Epic: the Musical: the Curated Fanimatic Series (continued)

Continuing this illustrated neo-Homeric rock opera!


8-9. "Remember Them" and "My Goodbye"

Animatics by WolfyTheWitch.

The blinding of Polyphemus happens a bit differently in "Epic," and is a more significant event for the thematics than it was in Homer's original. I won't say that much about the latter now, but I'll come back to it a lot in the final post.

After succumbing to the drugged wine, Polyphemus collapses. Unfortunately, his enormous body is blocking the cave entrance. Waking him will just bring them back to square one, and killing him in his sleep will mean trapping themselves with limited air and an immense corpse that will soon begin rotting. Thus, Odysseus decides to blind the monster, causing Polyphemus to wake up and stumble out of the way in pain while still preventing him from attacking. Special praise to the electric guitar screech to emphasize the scream when they stab him. The men grab as many sheep as they can and book it back to their ships. Like in the original story, Odysseus earlier told Polyphemus that his name was "Nobody." Thus, when other cyclopes arrive in response to Polyphemus' cries of pain, and he tells them "Nobody hurt me!" All he gets from them is exasperated confusion.

I love the detail of one of the soldiers gasping out a horrified "There's MORE of them?" during this scene, only to nearly collapse in relief when Odysseus' name trick pays off.

There's a moment - completely original to "Epic" - as they're retreating and Polyphemus is on his knees alone after the other cyclopes have brushed off his nonsensical words, when Odysseus suddenly has a vision of Athena. She tells him that he'd best kill the wounded Polyphemus while he can, or else there's a good chance the cyclops will come looking for revenge eventually. The pragmatic, tactically optimal thing to do here is kill him before fleeing. Tie up loose ends. Like I said, this version of Athena is a very cold, very pragmatic, and - honestly - very blinkered kind of "wisdom." In what seems to be an inspirational moment, Odysseus rebuffs Athena. No more pointless killing. No more cycles of violence. He's a man, not a monster or an automaton, he can't keep dealing with all these deaths on his conscience.

In the last verse of "Remember Them," after spending most of the song talking about how they musn't forget Polites and the other five or six men who Polyphemus killed, Odysseus blinks Athena out of his vision, turns around and - returning to the actual Odyssey's sequence of events - addresses the final lines to the wounded Polyphemus. Telling the giant that today should be a lesson for him; he could have spared the humans and saved himself this immense pain and disability. Remember this the next time he feels tempted to kill when diplomacy is an option. And also, to remember the mercy of Odysseus, King of Ithaca, who tried to make amends before Polyphemus rebuffed him, and who chose not to kill him when he could have done so.

Depending on which resolution you put the allegory under, this is either Odysseus realizing he was wrong to do what he did in Troy and vanquishing his shame and regret over it by turning a new leaf, or it's him compensating for his own guilt by talking down to others and externalizing his regrets onto a convenient target.

The resolution the allegory wants you to put it under varies a lot over the course of "Epic." In this case, though...the fact that we're still near the beginning should be a pretty strong hint at how you're meant to read it here.

"My Goodbye" is a relatively short follow-up piece. As Odysseus and his men bring the mutton aboard and cast off from the island, he cuts ties with Athena. She's disappointed in him for putting empty sentimentality over calculated strategy. He's sick of being her idea of a "great" warrior, of the mind or otherwise. So, that's the end of her patronage of him.

Musically, these two are solid. "Remember Them" nicely contrasts the darkness of the previous two tracks, and does a lot of cool musical reprises as Odysseus mourns Polites, commands his men, rebuffs Athena, and lectures Polyphemus. The animatics...mixed. WolfyTheWitch is really good at showing characters' emotions, and adds a lot of memorable little details like Odysseus taking Polites' headband to remember him by, Polyphemus shrinking in despair as he realizes he's confused the other cyclopes into not helping him, etc. On the other hand, there's much less animation in these animatics than in some of the other artists' and the character designs themselves are comparatively lacking.

Seeing Polyphemus as a standard one-eyed humanoid giant after the demonic depiction in mircsy's animatics also really messed with my head, heh.


