#TMA 164 The Sick Village

[kat-and-their-cats]

Favourite Episode Masterlist

[flashliiqhts]

I really liked this episode. Allegories are cool.

[themagnustournament]

Round Two Part Four - Match 27

I simply think it's very funny that Sebastian Skinner was fully oblivious to the fact that Nikola was trying to skin(ner) him. The Sick Village had 143 votes in Round One.

MAG 087 - The Uncanny Valley | Spotify - Acast - YT |  | Transcript

Statement of Sebastian Skinner regarding a plumbing job at a compound in Gwydir forest.

MAG 164 - The Sick Village | Spotify - Acast - YT | Wiki | Transcript

Statement of an outbreak. Audio recording by the Archivist, in situ.

[ruler-of-turtle-kind]

"You were there a long time, doing y-your guidebook" That was a good line XD

Poor Daisy.

[fractal-voidling]

MAG164 - #########-4 │ The Sick Village

I love how the corruption is both figurative and literal

I love how being a dramatic bxtch is still an essential aspect of John's powers

post-apocalyptic Google 💀

oh hi, Helen!

at least someone's having fun

Helen ships it

[ominoustaperecordernoises]

TMA Bracket- Jonny Sims writes about pandemics around Covid-19 challenge

[finalpam8000]

I just finished The Magnus Archives for the first time last week! And thought it might be fun to compile the episodes that scared me the most and see which ones spooked the rest of the fandom as well!

[lycanlovingvampyre]

MAG 164 Relisten

Activity on my first listen: cutting the Kolkwitzia amabilis in my garden

Oh yeah, how about that, TMA is a funny little horror podcast which has been written during totally normal times, but then it coincidentally releases its apocalypse season at the start of a pandemic and one of its earliest episodes it called "The Sick Village"... Great comedy!

Love the ducks!

The first time around I had a bit of trouble following this statement. I missed a lot of the deeper meaning. The second time I caught a looot more of the underlying theme of a corrupt society and I now like it very very much!

"They brought it here, they whisper to each other in the unnamed pub, hunched and bloated over their pale and stinking beers, lifting their masks to take a mouthful, puce faces and frightened sneers exposed for just a moment." Yeah.. Xenophobia is very common on the countryside...

"And people do still come to the village, for however thick the paranoia, however terrible the disease, there are worse things beyond. They are stopped, of course. Beaten and stripped and checked head to toe for any sign of infection. The village council sees to that. Most are uncontaminated, though that does little to save them, while others are already laced right through with fungus of their own. A few are spared brutality, and treated with such cordial politeness you must have thought their inquisitors old friends. Though there seems on the surface no rhyme to such decisions, were you to look below their coats, you might see the patterns of their mold were matched." I love how this is a Corruption domain, in its easiest form the fear of disease. But also corruption of heart and mind.

"Foremost in their denials are the village council, those loud and hardy souls who have taken it upon themselves to police this place, to safeguard their traditions and denounce the infection that is the right and proper punishment of those who would allow the village borders to be breached, and their ancient way of life to be compromised." Oh boy, oh boy... 

"Head of the council is Jillian Smith. Her father’s father’s father’s father’s father built the maypole, carved from a jackalberry tree and painted in the colors of the village. This place is her home and her right and her duty, and woe to any fungus-riddled outsider who might believe it otherwise." That is quite the statement, isn't it?

"By night, she sits in the quiet darkness of her perfect cottage, peeling herself with a straight razor, layer by layer, desperate to reach the pure flesh she is so sure must still be in there, somewhere." Aint that something...

"What Mrs Kim is, is scared. Scared of her neighbors, scared of her friends, scared of the moment when someone will smell the spreading patch of darkness on her back, and decide she is infected, or remember she has only been in the village since her grandfather’s day, and judge her to be an outsider." If they want to get rid of you, they'll find a way...

"As the flames consume the last of Mrs Kim in thick and acrid smoke, the mold reaches the bones of Jillian Smith, and she blooms. In a moment she is swollen, bloated, bursting into a cloud of violet spores that envelop the green and those who dwell there, embracing them in a rot that long since seeped into the soil of this blighted land." Ahhh, and I like the aesthetics of this part! Also, all of these above have been my favorite parts of the statement!

