Agamemnon

I re-read Agamemnon, the first part of the Oresteia by Aeschylus.
We read Medea and Antigone for the same class. And I think Agamemnon isn't really doing the same thing. Both of those were arguments, clashes of opposing principles. You could really get stuck in on both sides of the argument. And it was an argument, right up until terrible things happened and a lot of people died.
This one... it's heavy on the imagery, the yoke/net/gag and the wild/restrained animals. There's a lot of blood and steel and bronze. Swords and armour and red. There's a heavy sense of foreboding and a mounting atmosphere of horror. It goes full on trying to creep you out. But... if there are opposing principles here I can't see them. Possibly 'you shouldn't kill your daughter' vs 'you shouldn't kill your husband'. But it's just blood soaked vengeance all over.
Plus a bit of a shout out early on and then an ending that's entirely 'you wait til Orestes gets home'.
Which again doesn't so much wrap up the story the way the other two wrapped. It's the first part of a trilogy, whereas the others were more self contained.
So this one isn't doing the same thing as the other two.

I quite liked Clytemnestra. Er, I probably can't spell that. But anyway, he killed her daughter so she killed him. I can see that. It's that or let him come back to be boss of her and everyone, after what he did. But then she was sneaky about it and only got the chance to do it because she promised she was a good sweet loving faithful wife and all that, so I can see how that's rather a problem too.

I'm not impressed with Aegisthus. He struts up on the last page and says he planned it all? On your bike, mate, we believe not a word of it.

I did have a sudden terrible vision of David Tennant in full on bouncy 10 mode doing the speech. I think it's because the fourth word is 'brilliant'. It goes
"Oh what a brilliant day it is for vengeance! Now I can say once more there are gods in heaven avenging men, blazing down on all the crimes of earth."
See, it's happy and bouncy!
... and blood soaked and all about how this guy's dad made this other guy's dad eat his own children.
So it's a bit of 10 mixed in with a bit of Spike being perky about squirrels making more squirrels.

Actors and casting and that can completely change your impression of a speech. I mean, if it's Brian Blessed, it's a whole different speech, and if it's Patrick Stewart it's another whole different speech, and... you know?

I don't know who would be Clytaemnestra.

... suddenly I'm seeing Dru.

"Let them howl - they're impotent. You and I have power now. We will set the house in order once for all."

... Spike and Dru do the forehead leaning happy murderers face and turn and go inside...

because I can't remember if I wrote this down yet

Kiss Kiss Bang Bang fixed a continuity issue that came up as soon as we learned what Jack's wrist strap can do. Because he was trapped in a spaceship with a bomb and a teleport. Which doesn't look very trapped. But when t'other vortex manipulator did travelling there was time for a couple of sentences and some movement. Therefore he couldn't get out before the bomb go boom.

That's probably kind of obvious.

But unless I write it down I'll keep on realising it, sort of thing.

Eumenides

I sort of read Libation Bearers. I got bored. He's all 'I'll kill her I'll kill her I'll kill her' for a few hundred lines, then has one line of 'wait, can't kill my mother!' and then his friend has *one* line that says 'go on, you can, god says so' and then he's all '... okay *stab*'. So it's a bit annoying and boring. Possibly I missed the point but it were hiding well if so.

Eumenides... that's a whole lot of awesome, wrapped around a really poisonous bit of garbage. The bit where they decide killing your mother doesn't count because you're only really descended from your father and your mother just kind of stood there and podded you out? Poison. Backed up by Athena. Because, you see, she was made by a god without a goddess, and no goddess could make anyone without a god. *shudders and seethes* It's probably useless feeling rage about legal doctrine from that long ago, but seriously, grr!
The Furies though... they are awesome. A right horror story.
And the whole thing, the trilogy and this play, it's about traditional blood vengeance being replaced by juries and law courts, which is of the good. Generations of killing kin for them having killed kin, replaced by a few people dropping votes in urns. If they'd found a reason for letting him off that I could actually stomach I'd just love it.
... he said his mother did two murders cause she killed her husband and his father. That's... no. And poor Cassandra! She only got killed a few hundred pages ago right next to him, but nobody cares. To be fair, she's not kin, which is what the central issue is here.
Furies didn't punish killing husbands because husbands weren't blood kin.
So then there's law saying mothers aren't either.
That's... well, classic two wrongs don't make a right territory, all the way.
The Furies are dead scary though. They're vampires! They'll suck your blood cause you spilled blood-kin-blood already. Awesome. Wicked scary language too.
And then at the end the solution is pretty excellent too. And actually has me tempted to rewrite this as a Doctor Who story. Yes, I know, my brain is a weird weird place - but the whole thing ends with inviting the scary things in for tea and giving them new clothes and promising to look after them now. That's a good ending that is.
Also it says in the notes they get put in charge of cursing people for perjury. Instead of kin slaying. Which is a fascinating change of emphasis.
Plus Athens has a total Vader effect going on now. The scary things are on their side! See that, neighbours? Yes. Athens be scariest now.

So basically Aeschylus rocks, ancient greek gender politics is nasty, and I totally want to play with vampires who punish murderers now.