Predictions and Observations:
Trash Talk and A Duel With Interest
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Episodes Aired: October 2, 2010
This Post Posted: October 8, 2010
TRASH TALK
"What *happened* to this place?" I don't know about anyone else, but I've got a bad case of nostalgia for the old Satellite, and I'm wondering if Yusei, Jack, and Crow do, too. You bet they're happy that the people they care about enjoy a higher standard of living and are no longer isolated from the city; they've been striving for this, in one form or another, their entire lives. But the Satellite that they grew up in was their home; as Bashford's cards do seem to represent, the Satellite in its own way was mother and father to these orphans. I'd be pretty surprised if they didn't miss it some.
"Nothing like the trouble *you* caused me when *you* were that age." Well, no surprise that Crow as a nestling was a handful and a half, but now we officially know approximately by when Crow and Martha had met, which was a very small chronology question-mark. The answer's no surprise, but it's official now.
We've got another canonly-named Satellite district: the Grogen District. Right now our list is: Court District (ep#33), Fleet District (ep#33), Downtown District (ep#43), Knotting District (ep#35), and now Grogen District.
The nestlings just pranked Crow! Well, it's only natural that they know *exactly* how to push Crow's buttons; that's kind of a knack little kids have with those who raise them, or so I'm learning in my latest round of classes. That's adorable! They got spunk!
"You and I have dueled for *sillier* reasons." Ain't that the truth!!
Doesn't get any more past than a genuine duel arena... wow... It seems to me in 5D's that duel arenas are *so* retro they're almost considered mythical. The equivalent for us might be a real wooden sailing ship with no engines or anything, or a full-scale trebuchet or catapult; mostly we construct replicas for historical purposes, or just to say that we did, but there existed a time when that *was* the technology in use and everyone used it. This may allow us to ballpark inter-series chronology, but I'll hold off on that for now. What I *am* noticing regarding that, though, is a duel arena is *not* considered ancient the way, say, a record player or a floppy disk that's actually floppy is; there *are* still people who have those and use them. So we may be talking closer to Duelist Kingdom being more than thirty years ago rather than less.
One of my favorite things about Yu-Gi-Oh! is that the cards accentuate the story happening around them; they paint us a picture, not only of the duelists, but of what they represent and what's important to them. This is the part of the post where I talk about what *this* duel is saying to us.
Bashford's use of junk cards seems to make him a representative of the Satellite the guys grew up in, the 'old way', the Satellite as it used to be, junk as both mother and father and as versatile and enduring blocks of a fortress, in which you can dig in and stay where you are forever, but it's hard to make a comeback or to get ahead. Just like when they walked up to his house it looked like they'd hopped into a time machine and gone back six months, his cards speak of an enduring, stubborn status quo that to him always has and always will be. Bashford's use of junk cards also represents his own outlook, which is one of, as he said, *waiting* his whole life.
By contrast, Crow himself was named for his bird cards and the hope that "maybe you'll fly outta here someday, kid" (ep#52). He's "learned to fly" (ep#52), and his biggest hero until recently (and maybe still) was the Stranger who tried to build the Daedalus Bridge. Remember, at the end of all that, he became that story: he insisted that if Goodwin would not be that hero, he would. Crow's been all about freedom for the Satellite, and I think his Blackwings really expressed that freedom in the face of Bashford's junk traps.
I'm noticing that Crow only won because Bashford wouldn't stop the duel when they were in danger; he could've just played that last card, he'd all but won already, and when it was a matter of safety, Crow finished him off fast.
The duel brought down the mountains of junk. Makes perfect sense, since a duel stirs up some commotion, but I'm thinking what Bashford's house and mountain range of junk symbolized here; it didn't *have* to, Crow won so it would've ended the same way anyway, so why did it? Even if Bashford's home and old life had been left intact exactly as it was, though, I don't think he could've gone back to the isolation and loneliness, having gotten outside and dueled a bit.
The most interesting phenomenon of duel disk technology is that it allows the space to shift more; duelists get thrown around, they walk across the field, monsters can do anything from merely take up their allotted space on the field to wrap around the entire blimp (Slifer, I'm talking to you), and spectators and bystanders can also approach either duelist or the duel itself. All of this is not usually easy, possible, or *done* with duel arenas. We see that breaking up a bit in KCGC when the Kaibadome arena is also used as a sort of stage. What I want to point out here is that at the end of the duel Crow *does* jump off his podium and run across the field, which is unheard-of with duel arenas before now.
