Chapter Forty-Four: Wicked Couture
Last time on Modelland, we delved into the BellaDonna’s past and learned that Ci~L is the BellaDonna’s daughter. Ci~L is currently in shock about the revelation, which Creamy taunts her over. Ci~L remarks on how the baby in the flashback had green eyes, but the BellaDonna explains that it’s common for babies born with blue or grey eyes to have their eyes turn green.
Hmm, let me research that…
Ci~L confronts the BellaDonna about how she abandoned her. The BellaDonna blames Creamy, tearing into Creamy about how Creamy was jealous that the BellaDonna had love. The BellaDonna claims that Creamy only carries around her doll Bellissima because she wants something, anything, to have control over.
The BellaDonna snatches Bellissima from Creamy, who immediately tries to take back her doll. Persimmon tries to stop the two, but Creamy shoves the Mannecant away.
Then a scream rings out. Bellissima goes flying, Tookie feels droplets of something on her face, then…
Creamy and the BellaDonna huddled together for a moment, as though locked in an intimate embrace.
…lesbian undertones!
But then Tookie saw a sharp, shiny metal object piercing her mother’s gut and protruding clear through her back. The two women were skewered together with a spike from the BellaDonna’s dress.
Reading that, it comes across as if somehow the BellaDonna had impaled Creamy and herself on one of her spikes, but the rest of the text makes it clear that only Creamy got stabbed. Well, now we know why the BellaDonna went for the spiky dress.
Tookie rushes to her mother’s side, calling her “M-Mommy”. Creamy comments on this, then asks Tookie for one thing:
“Tookie, get…me…my…Bellissima…”
Chapter Forty-Five: La Camara Brutta
Then Guru Gunnero storms in, accompanied by six Bestostero guards. He scolds the BellaDonna for taking so long, only noticing that she’s lying on the floor in a pool of blood afterwards. The BellaDonna tells Gunnero that it was “an accident”, but Persimmon denies this and says that the BellaDonna intentionally impaled Creamy. Persimmon walks out of the room, resentment clear on her face. The BellaDonna appeals to Tookie, but Tookie isn’t sure what to say.
The BellaDonna had chosen Tookie to come to Modelland, after all. But Tookie knew it hadn’t been for the right reasons. She knew that danger still lurked somewhere. She just wasn’t sure where, or in what form.
Wait, I thought that the implication was that the BellaDonna replaced Myrracle on the list of new students with Tookie just to get back at Creamy. What gives any indication that there’s some other dark, sinister reason that Tookie was chosen to go to Modelland?
Tookie, not sure if the BellaDonna really did accidentally stab her mother, refuses to side with the BellaDonna. Gunnero grabs the BellaDonna and drags her out of the room by her stilettos.
The scene briefly changes to the 7Seven stadium, where Gunnero announces that the 7Seven Tournament and Modelland are shutting down. Then our dahling narrator tells us just how bad this really is:
Oh, this was a heavy day, dahling. In the history of Modelland—in the history of the world, I daresay—this was one of the most disastrous, devastating, disheartening days ever.
We get told about how hospitals end up filled with people who had fainted from the news and how fashion designers fall into depression, with many throwing themselves off of buildings. Dear goodness, this world is screwed up. The factories of Metopia close up, leading to the Factory Dependents rioting and stealing the goods they had produced. There’s vandalism and fires everywhere.
Think about how you’d feel, dahling. Think about if someone suffocated you, strangled you, cut off your nose, held you underwater, for that is how the globe’s population felt.
Guru Gunnero’s announcement had cut off the world’s oxygen supply, and they were desperately gulping for air.
I’m not sure what’s scarier: the world of Nineteen Eighty-Four or the world of Modelland. It’s almost as if the entire world is brainwashed to be completely obsessed with fashion to the point of insanity. It’s like Modelland is a massive Reaper, and upon its departure, the indoctrinated slaves are left to simply waste away and die off.
