Thoughts regarding a certain plot(and character) in Take 2
Apr 23, 2024 18:51:44 GMT
Exit, Pony, and 2 more like this
Post by treasuredguardian on Apr 23, 2024 18:51:44 GMT
** CONTAINS SPOILERS FOR TAKE 2!! Just putting that out there in advance **
Most object shows tend to follow the same formula. As time went on, some people decided to add their own twists on it. The second season of Paper Puppets was among these shows. Following in the footsteps of shows such as Twisted Turns, it implemented an overarching plot that would develop alongside the competition. This plot would follow a brand new contestant and his attempts at thwarting the plans of a character from the previous season.
For years, this overarching plot was regarded as the selling point by fans and the show itself. As the show progressed however, I've come to feel this plot as being one of the weaker aspects of the show. If not, the weakest part of it. A lot of these issues can be traced to 2 things:
1. The show was made in 2015. I don't quite know how many of the story beats were planned in advance, but Yellow did say on Tumblr that he came up with Journal's story somewhere around the time of Rowdy Runaway's release. Do with that as you will.
2. Poorly executed set-up and payoff, which is rather common in Object Shows.
As a result, I've accepted that it's much too late to improve this story. With the recent discussion on handling of Mental Health in Object Shows, I feel I should at least explain why I think this.
Despite the constant focus, made possible through having Team 47 win a lot and even dedicating whole scenes to it... I think Journal was a very poorly utilized character.
He's designed to be a character you want to root for. Who you want to see succeed, and feel bad for him when things go wrong. The show neglected the biggest, and most important part of writing a character such as this: showing us why we should care.
Beyond his dwindling mental health in later episodes, and his differences with Post-It Note... We don't really have much insight on Journal as a character. We know he's smart, and that he may have been more well adjusted before this all happened. I understand his mental health is an important aspect of his character, and that's fine. But the other aspects of a character are important too. It would not only make later scenes have more impact, but give us insight on how his mental health influenced his already established traits. Thing is... A majority of his time is spent either progressing the plot... Or being completely miserable. When it's not either of those, he's in background going along with Treasure Chest's instructions.
I know the writers probably did not want Journal to steal all of the screen time from other characters. That's an understandable concern, especially with the amount of characters in the show(which I think is another side effect of the show's time, but I digress). Still, I feel there could have been short moments establishing Journal's character and relations to certain characters. It's been done with other characters in the show.
I think the story beats themselves are fine. You can establish gradual changes within 10 episodes. It just neglects the parts in between that make it pay off.
In fact, the set-up ends up making later efforts to make him relevant otherwise fall flat. There's a reason why his disillusionment in "Picture Perfect" came off as jarring to many people, even with the amount of set-up prior. A lot of time from then on is spent as he slowly succumbs to his paranoia, but not so much giving him the personality that makes it impact. I understand the idea behind Journal barely interacting with his teammates was his work made him more distant from them over time. Thing is, this scene also made it out like Journal really Did care for Malachite after all, despite them only having 2 interactions with each other prior to this. Again, the pieces of him being a team player who drifts apart from his team ARE there. Thing is, his contributions in those moments are so minor and don't give much insight regarding his character. The parts where he does more are when the plot wants him to Progress the Mr. Hand thing.
The most egregious example of the plot's clumsy pacing comes with Journal's partnership with Post-It Note. While being concerned for the safety of a friend dealing with psychosis is a very real feeling... Post-It Note and Journal only get 3 episodes to them before Journal leaves: The one where Journal and Post-It Note start their partnership, the one where they do the research, and the one where they have a falling out with Journal deciding to go solo. That's it. Not much of their relationship is shown. According to Yellow, their relationship was intended to flesh out Post-It Note more as a character. Admittedly, I do think Yellow did succeed in regards to expanding on Post-It Note’s character in a way that was much more than “is nice sometimes and nothing more”. That’s neither here nor there however. The dynamic in concept is pretty strong. I just think it falls flat at exploring BOTH of them due to Journal’s utilization and the fact that they barely interact much. This is a big problem because it’s implied that their relationship is going to play a much more important role in the overarching plot. Platinum Puppets in particular wants you to feel bad for a partnership that barely had any significant screen-time. It’s telling that fans remember the drama between Journal and Treasure Chest more than Post-It Note and Journal. The former, which seems to have been made just to progress the plot points of the two!!
