God is in her midst. She will not be shaken. God will help her at the break of dawn.
The opening sequence sets the themes of the story right away. Not only does it set its location—Andalusia, Spain, but its visual language. Liturgical imagery and music follow the camera as it delves underground to the church’s secret crypt to a…dead girl? Something feels off, doesn’t it? The saints appear to be witnessing the events alongside the viewer. Agony and sadness depicted upon their visage.
Our protagonist, Ava, lies before a stained glass image of Arch Angel Michael. A warrior stuck between the battle of good versus evil. He bears his halo, sword and shield. Clever. The tone is serious when it needs to be, relatable and fun when you begin to catch on. It plays with your initial assumptions and leaves you scrambling to catch on; Sister Frances lies in front of a member of the clergy and the monk pulls out his cellphone as if it's routine and part of his every day.
We’re introduced to the OCS by watching them skitter across a courtyard, they’re quiet, covert enough to go undetected. And then they break through the crypt doors with a bang! and the pacing of the story begins. Characters, motivations, relationships and consequences are established.
Shannon’s “Don’t trust…anyone,” catches your attention and then everything springs into chaos.
Ava is headstrong, resilient and too sharp for her own good. Her first instincts are survival. She runs, but that doesn’t stop her from discovering the world that has been within arms reach. If only she could. So she touches the columns of the church before leaving, scrapes her fingertips against it. Feeling the cold, rough stone for the first time in years. The composition of the shot establishes what has made it possible. Ava has come back to life through divine intervention. A literal walking miracle.
“Hi, Ava,” Ava says upon kissing her reflection on a shop window. A journey of self-discovery starts with those words. Not only does Ava have to acclimate to feeling and moving again, she needs to sort herself out mentally and emotionally as well.
Ava is insanely self aware of what has happened to her. To a degree of course. “...but you can’t blame me for being confused. There’s gotta be a reason this is happening. Someone did this to me. And that someone must have answers.” Then, the scene abruptly cuts to Vincent climbing the steps of the church where the end events of his mechanisms have just taken place.
Interesting choice here to have a poster of George Orwell’s 1984 in Ava’s side of the room. A story in which a person is stripped of their freedoms and constantly watched by an omniscient presence. A reference to Ava’s oppression at the hands of Sister Frances. It’s kind of funny in a way, Ava’s subtle middle finger to the nun.
Ava’s pull to the ocean comes from the need to seek peace. The repetitive sound of waves crashing onto the sand. Soothing. The sky above riddled with stars. Endless. Ava stands before the vastness before her and bursts into life. Screaming at top of her lungs and sprinting as fast as she physically can. As she falls on the sand, her hand runs through it. There’s a sense of catharsis as she cries, taken aback by the gift she has been given once again. This time with a silent vow to not squander it.
The song that plays is Message To Bear - They Ran.
When we talked about where we'd go
Never thought of how, how we'd run
As Mary’s motorcycle revs through the quiet streets of Antequera—an hour or so from the city of Málaga, we get our first glimpse of The Cat’s Cradle. Where both Renaissance and Gothic styles exist. It’s hidden away and obscure, another nod to just how covert the OCS and their sect is. In the following scene Ava makes this remark, “Institutions. I hate them, you know. They… they focus power in one direction. And everyone under them is just abused,” foreshadowing some of her actions later in the season.
Father Vincent's end monologue and accompanying montage of the dangers the heroines are about to face are as real in this world as two people overdosing on the floor of a club, “How should I say this? If I told you that demons are real. They are within us…”. The quote leaves viewers with a sense of dread, of true unease, as Ava is seemingly unaware and unprepared of the upcoming dangers.
@maxmayo11 also did posts about shots and palettes, and how they play with our perceptions and initial assumptions about characters.
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