Centaurworld S1E2: "Fragile Things" (continued)
Alpaca asks Horse how she could be so callous, especially to Deerhuahua who has just proactive decided to risk an eternity of disembodied torment to make sure Horse's precious Talisman of Nonspecificity wasn't lost.
That is...probably not the strongest argument Alpaca could have made, considering that Deerhuahua was literally saying "ooh, shiny!" when she went for the amulet. It definitely didn't look like she was doing that for Horse. Alpaca isn't wrong about the way Horse is behaving, but still, bad detail to focus on. And yep, Horse wryly points out the exact same thing that I did; she's glad that Deerhuahua's actions caused the amulet to be recovered, but she doesn't believe for a second that Deerhuahua had any motivation for them besides kleptomaniacal compulsion.
Deerhuahua chooses that moment to reach up for the ground and fumble blindly for Horse's neck where she's replaced the amulet.
To be fair, it's entirely possible that Deerhuahua is trying to reach for her hoof, or beg for water, or something. But that's not what it looks like, heh.
Alpaca counters that Horse doesn't know that this is the case. And even if it was, would that make a difference? Horse doesn't really know Deerhuahua. She's given no indication of caring about her. And yet, she's encouraging her and the others to follow her, for some reason?
Horse just glares at Alpaca and apologizes for "not micromanaging the lives of everyone around me like I'm everyone's domineering mother" like a good citizen apparently should. Bird sneers that this is a "horsepology" if ever he heard one.
...okay, what is the deal with Bird and his hatred for Horse? Is acting like he has a grudge against any new person he meets just his tic, or is there something weirder going on here? It FEELS like he knows her from somewhere.
Alpaca repeats her insistence that the centaurs should all head back home. This time, in light of recent experiences, and of Horse's apparent callous disregard for their wellbeing, they all listen. Alpaca just wishes Horse well in her travels in a neutral tone of voice as she turns around and leads the herd back. Deerhuahua lingers just a moment, staring at Horse and whimpering, before pulling a flower out of her gluttonizer and laying it on the ground for Horse before turning her back and following the others.
I'm interpreting this to mean that Deerhuahua doesn't grudge Horse for her behavior, and earnestly wishes her well.
...at the same time though, she also isn't returning any of the barding pieces she collected. So, that's a balancing factor as far as her characterization is concerned.
Horse affects nonchalance, and reminds them all that she never asked them to follow her in the first place, so it's all the same to her. She can't hide the irritation in her voice, though. While I still don't really know that she needs them myself, she definitely has grown attached enough to them to feel slighted at the rejection. Even though she was the one rejecting them just an episode ago.
Unfortunately for Horse, their escape from the taurnado sent them far away from the Rainbow Road, and finding it again proves difficult. She searches through the forest and adjacent steppes, but can't seem to find it again. I'm not sure why she doesn't just try to navigate by following that pillar of light they were moving toward. Maybe it vanished or something, idk. After getting herself thoroughly lost, Horse spots a hyena-centaur who she infers is sentient and capable of speech due to the fact that he's holding a purse. Unfortunately, when she asks him about the Rainbow Road, he just angrily barks that Rainbow Roads have been stealing purses from his family for generations, and that if she's asking about them then she probably wants to steal his purse too.
He menacingly warns her not to steal his purse, and then leaves.
Also, he has a thick German accent. Because why not I guess.
Frustrated by her inability to find the road and the unhelpfulness of the local German hyenataurs, Horse stops searching and sits down in the dirt. Or rather, she tries to sit down. Before she can, a fallen leaf starts screaming at her that she's about to crush her baby to death.
This...raises so many questions that I could probably add 500+ words to this post just typing them all out. For now, I'm just going to assume for simplicity's sake that there are leaf-mimic creatures that hide among the leaf litter on the forest floor, because otherwise the issue of how you can have baby fallen leaves is going to form a vortex that sucks my brain in and never lets it out.
Horse quickly gets up, as the mother leaf scolds her for her carelessness and the baby leaf starts crying.
There's a really great piece of dialogue here:
“Leaf: “How would you like it if I came along and smothered YOUR baby?”
Horse: “W...I...well, first I’d have to imagine a scenario in which I have a baby, but um...then, I guess that would be...not good?””
The mother leaf echoes Alpaca's words from before and tells Horse that she should try to think of other people besides herself. Not really a fair comparison, imo. Alpaca was criticizing Horse for actual insensitivity and callousness toward her companions. In this case, all Horse was guilty of is not knowing that leaf people exist. Regardless of how fair or analogous the situations actually are, this does give Horse an extra sting.
Horse morosely wanders away, while thinking about the other person who she DOES have in her mind. She hasn't stopped thinking about Rider since the two were seperated, and now she's starting to despair of ever finding her again. Cue sad, soulful solo as Horse remembers Rider, worries about her, and fears that she might have died without her trusty steed. Worst of all, Horse fears that they might be separated for so long that one or both of them might forget what the other even looks like before they're reunited.
It's not a particularly catchy or clever song, but it works. It's touching, despite the minimal characterization we've gotten for Rider so far.
