#malevolent meta

[samglyph]

Johns decision makes me so gggtrrrvrgrgrggrhrgahhggkgk cause like. Yeah. Of course. Of course he would choose to have Arthur forget. He doesn’t want to deal with the consequences of lying he doesn’t want to think about the time he spent in the dark world all he wants is for him and Arthur to be together and happy and safe that’s it’s that’s his new goal has been since episode 23 and he needs Arthur to trust him. He knows that Arthur can be vindictive he knows that Arthur doesn’t suffer monsters so he doesn’t want Arthur to remember that he regressed far more than what we saw at the farmhouse. But Arthur trusts John. Arthur knew he was lying, he knew he was hiding something because let’s be honest for being a fragment of a god of deceit Johns main techniques for lying mostly chalk up to changing the subject and yelling at the other person when they question him and Arthur is a goddamn detective Arthur knew he was lying just not about what and he would’ve been annoyed, sure, Arthur isn’t really known for being calm and collected, but they would’ve been fine.

But John doesn’t trust Arthur. He loves Arthur. But that’s not the same thing.

[sparrow-in-boots]

thinking back on ep31 cus. it's Arthur. it's All Arthur, and not entirely but it is. yes we get Larson referencing what his nightmare self said, and that speaks of Arthur being such a good read of character more than any supernatural chicanery.

when Larson says "John is gold. he's a gift.", that's Arthur's thoughts of him. John is deeply precious to him, a trusted friend and a miracle. a fracture of an unknowable deity from another dimension, that just so happened to meet the one person who could survive being bound to him, and show him the marvels and tribulations of human existence to him to boot. Arthur marvels at the situation, even if subconsciously, is even humbled by it.

but also, "nothing gold can stay." Arthur is, so so afraid of being alone. of losing another person, someone who he learned to care about and treasure. nobody he's ever cared about stays, or to put it in Arthur's mentality, survives knowing him. being loved by Arthur is a curse on both parties, and he's so deeply insecure and unsure of being Enough for John's sake. he's already failed Yellow and he knows it too, who's to say he won't fail John too, or worse, has ALREADY failed him and the shoe has yet to drop?

and when John begin to fade and falter, we can see Arthur retreat from him. mourning what he hasn't yet lost, trying to leave first before he's left and desperately reaching out to others to cope with that. seeing himself and his own mistakes in others like Oscar and Noel, trying to find redemption with Daniel, and seeking the life he had before John. desperate for a lost normalcy in case John is gone and he's left stranded like in the cabin in S3. he's on damage control mode before anything hits the fan, and it's soooooooo painful to see.

[goponylover]

Omg I just realized

Arthur is going to be questioning whether or not John's desperation to save him in Addison was actually out of care for him or because he knew if Arthur died, he'd go back to the Dark World.

😭😭😭😭

Arthur is going to be questioning everything now. He's going to wonder whether or not Jon's just been USING him this whole time!

[timstokerdidnothingwrong]

i think we can all agree that it’s not gonna be as simple as ‘arthur gets his daughter back, john and arthur get to live separately’ right? but what if it was? (well not quite but hear me out)

kayne has shown that he’s able to interact with faroe in other timelines, and also transport people (john and arthur atleast) between those timelines, but would he really be capable of creating a whole new faroe for arthur even if he is telling the truth? or of giving john his own body? i don’t think so.

i reckon that, for kayne to bring back faroe in the ‘middle c’ universe, he’d have to take her out of another timeline, which would cause all sorts of problems elswhere. (although tbh i wouldn’t put it past kayne. he doesn’t seem all that bothered as to what effects his actions have on other timelines). even if arthur got faroe back, would he just be forced to let her go/have her taken away from him because of some interdimentional reasons beyond his control?

also, what’s so special about the arthur in our timeline? i mean, kayne is most likely not even from the ‘middle c’ timeline, and the whole ‘darkthur’ thing shows he’s been following what’s been going on in the other timelines. who’s to say he’s not been making empty promises to every other arthur and john? AND IF HE HAS WHAT WOULD THAT MEAN (does he need the same thing from multiple timelines?? tbh i don’t think this point is particularly likely, but just putting it out there)

and as for john getting his own body - he wouldn’t be getting his own back. unless kayne is planning on reuniting him with the king in yellow, where the hell would he be getting that body from? would it be human? would it not? (OR HE COULD JUST PUT HIM IN PARKERS DEAD BODY SSJSJDJGJKFJGG)

the promises he made them are really vague which makes me think he’s definitely not giving them the full picture of the deal they’re making (i mean considering it’s kayne we’re talking about i guess that was a given but still).

