Still Life

[manche]

The next great episode from the first season, which was not here until this time.

The beginning of the relationship between Maeve and Sinbad. Sinbad realized his feelings for our Celt for the first time and his jealousy towards Vincenzo was evident, his fear about her and his anger after the scene when Vincenzo turned her into stone. Great was the scene, when Sinbad saw Maeve in her new dress (she looked well), he probably lost his breath, the rest of the crew also looked very surprised. And the scene, where Doubar asked Sinbad if his feelings for Maeve obscured his mind...it was great.

The next example of Doubar's effort to save Sinbad in every situation. But his effort turned against him and Rongar again. It was the luck that Firouz was delayed by collecting of the material, in the opposite case they all would have been in the trap. Who would save Maeve in this case? Doubar is really too much hasty sometimes.

Firouz and his desire after a piece of appreciation... but it is true that he is very often the most useful person in a crisis situation.

Vincenzo was a good villian. He had certain charisma and he was able to manipulate with people, when he wants. I am not sure about his motif for turning Maeve into stone. Do you think that he was really mad, as Sinbad said?

And do you notice that some footages from this episode were used in The Book of Before?

[Doubar]

Oh, indeed, the dress- scene was awesome. Loved how the whole crew gaped at Maeve. It was easy to see they had obviously never really thought about her as a pretty lady like that - until then she was just the tough sailorette (don't think that word actually exists, but who cares) to them. Haha, and Doubar teasing Sinbad when they were looking for the glittering caves... priceless! Belongs to my very fav moments from the whole show. ^^

Indeed Doubar is too hasty at times. But he only means well, which of course doesn't change the fact though that sometimes he'd just better thought twice before acting. It was a good thing Firouz got distracted and thus stayed behind. You would indeed have to wonder how they'd gotten out of this mess if he had followed them into the trap.

As for Firouz saving the day... well, at least if magic doesn't do the trick, his science usually will. At least during S1 his inventions often came in handy, though most of the stuff he came up with still had some childhood-diseases at first (which would appear to be normal though).

Concerning Vincenzo as a villain though... hum, never particularly liked him. Personally I sided with Sinbad all the way long. Vincenzo was too ... smug or maybe rather "perfect" if you know what I mean. He just had something about him that I didn't like and thus it came as absolutely no surprise when things pretty quickly started to hint towards him as the villain of this ep. His motif would be a simple one though. She was pretty, that's all. He collected beauty and it is arguable whether he was mad or not. In my eyes he certainly wasn't portrayed as a madman, he was thinking too logically for that, but on the other hand one would have to assume that someone who's turning people into stone just to preserve their beauty IS mad in a way.

Ha, really, though, there's some footage returning in The Book of Before? No, I must admit I didn't notice. Only thing I noticed was that the statues were re-used during The Trickster. xD

[manche]

I did not say that I like him. You have the truth that he looked too much perfect and it was not the surprise that he is the bad guy. But he was the good villian with charisma. The first season had better villians than the second season: Rumina, Turock, Scratch, Milasco (Vorgon), Vatek, Trickster and Vincenzo was also an interesting villian. In the second season I am not sure, If I find more interesting villians (with the exception of Scratch of course). From this point of view he was the interesting villian for me.

Doubar's intentions are always good, I have no doubts about it. But sometimes his impatience brings more harm than good. We talked about it in a topic, that is the quality which he has similar with Maeve, both are sometimes too spirited and hasty.

The Firouz's enthusiasm for science, his effort to explain a function of his invetions to the others, his great monologues during the dangerous situations and his certain abstractedness were the reasons why I like his character from the first season more than his character from the second season.

The footage: One of them is the moment when the wood demon falls off a cliff (I am not completely sure of this, but it looked as the shot, when petrified Vincenzo falls at the end of the episode). But I am sure the second shot. At the end of the episode, when the rest of the crew runs to Sinbad and Bryn (36 minute), we can see their old costumes for a few seconds.

[Firouz]

Vinchezno was a narcissist plain and simply. He was arrogant and thought himself more than he was because he possessed magical gloves.

Makes you wonder, how good was he really without them?

Why was the Queen planning on getting rid of him?

[manche]

I think, this Sinbad's line is very accurate. I think that Vincenzo would do this:

If it weren’t for those gloves, you’d be selling velvet paintings at the local bazaar.

[Firouz]

So true!

[manche]

I really like the opening scene at the board of the ship there. Doubar's thinking about women, singing and wine and the pragmatic Sinbad was thinking about the fresh water on the other hand (if it would have been the second season he would probably was thinking about women too)

Also the talk between Maeve and Sinbad was interesting. I would be curious if the boys did not really consider her to be an equal member of the crew at the beginning or if there worked her imagination too much (we know that Doubar had prejudices against women on the board at first but I did not see something similar by the next characters). And I like how Doubar was watching the talk and how he appreciatively nodded his head when Maeve expressed her opinion about the Sinbad's offer.

