Netflix's Devil May Cry, Vergil, and Characterization

The Darkslayer has seen better days.

        So, Netflix's Devil May Cry has officially launched it's second season. It is a joyous day... you'd think so, at least. But, this show has a bit of a reputation - and not a particularly good one. The first season changed a lot of the things fans of the original source material grew to love and appreciate, while adding an unnecessary political edge that was extraordinarily ill fitting if you knew anything about the actual series the show was adapting. More egregious than even that, though, at least to me, was the show's mischaracterization of the most basic aspects of some of the most iconic characters in gaming, period. Dante has none of the things that make him a compelling character, focusing solely on the "fun" aspects of his personality with none of the substance that lies underneath throughout the games' stories. The Rabbit is an amalgamation of several characters who have far more interesting roles in their stories, both on an interpersonal and thematic level, who's plan and motivation is unfortunately sullied by the show's murky attempt at a half-baked political message. And Lady.... Lady speaks for herself with how wildly she was changed, and any fan of the games will tell you so. She goes from a one-woman army to a literal member of the army, again for the sake of the show's dumb political messaging. That, and she has a proclivity for swearing that was entirely made up for the show, making it feel like they wanted to make a far more "edgy" version of the character that feels juvenile and falls completely flat on its face. There are other grievances one could list about that first season - despite its animation being done by Studio Mir of X-Men 97 fame, whenever there's CG onscreen it looks flat and incredibly boring. The soundtrack, despite featuring music I enjoy, is not contextualized well in the actual text and features a needle drop of a classic DMC tune (Devil Trigger) that isn't even associated with any character in the Netflix series. So, when that season ended with a tease of what was to come - a full season dealing with this show's adaptation of the story of Vergil - most fans collectively groaned, sighed, and awaited the inevitable mishandling of this iconic character. A year later, and here we are. The show's second season has come, gone, and with it an entire arc for this beloved character to undergo. However... it wasn't exactly the arc anyone expected, or wanted, for him.

    A core component with Netflix May Cry (NMC for short) is that, well, it doesn't understand the source material its adapting. Like, I've already laid out the three offenders from the first season, and this show's version of Lady is so out-there and divorced from the games' version most people I know view them as entirely separate characters. Like, that's not Lady, that's Mary. But, this runs deeper than characterization. The Netflix show doesn't even really understand the most basic theme of the series - that humanity is what gives the Sons of Sparda their power, and the more they embrace their humanity the stronger they become. Every single character in the game series exists to add to this theme, whether by being an example (such as Nero, Lady herself, or Trish) or by being a foil to that ideal (like Arkham, Credo, and of course, Vergil). It's not even a very complex theme, but basic themes make for complex and interesting characters to surround them - and the core cast of DMC is so rich and nuanced, even while being pizza-eating hooligans or summoning a doppelgänger to dance with them, that they can easily carry a narrative with substance. Get rid of those themes, but keep the characters that occupy them, and you start to find problems - unless you fundamentally change those characters at their base level. Enter: Vergil. Vergil... Vergil... Vergil. There were a couple ways they could've introduced him into the Netflix show's canon, and they chose some of the worst options I have ever seen - to the point where I don't think they understood Vergil as he was in the games, and only figured his characterization through things like memes, his moveset, and a select few quotes that they don't understand the purpose behind. So, I want to quickly go into who Vergil is properly and understand him, because he's not even that complex of a character when you break him down to his core components.

Would I have your life... and you mine?

    Vergil is introduced to the player initially as Nelo Angelo in the first Devil May Cry game, but really his introduction proper began in Devil May Cry 3. It was here where players were met with an iconic performance by Dan Southworth (who, rumor has it, recorded the game while under the effects of a cold), and an insanely interesting moveset to both fight against and play as eventually with the games Special Edition. However, Vergil in a narrative sense adds to that games themes of duality, family, and of course humanity, through his unique philosophy. "Might controls everything, and without strength you cannot protect anything - let alone yourself". Vergil's worldview is simple - power is everything, and he needs more of it at any cost. That is... quite literally it. Every action he takes as a character is informed by this, and his ultimate downfall at the end of DMC3 is because he wasn't powerful enough (which was due to, ironically, his detachment from humanity, whereas Dante had accepted both halves of himself and therefore was powerful enough to defeat his brother). With his reintroduction into the narrative in DMCV, he enters in an extremely powerless state, takes away Nero's unique form of power (wow, themes!), and separates himself into two halves - a human who immediately regretted the decision to split himself, and a demon solely concerned with a lust for more power. This search for power costs many innocent lives, something his human half is not unaware of and works to offset in supplemental material to the game. So, why? Why would someone go to such lengths to gain power when he's already more than powerful enough to dispatch pretty much any demon he came across? It's a simple answer, really - he wasn't strong enough on the day his mother died in his eyes, so he works to make sure a day like that never happens again. This video by King J. Grim goes into more explicit detail and gives more examples than I'm going to for the sake of brevity and getting to the point, but all of that is the core nexus of Vergil. He is ruled by a trauma he can't let go of, and that manifests in a never-ending quest for power. This does nothing but add to the themes present in the series, gives Dante a compelling antagonist to overcome, gives players a unique interesting character with a deeper substance that first appears to get attached to, and overall just all comes together to create one of the most iconic video game antagonists - and characters - of all time. So... how did they fuck it up?