The past fighting against the future seems to be a real theme in this run of episodes; Bashford and his fortifications straight out of the old Satellite seem to be yet another iteration of this, along with Heitman's generation schism over the use of tuner monsters and whatever the Ghost and by proxy someone else shady had against synchro monsters. Heck, the past versus the future is really a huge theme in all of 5D's.
What's the common thread between Yusei and Bashford, that they share cards, and what sets them apart? Bashford's use of junk cards here tells us a lot about him-- and seeing Yusei's familiar junk cards here representing isolation and an enduring fortress of trash brings up for me some questions about what these cards mean when Yusei plays them. One similarity between them that I'm recognizing right away is that Yusei and Bashford are both craftsmen who use trash. In a certain way the old Satellite was very abundant territory for them because there was so much raw material available; Yusei built two full-fledged duel runners out of the trash available in the Satellite for anyone to grab and use, and Bashford built all those traps and a duel arena, not to mention, I believe, that Stardust Dragon sculpture. Even though the Satellite no longer looks the same, it has still produced a population capable of the versatility and endurance embodied in the junk cards, who built up their whole lives even with nothing but the trash they were given; even in the new Satellite, Yusei's still working on a new engineering project and Bashford's still sculpting.
Any satellite older than seventeen, in theory, is a survivor of Zero Reverse. In a long lifetime like Bashford's, seventeen years is not as long as it is to me at the age or nineteen, or so I understand it. I know one year isn't as big a deal to me as it was when I was ten. Bashford's background is not that of the Satellite Yusei and his friends grew up in, unless it was much the same before Zero Reverse as after, which besides the obvious, our evidence mostly seems to point that it still wasn't. My evidence is the brief glimpses we get of that part of the city when we see Zero Reverse happen in various flashbacks, and also the ruined cityscape nature of the old Satellite; it *was prosperous* at some point. We also see glimpses in Bashford's flashbacks that he remembers when the land around his house was green and suburban-looking. So I'm wondering, why is his style represented so completely in junk, when he apparently got stuck in life even before trash characterized his surroundings? Even before Zero Reverse?
As another question in the same vein as the previous paragraph, what could Bashford tell us about Satellite pre-Zero-Reverse, a subject we're still pretty fuzzy on? What could Martha tell us, for that matter?
"Our easily-rattled friend" Aw, Jack, I don't think Crow's *that* easily-rattled. Though I notice we didn't see much characteristic bluffing from Crow here; he pretty much came at this entirely head-on. If Jack thinks so, though, we may want to keep it in mind.
Junk Spirit is a Stardust Dragon effect...ish... it lets a monster that was destroyed return from the graveyard during the end phase of the same turn.
What is it about Crow taking shelter in fridges? He also *somehow* ended up ducking into a junked fridge leaning against a wall somewhere in the Satellite and just barely escaping the fog after his duel with Lezar (an as-yet-unresolved blip in the major plotline, I might add; what the heck *was* Lezar doing there?).
A sculpture of Stardust Dragon, huh? Cool! I'm not going to ask how he managed to build that so fast; I guess he's *just that good*. Why Stardust and not one of Crow's cards? Because, continuity be darned, Stardust Dragon is an embodiment of hope itself.
The P-S-B's keeping secrets. Wow, what a shock. Next they'll tell us that the sky is blue. Yusei, Jack, Crow, and Blister may be suspicious about this, sure, but I don't think they'd have much reason to investigate closer; as far as they know, there's no connection between the tablet and the Ghost. Then again, Yusei *does* seem to think that there is; he said so. In which case I might point out that his best bet would probably be to get in touch with Trudge and Mina and see if they know that Security's been up to its old tricks again.
Oh oh oh! I'd meant to bring up last week Trudge's accusation that Yusei had tampered with the chip he got from the Ghost. It was met with some teasing from the guys and Trudge didn't seem to really mean it, which says to me that there's an implicit understanding there that Trudge is supposed to object even if he intends to look the other way when the law is bent a bit for the right reasons-- but I don't understand why Yusei bothered to erase the chip before handing it over. What information was on there that, in theory, Yusei now has and Security doesn't? Why didn't Yusei want to give Security this information? Who would it get in trouble? Who would it incriminate? Why is it the right thing to do (which is why Trudge doesn't mind bending the law) to keep this information from Security? Is that simply Yusei's way of saying "this one's mine", keeping Security from catching the trail of the mastermind behind the Ghost before he does? Does Yusei want to save Trudge and Mina from having to explain to their bosses why they ended up asking three former satellites in a basement, two of them markers, for help? Is there anything in the chip's information that would point to a link between the tablet-shaped meteorite and the Ghost?
By the way, New Domino -- as I understand it, you may be expecting two *more* meteors any week now. Or maybe the other Directors' cards are traveling by bus instead.
