Before the rising sun we fly
So many roads to choose
We start out walking and learn to run
And yes, we’ve just begun
So much of the first cour of Carole & Tuesday has been a whirlwind; without much thought, the girls came together, selected a manager (or rather gave in to Gus’ pushiness), and attempted various ways to gain fame. The last few episodes slowed things down, even as Mars’ Brightest hurled toward its finale. The girls are forced to look within themselves and to each other to decide what it is each really wants.
Angela, too, is finding herself. As she does so, she finds herself being more assertive where need be, primarily with her relationship with Tao; kinder to Katy, seeing her as a person rather than a servant; and more open to everyone. I’m eager to see if Angela’s arc is complete, as I fear it may be. It’s been interesting to see her slowly transform, generally seen more through looks and asides than by lengthy words or actions, and I would like to continue seeing her develop.
But the focus, of course, remains on the girls. They’re able to sing their song, despite breaking the rules and arriving late to the contest, and although they are runners-up, will be awarded with the opportunity to debut. Of that, they’re happy. But even if they didn’t receive the opportunity, vital steps are reached: Carole accepts her need for Tuesday and love for her despite jealousy and pain, and Tuesday grows in confidence and learns that she, too, needs Carole.
Alone for most of their lives, one literally orphaned and the other with a family consisting of members that either don’t care or haven’t cared enough, Carole and Tuesday now have each other (1). And together, now it’s up to them to make a “miracle” happen.
Sharing horizons that are new to us
Watching the signs along the way
Talking it over just the two of us
Working together day to day
Together
—
(1) I imagine it’s purposeful that Watanabe selected a Carpenters’ song for the last episode. They, too, were a duo. It’s also interested to note that they were brother and sister, a platonic relationship, as Carole and Tuesday’s has remained despite hints (or wishful thinking for some).
I´ve finished the second season a few days ago. I´ll confess it disappointed me: the aspect I liked the most was the suggested conflict between an industry ruled by artificiality and IAs, as well as ego, popularity and money, where nobody is happy the musicians end up destroyed by their own self-imposed isolation where nobody can enter (the most extreme case being, spoilers, Angela in her apartment, Demian, who interestantly argues that “music nowadays is poisonous” and sings an emblelished Miserere, but you have Flora, and the drunk musician at the beginning, Skip and Crystal, in a way, and arguabily Gus). The fall and rise of Ertegun shows the destiny that aways to this people once they hour of success ends, and IA -that is, manipulation- cannot change that forever.
The competition, with everybody going to the extreme of excentricity for the sake of originality and surprise effect, was a great counterpoint to the simplicity, the fun of music and the friendship of opposites which Carole and Tuesday embodied. And representing artificiality and IAs at their highest, Angela´s career was the most interesting aspect of the whole show, at least for me. I´ll confess I wanted to see them clash, and I think there was something unique to be said about our increasingly commercialized and computer-operated music and the long for individuality and human connection it evidences yet very often also blocks or even kills.
In comparison (spoilers again), musicians versus bad politicians seemed a much less interesting turn of events. Angela may be friends with Carole and Tuesday now, but as a musician she is still a child of the IA who has never composed a song. Carole and Tuesday are part of the guild now, but are still threatened by the very evils that devoured Flora and Demian: both success and failure are equally dreadful. Pyotr is still perpetually acting in front of his camera, and Ertegun is still controlled by his inner Ertegun (or maybe his two inner Erteguns). In the end, under the surface I feel the world of the show is a hellish, very broken world, so much that I would call it a distopy were it not so close to our own.
As you may have noticed by the lack of posts for the second cour, I never finished the series. I became convinced that Watanabe wasn’t going to be able to fully convey the themes he seemed to want to put forward.
Thank you for your thoughts on the second half and the series as whole—in fact, this comment would make for a good blog post about the series!
You think so? Well, that would be a honor. If you want, I can restructure this and/or the one from The Promised Neverland a little and send them as guest posts. I was not sure because English is not my native language and I was afraid it would show, but on second thoughts, I’d love to have a post here.
You have a very concise, analytical voice when writing, and convey your ideas with both clarity and finesse—I would love to post your thoughts! Yes, please send me a reworked version of either or both comments as you have time! beneath.the.tangles AT gmail. Thank you!