And when Sinbad hesitated to accept the offer of Vincenzo to stay in his palace it was funny how he was searching for the support in his hesitance and he did not have any luck. Maeve was evidently charmed by Vincenzo so he could not wait any help from her side, but Doubar and Firouz were not useful to him as well (Rongar probably was the same case), they had great expression on their faces in the style "please Sinbad, you do not understand what he offered to us?"

[tzigone]

This isn't one my top five eps, but neither is it in my bottom five (of season one). A solid showing, definitely. Probably in my top half of eps (never bothered to rank them).

really like the opening scene at the board of the ship there. Doubar's thinking about women, singing and wine and the pragmatic Sinbad was thinking about the fresh water on the other hand (if it would have been the second season he would probably was thinking about women too)

I like that scene, too. Don't remember most of season 2 (and the more references I see , the happier I am about it). I did try watching "Hell House" with the understanding of it as a "fix it" ep, but I couldn't stand it. With only season 1 in my head I just kept thinking "Who the hell is this guy and where is Sinbad?" I kept wanting to say "that is so out of character!" except that I didn't watch the 20 eps before it and I know his character is different in season 2.  I did like the scene with Doubar and Mala and I liked Doubar grabbing and hugging Sinbad at the end, but that's about it.

I would be curious if the boys did not really consider her to be an equal member of the crew at the beginning or if there worked her imagination too much

I'd probably split the difference on this. I think that they (the main characters; we know nothing of the others) regard her as an equal member of the crew at this point. As you said, Doubar's nodding along with her statements. But, she's certainly faced some opposition or different views in the past (including from members of this crew). I think she's a bit oversensitive about it here. And I do wonder if ties into her currently feeling the more feminine/lady-like aspects of herself have been neglected for too long (I wouldn't be surprised if it's been since she started her quest) and yet being determined to focus on being one of them and treated samely. Toss in that Sinbad himself may be what's evoking her desire to be flattered and such and that she doesn't like that...I don't know. Just an idea. Not at all set on it.

I will say that I'm unsure if Maeve or Firouz routinely have any sailing duties on the ship. They can pitch in when things get rough, but I don't recall them doing any routing ship-stuff. I think they're there for inventions and magic and usefulness in battle.

they had great expression on their faces in the style "please Sinbad, you do not understand what he offered to us?"

But, not apparently, to the rest of the crew. I'm guessing they were still on the ship with Dermott while the important people got to live it up in castle. Then again, they do see a lot less danger than the main characters (though still a fair bit). Also interesting is that Dermott did not come ashore with Maeve this time. He generally does. I hadn't thought about it before, but I wonder if it's a plot-device to keep Maeve on better terms with Vincenzo. Note that when flies in (because he sensed Maeve's druggedness), he didn't fly to Maeve. He flew directly to the fire where the alchemy was done, the source of the danger, didn't he? That's not the only time in the series that he's shows a strong sensitivity in regards to magic. I don't know if that's because he's cursed or if he was always that way, but I find it interesting. Anyway, if Dermott had been there and had sensed issues with Vincenzo, she would have listened to him.

I know the Queen appeared in her bath, but Maeve said she "tried to" speak with her, so I'm going to interpret it as though Maeve either couldn't understand her words, or was so shocked that a woman's face appeared in her bath that she didn't process what was said. I like that a lot better than her hearing the warning and ignoring it. As has been mentioned previously in the thread, it was nice to see that even though Maeve dind't agree with Sinbad's thoughts, she was still willing to help him and distract Vincenzo and such.

One thing I really, really liked was how Sinbad behaved in his jealousy. I hate it when grown characters on tv shows start acting like childish, petty, spiteful jerks because they are jealous. Sinbad was better than that. He was reasonable in telling Maeve that suspicious things were happening, and yes, he warned her against Vincenzo because he thought he was dangerous. I thought it was made clear that Sinbad's jealousy of Vincenzo and his suspicion of Vincenzo were two different things. He was jealous before he was suspicious and he would have been suspicious even if he wasn't jealous. I really liked that. None of that, of course, means he has to admit he's jealous - to Maeve or anyone else.

Another nice bit was that Sinbad really does seem to have a legitimate appreciation for fine art. He noticed it, was in awe of it. No one else really did.

I can understand how Nissam ended up attacking Sinbad, even if it wasn't the smart thing to do. Spy to see if he's good or bad, then freak out and attack when caught. Luckily for him, Sinbad listened to him instead of skewering him.

As mentioned by others, Maeve's makeover certainly made an impression on her crewmates, especially Sinbad. Personally, I did not like her new look and really hated her hair.

One thing though: does anyone have a scenario for the how the army got turned to stone? I mean, he have had to have done it one-by-one, right? Do you think he threatened the Queen to get them to all allow that or had he already transformed the Queen or what? And I'm guessing he had them moved to the caves, rather than doing the deed there? I suppose he didn't display them because they weren't beautiful in form and yet didn't destroy them because they were still his "art"? But how'd he know about the caves? And taking them all through that little door might have been a pain for whoever had to do it.

