270: Merlin

Comic #270 (May 30, 2007) Next >

Merlin

Title text: I mean, the black-and-white stuff was running backward, but it hardly mattered to the story.

Explanation

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Memento is a movie telling the main parts of its story backwards, while a few black-and-white-scenes are straightforward. So when Merlin watches the movie, he sees nearly the whole story in its actual order.

Transcript

[Man and woman standing by a train]

Woman: I'm bad at goodbyes. At some level I never think they're for real.

Man: They make me think of T. H. White's Merlin.

Woman: Oh?

Man: He lived backwards, remembering the future and not the past. To him, final goodbyes meant nothing, while first hellos were tearful and bittersweet.

Woman: Huh - so over the years he'd forget all his friends.

Must've been lonely.

Man: Yeah. He ended up just sitting around at home watching DVDs all day. The best was the time he rented 'Memento'...

[Merlin is sitting in front of a couch, watching TV]

Merlin: Well, that was straightforward.

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Discussion

Immediately after watching Memento, I spliced it together in chronological order and watched it again. Definitely straightforward, and much more boring that way. Wotpsycho (talk) 02:48, 17 May 2013 (UTC)