Episode Discussion 4.01 Warrior Princess Bride

[dirty_diana]

I myself won't be around to review till Monday or Tuesday, but please chat away.

Trapped in the mysterious and mind-bending greenspace and on the run from the deadly Lady, Aneela, and her father Khlyen struggle to stay one step ahead of the Lady, while keeping a wounded Dutch alive with a story that he promises will save her life: the tale of Dutch and Johnny’s first mission in the Quad. He tells the story of the time when, down to their last few Joy, Dutch and John accepted a simple cargo transportation gig to the armpit of the galaxy and how this led to them facing off with a deadly assassin.

Comments

[jadelennox]

I loved the following three things: that Aneela wotj memories seems protective of Dutch, that flashback Johnny always wears eyeliner, and Pree’s wonderfully bizarre 5-minutes goatee + glitter eyebrow combo.

[dirty_diana]

What was happening to Pree's face!? It was hilarious. The softer side of Aneela is interesting for sure.

[hagar_972]

The problem with getting a flashback episode this late into the game is that it's bound to run against all the headcanon one developed during the show's run so far. I had this problem particularly in the early parts of the ep, where Dutch and Johnny seemed to not even like each other that much, let alone trust each other.

But! We got the story of how Dutch ran away from Khlyen only to arrive at his home base: because she and Johnny were totally set up. This totally reads as one of Khlyen's little batman-gambits.

...also I was right and Johny became Lucy's favorite by treating her as a person rather than a thing.

[dirty_diana]

The problem with getting a flashback episode this late into the game is that it's bound to run against all the headcanon one developed during the show's run so far.

Yeah, as mentioned below I'm not sure I thought we *needed* another version of this fanfic, but it was sweet. It made sense that it took them a while, especially with Dutch's personality type, and we meet them years on into their partnership in the premiere. So as far as the bickering, I thought that was fun. But I get the other interpretations too.

Johnny teaching Lucy to think for herself was also great.

[dirty_diana]

I watched this episode twice trying to figure out if I had missed connections to the overall story or emotional narrative that would make me judge it less as self-indulgent? And nope, I still think it was pretty self-indulgent, actually. But fun. A fun backstory fanfiction with lots of great Dutch and Johnny interactions, like him asking her if he's done anything wrong. and the how do I tell someone that I don't know how to be a good person - doesn't matter because I wouldn't have believed you - exchange. I didn't really feel like we learned anything, except for the stressful news that Dutch has been hurt in the green. But! The characters as prickly babies were adorable.