Tales From The Sunless Sea: The Clayman Chronicles

First Zee-Captain --- Previous Zee-Captain --- Next Zee-Captain

The clayman had a successful run at being a captain, much longer than many of his predecessors. This was mostly owing to its agelessness and cautiousness. With most of the crew being immune to things such as religion, illness, and curiosity, it was an ideal situation for the ocean. They were also cautious, as most civilised places would not take too kindly to a ship of sentient claymen, so they covered themselves in shadow and spent little time roaming the cities.

Due to the difficulty mingling with city-folk, the claymen dealt mostly in some of the forbidden trading - finding themselves doing runs for underground organisations in London, dealing with the Khantae, and even finding themselves spending great lengths of time working with those on the Isle of Cats. Before they did all this, however, they did need to recruit more people to help run such a large cruiser. The people who joined were... odd. It takes a certain kind of individual to join a crew of claymen, thus a certain kind of individual they were.

To carry on to more specifics, the clayment sought improvements to their life at zee. As they had no intention of retiring to London - improving their state at zee was significantly beneficial to them. So they sought out legends and tales of special ship parts, and engines. They needed to keep their money, up of course, so they traded in coffee beans and wine as well as gaining the trust of some of the more disreputable trade markets. They gained trade with the Khan himself, and sought out some of the harder to find markets in the Iron Republic. The admiral of London also cared not for who brought information and shipments of red honey to him, so this was useful for income.

It seemed all set and useful, with these trade routes, but then pieces started to fit together. The plan was to recruit a co-captain who was human, set up a trustworthy set of officers and hunt down the Fulgent Impeller - an engine that can efficiently power the most grand of vessels. The clayman also heard of some powerful weapons he might seek out in due time, as if he had any aspiration, it was either to find peace or to hunt the most dangerous of zee-creatures. Whichever came first.

With these careful goals, trade routes were planned and success came in great swathes. His crewmates were helpful, also - bringing in all kind of outsider information as well as some of the stories and information gathered from those who had come before.

The shadow clayman, whilst hunting information of the Fulgent Impeller, happened upon an island named 'Aestival', which had the rarest of resources blasting down upon it. Sunlight. The clayman was said to have stood on that island in awe, overstaying his welcome at the peril of his human crewmates.

Though he never spoke of it, there are some who claim that finding the little island changed the clayman. As if he was reinvigorated. Perhaps, he had just found a new goal in life. Whilst visiting the Grand Geode, there was one who claimed to have overheard the clayman talking about a way of making the island habitable. There also happens to be a book upon the shelves of his quarters that is entitled 'Aestival' - though none have ever seen inside of it.

All this being said, the one thing that is known for sure is that it gave the captain an idea. An idea to go to the surface. Which he did. Many of his human crewmates never made it back alive, whether dying from the harsh sunlight (as direct sun is fatal to us Neath Dwellers), or those who could withstand it were said to have stayed. Nevertheless, it did not affect those clay-crew on board. So with plenty of fuel and supplies, they sought out the surface and traded in Naples to make some money. Few stories have ever reached back to us about Naples. Would that I could say more about the place.

The captain, upon his return was particularly sneaky, however, as it is said, that secretly even to some of his crew, he had filled up a few suntrap boxes of sunlight for some underground dealings in London. This was the financial boost that was necessary to set the Clayman on his path. After some long discussions with engineers, he finally found a man who thought he may be capable of creating the Fulgent Impeller - and thus outlines the resources he would need.

Next on the agenda, then, was to ransom a particular prisoner out of the prison on the lilypads of Wisdom - and it would not be easy...

To Be Continued...
---Howard Sterling, Chronicler of the Fallen London University

To The Moon - Memories vs Happiness

Personally, I adore the game To The Moon. If you have not played it, I shall not be spoiling anything that happens in the story, only the main premise of what it is about, so worry not. In a long and convoluted sentence, the idea is:

To the Moon is an interactive novel-style game that focuses on two workers on one of their jobs of entering the memories of people on their death-bed, with the purpose of altering what they believe to be the course of their life, in order for them to die contently.

With that in mind, the main story follows the pair inside the memories of one man who wants to go To The Moon. In order to do that they go back through his memories in order to find a place to put him on the path of becoming an astronaut and uncover a particularly interesting and emotional life in the process.

