HtSiE:tN Chapter Six: There's Money…
by Patrick
Edwin plots, schemes a
nd
puts up with Topper.
How to Succeed in Evil
Published: March 24, 2009
Filed Under: Audio Novel
Edwin plots, schemes a
nd
puts up with Topper.
Ah now, this looks to be an interesting take. Your descriptions of the environments have been much better fleshed out in this version, I like a well set scene
However, this Edwin 3.0 is defiantly a very different beast from any of the previous Edwin incarnations.
To put it bluntly he talks too much :p
I liked the original Edwin because you got the sense that he was a noble anti-hero pushed into supposed “villainy” by an irrational world, a fact that he privately morns. This new Edwin seems to be a bit of a prick to start with.
For example, Edwin now derives most of his earnings apparently from a percentage of the evil doings, this seems to me to have obvious issues of liability that a smart character like Edwin would have foreseen. Also it means that Edwin’s motives for his eventual turn to villainy are less noble then they were in the original, where its almost for our own good that Edwin seeks to bring rational action to an irrational world and only then after suffering the personal loss of Edna has made it clear to him that its the right thing to do.
He also seems to have lost the confidence of his own intelligence, particularly in that he seems to have felt the need to go on about his feeling of being unappreciated with Topper.
I really loved the line in Cheep labour part 1 where Edwin thinks to himself ‘If in a conversation you should find yourself cut off by strangers and aliens you may be silent for a while’.
In fact maybe that’s it, Edwin 1.0′s inner monologue gave us a fantastic narration of the events around him without him projecting his own shortcomings and flaws onto these happenings.
I wonder that perhaps something crucial to the character has been lost in the initial translation to the comic because of that mediums lack of persistent narration.
By telling us too much about what and how Edwin is thinking so much of the mystic and mystery of the man is lost and we louse our connection with him.
He’s almost as much a victim of the environment as is Topper, a silent Edwin who arrives at his conclusions with apparent abruptness exudes intelligence, when we work through his thoughts with him we end up seeing ‘that they were nothing at all’.
I’m sorry to bring these concerns up perhaps prematurely and I certainly DO NOT WANT YOU TO STOP
Perhaps I deserve to get flamed over this, which I would accept if others feel differently.
But I hope I have read you properly and the point of these current round of podcasts is as an editing and feedback device.
Thank you Patrick for your wonderful series, I look forward to more Succeed in Evil podcasts from you, moocher that I am.
Well, you don’t deserve to get flamed, that’s for sure. I welcome all feedback.
I think your critique is valid. But one of the problems with the original podcasts is that Edwin was invincible and unchanging — he wasn’t really human. It was hard to put him in a spot. Edwin changed because Edwin wanted to. And that’s no good for drama.
>Also it means that Edwin’s motives for his eventual turn to villainy are less noble then they were in the original, where its almost for our own good that Edwin seeks to bring rational action to an irrational world and only then after suffering the personal loss of Edna has made it clear to him that its the right thing to do.
Ah, I disagree (but then I know where the story is going, muhahahahahaha) First, how exactly did you think Edwin made his living? He is a person not bound by conventional morallity, but who is bound by his own idea of right and wrong. And, at this point in the tale, he doesn’t think it’s right to inflict his morality on another.
>He also seems to have lost the confidence of his own intelligence, particularly in that he seems to have felt the need to go on about his feeling of being unappreciated with Topper.
That’s lifted directly from the second episode. I think you may be reading to much into all of this. Give it a little time GOD. I can’t make the world in six days here. Let the story unfold a bit more and we’ll see if you have the same concerns.
Thanks for the thoughtful commentary.
God which part of my ego convinced me that people wouldn’t associate my username with the christian god? :p
Probably the same part that called Edwin 1.0 a moral agent, though be it of the irritating self important objectivist kind.
Will our resident Austrian take us someplace warm in this book, or is that the next one?
Cheers
I don’t know what is wrong with the feed I am subscribed to but for some reason This chapter (and everything after it.) Isn’t being picked up by my podcatcher.
It is the RSSPlayer Iphone App. I will try and re-subscribe but I know that will make me miss some episodes.