Xena Warrior Princess: The Execution, Blind Faith, Ulysses

It's been a while, but I'm continuing to transfer my Xena Warrior Princess reviews (three at a time) from their original pages to this blog. The three episodes that follow are pretty good indicators that this show worked SO much better when it focused on the relationship between the two leads and NOT the array of male guest stars that so often had very little to offer the show or its key dynamic.

His Dark Materials: Betrayal

Here we go, the final chapter of the first season, which not only completes the first book in the trilogy, but also manages half the first chapter of the second. And what do you know, the show finally finds its groove in its last moments.

What immediately caught my attention was the echo of the Master of Jordan College's words in the "previously on" segment, about how Lyra will suffer a betrayal but that she will be the betrayer. When I read this book for the first time at age thirteen, I assumed (as this show apparently does) that Lyra unwittingly taking Roger to his doom at Lord Asriel's hands was the betrayal the prophecy referred to.

Actually it isn't, as Pullman makes very clear in The Amber Spyglass when Lyra... okay, I won't give it away for those that don't know/have forgotten; suffice to say the betrayal is yet to come, and the eventual reveal never worked for me anyway, simply because I believed the betrayal had already taken place.

And don't say that "leading Roger to his death wasn't a betrayal because it wasn't Lyra's fault", because the real betrayal certainly takes liberties with the meaning of the word as well. But we'll get to that when it actually happens.

His Dark Materials: The Fight to the Death

We're getting there, only one more to go!

The episodes in the latter half of this season have fallen pretty neatly into book chapters: the last dealt with Bolvangar, this is Svalbard, and clearly the finale will focus on Asriel (as that closing scene clearly depicted, but we'll get to that).

His Dark Materials: The Daemon-Cages

Whew. Okay, I screamed all my frustration into the void and posted it on the internet, so now it's time to get back to His Dark Materials, which so far has been a reasonably faithful but oddly bloodless adaptation that's squandering its premise and talent with very bland dialogue and set-pieces, as well as a lack of internal consistency (we'll get to that).

This is the Bolvangar episode, in which Lyra is taken captive by the Oblation Board and finds a way to stall for time in the knowledge that the gyptians and Iorek are on their way - making several horrific discoveries as she does so.

New Year's Resolution: As Wrapped Up in an Angry Emotional Womanly Rant

disappointment
/dɪsəˈpɔɪntm(ə)nt/
noun
sadness or displeasure caused by the non-fulfilment of one's hopes or expectations.

I learned an important lesson in 2019: that I'm a deeply stupid person. I am stupid because I continually let myself get invested in stories that are destined to fail their female characters, people of colour, and LGBT communities.

It's not the worse thing that can happen to a girl: I have a job I enjoy, friends I love and a comfortable place to live. I'm keeping all this in perspective. But 2019 brought into focus a very disturbing trend of how female characters are treated when they're in the hands of male writers.

It's always been there, but the ways in which the stories of women have concluded in three of our biggest franchises, all of which came to their conclusions this year, have helped me find a way to articulate it properly for the first time.

We have a very serious problem with the proliferation of three deeply ugly tropes. TV Tropes calls them Stuffed in the Fridge (women dying so a man can be sad, angry or motivated), Drop Dead Gorgeous (depictions of beautiful dead women) and Interplay of Sex and Violence, the worst of all considering it often combines the first two. They were all over some of the most iconic female characters of the decade, in some of the most popular films and shows that aired this year.

Woman of the Month: Lyra Belacqua

Lyra Belacqua from His Dark Materials trilogy

I first met Lyra Belacqua (also known as Silvertongue) when I was thirteen years old. I had no idea what to make of her: she was so unlike any of the other female characters I had ever read, who were largely written as helpful, polite, friendly and essentially good.

Lyra was none of this, as in turns she could be feral or spoiled or rude or bratty. But she also had a deep-seated sense of right and wrong, and deep reserves of intelligence, compassion and common sense. Her mastery of the alethiometer was fascinating to watch, and her raw determination in saving children from Bolvangar inspiring - particularly the courage it took her to extend kindness to Tony Makarios.

It was a thrill to see a female character excel in telling lies and weaving stories, to run wild over rooftops and through Oxford streets, and to fight tooth and nail to defend herself. With a name that resembles "lyre" or "liar", both of which encapsulate her character, she's a tiny force of nature that barrels through all the obstacles in her path.

She's also a girl of her time, and perhaps one of my favourite moments is when Will suggests she wears pants, only for her to laugh and say: "don't be stupid, I'm a girl!"

But her destiny as a second Eve isn't contingent on her femininity or disobedience or fatal curiosity; rather her desire to experience everything the world has to offer. In many ways the entire trilogy is her coming-of-age tale, as she grows in wisdom, empathy and self-awareness in her journey from child to adult.

Ages ago I read a quote that said Lyra was the most realistic little girl since Alice in Wonderland, a comparison I didn't understand at the time, but can fully grasp now. Brought to life by Dakota Blue Richards and Dafne Keen in rather flawed adaptations of the work, I'm looking forward to returning to Lyra's continuing story in The Secret Commonwealth. It's staring at me from my desktop.