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!