HEAVY SPOILERS FOR MEDIEVAL CHRONICLES 11, AS WELL AS SOME PREVIOUS EPISODES
So, Medieval Chronicles 11 just
dropped. Customary spoiler warning, etc. We’ve been through this song and dance
a few times. Let’s get started.
To begin with, this episode was
basically an amalgamation of ideas submitted by Discord. It was a pretty
special event – I don’t know whether it will happen again. However, if you’re interested
at maybe another chance to submit your own ideas, or if you just want to take a
look at our little community, we have an invite link posted on the sidebar of
our blog. Both Qoffee and I are in the Discord too, so if you, y’know, wanted
to talk to us(we post fanart there too :3). Qoffee pitched in an idea for this episode, actually, if you
look at the credits. Pretty neat.
This episode is kind of…weird? And
not just because of our crazy ideas. It seems to be a hypothetical story in
which Grandma told Amber to go on a diet (more on Grandma later), and this
hypothetical story features a universe in which chickens have taken over the
world. I have questions: is this “chicken government” thing only for the story,
or is it for the MChr11 world as a whole? Did Amber just make up the chicken
government for the purposes of her story? MChr11 is set in the future (Eva is
friends with the force, so I assume Draziel had already been vanquished at that
point) and everyone else (the characters in general) match up with the OG
timeline. Eh, it’s a story. Again, for all we know, Amber made up the whole chicken
government as another consequence of her being on a diet.
“Guys,
if I go on a diet, the chickens will try to take over the world again, and I
won’t be able to stop them! They’ll forever prevent anyone from eating chicken
ever again!”
The case itself doesn’t have much
bearing on the overall lore. Dregg’s parents meet up, which is cool and also
extremely, like wow, extremely awkward.
It’s a fun episode, even if it was Really All Just a Dream. Or story. Whatever.
I admit though, when sober Dregg walked in acting happy I damn near fell out of
my seat in terror. And…oh god, that Mice and Men reference. It’s played for
laughs here, but in the book itself it’s so, so heartbreaking.
But this is not a review of John
Steinbeck’s Of Mice and Men! It’s about MChr11. This episode features an author
self-insert (as the victim), a humorous 4th-wall break where VasantJ’s wife
scolds her husband for putting her in as the killer, and a cathartic moment in
which Dregg beats up the killer. I have my issues with this. Time to get
controversial!
So, don’t get me wrong – VasantJ is
a great person, and anyone who sends the creator death threats are scum. You
don’t do that. Ever. But this is an inherent weakness of the author self-insert
– that you might end up glorifying yourself and vilifying your critics. People
aren’t good at taking an unbiased look at themselves, and despite all the
self-deprecation in this episode, it ends with the main character beating up
the killer for being horrible to VasantJ. The intent is for the killer of this
case to only represent the “badge hunters” but! Because the internet is the
internet, and it is very easy to misinterpret things, the killer can be seen as
a symbol for critics in general, not just the badge hunters. This episode went
in a direction that is very easy to misunderstand and generate more angry criticism.
Just…self-inserts with a somewhat major role is extremely risky.
I have my gripes, but the rest of
this episode was nice. The humor is on-point as usual – I especially like Santa’s
role, and how he lapses into grouchy mode when finally faced with Dregg. He’s
so done with everything and just wants to dump a truckload of coal onto Rightia.
It’s great. Grim and Diane were pretty interesting – though I feel like the “medieval”
thing doesn’t really work, since the series has enough anachronisms to fund another
10 seasons of Doctor Who. The world of MCop as “general fantasy” – it’s
medieval in the sense that fantasy is often times European Middle Ages flavored
(thanks Tolkien) but the society is much more modern. Otherwise, we wouldn’t
have police, ladies in the workforce, women yelling/punching/poking fun at men,
women beating up men, women holding a job other than “housewife,” women being
allowed to do anything other than take care of their children, and a host of
other things. Also most of our cast would be illiterate. Women being outcast
for having children before they’re married is definitely not a medieval
specific thing, and singling out this instant to apply “medieval social norms”
falls utterly flat when you consider that these same “medieval social norms”
don’t apply to the rest of the Mcop world. Hell, Diane holds a job! If “medieval
social norms” really applied, Diane would be at home in the kitchen. The line
breaks consistency and removed the Willing Suspension of Disbelief I had for a
moment, which was really jarring. That aside, it was a small breakage, and the
rest of the episode was fun.
I don’t have much to say about the
rest of the episode aside from “it was really cool!” since…well, yeah. The
characters were enjoyable – I loved the return of Felicia, even if she didn’t
end up doing much. Ultimately, though, the Santa case never happened. It was
all just a Story. Diane and Grim didn't reunite. Felicia technically never returned. Ina and Mina didn't kidnap Santa with Mr. Snuggles. Although, by extension, this episode tells us what Amber knows - she knows who Dregg's parents are (including his mother), Ina and Mina exist in this 'verse (hence why this is likely the OG verse) and she's met Felicia.You know, props to Amber for constructing the plot of a murder case by herself. Writing cases is hard. (I would know. I've half a mind to rewrite the Halloween special.)
As usual, the most interesting part
of these episodes is the ending. Seems to be a theme for Chronicles episodes to
have a relatively mundane case for the most part, then add a shocking twist at
the end. The shocking twist in question is that wow! This was a story all along
and takes place way after Draziel’s defeat! The events of MChr9 have happened,
Eva’s happily hanging out with the gang, and…and…and Amber’s adoptive
grandmother has passed away.
Oh.
Amber, overwhelmed with grief from
her loss and unable to truly accept that her grandmother has passed, taps into
her angel powers…and becomes corrupted. Instead of the Archangel of Hope, she
is the Archangel of Despair, aka Amber Brokenheart.
These names are slightly ridiculous but it’s very consistent with how naming works in Griva anyway. The corruption of Amber is a clear parallel to the corruption of Arc (given that Amber is a maybe child, maybe reincarnation of Arc?) So, what’s the criteria for corruption? Is it Archangel-exclusive? Is it a “straw that broke the camel’s back” scenario or does it only take one soul-breaking event? How recent was her grandmother's death if the other characters believed that Amber's grandmother is still alive and making Amber go on a diet? If Amber's grandmother had been dead for a while, why didn't the others know about it, considering that Amber is so open about her emotions and is a terrible liar? What if the "everyone reading Amber's thesis" thing was actually a hallucination of a "happily ever after" conjured up by Amber's desperate grab for hope that everything was normal and okay? Too many questions, not enough answers. The good thing is that I’m not gonna worry about this until Season 2 hits. Although Arcana is set up to be the Season 2 antagonist so far, Brokenheart may either be a co-antagonist or be the initial antagonist or something. But we have to wrap up Season 1 first.
Thank you so much for finishing this. The next episode should be MCop 10-2. See you then! And again, feel
free to voice your opinions in the comments and join the Discord!
Email: jesfu919@gmail.com
I check email more often, or you can put it in the comments.
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