also i get that, considering the threats that kayne has made, they don’t have much of a choice but to do what he’s told them to, but what about the repercussions of giving kayne what he wants? it’s clearly not gonna be anything good, and now i come to think of it we know next to nothing about his actual motives. so far he’s pretty much just showed up, killed people, and caused problems.

i’m gonna be real i wasn’t paying that much attention at this point in the episode so i can’t actually remember exactly what he wanted arthur and john to get, but considering the threats he made to make sure they didn’t have any option but to do what he wanted, it’s gotta be really important to him.

and tbh, i’ve got a feeling kayne is working for someone, or atleast being made to do this. he went to some pretty big lengths to prove to john and arthur not only how much power he had, but to make it clear what he was willing to do with that power. i don’t actually have much evidence to back this point up tbh but IVE GOT A FEELING ABOUT IT OK

and also why does he need arthur to do it? is it arthur specifically that he needs for whatever reason? i mean that would make sense, why else would kayne be forcing him to do it, and why else would he have gotten john to try and make arthur get that stone (was that what it was? again, i’m bad at following for the whole hour) in new york.

but has he made them do whatever it is because he knows something will happen? has he made all those promises to john and arthur knowing it won’t matter either way because they aren’t going to make it back?

tldr, even if kayne were to give john and arthur what he said he would, there’s no way it would be as simple as he says it is

(wow, didn’t expect this post to go on for so long, well done for reading if you got up to here, have an unrelated doodle i drew in my physics book below the cut and go drink some water or something)

(his name is jumbo!)

[go-to-the-mirror]

JOHN: Why did you want to leave her?

ARTHUR: It felt wrong, John. She was an amazing woman, I loved her, she was attractive, and-and kind, and… on all levels, we worked, but. She wasn’t the right woman for me, I…

JOHN: I don’t understand.

ARTHUR: I don’t know if I did either, I… I suppose it all just… fell into place without me realizing: the relationship, the child, the marriage… if you can call it that.

JOHN: You didn’t… love her?

ARTHUR: She deserved someone to love and she chose me. And… so I played the part until I couldn’t anymore.

(Part 33 - “The Father”)

Arthur saying that Bella was an amazing woman, attractive, kind, someone who theoretically he would have worked with feels a lot like what I (aromantic) have felt like when thinking that I had a crush on people. Also, the mention of attraction points to him being allosexual. His thought process feels a lot like “well, I’m attracted to her, and she’s nice, and I love/like/??? her, so… romance?”

This is pointed out in a previous episode, can’t remember which one, with I believe the King in Yellow calling Arthur and Bella’s relationship something along the lines of “falling in like”. I think that happened, probably.

And then with John, it’s like… love, yknow. Maybe. A lot less restricted, a lot less obligated, a lot less trapped by not wanting to hurt someone you care about and 1930s hetero and amatanormativity.

Anyway, I like John and Arthur’s relationship, I think, as an aro person, that’s really amazing to have a completely platonic relationship being given the main focus, and also the lack of romantic relationships? I just like it. Also, alloaro Arthur rights.

[yamikakyuu]

Thinking about Arthur Lester.

Thinking about how his parents were alcoholics. Thinking about how it's implied he was either one or very close after Faroe died. How he spent many nights at The Jack's Bar "pickling his liver" as he put it. Thinking about how Parker saw this and got Arthur to talk by offering to buy him drinks until it wasn't needed anymore.

Thinking about how Arthur’s parents killed themselves. Thinking about how Arthur wanted to kill himself after Faroe died. How he wanted to die but couldn't bring himself to inflict that pain on others.

Thinking about how Arthur's life in so many ways parallels his parents yet even though he fell into alcohol and deep depression he somehow managed to keep going. He could have given up so many times. But he says he never gives up not after his parents died, not after Faroe died.

He's flawed, he's made a ton of mistakes, he's endured so much.

But he has promises to keep...and miles to go before he sleeps.

[creed-of-cats]

Diversity is important in podcasts, but i think it makes a lot more sense for Arthur to be a white man then anything else.

Throughout the podcast, he has a sense of entitlement, and a black and white view of morality. They are stringent boundaries until his own hypocrisy is concerned. And yes, a lot of it is due to trauma and his guilt and self loathing.- but some of it sounds so ties into his viewpoint. A white british man from the 1930's, middle to high class, used to profiling everything around him.

