Ok, so I've been neglectful of discussing the newest posts in our favorite series and the implication therein, so Here yah go. Maybe in the future I'll be a better person about posting those here.
EverymanHybrid
So EMH posted their newest video quite a while ago, but I ignored talking about because there were, very frankly, more interesting things in the world to discuss. The video: "One Step Forward, Two Steps Back" was an adventure in simultaneous good judgement and bad choices.
Alright, so we kick off the video with the guys discussing a recent finding and it's connection to a regional library which they plan to visit (in a bought of awkward discussion which suggests to me that they were trying to either remember lines or fly by the seat of their pants and were failing); when they're party is crashed by Jeff's little brother Alex. Alex is invited to come, but is prevented from coming by his stark raving insanity and tinny-electro-mom whose boom-box recreation forbids him from going out late.
Fans bemoan poor Alex's mental state and Jeff's having to deal with a psychotic little brother. I mostly bemoan the lack of acting ability on the part of the brothers. I give the creators props; it's an interesting idea but the lackluster, awkward, floaty acting performance forces me to purse my lips and blow a hearty raspberry.
After a long (but admittedly plot driving) trip to the library to discover that all roads lead to bodies; the boys return home, depressed.
Chin up boys! Things can only go uphill from here, no?
No. By the time it gets dark things are worse than before. Sparky, Alex's beloved dog, is prowling the backyard. Alex goes out to investigate the strange noises, followed by Evan and Jeff. Sparky has disappeared into the shed and now something seems to be making growling noises from within. Who could it be???
The Rake attacks Evan and the camera cuts out. When we return Evan is grinning over the bathtub, cleaning up the bloody mess that used to be his arm, and Alex is on the floor, weeping over the collar of his once-beloved dog (well, he would be weeping if he could express that much emotion).
My thoughts: Meh. I was underwhelmed by this episode. Not to mention immensely disappointed that they have brought back the rake.
Storywise, I understand that it's difficult to wrote a story surrounding a monster that doesn't really physically attack people. That's why MarbleHornets has Masky and that's why EverymanHybrid has the Rake; to add a little physical violence to the mix. Irregardless, whereas Masky completes the Slenderman Story, the Rake only seems to confuse it.
On the upside, I applauded the decision not to show the Rake. After his first appearance in "Cops Checked, No Body", where it became apparent that the Rake was just a guy on all fours wearing the Morphsuit left over from Slender Man; I think they picked up enough flack to know not to do that again. He's a lot more intimidating when he's just a snarl.
There was some character and plot growth here. The fact that people related to the Corenthal Kids have been dying off, (including Corenthal himself), both funnels the story in a specific direction and adds a bit of "What are we going to do now?" tension. I just pray that the series creators know where this story is going. And as much as I dislike Sad Panda Jeff and his Sadder Panda brother, I do have to admit that the insights into their family troubles in this episode add a bit to their interest-quotient. It also gets rid of damn sparky.
As I stated elsewhere, I mostly liked this episode for the mental image Evan gives us of the Rake using Sparky as a sock puppet. "Hey guys! Lets play fetch! Arf arf! Of course I'm your dog *eheh-eheh* <_<"
Although I thought that Evan took a bit of a hit in my book. Evan is my favorite character in this series for both his believable insanity and the fact that he's flippin' hilarious. But he hasn't really been growing much as a character for the last few videos. I'm waiting for him to do something. When I saw him on screen but he still really wasn't a present character (Although we did learn that that boy has mad pain tolerance; shouldn't those kinds of wounds really result in severe blood-loss???).
MLAnderson0
This was a pretty simple video, but it held a lot of weight, plot-wise.
Mostly it's just Michael telling off his brother and his brother's roommate for being dicks. But there's a crazy quality to what he's saying, and a definite undertone of menace that really draws me in here.
What I like about Michael is that they've made it wonderfully clear that he lies to us, as viewers. We never really know who to trust at this point. Every character has an agenda that we, as viewers, get jerked around between. It actually adds a lot of depth to the series.
This episode, given it's tone, and clear menace, along with this series version of Slender-Distortion (A unique orangy tinge and saturation to the set) tells me that Michael is more Slender affected that people realize. The big question now is, is he a proxy or isn't he?
I've heard a lot of talk about whether he's a proxy, and that this will break the series for a lot of proxy-weary viewers. Well, the boy's been stalked by Slender Man for a long time, and given the events of "Sleepwalking", where he took a knife into his brother's room while sleeping; I'd say, yeah, he's probably somewhat under Slendy's control. Is he a full proxy or just a Sleeper? I don't know. I actually think it'd be interesting to see a vlog presented by a proxy. I know that in the blogs, proxies have been used to death, but when you think about it, the vlogs haven't touched much on anyone but the Runners.
I'm curious.
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