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mochiwrites · 1 year

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(tma) From a fanon standpoint, I completely understand why people ship jonmartin, but from a canon standpoint they don't really have many moments together? I'll admit I'm not completely through season 5, but the ship wiki didn't even mention season 5, so I'm just curious how the ship got so much hype?

anon in the nicest way possible... did we listen to the same podcast?

because holy FUCK there's a ton of important moments that they have together?? excluding s5. I won't touch on that season all that much since a) you're still in the middle of it and b) we're talking early game jmart.

we're gonna start with the Q&A bits. also I feel like I should preface. I'm still relatively new to the fandom (have only been here since end of september) and I may not know as much as someone who's been here longer. but with that out of the way, let's discuss jmart! putting this under a read more because this is gonna be an essay! (spoilers ahead for seasons 1-4)

the first thing we need to make explicitly clear is that the magnus archives is not a romance. it is a horror first and foremost.

but also in the same breath, we need to talk about how jmart even came to be. martin's crush on jon was planned from the very start, and through the series we start to see jon reciprocate martin's feelings. this was specifically addressed for the first time in the season 4 Q&A. to quote jonny exactly, "yes he reciprocates it -- it's a romance -- at least I have written it as a romance."

the incredibly important thing to note with tma is that the romance (with the exception of s5) is going to take a back seat in the story, because as said before, fundamentally tma is a horror podcast.

HOWEVER -- this doesn't mean that jon and martin don't have important scenes together. because they do. it isn't so much about the number of scenes they have together but more so the quality and importance of moments they have.

SEASON ONE

take for example the first real interaction we see between jon and martin. martin has just experienced a traumatic event and brought the physical evidence of said event right to his boss' face (the same boss that ridicules him and bashes his work). he fully expects jon to disregard everything that martin has just told him. but then. but then! jon is surprisingly understanding and almost soft with him. it's a reaction martin certainly wasn't expecting and you can hear it in his voice.

and then we get to the prentiss attack and we see jon and martin on the same level. we see them having this heart to heart discussion about why they're at the institute etc etc.

it's the first time we see them actually understanding one another, the first time we see jon and martin as themselves and not just the archivist and his assistant. we see them as human beings rather than their professions. they're put on the same level and I think that's incredibly important to high light here.

to finally top it all of with season one, we have the interview between jon and martin. jon is trying to slip back into his role, back into the position of the archivist, but martin isn't letting him. not entirely. one of the first few things out of his mouth are the words "are you okay?" and he's the ONLY one to ask jon about this. I checked. and then you see martin apologizing to jon for leaving him, and you can hear the struggle in jon's voice as he tries for something soft before attempting to slip into something more professional.

but the biggest piece to take away from these interactions is how martin cares. it's how he views jon right from the start and deems him someone to worry about. and when we end season one we find that there is no longer a a hierarchy between the two of them (besides occupational titles ofc), they are on the same level.

SEASON TWO

so we end season with jon and martin landing on the same level of respect for one another. they're fresh out of a traumatizing situation and back to work! aaaaand jon falls into a very deep pit of paranoia.

we have martin attempting to steer jon toward taking care of himself, inviting him to lunch, making him tea, etc etc. we see jon questioning if it's just a ploy for martin to get jon to lower his guard so he can kill him. but we see jon start to look at martin in a new light, which is important to note. we know that they begin to spend more time together as other characters comment on it.

this is most likely the point where jon started to develop a bit of his own crush really. because a) he's seeing martin in a completely different way than he did previously and b) martin is something consistent in how he never stops caring about jon, pushing him to take care of himself. it's kind of the point in the story where martin begins to take his place as jon's anchor.

and then jon finds martin's lovely little note. and he freaks out. he reads this note from martin that says "they can't find out I'm lying" and it's not. something jon wants to believe. he doesn't want to think that martin has been lying to him.

and when it comes time for him to confront martin about his lying, he doesn't handle it well. he finds out that trevor herbert is alive and oh would you look at that! martin was the one who told him that trevor was dead! and oh. martin lied to him.

and jon takes it personally! he finds out from martin that it was misunderstanding, and when martin calls him out, he snaps, "because you keep lying to me, martin!" it rings almost like jon is telling martin that he trusted him.

he forces the truth about martin's CV from him, and when he finds out that that's what martin was talking about in his note, he's relieved. he's so relieved that he smiles. martin is trustworthy. martin is safe. martin secures his position as jon's anchor.

