on a specific level I have no problem with a show, that very clearly targets female viewers, leaning in and giving them some eye candy. Is it hypocritical? Maybe but mostly it doesn't hurt anything. But my immediate take away after watching this episode is why was Guardian Belekov topless?
For me it's yet another aspect of inconsistency and it's poorly thought out. It's a half measure. First of all the show is treating royal politics like it's democratic politics. Like we've never heard of royalty before. The idea of strong and consistent parties so strong they have names when they elect, functionally for life, a single position doesn't make sense. It's clear they needed some ancient rite to do the next story beat and then they just didn't care or didn't have time to actually come up with something that might exist in the VA universe.
And this "trial" is supposed to be the ancient and handed down tradition. And yet it looks like Love Island fully clothed filmed at night with the Queen doing her best Hunger Games voice. I half expected there to be two phone numbers at the bottom of the screen so we could call in our votes. The audience is cheering like it's their weekly footy game and not literally a monarch decision that will affect what is functionally the rest of their lives. This whole thing is supposed to be super serious and super grave and yet... audience are waving tiny little flags and constantly cheering so we never know why they're there. Why don't they self-segregate after all this is much more important than anything why isn't there a blue side and a red side. Nah it's just blue and red all mixed in. And why do they care so much anyway? it's not like they had a say in the decision. This isn't a republic it's a monarchy.
And the trials. Whooo boy. They have to survive a wind storm, pick a good champion, and then have a vision? These aren't just weird and awkward choices in general. They're a poor example of something that might be an ancient rite (After all the Moroi used to fight alongside the dhampirs and it might make more sense to have a ceremony that reflected that like a contest of using their magic against a ball or something it's ancient feeling, it's barbaric feeling, exactly the sort of thing that people don't do anymore but would be legally valid for a royal rite^1). If they have to do battle with four elements at least let me see four elements. Instead of barely a wind gust.
And if they have to pick a champion give them properly ceremonial garb. Even though one is a woman you can still do ceremonial garb aside from "I'm topless". Their cloaks made them look like wrestlers which didn't help they got into a wrestling ring. Again it wouldn't have been out of place to have a bell ringing and a sexy boy or girl walking by with a number. Rose was so covered up I wondered if the actress has scars. At least give her something sleeveless so she can flex her arms properly.
The third trial while silly at least feels like an ancient ritual. It made no sense she said they would go into a room to reflect and they just sit down. But whatever at least it was something.
This show is constantly throwing ceremony at us. Every other episode they're having another ceremony and ceremonies are supposed to have a purpose. They're some of the most effective ways to do world building. Except in this show where the world they suggest, is nothing like the world we see? Is it a modern world that's isolated from the outside? Is it an ancient world that hasn't adapted to the present because of how magic and vampires work? A contemporary world with occasional ancient ways? Is it a witchy world with magic? Is it a supremacist world where people think humans are weak or a world in which humans are nothing? At least they TALK about the dhampire/vampire dynamic but the rest of the world itself it's a mess of ideas that sound like they're from the book and look like they're from a highschooler's fanfic notebook. Which wouldn't be an issue but visually the show spends so much of it's design making it look like a completely normal world which clashes with what everyone is saying about their society and how it works.
[1] Just think of all the ways that would have incorporated to the storylines we already have and the ones it looks like the show is heading towards. Revolution and violence with moroi magic . Imagine Victor as an adult Moroi who doesn't know how to use magic agressively suddenly has to go up against a younger opponent not in literal magic fighting but in a contest of wills . Something like "Get the steel ball into your opponent's next, no blood spilled (we're not savages)". This could have been a great way to bring up Christian's training in secret to give Victor the edge either directly or through Lissa in the contest . The fight as it was had no narrative weight. It didn't even really settle the "who's better" argument that some people might be having in a better show. You connect Victor to the group of young Moroi who are taking their magic more seriously and aggressively and suddenly those of you who think he might turn out to be the big bad suddenly have another notch on your side of the board . He now has a reason to be more considered to the Rose/Lissa circle and what they're doing.
