Time’s Dead Flowers (Super Ghouls ‘n Ghosts, Super Castlevania IV)
The Super Nintendo Project is brought to you by my backers on Patreon.
The Super Nintendo Project is brought to you by my backers on Patreon.
I’m not rewatching that right now to write up the State of Play.
In and of itself, as a story element, it was justified. There was never anything that could plausibly keep Sansa safe from it, any more than there was anything that could have saved Ned from Joffrey. Given who Ramsey is, there was no other way for it to be played.
Except, of course, that this is a lie. There were an infinity of ways for that to be played. And they chose to do it this way. They chose specific alterations to the books that made this inevitable, and so it happened.
Yes, those decisions, as we’ve discussed in previous reviews, are a dramatically intelligent way to handle the particular relationship of plot threads that the show had. And it is of course not the end of Sansa’s story. I have little doubt that five weeks from now Sansa will be in a very different place. Honestly, I suspect that in one week Sansa will be in a very different place. With reasonable fealty to the tone of the books and a little help from Brienne they could have Ramsey dead by the end of the next episode.
In that regard, at least, I disagree with a lot of the instant reaction I’m seeing. I don’t think this undoes Sansa’s growth. I don’t think it undermines her as a character. I expect her to react and react strongly next episode.
Nevertheless, Benioff and Weiss decided to leave their audience on that note for a week. They decided that image was where to end, and what to make people linger on. Inasmuch as Game of Thrones is a ten week long event, the brutal rape of Sansa Stark is 10% of it.
And if you want to argue that it’s not rape, fuck off. We’re not even doing that.
It seems perversely necessary at this point to say that it was a very tasteful rape of Sansa Stark. I mean, especially for HBO. So, you know, it’s just close-ups of the traumatized faces of Sophie Turner and Alfie Allen. And hey, they kill it. Great work, guys. Everyone did great, really. It’s a fantastically upsetting scene. Benioff and Weiss must have been so happy when the edit came in.
And hey, that’s the Mad Men finale counterprogrammed. Way to seize control of the headlines. A real fucking coup, that one. Congratulations, Benioff and Weiss. So very clever of you. You figured out how to rape Sansa Stark perfectly. It’s a triumph of… whatever the fuck it is.
At last, the justification for Theon’s Season Three plot? The perfect scene for the Buzzfeed era of media criticism, ready-made for every clickbaity slide-show of the most horrific moments in television? A horribly successful attempt to outdo the Red Wedding for the most shocking cliffhanger of the season? A petulant response to the outcry over Jaime raping Cersei last season – “shut up SJWs, this is what a rape scene looks like”?…
This is the eighth of eleven parts of The Last War in Albion Chapter Ten, focusing on Alan Moore’s Bojeffries Saga. An omnibus of all eleven parts is available on Smashwords. If you are a Kickstarter backer or a Patreon backer at $2 or higher per week, instructions on how to get your complimentary copy have been sent to you.
The Bojeffries Saga is available in a collected edition that can be purchased in the US or in the UK.
![]() |
Figure 729: Captain Airship One electrocutes Winston Jr. (Written by Alan Moore, art by Chris Brasted and SMS Quill, from Captain Airstrip One in Mad Dog #10, 1985) |
![]() |
Figure 730: Moore’s contribution to Moonstone. (From Fantasy Advertiser #77, 1983) |
Last War in Albion will post tomorrow in lieu of Saturday Waffling. Lunch and I had a bit of a disagreement yesterday, and I forgot to get it queued up in the general muddle.…
From worst to best of what I bought.
Thor #8
The odds that this was going to win me back in the final issue were low, and sure enough, it didn’t. It’s as I complained with #7 – if it’s Solomon, it’s obvious, if it’s not, it’s a cheap diversion. And by building it up as a mystery, Aaron opens space to not like the outcome. Which I don’t. At least, not compared to Solomon. Ros Solomon as Thor would be more interesting than Jane Foster is Thor, but being Thor makes her breast cancer worse, a setup that is mainly notable for making her expiration date and the restoration of Man-Thor inevitable. And I still don’t understand why anyone thought a mystery arc was the way to go. What was this supposed to accomplish? Why is this better than just debuting the concept eight months ago would have been? All in all, a disaster – will probably buy Thors, but can’t see myself returning post-Secret Wars.
Saga #28
Man, I’m cooling hard on this book. It’s good and I see all the very smart stuff it does and… I just don’t remember the characters or plot well enough month to month. Still, this is in with Chew and the other books of the Sunk Cost Fallacy club, and maybe one day I’ll dig up all the floppies and reread it and enjoy it. Or, more likely, I’ll torrent it even though I own it.
Darth Vader #5
That this is third from bottom is a mark of how good a week this is. I’m not entirely convinced of the plot twist, which, for me, runs into the axiomatic problem of a licensed comic like this, namely that it’s introducing better ideas than anything in the source material, but it’s going to have to put all of them back in the box at story’s end. But equally, it’s an interesting and cool plot twist, and I’m perfectly happy to follow it.