He doesn't think of people being there before the US. Arthur calls cultists monsters, in that they give service to a violent god. But as John recently pointed out- what does that make John and Arthur? What does that make a man who made a deal with a devil to get his own, private god back?

I took a class called Narratives of an Empire. It was about British Imperialism through the lense of their own literature. And what you find is that the descriptions of the people they subjugated was often just a reflection of the colonizers. Their own guilt, shame and horror about what they were doing projected onto the people they committed this wretched acts upon, because they did not understand them, and their ego got in the way of trying.

Gothic horror is at its core, when it was first written, about the uncomfortable parts of self. What you are afraid to look at. Eldritch horror is realizing you are a small bit of something so large you cannot comprehend it. The more arthur finds, the more he realizes the world around him is a connected web of horrible things and people that want to kill him for no reason. Abandoned homes and towns and hotels, glory days long gone and just having to deal with it.

(Not to mention that one of the most notable authors of this type of horror was H.P Lovecraft- who was extremely racist, and many of whose stories focused on the horror of the "other." Which arthur is almost always initially scared of. )

Arthur is like the places he visits. He is not in his prime. He is not a young man. Exploitable and once used up, gone and empty. Arthur is subjected to the horror of the reality of white supremacy, through mundane and fantastical ways. Rarely does his empathy from these experiences extend to those who hurt him, but neither does it often extend to others as vulnerable and in similar positions to him. Again and again he makes horrible choices and hurt people because it reminds him of himself.

And John, who is learning humanity, who is not the privileged party here, who has barely any bodily anatomy, is learning from someone who has an inherent sense of entitlement. He too is learning what it is to be small and worthless in the eyes of something greater.

Arthur too, of course, slowly loses his bodily autonomy in ways he can't control. There is of course the hand, but most obvious are his eyes. Arthur only really tries to be independent of John when he's angry, proclaiming he doesn't need him. But he has in fact grown dependent on John. The "parasite" is his main source of seeing the world around him. When Arthur is drop kicked back into the world without him, he thinks himself as absolutely helpless. While I do think he brings John back because he loves him, he also brings John back because he needs him. Arthur constantly falls back on dehumanizing John in his worst moments- but he needs this other, this unacceptable being, to survive. White men degrade minorities, saying they got to where they were on their own- but take away the supporting labor, and suddenly they are helpless.

In terms of disability, his eyes, and solely his eyes in the beginning is an interesting choice. Arthur has to see through the gaze of someone outside of his experience. He spends much of the current podcast trying to get his sight back.

But then he doesn't want to anymore. I'm not sure I'd say he is welcoming, but he's come to accept it and the company this strange arrangement provides him.

"You took the only thing in my life that loved me."

What happened to the rest? Why are the friendships of white men generally based on work or violence? He never processed Faroe's death because nobody ever got close enough to help- not even Parker. It literally took an entity in his head ages to get him to talk. Because the relationships white men are expected to have are also limiting. If you are not expected to depend on anyone but your wife, well, why share anything at all? Why not tumble into loneliness and work and fear until backed into a corner?

John becomes Arthur conscious, the "other" he argues, concedes, and learns to be better from, and learns to forgive himself from. It's a Great dynamic- but I will say that it falls on the "other", especially in the latest episode, to guide the white man through the wretchedness of his own world. (Discounting the dreamlands, which I'm not even sure I can examine coherently rn)

And that's why I think this podcast, whether it meant to or not, is about the inescapable horror of the reality white supremacy has built.

[measureyourlifeincake]

Malevolent E9 (not specifically about that ep but yknow. i havent listened past it so if anything i say is contradicted by anything in later eps, that's why): Been thinking about how Malevolent's story is so defined by the constraints of its creation and the problem-solving used to get around that (I mean, I suppose the same can be said to some degree for nearly any piece of art, but it really jumps out for me here).

The first and most obvious example is Arthur's blindness, with John "acting as his eyes" by describing their surroundings for him (and the audience)—it's (to me at least) clearly contrived as a way to get around the "This Gun In My Right Hand Is Loaded" problem, but it also is kind of the main conceit of the plot, and immediately defines John and Arthur's relationship—Arthur has to rely upon John from the jump, even though he has no real proof of his intentions or trustworthiness. "I have your eyes," John says, a threat as much as it is a fact. All John has to do to harm Arthur is stop talking and watch him blunder around without his help (which he does do eventually, but the threat hanging over his head is, at least initially, enough to convince Arthur to cooperate with him). It's an interesting tool for the audience to understand what is going on at any given point of the story, but also, it has real actual consequences in the story that reverberate through the narrative.