The thing Journal has going for him is how it impacted those around him. The terrible timing of Treasure Chest’s token play and Journal’s spiral leads to the undoing of Team 47. It leads to Ukulele decided to leave with Slipper because of their constant fighting, further isolating her from everyone else. Journal’s departure is the breaking point of Post-It Note, who already has his hands tied trying to clean up the mess his team makes. The character who just goes from point A to B is also a catalyst for drama, but not much more.
This leads to some rather… Unfortunate implications the more you think about it. Even more so in regards to Journal exhibiting various traits of Psychosis. Being one myself… I’ve been pretty torn on the depiction of his mental illness. On one hand, I don’t mind that his paranoia has made him grow rude and irrational. It’s one of the more messy aspects of the illness that gets pushed aside in favor of hallucinations, and a distorted depiction of psychotic breaks. While Journal does show some level of concern over Mr. Hand beforehand, you are suddenly thrust with what may-or-may not be a hallucination in episode 7. I’m nor particularly sure, as there hasn’t been confirmation on whether or not Journal was hallucinating or dreaming in that scene. However, it is confirmed via tweet that the scene near the end of “Dungeons and Dimwits” WAS a hallucination. The way his spiral is played out makes it easy to miss that he’s succumbing to his paranoia. Hell, I’ve seen that even other psychotics weren’t even aware until I pointed out the tweet to them. That’s not good writing. This is unfortunate, because while Journal does exhibit very clear paranoia and delusions in later episodes, the way it happens feels abrupt to many… And it ends up resulting in having to pull up an out-of-show tweet about a Hallucination to confirm it anyway. As I mentioned before, I think it would have been more effective if the spiral was more gradual, and we had Journal’s character established beforehand to see how his illness would affect those traits. It would make him feel more than a just a walking plot device that moves when the plot needs to.
I don’t think Yellow is ableist or anything. I’m sure he meant well, and it seems he at least put some effort into exhibiting other aspects of the illness. I just think the execution was flawed, and that by pointing it out some people can learn about it. A lot of people seem to follow the example set by Suitcase in II2, where it hinged on showing hallucinations and not much else because of Suitcase’s benching. I think there is something to be learned from these mistakes, and what should and shouldn’t change going forward. I know full well he is beloved by many psychotics. I do like him too. I’m aware people HAVE been pretty ableist in regards to Journal’s character. That doesn’t mean we should dismiss other mentally ill people who do have valid concerns about his character either. The OSC is already hostile towards mentally ill people, and the events last year have only furthered that.
Another reason why I feel this storyline falls flat is because we’re 14 episodes in, and we barely even know Journal, let alone his relation to Mr. Hand and the company itself. The most we can gather so far is that… Mr. Hand used to be a co-host for season 1, but wanted to destroy the world and got trapped into another dimension. The monsters may or may not have been normal objects? Also Journal knows Mr. Hand, despite not being present in the first season period. It’s worth noting that Journal himself is based on various factors of Gravity Falls. His traits are very reminiscent of important characters in the show. A good portion of the show’s underlying mystery is figuring out the identity of the Author who wrote the Journals. Clues are laid out throughout, and you have to actively look for them. Some of these clues are exhibited in the way certain characters behave. Now… I don’t exactly know what Yellow was intending with this overarching plot. And because Journal is such a walking spoiler, he doesn’t seem to answer much in regards his character or the story. Regardless, the show doesn’t really do a good job at invoking the mystery. It just leaves you with little information on the characters, and that’s it. It’s not helping that one of those parts is a NEW character we have to follow throughout the season. So far, his relation to Mr. Hand doesn’t seem to be much more than “I need to stop him or else the world is doomed”. There doesn’t seem to be much evidence on what their relationship was like, if they even knew each other. Mr. Hand does call Journal by name, that’s about it. I prefer if the option was that Journal DID work with Mr. Hand at some point. It would at least shed some light on the hallucinations Journal has, and his insistence at being THE ONE to stop him. It would also be a nice tribute to a certain event from his inspiration. I won’t spoil what though. I really hope all of the answers won’t just be crammed into the finale, without any time to guess or explore the consequences.
In conclusion, Journal is a poorly utilized character, and a well meaning yet flawed depiction of Psychosis. The issues of the story is Exhibit A on a writing flaw present in many object shows regarding set-up and payoff. As the show progresses and begins touching up on some of it’s mistakes, the flaws of the overarching plot have become more and more apparent.