And now we return to Modelland, where Persimmon is leading Tookie down a corridor like a massive organ to a door that reads “La Camara Brutta”. Tookie realizes that this room is where she first saw Ci~L attacking herself, and Persimmon explains that this is the Ugly Room, for those who have committed the worst offenses. She sprays Tookie with Anti-Repugnancy Spritz so Tookie doesn’t suffer from the Ugly Room’s effects, which causes every surface in the room to reflect the most horrifying version of the person within. Tookie expresses her sympathy for Persimmon just before Ci~L arrives. As Persimmon sprays Ci~L, the Mannecant tells Ci~L how Ci~L being born was the day her own life ended. Tookie assures Ci~L that neither she nor Persimmon are to blame for everything that happened.
The door opens. Tookie and Ci~L enter the depths of the Ugly Room, where they find the BellaDonna and Creamy.
[The Belladonna’s] body faced a wall of mirrors, which reflected not the lovely woman they had just seen in the flesh for the first time, but a pockmarked, scaly-skinned beast. She had entrails for hair, a twisted tree root for a nose, and millipedes for eyelashes.
The BellaDonna is unable to look away from her reflection, since she is restrained and her eyes are kept open with metal clamps. Creamy doesn’t look much different, though she’s in a cot with medical equipment hooked up to her. Tookie asks if her mother is going to die. Ci~L says that Creamy might survive, but even if she does, she’ll likely remain in the Ugly Room for the rest of her life for invading Modelland after being banned. Tookie looks at her mother, thinking about how little she really knew about Creamy, just how much of a horrible person she was, and how Creamy never told Tookie anything about her past. Tookie tells her mother that she loves her and that all she wanted was for Creamy to love her back. Meanwhile, Ci~L tells the BellaDonna about her friends and how she had to leave them when she was chosen to go to Modelland. Tookie asks what happened to make Creamy hate her, and Ci~L asks if the BellaDonna ever wanted her back in her life. Tookie tells Creamy that she’s special now even if Creamy doesn’t think so, and Ci~L tells the BellaDonna that she would have preferred being banished rather than returning to Modelland.
Then the BellaDonna breaks free of her restraint and looks to Ci~L, telling Ci~L that Gunnero wanted to kill Ci~L for her transgression and that she wanted to make sure she could watch over Ci~L. She expresses her eternal regret over choosing her beauty over Ci~L and warns Ci~L that Gunnero will execute her if she doesn’t reform.
“When I had you, I looked into your gray eyes and the first thing I said was, I see love. And Ci~L, every time I see you, even right now, I see love. That’s how I named you. Ci~L…see love.”
This would be much better if we had actually seen the BellaDonna say “I see love” in the flashback. I don’t think I need to point out how stupid “Ci~L = see love” is.
Ci~L embraces the BellaDonna…until Gunnero storms in accompanied by guards. He orders “Body Girl” to come along, telling her “you must pay for who you are and what the hell you have become.” Tookie takes one last look at her mother before chasing after Ci~L.
Now, knowing this book, does anyone actually think that the payoff of this little conflict is going to be anything but stupid?
Chapter Forty-Six: With Perfect Execution
Modelland is in chaos as Gunnero’s guards drag Ci~L along by her hair. ZhenZhen tries to stop them, but is pushed out of the way by Gunnero. Tookie follows them into the M building, knowing that her magical Forgetta-Girl powers allow her to manuever through the building conveniently without being seen.
Gunnero brings Ci~L before the Bored, who are all clearly distressed. Ci~L tries to appease the Bored, but Gunnero cuts her off and pulls her over to a crystal guillotine. Tookie realizes that they’re going to execute Ci~L. Ci~L tells them to hurry up, and the blade drops.
When the blade hits her neck, red liquid spills out and covers Ci~L’s body. A crown appears on her head, followed by the red liquid transforming into a red cape. The Bored all start applauding, “To the new BellaDonna!”
…yeah, they appoint new BellaDonnas with a guillotine. Why the hell does that happen?
Ci~L thinks it’s all a joke, but as the Bored points out, Ci~L is the BellaDonna’s daughter and thus royalty. Gunnero tries to get Ci~L to decline, but she cuts him off, tells him to stop calling her “Body Girl”, and accepts the position of BellaDonna.