Blackcross #3
As with many an Ellis book, this was a slow burn, and it finally gets to where it’s doing interesting things. Still far from my favorite Ellis work, but at least I’m not just buying it out of obligation now.
Angela: Asgard’s Assassin #6
Well this certainly kicked off very nicely. Love the final twist, and yeah, Gillen and Bennett have built Angela into a usable and interesting Marvel character, which is no small feat. Curious where this will go as Gillen recedes into the background and Bennett takes over, but definitely on for the ride.
Ms. Marvel #15
Exactly what this book is for, through and through. Really enjoyed this arc when all was said and done. Look forward to the next.
Secret Wars #2
OK, I’m won over, at least for now. The basic operating principles of Battleworld are clever, and this strikes an ideal balance between “it’s an alternate world” and “it’s the Marvel Universe. Good high concept stuff, and Hickman’s philosophical ramblings work well in this context.…
Funded via my Patreon.
State of Play
The choir goes off. The board is laid out thusly:
The Lion, Tyrion Lannister
Dragons of Mereen: Daenerys Targaryen
Direwolves of the Wall: Jon Snow
Burning Hearts of the Wall: Stannis Baratheon, Mellisandre
Ships of the Wall: Davos Seaworth
Kraken of Winterfell: Reek
Archers of the Wall: Samwell Tarly
Direwolves of Winterfell: Sansa Stark
Flowers of the Wall: Gilly
Swords of Mereen: Dario Noharis
Butterflies of Mereen: Missandrei
Shields of Winterfell: Brienne of Tarth
Paws of the Wall: Tormund Giantsbane
Flayed Men of Winterfell: Roose Bolton, Ramsey Bolton
With the Bear, Jorah Mormont
King’s Landing, Dorne, and Braavos are empty.
The episode is in parts. The first is five minutes long and is in sections; it is set in Mereen. The section is seconds long; the opening image is of the lamp flickering by Grey Worm’s bedside. The other is five minutes long; the transition is by image, from Missandrei watching over Grey Worm to Daenerys standing over Ser Barristan’s body.
The second part is nine minutes long and is set on the Wall. The transition is by family, from Daenerys Targaryen to Maester Aemon Targaryen and, subsequently, Jon Snow, and by dialogue, from Daenerys to Maester Aemon and Samwell talking about her.
The third is nineteen minutes long and is in sections; it is set in Winterfell. The first section is two minutes long; the transition is indirectly by family, from Jon Snow to Brienne watching Winterfell and musing about Sansa. The second is three minutes long; the transition is by dialogue, from Brienne talking about Sansa to Ramsey and Myranda doing the same. The third is fourteen minutes long; the transition is by dialogue, at last to Sansa herself.
The fourth part is seven minutes long and is set on the Wall; the transition is by dialogue, from Roose and Ramsey talking about Castle Black to Castle Black.
The fifth is five minutes long and is set in Mereen. The transition is by hard cut, from Stannis’s armies riding south to Grey Worm.
The sixth is eight minutes long and is set in Valyria. The transition is by dialogue, from Daenerys in Mereen to Tyrion and Jorah talking about going to Mereen. The final image is of Jorah staring at his greyscale stricken arm.
Analysis
We are, at last, to the part of the season where Game of Thrones is finally freed up to do things that are interesting as opposed to necessary. A King’s Landing-free episode marks the point where we are finally, in a sense, free of the season’s opening, the first episode having been framed in terms of Cersei. This week the only Lannister is Tyrion, by now firmly enmeshed in Daenerys’s plot.
Without the South or Arya, we get an episode about the North – a thirty-five minute stretch of episode – with Daenerys wrapped around it. This structure also produces the most flagrant “Jon Snow is a Targaryen” acknowledgment yet as Maester Aemon talks about Daenerys being all alone in the world and the camera then pans to Jon entering the scene, which is absolutely hilarious.…
This is the seventh of eleven parts of The Last War in Albion Chapter Ten, focusing on Alan Moore’s Bojeffries Saga. An omnibus of all eleven parts is available on Smashwords. If you are a Kickstarter backer or a Patreon backer at $2 or higher per week, instructions on how to get your complimentary copy have been sent to you.
The Bojeffries Saga is available in a collected edition that can be purchased in the US or in the UK.
Also, I’d like to apologize if I inadvertently persuaded anybody that because the early comics of Alan Moore were so good the UK should just go back to the Thatcher era. That was not the intended thesis statement of The Last War in Albion.
![]() |
Figure 722: The first page of Alan Moore’s 1984 Batman text story. |
Jack Graham and I have struck again, this time with The Three Doctors. Technical difficulties did not stop us, although they did leave some strange noise artifacts on episode one to surprise you if you have the volume too loud, and a somewhat desperate attempt at the start of episode four to remember what we said the first time we tried commenting on it when I forgot to record it.
In any case, a zip file with all four mp3s is right here. Enjoy, and we’ll be back with The Ark in Space before too long I hope.
Previous commentaries: