My Thoughts On Rose Quartz And Pearl In A Single Pale Rose

My Thoughts on Rose Quartz and Pearl in a Single Pale Rose

Spoilers for the new episodes below.

A single pale rose confirmed many of my suspicions about rose quartz as a person. In every previous episode centered on rose quarts she always seemed more curious and fascinated with humans and life on earth in a way that seemed more like she was more entertained by them than truly seeing “inner beauty”. The way she saw people seemed less than natural. Rose quartz/pink diamond created the human zoo which confirms her perception of humans. In this episode it all but confirms her warped perception.

 In the scene where pearl and rose are talking about staging her shattering it didn’t seem like rose had thought the plan through, like she was doing it on a whim because she wanted to. She also emotionally manipulated Pearl. She lead pearl on and let her believe that she had a future with rose. This really bothered me because while I had suspected this for a while, but having confirmation made it worse. Rose clearly knew that Pearl loved her and used that love to get pearl to do her bidding. And because of the actions taken in this scene pearl probably believes it is her fault for the diamonds turning their focus on earth and shattering all but a select few of Rose’s followers. She believes she caused the death of so many gems. Rose has caused many problems for pearl that I can’t help, but empathize with because I have watched Pearl’s struggles to move on from them. We have seen Pearl’s absolute devastation with Rose’s choice to be with Greg, have Steven, keep secrets from her, etc. Rose had long lasting mental scars on pearl. I hope that the issue of Rose’s emotional manipulation of pearl is addressed and Pearl eventually accepts and moves on. 

I never believed Rose was as great as the gems seemed to believe she was. She always seemed like a figure looked back upon riddled with nostalgia and rose tinted glasses. I never thought she would be this morally ambiguous. She lead a war from both sides until getting pearl to “shatter’ her which only made the situation worse. Then she goes on like nothing happened and has a kid and passes all of her problems onto him. She also bubbled bismuth without telling anyone and hid her away. She is incredibly childish and doesn’t think her actions and how they will effect others through. In the episode jungle moon when we see pink diamond complaining about not having her own colony and when she gets one she doesn’t want to tell them she doesn’t want that colony she tries to sidestep and make up excuses. Her shattering plan didn’t take into account the fallout. She didn’t consider the diamonds getting revenge for her, how it would hurt the other diamonds (blue diamond has depression and yellow is sad but tries to repress it), how her emotional manipulation of pearl causes pearl so many problems down the line, her manipulation of her followers on both sides of the war, etc. All of these show a sense of entitlement and immaturity. Rose quartz never existed just a pink diamond who had a fascination with humans because they entertained her like humans who go the the zoo to see the lions, tigers, monkey, and elephants. 

My Thoughts on Lotor 24 Hours Later

I still think there was some wasted potential with Lotor and don’t like the Altean reveal, but looking back on it Lotor’s arc in this season was actually really good.

Lotor never actually betrayed the Paladins. Even in the end after the Altean reveal and his subsequent kidnapping he still wanted to work with the paladins. He wouldn’t let his generals shoot at the paladins even when the paladins were shooting at them because he truly did want to work with them. Lotor viewed what he was doing as right. By his logic he sacrificed the few to save the many, he was still working for peace. When Allura finally said he was worse than his father Zarkon he snapped. His whole life he had been fighting to be free of his father, free from the prejudice he was put through for not being a pureblood galra, free from the neglect and abuse his parents put him through. He believed he was alone. Because of everyone rejecting him he started isolating himself even from his generals, who he viewed as similar to him because they weren’t pureblood. Allura was up to that point the only person who understood him and was the only thing keeping the quintessence poisoning from taking hold of him. He had been exposed to quintessence from birth, initially to save his mother while she was pregnant, and later of his own free will to find a limitless power source. Allura’s rejection was the straw that broke the camel’s back. Lotor’s general, Acxa, looked sad when Lotor finally broke and it made me feel like she was seeing someone who had tried to fight his whole life finally losing the battle. All of the hatred he felt towards his parents and the galra for their abuse finally got to him and he gave into it. He had nothing left to lose in his mind. Fighting against his anger wasn’t worth it if even when trying to be better he ended up alone.

This honestly made him tragic. He couldn’t escape his upbringing. It was sad that through his constant rejection he grew to block people out and when he finally let someone in and they rejected him too it led to his breaking point. He was rejected by his father for being to soft, he was rejected by his mother through neglect, he was rejected by his “people” because of his heritage, and he was finally rejected by Allura because he was what his upbringing made him. Lotor was a victim of his own upbringing and isolation. It doesn't excuse what he did, but it highlights the tragedy of his story.

