The first time you see it, it can hit you really hard, especially since Sherlock is on a total roll and John delivers the line “please God, let me live” in a way where you can be forgiven for not being sure if it’s serious or snark. It apparently has the same effect on Sherlock, as well.
We never do get any details on how Captain John Watson of the Fifth Northumberland Fusiliers was wounded in action. But from this exchange alone, it’s clear the situation was extremely serious. He was badly wounded, nearly died, and developed PTSD- Sherlock had himself earlier pointed out that the original circumstances of John’s injury must have been ‘traumatic’, and he meant emotionally traumatic, not just violent and painful. The blunt earnestness of John’s response even trips up Sherlock for a second or two, and he’s just been ranting and raving about not understanding why a woman would care about her stillborn baby after fourteen years. This also works as a tearjerker in hindsight if you recall ‘Please God, let me live’ whenever John is genuinely in physical danger elsewhere in the series.
Pretty much everyone in the room agrees that in your last moments, you would think about the people you love the most. John apparently had no one to think about when he was close to dying. He really must have been lonely even before he returned from Afghanistan.
I hate you for making this post because it’s the best I’ve read on this subject and it hurts.
I also love how in this moment Sherlock is jarred out of his arrogant “oh how cheesy John, thanks for living down to my expectations, God you’re so average, just as I suspected” mindset by John’s quiet “I don’t have to.” He was not expecting that, and he begins to see John as the fascinating enigma he is. 💖
I’m so glad you asked me this bc I’ve been tryin’ to figure out a way to word a post for this all day
It’s kinda hard to put together the pieces bc the only insight we have into Hanzo after meeting Genji is his One (1) panel from Reflections. However, that panel is Very Important.
and we’ll get there, but let’s talk about pre casual pre Genji at Hanamura Hanzo first.
Hanzo’s character arc – at its core – is about self worth and redemption.
Right off the bat he’s born into strict expectations and at the mercy of the Shimada elders who would shape and groom him into having his ideals reflect nothing but their own. He would live to be the powerful and proud Kumichō of the Shimada-gumi in his father’s image and those before him and that would be it. Until it isn’t.
Hanzo has to kill Genji and his world falls apart because for the first time in probably a long time his ideas don’t coincide with the elders’. I say that because like any normal kid growing up, kids have Wants whether it’s something like a toy, a pet, a piercing, the list could go on and on. The point I’m getting at here is that Hanzo has most likely been repressed to hell as a kid because the heir of THEE Shimada-gumi cannot waste time on such “frivolous pursuits” as Hanzo puts it. This plays into Casual Hanzo later when he goes all out and gets his piercings and does the very symbolic cutting of his hair, but we’ll get there. I swear on this long ass ride of an essay we’ll get there.
His leaving after killing Genji is a really important denouncement. It’s the first time he’s really gone against everything he’s known. Granted, he’s still rooted in some traditions he can’t let go, mainly like wearing his kyudo-gi and some beliefs, but it’s his First Step. For the next ten years he avoids the assassins sent after him, but his actions are not driven by them. What Hanzo does is of his own will and yet, he’s not really Living per se; he’s just Existing.
He roams the Earth and does only what I can assume is bounty hunting or maybe even picking off members of the Shimada-gumi from what we can get from, “With every death comes honor. With honor, redemption.” He WANTS to redeem himself for his actions. He knows that what he’s done is fucked up. But for a man like Hanzo (at this time) I don’t think he’d ever deem himself worthy of deserving what he wants.
So Hanzo must live with the burden of his actions and be perpetually haunted by them until the day he dies, because I think
Hanzo thought living was the greatest punishment he could give himself.
Offing himself? Too cowardly, too easy, no pride in it, no honor.
Like, to put it bluntly: Hanzo is a big ol’ Mess. He’s got 28 years of brainwashing and grooming under his belt, PTSD extreme enough that he can’t even wield a blade anymore, and he was more than likely raised to be exceptionally well spoken (probably in multiple languages), but man, alone for ten years on the run being a recluse, that’s gotta do some shit to your social skills. With the Shimada-gumi assassins coming after him? Doubt is his closest friend and he has to distrust everyone down to a single, wrong sideways glance. I also absolutely cannot go without talking about his depression, and that he probably drinks to cope. I don’t think he drinks habitually, but more when The Mood™ is right during a night and he drinks to Forget.
