#there might be some recency bias but oh well

[coredrill]

oh also headsup to everyone that i will be TRYING to see if i can’t catch the new bravern ep earlier than i usually do tomorrow so y’know. beware the Posts

[1moreff-creator]

DRDT CH2 PT2: Full Analysis

While CH2 Part 2 was releasing, I chose to make liveblog-reaction posts to the episodes to record my immediate thoughts for posterity, but that meant that actual, coherent analysis was pushed to the side in favor of me freaking out over… everything going on. But goddamn; even accounting for recency bias, this might just be my favorite trial of any DR style killing game I’ve ever seen (though admittedly I'm working with a small sample size). So I felt it merited a bit more… cohesive analysis. That’s what this post is!

WARNING: This post is around 28k words long. Do not click "read more" unless you're ready for lag, and make sure to take breaks while reading if needed.

Spoilers for DRDT CH2. CW: Murder, suicide, hanging, execution, gun violence, self-harm, blood, stabbing (fork).

(Btw you can find my immediate reactions in my post masterlist. Not linking each individually here because I hit Tumblr's 100 link limit. I know, I know)

How do I even structure this? I guess I’ll start with the actual case itself, then go character by character because WOW.

Also, I hope you forgive that I can't put images for every referenced piece of dialogue (Tumblr 30 image limit when I catch you...), so I'll save them for when they're necessary and instead add links to the referenced quote in the episode.

The Case

Although I’ve made many posts talking about this damn thing, I don’t think I’ve ever expressed just how cool the actual mystery is. The evidence is all there from the beginning bar the note and alibis, introduced in a way that doesn’t make the method obvious, but that still allowed the audience to figure out the main aspects without much issue. Everything follows logically, and while there’s a few things that ended up being less important than some expected (that glove will haunt the fandom forever I fear), everything got explained in what I consider to be a pretty satisfactory way. It wasn’t obscenely complex or crazy, but I consider the method to be just right for a chapter 2 case.

Oh and the Nico case was cool too, even if half the shit in that crime scene will haunt me forever. Why were there two weights off to the side-? not important.

If there’s one critique I can give the actual discussion of the case (and this is legitimately the only real critique I have of this entire set of episodes), I’d argue that the way the method is presented is… weird. Like, I get why, DRDT is clearly more focused on character conflict than the murder mystery aspect, but there were still a lot of moments where it felt like Teruko’s thought process wasn’t explored properly, to the point where it sometimes felt like Teruko just… magically got the answers whispered to her by the ghost of Kirigiri.

As an example, take the ball of clothes over the rafters. Ace mentions the issue of getting the rope up there, and Teruko immediately jumps to the right conclusion of the seemingly completely unrelated ball of clothes.

To illustrate why this feels weird, let me tell you what my thought process was when I came up with the theory (because again, the evidence was laid out well enough that I did manage to call this, even if I got a fair bit of other stuff wrong). Obviously it's not the only admissible thought process, but it's a good example to see how I feel the presentation of evidence should have been handled.

We know Arei was hung from high up (Veronika’s account) -> We can confirm something happened on the rafters because the lights are broken -> Brainstorming how that could have happened (screening room connection? Secret ladder?) -> Perhaps something was thrown up there with the rope attached -> Ball of clothes.

In the series, however, we get:

Arei was probably hung from high (Veronika’s account) -> Discussion continues, literally the entirety of Nico's situation gets explained -> Ace brings up the issue for the first time like three years later-> Teruko immediately points to the ball of clothes -> The lights are only mentioned after.

You get what I'm saying? The progression doesn't feel as natural, because we immediately jump to the conclusion without discussing the evidence that leads to it. This also happens with things like the pulley method, where Teruko explains everything before bringing up the tape on the spinny thing, which is the only thing implicating said spinny thing in the method. And I feel like the reason quite a few people felt there should be more to the case is because the evidence wasn't presented properly.

That said, this is an extremely minor point. Again, DRDT is more focused on character drama than murder mystery, so I don’t particularly mind if I can nitpick a few things in the writing surrounding the mystery solving.

And oh boy, was there character drama this trial! Thank the gods I’m only covering Part 2, I think I’d die if I tried to talk about the entire trial as a whole.

Character Analysis

I’ll go in order, starting with the characters I feel had the least prominence, and making my way to the ones who really stole the spotlight this part.

Mai Akasaki

No content lol. Though this is probably a good time to mention that, in this post, I'll mostly ignore theorizing related stuff and focus more on straight up character analysis, even if the two sometimes intersect. Game Theory-like speculation will mostly be saved for dedicated posts :p

Xander Matthews

He got mentioned, but he’ll come up in David’s section so. Skipping him. 

Min Jeung

Well, there were a few references. Such as:

Min: I'll fix your mistake! - Teruko: But I'll fix my mistake.

Something something, David-Xander vs Teruko-Min parallels, etc. And also:

I like the visual symbolism that the images are effectively flipped (Teruko on the left-Teruko on the right and hugger on the right-hugger on the left, Teruko facing the camera-Teruko facing away), because the situations are inverted. In Min’s, the culprit hugs Teruko after she dooms them to their fate, and in Eden’s, a non-culprit hugs Teruko as she starts defending them. I did notice on first watch, but didn’t say anything because at the time it was still possible Eden was the culprit. Alas, the symbolism is consistent!

There's only one last thing to mention about Min. One tiny, itsy bitsy detail that probably has no lore relevance whatsoever.

MonoTV [2-16]: Now loading the default XF-Ture Tech personality drivers.

Min [BE1]: But one day, we were visited by the founder of that big company, XF-Ture Tech. He told my parents that he would sponsor me and pay for all of our expenses.

Oh yeah, MonoTV was created by the same company that sponsored Min as the Ultimate Student! Hey, what the fuck?

We'll get into it more later in the (I cannot believe I'm about to say this) MonoTV section (or rather the post linked to in said section), but MonoTV seems to have been created specifically for the killing game. This means there's a very real chance XF-Ture Tech is behind all this. That paints the sponsorship of Min as a strikingly shady thing (well, more than it already was), to the point there's a very real chance Min is straight up connected to the origins of the killing game, if not outright the mastermind. We'll have to see how this plays out later, since right now, we're still lacking a lot of critical context.

But hey! We might get more Min content in the future! I, for one, am very, very excited.

Charles Cuevas

Not too much character insight on this one, but he got a couple of cool moments. As always, funny, bounces well off Whit, very helpful in the trial, weirdly knowledgeable about jockeying (or maybe he just, like, thought about it, it’s not like most of what he says aren’t conclusions anyone could arrive at by simply knowing what horse racing is), and-

Charles [2-15]: I'm the only person reasonable enough to make that sort of judgement call. Everyone else who does so is being biased to the point of idiocy.

-it’s nice to see his pridefulness didn’t just go away after CH1! He’s neat :)

J Rosales/Moreno

Half of her dialogue this part is just her talking about how murder is bad. It’s fine, it’s just odd.

I guess if you want someone to point out murder’s bad, J’s one of the only real options, isn’t she? You need a confrontational character (so no Eden or Rose or Whit), who wouldn’t be a hypocrite (this eliminates Nico, Ace and Levi, arguably Hu since she defends Nico), who is mentally stable enough for their opinion to be held in high regard (this eliminates Arturo, David and Veronika, alongside half the cast), who is willing to derail the trial to talk morality (eliminating Charles and arguably Teruko), and who isn’t dead or missing (like Xander, Arei, Mai or Min).

Wait that’s the whole cast. Holy shit she actually is the only one that makes sense to be murder bashing how is this even possible. 

…Regardless, you could still argue that you don’t need someone constantly pointing out murder’s bad, meaning there could very much be a deeper reason J is being so vocal about it. Apart from possibly being setup for her to be primary support moving forward, I personally think all this points to her just having a very strong set of beliefs regarding most things, which we could already kinda infer anyways. 

Or maybe Mariabella killed a guy. Yeah, sure. Why not?

Veronika Grebenshchikoba

There were certainly a couple interesting Vero moments here, which is always fun. It was finally confirmed her secret was, as most theorized, the “took on your talent to distract yourself from the need to hurt yourself for fun” one. I mean, I feel like everyone called that one from the moment the curtain fell away from the screen with the motive secrets, but you get the idea. 

We also learnt she had a pact with Hu regarding their secrets, which I would love to learn the details of, and definitely makes me interested in where these Recap Foils are going, as well as-

Veronika [2-13]: After all, my own so-called secret isn't even the worst thing I've done. Isn't that so utterly disappointing of this motive?

… whatever the hell that means. Why’s she gotta be so ominous? (I love this about her).

The last notable scenes to point out are all the scenes where she's... Veronika, and I wouldn't have it any other way. Her psychoanalysis of Levi will probably wait for when I talk about him, and her help during the time Teruko was figuring out the murder method is appreciated, but specifically about her:

Veronika [2-15]: Swallow your pride and say that you're too weak, too stupid, and too incompetent to perform this murder. Accept the fact that no one thinks highly of you. Or defend your dignity at the risk of admitting that you're perfectly capable of committing this murder and continue to be our number one suspect.

I just think the voice acting in this line in particular is very auditorily pleasant so I wanted to point it out :D

But Episode 15 actually has a much more insidious Vero moment, which I felt was way more noteworthy. After Ace admits to the crime, he goes on his whole speech, which includes directly calling out Veronika's words as part of the reasoning why he killed, there comes a point when Ace calls himself a "piece of shit", and no one denies it. When that happens, Veronika smiles.

Veronika: Oh my. How tragic.

She is such an awful person, just such a piece of garbage. I adore her.

Anyways, my appreciation of actually horrible women aside, we need to discuss the biggest question she leaves us. And that is "hey, why is her reaction to Ace's execution and Levi's almost death so different from her reaction to Min's death?"

Veronika [about Min, 1-12]: Min died in such a cruel manner...

Veronika [about Levi, 2-16]: If Levi dies because of this... Kehehe... I'm sure I'll miss him, but... This is quite a way to go. I can't say I wasn't entertained.

Veronika [about Ace, 2-16]: Aha... Ahaha... How incredible...

So, after considering it for a little bit, I think we're lacking a little bit too much critical information on Veronika to confidently state why the hell her reaction is so different, but I can come up with a few different possible answers. I'll list them in ascending order of likeliness in my opinion, and we'll see just how wrong I am once we get more insight on her!

+Veronika cares more about Levi than Ace, and more about Min than Levi. This is because she just said Ace's execution was "incredible," while she mentions she'll miss Levi, and obviously looks genuinely distressed over Min. I see no actual reason to believe this, though, because I... don't think Vero and Min ever even interacted beyond the trial? So unless we're pulling some very strange Veromin agenda out of nowhere (or Veronika is Mai Akasaki), this doesn't work imo.

+Veronika was acting in T1, but doesn't care by the start of T2. Possible, and it's true that Vero was more self-conscious about freaking people out in CH1, but I'm not sure if there's enough evidence to truly say she was only pretending to be distressed by Min's death.

+Veronika's reactions are based on the executions (and execution attempt) themselves, not anything else. This is consistent with her specifically reacting to the way Min died ("Min died in such a cruel manner") rather than the death itself. She specifically says she'd be entertained by Levi's death, and is clearly entertained by Ace's. So, I guess she just finds Min's execution particularly cruel/boring? Does she... have wolf related trauma? Test related trauma? I don't know, but I think this fits decently well, so.

+Veronika's slowly getting worse. A logical conclusion from the fact that she reacted one way in T1, and another literally four days later. Certainly possible given her analysis of people shattering in the killing game, so for now this is the interpretation I'm going with.

Whit Young

.... Sigh. You're not even that important to this part, how are you still gonna require so many words of analysis?

Alright, let's start with the pretty infamous scene where he talks about drop hanging. I do want to make one thing clear; just because Whit talks for a pretty long time about drop hanging, it doesn’t mean he actually says anything particularly groundbreaking. Like, everything he says is very logically sound, which means they’re conclusions anyone could have drawn.

Like me. Because even though I don’t think I wrote them down explicitly, I did more or less arrive at the same conclusions as he did, and I don’t have any experience with drop hanging. I’m clarifying this because I’m on enough lists as it is just by firefoxing shit like “can turpentine knock you out” and “how long do people pass out after being strangled” I do not need any more allegations on my person! 

That said, I am also not a fictional character who exists within a story which follows narrative conventions (as far as you know, anyways). Whit is. And it’d be silly to instantly dismiss that the dev specifically chose Whit, a character who is otherwise not the most helpful in trials, to be the one to deliver this explanation, and without any interruptions no less. Even Teruko and Charles usually have one character or another finishing their explanations, like Levi when Teruko explained the slingshot or… Levi when Charles talked about jockeying. Huh, Levi kinda goated?

Thus, because the dev specifically chose Whit to give this explanation with no interruptions, we can infer that he may have a special connection to drop hanging. Given what we know, I find it likeliest that his mother committed suicide by hanging. At present, I don’t find much evidence that he would have attempted himself, though…

You know how Whit dyes his hair to look like his mom’s? And how Color Theory in LGI gives him (among other stuff) “degraded copy”, likely in reference to this? If his mother killed herself via hanging, do you think he would try to replicate that, too?

Food for thought. Again, not much reason to believe it yet. 

Other than that, there are... the allegations. The part started strong with MonoTV stating it let slide a rule violation because it was funny (especially weird given what we learn in 2-16, but Whit's not the only rulebreaker in the cast so we're chilling). And then, 2-16 happened.

Whit [seven seconds before Teruko's execution, 2-16]: Charles, stop talking and cover your eyes! [...] Whit [post Levi shooting]: Ah, crap. The smell of blood is really strong. Even though I told [Charles] not to look, he still...

And, of course.

Whit: ...

Of course.

Alright, so let me start by the elephant in the room. The hand behind the back. The moment the cast learns the elevator doors won't open, we see Whit with his left hand behind his back. Many have assumed this means, understandably in my opinion, that he may be holding a remote control of some kind to close the elevator. In other words, Whit's the mastermind. But, while I consider him one of if not the best mastermind guess in the market, I don't think this is good evidence of it.

You see, there's no reason to believe such a remote would be required. By all accounts, it should be MonoTV's AI who is keeping the elevator closed with no need for outside interference, regardless of who the MM is. There is simply no reason to believe that any MM would have an "elevator manual stop" or even an universal remote (apart from J!MM for obvious reasons), because it should be MonoTV who is running this stuff.

As an aside, I will point out that, per the CH1 QnA, every character is right-handed apart from Teruko (lefty) and Arei (ambidextrous). You could use this to argue Whit shouldn't be doing anything with his left (the hand behind his back), but that's not good reasoning, as the sprite might just be drawn that way for aesthetic reasons and you're supposed to ignore handedness. Eden also used her left to rip out Xander's eye, apparently. I haven't seen anyone bring it up, but I have made this mistake before with a certain bat swinging Milgram prisoner, so I'm saying this to avoid others making the same mistake.

That clarified, however, the first point is still valid. Although I consider it perfectly possible, at present I do not believe Whit is holding anything behind his back.

Why does he pose like that, then? To answer that, perhaps it'd be better to answer what the deal with his other behavior is.

Because it's weird, right? Whit focuses on Charles even when everyone else, Charles included, are fretting over Teruko and Levi. And then, despite being able to brush off things like Levi's secret confession and Min's execution with nothing but a "that's wack," joking about rewatching said execution, etc., somehow the elevator being closed is what finally gets him to bring out the breakdown sprite?

Well, yes. And this shouldn't be all that surprising, imo. Because everything about Whit's reaction is perfectly in line with his previous behavior. Not to say it isn't weird (it is), just that it's weird in the way Whit's always been weird, and not in any new special way.

This is because every part of this reaction comes from the already established way Whit deals with tragedy; he avoids it, and moves on. You'll immediately think of Whit's mom when I say that, the way he omits her death whenever he speaks of her to the point he genuinely forgets that's a thing until a few seconds after the secret Rose received was brought into the conversation, but there's more examples that are actually closer to this situation. In particular, I want to direct your attention to the investigations in both chapters so far.

For the first trial, Whit spends literal hours hanging out with Charles while the Chemist has a breakdown, to the point he almost didn't investigate at all. This is excusable, of course; he was helping someone in need, and the culprit was thought to be obvious enough that investigation wouldn't be necessary.

The second, though, is perhaps a bit stranger. First, Whit doesn't look closely at Arei's body because he was busy comforting Eden, apparently. Alright, fine. But, hey, how did he try to comfort Eden after everyone started to filter in?

Whit [2-8]: There, there. Pat pat. Do you want to sit down somewhere else?

He immediately wants to leave the room. But, he's still trying to help Eden; maybe he's projecting? Because he'd want to leave the room if a loved one died, so he's asking Eden if she wants to do it?

Except, he does leave the room. He doesn't have any other lines in the playground past this point, and then he starts investigating with Charles, the one dude he knows won't enter the scene of the crime.

And you know when he splits off from Charles?

Whit [2-8]: If you're worried about Rose tampering with evidence, then all you need is another witness to watch over her, right? I can do that, since I'm here. I mean, unless Charles needs me for something.

My guy will genuinely do anything except investigate the playground.

And that's where the pattern starts to be noticeable. Whenever something bad happens, Whit finds any excuse he can to distance himself from the situation. And to be clear, they're usually good excuses; it makes sense for Whit to do all this in a vacuum, it's just odd that he constantly finds them. Other examples include him bringing up alibis when the note first comes up, and then, when he's pressed about it:

Whit [2-9]: Eden has [the note]. Ask her.

He doesn't even... want to have the responsibility of the note? Admittedly that could be for other reasons, but still.

With this pattern of avoidance in mind, the things he says in 2-16 are perfectly explainable. Instead of focusing on Teruko's incoming execution or Levi's injuries, he chooses to focus on Charles, because that's easier for him. He's once again finding an excuse to look away from tragedy.

By the way, I don't want to make it sound like Whit doesn't care about Charles as anything but an excuse to get out of thinking of bad stuff. It's pretty clear a big part of why Whit does the shit he does is that he genuinely cares about Charles as a friend (crush?). Whit probably does want to help Charles just for the sake of helping him, but it does come with the benefit of helping Whit avoid stuff he doesn't want to think about.

This whole avoidance thing is also why Whit is so perturbed by the elevator. When Levi gets shot, Whit probably hopes that they get to leave the trial room quickly to take care of him, at which point Whit can just avoid the situation entirely by just sticking to Charles like usual. But they can't. The elevator is shut. Not only does Whit probably realize that means they have to watch the execution, but it also means Whit is not able to get out of the room where a guy is actively dying, and sticking to Charles only lets him ignore the situation so much.

Why does he have his hand behind his back? Well, this is gonna sound like I'm on anti-Whit!MM copium (I swear I like the theory well enough), but I think he's simply balling up his fist out of stress. It's just that Whit "I don't want to talk about any problems ever and don't want anyone to ever know when I'm suffering" Young is instinctively hiding it so no one sees any sign that he might not be okay.

Does that make sense? Barely? Well, it's not like "emergency elevator shutdown button" is particularly more believable in my eyes, so that's the answer I'm going with for now.

Anyways. Jesus Christ Whit you're barely even relevant to this part how the fuck did you still force me to write so much about you.

Arturo Giles

I have less to write about Arturo than Vero and Whit because he's a bit more straightforward, but I'm still putting him here because he was more directly important this part. Speaking of, what notable things did Arturo do these episodes? Ah, right.

Arturo [2-12]: You shut your whore mouth!

"I thought you were only doing necessary imag-" This one's necessary shut

I'm using this to talk about the big speech about his talent, that he started studying plastic surgery when he was 12 and that it's impressive he's a plastic surgeon this early in his life. Props to dev for addressing this, I know some people are irked when characters are in the medical field from way too early in life without good justification like this. The fact he started so young also adds to the theory that Arturo's home life sucked, because it'd be really odd for a 12 year old to already be planning to leave otherwise.

The way the cast keeps insulting his skill, even though as he's said several times over the course of the series, the shit they expect him to do is way beyond his area of expertise, is a good way to build up to the way the cast also dismisses Ace's intelligence and skills later.

Other than that, there was one more moment when Arturo took part of the spotlight. When Levi gets shot, despite everything that happened earlier, everyone still turns to Arturo to save the Stylist. This leads to one of the most human moments Arturo's given us since 2-10:

Arturo [post Levi shooting, 2-16]: I--! I'm not that kind of surgeon! I've told you, over and over, I have no experience with saving lives! Something like this! There's no way I can do it--

Apart from the stellar voice acting that cannot be pointed out enough times, Arturo's doubt over Levi's condition is certainly a good setup for CH3, I'm really interested in how he'll handle this. Especially because...

Do you think he'd think of Felicity, looking at Levi like that? Because just like Arturo ignored Felicity's feelings (to an extent) in pursuit of his dream, he also neglected to study the more standard medical knowledge in favor of becoming a plastic surgeon faster, and now he needs that standard medical knowledge to save Levi's life. Food for thought.

Arturo is definitely an interesting character to watch out for moving forward, he's certainly in for a very curious CH3. Final note:

Arturo [to Levi, 2-13]: How could you simply *forget* that you murdered your own family member?

Get it because the death of Felicity haunts him even though he didn't kill her himself- Man I love recap foils.

MonoTV

I cannot fucking believe that this hunk of metal is getting its own section, but it is. 2-16 what an episode you are.

Thankfully, I've already expressed most of my thoughts about this damn thing in this linked post, so I'll just refer you to that one instead of writing it all again. As a summary, there's quite a few lore implications to the fact that we now have a clearly stated purpose for MonoTV, a goal for the killing game, a connection to XF-Ture Tech (because MonoTV seems to have been specifically created for the game), and I'm really wondering why the hell the default XF personality seems to care so much about Teruko and where that could lead to in the future. Also, very curious where the theme of fate will be taken with it, as well as where dev is planning to take the fact that it seems to have feelings of grief and pain and maybe even cares about Teruko??? Or has compassion in general??? What is wrong with this dog-

Rose Lacroix

Btw I greatly appreciate everyone who colors her name rainbow, I see you and you're valid for it. I need to color code my highlighting though, and if I have to do rainbow for every word I highlight I will actually die. Also I would need to put in an epilepsy warning in my posts lol

Rose got a few nice lines, but when it comes to her, there's one big moment that's really on everyone's mind.

Rose [2-14]: Has it really gotten this bad? I think my brain is falling apart. I can't even recall what day it was when that happened. Levi: You can't remember? I was under the impression that your memory was the best out of everyone here. Rose: It's true that I remember everything I see. But that means that most of my memories are meaningless junk. The kind of thing a normal person would forget without a second thought. But I can't forget. My brain won't work the way I want it to. I can't draw associations so easily. Everything reminds me of something meaningless, and I get distracted. And the worst thing is that I remember it all in perfect detail. Xander's body. Min's execution. I can't even look at Teruko without seeing blood. I know I'm supposed to remember everything. I know I'm supposed to be smart. I know I'm supposed to be helpful. Yet I'm not. I... I'm sorry for being useless. Maybe if I tried harder, if I just got over myself--

Do I... need to talk about this, beyond pointing out how good the VAing is? Everything about it is heartbreaking, but pretty straightforward. It's an extension of the conversation she and Teruko had in 2-5, where we also throw in Rose's growing self-doubt and self-blame over everything that's going on around her. It adds into the theme of this cast pushing expectations on each other (like wanting Arturo to be a better doctor or Ace being too stupid to do a murder), throws in some parallels to Teruko and Hu and Eden (the self-blame sisters!!! *fire emoji* *fire emoji* *fire emoji*) and Xander (the survivor's guilt boy!!! *fire emoji* *fire emoji* fire emoji*), foils with J (J who rejects what others like Mariabella want from her VS Rose who internalizes the expectations and accepts the whole Spurling situation), there's the "a normal person would forget" wording that kinda connects her to Nico and Levi and David (the "feeling separated from other humans' experience" siblings!!! *fire emoji* *fire emoji* *fire-), obviously memory is connected with Charles and Teruko, etc.

You see why I don't always talk about parallels? I have to bring up every single character up every time because that's the shit that happens when your writing is this *fire emoji* *fire emoji* *fire emoji*.

The other thing is Nico, but maybe it's better to keep that for their section. Overall, just a fantastic feast for enjoyers of Rose angst.

Arei Nageishi

You know this trial went crazy when Arei got a whole ass character arc during it, and she's the dead one.

For this part in particular, the big Arei moment was obviously during 2-13, when we finally got to hear the end of the conversation between her and David. I'm not transcribing it, because I'm sure we all got the gist. Arei figured out one of the main themes of the chapter, that everyone is a flawed person, and that means that no one's ever too far gone. There's always a possibility of becoming a less shitty person, and that's sweet.

But beyond Themes, learning what Arei's mindset about good and bad people was really helps to understand her actions before this point, though I do find it interesting that the whole "sorting people into good and bad" mentality she had is actually pretty similar to the way she talks about people in her FTE, which is some fun consistency!

Arei [CH1 FTE]: Yup, that's right! I organize everyone I meet into categories of how I should bully them.

... Well the context's different but you get the idea.

Arei used this principle of "sorting" people into "good" and "bad" to deny herself the possibility of getting better, because trying to change is scary. Man I wonder why that rings a bell.

Teruko [to Whit, 2-2]: But if you start talking about me and saying that I could be a good person if only I make an attempt to change, then I'm going to stop you right there. Don't say that I could be a good person, because all it'll do is make me feel bad that I'm not.

Ah right because Teruko's a well written protagonist. And actually wait, isn't there someone else?

David [2-11]: "People can always change?" What complete bullshit. No one ever changes. People who are born lazy, useless and stupid will stay that way until they die. If you were able to "improve" yourself into a better person, then it only means you were a better person to begin with.

Ah right because David is a well written character. Carry on then.

I do wonder why she waited until night three after the motive handout to talk to David about it, though, instead of doing directly after the playground breakdown. Was it, like, she didn't want to confront it directly after and only got the motivation/courage/whatever after talking to Eden? And then couldn't find David until then? It's odd, but I imagine there's no, like, big reason behind it necessarily.

Eden Tobisa

Hey Eden sorry I suspected you as the killer for a year can we still be friends? :,)

There's two big Eden moments to take into consideration, one in 2-14, one in 2-16.

Eden [2-14]: Why... No one... believes in me... Why? I'm... Arei's killer? No... No way....... Hu: Eden? Please don't cry. Eden: This whole time I've been trying to hold myself together... because Arei died...... I wanted so badly for this all to be a dream, and for Arei to be alive and by my side.... But now, you all think I killer her? Why? I cared about her! Arei is... She could have been my friend! Why would I kill her?? Levi: Eden, please calm down... Eden: Why am I being accused of murdering Arei? I wanted to help her! I just wanted to be friends with her! Why would you say that I killed her? Is it because you think I hated her? That's not true! I didn't hate her! Teruko: Eden.

I'm gonna cut it off there and resume in a bit, partly so I can organize this better and partly to make absolutely sure I don't hit the Tumblr limit on characters in a single text block (because my entire blog is evidently dedicated to testing this hellsite's limits lmao).

There's honestly a surprising amount of nuance in this small breakdown. We start with re-establishing that Eden is someone who constantly tries her hardest to remain strong in the face of adversity, holding herself together as best she can when her newest friend just died and she's more or less blaming herself for it.

Then, while I always praise the voice acting (because it deserves it), I need to bring special attention to the sheer amount of emotion in that "Why? I cared about her!" Hearing Eden genuinely frustrated at the accusations on top of her sadness is heartbreaking, and just a wonderful display of humanity from a character who is at times almost inhumanly patient. Makes me feel bad for suspecting her, and she's fictional in our world!

On top of that, "she could have been my friend" is an interesting choice of words regarding Arei. This is where having hyper-analyzed all Eden lines comes in handy lol. Because taken at face value, it means that Eden recognizes that her relationship with Arei wasn't at a stage where she could genuinely called her a friend, given that as far as we know the last conversation they had was after the Arturo thing. Nice depth!

The rest is pretty standard, though again the phenomenal VAing still makes my heart ache. Continuing:

Eden: Teruko... I didn't kill Arei..... Do you believe me?! Teruko: Listen-- Eden: *sniff* I, I didn't do it! Please.... Believe me... This whole trial has been cruel to me.... Help me, Teruko... I can't stand it... I just wanted to help Arei.... I didn't kill her... Teruko: You know I can't just take your words at face value, Eden. Eden: Please, Teruko... You're my friend, aren't you? Friends help each other... So please, help me... I promise I didn't... I didn't kill her.... I'm innocent... Please trust me..... Please.....

