You know, going through the whole plot again with this context in mind, I can’t help but think The Ringmaster either wasn’t very good at his job. Or that a lot of his moves were pulled specifically to spite Burke.
Don’t get me wrong, he made two very competent assets — Echo and The Captain — but after ten years of prep and a ground game set for him by Burke he failed to recruit McBell, exposed and lost Platt, lost three ‘generals’, lost one of his moles, his office and then himself in the space of what, a month or two?
Even if Echo carries on the work — and I don’t think she will — ‘useless’ seems an apt descriptor.
general gist of the last few pages is that the whole Shadow Circus incident was a result of the Mayor and Ringmaster playing a sort of game against one another. The mayor is the only surviving contestant so to speak, and as such is trying to use the power vacuum to his advantage. It’s not working that well but he probably has some evil plan cooking.
It would have been funny if Burke had gotten voted out of office for some mundane reason while Gilborn was still doing his ten years of prep work.
(Honestly, I suspect the narrative got backed into a corner where there was never going to be a satisfying way to explain why the Shadow Circus took ten full years to build up its forces. If so, giving a brief pseudo-explanation and then moving on as quickly as possible is probably the right move.)
Honestly, it could still be a fitting end. Burke just… Loses the next election and gets fired. Double points if it’s because the Shadow Circus and the police militarization ends up tanking his approval ratings.
And *then* all the scandals come out and Burke gets a pie in the face and launched into jail in an oversized comedy confetti cannon, like a human cannonball.
You know, going through the whole plot again with this context in mind, I can’t help but think The Ringmaster either wasn’t very good at his job. Or that a lot of his moves were pulled specifically to spite Burke.
Don’t get me wrong, he made two very competent assets — Echo and The Captain — but after ten years of prep and a ground game set for him by Burke he failed to recruit McBell, exposed and lost Platt, lost three ‘generals’, lost one of his moles, his office and then himself in the space of what, a month or two?
Even if Echo carries on the work — and I don’t think she will — ‘useless’ seems an apt descriptor.
I assume that name means you are a fan of Kill 6 Billion Demons?
I think it’s actually a reference to Ursula Vernon’s “Digger”.
It’s both, actually (plus a third one)! Nicely spotted both of you.
I think it was more like five months, but yeah.
I officially have no idea what’s going on anymore
general gist of the last few pages is that the whole Shadow Circus incident was a result of the Mayor and Ringmaster playing a sort of game against one another. The mayor is the only surviving contestant so to speak, and as such is trying to use the power vacuum to his advantage. It’s not working that well but he probably has some evil plan cooking.
It would have been funny if Burke had gotten voted out of office for some mundane reason while Gilborn was still doing his ten years of prep work.
(Honestly, I suspect the narrative got backed into a corner where there was never going to be a satisfying way to explain why the Shadow Circus took ten full years to build up its forces. If so, giving a brief pseudo-explanation and then moving on as quickly as possible is probably the right move.)
Also, I really like Burke’s fantasies about himself. A+, no notes.
Honestly, it could still be a fitting end. Burke just… Loses the next election and gets fired. Double points if it’s because the Shadow Circus and the police militarization ends up tanking his approval ratings.
And *then* all the scandals come out and Burke gets a pie in the face and launched into jail in an oversized comedy confetti cannon, like a human cannonball.
Alt text:
Gus spent ten years preparing then lost after a few months because he wanted big muscles. Burke was confident but jeez
This is much too close for comfort, tbh…
Gus really didn’t have a whole lot, it seems.