JON: "We’re not infected, Martin" Yeah, that's exactly what THEY would say! (Understandable, Martin has not seen enough of the Eyepocalypse yet to register they’re pretty much safe out there)

JON: "I don’t – Ask me a question! One I can’t possibly know already." MARTIN: "O-kay… (step) What’s my middle name?" [THE ARCHIVIST HMS. HIS STATIC BEGINS TO RISE.] JON: "(!) Y– You don’t have one!” MARTIN: (impressed) "Whoa." JON: "You – I actually believed you!" [THE STATIC STARTS TO FADE.] MARTIN: (overlapping) "Oh – S-Sorry; sorry, I just, I just wanted to try it out-" JON: (overlapping) “That’s ridiculous,” I thought, “That’s not a real name, but he wouldn’t lie to me.” MARTIN: (caught red-handed) "Okay – okay, okay, okay." Martin and his many lies xD And yet again Martin’s middle name is something we never learn what it actually was! (My favorite K middle names are Kettle, Knife and Potassium.)

JON: "Oh, Daisy, I’m sorry." Yeah same T________T

JON: "I’m – I’m not – sure. I can’t really see Melanie, or, or Georgie." I think this was only the moment it clicked and I thought "ooohhh, those things about not being able to feel fear and divorcing the Eye were actually relevant for a greater something!!"

JON: "But I can feel him in there." MARTIN: "Hm. That sounds… gross." JON: "It is." And it only makes me hate Elias even more!

MARTIN: "Are we safe, traveling like this?" JON: "Yes. (brief pause) Yes, sort of, we’re – (exhale) I don’t know how to phrase it, we’re – something between a pilgrim and a moth." Reaaaaally pushing the moth aesthetic in this season? But also, that does mean Jon feels drawn to the panopticon, right? Like a moth to the flame... (How fitting, since it will be the place he dies/status unknown)

MARTIN: "Oh! Um, uh, who was – um, uh – phone!" OMG, it took me sooo long to get that! At first I thought it was just a well acted way of not knowing the right words in that moment, because the brain worked faster than the mouth... Actually, do we know if this was deliberate or just an accident?

Post-apocalyptic Google! I love Jon's S5 nicknames!

JON: "Whoa. Um. I-If the fears are removed, y,yes, but they c-can’t be destroyed while there are still people to fear them, th-then they can’t be banished back to the space where they came from; it,it’s not – there anymore, I, – Oh, uh –" Ah yes, this is already exactly describing what to do about the Fears. Remove them, push them somewhere else. Also that they will die when all their food has died. Also Jon's "Oh, uh -" at the end sounds so much like he's about to black-out. Followed by a fluffy JonMartin moment^^

HELEN: "Oh! I thought you’d know everything by this point." JON: "Yes, I suppose I do." Ohh, the way both these lines are delivered, so good xD That mockery/amusement.

HELEN: "Don’t mistake complication for falsehood, dear Archivist. And remember, that knowledge is not the same thing as understanding!" Twisting Deceit is such a good name for the Spiral/Distortion. Cause you never know if Helen says something that is true or if she is just bending the facts a bit.

HELEN: "To say hello! And check up on the happy couple." [SHE LAUGHS AGAIN.] HELEN: "I always knew you crazy kids would make it work." [THE ARCHIVIST SIGHS AS SHE SPEAKS.] MARTIN: "Thanks." JON: "Martin." I can understand why Martin acts so friendly towards Helen. He has only known Michael as hostile. Being trapped in its corridors for two weeks probably didn't leave the best impression, but Helen is very much not Michael. If Martin ever interacted with her, it was during Jon's coma and Helen was very much playing that part of the friendly door-wife who is helping them. Jon has seen a lot more of the Distortion and has seen, how sadistic Helen was at the end and what Helen is willing to do if things could be in danger to not go her way.

HELEN: "Much as I am delighted by this brave new world in which we find ourselves, I can take no credit for it. This was all – you!" Oh fuck you, Helen!

JON: "You could have – (inhale, reigning in) You knew what was happening." HELEN: "I suspected. But all I really did was refuse to help! And that is hardly a unique quality." [ANOTHER SIGH FROM THE ARCHIVIST AT HER WORDS.] HELEN: "If that makes it my fault, then surely this is Georgie’s fault as well, and Melanie’s –" There's a difference in people, who know what's going on, not helping and people, who don't know what's going on, not helping. There is also the factor of the nature of these people's relationship and the potential need of self-protection.

MARTIN: "So, no shortcuts then. (sigh) Understood. (to John) I’m not leaving you on your own." HELEN: "Oh! Such devotion. (to Jon) You really don’t deserve it. But of course – you know that already!" [SHE LAUGHS.] Oh FUCK YOU, Helen! (A lot of her lines took a bit of time to actually seep into me and notice how hurtful they are. But I was also in binge-mode, so processing took some time...)