(putting the rest under the cut bc this got Long)

There's also the fact that John and Arthur are constantly recapping what has happened and laying out what all their options and potential consequences of said options are going forward. To me, this (as well as the above) feels like the author's main goal is to make sure the audience is clear on Exactly what is going on At All Times. The episodes only come out once a month, after all, and it could be hard to remember what happened in the last episode if you haven't revisited it since then (also I am just now realizing that this is sort of paralleled with Arthur's month-long coma). There's also the thing about how apparently Patreon supporters can influence where the story goes, and I'm not entirely sure how that works, but it gives Guthrie another incentive to make sure the audience has all the possible options laid out for them.

But, while I do think this is done mainly for the audience's benefit, it does also tell us a lot about Arthur and John's characters/relationship. It says that, despite any differences of opinion or questions of trust they may have—they do view whatever they have together (which I have been told... changes over time, but for right now I'm just talking about their relationship up until where I've listened) as an actual partnership—they want to make sure they are on the same page, or at least understand what the other is thinking. They may disagree on the correct course of action, but Arthur pretty much always tells John what he's doing instead of trying to get one over on him. Also, since they do try to reason out everything they do, and Arthur keeps charging into risky situations ass-first anyway, it tells us that Arthur sees himself as a very intelligent and rational man, when really he just seems to be very good at justifying whatever stupid decisions he might make in the pursuit of Knowledge.

And then there's uh. Women. (I sorta mentioned this in a different post but I can't stop turning it around in my brain)

So it seems that Harlan Guthrie a) has decided to not hire any voice actors and just voice every character himself, and b) doesn't seem to believe himself capable of convincingly voicing a female character (or just doesn't want to. idk).

This doesn't mean that there aren't any women or girls in Malevolent—on the contrary, the podcast is full of them. They are all either old crones or daughters—crazy old women and wraiths and babies and missing girls and missing girls and dead missing girls. They cry, they wheeze, they laugh, they write letters to close friends (but of course, their friends are not there to read the letters), but they can never speak for themselves, in their own voices. They must be dead, or wordless, or both.

They haunt the narrative, and haunt the narrative, and haunt the narrative. They are metaphysically incapable of doing anything else. They can save Arthur's life, help guide his way, but they can never have a simple conversation with him. Obviously Arthur had to be in a coma for just long enough that Amanda/Sarah died before he could talk to her. It couldn't ever have gone any other way—the world doesn't work like that.

And then there's Arthur's daughter. She's dead. It hasn't been explicitly stated yet at the point I'm at (she's mentioned for the first time at the end of E9), but it's pretty obvious. Not only did he mention her name first when he was literally dying, but just. Of course she is. There's no chance she isn't, that maybe Arthur thinks she's dead but really something else has happened to her—all daughters are dead. That's just how it works. (except for that one baby, I suppose. The baby is interesting—I notice they explicitly refer to her as female when I don't think they had a way to know that*. She just Is a girl, she has to be. She needs protecting, therefore she is a Daughter, plain and simple).

And learning that Arthur has (had) a daughter has caused me to look at the rest of the girls in this podcast differently (and is honestly a big reason why I wanted to write this post in the first place.) Those missing-turned-dead girls, the baby, all those young girls haunting the narrative—they're all his daughter, naturally. (not literally but y'know, meta-narratively or whatever) They're not just haunting the narrative, but haunting him specifically.

Anyway, girls haunting horror stories and fridged women and whatever other tropes that keep women from fully participating in stories are nothing new, obviously (and I imagine that Guthrie is very intentional when he invokes those tropes—this whole thing is a big ol' nod to Lovecraft, there's no way this guy is doing horror tropes by accident), but the fact that it seems to be like that mostly because Guthrie just Didn't Want to Hire An Actor makes it way more interesting to me.

I'm sure most (if not all) of this has been discussed in the fandom already, but I haven't read any meta or anything yet and I just wanted to get my thoughts down. Honestly, part of why I made this post is that I feel like I can clearly see what Guthrie was going for in how he built this story (/is building this story) and how it works within the world of the characters, but I'm still trying to puzzle out how I personally feel about the choices he made. (ex: do I appreciate how clear he makes things for the listener or do i feel like my hand is being held to much and i'm not being trusted to understand what's going on? if the latter, is it integrated into the story well enough for me to forgive it?) Writing this has... not actually helped much. I'll let you know if I figure it out.