10. "Storm"

Animatic by Ximena Natzel

Just after leaving the island, the fleet is hit by an incredibly potent storm that knocks them off course and threatens to capsize the ships. Those familiar with the Odyssey will know that this is no coincidence.

Strong musically, with the long "stoooo-ooo-oooooorm" chorus evoking the similar (but much more upbeat) background harmonies from "Full Speed Ahead." The animatic does a good job highlighting just how fucking bad this storm is, with waves dwarfing the ships like hills rising over medium-sized buildings. Otherwise, nothing jumps out that much.

The song ends with the men spotting a small island hovering above the storm-wracked ocean. Odysseus has the men toss grappling hooks so they can climb up onto it.

Not much to say here. This song is nice musically, but the subject matter is mostly just getting us from point A to point B, which in turn doesn't give the animator much to work with.


11. "Luck Runs Out"

Animatic by Jen Vampiresi

oh god those rising ensemble-chorus-and-piano cycles just chop off my ears and wire them straight into my auditory cortex yes

Ahem. What I meant to say is:

Apart from being *addictive* to listen to, this song brings some important elements to the forefront.

First among these is Eurylochus, Odysseus' top lieutenant now that he's lost Polites. Eurylochus had a minor role earlier in "Full Speed Ahead" and "Open Arms." When they first spotted the island of the cyclopes and lotus-eaters, Eurylochus suggested going in with swords in hand and raiding whoever lives there for supplies. The devil on Odysseus' shoulder to Polites' angel in that scene. In the latter's absence, Eurylochus is now the main personality for Odysseus to bounce off of aboard the flagship, which is less than ideal.

Second among them, relatedly, is a theme of people having very, very warped perspectives on events that they've just lived through.

So.

Odysseus recognizes this flying island from stories about the home of Aeolus, the wind god. He wants to climb up there and pray for better weather in person. Which one can only assume is more likely to work than praying remotely. Always pray face to face if you can. Eurylochus thinks this is a really bad idea, after how their recent encounter with a nonhuman entity went. On one hand, it's easy to sympathize with that perspective. On the other, the angle Eurylochus takes here is...well, it's an attitude that a person can have, alright.

Odysseus is a tactical genius. During the Trojan War, he pulled off miraculous stratagem after daring escape after unlikely victory. While the other Greek kings lost men left and right throughout the long siege, Odysseus alone was able to set out for home without the men directly under him sustaining even a single combat death. That's nothing short of amazing. However, it's also contributed to his men's growing sense of the other shoe being about to drop.

Losing friends to Polyphemus shattered their brittle sense of invulnerability, and it just *feels* like it's all going to be downhill from here.

That's sympathetic enough of a concern, sure. The thing is, though...what the hell is the alternative? What does Eurylochus think they should try INSTEAD of beseeching Aeolus? "We rely on your wit, and people die on it." Bro, what should you be relying on instead of Odysseus' wit? What would have happened if everyone followed *your* brilliant suggestion last time and charged ass-first onto Cyclops Island with weapons drawn?

As the harmonic chorus and the animatic's visuals make clear, Eurylochus is putting words to the rest of the crew's concerns. However, he's also a pretty bad messenger for it.

For his own part, Odysseus clearly has some doubts, even if he's trying hard not to show them. Athena has left him, after all, so who's to say if he's still got it or not? However, he puts on a brave face, and also sings a little stretch of song that closely matches the tune and pitch of Polites' singing in "Open Arms" when he's insisting that they can ask for help and receive it.

On one hand, it's touching that he's trying to carry the torch for his late companion. On the other hand, Polites wasn't exactly an example to emulate. If you'll recall, he was the one encouraging them to eat the lotus fruit. When they entered Polyphemus' cave, while Odysseus and Eurylochus were musing on how this huge flock of unattended sheep seemed too good to be true, Polites was just bubbling blithely about their good fortune (the timing of the sound effects even imply that he might have been the one who butchered the sheep).

Excessive, self-sabotaging cynicism, and excessive, reality-denying optimism. Hopefully Odysseus can gauge the right balance for this situation, heh.

