Because if reviewing a Shakespeare play intended for the stage as though it were a modern story was ridiculous, then reviewing an ancient legend of unknown authorage intended to be read aloud like poetry as though it were a modern story is even worse. Also, sorry Tolkien fans, but this was the M.S. Merwin translation, not the professor’s. Spoiler warning for a half-millennium-plus-old story! And on a more serious note, warning for mention of animal bodies being prepared as food, though I think I’ve kept it undetailed enough to not become squicky.

Um, let’s start with the “love” story, I guess? I suppose it’s almost pointless to point out, considering the vast difference in in the way women were treated in ancient times compared to today, buuuut it feels pretty shallow. There’s no real chemistry between Gawain and . . . the lady . . . who I only just noticed was never given a name. Especially taking into account the fact that the lady’s flirtations were engineered to try to tempt Gawain, the fact that their interactions boil down to “lady is flirtatious” and “Gawain is polite,” it seems that both the weaver(s) of the tale and their intended audience took it for granted that the lady’s attractiveness was the only foundation on which an intimate relationship needed to be built. (The poem even refers to her as “she of the fair body.” Priorities, right?) So that entire interaction feels really arbitrary to me, as a modern reader.

As a zookeeper, I am admittedly way too hung up on the animals in this story. In between the scenes of Gawain’s very arbitrary and aimless seduction, are scenes of Bercilak hunting animals with his knights and hounds, catching those animals, and then having someone, um, prepare their meats? In incredibly unwanted detail. Like, I get that it was the middle ages, and folks needed to know how to chop up animals to feed themselves, but I didn’t want to read that, and since the original audience was presumably also familiar, I don’t really understand why those scenes are here. Unless it’s to serve as further misdirection to keep new listeners from figuring out Bercilak is the Green Knight, since the Green seems like a supernatural creature, and therefore maybe doesn’t need to eat? I think there’s also an element of contrast there, since the scenes of animals being captured and, uh, opened, are intercut with scenes of the lady wooing Gawain. There may be some intention for the audience to equate the physical fate of the animals for being hunted down, with the spiritual fate of Gawain for being lured into temptation. (Or Gawain’s physical fate, too; if he earned a nick in the neck for not telling Bercilak about the belt, I’m pretty sure giving into his wife would have led to Gawain losing his head.) But value as a literary device aside, I really can’t help but side with the animals during those hunting scenes. The does, at least, went down quickly, but the boar and the fox (named Reynard. Why does the fox get a name when the other animals don’t? Speciesist.) were chased down for hours. I can’t imagine the stress they went through.

One thing I did like, almost to the point of feeling amused by it, was the almost off-hand mention of Gawain fighting all kinds of monsters both on the way to the Green Chapel, and on the way back. They weren’t relevant to the main plot, so they got glossed over. I was just discussing with Larfen on Discord yesterday that I feel modern western storytelling suffers from an overemphasis on violence and action. You know if Hollywood adapts Sir Gawain nowadays, those mentions of monsters would get turned into meaningless fight scenes that do nothing but look cool. So I was very amused and pleased by this story from a supposedly more barbaric and violent time just skirting around the fact that Gawain slew multiple dragons on his quest, among other things, but not really caring to go into any detail about those battles.

The description drops in this poem rival the longest I’ve seen in any fanfiction, missioned or otherwise. It’s not even the lady, like you might expect, but Gawain and the Green Knight have so much of the detail of their armor described, it’s ridiculous. The Green Knight I can somewhat understand, since his coloring is so strange, but I don’t know why we needed to know SO much about Gawain’s garb before he set out to find the Green Chapel.

—doctorlit recommends the YouTube channel Overly Sarcastic Productions’s two videos on Arthurian legend for an amusing overview of the main aspects of the “canon.”

“Never before had spoilers been seen in that hall by anyone.” “Never before had spoilers been seen in that hall by anyone.” “Never before had spoilers been seen in that hall by anyone.”

This review probably isn't going to be very great, since I started this season over a year ago, before I was reviewing on the Board literally every piece of fiction I consumed. I therefore wasn't looking at it from a very thoughtful or critical standpoint until near the end of the season. And yes, it does take me over a year to finish a one-season television series sometimes. It's my least favorite medium, and I can only sit and watch on certain weekends when I don't have other plans.

Spoilers for the end of season one.

