#beneto

the panels in this ep genuinely are really great they're not terribly over the top besides a few and i think thats a good balance,,, i especially like the focus on the chief's reaction to all the changes that are going on in his life now that they have the choice of an alternative method (well,,, choice is said loosely LMFAO)

coming from last episode of lloyd going "oh yeah i love peace im a pacifist :)" to telling the demon kids "hey sometimes. theres people u need to beat up a bit. and people u need to beat up a LOT" and IT MAKES ME SMILE THAT THE KIDS TOOK THAT TO HEART HAHAHA

powerful ass kids. lloyd is teaching the younger generation to Take No Shit and i really like that,,, esp considering all the shit suho had to take in korea asldkjflajskdf

AND THEN WHEN THE VENETOS TRIED TO RAID THE CARRIAGE. HELP

obsessed w the composition of this panel. its nothing like new or clever per se i just really like how it looks , the light that pulls down from lloyd, to javier, to demon guy (I DONT KNOW IF HE HAS A NAME) i just,,, really like. they look like thugs. like bosses u have to fight in a row. ITS FUNNY I LIKE IT. this sequence as a whole was really fun,,,

javier and demon guy explaining that they either piss off or fight, AND THEN LLOYD GOING FROM THE MOST OMINOUS THING YOUVE EVER SEEN TO THE FRIENDLIEST LITTLE SMILE IN THE WORLD. AND OOOH,,, IT'S THE ROUTINE AGAIN,,, HAHAHAHA

like seriously he looks like a fucking car salesman. he's basically selling this whole financing thing he's got planned w the venetos,,,

like when he did the money exchange for goods thing i was like oh,,, he's scheming something with like finances and banking or something like that isn't he,,,,,,, salesman looking ass

ALSO THE NUH UH PANEL FUCKING SENT ME I HAD TO INCLUDE IT HERE

AND WHEN PPODONG KICKS THEM ABOUT AND HE JUST WALKS ON SCREEN AND STANDS THERE IM. the POSE HAHAHAHA you know i had to do it to em lookin ass. GOOFY

genuinely his poses in this ep are so stupid funny i love them sm . recently we've been seeing a lot of his face being Totally Evil Exaggeration or Seriously Going Through It but these goofy ass salesman poses and expressions are SOMETHING ELSE HAHA GOOD CHANGE OF PACE

and it's not like he's forcing their hand he's just stopping their usual avenues, bc he juuust so happens to be working in the area now for magentano,,,, honestly i think he would have put the chief into a corner at some point eventually, but it also seems like lloyd's efforts had also affected other aspects of the chief's life, like his relationship w his family and the other veneto hunters,,, which may have put the chief in the corner early,,, a matter of time, i suppose,,,?

like the chief had a lot of very like remorseful / realization type expressions in this ep, i really liked this one in particular,

and (okay i guess we're diving into the main thoughts now) i think now that i have the context of this ep for the previous week's ep, it kind of paints a picture of what exactly it was the adaptation team was going for. the venetos are prideful and rooted in inconvenient traditional ways, and lloyd's plan is a type of interference that twists that pride one way or another (though i dont think the chief feeling remorse after seeing his wife and child finally being okay with him was a part of lloyds plans LOL)

it,,, makes sense! and while yes it's due to lloyd's interference, it also feels like the chief is making a decision himself here, (in,,, in a way?) (not sure how to explain what i mean by that) like the chief absolutely sees how bad things had gotten under his original policies and outlook, and then saw the immediate change from just... changing the way they acquire goods. i really liked watching that happen, and it helps characterize him as someone who is so incredibly stubborn but really wants the best for his people, and the best he had known at that point was what they had done all this time.