HELEN: "Just taking a moment to look. You two are just such an adorable couple –" JON: "Enough." [HELEN OPENS HER DOOR.] HELEN: "See you soon!" [WE HEAR HER FOOTSTEPS AS SHE WALKS INTO HER CORRIDORS. THE DOOR SWINGS SHUT BEHIND HER. THE ARCHIVIST SIGHS YET AGAIN.] MARTIN: (a bit sing-song) "Maybe she’s right!" JON: "I am not, nor have I ever been, 'adorable.'" MARTIN: (pfft) "Okay, not true. But I actually meant the whole – being friends thing?" Comedic relief and fluff is just so essential for this season, otherwise it would be a bit too dark to bear it sometimes.

@a-mag-a-day

[hellenic-whore]

Something I think people underestimate about the corruption is that with all the insects,rot and decay-

Although revolting,people underestimate the simple power that an illness has to make one afraid.

Think of the cholera outbreaks in 1854, especially in London,the bubonic plague in both the Byzantine empire and broader Europe,or just smallpox anywhere.

What people forget about the corruption is that an illness can come upon anyone

Sure,now we might have better ways of curing illness,the trappings of disease, but think back to Spring of 2020.

Who wasn't afraid that they'd get sick?

COVID made- makes us into monsters just as sickly and vile as those in the sick village of TMA 164.

[murderandcoffee]

I am proud to say that few tma episodes elicit a real, visceral reaction in me

with that said, 157 rotten core and 164 sick village fuck me up every time I listen to them

[kat-and-their-cats]

TMA Favourite Episode Polls

Poll challenge to work out the favourite episode from each season and finally the overall show, episodes will be separated into groups of 10 chronologically, the winner from each of these polls will then be put into a season poll, then the winner from each of those will be put into a favourite overall episode poll. Everyday a new poll will be released and be open for one week, after all of the episode polls, then the season polls until the final for favourite episode.

Final Poll : MAG 34: Anatomy Class

SEASON 1 : MAG 34: Anatomy Class

1-10 : MAG 2: Do Not Open

11-20 : MAG 15: Lost Johns' Cave

21-30 : MAG 26: A Distortion

31-40 : MAG 34: Anatomy Class

SEASON 2: MAG 65: Binary

41-50 : MAG 42: Grifter's Bone

51-60 : MAG 57: Personal Space

61-70 : MAG 65: Binary

71-80 : MAG 80: The Librarian

SEASON 3 : MAG 111: Family Business

81-90 : MAG 81: A Guest for Mr. Spider

91-100 : MAG 97: We All Ignore The Pit

101-110 : MAG 101: Another Twist

111-120 : MAG 111: Family Business

SEASON 4 : MAG 160: The Eye Opens

121-130 : MAG 126: Sculptor's Tools

131-140 : MAG 132: Entombed

141-150 : MAG 150: Cul-De-Sac

151-160 : MAG 160: The Eye Opens

SEASON 5 : MAG 177: Wonderland

161-170 : MAG 164: The Sick Village/MAG 168: Roots

171-180 : MAG 177: Wonderland

181-190 : MAG 187: Checking Out

191-200 : MAG 200: Last Words

[chocolatey-umbreon]

TMA Season 5 Live Blog

Episode 164 - Sick Village

Damn Okay. This provides a much clearer understanding of what the Corruption is. I really really like these deep dives into each fear. I honestly didn’t give much thought to the Corruption because I didn’t dig more than my superficial understanding of it as just fear of sickness and filth. I remember that statement about a guy’s father in law who desperately tried to get rid of a fungus in his house but never could. That one did show the actual terror and fear of the Corruption and not just like the disgust part of the situation that I mostly associated with it.

The description on this episode goes even further on that, obviously, and even gets to this idea I hadn’t thought about with the purity and the preservation of the village. I’m not very clever when it comes to literary analysis and I haven’t really sat down to reflect on the Fears more than what I can gather while listening. So now that I hear it, it seems obvious, but I hadn’t considered this less literal part of the Corruption, for it to be also fear of the outsider. Just like illness coming from something foreign to the body and making its way inside until it takes over and destroys what once seemed pure, of course the corruption also applies to the fear of people or even concepts that infiltrate your apparently beautiful, clean, and perfect community to rot and consume it from inside.