*Okay I went back to the transcript, and it seems they start using she/her pronouns for the baby as soon as the old woman gives her to them. I assumed that the baby was wearing clothes or swaddled in a blanket the whole time, but I don't think this is ever explicitly stated, so it's possible it could've been clear once John was able to get a close enough look at her. Still, this is very much glossed over. Which, granted, it would be weird if they took a moment in the text to like, look at the baby's genitals, so ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

[organchordsandlightning]

Lighters in Malevolent

Hello, folks! 

So, as loads of people have noticed, there’s some hinky stuff going on with the lighter in Malevolent.  As I was going back through transcripts to see where it popped up, I thought it might be helpful to have a reference of all the lighter appearances so far (a sentence that sounded a lot more hinged in my head than when I typed it out.)

Obviously, there will be spoilers from EP1-26 under the cut. 

Bold: Arthur obtains a lighter. Regular: Arthur uses a lighter. Italics: Relevant but not directly related to lighters.

For brevity purposes, I’ve also omitted repetitive lighter uses. (For example, if Arthur flicks on the lighter four times to guide himself around some tunnels, I’ve only noted the first go unless something has drastically changed in the meanwhile.)

(This is more of a reference post than a theorizing post, but IMO, a lot of the more Compelling lighter red-stringing pops up in later S2 + S3.)

Season 1

EP1: Arthur uses the lighter while exploring the ritual/sacrifice basement.

EP2: Arthur finds a flashlight in the trunk of his car. He leaves it after the crash.

EP3: Arthur uses a matchbook to light a candle, found in the Mansion.

EP4: Arthur steals Kellin’s lighter from his bed.  He briefly drops it, and then lights Kellin’s bed on fire.

EP5: John remarks that they have nothing after the hospital, excepting clothes and several hundred dollars from the Lost and Found.

EP6: Arthur remarks that they need to get a flashlight and matches, which they buy at the gun shop.

EP7: Arthur searches for a lighter on his person to re-light the lighthouse wick. John responds that they have one, but it refuses to light in the heavy wind. He re-lights the lighthouse keeper’s supernatural lamp.

EP9: Officer Collin has a lighter at the start of the episode. Arthur takes both a lighter and a flashlight on the police boat, after the monster attack. He uses a lighter to start a fire on the beach.

EP11: Arthur uses the lighter for illumination and.to construct a torch. 

EP12: Arthur uses the lighter to illuminate the hotel basement.. He initially refuses to light the boat lantern, but eventually does use the lighter to both burn the tadpoles and smash a lit lantern against the boat.

Season 2

EP13: Arthur finds his lighter in his bag while dealing with the Trader. He uses it to cauterize John’s wound. 

JOHN: You said something back there. ‘This too shall pass’. (NB: In reference to Arthur comforting John before biting off his little finger.) ARTHUR: Yes. JOHN: Why did you say that? ARTHUR: I don’t know, it’s just a comforting thought. JOHN: It’s written on our lighter. ARTHUR: Oh, that’s right! (He pulls it out and flicks it.) That’s the one I had with me from... the office, way back when. Crazy to think it’s made it all this way. It’s not even really mine. JOHN: No? ARTHUR: No, found it in an old desk drawer when we moved in. JOHN: Interesting.

EP14: Arthur refers to the lighter when talking with the Three Soldiers.

EP15: Arthur uses the lighter to illuminate the tunnels.

EP16: Arthur momentarily drops and recovers his lighter. He uses the lighter to ignite the supernatural bullseye lantern.

EP17: Arthur lights and extinguishes the lighter per John’s wishes. He also uses the lighter to make his Molotov Cocktail.

EP19: Arthur barters back his lighter from the Trader after his imprisonment.

EP20: Kayne lists his things, but neglects to mention the lighter. In panic, John suggests the lighter to help with Lilly’s bleeding.

Season 3

Coda: Arthur uses the lighter to light a fire.

EP22: The following two exchanges -

As Arthur enters the washroom to bathe:

(The door shuts behind him. Arthur searches through his pockets.)

YELLOW: What are you searching for?  ARTHUR: Our lighter. YELLOW: You have a lighter?  ARTHUR: Of course, don’t you … you saw it.  YELLOW: No. ARTHUR:  You must’ve, you said – (NB: Reference to Yellow saying ‘This Too Shall Pass’ at end of EP21.) YELLOW: I didn’t see your lighter, Arthur.  ARTHUR: Fine, must be in the bag. Any way to light the stove? We need to heat the water. It’s freezing in here.

