Describe ''Trice Forgotten'' here…
Imagine you're the captain of a ship running low on supplies and have to dock on the small island of Kalitivu to restock. Then you find a nebbish stowaway from the island, desperate to get away. Then after turning him away, you find him about to be executed and find yourself unable to turn away, intervening and assaulting British soldiers to save him. So you have no choice but to bring him along, hoping that he can help you in your own plight...
Such is the plight of Alestes, Captain of the Netaoansom, forced to take on Siva, an aspiring cartographer, into her crew. Accompanying them is Baker, Alestes’ first mate/foster father, not to mention a number of other crewmates that join later on. What follows is a journey of escaping colonial oppression, confronting the past, and a found family coming together in the face of adversity. And queer pirates. Loooooooooads of queer pirates.
Despite sounding like Cowboy Bebop draped in the rainbow flag, the story is actually quite dark. The colonial aspects are played straight (complete with slavery and other oppressive elements), not to mention that abuse and heartbreak are prolific in the characters’ backstories. That said, the characters are charming and entertaining, so it’s not like everything is drowning in angst. As a character driven story, much of its meat comes from the interactions and dynamics of the main characters, who compliment and clash with each other as only family can.
The series is produced by Rusty Quill and can be found on their website.
There’s also a site where the transcripts of the episodes can be found. Currently Needs More Love.
Trice Forgotten contains examples of:
- Belligerent Sexual Tension: Anh and Alestes in the early years. Less so now, but Anh desperately wants that back.
- Book Ends: The first season begins and ends with a man singing a lullaby to a young Alestes as well as Baker bringing a dying Alestes to Doctor Elizabeth.
- Cast Full of Gay: Where to start? Alestes and Anh are sapphic ex-lovers, Baker has a former male lover of his own, Noor is non-binary and pining for Siva, and Inez is explicitly genderfluid. Really, of the named characters, only the two main villains lack any obvious queer elements.
- The Cat Came Back: Alestes thought she was done with Siva when he was voted from her ship. Guess who finds her in the market one scene later?
- Cliffhanger: Will Alestes live? Did Anh and Mary die at the governor’s mansion? What will happen to Kalitivu now that their governor and his staff are dead? Episode 10 answers none of these, leaving them open for a potential second season.
- Foreshadowing: Siva mentions an uprising in the first episode. Later, we learn that his Nani not only died in the uprising, but led it.
- Idiosyncratic Episode Naming: Each episode is named for a nautical term.
- Imperial Stormtrooper Marksmanship Academy: Despite the British soldiers being armed and trained, they can’t seem to hit Alestes as she rescues Siva.
- Kangaroo Court: The British Soldiers put Siva through this in the first episode. He would have been executed had Alestes not intervened.
- Memento MacGuffin: Alestes finds a plate in the market with ties to her late father. Gammon smashes it and she does… not take it well.
- The Reveal: Gammon, the pirate who raised Alestes, is secretly the governor of Kalitivu.
- "Shaggy Dog" Story: Someone sends Siva and Noor to bring them a stingray. It all comes to naught because the person who gave the request is highly misinformed about what a stingray actually is.
- Shout-Out: When Alestes kicks Siva off her ship and he asks where he’ll go…
- Alestes: Frankly, Siva, I don’t give a damn.
- Shown Their Work: Kalitivu is an actual island off the coast of India that was under British occupation for a time.
- Sick Episode: Alestes spends the entirety of Episode 6 unconscious with a fever.
- Taking the Bullet: Alestes for Siva.
- Treasure Hunt Episode: Episode 7 has the crew searching for Gammon’s treasure.
- Wham Episode: Ho boy, where do we begin on episode 9? First of all, not only do we learn that Siva’s Nani led the Fly Fishers and died in a rebellion that she led, but Gammon is secretly the governor of Kalitivu and avoiding the authorities under a false identity. Then Siva, reeling from all of this, stays with Gammon rather than get rescued by Alestes.