I shall not mention any more, as I recommend the experience thoroughly. However I would like to focus on a key point that is mentioned in passing, and what one of the bonus episodes, not included in the main game, touches upon: the ethical factor. A company such as the one in To The Moon is one that if it were real, people would have a lot of problem with. The main job of the company is to enter people’s dreams before they die to alter their memories. Of course, your memories are particularly important to your character and who you are. So some people would find this idea unnatural and therefore upsetting.

        In the bonus episode, we see that outside of the building where the character work there are a whole bunch of protesters. So the question is: is it really so bad?

        On the one hand, of course living naturally is really important and one should never underestimate the importance of their story they created while alive. On the other, surely people have the right to die happy, as if even for a fleeting moment they could believe they were amazingly successful and be content with that, that ought not really be a problem.

        One way we can reason the value of each side would be under the belief of an afterlife. It would appear that is one believes death is final, then allowing them to die happy doesn't really have any major problems. However, if these memories of your life persist into the beyond, then perhaps that is a bit more an issue. However, we have no way of knowing if there is an afterlife, so it's not a point I will push.

        One thought experiment we can use is that of the experience machine by Robert Nozick in 1974. Nozick claimed that the increase of pleasure alone isn't the only reason we do things: even if most of the things we do are things that result in increased pleasure. What he hypothesised is that if we could just plug ourselves into a machine for the rest of our life and only have positive experiences, then we would not want that. We would not have the things that come with the positive experience, just live a pleasurable life indistinguishable from the life outside of the machine.

         The idea here is would we really prefer a life of heightened pleasure if the pleasure wasn't natural, or real, or full of negative experiences, too? Perhaps it seems most people would prefer the "whips and scorns of time" (Shakespeare quotes for the win!) as there is added value to the hard work and reality of the pleasure we experience.

         Is this thought experiment the same, however? As rather than genuinely feeling those fake pleasurable experiences we have opted into, we are just choosing to, on our deathbed, have believed we lived a better life than we did. That in itself is only one pleasure filled with inaccurate memories of success. So if we change the experiment to briefly only having one pleasurable experience at the cost of your memories - maybe more people would be willing to opt in for that.

        It seems if we had the choice to gain a pleasurable experience at the cost of nothing, we likely would all opt in for it. So what cost is too much a cost for that pleasure? These are the kinds of thoughts that play on your mind off the back of the story To The Moon. I want not to ramble on too much about this topic, but I figured it was interesting food for thought. Would you opt in for the treatment of having your memories changed on your deathbed, or do you treasure your real life events too much?

        Do let me know, I'm always up for a discussion. I would also be happy to return to covering this game again if people are interested - I think there's a lot of great stuff going on in this story.

Tales From The Sunless Sea - The Seventh Zee-Captain

 First Zee-Captain                                   Previous Zee-Captain                              Next Zee Captain

     The seventh Zee-Captain was doomed for failure. Well, actually he was very much one of the most capable Zee-Captains the Unterzee has seen, however, luck was not on his side. By which I mean the Gods did not favour him. Zeraphya stole a perfect cruiser and had the experience of years of dealing with Zee-Captains doing the bidding of The Cheery Man. The problem being, work for the cheery man didn't always go in favour of Salt, Stone, or Storm.

     With money and a boat and the ability to fight as well as knowledge of the Zee let Zeraphya immediately boost himself into success. He traded cargo back and forth, took out some Zee threats and everything seemed well. His main problem was recruiting new members for his crew, and of which there were two reasons why he kept his crew count low. Firstly, he was a talented man who neither needed much help, nor wanted much help. Even though most of his work was illegal or against the authorities of Fallen London, he still made enemies of pirates and he still treated the residents of Kahn as if they were not friends. Secondly, people took a disliking to him. His face was known to Zee-Captains, no most of them avoided dealings where possible, and many religious folk saw his general appearance, with the scars and tattoos, to be a bad omen for travel.

     So, Zeraphya's crew was considerably low. The reason I mention this is because it wasn't long before this became his undoing. He had been dealing with unstamped human souls, when his voyage was blocked by some kind of hideous crustacean, as described in the journal of one crew member.

