“The Autopsy" Found Profoundness in Friendship and the Right Actors to Build it.

“Ernest Hemingway once wrote, "The world is a fine place and worth fighting for." I agree with the second part.” - That's the way David Fincher's seminal detective vs serial killer showdown “Seven” ends. In its own way My favorite episode of Guillermo Del Toro's captivating horror anthology “Cabinet of Curiosities” will end that way too. The episode is titled “The Autopsy”. It is a masterpiece of television horror. A bit of noir, a bit of a procedural, a bit of a buddy movie, and surprisingly a great superhero movie about the “super” in us when we have something worth fighting for, that ultimately proves the elegant co-existing relationship between what is ugly and what is beautiful. A great deal of which is accomplished by way of craft in direction and Goyer's language, and to my focus here - the graceful, poetically large performances hiding in the well detailed husks of normality.

The dread in “The Autopsy” is existential. It's both very specific and nebulous as bodily invasion usually is. It is specific in its terror, the taking of our bodies without our consent (The very idea of being both intimate with something and also non intimate because the thing has no interest in the knowing of you) and unspecific in its horror, the varied, multi-layered and ultimately nonsensical fear of death. The balm for the tension caused by these two competing themes is very specific, it is the indomitable spirit of friendship, of connection, which in this story is one thing the enemy never counted on, never saw coming, and neither do we. It is at this intersection of fear and security our protagonist Dr. Carl Winters (F. Murray Abraham) arrives at one Sheriff Nate Cravens (Glynn Turman) to take up the sword and prepare for battle. Neither we nor the protagonists know what they are here for and this makes for another tension as the story unravels these two become aware of each other and so too do we. The specter of death around and on the shoulders of both protagonists and antagonists, and this friendship, refreshing in its organic purity- is what makes the episode, and what makes all of this abundantly clear is in the performances of F. Murray Abraham and Glynn Turman.

The noir element makes it so the story unravels backward and forwards in time. Detail upon minor detail is discovered and piled up one after another until they coalesce into a clear understanding of what exactly is happening, still the thing we are introduced to right after the inciting incident is two friends reconnecting after years. Why? Because the writer and director want us to feel the connection between these two. The villainy and the heroism, the horror and the pleasure, intertwined and separate. The complexity is the central force of the narrative, and more importantly what is behind it. It is tied to their friendship and not just the bond in and of itself but what kind of bond. It's one built on principles and honesty the unusual kind that allows for unusual honesty wherein one cannot take themselves too seriously, where to some it could be seen as ugly to say as much. “You're so thin I could use you as a whip”. Interesting on two levels; it's bluntness and its inherent bite and how Winters will come to be Craven's whip of sorts. Its also in the way Dr. Winters upon being asked what’s going on with him thinks on it only a moment before telling his friend he has stomach cancer, (that most insidious and cruel villain) and most endearingly, and maybe most important to the story the way Dr. Winters corrects Sheriff Craven when he insists he is “cursed by God”. Bathed in the warmest most relaxing light of the episode F Murray Abraham's Dr. Winters reminds Sheriff Craven directly that “he's just not that important, that's ego”. This (ego, arrogance) becomes a repeated theme. Turman relays a horrid story and ugly sentiments in glorious lighting, the mortifying and the beautiful always hand in hand, toe to toe in a dance. Murray's reaction is swift, Abraham says the words “thats ego” with a genial plainness tat belies his intention even before he continues with the rest, still, Glynn Turman is taken aback. Abraham says; “Who are you to claim special qualities of sin from the rest of us?” (Pouring himself a drink he had earlier scolded his friend about) “If you're cursed we're all cursed (beat) and I meant that in the nicest possible way”. As he says the last line Abraham gives Turman a cheery salutation with his drink. Turman holds a stern face a couple seconds, (his eyes already betraying the fact that he knows he has heard the truth ) but cracks before he can even give it any legitimacy and the laughter tumbles out of him already half into it's summersault. Its the kind of everyday poetry that escapes most storytellers, the kind that needs two actors with their skill and their sense of the grandiose and the simple to make it work. The details of what marks true friendship are often portrayed in wonderfully grand gestures to make them feel more powerful and robust to the audience, so that they resonate. Slow motion, a freeze frame of the moment, and close ups are all consistently used as signifiers of the moment. But Prior and Goyer trust the elegance of the moment (the ability to talk in this sort of straightforward fashion is a marker of deep friendship) and the grace of their actors to illuminate the poetry without pomp and it works