this does makes me wish that ep 178 was handled with a lot more tact and awareness of what they are setting up for. i think if ep 178 had a similar tone as ep 179, it would have been received a bit better, maybe,,, of course i wouldn't know for sure, and i'm not sure how i'd rewrite it myself, but i think 179 handles the line between moments of thought and moments of gags a lot better than 178 (if that makes any sense). because of this, the chief in 179 feels different than the chief in 178,,, i would feel better about 179 showing his redemption process if 178 had been handled with just a bit more care. i don't think we needed to see a man bully/verbally abuse his family to show that the venetos are traditional in a detrimental way,,, while also nearly presenting everyone as a gag at that? man idk,,,

i'm not entirely sure still, maybe i'm just being sensitive or something, but regardless (and again), 179 feels a lot better than 178 so i'm really hoping this arc finishes strong,,,

anyway serious thoughts aside! WHEN LLOYD PULLED OUT THE CONTRACT I KNEW IT WAS OVER LLOYD HAD WON ALDKFJSDFHHAHAAAAA

ohhhh the signing,,, it's binding~ you're stuck now!! HAHA

AND THE REVEAL OF IT BEING LIKE. A FINANCING BANKING THING AFTER ALL I AM BOTH APALLED IN A /LH WAY AND HAPPY BC I FIGURED IT OUT BASED ON WHAT LLOYD WAS DOING HAHAHAHA

like wow. lloyd u r about to toss these people into the throes of capitalism . good job, i think,,,??? honestly it makes sense that lloyd would know how this works or how to do this considering all the financial trouble he faced in korea

NO WONDER HE LOOKED LIKE A SALESMAN IN ALL THESE PANELS TOO. HE'S A BANKER GUY IN THIS EP LAKDJFLSKJDFH god i hate him /aff wonder what his next step in the plan is,,, cause. how will this possibly get the venetos to do the job of keeping charge of the mountain railroad stuff??? like will they be more inclined to work to like pay off the bank stuff? <- does not know how banks and loans work

in this ep, we meet the veneto? beneto? people,,, tribe? and we get to see a little bit of the way they live their life. the ep goes over a bit of their past too, and their ancestors were supposedly magentano people who were banished for a reason that hasn't been specified. they pride strength over all else, and disregard things that they consider "weak" or "not manly" or something like that...

i don't have a problem with introducing new characters - i mean i kinda figured that after the events of 177, we'd have to get back into the build up into the next plans of action - but this introduction left me feeling,,, very confused. i'm not sure why they opened things up this way,,, let me try to explain.

the episode opens with a wife and her child, and her child had picked some flowers and she was complimenting how pretty they were, when the veneto chief (husband/dad) bursts in and immediately starts berating his wife and child for doing so. he emphasizes that strength is the only thing that matters, that warriors dont make pretty things. he kicks the flowers out of his own child's hands, and scolds his wife for not teaching his child better, makes his child apologize with an upside down plank thing? idk what pose that is, and demands his wife to give him beer.

,,, what an opener, right? honestly i was caught off guard, i wasn't expecting anything like that. i'm not sure whether the appropriate/correct term for this scene is domestic violence but either way i was very. lost on this opening of the ep, bc the entire time there's a weird emphasis on the chief's face and poses. the chief is, objectively, drawn to be incredibly pretty and beautiful, with long luscious hair. this scene is also followed by more of this gag, as the warriors of veneto dance and sing as they hunt and steal, and they all have pretty features and the like.

i genuinely, genuinely can't tell whether or not this is simply a gag or if it's some kind of satire,,, i'm not sure if we've ever had gag or satire presented like this before, either. this is the reason i am on the fence about this episode, bc depending on what the adaptor's intentions are my feelings would change.

