One of my main questions about Frankenstein (2025) was why GdT aged the Frankenstein brothers up to make William an adult and engage him to Elizabeth, and this YouTube review/discussion just cracked it for me in a sentence: It's to form another layer of Claire and Elizabeth being equated within Victor's Oedipal subtext. William "blocked" Victor from both--from Claire/their mother by his birth causing her death, and from Elizabeth by being her intended husband.
Saw somewhere on here people saying GDT got rid of the incest angle from Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein.
Did we not notice Mia Goth played both mom and Elizabeth, Victor only drinks milk, dude caressing a tiny pregnant woman model throughout his POV of the film? All GDT did is shift from sibling incest to oedipal.
So which do we think is worse, having the hots for your mom from a mix of traumas or your cousin raised alongside you as a sister with your shared adult caregivers insisting you marry?
Daken is self destructing and he has been for a while. From working for Norman Osborn, his disastrous stint as an LA mob boss, burning out his healing factor with drugs, and even blowing up his bizarre friendship with the Fantastic Four. He's in supervillain mode and it's time to settle his oldest debt. 'Claw clown' is amazing.
He has his father at his mercy in what is probably the closest to a therapy session Logan ever gets. Daken has a lot of anger, and many of his gotchas have a lot of merit to them. Logan's schtick is definitely undercut by his contradictions and hypocrisy, but he does try to be a better person, mostly. Better doesn't mean nice or even friendly, but he's tied up here and he really does want to help Daken if he can.
It's unsurprising that Daken and Sabertooth managed to work together - they both hate Logan for many of the same reasons. While he's ostensibly a 'good guy' and is treated as such socially, he definitely kills a lot of people and is a raging asshole most of the time. It frustrates me, so I do empathize with Daken. Being psychoanalysed and condescended to by Logan is the last thing he wants. He was calm-ish and talking. That's something.
Logan is ... not great at reaching him, frankly. A huge part of Daken's anger comes from Logan not being any kind of father to him. Drawing a line under that and trying to give fatherly advice seems like a terrible idea, but it's unclear if there was any possibility of getting a good outcome here. The tough love is 95% tough, which doesn't leave much room for love.
Focusing on Daken's agency feels almost cruel, too. So much of his life has been defined by his choices being denied to him. What he says is true, but the presentation is pretty callous. Sure, he's not good at this stuff but honestly he's had a long time to learn. It's an impossible situation made worse by future knowledge that Daken will massacre the school, but I wonder if spending some of his ludicrously long life on emotional intelligence might have led to a better result.
The 'stain' comment strikes a chord with Daken but it's something he already knows. He's got plenty of delusions ('you hate me' etc) and a pathological desire for acceptance, but that doesn't override his anger. I might be projecting my own parental trauma here, but I think he wants to be heard and understood. Logan is mouthing platitudes at him but he's not really following Daken's side of the conversation. Aside from 'I'm your goddamn father,' he hasn't directly answered a question or statement. When asked if he wonders what could have been, he looks away and says nothing. Daken is well aware he's burning shit down; he just thinks that's a good thing. Or, he hasn't been given a reason not to.
Daken pivots to what was, instead of what could have been. It's awful, and it's just a tiny sample of what he went through. Logan doesn't listen for very long before before cutting in with tepid regrets. Daken brushes them off and toasts to regret. Keep in mind Daken is like sixty years old at this point, maybe older. He's been carrying this around for a long time.
They have a lot in common - some of which Daken inherited from Logan. Enemies, powers, trauma, anger, expectations, and so on. It's possible they could have reached an understanding of those commonalities, but I'm not sure either man knows how right now. Importantly, Logan received a lot of grace and room to grow from other people. His murder factory was state sanctioned while Daken's wasn't. If Daken did want to try to be better, the ecosystem he exists in definitely wouldn't help.
Logan makes his pitch as Daken decides for sure that he is not capable of giving him what he wants. It might land better if he had reached out a little more openly. Daken says he's been considering it, and he might be lying but I don't think he is. I think a more compassionate, less individualistic Logan might have gotten through - but then it wouldn't be a tragedy. Thanks to time travel nonsense he probably thinks that a fight to the death is preordained. We'll never know, as he goes for Wolverine Kryptonite - drowning.
Obviously Logan escapes, something Daken meets with false bravado. They prepare to finish it.
Logan even puts himself at a disadvantage by choosing not to succumb to berserker rage as Daken does. Well, arguably an advantage, a commentary on their mental states if nothing else. He's not trying to save his son or reach him anymore, if he ever was. He's got many responsibilities pulling at him and Headmaster of the Jean Grey school is the only one left.
We switch to Daken's POV as Logan turns the tables and drowns him in a puddle. The 'what if?' questions and images run through his mind as his brain is starved of oxygen. He struggles but Logan is stronger.
In the ruins of a burning building, a ruined life, Daken dies pathetically by his father's hand. He did always want to torment him as much as possible, and while he didn't maximise it this is really sad. Unnecessary. Yeah, Daken has been a shithead with little regard for anyone (and he'll be back) but it's still a shame. The story frames Logan's agonising choice as whether to kill Daken or not, but the source of that was his future self - even more gruff and grizzled than this Logan. I think he may have been able to avoid that situation entirely, but then he wouldn't be Logan. It's a powerful story, but I think it contributes to their eventual good relationship feeling less earned.