The various things the plot aims for has already been done better by other characters within the season itself. One of which is also a new contestant. That’s for another discussion though.
Most object shows tend to follow the same formula. As time went on, some people decided to add their own twists on it. The second season of Paper Puppets was among these shows. Following in the footsteps of shows such as Twisted Turns, it implemented an overarching plot that would develop alongside the competition. This plot would follow a brand new contestant and his attempts at thwarting the plans of a character from the previous season.
For years, this overarching plot was regarded as the selling point by fans and the show itself. As the show progressed however, I've come to feel this plot as being one of the weaker aspects of the show. If not, the weakest part of it. A lot of these issues can be traced to 2 things:
1. The show was made in 2015. I don't quite know how many of the story beats were planned in advance, but Yellow did say on Tumblr that he came up with Journal's story somewhere around the time of Rowdy Runaway's release. Do with that as you will.
2. Poorly executed set-up and payoff, which is rather common in Object Shows.
As a result, I've accepted that it's much too late to improve this story. With the recent discussion on handling of Mental Health in Object Shows, I feel I should at least explain why I think this.
Despite the constant focus, made possible through having Team 47 win a lot and even dedicating whole scenes to it... I think Journal was a very poorly utilized character.
He's designed to be a character you want to root for. Who you want to see succeed, and feel bad for him when things go wrong. The show neglected the biggest, and most important part of writing a character such as this: showing us why we should care.
Beyond his dwindling mental health in later episodes, and his differences with Post-It Note... We don't really have much insight on Journal as a character. We know he's smart, and that he may have been more well adjusted before this all happened. I understand his mental health is an important aspect of his character, and that's fine. But the other aspects of a character are important too. It would not only make later scenes have more impact, but give us insight on how his mental health influenced his already established traits. Thing is... A majority of his time is spent either progressing the plot... Or being completely miserable. When it's not either of those, he's in background going along with Treasure Chest's instructions.
I know the writers probably did not want Journal to steal all of the screen time from other characters. That's an understandable concern, especially with the amount of characters in the show(which I think is another side effect of the show's time, but I digress). Still, I feel there could have been short moments establishing Journal's character and relations to certain characters. It's been done with other characters in the show.
I think the story beats themselves are fine. You can establish gradual changes within 10 episodes. It just neglects the parts in between that make it pay off.
In fact, the set-up ends up making later efforts to make him relevant otherwise fall flat. There's a reason why his disillusionment in "Picture Perfect" came off as jarring to many people, even with the amount of set-up prior. A lot of time from then on is spent as he slowly succumbs to his paranoia, but not so much giving him the personality that makes it impact. I understand the idea behind Journal barely interacting with his teammates was his work made him more distant from them over time. Thing is, this scene also made it out like Journal really Did care for Malachite after all, despite them only having 2 interactions with each other prior to this. Again, the pieces of him being a team player who drifts apart from his team ARE there. Thing is, his contributions in those moments are so minor and don't give much insight regarding his character. The parts where he does more are when the plot wants him to Progress the Mr. Hand thing.
The most egregious example of the plot's clumsy pacing comes with Journal's partnership with Post-It Note. While being concerned for the safety of a friend dealing with psychosis is a very real feeling... Post-It Note and Journal only get 3 episodes to them before Journal leaves: The one where Journal and Post-It Note start their partnership, the one where they do the research, and the one where they have a falling out with Journal deciding to go solo. That's it. Not much of their relationship is shown. According to Yellow, their relationship was intended to flesh out Post-It Note more as a character. Admittedly, I do think Yellow did succeed in regards to expanding on Post-It Note’s character in a way that was much more than “is nice sometimes and nothing more”. That’s neither here nor there however. The dynamic in concept is pretty strong. I just think it falls flat at exploring BOTH of them due to Journal’s utilization and the fact that they barely interact much. This is a big problem because it’s implied that their relationship is going to play a much more important role in the overarching plot. Platinum Puppets in particular wants you to feel bad for a partnership that barely had any significant screen-time. It’s telling that fans remember the drama between Journal and Treasure Chest more than Post-It Note and Journal. The former, which seems to have been made just to progress the plot points of the two!!