Despite everything, Hanzo is a stubborn bastard who would be the last person to forgo his pride to reach out for any kind of Help. The better question would be: Who would Hanzo go to for help?
SO FINALLY- Enter Genji. Hanzo has the biggest fuck up in his life right before him and Genji forgives him?? That he should forgive himself?? That he has hope in him that he’s gonna do the Right things???
So now Hanzo is Stuck. But also this is AKA the thing I’m dying to see come from Blizzard one day. I feel it’s so important to see the transition between this Hanzo who’s probably in the midst of an existential crisis of having his world take ANOTHER 180 with a very not dead brother and Casual Hanzo. For Hanzo it begs the question: Does he feel like he deserves forgiveness? Does he feel like he deserves to have a second chance? Is he worthy of it? Everything he’s been doing for the past ten years has lead up to these questions that he thought he’d leave forever unanswered and yet, here he is.
So back to the original question at hand: What exactly does Hanzo have to live for now?
and the answer is-
Himself
Casual Hanzo is completely unhinged, aligned to no organizations, and feels free enough to do what he wants because for once in his life he feels like he’s deserving of them. I have no doubts that it was a slow progress either. He probably took baby steps. A piercing here, a small purchase of jacket and pants – probably separately – there, and then the haircut. It was the slow and final departure from the roots he had remaining in Shimada traditions, but also! Not to mention the whole damn cake he was gonna buy in Reflections. That is a man who is finally treating himself and he’s damn happy about it!
I want to say a lot of things about it, but I can’t even express it.
You know, for some reason, D.Va is always portrayed as a brat who doesn’t take things seriously and thinks of life as a game.
The fandom always portrays her as a kid because she’s 19, like really?
And this is something that has always bothered me, but I’m not in position to complain as we didn’t (and still don’t) know a lot about her.
I’ve seen people express their admiration towards D.Va for being a hero at a young age. For that, I’m grateful, but still it always felt like everyone thought she is just a kid playing a game and not being aware of the reality.
But let me tell you all, this short brought me to tears.
For real.
I was just fine until she got serious. Until she let us know that even though she’s got a carefree personality she’s always thinking seriously.
i’ve only seen twitch chat debating this, and i know that twitch chat is barely anything to go by, but i’m imagining the fandom isn’t too happy about the short as well because:
“ how does this move the lore forward? ”
maybe – it’s not meant to. to me, shooting star was a look and exploration into d.va’s personality and character, as well as the circumstances she lives in. it delves deep into the themes of stardom/reality + duality of character, as well as guilt and isolation.
PART ONE – DUALITY
i’d like to first emphasise that there are two sides to her. we have “hana”, the girl whom we see repairing her mech, and struggling with the weight of the world. we also have “d.va”, the perfect ideal of a celebrity who’s so fawned over by the media. she juggles these two sides a fair bit in the short. with that outta the way, let’s go.
in the holovid d.va’s meka squadmate is watching (is his name tae-hyun? i’m going with tae-hyun), we can see her advertisements and her face used as publicity material. it’s all over busan, all over buildings. her brand name is plastered all over products, like the instant noodles and energy drink they’re consuming. goes to show the level of d.va’s popularity.
the team working on this short were incredibly clever when working on the start of it. we see many frames that directly contrast with what the host is saying:
“ she and the meka squad took a few hits, but they pulled off another victory. ”
said squad is shown severely in need of maintenance and repair – that’s not “a few hits”. they were beaten up harshly by the omnics.
“ now, d.va is celebrating with some hard-earned glitz and glamour. ”
she isn’t. she’s repairing her mech after the aforementioned battle. very much not-classy, don’t you think? (strange why people would assume that she’s out partying.)
“ she’s out spending the night at the hottest spots in the city – eating the finest food, and hanging out with other superstars. ”
she’s in meka hq (i’m assuming? maybe it’s a hangar for the mechs, strange for it to be located over the sea), tending to her mech, eating doritos, and chilling with her dudebro tae-hyun. hardly glitzy.
