I suspect what happened at the Joint Tower made the march on Westminster easier. Let's face it, while there had been rioting, catastrophic collapse of a chunk of downtown London is going to help stop your riot. Police and emergency services MUST respond to the collapse, while a certain proportion of rioters -- decent people at heart -- will also divert to help.
You haven't described it (perhaps you should have? Consider this paranthetical a critique/question.), but PB moving at speed through the portal stations, the collapse of Joint Council Tower, damage to surrounding buildings and streets, not to mention inevitable fires and/or explosions (ruptured gas mains/downed electrical grid), flooding (damage to water pipes and sewers), and London is full of smoke, ash, dirt, asbestos (nah, Max-Earth would have stopped asbestos), etc in the air. The smells of smoke, ozone, (asbestos 😏), and, yes, blood ooze through the city.
Oh, right, then TWO Quantum AI Megaships burst back through the portal and fell on more buildings. Last week. That's action! That's also more drain on emergency services and more civilian distraction/Good Samaritan action.
(Now, here's a good question... Where, exactly, did the Palinor/Max-Earth panel open? Honestly, it's pretty damn lucky Just Enough was more or less immediately able to pop through from an open space. We'll have a longer chat about this on WhatsApp and you can tell me if I've found a legit nit or not...)
Thus, part of the reason this is a lower-key part of the climax is the exciting action sequence already happened. Riots, and the big booms downtown.
Nope, these are the shell-shocked survivors -- the few who held focus on the bigger picture of politics and justice in the face of immediate short-to-mid-term disaster -- tired, dirty, dazed, and holding their shit together with their last reserves.
Yannick Clarke knows all about focusing past the immediate situation on the big picture while holding shit together with one's last reserves.
Oh, there was the unseen action in this chapter. I'm sure Morgan had her fair share of shouting and shoving as the Earth First cops and MPs moved towards scorched earth assassination.
But we followed Clarke and Vakho, the two acting as leaders/figureheads of the crowd. Two (former) figures of authority and leadership in Mid-Earth as Ambassador and law enforcement, both (under false pretenses) humiliated and stripped of their authority, both taking it the fuck back.
Almost like the author planned it that way.
I spent a few minutes debating on if this may have worked better between Magic and Absolute Power. Nope. Not only because of the risk of breaking the flow... But because it works better if this chapter happens after all the Sturm und drang, and that's Just Enough and Probably Better deactivating in London. As you noted in this chapter, those reports of PB crashing through the portals came in "several hours ago," but the big climax in Palinor, despite the lengthy writing and multiple viewpoints probably didn't take much more than 1-2 hours.
Hmmmm... My brain keeps drifting back to how trashed Mid-Earth London has to be. Yeah, I think the chapters in Palanor lasted long enough where Clarke needs at least a sentence or two to acknowledge it on his walk.
Fair point on Clarke not noting the state of London. He did mention the tower coming down, but it was a brief sentence that didn't properly convey the state of things, or how he felt about it. I've tweaked that paragraph (near the top). Minor change, but worth making.
(incidentally, also noticed a continuity error in which Vahko originally entered the Commons Chamber with Clarke, even though Vahko had taken a separate group to the Lords. Have now fixed that one...oops!)
On the Palinor/Max-Earth portal: remember that both portals already existed, but were dormant/inactive. Basically big black walls that didn't connect. So they've aways known where the Max-Earth portal was. It was noted a couple of chapters back that Justin has spent the intervening months working with the authorities to clear the site, with the implication being that it was part of a museum. One can assume that museum no longer exists, given that Just Enough would have needed access to the portal; we can also assume that they went about it in a less destructive and more cooperative way than PB.
Love your take on Vahko and Clarke's arcs. It's one of those sort-of-planned details. Did I always intend for them to end up working together in the finale? No! When I introduced Vahko way back in season 1 I had no particular thoughts for bringing them back (Hutchinson gets an early mention back then, too!). After Vahko proved a useful character to have as a recurring guest, it then made sense to use them to represent the koth in London under Earth First rule. That Vahko's mini-arc mirrors Clarke's is partly a coincidence, but definitely one I embraced.