"It were a crab, monstrous one, to be sure, yet it had one claw too many! With the flailing it were hard to know where be limbs coming from on its body. It glowed red with anger as it came for us! It were the work of Storm, I tell you - and I wanted nothing of a Storm's curse. I understand why Zeraphya fought, but I just wanted off the ship. Once we landed on the nearby Polythreme, I stayed behind. Polythreme ain't a nice place to stay, but it were clear to me that Zeraphya's vessel was one not looked kindly upon by the cavern above!"

     After felling the beast, Zeraphya apparently took no heed of religious omens floating around the crew. Few were happy as they all felt an unearthly gaze upon them, though most kept a steadfast faith in Zeraphya. It was then that they took a shipment of Claymen. Three to help on the ship, and another six to trade in Fallen London. He had seen a hundred Zee-Captains ferry Claymen here or there and although he heard rumors of the things that have gone wrong - he had seen no evidence that Claymen were dangerous at all. That is unless they were ordered to be by whoever makes them act.

     Naturally, then, this shipment seemed like good money to Zeraphya, though it was on the return journey - somewhere near the Khan's shadow where the first of the woke up. In a blind panic, it killed two men before giving pause. Zeraphya, as soon as he was aware of the commotion ordered the Clayman dead - and so his crew threw themselves at it in the hopes of taking down the beast. It took down three more men before being dismembered to uselessness and each limb cast off into the Zee.

     With so few men left to a cruiser, the ship moved particularly slowly. Morale was down, fear was high, and grief was weaved into their actions. They were so far away from Fallen London, but it was the only direction they could afford to go. It was at that point they were spotted by a Khanate Warship. Zeraphya knew he didn't have the crew to outrun them, so he needed to outwit them. He turned off all lights and drifted in the dark for some time, praying.

     Zeraphya did escape, just. Not before a struggle, however, as just before he was able to get his ship out of view around the side of an island the Warship fired one heavy shot which hit the cruiser right by the cannons - killing the two men manning them. Zeraphya cursed, set the boat to drift, set his crew mates to nightly watch and went to sleep off the problems and wait for London. Which, of course, allowed the second Clayman the perfect opportunity to attack.

     The second Clayman woke at the same time as the first, though did not attack like the other did - instead he simply watched. When Zeraphya went down below to be, the Clayman decided he needed to take control of the ship as Zeraphya was clearly incapable of manning such a vessel, so thought the Clayman. He managed to kill three men before drawing attention to himself. The men attacked, not sure what else to do, and when Zeraphya emerged from his quarters to find out what the noise was there was only Claymen left. Eight of them, to be precise.

     Zeraphya tried to hide when he realised what had happened - he had no idea which of the Claymen was the woken one and which were just doing as they were told. They followed him. He was able to grab a cutlass and remove the arm of one and the head of another before they got him, but in the end they did get him. When they did, they put him in a coffin, nailed it shut and dropped him into the Zee.

     Thus began the adventures of the first Clayman Zee-Captain. First, however, he needed to organise his boat - and Fallen London was on the horizon.

---Howard Sterling, Chronicler of the Fallen London University

Rebecca - The Nameless Girl

     *Spoiler Warning* - As the post goes on, I will reveal more of the story. If you wish to yet read the story, then at least stop reading by the third section of this. It is a brilliant book.

     Today I thought I would explorator one of my favourite books of all time, Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier. In order to do so there are, in particular, three things about the book I would like to look at. It is worthy of note that little of what I say here will be original, as this is a well known book which has been analysed since it came out in 1965. Nevertheless I would like to summarise three interesting things about this book: The opening line, the protagonist, and Ben.

The Opening Line

     "Last night I dreamt I went to Manderley again." Let us get one thing straight - this is, without a doubt, one of the best opening lines in literature. In these nine words, we have established so many things about the book. Also, almost every word brings something new to the sentence. Let us deconstruct it.

•      Last - Immediately, this word shows us that we will learn something. If a book starts with 'The', it could go literally anywhere. With 'Last' it either means something like repetition, or narrative voice.
•      Night - It now becomes clear that we are being spoken to and we have established a time-frame for our story.
•      I - The story is being spoken in first person, this is their story we are being told.
•      Dreamt - This sets up the theme and style for the rest of the book. It makes us frame the whole story in a dream-like way and suggests that some of the elements might be a bit fantastical or unreal.
•      I - This is a personal story, whatever happened in the dream is important to the character, as we have repetition of the character uttered and there needs to be a reason we are being told.
•      Went to - We are being set up for a setting, we know that the setting must be important to the story we're about to be told.
•      Manderley - We don't know what this means, but we were set up to know it was a place, but because we know nothing about this place, we have our hook - now we want to know why this place is important enough for us to be told about it - particularly from a dream.
•      Again - This is what brings the whole sentence together. We now know it is from a memory, it is part of this person's life, we know that at the current point of being told the story that the narrator hasn't been to Manderley in a while.