The thing Journal has going for him is how it impacted those around him. The terrible timing of Treasure Chest’s token play and Journal’s spiral leads to the undoing of Team 47. It leads to Ukulele decided to leave with Slipper because of their constant fighting, further isolating her from everyone else. Journal’s departure is the breaking point of Post-It Note, who already has his hands tied trying to clean up the mess his team makes. The character who just goes from point A to B is also a catalyst for drama, but not much more.
This leads to some rather… Unfortunate implications the more you think about it. Even more so in regards to Journal exhibiting various traits of Psychosis. Being one myself… I’ve been pretty torn on the depiction of his mental illness. On one hand, I don’t mind that his paranoia has made him grow rude and irrational. It’s one of the more messy aspects of the illness that gets pushed aside in favor of hallucinations, and a distorted depiction of psychotic breaks. While Journal does show some level of concern over Mr. Hand beforehand, you are suddenly thrust with what may-or-may not be a hallucination in episode 7. I’m nor particularly sure, as there hasn’t been confirmation on whether or not Journal was hallucinating or dreaming in that scene. However, it is confirmed via tweet that the scene near the end of “Dungeons and Dimwits” WAS a hallucination. The way his spiral is played out makes it easy to miss that he’s succumbing to his paranoia. Hell, I’ve seen that even other psychotics weren’t even aware until I pointed out the tweet to them. That’s not good writing. This is unfortunate, because while Journal does exhibit very clear paranoia and delusions in later episodes, the way it happens feels abrupt to many… And it ends up resulting in having to pull up an out-of-show tweet about a Hallucination to confirm it anyway. As I mentioned before, I think it would have been more effective if the spiral was more gradual, and we had Journal’s character established beforehand to see how his illness would affect those traits. It would make him feel more than a just a walking plot device that moves when the plot needs to.
I don’t think Yellow is ableist or anything. I’m sure he meant well, and it seems he at least put some effort into exhibiting other aspects of the illness. I just think the execution was flawed, and that by pointing it out some people can learn about it. A lot of people seem to follow the example set by Suitcase in II2, where it hinged on showing hallucinations and not much else because of Suitcase’s benching. I think there is something to be learned from these mistakes, and what should and shouldn’t change going forward. I know full well he is beloved by many psychotics. I do like him too. I’m aware people HAVE been pretty ableist in regards to Journal’s character. That doesn’t mean we should dismiss other mentally ill people who do have valid concerns about his character either. The OSC is already hostile towards mentally ill people, and the events last year have only furthered that.
Another reason why I feel this storyline falls flat is because we’re 14 episodes in, and we barely even know Journal, let alone his relation to Mr. Hand and the company itself. The most we can gather so far is that… Mr. Hand used to be a co-host for season 1, but wanted to destroy the world and got trapped into another dimension. The monsters may or may not have been normal objects? Also Journal knows Mr. Hand, despite not being present in the first season period. It’s worth noting that Journal himself is based on various factors of Gravity Falls. His traits are very reminiscent of important characters in the show. A good portion of the show’s underlying mystery is figuring out the identity of the Author who wrote the Journals. Clues are laid out throughout, and you have to actively look for them. Some of these clues are exhibited in the way certain characters behave. Now… I don’t exactly know what Yellow was intending with this overarching plot. And because Journal is such a walking spoiler, he doesn’t seem to answer much in regards his character or the story. Regardless, the show doesn’t really do a good job at invoking the mystery. It just leaves you with little information on the characters, and that’s it. It’s not helping that one of those parts is a NEW character we have to follow throughout the season. So far, his relation to Mr. Hand doesn’t seem to be much more than “I need to stop him or else the world is doomed”. There doesn’t seem to be much evidence on what their relationship was like, if they even knew each other. Mr. Hand does call Journal by name, that’s about it. I prefer if the option was that Journal DID work with Mr. Hand at some point. It would at least shed some light on the hallucinations Journal has, and his insistence at being THE ONE to stop him. It would also be a nice tribute to a certain event from his inspiration. I won’t spoil what though. I really hope all of the answers won’t just be crammed into the finale, without any time to guess or explore the consequences.
In conclusion, Journal is a poorly utilized character, and a well meaning yet flawed depiction of Psychosis. The issues of the story is Exhibit A on a writing flaw present in many object shows regarding set-up and payoff. As the show progresses and begins touching up on some of it’s mistakes, the flaws of the overarching plot have become more and more apparent.
The various things the plot aims for has already been done better by other characters within the season itself. One of which is also a new contestant. That’s for another discussion though.
🌤️