Pirate Stories have a very strange staple that Actually isn't that strange now that I think about it, but in Order to talk about that, I must first set the stage.
You See Like I said in my very first Blog post about this show, Ronin, the lone Samurai, Rogues all have one thing in common, the ability and need to go past the known and venture into the Unknown, something which ties in very well with the Idea of The Hero's Journey in the Setting of a Western.
Pirates, are looking always for the next Treasure, the next big payday, and what can be a bigger and better payday than the prospect of a hidden Treasure, or the opportunity to make infinite amounts of it for that matter, and one thing common between both of those things is in order to be useful they must be tied to Mysteries.
Hidden Treasure is obvious, but just to go over the motions, if a Hidden Treasure isn't tied to a mystery then it's, well... hidden, truly, so there is no way to Find it, ever, and if there is some way to find it, and someone hasn't found it yet, then it has to be, by definition, a Mystery.
Similarly, any way to make too much money, will inevitably cause the Global Economy to go into the gutter, if it hasn't yet, then it must have been used sparingly or not at all, so it must be hidden, making it once again a Mystery.
You know a lot of people tie the presence of Mysteries in Pirate Stories with the Nature of the Ocean itself, the fact that in spite of the Ocean being 3 quarters of our Planet, roughly, we know frighteningly little about it. And since you are in the Ocean, the chances of you coming across a Mystery are of course, very high.
But, just because a thing exists in a setting, doesn't mean it has to play a role in the Story itself. I mean do you hear about the arduous process of Road maintenance in Road Trip movies? Although given the length of a Road trip, the chances of you coming across a Road maintenance Operation is Very high.
I mean sure, you might simply say that it's Boring, who wants to hear about that, and you know what, what's the best way to get to Hidden treasure? Archeological excavations, and they are tedious and take a long while and you guessed it, Boring.
Yet the concept of an Archeologist is also a very well liked Movie trope.
And believe me, if someone made a movie about how a Single fault in the road can cascade into a very Damaging Catastrophe and the higher ups wont do anything and therefore one hero alone, must go against everything and everyone to fix it using an unorthodox method everyone else thinks is suicide, you would watch that.
Unrealistic, sure, So is Indiana Jones.
These Arguments don't work.
You see the thing about what is and isn't interesting is up to the focus of the Story and more importantly the Focus of the viewer. You know if you have a romance movie, and suddenly a Lovecraftian Horror shows up, we would be interested in it, but only as to how it affects the main couple, if it suddenly cut to the adventurers who are focusing on finding out the Horrors origins, and the couple that we have had so many moments with are just killed, after spending a majority of the movie with them...
That movie is a mess...
The point I am trying to make is, Mysteries are so inherent to Pirate stories because they align with the focus of Pirate stories, and not the other way around.
And the thing about Mysteries, is that the biggest Mysteries, are often people, the way they behave, the things they say, and don't say, why they hide the things they hide, when they hide.
So, solving mysteries is often like trying to better understand somebody, what makes them tick.
And the thing is, uncovering the hidden truths about people, is that much more easier when people are in a situation that is life and Death, i.e. every Tuesday for a pirate.
So a pirate story, or any story of Adventure for that matter, but specifically pirate stories, are a good place to figure out people.
So let's do that! says this episode, and did a very decent job of it as it turns out.
Previously, I had speculated about how Jod or Crimson Jack is going to either go save the kids or try to go off on his own adventure but come back and be presented with the chance to do the right thing anyways, it seems this episode is about him going the wrong way.
But it also, somehow, the right way, a lot of Jod's lines and messages have been very inspired by the Jedi, no attachment, love, be a better you, trust your gut and what not, but they are being used for, not so great things, and I think the Jedi forgot that, evil often looks a lot like good except the outcomes are wildly different.
So maybe Jod will do the right thing, maybe he will go full evil and try to plunder the planet, but regardless the message is clear, the Jedi teachings can be used for some pretty bad stuff if not understood properly.
Because Jod is essentially that, someone who quotes the Jedi but doesn't get them.
But who will think of the Children?
We will, let's do that, the main conflict for the kids, is to get a way off of this place, and they split in half, and you would think that the split would be Neel and Wim against KB and Fern.
But that is not the split, the split is KB and Wim against Neel and Fern.
So the friend groups fought? Because KB and Fern are best friends and same for Wim and Neel...
Well KB and Fern fought somewhat, but Neel and Wim simply disagreed, Neel is too good for fighting.
And that is another thing, you would think the two reasonable ones are paired together while the Adventurous types go the other way, but no, the analytical KB is with Wim the one whose need for adventure started this whole mess, and the Calm and Quiet Neel, is with the always out there and in charge Fern.
And they are both going on their own adventures, just separate ones, I mean following a bunch of trash crabs to a mother crab that wants to eat you is dangerous, but is it any safer than climbing a dangerous height?
And the thing is, in spite of all these seeming contradictions, the place the story is and how it gets there makes perfect sense, and that is a sign of good writing, even though it may seem this whole KB being angry with Fern thing kinda came out of no where, but it still feels natural.
And also what the characters needed to work better together.
Because the Cause of conflict for Fern and KB, was actually a need to not loose the other.
So once that fear is somewhat alleviated by a third party, they can rekindle, properly this time.
And this is a sign that the writer gets the characters, this is a sign of good writing.
And just like the renewal of their friendship, their actual ship goes through a hull removal to become brand new.
Very symbolic this episode.
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