There is something to be said for the almost magical air of complex simplicity both Abraham and Turman bring to their characters. In both F Murray Abraham's Dr Winters and Glynn Turman's Sheriff Craven we find two actors who can cut through the fog of what classism has told us about the middle class, age, power, or nobility. A small town sherriff using words like “Maudlin” and “Posse Comitatus” doesn't feel right to common conceptions around the type of person holding these jobs. You need an actor like Turman who can bring a sense of grandeur to a school teacher who dies feeding a gremlin a candy bar to be able to pull off giving the common man an authentic sense of gravitas. Old men arent commonly heroes either. You need someone who inspires cunning and brilliance with an air of vulnerability like the man who once played to the hilt an insecure but talented hater in Amadeus in order to achieve a properly smooth subversion of the tropes and make a withered cancer ridden old man feel righteous as exactly the adversary this particular evil needed to he extinguished. There are all these tiny gears at play in their faces, hands, and bodies connecting you to both their seriousness and their playfulness. They're down home sensibilities, and manners, and their immense intelligence, and how that ultimately bonds them. A hand gesture, the jutting out of a lip, a lazy but deep sigh that lives only in expression. Each “tells” on just how important life is to them, how how precious their friendship is, and subsequently how precious humanity is to them. When Abraham shows concern for his friend he grips his cup tighter. Turman’s response to Abraham asking “if the situation is as bad as that” (in reference to his pouring a drink) is a sophisticated facial expression that more than anything undergirds the level of communication they’re on where most things don’t need be said. While Craven and Winters regard each other with deep affinity and professional courtesy, they care about people in general despite being in two professions not known for this type of care. In movies/TV and I would guess sometimes in real life the common refrain for people in these career fields (Coroner/Police) are things like “remain detached" “don't get too close to the case” “Don't get too close to the victim" “Don't make this personal”. The autopsy goes opposite not only in taking it and making the personal important, but making it central to what gives them an edge. Cravens speech about his own “uselessness” is a dead give away to just how much he wants to be of use, of service. Their powers are not only in the cliché powers of deduction but in attachment and explicit constant empathy. Sheriff Craven's complete bafflement at the heartless nature of the murders, comes not just from a clinical more sterile want of understanding what the hell is going on, or the obsessive desire to get his man, but from a deep respect for the sanctity of life, shown in how this thing tears at him. Every time someone disappears or is found dead Sheriff Craven reacts freshly as if it were brand new. Dr. Winters feels it too, even though his job requires a less emotional connection, there is still a very philosophical and poetic respect for life. He politely asks each body for forgiveness as he opens them up, a detail that shows and tells on the level of empathy the character has for humankind far better then any speech could. Abraham’s provides a majestic refined touch to the expression of these small pleas which directly addresses the discourse we have around how victims are treated in true crime as after thoughts. Here are two men deeply wounded by and not merely angry or enraged by the loss of life. That same empathy, combined with the fortitude of his friendship with Craven, supersedes the murders, the stomach cancer, and their egos. Dr. Winters who upon revealing the nature of his affliction and it's impending doom remarks “We're all headed to the same destination” maybe reserved and capitulating about his own death, but about his friends life or the treatment of others as insignificant, he is not for play. When the story finally arrives where it arrives it is that friendship with Craven, that kinship with humanity that motivates him to sacrifice the unthinkable, to keep going even as each pain is more excruciating than the last. Abraham's cavalier response to his impending doom - not just with the cancer - but in the face of the monster, as compared to his response once the monster tells him of its plans for his friend is discernably different. From that point on his resolve becomes more ..well resolute. This is so explicitly relayed and so beautifully understated it dulls even the sharpness of some gnarly mutilation and the tragedy of Winters sacrifice somehow ends up feeling…good.

