{"id":103802,"date":"2016-04-25T20:17:14","date_gmt":"2016-04-25T20:17:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.merindab.com\/private\/2016\/04\/25\/saathi1013-god-i-am-sitting-over-here-fuming\/"},"modified":"2016-04-25T20:17:14","modified_gmt":"2016-04-25T20:17:14","slug":"saathi1013-god-i-am-sitting-over-here-fuming","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.merindab.com\/private\/2016\/04\/25\/saathi1013-god-i-am-sitting-over-here-fuming\/","title":{"rendered":""},"content":{"rendered":"

saathi1013<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\n

God. I am sitting over here fuming not just at thefuckingAbbieDeathDebacle jesus christ<\/i><\/p>\n

but like, in retrospect, the whole\u2026 broken way they played out damn near every storyline? \u00a0Every promising meta arc on that show just fizzled. \u00a0Whoever was in charge of ultimate narrative and thematic shape of the series, each season? \u00a0Failed. \u00a0Repeatedly.<\/p>\n

To show you what I mean, here\u2019s one<\/i> way it could<\/i> have gone:<\/p>\n

Season 1<\/b> – they combat the Horseman of Death. Blah blah<\/i>\u00a0Death is Van Brunt reveal blah blah<\/i> historical love triangle blah blah<\/i> stuff about Katrina being a witch blah blah<\/i>\u2026 but let the emotional<\/i> through arc of the first season mirror the Witnesses\u2019 fight against Death – aka, let Ichabod grieve the death of everything he knew, including his wife. And! let Abbie deal with revelations about her mom and her ancestors being all magicy in a way that parallels Death\u2019s riding around all willy nilly (ie something resurrected from the past) so that she can deal with those<\/i>. \u00a0Two Witnesses, two perspectives on dealing with Death: grieving for and letting go of what\u2019s lost vs learning to embrace and celebrate that which still lives on in those that survive. \u00a0Season Finale:<\/b>\u00a0 They figure out that they can temporarily turn a Horseman back to its mortal self just long enough to kill it, and the spirit of the Horseman can be banished to purgatory. \u00a0So Van Brunt dies and Death gets banished. \u00a0But! Katrina\u2019s still\u00a0\u201calive\u201d in purgatory? They can bring her back?? \u00a0Then, in trying to get her<\/i>, something goes wrong<\/i> and Abbie gets pulled in (not<\/i> to replace Katrina).<\/p>\n

Season 2<\/b> – other things seem to have slipped out of purgatory when Katrina escaped. \u00a0Including – DUN! – the<\/i> Horseman of Pestilence<\/i>, this season\u2019s major villain. \u00a0Abbie in purgatory has to face memories of her past, decisions she made that still haunt her, her own personal demons, while Ichabod fights literal<\/i> demons that escaped from purgatory and is trying to get her back. \u00a0Demons as pestilence, as scourge. \u00a0Katrina helps him, and Ichabod is not sure the sight of her using magic is unnerving because she\u2019s hid it from him for so long or if, no, magic is just fucking creepy<\/i>. \u00a0Midseason Finale:<\/b> Abbie comes back, Katrina is revealed as the Horseman of Pestilence, having made a pact with Moloch (after years of torment in purgatory, which we can sympathize with because we\u2019ve seen what Abbie went through there) so he\u2019ll release her. \u00a0Back end of the season is all about people dealing with the idea that the people they love not being the people they know anymore. \u00a0All about the idea of the complex interplay of the effects of illness (again: pestilence) and agency and identity. \u00a0Again: two sides of the Horseman theme. \u00a0Season Finale:<\/b>\u00a0they\u2019re given the option to attempt to\u00a0\u2018exorcise\u2019\/separate the Horseman from Katrina (more risky, not certain that she\u2019ll survive or that it will work at all) or to kill her so they can just banish the Horseman like they did the last one. \u00a0Interestingly, let Abbie support exorcism and Ichabod be in favor of just letting his wife go and finally be at peace, and let the Witnesses fight over it. \u00a0Katrina gets exorcised, dies anyway; the spirit of Famine is banished. \u00a0Ichabod and Abbie part ways, still upset with each other and how things went down.<\/p>\n

Season 3 –<\/b>\u00a0A NEW CHALLENGER APPEARS. \u00a0It\u2019s the Horseman of Famine, yaaaay! \u00a0Again, parallel this Big Bad with the emotional throughline of the season, and show the Witnesses with distinct perspectives on the concept. \u00a0Famine is all about sine qua non<\/i> (without which [there is] nothing), about losing essential nutrients, about quod me nutrit me destruit <\/i>(that which nourishes me, destroys me), about Tantalus. \u00a0On the one hand: the idea of a total lack of nourishment, starvation; on the other: empty calories, the idea of fullness without actual substance. \u00a0Ichabod and Abbie learn that they depend on one another, they rely on one another, and yes, that they need each other. \u00a0Midseason Finale:<\/b> they finally get back together as partners after a lot of nudging from Jenny (who has opened up an artifact fencing<\/strike>\u2026 uh, antique shop<\/i>, and is dealing with the pain in the ass that comes with being Respectable (ugh taxes) and trying to dodge trouble from her past). \u00a0Season Finale:<\/b> Abbie and Ichabod banish Famine, their UST is off the charts, are they gonna\u2013?<\/p>\n