Spider-man Homecoming Review

Spider-man Homecoming was better than I could have hoped. When it was first announced that Disney and Sony were teaming up and rebooting spider-man I was a little frustrated that this was happening again and I thought that moving Black Panther to make way for spider-man was just a cash grab. I have never been happier to be wrong. The Movie mixed the school and hero aspects of Peter's life wonderfully. He was the awkward nerd that everyone loves and remembers. Tom Holland was excellent and brought the character to life. His rendition of Spider-man was a fresh take on a character that has been brought to the big screen on numerous occasions. He made me feel for Peter and his struggle to prove himself to others and stay true to his ideals. This movie also addressed important questions every spider-man fan has asked himself time and time again like how does spider-man get places if he has no buildings around to websling on? and what does spider-man do when there isn’t a world or city threatening enemy to fight? He runs the places he wants to go and gives little old lady’s directions to where they want to go.

             As a lifelong spider-man fan I was impressed by the cast and how they portrayed their characters. Jacob Batalon was loveably humorous and geeky as Ned Leeds. Tony Revolori portrayed the classic high school bully to the T and was fun to watch. Zendaya was quirky and strange yet endearing. Tom Holland blew it out of the water and convinced me time and time again that he is Peter Parker and Spider-man. Marvel has yet to miscast its heroes. Michael Keaton fixed the villain problem and brought a 3-dimensional character to the vulture.

             I did have a few problems with the film and almost all of them came from the completely forced love subplot between Peter and Liz Allen. I found Peter’s one-sided attraction to Liz endearing, but it made no sense that she would return his feelings. He constantly let her down and every interaction they had I could barely believe they were friends. They were closer to acquaintances that didn’t really talk that much and that Peter was really awkward around. She doesn’t know he is spider-man so throughout the movie she sees Peter being unreliable. At the beginning she doesn’t even think to invite him to her party until Ned says Peter knows spider-man. This was however a rather small blemish considering it didn’t take up that much of the runtime.

Overall this movie was a blast to watch and I enjoyed the ride from start to finish. This movie was worth the money I spent to see it and I will be seeing it many more times to come

Reyna and Nico-the Perfect Unlikely Friendship

Both Reyna and Nico suffer from isolation and loneliness brought upon by their respective reaction to their negative past experiences. Reyna strove for power to have the ability to prevent tragedy to herself and others and ended up causing herself more pain through the isolation the power brought. Her pursuit is ironic in that her pursuit to prevent pain caused her pain. She is truly isolated from her peers not truly of her own free will, but because the position requires her to be strong for everyone around her. Nico on the other hand isolates himself. This is due to the negative atmosphere created by the community he initially lived in. The community was strongly anti-gay and he was forced to fear a part of himself. His isolation is ironic because in his want and need to be accepted he didn’t give anyone a chance to really get to know him and accept him. 

Both Nico and Reyna have trouble trusting others and hide behind tough exteriors. They hide the broken remnants of their respective lives. Reyna through her position. Nico through self isolation. Because of their similarities in dealing with their hardship and shared isolation and loneliness they are able to find someone to open up to. Nico and Reyna share a mutual understanding of loneliness and loss. This coupled with their quest together created a bond that is my favorite friendship in the Heroes of Olympus. I look forward to seeing Reyna in the Tyrant’s Tomb and hope this friendship get more focus in the coming books.

Jessica Jones Season 1 Review

             I enjoy marvel on the big screen and the small, but this is my favorite tv outing of the media juggernaut. The fight scenes aren’t as amazing to watch as daredevil’s and the world building isn’t as rich as Luke Cage’s, but it create one of my favorite psychological character studies to be put on screen. This show puts you inside the head of Jessica Jones and Kilgrave and makes you feel what they feel and think what they think. You see the okay days Jessica has and you see her rock bottom and everything in between. I say her okay days because after Kilgrave no day she has seems to be truly good. The trauma she experience under Kilgrave’s control has warped her and she struggles under the weight of it even long after she believes him dead. Her struggle against Kilgrave throughout the season is emotionally taxing for her and the audience. It brings to a head the same question Daredevil did should the hero kill the villain? The answer to that question is different then daredevil’s. Jessica initially doesn’t want to kill Kilgrave because she want to save Hope, but she also doesn’t want to kill him because deep down she fears that would make her exactly what he made her into a “murderer”, so when she shoves those thoughts away and decides to kill him to prevent future harm to others I felt bad for her. Her demon may be gone, but this is another trauma she will have to deal with that will make her road to recovery even slower. I believed that she did what was right because he couldn’t be contained by the end and though she will deny it she was a hero in her actions.

Jessica’s depression and ptsd was so real and raw in it’s portrayal. Her rock bottom was one of the hardest to watch. I enjoyed the tentative relationship with Malcolm that formed during the season and her bond with Trish. These bonds were the emotional core of the show. They were what gave you hope for Jessica’s future because at the end of the day they never left her side. Even after all the sarcasm she tried to use to distance them (yes, that was a joke).

