A good reveal can be the high point of a story, but a bad reveal can ruin everything. The reveal is a delicate art, and that’s what we’re talking about today. We each discuss some of our favorite and least favorite reveals, in the hopes that some knowledge can be gained from them. How important is surprise? What about foreshadowing? Is it more important that your reveal shock the audience or that it make sense with the rest of the story? Listen to find out!
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A show that had a good reveal for me was The Good Place.
I totally disagree about the Snape reveal. I thought it was very well done. It fully showed how Snape’s character was conflicted. He never did care about Harry but he did care about Lily. Thats why he was so cruel to him. It’s akin to Catelyn loathing Jon Snow because he was a bastard child of her husband. As for the early scene where Snape was dangled by James and his friends, it makes sense that would make Snape mad at Lily. She was supposed to be his friend but she was hanging out with a punk bully and his friends who had humliate him probably on a daily basis. On top of that, he was just made to look like a weakling in front of her. A lot of people would be resentful in that situation. And she really didn’t put up too much of a fight to help him neither. I really thought Snape’s backstory and arc was done very well.
The Harry horcrux reveal wasn’t mind blowing to me and I thought it a bit on the meh side because like the other podcaster, we knew it was going to go down as life or death for Harry anyways. However, the Snape reveal, that was very well done. And well received. When I went to multiple Harry Potter parties for the 7th book, that was all everybody talked about.
Lily stood up for Snape, but then he called her a Mudblood and said he didn’t need her help. Then when he tried to apologize, Lily told him that he called everyone except her Mudbloods, so it didn’t matter that he cared only about calling her that. Snape abused a child as young as 11 for years because of something his father did that he never knew about. He became Neville’s literal worse nightmare and tried to kill his toad in a class.
If Lily hadn’t died, Snape would still be a Death Eater. He obsesses over her for years even when she is married and not interested. His reveal does not make up for everything he did.
I don’t think Snape’s reveal made up for everything he did. I looked over my comments and nothing said or implied that. I was responding to the podcast that said they didn’t see it as a big reveal and it was. I mentioned that Lily part cuz they said they didn’t see any connection between them and there was.
He did treat Harry horribly for something Harry had no control over, same as a woman who hates her stepkid or a child born out of wedlock. It still is a sorry thing to do. Again, I don’t see why you point this out for I didn’t refute this at all in my comments. His reveal wasn’t supposed to show he’s some awesome guy, nor did I say it did. Rather it shines a light on him and Dumbledore, so we see what was truly going on. Most people were portrayed with good and bad aspects, from Harry’s parents to Malfoy’s. I still think it was well done and after going to quite a few Harry Potter parties with adults and children, I’m not alone.
Here’s the thing to me, can you be a total jerk [email protected]@hole and still be a hero a la Snape? Or can you be a great, wonderful guy and still do something pretty cruddy, a la Dumbledore, who has Snape commit murder?
The Reaver reveal in Firefly…I feel like it would have been so much better if it actually played out in the series. And whatever they were leading up to for Book.
The Sixth Sense was also a freaking amazing twist reveal, but I was also 10yo when it came out, so the obvious clues sailed over my head.
Bioshock. “Would you kindly” takes on a whole new meaning. Speaking of video games. Sheik being Zelda in Ocarina of Time. Silent Hill 2’s guilt-ridden protagonist.
Here are some books that handle reveals very well:
The Candymakers
The Mysterious Benedict Society
Prelude to Foundation
The best reveals make sense with what has gone before. It’s nice if they come as a surprise, but the story should be entertaining with and without the knowledge.