Review by wolfkinBlockedParent2022-10-15T02:46:27Z
on a specific level I have no problem with a show, that very clearly targets female viewers, leaning in and giving them some eye candy. Is it hypocritical? Maybe but mostly it doesn't hurt anything. But my immediate take away after watching this episode is why was Guardian Belekov topless?
For me it's yet another aspect of inconsistency and it's poorly thought out. It's a half measure. First of all the show is treating royal politics like it's democratic politics. Like we've never heard of royalty before. The idea of strong and consistent parties so strong they have names when they elect, functionally for life, a single position doesn't make sense. It's clear they needed some ancient rite to do the next story beat and then they just didn't care or didn't have time to actually come up with something that might exist in the VA universe.
And this "trial" is supposed to be the ancient and handed down tradition. And yet it looks like Love Island fully clothed filmed at night with the Queen doing her best Hunger Games voice. I half expected there to be two phone numbers at the bottom of the screen so we could call in our votes. The audience is cheering like it's their weekly footy game and not literally a monarch decision that will affect what is functionally the rest of their lives. This whole thing is supposed to be super serious and super grave and yet... audience are waving tiny little flags and constantly cheering so we never know why they're there. Why don't they self-segregate after all this is much more important than anything why isn't there a blue side and a red side. Nah it's just blue and red all mixed in. And why do they care so much anyway? it's not like they had a say in the decision. This isn't a republic it's a monarchy.
And the trials. Whooo boy. They have to survive a wind storm, pick a good champion, and then have a vision? These aren't just weird and awkward choices in general. They're a poor example of something that might be an ancient rite (After all the Moroi used to fight alongside the dhampirs and it might make more sense to have a ceremony that reflected that like a contest of using their magic against a ball or something it's ancient feeling, it's barbaric feeling, exactly the sort of thing that people don't do anymore but would be legally valid for a royal rite^1). If they have to do battle with four elements at least let me see four elements. Instead of barely a wind gust.
And if they have to pick a champion give them properly ceremonial garb. Even though one is a woman you can still do ceremonial garb aside from "I'm topless". Their cloaks made them look like wrestlers which didn't help they got into a wrestling ring. Again it wouldn't have been out of place to have a bell ringing and a sexy boy or girl walking by with a number. Rose was so covered up I wondered if the actress has scars. At least give her something sleeveless so she can flex her arms properly.
The third trial while silly at least feels like an ancient ritual. It made no sense she said they would go into a room to reflect and they just sit down. But whatever at least it was something.
This show is constantly throwing ceremony at us. Every other episode they're having another ceremony and ceremonies are supposed to have a purpose. They're some of the most effective ways to do world building. Except in this show where the world they suggest, is nothing like the world we see? Is it a modern world that's isolated from the outside? Is it an ancient world that hasn't adapted to the present because of how magic and vampires work? A contemporary world with occasional ancient ways? Is it a witchy world with magic? Is it a supremacist world where people think humans are weak or a world in which humans are nothing? At least they TALK about the dhampire/vampire dynamic but the rest of the world itself it's a mess of ideas that sound like they're from the book and look like they're from a highschooler's fanfic notebook. Which wouldn't be an issue but visually the show spends so much of it's design making it look like a completely normal world which clashes with what everyone is saying about their society and how it works.
[1] Just think of all the ways that would have incorporated to the storylines we already have and the ones it looks like the show is heading towards. Revolution and violence with moroi magic . Imagine Victor as an adult Moroi who doesn't know how to use magic agressively suddenly has to go up against a younger opponent not in literal magic fighting but in a contest of wills . Something like "Get the steel ball into your opponent's next, no blood spilled (we're not savages)". This could have been a great way to bring up Christian's training in secret to give Victor the edge either directly or through Lissa in the contest . The fight as it was had no narrative weight. It didn't even really settle the "who's better" argument that some people might be having in a better show. You connect Victor to the group of young Moroi who are taking their magic more seriously and aggressively and suddenly those of you who think he might turn out to be the big bad suddenly have another notch on your side of the board . He now has a reason to be more considered to the Rose/Lissa circle and what they're doing.