A Little TLC(w): The New Heaven Sword and Dragon Sabre: Season 1, Episode 19 (1986)

*One spoiler from episode 18.*

This episode takes a more expanded point-of-view than some of the other recent installments. Everything centers around the fight between Ming and the righteous sects, but within that, we catch up with a lot of different people and dive into a number of related subplots.

The righteous sects have launched their first assault. Ming isn’t the only Demon Sect to receive their ire, although in-fighting among the Demon groups means there’s less cooperation than there is on the righteous side. But the righteous side has their stumbling blocks too—when Zhang Wuji stands up against the Ermei priestess, he kicks off a lot of tension over the proper treatment of enemies who’ve surrendered. We also learn a lot more about the Five Wanderers, a group of martial artists connected to Ming who only partially maintain their ties with the sect.

We’ve seen at least some of the Five Wanderers before, but they take on bigger roles here and we’re introduced to more of their lore. Green Winged Bat King, so named because he’s afflicted with a poison that can only be treated with regular ingestion of human blood, disrupts some intense interpersonal stuff happening near the battlefield when he abducts Zhu’er. It’s not the worst thing in the world for Zhu’er, since she was captured by someone else at the time, and I laughed at one of her captors grumbling, “Green Winged Bat King is such a busybody.” Zhang Wuji’s search for her brings him into contact with another Wanderer, Cloth Bag Monk, and that encounter leads us to their inner sanctum.

Speaking of Zhu’er, we learned in the last episode that she’s actually the runaway disciple of Granny Golden Flower, the vicious poisoner who caused so much trouble for Master Hu. I hadn’t recognized her prior to that reveal, but I remember liking her interactions with Zhang Wuji in that storyline. Amid Zhu’er’s troubles in this episode, Granny Golden Flower comes back into the picture, and Zhu’er scrambles to come up with an acceptable excuse for leaving, one that winds up putting a couple other characters in grave danger. It’s clear that she’s having second thoughts about her mistress’s methods.

Like I said, Zhang Wuji gains a lot of attention during the battle against Ming, and while some admire him for it, it also creates some powerful enemies for him. Ermei Priestess, incensed by recent Ming crimes, is on the brink of slaughtering some disciples she’s disarmed from another Demon Sect when Wuji intercedes. “Priestess, how can you be so cruel to people who are helpless against you?” he asks.

His pleas for mercy aren’t just words; Zhang Wuji agreed to take three blows from the priestess, with the promise that she’ll spare her enemies if he can withstand them all. We get a very serene Wuji when he stands up to her, but during the fight that follows, we’re given a better look at how he’s affected, battered and bloody but refusing to step aside.

Later in the episode, Zhang Wuji tries to find Green Winged Bat King to rescue Zhu’er, which is how he meets Cloth Bag Monk. He explains to the monk that he’s trying to rescue his friend, the Wanderer observes, “Your friend must be a young lady, right?”, adding, “why would you risk your life if it wasn’t for a young lady?” And obviously, it’s true that Zhu’er is a young lady, but Wuji’s determination to rescue her isn’t because of the romantic interest Cloth Bag Monk is hinting at. Wuji’s feelings on that subject are complicated at the moment, but 1) he’s always going to try to help someone in need, because That’s Just Who He Is, and 2) he seems to be the only person around who actually cares what happens to Zhu’er. And okay, this is probably the aromantic in me talking, but I kind of hope he doesn’t end up with her romantically. I love that he’s doing everything he can to save her without really wanting anything from her.

Top Five Performances: 2024 Tony Awards

I’m getting to this a little late this year. With my new, more relaxed approach to my blog, I didn’t do a full write-up of the ceremony itself, but I knew I still wanted to talk about the performances! Here are my favorites.

Gutenberg!: The Musical!

This isn’t a traditional performance, in that it’s not a song (or even a scene!) from the show, and there’s no clip of this bit up on YouTube. But Andrew Rannells and Josh Gad still perform a delightful little sketch in character. In it, they explain why Gutenberg! The Musical! is up for Best Revival rather than Best Musical, despite having never been on Broadway before. There are PowerPoints and labeled hats involved, and both of them are just effortlessly charming and funny. Didn’t even do a number, and they still killed it!