You can’t talk Jessica Jones without talking Kilgrave. Kilgrave was psychotic and unhinged and it kind of made sense how he ended up that way. We understand how this character came to be and yet we don’t really sympathize with him. We don’t condone what he does, but they somehow make him seem human even though he should be an impossible character to write that way. He has all the makings of a one dimensional psychotic over powered villain that’s not much else, but David Tennant and the writers manage to create one of the best, if no the best, marvel villains to date.

Jessica Jones is my favorite marvel Netflix series and the show I would recommend to anyone who asks. I strongly suggest that anyone who hasn’t seen it yet go and watch it because I believe that there is a message or character that will resonate with anyone who watches.

The Apple Doesn’t Fall Far from the Tree...or Does It? (Jessica Jones season 2)

Anyone who has watched season 2 of Jessica Jones knows the importance of mothers and daughters holds. Throughout the season Jessica struggles with comparing herself to her mother whereas Trish believes she is nothing like her mother. Ironically the opposite is true for each of them.

The comparison between Trish and her mother never really dawned on me until the scene where Trish wakes up in the morgue and is mad at Jessica for stopping the experiment on her and she ends up saying that Jessica is a disappointment, she has all this power and does nothing with it. This sentence mirrors something Dorothy says once before in the show. Looking back the two seasons have been building to this revelation. The first season does it incredibly subtly, but looking back after the revelations of this season it is obvious. 

At the beginning of this season Trish is on a ratings high talking about the street level heroes within the city.  She talks about Jessica on her show against Jessica’s wishes, though she didn’t say her name she said she grew up with a superhero which makes it obvious who she is talking about. She coerces Jessica in every way she can to take on the case for IGH and discover what happened to her. She does this under the guise that it will give Jessica closure, but in reality she wants jessica to find the truth so she can go public with it and rise in the ratings. This is similar to the methods her mother uses in season 1. Her mother does Trish a favor and immediately tries to “casually” bring up something Trish can do for her. 

Trish throughout both seasons tries to live vicariously through Jessica because Jessica has powers and the ability to fight the “bad guys”. Trish isn’t complacent with what she is doing to help people and wishes she could engage in a more radical, hands on form of justice. Dorothy was living through Trish throughout Trish’s entire childhood. Putting her in the limelight and getting her public recognition through any means necessary even at the expense of Trish’s mental and physical health. Trish may not realize it, but she is doing the same thing to Jessica. Trish pushes Jessica towards danger in both seasons and Jessica suffers incredible trauma in both. 

Also Trish only says she is proud of Jessica when Jessica is doing what Trish believes is right this is briefly shown is season 1 when Trish tells Jessica she is exactly the hero she wanted her to be when Jessica decides to go through with a self-sacrificial way to stop Kilgrave. Throughout season 1 Trish rarely tries to talk Jessica out of anything when Jessica is trying to stop Kilgrave the only time she really tries to nudge jessica into making a different decision is when Jessica tries to run from Kilgrave instead of face him. She also has no qualms with killing the antagonist of each respective season, which goes along with her the ends justify the means mindset. Dorothy has the same mindset in her thinking towards her relationship with Trish. As long as Trish gains and maintains fame and popularity Dorothy believes she is a good person and mother because no matter the means she obtained her desired end goal.

Jessica on the other had has been proven to be a polar opposite to her mother in just about every way. Jessica’s mother is a sociopathic serial killer who blames everyone else for her actions and views the past, before the car accident, in an extremely negative light. Jessica on the other hand blames herself for all the bad things that happen to the people around her even if she couldn’t stop it.  She blames herself that her mother is after Trish, she blames herself for Reuben’s death, she blames herself for the car accident, etc. Jessica also feels extreme guilt for every life she takes and in every situation the choices were limited. Reva-Kilgrave made her kill Reva. Kilgrave-no jail would have been able to hold him and he would not stop until he had Jessica. Dale- granted she was in his apartment, but he was beating her and wouldn’t stop so she lashed out without thinking of her strength. Dale’s death was the only one that was avoidable, but it was entirely out of self defence and accidental. Jessica is literally blinded by nostalgia and views her childhood and herself before the accident through rose tinted glasses. Jessica believes she is a bad person. She views herself in a negative light, but she always ends up doing what is right. She gets lost along the way and is conflicted about her choices, but she comes out the other side making the right choice even in lose lose situations. 

Jessica believes that no matter the ends if the means were horrible or inhumane it doesn’t make you a good person. Her mother believes the exact opposite, if the ends were as desired the means don’t matter. This is shown through their conflicting viewpoints on Karl. Karl was experimenting illegally on humans with inhumane methods on people who couldn’t say no due to their varying circumstances, but his experiment were in gene splicing which could lead to curing genetic diseases and disorders in people after birth and heal people who look to be lost causes. Jessica believes he isn’t a good person and should go away for what he has done. Her mother believes that Karl is a good person even before they enter a relationship and wants him to be free.

This shows the duality within characters related or not that have inadvertent similarities and staggering differences.