     Every part of this sentence establishes the story and the hook of the book. That, on it's own, should show us that the rest of the book is going to be very well written. While it is not something that I can elaborate on to do with the lore, this was definitely worth mentioning.

Next, we have our nameless protagonist.

     One of the running themes of Rebecca is our narrator's self-identity. Throughout most of the story, our narrator is young and trying to find her own identity. It is for this reason she remains anonymous throughout the book, to the reader.

     At the start of the book, the narrator is not her own person, she is at the whims of a strict 'companion' who has hired her, as she is an orphan. So at this point, she doesn't have much choice in her own life. She cannot model herself off of her parents, as she has none, and she is not overly fond of her elderly companion: Mrs Van Hooper. Mrs. Van Hooper, as the person paying the narrator for her company then gets to tell the narrator to do what she likes, or interrupt her activities when she likes - so at this point the narrator's life is not her own.

     Then comes Maxim, which is the first time our narrator gets a glimpse of freedom as her name is mentioned but we still do not learn it. Her name is described as "unusual and lovely", and the next moment is a whirlwind ride and Maxim asks for her hand in marriage and she accepts. However, she is not comfortable with this - while she is happy about the whole situation, and she doesn't question it too much while they are on their honeymoon, she is slightly insecure about why Maxim would want to be with her. Her identity at this point feels fragile and unfitting to her as the new Mrs. De Winter.

     We then learn of Rebecca, the old Mrs. De Winter, who our narrator struggles to climb out of the shadow of. This covers the core part of the book as Rebecca's name is on the title of the book, yet the narrator who we are seeing things from the perspective of and empathising with has no name. This story is not the story of the narrator, as much as it is of Rebecca, and our narrator remains nameless as she cannot live up to the established identity of the old Mrs. De Winter.

     It feels like at the very end, as we are being told the story after the event, that perhaps the character is older and settled in her identity - but the events that happen throughout the story happen while the narrator was not really anyone. So, we are not given her name. Perhaps the narrator, still, doesn't think she is important enough in this story. Either way, a very interesting literary choice my Du Maurier.

Ben

     Ben is an older mentally ill man who lives on the Manderley estate, and happens to be one of my favourite characters from the novel. This is despite him not being in the story very much / often, barely says much when he is in the story, and seems wholly inconsequential to the story. However, he is not - and he serves as the greatest foreshadowing elements in the story.

     It is easy for the reader to dismiss Ben, as the narrator does. The narrator talks to him when she is alone with him and we very quickly learn he either doesn't want to say anything or doesn't understand what is being said to him at any given time. We also learn he is harmless and the narrator, while not caring about him much, doesn't feel very threatened by him as she is happy to talk to him multiple times while on her own. This makes us feel like he is just there have doesn't have an important role to play. Also, because he is not very bright and appears to have some mental issues, we don't take what he says very seriously, though that is our fault and not his.

     Ben, from the first time we meet him, is the first person who doesn't like (or claim to like) Rebecca. Obviously, by the end of the story we learn why, but it should have been telling that such a harmless seeming man was scared of Rebecca. This is the first time we hear negativity towards Rebecca, so stands as foreshadowing that she is not as amazing or golden as she appeared to have been when her shadow first loomed over Manderley.

     While mostly we can dismiss what Ben says, it still does serve to give that underlying feeling that there is something more going on here, that things might not be as they seem early on, and what exactly the twist may be. This is because as he has seen things he shouldn't and was told not to say anything under threat. If Rebecca isn't coming back and Ben is okay with this, and was being threatened not to talk about what he saw - what is it that he saw that was so important? He is the catalyst for all the secrets in the depths of Manderley, and that is why I adore him, as such an unassuming important character.

Black Sails - The Story Toward The Book

Major Spoiler Warning: I will be spoiling parts of the end of the series, so best to be avoided until you've finished the show.

