Post by Zagreus on Nov 28, 2015 0:26:45 GMT
I'm updating my "ideal" listening order to try and get the most out of this latest batch of episodes.
As always, begin with The Picture of Dorian Gray.
Then, Season One is now as follows:
1900 - This World Our Hell
1902 - Banshee
1940 - The Houses In Between
1949 - The Living Image
1956 - The Twittering of Sparrows
1968 - The Enigma of Dorian Gray
1974 - The Abysmal Sea
1986 - The Heart That Lives Alone
1999 - The Mayfair Monster
2007 - The Fallen King of Britain
Banshee is early days, and Dorian's barely out of his natural lifespan. He hasn't encountered too much in the way of the supernatural, and still feels a bit bad about what he has to do. It also prefigures Twittering a little, in that they don't actually 'show' Dorian doing the deed at the end, so when it happens later in Twittering, violently, and abruptly, it has even more of an impact.
The Living Image makes a nice follow-up to Houses, in which he finds out that he lost a son, and shows him what his life might have been like had he settled down and helped raise the child. It also begins with a summary of how Europe is recovering from the war, which was going on in Houses, so there's a nice segue there.
Enigma is just a really good story and deserves to be with the powerhouses of the first set of releases. Also, as pointed out in the interviews, this one fits with Series One stories where Dorian's not actively trying to distance himself from the book, and in fact proves to someone that he is the Dorian Gray.
The Abysmal Sea works well as a prefigure to Heart, in that it shows how Dorian is when in a long-term relationship with someone who's actually going to grow old and die, setting up the mood for his meeting with Toby.
And of course Mayfair follows up Heart and helps show us just how hard he takes the loss.
Season Two is now as follows:
1912 - Ghosts of Christmas Past
1913 - The Immortal Game
1920 - The Prime of Deacon Brodie
1929 - His Dying Breath
1939 - Murder on 81st Street
1964 - The Lord of Misrule
1974 - Freya
2009 - Inner Darkness
2012 - The Picture of Loretta Delphine
2012 - Running Away With You
Putting Banshee in with Season One allows for Ghosts to still be the first story of Season Two, preserving the "following up the novel" approach of season openers, like This World does for Season One, and Blank Canvas does for Season Three.
Prime makes a nice bookend to The Great War with Immortal Game.
His Dying Breath and Freya are of the Season Two mold of "and then Dorian runs into a monster, and defeats it, because that's what Dorian does, apparently".
Inner Darkness is less that, but fits in with Season Two's "celebrities and movie monsters" theming. So, now, alongside Sherlock Holmes, Jekyll & Hyde, Dorothy Parker, The Golem of Prague, Zombies, and Dorian's take on Troll Hunter, we also have Dorian versus Werewolves.
I'm putting the stories chronologically, instead of the reverse, which allows us to see some of Dorian's character progression, as well as the world's progression, as he tries to keep himself occupied through the ages. Also you get little things like The Immortal Game setting up the Great War and the Prime following it up; Picture commenting on his previous time in the US, which was in Murder on 81st a few episodes prior; and other little such things.
Finally, I'm inserting Human Remains in Season Three, along with the upcoming Christmas specials, thusly:
2014 - Blank Canvas
2014 - The Needle
1998 - Human Remains
2014 - We Are Everywhere
2014 - Echoes
2014 - Pandora
2014 - Heart and Soul
2014 - Displacement Activity
2014 - The Darkest Hour
2015 - Desperately Seeking Santa
2015 - All Through the House
The year is never mentioned within Human Remains, and the twist that it's all happening now and the narration is drug-induced fits with Season Three's lack of a narrated framing sequence. The commentary on Dorian's lack of a soul also fits in with some of the prevalent through-themes from Season 3. The Needle after Blank Canvas shows times have changed while Dorian hasn't, and starting with We Are Everywhere the stories are more or less contiguous, so putting Human Remains there in that gap seems fitting.