Season 4 – <\/b>Horseman of\u00a0War. I think you see where I\u2019m going with this? \u00a0Events ramp up, episode setups get increasingly confrontational and violent, there\u2019s a shit ton of conflict both within the police department and in the supernatural world, etc, etc. \u00a0Two sides of dealing with conflict (theme) = de-escalate or bring a bigger gun and win<\/i>. \u00a0Silver lining: Abbie and Ichabod are, like, tentatively courting, and it\u2019s adorable and sweet until, like, a demon comes racing through the park they\u2019re having a picnic in, or a rage virus starts infecting people when they are at a romantic restaurant or whatever. \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Midseason Finale:<\/b> they totally hook up<\/i>. But the morning after, Ichabod wakes up back in the middle of the Revolutionary War. \u00a0Abbie chooses<\/i> to astrally project<\/i> herself to\u00a0\u2018wherever he is\u2019 (she\u2019s invisible to others!), and episodes take place combining both timelines. \u00a0\u2026if this show isn\u2019t above referencing other stuff, we can give a nod to Quantum Leap, although there should be some equal back-and-forth helping across timelines, like Ichabod finding an artifact Abbie needs in the present, which he hides in a safe place so she can go find it centuries later. \u00a0He also sends her love notes that way because he is a huge nerd. \u00a0Season Finale:<\/b> Ichabod comes back, they banish War, but Henry – who has thus far just been an occasional guest star who Jenny hires sometimes to authenticate shit, or who helps consult on cases – turns out to be Ichabod & Katrina\u2019s son and Moloch\u2019s minion! And he\u2019s been the one to mess with stuff like sending Abbie to purgatory or sending Ichabod back to the past! \u00a0DUN!<\/p>\n

Season 5 –<\/b> Henry! \u00a0Themes are betrayal, sabotage, shaken trust, that kind of thing. \u00a0Midseason Finale:<\/b> Jenny gets possessed by some trinket Henry had left behind in the shop ages ago that they\u2019d thought was inert, becomes corrupted by evil power. \u00a0The entity that was Jenny works with Henry against Witnesses, trying to free Moloch. \u00a0Season Finale:<\/b>\u00a0with Abbie\u2019s (and Ichabod\u2019s) help, Jenny gains control of the power within her and uses it to kill Henry. \u00a0But: Henry\u2019s death opens the doors to purgatory, letting out not just all four Horsemen, but also Moloch.<\/p>\n

Season 6 –<\/b> Moloch! Themes are: ultimate Evil, the darkest corners of one\u2019s soul, worst fears realized. \u00a0Also, the ideas of\u00a0\u2018too much of a good thing,\u2019 or\u00a0\u2018be careful what you wish for.\u2019 \u00a0Episode before<\/i> Midseason Finale ends with Team Witness (Jenny retained power; Irving – who, yes, has been around but I was TRYING to keep this concise, oops – also there, plus, okay, Joe and Andy maybe? Let\u2019s say Andy came out of purgatory with Katrina and joined Team Witness after proving himself.) squaring off against the Horsemen, while the Witnesses face Moloch.\u00a0Midseason Finale:<\/b>\u00a0Black screen, caption reads: One Year Later<\/i>. \u00a0Post apocalyptic time jump! \u00a0(Come on, all the cool kids do it.) \u00a0All tech infrastructure ceased functioning; most of humanity is either vanished or dead. \u00a0Team Witness hunts down the Horsemen one by one and banishes them again. \u00a0This should keep us occupied until the Season Finale: <\/b>facing down Moloch, who, sensing his defeat, turns back the clock to the pre-midseason faceoff. \u00a0But Abbie and Ichabod, being Witnesses, remember how he defeated them that time, and Moloch ends up killed for good. \u00a0Everything as it should be. Fin.<\/i><\/p>\n

And, because Six Seasons And A Movie is a great idea:<\/b> Pandora can be the movie. \u00a0Pandora, opening the gates of Hell (Moloch only ruled purgatory<\/i>, after all).<\/p>\n

\u2026and like, this is just me spitballing off the top of my head. \u00a0It\u2019s entirely possible that this is flawed in some places or could be punched up in others, but like. Jesus. \u00a0The material they had to work with, the staggering potential<\/i>\u2026 and we got what?? <\/i>\u00a0<\/p>\n

blarg.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

saathi1013: God. I am sitting over here fuming not just at thefuckingAbbieDeathDebacle jesus christ but like, in retrospect, the whole\u2026 broken way they played out damn near every storyline? \u00a0Every promising meta arc on that show just fizzled. \u00a0Whoever was in charge of ultimate narrative and thematic shape of the series, each season? \u00a0Failed. \u00a0Repeatedly. … <\/p>\n

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