The notions that those who hold power or authority or who are chosen by some version of divine right, blood, entity, or position in a hegemonic system, are the ones who need to save us is far too common of a narrative that doesn't really empower us. The power of “The Autopsy is then two fold; A. It lends power to the idea that heroism is in the hands of the common man as well. That we can all fight and win and scrap and thrive, even while being honest about the cost. B. It brings catharsis with that win. By the end of the episode, just when it seems death and gloom have won over we find our Daniel Webster has outsmarted the Devil and in that has won the day or at least a reprieve for humanity as represented in their friendship, a friendship illustrated by way of nuance and fine stitching. Craven’s power was in his reaction to being powerless, which shows his character. He willingly accepts help, growls, hurts, drinks, but he doesn't punish anyone else for his shortcomings. He doesn’t start lashing out on the town, throwing power around and arresting errant “punks". He mourns these losses and resigns himself to the idea that he may be up against something bigger than him while (without actually making a decision to do so explicitly) continuing to work the case. Winters sees this and offers his own life (which is a death sentence and a divine sacrifice) to stop this monsters task, but again mostly to save his friend who to him represents everything right with humanity. That's cathartic. In film and television catharsis, a release of tensions arriving from emotions held in suspension for any elongated amount of time can be powerful, maybe one of cinema’s most potent weapons as well, but its power is in having had tension in the first place, holding it for as long as possible for the third of your story. Too many times catharsis arrives with little stress. The characters don't feel genuinely threatened, the stakes don't feel genuinely impressed upon, death is never really on the table until the very very end, and no one is ever really truly dead until their contract is up and then there's just a new “Dread Pirate Roberts”. So Catharsis may come but it comes in a form that is dimmed. Something akin to a candle in the sun. When it's done right though, when the stakes are clear, concise, and impactful. When the tension has a vice grip on the audiences imagination, when death is absolute and then suddenly, out of the darkness, you show a hand reaching in to pull us up out of the abyss, well then that story, that catharsis it sticks, and that release is never really forgotten. To make the gist of that impact the sword of that death blow friendship? That may not be new, but it is refreshing and more to the point it’s not far from the truth. To have two actors with as much poise, elegance, passion, intelligence and charisma lends it even further weight. There is a desire that you have right from the gate because these are two actors you want to see win, then through the skills they embody the characters with it extends to the characters they create. Their on screen chemistry injects a richness to the authenticity of the love between these two that friends that says it more profoundly than had the words been actually uttered. The philosopher Epicurus said of friendship; '“The same conviction which inspires confidence that nothing we have to fear is eternal or even of long duration also enables us to see that even in our limited conditions of life nothing enhances our security so much as friendship”. “Nothing enhances our security so much as friendship” is a proper ending to a show where the darkness in every single way imaginable seems poised to win. It places the episode firmly in the same sphere that made “Seven” so appealing to me, which is that it isn't an argument for all of humanity as beautiful and worth saving in and of itself, it's an argument that those places where humanity as one of nature's best ongoing experiments does work, works so profoundly, so beautifully that it makes all the rest worth saving. And in these dark days a much needed balm if nothing else.

The Disappearance of Diahann Carroll

Its crazy because when I heard, or rather read and then heard, because the words became so deafeningly loud in my head - “Diahann Carroll has died” , My mind began instantly searching for something beyond the obligatory “Oh My God” you'd think..I'd think that as my mind turned over all my retrospective files on this woman’s career, I would immediately envision her sturdy brilliance in "Claudine" or maybe her part in one of my favorite dance numbers ever in Carmen Jones ( and that one eyebrow), let me not forget her role as Whitley’s mother Marion (in which she she basically played a version of Lynn Whitfield’s Matriarch that added her own unique flavor ) or her extremely memorable work in Robert Townsend's The Five Heartbeats playing a version of herself so committed she nearly tears through the silver screen in every scene…

