The Old Guard

[potofsoup]

Watched it this past Sunday.

Nile is adorable, I can totally understand why fandom is gaga over the Crusade husbands, and Andy (like all world-weary warrior women) makes me weak in the knees.

That said,

1) I'm kind of tired of stories where violence solves problems. (Where are the stories where community solves problems?)

and

2) The ending.


Okay, I was watching along, and then Quynh and the iron maiden thing happened and I was so freaked out that I had to go look up spoilers just so that I know what's going on with that whole thread. (As in, whether she would show up mid-movie). I'm glad that she made it out of the underwater prison, but I hate that she's being set up as the antagonist for the next movie, particularly against Andy.

Like, I get from a character motive perspective why her character would hate all humans, or whatever else, and that good stories need these dramatic moments, but ... why put her through all this pain in the first place? It's like, first they fridge her to advance Andy's pain, and then they bring her back to make her a Crazed Villain?

It also makes me so sad that Quynh couldn't dream about Andy, Nicky or Joe for the past 500 years, but only Booker and now Nile. Imagine only catching glimpses of Andy through Booker's eyes??

Anyway, I would have much preferred any of these:
- something where Nile is like "um guys, have you tried since the 1800s? Cause survey equipment is much better now" and then they find her, and sure, she's basically been constantly dying / in solitary for 500 years, but now you can have a recovery arc. Maybe she asks Andy why humans are worth helping, and tags along as a grudging "prove it" sort of aunty figure until something happens that lets her decide to help
- something where she kicks her way out of the underwater prison much earlier, say in the 1800s, and just decided to fuck off with Andy's band of mercenaries and become a mountain farmer or some such, and whenever Andy is like "why the fuck do I still do this?" she's thinking about her wife and a simple life
- something where she finds Andy instead of Booker and yes, the reunion is painful and violent and there's a lot of blood and tears, but they fucking reconcile and Andy retires with her to be happy lesbians for as long as Andy remains alive. (And Nile is like, "hey rest of the group, have you considered expanding ways to help people?")

As it is, it's probably going to be pitting the Immortals against each other, and the final reconciliation coming only after Quynh accidentally killing Andy or some such. :/

Maybe I should read the comic just to see how much of my prediction is going to be true.

Comments

[minoanmiss]

Yeah, in my joy over the movie I hadn't yet dealt with my worries over the sequel hook, which are the ones you cited here. I hope they can do something more complex and life affirming than Quynh Is The Angry Antagonist.

[potofsoup]

I ended up reading the comics! It's... hmm... different??? better than expected in some parts, but worse in others?? Don't know if you want spoilers

[tehhumi]

I think I must have missed something in the ending, because I interpreted it very differently?

All we actually saw was Quynh showing up in Booker's apartment.

I had assumed that she had been rescued by Andy & crew, since they now had access to all of Copley's resources. Quynh would be upset with Andy for abandoning her for so long, but doesn't want to be alone. So Andy told Quynh Booker's address, as he also doesn't want to be alone but can't be with the rest of the old guard. The sequel would then be about the two teams working independently but not actually in opposition until either a mission so big they need everyone, or somebody gets captured/hurt and the other team shows up to rescue them.

This is 100% speculation, but I didn't notice anything to contradict it. What's your idea about why Quynh is in Booker's apartment?

[potofsoup]

Well, Quynh had the "I'm crazed from 500 years underwater" look (which is kind of previewed by conversations earlier about how that much time would drive anyone insane, and it seemed like he sought out Booker instead of Andy+crew when she got out of the water, so the ending seemed more like ... she is out to get revenge on humanity and wants to enlist Booker because he's a weak link.

[harpers_child]

There's a good fic on Ao3 where Booker and Quynh become therapy buddies after the movie.

Is it weird I just want them all to go to therapy?

[potofsoup]

awwww, that's cute!

Yeah... they need a lot of therapy. Much as I like the Eternal Warrior trope, it's actually very much not healthy...

[msilverstar]

I am so with you! I'd prefer more Leverage than Pulp Fiction.

[potofsoup]

oh yes, Leverage is so cheerful in embracing the found family funtimes heists vibe. Like, I know it's more dramatic to have all this angst, but also, I'm all for cool people being competent together without the emotional angst attached