As always, I appreciate hearing your thoughts and feedback on the matter. Cheers.
As always, begin with The Picture of Dorian Gray.
Then, Season One is now as follows:
1900 - This World Our Hell
1902 - Banshee
1940 - The Houses In Between
1949 - The Living Image
1956 - The Twittering of Sparrows
1968 - The Enigma of Dorian Gray
1974 - The Abysmal Sea
1986 - The Heart That Lives Alone
1999 - The Mayfair Monster
2007 - The Fallen King of Britain
Banshee is early days, and Dorian's barely out of his natural lifespan. He hasn't encountered too much in the way of the supernatural, and still feels a bit bad about what he has to do. It also prefigures Twittering a little, in that they don't actually 'show' Dorian doing the deed at the end, so when it happens later in Twittering, violently, and abruptly, it has even more of an impact.
The Living Image makes a nice follow-up to Houses, in which he finds out that he lost a son, and shows him what his life might have been like had he settled down and helped raise the child. It also begins with a summary of how Europe is recovering from the war, which was going on in Houses, so there's a nice segue there.
Enigma is just a really good story and deserves to be with the powerhouses of the first set of releases. Also, as pointed out in the interviews, this one fits with Series One stories where Dorian's not actively trying to distance himself from the book, and in fact proves to someone that he is the Dorian Gray.
The Abysmal Sea works well as a prefigure to Heart, in that it shows how Dorian is when in a long-term relationship with someone who's actually going to grow old and die, setting up the mood for his meeting with Toby.
And of course Mayfair follows up Heart and helps show us just how hard he takes the loss.
Season Two is now as follows:
1912 - Ghosts of Christmas Past
1913 - The Immortal Game
1920 - The Prime of Deacon Brodie
1929 - His Dying Breath
1939 - Murder on 81st Street
1964 - The Lord of Misrule
1974 - Freya
2009 - Inner Darkness
2012 - The Picture of Loretta Delphine
2012 - Running Away With You
Putting Banshee in with Season One allows for Ghosts to still be the first story of Season Two, preserving the "following up the novel" approach of season openers, like This World does for Season One, and Blank Canvas does for Season Three.
Prime makes a nice bookend to The Great War with Immortal Game.
His Dying Breath and Freya are of the Season Two mold of "and then Dorian runs into a monster, and defeats it, because that's what Dorian does, apparently".
Inner Darkness is less that, but fits in with Season Two's "celebrities and movie monsters" theming. So, now, alongside Sherlock Holmes, Jekyll & Hyde, Dorothy Parker, The Golem of Prague, Zombies, and Dorian's take on Troll Hunter, we also have Dorian versus Werewolves.
I'm putting the stories chronologically, instead of the reverse, which allows us to see some of Dorian's character progression, as well as the world's progression, as he tries to keep himself occupied through the ages. Also you get little things like The Immortal Game setting up the Great War and the Prime following it up; Picture commenting on his previous time in the US, which was in Murder on 81st a few episodes prior; and other little such things.
Finally, I'm inserting Human Remains in Season Three, along with the upcoming Christmas specials, thusly:
2014 - Blank Canvas
2014 - The Needle
2014 - We Are Everywhere
2014 - Echoes
2014 - Pandora
2014 - Heart and Soul
2014 - Displacement Activity
2014 - The Darkest Hour
2015 - Desperately Seeking Santa
2015 - All Through the House
The year is never mentioned within Human Remains, and the twist that it's all happening now and the narration is drug-induced fits with Season Three's lack of a narrated framing sequence. The commentary on Dorian's lack of a soul also fits in with some of the prevalent through-themes from Season 3. The Needle after Blank Canvas shows times have changed while Dorian hasn't, and starting with We Are Everywhere the stories are more or less contiguous, so putting Human Remains there in that gap seems fitting.
As always, I appreciate hearing your thoughts and feedback on the matter. Cheers.