“ and authorities confirm, she emerged without a scratch. she’s currently enjoying some time off to enjoy her victory. ”
at the end of the short, hana is shown pretty beat-up – there’s a cut on her face and her leg’s in a cast. she’s not taking a break, either – she’s still working on repairing her mech. lies. in the words of Best Boi tae-hyun: “oh, man. this time off is greaaat, isn’t it?”
why do all these contrasts matter?
they show how removed hana is from the life of “glitz and glamour”, and closer to the side of her that’s more personal and real – the person she is with tae-hyun. i guess this is how it’s like for most superstars too – they have a life outside of the stardom they’re thrust into and that side people are familiar about them having. this short shows d.va at her most raw, stripped of the arrogance that she gives people on the battlefield, that superior façade. it’s even shown by her lines in-game:
“is this easy mode?” “are you even trying?” “hehe, gg!”
she doesn’t say any of those in this short.
there is a clear separation between her two personas, “hana” and “d.va”. notice how only tae-hyun addresses her by “hana” – he represents the real, non-idealised side of her – and how the media calls her “d.va” – representing the façade she puts on for her fandom and the media.
i’m sorry if you forgot you were reading a defense of the animated short.
PART TWO – GUILT AND ISOLATION
“ you beat [the omnics]. they won’t be back for months. you need a break! ”
this line from tae-hyun is immediately followed by a flashback. hana recalls her squadmates struggling to fight off the omnics (i’m gonna assume and say it was the mentioned battle in the holovid), and how one of her squadmates shouted out “i’m hit!” in the recollection, d.va reacts immediately, horrified and shocked. she snaps back to reality, and says that she can’t take a break.
“ the enemy is adapting, and growing stronger. the rest of the squad, the country … they’re all counting on me. if i make a mistake and the [omnics] get through us … we lose. everything. ”
hana has taken this responsibility to protect whatever she can, her squad and her country. we also can infer that she’s voluntarily taken the weight of the world on her shoulders – tae-hyun insists as she climbs into the mech, “stop putting it all on yourself! it’s okay to ask for help.”
i’m gonna assume that she’s doing this out of guilt. she separates herself from her squadmates because she is guilty, and works in isolation to fight. she doesn’t want anyone else to be hurt, especially because of her/her negligence, so she takes it upon herself to singlehandedly defend her country. maybe there’s a reason behind this guilt, maybe an older squadmate got injured/killed by her own actions. we’ll need more lore, but i’m putting up the possibility.
“ get to cover, and wait for reinforcements! ”
“ they won’t get here in time! ”
again, this goes to show how far hana will take on the fight herself. she doesn’t want to involve any more people than she should – she’ll shoulder it all herself if she can keep the rest safe. but —
“ … tae-hyun. i … i need your help. ”
the framing of the shot before she says this line is great. we see the city in the background and the omnic in the foreground. the framing illustrates her current circumstance and the impending doom if she doesn’t kill the omnic, which she can’t in her mech’s condition. hana is reminded of what she fights for, and that with her mech breaking down, she needs help. she needs someone to rely on. enter tae-hyun, aka BEST BOI, HELL YEAH.
(extra!) PART THREE – THE OVERUSE OF THE RACING METAPHOR
“ it’s like how we used to stay up late and work on your hoverbike. “
“ heh – you mean the one you wrecked? “
“ really – you’re still mad about that? we won the race! “
“ yeah! and you almost killed yourself! “
“ yeah! the reactor! we can overload it! just like the hoverbike! “
“ trust me, tae-hyun … i’ll see you at the finish line. “
their continuous reference to their hoverbike and hana’s repeated use of the metaphor of life as a race really shows (a) their history and friendship together and (b) hana’s insistence on winning as well as her view on life – that it’s really just a race. a game, if you will. these lines show personality, and it’s pretty nice that the team stuck them in.