on the one hand, this could possibly be a criticism of traditional views on masculinity/femininity, how doing "pretty" things doesn't necessarily mean you're not strong or you're not a warrior, etc, bc of all these random "pretty" things that we see the veneto warriors do like dancing and singing. i am aware that there is a large issue with misogyny and like, idk what the best way to phrase it is, male supremacy? in korea, i remember seeing posts about an orv panel that had to get changed bc of men overreacting to being "emasculated" (though do correct me if i'm wrong, i'm not korean so i'm not the most educated about this topic). it's possible that this is a direct satirical criticism of those men who are emasculated by "pretty" or "feminine" things,,,

at the same time, and on the other hand, it leans a little bit too close to "gag" territory for me to say so for sure. tged in the past has drawn up their antagonists well because their actions speak to their character from the moment we meet them; lacona arrogantly speaking to lloyd when they first meet, asfahan making the magentano envoy wait for way too long to negotiate, worthroad's whole. situation.,,,, etc. we see these guys and even if they have silly moments, it's clear that we are to see these guys as antagonists. however, it's hard to say the same with the veneto chief. we immediately see him being very Terrible to his family, but then... are we supposed to laugh at them actually being incredibly pretty? and then shortly after that, we see them all get scared of and then swiftly beat by lloyd and javier. then we're quickly told that lloyd has plans for them, in a way that doesn't seem like they're set up to be antagonists? it's so immediate and short in the punch that i really, really can't tell what the tone is, what the status of the veneto's to our main characters are. i can't tell if this is a mere gag (which means wow. the tact of this episode's messaging is little to none) or if it's actually a commentary (which i don't know much more about because i am the international audience, and i'm not korean).

to wrap this up,,, i do wish this opening was done differently. i don't mind swift introductions, it's not the worst thing in the world, and i dont think it'd be right to completely ignore this kind of behavior that traditionalizes masculinity/femininity and harms people for it - it's an important point of discussion - but the swiftness of this opening and how it was executed makes me feel,,, what's the word,,, disconcerted? i really don't know what the tone is! should we be laughing or not? are we taking this seriously, or not?

i understand too that satire can be both, it can be humorous and also lean in to serious discussion,,, again though, it's just the pacing of this is throwing me off. it's fast and loose, and considering tged's track record (and notable lack of direct satirical commentary like this) it worries me that this is a gag attempt, not a satire attempt.

maybe i'm thinking too much (or not enough at all), so if you have thoughts feel free to leave them in the notes. i'd love to hear more feelings on this (though do please leave out novel spoilers/bias,,, sorry ill finish it soon!) as my perspective and knowledge can only cover so much. again, i'm not korean nor do i know much about the korean tged audience. if i missed the mark on any of this, do let me know! and i'll edit in updates as needed.

as for the rest of the episode, it was okay! i am Very curious as to what lloyd is plotting to do with the veneto people,,, and i'm wondering too how lloyd would react to the way the veneto people run things, especially w their families. though it's unclear whether or not the chief is the one exclusively being awful to his family or if its a whole tribe thing,,, i'd like to see a little bit of justice on that at least

i did like this panel a lot, i like when artists do this thing where movements cut beyond the panel borders,, coolest thing ever. lloyd it's so silly that u only look cool when ur really not trying to be hehe

also lloyd saying he's a pacifist was incredibly funny to me LMFAO i'm pretty sure that's lowkey a lighthearted joke (though he is right about detaining the venetos being more trouble than its worth)

though i mean,,, arguably he does love peace! he does like not fighting, because if there's no fighting then he can live a relaxed noble life,,, so real of u lloyd nod emoji nod emoji

i also like the way he's sitting here. god what a creature. he didn't have to sit like that but he did. i also tend to sit like that it's very comfortable lloyd ur so real

wow okay that's all i have actually. this liveblog prolly has the least number of images compared to all my previous ones sob sob sob

all in all,,, i don't want to say i'm disappointed in this ep. i understand that buildup has to happen again (177 was SOOO so good; it makes sense that we'd have to come down from the high and set things up all over again) i just wish it happened in a way that's a little bit more tactful, a bit more organized and slower paced, a bit more thought through. i just wish i knew whether or not it was satire, i'm horrible at reading tone!! i don't even know if i understand satire correctly man,,,

again if anyone has thoughts to share (or would like to help me out in my understanding alskdjfljasdf) please please please say something! i love chatting about tged, genuinely!