Funeral scene

But it wasn’t any of those roles that came to mind, in fact Diahann almost ceased to exist, and when I called for her in their stead, in her stead, the first image in my mind was of Elzora - Carroll’s small, but immensely effective and affective role in Kasi Lemmons " Eve's Bayou". Upon reflecting about it further it becomes easier for me to see why this stood out to me first. It’s soulful, its complex, its involves the best elements of transformation which are neither cheap or exploitive. Contextually Carroll's Witch is the underside of this black Haven. The embodied ghost of still disenfranchised members of families left behind or rolled over by privileged racist whites, and ambitious African-Americans who had the right amount of color, resolve, ruthlessness, or all of the above to climb out of their social dungeons. Physically Diahann Carroll brings revelation outside the margins of the scene, just as much as she does in scene. On one side she is Diahann Carroll Queen of elegance, unrivaled put togetherness, and “You Tried it” energy. On the netherside of that she is almost completely hidden by white make-up, strands of unkempt silver hair, and a mask of concrete surliness. Eve’s Bayou allows her to slink back into a side of her that largely went unexplored before it. She moves differently, as if each appendage has to cut though weighted space to get to where it's going. When you watch closely you see she has moments where she seems to have spells where she's lost herself, her bearings, her thoughts, and then she just returns. In this scene as well as later with Jurnee Smollet’s Eve, she is callous, but also warm, and Carroll turns it on and off in screen with such intuitive and adept understanding of when the one energy is needed over the other she creates an integral bit of mortar that glues the various bricks of southern life that form the gothic and loving house of memory and loss Lemmons built. Every choice she made in that film supported a comprehensive whole….

Eve's Bayou movie clips: http://j.mp/1e6PYl0 BUY THE MOVIE: http://j.mp/1e6PYkS Don't miss the HOTTEST NEW TRAILERS: http://bit.ly/1u2y6pr CLIP DESCRIPTION: Elzora (Diahann Carroll) upsets Mozelle (Debbi Morgan) when she reads her fortune and predicts more death. FILM DESCRIPTION: A young girl learns some difficult lessons about truth, love, and fidelity in this critically-acclaimed Southern gothic drama.

It’s a link to a forgotten figure in black communes, the wise woman or witch. Elzora is a tie to pre- christian practices of black peoples, and to the strength, power, and position these women held within those communities. What Carroll gives her is her sense of gravitas, and a regality, that belies a sense of past ancestral grandeur. What she sacrifices in the embers of this visually striking portrayal is the grandiosity that served as the inertia for so may of her other roles. It is this exact sacrifice of what powers your mega wattage as a star to the gods of thespians, that makes you more than just a star. Once you can make your Clark Kent every bit as powerful and resonant as your superman, well you’re in the most elite company of actors. This is why I love this role so much, it was so much in so little. It was an underdog role for an underdog character whom was made powerful both by the implicit nature of the script and by the explicit nature of Carroll’s performance. It was representative of all Carroll was capable of, of all she could do, of all many black women could do, but especially those with her raw and exceptional talents. She did just about everything you could do in an industry where so many do so little, if anything at all. She had an impact that couldn’t be argued, through it was sufficiently less than she deserved. In a way Carroll was the Queen that is both clearly in power, and yet under duress, and under-served, who is gone now resting in that very power. Extending her roots, raising the ground for future actors, (and black actresses especially) to stand toe to toe with their rightful peers.

The Good died Young in Game of Thrones.

I’ve had a running theory for the longest that If not empirically, at least visually there are a great deal of implications that people have been conditioned to be turned off, suspicious, and disapproving of extremely principled people. Our now very collective reactions to their avatars in film and television have a lot to say about that. My own personal belief is that, that doesn’t have to be. That it's an outgrowth of a systemic imbalance inherent in any system or populous that values profit, status, results, and most importantly power more than its people. Maybe no other show or film points a mirror in that direction more accurately or plainly than HBO’s Game of Thrones. The big themed, fantasy as political theater series allows fans to draw critical lines in the sand about their favorite characters (in much the same way as a soap opera). If you fancy paying attention to all the different theories, and analysis around said characters, it tends to give profound insight into various psychological phenomenon regarding perspective, and where many of us draw boundaries around the value of sticking to ones principles, and morality. People bond to characters they see portions of themselves in, and when their surrogate self is threatened with extinction, then the relative “goodness”; principles, humility, and ethics of said person(s) ( once revered qualities of said characters) become stupidity, naivety, and bitch-assedness.

The way we respond to art or entertainment is a combination of our perception of the art, the artist and ourselves. Whatever limitations (or lack of) to our understanding of the art, or perception of that art is in certain aspects directly related to the limitations of our own perception, the art, or those set in place by the artist. It is no easy task discerning which of these three is most responsible for a failing, or misfire of some art, when the failing itself is relative, but repetition does help. If a number of people claim the David Benoiff and D.B. Weiss version of the author George R.R. Martin’s most revered patriarch Ned Stark was too honest, then it’s at least interesting to ask why? Is this a projection or something encoded into the show? In the case of Game of Thrones both the show and seemingly the books (I haven’t read them) it’s in no small part due to the implied ramifications and values that the writers created within the context of choices Ned made.