AAAAAAAAAAA-

Okay with that basic reaction out of the way, because evidently the reactions didn't have enough "text screaming" for me to fully get it out of my system, this is just a really heart-wrenching scene. Just the combination of VAing, music and visuals, man... ouch. It's especially tragic when taking the following line into account:

Eden [2-3]: Teruko, relationships aren't transactional. It's not that I did something good for you that you should do something good for me.

The Eden hyperfocus comes in clutch again- Is it weird that being an Eden!Culprit believer for so long is making me appreciate her character more now that she's confirmed innocent? :v

Teruko has, up to this point, never outright claimed herself to be Eden's friend, at least not as far as I can recall. Hell, her lines following Eden's plea for help seem to completely disregard the idea.

Teruko [2-14]: So for now, I'm going to assume you're innocent. Eden: W-What? Really? Thank you so much, Teruko... Teruko: Don't... get me wrong. This isn't out of kindness or pity or anything else. This is only because you helped me in the last trial. I'm repaying your favor, and nothing else. That's why I'll trust you, just this once.

How much she means that is for the Teruko section. What's important is that this means that when Eden says "you're my friend, aren't you?", she is actively going against her claim that relationships aren't transactional. She expects Teruko to consider herself Eden's friend because Eden has done a lot of stuff to try to make that friendship work.

This. Is. Wonderful. Don't you love it when characters fail to uphold their beliefs when faced with a horribly stressful situation? Well, I love suffering, so I sure do! :D

To be clear, I'm not trying to paint Eden as a hypocrite or anything. She's right in saying that relationships aren't transactional, and is justified in asking Teruko to help her because she considers Teruko her friend, even if it's a slight contradiction. After all, what are humans if not a swirling well of contradictions, desperately arranging themselves like the magnetic moments of a metal to try to make the slightest bit of sense of a reality they hopelessly seek to understand-

Ehem. The point is I like Eden a lot :D

Speaking of wonderfully human moments, time to switch to the other big Eden character moment!

Eden [2-16]: This... This all could have been prevented, couldn't it? [...] Of course I know [we can't blame ourselves for Ace's murder]. Ace planned to kill Arei, and even before that, he was planning to kill me. Rose: Then how can you forgive him? Eden: I never said I forgave him. It's just that... The Ace that I met for the first time wasn't a murderer. I... I can't forgive him. He killed Arei, after all. She was innocent, and he killed her for unfair reasons. But... Those unfair reasons were unfair to him as well.

You know, we joke about how awesome it is that the entirety of the DRDT cast is mentally unstable (because it is), but it's also cool to see the one actually more or less functional member of society in the group being the voice of reason like this. Not to spoil anything, but I find her stance regarding Ace's murder as the most reasonable stance one could have, and it's always cool to see a character who has reasonable opinions every now and then. But having such an opinion is easy when you're outside the show and the characters are all pixels on a screen; the fact that Eden can still find it in herself to be charitable towards Ace's situation while not outright forgiving him for his actions is a really powerful statement about her strength and sense of morality. Eden could not stop catching Ws this part.

Anyways, here's a few more fun Eden moments this part gave us.

Eden [2-15]: Wait, but... Is Ace even capable of doing a feat of strength like that? He's injured, after all.

I just think it's sweet Eden tries to defend Ace even when she's the other prime suspect :)

Levi [2-13]: And if tomorrow it turned out you all had passed away, I'd care as much as if we had never met. Eden: But you're a good person. Why are you saying these things when it's clearly not true? You're so kind to everyone. You're always helping others out, even when it'd be easier not to. Like that time Ace almost died. You kept trying to help him, even if he always pushed you away. Isn't that what "a good person" does?

For all the Eden Ws, she had to take an Eden L. Come on, Eden, Levi doesn't need to actually care to be a good person, he just needs to do good things, you know this :(

It makes sense character-wise, though. Eden has a surprisingly strong belief system, which is heavily shaped by her emotional nature, so it makes sense that Levi's Deal of doing good things with no emotional attachment to them would throw her off.

Still cool of her to accept Levi as a good person even though she just learnt he killed four people, however. It's good characterization; despite her misunderstanding with the lack of empathy thing, she still chooses to judge Levi based on the things she's personally observed, as opposed to making assumptions over things she only has half the story for.

Man, she's just so mature and cool and awesome and not fucked up in any way! Now that the tape thing's been resolved, I can't think of a single thing that would make anyone think that she might be a little-

Ah. Right.

Well, as a first reaction, this is definitely an Eden W in the oh so prevalent... DRDT powerscaling scene? She apparently managed to slash at Xander's eye, twice, with a fork. And with her non-dominant hand no less!

So... what the hell am I even supposed to do with this? Unfortunately, we're currently missing gigantic amounts of critical information regarding this situation, meaning I can't for the life of me come to any conclusions, at least not confidently. I tried to look at the pre-prologue dialogue to see if I could find anything, but...

Ouch... I really wasn't expecting her to attack me like that. I made a massive mistake to trust them. I can't rely on anyone. All by myself... I have to end the killing game. And even if I can't do that... I have to kill Teruko Tawaki. No matter what.

Fuck am I supposed to gather from this.

Uh... someone told Xander that Eden would be down with whatever plan Xander had to end the killing game if he just showed her whatever documents we're seeing in the Bloody Hands scene??? And she got too scared and just stabbed him with a fork??? Who is the "them" who told Xander this, a group of people, or a single person and Xander's playing the pronoun game? Or was it Nico???

Nico [1-9]: Are you really using unclear pronouns for dramatic effect? That's such a cliche.

Fuck it, locking in Nico as the one who told Xander to talk to Eden, just because that's the funniest possible reason Xander could have used "they" there. I doubt it's true, but it's gonna feed my God complex if I get it right, so-

Yeah, in case it isn't obvious, I have very little idea what this scene could even be about. Very excited to see where this could go :D

Nico Hakobyan

Nico stole the show for practically half of 2-14, so it's natural we should start at the main event.

First, the soft confirmation that Nico really did attack Ace with a plan to get away with the murder and escape as the blackened, particularly framing Hu by using her wire. This... vaguely contradicts something they claimed earlier, so we gotta discuss the implications.

Veronika [to Nico, 2-9]: Is this what you were envisioning when you tried to kill Ace? That the trial would happen like this, but with Ace instead of Arei dead? Nico: I didn't... I never thought about it... I... I never should have... done that...

Were they just... lying here? Did they mean something else?

My best guess to explain this apparent contradiction is that Nico thought about the trial in a more... impersonal sense? Like, when planning to kill Ace, they figured they should try to hide that so they didn't go down with him, but sort of... ignored that winning the trial would kill everyone else? It's hard to describe, but that's what I get from that line as well as:

Nico [2-14]: I tried to kill [Ace] because I don't like [him].

When they say they "never thought about the trial," they probably mean that they never thought about the full implications of it, even though they did plan for it. They knew in some level they were supposed to hide the murder if they did it, but things like escaping the killing game and actually getting everyone else killed didn't fully register. This thought process makes sense in my mind, I hope it makes sense in yours because I don't know how to describe it any better :v

Second.

Eden [2-14]: That's- That's so cruel! Nico, why? Aren't we all friends? If something was bothering you, you could have talked it out with someone else you trusted? Nico: ... Someone I trust? What are you talking about? I don't trust anyone here.

Fantastic bit of characterization here. Nico, despite being relatively civil to anyone they're not actively planning to kill, apparently trusts no one. However, I want to explore what exactly that means. Because it's not like Nico is paranoid they're gonna get killed per say:

Hu [2-12]: Nico does have an alibi. I was having breakfast and tea with them in their room early in the morning as well. Drop it, Ace.

I can think of few better opportunities to kill someone than being alone with them, in their room, at around 7:30 AM when it's still officially nighttime. Nico, at least, trusts that Hu won't kill them, though whether that's because they're confident they could survive anything she tries or because they genuinely trust she wouldn't try at all is up in the air.

Point is, Nico is distrustful, but not as paranoid as, say, Ace. Because of that, currently, I believe Nico's claim that they don't trust anyone is an extension of things they've said before; that they prefer animals because people are unpredictable. Really, Nico's lack of trust being interpreted as "not trusting people to react to their concerns properly" is very consistent with the way they've acted in the past, particularly their reaction to getting forced into revealing their secret, so we probably shouldn't be surprised.

Nico [2-6]: I thought you would laugh at me. I was worried you would pick up rocks and start throwing them at me or pick up clumps of mud and start throwing them at me.

Next point:

Nico [2-14]: You all are right. I tried to kill Ace and pin the murder on Hu. What else should I say? Ace: W-- "What else should I say"?? You tried to murder me. You fucking tried to murder me! And after all's said and done, you can't even say something as simple as "sorry"?! Nico: ... I tried to kill you because I don't like you. Even now, there's still no use to try and pretend that I like you. If I say "sorry," you're still going to hate me.

... Yeah.

Nico [2-2]: If you're having dinner and want someone to pass the salt, you can say, "Please pass the salt," or you can say, "Give me the salt." One of those things is supposed to be more polite than the other, right? But why? They both mean the same thing. They're just slightly different mixes of words. It's like that. I don't understand why some mixes of words come off as "rude," and some don't, even if they mean the same thing.

I don't even think I need to explain this further. I think it's pretty clear why Nico wouldn't apologize to Ace. Nico's just not to into social conventions.

Except:

Veronika [2-15]: What's wrong, Ace? You seem stressed. [Your neck injuries] are only wounds. What's the issue? Could it be that almost being murdered has traumatized you a little bit~? Ace: You think?! You think that almost being killed could have maybe given me a little trauma!? Nico: ... [Whispered voice clip: "I'm sorry"]

This one's... odd. Nico doesn't say it loud enough for Ace to hear, evidently, so it's just a genuine reaction to the harm they've caused. What could have triggered this change? Uh... maybe a little extra trauma dump will help? Let's pick up after where we left off in 2-14.

Rose [continued]: D-Do you even regret what you did to [Ace]? Do you regret what you were planning to do to everyone else? Nico: O-Of course I regret doing it! I'm not Levi, of course I feel bad about something like that. I'm not heartless! Levi: Heartless? Nico: That was the worst choice I've made in my life. I wish I had never done that. But looking back, I still understand why I did. I... I just can't stand being treated like that. My teachers, my classmates, my father... I don't ever want to relive what they did to me. It's because of those kinds of people that I can't be happy with who I am. That's why I hate Ace.

Okay cut off there. First, interesting to see Nico calling Levi heartless. I've seen it brought up that it makes sense for Nico, who struggles to relate to other people on a good day, to latch onto any defense of their "normalcy" they can, including "I'm not the weirdest person here" despite how hurtful that can be to say. That's some neurodivergent on neurodivergent hostility right there! Fun to see characters being flawed in new and unique ways /gen.

Apart from that, there's some nice reveals to Nico's backstory, which are always welcome. We already knew Nico was harassed because of their identity, but now we have names (as in, identity of aggressors); teachers, classmates, and Nico's father. That obviously comes with a question; was Nico raised by a single father, or did they have other relatives who were more accepting? For now, we got no clue.

But that final line is important, because I believe it's what explains Nico's whispered apology in 2-15.

Nico [already written]: It's because of those kinds of people that I can't be happy with who I am. That's why I hate Ace.

Nico's apology comes after Ace explicitly mentions being traumatized over the murder attempt, in particular in regards to his neck wounds. This can be taken as Ace revealing he's not happy with a part of himself (scars) as a result of Nico's actions. When abstracted this way, the comparison to Nico's situation (unhappy with a part of themselves (gender identity) as a result of others' actions) is much clearer. Nico apologizes for accidentally causing Ace a comparable trauma to their own. Which... I think makes sense from their point of view? People apologize when they do something hurtful they didn't mean to; Nico meant to murder Ace, so no apology for that, but they didn't mean the trauma, so they say sorry for it. Not that Ace heard it, but you know.

... That's a weird ass thought process, but I think it makes just enough sense to explain the apology. Let's finish the 2-14 scene.

Nico [continued]: Even so... I'm not a child. I know that murder is wrong. I'm not the victim here. I know that it was dumb to resort to murder. I don't even know what I thought I would have accomplished back then. I mean, I started regretting it as soon as Eden and Teruko saw me. I don't expect you to forgive me. Very few people ever do. So I don't see the point in acting sorry. ... That's the entire truth of my murder attempt. I don't have anything else to say.

So... "I don't even know what I thought I would have accomplished back then" seems to corroborate what I said earlier about Nico not truly grasping the full implications of a trial while they planned the murder, which is nice.

Nico's attitude over this ("I'm not the victim here") is nice to see, and makes me very interested in where their arc is going to go from here. Especially since Nico maturely accepting the blame is already causing friction between them and Hu (even if Hu doesn't seem to notice), and will likely continue to do so in the future.

Hu [2-14]: You all are too cruel! None of you understand how much stress Nico was under! And yet you continue to insist on bringing this up. Can't you see that you're traumatizing them? Nico: Hu, I-- Hu: Don't worry, Nico, I'm on your side. I'll always defend you. I can be reliable for you. You trust me, right? Nico: ... I never asked you to defend me--

... We're gonna have to talk about this in the Hu section.

Finally, "I don't expect you to forgive me. Very few people ever do."

Nico, what the hell does this mean? What have you done in the past that requires so much forgiving? What in the [DR2 CH3 killer]-?

Unfortunately, this is one of those "we're missing critical information" situations when we can't even begin to speculate what, if anything, this is supposed to mean. We'll move on and patiently yet eagerly await elaboration.

There's one more big thing to bring up in respects to Nico, and that's... Rose. For who knows what reason, Nico never gives an explicit answer to whether they actually were interested in learning to paint or not.

Rose [2-14]: Did [Nico] even want to learn to paint? Or to be my friend at all? Or were they only using me as a tool for murder? Nico: ...

Regardless of what the answer is, that's kinda weird. I'm leaning "no, they didn't want to learn to paint," because it sure would be a hell of a coincidence that they just happened to gain an interest in painting just when they're planning a murder that happens to require a painting supply.

That said, Nico does still seem to somewhat care about Rose, and probably would like to be her friend. At least enough to eventually apologize to her out loud.

Rose [2-16]: [Ace]'s right. Only Nico took [the turpentine] from me, and I really doubt they gave it to Ace afterwards. Hu: You're always attacking Nico like this! Nico: It's the truth, though. And Rose is right. I kept it. I still have the turpentine in my room. I'm sorry.

And it's not like anything this chapter erased the FTE:

Nico [FTE]: I was going to thank [Rose] for hanging out with me. I really enjoyed her presence.

So, while I can't know for sure, I hope Nicorose can make a comeback, at least in time for Nico to die so dev can inflict extra psychological pain on Rose! :D

Final highlight:

Nico [to Levi, 2-13]: If you said you killed [your father] because you just didn't like him, I could understand that. But you're saying you forgot about taking a life...

Apart from Nico obviously projecting their own murder motives on other people, do we think Nico ever considered killing their own father? I doubt they actually did, else that would probably be their motive secret (provided it's not a Veronika situation where their secret isn't the worst thing they've done), but I could see them considering it given how they talked about him and Ace in the same breath, and... yeah Nico sure did want to kill Ace alright.

Hu Jing

Hu was quite fascinating this part, wasn't she? For someone that actually ended up having zero relation to the murder, she sure had a lot of important character scenes. Let's start with the confirmation of a particular theory that really helps understand her character better.

Hu [2-13]: I've been quite selfish this whole time, keeping my secret because I didn't want you all to think less of me. Most of all, I wanted to lie to myself and pretend that I had no ties to the person that I used to be. I wanted to believe that the past never happened. But that's just self-centered. I've always been a selfish person, haven't I? I should put those feelings aside and do what is right. No, I should have done this from the start. I will share my secret as long as you all promise to immediately move on. I have Veronika's secret, and she has mine.

Well that's just sad.

I don't think I particularly need to analyze this, it's all pretty explicit. Hu wants to be relied on because she feels useless if she doesn't provide guidance:

Hu [2-11]: I have to be the one to give everyone guidance. That's the only thing I can do. If no one relies on me, then I won't be useful anymore.

And if it comes out that she's attempted suicide, then in her eyes, that makes her less reliable.

(Obvious disclaimer is obvious, the character's views don't reflect my own, there's no shame in having attempted suicide or needing help to keep fighting it, etc.)

As a result, she dislikes the memory of that "hopeless child" who attempted three times, and wishes to avoid talking about it if possible. Metamorphosis (butterfly) and rebirth (water by her name being "still lake") symbolism pulling through.

Also, while there's many reasons someone could attempt suicide, that little "I've always been a selfish person, haven't I?", especially combined with other statements she's made in the past, heavily implies her attempts were a result of self-loathing :( . Thus why she so desperately seeks value in herself by helping others, which is sorta crumbling as everyone she put her faith on (David, Nico especially) starts to reveal themselves as not-that-great-people.

Hence why I'm worried we might see a fourth attempt in the killing game. Her secret quote seems to go against the idea, which combined with some of her statements in the series proper make me doubt it, but y'know... The precedent's there.

Anyways, I'm bringing this up first because, again, it helps understand her other actions this chapter.

Hu [to David, 2-12]: Unacceptable! What on earth [sic] is your problem? I have had it up to here with you! Because this killing game requires us to live, you think you should just reject that notion and kill us all? You lied to me, manipulated everyone, and tried to make us all commit mass suicide! You really are the lowest of human beings. You have no right to decide whether I, whether any of us, live or die, all because *you* feel like you have no chance! If you're so bent on dying here, then die! But don't you dare try and make everyone else die with you. If we decide to continue living, then we will. It is not and never will be your decision as to what happens with our lives. David: ... Rose: Wow. Hu can be scary. Hu: ... I'm sorry to everyone else. But I've lost my patience. I won't apologize to David.

(Obligatory props to VAing ofc)

I mean, yeah, it makes sense for someone who used to be suicidal to be mad at David's bullshit. Especially considering that, in regards to "you lied to me, manipulated everyone here," the line I mentioned before about providing guidance continues like this:

Hu [to David, continued from before, 2-11]: I have to be the one to give everyone guidance. That's the only thing I can do. If no one relies on me, then I won't be useful anymore. You knew how I felt, and yet you... You... You toyed with my heart! All that time you acted like you were encouraging us to reveal our secrets to "prevent conflict." That was all a lie!

Assuming the whole "You toyed with my heart!" thing isn't referring to a conversation we don't have information on (which, to be clear, is 100% possible), it's possible that at this point in the trial Hu felt bad for going along with David's plan, especially since she might have believed it directly led to Arei's death. I think it's worth noting that she's one of the two first person to speak after Ace confesses, and she asks if he did it because of the motive.

Ace [2-15]: I killed Arei. That's exactly right. Shit, it sounds really bad when I say it out loud. Eden: Why? Why did you kill her? Why would you do such a horrible thing? Hu: Did you kill Arei because of MonoTV's motive? Because you wanted to keep your "secret" hidden--

Which could be read as her trying to confirm whether or not going along with David's plan was a good or bad idea, maybe?

Admittedly, "going along with David's plan" in her case literally just means "she told David, Nico and Teruko that people used to call her Julia," which you could argue is too small for her to genuinely feel like she contributed, but keep in mind the "you toyed with my heart" line is directly before a line referencing the "reveal the secrets" plan. At the very least, she didn't go against it, not in a significant way anyways.

If I'm right to be reading these lines the way I'm reading them (which, again to be clear, might be wrong), then David purposefully used Hu's desire to help and be relied on to get her to agree with his plan, or at least not go against it, or at least Hu feels he did. Whether he intentionally targeted her, or if his methods to convince the others to convince the cast of revealing their secrets just happened to strike a cord (zither pun not intended) with Hu, is still unclear, but both are possible.

So she's already incredibly pissed at him for that, then he says he wants everyone dead, yeah my girl's got the right to go off.

Though, speaking of Hu blaming herself for what happened to an extent:

Hu [2-16]: Arei wasn't killed because of an accident. Bad luck or not, Ace had made up his mind to go through with this murder! So we can't possibly blame ourselves for failing to prevent something like that.

This is after Ace confirms that the motive and David's BS had nothing to do with the murder, so Hu can fully deny blame for what happened. Which is relatively fair, it's not like being mean to someone makes you guilty if they then choose to kill someone, but it's also presumably really important for her mental stability.

Did any of that make absolutely any sense? Maybe. Hopefully.

And that's just all the Hu-only stuff. Because a big part of her character this chapter was defending Nico far beyond what anyone could possibly see as reasonable. I'll bring back the example I gave before, because I think it's by far the most extreme.

Nico [2-14]: Someone I trust? What are you talking about? I don't trust anyone here. Hu: Stop! Just stop it! You all are too cruel! None of you understand how much stress Nico was under! And yet you continue to insist on bringing this up. Can't you see that you're traumatizing them? Nico: Hu, I-- Hu: Don't worry, Nico, I'm on your side. I'll always defend you. I can be reliable for you. You trust me, right? Nico: ... I never asked you to defend me--

Like, this goes beyond unreasonable. Nico literally says they don't trust anyone in the killing game, but Hu still thinks they trust her for... some reason. And even though Nico says they never asked her to defend them, Hu continues doing it past this point.

The thing is, though... why? Like, I get the basics here, it's what we talked about earlier. Hu only finds worth in herself by being reliable, and she sees Nico as someone who needs her reliability, so she tries to defend them no matter what. Hell, she even specifically says "I can be reliable for you" in the quote.

But... is there a reason she's so adamant towards them in particular? She doesn't get like this when Eden starts being accused, even though they have a good relationship with each other. Apart from reciting Rule 10 when it first comes up, once that gets thrown into question, the only thing Hu says when Levi and Arturo talk about Eden possibly being the killer is:

Hu [2-14]: Eden? Please don't cry.

She never pushes back against David's claim that he saw the corpse, even though that would practically exonerate Eden via BDA; that's Nico who does that. And Hu never claims Eden is being traumatized by being accused even though she clearly takes the accusations a lot worse than Nico was taking them in 2-14.

So, like, what the hell? Is there a deeper reason she's so defensive towards Nico and not Eden, or am I just going insane?

Well, at this point, if such a deeper reason exists, I have no clue what it could be. I could speculate about Nico reminding her of someone in the past, be it herself or someone else, or maybe Hu just sees Eden as less "in need" because she's generally more stable and happier than Nico, but really, I have no way of knowing.

The thing I can talk about in regards to the Hu-Nico thing is its parallels to Veronika-Arturo and Levi-Ace.

Veronika-Arturo is funny because, well.

Veronika [2-10]: Arturo, you're... You're so... Fascinating. You're really entertaining. So I'll take your side. I don't care about morals. I don't care about whether people get hurt or whether they die. I just need to be entertained. If you become more and more irredeemable, then I'll only love you more~ I want to hear all about those terrible things you did with no justification. Arturo: For someone who's taking my side, you sure are making me look a lot worse!

I really love how a big part of the Vero-Hu recap foil so far can be reduced to the "I can fix them" vs "I can make him worse" meme :p There are their secrets as well, but that analysis will have to wait for further elaboration on them, presumably in CH3.

Meanwhile, Levi-Ace... will have to wait for the Levi section, because this is already getting quite long for Hu, and it requires a bit more context on his character.

Miscellaneous highlights!

Hu [2-14]: Hang on! Eden isn't the killer! Don't accuse her! Charles: Not this again. You can't keep blindly defending the people you hope to be innocent if you don't have evidence, Hu.

Hu: I do have evidence! Why are you writing me off? All because I-- ... *sigh* Rule 10...

Damn she really gets defensive when you question her reliability huh?

Well, moving on. That was a pretty long section, hopefully the next one will be easier to write.

...

Oh. Oh no.

David Chiem

YOU

WHAT THE FUCK IS WRONG WITH YOU?!

Genuinely what is this motherfucker's problem? Everything he does seems to contradict something he did before, for reasons unknown. The only way I can even begin to try to analyze this son of a bitch is to go through everything he does in the series in chronological order, because trying to figure out his thought process in any other way would drive me in circles harder than anything in LGI ever did.

The first thing David truly does that informs us on his later actions is forming a genuine and positive relationship with Xander. In case the LGI MV didn't make it clear that David genuinely cared about the Rebel, we finally got near 100% confirmation of why exactly David liked him so much.

David [2-12]: You, and everyone else listening. I do so kindly request that pretty please stop talking about Xander at all if you don't know what the fuck you're talking about. It pisses me off to no end. After all, it's still unbelievable to me... ...That I'm the only person here who remembered him. Even if you all lost a year of memories for this killing game, there's no reason you shouldn't have recognized who he was.

While we unfortunately don't get much more clarification, it seems David knew what Xander did to earn the title of Ultimate Rebel, and likely admired him as a result. As per Xander's numeral I in LGI, "I have always looked up to you."

This admiration is presumably why David was so adamant in the first trial that there was no way Xander really tried to murder Teruko.

David [Debate Scrum, 1-8]: Are you saying that Xander is a killer? I find that difficult to believe.

You might argue that maybe he was just trying to throw the first trial, the same way he tried to throw the second. But that's not possible.

This is where we get to Weird Point #1. David didn't want to lose the first trial.

Nico [1-11]: Ah, right. Min was going from the laundry room to the kitchen. That path crosses the computer lab. She would have seen Teruko's body if the door was open. Min: ... Ace: And why exactly would the fucking door be open? Nico: U-Um... David: I suppose Min may have arrived near the computer lab's entrance just as Charles left. If she was curious, she would have even gone out of her way to see what was happening in there.

If David was trying to throw, he wouldn't be the first to explain how it would be possible for Min to be involved in the murder. And this is only one example, there's other lines where he specifically suspects Min. Apparently, he simply cannot handle a bad bitch winning (committing murder and trying to sacrifice 14 lives for her own benefit).

However, something in David shifts upon seeing Min's execution.

David [1-12]: I... I've seen enough. There's no point in keeping my hopes up anymore. We are all certainly going to die here.

This line is said pretty somberly.

Which is weird. Because not four days later, David will be trying to throw a class trial, which will kill everyone and him. Interesting detail about that, David doesn't seem to believe that the blackened will escape if they actually voted wrong, based on this line.

David [2-12]: 15 lives. Some of them are very dear to you. And your own life as well. Is there anything at all that could be more important to you than those 16 human lives?

Where he seems to imply a wrongful vote will cause 16 deaths.

But the thing is, it's not just the trial, is it? David also tried to instigate a murder through his "reveal all motive secrets" idea. That's what he does during the majority of CH2, starting in 2-4, just two days after Min's execution. Now, it's fully possible that at this point, he wasn't yet planning to throw the next trial, but rather, he was just doing this to hide his own secret. He certainly considers losing his "speaker persona" a genuine sacrifice, so it isn't unbelievable that he'd hope for a murder even if he was planning to win the trial if it happened.

David [2-12]: Even so... Lying about all that wasn't easy. Even I like to have good relations with others, however fake they might be. And I had to throw that all away. I know that no one will ever trust me, believe in me, or look up to me again after this. But doing "good" things requires sacrifice. Sometimes that sacrifice is being seen as "a good person." That's what I learned from Xander. Even if doing something will make you hated, if that action is for a greater good, then it's an action that you have to take.

(By the way, his views of goodness as martyrdom are quite interesting and I'm curious to see where it will go, but currently we don't have much more than this line for insight on it)

However, I don't quite think that he just wanted to keep the others' goodwill; I think he was already hoping to throw from the moment he started instigating the murder. And this is where we need to ask; what was it that made David switch up? What happened between the first trial and the second that made his goals change from surviving to... whatever he's cooking now? Because in case it wasn't clear from how I'm talking about it, I don't believe David gave the real reason for his throwing to the class. Let's look at the "confession."

David [2-12]: Ugh, fucking fine. You want an answer so badly? Any answer? ... I...

Ah... We're... in a television show, after all. That's... what MonoTV said, right? "Entertainment" is an ongoing show. If Min successfully got away with the very first murder and escaped while we all died, then isn't that way less interesting for a TV show? What's the point of roping 14 other people into one murder, only to kill them all off immediately? The killer is supposed to fail and be executed. We're all supposed to catch the killer, again and again, and participate in trial after trial. You're *supposed* to try to survive. All of you who are trying to solve these class trials to continue living on are playing straight into MonoTV's hands. [Confident] As if I'll accept that. I don't care how low I'll sink, or how despicable I'll have to become. I'll do anything to carry on Xander's ideals by ending this killing game, even if it means that I have to dirty my hands.

