#sherman guthrie

[stickandthorn]

We did already know this based on the fact that he bagged both Lark and Harry, but the latest appendix really is just rubbing it in our faces that if there’s one thing Sherman’s got in abundance it’s game. He incurred caenum for getting too much pussy + dick. they needed to take his ego down a peg. He sold out Lark because he was tired of being the most sought after person on Midst. The sex appeal of the Black Candle Cabaret? That was all him baby. And he even cares lovingly for his daughter and braids her hair? Absolutely unfuckwithable. Where do I sign up.

[alicedyers]

Resolve | MIDST 3x11

[midstpodcast]

Look no further for the perfect Valor-tine to send to your cosmos-crossed lover, shifty business associate, or dastardly sworn enemy this week! 🧡

[captainofthetidesbreath]

so, lemme just lay out this situation

[kerosene-in-a-blender]

The funniest detail in "Resolve" is that Sherman is shown to keep his abacus on a hook by the front door of his apartment. Meaning it's apparently something of a convention in the Highest Light to keep your abacus in roughly the same location as your coat or keys, and that Jonas Spahr, known pretentious asshole, decided on the most EXTRA possible way to do this

[my-critical-rolemance]

presented without comment

[elfietheespeon]

The True Power of Phineas Thatch

After the long drought of Phineas content ever since s2e18, I adore the amount we get in s3e1.

Ever since the gala, something has been building inside his character arc. We get to see it reshaped in season 2, but with the first episode out, I can almost feel what it's building towards. Phineas has a lot more power over the narrative than even he realizes, and should he put the pieces together, the very system of the Trust itself will be at risk of imploding. He's lived in the Trust for almost his entire life, he understands more than anyone else still living what it's like to be on both sides of the argument, and to be honest? Neither is particularly great!

If Phineas can build up the courage to speak on behalf of his fellow Trustees - the ones like Ginsberg, Fuze and Sherman who never had the chance to let their story be heard, and those of Midst whom the Trust willfully neglected - everything the Trust has ever built will be for nothing. I think that's the reason why the Trust has made such a strong effort to control the teletheric. The core concept of the Trust is built around karmic justice, of doing the right thing just because it's right, but what about the poor souls on Midst? Did the Trust not commit an inherently un-valorous act in their negligence? Does it matter more to do the right thing for the Trust, or to do the right thing for the the right reason?

For the whole of the Trust to learn what happened on Midst is to prove that the scales of Valor and Caenum CANNOT be balanced without the suffering of others. So which is it then? Is it better to keep good and evil balanced, or is it better to do whatever is in your power to make sure that Valor is ALWAYS the stronger force?

Phineas has seen valor in Lark, and yet it hasn't been recorded. Lark willingly went to save Tzila when the moon began to fall, she made the conscious choice to save Phineas from the foldwail back in s2e6 even though she KNEW doing so would only hurt herself in the long run, and despite every piece of the universe telling her no, she's STILL risking her life to 'save' Sherman. Is that not worthy of Valour? If it were to be removed from her total Caenum count, which poor soul would take the fall?

I think Kozma knows this. She's been in the fold for a long time, and knows what it means to harness its potential. She can see what Phineas is capable of doing to the Trust, and she wants nothing more than to see that strand of the web come to its conclusion.

All he needs is someone on the inside. Someone who knows the lengths to which Phineas has had the system fail him. Someone who knows how to run a teletheric broadcast. Someone who happens to have a big backpack full of recording equipment.

[torheit]

Oh Sherman 👀

[kendaizhai]

What if Sherman was... formerly female?

Hold on, hold on hear me out, here (the grumpy old Mica miner says, over his helping of Infinite Bread and cup of coffee):

-- For one, and this is pretty random, but Narrator Sarah almost always voices Sherman, except in the first few episodes where he appears.

-- Tzila says to Lark that she "doesn't exactly have a Mom," but she very notably did NOT say "I don't have a Mom" or "my Mom is dead." She speaks with a lot of hesitation, as if explaining this is difficult and fraught. We don't know much about the acceptance of non-hetero sexualities in the world of Midst, but her difficulty is... notable.

-- When Hieronymous sees Tzila as a teenager, he says, "She looks like Sherman," and Saskia replies, "but she's got your nose." This implies that there is some actual genetic mingling going on. The world of Midst is weird, so maybe there's a way for this to happen -- but in the logic of this Cosmos, it's easier to imagine a tearror gender-flipping Sherman after Tzila was born. If Hieronymous isn't bi, then it would explain why they "went their seperate ways."