Everyone cheers. Including Tookie, because she’s an idiot. The guards seize her. Ci~L asks what Tookie is doing in the M building, snarling about how she’s capable of taking care of herself. And then we get this:
Oh my God! Ci~L has turned into a demon again! Where can I run? Tookie thought, panicked.
Ci~L spun around and eyed Gunnero and the guards. “Release her immediately. I will punish her myself.”
Gunnero smirked, pleased.
The guards dropped Tookie’s arms and Ci~L said, “Psych! Tookie, I was totally kidding. I was spooky, huh? Like before, when I was crazy, but I’m not crazy now but I feel crazy cuz I’m the frickin’ BellaDonna. I’m so nervous and now I’m sweating again. You know how I sweat. Augh! Come here, girl!” And then Ci~L wrapped Tookie in a big hug.
…why did you have to remind me of that moronic plot arc, Modelland?
Ci~L tells Gunnero that he won’t ever be allowed to harm Tookie, or he “can kiss [her] big fat Princess BellaDonna ass!” She even orders Gunnero to kiss Tookie’s feet, which he reluctantly does.
And Tookie had to admit it felt pretty damn good.
And Tookie remains a jerk up until the end.
Well, it’s not quite the end. We’ve still got the last chapter and the epilogue to finish off, followed by a quick look at the acknowledgements and my final thoughts on Modelland. So stay tuned for the series finale of Lily Sporks Modelland!
lilyWhite on 12 June 2013, 16:57 said:
Oh, I’m stupid. Yes, that’s true. I forgot to confirm that…
Brendan Rizzo on 12 June 2013, 18:30 said:
Oh, the plot holes are increasing…
I thought Bellissima was Myrracle’s doll. If it’s really Creamy’s, then that makes her childish.
And what I really want to know us why Gunnero launched a coup and appointed Ci~L the new BellaDonna? Why is her mother being sent to the Ugly Room? Did Tyra accidentally delete the scene where she explains this?
And I just realized that all conflict in the story is gone. This is supposed to be a trilogy, right?
Maxie on 13 June 2013, 09:06 said:
I still can’t follow what’s going on with this story.
Is that really how the story ends? All of the problems more or less wrapping themselves up with minimal intervention by the protagonist?
(She did get them into the memory room, but everything else was done by Creamy and the BellaDonna; and none of this should have been a surprise to the people who were involved because they were there, which means that really that climactic scene only explained the backstory to Tookie — it didn’t trigger the final confrontation).
Are we supposed to be OK with the whole “locking two women up and psychologically torturing them into insanity for the rest of their lives? Because that sounds disproportionate to me; yeah, they did bad things, but the BellaDonna at least never actually killed anyone, right?
What happens to the crumbling society? Tookie and her friends obviously have to go back out there since Modelland is no more.
If Modelland has been destroyed, what is the rest of the trilogy conceivably going to be about??
lilyWhite on 13 June 2013, 11:41 said:
This is Modelland. Do you honestly expect a plot line to be given adequate closure?
Though to be fair, the last chapter amazingly does resolve a plot line in this book…just not a very interesting or important one. The epilogue doesn’t add all that much except to make the ending slightly more confusing and hanging-y.
Maxie on 13 June 2013, 13:59 said:
I guess what she was trying to do is leave loose ends open for the trilogy. One thing I find annoying about the whole trilogy mentality is that notion that it’s OK for book 1 to have an unsatisfying or bewildering conclusion because you’ll totally wrap it up in the next installment.
For one, it’s a little presumptuous to assume that the reader will even buy the next book, and for two it encourages sloppy plotting because the author can convince themselves that they’ll fix it “later”.
I think it’s OK to leave some plot threads dangling, but the book as a whole should still tell a good story by itself, even if the reader doesn’t buy the next one.
Molly on 20 May 2017, 01:23 said:
As far as I am aware, ‘What the hell you have become’ is not how you use ‘the hell’ (I was under the impression that it had to be a question). It’s almost like Tyra learned how to use the phrase from The Voyage Home.