Critique: The Order, Series 1 (Netflix Series) 2/2

Chancellor/Magus Vera Stone

Vera Stone is brilliant. She leads both Belgrave’s university (Chancellor) and Order Chapter (Temple Magus), soon joining the ranks of the Gnostic Council my second favourite (who advise the Grand Magus).

When Jack confesses to Vera that he killed Clarke, she tells him, ‘”Try to avoid murder in the future.”’ This puts the Order’s morals into perspective. At least Vera won’t stand sexual harassment. (Obviously Jack can’t tell Vera he was naked because he didn’t want Benson to see a werewolf but never mind.)

When neophytes are dying, Vera suspects a werewolf and Gabrielle thinks there are more. We know the Knights have been there for ages so how did the Order not know, or suspect, werewolves before? But the murderer is a clay-made golem. Jack’s roommate, called Clay, said, “Before we met him, how do we know he existed?”’ Even Jack makes fun of having missed the clues.

 

The Vade Mecum Infernal is a powerful spell book.

Coventree, Grand Magus (leader) of the Order, has Alyssa help him get it. He tells her that he doesn’t want unquestioned obedience (opposing the Order’s motto and strict hierarchy) which, of course, is how he obtains unquestioned obedience.

Alyssa becomes obsessed during the process. Her home life doesn’t strike as particularly loving and having Coventree praise her may be a novel experience. But also we have to remember Vera warning Alyssa that Coventree makes people feel like they’re the most important person in the world. When Jack speaks to his dead mother, she’s obviously obsessed with Coventree. So the Grand Magus clearly uses magic to make people’s perspective of his positive beyond reason (explaining his success and popularity).

Vera gives Coventree the rest of the Vade Mecum Infernal (convenient). At the end she pretends to destroy it and takes it for herself. Oh, and becoming the new Grand Magus (whoop whoop!). We know she’s ambitious (youngest ever Temple Magus) but damn, gurl.

 

 

Problems (and Solutions?)

People accuse Jack of being the cause of people dying. Um… no? Jack actively wants to save lives. He only kills bad people (and Prof Clarke who was possessed). I suppose as the Order is composed of the self-serving so they’d be concerned about who’s next? Chancellor Vera Stone also accuses Jack of trying to dismantle the Order. Well, no. he’s interfered and made plans go awry, for sure, but dismantle would be him breaking the Order up. Some might say this is bad writing. People often come to inaccurate conclusions so this makes the characters believable.

Jack ends up in the collective unconscious when the hide of Silverback, his werewolf, is killing him. Having a hide removed should kill someone but Jack decides he wants to live, so he doesn’t die. This strikes me as a lazy excuse: most people don’t want to die so surely they should all come back? Or maybe it’s because he made the decision whilst in the unconscious makes a difference. If not then the plot from this point on is unstable.

Pops and Jack’s plan was to get into Belgrave (a top university) so Jack could join the Order (an organisation that’s barely a rumour) so Jack could get into a position of power, from which he could take Coventree down. There are multiple routes to power but they chose one which might not even exist? That’s a flimsy, shady premise to base (1) an entire show on and (2) for Jack to base his life decisions on. It was so preposterous that it made the magic seem run-of-the-mill, almost normal. At least it added to the humour of the show. Or it shows that Pops and Jack are brilliant, persistent detectives.

My biggest problem with the show was when Coventree pointed at Pops and then Pops exploded. Surely that’s a little extreme? Yes, Jack having even more reason to hate Pops to give extra umph to the final episode was good writing. Yes, this shows having the Vade Mecum Infernal gives someone superior magic. Although, this means Pops went pop and my accidental pun means all is forgiven.

 

Final Notes

I love that the ten episodes come in five pairs. Each episode had its own storyline yet each pair had a cohesive story arc. Plus pairs aren’t disconnected: one flows right into the other. So this was really well done. Let’s hope the writers keep to this high standard: if not, it will be all the more noticeable.

When Jack was accepted, during 2019, into the Class of 2023, it baffled me at first. Here in the UK, we’re ‘Year 1’ in our first year of school all the way to Year 13, only becoming the ‘Class of such-and-such’ after we leave school (we only graduate university here). BUT: Jack’s five years at Belgrave University should mean at least five series!

Series One ends with Vera stealing the Knights’ memories and magical artefacts/manuscripts. Having four werewolves running around without knowing what they are seems like a bad (and dangerous) idea to me but never mind. Vera’s got something up her sleeve, I’m sure.

The world-building was fun, consistent and convincing. The characters were all clearly defined. The plot was interesting and the humour kept on coming. I thoroughly enjoyed this. Bring on Series Two!

Critique: The Order, Series 1 (Netflix Series) 1/2

Okay, so this might be my favourite tv series ever. Fantasy? Check. Continually hilarious? Check? Detailed world-building? Check. Non-tacky special effects? Check. Consistent characters? Check.

 

*****SPOILERS*****

 

Jack Morton is accepted into Belgrave University and joins two secret societies: the Order of the Blue Rose (magic) and the Knights of St. Christopher (werewolves). He walks a fine line between the former (to get what he needs) and the latter (to learn how to be a werewolf safely). Meanwhile he has the needs of his grandfather Pops (to take down Coventree for killing Jack’s mother) and himself (to be a normal young person) to contend with.

Randall is the best character. Episode One was clearly his episode, even if he wasn’t the main focus. He says he’ll have to report Jack if he breaks any rules so ‘”Don’t let me catch you.”’ He hands Jack a beer, asks if he’s twenty-one, then says, ‘”I don’t give a shit.”’ And then he walks up to Jack and Alyssa and says, ‘”Will you two sleep together already.”’ No Randall, even after ten episodes they do not.