SUMMARY AND OVERALL THOUGHTS
in short (heh.), shooting star isn’t necessarily an addition onto lore. to me, it was an exploration of her history, her motivations, and her character. you shouldn’t judge it too harshly because all other shorts were lore additions – shooting star is a newer take on adding onto the fabric that is the overwatch universe, and i find it lovely.
in addition, in the korean fan festival livestream on twitch, a representative explained that they wanted to show hana/d.va in a different light – they wanted to show the girl “with the weight of the world on her shoulders”. their intention truly came through.
they really outdid themselves with this short, both the themes and the aesthetic quality. i mean, would you look at the animations and the graphics????? beautiful.
im going to bed but one thing i really liked about the d.va short was how it showed how fake a lot of D.VA’s image is, how its used as propaganda by the state to make the citizens feel safer.
In the beginning you have the news saying that in the aftermath of the latest battle all of D.VA’s teammates were trashed but she came out almost completely unharmed. And maybe you almost believe it, because you see that she IS doing fine. But then why is she fixing her mech? Why is she so concerned with their recent close call? Then at the end you see D.VA almost die to stop the omnic attack, having to be rushed to the hospital, and yet the news reports that she “won without a scratch.” Its a simple but effective way of showing how much of D.VA’s image as the flawless super star is manufactured.
The fact that Hana is clearly aware of this and rolls with it shows she understands her role as a propaganda icon too. It’s interesting. Really, getting a glimpse behind the mask at the real Hana, the loner who has trouble reaching out to others and tries to carry the whole world on her shoulders, was the best part of this one. As usual with these shorts it leaves me really interested to see how she’d go from this to (presumably) being a member of Winston’s new Overwatch team.
One of my
favorite things about Coco is it’s that kind of story you can “read”
in different levels. I mean, the main plot didn’t surprise me when I watched
the movie for the first time, but I didn’t care the slightest, because I
enjoyed A LOT the way everything was
being set: how the key information was never said aloud, how the characters’
path crossed several times without actually meeting, all the misunderstandings
here and there… In a way, it was like if there was another story happening behind
the scenes.
For
example, one of those moments I love the most is Poco Loco scene. When the
Rivera family gets to Plaza de la Cruz looking for Miguel, he and Héctor are
performing on the stage and nobody seems to notice. Julio, Rosita and Victoria
know nothing about Héctor, I suppose the twins got used to ignore his music too,
but Imelda? Imelda would’ve noticed for sure. It was her song, after all. But
she’s the only one that didn’t enter the plaza.
And if you
look closely…
She did
actually take a few steps towards the plaza, but then Héctor starts singing his
verses of Poco Loco and she immediately faces the stage (actually, the twins
are also looking at the stage quite shockingly, tbh; at least, one of them).
The next thing we know is she has vanished. I like to think she saw him performing
and then flew, but the movie couldn’t show us her actual reaction, because (by
then) we didn’t know who Héctor actually was yet.
Another
example I like a lot: there are many people that think the twins don’t
recognize/know anything about Héctor in the Land of the Dead, but look at the
bridge scene.
One of the
twins is smiling when Héctor shows up disguised as Frida. Why the hell is he
smiling like that, when just a moment before they were all stressed about
Imelda’s and Miguel’s situation? And it’s a smug smile, like if he (Felipe or
Óscar) was suppressing a chuckle (“So it’s Frida this year, eh? Come on,
Héctor”). But look how cleverly the frame of the scene is set, so his eyes
are out of sight and we don’t know where that twin is looking at exactly. As far
as we know, he could’ve been lost in his thoughts or he could’ve spotted his
brother in law.
And in the
next moment, when Héctor manages to cross and runs to the bridge…
They’re
whispering! He’s telling something to his brother and this is smiling too!
“There
he goes again” “Pobre
diablo” “I’m
glad Imelda’s not here to witness this” “It
would be the icing on the cake…”
We will
never know what are the twins doing or talking about, it’s something out of our
reach; but that’s the magic of this kind of details. You can imagine whatever
you want, and Coco is full of moments like these.
Recently,
I’ve also noticed the faces of Rosa and Abel while the family is scolding
Miguel after finding out his hideout. She looks concerned.
He looks
shocked when Miguel’s talking about Ernesto.
And when
Elena is about to smash the guitar, Abel’s not surprised, he’s in pain.
Now I wonder for how long these two kids have
also been loving music in secret, and if they weren’t caught just because
they were better at hiding it than Miguel.
Stop talking and start doing: My Fallout Shelter for my Tumblr blog 