On a big scale it’s clearly like when a fascist empire designate the unwanted people to exterminate and use propaganda to make people fear them and hate them and it’s easy to go “oh yeah that’s not me, I wouldn’t be a fascist emperor, I am alright with immigration, etc.” but the fear of what’s foreign and apparently disgusting or impure is something that everyone has and everyone has to take steps to overcome all the time. Even with like. your own thoughts. The fear of not only your body but also your own mind being wrong while you’re sure it didn’t use to be like that, and now you fear that you’re tainted, an irredeemable monster. The part about the villagers fearing that they themselves are not only corrupted but the outsiders to their community, the harbingers of corruption is also really cool.

It’s all very exciting I love being given this opportunity to explore each fear with both greater depth and greater scope. (By the way I’m not intending these post to like.. actually break down everything the episode is saying because the episode is right there saying everything much better so why bother. These posts are just me rambling whatever comes to mind while typing.)

Okay now about the next part.

I had to pause it because Martin asking Jon questions and him having all the answers made me uneasy for some reason. I mean. It’s like. I’m scared of what he’s going to say, I’m scared that he’s going to say something scary lol as stupid as that sounds. I assume Jon can’t be sure what Melanie and Georgie are up to because Melanie took her eyes out and Georgie has that immunity to fear.

This makes me wonder. What does Elias know about Georgie? He was watching Jon while he stayed with her in her house so he must have realized that he couldn’t watch her. And I guess he could have figured out her story once Jon knew it, because he could see into Jon’s mind. If he was looking for it. And if I were someone who wants to be the omnipotent omniscient ruler of the world and knew there was someone immune to me then I would be looking for it. But then has he done anything about it? Will he?

“A post apocalyptic google” I love him.

Also damn they dare give me that little smile right before punching me with the question “Can we turn the world back?”

Okay more more rambling but

I feel so Powerless in my rational head when I try to understand why but. Just thinking about Jon and Martin. About them loving each other right here right now and knowing it and being together. Fills me with this overwhelming bittersweetness I can’t put into words and the second I think about it I break down sobbing. Helen being all cute about it is funny and I was kind of chucking but it turned into crying immediately and I just can’t rationalize what’s going on. So I’ll just. leave it at this.

Anyway I love Helen I want them to be friends.

[themagnustournament]

Redemption Round 3 - Match 14

Strange Music comes to us with 160 votes from RR2, and is facing off against The Sick Village, with 116 Redemption votes so far!

MAG 024 - Strange Music | Spotify - Acast - YT | Wiki | Transcript

Statement of Leanne Denikin, regarding an antique calliope organ she possessed briefly in August 2004.

MAG 164 - The Sick Village | Spotify - Acast - YT | Wiki | Transcript

Statement of an outbreak. Audio recording by the Archivist, in situ.

[dathen]

TMA 164 liveblog dump

Spoilers under the cut!

WELL THAT SURE ISN'T A FOREBODING NAME I almost gotta laugh at how terribly these themes lined up, RIP rusty quill

"Beaujester Real" returns for the patreon thanks slfkjsdf still a legend

oh I hate this! I hate this!

oh I’m getting that hefty Brexit commentary through the metaphor BUT ITS NOT EVEN A METAPHOR ANYMORE

holy xenophobia batman

“they dress in blue and red and white, sometimes splashed with crimson red” convenient this works for both our countries   god I thought this would hit hardest on plague level but nope the real horror is MAGA/Brexit all along

KEJDJJFJDNFIFIND MARTINS MIDDLE NAME OH GOD THAT “YOU THINK MARTIN IS MY REAL NAME” SHITPOST WAS RIGHT IM HOWLING

(also east asian martin hc GO GO)

JON STOPPING HIS OMNISCIENCE DEMONSTRATION TO RANT IN BETRAYAL I’M CRYING I LOVE THEM

“I believed you! That’s ridiculous, I thought; that’s not a real name, but you wouldn’t LIE to me—“ I CANT STOP LAUGHINF STOP THIS EMOTIONAL WHIPLASH AFTER WORST STATEMENT

Basira is alive and moving!! looking for Daisy!! DAISY IS OUT THERE!!!!!!!!

“Daisy, I’m sorry—“   ;A;  “She thinks she’s going to kill Daisy, like she promised, but she’s conflicted”  ;;A;;  ;;A;; this isn’t emotional whiplash this is emotional blender

I’m genuinely surprised bc I thought of all of them, Basira would be the most likely to be trapped in something, I AM SO RELIEVED

can’t see melanie or georgie!! the fic theories are right!! the fear immunity!!

Jon having the Panipticon’s power is both sexy and horrifying in implications

“we are something between a pilgrim and a moth”  MOTH JON MOTH JON MOTH JON!!!!!

