#evil diva

[olga-bomzhikha]

[peppercorb]

Diva Beelze and Cerberus >:3

[michelles-garden-of-evil]

Episode 3 Review: Making the Church Scene

{ YouTube: 1 | 2 | 3 }

{ Synopses: Debby Graham | Bryan Gruszka }

{ Screencaps }

We are now three episodes into our sojourn to Maljardin, and we have already reached the first episode without our star Colin Fox, making this the first Foxless episode. Even the cast members are feeling his absence, as evidenced by this quote from Raxl:

Yes, that is really how YouTube’s automated captions rendered the name “Jacques Eloi des Mondes.” I love automated captions. They’re hilariously wrong about seventy-five percent of the time.

We see Raxl and Quito in the Not-So-Hidden Voodoo Temple, praying to her god, the Great Serpent, for help in finding the Conjure Doll and the silver pin to send THE DEVIL JACQUES ELOI DES MONDES back into the Hell from whence he came. That may or may not be an exact quote; Raxl says variations of that phrase all the time from this point onward so it’s hard to keep track. And she always says it while chewing the scenery so much that it’s a wonder any of it is intact by the next episode.

By the end of Episode 3, the entire voodoo temple should logically have been in her stomach after all her scenery-chewing.

In this episode, we meet three new characters and, with them, see the introduction of one of the Maljardin arc’s main subplots. Unlike Tim’s subplot, which I don’t care about because he’s boring, this one involves one character whom I adore, one whom I find interesting if somewhat creepy, and one other whom I can tolerate for now despite her being kind of annoying. The first two are the newly widowed Elizabeth Marshall (Paisley Maxwell) and Reverend Matthew Dawson (Dan MacDonald), respectively; the last is Elizabeth’s daughter Holly (Sylvia Feigel).

From left to right: Matt, Holly, and Elizabeth. Matt is dressed like a Catholic priest for some reason despite being a minister from an unspecified Protestant denomination. For Holly and Elizabeth, I get the distinct feeling that the showrunners meant for them to look like early Liz and Carolyn from Dark Shadows, making this an early instance of Strange Paradise copying something from DS (who, I should note, also dressed one of their reverends like a priest). Still, they are in most ways different characters from their DS lookalikes/dress-alikes.

The central character of this plotline is Holly, who is a few months away from her twenty-first birthday, when she will inherit her late father’s fortune. Elizabeth wants the money for herself, so she had Holly committed to a “house for kooks” called Westley House, which Matt runs. At some point during her stay at Westley House, Matt fell in love with Holly and wants to marry her, but Holly doesn’t love him back because he persuaded her mother to have her sent there. The narrative treats this as creepy less because of the weird power dynamic going on (why should Holly want to be with someone who was essentially her jailer?) and more because, in the Strange Paradise universe, twenty-year-olds are considered children despite being above the age of majority in most countries and above the age of consent just about everywhere in our world. Granted, Matt is probably at least thirty-five (the age of his actor at the time of filming) and he does dress like a priest, but that’s still not a huge age difference between adults and he’s actually a Protestant minister. So he can marry Holly; there’s just the question of whether he should.

Proof that Rev. Dawson is Protestant: his church’s altar has a cross, not a crucifix.

Even so, the narrative doesn’t treat Holly as an adult and treats her instead like she’s seventeen. It’s so weird. A thirty-five-year-old being attracted to a twenty-year-old is way less creepy than one attracted to a teen. It’s also way less creepy and problematic than him being attracted to someone he held prisoner at her mother’s request, giving him far more power in their relationship. That should be the focus here, not her age.

This is how you make the church scene, at least if you’re Holly Marshall.

Anyway, Holly ran away from Westley House to confront Matt at his church (”making the church scene,” she calls it), and ends up confronting her mother as well. That’s the Cliff’s Notes version of the plot points in their half of this episode.

Mrs. Marshall is a fun character: a ruthless middle-aged diva so greedy that she preys on her own daughter for money. I wouldn’t like her if she were a real person, but, as a character, she is loads of fun. She kind of reminds me of early Disney villainesses like Maleficent and the Evil Queen from Snow White, in the way she talks and carries herself, the way she preys on an innocent young woman, and the underlying implication that she is a heartless psychopath. There are also some implications that she was even more of an evil diva in a past life, but I will save that discussion for a later post because I want to delve deep into it when it becomes more relevant.

