In the first part of the sixth chapter of Making Money<\/i>, Moist succeeds and then fails and then succeeds again. Intrigued? Then it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s time for Mark to read Discworld.<\/i><\/p>\n
Trigger Warning: For brief mention of suicide.<\/b><\/p>\n
Y\u00e2\u20ac\u2122all, the punchline (kickline?) in this chapter involving Owlswick is seriously one of the funniest things in this whole damn series I CAN\u00e2\u20ac\u2122T GET OVER HOW HILARIOUS IT IS TO ME. And I know that sometimes, when you explain or dissect a joke, it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s often not that funny anymore. BUT LOOK AT THE SET-UP TO THIS PUNCHLINE. When Owlswick is mentioned, Pratchett gives us a very, very<\/i> specific view of him. He is a terrified criminal who doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t seem to understand that he did something criminal. And a great deal of Moist\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s plan to infiltrate the Tanty to get Owlswick out involves the fact that he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s the most terrified prisoner of all time. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s such a Moist-esque plan, too, since he loves using people\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s biases or prejudices against them. The guards are tough and powerful, so do they really<\/i> need to be all that tough around such a huge wimp like Owlswick? Bellyster is an even better example of this very same thing. Bellyster hates<\/i> the Watch, he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a terrible, terrible person, and so Moist, acting as some lowly Watch member, plays right into Bellyster\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s preconceived notions of who he is. He hides in plain sight because Bellyster can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t see anything but the warped version his biases makes him see. It is an absolutely expert con, y\u00e2\u20ac\u2122all, and I was so impressed with how Moist manipulated Bellyster into handing over a high profile prisoner, one about to be executed the next day, to someone who was 100% not in the watch.<\/p>\n
With all this prep, and with a firmly established character in Owlswick Jenkins, we get this:<\/p>\n
The deed was done, the law was observed, honor was satisfied, and Owlswick Jenkins\u00e2\u20ac\u201d<\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u201dlooked up sadly at Moist, kicked him hard in the groin, and went off down the street like a hare.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
Y\u00e2\u20ac\u2122all. No shackles. WHO IS RESPONSIBLE FOR THIS CORPUS. oh my god??? I cannot get over how fucking funny this is, y\u00e2\u20ac\u2122all. Moist, who can manipulate kings and bully wardens and rich people and Gilt and who loses because someone landed a good kick to his groin. THIS IS PEAK COMEDY, OKAY.\u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n
It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s through this wonderful, joke, though, that Pratchett then takes Making Money<\/i> in an all new direction, one that I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m still struggling to wrap my head around. There\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a lot of Moist sneaking around in the first half of this chapter. And for good reason! He just broke Owlswick out of prison, then immediately<\/i> lost him, and he also has to return the Watch outfit that he stole. He\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s got a fantastic reason not to get caught or raise suspicion. So, it made sense that Moist befriended the Igor that worked in the cellar with the Glooper. Here was a part of the bank that few people ever went in, and, as the book puts it:<\/p>\n
What he did not say, but what passed between them on the ether, was: You\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re an Igor, right? And when the mob are sharpening their sickles and trying to break down the door, the Igor is never there. Igors were the masters of the unobtrusive exit.\u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n
Oh, he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s so damn clever, y\u00e2\u20ac\u2122all. But he also knows people. That\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s how he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s been able to be such a successful con man, and that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s evident here, too. With just a little thought, he realizes that Owlswick went home<\/i>. He is exactly the sort of person who would do this after escaping from prison! He\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s also the sort of person who would threaten to kill himself with paint (paint!!!) and then not take the lid off said tube of paint.\u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n
But then\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 lord, y\u00e2\u20ac\u2122all. Moist makes an offer. Well, some sort of offer. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s not really on the page, but once Moist says this:<\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153That\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s why I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m going to tell you about angels,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d he said.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
I had to accept that Moist had offered the same<\/i> sort of deal to Owlswick. But\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 how??? That would involve faking Owlswick\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s execution! But the man is still with him? And Igor is making him look different? Who will be in Owlswick\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s place, y\u00e2\u20ac\u2122all? Eventually, they\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re gonna realize he isn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t in his cell and he isn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t in the palace, so WHAT IS IS MOIST PLANNING?\u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n
Wait, there\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s actually one last joke here I wanted to discuss briefly. After all of this, Moist discovers that Owlswick can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t create new things<\/i>. He\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s only good at copying things BECAUSE HE\u00e2\u20ac\u2122S A FORGER. This is ALSO Peak Comedy, friends, and I can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t believe I didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t even consider this. I just assumed his talent meant that he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d be just as good at creating something new. When that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s literally not what he does!!!!<\/p>\n
I just love how this book is one huge mess after another. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s so entertaining!<\/p>\n
https:\/\/youtu.be\/2T0i7yUttTA<\/p>\n
Mark Links Stuff<\/b><\/p>\n
– The paperback edition of my debut, ANGER IS A GIFT, is now up for pre-order!<\/a> It comes out on May 7, 2019.\u00c2\u00a0<\/strong>If you’d like to stay up-to-date on all announcements regarding my books, sign up for my newsletter<\/a>! DO IT.<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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