By: Bill Willingham (story), Mark Buckingham (pencils), Russ Braun (finishes), Steve Leialoha & Andrew Pepoy (inks), Lee Loughridge (colors)
The Story: Rose realizes that castles don’t just grow on trees.
The Review: It doesn’t take too long in life before you run into that one person who teaches you about the danger of forgiveness, the one who makes you doubt the human capacity for redemption. That’s the thing about second chances; not everyone makes good on them. With some people, even third, fourth, fifth, a whole plethora of chances won’t do the trick. And all the time, the people giving those chances are draining their lives to maintain their faith.
This is the risk of second chances that Rose doesn’t seem to have much appreciation for, which is surprising, considering how long it took and how many disappointments she caused before she finally got her act together. Perhaps this lack of reflection is caused in part by the people she repeatedly disappointed. Despite the current acrimony between her and Snow, she says confidently, “…Snow will forgive me eventually. It’s what she does.”
Clearly, she’s been conditioned to believe that there’s always opportunity for absolution, which can easily become a fancy word for enabling someone’s bad choices. Rose admits to King Cole that “even though the thing with Brandish is harder to justify, you and I both know I’m going to get my way in the end.”
“…I’ve never liked you, young lady,” the beleaguered mayor grumbles.
“Nonsense, old man. You adore me.”
From that exchange, you can see this “act first, beg for forgiveness later” strategy is simply part of Rose’s flaws and charm. And it’s important to keep in mind that she has turned out all right in the end; the fact that she’s embarking on this venture is proof of that. But you also have to remind yourself that it took a decidedly harsh rebuke from a dying Boy Blue to catalyze her growth. Will she be able to emulate that steel if the second chance she offers is squandered?
And there’s every reason to believe a lot of that frustration will be coming to her. If the Fables she’s invited to her round table have need of second chances, by necessity it means they must have failed their first ones. And if their ultimate goal is to offer others second chances, then all must be prepared for those offers to go to waste. It’s a huge task Rose has taken upon herself, fraught with so many opportunities for failure that it seems nearly Sisyphean, and that’s not even encompassing the logistical challenges of managing hundreds of eager would-be knights from a huge spectrum of races, classes, and worlds.
Even as Rose pursues the greatest undertaking of her life, others are handling no less crucial tasks of their own, with even greater intrigue. As the Fabletown magicians wind down on putting Bigby back together, they’re concerned by both the speed (“Providential help from great powers that want their god of wolves back?” “Or a less than benevolent power that wants its pre-reformed monster back.”) and incompleteness (“…the missing piece must have been intentionally hidden from us—by a working of enormous power.”) of their work. As the spellcasters contemplate the future of Bigby, the wolf’s wife is making arrangements to protect their pack from Rose’s latest screw-up. It’s clear that Snow, having nothing left to lose, has decided not to leave Brandish’s future up to second chance; it’ll be interesting to see whom she’s enlisted to ensure her family’s security.
Having Braun come in to do finishes on a big chunk of Buckingham’s work produces only a very, very slight difference in the art, but there is a difference just the same. It’s an improvement, really, even if an extremely modest one. There’s just an ever so slightly greater degree of hatching and detail that gives characters that much more depth and expression. You see it most in Brandish, whose pompousness, irritation, and ill-disguised anger comes through with a clarity Buckingham didn’t quite bring before. Brandish may have lost his cool exterior, but he’s become more personable, which makes it easier to get invested in his story, whether it’s one of redemption or unflagging evil.*
Conclusion: At this point, Fables just pushes itself along on a self-fueling combustion of story. It’s not the speediest or thrilling ride, but there is a virtue to simply coasting, too.
Grade: B
– Minhquan Nguyen
Some Musings: * And as a lover of a good redemption story, I do hope that Brandish will find some. Putting him on trench-digging duty is a good start.
Grade
Conclusion