Gabrielle DuPrie is, to be blunt, a self-centred drama queen. Not the kind of person I’d like in real life (her character is believable, even if OTT) but in this show she’s perfect. Someone is killed when and where Gabrielle was planning to jog. On telling her ethics class this so they won’t talk about it and calling him selfish for being glad it wasn’t him, Professor Clarke says not as selfish as making yourself the centre of attention.

This show had a habit of throwing jokes in our faces. Not in that it was unwanted but rather the timing and/or quality of the humour catches you by surprise.

When Alyssa asked if it’s another spell to de-stabilise the Argentine economy and Argentina hadn’t been mentioned so that threw me off guard.

At start jack at mums grave and when finds out got into Belgrave he shouts fucking a. Two old people look at him and he instantly become sombre and says sorry for your loss, making me laugh.

We even got some slapstick (Jack lifts a shovel over his shoulders to hit a werewolf right where Kyle was running) which I haven’t seen done in a non-cringey manner for years.

When Jack called Lilith ‘Killith’ I lost my shit. Best bit.

 

Lore

The consistency in this programme’s world-building was superb. No major issues came to light amongst its intense detail.

It’s established that magic is everywhere, including the air, so anyone could use it. This gives magic grounding in the real world, something tangible. To be used, magic requires a sacrifice or an offering. If the practitioner doesn’t pay for it, someone else will. A whole episode is dedicated to this so it’ll play an important role in future series, to be sure.

For a spell to stop, it needs to either complete its intended purpose or the heart of the practitioner/carrier is eaten. If not, it finds a new, weakened path towards its intended purpose (so a death spell becomes an injury spell). This is known as magical decay/ the magical half-life. Block the path often enough and the spell weakens into nothing, meaning no more carriers (innocents unwillingly carrying out the path of the magic) like Prof Benson have to die.

The Knights of St. Christopher

The Knights are werewolves who fight bad magic. We have Randall, the cocktail-loving Hamish and the killing-loving Lilith.

In an intriguing twist, these werewolves aren’t created via a bite but rather a wolf fur coat (its hide) fusing with a person. Each hide has its own name and personality (Jack has Silverback, for example).

Knights know when magic’s used because they hear a ringing (that no one else does). To me, this matches a dog whistle: no one but a dog (or dog-like senses) can hear it.

In fighting bad magic, the Knights are opposed to the Order. This is why Hamish and especially Lilith don’t trust Jack. Randall suggests that may be the reason why Silverback chose Jack.

Randall makes a big speech about beer pong being the wrong way to decide if Jack lives or dies because the Knights are good and protect the weak. Yet when Lilith suggests 2/3, Randall agrees with a smile and enthusiasm. Made me chuckle.

Are the Knights the only werewolves or are there more? Legends of werewolves span centuries before Christianity but these ones are the knights of a Christian saint. Though if Order members aren’t the only ones who can use magic, then it’s reasonable that the Knights aren’t the only ones who can transform. Also, the Chancellor Vera Stone (leader of the Order’s Belgrave Chapter) said that werewolves can be born or cursed so this would imply other werewolves exist.

Lilith and Randall are both students and they live with Hamish, a lecturer, in the Den. Doesn’t this bother the authorities? Or do they have an official address elsewhere? But if that’s the case, how can they afford rent in two places? Belgrave University is full of rich kids so I suppose money isn’t that much of an issue.

Lilith likes to kill people. (Kilith.)

Yet when she escapes from Gabrielle and Gnostic Councillor Kepler after they tortured her, Lilith didn’t kill them. So this would seem out of character. Mind you, being tortured would leave you weak and disorientated, and she did have to go save the world. Lilith wouldn’t have the time or energy to spare for killing, perhaps.

But an earlier answer gives definitive answer. Jack told the Knights that he wanted to kill Coventree for killing his mother. Lilith’s the one who tells Jack that the Knights ‘don’t do revenge’. So if even Lilith doesn’t approve of revenge, and killing Gabrielle/Kepler wouldn’t achieve anything, Lilith wouldn’t have the incentive to do so.

 

UK vs. USA: Guns

When America suffers mass shootings, killing innocent children, people want restrictions on gun ownership. If dangerous people can’t access guns, mass shootings would never happen. But many gun owners don’t want restrictions.

 

Why is easy access to guns more important than the safety of your nation’s children? I can’t fathom how that managed to become the priority.

Yes, every American has the right to carry arms, but every human has the right to life. Surely life is more important than guns? Surely the lives of children are more important than guns?

Besides, restrictions on guns only prevent dangerous people from having them. How is that a bad thing?

In America your constitutional rights are always upheld so the average citizen will never be barred from owning a gun. So if you don’t have to worry about your guns being taken away, why on Earth fight against restrictions that will keep your children alive?

 

In the UK, we have hardly any gun crime and if the police need guns they get them in a timely fashion. Countries with tighter gun restrictions don’t have problems with mass shootings. It’s not a difficult equation. Valuing life shouldn’t be so controversial.

 

Just a side note, when talk of restrictions does come up, the focus is always on disabled people. This does the disabled a disservice: it links disability with danger and that, frankly, is unfair and unjust. Disability doesn’t automatically entail bad decision making. Plus many people who commit heinous crimes are unnoticed by the mental health services. Barring disabled people from guns would restrict a constitutional right from safe people instead of preventing dangerous people from owning guns.