    Vergil in Netflix May Cry is... well, they certainly tried to give him his interesting traits, but it all falls so flat. There's the obvious existing problem that carries over from the series' first season, that these characters can't win a fight to save their lives unless its against mooks they would literally never lose against - but that's chump change. It does make the notion that Vergil could take on Mundus (who him and Dante used to defeat the big bad, Argosax... because they themselves could not on their own) questionable in the logic of the show, but like I said this is more a problem with the show as a whole and not so much a unique thing that affects Vergil's characterization. Hell, if you thought Dante lost a lot in season one, I do not think he wins a single fight in the entire season, even against mooks. The issues with Vergil's deeper characterization begin almost immediately, with him being a willing servant under Mundus. For those not in the know, Vergil in the games was mind-controlled by Mundus and otherwise absolutely despises him - which makes the notion he'd even entertain working for him willingly laughable at best. But here we are, and the season opens with Vergil as Mundus's right hand - in fact, Mundus is Vergil's mentor now. While still responsible for the death of Eva and the torture of Vergil like in the DMC3 prequel manga, he now frames the death on Argosax so Vergil's vengeance will be pointed solely at him and he can mold Vergil into the warrior Mundus needs. What's baffling about this is that they keep the lore of Sparda defying Mundus, which just makes Vergil look like an absolute idiot. He really never thought that someone with a vendetta against his father would kill his mother? It's honestly insulting to Vergil's character. He's rash and quick to action, not a moron who can't put two and two together. And when he does find out the truth (through a contrived exposition demon, who I'm far more upset about than I should be) the viewer is supposed to be on the edge of their seat as Mundus starts to sweet talk him again. Will he keep being with Mundus? The guy who murdered his mother and essentially groomed him into a version of himself that he never had to be? Thankfully, the show says "no, Vergil will defy Mundus" but I was fully convinced he was going to go back to the guy upon my initial watch. It is, overall, such a misunderstanding of what Nelo Angelo means as a remnant of Vergil's past by making it an act of grooming as opposed to just fully being brainwashed. I'm not here to argue one is worse than the other, but the lingering trauma from his time as Nelo Angelo is fully explored in the games and I just don't think the show will ever go in that direction. Both because the show is uninterested in deep character exploration that doesn't fit into a political narrative, and because it's heavily implied a lack of control is what gave him his trauma in the first place. Making Vergil even a little bit autonomous misses the point greatly, I can understand what they were going for in regards to fleshing out a backstory in the world they had already created but it all just caves in on itself upon the slightest bit of further exploration. Speaking of...

The brothers of blood disagree on the very reason of their existence, and I don't give a shit.