 

 

Illinoise

My favorite performance of the night. My brother, who’s not a Broadway guy but a huge Sufjan Stevens fan, put the show on my radar, and I went into the Tonys morbidly curious about what this was going to be like. In a word, it was gorgeous. While three musicians (with wasp wings!) sang “The Predatory Wasp of the Palisades is Out to Get Us!”, two pairs of dancers put their entire bodies and souls into telling the story of the song through movement. The whole thing gave me goosebumps.

Merrily We Roll Along

I’ve been a Merrily We Roll Along fan for years, and everything I’ve seen/heard about this revival seems terrific (not to mention the multiple Tonys it won that night!) “Old Friends” is an obvious choice for the performance, but with the cast’s chemistry, it’s easy to see why! Fun, charming performances from Jonathan Groff, Lindsey Mendez, and Daniel Radcliffe, and I like that we got the ensemble singing one of the transitions at the start as well.

 

 

Suffs

This was my favorite of the original songs we heard at the Tonys. The performance itself was pretty straightforward: “Keep Marching,” obviously the show’s closing number, was a rousing anthem sung directly to the audience on a relatively bare stage. But I liked the lovely melody and the emotive lyrics, and it was neat to realize that Shaina Taub, the Tony-winning composer/lyricist and book writer, stars in the show as well.

 

 

Water for Elephants

Look, I’m a simple woman. You show me lots of acrobatic moves during a musical number, I’m going to be impressed. They performed “Anywhere Another Train” and “The Road Don’t Make You Young,” and they took full advantage of the circus setting to put on quite the show. I loved all the flips and tosses, and I especially loved the ensemble members who danced on the central tentpole.

Other Doctor Lives: House of the Dragon: Season 2, Episode 3 – “The Burning Mill” (2024)

*Spoilers for episode 2.*

Diving into Westeros politics feels a little pointless given the real-world state of things right now, but here we are.

The two sides are teetering on the brink of open warfare. Aegon’s court is in shambles. He’s dismissed Otto Hightower and appointed Ser Criston as his new Hand, and everyone is hard-pressed to rein him in. Daemon flies to Harrenhal, half sulking after his argument with Rhaenyra last episode and half intent on bringing the Riverlands under her banner. Rhaenyra’s advisors are urging her to break out the big guns (i.e. her dragons,) while Rhaenys pleads for a cooler head.

Rhaenys is probably the MVP of this episode for me. A lot of folks here are either scrambling, reacting, or leading with their tempers. They’re focused on the latest move from the other side and trying to figure out how to return blow for blow. Rhaenys is the one with an eye further into the future, recognizing what will happen to the Seven Kingdoms if all these sparks of war ignite into a full blaze. She demonstrates to Rhaenyra how, already, it’s difficult to pinpoint exactly when the seeds of this war first took hold, and she cautions, “When the desire to kill and burn takes hold, reason is forgotten.” Rhaenyra is fortunate to have her around.

Meanwhile, Aegon is of the mind that being king means no one can tell him what to do, basically the polar opposite of his dad. He got rid of Otto for criticizing one of his rash decisions and appointed Ser Criston in his place, which was just as rash of him. Ser Criston is trying to do his best, but he’s not really made for this, and he doesn’t have the experience or the temperament to keep the willful Aegon in line. At the Small Council, it’s Aemond of all people who demonstrates a careful hand in finessing his brother, and the weaselly Larys Strong recognizes what tools are needed to make Aegon more moldable.

Oh, by the way, Samson Kayo (Oluwande from Our Flag Means Death!) pops up briefly as one of the smallfolk in King’s Landing. No idea if we’ll see him again, but it made me happy.

Then we have Daemon at Harrenhal. He arrives on dragonback prepared to throw his weight around, and he doesn’t quite know what to do when he’s warmly welcomed by Ser Simon Strong, played by Sir Simon Russell Beale. Daemon was ready to storm Harrenhal, claiming it for Rhaenyra and forcing the Riverlands to bend the knee, but when Ser Simon immediately swears allegiance to Rhaenyra, Daemon is the one who winds up feeling on the defensive.