ANNABELLE CANE WAS CALLING MARTIN I KNEW IT WAS THE WEB I KNEW IT WAS THE FUCKING WEB I’m glad they didn’t keep us in suspense for that one long

all those “Martin’s been web all along” theories just got demolished, he couldn’t have refused to pick up a call from her if he was on their side, but I doubt that will stop the theories

I bet the reason why jon can’t see annabelle is the same reason he can’t think about the web lighter

I am literally shaking from now cute jon and martin are, martin’s little “ah!” when jon admits he guessed something rather than Knowing it

“I’m starting to get a bit self conscious, being your post-apocalyptic google~” THE WAY HE SAYS THIS IS SO CUTE SO FUCKING CUTE CUTE JON NATION CUTE JON IS THE TRUTH

also I love Jon hinting that he wants to stop soon and martin agreeing and asking for one more, like I love that even for not Hard Boundaries they feel comfortable saying when they’re wearing down on something and know the other will respect it

MARTIN GOING SOFT SO FAST WHEN JON HURTS HIMSELF WITH THE KNOWING AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

oh boy oh boy I can’t wait to post screenshots of the times Jon rushed to calm Martin down with  “hey, hey, hey, it’s okay—“ next to screenshots of martin’s “hey, hey, it’s okay, we’ll go slow for a while”

I can just picture Martin curling around Jon and tucking Jon’s head under his chin as he says this Jon muttering his weak little “alright” into Martin’s chest bblvlbllrbrbrlrbrbrlrbrr

yesssss Jon calling out the Distortion pretending to be Helen Herself as a lie I KNEW IT AND WILL INCLUDE THIS IN MY ESSAY

BRLGKRJGHLRKFBRKR “THE HAPPY COUPLE” oh my god I remember when we were fantasizing about how “more explicit relationship” would happen in s5 and “what if a villain taunts them about how cute they are together” was one THIS SEASON REALLY IS GIVING US EVERYTHING

helen: I always knew you crazy kids would make it work ^_____^ martin, warily: thanks. THIS IS REAL DIALOGUE?? THIS IS REAL????????   

also it is just like the Distortion to actively sabotage Jon’s attempt to save Martin and laugh at him in his desperation, only to turn around and act chummy like a gossipy old friend placing bets on their relationship 

HERE IT COMES HERE COMES OTHER PEOPLE BLAMING JON FOR THE APOCALYPSE RAGE TIME RAGE TIME fandom better not pull any bullshit

but of course the Distortion would try to paralyze Jon with mind games and guilt and make sure he doesn’t undo the fun new world 

Martin I’m sorry but you suggesting Helen might be able to help is the lowest brain cell thing you’ve ever said. She literally just smelled the world loudly and called it a wonderland. 

Martin, to the beating heart of the apocalypse: Jon honey darling don’t be rude Martin, to the manifestation of a fear power exulting in a dead world: Excuse me what you just said is rude to me 

Martin: So...no shortcuts then. Understood. I’m not leaving you on your own. Helen: *gasp* Such devotion! BGNBBTBRHGLGJKTLGKTBGBBEHGBGBTBBTBFB ARE YOU KIDDINGNGNG NGNG MEEEE 

I don’t trust her at all but can we PLEASE have helen trail along behind them the whole journey commenting on all their cute couple moments?? frodo and sam need a gollum after all 

“Such devotion! You really don’t deserve it. But you know that already!” Jon.... ;;A;;  ;;A;; god helen really is out to crush the humanity out of him with despair so he gives it up, going right for the jugular of not deserving Martin’s love 

“Just taking a moment to look. You two are such an adorable couple!” jonny: I spent the whole hiatus creating this sign titled “Martin and Jon are in love and a couple and it’s wonderful” I hope you enjoy being beaten over the head with it ^_^ 

Jon, venomously: I am NOT nor have I EVER BEEN adorable!! Martin: Okay, first of all, not true. JFJFJFJJFJDNDFJJFJF MARTIN THINKS JON IS ADORABLE MARTIN IS PRESIDENT OF CUTE JON NATION AND HE’S RIGHT not about helen (wtf martin) BUT ABOUT CUTE JON?? correct as FUCK  

Jon, adorably: I’m not CUTE I’m DEADLY   

someone PLEASE sound clip jon denying that he’s adorable there are tears in my eyes I love him so much I’m going full cat parent 

I am so glad Mir introduced me to the phrase “cute aggression” because I got it bad and it is suffocating I gotta go punch a WALL is that why helen is running around killing people?? cause of too much cute aggression over jonmartin???  

[miskapestek]

I'm incapable of drawing currently relevant fanart because I always take forever to do anything. Here's an illustration to a random past episode instead.