SEASON THREE & FOUR

season 3 is the season that I like to call the pining season. it's pretty much the middle of the story, where both jon and martin are fully aware of their feelings. sure they may not have many scenes together, it's the fact that the scenes they do have together are important. and you can feel jmart's presence through both s3 & s4 whether they're in the same scene together or not. they're always thinking about one another.

martin's biggest thing throughout both seasons is a plea for jon to be safe.

jon's in need of an anchor to keep him connected to humanity in s3. and he is encouraged to seek out martin. in s4, jon echoes martin in his pleas for martin to be alright.

and of course you have a big moment in s3 where jon first returns to the archives after being kidnapped by the circus and martin is the one he runs into. and they have this conversation, one that is almost shy but still very much genuine. jon expresses concern for martin after hearing he's been reading statements, and martin worries over jon after his kidnapping.

then we get to season 4!!!!! and GOD WHAT A SEASON FOR JMART. obviously I don't have to touch on the whole scene with the two of them in the lonely. I don't have to touch on jon running to martin right after he finds a way to escape the institute so he could suggest that they run away together.

what I AM going to touch on is their presence in the season. season 4 is probably the season we see the least of jon and martin interacting with one another. HOWEVER, their presence is very strongly felt. martin is basically always on jon's mind in one way or another, and the same with martin. we may not see much of martin but his presence is absolutely there through jon. it feels like he's there because jon is always reaching for him in some way.

season 4 is where we see jon at his most vulnerable with martin. and we know for a fact that jon is martin's main motivator to accept peter's deal.

and then we have the coffin scene. jon thinks "ah yes my rib is a good anchor for finding my way out of the buried. this cannot go wrong in any way whatsoever." but the only reason daisy and jon even get out of the coffin is because of martin. he piles those tapes on top to pull jon out and it works. it was never the rib. it was the tapes. it was martin.

so admittedly, no jmart may not have as many moments as a canon couple would in say a tv show. but the magnus archives is a podcast. and it is a horror podcast. the romance between jon and martin has always taken a back seat for the main storyline. think of it as an A plot and B plot. the A plot is the main story, the B plot is jmart's relationship.

it's the fact that the scenes they have together are impactful on their characters and the trajectory of their character arcs. we as the listeners don't get the privilege to see every moment of their day to day life. so we need to make inferences, we need to fill in the gaps. it's on us to read between the lines and find the answer based on what's given to us in canon. canon does give us quite a bit to latch onto with jmart, we just have to pick it apart to find it.

and it’s not about the number of moments. it’s the quality of them.

but to answer your question in a simple matter, I think jmart gets so much hype because well... not to sound like a broken record, but tma is a horror story. it is a tragedy. yet despite that, there is love. there is love within a story of death and loss and the worst of "humanity". jon and martin's relationship is such a fundamental part of the story (even if it isn't the main focus). it's the fact that their love transcends the horrors and despite what jon and martin go through, they find some kind of comfort within one another.

I think they get a lot of hype because in the face of death and grief humans reach for love. for hope. and that is what jmart is in the story. they are each other's anchors, they are each other's reasons. and while it may not be at the forefront of the story line, we as the listeners know that their love for each other is the driving force behind their actions.

they get a lot of hype because they are human. and they love. sure they started off in a rocky way, but they grew close -- they learned about each other, began to care about each other. and through all of the horror they became each other's reasons for carrying on.

in a story full of despair and death, why wouldn't you latch on to that little spark of hope? of love?

#mochi speaks #tma #jmart #jonmartin #the magnus archives #jonathan sims #martin blackwood #SORRY I DIDNT MEAN TO WRITE A WHOLE ESSAY #no I kinda did actually #you claimed they didn't have a lot of moments together #and I had to prove that it's more about the quality #because god damn were the jmart moments impactful as fuck #ANYWAYS HOPE THAT ANSWERED YOUR QUESTION LOL #I want to again preface I've only been in the fandom since the end of september

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