Uploaded by Game Of Thrones on 2016-11-30.

Ned’s honor is brought up a great deal of times before and after his death in this regard, and the message is never the cruelty and treachery of those around him, but his own decency as a weight around his own neck, and it exemplifies the crux of my theory. My own personal problem with this is two fold; One, the natural conclusion is then that Ned should want to live more than he should want to be principled. After all, if you take for instance his choice to reveal to Cersei his awareness of her betrayal, and incest, it is not merely to be honest for honesty’s sake. He informs her because he knew exactly what Robert would do if he found out she and Jaimie’s secret while Cersei and all her kinfolk were still in the castle (and obviously see last video for precedent of Robert’s willingness). Making the ethical decision to not want the blood of children on your hands in not naivety, and If your position is that he should’ve kept the secret to himself, your position is also like Roberts.. “F*** them kids”. Considering, who at least one Lannister child turned out to be, and that they would all die anyway, this may not feel like too bad a consequence, but Ned having no way of knowing of Cersei’s tragic prophecy concerning her children it makes it no less troubling and unscrupulous a secret to hold. Ned unlike others, in this show filled to the brim with unconscionable people - held his honor more valuable than his life, it was a righteous decision, not a folly, and one rooted in his own distinct moral code.

Scene from Game of Thrones S01E09 - Baelor Varys comes to Lord Eddard Stark in the dungeons of the Red Keep, to urge him to confess his treason and keep the truth about Joffrey's birth a secret, so that peace may be held in the Seven Kingdoms. "You think my life is some precious thing to me?

This in my mind is my biggest grievance with writers and show-runners David Benoiff , and D.B. Weiss. Benoiff and Weiss, while effective storytellers, made clear a political leaning that anchored itself in the unimaginative ruminations of a libertarian philosopher like Jordan Peterson. The details of the “fantasy” world these men helped bring to life, aided to light their own biases. Ones which cede the highest nobility, intelligence, and worthiness to white men. The kind that acknowledges in rations that the world is a terrible place for the oppressed while tipping its hat to the power elite on their cunning. The kind that left nobles laughing off the idea of democracy, and fairness, giving vitality to the notions of white and male superiority by way of an elaborate game of three card monte that fraudulently implied the possibility maybe someone else, (in this case mostly white women) might be the clear victors, but ultimately circling back to conventional tropes. Pivoting between narrative guided by character and narratives guided by plot, it became increasingly clear a revolution was not to be televised. Game of Thrones could’ve been a show that imagined what a grass roots revolution offset by the death of a good man might look like in a world molded in the still yet to be realized oasis of fantasy. Female warrior dragon riders, black equestrian armies, and various peoples of color in major seats of power like Dorne challenging white supremacy. Instead it was privileged redundancy that feigned at creating fantasy while living plainly in the real world. Tossing proverbial half gnawed bones of acknowledgment of the racism, sexism, and rape culture they themselves unnecessarily created in a fantasy world as meaty commentary. Teasing us with the power and skilled finesse of Dornish warriors, male and female - only to unceremoniously dispatch them in a dungeon of whiteness. We were all deceived by a show who well before the pitfalls of this final season, seemed to be green-lighting rape and trauma underneath the show runners very precarious ideals. Which amounted to slight of hand subversions that ultimately led us back to the world as we know. Boxed into this particular form of ostentatious banality disguised as gritty narrative the audience had very little choice but to, view this “fantasy” from within the narrow margins of their privileged and reductive cynicism. Ultimately the shows great flaw was disingenuously presenting a fantastical world where hope for truly revolutionary ideas like the blind justice of consequence, black people and people of color flourishing under the winds of their own truly unique development, or women garnishing and brandishing power in ways men had never before seen, was the only fantasy.

http://www.gamesrave.com http://amzn.to/HsbXrf = Watch all of Season 1! http://amzn.to/I9MyPw - A Game of Thrones (A Song of Ice and Fire, Book 1) Cersei Lannister chastises Littlefinger (Lord Petyr Baelish) in Season 2 Episode 1 of Game Of Thrones. "Power is Power." she tells him. after being told that Knowledge is Power by Baelish.