       So, they changed Dante and Vergil's backstory. The changes are slight, but they do nothing but make me and probably a lot of other fans very upset. Firstly, there's the issue of Dante being characterized as naturally better than Vergil at most things. This... adds nothing to their dynamic, and in fact makes Vergil look way weaker as an opposing force. By making Dante the prodigy, they deny Vergil a very simple way that he antagonizes his brother - by simply being better. It's a feeling every little sibling can relate to (I know I can), and it makes Vergil fit that role of an obstacle way sweeter. When you're constantly getting upstaged by your bigger sibling, it's only natural to resent them a little (or a lot, in Dante's case) and aspire to take them down a peg. The show neglects to even give their dynamic this - despite constantly curbstomping Dante in the present (which are the few fights Vergil is allowed to win), a primary motivation for Vergil is that he was the one who had to catch up to Dante in terms of power. You might think this is a good thing - setting up his lust for power early on, and solidifying it with the death of his mother. Right? Well, after the third episode, power stops becoming a motivation for Vergil's actions entirely, so you can't even argue it adds anything in that aspect. Put a pin in that, actually. Having Vergil seek power because he was a little bitch in childhood just rings hollow to me - it's no where near as compelling as being unable to save his mother. In fact, when the subject of their mother on that night is brought up, he only blames Dante for being unable to save her. Shouldn't that be the other way around? In the show's canon it makes sense, I suppose. It does nothing to make Vergil feel cool, though. Which this series has a real problem with - the original conceit of Devil May Cry, from it's very inception, was to create an action series where the characters could be cool without resorting to being edgy in any way. Lady in this series already shits all over that philosophy, but there's a truth hidden away in that mindset as well - sincerity. The characters of Devil May Cry are cool because they think they're cool, and they do what they think will be cool. In turn, they are simply cool - something entirely untrue of NMC. There's a good reason that most characterization for DMC is subtext - when you have characters whinging about their past in the middle of a fight, even if they have a history, they sound childish and bratty. Any time Vergil goes on to Dante, Mundus, or whoever about how he was the weak sibling, or about how his mother was killed, it all rings hollow because he sounds like whining coward. That is not Vergil. Vergil should be someone characterized in dialogue by efficiency - he does not say something unless it is absolutely necessary. He can get angry, he can even be wrong (he is an antagonist, so it only makes sense for him to go through those things anyway) but he'll never go on about his trauma willingly. That's why the scene in DMCV where he thinks back on his childhood is so striking - it is entirely unlike him and that's meant to show that he's grown as a character. And, when the same words are said by Netflix's version of the character, they ring incredibly hollow. He was already conflicted about his past, for nearly his entire runtime as a character. We didn't need him saying "the thing" from "the video game" to get the point across. We know how he feels, you've made it abundantly clear. All this is in service of a Dante the first season barely bothered making interesting, mind you. And Vergil can't even say he adds to the political edge the show wore in its first outing, since the messaging in the second season is clearly less interested in making a point about refugees and war displacing innocent people now. So, what was the point of having him around if they never understood his character and his relationship with Dante is so half-baked?

    The unfortunate reality is that Vergil is too big of a character to escape any Devil May Cry project. Where DMC goes, he follows, same as Dante, Nero, and Lady. Hell, I was surprised to not see a post-credits scene teasing Nero in the hypothetical third season of this show. As of writing it has not been greenlit for a third outing, and I really hope it stays that way. This Vergil we got in this show, it feels like they got from skimming his wiki articles and the general pop culture surrounding him. Things like Bury the Light, the chair meme, "I am that storm" - these are the things the show is interested in doing. But, while these are things surrounding Vergil, they are not what Vergil is. Which should be an obvious sentiment, but here we are and the end product left me writing an entire blog about why it pissed me off to no end. When you write a character solely based on iconography without giving a rats ass about the deeper complexities that come with the narrative, you get a shallow, shallow story. Substance is what makes a narrative interesting, which I find funny because the best DMC stories understand this and have their iconic moments while also having a deep substance that runs throughout. This is a pale imitation of the great stories that came before - well, okay, maybe not DMC2 (since the season takes a lot of cues from that game for the worse in my opinion) but definitely DMC3 and 5. Remember that pin I mentioned? I'm pulling it now. Vergil past his first fight with Dante feels like a plot device, just moving forward in the story aimlessly until the final two episodes where he gets at least something to do. Those things happen to be getting his obvious backstory fed to him by the exposition demon and nearly siding with Mundus despite knowing he killed Eva, but they are things. All this, and I haven't even mentioned the extraordinarily dumb decision to make Sparda an absentee father. That decision forgoes one of the most prominent conflicts in the proper series (humanity vs demonic heritage), but with the way this series worked out with its political allegories I'm honestly glad they didn't even bother trying. I did not need to see Vergil conflicted not because he thinks humans are weak, but because he was fed prejudicial propaganda from his youth. As a quick note, I should mention that Robbie Daymond did his best with the material he was given. The voice actors in this show truly do give it their all, despite getting very subpar stories to work within. I know he'll never be Dan Southworth, but if there's one plus to how different their voices sound its that I can more easily differentiate between the good Vergil and the bad Vergil. I hope I've effectively laid out what Vergil is and isn't throughout this, and exactly why the version in the show did not do anything for me aside from piss me off. That's all for now, hmmmbye!

- SKYE