Comic Discussion > ALICE GROVE
Alice Grove MCDLT - November 2016
BenRG:
--- Quote from: plusorminus on 24 Nov 2016, 05:34 ---The murder of Ellie puzzles me from a storytelling standpoint
--- End quote ---
It shouldn't - It was admittedly heavy-handed but an effective narrative device that establishes the scale of the threat very clearly and concisely. He went to all this trouble to introduce and establish Ellie and then make us like her (and establish that she is someone Pate knows and does business with personally). Then he had her brutally and savagely beaten to death; then he had Pate stand in a pool of her blood and wave this off as 'shit that happens'.
Jeph has just told us just how dangerous Church is and just how amoral Pate is. He's also told us that no-one is automatically safe, no matter how well established the character.
plusorminus:
--- Quote from: BenRG on 24 Nov 2016, 06:08 ---
--- Quote from: plusorminus on 24 Nov 2016, 05:34 ---The murder of Ellie puzzles me from a storytelling standpoint
--- End quote ---
It shouldn't - It was admittedly heavy-handed but an effective narrative device that establishes the scale of the threat very clearly and concisely. He went to all this trouble to introduce and establish Ellie and then make us like her (and establish that she is someone Pate knows and does business with personally). Then he had her brutally and savagely beaten to death; then he had Pate stand in a pool of her blood and wave this off as 'shit that happens'.
Jeph has just told us just how dangerous Church is and just how amoral Pate is. He's also told us that no-one is automatically safe, no matter how well established the character.
--- End quote ---
I probably should have gone into more detail, but I'm rushing today. What you say is true, and that's understandable. What I meant is that Ellie herself was not neccessary to be used as the blunt instrument. She is the leader of this group. We have seen others - the gent who told her Pate was there, and the background peeps in the bar. It would have been an interesting tableau if, instead of Ellie, one of those other people had come to Sedna's aid. They still would have been just as mangled as Ellie became, and everything you mentioned in your post - Lurch's deadliness, Pate's sociopathology, the real danger that Alice feared - would have been established. The additional deal, though, would be Ellie's survival. To this point, she has seen Pate as a benefactor. He seems to travel with Lurch exclusively. Pate has come and gone from the community without any issue. Sedna is a friend/acquaintance who, we are told at the start of this arc, had not been seen at the community since they seemed to stop running into the guns she collects. Ellie likes her, but it is Pate who helps keep the community running by providing it with the goods and services it needs to carry on its work. So it's Pate that is the important one, in Ellie's view. And Pate - up to now - has show no signs of being a bloodthirsty maniac.
Had one of Ellie's people been killed, then Ellie herself would have been in a quandary. To my knowledge, she is never told by Alice or Sedna about their fears of Pate, so if one of Ellie's people had been killed by Lurch, then to save the rest of them, it's possible Ellie would have felt compelled to sell them out to Pate and offer up what information she gleaned from Ardent, Sedna, Alice, or all of the above.
But killing Ellie herself likely means that this community won't play a very large part in the narrative going forward. Save for Jim (?), the young boy we meet at the very start of the comic, Jeph had not introduced a person who had a substantial speaking role beyond serving as a punchline who did not end up playing a large part in the narrative. We had Ardent, then Gavia, then Sedna, then Ellie. Ellie is now dead when I assumed that whatever else happened, she would be a large part of the story going forward. So it just puzzles me, but not in a bad way, just in a "Huh, that's not what I expected" way.
I wasn't knocking on Jeph or the way he is choosing to tell the story, if that's what you inferred. It's just that I foresaw Ellie playing a big role, particularly when it became clear that she knew and liked Pate. With her death, those avenues are closed. Interesting choice.
Thrudd:
Just a quick point but everyone seems to think Mr Pate is baseline and goes off from there. Why?
Near immortal living weapons walk about from before the blink.
What makes anyone think that those with the money and power at that time before would not want to have that immortality for themselves but without the military baggage or responsibility?
For all we know he could have been one of those behind the wholesale death and mayhem that lead to the blink in the first place.
Think about it - Immortal Sociopath.
Is it cold in here?:
Clever enough to lie about not being as spry as he used to be.
Skewbrow:
I could easily be wrong about it, but I don't think Mr. Church is a robot/AI. A few clues:
* Mr. Pate said that Alice recognized Church "as one of [her] kind"
* Even in Pate's town they don't seem to have electricity. That is, no means of recharging his batteries.
Neither of the clues is conclusive, but I think that Church is another enhanced homo sapiens.
But how will our friends deal with him? Narrative imperative means that, after killing Ellie, there is no way for him to fully redeem himself and/or peacefully retire. He may see the error of his ways near the end, and turn against Pate. Possibly in a way that will lead to his own destruction (and regain his soldier's honor), but he has to perish. How to bring that about?
* The idea that the Vicissitudes crack the code of his implant has a lot of appeal. It gives the space kids a nice role, and makes use of the tools available to them.
* Another possibility would be that, as the enhanced ones are apparently sparsely scattered all over the place, they may manage to locate Church's former commanding officer. They would know how to trump orders from Pate.
* As a last resort thet have their feminine wiles. Modesty Blaise used the tactic, when needing to beat a gang of thugs by herself, of coming to the fight topless. During the second or two that the dudes were ogling her she had the time to land three flying kicks. Not sure that would work on Mr. Church, nor does it sound likely that Jeph would go there as he's not into that kind of pandering.
* There is still also the possibility that Alice and Sedna jointly would be able outmuscle Church. At this time it does look like Church cannot be beaten by direct force.
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