     Black Sails is a fantastic show which acts as a prequel to the popular book Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson. With the finale of the TV show Black Sails aired, people have many opinions on whether or not the last episode was a good one or not, but one thing is sure - everyone who has read the books knows that where the characters end up in the show set up where the begin the book of Treasure Island very well.

     With that in mind, I thought I would take the time here to bridge the gap, embellishing some of the story that would lead to the characters being who and where they are by the time Billy Bones first knocks on the Admiral Benbow. Afterwards, keep reading, as I shall explain my take on the ambiguity of Flint's end in the series.

     Added, is some of the end of the real pirate's lives, as they happened in history, despite the liberties taken in the series with regard to their stories, I feel it is interesting to fill in the whole narrative. By my account, the story of Black Sails starts 20 years before Treasure Island and I would estimate around six years passes over the course of the show, leaving 14ish years before Treasure Island starts. So without further ado, here are the next steps of the characters in the books.

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          Madi finally forgives Silver after a long contemplation and seeing that her people have not returned to slavery or ended up dead. They move together to Bristol and open up a tavern / restaurant which likely houses pirates from time to time.

     Captain Jack Rackham has a few successful years of pirating, making his flag known around the world and securing it as one of the most famous pirate flags ever. Anne Bonny becomes good friends with Mary (Mark) Read and they sail together until the pirate ship is caught. Jack Rackham is hung for piracy, leaving a legacy of tales in his wake. Anne Bonny and Mary Read avoid their sentence by both claiming to be pregnant. Mary Read dies in child-birth and Anne Bonny's end is unknown.

     Woodes Rogers was finally released from prison after the judge took pity on him. He would later attempt to publish a book that would restore some of the credit of his name. He became reappointed by the British Isles as Governor of Nassau, as he makes a slow and successful isle of commerce by initiating taxes and riding off of the back of Nassau's now pirate-free claim. Max and Mrs Guthrey likely struck a deal with him and are running the place alongside him. Piracy is kept quiet, but still continues.

     Billy Bones washes ashore on Skeleton Island and searches for Flint's treasure. It takes a long time and many vessels show up due to the aftermath of what happened there, but then one of two things happen depending on the fate of Flint. By my account, Billy decides he won't leave without the treasure and creates a map of the island, and after going a bit mad and frequently singing to himself, he finds the treasure and then seeks passage upon one of the vessels. He takes only some of the treasure with him and rallies himself a small crew with the promise of prating and knowing where the rest of Flint's treasure is. Thus becoming a captain of his own crew, and turned to drinking to rid his nightmares of Flint. After a long run of not actually returning to the island for the treasure, his crew-mates abandon him with his chest in Bristol Docks.

     Or he gives up on finding the treasure, takes passage on one of the vessels, recruits a crew of his own and his chest contains his own treasures of the seafarin' life. Then one day he bumps into a dying Flint  in Savannah, drinking himself to death because of Hamilton, who had left him after their reunion once he learned of what Flint had done. Flint had drawn a map of Skeleton Island with the location of his treasure, and Billy sought to find it after his return to England.

     Israel Hands, Ben Gunn and the rest of the surviving pirates go their separate ways. Some, still working as pirates and keeping in touch with Silver, such as Israel Hands. Some other important pirates not seen in the show stay loyal to Silver in this time, such as Black Dog and Blind Pew. Three years before the book, Ben Gunn resolves to find a merchant vessel and usher it to Skeleton Island under the claim he knows where Flint's treasure is, perhaps after bumping into his friend, Billy Bones. After he does not find the treasure, the ship that took Gunn to the island decides to leave without him. He goes slowly mad, but, like Billy, also has the time to find the treasure.

     Silver and Madi are fairly happy together for many years. That is until Billy Bones walks in one day with a chest in a barrow looking for drink. Silver recognises Billy immediately, and the adventure of the ocean calls to him in the very same way that Flint told him it would. Billy escapes on foot and decides to hide in as remote a location as possible. Silver sends people after him to retrieve the chest. After asking around for the taverns with the least footfall, Billy finally decides to inhabit the Admiral Benbow, under the paranoia that a one legged seafairing man is hunting him.

Treasure Island begins.


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     Now for Flint...