(swallows bread, takes a draught of coffee, and grunts, giving you a conspiratorial eyebrow waggle, as if to say, "So wadda ya think?"

[midstpodcast]

Season 3, Episode IV Appendices 🔎 | Family Documents of Phineas Thatch

[captainofthetidesbreath]

Happy Midst season three premiere day AND Valentine's Day! I've been working on some Midst-themed cards to celebrate our double-feature holiday today.

It would also be very Valorous of you to check out the Valor-tine's posted by the @midstpodcast socials (including here on Tumblr) earlier in the week, so don't miss out on that—more cards with which to express your Midsty-eyed affection.

I would also like to thank all of my Midst mutuals who enabled this, some of whom pitched suggestions for lines. 💗

[queenjulia11]

Okay for context I am very aromantic and usually can’t tell when people are dating unless it’s made very explicit.

I didn’t interpret Sherman’s note to Lark in the S3E11 appendix as romantic? I’ve seen a few people now theorizing about how they might have been a thing in the past, and talking about how this invite confirms that.

Am I just totally missing something? Lark and Sherman have only ever been stated as being friends, and Lark was a total hermit back on Midst apart from the occasional babysitting job. I can totally see a romantic interpretation of that note but I wasn’t thinking about it at all until other people mentioned it.

(also part of me is hoping Sherman and Hieronymus get back together so that very well could be a factor lol)

EDIT: Okay so I somehow COMPLETELY forgot that it in fact WAS explicitly mentioned that Lark and Sherman fucked no idea what happened with my brain there please disregard lmao

[adaineabernantsfrog]

Tzila ages and things change

*holds up Tzila* I LOVE HER, YOUR HONOUR (The narrators)

[kerosene-in-a-blender]

One really interesting aspect of Midst season 1 to me is how much the narrators set the audience up to view Phineas as the archetypal underdog hero. He's an untested young man looking to meet the standards of his impossibly perfect mentor. He's trapped under a debt he's determined to use his own hard work to get out of no matter how long it takes. The world seems to conspire to fuck him out of breaking even when he's sure he's going to, and to get him out of his job unless he magically fixes himself on a single job.

And then he gets Fuse's note, and an opportunity to solve a massive unsolved case for the Trust falls into his lap; an opportunity for him to succeed against all odds and he seizes that opportunity. From the way he's been framed the entire season there's an idea of how this is supposed to go, he'll find a lead, crack open the case, save his job, and break even.

And none of that happens because during the raid on the Black Candle Cabaret he cracks under the pressure and beats Sherman Guthrie to near death because he's SO SURE that this man has the information he needs if he can just beat it out of him. The raid shows Phineas for what he is, all the things we'd seen before, but also as an arm of a powerful society who is so laser focused on his own duties and the expectations placed upon him that he'll do terrible things to other people. He's an underdog, but he's also an antihero.

[elfietheespeon]

Last night, I had a dream about Midst. In it, Phineas had been captured by the Trust, with Lark having managed to escape (no idea if she was intending to leave him behind to deal with the fallout, or if it was happenstance). The background was hazy, though I suspect the dream was set in the Arca chamber.

Weepe had taken to Phineas' interrogation personally with the purpose of finding out where Lark would be heading. What I remember the most about the dream was what Weepe was saying. In essence, it was everything Phineas had ever feared: Phineas had done nothing but let down everything he cared about, all for the sake of his morality. Weepe despises Phineas and the justice he stands for, claiming it to be just as - if not more - selfish than Weepe's decision to help arrest those in Breach.

To further twist the knife, Weepe chastises Phineas for ever believing in the Trust to begin with, since he could never have broken even. Ginsberg tried to escape that fate, but he never had the chance to reach Midst in time. Fuze delayed that fate as long as he could, but it killed him. Sherman tried to escape it too, and he lost his daughter because of it. For Phineas, he tried to do what he thought was right, and it had cost Jonas his position. In Weepe's mind, doing the 'right' thing is to doom yourself. If you want to succeed, someone else must suffer: that is the truth of the Trust.

The rest of the dream is fuzzy. I think Weepe might have left to give Phineas time to "weigh his options"? Not entirely sure, but it stuck with me.