Additional screencaps of Paisley Maxwell’s face and hair, just because.

Holly is also pretty fun at the beginning. She whines a lot, yes, but she can also be funny in a snarky way, and I’ve gotten quite a few chuckles out of her snarky comments and now outdated slang. (In this episode in addition to her “church scene” line, she sarcastically calls Matt “padre,” which made me laugh.) I’m not very fond of her overall--especially since later writers tend to butcher her characterization--but she does have her moments and some amusing lines.

As for why I find Rev. Dawson interesting, it has to do with the way his Christian beliefs are juxtaposed with those of voodoo priestess Raxl, which is not at all handled in the way one would expect. To delve too deep into it this early on would mean many detailed explanations requiring spoilers, so I will also wait to discuss it. Right now, we’re dealing with the creepy side of him and not the interesting side. As a romantic hero, he is patronizing and gross and I doubt that, even in 1969, many people would have wanted Holly to end up with him. I certainly don’t. Holly needs someone who respects her and treats her like an adult, and I don’t think Matt is capable of that.

In the next episode, we will switch back to the main story as THE DEVIL JACQUES ELOI DES MONDES comes out to play once again, this time with the visiting Cryonics Society and with Jean Paul’s lawyer, Dan Forrest. Also, Jacques says something absolutely hilarious and makes an absolutely adorable face. See you next week with my comments on Episode 4.

{ <-- Previous: Episode 2   ||   Next: Episode 4 --> }

[love-katnappe]

💕🖤Wishing you all a purrfect Valentine's Day🖤💕

[angryvikingpress]

Evil Diva NYCC 2017 And Mystery Skulls

Evil Diva NYCC 2017 and short With Music from "Mystery Skulls" Diva Beelze is a cute little Devil. But you see, Diva has a small problem. A goodness problem....

BIG thanks to the Mystery Skulls   For allowing us to use their song “AMAZING” for our little promo!  We’ve been wanting to work with Mystery Skulls since 2013, and things have always gotten in the way. However they have always been kind to us to use samples in our little shorts!  Hopefully one day we can do a full Animated Music Video with them! Evil Diva Vol! still available at Angry Viking Press Store Get it in time for the Holidays.

[jasoncanty01]

Angry Viking Press and NETFLIX?

Do not Get to Excited.  But yes AVP  “MIGHT”  (Key word and a very big MIGHT) be appearing on Netflix in the VERY near future.  Been trying to keep this quiet, but we may have a Cameo on a new show.  Can’t talk to much about it, and probably shouldn’t but I have to break the silence for one reason. Our appearance is very dependent on Getting our materials to them and fast.  How fast? Before January 2nd fast O_O Angry Viking Press got a request by Netflix to cameo in an upcoming TV show.  They want us to appear in the background and need A LOT of our art as props. (TL;DR part a head) UNFORTUNATELY due to being wiped out from NYCC in October (as well as some of our MoMo stock was lost in transit, hence the quickly selling out of Myuga the Slasher) we don't have much in the way of funds to make new small print runs just to be used for props.  BUT we can’t pass up this one (of a few other) opportunities pass. We're looking for help from fans to raise $700 or so to do a small print run for this cameo.  We have Digital and Print on demand comics available off site at Kablam and Drivethru, and Limited Stock of MoMo figures located on our site for sale. This among again a few personal and other Hollywood/industry related events have made any updates difficult this year and kept our fans guessing and down right frustrated.  I hate keeping silent also, but the way these things go I have too.   However in this case I’m risking breaking the silence to let the fans know whats up and realistically if this showing does well it may positively influence a few individuals and Studios (yes Studios) we’ve been talking too along with of course Diamond Comics to look more favorably on us.   Thats why you’ve been seeing our creative staff make a lot of art updates but no real word on our new releases.  TL;DR If you’d like to see all your Angry Viking Press Faves make a great impression with some Hollywood studios and Diamond your support will help

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[zorilita]

Evil Diva and Ah Heck!! by MaryBellamy

So the cat is out of the bag. I will be doing some work on Evil Diva! I figured the girls could talk about how magical wands changed their lives or something like that. So this silly doodle sat in my sketchbook for months until now.  

[istitutofemminile]

Andrée Melly