Reel Tastes & Travels – a light dose of entertainment to wake you up

So it wasn’t a twisted dwarf lurking in the mine like I had guessed. Although the dwarves’ cottage did make an appearance so I wasn’t too far off. Ace, Deuce, Yu and Grim head into the mines to complete their mission but they soon descend into meaningless bickering as their clashing personalities present too big of an obstacle.

Ace definitely gives off ‘fratboy energy’, someone who thinks he’s super cool and unconcerned about mundane things like school and classes. In contrast, Deuce is very much the straight-A student, stickler for rules type who is barely keeping it together now that he finds himself on the wrong side of the Headmage. Some of his asides do hint at some sort of parental trauma driving him (crushing weight of family expectations anyone?). Meanwhile Grim is like a big goofy (overpowered) kid trying to convince everyone he belongs at the big kids table and Yu, while a calming presence, is still very much nonplussed by the situation he finds himself in.

Quite a mismatched group indeed and this soon devolves into disaster as the Golem guarding the mine roundly trounces them. Just as things looks bleak, Yu channels his past experiences with the kendo club and convinces the group to work together and attack as a team. And it works (naturally)! 

So, the threat of expulsion is staved off for now, though given this group of characters, I’m sure more trouble can’t be far behind. More importantly, the Headmage is impressed by how Yu united the group. Historically it’s been an every man for himself mentality among the student body and so it’s been nigh impossible to convince any two students to work together. What the four of them achieved is nothing short of a miracle in his eyes and he decides to allow Yu into the academy in the hopes of him being a uniting influence for the students. And since he doesn’t have any magic of his own, Grim is inducted as well as a pair with him. 

Slightly flimsy excuse if you ask me but I suppose they couldn’t just have them hang around campus for no good reason and this puts them in the thick of the action. One quibble I’ve had so far is that apart from the first episode, we’ve barely seen any of the other characters (apart from the entertaining little post-credits shorts). Hopefully that should change now that Yu and Grim are full-fledged students at Night Raven. 

Stray Musings

• We get some more lore about how magic works and it seems to take quite a bit of training and discipline on wielder’s part. This might explain why they seem to use a talisman/wand to channel their power. It does make it more impressive that Grim lets loose his fire power so easily. Perhaps his ambition of becoming a renowned mage isn’t quite so unachievable as it first seemed. 
• Did anyone else feel like Grim’s comment about Deuce feeling like a different person when he got angry is a hint at some future transformation?
• Riddle really is the Queen of Hearts successor in spirit. Enforcing an arcane rule about singing together when a hedgehog sneezed? Doesn’t get more Queen of Hearts than that! Though if the expressions of the rest of the house are any indicator, they don’t quite share the same zeal. At least Ace and Deuce can take solace in the fact that they aren’t kicked out of the school yet!