Episode Enneagrams – Page 18 – Enneagram and Encaustic

Now in Color

As always, Critical Notes are after the breakdown.

ONE

Oh, the sitcom homage is going to be The Brady Bunch this time. The title card has that groovy font, and the living room is all brick and wood. Wanda is pregnant and Vision is styled like Peter Fonda. It’s pretty funny. Geraldine has a large afro and Agnes has Marsha hair.

TWO/THREE

Exterior of the house, looking very ‘70s ranch style, and then inside as the doctor listens to Wanda’s belly. Laugh track at the birds-n-bees jokes. However, Vision is seriously trying to ask about the suddenness of this pregnancy. As he walks the doctor out the door, he asks if the doctor can keep the whole pregnancy quiet for now. And the doctor is headed away for vacation.

Salvation’s End

We’re to stop Salvation’s terrorism at the Greatwall, so we fight our way up the tower. Skeletons, cultist sorcerers, a chimera. At the top, the leader Elysion turns two dudes into wights. After we defeat them, he stands on the parapet and monologues. “Don’t you feel it? The very air dances around us! The dragon’s reign at last begins! Merciful winged death! All-powerful and merciless Grigori! Behold, you unrepentant blasphemers!”

Then the dragon flies in and eats him.

So, that’s it for the creepy guy who’s tailed us throughout. Hunh. He corrupted some people, thought he had something important to say, and ended up a boat snack. The dragon will now do what it always intended to do, and Elysion’s impact on it all was nothing.

Frankly, I’m intimidated. But I keep it all inside.

It was basically busywork for us. The only surprise, or relevant information, is the reference to the Dragonforged, that old guy who lives with his doppelgänger in a cave. Apparently, the Dragonforged never did confront the dragon, or he was unable to defeat the dragon and went away a failure. Interesting. I don’t think I put it together that the guy with a chest scar, someone who lost his heart to the dragon, was still here because he was a loser.

Episode 5

Hang on until the end, because this episode is a tear-jerker.

ONE

Amiens, 1918. Establishing shot of a wasteland battlefield with shells dropping in the distance. Inside the bunker, William outfits Matthew. They prepare, it appears, for a horrendous campaign. The troops smoke, pray, and take a last look at letters from home. The mood is grim and fatalistic. As the English charge, the Germans in their own bunkers mow them down.

TWO

Cut to Daisy in the kitchen. She pauses, a goose walking over her grave, as she says.

Back to the fighting. Matthew in the vanguard. Cut to Mary in the parlor as she drops her tea cup. She also has a premonition. And back to the war. An explosion. The camera moves over a rise to show us Matthew in a ditch, William sprawled on top of him. Alive or dead is unknown. It appears that William knocked Matthew out of the way, saving him, but the footage is too chaotic to tell for sure.

Moon over Downton. O’Brien, in mobcap, enters the master bedroom to awaken Cora and Robert. Downstairs, Molesley waits. He’s had a telegram for Mrs. Crawley (who’s still away) and brought it to the big house. Matthew’s not dead. He’s patched up and coming to Downton hospital. We see Cora’s and the daughters’ reactions. Carson in robe enters, and behind him is the rest of the staff, wanting to hear the news. Matthew’s seriously wounded, and William’s fate isn’t known.

THREE

The next day Anna and Bates in the courtyard discuss the news update: William is in hospital and it sounds bad.

Haha, next scene is Violet elegantly ripping into the Doctor. It doesn’t matter if Downton hospital is for officers, get a bed for our village lad. The Doctor stands firm, though, behind military order.

Rescue Aelinore

As I’m leaving the castle, fired up to fight Salvation for the Duke (not really), Mirabelle, Aelinore’s maid, stops me. The Duke banished milady to the lonely northern manse where he’ll probably have her killed. She plans to flee, and seek refuge in her native Meloire if someone could just sneak into the fortified outpost and break her out.

Here’s a guard’s uniform to help you, Mirabelle says.

At the top of the manse is a lonely room with Aelinore locked in it. When I enter, she kisses me and pulls me onto the bed. (Dude, we’re in a hostile castle!) After, she’s ready to escape. Now I must lead her to the cellar all by myself and keep her alive. My Pawns will meet me at a certain point in the lower level, but it can be tricky to get there in one piece.

Also, Aelinore has a tendency to say this: “I’m sorry, I … I cannot possibly cross here. Might you … carry me across?”

Her people wait for her outside the back door. Mirabelle says they must leave immediately, and her guards shake their heads at me, threatening, if I try to follow.

Thus ends the duchess quest.

Dagger of the Mind

Utter bewilderment is becoming a bit of a habit between me and Star Trek. Critical Notes are at the end of the breakdown.

ONE

After showing the Enterprise in orbit, the screen goes to an insert of some kind of pharmaceutical container. Destination: Tantalus Penal Colony, Att: Dr. Tristan Adams. Pull out to show a man lift it on the transporter pad. It’s big!

TWO

It won’t beam down initially because the prison’s force field isn’t dropped. Then, cargo down, and a crate comes up. Classified Material, Do Not Open. The crate lid cracks open. An older man with an oxygen mask sneaks out. The Red Shirt doesn’t even hear him as he rushes up from behind and judo chops his neck. Super close-up on prisoner’s face, sweaty, as he hides by the door.

Roll credits.

