Romeo x Juliet Episode 3 - Attraction ~A Cruel Jest~
Whilst Juliet attempts to come to terms with her newfound past, Conrad receives a visit from William’s mother and Romeo pays a visit to his own mother, Portia. The Red Whirlwind is once more put in jeapordy, but Romeo’s help is not necessarily what Juliet really wants after she finds out his identity, and Montague himself grows distrustful of his own son…
So Escalus, the Prince of Verona who mediates between the two families in the play, is now a gert big glowing tree? The family crests on the chamber that Montague enters to view Escalus in this episode are those of the Montagues and Capulets as shown in the OP and in various other places; given that Escalus is supposed to be the bridge between the two families, could Romeo and Juliet’s relationship end up with some bearing on said flora?
When Romeo X Juliet is good, it’s very good. That said, it seems as though they’re already feeling the pinch of the budget; much of the first half of the episode was stills and the occasional panning shot, and to be honest it’s a little repetitive already with the Red Whirlwind’s continuing escapades. As long as the show can keep things fresh and entertaining I don’t foresee any problems, and it’s understandable that in a 20-something episode show there’ll be a bit of padding, but parts of this episode felt a little bit belaboured and/or obvious. It was, however, nice to see a few extra characters thrown into the mix, and the plot has potentially grown a little more complicated with the introduction of Escalus and the backstory on Romeo’s family.
May 2nd, 2007 at 12:14 am
I don’t know about “fresh”… Even if I view the show on its own (instead of trying in vain to connect it to anything Shakespeare ever wrote) it’s still kind of “meh” to me. I mean, it’s basically a heap of fantasy and romance clichés.
May 2nd, 2007 at 10:33 pm
You’re right, really. It doesn’t really do anything new at all. However, I still find it to be a fairly refreshing show because recently we haven’t actually seen a lot of stuff that’s been like RomeJuli (well, in my opinion). The dynamism with which certain aspects of the show are done is such that I’m willing to overlook the overly predictable nature of the story etc. (well, even with a giant glowing tree); as I said in my entry for epiosde 2 it basically bypasses my rational thought processes for some reason.
So I agree with you entirely, but I still like the show!