At The Movies With Dominic and David

By Charles Glasgow

**Flaming
Feather**

Scene: Dominic sitting with his kitten in his lap in a movie balcony, glaring angrily off-camera at someone.

Dominic -- "... and if tonight's guest is Janus, I swear that..."

(From off-camera) -- "Pssst! You're on!"

Dominic turns around to face the camera, getting his expression (it's amazing how a cowled Seraph whose face you can't even see still has expressions) straight.

Dominic -- "Good evening, and welcome to the second edition of "At the Movies with Dominic", where tonight's guest host will be somebody I have friendly associations with for a change, right?"

Dominic looks up at the cue card, and he suddenly jumps up in utter shock... until he resonates the cue card and realizes that it's not True. After a frantic wave at the crew, we catch a momentary glimpse in the corner of the camera of a stagehand frantically rushing out the side exit holding a cue card. Just visible out from under his harm is the name "..BAL".

Dominic looks up again and slumps in relief upon seeing the real cue card underneath.

Dominic -- "Yes. Definitely a Superior I have good relations with. And thus, for tonight, my fellow guest-star is David, Archangel of Stone."

David, in all of his Malakite glory, walks onstage -- in his usual state of (non-)attire. Dominic winces. After a shocked pause by the camerman, the camera immediately refocuses to show only a waist-up view of the two Archangels.

Dominic -- "Errr... ahem... thank you for coming on tonight's show, Archangel David."

David -- [nod].

Dominic -- "Yes. Anyway, tonight's movie is a classic that was released last year and still going strong... "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon".

David -- [grunt]

Dominic -- "Errr... yes. In any event, this movie was definitely suitable for angelic viewing, despite the ending. It had a significantly deep philosophical element, two very good examples of selfless love and devotion, a wonderful role model for Elohim (or any other Choir, really) of the Sword -- indeed, box office demographics indicate that approximately 112% of Laurence's Servitors have been to see... one hundred and twelve* percent?!?"

David -- [raises two fingers]

Dominic -- "Um... oh! Yes, you are right, apparently many of them are watching it at least twice."

David -- [nods]

Dominic (glares mildly at David's lack of communication) -- "Thank you for that comment. Anyway, as I was saying -- this movie is possessed of significant depth, passion, drama, mystery, and amazingly enough managed to mix all that in and still find room for enough mindless hack-and-slash fight scenes to occupy the miniscule attention spans and thoroughly plebeian and narrow-minded tastes of Servitors of a Certain Archangel Who Shall Remain Nameless..."

David -- [grumbles menacingly]

Dominic -- "... errr. Yes, that's right, you're about the only Archangel that's friends with both of us simultaneously. Never mind, then. As I was saying, the only bad elements of this movie are the thoroughly repellent and selfish character played by Ziyi Zhang -- a fine young actress, I hasten to add, it's merely her character that was almost Diabolical in her thoroughly awful self-centeredness... and the tragedy of the ending. What do you think, David?"

David -- [grunt]

Dominic -- *ahem* "Do you agree or disagree with my assessment of the movie so far?"

David -- [shrugs]

Dominic (visibly approaching the limits of his patience -- "Yes or no?"

David looks at Dominic with a 'You're missing the obvious' expression of exasperation on his face and taps one finger to his temple. Dominic, finally taking the hint, resonates David's body language for the Truth of his last shrug. David looks very faintly smug.

Dominic -- "He's going to owe you a favor for this, isn't he? Don't answer that, I don't want to know. Moving on...

"Inexperienced Seraphim and Lightning servitors might say that the highly stylized wuxia of this movie, with its blatantly false concepts of physics, history, and dramatic timing, are flaws in this movie. But I would disagree with them if they did. While it is True that the setting and staging of this movie is utterly unrealistic, it is also True that a good story can often not be as much about realism as it can be about myth. In other words, it is True that the mythic symbols of the plot stand for things other than their most literal interpretation. As a tale using several classic elements of tragedy, myth, doomed love, and selfless questing, would you say that this movie was a success?"

David -- [silence]

Dominic -- "Right. And we now come to -- I can't say it's a flaw, really, because it's not -- but the part of this movie that made the saddest. The ending. Here we have this brave and selfless and noble man, who never lost sight of his either honor or his duty, dying at the end because of the misplaced hatred of one old villain, under circumstances that would never have been made possible if not for the needless and repeated and utterly closed-minded selfishness of that young princess. How did you feel when you saw Li Mu Bai die, David?"

David -- [shrugs, looks totally aloof]

Dominic -- "That's right, you have a reputation to maintain as an old stone face. [resonate resonate resonate] Very well then, don't admit that you cried for five minutes when you saw the ending."

David turns and gives Dominic a laser death-beam eye-glare that could shatter titanium.

Dominic [looking very faintly smug] -- "So, overall, my Judgement is that "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" deserves a big thumbs up. And it should be viewed by all young celestials as a prime example of why selflessness and courage and duty should be encouraged, where selfishness and brashness only hurt everyone around you. Archangel David, any last words?"

David (still glowering) -- [shakes his head]

Dominic -- "So, that's two thumbs up for "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon". And next week, on "At the Movies with Dominic", we will have a guest-host who I can get along with and who will actually say something...."

[fade to black]

Off-camera voice-over -- "And I thought I had it bad when were writing that 'Confessions' series... *sob*"

**Flaming
Feather**

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