The chronicles of Project Horizons : Chapter 11 · 11:37pm Nov 1st, 2018
Usually I have some stuff or another to say about a chapter because I think that I usually am passionnate enough to try and analyze or comment on things that were interesting, intriguing or mind-boggling. Not with this chapter because chapter 11 is a dull one with little to nothing happening in it and with absolutely uninteresting characters.
Let's go ?
First, I have to say that starting a chapter with such a direct cut to the previous one was a bit confusing, on purpose of course but I had to get my bearings before understanding that this chapter did follow the escape in the mine cart. Then came the realization : "Oh my god, this story is going to pad itself, didn't it ?" because yes, that's exactly what this story is. Padding. Delicious padding that this story doesn't need at all and I have to witness a story without a main thread or one so thin and stretched that it barely qualifies.
Let me try to synthetize all my complaints regarding the narrative so far : The main objective is two-fold, decrypting the document to understand what it is and why Sanguine wants it and who Sanguine is. For now, the decrypting aspect who was started with chapter 6 was thrown out of the window and as of chapter 11, we still don't have the faintest clue of who Sanguine is aside from him not even being the head honcho, meaning that the longer we take to get to him, the longer we take to give a sense of purpose to the fiction.
Yes, because as surprising as it may sound, following BlackJack doing BlackJack things without the start of a plan is starting to get tiresome. There's so many ways you can make BlackJack kills a bunch of people in a gory way before it loses its charm. We need a sense of progression for the story to be considered purposeful and so far, the only progression was in the number of kills BlackJack is accumulating.
Speaking of which, this chapter gave us a scene that should have annoyed me or even angered me but amusingly enough, it was exactly as I predicted. BlackJack reverted to a mindless murderer when the prior chapter showed her actively trying to go about things in a non-lethal way (as much as possible) with her being actually torn about the murder of the slaver pony. It was something I felt was compelling to see and I was actually a bit curious to see where this would eventually go. Now ? I don't even care about this blob of a character.
To any fan of PH reading this blogpost, can you try to tell me what purpose the scene of Blackjack killing and maiming bounty hunters while singing like a drunk accomplished ? Because what I saw was a character's evolution being butchered for the sake of an edgy joke, for the sake of a pseudo badass moment where a disarmed, unprotected BlackJack showed that she was unstoppable (as per usual). Did we really need another scene to show what we already knew ? Did we really need another debauchery of blood simply for... that ?
Also, I noticed that this chapter completely ditched a more organic way to do exposition (through testimonies, logs, discussions, obsevations) and we went straight up to reading a book. We basically learned some trivia regarding the Reapers, the core and the zebras but really nothing that was necessary at this stage of the play. This story is dragging is feet so hard it's creating a trench.
As for the Priest named Priest... Well he is literally written like anyone would such a character. Not bad but not really memorable either. He essentially spout the same thing that Watcher did to Pip about virtue and Friendship binding them together.
Closing thoughts : Please can we get a move on ? Or at least learn something new and interesting without destroying a character progression that was already pretty chaotic ?
I think we tend to see it as a fun action scene, mostly. I'm not sure it was meant to accomplish much more than that, or at least those aspects weren't. I guess if you're looking for a larger purpose it could be continuing the "if you're a threat I go as hard as I need to against you, then if you're still alive afterwards try to help you out" thing. Also maybe the point about getting them to spread the word chasing after her bounty is a bad idea, which is also sort of tied to that. Maybe developing the alcohol thread.
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A fun action scene ? Icy... It's literally BJ reverting to how she was pre-killing the 40 foals. Where was the angst over killing and maiming people ?She killed them while singing a song like some kind of Joker wannabe. I don't get it, what's reliable in that ? And it is never mentionned again, it's almost funny how certain scenes are made to be heavy because "Oh my god this poor slaver is being lynched" but not here, no. Nothing creepy about BJ killing and maiming while singing. Same character she was in the previous chapter.
Also, it's clearly not that since she'll spare Virgo Zodiac while she brutally gelded one bounty hunter, this character is completely flip-flopping on her principles. Someone is literally telling her that a family of bounty hunters is after her head, doesn't she think that killing one of them would send a stronger message than sparing her ? I mean, she did kill and maim bounty hunters for that very reason after all.
As for the alcohol thread... I suppose it'll mean something later ? I don't see anything for now linked to alcohol.
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Well, the point of the scenes in different, and so is the context. There's the immediacy of the threat--that slaver was, as you noted, being lynched while completely tied up and divorced from the structure that gave him power over the people there; these bounty hunters are free and much better armed than her and actively in the middle of trying to capture her to turn her over to Deus--for one thing, and she's drunk, for another. The Blackjack shown here is one who's been through all that but has some of her longer-run thinking and inhibitions generally reduced. (Also, Joker, are you serious? You don't even need to leave that narrow corner of the Batman franchise to hit the much better analogy of Harley Quinn, who at least bounces between villain and anti-hero or even hero quite a bit.)
Also, killing and maiming the bounty hunters wasn't about sending a message. It was about ending an immediate threat to her life and freedom. Choosing not to kill the two who were left wasn't about sending a message, it's because she's decided she's not an executioner. Suggesting that they spread that word was basically taking an opportunity that presented itself. Maybe killing Virgo would send a stronger message--but then killing her when it wasn't necessary would be an execution.
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It's about intent, Icy. She decided to get drunk to kill them, she didn't even hesitate or think back on her actions. So yes, they were a threat and yes, I don't expect her to just take it silently. However, she could have gone about that issue in many other fashion. She could have used her night vision to go full Solid Snake on their ass and silently knock them out or simply hide and wait till they're gone, using a distraction like throwing a bottle somewhere. She had time to do something like that but she chose to kill them in a "fun action scene" when a few chapters before the same scenario happened and she tried her utmost to not kill them (remember when Glory had to resurrect a bounty hunter ?)
As for ending the threat, yes, sure. However, we both know that "she's not an executioner" is a bullshit statement she's trying to convince herself of to sound like she's a better pony than she actually is. She is portrayed as an hypocrite and it is a bloody obvious thing. What I'm afraid of is "how long will she remain this wishy washy about things ?"
Hell, you're talking about ending an immediate threat but in chapter 15 (yeah, sorry didn't make the BP on it yet), she goes to kill drug dealers without a second thought and just to be in the good graces of Caprice. She also knows that some people didn't become drug dealers, mercenaries or even raiders out of pure evil intent and that is completely handwaved by her actions. So yes, while you could argue this specific event was just to preserve her life, I'd argue that is actually one of many examples of how inconsistent her character is (and she really didn't need to sing. It really makes her look like a slasher villain.)
Though previous write-ups had an overall searing tone to them, this one feels outright frustrated. Understandably so reading the concerns and knowing that a reader by this chapter must be well over 100,000 words into the story by now.