Before climbing up to the flying island, Odysseus takes Eurylochus below deck and tells him to stop second-guessing his decisions in front of the crew. It's a pretty gentle talking-to, and a pretty well deserved one, but Eurylochus is still resentful about it.

There's a thick air of doubt and uncertainty as Odysseus climbs up onto the island, even as he keeps up the brave face, while the storm bobs the ships up and down beneath him.


12. "Keep Your Friends Close"

Animatic by Gigi

And now for something completely different!

From the beginning, this song sounds totally unlike anything that came before it. It makes sense, since we're leaving the mortal world and entering the domain of a god where the rules are all different. The first part of the track is purely wind instruments, while the more rhythmic second half mixes in juuust enough light percussion and synth to give it a strong beat without compromising on the airy, windy vibe.

Also, the musical quality of this album just keeps on climbing. For the third time in this post alone, I think the latest song might be my new favorite track in "Epic."

Like the cyclops adventure, "Epic" changes some details from the Odyssey to fit the more focused allegory it's going for while staying true to the spirit. Aeolus is less straightforwardly benevolent and a bit more trickster-y in this version, though the end results of the interaction are the same. The voicework and the animatic conspire to portray this version of the wind god as a genderfluid Vivziepop imp, which fits this version of the character even if it doesn't fit traditional depictions.

Like in the Odyssey, Aeolus needs little convincing to help Odysseus, promptly stuffing the storm winds into a bag and handing it to Odysseus to keep them contained for as long as he needs. Unlike in the Odyssey, Aeolus frames this as a game; can Odysseus manage to keep the bag closed until the fleet reaches Ithaca? Does he have what it takes to prevent it from being opened?

Keep your friends close, and your enemies closer.

When Odysseus returns to his flagship with the bag in hand, a rumor spreads on the wind that the king just got a bag of treasure from Aeolus that he won't even let anyone look at.

He does his best to keep everyone assured that the horrible storm will return if the bag is opened, but it's clear that not everyone believes him. Aeolus follows the fleet, watching eagerly to see if and how Odysseus will handle the untrustworthy elements within his crew. It doesn't seem like Aeolus is rooting for either side; they just want to see who will win.

We've seen a couple of Gigi animatics before, at the very beginning of the album. The much more kinetic, melodic nature and spectacular backdrop of "Keep Your Friends Close" lets them do much more with the motion and scenery this time, though. Including what is apparently their signature animation flex of having the "camera" spin around a character. Gigi's apparently famous for this flourish, and has only done it increasingly often to troll people who express jealousy of their skill.

I've also got to love what they did with Aeolus' backup singers. The song has these little squeaky voices - reminiscent of the lotus-eaters from before - singing after Aeolus and also serving to spread the treasure rumor among the crew as part of the challenge. Gigi decided to interpret them as these magnificently dorky-looking little air elementals.

It's the hats that really make them work.​

Odysseus decides that the best way to make sure no one opens the bag is to...stay awake guarding it for the entire ten-day journey to Ithaca. Proooobably not the best strategy he could have picked. The loss of his most trusted officer seems to have really done a number on his judgement here (the crew-chorus even mentions this in as many words, "Everything's changed since Polites"). Maybe we're also seeing what the loss of Athena means in practice, just a bit.

Odysseus' dream when he finally does fall asleep is heartbreaking and telling in equal measures. For the former, the animatic makes a point of reminding us that Odysseus has been away at war for so long that he has no idea what his son Telemachus even looks like. He hasn't seen him since he was a baby.

For the latter, when Odysseus dreams of his wife Penelope he sings about how it'll be like nothing's changed, he's just the same as he was when he left home a decade ago, this was all just an inconsequential break from the course of his life. Which. Um.

...

What's keeping the soldier from coming home after the war? The sea.

What do you need in order to cross the sea? Wind.

Why won't the wind take him where he needs to go? Because he threw a fucking baby off a rooftop.

That's not something you can shut your eyes and wish away. You can't just stroll back home like you never left after doing that.

Long before Homer, there was established symbolism in Greek mythology about portable containers that gods tell you not to open. Homer was drawing on this on purpose, and so are the creators of "Epic."

...