Yeah, I'd forgotten that the portals existed, but just didn't connect. But I'd decided that, if nothing else, Justin/Just Enough would have had access to Kaenamor's diary and, from there, would have been able to more or less correctly anticipate where the final portals would connect, thus plausible to be waiting, thus, not a nit.
Like we touched on in the last couple of weeks the extra time to speculate between serial chapters is balanced by more time to forget details from months or years ago.
Think Michael S. Atkinson will be a valuable reader since he's insightful and reading through at a faster rate than one chapter a week. He'll be a good check on how your seeding and development work at a closer to reading at "novel speed."
The changes to the early paragraph definitely work. I knew you'd say what needed to be said in two sentences. Although it's interesting - - specifically as you mentioned enjoying my take on the Clarke and Vahko arcs -- how, in my prior comment I waxed loquacious on Clarke being able to see past the immediate need for emergency assistance in order to finish off clearing the big job and your take was to have Clarke state that taking care of the cleanup situation "...was where he should have been, yet..."
Either I've STILL, after following him for years, parsed the man wrong, or he's STILL, after all he's been through, underestimating himself.
Of course he also said he had to "...concentrate, and get it done."
And those two thoughts put together show he's a hell of a guy.
Holland can suck it. Clarke is a bit charitable, since Holland less "found a way out," than slunk off, a broken man, to fade away on intoxicants and virtual aen'fa porn.
*Spends a long moment debating this joke... Ok, let's go for it... * Guess Witt the virtual porn Holland really will suck it. *I'm so sorry.*
Clarke, in his mind, is a washed-up cop who should have retired years ago. Instead, he's caught up in world-changing events far beyond his pay grade, making decisions that affect millions of people. He is NOT comfortable with that.
Being a first responder at the site of a major disaster? That fits more easily into his training and how he sees himself.
Of course, that the man has no interest in power, doesn't think of himself as being qualified to make these decisions and take these actions, is precisely why he's the perfect person to do so.
Thanks for featuring my article, "From the Zone to the Vault," Simon. 🙏 And hopefully, we'll see in the mix come November of this year!
My pleasure! And that sounds good to me.
I suspect what happened at the Joint Tower made the march on Westminster easier. Let's face it, while there had been rioting, catastrophic collapse of a chunk of downtown London is going to help stop your riot. Police and emergency services MUST respond to the collapse, while a certain proportion of rioters -- decent people at heart -- will also divert to help.
You haven't described it (perhaps you should have? Consider this paranthetical a critique/question.), but PB moving at speed through the portal stations, the collapse of Joint Council Tower, damage to surrounding buildings and streets, not to mention inevitable fires and/or explosions (ruptured gas mains/downed electrical grid), flooding (damage to water pipes and sewers), and London is full of smoke, ash, dirt, asbestos (nah, Max-Earth would have stopped asbestos), etc in the air. The smells of smoke, ozone, (asbestos 😏), and, yes, blood ooze through the city.
Oh, right, then TWO Quantum AI Megaships burst back through the portal and fell on more buildings. Last week. That's action! That's also more drain on emergency services and more civilian distraction/Good Samaritan action.
(Now, here's a good question... Where, exactly, did the Palinor/Max-Earth panel open? Honestly, it's pretty damn lucky Just Enough was more or less immediately able to pop through from an open space. We'll have a longer chat about this on WhatsApp and you can tell me if I've found a legit nit or not...)
Thus, part of the reason this is a lower-key part of the climax is the exciting action sequence already happened. Riots, and the big booms downtown.
Nope, these are the shell-shocked survivors -- the few who held focus on the bigger picture of politics and justice in the face of immediate short-to-mid-term disaster -- tired, dirty, dazed, and holding their shit together with their last reserves.
Yannick Clarke knows all about focusing past the immediate situation on the big picture while holding shit together with one's last reserves.
Oh, there was the unseen action in this chapter. I'm sure Morgan had her fair share of shouting and shoving as the Earth First cops and MPs moved towards scorched earth assassination.
