague them in school. Leslie’s arrival helps Jess unleash his creative side. Through their adventures, they learn to value their relationships with their family and realise most people are fighting off their own demons. They teach us to empathise with people, not berate them. We may find people with different opinions all around us, and it’s our duty to respect their views. Nothing is truly black and white in our world. Instead, embrace both sides and help put a smile on someone’s face.
Camera work, score and CGI (in particular) are adequate for a film that came out in the early 2000’s. At its core, the movie isn’t about witches, wizards or monsters to fight off. It’s about the little things in life that we pay little attention to. The fantasy medium is just a messenger that sugarcoat the truth. Dreams may cushion us, help escape trials life throws at us. But reality will always come crashing down when we least expect it. So it’s about time we accept it and move forward.
For a series that is supposed to span 14 books, the first one is a tame start to the series. The book opens in a similar manner to The Fellowship of the Ring, a small town where something out of the ordinary occurs and someone wise to events occurring in the outside world decides to lead a party of seven on a mission. Oh and just like The Lord of the Rings, there are Orc-like creatures (Trollocs), something akin to a Nazgul (Myddrraal) and a Dark Lord. Jordan wanted the books to start similar to Tolkien’s epic before it diverged so I will give him the benefit of the doubt.
The positives:
Robert Jordan’s prose is truly remarkable. Throughout the journey, his writing makes it so easy to visualize every aspect of his world. It doesn’t matter whether it’s the various major cities or towns, the routes between them or the groves that they stop by. Each and every setting is fully realized and this adds a lot to the reading process. He also provides enough interesting pieces of information on other parts of the world such as Tar Valon, Illian, and Amador, which I am positive will be covered in the rest of the series.
A lot of fantasy authors forget to include interactions between everyday folk and the main cast. The fact that Jordan does this makes the whole story just a little bit more believable. The majority of the characters are regular farm people, and you cannot expect them to get through the journey without a little bit of help from people living in the world around. Getting a glimpse of how these people live their lives provides a richness to the world and makes you think how the character’s actions will affect these regular joes moving forward.
There quite a few factions that are established by the end of the book which gives me hope for the rest of the series. There are supporters of the Aes Sedai –women who can use the True Source and have a lot of political power- and their detractors The Children of the Light who frown on them. Supporters of the Dark One called Darkfriends who lurk around everywhere, the Warders and those who fight against the Blight in the North. A lot of different parties involved in the story.
Neutral:
Not enough has been established about the magic system for me to pass judgment. We are given the bare basics of the True Source, and how there are two components to it that can be drawn out. Then there is the Wheel of Time itself, that supposedly builds out patterns and dictates the actions of the world. Is a character destined for doom or glory in a series like this due to the actions of the Wheel? Can people influence the Wheel externally and change the course of history? A lot is made about the past, how the Dark One keeps defeating the Dragon -a prophesied hero of sorts- and how the Cycle might be different this time around. The book leaves us with enough questions and topics that need to be answered in future books.
Generic plot: You can’t go wrong with a standard Good vs Evil storyline. Then there’s the added conflict between the Children and the Aes Sedai in the backdrop as well. So there’s enough going on to keep you interested in the story.
Negatives:
Story Choices: The plot weighs down midway through as the characters get spread out and we get a chance to see a lot more of the world the story is set in. I am not a fan of world-building when it does nothing for the plot. For example, what was the point of Perrin Aybara meeting Elyas? It establishes a telepathic connection between Perrin and the wolves but it doesn’t move the story forward in any manner. We could have skipped Elyas and proceeded directly to the Travelers instead. There could be a payoff later on in the series, but when you examine a book on its own, the plot just gets bogged down by various little plot points such as this.
Characters: I think Brandon Sanderson has spoiled me for the worse. After reading so many of his books with a variety of interesting characters, all of Jordan’s characters seem pale by comparison. Almost all of them possess a single character trait, and very few have any character development at all. The only one that stood out to me was Thom Merillin. Thom is a traveling gleeman who goes about entertaining the masses with tricks, fireworks, music, and stories. He shows a lot of heart, does his best to help out the main cast, is plagued by mistakes from his past and is prone to being swayed by greed. He is neither overly smart nor is he an expert when it comes to self-defense. It’s a stretch, but I would rather see him in future books than some of the other characters in this book.
Lan is a Warden sworn to protect Morraine, who is an Aes Sedai working against the Dark One. He is the Marie Sue of the book, a typical combat expert/tracker/navigator who helps get the cast from point A to point B as safely as possible. His thing is to brood for most of the book.