THREE

On the bridge as Kirk tries to convince Bones that Dr. Adams’ theories make for a resort-like prison. McCoy says, “A cage is a cage.”

Book One: Water

Now that the first season of Avatar has been Enneagram reviewed, let’s look at the entire arc.

ONE

The first episode is basically the season’s One. It’s so funny to think of a time when I knew nothing about bending or the Avatar cycle. The showrunners did a good job establishing everything clearly, and our three characters are distinct and engaging. And Appa! Don’t forget our good boi! Because the believability of the Avatar is so strong, I forget how easy they made the worldbuilding of this IP look.

TWO

And episode two is basically the season’s Two. The Avatar has been missing for one hundred years, leaving the world vulnerable to the Fire Nation. Aang is now ready to tackle his destiny, go North and learn the other bending disciplines, but . . . first there’s a laundry list of distractions. Also in this section is a Zuko vs. Aang battle. How these guys will manage their relationship is definitely part of the Trouble.

THREE

The world has two Air Temples. At the Three they visit the Southern one. Aang confronts a lot of pain here, and in Zuko’s storyline Commander Zhao is introduced and even battles an agni kai against him. Everyone’s wounds are here, and the Air Temple is the visual.

Saving Gran Soren

We’re sent on a goose chase. Some message awaits us at the Waycastle gate but when we get there we’re immediately sent back to the city. In the distance, we can see why.

Fire and smoke come from the agrarian district of the keep.

Remember that “dead” cockatrice? It was taken into the castle grounds as a trophy. Salvation (somehow) reawakened it so it would rampage and destroy. Of course we get there in time to stop it. (And kill it! Often it flies away before the final blow, so yay!)

Immediately after, we’re called to the castle for thanks, and also to accept a mission from the Duke. A very long, slow follow walk happens, first behind Aldous, and then back again behind the Duke. At the end of it all, though, is a treasure room. Sadly, the Duke can’t open the really shiny chest because it requires Salomet’s ring and I swapped it out for that forgery. Heh. (It’s a cape in the chest, not a big loss.) As I’m collecting my money bags, a soldier comes in.

Mission change. Salvation has taken captives at the Greatwall and threatens to offer up a grand sacrifice to see the land cleansed. We’re to go on up there and stop them.

Don’t Touch That Dial

I’m afraid I’m a little harsh at the end of this Enneagram breakdown, lol. Look out.

ONE

Nighttime, with separate twin beds.

TWO

Vision wears an eye mask and Wanda startles awake when a bump is heard. Laugh track. The bedside lamp flicks on and off as Wanda worries. Vision wakes.

Are you using your power to turn on the lights, dear, he asks. Yes. He rises, turns on the light manually, and looks out the window. Nothing. Are you using your night vision, Vision? A bump startles him and he dives into bed. Another bump and Wanda scoots the beds together.

On each side their slippers, which had been tucked under the edge of their beds, are left behind. Cute detail.

For some reason Vision is afraid to investigate the noise. Wanda, determined, slides the curtain wide open, showing a stormy tree branch outside. They relax. Also, Wanda flicks a finger and changes the side-by-side twins into a king-sized bed. As retro commentary it’s a bit obvious, but okay. They eye each other — wink — and duck under the covers.

THREE

From a cartoon moon come an animated Wanda and Vision, flying. Credit sequence, obviously, and a clear reference to Bewitched. It’s a shame the last episode used too many motifs from that show to make a clear distinction, but here we are. (How do you reference The Honeymooners or I Love Lucy, shows without a magical character like Wanda, and hit the same vibe?) It’s an adorable sequence, with cartoon Vision twinkling through walls and Wanda magically grocery shopping. Vision’s inability to eat or drink is referenced, and as Vision drives home through the cartoon neighborhood all the people are in their yards bopping and singing along, sort of smiling and sort of robotic.

THE PAPER

Good structure. Nice episode.

ONE

The Easter Island head as Squidward exits and set up his lawn chaise.

TWO

He opens a little bubble gum package, pops the gum in his mouth, and tosses the paper away. It lands on Spongebob’s walkway.

THREE

The pineapple house slides forward, right up to the edge of the trash, so that when Spongebob opens his door his feet are next to it. “Squidward!” he calls.

The Wyrmking’s Ring

It’s been three months of me trying to manage my tendonitis. As it seems to be chronic now, and as I don’t want to stop gaming, I’ll move forward with the Dogma story. My current regimen: Try to keep a light touch on the controller, and if a hardcore battle comes take a break afterward and stretch the thumbs. Also, ibuprofen.

Remember when I accidentally killed the griffin and I said I missed a quest and an entire corner of the map? Well, now it’s time to visit the Blue Moon Tower. Salomet’s gone to ground there. If I’d fought the griffin I would’ve dropped a portcrystal for later, but no matter. We trudge out there and fight Salomet’s outlaws on our way to the top.

It’s easy to lose a Pawn here off the edge of a broken staircase and into the aether, but we all make it to the final battle. Salomet challenges us and attacks. He doesn’t fight well and he doesn’t say much of interest. I really don’t understand his purpose, but . . .

No worries, I can see fine from back here.

He falls off the edge, leaving behind his magical ring.

I’m to deliver it to the Duke, but I take it to the Black Cat and pay for a forgery to be made. Anyone who carries the original ring has their magical powers augmented. We wants it, precious.