     The last time we have a proper scene with Flint he delivers an incredibly powerful speech (kudos to Toby Stevens for his wonderful acting) before Silver offers him an ultimatum and we don't really see what happens next. I believe Silver shot Flint at that moment and had been planning the story he could spin after such an occurrence for some time. The reason I believe this is that more things appear to fit into place.

     Firstly, the story told to Madi by Silver is shown in a dreamlike way, and is also resembling a story of Flint going to heaven to be with the one he loves most.
     Secondly, the scene after Silver's talk shows birds flying away and the other characters starting towards them, as if an alarming noise happened, like a gunshot.
     Thirdly, the episode before, Flint states that if Silver kills flint, even he couldn't spin a story to Madi that would make her forgive him (which is exactly what he does).
     Fourthly, him lying, even to those he loves, in the most realistic and manipulative way is exactly representative of who Silver finally becomes to become the nasty character he appears as in the books.
     Fifthly, and most the compelling reason, is that the treasure remains in the ground on Skeleton island. Silver still wanted that money before he stopped the war, so it seems more likely that Silver shot him for failing to reveal the location and getting him out of the way for good rather than delivering him to Thomas Hamilton as a very different man and risking him still causing problems. Also risking Flint leaving with Hamilton and going to collect the money anyway.

     For me, that is way more compelling and accurate to who Silver's character has become and who he is in the books.

Fahrenheit 451 - Who Is Beatty?

Spoilers for a fantastic novel ahead:

      Fahrenheit 451, by Ray Bradbury is a wonderful futuristic novel based on the idea that firemen are book-burners rather than people who put out fires. In this, Captain Beatty fulfils his role as the chief book burner and as one of the most interesting characters in the entire story. Beatty is used by Bradbury to provide story exposition, yet is still more three-dimensional than most other characters, as he has a clear set of conflicts within the one character.


      The story follows Guy Mustag, a book-burner who slowly comes to question his life and role within it. Some characters made this easy for him, others do not. One of the biggest problems for Mustag is Beatty, his boss, who Mustag knows is a very intelligent man and would not be happy with his questioning of things. At first, Mustag tries to avoid showing there is anything wrong and even skips work a few times, claiming to be sick. Beatty knows, however, what is going on. This is because Beatty appears to be a well-read character and had clearly seen the signs of Mustag's curiosity and conflict.

     One of the best scenes in the book, in my opinion, is Beatty's monologue to Mustag when he visits his house. Beatty is hiding a book under his pillow and pretending to be ill, and Beatty goes on to slowly reveal he knows what is happening and explains some of the history of firemen as well as his own past being well read. Beatty talks at length about them doing the right thing and how books are definitely not a good thing, but he uses his well-readness to push this point, causing a major contradiction.

     Because of this, it is hard to know whether or not Beatty can really be considered an antagonist, as it is very easy to empathise with him and see some of his clear flaws. It seems clear to the reader that the contradictions Beatty points out is likely not beyond him to realise himself, so there appears to be way more to the character than is fully explored before his untimely death.

     Beatty's death scene is also an interesting one, as it appears to happen without any argument from Beatty, causing the reader to wonder if he planned to die the way he did, or if he just realised that there no out of it and remained calm. An interesting talking point is whether or not Beatty actually did commit suicide then it adds to a major theme of the story - as the story begins with Mustag's wife attempting suicide, despite claiming to be generally happy.

     This appears to be a point of the book - within a world where intellectual stimulation is discouraged and all pleasures are instant, it would seem that people's lives are actually much worse off, and there are multiple characters, happy and unhappy who can be thought to commit or at least attempt suicide. This becomes more interesting if you were to be able to add Beatty's name to the list. As while Mustag's wife could easily be said to be depressed in her brainwashed and lack of independent thought of a life. There is also the woman who's books the firemen burn, who decides to burn herself along with the books, thinking it better to be dead than to become one of the soulless people promoted in this society. Beatty, then dies calmly as if okay with his own demise. This could be for any number of reasons, as we never get a full chance to explore the character, however, if it was suicide then perhaps the entire monologue he gives about how books cause mental dismay weighed heavily on him.

