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

(To the tune of ‘Maria’ from The Sound of Music)
How do you solve a problem like Riddle,
How do you recall all the crazy rules!
How do you calm a person so psychotic…
A slip-up, a faux pas, and off with your head you gooooo!
Many a thing you know you’d like to tell him,
Many a thing he ought to understand!
But how do you keep him calm, and not set off an alarm,
How do you keep your magic safe from harm?

With each passing episode, Riddle has been getting steadily more unhinged. When even the usually childish Grim is a better voice of reason than you, something has to change! Let’s recap, shall we (on a scale of 1-5 Riddles fuming):

• Series premier – Given the chaos Grim unleashed and the complete lack of any action by the Headmage, I honestly can’t fault Riddle for his reaction here (0.5 Riddles fuming)
• Popping up to berate Ace and Deuce for missing the group sing-a-long when the hedgehog sneezed is a tad over the top. But then the punishment was relatively mild so it gave off more of an air of an eccentric character with a bit of an obsession with rules (1 Riddle fuming)
•  Locking away someone’s magic (in a magic school no less) for eating a slice of his pie? Definitely a step up from mere eccentricity. But maybe he was simply hangry? (2.5 Riddles fuming)
• The general fog of terror that he leaves in his wake through the episodes is a sure sign that things are escalating, culminating at episode end with him locking the magic of almost everyone in his house for the dastardly crime of (gasp!) drinking lemonade at night! The horror! (5 Riddles fuming!) 

Intentionally or not, it does present an interesting perspective on the unhealthy atmosphere a blind devotion to rules can lead to. On the surface, Riddle is right – rules are there to maintain order and breaking the rules should be discouraged. But that doesn’t mean that those in charge should not reassess from time to time to see if the rules still serve a purpose or are just an arcane reminder of some long-ago incident. However, judging by Trey’s memory of a younger Riddle wholeheartedly enjoying pie, and the gradually spreading darkness in his brooch, there is something more sinister at work. 

On a lighter note, the main quartet are focused on getting a replacement pie for Riddle, as expected. But it ends up being less of a quest and more of a baking lesson courtesy Trey. The baking sub plot does provide an opportunity to learn more about Deuce’s backstory. Not as complicated as I expected, his personality shifts stem from his past avatar as a childhood troublemaker rather than any hidden power or traumatic event. When he realized the toll it was taking on his single mother, he swore to change his ways and turn into a model student. As so often happens though, he swings too much to the other extreme, suppressing all negative emotions which invariably then burst out at inconvenient times. A chat with Yu and Grim helps him see the importance of balance in his responses to any situation. Another example of the grounding influence Yu is having on the group. 

All of which was still fun to watch, but when I heard that this was a videogame adaptation and the premise, I expected a lot more action. However, after the chaos of the first episode and the adventure of the mine quest, the pace has been a lot quieter. Perhaps these are recognizable set pieces that don’t resonate as much with me since I’m unfamiliar with the game. Of course, there’s a certain thrill involved in recognizing familiar scenes and characters when a story is adapted from one medium to another. But I believe a truly good adaptation should not have to rely on familiarity with the source material and should be able to equally draw in new fans. Still, now that a lot of the main characters have been introduced, hopefully we’ll move on with the main story in the next couple of episodes.

Stray Musings

• Wonder what happened to necessitate Riddle becoming house warden almost as soon as he entered the college 
• The owner of the school shop was definitely Dr. Facilier inspired. I wonder if the teachers will play more of a role later on or if they are just more of fun Easter eggs for Disney fans
• Yu has a run-in with the Savanaclaw housewarden, Leona, while searching for chestnuts for the pie. Not the most auspicious start since he accidentally stomped on his tail and woke him from his nap. Obviously, Riddle is being set up as a big bad but perhaps Leona will be another antagonist after that?