Going Through All The Stages Of Grief This Month.

I mean, I would do that. The bit is too tempting.

Eeeeeeeh Macarena - Aaaah!

SO

In episode 62, we learnt that at some point while they were alive, like Annabel has a pet name for Lenore, Lenore had a pet name for Annabel, with Annabel questioning why Lenore still calls her Annabel when Lenore claims she remembers everything.

Now, I’ve seen a lot of different ideas about what it could be; angel, belle, anything flower adjacent, and most popularly, Annie. Interesting thing about the name Annie, Poe actually has a poem named ‘For Annie’. For a summary of the poem: A dying man gives thanks that his "lingering illness," life, is finally over. He talks about how no one should pity him since everyone will lie in the same bed he does. Furthermore, his death is not final. As his lover, Annie, looks on him and cries because she thinks he is dead, he declares that his heart and his thoughts are more alive than ever, for they are filled with the sight of Annie's love. Though dead, he lives on because of her love.

Thanks to the thumbnail of episode 90, it seems like we’re going to get to see or at least get more information on how Annabel died, and if our assumptions are right, how Lenore died as well (fastpassers you better drink your water and mind your business cause if episode 90 ends up being a episode 77 situation when it comes to spoilers, I am coming for your knees). Since we had reference to the poem ‘Lenore’ in episode 66, if Lenore’s pet name for Annabel does end up being Annie, it would definitely be of good use to look for references to ‘For Annie’ in the way Lenore thinks of Annabel, especially if we get a look into Lenore’s thoughts before she died.

I’m going to leave a link to the poem so everyone can go to have a quick read of it. There were quite a few lines that reminded me of different details in the comic (you’ll see what I mean)

Poetry Foundation

For Annie by Edgar Allan Poe | Poetry Foundation

Thank Heaven! the crisis,

“There’s no platonic explanation for tha-“

Mizu, femininity, and fallen sparrows

In my last post about Mizu and Akemi, I feel like I came across as overly critical of Mizu given that Mizu is a woman who - in her own words - has to live as a man in order to go down the path of revenge.

If she is ever discovered to be female by the wrong person, she will not only be unable to complete her quest, but there's a good chance that she'll be arrested or killed.

So it makes complete sense for Mizu to distance herself as much as possible from any behavior that she feels like would make someone question her sex.

I felt so indignant toward Mizu on my first couple watchthroughs for this moment. Why couldn't Mizu bribe the woman and her child's way into the city too? If Mizu is presenting as a man, couldn't she claim to be the woman's escort?

However, this moment makes things pretty clear. Mizu knows all too well the plight of women in her society. She knows it so well that she cannot risk ever finding herself back in their position again. She helps in what little way she can - without drawing attention to herself.

Mizu is not a hero and she is not one to make of herself a martyr - she will not set herself on fire to keep others warm. There's room to argue that Mizu shouldn't prioritize her quest over people's lives, but given the collateral damage Mizu can live with in almost every episode of season 1, Mizu is simply not operating under that kind of morality at this point. ("You don't know what I've done to reach you," Mizu tells Fowler.)

And while I still feel like Mizu has an obvious and established blind spot when it comes to Akemi because of their differences in station, such that Mizu's judgment of Akemi and actions in episode 5 are the result of prejudice rather than the result of Mizu's caution, I also want to establish that Mizu is just as caged as Akemi is, despite her technically having more freedom while living as a man.

Mizu can hide her mixed race identity some of the time, and she can hide her sex almost all of the time, but being able to operate outside of her society's strict rules for women does not mean she cannot see their plight.

It does not mean she doesn't hurt for them.

Back to Mizu and collateral damage, remember that sparrow?

While Mizu is breaking into Boss Hamata's manse, she gets startled by a bird and kills it on reflex. She then cradles it in her hands - much more tenderly than we've seen Mizu treat almost anything up to this point in the season:

She then puts it in its nest, with its unhatched eggs. Almost like she's trying to make the death look natural. Or like an accident.

You see where I'm going with this.

When Mizu kills Kinuyo, Mizu lingers in the moment, holding the body tenderly:

And btw a lot of stuff about this show hit me hard, but this remains the biggest gut punch of them all for me, Mizu holding that poor girl's body close, GOD

When Mizu arranges the "scene of the crime," Kinuyo's body is delicate, birdlike. And Mizu is so shaken afterward that she gets sloppy. She's horrified at this kill to the point that she can't bring herself to take another innocent life - the boy who rats her out.

MIZU'S ONE MOMENT OF SOFTNESS AND MERCY, COMING ON THE HEELS OF HER NEEDING TO KILL A GIRL TO SPARE HER THE WORST FATE THAT THIS RIGID SOCIETY HAS TO OFFER WOMEN, AND TO SPARE A BROTHEL FULL OF INNOCENT WOMEN WHO ARE THE CASTOFFS OF SOCIETY, NEARLY RESULTS IN ALL OF THEIR DEATHS

No wonder Mizu is as stoic and cold as she is.

And no wonder Mizu has no patience for Akemi whatsoever right before the terrible reveal and the fight breaks out:

Speaking of Akemi - guess who else is compared to a bird!

The plumage is more colorful, a bit flashier. But a bird is a bird.

And, uh

Yeah.

I like to think that Mizu killing the sparrow is not only foreshadowing for what she must do to Kinuyo, but is also a representation of the choice she makes on Akemi's behalf. She decides to cage the bird because she believes the bird is "better off." Better off caged than... dead.

But because Mizu doesn't know Akemi or her situation, she of course doesn't realize that the bird is fated to die if it is caged and sent back home.

Mizu is clearly not happy, or pleased, or satisfied by allowing Akemi to be dragged back to her father:

But softness and mercy haven't gotten Mizu anywhere good, recently.

There is so much tragedy layered into Mizu's character, and it includes the things she has to witness and the choices she makes - or believes she has to make - involving women, when she herself can skirt around a lot of what her society throws at women. Although, I do believe that it comes at the cost of a part of Mizu's soul.

After all, I'm gonna be haunted for the rest of this show by Mizu's very first prayer in episode 1:

"LET" her die. Because as Ringo points out, she doesn't "know how" to die.

Kind of like another bird in this show:

‘life is loss.’

I love this sm

Happy spooky season! Have some Wandering Night Gaunt concept art from before making the podcast!

I’m torn between choosing a useful language or a dead language to be a fell voice on the wind

no wrong answers! if you'd like to elaborate on your answer i'd love to hear it!!

I realised I hadn’t done any lineup for Hallowoods and made it my personal project to correct this ASAP!! And yes, I know some aren’t completely canon-compliant, but sometimes you just get a STRONG first vision when you listen and I’m the type of person who follows my heart! I know Lady Ethel in her more… human…appearance probably wasn’t like…. 3m tall BUT IN SPIRIT!? + a possible post black rain version

and there was only one vampire horse👩‍❤️‍💋‍👩

(click on the image for better quality)