After Arthur sees Uncle rummaging through his room:

ARTHUR: Oh. Um. (He starts to speak, in the same cadence as Kayne’s original rhyme. The main theme starts to play.) The glass, the stone, the mask, the books, the tooth, the coin, the wallet and … (Normal cadence) Some hooks. Um, the shaving kit, and my … uh, lighter should be in here, somewhere. YELLOW: What lighter? ARTHUR: The lighter, you – I used it... oh! (He flicks the lighter.) YELLOW: What?  ARTHUR: Oh, it’s here, in my – in my … in my jacket. W-Wait! Didn’t I just…?

EP23: Yellow tells Arthur to pull out the lighter to illuminate their way in the estate. Arthur refuses.

EP24: In the mine, John asks Arthur where his lighter is. He finds it in his jacket again. He lights a lamp.

EP25: Arthur lights a torch with the lighter. 

[this-is-such-a-bad-decision]

Now that episode 24 of Malevolent is out I can finally talk about the conversation that’s been eating my brain for a month (spoilers for ep 24 below obviously):

“You do remember her, right?”

“I- I’m not going to say her name.”

“Say it.”

“I promised, Arthur.”

“It’s okay.”

“...Faroe.”

“She brought you back, John. The same way she did me. She saved us.”

“What do you mean?”

“Her song it was- it was what made you remember. It’s what saved us, it’s what saved you from wherever you were.”

“I owe her a lot, then.”

“We both do.”

AAAAHHHHHHHH

Ehem, anyway.

You know that post about ghosts in a narrative? (Gerry TMA, I’m looking at you.) Faroe to a T. She is so important to the events of the story despite the fact that she is years dead, her influence is felt in everything Arthur does. By proxy this influences John, whose whole world is filtered through Arthur’s existence, but this episode is (I think) the first time John has said anything linking himself to Faroe. And that makes me feral with tragedy feelings because

Faroe’s impact on John's life is immense, and yet John will never meet her.

(Cue me writing 8000 words of these two interacting in one day)

And Arthur! Arthur made John swear to never say Faroe’s name again, but now he wants John to engage with the idea of her. I think it means so much to Arthur that it was Faroe’s song that brought John back; it’s tangible proof that Faroe is important to John, too, and I think that makes Arthur love him even more.

Anyway, that’s why I wrote the gods AU and why most of my fanworks will probably focus on John & Faroe for a while.

[suttttton]

Yellow's Anger and the Dead People Visions: An Essay

So one of the big questions 23 leaves us with is: What prompted Yellow to become so completely hostile to Arthur over the course of the episode? I mean, he starts out the episode on the most genuinely friendly terms with Arthur that we've seen from him. He apologizes for how he treated Arthur in 22, and over the course of the episode, there are several moments where it seems like he's softening significantly.

There’s even a few moments where it seems like Yellow is starting to identify with John:

Arthur: I’ve been here before, a moment like this. With… not you.

Yellow: But it was me… in a way.

During this episode, Yellow starts to recognize that he could be like John, if he wanted to be. The only thing that actually differentiates them is their desire to be in love with Arthur human. And Yellow is mayyyyybe starting to see the appeal.

So then why does he end the episode like this?

Yellow: You imprisoned me, you took me from my rightful place as king, and stuck me inside this prison. You are a murderer, Arthur, you are a monster. You are no better than Wallace, no better than the foulness you murdered in that pit! I am not your friend; I am not John. And I never will be. I am nothing like you. And he is dead.

On the surface, it seems like the catalyst for Yellow's change in feelings is Larson's little speech about gods and men, and I'm sure this is how Arthur understands Yellow's emotional shift. I mean, Yellow basically says as much right before he starts screaming at Arthur:

Larson: There are those with faces that would drive you mad, whispers they could tell you that would force you to claw out your own ear drums for fear of upsetting them. They are powerful, immortal and ancient. They are our superiors, Arthur, make no mistake about that.

Yellow: [Eagerly] Yes!

But that doesn't really make sense to me. I mean, Yellow already knew that he was a god trapped within Arthur's body. Arthur told him that from the very beginning! Instead, I think the moment that turns Yellow fully against Arthur is hearing the Faust story. Arthur confesses this gut-wrenching story to Yellow after they've made so much relationship progress this episode and had several almost-vulnerable moments, and Yellow responds with:

Yellow: And you told me you weren’t a fucking murderer.

Ouch.

So why would this story, which seems to have nothing at all to do with Yellow, upset him so much?