A DUEL WITH INTEREST
The significance of taking someone's cards from them, then calling them useless-- I'm thinkin' "Shadow of a Duel", among other instances that aren't immediately coming to mind. That's just bullying, really; throwing your weight around because you can.
Now, we know that Yusei is training and raising his game more for the purpose of fighting evil and all, but I noticed that long look at the WRGP poster while he was working on the new engine. I wonder if meeting and defeating the Ghost worked out some of those post-apocalyptic jitters Yusei spoke of in A New Threat I, "I've never been more uncertain" and all that jazz, and if Yusei's starting to relax and get excited about the tournament? We still don't know, by the way, what the stakes are or why Yusei, Jack, and Crow are interested in it beyond big-time dueling for big-time dueling's sake.
I can relate to Jack a lot in this episode. My life is jam-packed with excitement, and unfortunately I don't happen to get paid for any of it. I'm taking a crammed-full load in community college, I'm an assistant stage manager (which means I go to rehearsals almost every night of the week, not to mention all the time I've spent outside of rehearsals on the show), and I've got two episodes a week, which is a schedule for this post more rigorous than anything I've enjoyed since well before the end of GX; for me, since high school. I turn in applications for jobs now and again, but between my schedule, this economy, and my allergies that keep me out of fast food, I'm beginning to think this thing called a "job interview" is just a myth. Luckily I have savings for college and I do get odd computer jobs now and then. And Crow reminds me a lot of my best friend, and their differing attitudes toward jobs reminds me a lot of my own situation, uncomfortably so. She *does* have a job, that she hates but clings to as an absolute necessity for survival and has for years. Even knowing this, there are times I get kind of jealous of her. Kinda hard to decide which one of us is *more* irrational when it comes to gainful employment. To me it seems that your first job isn't supposed to be glamorous or easy, but you shouldn't have to beg and take whatever you can possibly get; you should try to end up doing something you like. Maybe, like Jack, I'm too proud to do this the way it actually works.
Crow's worried about rent? But didn't Yusei just say last week that Zora was letting them live in her basement for free?
I notice that Jack's back in his big white blazer, for actually the first time this season.
Blue-Eyes Roast-- a cent for every attack point. Okay, that was just lame and silly. The only other time Blue-Eyes White Dragons were mentioned in the series, that was *also* Jack. If he's a fan of Blue-Eyes coffee, that might explain why he might mention a Blue-Eyes White Dragon in everyday speech while most people wouldn't because it's such ancient history.
Jack still has fangirls, apparently. That poor waitress.
Hey, it's Carly! So what's going on with her these days? She said she's doing a story for the newspaper, which could mean anything from her having just managed to get her intern job back to her actually getting hired as a real reporter over the last six months, but she seems a bit less frazzled and scattered than she was when we first met her.
Apparently she still doesn't remember being a Dark Signer, because their relationship changed so much when she was, I think it would show in their interaction with each other now if she knew. Why hasn't Jack told her about it? Is he trying to protect her from having to recall an awful experience? Is he trying to protect *himself* from being that close to someone? I would've thought his sense of fair play would win out here; it still happened, and she has a right to know about her being a Dark Signer if she wants to. I could believe, though, her asking him not to tell her. But, nosy journalist Carly? I have a hard time imagining her curiosity abandoning her even for this; and earlier she was so frustrated that she couldn't remember a thing. I did notice, though, that she called him "Jackie", which is something she *only* did as a Dark Signer...
Jack's aggressive style in this duel is still very characteristic of him; take the lead of Power Invader, for example, a card that works best when it enters an uneven situation on behalf of an underdog, just like Jack kicking down that door. It's unclear to me whether Jack used Marco's deck or just borrowed a few cards from it. I guess it doesn't really matter. Maybe this also signals to us how Jack sees himself in Marco, that their cards are interchangeable at some points. I think it also says a lot about Marco that his signature cards are Smile Kid and Smile Angel; I think that's the potential he brings to the dueling world, which would have been lost if not for Jack's good deed-- we need another generous, good-hearted duelist out there.
Piero's cards closely parallel his style of offering people a loan then using it to take advantage of them: "When you owe Piero, I own you" and all that. Note how he waits until he can absolutely slam Jack before he actually "collects".