Although I wrote it all out, I want you to focus on the start: ".... - I... - Ah... We're... in a television show, after all." Even beyond the meta argument that it's unlikely we'd actually get the answer to why Xander wanted to win the class trial this early in the series (which is a valid argument, but I prefer to theorize without meta reasoning), that hesitation should tell you everything. The way it's written, it makes it seem like David is hesitating because he's making everything up on the spot, up to the "Ah..." potentially being the exact moment David figured out what angle he wanted to take. Given he's already admitted to both being manipulative and wanting to get everyone killed, this is the only reason I can see for why he'd hesitate to give such a relatively simple and "reasonable" (as in, it logically follows even if it's still insane) answer.

So, now we have two questions. What does he actually want to achieve by throwing, and why did he only start pursuing it after the first trial ended?

Well, let me say first that I don't think we're supposed to be able to answer these questions yet. Obviously; we're dealing with shit very closely connected to some pretty large, overarching mysteries of the series, which we probably won't get full answers for until much later than CH2. But we can try to speculate the general direction of what the answer will be. Let's look at another one of his lines to try to do just that.

David [2-13]: Achoo! Ah--Bless me! Also, excuse me! Wow, thank you for your support, everyone!

(I only included that line because it's fucking hilarious and I didn't want that to go unappreciated :p)

I have another interruption~ Hu: ... David: Teruko. Own up your [sic] goddamn secret already. You are the last person to do so. [...] Teruko: ... My family. David: ...

So, just like everyone who is somewhat deep in the DRDT theorizing community, I don't think this is true. I am pretty sure David has Teruko's secret, that secret being "How could I even select what secret to be your motive? Just about everything you've done in your life is worth killing for. The killing game is all your fault." There's many reasons beyond the weird ass David sprite pictured above, which many have already covered, but as a quick overview: the family secret ("you're constantly blaming yourself for the death of your parents and siblings. It doesn't matter that it's not your fault, just that you didn't go with them") fits Xander better (see: Bonus Episode 2, Xander's secret quote being the definition of survivor's guilt), the family secret mentions "siblings" plural when Teruko's only claimed to have one brother, we don't know what happened to Teruko's parents and brother when we know Xander's family is dead, Teruko didn't believe David when he said he got Xander's secret so she probably suspects the killing game one is hers, "this killing game is all your fault" is consistent with the second anniversary art code ("It's all your fault" in a picture which only features Teruko reaching out to presumably-Mai's hands, which disappear), etc.

So now we have four questions, because evidently I'm quite bad at this. Apart from the two mentioned before, we need to ask why David lied about the secret he received, and why he was happy when Teruko answered with the family thing.

But sometimes, one question can answer others. The reason I'm bringing this up is because I believe David's heel turn was likely motivated in some way by receiving Teruko's secret. Take a look at his immediate reaction when the secrets are first handed out.

Pretty frowny, huh? Yeah understandable given the secret he received is "hey the killing game is all the girl that Xander tried to kill's fault." Unfortunately this is the only reaction David has to any of the secrets, as the rest of his dialogue after this is just explaining J's secret. Well, and this:

Eden [2-1]: Then let's end the killing game before [the motive secret reveal]! Nico: Eh?! David: Optimistic as ever, Eden. I'll do my best.

Which is kinda funny in retrospect. Yeah, he sure did do his best to end the killing game before the secret reveals.

Tangent aside, the important thing is that David wasn't necessarily surprised by Teruko's secret, but rather, uh... Well it's hard to read him on expression alone. Frustrated, maybe? Possibly mad that Xander didn't succeed in killing her? It's also worth noting that this is shortly before Teruko goes into her whole "I don't plan on leaving" shtick, which includes the following tidbit (and yes David is in the room to hear this).

Teruko [2-1]: And I'd recommend that you drop that foolish optimism for making it out of here alive. With 100% confidence, I can say that... You will all die down here without ever seeing the outside world again. Ace: This bitch is totally out of her mind. Teruko: I'm not saying this out of ill-will. It's simply how this story works. You all have the misfortune of being "characters" in a story where I'm the "protagonist." Because of that, you're all doomed.

What's so important about this? Because I believe that, in David's mind, this proves Xander right. It proves that there is something off about Teruko, that he probably did have a good reason to attack her, that the note he received wasn't complete bullshit. If there is any single thing that would get David to follow Xander's footsteps, regardless of whether he has the full story or he's just doing what Xander was trying to do even without knowing the reasons the Rebel made the moves he made, it would be getting confirmation that the person he tried to kill specifically has something suspicious going on.

Especially because David does, in fact, seem to have a very weird fixation on Teruko.

David [2-14]: As long as there's a possibility that the evidence is false, as long as there's even the slightest reason to distrust others, then Teruko cannot trust Eden. Isn't that right, Teruko? Teruko: ... David: It's in your nature to distrust people. Everyone you know has already betrayed you. There's no one in this world who won't hurt you. Even the people you love will turn their backs on you in the end. You know that well enough, don't you? So distrust in others. Because that's the only way you know how to live. Teruko: ...

(Obligatory props to VAing ofc)

... Alright so it's five questions. Because how does he know all that?

Let me knock that one out quickly, though. Right now, I don't think this is solid enough reason to suspect that David knows more about Teruko than he's letting on. I could be wrong about that and David could just be aware of her entire backstory, but I currently don't believe that.

Instead, I think this might actually be an extension of his talent, in a way. The joke that he gave Teruko a "demotivational speech" is funny, but I also think it's actually on the right track. David knows the right things to say to someone to inspire them, to push back against their insecurities, as he did with Arei in the playground breakdown. Thus, it logically follows that if he's able to identify emotional weakness to push against it, he would also be able to exploit it.

Or, try, at least. He actually fails pretty spectacularly, since Teruko ends up trusting Eden anyways, and I don't think there were any reverse psychology 5D chess moves on David's part given his immediate reaction to Teruko's 2-14 speech to Eden.

Like, that's the face of a man who tried to be slick and failed miserably.

(And in case it isn't clear, I don't think his lie of seeing the body had anything to do with the trial, he did it just to fuck with Teruko)

In any case, what happened here is that he figured out the (relatively obvious, it doesn't take an Ultimate to see this) trust issues that plague Teruko, and is trying to make them worse in order to... uh... fill in the blank I guess. One option I've considered is that he knows something about how her luck works, that it hurts people she likes, so if she doesn't trust anyone then her luck's effects will be concentrated entirely on Teruko. However, that requires a pretty deep understanding of something he shouldn't have that much info on, so I don't find it that likely. Also I'm not 100% sure if this is how her luck actually works so there's that.

Yeah, unfortunately, at this point I struggle to see exactly what David's angle is here, which is probably intentional given, again, CH2. However, it does somewhat tie back into what we were talking about. Along with everything else I've mentioned, this fixation on Teruko's trust makes me believe that David's heel turn is at least partially motivated by receiving her secret.

And if we once again combine questions 3, 4 and 5, we can actually arrive at a new conclusion. We know David's hiding Teruko's secret, we know he's happy that she's not calling him out on it, and we know that he has a vested interest in getting her to distrust others. With all these combined, I believe that David is trying to look for a way to manipulate Teruko specifically as a backup plan if the cast managed to win the trial, which they did.

By getting her to distrust others, she'd isolate, making her an easier target for manipulation as she wouldn't have anyone to fall back on if David starts getting to her. And the secret is good blackmail, pretty straightforward why he he hasn't revealed it yet. That's also why he's happy she helped him keep it hidden; he can pull it as a card to make her seem less trustworthy and isolate her further. "She lied about her secret, she was trying to hide it." If she had been honest and said that neither the family nor the poison secret fit her and that someone lied about their secret, it would make her look comparatively better once the secret came out. In other words, it makes the blackmail even better, especially because now David knows for a fact that she wants to keep it hidden.

That brings up to question 6: why does David want to manipulate Teruko in the first place? And this is where we finally reach a dead end, because again, CH2, we're not gonna get all the answers yet. I have less than zero idea what David will try to manipulate Teruko into doing, when he will make his move, what his end goal is, or any other question you can imagine. I have my doubts that he'll succeed, obviously, but of course that depends a lot on what his final angle ends up being.

So, let's recap.

David knew of Xander before the killing game, admiring him because of his work as the Ultimate Rebel. As a result, David tried to establish a good relationship with Xander once the killing game started.

David originally rejected the idea of Xander attacking Teruko out of denial and nothing else. He had genuine faith his friend wouldn't do that. David wanted to catch the correct blackened in the first trial.

Upon receiving Teruko's secret and hearing her speech about everyone dying as a result of misfortune, David begins to believe Xander was in the right, and chooses to pursue what he thinks Xander was trying to accomplish. This includes trying to instigate a murder and admitting to killing Arei.

David lied about his motivation to throw the trial. I don't know if he's specifically trying to kill Teruko, or if he thinks everyone in the cast needs to die for some reason, or if he genuinely has no idea what Xander was trying to do and he's just following his actions blindly, or if it's something else entirely; whatever motivation he actually has, it's not what he said.

As a backup plan if the cast manages to win the trial, he hides Teruko's secret and plans to manipulate her via blackmail, for reasons yet unknown. This is why he's happy that she also keeps it hidden, and why he tries to build her distrust in others.

And that's the basics of what I believe regarding his actions... related to throwing the trial and Teruko. We still have one more David Moment TM to deal with.

David [about the Arei conversation, 2-13]: ... Nothing. Absolutely nothing. I didn't say anything to her, and she didn't have much to say to me either. Arei simply got annoyed with me and left without saying anything else. Nothing else happened between us, I promise. Eden: You promise? You absolutely promise, you didn't say anything to her? David: One hundred and one percent, I promise. Ace overheard everything, and what he told you all was the entire truth. Does that satisfy you? Eden: ... That's... a relief. That you didn't make her feel bad, I guess.

So, question 7, why does he hide the truth from Eden? I doubt he suddenly gained an interest in progressing the trial without further interruption. He's also not doing this for Eden's sake; what Eden wanted to hear was that Arei walked out of that conversation still hoping to change for the better, which she did. Hearing that Arei still wanted to "be less shitty together" even after knowing David's a manipulative asshole would have made Eden very happy.

But David doesn't want to hurt Eden, either. If he did, he'd lie and tell Eden that he said something that made Arei run out crying and having lost all hope, or something. I also can't really think of anyone else who would have much of a reaction either way, since as bad as it sounds to say it, Eden's more or less the only person who was genuinely invested in Arei's progress. Maybe "the blackened," but if David doesn't know who the blackened is, there's no way he'd know how they'd react, so it's likely not because of that.

So, if David doesn't hide the truth for the sake of the trial, and he doesn't lie because of Eden, and he doesn't lie because of anyone else, then he's lying for his own sake. I believe that David is trying to hide how much he genuinely cared about Arei, and probably doesn't trust himself to be able to tell the story without giving the game away.

And to be clear, he did genuinely care about Arei. If his immediate reaction to her death doesn't convince you, his breakdown after hearing the Arturo-Eden-Arei story should.

David [2-8]: Of course. Of course this would happen.

David [2-10]: If Eden and Arei really had that conversation, then it explains a lot. I had my doubts. A clearly suspicious note, asking her to meet alone and with no explanation as to why. During a *killing game* of all times. What kind of person would fall for such an obvious trap? You'd have to be shortsighted, naive, foolish, senseless, downright idiotic. ... Unless, of course, you were Arei. That girl wanted desperately to prove herself as a "friend" to Eden. And yet she completely lacked any experience with what "friends" were actually like. Of course it never occurred to her that handing out suspicious notes was not something that normal people did. What could she know about "friendship," after all? Someone like her, who had not once experienced kindness in her entire life up until now? Even if she had her misgivings about something so suspicious, she must have pushed it aside due to her unwavering faith in her blossoming friendship. A friendship that she didn't understand in the slightest. It's... It's so... Ahaha. It's just so foolish. For someone to take advantage of Arei like that. It's absolutely unforgivable. All she wanted was to change. What a reprehensible person this killer is. I look forward to seeing their painful execution.

(Do you think all this talk about "suspicious notes" is making him think of Xander with the suspicious note he received? Don't know, maybe :p)

Between David hiding the end of the conversation and the whole "Arei was a temporary weather spell" line, it seems he's really committing to the role of someone who doesn't care about Arei.

There are many reasons he could be doing this, but I believe he's just pulling a Teruko: Showing no vulnerability, because if he did, then maybe people would actually try to reach out to him. And then they'd get hurt like Xander and Arei; quote one of the Hamlet quotes in LGI (one of the eight lol): "I did love you once. You shouldn't have believed me." And/or David would need to confront how awful he is to try to change and better these new relationships.

Because it's a lot easier to be an irredeemable asshole who will never get better, than to confront the reality that he can, just that it's hard. Cue parallels with Arei and Teruko and Ace and you get the idea.

Final note, completely unrelated.

Whit [2-12]: Hey, hey, you could say those fish were a... red herring? David: Ugh! Goddamn it, Whit, does everything you say have to be made into some shitty dumb joke?! You're actually really fucking annoying! Shut the fuck up!!

Question 8: Why is David so pressed about Whit's jokes? At the moment, my only guess is that Whit's attitude of always remaining positive enough to crack jokes reminds David a bit too much of his "cheery" persona, which also is supposed to always remain optimistic in the face of adversity, and David either hates that because he hates himself, or because he's envious that Whit can hold that optimism without trouble (as far as David can see). I lean on it being a combination, where he does hate his "cheery" persona, but also wishes he could genuinely be like that, but it's very hard to tell atm.

Alright that took way too long. Can't wait for this all to be proven horribly wrong the next time we get any solid info on David!!!

Levi Fontana

Hey Levi sorry for calling you an accomplice for like a year are we still cool? :,D

Although Levi had a lower amount of Big Moments than David, I consider them more impactful to the chapter. And when you're talking Levi, you're talking 2-13 and 2-16. Let's start with the former.

Levi [2-13]: The secret that Arei received, "You're a murderer, and you hold no remorse...." That's my secret. [Cast reactions] If you were wondering, it's not in my legal records. The court struck it from the records. Ace: No shit! There's no way Hope's Peak would have scouted a murderer! Levi: Don't make the mistake of switching cause and effect.

Let's take our time with this one, it's a long speech. First, nice to see we called this secret, it's nice. Also, I'm not the first to point this out, but it's a neat bit of characterization for Levi to first talk about the legal side of his secret instead of anything more related to emotions; he only really cares about the effects things have in the present (that'll become explicit in a bit), so the first concern he thinks of are the legal repercussions.

Then, Hope's Peak... Hope's Peak why are you this shady. Between Rose's situation, the Ultimate Contest for Eminent Students, and now this, it's now three times they've specifically targeted people in vulnerable positions. Four if you count Teruko, but that would imply they rigged the lottery for the Lucky Student, which I would believe but we currently don't have evidence for. No wonder Xander has issues with them, they're cooking something weird.

Rose [1-4]: I'm sure Hope's Peak wants me to become some sort of appraiser or forgery detective with the skills that I have. Taking some offending youth and turning them into a productive member of society would be a pretty good look for them.

Unnamed Classmate [BE1]: Why would Hope's Peak announce [the UCES] 12 years before it would actually take place, when all the would-be contestants are just children? Min: Because they wanted the contest to hang over the heads of kids like me for 12 years, from childhood all the way into high school. They wanted to single out those who were obsessive enough to spend their entire lives preparing for this one test from childhood.

Unnamed Classmate [BE2]: If you set out to do something, then never give up on that, no matter what obstacles may stand in your way. Even if it's risky or against the rules, as long as it's for a good cause... I'll trust that you know to do the right thing. Xander: Yeah. Of course. That's why I've come to Hope's Peak, isn't it?

We currently have no clue where this is going, but I'm noting it for further reference. Let's pick off from where we left.

Charles [continued]: Care to explain yourself? Levi: At the time, I was confronted by three guys who tried to start a fight with me. I believe they were some old enemies. I killed their leader first, which may have been justifiable as self-defense, but then I tracked down his two remaining friends several days later and beat them to death. J: "Old enemies?" "Leader"?? Were you in the freakin' mafia or something? Levi: No. J: ... Levi: ... J: Are you not going to elaborate?? Levi: I don't particularly think I need to elaborate. After all, that happened in the past and has nothing to do with Arei.

One question this speech leaves us with is "why did Levi track down the other two after killing the leader?" We don't have enough info to tell for sure, but I assume it's a matter of safety? Like, Levi thought those two would try to attack him again if he left them alone, so he needed to make sure that didn't happen. I think that makes enough sense for me not to lose sleep at night over it, but of course I'm open to being wrong.

Also, this is the point where Levi's pure pragmatism becomes apparent. "It's not important right now, so why would I elaborate?" A philosophy which is born from his lack of empathy which will be discussed later. This pragmatism is probably why he's the one to argue that Eden was in an advantageous position to kill Arei; the logistics of murder come before emotional aspects in his mind, which is understandable.

Eden [continued]: Who... Who did you even kill? Levi: They were three guys... a few years older than me... Uh... I don't remember their names or who they were.

Do we think Levi knew their names at one point and forgot, or did he somehow track down two people without learning their names? I find the former more likely, just wanted to point that out.

Levi [continued]: I was a bit of a delinquent when I was younger, so they could have held a grudge against me for any reason. Maybe I smashed their windows and robbed them? Or, wait, maybe something to do with that car I blew up once? Rose: That's... kind of a lot to admit all of a sudden.

One thing I always enjoy is when the character who reacts to cut off a monologue has some kind of connection to the thing being discussed. Like, of course Rose is surprised at everything Levi is saying. She's out here being haunted by the crimes she committed, to the point where the debt she put her family in is her motive secret, and then this other guy has broken All the Laws and is just admitting it openly lol.

Levi [continued]: I've forgotten most of the details, as I haven't though much about it since I was cleared of my charges. Sorry, I can't really remember why that happened. Arturo: How could you forget something so important? You can't even be bothered to remember their names? Did you not care that you killed three people?

Speaking of matching reactions to character, Arturo "I feel unending guilt over the death of my sister who I did not even directly kill" Giles cannot conceive how someone else isn't haunted by the lives he took, more recap foiling at eleven.

Veronika [continued]: You say that your backstory and secret aren't relevant to this trial, but they are. That second part of your secret, that you "felt no remorse" for killing people... If you don't care about murder, then you'd have a much easier time killing than anyone else here. You may even be unbothered by the fact that passing the trial would mean everyone else's execution. After all, you seem completely detached while admitting not only to murdering 3 people, but to several other crimes as well. Almost as if you didn't care about any of this. At least not from a moral standpoint, that is. Levi: I won't deny it. That is indeed how I feel. Ace: You are one sick bastard. What could you possibly say in your defense.

This is the first big hint of Levi's low to non-existent empathy, but I'll wait until it's fully elaborated on to discuss it in depth. Also this hints to Ace business that will be discussed in his section. Why am I even writing here.

Levi [continued]: That incident happened when I was in my junior year of high school. My junior year was also the year that Hope's Peak scouted me as the Ultimate Personal Stylist. To my understanding, it would have reflected poorly on Hope's Peak to recruit a murderer, so they pressured the court into not pressing charges.

I do wonder now why Levi even started styling in the first place. By his own admission he's pretty new to it, though he's got at least a year or two of experience if he was scouted in junior year (I think? USA why can't you fucking number your grades like sensible people I don't know what "junior" means without firefoxing that shit). Maybe a job he picked up after disownment? Though that heavily depends on when and why he got disowned in the first place; was it because of his father's murder, the murder of the three dudes and the court case just took a while, or was it something else? Questions to mull over, but can't answer without further info.

Levi [continued]: Err... Hang on. Now that I've thought about it a little more, my motive secret may not be referring to those guys. It could also be referring to the time I murdered my father. J: Wait, you-- YOU WHAT?! Levi: It's quite difficult yo tell what these motive secrets truly mean because they're all phrased so vaguely... It's a bit of a bother. J: No, fuck that noise! Go back! The hell you mean, you fucking killed your dad? Levi: Correct. I simply forgot about it up until now. That would make four people in total that I've killed, not three, I think...? Arturo: How could you simply *forget* that you murdered your own family member? Nico: If you said you killed him because you just didn't like him, I could understand that. But you're saying you forgot about taking a life... Levi: It wasn't that important. Not even the police cared about a man like him, so nothing came out of it. I truly just forgot.

(why is everyone blue you're fucking up my color schemes-)

Back to the whole "appropriate reactors" thing, while I've already mentioned the Nico thing, I think it's cool J (the anti-murder spokesperson with a bad relationship with her mother) specifically says 'dad,' while Arturo generalizes to 'family member.' Someone's being reminded of his past~

I find this admission pretty funny for a few reasons, and very interesting for many others. Funny because my guy is complaining about the vagueness of the motives while admitting he killed his dad and not elaborating in the slightest. Interesting because... why did that happen? Levi doesn't respond to Nico's comment, so it seems like he didn't particularly dislike his father or anything? Especially in the context of the way he's talked about his family in the past.

Levi [responding to Eden, 2-1]: No, not at all. It's for the best that neither I nor my family see each other ever again. Eden: Eh? If you don't mind me asking, why? Levi: Why? My father, my mother, my brothers... We were all bad influences on each other. That's all that needs to be said.

I mean, Levi's father probably wasn't a shining beacon of hope or anything, given the police didn't even investigate his death, but like... lumping him in with the mother and the brothers, and just saying they were "bad influences" instead of, like, genuinely shitty people, it all makes it sound like there's no specific grudge against the father. Which makes sense, right? Even his father would feel like a stranger, as Levi will describe later. I really wish we get some elaboration on this, because I'm pretty curious about what kind of situation would lead Levi to this. I did try to check what's caused Levi to snap before, see if I could figure out what could have prompted it:

Ace [1-9]: What's the damn point of this whole trial if we're going to make choices based on dumb crap like that?? You useless shit-for-brains! Are you even taking any of this seriously?! Whit: Huh? Am I taking this seriously? Nah, not really. Ace: YOU--! Levi: Ace, calm down. You are not helping at all with this argument-- Ace: You shut your damn trap too, Levi!! I'm done with you trying to play the moral high ground by pretending to be some peacemaker! "Oh dear, oh my, calm down, everyone. Let's not fight, alright? Aren't I such a level-minded pacifist?" Stay the hell out of this if you know what's good for you. Levi: ... Ace: That's right. Shut your damn mouth, you coward-- Levi: Fuck. Off. Ace. How far do you want to push it? Do you think that I don't have a limit to my patience? I would gladly strangle you right here and now to shut you up if I were allowed. But if you're the coward I know you to be, then you should back up before you dig your own grave. So shut. Your mouth. Before I shut it for you.

Uh... Personal attacks against Levi? Yeah I have no idea what the hell his father could have done to prompt the murder. As usual, we're missing too much critical information to make a call on it. I'm gonna wager a guess that Levi didn't plan the murder, but rather it was an in the moment decision, but again I have no actual way to be sure.

Levi [continued]: Frankly speaking, I see no reason to remain hung up over some incident that is long past, especially as it ultimately had no impact on my life. Eden: You forgot about all of the things you did simply because you didn't face any consequences? That's incredibly selfish! Shouldn't you feel even a little bit bad? Those were human lives you took! I don't know what happened within your own family, so I can't pretend to understand why you killed. But even then, I'm sure those other people had families and friends who cried over their deaths!

Again the responders; remember how Eden feels guilty over both Min and Arei's death even though she never "faced any consequences" for them (mainly because she didn't actually do anything wrong but you get the idea)? Yeah that.

Levi [continued]: *sigh* I wonder if I should really tell you the truth, or if it's best to keep it to myself. I don't know how you all will see me after this. Teruko: You've already admitted to murdering 4 people. If you insist on not being completely honest with a secret this bad, then you're going to be the next one on the chopping block. Out with it.

Considering the stuff he says later, it's interesting to me that Levi seems to be more worried about revealing his lack of empathy than admitting to murder, especially with the knowledge that he's only doing this because he thinks being honest will make him "a good person."

However, I think it makes sense. Amongst the cast, there's already several people who either killed or tried to: Xander, Min, and Nico. But a lot of the others still speak of them in good terms; David talked about how good of a person Xander was for several minutes, Eden has made it clear she still misses Min, and Hu still defends Nico. Not to mention that Levi himself already threatened to kill Ace, and got called "a good person" by Eden just a few hours later. That means that, although admitting to murder will probably make the others more wary of him, there's precedent that Levi will still have people who stick by him after all's said and done.

Meanwhile, as far as Levi can tell, he's the only one who doesn't understand empathy in the slightest. And that means he has no way of telling how the others will feel about him if he reveals it, which is why he's more nervous about it than the murders. It plays on the themes of feeling disconnected from the rest of humanity that characters like Nico (via gender identity) and David-

Tally 5 Page: "... I wasn't capable of ever becoming human in the first place."

-have going on, which is definitely something that's cool to mull over. I hope these three get some kind of interaction about this in the future.

By the way, as always I'm just kinda guessing why Levi does the things he does and says the things he says, I could always be wrong.

Levi [continued]: It's not really that I don't care about killing people. Rather, it's more accurate to say that I don't care about people at all. No matter how much I hear about such things like empathy or compassion or love, none of those concepts resonate with me. Are those emotions really universal? The idea that people naturally "care" about others is a completely foreign concept to me. Nico: Eh? What are you saying? Levi: Judging by your reaction, I suppose that's a bad thing. But I wouldn't understand why. On the other side of this planet, there's a person who's suffering. Maybe they're even drawing their last breath. But none of you care, do you? Why would you? They're a stranger, after all. You don't know them. Their life holds no consequence for you. For me, everyone I've ever known is that distant stranger. It doesn't matter how long I've known you, how much we've done for each other, or even if you were my own father... You're still a stranger to me. And if tomorrow it turned out you all had passed away, I'd care as much as if we had never met.

So here's the big reveal, bolded text and all. Levi has extremely low empathy. I'm not gonna try to assign any specific disorder because I'd have no idea what I'd be talking about, but the empathy thing is pretty clear. I'm also no authority on whether this would be good representation for that or not, but for what it's worth, I think it's done pretty well. Levi's perspective is presented neutrally, in a way that shows his lack of empathy doesn't inherently make him a bad person, but not shying away from some of the real effects that can come from it (combined with other factors of course), such as the whole 4 murders situation.

I also like the way Levi describes it. It does a good job of getting the audience to understand his feelings, while still holding quite a bit of characterization in there. For example, the reason he gives for why the cast wouldn't care about the stranger on the other side of the world is because "their life holds no consequence to you." Even when trying to speak from the others' perspective, his understanding of why someone would care about someone else is still shaped entirely by what tangible effect that person has in the other's life, in a way sorting people by "holds consequence/holds no consequence."

Eden [continued]: But you're a good person. Why are you saying these things when it's clearly not true? You're so kind to everyone. You're always helping others out, even when it'd be easier not to. Like that time Ace almost died. You kept trying to help him, even if he always pushed you away. Isn't that what "a good person" does? Levi: In all honesty... I don't personally care what happens to Ace. Whether he lives or dies is none of my concern in the end. Ace: ...?! Levi: But it is a "good" thing to make sure someone else doesn't die, even if I personally do not care about the outcome. I truly believe that. But I adhere to that principle out of duty, not sentimentality. Does that make any sense?

So I'm gonna do a funny here and skip Ace's reaction to this, because that's more for the Ace section than this one. I also already talked about Eden's reaction to this.

Instead, I'll focus on Levi, particularly the question of "does Levi actually care about Ace?" To answer that, it'll be helpful to get the full Veronika Breakdown TM.

Veronika [continued]: Hm hm... I understand now. You're quite the interesting person, Levi. From what I've seen of you so far, your personality has been awfully inconsistent. It's like you don't know how to act. Trying to act like "a good person" without any intuitive sense of what's good or bad is hard, right? For someone like you, who lacks compassion, it must be quite difficult to pretend to be nice. You're always guessing as to what a normal human would do in your situation. You're so awkward in social settings because you can't tell what other people want. You act like a big pushover because if you go the other direction and stand up for yourself, you won't know where to stop. You offer to do things for others because you've observed that "good people" help others, and you parrot noble assurances without understanding why. Such things like that. Not only are you trying to act without a script, but you don't even understand the story. And you slip up constantly. Levi: You explained it better than I could. You really have an intuitive understanding of other people, Veronika. That's a trait I envy. The way I see it, it would be beneficial if I was "a good person." Then other people would trust me and not pick fights with me anymore, and they'd do things for me because they "liked" me. If I was a good person, then I wouldn't have to live a life full of violence anymore. I did everything so that I could have a better life.

Okay hold on there's a bunch to talk about here. Let me do that before circling back to the Ace Question.