Well, earlier in the same episode, Yellow learned about the Death Visions for the very first time, in a context that seemed pretty traumatic for him. He wasn’t expecting to be thrown into a vision to begin with, and he sounds very distressed to be experiencing it. After he describes the vision to Arthur and Arthur steps back and releases him, we get this exchange:

Arthur: I’m sorry, I… I completely forgot! Was there anything else you saw, anything important?

Yellow: No! For fuck’s sake. Why didn’t you let go?

Of course, Arthur doesn’t get the chance to answer because Jack is coming and they need to climb out the window. They never get a chance to discuss their feelings about what happened there, so I don’t think Arthur really understands that forcing Yellow to see the vision hurt him.

(As a side note, though, Arthur says that he “forgot” about the visions, which seems a little far-fetched, given the Faust story, but okay I guess it was months ago and Arthur has been repressing the memory so maybe I believe him. Maybe.)

So Yellow has acquired yet another hurt at Arthur's hands, but it's a hurt he seems willing to forget, at least for the time being. There are bigger things at stake, after all, and Yellow is feeling increasingly sympathetic towards Arthur. In the next few scenes, we gets more moments of hostility between them, but we also get some surprisingly soft moments that seem to point to Yellow’s desire for humanity, like this one:

Yellow: You said that it was easy to chew me apart because I was a piece of your friend, a piece that you hated.

Arthur: Yes. The King.

Yellow: You also said, especially because he hurt you near the end of your time together.

Arthur: Yeah…

Yellow: What did he do?

Arthur: I trusted him, and he betrayed that trust.

Yellow: Did you forgive him?

Arthur: I don’t know… probably. Why?

Yellow: I don’t know. I just…

Arthur: I’m not going to tell you if that’s what you—

Yellow: NO! I’m just… nevermind.

But then we get to the Faust story, in which Arthur describes killing Faust in an exceedingly violent and distressing way (for no reason), and then subjecting John to experience Death Visions of it over and over and over again for Arthur's benefit.

Arthur: I didn’t pay the price. I reaped the benefit of a meal that John paid. With every bite of his raw flesh I took, he relived that death a thousand times.

Just like he's done to Yellow to once already.

Yellow has felt like Arthur's prisoner since the moment he woke up in Arthur's body, and the Faust story tells him that he's right to feel that way. Feeling sympathy or admiration or affection for Arthur is a mistake because Arthur didn't even care about John's feelings.

So why would he ever, ever care about Yellow's?

[samglyph]

Final compiled thoughts for part 35!

I feel like you guys are gonna get tired of me saying this but… I really enjoyed this episode. Partially because all of my predictions/desires for the episode ended up being accurate! so I feel quite vindicated. I’m happy how things wrapped up with Daniel, and I have to say Harlan did a good job with the tension this episode. I was on the edge of my seat during the hospital standoff.

So first of all. Scratch. SCRATCH. First of all, totally called it, and also I love her and his weird crush on Arthur. Now we have an evil magic rock. Good for him.

John’s memory is definitely getting worse, and I’m wondering if the deal he made with Kayne some how had a timer that eats away his time with Arthur— maybe he’s being siphoned back to the dreamlands or the darkworld the longer he takes to get Arthur where Kayne wants him? Because he’s definitely worse than he was in 25-31.

Noel is DEFINITELY not who he says he is— when he quoted Adam from back in part 5 my immediate thought was that he was a kiy puppet or similar, but I’ve seen a lot of interesting theories going around already. But yeah. I don’t trust him.

Oscar was like. Surprisingly wholesome? And also mvp of this episode, took care of Daniel, took down the butcher, man really stepped up. Proud of him. I also liked Arthur getting a hug (at least I think that’s what the sound implied) the man needed it.

My one slight critique (not really a critique, im just not sure about it) of this episode is I don’t know how Arthur is going to internalize Daniel’s little pep talk. I want Arthur to aspire to being a good person, but I also think he has to be able to do that while also being honest with himself about fucking up. Arthur tends to have two modes which are “I’m the worst person alive I’m inherently evil I’m a monster” and “everything I’ve ever done is justified, actually” so Im kinda hoping (likely in vain) that he might eventually learn a bit of dbt theory and get out of those extremes. He seems to be doing a bit better in terms of being honest with himself, but idk if receiving that sort of praise is going to help. It might! We’ll just have to see.

[sparrow-in-boots]

so i think we can agree to some degree that, the carrot is a lie. right?

(Intermezzo spoilers ahead!)

we know Kayne is perfectly capable of keeping his deals, but we also know that he's far more capable (and willing) to Not keeping them. and even of proposing deals that he has no intention of going through with.