...honestly, some bits make it sound like Horse and Rider are like. A thing. Like, a Catherine the Great* style thing. Granted, that may just be one sided love on Horse's part, but either way it gave me pause for a moment.
Apparently, Horse has wandered close to where the centaurs have been wandering, because she passes near their campsite during her song. The centaurs are touched. And also kind of head-bouncing to the tune.
They all pretend to be asleep when Alpaca looks back over her shoulder at them.
Also, Bird seems to be the one most effected by Horse's sorrow. I still wonder what his deal is.
...come to think of it, Bird is also the only one of the lot who ISN'T a centaur. He has two legs and a pair of wings. Other than the leaf creatures, that makes him pretty unique among the centaurworlders we've met so far. Yeah, he's just kind of weird in general, isn't he? Wonder if there's anything to this, or if it's just more of the show's flavor of random weirdness.
As the centaurs (and bird...) watch from behind the bushes, Horse finds a bare patch of dirt with no leaves on it and miserably goes to sleep. Her final lyrics being an admission that she - and perhaps Rider as well - are also fragile little things in the end.
When Horse wakes up...well, more accurately she's woken up by someone stuffing a forkful of gigglecakes into her mouth.
Gigglecakes are apparently really good, actually. Even if Horse is a bit miffed at the waking-up-by-force-feeding.
When Horse asks the centaurs why they came back to her instead of going on home, Alpaca explains that she understands the importance of one's herd. Horse is trying to go back to hers, and as singleminded about this as Alpaca herself would be if separated from her own.
So, she and hers will keep helping Horse find the shaman. It's not like they have anything better to do anyway, besides return to their dome and keep driving themselves more and more insane with oversaccharated boredom until they all die. But, while they're pursuing Horse's goals, their methods are going to be up to Alpaca. Given her demonstrated ignorance of this world and its suprisingly great and eldritch dangers, Horse admits that yeah, this is probably for the best. That's a pretty mature admission from Horse as well as from Alpaca, compared to where they both were an episode ago.
They manage to find the Rainbow Road again, and as they move along it the centaurs start asking Horse about this "Rider" she's so determined to find again. Her descriptions of Rider kind of challenge the centaurs' understanding of the world. "She sits on my back and indicates the directions she wants me to move in" fails to wow them.
There's also an amusing moment where Zebra misinterprets the unfamiliar word "reins" as "rains," and challenges Horse on her description of Rider "controlling the rains" contradicting her earlier claim that there's no magic in her world. With the air of someone pointing out a plothole in a movie.
The conversation is cut short when Horse sees a humanoid silhouette that looks like Rider dash across the road ahead of them before vanishing into the woods.
No one besides Horse seems to have seen her. Whether that's because she's a hallucination, a specter visible only to the person carrying the McGuffin Charm, or just because none of the others were paying attention, is unclear. Whatever the case, Horse goes shooting off after her, and the others nervously follow. End episode.
That one was a rollercoster!
I'm still trying to get over the fact that the taurnado is a thing that exists, not only in this show, but specifically in the centaurworld rather than grimderp animu part of it.
I guess there might be some more metacommentary here, about style and substance. As I noted in the first half of this review, western animation of the 2010-22 era does have a tendency to mix childish whimsy and cartoony characters with seriously dark and gruesome elements.
Meanwhile, tryhard "mature" works are often outright juvenile under their surface aesthetics, featuring characters at least as flat and personal conflicts as simplistic as those in the bright and happy kids' shows. Horse herself is sort of an example of this, as her behavior at the beginning of the episode demonstrates. She wants everything to be serious and grown-up, but she was never really either of those things herself. Meanwhile, centaurworld's candy-colored aesthetics don't prevent it from hosting horrors like the taurnado (or the Cluster, or the Beast, or the Lich, or...). Their two worlds aren't really as different as their respective art styles make them look.
In light of this, Alpaca is almost like a holdover from the more monotonously positive children's programming of previous decades. Trying her best to keep the dome intact and prevent the march of pop culture history.
The theme of leaders and followers was also a recurring thing throughout this episode. The power struggle between Horse and Alpaca, with Alpaca trying to hide her jealousy of Horse's popularity overshadowing hers and Horse trying to hide her own loneliness and desperation for company. Both sucking directionless souls after themselves toward either isolated madness or suicidal recklessness. The taurnado was a good monster for them to play off of.
The comedy was hit-or-miss throughout the episode. There were some great gags, but the WTF factor that the pilot's humor relied on is past its peak, and without it there isn't quite as much to laugh at. Same goes for the musical numbers. I applaud this show for packing more songs into each episode than most "musical" cartoons do, but it pays for this abundance with very uneven quality. No earbleeders, but several forgettables. The characters are slowly growing on me as they force each other to show more nuanced aspects of themselves, though, and the "literally anything could happen next" aspect of the show has a unique sort of charm.
After the pilot, I thought this show might be a little too reliant on its satire and spoofing of other media to really build much on its own. This second episode has proven me wrong. The show seems to not only have things to SAY about the other media in question, but also is starting to build a narrative that could stand on its own merits. It's a little rough around the edges, but it makes it work.
Overall, strongly favorable impression.
*yeah yeah, I know, that's just Polish propaganda