Veronika is thankfully good enough at describing the stuff she said that I don't feel the need to elaborate on that. It's basically just a perfect read of Levi's actions so far under this new frame of someone who lacks empathy yet still is a good person. His awkwardness, his outbursts towards Ace, him being sort of a pushover, everything. I also like the little comment of Levi envying Vero's understanding of people, it's neat characterization.

Aside from that, there's also cool contrast between the way Levi sees being a good person as a sort of purely pragmatic social contract (being good leads to a peaceful life and ensures others help you) and Eden, which as referenced earlier sees friendship in a purely emotional and non-transactional way. Not exactly fully comparable, but close enough, and still worth mentioning given the chapter starts with a conversation between the two of them about how they're good people. Both of these have their merit, the point is that, in the end, no matter the reason you have for doing good things, regardless if it's out of sentimentality or just duty, doing good is enough to be a good person. While still of course keeping in mind Arei's message that no one is effortlessly good 100% of the time, and simply trying to be as good as you can be and improve on your flaws is enough.

Also, "I did everything so I could have a better life," huh?

Arturo [referring to Felicity's suicide, 2-10]: How is it possibly my fault that I wanted to live my own life!?

Get paralleled, idiot >:D

Wanting better things for yourself can end up having good effects on others (Levi being good to the cast), or negative (Felicity dying), fun contrast.

But I'm beating around the bush. The question I asked earlier, does Levi actually care about Ace?

Well, there's definitely room for interpretation, but my read is... well, not in the usual way. I mean, Levi explicitly says he doesn't particularly care if Ace lives or dies, so that's kind of a giveaway that he still very much does not feel empathy towards him. To better understand Levi's perspective, it might be helpful to analyze the previously mentioned Hu-Nico and Levi-Ace parallels.

Fandom has long since grouped together Hu and Levi as the "parental figures" of the group, and while I don't particularly enjoy applying familial relations to friendships, there's some basis for the interpretation. They both (to varying effect) commonly act as peacemakers and moderators in the context of the group, but have had this position compromised by emotional outbursts (Hu's defense of Nico and Levi's threats to Ace). Hell, there's even parallels in the way people react to some of these outbursts.

Levi [after the previously linked outburst, 1-9]: I'm terribly sorry for that, everyone. Please continue discussing as you were earlier. Ace: So scary!!

Rose [reacting to Hu's "fuck David" outburst, 2-12]: Wow. Hu can be scary.

To be fair the 2-12 outburst is far more justified than a lot of Hu's others, but you get the point.

They both act this way for similar reasons; to control the cast's perception of them. Hu wishes to be seen as reliable in order to feel useful as a way to counteract her suicidal tendencies and self-loathing, while Levi wishes to be seen as a good person for the reasons he states (to live a peaceful life where others do things for him). And in order to do this, they've both chosen to focus on one person in particular to "protect" or help in some way; Nico for Hu, Ace for Levi. The reasons for this are different mind you, but the effect is similar enough.

However, while it's still unclear why exactly Hu is so adamant about Nico in particular, we kind of know why Levi is focused on Ace. Simply put, before the second trial, Ace was sort of the only person who had legitimate reasons to dislike Levi, at least in Levi's mind. Because of the death threat in trial one of course. Most people haven't really expressed an opinion on Levi either way, but they're civil and at least neutral towards him. Hell, Eden even specifically says Levi's a good person after the death threat, and since she's a pretty rational person, it follows most of the cast would see him that way as well, given how quickly they all moved on from the death threat.

Ace was the exception, however. Ace was very explicitly (and understandably) pissed at Levi for the death threat, so he stood as somewhat of a threat to Levi's goal of being seen as a "good person." Levi trying to fix things with Ace is an extension of this goal, and I don't think there's much else to it. Even to the very end, Levi's frustration at Ace doesn't come from a sense of betrayal or sadness or remorse for not being able to stop the murder, or anything like that. Levi only gets frustrated at his inability to understand Ace, which we already knew from his envy of Veronika's psychoanalysis abilities is a point of insecurity for him.

Ace [2-16]: I just needed a reason to stay mad at you, any reason at all, goddamnit! [sic] Levi: Why? Why do you have to force yourself to be angry at me? You just said you know that you're in the wrong, so why do you still do it?! I don't understand. I can't understand you, no matter how hard I try.

Levi, under this reading, still doesn't "care" that Ace is about to die, not in the way Eden felt bad about Min's death for example. He's frustrated that he's trying to be a good person towards Ace, and it isn't working for reasons he can't grasp. More on those reasons in the Ace section.

I am very curious as to how he'll react to Ace wanting to speed up his execution to try and save his life, and I predict Levi will probably try his best to honor Ace's memory and his sacrifice, but as always, out of duty and not sentimentality. Sorry Acevi fans, hope you still find a way to make it work :/

Since we're on the topic (and Ace's section is gonna be long enough as is), I'll talk about the other side of the Hu-Nico and Levi-Ace parallels, the way the "protected" act in respects to the "protectors." The main point of contrast is that, originally, Ace specifically sought out Levi for protection, while Nico never asked Hu for it.

Teruko [1-2]: Since when were you two so friendly? I distinctly recall yesterday a certain someone being terrified whenever Levi came near him. Ace: Whaaaat? Me, scared? Are you just making things up? Teruko: ... Ace: Okay, fine. Yeah, Levi's scary as hell! But I realized that MonoTV is even scarier than Levi! At least Levi is sorta safe to be around. And I like to be safe, you know?

Nico [to Hu, 2-14]: I never asked you to defend me--

Then comes the aspect of "betrayal" in both these relationships, where the roles are flipped. It's Levi who originally "betrays" Ace by threatening him, while it's Nico who "betrays" Hu by trying to frame her with the wire. However, Ace takes this betrayal much more personally than Hu, getting mad at Levi while Hu continues to defend Nico. As a result, Ace gets a bit of a victim complex, while Nico fully acknowledges blame for the murder attempt. Etc.

Okay time to continue with 2-13 because no we're not done with it.

Levi [continued]: After listening to David, I concluded that a good person would also be honest, even if the truth makes them look bad. Ace: You're taking advice from David of all people? Look at this asshole! David: Try looking in a mirror before you talk, Ace. Levi: I thought David was a prime example of a good person. Is he not? David: Wow, you really don't understand people at all, do you. Levi: I don't want to distract you all from this case any further. So, I apologize for this tangent.

Another really cool bit of characterization here. Levi struggles so much with understanding most people's sense of morality that he still thinks David "I actively tried to kill everyone here by pretending to be the blackened" Chiem is a good person. There's also the quick implication that David doesn't see himself as a good person, but I feel we're well past the point where that's news.

We also get the reason why Levi even said all this; he thinks being honest will help him be a good person, and presumably only brought it up after the whole David thing got resolved because "good person" David was (eventually) honest with both his motive secret and the reason he tried to get voted out. Or, rather, Levi thinks David was honest on the latter. Fair ig.

Levi has a few other lines in this part, but the next most striking thing to talk about is, fittingly, not a set of words, but an image.

Levi's protective streak has always been a big part of his character, and now he's literally taken a bullet (or 5) for Teruko. Just for the record, I imagine he'll survive, because there'd be no real point to most of the end of 2-16 if he didn't.

The big question around this is, naturally, why did Levi jump in? Obviously, it's not that he particularly cares if Teruko lives or dies, not from an emotional standpoint anyways. It could also just be Teruko's luck somehow manipulating him the way it seems to have influenced Min somewhat, but I can't see that as the only reason this happened. So, like most people, I believe he feels he owes Teruko.

Teruko [1-2]: No... I should be the one apologizing. It's my fault you got hurt. Levi: What do you mean? Without your warning, I could have gotten fatally injured. I should thank you that my wound is not more severe.

Teruko warning him in the prologue is the most obvious case where Teruko saved Levi, especially since it parallels this scene. Teruko saves Levi from execution, so he returns the favor. However, we also need to keep in mind that, without Teruko carrying, these people would not have made it through the trials, so Levi might feel he owes her for that too. And "good people" repay their debts, don't they?

Very interested in seeing where Levi's character goes from here!

Teruko Tawaki

You know a series is doing something right when the protag has so much shit going on in a trial where she didn't even have strong relationships with either the victim or the killer. Now, a big chunk of her screen time was devoted to crime solving, so her section might end up smaller than Levi's even though I consider her more important, but the order of this analysis is kinda all over the place anyways :v

I'll go in the order of Teruko moments as they appeared, though I'll skip the whole "fix my mistake" thing since I already mentioned it in the Min section.

David [2-12]: Xander is a good person. He's the only good person I've ever known. I swear, I'll follow in his footsteps and-- Teruko: And get everyone killed in the class trial? Xander is a good person? Are you hearing yourself right now? What virtuous reason could he possibly have for trying to kill me and everyone else here? David: I'm sure he had a good reason. I believe that he did. Xander is not the kind of person to do anything for frivolous purposes. Teruko: You *believe* that he had a good reason!? Hah! Based on what? The 3 days you spent with a fan who was too infatuated with the ideal of you to treat you like an actual human-- David: SHUT UP!

She says all this like she wasn't play-acting her Xanruko fix-it AU with cacti, like, two days ago lol.

Teruko Cactus [2-3]: That's right. Give up now, and surrender. Then I'll consider letting you live. Xander Plant: Teruko... I've changed my mind. I promise, I will turn my back on whoever made me do this and stay by your side from now on. Do you forgive me?

I don't actually have much to say about this. Teruko's complicated feelings about Xander aren't exactly news; genuinely angry at him for attempting to murder her, also genuinely upset that things didn't go better. No wonder David's uncritical view of the guy ticked her off.

2-13 had a lot of murder solving from Teruko, which is cool but not crucial for character analysis. Meanwhile, 2-14 had quite a bit more going on.

Rose [2-14]: I... I'm sorry for being useless. Maybe if I tried harder, if I just got over myself-- Teruko: Rose. Don't blame yourself anymore. You are helpful. It's because of you that I can solve this murder. Besides... I'm as much to blame as you. Maybe more, even. If only I listened to you when you said the tape was missing, then maybe I would have realized the truth of this case much earlier. Once again, I've made a stupid mistake. I simply wanted to believe that I could make it through this killing game without relying on anyone else. That I could be dismissive of everyone around me without consequences. So I refused to listen to anyone other than myself. I thought that if I did that, then I could avoid a repeat of the last trial, where I had made the mistake of trusting people too much. But now I'm making different mistakes instead. Again and again, I keep messing up this class trial with hasty assumptions and overlooked evidence. So... Rose: ... Teruko: ... Thank you, Rose.

Yuri stays winning.

Again, it's hard for me to add any commentary when Teruko's just... explaining all the themes out loud. We go back to the idea of Teruko fixing mistakes that she seems to have taken to heart from Min's CH1 breakdown (YURI STAYS WINNING), which ties into the idea of self-betterment that Arei's scene conveyed; and we basically have Teruko stating a reworded version of her secret quote, "It is an equal failing to trust everybody, and to trust no one at all." It makes me wonder how Teruko will behave moving forward. Will she trust a few select people? Will she continue to keep other's at arm's length, but being slightly more open? Well, based on what she does with Eden, it seems Teruko is willing to trust select people until the situation merits distrust, which is a pretty solid way of looking at things.

Speaking of that.

Eden [2-14]: I just wanted to help Arei... I didn't kill her... Teruko: You know I can't just take your words at face value, Eden. Eden: Please, Teruko... You're my friend, aren't you? Friends help each other... So please, help me... [...] Teruko: Eden. Eden: *sniffing* Teruko: Eden. Pick up your head. Look at me. At this point in the trial, since I've narrowed Arei's killer down to just two suspects, I'm going to pursue each suspect individually under the assumption that they're the killer. That way, I can see if any evidence matches up to them only. [...] So for now, I'm going to assume you're innocent. Eden: W-What? Really? Thank you so much, Teruko... Teruko: Don't... get me wrong. This isn't out of kindness or pity or anything else. This is only because you helped me in the last trial. I'm repaying your favor, and nothing else. That's why I'll trust you, just this once. Eden: Teruko... T... Thank you, Teruko... Teruko: ... Let go of me.

YURI STAYS WINNING!!!

That's what I was talking about. Choosing to trust Eden over Ace, but being willing to turn suspicion on the Clockmaker if Ace turns out innocent. A very reasonable approach! We love character development in this house.

That said, Teruko is still being a bit of a tsundere, with the whole "repaying a favor" thing. Levi parallels anyone? Well, not exactly, since Teruko does feel empathy towards Eden, but close enough. What's more interesting is that Teruko is using the exact transactional logic that Eden warned her against, which is intriguing setup for the future when it becomes more undeniable that Teruko is definitely not doing this just to repay a favor.

Also, the Trauma remains. Teruko telling Eden to let go fully completes the parallel to the Min scene, where she says the same thing (among others). I imagine our girl won't be too receptive of hugs for a while.

Before we get to the next big moment, real quick, we gotta fulfill our "Teruko's life is miserable" quota.

Teruko [to Ace, 2-15]: And three. You took the tape for first aid. Arturo: That's ridiculous. Who uses non-medical tape for first aid? That's sickening. Teruko: It's not that weird. I do it all the time.

Alright quota fulfilled. Let's move on. In this case, I'll skip to when Teruko gives up on the "show me your injuries Ace" line of reasoning.

Teruko [2-15]: No. It's fine. That's not a very fair line of logic, so forget it. You were almost murdered, after all. I should have understood that.

I don't know why Teruko really thought this line of logic was even worth following in the first place, but it makes sense for her character to ignore Ace's possible emotions in favor of the trial. But it's also cool to see her backing down when she realizes the harm she may be causing, especially as someone who has very notably hid how much her own murder attempt affected her, and in particular the wound that came from it.

Teruko [2-15]: The point of this trial is to determine who the killer is, not to determine every single little detail of what happened. It doesn't matter that you're not convinced. It's not going to help you, nor change your fate. No matter how you feel or what you think, nothing will change. [...] I've been fighting this entire trial to find the truth using real evidence. And when I make mistakes, I own up to them. What have you contributed? Show me some concrete proof of your innocence. Otherwise, shut up and stop wasting everyone's time. Ace: ... Teruko: Are you silent now? What happened to all those things you were shouting earlier? Don't you have anything to say for yourself? Ace: ... Teruko: Any evidence, any deductions to show that you're innocent? Come on, Ace! Don't you want to live?! Defend yourself!

So, a few things. First, regarding that second paragraph. "It's not going to change your fate"? "Nothing will change"? We'll circle back to it, but it seems Teruko is projecting how she feels about her own fate (before the Levi incident at least) on Ace. You could even say-

Literature Girl Insane: Even if we cry make noise shout go mad - this world won't change!

The foils ever.

Anyways, I assume that's why Teruko gets so worked up over Ace remaining silent. She sees a bit of her situation in trial 1 (almost murdered, suspected as the killer) in Ace, so her emotions run high with both the frustration of a long trial and the bad memories this is probably bringing up. At least, that's how I interpret it.

Also another mention of correcting mistakes, which shows up one more time before the episode ends, which I already mentioned as being tied back to Min and Arei; alongside with another "fate" drop. "Fate" is becoming the new "good person" isn't it :p

Teruko [2-15]: Confront the mistakes you've made. Then accept death. That's the fate of everyone who choose [sic] to participate in this killing game.

Also I find it endlessly funny that Teruko's reasoning for the Closing Argument being necessary reads a lot like "this is a DR trial we gotta do this, it's in the contract." Consider me amused.

But I've beaten around the fate bush enough. Let's get all of that over with in one fell swoop.

Teruko [2-16]: It's just... misfortune. That's why Ace killed. That's all.

Teruko [regarding her execution, 2-16]: What's the point [of running]? I should have known this would happen. [...] Even if I shield myself behind others, even if I search for an escape, it always comes down to this. I have to face the consequences of my actions. There's no escaping that. [...] Arturo: What are you talking about?? You're going to be killed!! Teruko: Killed? I doubt it. As if something so kind could happen to me. [...] I won't die, even if MonoTV puts a hundred bullets in my body. I'll only be badly injured. Possibly lose a body part. Maybe I'll even end up in a coma for months. [...] But I won't die. I never will. There's nothing I can do but accept my fate. It's what I deserve, after all. [...] I was perfectly willing to get shot. I thought I didn't have to care about what happened to other people, and especially not about what happened to me. I thought that if I lived alone and died alone, nothing would stain my conscience. Even if that was a selfish way to live. But even so...

Teruko [to MonoTV, 2-16]: Can you really say it's fate's fault for everything you've done, and pretend that you hold no blame in the matter? I have always said that my misfortune, my personality, the choices I make, everything was all a product of a bad luck that I can't control. That I grew up in such terrible circumstances, so I was destined to grow up to be a terrible person. That everyone else abandoned me, so it's not my fault that I'm alone. I want to say it's fate's fault, and that I had no choice in the matter. But, even so... Even so... Everyone. Xander, Min, Arei, Ace. Maybe even Levi. Is it my fault that they died? [...] MonoTV: You have to decide the answer for yourself. Teruko: Whether it was the fault of fate, or my fault... I already knew the answer. I had known what the answer was since a long, long time ago.

Alright I made myself sad, so something's been achieved, I guess. Poor Teruko :(

Just to start somewhere, we get confirmation of Teruko's suicidal tendencies in the present, which was already implied strongly enough, but now she straight up says she considers death something "kind to her." Just sad in general, but I wonder if there will be some discussions of it with the fellow suicidal characters like Hu. In fact, I wonder if that's the reason that Hu was the one to see the scar on Teruko's back during 2-2; so she'd have a vague idea of Teruko's backstory for some interaction in the future.

But the main point of these scenes is Teruko's relationship with the concept of fate. She basically goes through an entire character arc from the moment she says Ace's murder was just misfortune to right after Levi jumps in to save her. Basically, she used to blame fate (or "bad luck") for everything she did and what happened to her, thinking that just accepting this fate would allow her to live more easily. Especially noticeable because part of her "bad luck" is being betrayed, which gives way to her trust issues.

Teruko [2-2]: If I get in a car, it'll crash. If I stand in a construction site, it'll crumble to dust. If I trust others, they'll turn their back on me.

Hence her internal monologue about "living so nothing stains my conscience." If everything that happens to her is fate's fault, then she doesn't have to change, she doesn't have to confront her faults. Even when she talked about accepting the consequences for her actions, it was always in the context of accepting her fate. If she just accepts whatever consequences her actions bring, then she can excuse herself from fighting back against that, which is an easier way to live, but as she says, could be considered selfish. What's easier for Teruko is not always best for others, exemplified perfectly by Levi protecting her; Teruko chose not to fight her fate, and it got Levi hurt. Funnily enough, this somewhat parallels Hu feeling selfish for not sharing her secret, which is fun contrast. Hu is more justified in not sharing her secret, so it shows that feeling selfish for doing things that are good for you can be pretty bad. Meanwhile, Teruko shows that not taking others into account can also end up hurting people.

Of course, the whole "not fighting fate" thing also obviously parallels Mr Literature Boy Insane's feelings on the whole thing, to the point where they have practically the same character flaw. Believing themselves and others unable to change as a result of fate is the way they try living with themselves, because of the whole self-loathing thing, but that means they're resistant to changing their flaws. MonoTV says similar things, but it's a machine so it's not so much a flaw as just the nature of its character. It was a flaw Arei had, though, but she grew out of it through Character Development, similarly to the way it's implied Teruko is growing out of the "all fate's fault" mindset in the last inner monologue. You might also notice that tying fate into self-betterment allows you to draw a connection to the theme of admitting mistakes and fixing them, tying to Min who is also connected to the concept of fate through her entire backstory of being "destined" to be the Ultimate Student from the moment her family accepted XF-Ture's Tech contract, and obviously Min contrasts Xander who is all about fighting fate as the Ultimate Rebel, and that's without mentioning all the other "fate" bullshit going on and-

Yeah you get the idea. Too much peak for me to write it all out.

Very excited to see where Teruko's character goes now that she's not going to blame her bad luck for everything now. I worry she'll swing too hard the other way and end up blaming herself for things she shouldn't, but oh well, that's just more character development to be had.

That was the biggest Teruko thing, but there's still more to cover.

Teruko [to Ace, 2-16]: If you can't [attack MonoTV]... If you can't do that, then tell me, why did Arei have to die?! Ace: ... Teruko: It's because unlike Arei, *you* couldn't make amends with the people you made enemies out of. *You* were too scared to confront the people you hurt, say you're sorry, and promise to be a better person. So instead you took out your own personal problems on other people by murdering someone who had nothing to do with you! Arei died because you're a coward, Ace!

Uh... someone's projecting~

Teruko [already linked, 2-2]: But if you start talking about me and saying that I could be a good person if only I make an attempt to change, then I'm going to stop you right there. Don't say that I could be a good person, because all it'll do is make me feel bad that I'm not.

Damn it's almost like she hates herself because she already knows deep down that her mindset is flawed and so when she sees someone else behaving like she does/did she gets upset at them that's crazy :O

(I mean it's not 1:1 because Teruko never did anything as bad as Ace, but the point stands :v)

Final note, as always, voice acting was peak, just that there's too many good examples to point them all out one by one. Same with Levi btw, I think I forgot to mention it in his section.

Teruko continues to be probably my favorite protag of any DR or DR inspired story, though as always I'm working on a small sample size. Really excited to see her development in the future!

Ace Markey

Well if it isn't the man of the hour! It's only natural the blackened gets to close things out. Let's do the same thing as we did with Teruko and go by (mostly) chronological order.

That includes the quick, retrospective observation that a lot of Ace's behavior in the trial and investigation now needs to be re-analyzed with the understanding he's the blackened. It mostly just adds an extra layer to Ace's constant accusations towards Nico, though, since Ace didn't really do much most of the trial. The only other notable thing he did was revealing David's secret, and even then, nothing too big. I know it's a bit silly to go so hard on Nico when David is almost easier to frame, but this is Ace we're talking about. He's emotional and not quite the most strategic, so nothing weird there.

Although, speaking of Ace knowing about David's secret, why did he not hear the end of the Arei-David conversation? I doubt he's hiding it, because he doesn't really have a reason to, so apparently he just, like, left. I guess he just didn't care enough :p

Finally getting to PT 2 itself, we have a 2-13 speech we skipped earlier, don't we?

Levi [2-13]: I don't personally care what happens to Ace. Whether he lives or dies is none of my concern in the end. Ace: ...?! Levi: But it is a "good" thing to make sure someone else doesn't die, even if I personally do not care about the outcome. I truly believe that. But I adhere to that principle out of duty, not sentimentality. Does that make any sense? Ace: You... Hah. Hahaha. You-- You fucking piece of shit. Levi: ... Ace: I was right all along. That you felt bad for me... That you actually wanted to help me... That even if everyone here treated me like shit, there was at least one person who still cared about me... That shit's too good to be true, isn't it? Yeah, good thing I didn't fall for that in the slightest. Not one bit. I was totally right all along to burn our friendship-- No, I can't even call it "friendship." There's only one person in my whole life who I've ever been able to call my friend. That I ever thought, even for just a short time, that you and I were "friends" is an insult to his memory. I probably sound real pathetic admitting that. But I'm not nearly as pathetic as you. After all, you're a piece of trash who probably has never had a single friend in your life. Levi: ... Ace: Got nothing to say to me now? That's fine. Hey, Levi. I really hope you fucking die.

Okay there is... so much to unpack there. Let's... start by the smaller thing, which is the Taylor Riley drop in "there's only one person in my whole life who I've ever been able to call my friend." This guy's name was revealed in a now deleted CH2 PT1 QnA answer, alongside with the name of a friend of Veronika's who gave her her green triangle earring, Alyssa Belyaeva. We got main series confirmation of the name in one of the graves of Thanatophobia, alongside the names of Elliot Cuevas and Felicity Giles.

We know... zero about Taylor, apart from the fact that he was Ace's friend and is now very evidently dead. Thankfully, we get a bit more context on his death by one of Ace's comments:

Ace [2-16]: Execute me right now, you hear me, MonoTV? MonoTV: ... Ace: Because... Because Levi is gonna fucking die, and I'm going to have a third goddamn death on my hands!

Third, huh? Arei, the hypothetical Levi death, and presumably Taylor. Sure, the third could be Ace himself, but I feel the line makes a bit more sense with Taylor.

So, Ace blames himself for the death of Taylor. Given he liked the guy, probably not intentional murder, but who knows what the hell he did. At this point, we really have no way to deduce the way Taylor died or how Ace could have caused it somehow, though. Maybe we'll get some answers in the Bonus Episode? Hopefully :p

But that's the easy part. The hard part is Ace's feelings towards Levi. Immediately, we can tell the whole "I never thought you cared about me, not one bit" thing is a complete lie, not just because the line itself is extremely unconvincing, but because of something Ace says later in this episode.

Ace [to Levi, 2-13]: You piece of shit. I can't believe there used to be a time I actually liked you.

So, yeah. Similarly, based on the fact that Ace wanted MonoTV to speed up the execution to try and save Levi's life despite his fear of death, we can infer that Ace is also lying when he tells Levi "I really hope you fucking die."

No, Ace really does care about Levi. For the reason stated at... some point in this analysis; Ace feels safer around Levi. And that creates a bit of a problem for him, because if he wants to escape the killing game, he's gonna have to kill Levi to do it. It's unclear if that's the reason he originally pushed Levi away, "burning their friendship to the ground" in his words, or if he just didn't want to trust him after the death threat in trial 1. However, guilt over trying to get Levi killed is definitely part of why he says this:

Ace [2-16]: I knew... I knew that I wasn't allowed to call [Levi] a murderer. I had no right to act betrayed, because I was the one who betrayed everyone. But still, I...! Levi: Why-- Ace: But still, I--! I don't care what it was! I don't care if it made me a hypocrite! Even if I was completely in the wrong, and even if it made my life worse! I just needed a reason to stay mad at you, any reason at all, goddamnit! Levi: Why? Why do you have to force yourself to be angry at me? You just said you know that you're in the wrong, so why do you still do it?! I don't understand. I can't understand you, no matter how hard I try. Ace: Good! Stay that way! I hope you never understand me, even after I'm buried a billion miles deep in the ground and you're weeping at my grave, you piece of shit!

Ace tries very hard to find reasons to hate Levi because he's afraid of growing close to anyone in the killing game, mostly because he thinks he'll be betrayed, but by the point he starts plotting murder, also because he's trying to kill them all. Being close to them is a good way to feel more horrible about himself than he already does.

To be clear, the reason I say the first reason is more important is because I think I can more or less pinpoint the moment Ace starts thinking about murder, and by that point he's already trying to cut Levi off.

Ace [2-2]: In this killing game, everyone is out to get me. Especially people who love picking fights with me, people like you [Teruko] and Levi. I can't believe I wasted my time with all that dumb shit like arm wrestling and running around screaming at meaningless stuff. I was fucking stupid to not take this killing game seriously from the start. I'm done with being everyone's kickable scaredy cat. The only thing I should do is look out for myself and myself alone.

Well he sure did take the killing game seriously after this point now didn't he?

Obviously, this is a pretty direct parallel to the way Teruko tried pushing everyone away in this chapter, and the way David pretends not to care about Arei after the magical girl transformation. More on this whole thing in a bit.

The relationship between Levi and Ace is one of contrast. Levi, who doesn't actually care about Ace the "usual way", chooses to try to get closer to him. Meanwhile, Ace cares about Levi maybe too much, and his fear of this attachment drives him to push Levi away. The yaoi truly is doomed with this one. Moving on.

Ace [to Nico and Hu, 2-14]: You two are a real fucking joke. It would have been one thing if Nico gets away scot-free with trying to kill me, but now they apparently also have a fucking defense brigade to shield them from even having to think about the fact that they're a murderer. Who's gonna stick up for me, huh? No one. Because I have a spine and I don't need other people to lie to me constantly to keep me happy.

Ace [to Nico, 2-14]: You tried to murder me. You fucking tried to murder me! And after all's said and done, you can't even say something as simple as "sorry"?!

Ace [to Teruko, 2-15]: Were you convinced by Eden because she had a little sob story ready? Should I start crying and wailing too to change your mind? Teruko-- No, everyone here. You're always attacking me for stupid reasons. Everyone always has it out for me. That pisses me off. All of you piss me off.

Ace [2-15]: You all actually think I'm too goddamn stupid to accomplish anything? Do you really think I'm 2 seconds away from choking on my own spit and passing out?

This is where we start to see Ace's persecution complex on this part, which was already alluded to in the previously linked 2-2 Ace quote. He thinks everyone is out to get him, and to an extent, he's not horribly wrong. Very few people in the cast have favorable opinions on Ace, and he knows that if he gets revealed as a murderer, that "few people" will likely turn to "no one." I mean, not even Levi wants to defend him.

Ace [2-15]: Hah... I expected everyone else to get on my ass, but for you of all people to think I'm the murderer... What happened to ever wanting to make things up, huh? Besides, between you and me, we both know who's really a murderer.

And hell, Nico's already tried to kill him! Ace is the victim in that situation, even if he did "start it."

Which gets us to one of the most interesting moral quandaries this trial presents us with, Milgram style. Because the thing is, Ace has given the cast reasons to dislike him. Ever since the start, he's been confrontational, insulting, and just generally not the most delightful person to be around. Especially to Nico, who he specifically targeted to bully. Obviously it doesn't justify being horrible to him back, including things like Hu's slap and Levi's death threat, and especially Nico's murder attempt, but... well, if people don't feel about Ace the same way they feel about some of the calmer cast members, there's a reason for it.

How justified is the cast in the things they say about Ace? How much of it is Ace's responsibility, and how much is it the cast's? How much responsibility do they hold for creating the hostile environment that pushed Ace into murder? How does the mastermind and the killing game itself factor into this valuation? These are all interesting questions the series asks us to ponder on, and by their nature don't have any one right answer. Especially because "blame for a thing that happened" isn't a number that can be evenly divided by percentage, it's a very complicated and subjective thing. J puts it pretty well in her speech to Ace in 2-15, giving her perspective as well.

J [2-15]: Maybe I was too harsh on you. Me and everyone else here, I don't think a single one of us stopped to think where the breaking point is. ...But. Murder is unacceptable, no matter what. Your problems might be awful, and they might be the worst in the world, but they're still not so bad that killing 13 people is acceptable. You can't be forgiven as a murderer just because your life sucks.

My personal opinions on this are probably best saved for when we get the full picture in just a moment.

And speaking of the full picture, since Ace's persecution complex feeds into his fear of death, why don't we skip right into the big speech?

Ace [already linked in the Hu section, 2-15]: ...... God damn it. I'm such a piece of shit. [...] You're right. I'm screwed. There's no way I'm making it out of this trial alive. I just... wanted to stall for time. I'm scared of dying, I really am. [...] I killed Arei. That's exactly right. Shit, it sounds really bad when I say it out loud. [...] Hu: Did you kill Arei because of MonoTV's motive? Because you wanted to keep your 'secret' hidden-- Ace: Hell no! I don't give a damn about that motive, or my dumb little secret, you idiot fuckwad! Who do you think I am, you?! *sigh* That wasn't why I killed her. I was scared of dying, that's all. [...]

Quick thing, but I think it's cool that the motive really had jack shit to do with the murder. Hate to bring the guy up so much, but it helps make David's "plan" of revealing all the secrets unequivocally wrong, which I feel is important for some of the themes of the chapter. In particular, the idea that gets pushed that everyone should be allowed to reveal their secrets at their own time, aka privacy is important. Nico's public secret reveal happened before they were ready to share, and that was a bad thing, after all. And a lot of the conflict in this chapter came from MonoTV giving the motives in general.

Ace [continued]: I'm definitely going to die in this killing game if I don't escape. Everyone hates me, right? Because I'm a volatile asshole who can't help but pick fights and make people mad at me. Veronika was right. If pushed to kill, everyone would feel the least guilt if they killed me. They might even have some sort of grudge. I wouldn't be surprised. When Nico tried to kill me, that just confirmed it. There's a part of me that's a little pissed that Nico didn't succeed back then, because that would have saved me the trouble of having to go through this stupid-ass farce. Although I'd be real fuckin' pissed if they *did* successfully kill me. I'm kind of pissed at Nico for trying to kill me, either way. Nico: ...

Interesting to hear part of Ace wanted Nico to succeed. It certainly speaks to a great level of defeatism, where everything is horrible and death would be preferable, which parallels Teruko nicely. That defeatism for Ace comes partly from the persecution complex discussed earlier, and some other stuff we'll talk about in a moment.

Ace [continued]: But still! If I didn't kill someone and escape... then I was going to die. I'm fucking terrified of dying! I can't sleep at night because I keep thinking about how I'm going to die young in this goddamn killing game! I didn't want to die! I want to live. Just like everyone else. Live, and escape this killing game, and go back to my shitty life where I can't do anything on my own because I can't control myself. Back to that life where I can't do anything but a sport that I hate because I suck shit at everything else. I was forced into that fate, to kill someone because I'm scared. It was either that, or I would be killed first. There were no other options for me, because I'm a coward who can't fight my own fate. [...]

I think an underrated part of Ace's character is just how much damn symbolism is hidden in his talent.

The first connection is the more or less obvious "if I didn't kill someone, I would be killed first" mentality, where Ace literally views the killing game as a race to be the first blackened to get away with it. But that's almost an extension of the other connection.

You hear it from him here; he feels he completely lacks control of his life, that it's all decided by a fate he can't control, the same way that a jockey doesn't walk on their own, but rather is carried by a horse to their destination. And it's no wonder that this feeling of lacking control is referenced in his secret quote, "I don’t know what to do with myself anymore." After all, it's this feeling of lacking control of himself and his situation that causes him to seek control of anything he can, be it bullying Nico because he sees them as an easy target, distancing himself from others because it's easier to control his feelings that way, killing someone because it's the only way he can control his place in the killing game, or anything else I might be forgetting.

And this fear of lacking control is probably part of his fear of death, isn't it? Because no one can control what happens after death. Maybe yes, maybe not, but regardless, Ace's thanatophobia is pretty evident. I mean, it's the name of his execution, and it's a fitting one. Ultimately, Ace's fear of death is what gets him killed, both metaphorically because it's the reason he became a blackened, and literally because he dies of a fear-induced cardiac arrest. That, alongside with the incredible art and banger music, is why I consider Thanatophobia one of, if not the single best DR style execution I've ever seen. Simply peak.

Ace [continued]: Do you think I give a crap about you all? Why would that matter to me? No one gives a crap about me either! None of you even respect me enough to think I was capable of killing Arei! In fact, that made me feel way less guilty about killing-- [J makes her anti-murder speech] Ace: ... I know that [I can't be forgiven]. I'm the one who murdered Arei, so of course I know that. Arei... She was a piece of shit too. Just like me. Even if she said all that nice bullshit to Eden, there was no guarantee that she really was going to change and become a good person. Maybe if she lived, then by tomorrow she'd be right back to her annoying bitchy self. ... But at least she was trying. And I can't even change one thing about myself. Not my shitty job, not my shitty personality, nor my shitty life. I really am a piece of shit, huh?

At the end of the day, Ace is his own worst enemy. What really gets Ace killed (apart from the already mentioned fear of death) is the inability to change, to see the flaws in the way he behaves himself and try to better himself. Or, rather, he does see the flaws, he knows he's a target of the killing game because of his aggressiveness and that he drove himself into a corner out of fear, but he considers himself incapable of changing that. Changing is difficult, and Ace is scared to even try. Like he says, maybe Arei couldn't have managed it either, but she was trying. And that's what ultimately separates the two.

In case it isn't obvious, my take on who's to blame for everything that happened is pretty much squarely on Ace. Sure, there were things the others did to Ace which aren't justified, but you can't blame people for disliking someone that knows he's unlikable and cannot find it in himself to try to change that. Arei tried to change; she died a good person. Levi tried to make amends for trial 1; he's a good person too. The tragedy of the situation is that Ace himself could have been a good person too, because everyone can be, but it's a decision that must be made, as Eden put it earlier in the chapter. And it's a difficult one, too difficult for Ace.

Teruko, David, all these people... they can also be "good people," in the sense of always trying to be "less shitty together" in Arei's words. Ace is a cautionary tale of how not doing so can end up really, really badly.

Which is the setup for Teruko and David's continued foiling, isn't it? Teruko will presumably look at all of Ace's flaws (lack of trust, unwillingness to change, accepting fate without fighting it) as pitfalls to avoid, because of how similar the two of them acted in CH2. Meanwhile, David, since he heard Arei's speech and knows just how hard she tried to change, will see those same flaws as strengths. In his eyes, Arei died because she trusted the note, because she tried to change, because she tried to defy her nature. At least, that's my prediction. Where all of that will go is anyone's guess.

But, how do we know that Ace could have been a good person? How do we know that it isn't David who is right, that neither Ace nor Arei could have ever gotten better, had they simply tried? Well, simply put, because in the end, Ace does start changing. As a final, tragic note, Ace's ability to confront fate and try to correct his flaws only surfaces when it's far too late. And not only when he punches MonoTV, though that also is a good example of it, but also when he chooses to face execution quicker in an attempt to save Levi.

Ace [already linked, 2-16]: Execute me right now, you hear me, MonoTV? MonoTV: ... Ace: Because... Because Levi is gonna fucking die, and I'm going to have a third goddamn death on my hands! Arturo: E-Even then, there's no guarantee that he'll live--- Ace: Shut up! What the hell are you talking about? Aren't you a surgeon? Can't you fix him? Arturo: I--! I'm not that kind of surgeon! I've told you, over and over, I have no experience with saving lives! Something like this! There's no way I can do it-- Ah! Ace: SHUT UP! Shut up, Arturo! You *can* save his life! Shut the fuck up! Stop saying you can't do it, because you can! Don't you understand? I'm going to die right now, and you're going to live! So decide whether you want to at least *try* and put in some fucking effort for once, or keep making excuses for yourself like a sniveling coward for the rest of your life. I don't even get to make that decision anymore! Stop complaining, you whiny little shit! Grow some fucking balls and save someone's goddamn life, asshole! Because you can!

There's layers to Ace's shouting barrage at Arturo. Obviously part of it is just Ace trying to convince himself that Arturo can save Levi so he can die with a relatively clearer conscience, but there's also a sort of self-awareness of Ace's faults in the things he says. Try swapping "save Levi's life" for "be a better person," and pretend it's being said to Ace by someone else who is about to die.

You *can* [be a good person]! Shut the fuck up! Stop saying you can't do it, because you can! Don't you understand? I'm going to die right now, and you're going to live! So decide whether you want to at least *try* and put in some fucking effort for once, or keep making excuses for yourself like a sniveling coward for the rest of your life. I don't even get to make that decision anymore! Stop complaining, you whiny little shit! Grow some fucking balls and [be a better person], asshole! Because you can!

Because moments ago, it was Ace who was making excuses like a coward for why he felt he would never be a good person, and why he had no control over his shitty personality that made everyone hate him and made him a target of the killing game, etc. He never put in the effort to change because he thought it was pointless, that he was unable to, and didn't realize the falseness of that preconception until he was faced with death. Seems I was on the right track when I connected his thanatophobia to his issues with control; death robs him of the decision to try and be a good person ("I don't even get to make that decision anymore!"), which he hadn't even realized he had until that moment.

It's no wonder Ace was a popular survivor guess; he could have changed, could have been a good person. And despite the harm he's caused, the way he robbed Arei of the opportunity to do what he couldn't and attempt to change, the intention he had of killing everyone in the trial, his death remains a tragedy for the hypothetical of what could have been. Maybe if Levi had managed to properly reach him the way Eden reached Arei, this could have all been avoided. But alas, Ace didn't accept the hand strectched out to him, and now it's too late to fix things.

I said during my reactions that I felt just as emotional during Ace's execution as I did with Min's, which was certainly true and very impressive given my massive bias towards the Ultimate Student. And while I can't say that I'll miss Ace as much as I miss Min (because come on), I'll certainly hold him close to my heart for as long as I live regardless.

As a final note, holy shit the voice acting. If I pointed out every line where the acting for Ace was spectacular, I would be here all day. I doubt I need to elaborate on this; the sheer perfection of the performance should be obvious to anyone who can hear it. Godspeed Seth Raffield, you truly were incredible. Can't wait to hear what you do in the Bonus Episode, provided there is one.

---

I am free! Holy shit that took way too fucking long. I need to figure out a better way to do this shit for later chapters, because geez. You have no idea how much Tumblr's drafts lagged because of this shit, I had to write the final sections in different drafts and copy paste them over because it was unbearable. Not to mention hitting the goddamn link limit which is just clinically insane from me. Anyways, if you somehow managed to read all of that, I feel genuinely sorry for you. You know you can be a good person if you try, right? There's no need to punish yourself like this.

I'm being silly, of course. Thanks for reading, hope you enjoyed!

[ruyakasunshine]

Thank you for your last post about F1 fans. At times I wish everyone would just chill the fuck out. I understand being more prone to hype up ones fave and whatnot.

I even get the whole oh I hate Max winning all the time, as if we didn’t have the same with Lewis while he was constantly winning.

I’m not even surprised that people forgot what happened last season, two weeks or 5 years ago, I feel this sport suffered from recency bias like no else. But in a sport that lives off stats that are all still public and easy to look up and fucking Wikipedia… well I guess that might be to much to ask of some people.

At the end of the day I just don’t get why people worry so much about things they dislike. Just block everyone and everything and move on.

Hype up your fave and call it a day.

Hey!

I completely agree on the fact that people need to chill big time. It's honestly starting to become dreading opening the comment section under any f1 related post because I know that we're going to have the same discourses over and over again. And the worst part is that they are usually extremely biased discourses, so it's not even like the debates are productive.

And same, do I wish to hear something other than the Dutch anthem every weekend? yes. Do I wish to see a battle for championship, or even for p1 for at least one race? Absolutely. But those things aren't under Max's control. He is fast, he wins. That's it. And until any other team can make a rocket ship that can compete with the rbr one, with a driver that can control said rocket ship, that's how it's going to be. And it isn't like we can't appreciate the sport either way, there are 19 other drivers who all compete and try to battle the one before them for their place, watch them.

Honestly, it is sort of crazy to experience the recency bias first hand, and I can barely blame people to fall into it. I'm pretty new in this sport as well, so I cannot pretend to have the best takes when it comes to drivers' performances without looking into other peoples' analysis, but I guess that it is easy to fall into a narrative so well crafted by the big medias.

And as you said, with the stats, and wikipedia, it's easier to fall into it. The first thing I understood when I got into this sport is that every tiny bit of a detail counts in a race : the weather, the performances of the top teams (it's easier to be p1 if the top team is having issues), the performance and the quality of the car (which the driver doesn't necessary have control over), etc. Context is vital in this sport, the final ranking can only say so much. But people ignore it so easily and pretend to be specialists at analyzing the performance of athletes (who have trained their whole life for this sport, by the way) from the comfort of their couch, without taking any of these into consideration. Especially when it comes from a place of bias.

[autisticlalna]

and i am just the NEW INVENTION - a Twitch SMP VikingPilot & Rubyco fanmix

[ listen on Spotify! ]

TRACKLIST: tally hall - Ruler of Everything // oingo boingo - Gratitude // hi i'm case - Monsters Nearby // IDKHOW - New Invention // forrest day - Sleepwalk // jubyphonic, circus-p - Hello, Again // big data - Put Me to Work // chase petra - Reliable Narrator // enter shikari - Crossing the Rubicon // the mountain goats - Younger // rare americans - Up, Up & Away // 65daysofstatic - Aren't We All Running // set it off - Hourglass // USS - Hydrogenuine // agosti - Triangles // becko - HOME // area 11 - Everybody Gets A Piece // panic! at the disco - Crazy = Genius // enter shikari - No Sleep Tonight // fall out boy - The Last Of The Real Ones // i fight dragons - The Devil You Know

(warning: contains strong language)

reasoning behind songs under the cut!

these are a bit of a mess and are anywhere from "viking" to "ruby" to "navigator" to "kinda sapphire-ish??" to "one's feelings about the other" to "both of them" to "general vibe". there's also a few songs that got cut but still kinda hit the vibe that i might talk abt some other time??? i dunno man this playlist was a catastrophe to make. ANYWAY

Ruler Of Everything: "you understand mechanical hands are the ruler of everything, ruler of everything, i'm the ruler of everything in the end" // Viking. i don't really need to elaborate here, it's just Viking.

Gratitude: "but when i think of you, and what you've done to me, you took away my hope, you took away my fantasy, i once had lots of pride, the world was in my hands, i lived way at the top in castles made of sand" // gestures in the vague direction of Viking and Ruby. man i don't even know what's happening over there. this is a bit of a Recency Bias song bc i first heard it like right before lore really kicked off so it was fresh in my mind

Monsters Nearby: "only get so far putting off those dreams of yours [..] thinking of all these strange things when you should rest, it's hard to sleep like this when there's monsters nearby" // Ruby! and, like, of course i'm going to add the song that keeps making me think of the "You cannot sleep, there are monsters nearby" message. "And that voice behind the polarized advice can be the same" is about Viking, though.

New Invention: "oh i can't say no, i'm losing control! i'm having bad dreams, and nothing you can do will keep the bad dreams away from me until i fall asleep. bad dreams! despite your good intentions, that girl is like an architect and i am just the new invention!" // Ruby and Viking! if i did an animatic to any song off this playlist it would be New Invention. goddamn. (also, tViking's design reminds me a bit of eFalse, and roenais's Empires animation to this song lives in my head rent-free)

Sleepwalk: "bad thoughts give me bad dreams and my bad dreams make me get up and walk. bad thoughts give me bad dreams and my bad dreams make me sleepwalk." // oh my god Ruby and Sapphire. the ominous mood encapsulates everything about Sapphire to me, especially before we knew who Saph actually is and she was just "Ruby sleepwalks and leaves ominous signs". it's dark and foreboding and i love it.

Hello, Again: "find a mechanist, a mechanism, working one-by-one! with a busted up database, i'm losing the chase, but i'll say hello again, hello, just who have i become?" // the whole conversation about fixing things, and how that's become a reoccurring theme with Sapphire as well - switching from Ruby being the broken one to Viking being the one needing to be fixed. plus the whole "Ruby and Viking meeting across loops" thing - hello again, hello, just who can i become?

Put Me to Work: "set me off, see what i'm worth! turn me on, i go berserk! i don't care if i get hurt! no, i don't care, just put me to work! [..] i will replace you, replace you, replace you [..] and i won't care when they get hurt, no i don't care, just put me to work!" // Viking is, uh. a lot. hyperfocused to the point of self-destruction. this does bleed over to Ruby too, though, what with zir being desperate to be something Viking won't throw away when he stops seeing zir as useful and Navigator's warning of "don't let him break you". i guess the real question is: would Viking care if they get hurt?

Reliable Narrator: "did you forget that i am not a pacifist? the scar we'll earn from that will be well worth it. did you-- hypnosis, bring roses, don't blow this [..] the bruising will be worth the freedom i have earned from letting everything burn!" // basically every Ruby song on here is "Ruby is going through it". there's a tension here. very fun to have this song on here though considering Sapphire sign "I am a unreliable narrator, am I not?"

Crossing the Rubicon: "fill me out a prescription for this existential dread, i woke up into a nightmare and i'm hoping that you'll take me back to bed [..] fill me out a prescription, can you free me from this curse? i woke up inside your compass and you're navigating us from east to worst [..] something's got to give, we've gone too far to turn back" // this has been a Viking song for ages but never made it onto my dViking playlist for some reason. it works better here, i think. there's going to be a tipping point where you cross the point of no return.

Younger: "try not to lose sight of the mission! it never hurts to give thanks to the broken bones you had to use to build your ladder. moment close at hand, half of you will never understand, and it doesn't really matter. [..] it never hurts to give thanks to the navigator, even when he's spitting out random numbers." // Certified Navigator Moment as suggested by Charm!! this is one of the songs i can't put into words the emotions i have about it but it's just... a lot. "It never hurts to give thanks to the broken bones" is about everybody Viking is going to burn through to get to his goal, and that kinda ties into Navigator trying to intercept i guess??? i dunno man i don't work here <- literally made this playlist

Up, Up & Away: "how many lives can a guy buy? [..] can't erase or save face, what will they think when they hear my voice on the tapes? skies open, wheels in motion, no going back, no, i've chosen!" // Viking!! aaaauughhhhhhhhh. what will you do to get to where you need to go? once again linking into the we've gone too far to turn back thing from Crossing the Rubicon. y'know, in case you can't tell that i think Viking's going to do something awful to reach his ambitions.

Asking For It: "power through the point of no return, famously deranged, all the same hope you change, if the worm is gonna turn, it's none of my concern" // somebody absolutely rips into Viking. probably Ruby. "if the worm is gonna turn it's none of my concern" is said by Viking in this context though. famous last words before Ruby (or Sapphire?) decks him. fun fact: this was one of the first songs i associated with tViking specifically, back during the first lore scene, but i went "ehhh???" on it. then we got to see a bit more of him and... yeah. this guy is asking for it.

Aren't We All Running: [instrumental] // there's a couple instrumentals on here because of talking to Solar about how character playlists rarely have instrumentals and i wanted to have a couple of rest points. i love the slow build here and the overall mood. montage music.

Hourglass: "i can't fix it, is this where i give in? i'm falling through the hourglass, and i don't think i'll ever make it back [..] turn the page, look back at what you wrote, do you still feel the same?" // shoutouts to Rubyco Themself for namechecking this song! it's real good. someone let Ruby out of his BOX he needs HELP

Hydrogenuine: "11 is the number i seem assigned to, inversions of an opposite truth aligns you, directions like the back of your hand will guide you, i am simply here to assist and remind you" // this is kindasorta a Navigator song, kindasorta just The Situation. i cannot properly explain this one, it just Is. what if we kept running into each other in different universes and timelines but something broke this time and now we're trying to fix it

Triangles: [instrumental] // iiii wanna animaaaate to this sooooongggg hope this heeeeelps

HOME: "every road leads back to where i belong! and i can see, when i'm on my own it's the place i can call home! my mind creates a new world that is so disordered, i proclaim myself king and pope! DID, we are in 3 but we're getting along well, i'm glad to be the leader of the wolf pack!" // Viking is so incredibly not okay. just, like, in general. had fun with the DID lyric though considering Viking and Ruby's plotlines are "other versions of themselves are hijacking their bodies" lmao. love unconventional plurality.

Everybody Gets A Piece: "did you honestly think it might've been, might've been me? and all this while, did you think of me? you know, all this while we were pure potential energy dreaming [..] don't ask, you'll never get! you never asked, so you never got nothing! did you get all you wanted from me?" // this one's a bit looser but the vibes are there. the "don't ask, you'll never get" bit is Viking and Sapphire constantly talking in circles mixed with Viking using everybody as tools and that potentially including Ruby. UM. ALSO MAYBE A NAVIGATOR SONG NOW TBH. I MADE THIS BEFORE TONIGHT'S STREAM.

Crazy = Genius: "and i said: if crazy equals genius, if crazy equals genius! then i'm a fucking arsonist, i'm a rocket scientist! if crazy equals genius! you can set yourself on fire, but you're never gonna burn, burn, burn! you can set yourself on fire, but you're never gonna learn, learn, learn, hey!" // peak Viking. LOOK WE'VE EVEN GOT THE FIRE THEME IN HERE! we love an unhinged inventor with an obsession with fire metaphors

No Sleep Tonight: "and from that height we'll leak the lies, and unveil the damaged skies, 'cause we can't quite stomach this! [..] i still can't comprehend a beginning or an end, no i can't quite stomach this! all i'm trying to say is: you're not getting any sleep tonight!" // more hypothetical Future Speculation stuff mixing in with how generally Screwed reality is for Viking/Navigator and Ruby/Sapphire. also the sleepless theming that's clinging to Ruby through all of this.

The Last Of The Real Ones: "you were too good to be true, gold plated - but what's inside you, but what's inside you? [..] i will protect you, i will protect you, just tell me tell me tell me i- i am the only one, even if it's not true, even if it's not true" // WHAT IF YOU WERE SIBLINGS AND KEPT FINDING EACH OTHER IN EVERY UNIVERSE BUT THINGS KEPT GOING WRONG

The Devil You Know: "nobody knows you better than your demons, so, dance with the devil you know or go home."

[historicallyaccuratecheese]

Hey! So…I’ve basically been trying to figure out how to go about continuing my tma posts these past few weeks. As I said in an earlier post, I plan to put out shorter posts that basically contain bullet points of my thoughts and theories, provided I have enough to justify such, and maybe make some longer analyses if I have the time, energy and inspiration.

However, with my school year beginning in like…a day from now, I’ve still been pretty busy and haven’t had much time to both listen to tma and sort out how I want to go about these posts going forward. So until then…here’s basically everything I worked on before I made the decision to quit these longer-form posts! I’ve decided that I don’t want all of the time spent writing this to pay off so…here you go!

This will be the final post on tma of this fashion I make, covering my thoughts on Episodes 81-84. …Not a very climactic one to end on, I know, but what are you gonna do? Fight me? Kill me? I DARE you. I FUCKING DARE YOU! YOU HEAR ME?! I AM NOT KIDDING AROUND!!!

…sorry about that. Anyways, as always, please don’t spoil anything beyond this point for me, don’t read this if you haven’t gotten this far in tma, please read the seven posts that precede this one if you’re going to read this one, and all trigger warnings for everything in tma up until MAG 84 apply! Hope you have fun reading! :) (also yes, as always this is very long, so please take breaks. It’s not as long as the last one since it’s unfinished, but…pretty close.)

Link to the post explaining the changes I’m planning to make, which in turn links my masterpost:

- Episode 81, A Guest for Mr. Spider 🥀

Statement of Jonathan Sims, regarding a childhood encounter with a book formerly possessed by Jurgen Leitner. Statement recorded by subject.

I...uh... I...I...wow. That. Um. I just. I...still can't really believe I heard all of that. Um...I mean, I guess I was right when I said that Season 3 would premiere with some pretty big changes, but...damn, they really couldn't give me a break to start off, could they? Like, Anglerfish and Too Deep, while still pretty damn plot relevant, are ultimately used for the purpose of easing you into the status quos of their respective seasons. But this? Yeah, good luck handling THE ARCHIVIST'S TRAGIC BACKSTORY right after Brutal Pipe Murder! Just...oh god I'm in for a lot this season, aren't I? But that is absolutely not a problem, because...holy shit, this episode is...kind of perfect? Like..it is just absolutely everything I could've asked for, and then some. I'm very hesitant to just outright claim this as my favorite episode, both due to recency bias and also the fact that...I still feel like I might need to adjust to the whole vibe of Season 3 first, but like...I would not be surprised if this came out on top for me, because...it's just that phenomenal. It's so beautifully written and narrated, every line feels like it carries so much weight to it. Even though I didn't know what I really wanted out of Jon's backstory, beyond him just...having one in the first place, this episode STILL gave me everything I think I could reasonably desire from it. And like...oh my god, THE CONNECTIONS?! Well, ok, as far as I know the episode doesn't really connect to any previous plot points in any super explicit ways, beyond the obvious exceptions of Leitner and The Spider, but like...still! There's so many odd little anomalies that feel like they're all connecting back to a bunch of different things, and to be completely honest...I feel like this episode had reframed the way I look at so much of tma up until this point. I guess that's to be expected...but WOW. It just...this one went so above and beyond in so many ways, and I absolutely loved it. It terrified me, it left me in awe, and now I am silently anticipating and dreading what the rest of this god-forsaken podcast has in store for me. I...honestly don't think I'll be able to cover everything this episode has in it. Not only because I feel like there's so many little details hidden here that no one could possibly notice at this point in the story, but also because...well, I'm already kind of overloaded with all of the blatantly super important stuff in this episode, and when you add on the fact that i'm still kind of reeling from The Librarian two weeks after listening to it, and how I still feel kind of in the dark as to...what Season 3 will even be like, and...yeah, I can't trust myself to be 100% comprehensive here without writing another novel. God, I HOPE this post isn't another novel. Like, I love this episode more than my non-existent children...but I'm going to need some downtime sooner rather than later. So uh...yeah, just don't expect me to nail down every detail in this work of art, and DO expect me to make references to this episode in a lot of future segments, because...I have no doubt that it's really important, and that I'll probably come to a lot more realizations about it later down the line. Well...I don't want to draw this out much longer, so let's just begin!

Ok...I think I'm in a clearer state of mind now when it comes to The Librarian. Don't get me wrong...a LOT is still playing on my mind. The books, the downfall of the library, Leitner himself, the nature of the institute, the information on Micheal and The Distortion, the lore on Gertrude, everything we learned about Elias, the hints towards The Unknowing, just...all of the insane worldbuilding given by the explanation of ✨the horrors✨, and of course...the sound effects which I can only assume represent Elias trying to get something that's stuck in a vending machine out by violently shaking it. To be honest I'm still absolutely feral about all of this...but the best thing I can do right now is recognize that it's in the past. It happened, it was insane and definitely remains important...but I just need to push forward, focus on the present, think about it when it's relevant, and just try my best to accept the new status quo. Speaking of which, how about that new status quo? Well...as I said, it's still a little bit hard to pin down, hence why I'm still trying to adjust to Season 3, and why I...still can't definitively say whether or not The Librarian works as a season finale, although I'm like...90% sure it does at this point. I should note, however, that I have actually listened to the Season 2 Q&A, and the Season 3 trailer. I'll...discuss the latter when I feel like I'm more able to, but from the former, I know that Season 3 will be bouncing between Jon's place of hiding and the institute. While I don't know at what frequency, nor do I...really know what's going on at the institute beyond the vague hints of the Season 3 trailer, I definitely think it's the best course of action for structuring this season either way. But uh...for now, we're looking at Jon.

So...yeah, as expected, he fled the institute after discovering Leitner's body in his office. Now, we don't actually learn where he even is until the very end of the episode, which....certainly kept me on the edge of my seat all throughout, but for now...I just want to analyze what his absence from the institute even means. On a more meta level...I mean, it's certainly going to shake things up. While THIS episode might be a statement like always...it's a very clear exception in the fact that, well...Jon himself is the one giving it. It's not like he has access to an archive of a bajillion old statements to read in his current location, and with the technical exception of one person, it's unlikely that anyone will be coming up to him, fully aware that he's Head Archivist of The Magnus Institute, London, at least nowadays. So...my question is, if we're still going to have a decent focus on him this season...what are they even going to do with him? While the current situation at the institute is still somewhat unclear, I get the feeling that we'll still be having classic statements in the episodes take place there, since...well, with the exception of whatever eldritch Eye servant shenanigans come with the title, anyone can fill Jon's role as Head Archivist as long as they have the...normal qualifications. (Side note, the idea of getting episodes without Jon in them, while kind of sad since I've grown very attached to him and it'll be weird to not have him around, is also very exciting to me, since it likely means that Martin, Tim, and...hopefully Elias will get more fleshed out this season.) But...what does that mean for Jon? What in the hell does the story plan to do with him going forward? I just.....AAAAAAAAAGGGGGGHHHHH!!!! If I had to guess...maybe we'll just get to see him explore the world or something? I'll go into why a bit more later, but I have some decent reason to suspect that this season will...probably show us a good amount of the people we've only heard of in statements, but now in person. Even if he still has a...primary place of residence, at least I think, this new format gives Jon an opportunity to explore the world and encounter things we've only heard whispers of before. This is even...kind of hinted at by Elias in his pre-pipe conversation with Leitner. Well...getting back on track, what does being away from the institute mean for Jon in terms of...like, the lore?

Well, to start off...there's some obvious danger that comes with such a thing. As we know, the institute comes with....certain protections from the paranormal for its employees, ones that aren't offered out in the wild. Elias...might have hinted that Jon will be fine in one way or another, but like...he might have been referring to Gertrude instead? I don't know...that whole scene was really vague. Either way, even if he's not at a risk of death...Jon is still in much more danger than he usually is, not only because of all the monsters that might have easy access to him, but also because he's a suspected murderer, and...well, like I said, I'll talk more about it at a more appropriate time, but...from the trailer, we can tell the law is definitely not intent on letting him get away easily. There's also the matter of his...seemingly complicated relationship with his one and only ally at the moment (...it makes me very sad to know that him and his assistants are in direct opposition to each other now), but...we'll get to that when we get to it. Another thing that makes me curious is how this works wit the whole..."you can't quit the institute" thing. Now, granted, Jon is...definitely a bit different from most of the other people in the institute, and we've only really seen this strange quirk of the place affect Tim...but the fact that Jon is also incapable of firing people makes me think that he's also probably subject to this same rule. So...how exactly is he capable of staying away from the institute? Sure, he didn't officially resign, he just up and left...but surely that shouldn't be allowed, right? Well...what if the one keeping people trapped in the archives is making an exception? You see, while I definitely think the...power of The Eye is involved in the inability to quit, I don't think The Eye itself is the one enforcing this rule. I mean, Leitner kind of suggests that ✨the horrors✨ are...mindless, or at the very least do not function under anything similar to a human mind, and despite The Eye kind of having this...god of knowledge vibe going on, I don't have much reason at the moment to think it's an exception to the rule. However...someone who does have a human mind, someone who has a human will, someone who can wield The Eye's power...maybe they could prevent people from quitting. So...yeah, I think Elias is almost certainly the one responsible for preventing his employees from quitting. I mean, not only does the man seem to be in complete control of the institute, but him killing Leitner shows that he is...especially concerned with making sure everything goes according to...whatever the hell he's planning, and he is more than willing to remove obstacles from the equation. And given how instrumental the archives specifically seem to be to his machinations, I think it makes perfect sense for him to want to prevent people from quitting. And if you recall, while his main reason for murdering Leitner was to hide information and prevent the destruction of the archives, he framed Jon not only to save his own hide, but also because for whatever reason...he WANTS Jon to leave the institute and see the world. So...I don't actually think that the rule against quitting will affect Jon (whatever the consequences to breaking the rule even are), as chances are Elias is deliberately letting him free for...some...reason. ....God he is an anomaly. And...that also makes me think that he might secretly sabotage the police's manhunt for him but...that's neither here nor there. There is...one other thing that grabs my attention when it comes to this new status quo...and that's what it has to do with Jon's status as "The Archivist".

So, Jon outright calls himself the "Former Head Archivist" in this episode (which felt REALLY weird by the way, as did the re-recorded voiceover for the intro)...but I don't think he's entirely right to call himself that. Well, ok, he's right in a way. Even if he hasn't officially resigned from his job, he clearly has no intention of doing said job anymore. He's not in his office reading statements into his tape recorder anymore, (well...with the obvious exception of this episode), he's on the run and doing his own thing, and while I still think he'll be using the recorder, because...you know, it's the whole damn framing device for the story, you can't exactly not use it, I think it's more likely to tie into his desire to not have his story lost to future generations, rather than his previous need to record statements. When you look at his job as just...any other ordinary job, I'm sure someone else will fill his position at the institute, whether it be Martin, Tim, Elias, or someone else entirely, which is...honestly kind of cool...but also just makes it even clearer...HOW different things are about to become...oh god. But...that's the thing. Jon's job...isn't entirely normal. Someone else can probably fill the...regular parts of his position, all they need to do is read and occasionally listen to spooky stories, and then send out some assistants to do the field work. But that's about it. We know from The NotThem that the title of "The Archivist" is more than just a fancy thing for Jon to put on his desk. The title...has great meaning, we don't know WHAT it means at all...but it has purpose, it represents Jon's significance in the greater narrative, it tells us that he isn't just some poor sap who got wrapped up in this whole mess by pure circumstance, but rather a key element in the complex machinations of the story. And...the same probably applied to Gertrude as well, at least for a time. I think this title of "The Archivist" has something to do with...him being "claimed" by The Eye. You see, this episode later makes a pretty big distinction between what it means to be "touched" by one of ✨the horrors✨, and what it means to be "claimed". To be "touched", is...seemingly what happens whenever you come into any sort of contact with them, usually by simple bad luck. An example of this includes what we later learn happened during Jon's childhood, and in my opinion, I think that Tim, Martin, most likely Sasha as well, and really anyone who's ever worked in the archives, or even the institute as a whole, has been "touched" by The Eye. They've encountered it simply by...working at its place of power, and while it can exert some level of control over them (...keep that idea in mind for later, along with the idea that it's not something exclusive to The Eye, because...it will be important), as seen through it preventing Tim from quitting...that control is not nearly as great as what happens when you are "claimed" by one of ✨the horrors✨. I think that to be "claimed" is...what's happened to all of the freaky people. Jane, Mike, Jared, Agnes, Raymond, Simon...the list goes on and on, their connection to ✨the horrors✨ is...a lot deeper. They are capable of wielding the dark powers of these eldritch entities, and it often seems like rather than simply coming across their patrons through sheer circumstance like with those who are "touched", they are deliberately sought after. ...I think this is what's going on with Jon, along with Gertrude, and all of the archivists prior. And...also probably Elias, although it probably happened under different circumstances that don't connect to the title of "Archivist."

So yeah...I think Jon might very well be fated to end up like...all of those guys I just listed. I don't think he's quite there yet, he doesn't seem to possess any supernatural abilities at the moment...but The Eye has still claimed him. He might be able to run away and stop reading those statements...but he's still The Archivist at the end of the day. He can't shake that title off as easily as he thinks he can, whatever it means...it's a part of him now...and that makes me very afraid. I....REALLY don't want him to end up as someone like Jane, all of those people are...at best morally complicated, and while Jon's certainly made some very stupid decisions and been a bit of an asshole here and there...he's nowhere near the level of an insane killer, even if Elias would have his coworkers believe otherwise. And oh my god, that's not even scratching the surface of what the title means in Gertrude's case. The fact that Elias was willing to kill her shows that, in one way or another...she was disposable, replaceable even, something that doesn't apply to Jon nearly as much if that conversation in Burning Desire is anything to go on. But like...WHY was she disposable? Was it due to her constant attempts to mess with his machinations and later destroy the archives? Was she actually a super good archivist who just had to be killed because of her actions, and that kind of ties back into the question of whether or not she was intentionally disorganizing the statements? Did she actually undergo some sort of monstrous transformation later in life? I mean, it would make sense since she was The Archivist for much longer than Jon, before Elias was even there in fact, and like....maybe that would explain why Antonio Blake foresaw an excessively gruesome fate for her in his dreams despite her being shot by a man in a suit? Maybe? I just...oh god I don't know. Look, the point is...Jon's departure from the institute has a lot of connotations. For the narrative, for the lore, for himself...there's just a lot here. But...it's best if I don't dwell on it. I think I just need to let the season pan out, and besides, I'd be surprised if a lot of these questions weren't answered sooner rather than later. If I think about all of this too much, I'll end up digging a rabbit hole so deep that I'll eventually reach Lost Johns' Cave and get buried alive. I'm just going to...let the answers come to me, and focus on the present. So...without further ado, let's finally get into the actual goddamn content of the episode. Fun fact, there's a very good chance that my grandmother is reading this part of the episode per her request right now, so uh...hi Grandma! I am...so sorry about this, you probably have no idea what the hell I'm talking about right now, there's 80 episodes worth of posts that precede this one. Also yes, I haven't even talked about the actual epiode yet. This is just how things work around here. Oh, by the way, I have some..choice words about the grandmother of the main character here, so I just need you to know that you two are nothing alike, and that the entire paragraph devoted to my distaste for the grandmother of the main character I heavily relate to is not a personal attack. Uh...MOVING ON!

Ok...I must admit that before I REALLY get into things, I have a couple of things worth noting down. First of all, this episode's case number is "0171802-A". Not only is it...kind of crazy to me that it's only been TWO DAYS since the events of the Season 2 finale, but the presence of the "A" makes it clear that...there'll be another statement recorded on this exact day. I don't get the sense that Jon will have to record another tape that soon, so uh...my prediction is that Episode 82 will be case "0171802-B", and it'll show us what's happening at the institute. There. The other thing I found noteworthy was...what Jon's even recording this statement with. Chances are...he took the exact same tape and recorder that was used to record his destruction of the table, the chase in the tunnels, Leitner's statement and...his later murder, given how he turned off the tape upon discovering the old fart's body and seemingly made a run for it almost immediately afterwards. First of all, that is a fuck-tonne of tape he's working with, like...even if he's using a new tape, still, but second of all...that implies Jon is in possession of the one thing that proves Elias guilty of Leitner's murder. And given how he's still not 100% certain that Elias is the actual culprit...he has no idea. So...that's not great, and that's without even mentioning what this means for the police's investigation. Anyways, uh...time to cover this episode for real. Jon starts off by talking about his current state of mind. He says that over the past couple of days, he's been thinking about....well, a lot of things, but has also been reminiscing on...how it all began for him, and what the death of Jurgen Leitner even means to him in the first place. He believes that his death has also marked the death of the lens of which he once viewed the world through. This episode gives...a lot of insight into Jon's psyche, and the first example of this is found here, which...kind of feels like it's trying to explain why he's been the way he's been throughout the past two seasons. I'll...touch more on Jon's change in attitude a bit later, but for now...we're focusing on his eras of denial and paranormal. Now, we already knew that his denial in Season 1 heavily stemmed from his feeling of being watched, something that we can now most likely attribute to The Eye, but...this gives us an even greater look at the topic. Jon always believed in the paranormal, we've known that for a while, but...he always saw it as small, fleeting and rare. He thought that people heavily exaggerated them, that the sources of horror in the world were far from common. Even in his era of paranoia (oh my god I mean I love Season 2 Jon but I REALLY hope that's come to a close now)...he still apparently held out hope, believed that...even if he and those around him suffered, that suffering was extremely miniscule in the grand scheme of the world. Nowadays...he knows better. He realizes that the supernatural lies everywhere, and that the statements he once wrote off as insane conjecture are more real than he would preferably have to admit. And...he realizes that there are many out there who are less fortunate than him.

...Ok, look, there's not much of a point to doing anymore dramatic buildup, so I'll just cut to the chase. Yes, this episode is indeed focused on Jon's backstory. ...FUCKING. FINALLY. I just...oh my god. That single notion is enough to make me start rapidly crawling across the walls. I don't know...how much I've really brought it up before, but I have been DYING to know what this guy's past is for the longest time. It's not like he wasn't complicated without a backstory, but just...finally knowing what made him the way he is, or at least was at the beginning of Season 1, adds SO incredibly much to his character that it's...kind of insane. And what's even crazier is that it's the FIRST episode of the season. Don't get me wrong, Anglerfish and Too Deep are great premieres, the latter of which also giving great insight into Jon, but their ultimate purpose is just to set the tone of the season. This though? It does all of that, but does it 10 times more incredibly and adds a bunch of other amazing elements on top of it. I'll obviously go over my deeper thoughts on the backstory itself a bit later, but for now...just know that it did NOT disappoint in the slightest. Now...if we can just get Martin, Tim and Elias' backstories soon, we'll be golden. Anyways going back to Jon, he basically reveals that the main reason he thought the paranormal was so rare and limited, and the reason why he was inclined to deny most statements, was because he could only really view the subject through his own experiences, and not other people's. ...I do find it kind of interesting that this...broadening of perspective has come with the revelation that he belongs to "The Eye"....just a thought. He then goes on to say that the one thing he believed, the one name that he saw as a true source of evil that could not be denied, the name that scarred his youth right in front of his very eyes...was Jurgen Leitner. That's...already quite the bombshell, knowing that Jon encountered a Leitner in his childhood... It...certainly explains quite a bit though, his hostility towards Leitner himself, his incessant paranoia whenever the books came up in statements, and looking back at it...the fact that the only statements he didn't deny back in early Season 1...were those involving Leitners. All of that...makes so much more sense now, and we aren't even at his backstory yet.

...Anyways, Jon then goes on to talk about how not just Leitner, but ✨the horrors✨ as a whole have affected him. One thing I find interesting is how he mentions his lack of knowledge on how many of ✨the horrors✨ there are, and how exactly they seperate. That's definitely the biggest question playing on my mind at the moment, I'm still running with my list of 14 for now, but...hopefully the fact that this has been brought up in the podcast means that some light will be shed on the topic sooner rather than later. I think we can name a few of them without a shadow of a doubt though. The Eye, The Spiral and The Stranger are the obvious ones, The End and The Lightless Flame make perfect sense despite not being outright confirmed, I feel...pretty confident in The Flesh Hive and The Vast being among their names as well, and then...well, we'll get to that last one in just a second. I think we have six that are currently unnamed, but they seem to be associated with darkness, compression, isolation, war, meat and technology respectively, although I only think that last one exists because...what in god's name was even going on with Sergey Ushanka that can reasonably correspond to any of the others. ...Ok, getting back on track, Jon decides to drop yet another bombshell on us, coming back to the distinction between being "touched" and "claimed". While he's obviously been claimed by The Eye (which he unfortunately considers "fitting")...it was not the being that touched him during his youth. That title...belongs to "The Spider". Or..."The Web" as he also calls it, but I think I'll stick with the first name because like...spiders weave webs, and that just seems a bit more tonally fitting with all the themes of control going on. Now...the fact that this thing marked him in his childhood has a whole mess of implications to it, but...I'm not quite ready to dive into that just yet. For now, I'm just going to...FINALLY get into his backstory. But before I do, I just have a quick question that I'd like to devote to the good folks at Rusty Quill. ....What the fuck?

No like...seriously. What the fuck is wrong with you people? Like...I wasn't expecting his backstory to be entirely normal sunshine and rainbows or anything, but...did you really have to do him THAT bad? Just....YIKES that is tragic. I, just...wow. Obviously I have...quite a bit to unpack here, NONE of which I've already unpacked and accidentally deleted due to a stupid-ass copy and paste error, what the hell are you talking about ha ha ha ha ha, but...I'm going to try. It's uh...it's a lot. Before I get into the main story though, I do have a couple of things related to the way it's framed that I feel are worth mentioning. Firstly, I REALLY need to give props to Jonny for the vocal delivery here. Like, it's always fantastic, and...sure, this isn't the most creative or out-there tone of voice he's done for a statement before, far from it actually, since..it's just him playing Jon rather than having to sound like anyone else. But...the fact that this is just Jon speaking is what makes the voice here so special to me. It's not him putting on the mask of another person for dramatic effect...it's just him, cold, visceral, and so clearly and deeply traumatized by what he's describing. Too Deep did a great job at this as well, and I regret not mentioning it in my first Season 2 post...but I do think this episode did it better, and I'll go over examples of why later on. But uh...on a related yet completely contradictory note...I do think there is some slight missed potential by not having someone else read the statement. Overall I still think letting Jon do it was the best course of action...but I don't know, I think there would be some definite value in...whoever's filling his position back at the institute reading a statement he gave about the same experience, but before he joined the institute, and then their VA would have to do an impression of Jon. Far from a big deal...I just think that's a cool idea, but the lack of it really isn't a gripe with the episode or anything. Oh shit, the actual episode. So...Jon was touched by The Spider when he was eight years old. ...Off to a pleasant start already. He says here that he was a child of the Nineties, which is...honestly pretty surprising to me. Like, I never thought of him as particularly old, but I guess I always read him as...I don't know, a guy in his mid-30s? He says that the incident occurred one or two years after Leitner's library was destroyed, which should roughly place the events described here in...1997. So if he was eight at the time, that means he's somewhere in his late 20s at the time of giving this statement. I don't know, it's just...younger than I expected for someone of his demeanour, but granted, he says that the past few years have aged him considerably, so I guess such a demeanour is to be expected. Regardless, he...was not a very happy eight-year old. Or...I guess a happy any-year old, but I digress. His parents had died when he was too young to really remember them...the fact that Jonathan Sims has a backstory so tragic that him being an orphan is reduced to a single sentence is just...yikes. His father died from an "accidental fall" when he was two, and his mother from surgical complications when he was four. If you're wondering why I added quotes to his father's death....that's because I feel kind of obligated to suspect foul play there. Look, it's entirely possible that his parents really did pass away from tragic accidents and nothing more. In fact, I think it's more likely that his mother didn't die from paranormal causes. Sure, tma is no stranger to the concept of butchery and dismemberment...but it's rarely been medical or surgical in nature, and the way it's phrased...eh, it doesn't give off the right vibes for me to assume anything weird was happening. His dad on the other hand...I mean, come on. There have been way too many statements that deal with falling for me to write that off entirely. So..I'll put a pin in that.

Also...look, I really do feel bad for Jon. Even if he doesn't remember them, losing your parents at that young of an age is such a life-shattering and heartbreaking thing to go through. But at the same time...THANK GOD they're dead. Because if they weren't...then that mind-polluting idea of Gertrude and Leitner being his parents could still be a possibility. I just...I hate to say it but I did have a sigh of relief. Oh god...the idea of Leitner being his dad is even WORSE now that we know what happened...ugh. Regardless, with his parents tragically departed, and with the majority of his extended family far from close, Jon was sent to live with his grandmother. ...I have some complicated feelings on her. I'll start off by saying that I do actually really like how they portrayed her. It would've been really easy to just make her flat-out abusive if they wanted to, which can definitely work for a lot of characters, but...not only would that have led to a comical amount of tragedy for Jon's backstory in my opinion, especially when you consider he already had a notable abuser, but it also would've left us with less nuance. The funny thing is, she doesn't really need nuance to begin with. She's overall an extremely minor character...but they gave her a surprising amount of depth, and made her feel like a real human person. Not that tma hasn't done that before, far from it, but I can always appreciate when this is done for a side character. She's described by Jon as a kind enough woman who raised him to the best of her ability, but...due to her having already raised her own children, and also having lost her own son...she held some level of resentment and bitterness towards having to raise Jon, and while it...doesn't seem to have resulted in terrible outbursts of any kind, and she overall treated Jon decently...she was never able to hide her feelings entirely. I can...definitely sympathize with her quite a bit. Grief can heavily mess people up, and I do understand that raising a child in old age, especially one like Jon, might not be an easy feat. But...I still can't help but feel like Jon is painting an ever-so-slightly too pleasant picture of her, even if he personally thinks that the picture is bleak. It's due to...a few reasons. One notable reason is that, as seen with another character later on...Jon is just ever so slightly forgiving in places where he really shouldn't be. Not to a serious detriment, or to a degree that makes him look entirely spineless...but just enough for me to question it. I wouldn't be surprised if his...greater traumas have made him view other dark aspects of his childhood as less of a problem. Hell, it's visible in the previously mentioned case of his parent's deaths being brushed over, and like I said, visible again later on with another character. So...I don't know, I worry that his grandmother might've been a bit worse to him than he realizes, and that he's justifying some not-so-great behavior on her part. It's...also not entirely uncommon for victims of serious abuse to sugarcoat stories of that abuse, but...I don't want to deviate too far from the actual text, and as far as the text is concerned...Jon's grandmother was a troubled woman who raised Jon decently well, (although I doubt it was to the "best of her ability", because....with all due respect, look at the man, even without the incident I think he'd turn out a little fucked up) but could never fully hide some of her deep-seeded resentment. And...I think it's up to the reader's interpretation as to how much that resentment seeped out, but I'd still hesitate to assume she was secretly terribly abusing him, at least with the information that's been currently provided.

The main reason I have complicated feelings on her though is because of...how I personally view Jon's character. Like many others, I personally read Jon as autistic, a headcanon which has become even clearer after listening to this episode. I'm not going to go into why, because...a lot of my reasoning ties back to the fact that I see a lot of my own autistic traits in Jon, some of which I'm...not particularly proud of myself. My point is...look, there'll be better examples later on, but a lot of the feeling and actions of Jon's grandmother...they just become a lot more iffy to me when you read his character as an autistic one, especially in the case of this episode, where I read him as an autistic CHILD. So yeah...overall, I can understand and sympathize with Jon's grandmother in a lot of ways...but she is certainly flawed, and in my opinion...I think Jon gives her a little bit too much credit in some places. And speaking of Jon, what about him? ...Him as a child I mean, I talk about him as an adult every damn day.

Well, I have to say I'm...really happy with how they wrote him. For starters, something that really bugs me when it comes to traumatic backstories, or just traumatic experiences for characters in general, is when it completely changes them in places where it really shouldn't. Obviously trauma will almost always have a huge effect on people, and there are definitely a good few occasions where I've been able to believe that trauma would fully erase all aspects of the original person...but there are other cases that don't work so well. It just...annoys me, it often feels like the author wants to write a completely separate character, but can't find out how to fit them into the story, so they just...traumatize a pre-existing one as a way to transform them. It's especially annoying when like...the sole reason for a character being all dark and broody instead of a pure sunshine child like they used to be is just...trauma. Like, come on, just let them be canonically goth and then you're good to go! I'm aware that this is probably stupid and nit-picky...but it happens more times than you'd think. Thankfully though, tma avoids this when it so easily couldn't have. Jon's trauma has...clearly affected him deeply, we'll get to that soon enough, but it doesn't feel like all traces of his pre-trauma self are entirely gone. They manage to make his younger self feel...notably different from his older self, but still like the same person. Young Jon is described as "precocious, impatient, quick to talk back and even quicker to wander off whenever he got bored." That paints a rather different picture from the Jon we know, it makes him come off as a lot more rambunctious and ill-mannered...but I can totally believe that this kid grew up to be the Jonathan Sims we all know and love. Adult Jon, at least when we first meet him, is a lot more...tired, stationary, he doesn't really try to do much to change his dull circumstances, and while not exactly the nicest person...he seems to have a decent understanding of manners, he just...doesn't use them that much because let's be honest, Season 1 Jon was an edgy bitch. In Season 2 though...I don't know, we kind of see that his younger traits come out a bit more, likely due to stress...add that to the list of reasons I think he's autistic, christ. He's a lot more all over the place, driven by gut instinct, he makes more reckless decisions and is overall more antsy and energetic, although...not in a good way. His trauma obviously changed him deeply. It instilled painful memories and a deep fear, gave him a fascination with the paranormal, a hatred for Jurgen Leitner, left him touched by The Spider, and as I'll get to later, has influenced a lot of his more questionable decisions in retrospect. But honestly...I still get the feeling that even without the trauma, he would've probably developed into someone not too dissimilar from his Season 1 self. I mean, he even had the police called on him multiple times when he was young, and is being chased by the police as we speak. If that doesn't prove that they put serious care into making sure young Jon felt like adult Jon despite the trauma...I don't know what does. So uh...yeah, good job guys. Now I just need to know what he was like as a teenager. As long as the answer is at least partially hilarious I'll be satisfied with anything. But that's enough psychoanalysis of an eight year old, sp let's get back to the story.

So yeah, Jon was "hardly an easy child" for his grandmother to digress, which I'm pretty sure is like...90's slang for "neurodivergent" or something, but I digress. But as prone as he was to getting himself into danger...there was one thing that kept him rooted to the spot. And as to be expected from the lame-ass nerdy protagonist of a horror anthology podcast mostly set in a place of academia built during the Victorian era, that thing was books. He was always deeply captivated by them until he finished them, but he also had...specific preferences when it came to his material. Not in terms of genre or author, quite the opposite in fact, he was more concerned with...whether the book felt new or not. If he felt like he had read it before, he wasn't interested. First of all, [INSERT MENTION OF MY AUTISTIC HEADCANONS HERE], and second of all...holy shit, if he maintains any sembelance of this trait in modern day...working at the institute must be hell. ...I would add "for him" at the end of the sentence, but let's be real, working at the institute is actually just...indisputably hell. But in this scenario, what I mean is, like...his job is literally to read a bunch of stories, all of which involve tons of reccuring characters, themes and concepts every single time. ...That...like...no wonder he's such a Negative Nancy most of the time. Also, this is completely irrelevant, but he mentions having read Diana Wynne Jones at one point, so like...if that means he's canonically read Howl's Moving Castle...I don't know, that just makes me happy :). Anyways, his admittedly picky nature led to his grandmother being forced to develop a...unique strategy to keep him entertained. And...this is where my problems with her parenting style start to show themselves. You know, Jon says that while he used to find this strategy strange and bothersome, he now thinks it's a stroke of genius. ...Yeah to be honest I'd have to agree with his kid self, not only because of...what this strategy ended up leading to, but also because...oh what the hell, let's just get into it. So...Jon's grandmother would do this thing, where she would visit all of the local charities and second-hand bookstores, buy every book that was 50 pence or less, and would leave Jon with the pile until he found a book he was ok with. That...doesn't sound inherently terrible, and truth be told it...really isn't all that egregious. But...it is very telling of her parenting style.

Jon notes that the thing that bothered him most about this approach was that...his grandmother never exercised much thought into the books she was buying. She would glance at the price tag, and then just throw them in the pile. This didn't bother him whenever he incidentally gained access to a book somewhat beyond his years, but it did bother him whenever he was left with a cardboard picture book made for pre-schoolers. He was frustrated, as he felt like it was an insult towards his intelligence. Nowadays he realizes that was silly of him, I mean, she wasn't even looking at the books she bought him...but that's the problem. Even if the reasoning is different...I sympathize with Jon's frustration here. Because...this method...it just shows a lack of care all too familiar to me. Thankfully, I've had plenty of positive adult figures in my life growing up, my parents certainly among them, but...sometimes I wasn't so lucky. Sometimes, I'd be left with an adult who was more concerned with me being easily pacified and quiet than being genuinely engaged and happy, even when I was certainly past that point in terms of intelligence and behaviour. It's just...look, I don't want to get too deep into it, it would be weird if I started trauma-dumping in front of internet strangers who want to see me rant about ✨the horrors✨, and...also my grandma. (hi again grandma :D) My point is, given how I relate to Jon quite a bit, both as a child and an adult, and how such relation had led to me reading his character as an autistic one...I can't help but hold a little bit more skepticism and resentment towards his grandmother than I was likely intended to. I understand that she is a complicated person deeply hurt by grief (and also...somehow a minor side character, my capacity to ramble knows no bounds), and I do truly sympathize with that, but...yeah, I don't approve of how she neglected Jon, even if the mental image of Jonathan Sims, aged 8, holding a copy of "Everyone Poops" with a disgruntled expression on his face is comedy gold. But unfortunately...that disapproval of mine does not get much better. Because, you know, I was going to say that..."she couldn't have possibly known what her strategy would lead to." But the more I think about it...no, she absolutely could have. Because if she had just bothered to check the cover of a book...well, ok, she might not have actually survived as long as she did, but...either way, she would've saved Jon from one of, if not the most traumatizing thing he's ever witnessed with his mystical eyes.