Arthur getting Faroe back isn't a real deal. just because he stopped one Faroe among countless from death, doesn't mean that deal won't have consequences. he did say "even try continue being friends", which implies A Lot.

first of, what happened to that universe's Arthur? surely nothing good or stable. who's to say Kayne won't put John inside that Arthur as "a body" for him? and also, Kayne has made it very clear he's got access to all the strings here, he can very easily keep toying with them Just Because, making their lives actual hell.

John and Arthur don't have their divorces over nothing, Shit Happens and it causes them to react poorly due to any number of issues they have in their own noggins, but we've seen that a good number of them have been thanks to Kayne's meddling in some way or another. One could even say that all of S3 happened because of him.

"no matter what I throw at you, you just seem to come out better for it", wasn't it?

but also, we can just as fairly say that the stick is also a lie. sure, Kayne's anger is nothing to scoff at, he's a god given greater power than any god in this universe had any right to after all. BUT, he still needs Arthur. he has very little to gain from impossibly torturing someone who he knows has something Special (plot armor) that keeps him from going under entirely, might even become greater than he can handle because of said torturing.

Arthur is at the end of the day, just a human, but he's also an anomaly that he can't grasp, and Kayne isn't an idiot.

it's all smoke and mirrors, lures and trickery. his hard power is very real, Kayne is an entity of his own caliber, but his soft power, it's all on keeping people on their toes around him and go along with his schemes to keep him appeased. that's what the whole bit with keeping Arthur playing because "he didn't say stop" is, flexing that he can keep Arthur cowed enough to keep doing what he says. and that was also why he proposed that deal for John too, to keep him on thin ice and scrambling over pacifying Arthur rather than let them both scheme over how to one-up him when he isn't looking.

carrot or stick, you dont actually need either. sometimes, the illusions of a gift or a punishment are enough motivators, even if they are lies. Kayne never ends a deal freely, there's always Something More, a twist of the knife that he sprinkles in at the end. he has no intention giving Arthur and John a happily-ever-after, and i also think he has no intention of dooming them to turbo Hell or whatever.

if you ask me, the fact that we don't know what exactly he does plan however, is far more disconcerting and scary.

[notknickers]

i am curious to see how scratch ties in all the rest. when first introduced, i wasn't super elated at the appearance of another antagonist so far into the narration, for fear of loose threads never getting mended. so, scratch could just be an expedient, because there was a need to get arthur out of trouble from the butcher or to lengthen the season and, once the short arc is completed, we won't hear of it again. (personally, i have occasionally written myself in a cul-de-sac and have had to reatroactively engineer a way to keep things a certain way, while untying the little plot knot, so it coul dbe just that.) or, scratch might be a major player, perhaps not really alligned with anyone but himself, perhaps more fluid in his allegiances. who knows? either way, and i say this with no malice at all, i don't find scratch particularly interesting... nightmare creature who delights in the suffering he causes to his victims, tormenting them, is not the freshest concept, n'est pas? what's your feel on this, malevolenteers? --- i have one more little thing to say. positive, this time. i love how arthur, who set out to save his landlady's sister from scratch, did not think twice before bargaining with him, condemning her. i always sniggle a little when other characters remind him of how good arthur actually is, because that is something he certainly aspires to. however, i don't think it's true. i think he is genuinely full of good intentions, but very weak in his convictions. ultimately, what matters to him are himself and his goals, no matter the cost. which, in a way, humanises him and further gives shape to the kind of character he is. i love my soggy little meow meow. i like it when no excuses are made for him, like with the whole leave your birthing wife debacle, which had to be patched up in ways that felt really weak. (i've already spoken on this in another post) (the butcher was done dirty, though. he was set up as very cool, only to turn out utterly pathetic...) (i did not enjoy that...)

[shofics]

all this time arthur has been so eager to get back to arkham, and every time he mentions it I want to scream !! you are a wanted murderer buddy !! they will 110% arrest you if you go home !! but then i started thinking. in the beginning of the show there was a lot of talk about who gets control of Arthur’s body—but now it seems they’ve both forgotten that in order to separate themselves, one of them will have to give the body up.

and y’know. it would be pretty convenient if, when they did eventually manage to separate from each other, they had another body for john’s being to inhabit, wouldn’t it?

kind of like the body of arthur’s partner that they left shoved in the closet in his office.

[dissolving-mansion]

Thinking about the theme of identity in Malevolent and the fact that John got to name himself but Yellow didn't ever get that choice. John got to discover who he is and who he was but Yellow had an identity forced on him from the first moment.