The Cage Saga: A Criticism

[hunter]

So, yeah, go nuts. Give me the ups, the downs, the ratings. Your general thoughts about the one year long saga that is finally complete. I'll give you a general overview right here, and then you go nuts:

Prologue: Cage, brother of Hunter, is mercilessly beaten by said brother post-Ragnarok. Cage is sent to a hospital and his condition (as reported by Hunter) is "paralyzation."

Chapter 1: Hunter receives strange messages from a stranger stalker. This stalker is never seen in full form, but his deadliness is evident.

Chapter 2: Hunter is kidnapped by said stalker, and once his good friend the Senator arrives to save the day, it is revealed that this stalker had never existed. In fact, Hunter is schizophrenic and he had imagined the stalker. He learned from himself that Cage is dead, and he was the cause of it. He is sad.

Chapter 3: Memories of Cage come flowing back a few months later, and Hunter becomes very angry and takes it out on those around him. Near the finale of Seven Deadly Sins, Hunter is arrested for murder, as the police were finally able to collect the proper amount of evidence.

Chapter 4: Hunter sits in jail until he learns that he is not the killer, and instead someone had pulled the plug on Cage. This apparent killer surfaces in the form of Victor "Latino" Laureano. The man confesses, and the two fight for freedom in the prison, until Hunter is the last man standing.

Chapter 5: Latino says that he is NOT the killer, and that he was hired by someone to say so. He got money, Hunter got more confusion...and his freedom.

Chapter 6: A few months later, Hunter once again receives letters and the like from the apparent real killer of Cage. Hunter refuses to play the sociopath's mindgames, and so he does not search for him. But at the finale of Winter Discontent, Hunter is kidnapped by the killer. Forced to attempt to kill him with a gun, Hunter struggles with himself and attempts to figure out whether or not he should kill the man. He throws the gun away...and steps on a remote that launches a pillar from the ceiling and impales the killer into the wall.

Epilogue: The killer's mask is removed, and it is Cage. Cage had faked his death for Hunter to become a true human being and realize how much he needed Cage. Cage did not expect Hunter to actually kill him. At this moment, there is a powerful silence, Cage says something to Hunter, and he dies without another word. Hunter is sad (obviously), but life goes on.

So give me feedback. And who knows? Maybe I'll start another year long saga.

[Latino]

I'm not really sure what to say other than it was extrememly well done. You should be proud of it.

[Jack Jefferson]

Yeah, the storyline (or what I have seen of it) was inspired. Well done

[hunter]

Someone give me negatives, damn it. It wasn't perfect.

CRITICIZE OR ELSE!!!

[scrawn]

Ok, negatives.

*cracks knuckles*

lol just kidding. But here are what I thought were a little poor (I don't like using that word, but at this moment my vocabulary level just shrunk).

One is that there were 8 chapters, including the start and the end. I think that there was too much time for these 8 chapters (for example I forgot of the stalking chapter until you reminded me). Perhaps the saga narrowed down into about 6-9 months would have been better.

My second point is that there were far too many twists and turns. First he's (Cage) paraletic (sp), then dead and Hunter's the killer, then dead and Latino's the killer, then dead and neither are the killers, then Cage is alive and well, and not even paralysed, which raises questions to why Hunter was arrested for murder in the first place.

Finally, the death, whilst brutal, it's anti-climatic and has been used before (Ridley at 7DS04). I'm sure it's just coincidance but I found the death a little odd, however I like how you've done it as an accident, and also inadvertedly done the Double Jeapordy idea that I said, in which Hunter cannot be charged for Cage's murder on the account that he's been charged for that murder before.

Overall great saga, one of the best works done in ACW. Those are the only things that came to mind (and you don't even have to worry about the third point, as it's just opinionated and you of all people will know I'm a very opinionated person). Good job.

[The Senator]

I thought that the whole death thing was actually referencing the Ridley incident with its similaritiy...

[Latino]

I just got an idea that relates to the Cage Saga. Hunter IM me so we can talk about it.

[hunter]

For the length, WD, I completely agree.

For the twists, it's because the first time it was supposed to end. Then I decided to start it up again and I wanted to do a few more twists. Plus, twists own anyway.

As for the Ridley-esque death, the original plan was for me to shoot him, but RDK thought that it was too similar to the Valmont idea. And then I did the impalement and only later realized it was similar to the Ridley situation. So that was indeed a coincidence.

As for the double jeapordy thing, I thought that would be a great way to explain everything when you told me that. I knew what I would do, just didn't know how to explain it.