Reading/Watching Log #88

This was a month of FINALLY finishing shows that I started ages ago and then neglected to finish in a timely manner, as well as a slew of children’s books, a trip to the Court Theatre, a couple of graphic novels, and two fantastic, absolutely-recommend movies.

Naturally I’ve seen the second season of Shadow and Bone, but I’ll hold off talking about it until I can write up a proper post in its honour, but believe me when I say I live in fear of it being cancelled. I’ve no idea how confident Eric Heisserer is about his proposed Six of Crows spin-off, but he clearly set up for it in this season (somewhat to its detriment) and adapting the Ice Court heist is blatantly the reason he came on board in the first place. If Netflix doesn’t come through, then I think it’ll be the end of streaming services for me. I’ve been burnt too many times by cancelled and unfinished stories that I just don’t have the energy to care anymore.

Easter is also on the horizon, and I’ve decided to make it Eighties Fantasy month: that means I’ll devote the long weekend to Labyrinth, The Neverending Story, Ladyhawke, Legend, The Princess Bride, and maybe The Dark Crystal – though I’ve been planning to watch that one in the context of all the most recent books, graphic novels, and (cancelled) Netflix show, so we’ll see.

King's Quest: Romancing the Throne

After the success of Quest for the Crown, a sequel was inevitable, and the nature of its quest obvious. Having won the crown and the throne in the previous game, what does a young king need next? A wife and heir, obviously. The magic mirror retrieved during the course of Quest for the Crown is the perfect device with which to introduce Graham to his would-be bride, and the opening act depicts a lonely Graham glimpsing a lovely maiden in the glass.

He's informed by the mirror that her name is Valanice, and that she’s trapped in a quartz tower behind three magical doors located in the nearby land of Kolyma (I’ve no idea how to pronounce that). Exchanging his crown for his adventurer’s cap, he sets off to find her. Because, you know, it’s totally fine for a king to just leave his kingdom to go off and do this sort of thing, and he doesn’t even bother to take any coins from the ever-replenishing chest or the magical shield that can protect him from all harm.

Romancing the Throne (an obvious play on Romancing the Stone) was released in 1985, and uses the same interface, “wrap-around” geography, and AGI game engine as its predecessor. In fact, of all seven games in this series, Quest for the Crown and Romancing the Throne are the most similar: each feature Graham as the protagonist, a threefold quest, villains that are easily evaded by simply not entering the screens they inhabit, a magical fairy helper that gives you a protective spell, and even the use of “Greensleeves” as the opening theme music.

As ever, non-violent solutions garner the player more points than using lethal force (except when a truly evil character needs to be taken out) and hidden treasures can be traded away – along with the points they accrue – in order to advance.  Many of the previous game’s bad guys have relocated to Kolyma, including the dwarf, the sorcerer and the big bad wolf, and there’s a clear narrative continuum between winning a kingdom and finding a bride.

They form a neat two-part story in the wider scope of the series, for starting with the very next game, writer/designer Roberta Williams shakes up the formula considerably, from the nature of the quests to the motivation of the protagonists, to the lack of single-screen villains, miscellaneous treasures, and helpful fairies that provide the player with temporary magical protection.

Woman of the Month: Zoe Reynolds

Zoe Reynolds from Spooks

I’ll admit that it was a bit of struggle to find a Woman of the Month for March. When I started this blog, I told myself I could only chose heroic female characters (no villains) and that I would limit myself to one per book, film or show. I also try to refrain from choosing a character until the entirety of her story is completed – you never know where she’s going to end up, and I've had one too many instances in which I would spotlight a female character right before she came to a sticky end. Occasionally I break these rules, but given that I’m in the middle of finishing or continuing a lot of shows that are well into their collective runs, I find myself scrambling to find a decent candidate.

So, let’s go with Zoe Reynolds. No, I have no idea where her story ends up, and given the nature of the show there’s a good chance it won’t have a happy ending, but I don’t have many options at this exact moment. (I suspect that if I was further along than season two, it would be Ruth Evershed getting profiled here, as I know she sticks around until the final season).

Like last month’s Camille Bordey, Zoe Reynolds is more of an archetype than a full-formed, three-dimensional character… and that’s okay. The general vibe of Spooks is one of secrecy and professionalism, and we learn very little about the backgrounds of our main cast beyond their basic training and specialized skill-sets. Their lives revolve around their jobs, and they exist almost entirely in the moment. This actually poses something of a challenge for the actors, as they’re required to convey internally complicated people beneath carefully controlled veneers – and for my money, it’s mostly through Zoe that the writers explore the strain between the necessities of the job and the allure of normalcy. Whenever she goes undercover (most notably as a high school teacher) you can tell she enjoys the perks of “civilian” life.

Although she’s a consummate professional, who can keep her head in high-stress situations and never loses sight of long-term objectives, every now and then her cold demeanour gets punctured. When a superior officer she admires is revealed to have been running phantom agents and pocketing the bribe money for herself, she’s distraught. When she learns the man she’s been seeing in a local pub is married, she ends up in tears in an office corridor. At the end of the day, she’s only human.

It’s fun seeing Keely Hawes in one of her first major roles, and I like that she has a short, practical haircut and is allowed to wear non-glamourous clothing to work. Every now and then she’s required to present herself as something of a honey trap, but it’s never gratuitous (*side-eyes Sidney Bristow in Alias, who spent most of her uncover work in a bikini*) and in many ways, she’s the antidote to all those sexy supermodel spies, being more likely to save the day from a boardroom while wearing sensible shoes than doing dangerous field work in an evening dress. Now, here’s hoping she doesn’t meet the same fate as poor Helen Flynn…