Tidbits:
"What on earth are you all doing in there?" - I laugh out loud with that one every time; the delivery is fantastic.

When Sinbad makes his rebuttal about "any member of his crew" Firouz and Doubar laugh at him. Rongar is in the background, so it's hard to tell, but he doesn't look to be smiling or anything like that. Do you think that's because of his opinion on Vincenzo being a threat or just because he's not yet comfortable laughing at his boss to his face?

Also, before Sinbad tell Doubar that the statues are real people, Rongar is touching one and touching his face; think he already figured it out?

The king and his army sure made it back to the castle quickly after the curse was broken, didn't they? Sinbad had only just made it downstairs. Actually, they came down the stairs too. Glad I'm not trying to work out the layout of the castle.

Lastly, it's said to be very hot in this ep. But next ep, it's cloak-wearing and breath-seeing cold. Since we know a year passed in the first season, I'd put a little extra time between these two eps. Though, of course, it could just be a hot/cold day whichever time.

[manche]

Oh, I also think that Firouz and Maeve did not have so many duties on the board, maybe some work with ropes and sails but I do not remember that Firouz would be seen by the tiller sometimes for example (Maeve was seen only one time in The Beast Within). And in the regards of Maeve, I do not know. She wanted to be treated equally definitely but she was still a woman and she probably wanted that this thing was noticed by the others?

I agree that if Dermott was there, that she would be more suspicious of Vincenzo probably. He was evidently able to sense the danger and he found its source very quickly. Maybe it could be call a plot device, although I am not sure. There were different episodes when Dermott stayed on the board of the ship (for example The King Firouz).

I also like how Sinbad handled his jealousy. His grimaces sometimes clearly indicated what he thinks about Vincenzo (I like his rolling eyes when Maeve said that Vincenzo is such a sensitive and educated man) but he was able to stay on top of things and think properly.

Nissam simply tried to find if he can trust Sinbad and when he was revealed he panicked and did not have any better idea than attacking Sinbad.

And contrary to tzigone, I think that Maeve looked wonderfully in these clothes and I like her hair style in this episode as well.

And the idea of how Vincenzo managed to turn the whole army into stone. It looked that he was able to modify them into any position which he wanted after their turning into stone (he threated Sinbad by this when he was chasing him around the castle, I do not think that he would force Sinbad to kneel before him). He could attack them in a suitable situation (during their sleeping for example) and modified them into these positions which we could see later. It also looked that some men from the kingdom worked for him as well and they could help him to let people turn into stone gradually, without invoking of greater attention. He could prepare the ground for his taking power for a longer time.

It is hard to say if Rongar there was laughing with them when he was not seen in the picture. The scene with his touching of one of these people could indicate that he sensed that something is wrong with Vincenzo before, but I would guess that in contrast with Doubar and Firouz who knew Sinbad for a longer time he was still a new member of the crew and maybe he looked at this situation from a more neutral point of view and he did not have the taste to tease his new boss. But later when he more integrated into the crew he joined to this teasing of Sinbad several times (The Ties that bind, The Village Vanishes, The Rescue).

[manche]

Do not you think that it was quite risky from Sinbad to kill Vincenzo at the end? Where did he take certainty that it reverses the curse? It could sentence all turned people to stay in the form of stone forever.

[tzigone]

Oct 30, 2015 8:18:17 GMT -5 manche said:

Do not you think that it was quite risky from Sinbad to kill Vincenzo at the end? Where did he take certainty that it reverses the curse? It could sentence all turned people to stay in the form of stone forever.

Well, according to Maeve, killing the sorcerer who cast a curse is the fallback way to end the curse.  That's her plan with Rumina, too.  It seems to an accepted method amongst magic users.  I won't say it's without risk, but a good chance of ending the curse by killing the caster is better than no chance at all of ending the curse (as Vincenzo was unwilling, and Rumina would likely also be unwilling to reverse her curse).

[manche]

Thank you, dear tzigone. Now I remember that Maeve mentioned this fact a few times throughout the first season. I concretely recall this statement in the episode The Village vanishes. And although Vincenzo promised to reverse the curse to Sinbad at first, it was shown a few seconds later that he did not want to keep this promise.

[tzigone]

And although Vincenzo promised to reverse the curse to Sinbad at first, it was shown a few seconds later that he did not want to keep this promise.

A tactic all too common among tv villains.

[manche]

Nov 4, 2015 14:20:04 GMT -5 tzigone said:

And although Vincenzo promised to reverse the curse to Sinbad at first, it was shown a few seconds later that he did not want to keep this promise.

A tactic all too common among tv villains.

Agree, we can not not blame this TV series for this. The most of villains (in TV series and movies as well) use this tactic as well.