Morraine Sedai has a lot of knowledge about the Wheel, the Dark One, his followers, and has access to the True Source (So, a lot of magic stuff like lightning bolts, smoke screens, and flames I think at one point). Her trait is to smirk at others who question her or ignore people for the most part.
Nynaeve is the village Wisdom -someone who heals people- and is a part of the Woman’s Circle in her village. Her trait is to scold people when she gets ticked off, or try to one-up Morraine.
Egwene. She wants to see the world and become an Aes Sedai like Morraine.
Now the three main characters.
Mat Cauthon- a whiny bitch (language, I know) who can’t shut up, likes to play pranks and is a general dumbass who cannot bother to think for even a second.
Perrin Aybara, the more well-developed of the lot, is the son of a smith, wields a mean old ax and has wolf powers.
Rand al Thor, son of a herder, has a heron marked sword, smarter than the Perrin and Mat, wants to do the right thing but isn’t qualified at all. He stumbles through the story for the most part. I don’t think I can blame him though since it seems like the Wheel has major plans for him, and a lot of what he ends up doing is out of his control.
Phew.
As you can see, there are a lot of characters in the first book alone. I wish a lot more time was spent developing these characters more thoroughly. Moments of consequence had a lesser impact when we did not get to see how certain characters react to their own actions. The three main leads were written to be everyday folks who become part of something larger without their approval. And I understand that they are inept to face the troubles that they come across in the story. But it wouldn’t be remiss to include a few redeeming qualities, especially for Mat who just seems to be written as someone who causes trouble for the rest of the gang. Nynaeve has a lot of potential beyond just scowling at Morraine. The first book in the series starts out in meekly, as its characters let it down. They have room to grow and improve and considering the dedicated fan base, the series should get better from here on out.
Today we take a close look at the second season of Money Heist.
The first season culminated with the task force arriving at the estate where the preparation for the heist took place. They finally have the upper hand!
For all of five minutes.
Knowing that the Professor’s plan has been in the making for 5 years, he couldn’t have made an error this massive. And of course, he didn’t. The most crucial element required to carry out the heist is time. The crew needs all the time they can get in order to print the 2.4 billion euros, and a forensic haven such as the estate would help buy them some more time as the police comb their way through the house looking for clues. Of course, Rachel/Raquel is more wary of the ploy, knowing that the Professor who is meticulous has prepared the crime scene as a distraction. Various subplots unfold- friction in the team after spending so many tense days in the Royal Mint, the hostages growing bolder after the previous escape attempt, Berlin losing self-control through the course of the show, Denver-Monica-Arturo love triangle and of course the relationship between the Professor and Raquel.
If I had to summarise the season (and the show as a whole) using a single word, it would be Relationships.
The season spent a lot of time on the Professor and Raquel’s love story: how they begin to fall for each other, growing doubts on Raquel’s side (once again) and further advancements. Denver and Monica had a lot of screen time the previous season, and it remained so over here. It is okay to focus on the relationships that develop between these characters, but it becomes an issue when it detracts from the main storyline: the heist itself.
The heist proceeds at a snail’s pace. We spend lesser time building up the cat and mouse game, with one main development per episode just to keep the story moving. The plot picks up in the last episode as everyone plays their final cards. This slow pace may have been due to some storytelling choices made that resulted in the Professor being out of action for large portions of the season. He is the one that ultimately ties the cast together, and his absence creates some tension in the first few episodes. As a result, there is a dearth of story material within the Royal Mint as focus shifts onto the people outside. The last few episodes do pick up the pace and give us a solid conclusion to the season.
The production value is still top notch. Great camera work and amazing sound production are a staple in each episode. When a dramatic moment occurs, it is underscored with the help of a healthy dose of music, electronic or otherwise. You will find yourself humming to the resistance song ‘’Bella Ciao’’ days after you finish the series.
As established in my review for the first season, the strong cast continues to play their characters brilliantly. Berlin remains to be my favorite of the bunch, played amazingly by Pedro Alonso. He oozes charisma while perfectly balancing a tinge of mental instability, which gives his character an unhinged personality. Nairobi comes in a close second place, and I have been impressed with how Denver was played by Jaime Lorente López. He had to exhibit a wide range of emotions throughout the show and pulled it off like a champ.
There are some moments in this season, where you do roll your eyes and wonder how on earth an event could have occurred, so suspension of disbelief is required on part of the viewer to a certain extent.
With a neatly wrapped up plot, it is difficult to think of a direction the show can take during its third season. Overall, an average start to the season wrapped up with strong final episodes which result in Money Heist being one of the best new shows from Netflix.
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