Trapped in a State of Imaginary Grace

This incredible reinterpretation of Jolene has become one of my favorite things. I have stitched together a master version of the song from the posts here, here, and here. Jolene, Jolene , Jolene, Jolene; I’m begging of you please don’t take my man. Jolene, Jolene , Jolene, Jolene; Please don’t take him just because you can.

Your beauty is beyond compare With flaming locks of auburn hair With ivory skin and eyes of emerald green

For years our town’s been terrorized By the beast who takes disguise In the shell that calls itself Jolene

Our sleep disturbed by quaking breath Eyes closed against the threat of death That lies behind the teeth of that Jolene

The closer that you get to her The more those edges seem to blur To something that cannot be called Jolene

Jolene, Jolene , Jolene, Jolene; I’m begging of you please don’t take my man. Jolene, Jolene , Jolene, Jolene; Please don’t take him just because you can.

He screams about you in his sleep, And when he wakes does naught but weep, In terror of the one they call, Jolene.

We cower here beneath your gaze, That sets the earth and sky ablaze, Have mercy at the end of days, Jolene.

Before her wrath no foe could stand, Their corpses piled upon the sand, The blood of gods are on her hands; Jolene.

Her hunger barely satisfied, She feasted on the ones who died, She slumbers now in starless skies; Jolene.

Jolene, Jolene , Jolene, Jolene; I’m begging of you, please don’t disturb her sleep. Jolene, Jolene , Jolene, Jolene; We’re safe while she still slumbers in the deep.

Your teeth are sharp, your mouth agape Your claws rend flesh, there’s no escape From judgement of the Eldritch One, Jolene

Blackening the summer skies, With burning wings and countless eyes, We tremble at the thought of you, Jolene.

Bliss withered from this awful truth, Gone is the ignorance of youth, The unrelenting mark of that Jolene.

Jolene, Jolene , Jolene, Jolene; I’m begging of you please don’t take my man. Jolene, Jolene , Jolene, Jolene; Please don’t take him just because you can.

The foolish who came to defend, Their broken minds will never mend, They fell at the mere sight of you, Jolene.

But I’ve seen beyond that auburn hair My eyes have met your vacant stare And  I’ve been told I’m hard to scare, Jolene

the brilliant casting choice of arthur darvill as richard madoc, a likeable actor who has played likeable characters, someone we would probably never think as a bad guy, to be calliope’s captor. richard madoc’s claims of being a feminist, citing famous female authors as his source of inspiration, using feminism and anti-racism as a marketing ploy to make himself look “woke”, dehumanizing calliope because she’s a muse, because she’s immortal, because he was told not to view her as human. 

the single scratch as a symbol of an unforgivable violence, dream’s acknowledgement that his over a century imprisonment is nothing compared to the decades she spent having men forcefully take from her, calliope’s gentle reminder not to compare their traumas because they are different but both valid, dream asserting that richard madoc still must be punished, calliope’s decision to forgive him in the end not for him but for herself, her setting off to rewrite the laws which imprisoned her in the first place and dream vowing to do the same in his realm. 

every aspect of this episode is so so relevant and it’s handled well at every turn, beautifully adapting its source material, giving its antagonist a punishment from his own mind, giving him an abundance of what he unjustly took from someone else and plaguing him with it until he has nothing left because that is what his actions deserved.