{"id":7287,"date":"2019-05-15T13:00:09","date_gmt":"2019-05-15T20:00:09","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/markwatches.net\/reviews\/?p=7287"},"modified":"2019-05-13T22:32:12","modified_gmt":"2019-05-14T05:32:12","slug":"mark-watches-crusade-s01e05-patterns-of-the-soul","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/markwatches.net\/reviews\/2019\/05\/mark-watches-crusade-s01e05-patterns-of-the-soul\/","title":{"rendered":"Mark Watches ‘Crusade’: S01E05 – Patterns of the Soul"},"content":{"rendered":"

In the fifth episode of Crusade<\/i>, the crew is re-routed on a mission that seems pointless, and then SECRETS ARE REVEALED. Intrigued? Then it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s time for Mark to watch Crusade<\/i>.\u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Trigger Warning: For discussion of genocide<\/b>.<\/p>\n

There\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a huge flaw in this episode that is distracting as hell: if we were not told that the colonists on Theta 49 had cybernetic enhancements, we would never know this<\/i>. It seems like such a strange oversight, and I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m curious if this was done to hide the secret of who the colonists were. But the eventual reveal\u00e2\u20ac\u201dthat Earthforce deliberately<\/i> infected them\u00e2\u20ac\u201dwould have still stung either way. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s just SO fucked up, you know? The effect remains either way because it demonstrates just how far Earthforce is willing to go to protect itself. Plus, the story of the colonists is only made more meaningful by the presence of Dureena\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s people, who coincidentally ended up on the same planet.<\/p>\n

It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a classic case of telling rather than showing. Even when Tim chases down Dr. Chambers, there\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s literally nothing there to demonstrate that he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s got any sort of special powers. He even tells<\/i> her his arms are \u00e2\u20ac\u0153enhanced,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d which is not all that effective because… well, how<\/i>? How is he enhanced? He\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s just really strong? My interpretation of this is that the script was written with a goal in mind: the twist of who these people actually were. Yes, that twist hit hard, but as soon as it did, things started unraveling. Had the colonists used their enhancements to adapt? Did any of them wish they didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t have them? What sort of treatment did they receive from Earthforce after the program was shut down? The problem is that the twist comes so late in \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Patterns of the Soul\u00e2\u20ac\u009d that there\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s very little time left to actually explore these characters\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 lives.<\/p>\n

So, what we get is in bits in pieces, announced through dialogue, or in hasty portraits. Robert Black is somewhat fleshed out here as the \u00e2\u20ac\u0153spokesman\u00e2\u20ac\u009d for the colonists, but do we actually know<\/i> anything about him? What about Tim, who is written like a villain until we actually understand his motivations?\u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Dureena\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s people, however, are at least written with a little more empathy. At the same time, they\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve still got a whole lot of tragedy in their story. They\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d all been wiped out by the Drakh UNTIL WE FIND OUT IN THIS EPISODE THAT SOME OF THEM SURVIVED! There\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a colony of the survivors of a Shadow attack here!<\/p>\n

….and the Earthforce colonists gave them the Drakh plague. CAN DUREENA\u00e2\u20ac\u2122S PEOPLE PLEASE CATCH A BREAK, Y\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ALL. Also, what are they called<\/i>? Why don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t they have a name? Is that important? Anyway, I much preferred this subplot, particularly since it gave Dureena such a vital story for her character. Her motivation is so understandable, and yet, there\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s still a complicated dance she does with Dr. Chambers over this discovery. First and foremost for Dureena is her desire that she save these people. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s why she snaps at Dr. Chambers and why she requests that the doctor keep them off her official reports. Look what happened when someone accidentally<\/i> discovered them! If IPX or Earthforce knew there were others on that planet, who knows what sort of disaster would rain down upon them??? And I loved that Dr. Chambers not only got this, but promised that she\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d do everything she could to find a cure as fast as she could. Oh, right, because Dureena\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s people have only a year. MAX. Seriously, can a nice thing happen to them???\u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Anyway, this was an episode that landed squarely in the middle for me. There were some great character moments and some important updates to the season\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s arc. We know Earthforce is even more fucked up than we thought they could be; Max is starting to develop a conscience; Dureena\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s people have not entirely died off due to the Drakh genocide. There are some things here that I wish were better, but all things said, it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s not the worst episode of the bunch. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s just… there?<\/p>\n

The video for \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Patterns of the Soul\u00e2\u20ac\u009d can be downloaded here for $0.99<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Mark Links Stuff<\/b><\/p>\n

– The paperback edition of my debut, ANGER IS A GIFT, is now OUT!<\/a>\u00c2\u00a0<\/strong>If you’d like to stay up-to-date on all announcements regarding my books, sign up for my newsletter<\/a>! DO IT.<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"