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I'm rereading the Cain / Godchild series. It's a lot of funny in one of the trashy ways I enjoy. But, I do have to admit I'm ashamed that I'm putting up with some of the continuity glitches.
Okay, some of it's operatic, and sort of works on that level. But, some of it -- In one story, young Cain tells his new manservant Riff that he's going to show Riff his very secret place, a place that not even his father knows about. Two pages letter, his father shows up in this secret place, saying that he's told Cain never to go down there. Now, it is possible to reconcile these statements, I know, but -- Come on, you're not even trying!
And, at base, I put up with it for the same reason I put up with the Liberator-sized plotholes in Blake's 7. The plots aren't really what the series is about. The series is about the warped relationships between the characters.
Bur, I'm still uncomfortable with this. I am so tired of being told it's silly of me to nitpick shows or movies with plotholes. I do mind if a smart character is suddenly written stupid so that a plot now works. So, why am I not having as big a problem here?
Maybe it's because the characters aren't suddenly being dumb. But, the author is being sloppy.
Maybe it's because something like the Cain / Godchild series is very much an old style Gothic by the definition I got from Murderess Ink, where it's all about death and decay, leavened here with a sort of foggy delirium.
But, geez, it wouldn't hurt to get something like that "secret" room thing consistent.
Then again, I am reading it in translation. I don't know if the problem exists in the original.
Okay, some of it's operatic, and sort of works on that level. But, some of it -- In one story, young Cain tells his new manservant Riff that he's going to show Riff his very secret place, a place that not even his father knows about. Two pages letter, his father shows up in this secret place, saying that he's told Cain never to go down there. Now, it is possible to reconcile these statements, I know, but -- Come on, you're not even trying!
And, at base, I put up with it for the same reason I put up with the Liberator-sized plotholes in Blake's 7. The plots aren't really what the series is about. The series is about the warped relationships between the characters.
Bur, I'm still uncomfortable with this. I am so tired of being told it's silly of me to nitpick shows or movies with plotholes. I do mind if a smart character is suddenly written stupid so that a plot now works. So, why am I not having as big a problem here?
Maybe it's because the characters aren't suddenly being dumb. But, the author is being sloppy.
Maybe it's because something like the Cain / Godchild series is very much an old style Gothic by the definition I got from Murderess Ink, where it's all about death and decay, leavened here with a sort of foggy delirium.
But, geez, it wouldn't hurt to get something like that "secret" room thing consistent.
Then again, I am reading it in translation. I don't know if the problem exists in the original.
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And I really should see Blake's 7 someday.
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And, I've reached a part of the story where the author is clearly being consistent, having a character refer to a scar from an incident in a previous volume, so looking like translation error for the earlier one.
Blake's 7 is worth watching, but it is definitely full of holes.