      It seems clear that Beatty at one point was a big reader. He goes on to explain that books bring questions and intellect and inequality rather than happiness and stimulation. It seems clear that Beatty might believe what is he saying when he explains the problems of of books, but having been well-read, maybe there is part of him deep down that knows it is not what should and is dismayed by this fact. Perhaps he is just disappointed by society having changed in such a way were the value of books did fall and so convinced himself he was in a minority for enjoying them. Either way, the speech certainly gives much food for thoughts.

     Overall, I wanted to point out the importance of this character as there is so much more to him than can be remotely visible in the books, so if you read or re-read the book at any point, I implore you to pay more attention to this character and what is really going on there.

...Thanks for reading.

Breaking Bad - The Fly Episode

     If there is one particular episode that stands out in the whole show of Breaking Bad, the Fly episode will be one of the first out of most people's mouths. Their opinion thereafter is either it being the worst episode or one of the best. The episode divides opinion because it is so different to all other episodes that usually involve some kind of intense drama or action. 'Fly' however, was a slow paced look at the characters, originally put forth due to budgetary reasons, but later admitted that it was the kind of episode that they did want to make and all were happy with having made it.

     Vince Gilligan, the writer of Breaking Bad, told the A.V. club that even if there weren't financial concerns, he still feels the episode would have been a good choice, this is - in general - due to the ebb and flow of a good story. Good stories don't pummel you with action from start to finish, they have moments of quiet that make the explosions more explosive, they have some character development in order to make the moments have bigger impact.

     Before I go any further, allow me to explain 'Fly' episode for anyone who hasn't seen Breaking Bad. This episode happens as the 10th episode of season 3 and is a bottle episode. This means that all of the scenes take place very few standing sets with minimal characters involved. In 'Fly' - the main character, Walter White spends most of the episode chasing a fly around a laboratory in order to cleanse the place from contamination. This happens amidst Walter's insomnia and the return of his cancer and his partner, Jesse, is dragged along for the fly catching ride. This gives time for the characters to talk, develop and potentially divulge secrets. I shall leave the explanation at that vagueness to avoid any real spoilers.

     Now, for those that hate the episode - it is likely that they thought it was boring and brought the action to a halt. Though those that love the episode praise it for it's metaphor, cinematography and development of character. While those reasons might seem a little pretentious in comparison, I am generalising. It is certainly worth nothing, however, that characters are the story. What I mean by this is that we need moments of getting to know the characters before we can really be invested in the characters.

     When a show is fast paced, it can be difficult to keep up with characters and their developments - so 'Fly' remedies that for Breaking Bad. It stands as not only an episode to show Walt's lack of control and little escalating troubles, but also for us to get to know who he has become now he has 'broke bad'. This is also true of Jesse who ends up spending so much time with Walt that it becomes a personal goal for him to catch the fly, even if it is for different reasons to Walt. By stopping and seeing what the characters are like now, it allows the viewer to reflect on exactly how far they have come, up to this point. This point is pressed home at the end with Walt's monologue about exactly when he thought it would have been a good time for him to die. This recaps previous events, reminds the viewer of how this all started and really gives perspective of what has happened to this stage. This sets the viewer in the mindset of a calm clarity which will aid to give much more gravity to the events that follow this one. A calm before a storm, if you will.

     The truth is, I love bottle episodes for this reason. It gives us time to just see the characters being who they are, rather than having to keep up with multiple stories and how they act around different people in bizarre scenarios. We get to observe the characters as people, which puts weight behind any punch we'll be given as well as just giving us, as the viewer, time to think or collate certain events. This is something that can make or break a series or movie. When a story given to you is filled with quick paced moments, each of them fighting for the limelight of importance with no rest between - it is too much an the story becomes a mess. If you want an example of this in practice, I recommend (or don't) the Batman vs Superman movie.

     The use of calms in stories are commonly and effectively also used as death flags. One thing that is particularly common in a story (particularly TV media) is that a character might explain some of their history or an important moment in their life. This is used to humanise the character and make us care a little more when they inevitably die in the following scene. This works for the exact same reason that an entire episode based on a character not being able to swat a fly works - it gives us time to humanise the character (in this case, Walt) rather than consider them the wrecking ball of a plot mover.

     So whether you think it is the best or worst episode, it is certainly a memorable one - however, it is there for a reason and that reason is really rather important. I can guarantee you learned more about the two main characters in this episode than you did in any other three combined (except, perhaps the first episode, obviously).

     Thanks for reading.