This makes for a really intriguing dynamic. Daemon has his back up the whole time: wary of Ser Simon’s food (“I’ve survived many a battle. I do not mean to be felled by poisoned peas,”) making an indignant point of his proper title, and barring the door of his guest chambers against intruders. He’s kind of sulky and surly throughout, while Ser Simon is down-to-earth and amiable. When he’s not openly distrustful of his host, he’s snide—after Ser Simon expresses surprise at his intention to raise an army and then take the throne, he archly replies, “It’s a big chair, made of swords.” He’s skittish, vain, and bitchy in this episode; it’s kind of great.

I also want to highlight the scene where he first arrives at Harrenhal, before he gets to the hall. It’s a grim, rainy night, and the show takes its time with Daemon taking stock of his surroundings and making his way inside. Matt Smith is very good with stuff like this. He can take a scene with no words/little action and still make it feel compelling. Kudos to him!

Neurodivergent (Headcanon) Alley: Della Duck (DuckTales)

*Della-related spoilers.*

In a way, Della is the character who made things click for me on an “oh yeah, this is all genetic!” level. At the time, I didn’t recognize it specifically as neurodivergence, but in her first major appearance on the show, I was struck by how much she seemed to be a combination of her entire family.

I remember I specifically noted this in my review of “Whatever Happened to Della Duck?!” Part of the reason we get invested in Della’s story off the bat, besides knowing how much she means to the other characters, is seeing their various traits resonate within her. Dewey’s energy and impulsivity. Huey’s deep devotion to the Junior Woodchucks and consultation of the guidebook. Louie’s pattern recognition. Scrooge’s obsession with adventuring. Donald’s tendency toward big emotions, especially when she’s mad. Within a single “here’s what Della’s been up to the last 10 years” episode, we see how she’s basically every member of her family, distilled into one extraordinary person.

As I said, I didn’t see it as such when I first watched the episode, but when viewed through a Neurodivergent Alley lens, it’s easy to read Della as having All the Autism and All the ADHD. Her intensity and obsessiveness, the way she’s hyped about everything, her confidence that she can master any skill, the way her attention pulls every which way but she locks into “action focus mode” when there’s a baddie to defeat. It can come across as chaotic, but that’s very much what an AuDHD combo can feel like.

Della definitely has spiky skill sets. She’s incredibly good at a lot of things, and her tenacity means she doesn’t give up easily. She’s a talented pilot, she can both fight and research, and she’s resourceful enough to get herself out of nearly any jam eventually. She’s able to survive being stranded on the moon for ten years, constantly adapting to difficult conditions and brainstorming solutions to new problems.

At the same time, she’s sometimes the one to get herself into those jams in the first place. She takes a prototype rocket on an ill-advised test fight that winds up with her crashlanding on the moon, and she then wildly overestimates her aptitude for building a new rocket to get home. When she finally does manage to make it back to Earth, she’s thrilled to meet the triplets but struggles to get a hang of “mom stuff”—she can’t cook well, she doesn’t know how to reassure the wary Louie, and she has a hard time setting good boundaries when she tends to get excited and barrel confidently into things herself.

Also, social cues are not her forte. Della is wildly affectionate and fiercely loyal to family and friends, but she’s not good at taking a hint when she’s aggravating someone. On the moon, once she connects with the native population, she absolutely thinks she and Penumbra are besties and has no idea that the stern moon warrior is plotting her downfall. (Luckily for Della, she unknowingly wins Penumbra over in the end.) She clings so hard to the people she cares about that she lowkey sabotages Donald’s romantic relationship, inserting herself between them and preventing him from setting off on his own sort of adventure with Daisy.

In my “Whatever Happened to Della Duck?!” review, I said the show gives us enough of Della’s flaws to keep her from feeling too superwomany. While I don’t really subscribe to the “neurodivergence is a superpower!” notion, I do like how much Della’s autistic- and ADHD-coding contribute to her impressive and varied abilities, just as I like the way that coding also informs her flaws and struggles.