Re-visisted D&D have then not created a fantasy but in fact hyperrealism constructed as fantasy. A mirror of our world featuring fantastic elements wherein which the lesson is that no good deed goes unpunished, not that the those in power and their endless machinations ruin a good thing. Ethics, morals, and values should be put aside for the sake of living , politicking, and making sure ones own house survives. I am suddenly reminded of a quote I read from a philosopher I hadn't heard of until then named Callicles who reportedly said "To hell with morality, this has been propounded by the weak to debilitate the power of the strong." Between the villainy of Game of Thrones, and the just, this was an oft repeated theme, and it was rarely effectively challenged in any way. Ned loses a head there, Sansa is raped, so is Dany who listens to Tyrion’s just and fair council and had havoc visited upon her head here, and Jon barely survives everywhere..

game of thrones, season 4, Episode 5 Jon Snow vs Karl Tanner, the Legend of Gin Alley

Having successfully gotten most of us to agree with this premise that the road to hell is not only paved with good intentions, but that good intentions are hell, we must and ask ourselves in essence "are we really about that life". Do we in fact like the values we commonly associate with good people, or do we like the idea of them in ice, without any actual functioning interaction with consequences,and away from our own internal and possibly competing agendas? Do we in fact, maybe a little despise these traits and the consistency of others who allow them to govern them? In real life even I wonder what is the effect on an oppressed population who have been repeatedly exposed to the deaths of ethically staunch and deeply coded folk like Martin Luther King, and Malcolm X? It's worth examining I think our collectively trauma over historical and current sociological crimes. Writers Benoiff and Weiss seem to have by happenstance fell upon creating a landmark television series that acts almost as a sociological litmus test for where our individual tolerance for goodwill and honor lie in a world that SEEMS to constantly berate, and harm us for it, because well …they berated and harmed the characters in theirs and Martin’s world for it. I want to put an emphasis on "seems" in my last sentence, because perspective and bias play large roles in our interpretation of the world and people around us. For example again the "ill fated" Stark decision. Instead of Game of Thrones posing a question, they chose creating a false equivalence between Ned's decision to be honorable, and his death. When in fact it's at least as possible Ned was always gonna die because leaders, and people with immense power wanted him dead. because his ethics, his decency was always a threat. Put another way from another medium of entertainment ..film - why get mad at Serpico for being an honest cop? Instead of the corrupt system that hated him for his honesty? We can look to history for some evidence of the inevitability of danger and harm in our own american history. When Malcolm X split from the nation of Islam over finding out his teacher and leader the “Honorable” Elijah Muhammed was at least morally a fraud, as was the kind of Islam he had fostered, he had actually kept secret the truth of paternal malfeasance that laid bare the truth to himself. yet that in no way guaranteed his survival, they still in fact wanted him dead.

In 1964, the rift between Malcolm X and Elijah Muhammed, founder of the Nation of Islam, would reach a tense peak. In a fiery interview, X revealed a scandalous secret about his one-time ally. From the Series: The Lost Tapes: Malcolm X http://bit.ly/2Dun05T

The danger in setting up and implying that anyone is too honest is that it puts the onus on the victim, (a righteous one worser still) not the people committing the harm. We begin to root for the beauty of power elite, and despise the homeliness of morality. The more you murder, rape, maim, anyone with any sense of a moral compass, while implying that the reasons for their death is directly related to that compass, the more the audience picks up on cues and begins to root for good people to get some sense and throw away some of that pesky virtue and morality. The same is true in the real as in one rooted (half- heartedly even) in fantasy. We thusly begin rooting not for Sansa's strength as a Stark woman , owing to her strong and ever loving mother nor her noble father, but as a Littlefinger acolyte?? For nearly the entirety of the show the series had an interesting intriguing theme of the randomness and inevitability of consequence that wanted so badly to live and breathe. Where who lived and died wasn't determined by audience favorites, mythological determinism, and the usual storytelling devices and tropes, but by small events, competing agendas, chance, and effect. For all his horrible crimes Joffrey's death was as inevitable in this world as Ned's and the actual opening for it was the death of Tywin, but in essence the seal was his marriage to the granddaughter of one Olenna Tyrell aka "The Wrong one". The hound almost died over a misunderstanding and per chance encounter with Brienne. This is the most important offering from the show, and yet the writers and show-runners seemed hell bent on convincing us of the more tired and banal theme of no good deed going unpunished, and the world as "all about cocks" and other such nonsense. This season the writers have Brienne say that Jaime lost his hand trying to save her honor, here again we have cocks and good deeds. But a better interpretation is that Jaime lost his hand because he was being smug, and more importantly because he was hated. His "Lannisterness" his money, his privilege, and his smarmy condescension along with it, put the final nails in his hand's coffin, not standing up for Brienne.

Jaime's attempt at trying to free Brienne and himself backfires spectacularly. Game of Thrones is an American medieval fantasy television series created for HBO by David Benioff and D. B. Weiss. Based on author George R. R. Martin's best-selling A Song of Ice and Fire series of fantasy novels.

This is important for obvious reasons, the most important being you dont end up with a moral of the story that goes "There's a price for doing good, in this case apprehending a rape" . “The world is what we make it” the saying goes, and one place we could start with is in the stories we tell. It's very hard to convince people of the value of morality, justice, virtue, and kindness, when at every turn in storytelling and narrative you try and convince others its directly related to suffering and pain. Worser still and more importantly that it has to be that way. Sometimes people pay for their crimes, sometimes they don't, sometimes taking an ethical stand is less than rewarding and mostly painful, sometimes, maybe most times in some way shape or form it's worth it. Jaime himself found this out, having the favor returned to him by Brienne in the early portion of the final season. Drawing and connecting these threads, whether by happenstance, or intent is where the writers, directors and Benoiff and Weiss were at their best, but at their worst they sold out on "Game of Thrones " as a cynical rote concept of power, and a cliff notes version of relational dynamics that created an audience who learned to root for oppression in the form of majesty, and bemoan the best of us and in us. Because what was created was a completely imagined world where good dies young, so too did the best possibilities for Game of Thrones. Making the promise Game of Thrones once showed of revolutionary television as empty as Daenerys’s own revolution. What Benoiff and Weiss practiced was narrative entrapment. Luring viewers into these two’s own limited conception of freedom, hope, and change to convict the audiences favorite characters, and in some ways indict their own values in the stead of the highest ideals in fantasy. They peddled a view so reductive, it began to limit the audience. A view best summed up as when you play the game of thrones you play to win, or you die. With that as its sort of mantra we were bound to be both disappointed, and beguiled. For me I’m left with one of my favorite quotes from Quentin Tarantino’s Jackie Brown…

“”What the fuck happened to you man, shit your ass used to be beautiful”…”

THE PATH OF THE RIGHTEOUS: Why Agent Ray Nadeem was the most interesting character in Daredevil S3

[This post contains spoilers for Daredevil Season three]

"The path of the righteous man is beset on all sides by the inequities of the selfish and the tyranny of evil men” - Jules Winnfield

It’s the oft misquoted, but definitive line from Pulp Fiction’s most celebrated character; Jules Winnfield. It is also an apropos summary of what is at the heart of the story behind Daredevil Season Three’s most interesting Character, Agent Ray Nadeem. Though I don’t see it as a problem (Mostly because most heroes in film and television are the least interesting aspect of their own story) Daredevil/Matt Murdock has never been the most interesting part of Daredevil. In Season One that was Wilson Fisk. Season Two, it was The Punisher and Elektra. Season three, it’s undoubtedly Ray Nadeem. What makes Nadeem so riveting is not just his flaws, but the forces that have conspired against him, and his sincere nobility despite them. Unlike the titular hero, or his cohorts, Agent Nadeem’s nobility is not steeped in condescension, self-righteousness, or stupidity. It is an authentic, practical form of the quality. I’ve never thought of nobility as perfection, and found that those who aim too high and radical an ideal themselves waver between extremes much like Daredevil. Matt Murdock tends to set way to tall a standard of righteousness for himself and others. Then spend entire seasons stomping around in his all black Osh Kosh B’Gosh’s throwing fisticuff tantrums throughout the city, because his standards were unrealistic. Whereas Murdock in my mind plays too long a game, Nadeem seems to understand nobility is about the short game. Taking whats in front of you and dealing with each problem as it comes. To be more concise, like that of Solomon Northup in Steve McQueen’s 12 Years A Slave, Nadeem does not “Fall into despair, he keeps himself hardy until the moment is opportune”.

It is Agent Ray Nadeem who I found to be most sympathetic as a character, because he was the only character in the show believably acting in the interest of someone other than himself. Which is what made me laugh indignantly when of all people Matthew Murdock tried to give Ray a dressing down for his “role” in the Kingpin’s scheming. When tracing back all of Nadeem’s wrongheaded decisions, it is not difficult to assess at their root a genuine desire to fend for and provide for his extended and immediate families. Nadeem was targeted, and drawn into Kingpins trap through financial pressure that threatened not only his family’s financial wellbeing, but his Sister-In-Laws life. He clings so hard to the idea that his arrests are “legit”, because - A. He’s gunning for a promotion (mostly to help procure some financial stability after aiding his sister-in-law’s recovery ) and the fact that he was being duped would completely undermine the one shot he had worked so hard for. B. His own ego. The Kingpin knows this, because thats what the Kingpin does throughout this season; Identify people’s weaknesses - and then apply immense pressure. Despite a tyranny of evil men and women who act as proverbial walls closing in on Nadeem and his family, Nadeem is never always looking for a way to do the right thing. He is rarely acting in self-interest, which is more than I can say for any other character in the show. For instance, Matthew Murdock is too busy having his own pity party and mostly acts out on his own hate and desire for revenge. Karen Page spends the entire time trying to redeem herself for past sins that reside in shaky logic in the first place. While Foggy spends his portion of the season trying to prove his own worth by incredulously suggesting (despite all evidence to the extreme contrary) everyone rely on the same system that acted in collusion with the Kingpin. While Nadeem and his family are mostly placed in harm’s way by the Kingpin’s machinations, Daredevil and his cohorts mostly place themselves and others in the way of danger unnecessarily (Karen Page is especially good at this- [See her visit to Kingpins home to instigate him killing her] ).

Karen reveals to Fisk that she killed James Wesley. Marvel's Daredevil Season 3 Episode 8 "Upstars/Downstairs"

Though the show spends a lot of time obviously on its titular hero, it is at its best when its focus is Nadeem. The season as a whole becomes more claustrophobic, relatable, less insipid, when we watch the slow burn of Nadeem’s increasingly strained arc. His psychopathic co-worker, his compromised, (though in a similar situation) boss, and of course Wilson Fisk himself - shrink Nadeem’s options moment by moment, scene by scene, until he feels he only has the one. Nadeem acts as the true heart of the show it’s conscious, and its a good thing we continue to see him until nearly the very end, because a lot of the shows air bottomed out upon his death.

Clip from Marvel's Daredevil Season 3 Episode 13 Enjoy Have a great day May the force be with you This channel is 100% non profit. All content in any ways whether its music or video is owned by their righfully owners, Marvel Studios and Netflix.

The other factor aiding in making Nadeem the most relatable character in the show is actor Jay Ali. His steady, measured, but assured performance as Ray Nadeem is quite possibly the best in the show (my only other possibility being Wilson Bethel as (Agent Pointdexter/Bullseye ). As an actor Ali embodies all the qualities needed to endear us to Agent Nadeem in spades (Identifiable in the clip above). Ali was adept at conveying in small, subtle expressions; the look and feel of moral compromise, indecision, as well as that overall feeling of being trapped - and most importantly, fear. His reaction to the shocking murder of another agent in front of him by his boss made for one of the more memorable scenes in television this year in no small part due to his work . His expression of the shock on his face after the pivotal betrayal, was one I’ll never forget.

Daredevil Season Three was one of the better Marvel seasons - but it did suffer from a bit of magical writing - and placing shock value over script logistics. The characters this season were especially annoying, and Daredevil continues to be given “Wolverine-like” healing abilities despite the character having no such ability in the Marvel canon. For me Agent Nadeem did a lot of the heavy lifting especially when some of these gripes conspired in unison to turn me off to the season. Nadeem was “The Righteous Man” Jules Winnfield spoke of in Tarantino’s mash-up of made-up and actual bible verses. Beset on all sides by tyranny, yet sturdily noble and true to reasonable and steady principles throughout. The character was a well-acted, well drawn and executed hero, and THE best part of this season. Quite possibly the best side character introduced into any of the previous Marvel television efforts. Bravo to the writers, and especially to actor Jay Ali.