I think the bulk of this review is going to be, "Kilgrave is terrifying," so let's start with that. Kilgrave is terrifying. So many of the Marvel Cinematic Universe movies have such plain villains who are ultimately just direct physical threats, but Kilgrave is absolutely a league of his own, in terms of the sheer threat he can pose in basically any situation. He's not a fighter, yet he manages to be untouchable and endlessly dangerous in basically any situation where people are present. Over the course of the season, they really came up with an imaginative variety of ways for Kilgrave to use his powers over people, many of them just horrible. I'm often annoyed by the Marvel movies killing off their fun villains, because it means we don't get to see them anymore. But I wholeheartedly agree with killing off Kilgrave, because . . . well A) he's fun in a very different way than most villains, because the things he can do with his power are so unique and fascinating, but in a way that makes me feel more uncomfortable than fun. And B) the sheer damage he could do is almost unthinkable. We've seen what he can do when dominating someone like Jessica or Luke Cage; imagine what he could manage with Tony Stark or Scarlet Witch—or even worse, Thor or Vision, if his power works on non-humans. I know there typically hasn't been much actor overlap between the TV series and movies in the MCU, but there's no telling what the future might hold, so I'm glad to see Kilgrave gone.

Another big thing that stands out to me is the relationship between Jessica and her adoptive sister, Trish. Despite the huge difference between their personalities, the way they stick together and remain supportive of each other throughout the entire series was really cool, and really sweet. I especially like that this shows through Jessica that someone can be loving and caring without necessarily being a nice person, demeanor-wise. Both sets of actors, the adults and teenagers, did a great job of getting across the two characters' supportive natures, even when they aren't getting along in the traditional sense.

I was kind of weirded out by the whole plotline with Trish's boyfriend suddenly doping up on super-soldier pills. It felt out of nowhere, and really out-of-place with the themes of the rest of the season. The reveal in the last couple of episodes that the facility that made the pills was tied to Jessica (and, I'm assuming preemptively, to Luke) makes a bit more sense, now.

—doctorlit is now caught up through the season three midpoint of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.; Daredevil season two is next on his MCU docket.

"For each year that I was alone and frightened, spoil yourself in the heart." "For each year that I was alone and frightened, spoil yourself in the heart." "For each year that I was alone and frightened, spoil yourself in the heart."

Like... Taylor? Like Taylor Taylor?

That's deliberate, right? I mean, there's three years between the Twilight movie and Fifty Shades coming out, so... that's deliberate. Right?

hS

1) The complete misrepresentation of BDSM

BDSM for you who aren't familiar with the term, stands for Bondage-Dominance-Sadism-Masochism and consists of two people, a Dom (or a Domme) and a Sub, who are both willing cause and receive pain respectively. And it's not about the pain itself, it's about causing pleasure, with pain being the means of achieving it. A dominant who gets off on controlling and punishing, and a submissive who gets off on helplessness and punishment. AND by doing so they realize they're also pleasuring their partner, so if a matching couple of a sadist and masochist dabbles into BDSM, it's super win-win!

And here's the problem: Anastasia is NOT a masochist! She is not into that lifestyle and it's clear what she likes is Grey and his playboy millionaire Iron-Man, Batman, Green Arrow persona. A regular, "vanilla" sex as I think she calls it, but not the whole playroom aspect. E.L. James masqueraded a story about a broken, toxic relationship, about a controlling, abussive a-hole, and a tabula rasa woman who actually has to be introduced into every single aspect of intimacy... Yeah, James decided it's "just a love story".

2) What the heck even, E.L. James?!

a) The amount of control Grey tries to exert over Ana. Even after he clearly agreed to keep the dom-sub thing in the bedroom, he basically overrules her every decision about what she eats, what she wears, where she goes, and when she sleeps!
b) Ana's "Inner Goddess & Subconscious" as was already mentioned... Yes, I get what was meant to happen here: the classical "shoulder angel v. shoulder devil" trope. However... that's. not. what. sub-con-scious. means (!). I don't think E.L. James knows the meaning of words she uses!

This was a great review, though, and almost makes me want to get my hands on a copy so I can see it for myself, but I'll admit—I'm the same way about sex scenes in books and movies, so... *shrugs*

Maybe if I gave it a go, though, I could try to piece together what Christian does behind the scenes. :P