But we followed Clarke and Vakho, the two acting as leaders/figureheads of the crowd. Two (former) figures of authority and leadership in Mid-Earth as Ambassador and law enforcement, both (under false pretenses) humiliated and stripped of their authority, both taking it the fuck back.
Almost like the author planned it that way.
I spent a few minutes debating on if this may have worked better between Magic and Absolute Power. Nope. Not only because of the risk of breaking the flow... But because it works better if this chapter happens after all the Sturm und drang, and that's Just Enough and Probably Better deactivating in London. As you noted in this chapter, those reports of PB crashing through the portals came in "several hours ago," but the big climax in Palinor, despite the lengthy writing and multiple viewpoints probably didn't take much more than 1-2 hours.
Hmmmm... My brain keeps drifting back to how trashed Mid-Earth London has to be. Yeah, I think the chapters in Palanor lasted long enough where Clarke needs at least a sentence or two to acknowledge it on his walk.
Fair point on Clarke not noting the state of London. He did mention the tower coming down, but it was a brief sentence that didn't properly convey the state of things, or how he felt about it. I've tweaked that paragraph (near the top). Minor change, but worth making.
(incidentally, also noticed a continuity error in which Vahko originally entered the Commons Chamber with Clarke, even though Vahko had taken a separate group to the Lords. Have now fixed that one...oops!)
On the Palinor/Max-Earth portal: remember that both portals already existed, but were dormant/inactive. Basically big black walls that didn't connect. So they've aways known where the Max-Earth portal was. It was noted a couple of chapters back that Justin has spent the intervening months working with the authorities to clear the site, with the implication being that it was part of a museum. One can assume that museum no longer exists, given that Just Enough would have needed access to the portal; we can also assume that they went about it in a less destructive and more cooperative way than PB.
Love your take on Vahko and Clarke's arcs. It's one of those sort-of-planned details. Did I always intend for them to end up working together in the finale? No! When I introduced Vahko way back in season 1 I had no particular thoughts for bringing them back (Hutchinson gets an early mention back then, too!). After Vahko proved a useful character to have as a recurring guest, it then made sense to use them to represent the koth in London under Earth First rule. That Vahko's mini-arc mirrors Clarke's is partly a coincidence, but definitely one I embraced.
Yeah, I'd forgotten that the portals existed, but just didn't connect. But I'd decided that, if nothing else, Justin/Just Enough would have had access to Kaenamor's diary and, from there, would have been able to more or less correctly anticipate where the final portals would connect, thus plausible to be waiting, thus, not a nit.
Like we touched on in the last couple of weeks the extra time to speculate between serial chapters is balanced by more time to forget details from months or years ago.
Think Michael S. Atkinson will be a valuable reader since he's insightful and reading through at a faster rate than one chapter a week. He'll be a good check on how your seeding and development work at a closer to reading at "novel speed."
The changes to the early paragraph definitely work. I knew you'd say what needed to be said in two sentences. Although it's interesting - - specifically as you mentioned enjoying my take on the Clarke and Vahko arcs -- how, in my prior comment I waxed loquacious on Clarke being able to see past the immediate need for emergency assistance in order to finish off clearing the big job and your take was to have Clarke state that taking care of the cleanup situation "...was where he should have been, yet..."
Either I've STILL, after following him for years, parsed the man wrong, or he's STILL, after all he's been through, underestimating himself.
Of course he also said he had to "...concentrate, and get it done."
And those two thoughts put together show he's a hell of a guy.
Holland can suck it. Clarke is a bit charitable, since Holland less "found a way out," than slunk off, a broken man, to fade away on intoxicants and virtual aen'fa porn.
*Spends a long moment debating this joke... Ok, let's go for it... * Guess Witt the virtual porn Holland really will suck it. *I'm so sorry.*
Clarke, in his mind, is a washed-up cop who should have retired years ago. Instead, he's caught up in world-changing events far beyond his pay grade, making decisions that affect millions of people. He is NOT comfortable with that.
Being a first responder at the site of a major disaster? That fits more easily into his training and how he sees himself.
Of course, that the man has no interest in power, doesn't think of himself as being qualified to make these decisions and take these actions, is precisely why he's the perfect person to do so.
Yup.