Swordsticks in Carmen Sandiego

 I blogged recently about the Netflix series Carmen Sandiego, which I have been watching eagerly with Wolfie. We absolutely love it. I also love how it mixes old and new tropes. One of them is the sword cane, or swordstick, as it is also called. It is used by one of the villains (well of course), an snobby upperclass Brit (well of course). I blogged in August last year about swordsticks, because I love them as signature weapons. As not so many people use canes anymore, unless they are elderly, it is not very much featured in modern fiction, so I was glad to see it make a come back in a animated series. Sword canes mix danger and elegance, often with a heavy dose of deceit. Sometimes, little details like this make you enjoy a work of fiction more.

Carmen Sandiego

 Oh the thing I rediscover since I am the father of a young boy. I am kind of late in the news, but Netflix made a TV series called Carmen Sandiego, based on the character at the core of the old educational video game series. I played the game in the 90s, when I was a teenager, mostly at a friend's place, on his computer, but also at school, when it was used so we would learn English. It hadn't really made a big impression on me. Maybe because I was not keen on games with blatant educational purposes? I remember the gameshow as well, which I thought was kind of nice, but a bit young for me. It was more something my little brothers watched. But anyway, out of curiosity, I checked the animated series on Netflix last Saturday, with Wolfie, and we got hooked right away. Now Carmen Sandiego switched from antagonist to protagonist and even hero, but she still operates outside the law and it's a neat little caper with a nice old fashioned aesthetic and a few surprisingly dark moments. The villains are true villains, not mere pantomimes. The educational aspect is still there, but it's been integrated to the plot and characters seamlessly. So Wolfie and I are enjoying it a lot. I'm also glad I can make him discover crime fiction.