...Oh boy, here we go. So, one day, when Jon was digging through his most recent pile of books, his hand fell upon yet another thin, square cardboard book. He was prepared to toss it aside without a second thought...but unfortunately, he made the mistake of glancing at it. And when he did...he was oddly captivated. Instead of the bright flashing colors those kinds of books usually possessed, this one was monochrome, white with black webs drawn in the corners. On the front, partially drawn and partially carved in a crude manner, was the title. "A Guest for Mr. Spider." On the back of the book was an illustration of the titular Mr. Spider. He is large with a swollen abdomen, his eight legs are splayed at odd angles, his head is covered in eight eyes, all of different shapes and sizes, and he wears a bowler hat colored in red ink that contrasts the rest of the cover's monochrome nature. Needless to say...Jon was taken aback. He says it himself, that...while he was no stranger to children's books that attempted to make a scare or were unintentionally off-putting...something was different here, and he did not like it. ...But that didn't stop him from opening it. There is...quite a bit to unpack with this book. Firstly, I have to say that I just...absolutely adore the concept behind it. I've said it before, but I really like it whenever Leitners take an approach outside of dark tomes or rewritten versions of real world books. "A Disappearance", while not being a super major one, is still one of my favorites due to the concept of a cursed pamphlet...just being kind of cool to me. So combine that principle with my love for creepy children's books like The Babadook, or just...things that are kiddy in nature being made slightly unnerving, and you have a recipe for success in my eyes. What also helps is that...this is the most detail a Leitner has ever been given. Usually, we only get small excerpts from the books themselves, and that's totally fine, since it's more important that the statements explain what the Leitners even do, rather than what the text inside details. The only exception to this rule is The Tale of a Field Hospital, but that's only because Joseph Russo was weird. Here though...no. We get the entire thing, and I mean...yeah, it's significantly shorter than most, if not all other Leitners we've come across, but...it's still so viscerally described in a way that no other book before it has, which allows for some Jon's trauma to be shown excellently through how his lines are delivered when reading the book. It also has a surprising amount of potential implications within its pages, and then when we DO get to what it actually does to those who come across it...well, I'll save that for when it's appropriate. So yeah...I have...some things to say about this book.

...It opens up as you'd expect it to. On the front page, there is someone's mark. A mark that Jon shouldn't have to explain to anyone who's qualified to be listening to his statement. ...Man, him saying that really got me thinking about...who the listener is in the grand scheme of all of this. Like...I really have no idea. Maybe some rando who discovers the tapes years down the line, maybe Jon's successor...it's certainly perplexing, and I don't know if I'll ever get an answer. Anyways, the story in the book begins with a picture. We see a room that is almost entirely empty, save for two doors and a table with potted flowers on it, the flowers looking sickly due to the monochrome color pallette. I'm...almost certainly reading too much into this, but...given tma's history with tables and doors, their presence in the book is at least a little unnerving to me. I mean, I doubt the doors mean too much, since they're associated with The Spiral and not The Spider...at least I think...hm. There...there is actually quite a bit of overlap between ✨the horrors✨ in some places, and I do feel like that's somewhat relevant, but...I'll save it for now. But uh...yeah, the table's a bit more suspicious to me, since...you know. Regardless, in the center of the room is Mr. Spider, staring at the door on the left, away from the reader. This continues for four pages, the only difference between them being the position of Mr. Spider's arms. Then, on the fifth page, the words "KNOCK KNOCK" show up next to the door, followed by a "WHO IS IT, MR. SPIDER?" This causes Mr. Spider to stop flailing his limbs around, and he opens the door. Stood there is...a fly, dressed in a suit. The fly is clutching a box, and seems to have a worried expression on his face. The text then reads "IT'S MR. BLUEBOTTLE, AND HE'S BROUGHT YOU A CAKE." ...I have a few things to say about this line...and that kind of makes me question my life choices. First of all, it took me an embarrassingly long time to realize that all of the flies in the book are named after actual species of flies. I just...considering the insane shit I brainstorm when writing these, the fact that something so obvious evaded me is just...wow. Secondly, it was at this point where Jonny's vocal performance in this episode REALLY shined for me, and also when I realized why it's ultimately best that Jon got to read his own statement himself. Because you see...at least at this point, the book isn't especially morbid. Somewhat unnerving, but...really not that bad, and I initially thought that the extremely dramatic way in which Jon read that line was kind of humorous. But then I realized...it makes so much sense for him. He is reliving his childhood trauma as we speak, so things that might initially come off as mundane or light-hearted are much more terrifying in his memory, and that's conveyed perfectly through the way he vocalizes his story. Just...that attention to detail goes a super long way in terms of characterization. And...there's one last thing that interests me about this part, although it's a bit more lore-centric. The cake that Mr. Bluebottle gives to Mr. Spider is...off. Jon comments that the color of the cake reminds him of disease...and that got me thinking. Insects and disease are like...the two primary themes of The Flesh Hive, right? Flies especially in the case of Amherst, and we also know that The Spider and The Flesh Hive are seemingly opposed to each other...even if the lady from Children of the Night who was basically a spider version of Jane makes me think otherwise because WHAT THE HELL WAS UP WITH THAT?! ...Regardless, we see their rivalry a good couple of times, as the spiders in the tunnels are noted to have started eating the worms down there, and it seems like the spider that appeared in Jon's office...did so in an attempt to make Jane attack earlier than she should have...I think, I don't know. Look, there's enough evidence to make me think of them as opposing forces, Jane basically says it herself in Hive, even if it's wrapped behind some slam poetry allegory stuff.

So...I'm kind of wondering if maybe A Guest for Mr. Spider is like...a real story wrapped behind the facade of a fictional one, or at the very least, is meant to allude to the rivalry between The Spider and The Flesh Hive. And also...I'll go into more depth later, but I've been thinking about...how being touched by The Spider has affected Jon's life in a more...paranormal way than just giving him terrible childhood trauma. It'll make more sense later, but...let's just say it makes The Flesh Hive being the first of ✨the horrors✨ to play a major role in the story...a bit more suspicious to me. But I've rambled enough, back to the book. So, after Mr. Bluebottle unveils his cake, the book focuses on his face, the worry etched upon it even starker than before. It then says..."MR. SPIDER DOESN'T LIKE IT." ...And the book returns to the room. The book basically starts going in a cycle, with another few pages of Mr. Spider staring at the door on the left while flailing his arms around, until another "KNOCK KNOCK" and "WHO IS IT, MR. SPIDER?" comes around. The only difference is that this time...there are ink stains on the right-hand door. ...Oh no. After the second knock, Mr. Spider opens the door to find another fly, slightly larger, in a pale yellow dress, and with an even more disconcerting expression. The text then reads "IT'S MRS. FRUIT, AND SHE'S BROUGHT YOU SOME FLOWERS." Those flowers...look even more ill than those on Mr. Spider's table, once again making me think of The Flesh Hive. The text moves on to say "MR. SPIDER DOESN'T EAT FLOWERS." The cycle repeats a third time. Now, the right hands door is even more noticeably stained with a crusty brown, the flowers brought by Mrs. Fruit are on the table, now colored a deep, bloody red, and Mr. Spider's abdomen is now noticeably larger and straining. ...Yeah, that fucker ate his guests. It's also noticeable now that Mr. Spider's hands are not empty, but are instead...pulling on threads that weave through the cracks in the doors. A third knock comes, and Mr. Spider is met with a large fly dressed in overalls, who is accompanied by a smaller fly dressed the same. Both of them are in tears. ...This was the part that really freaked me out, and I get the feeling that's a common sentiment. The text reads "IT'S MR. HORSE. AND HE'S BROUGHT YOU HIS SON." ...Oh dear lord. You know, another very common theme of The Flesh Hive happens to be...love, even if the concept is often twisted beyond repair. So...since we have the flies trying to appeal to Mr. Spider through whatever means necessary, I...kind of wonder, if my hypothesis is correct, if this is meant to signify that The Flesh Hive made an attempt to befriend The Spider, but failed miserably. Which if so...man, this eldritch control freak sucks serious ass! And that becomes clear when the text reads..."MR. SPIDER WANTS MORE." The book returns to the house, which is now entirely covered with red and brown stains, the same going for Mr. Spider's stomach, which now eclipses the rest of him. The threads in his hands are more visible than ever...and he has turned to face the reader. On the second-to-last page, there is a close-up of the bloodstained right-hand door. It seems to function as a panel that opens to the last page of the book. The text then reads...oh boy. "MR. SPIDER WANTS ANOTHER GUEST FOR DINNER. IT IS POLITE TO KNOCK." ...Once again, Rusty Quill... You people need serious help.

So...that's A Guest for Mr. Spider. Er, the in-universe book, not the episode of the same name. Honest to god...that's a big yikes. Like, even if it wasn't for what happened afterwards, I still get the sense that this would've traumatized Jon. Obviously not as severely as all of the other stuff in his childhood, such as the death of his parents, his grandmother's neglect, and...the two other things that are revealed to us after the description of the book...but I'd be freaked out by this if I were him. It's just...so unnerving, it starts out fine but just...gradually build and builds into something that ends up really freaky by the end. But I mean...it certainly paid off to describe the thing in full. Oh, also, I NEED a real life version of this. If it hasn't already been made...then fine, I'll make one myself. But...what about what happened after he read it Well...Jon was just about to open the cut out of the right-hand door...moments away from dying, which is just a...really upsetting fact, but was stopped when a hand much larger than his slapped the book out of his hand and shoved him to the floor. He then noticed that he had...oddly wandered into the park nearby his house, not remembering how he got there, and looked up to find himself face to face with...someone who's name he admittedly can't remember. But you know...Jon throws out the possibility of his name being Michael, although he quickly disregards that being the case. ...That won't stop me from calling him Michael though, because I mean...hey, if I didn't, we wouldn't have my mandatory Michael mention for the episode, would we? Although...I don't want to make things more confusing than they already are, so let's just call him Mikael. I know that's one letter off from Mikaele Salesa's name but...shut up. Noteworthy is the fact that Jon bemoans how he can't remember Mikael's name, despite him saving his life, and he then says..."some people deserve to be remembered." ...He was referring to Sasha there, wasn't he? Just...huh. Anyways, Mikael was much older than Jon, eighteen or nineteen, but...he had an unfortunate tendency to torment him in a classic late 20th-century meathead sort of fashion. Jon says that while he used to think Mikael tormented him out of jealousy for his intelligence, he now thinks he did it because he was "a deeply annoying child", and....comments like that are why I'm obligated to believe Jon gives some of these people too much credit. Like, no Jon, you weren't "a deeply annoying child", you were a neurodivergent minor. And Mikael wasn't just a bully, he was over twice your age and an adult, like...that's an abuser! It should go without saying that I'm not trying to judge Jon for this line of thinking, I mean, even he realizes that Mikael's actions aren't excusable, something he says himself. But like...man I don't know, I still feel like he's beating himself up here. I'm sure a lot of it stems from things like...survivor's guilt or internalized self-hatred, but like...that doesn't make it any less unfortunate. I...don't have much to say about my thoughts on Mikael that differs from my thoughts on Jon's grandmother, it's just that his grandmother is a lot more nuanced and neglectful towards Jon, while Mikael is a lot more blatantly terrible and actively abusive. And you know...look, he's not the worst person in all of tma, we have seen plenty of murderous psychopaths, and I get that he died tragically young...but like...I'm not exactly mourning his loss, ok? Oh yeah...I should probably get to his loss.

So, Mikael was well ready to go on with his classic bully shtick, teasing Jon for reading a book that was made for pre-schoolers, in the eyes of a common bystander at least, but little did he know that showing up at that precise moment...was his ultimate undoing. He started flicking through the book he had knocked out of Jon's hands, likely looking for anything he could use for an easy tease...but as he did so, his eyes wandered off, his hands began to shake...and his legs started walking him away, almost as if it were against his will, like...the strings of a puppet. ...Oh me oh my. Jon was understandably confused, but decided to give pursuit in an attempt to get the book back. Come to think of it, that's...a weird quirk of Leitners that I don't think I've ever really mentioned before. That ability to...draw people in, almost preying on their desires. It's definitely present in a lot of other instances of ✨the horrors✨, such as the coffin, or...really any instance of The Spider, but it's very prevalent among Leitners specifically. Like, you have Dominic Swain going down that insane cross-country rabbit hole for no discernable reason, Sebastian Adekoya being oddly desperate to retrieve The Boneturner's Tale, the same goes for Herbert Knox with Ex Altiora...and now you have Jon. I..I don't know, I feel like it's pretty interesting and...oddly kind of fitting given how prevalent academic pursuit is as a theme in tma, while also being an...unnerving motif of The Eye...huh. Well, I'll keep it in mind. Going back a few steps, Mikael continues to walk down the road with the book in hand as the sun sets, Jon struggling to get the book back from the much larger figure. He then walks up to one of the houses in a nearby residential area...and holds the book up in front of the door, the page displaying the cutout of Mr. Spider's bloody right door open. ..."KNOCK KNOCK." The door opened to reveal a pitch dark house. Jon was then forced to watch in horror as gray threads wrapped themselves around Mikael's limbs...and two massive limbs crawled out from the dark, covered in silky black hair. Mikael let out the start of a scream...but he never got to finish it. The door slammed behind him as he disappeared, the book going away forever alongside him...and Jon was left to stand there as he felt his life change forever....and from my point of view, he...he probably felt some thin strands wrap around him too. ...Personally, I have quite the fondness for spiders. I think they're pretty interesting little creatures, I like watching the ones outside my bedroom window make their webs, and despite all sorts of media trying to depict them negatively, I've always held a soft spot for them. Well, except for Daddy Long-Legs, they creep me out. ...Is that the plural for them? Just the exact same as the singular? Really? ...ok. But uh...my point is, if anything were to get me to hate spiders...it would be this. It would definitely be this.

So uh...wow. Just...just wow. That story...it's one of a kind really. I uh...no, I shouldn't gush about it just yet. I'll...I'll sum up my thoughts on the episode as a whole once I...REALLY finish analyzing everything. Just...just know that the main story, all of what I just described...is kind of perfect. It was an extremely surprising story to apply to Jon of all characters, but...it just works so well. It explains so much of why he is the way he is, adds clarity to a lot of his more questionable actions, and...I don't know, it really puts the full scope of his current character into perspective. Like...I feel like I understand him so much more now, more than I ever thought I could. And on top of that, the episode's just fantastic even when you remove Jon from the picture, dare I say it's one of the most unnerving and terrifying statements ever concieved. Despite the massive spider monster, it serves as such a visceral and real-feeling look into childhood trauma. A Guest for Mr. Spider itself is just...brilliantly described, hell, every line of dialogue feels perfectly crafted, and it resonated with me...maybe more than anything in tma so far. But...I'll go into more detail on all of that later. For now...I want to analyse what this episode will mean going forward. Now, as far as I can tell, this episode doesn't connect to any pre-established storyline before it, with the obvious exception of Leitner's library, but...the mysteries of that plot have basically been entirely resolved now, so I won't go over that. ...Oh my god...s-saying that a plot has been resolved in tma...that feels so weird. ...I'm deep into it now, aren't I? Wow. Uh...anyways, I think the main intrigue when it comes to this episode is...how it affects Jon. Both in terms of how it recontextualizes a ton of past actions and behavior, but also in terms of what it might mean for his future development. Part of this comes down to a general, non-paranormal analysis of his psyche, which I do still want to do, although...I think I'll keep it a little brief if possible, because there are others who are more qualified than me to do that, and also...I think that if I'm to do full scope, massive analyses of characters as prevalent as the goddamn protagonist, then...I should maybe save it for like...the end of the series or something, but that doesn't mean I don't have anything to say regarding the topic. Just...don't expect it to be fully comprehensive, since I find it takes a lot more time for me to understand the psychology of a character as opposed to like...lore or themes. But uh...mentioning lore, what I do have more to say about is...what this episode means for Jon through that lense. How being touched by The Spider has affected him beyond his psychological state and trauma, and how it will likely continue to affect him going forward. There's...a decent amount of stuff to go over, but I don't think...too much. There's definitely enough for me to make something interesting, but...most of my love for this episode comes from what is plainly there, rather than what I believe is implied, so...I think I'm nearing the end now. (Er...don't quote me on that, I do not plan these out very well, like...I just sit here and write whatever comes to mind. For all I know, I'll stumble down a massive rabbit hole out of absolutely nowhere, so...keep your guard up just in case.) But before I get into all of this Jon analysis, I do have...one small little theory that I felt was worth mentioning so...how about I just warm up the gears in my brain with that?

Ok, so...this theory is...probably wrong. I don't think the evidence for it is that compelling. However, I'm throwing it in here because it did make me come to an important realization in terms of further understanding how ✨the horrors✨ might work. So...you see, the name "Mr. Spider" kind of reminded me of "Mr. Pitch", the being mentioned by Natalie Ennis which I...assume is a term used to refer to whatever The Divine Host worships, although given the naming conventions of ✨the horrors✨ at large, I...doubt that's its main title. It's probably akin to The Eye sometimes being called "Beholding", or The Spiral being called "Esmentiaras". That led me to realize that the house Mikael entered was...dark, dark enough to the point where Mr. Spider was hardly visible beyond a couple of legs. And then I realized that so far...The Spider and Mr. Pitch are the only members of ✨the horrors✨ that seem to have a specific tendency to target children, at least...more than most others. The Spider in the case of the Hill Top Road children and now Jon, and Mr. Pitch in the cases of Julia Montauk and Callum Brodie. ...Like I said, it's not the most compelling evidence of all time, but it was enough to get me thinking, damnnit! But...even though I don't think this actually means much, like....I don't know, something stupid like The Divine Host secretly worshiping The Spider...it did get me thinking about how ✨the horrors✨ work. On one hand, you could view it as a classic example of the rivalries and alliances that these eldritch forces seem to make with each other, something which I already believe was shown through the story of A Guest for Mr. Spider. But on the other hand...what if this is meant to show how you...can't really figure out how ✨the horrors✨ seperate? It got me thinking back to some of the stuff Leitner said at the end of Season 2, and how it kind of felt like he was suggesting...I don't know, that this idea of a pantheon of eldritch beings might actually just be bullshit. Like, it's not how they actually function, it's just how humanity attempts to understand them, like scholars proclaiming a completely wrong hypothesis to be fact in a prime example of hubris and folly. I think this can be seen even clearer through something like...the doors. This episode has an odd focus on doors, something that is very clearly associated with The Spiral and The Distortion, but...it doesn't have any of those themes of lying or insanity that we use to define manifestations of Esmentiaras. But really, who knows? Maybe the pantheon does work out fine. Maybe everything here really was at the behest of The Spider, or maybe it gained some assistance from The Spiral and Mr. Pitch. I just think that for future reference, it's worth noting that...✨the horrors✨ might not always be black and white. They might mesh together in weird ways that make it hard to determine which one(s) are really responsible for a paranormal incident. Hell, there are still some statements that I can't really find a clear culprit for. Like...what the hell is going on with the vampires? My best guess is that they're tied to The Spiral given how they affect the mind, but...that still feels wrong for some reason. I'll still try my best to classify statements under members of ✨the horrors✨ whenever possible, because it makes things much less complicated, and...also I like categorizing things, but I won't neglect to keep in mind that maybe...these things really are beyond all comprehension. Which honestly, I might even prefer in the long run, since the less I understand these things...the more terrifying they are. I don't know, it's a battle between my desire to be scared and my desire to have a cool eldritch god pantheon I can ramble about non-stop, but honestly...I'll be fine either way. Well, that's enough of those minor realizations...let's talk about Jon. (I say as if I haven't already been doing that for the majority of this post so far.)

Oh my god...I've already written 12,000 words for this. Well...there go all of my hopes of this one being shorter than the last one. Just...god, please tell me things are going to get at least a little more chill for a bit...please. So...Jon. I want to start off by briefly going over some of the more...real ways this incident, and honestly his past, has affected him, and also how it explains some of his actions. Let's start off with the insight it gives into his...general personality. So, I...think it's pretty obvious to see why Jon starts out as kind of a jaded asshole in the beginning. Like, it's not even tied to the specifics of his trauma, just..him having trauma in general. Someone with as...not great of a past as him, someone who's been dealt this shitty of a hand at life, someone who doesn't seem to have received proper affection from many people, at least during his youth...yeah, they'd probably end up quite like Season 1 Jonathan Sims. Granted, I do think some of Jon's poor social skills come down to him likely being autistic, but...even then, it's easy to see how the poor circumstances of his youth would cause him to act irrationally or distance himself from others. Like...there's no way you can convince me that he doesn't have trust issues at this point. It also adds a lot of explanation as to why he was so prone to denial and paranoia. The denial, on top of stemming from his feeling of being watched by what I presume is The Eye, likely also comes from his refusal to confront his past. Deep down I'm sure he's always known what he saw was real, I mean, if he was in complete denial, then he wouldn't have gotten a job at the institute or believed all of the other Leitner statements, but...I doubt he was trying to actively think about his past all that much either. In fact, you know how he denied the statement of Carlos Vittery, despite the fact that it quite literally ended with his body being found in spiderwebs? Yeah, I used to give him a lot of shit for that...but now it makes so much more sense. And...I kind of hate that. How dare they rob me of an opportunity to make fun of Jon, just so that they can do brilliant foreshadowing and make him a more complicated character?! That's downright vile, I'm never listening to this podcast again. ...Anyways, as for his paranoia...well, I don't need to explain that one all too much. The Prentiss Attack was already a pretty notable cause of his paranoia and increase in fear...this just kind of adds fuel to the fire. Oh, and mentioning The Prentiss Attack...I do have to wonder, if my hypothesis surrounding The Flesh Hive's involvement in the story of A Guest for Mr. Spider ends up being proven true...could that explain why Jon was so shaken up by Jane? Like, I can totally believe that he was shaken up...simply because she's just inherently terrifying, but...I do wonder if this episode adds even more cause to it. And...that kind of acts as a nice segue into my last comments on how this has generally affected Jon. So...this episode provides a pretty clear explanation for why Jon doesn't like spiders, I think that's obvious. But in turn, it also likely explains why he smashed the spider that led to The Prentiss Attack in Season 1...and at least part of why he destroyed the table. I...don't think this episode makes that latter one any less of a stupid decision, but I can definitely understand and sympathize with the decision regardless, so...that's good.

Uh...yeah, that's about it honestly. Pretty...pretty surface level. Look, I'm sure there's a ton of deep elements of Jon's psyche that I'm not even seeing here, but...I'm keeping this brief for a few reasons. Firstly, even though I definitely have a much better understanding of Jon's character now...I still need to see it progress, and like I said, I'm not a master of psychological analysis. Secondly...trying to go through the entirety of Season 1 and Season 2 combined in search of everything that may or may not be better explained by this episode takes time that I simply do not have at the moment, but...hopefully anything that happens in the future with Jon will be better contextualized by this episode, and...I think if so, I'll have an easier time unpacking that. And thirdly...this has already gotten really long, and I'm not even a tenth of the way done with this post, so...I'm trying to keep things brief, and also not to exhaust myself any further. Look...the point is, even though I most certainly won't understand Jon's entire character until all is said and done...this episode has absolutely given me some major progress. I appreciate him more than ever now, and I'm more than happy with all of the extra perspective it's given on him...and extremely excited to see how it affects him going forward. And...also terrified, yeah that too. But...mentioning how this'll affect him going forward...there is one other major thing I have to discuss here. Not how this episode affects Jon on a character level...but on a lore level. The more...cosmic implications of this episode. What being touched by The Spider at such a young age means for him. ...So let's get into that.

Ok...I'm going to start by mentioning something that...I feel like is important, but...doesn't really connect to the main point of discussion here. ...Martin. What. The hell. Is up with this man's thing for spiders. Like...I just...huh? Like, it LOOKS like a cute little quirk on the surface, but...as time goes on, it just becomes more and more concerning. I don't think it's meant to tell us that Martin is secretly some evil servant of The Spider or something, after the whole thing with his CV I'm pretty sure he's pure for the moment, but like...it still concerns me! Is it meant to foreshadow that The Spider will eventually claim him? Or that it's out for him? I just...I REALLY do not like that, especially since I'm holding out hope that Jon and Martin end up together in a...somewhat healthy way, even though that kind of feels like more and more of a pipe dream as the situation gets more and more dire. So uh...yeah, I'm more concerned by that than ever. But that's not the main point of interest to me. That title...belongs to Jon's connection to The Spider. I'd like to go back to that whole...distinction between being touched and being claimed I brought up earlier. For a brief refresher, I think that if ✨the horrors✨ touch you, you can be...affected by them, certainly, but not entirely consumed by them. An example of someone who's been "touched" would be Tim. It seems like he's been touched by The Eye, and while he isn't directly serving it like Elias or the majority of The Keay Family seem to, he's definiely being...affected by it, as it's wise to assume that it's the being which prevents him from quitting his job. In order to get "touched" you seemingly just have to...come across ✨the horrors✨ in the wild. In the case of Tim, I don't think The Eye necessarily...asked for him, if that makes sense, but...since he took up a job at The Magnus Institute, he's been touched by pure circumstance, which means that everything which applies to him...probably applies to Martin too, and whoever else might work at the institute, although...the archives seem to be a bit more special than every other division, so it might just affect them. To be "claimed" on the other hand...is a bit different. Let's take Jane as an example. Rather than just coming across a manifestation of The Flesh Hive by pure happenstance, it was almost as if it sought her out directly. Given its themes of toxic codependency and the way it operates like a hivemind, it likely saw how lonely and desperate for affection she was, and intentionally made that "wasp nest" appear in her attic in its attempts to claim her. On top of that, the effects of being "claimed" seem to run...much deeper. Those who are claimed are less like victims at the behest of ✨the horrors✨, but more like...servants, or people who have become one with them. Everyone I believe to have been "claimed", so like...Jane, Mike, Agnes, Raymond, Rayner, Jared, Simon...so on and so forth, all have weird...powers and such, they're able to use ✨the horrors✨ to their advantage, often being the source of paranormal activity rather than a victim. ...So how can we apply this to Jon?

Well, he says himself that he's been claimed by The Eye, so...there's that mystery solved. We haven't really seen him act as a source of the paranormal, or develop any supernatural abilities, but...Jane and Jared kind of prove that those abilities develop over time, as both of them seemingly mutated more and more throughout their lives, so...I fear that things might get worse for Jon in that regard. That...ugh, it's such a nasty thought. Just...just having this feeling that this guy who's been trying to understand and stay safe from all of these monsters could become a monster himself, it's just...no. No no no no no no no. I...I don't like that. Uh...but as scary as that is, I think it's worth mentioning that I don't think you can be "claimed" by more than one of ✨the horrors✨. Given how they all seem to have their respective alliances and rivalries with each other...like, you know, it would be weird if someone was chosen to serve both The Eye and The Stranger, or The Spider and The Lightless Flame. Oh, and as for how exactly Jon was claimed by The Eye...well, I don't have a clue as to the details, but I'm pretty certain it has to do with him being The Archivist. Which like I said, also means that Gertrude was likely claimed by The Eye as well. But...I do think that you can be "touched" by multiple members of ✨the horrors✨, if only for the fact that Jon outright calls The Spider "the first of the dark powers" to touch him, before immediately saying that it did not claim him. In fact, it's also worth noting that at this point, Jon has most likely been touched by three others. The Flesh Hive, due to Jane. The Spiral, due to Michael. And finally The Stranger, due to The NotThem. And honestly...the more I think about it, I think we've already seen how this has affected him. The Flesh Hive has this whole...unhealthy obsession thing going on, while The Spiral and The Stranger both deal in fooling the senses and making you question your sanity, which...I mean, Jon certainly dealt with all of that back in Season 2! Granted, I feel like it would be wrong to say that...all of that paranoia was due to spooky eldritch beings, as that would take away from some of the very real mental trauma that Jon has went through, while also excusing some of his questionable behavior at a point where...I don't think it should be, but...I don't think it's that crazy to say that being touched by them worsened his mental state at least a bit, even if there are other causes. Oh yeah, and Martin and Tim have probably been touched by those three as well, or...at least The Spiral for both of them and The Flesh Hive for Tim, but...I haven't quite unpacked what that might mean for them just yet. But with all of that said...what does being touched by The Spider mean for Jon? Well...one of the common trends that I noticed between those who are claimed and those who are touched is that there's always this kind of...abuser and victim dynamic. So like, those claimed by The Eye watch while those touched by The Eye get watched. Those claimed by The Stranger deceive while those touched by The Stranger get deceived...you get the idea. Now, so far, we have four examples of people who The Spider has seemingly claimed. Raymond Fielding, Annabelle Cane, Adelard Dekker, and the unnamed homeless woman from Children of the Night. The one thing that all of these people share in common, with the exception of spider and web motifs...is an ability to control. Much like what Mikael went through. So by my hypothesis...that should mean that if Jon's marked by The Spider...he's being controlled. ...Uh oh.

