Loving This Series So Damn Much - Blog Posts

𝐦𝐲 𝐟𝐚𝐯𝐨𝐫𝐢𝐭𝐞 𝐬𝐡𝐨𝐭𝐬   |   EPISODE NO. 2 "Carry Our Dead"

❧  𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝟏𝟗𝟗𝟐 𝐞𝐱𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐬  /  𝐩𝐫𝐞𝐯  /  𝐧𝐞𝐱𝐭.

this is the depressing one, being the funeral and all … things get much more fun and sexy hereafter, if i may say so myself (after grandma reminds leonor to wash her ratty hair, that is). anyway, i had the notion that this first act was a grief diary for me, which is so weird as a self-proclaimed Person Who Hates Writing What I Know. however, the intensity of that as a creative process seriously helped me connect with the whole worldbuilding premise of this episode: in uspana, funerals are public, disruptive, and unvarnished, with the expectation that you forcefully expel the grief in a ritualized process that cleanses or exorcises in some vital way. leonor’s issue, of course, is that she believes she has failed step one … anyway, as before: if you're new, go catch up !

𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐧𝐬𝐜𝐫𝐢𝐩𝐭 ↓

02.01 - a news broadcast recaps safya’s life : This post was the hardest to narrow down yet! There wasn’t fierce competition; I feel somewhat “meh” about it all now, which is wild since it was quite the heavy lift. Lots of different characters, settings, eras ... Runner-up is the first shot of Beatriz addressing the media about the funeral soon to begin. After the glut of color and activity preceding it, the simplicity of her plain white dress and shaved head against the gilded palace doors is even more stark. But, I like this one better. Maybe because it does look like we’re in this everyday classroom with Safya. Maybe because, again, we’re seeing her without her face, this time knowing it’s likely the last live clip of her most Uspanians would see. And these kids? What a memory!

02.02 - the family leads a procession : The procession remains a scene I’m proud of. It took so much learning! It’s hard to find good ~indigenous~ content—damn near impossible beyond American Girl fans and Manifest Destiny roleplaying. And anything more southern than the U.S. border? Forget about it! The yellow is marigold, a nod to the inspiration I’ve taken from Indigenous Mexico, blending Nahua, Maya, sometimes Huichol elements, or at least my best reading of contemporary art and so-called “pre-Columbian” records. I’ve always aimed to upend royal simblr’s pillars and called my story an “anticolonial fantasy,” and this was, to me, as far as you can get from the iconic Diana funeral replica. This one shot is a redo of a tester. You can tell in the post that it’s meant to be from Mateo’s vantage. Altho a teenager, he’s culturally an adult, but I imagine he didn’t feel it until he was asked to join his uncles and grandfathers in carrying his mother.

02.03 - beatriz gives leonor a warning : Rereading this scene for this ... Damn! It’s brutal. So, while I think this is a lovely and angelic close-up of Beatriz, I also feel like it conveys something deeper. Leonor catches her midway through her own preparations for this final ceremony with Safya’s body, desiring some kind of consolation or commiseration. The fact that she even attempts this interaction is naked, pitiful desperation. So, this? It’s Beatriz preparing herself. She is cruel, but it’s not without self-awareness. How must it feel, knowing she has to injure her dead daughter’s daughter, on this day, just moments before this ceremony? She suggested to the reporters that she was “empty,” but perhaps this pause suggests otherwise.

02.04 - the ceremonies take place : I never make passable statues but thought, “You know, with this wood texture, it’s fine!” Putting this all together, I noticed I adore profiles, and I noticed just now that this one mirrors the prologue image that I tagged as a favorite. No eyes, a contemplative expression ... I wrote this scene with raw memories of holding my grandmother’s hand while she died, feeling haunted by extra moments I lost when they took her body away too quickly but also intrigued by the feeling itself. I was always going to use an effigy, but the prose elevated it. There’s visual worldbuilding here around death and dying. Effigy Safya presides over a farewell for the flesh; whatever the effigy is imbued with, it burns with it. It must be something they don’t want or are unable to keep and tend alongside the bones, whose eventual unearthing signals becoming an ancestor.

02.05 - arnaut and blanca argue : Truth be told, this scene exists only because I love Arnaut and Blanca each and wanted to give her more screen time. It’s also a scene I redid! Notice a pattern there, lmao? Anyway, I like this shot for the angle. It’s a bit skewed but shows off the location. I think their orientation—him looking away, at a loss for words, while she mocks him—is fitting for bickering siblings, too.

02.06 - rodrigo explains to mateo and leonor : Don’t you love when you shoehorn a filler shot into a post and it turns out great? What I needed was space for dialogue that was, to abuse the phrase again, “visually interesting.” I chose this one the usual way: based on a vague gut feeling of whether it looked “right” or not. What I like is the sidelong angle as well as how the light hits. I’m not sure what the symbolism is, if there is any. It’s supposed to be a “shedding light” moment given Mateo’s questions? Rodrigo’s “illuminating” that dark night? I wanna say “Sometimes a picture is just pretty!” but that’s not my style as a certified nerd who Interprets™ for a living. It’s probably not wholly true either.

02.07 - beatriz prepares to move forward : I forgot about this scene! A treat to rediscover. True fans recognize Rowena and recall this troubled mother-daughter relationship. This scene is a reunion of Birdy and her parents, who appear elderly and in white. It’s a direct callback to two things: 1) the glimpse in the main story of Alfonso and Rowena on that bench prior to their wedding, and 2) the Father’s Day special where Alfonso, in poor health, consoles Beatriz on her wedding day and makes explicit what that glimpse showed, saying, “For me, this spot is where you came into being. This is the place where I first loved you.” Here, only Ro is visible while Beatriz departs (or approaches?) on a parallel track of sorts. I love that my story is, at least to me, so loud with intergenerational echoes. I said it best when I originally posted this scene:

idk idk idk i just love this setting !!!!! it's THE spot of circularity in This Story Where Time Is A Circle™ …

02.08 - the family departs to begin mourning : The finale! Leonor and Arnaut are central, showing that she intends to isolate herself by rebuffing, not only Arturo, but also her uncle’s attempt to fulfill undying obligations to his sister. However! I have a soft spot for the olds, and this shot is so ... evocative, to me, generally and of their dynamic. We surmise from the earlier scene that Beatriz is allowing Sal to be close while Matias is on the periphery. I won’t detour into that other than to say what I see here is Matias wandering in his own mind. He’s lost his daughter and firstborn, too, and arguably the child who favored him most in personality and temperament. He doesn’t begrudge Sal and Beatriz their relationship at this moment; he’s too selfless for that. He knows Beatriz won’t permit him to comfort her this way—not for lack of love but, maybe, because that’s how she loves. Sal and Bea know that he won’t rest and care for himself until he’s exhausted and alone. What I learned is how abruptly quiet and still life becomes when the business of death is done and its distractions end.