The bag is opened. The storm resumes. And now, with Aeolus no longer keeping it at bay, it's time for Odysseus to acknowledge where this storm actually came from.


13. "Ruthlessness"

Animatic by AniFlamma

I'm not going to call this yet another new favorite, but it's close. It's also pretty close to top of my list for villain songs in general, I think. From the initial, rising chants of "Poseidon! Poseidon! Poseidon!" onward, this song devotes every last lyric and note to making sure we know that we're meeting the main antagonist of the saga.

And also reminding us that for the most part, ancient peoples didn't love their gods: they feared them.

In the Odyssey, Poseidon's wrath was a catalyst for many of the later trials and tribulations. In "Epic," it's the problem. Poseidon is the ocean, the ocean is in the way of home, and the ocean hates Odysseus.

...

The symbolism of this particular story aside, I've long been of the opinion that Poseidon is the Hellenic pantheon's best villain material. Pop culture Greek mythology stuff usually makes Hades the bad guy due to him kinda-sorta mapping to the Christian devil in superficial ways, but if you look at the actual myths Poseidon is the *prime* asshole of a pantheon filled with them.

In fact, out of all the Olympians, he always seemed like the most likely to actually try to pull something like Disney Hades did in their "Hercules" movie. Hades in the source mythology generally seemed satisfied with his underground realm, Persephone notwithstanding. Poseidon was the one always demanding more.

So, I appreciate what "Epic" is doing with Angry Sea Daddy here.

...

So, yeah. Polyphemus was Poseidon's son. Odysseus maimed him, and then gave him his name and address, and Polyphemus passed this information on to his father.

In his perfectly growly, gritty, and spiteful - but still wonderfully smooth - singing voice, Poseidon informs Odysseus and his men that it isn't just blinding Polyphemus he's mad about. It's their self-righteousness about it. Ironically, that same false righteousness is what ended up doing them in: if they had been properly cynical and just killed Polyphemus, there'd have been no one to tell Poseidon who did it. But they wanted to feel good about themselves for committing the crimes that they committed, and that's why they're all going to die now. If you're going to be brutal, you should at least have the balls to be properly brutal. Ruthlessness is mercy upon ourselves.

The problem isn't that he did war crimes. It's that he did war crimes while still having a conscience.

This animatic for the song does a lot to spell out the subtext, where the song itself is more focused on the text. Poseidon frequently shifts into his horse/hippocampus form, reminding Odysseus of the Trojan Horse.

When he talks about the wounding of Polyphemus, Poseidon cradles a blob of water in his arms, and then tosses it out and lets it fall back down as a vaguely child-shaped mass until it vanishes in the splash.

...

There are a couple of details in here, though, that point to a more complex exploration of Odysseus' character and struggle. I'll point them out now, and then get back to them at the end of the review, because they connect with some later things.

First, there's one part where Poseidon tells the humans that he might spare them if they drop on their faces, apologize, and beg for mercy. They do this. Odysseus explains that they'd never intended to rob or hurt Polyphemus, they only did what they had to in order to escape and took no pleasure in the harm they caused, and begs for understanding.

Second, early on in the song, when pointing out how they could have escaped punishment by just being earnestly ruthless, he says "But you gave him your name, and you let him live." The rest of the song focuses entirely on the "let him live" part, but the first part is acknowledged. The same thing actually happened earlier, when Odysseus was arguing with Athena.

Remember this for later.

...

Eleven out of Odysseus' twelve ships are destroyed by Poseidon's storm. Upward of ninety percent of his men - men who he managed to keep alive through a full decade of brutal siege warfare - are drowned in an instant.

Poseidon is about to destroy the last ship, with Odysseus and his confidantes aboard, when Odysseus does something desperate. At the end of "Keep Your Friends Close," he'd managed to get the bag closed again before the last little bit of wind could escape. He now opens it, with a defiantly cheerful reprise of "all I've got to do is just open this bag!" The blast of uncontrolled wind launches the surviving ship away from Poseidon and clear of the now-dying storm. Evidently, Odysseus still hasn't lost all of Athena's cunning.

The last ship escapes for now, but Poseidon declares that they haven't seen the last of him.


End of part two.