Undone

So during the writers strike, my fav director Joss Whedon, got together with some actors, and wrote/composed a musical that is about 45 minutes long. It’s called Dr. Horrible’s Sing Along Blog. Katie loves it. Katie and I have seen it so many times Scott hates when we watch it. I love watching her watch it. I wish it were a bit more child appropriate, but hey, I was happy for anything in the writer’s strike.

I’m going to discuss it in length. if you haven’t seen it, hit up hulu or click here. If you’d like to not be spoiled… well you should have stopped reading a while back, right?? Also you might think that the discussion of web produced mini series (a mini mini series…) is silly, retarded, or a waste of time…. I also invite these people to leave. Just pretend I haven’t written anything at all. And go play on digg for a couple of hours, you’ll feel better about yourself, and a bit worse about the future.

Scott says the ending to it is a cop-out ending. I say that after seeing a ton of batman cartoons and X-Men cartoons, I would say that evil guys get really evil after they have lost all hope.  Sure people are bad when they want to be, but when you have lost all of your hope– that seems to be (IMO) when people are their most dastardly. That’s why (GASP, SPOILER) It’s not Captain Hammer who dies (though i find interesting that he remains alive, but in a incapacitated state. It’s not like he’s in a coma either. He’s just weak. It’s like Billy/Dr. Horrible just made his Physicality match his his personality. His body now matches his soul… well not completely– he’s not ugly and small. But then again, who wants to see nathan fillion like that? not me that’s for dang sure.  But you will see, if you watch Dr. Horrible’s Sing a long Blog 2 million times like I have, that Penny is Hope. it’s fairly obvious in the second act during her duet that she is a light of hope to Billy (as seen later as well in the laundry Mat when she tells him “keep your head up Billy buddy”) as well as to others, she is the light in the universe that Whedon has created. What happens when you take out the light? Heros are weak, hope is gone, people who may have been teetering on the edge of goodness… lose faith. What Dr. Horrible/ Billy has missed is the Key that Penny gave him before dying. “Even in the Darkness/Every Color Can be found.” Even when she’s gone, hope isn’t lost, there is no reason to do what he does… but he’s gone over the edge.  Penny’s song in the Laundry Mat is all about how you can choose hope and light when crappy things happen to you.

So. You might be thinking at this point that this is WHY people have been saying (Mostly my husband) this show sucks!! I say that you need to examine the villianous tale a bit closer. Usually villian stories go a bit like this…. 1- Guy/Gal really wants something. Usually the improvement of some part of society. 2- Guy/Gal becomes very focused on this goal shutting out all else, loved ones, usually not leaving lab or office, really nose to the grindstone thing, not realizing they are hurting others by their singlemindedness. 3- Tragically loved one dies, is suspended in a living state but in a very particular way, irreperably damaged. 4- Guy/Gal realized they’ve screwed up BUT instead of making it better, they make it someone elses fault.

I have seen a lot of super hero’s and villian tales. I know. This is how it goes. What is so different about this, and why I like the ending is– Billy at the end confesses to his blog, that he won’t feel anything. In a sad way. He doesn’t feel happy at his accomplishment. His world is incomplete without Penny. There is no reason to succeed as a villian any longer, as there is no Penny to impress or woo. The point is mute. Instead of being angry at Capt. Hammer, or society for what has happened– Billy/Dr. Horrible correctly places blame. Penny is dead, because of him.

That is why I like Dr. Horrible’s Sing a Long Blog.

Derringer Meryl [Bed time] Out