Right at the center of this duel was Jack's refusing to discard his cards on Piero's terms. For him, I think, this was the difference between Marco's giving up his deck for the hope that they would be free of Piero, and Jack's own use of that same deck to make it happen. Jack grew up in the Satellite where cards were both illegal and extremely valuable weapons between gangs; anyone with cards was under threat, and there was probably not much middle ground between giving up your cards and hoping that would cause Security and the gangs to pass you by, or fighting tooth and nail for your deck and your future as a duelist. I think he'd have a valid point that this is little different-- nothing is worth giving up your voice, your dreams, your future, your deck; it's your greatest weapon to stand up for yourself and others, and to make what you want in life happen. And now I'm thinking of the Big Flashback, when Jack put Rally in danger to force Yusei to choose between Rally's safety and his own future as a duelist, and Yusei chose Rally the way Marco chose his family, Mikey and his sick mom, over his own future as a duelist. Marco gave up his deck just for a wish, though; both Yusei and Jack would encourage him to use that same deck to make it come true.
Why didn't Marco ask for help? Why didn't he go to Security? Okay, never mind, dumb question. But Marco definitely knew that Yusei, Jack, and Crow are expert duelists; he saw their test runner. Why didn't he ask *them* for help, if he was afraid enough not to challenge Piero himself and desperate enough to throw away his deck?! I think we could see that he wanted to, when Yusei asked him how he was when he came to pick up the recycling. No accounting for pride in your duelist types, I guess... Jack's job hunt tells us that...
Despite the fact that city and satellite are now combined, it's clear there's still injustice and oppression in New Domino, but I find myself thinking that this one, using debt to take advantage of people, is a form of injustice that the old Satellite *wouldn't* have had much of a problem with. Then I asked myself why I assumed so; actually, I know why: because no one in the old Satellite was conspicuously wealthy, no one had money to lend or much worth taking. They were second-class citizens, but they were *all the same class*. If there were the one 'richest person in town', or a few, in a place like the old Satellite we would've heard all about it. I'd lay money that during the Enforcers days most decent stashes of riches would be found with the gangs, whose wealth would be inconspicuous in their appearance because they'd spend it trying to gain the advantage against each other. Considering the crime rates in the Satellite back then ("Security has taken our decks, and crime has taken anything with even a *little* value...", ep#36), only an individual or group nobody messes with would be able to protect more than enough to survive. In addition, in the old Satellite there wasn't much to spend it on; there were the uptown markets, we saw Rally and Nervin bringing home groceries once, but the Satellite's biggest natural resource was the trash itself and satellites could probably get for free most of what they'd buy anyway. Though we still have very little idea, only educated guesses, about how they acquired food: dumpster diving undoubtedly, also small gardens like Martha's, barter in the uptown markets, possibly fishing if the water wasn't too polluted (also possible even if it were), and we still don't know whether factories like the one Blitz, Tank, and Nervin worked in paid cash, rather than, say, credit to get food and household goods from company stores instead. Jack once refers to "lunch money", speaking of his and Yusei's childhood in the Satellite in ep#5, but there are few other direct references to money or cash as a medium of exchange in the Satellite itself, though monetary idioms are definitely still part of the Satellite vernacular, and a Security outpost in the Satellite checks for thieves in their money vaults first and card vaults second (ep#30). I'll probably pick up this chestnut at a later date-- it's one of those kinda questions-- but for now, I'll conclude by saying that I think this situation we encounter with Piero and the debtors is the kind of injustice we find in city culture, not satellite.
Now, the other thing I wanted to say, building on that last paragraph, is that this situation could even be the result of mixing city and satellite populations. Almost everyone who was a satellite is probably still very poor, and easily taken in by social systems they're unfamiliar with, like Piero's money scams. Lots of poor people from the Satellite would probably have migrated to the city at first for better living conditions and higher wages. I bet a lot of satellites were able to integrate into society by making money working on all these construction projects, and I'd really like to shake the hand of (or maybe bow down and worship) whomever has been in charge of city planning and construction in New Domino these past six months. But anyway, that part of town Piero had been terrorizing looks like a lot of small, cheap, tightly-crammed housing; I wouldn't be too surprised if a lot of people living there immigrated from the Satellite. By the way, I wonder if the Narrows, the bad part of New Domino itself, is also getting a facelift?
Jack seems to be speaking from experience at the end there; how does he see himself in Marco and what does this tell us about his history that we don't know yet? Jack made the point that Marco's following his dreams as a duelist was especially important in the hard times Marco had been enduring because he could make his family proud. We know nothing about Jack's family, but we know that he knows he was born a native satellite; who's he fighting for, and are they or would they be proud of him right now?
Friday afternoon, and still no listings for what tomorrow's episodes are or if they're new. Right now, I'm guessing they are. But I can't tell ya for sure. If they are, though, I will be posting about them. 'Til then, that's all, folks! -Clio
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