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pluralstoriesSubmitted by erinptah! Thank you, erinptah!
"You saved me. I survived because I knew I wasn't alone. You were always there, so alive, so full of hope...You are the only real superpower I ever had."
Blurb: Steven Grant is an ordinary London retail worker, with an interest in Egyptology and a problem with sleepwalking. Marc Spector is a mercenary-turned-superhero, fighting evil as the Avatar of the god Khonshu, on one last mission to stop a divine genocide. And they were headmates (oh my god, they were headmates).
Why is it worth your time?: Possibly the most mainstream DID rep to get a ton of positive reviews from IRL systems. The headmates start out disconnected, spend some time aggressively clashing over their different values/priorities (not to mention Steven's instant crush on Marc's wife Layla). Then they need to lean on each other's skills to survive a classic superhero world-saving quest, get dragged through some magical trauma-processing, and ultimately figure out how to understand and appreciate each other. Oscar Isaac plays both of them, and (with the help of an amazing crew + diligent FX team) has amazing chemistry with himself. Avoids the usual Marvel settings to bring us to London and Cairo; it's the rare Egypt-centric series driven by IRL Egyptian creatives, and it shows.
Plural Tags: abuse intermediate-focus, cofronting, memory work, otherworld, people: imaginary friends, relationship: friendship, relationship: teamwork, type: medical, type: switching
Content Warnings: Genre-typical violence. Others contain SPOILERS, see comments.
Accessibility Notes: Streaming version has multiple translations, subtitles in multiple languages, and a couple of audio tracks with voiceover descriptions included. Also available on DVD.
Misc. Notes (if any): When the show's portrayal of DID gets criticized, it's mostly over aspects that have been simplified or dramatized to keep things clear for the audience. Example: at first, when we see Marc and Steven switch, it's physically exaggerated, like they're having a seizure...because new viewers need the visual cue that something disorienting and unusual is happening. The guys have more subtle and realistic switches later, when the audience has gotten the hang of how it works.
Meanwhile, the series takes care to get a lot of important dynamics right. Like "if one headmate is doing distressing things behind another headmate's back, it doesn't mean the first one's a horror-movie villain, it means they have different ideas about how to stay safe." And "friends/loved ones don't have to be perfect experts, or to disregard their own needs, to be a good supporter for a system." And "sometimes alters are based on fictional characters, it's fine." And "trauma holders deserve to be told the trauma wasn't their fault." And "healing with DID doesn't require keeping The Original and getting rid of everyone else, it's about everyone figuring out how to work together and support each other."
erinptah! Thank you, erinptah!"You saved me. I survived because I knew I wasn't alone. You were always there, so alive, so full of hope...You are the only real superpower I ever had."
Blurb: Steven Grant is an ordinary London retail worker, with an interest in Egyptology and a problem with sleepwalking. Marc Spector is a mercenary-turned-superhero, fighting evil as the Avatar of the god Khonshu, on one last mission to stop a divine genocide. And they were headmates (oh my god, they were headmates).
Why is it worth your time?: Possibly the most mainstream DID rep to get a ton of positive reviews from IRL systems. The headmates start out disconnected, spend some time aggressively clashing over their different values/priorities (not to mention Steven's instant crush on Marc's wife Layla). Then they need to lean on each other's skills to survive a classic superhero world-saving quest, get dragged through some magical trauma-processing, and ultimately figure out how to understand and appreciate each other. Oscar Isaac plays both of them, and (with the help of an amazing crew + diligent FX team) has amazing chemistry with himself. Avoids the usual Marvel settings to bring us to London and Cairo; it's the rare Egypt-centric series driven by IRL Egyptian creatives, and it shows.
Plural Tags: abuse intermediate-focus, cofronting, memory work, otherworld, people: imaginary friends, relationship: friendship, relationship: teamwork, type: medical, type: switching
Content Warnings: Genre-typical violence. Others contain SPOILERS, see comments.
Accessibility Notes: Streaming version has multiple translations, subtitles in multiple languages, and a couple of audio tracks with voiceover descriptions included. Also available on DVD.
Misc. Notes (if any): When the show's portrayal of DID gets criticized, it's mostly over aspects that have been simplified or dramatized to keep things clear for the audience. Example: at first, when we see Marc and Steven switch, it's physically exaggerated, like they're having a seizure...because new viewers need the visual cue that something disorienting and unusual is happening. The guys have more subtle and realistic switches later, when the audience has gotten the hang of how it works.
Meanwhile, the series takes care to get a lot of important dynamics right. Like "if one headmate is doing distressing things behind another headmate's back, it doesn't mean the first one's a horror-movie villain, it means they have different ideas about how to stay safe." And "friends/loved ones don't have to be perfect experts, or to disregard their own needs, to be a good supporter for a system." And "sometimes alters are based on fictional characters, it's fine." And "trauma holders deserve to be told the trauma wasn't their fault." And "healing with DID doesn't require keeping The Original and getting rid of everyone else, it's about everyone figuring out how to work together and support each other."
Tags:
- 1+:abuse:intermediate-focus,
- 1+:cofronting,
- 1+:memory work,
- 1+:otherworld,
- 1+:people:imaginary friends,
- 1+:relationships:friendship,
- 1+:relationships:teamwork,
- 1+:type:medical,
- 1+:type:switching,
- access:audio/dubbing,
- access:subtitles,
- audience:adults,
- audience:teens,
- genre:superhero,
- length:long,
- length:short,
- medium:film,
- time:2020s
Content Warnings (contain MAJOR SPOILERS!)
Date: 2024-09-19 10:39 pm (UTC)The villain is a cult leader, with all the manipulation that implies, and repeatedly discredits Marc by describing him as broken/insane/dangerous. Khonshu is an abusive boss; YMMV on how much of that is him being out-of-touch with mortal human needs, and how much he's just a dick. Marc lies to Layla and Steven a bunch (for what he thinks are good reasons). Layla, reasonably, starts off treating Steven as an exasperating act Marc is putting on (she catches up pretty fast).
Fantasy medical/psych ward abuse starting in episode 4; the afterlife reflects their past experiences, including bad mental-health treatment. Memory work in episode 5 that revisits a series of childhood traumas, including sibling death, emotional abuse (on-screen), and physical abuse (just off-screen). References to Marc being suicidal. Steven has an existential crisis when he realizes their system has an original, and it isn't him. The end of episode 5 has a cliffhanger over whether Steven's existence is an "imbalance" that Marc would be better off leaving behind (don't worry, Marc doesn't accept that).
Re: Content Warnings (contain MAJOR SPOILERS!)
Date: 2024-09-23 02:56 am (UTC)Re: Content Warnings (contain MAJOR SPOILERS!)
Date: 2024-09-23 03:01 am (UTC)Re: Content Warnings (contain MAJOR SPOILERS!)
Date: 2024-09-23 04:48 am (UTC)At the time this happens, Marc is actively bleeding out from a different wound (which was not self-inflicted), and he's alone in the desert with no possible way to get medical care. So he's not having a moment of "do I want to die right now?", he's having a moment of "I am dying, no way around that, do I want to wait around through the slow painful death, or get it over with?"
(What interrupts him is a disembodied voice that offers magical healing powers. Which he had no way of knowing was an option before it started talking to him.)