Ok, look, I need to make a couple of things clear. First of all, I'm not saying that hypothesis is all the evidence I need to prove Jon is being controlled, guided, and/or manipulated by The Spider. Obviously, I need to show examples of this actually happening, and I do have them. But second of all...I don't think Jon is being fully mind controlled or anything like that. A big part of his character is that...he is deeply flawed, and he has done some pretty questionable things. Saying that he's being mind controlled by an evil spider god thing would remove all responsibility, and therefore dumb down his character to an uncomfortable degree. I think it's more accurate to say that...while Jon definitely holds some degree of responsibility for what he's done, and while a lot of decisions he's made line up with what he'd actually do...The Spider probably isn't helping things. I think a good analogy would be to think that...rather than Jon being puppeted around like a marionette, he's...being lured by bait on a string. The Spider isn't a full blown mind-controller, but...more of a quiet manipulator. Hell, all examples of The Spider using...actual full-blown mind control so far have had a servant or artifact or...general manifestation attached to it, so I don't even know if it can use those abilities on its own without an external catalyst of sorts. So with all of that in mind...what do I think are some examples of The Spider manipulating Jon? Well...I think a clear start to this would be him joining The Magnus Institute. Now yes, Jon does have his own motive for wanting to join the place, that obviously being his fascination with the paranormal, but...I still think The Spider likely pulled him there. This is because...well, look, the main point of this theory is that I'm trying to suggest that...all of tma is being laid out by this thing, or at the very least Jon's journey specifically. Like...The Spider is basically tma's version of the Greek fates, except instead of thread it uses silk and webs. And well...we wouldn't exactly have the story if Jon wasn't working at the institute, would we? But even then, The Spider does kind of seem like it has...some sort of alliance with The Eye. Like, spiders seem to be pretty commonplace in the institute, there are spiders eating the worms that attacked the place, that one spider in Lost and Found seemingly showed up in an attempt to force Jane to attack earlier than expected, they have a common enemy in The Stranger, and the way that The Eye is keeping Tim trapped in the institute...yeah, that feels pretty similar to stuff that The Spider does. Jon, as The Archivist, is...clearly instrumental to the plans of both Elias and The Eye, (GRRRR I JUST STARTED THINKING ABOUT HOW LITTLE WE KNOW ABOUT THAT BASTARD) even if we don't know how at the moment, so...if The Eye and The Spider are allies like I believe, then...it would make sense for it to draw Jon to the institute for...whatever reason. Oh, also...since I'm trying to go in chronological order...here's something that I just find a little interesting. ...Is it not a little bit strange that Martin's encounter with Jane, you know, that thing which basically set the overarching plot into full gear...happened because he was investigating a statement about a spider? ...I don't know, it doesn't really pertain to Jon specifically, but it does add to the idea that The Spider is...REALLY manipulating fate here. Anyways, another example would be how Jon smashed that one spider, and that led to The Prentiss Attack. I...already said I thought he was being controlled when I first reviewed that scene, because it reminded me a lot of what happened with Carlos Vittery, but now...I'm more sure of it than ever.

Then we have the smashing of the table, which...admittedly is probably the weakest example I have, if only for the fact that...it's a little strange that The Spider would want Jon to destroy an artifact of its own design. But even then...I mean, yes, I do very much appreciate that scene for how it displays Jon's breaking point at the end of Season 2, and it's honestly more in character for him than ever now that we know about his past...but in the words of tall blonde and handsome, "that was very stupid", even for Season 2 Jon. And besides, even if it did lead to the table being destroyed, my main point here is that The Spider is manipulating events to its liking, and I mean...if Jon didn't smash that table, then...pretty much all of the Season 2 finale would not have occurred, at least not in the manner that it did. And on that note...I think the final major example of all this manipulation can be seen in The Librarian, where Jon leaves the room for a smoke break, and comes back to find Leitner dead in his office. Look, I must reiterate...that was not entirely out of character for him, and I am not trying to strip Jon of all his agency just so I can make him look like a poor little meow meow who's never done anything wrong in his life. That would be an utter bastardization of his character so far, especially when it comes to his arc in Season 2. Him doing that...was decently in character. He was obviously very stressed in the moment, and his preconceived distaste for Leitner would probably make him inclined to...not listen to him a ton. ...Ok seriously, why the hell did Jonny cast his dad to play Leitner? Like...I doubt that's meant to imply anything but I'll be damned if it doesn't feel like it is. ...Uh, but anyways, yeah, that all makes sense...but things were just off enough back there for me to suspect some cosmic manipulation was going on. Because, like...Jon's not that dumb! If he was able to listen to and believe everything Leitner told him, then I'm pretty sure he'd be smart enough to realize that he should put aside his stress, and focus on dealing with everything important before Elias caught on to things. But...he didn't. And like...why a smoke break specifically? Why do that after being quit for five years? Why does he come back into the room ready to jokingly talk about being quit, as if he just came out of a completely different place and time? Well uh...I might actually have a reason for that. It's...almost definitely a very tinfoil hat thing for me to say, but...stay with me. So...I actually looked back at the first time I proclaimed The Spider manipulated him to smash that spider on the wall, all the way back in Season 1, and...I realized that I attributed that spider's appearance to something rather interesting. So...you know how Breekon and Hope brought the table to the institute? Well...I just remembered that they brought something else, something that's seemingly been innocuous ever since it first appeared. A...lighter with a spiderweb design on it, not too dissimilar to Gerard's eye lighter. ...Huh.

Ok, first of all, I...don't know if I've said this before, but it really bugs me how despite seemingly having The Lightless Flame as its number one enemy, The Spider has...a goddamn fire source as one of its artifacts. Like...what? But uh...that aside, I initially attributed the lighter as the cause of that spider's presence in the archives, and therefore it had...some connection to controlling Jon, even if in a roundabout way. But...the thing is, we never actually learn what he did with the thing, and as far as I'm concerned...it wasn't sent to artifact storage like the table, and he kept it with him. So...one must question. ...Did he use it to light his cigarette? And if so...did its presence allow The Spider to, at least to an extent, pull Jon out of the room for a few minutes, so...that way Elias could do his whole song and dance, therefore forcing Jon to flee the institute...and bringing us to where we are now? ...Ok, yes, I know this is probably very stupid, I know that this is the first time I've mentioned the lighter in like...twenty episodes, but...in all fairness, I have come up with worse before. Like, this is still a far cry from my Michael fusion theory. And like...hey, I was already suspicious of the whole smoke break thing, because it reminded me of Anglerfish. And like...yeah, The Anglerfish seems to be connected to The Stranger and not The Spider...but it also has a tendency to lure people away, it's somehow contributing to what seems to be the next big event in the story...and it was also in the first episode. So like...the start of Jon's story. There's something going on here, I'm sure of it. Oh, and mentioning The Stranger...I have to ask, what the hell is going on with Breekon and Hope? Because like...yeah, they're connected to The Stranger, I get that, they work with The Other Circus and The Trophy Room, they were friends with The NotThem, they're pretty uncanny, they're somehow involved with The Unknowing. But at the same time...they delivered two artifacts of The Spider to the institute, are in possession of a coffin that also has some weird mind-controlling properties, are generally just kind of all over the damn place, and...somehow orchestated one of tma's most insane and mind-bending stories with a creepy yellow stole and nothing more? And that story also featured Hill Top Road? You know, that place which was owned by a servant of The Spider? ...Yeah, despite all of those connections to The Stranger, they have some weird stuff going on with The Spider as well...and I don't know how to feel about it. Look...my point is basically this: Even if I don't have the widest repetoirre of evidence...I just have this feeling, this gut instinct that tells me....that The Spider is controlling much more than I thought. It...feels like it's in charge of everything, like it's manipulating Jon in ways that I can't properly understand, maybe even manipulating all of tma as we know it. It's just...wow. I'm...pretty scared by what this might imply for the future. If Jon's life is on railroad tracks, if that persists...oh god, it's just...it's so yikes. As far as I know, the only thing that might have a shot at dealing with The Spider is The Lightless Flame, but...to what extent is unclear. Overall...I've come out of this episode...really rethinking how I view the story of tma. Like...it is getting noticeably more crazy by the day, and uh...yeah, there's not much more to say on it. The Spider is a scary, scary presence. Uh...yeah. Oh, also, like...I am even more convinced of my simulation theory than ever before. Like...if my hypothesis is correct, then The Spider is basically like a programmer writing code. Do...do you get it? DO YOU GET IT?! PLEASE TELL ME YOU UNDERSTAND!!!!

Ok...I'm almost done. Breathe. So...that's about it for all my analysis of A Guest for Mr. Spider's main story. I'll...give my final thoughts on it at the end, but before that..I'd like to quickly go over the last little bits of the episode, because...there sure is some interesting stuff here. So, with all said and done, with his story finally put into words for the very first time...Jon has started to reflect. He thinks back to his early days of dimissing nearly every single statement of another as insane rambling, and realizes that...if not for how clear and vivid those memories are in his mind, he would have denied this story as well. His grandmother passed away five years ago, and Leitner...well, I don't have to explain him again, so he has no one who could possibly corroborate his tale. But...he knows. He will always remember what happened to him. But aside from that...it's made him realize something else. He thinks back to Mikael, and while he realizes that he was doomed as soon as he smacked the book out of his hands...he still can't get rid of this gnawing feeling that he could've saved him from his fate, despite his young and fragile disposition at the time. But while the thought may seem ridiculous...it's made him come to a grander realization. ...He needs help. Up until now, he has consistently pushed others away, and it's never helped him as much as he'd like to believe. But now that he realizes what he's up against, how Elias has murdered Gertrude and Leitner, Jon being framed for the latter, the looming threat of the mysterious Unknowing, which...ok, quick side tangent. That is...almost certainly going to be the main threat of the season, right? We still don't know what it is, my best bet is still that it's an attack on the institute that's...led by The Stranger but includes others, but uh...whatever it is, it definitely feels like it's going to be the next big thing that's being built up to. The Season 3 trailer also adds to this idea, but...like I said, I kind of want to know what's going on back at the institute before I cover that. Anyways, back to Jon....uh, yeah, that has all made him realize how much danger he's in, and that he's going to need help, even if most of his former allies are now convinced he's an insane murderer. Which honestly...is SO cathartic to hear come out of his mouth. Obviously, I'll need to wait and see what Jon's arc this season will be, but...this feels like a good start. When you ignore all of the relived childhood trauma...he's more chill in this episode than he was in the entirety of Season 2. I'm not saying that I don't like the absolute insanity of Season 2 Jon, but...it's nice to see him thinking straight for once is all. But with all of that said and done...one question remains. ...Where the fuck is he? Like, not mentally, I think that's decently well established, but like...in terms of location. Well...the answer certainly gave me a surprise. Because as it turns out, he's not in the sewers, or the forest, or prison, but instead...he is squatting in the house of the lady who does her own in-universe spooky podcast, has a cat named The Admiral, and is decently likely to be his ex-girlfriend. Firstly, it's lovely to finally meet Georgie. Secondly...WHAT THE FUCK JON?!

So...Georgie Barker. Her name has been...quite the enigmatic one up until now. Basically, all we knew about her was that she's this lady who runs her own in-universe spooky podcast called "What the Ghost", is well acquainted with Melanie, (which by the way...is SHE ok? Did she die in Amritsar? I'm getting kind of worried about her to be honest.) somewhat familiar with Sarah Baldwin, and...knew Jon at a time, with it being pretty strongly implied that she might be his ex. Which like, if so...I shudder to know what Jon was like to date. I don't think he'd be toxic or abusive or anything, just like...really goddamn weird. Probably pretty endearing, but...REALLY weird, and I say that lovingly. But uh...yeah, I was already very endeared to her as a concept, but...it admittedly weirded me out how, despite knowing of her since Skintight, we...never really saw her, not even in a statement beyond Melanie's first one. But...hey, she's finally here! And...yeah, I already love her. Ok, she did give me a brief jumpscare, since she kind of sounded like the original Sasha at first (which is funny since that's the name of her VA), but I forgive her. But uh...yeah, I quite like her! There's...not really all that much to say about her so far, but she seems pretty nice, I like what we've seen of her dynamic with Jon, and...yeah, I just really like her vibe! Super happy to have her on board, and uh...yeah, not much more to say other than that I look forward to seeing what she'll do! But of course, I cannot neglect to mention...what I think is her cat (it would be weird if he wasn't)...The Admiral. I know nothing about him other than that he sleeps on the radiator and has the greatest name for a cat of all time, but you know what? That is more than enough to make him the best character in the entire story so far, and...probably forever. If ANY harm comes to this guy I will send the sun hurtling upon the earth. But uh...Jon, I have to ask. ...WHAT IN THE NINE CIRCLES OF HELL COMPELLED YOU TO HIDE AWAY HERE?!

Like...I'm guessing it's because it's the safest option available, but ...that raises its own questions! I personally get the sense that Jon and Georgie might be exes, something that's strengthened by their interactions here. Like...they're amicable and friendly, but...still a little bit awkward from the looks of things. But ...even if she isn't his ex, we know that she's at the very least someone who...has nice things to say about Jon to Melanie, but apparently didn't part with him on the best of terms, so...it's a bit concerning that she's his best available option for a hiding place. Like...this guy does not have very many friends, does he? And ...I honestly feel kind of bad for her. I don't want to call Jon a leech or anything, he's obviously in a lot of danger and needs what help he can get, but...this poor girl. She already feels so normal and down to earth when compared to every other bozo in this cursed as all hell story, so...the fact that she is not only harboring a wanted murder suspect who is seemingly being hunted down by a very scary police officer if the trailer is anything to go off of, but has also now gotten stuck with a guy who is trapped in the scenario of a lifetime, likely being a paranormal entity in progress himself...yeah, I feel really bad for her! Just...damn Georgie, you are in for a trip. Welcome to The Magnus Archives. What doesn't help is that despite Jon's new philosophy of getting help...he's still being closed off about what happens towards Georgie, making it seem as if he simply lost his job, which like...yeah, good luck getting that to happen buddy. And...I mean, to be fair, I get that it's only been two days, and...explaining the past, what, year and a quarter of bullshit to someone who's been almost entirely out of the loop would...most certainly be difficult, and hell, given how the episode ends with Jon sighing...I get the vibe that he feels pretty bad about it and recognizes the hypocrisy...it's still kind of a shame. Hopefully he can find a way to tell her everything without her getting too wrapped up in things, and hopefully she can help him without hurting herself too much...but knowing tma...I'm not so sure. Man...the only person he can get help from is also one of the people who'd likely suffer the most from doing so...that's just cruel. Well...that's about all I have to say on that, although I do want one of those "What the Ghost?" t-shirts that Georgie gave Jon.

Well...that's all I have to say on A Guest for Mr. Spider. You know...it's kind of funny. Going in, I knew that I loved this episode a ton, but I was really struggling to tell if it was my new favorite or not, and I honestly thought it would take me a good while to decide. But...now that I've actually had a good while to think about it (writing this took WAY too long for a single episode holy shit please calm down soon Jonny), I think...yeah. This...this really is my new favorite episode in all of tma. Truth be told...I think a lot of it comes down to Jon's involvement. The episode would still rank very high for me even if the statement was given by a complete rando, but...the way it sheds so much light on Jon's character, explains so much of what he's done over the past 80 episodes, the way it puts him into perspective, the way that it makes me truly realize...how much I really do adore this character...it's all so special. But even without Jon, it still remains incredible. The concept is absolutely terrifying, even moreso with the execution, every line of dialogue feels written to perfection, and it's just such a real and visceral look into childhood trauma. It's...also probably the most relatable episode of all of tma for me, and dare I say...one of the most relatable works of ficition I've ever bore witness to. Ok, that last part...might still need to be decided on, but...this evoked a feeling in me that I don't get very often. It's like...a sort of twisted nostalgia, it makes me feel so warm and so understood, but...there's this underlying dread, this...light that shines so bright on me that it also shows elements of myself that I don't like on full display. But...that's not something that comes by easily. And because of that...I think this episode is something really special, despite Jonny saying otherwise. Like, I'm sorry, I really respect and admire the guy...but I CANNOT fathom how he thinks this is one of his weakest episodes, like...I'm stunned. And you know what the craziest part of all this is? ...This was the first episode of the season. Look...I don't expect anything else in Season 3 to beat this episode for me, hell, maybe anything in all of tma and tmagp. If so, I will be more than pleasantly surprised, but...I'm going to temper my expectations either way. But...if any episode can mimic even a fraction of this episode's greatness...you'd best believe that episode is going to rock some serious balls in my eyes. Just...yeah. Ladies, gentlemen and my beloved something or others, A Guest for Mr. Spider. But like...Jesus on a tricycle, can we PLEASE slow down sooner rather than later? I've typed out like...18,000 for this episode alone, and I still have nine more to get through for this post. Just like...I know you wanted to start this season off strong, but...you didn't have to go THIS far!

Supplemental: Uh...surprisingly enough I think I covered everything I wanted to. I mean...I'm sure there's like thirty things that didn't even cross my mind, but...everything that did is here and accounted for, wow. Anyways, there was just a…completely unrelated thing I wanted to mention that’s just been floating around in my brain recently. So…you know how I've mentioned how weird it is that Jonah Magnus decided to relocate the institute to Millbank after he became aware of Smirke's architecture? Well...it recently occurred to me that, as far as I know, it's...never actually been stated when the institute relocated, so for all we know, it's possible that Jonah was dead at this point, and the decision was made by a different head or someone similar. So that makes him...a little less of an anomaly, but it doesn't change the fact that he very much intrigues me. Well, that's all, goodnight Magnus Institute.

- Episode 82, The Eyewitnesses 👁‍🗨

Statement of Alice Tonner, regarding the crimes and death of Calvin Benchley. Statement never given by subject.

Oh...dear god. I'm...never getting that moment of peace, am I? So...wow. We've finally gotten to properly see what's happening back at the institute, and...it is gut-wrenchingly terrifying. Just..just no. No. No no no no no no NO. I uh...I have some choice words for you, Mr. Bouchard. At the very least, I'm glad to know that Martin and Tim aren't dead or anything...but that sure as hell does not mean that they're doing well. But uh...yeah, this episode had quite a lot of stuff in it. Granted, it's on the shorter side, so I don't think I'll have quite as much to say about it as I've had with some of the previous episodes, but...still. It gives us a better look at Martin and Tim, explains a lot about a character I...really wasn't expecting a full-fledged explanation for so soon, and finally shows us just...how much psychological horror can be evoked by Elias Bouchard, and what he's like as a villain in general. If I'm being honest...I'm not too sure how well I'll be able to summarize this episode. Even though it technically contains a "statement" the way that statement is delivered to us is kind of its own gruesome beast, and while...yeah, we now have a decent idea of the general situation back at the institute, I don't actually think this episode is meant to show us...what these institute episodes, presumably without Jon (it's kind of insane to have an episode without him for the first time), will be like going forward. Like, in a similar vein to A Guest for Mr. Spider, it's meant to acqaint us with the characters, but..not really the structure. The difference though is that A Guest for Mr. Spider was still given the same stucture as any other statement, while this one...is unlike anything before it. Still though...I'm going to try my best. It's...a pretty freaky scenario, but...I can't exactly not go over it.

So...things are pretty bad. Understandably, after discovering the mutilated body of Leitner in Jon's office, Martin, Tim, and really the entire vibe, are all...a lot shakier, to put it lightly. But fortunately, the police did not neglect to show up at the scene and sort things out. ...Unfortunately, they decided to send Daisy. So yeah...Daisy's back! We already knew that she would be in charge of the investigation due to the Season 3 trailer, but...hey, it's cool to see her! She definitely left a very strong and intriguing impression back in Hard Shoulder, so I'm super happy to see her become a more major player. At least...I think she'll be a more major player? Honestly, it's...kind of hard to tell. Given how this episode ends it's...not impossible for her to just run and never come back, but...I still think there's potential for her to do more. Regardless, she's here to investigate the crime scene, and...ok, that's...admittedly not good. Especially when compared to Basira, Daisy...already showed some not so great tendencies in Hard Shoulder, both as a person in general and as a police officer, and those tendencies become even more apparent going forward. She also doesn't have the same rapport with Jon that Basira had, hell, she seems to hold an odd distaste for him. Although she...kind of seems to hold a distaste for everyone aside from Basira so...I don't know how intrigued I should be by her feelings towards Jon, since it kind of looks like she might act like that towards most people. Regardless, she already has a natural bias against Jon, which is not helped by the rather effective framing done by Elias. So...yikes. Anyways, she's requested brief interviews with Martin, Tim and Elias, mostly to see if she can get information on Jon's whereabouts. Starting off with Martin, we see that...while shaken, he doesn't actually believe that Jon committed the murder, which...I guess is reassuring, since it definitely seemed like he did given his initial reaction to the body at the end of Season 2. And I mean...yeah, I'm sure this belief of his is at least partially motivated by his very much definitely heterosexual and platonic bias towards Jon (holy shit I will get to that later), but it's nice to know that at least one person is on his side in the matter. But when Martin brings up his belief in him, Daisy seems...oddly appalled by the idea of looking for other suspects, which is...the first of quite a few red flags she presents. I'll...dive into this a bit more later, but...yeah, this episode has quite a few things to say about law enforcement that I find pretty interesting, and Daisy is a prime example of those things. Look, I...I ultimately do find her to be a very interesting and compelling character despite her rather limited presence so far, and given what happens in the latter half of this episode...I honestly feel pretty bad for her in places, but...I think it should go without saying that Daisy is...not exactly a good person. I like her, but...she's pretty bad, and to be honest...she's like the closest thing to a perfect combination of everything people complain about with cops that I've ever seen. She's extremely neglectful towards the idea of actually helping people despite what her occupation should entail, instead opts to use her occupation as a way of abusing power and getting a thrill out of being in control, and as we see later, is...not above doing some very terrible things. She's not pure evil or anything, I mean...I'd definitely argue we get an example of a WAY more evil character in this episode, but...out of all of tma's complex and morally gray characters, she...definitely leans on the dark side more than most.

Regardless, Martin tries to bring up the tape that he and Tim recorded when inside the backrooms, but Daisy immediately shoots him down, saying that on top of him being the only person to be backing up the main murder suspect, the amount of distortion on the tape makes him look a lot more suspicious, as if he were an accomplice, which like...what the hell?! She goes even further, doubting the truth behind Martin's claims of Michael and the backrooms, and just...girlie, you have witnessed someone getting devoured by a coffin, an infestation of evil zombie worms, a creepy darkness cult who tried to possess a child with black goo, and as we learn later...whatever the fuck happened in your childhood. I do NOT think that the existence of a man with knife hands and some creepy changing hallways are that far fetched. Just goes to show that...at the end of the day, Daisy is more concerned with getting the easy way out of a case, rather than the actual truth. It's not about what's real to her, it's just about whatever's the most logical and concise. ...sigh. ...cops. Like I said, I do find her to be a pretty endearing character...but man, it's times like these where I wish Basira was still on the force. Like, I'm ultimately happy for her, I think it was the right move to just...try and distance herself from everything as much as she could, and hell, as much as I love her, I actually wouldn't be upset if she just...never showed up again, and lived a normal and peaceful life outside of the story. But like...if she was here, things would be going SO much more smoothly than they are now. Uh...anyways, going back to Daisy doubting the validity of Martin's claims, she actually mentions something...pretty peculiar in a throwaway line. So, back in The Librarian, Martin mentioned coming across a woman in danger, and Daisy's words here definitively confirm that she was trapped in the backrooms. That's...certainly interesting. My mind immediately went to Helen Richardson upon hearing this, but after some reflection...I don't actually think it's her. It's mostly because her statement in The New Door showed us that you can still experience dehydration, starvation and fatigue when inside there, so...if Michael didn't already kill her, chances are she died anyways, since it's been roughly four months since her second disappearance. But...that just means there's some other woman trapped in there that we likely don't know about. And...I have no idea what that might mean. Um...but going back to the conversation between Martin and Daisy, she continues to be questionable by saying that because of Martin's "flimsy" evidence, she's more than willing to pin the blame on him and be done with it, and she makes it very clear that without a partner to keep her in line, and with the operational discretion provided by her shitty superiors...she can very well do so without issue. ...ACAB ACAB ACAB ACAB ACAB ACAB ACAB ACAB ACAB. So uh...yeah, the environment is anything but pleasant...but that all changes in just a moment.

So...oh my god. I just...writing this down makes me so giddy. Ok, so...Daisy questions Martin about Jon's whereabouts, and when he can't provide her with anything, she thinks he's lying. That in itself isn't great...but then she says that everyone said Jon and Martin were close, and...oh my god. I could just...SEE him twirling his hair with a smug little expression on his face after that. Like...the...the transcript said "inordinately pleased" so...oh my god. You know...I try to take a queer reading of fiction whenever I think it makes sense, and that was certainly the case with tma up until this point, but...even I had some minor subconcious feelings of doubt about Martin's crush. Like...I was pretty sure it existed, but not entirely 100%. Now though? I mean...come on, there is NO heterosexual explanation for that young man's tone right there. I just...we fucking won. All I need now is for their future relationship to not be horribly tragic and I'm good! ...Fuck I just jinxed it didn't I? Also, either way, it warms my heart to hear it said out loud that Jon and Martin are considered "close". I mean...I don't think Jon's standards of "close" are particularly high, even if they might change with the new mindset he's trying to adapt, but...considering how not a day went by without him shit-talking Martin back in early Season 1...I don't know, it's nice to hear the story acknowledge that they've grown in that regard, especially since...let's be honest, Jon's arc has been a psychological downward spiral in most ways so far. Well, that's all very sweet, but it's time to get back to depression. With no information to provide about Jon's potential whereabouts or contacts, Martin is sent out and asked to bring Tim in. ...But not before he asks about Sasha. ...Oh dear. So...on top of taking the easy route of assuming that Jon killed both Leitner and Gertrude...Daisy thinks that because Sasha is nowhere to be seen, Jon killed her as well. If not, she's his accomplice. That...really hurts given...everything we know about their bond, everything that happened with The NotThem, and...I don't know, it really puts into perspective how Martin and Tim still have no real clue as to what happened. I mean...they're going to have to figure it out eventually, but...I'm honestly really scared for whenever that moment comes. Because when you consider how Jon took the news...yeah, it's not going to be much prettier when the news reaches them. Just...man, the whole situation really does suck, doesn't it? Jon being suspect number one, Martin being the only one who believes in him despite it all, Sasha...ugh. Well...I...I guess I should move on to Tim.

So...huh. I...have something I need to confess regarding my feelings on Tim. It's...sort of been brewing for a while now, but I think this episode made my thoughts on him...a bit more clear. As of now, I still think he's probably the character I have the most...complicated perspective on. Like, I think I need to see how his character progresses going forward before I can form a definitive opinion on him. But for now, I have to say...man, I really do miss how he was back in Season 1. Now granted, I think that there are a lot of benefits to the direction his character has taken. Ultimately, he was the archival assistant with the least time around in Season 1, and subsequently had the least depth, but the story has made plenty of strides to fix that since. Nowadays, he feels like a much more complicated and nuanced character with a lot of intrigue behind him, and I do not want to undersell the value that his arc brings. Seeing him go from the chipper and flirty diva of the archives to someone so angry and bitter is genuinely really compelling and tragic. But...I'd be lying if I said it didn't frustrate me, and to be completely honest...I just feel really sad whenever Tim is around. Which is such a shame, especially given how he always brightened the mood in his earlier appearances. Now look...I think it makes sense for him to act the way he does, and I can't really be that harsh on him in a way that's fair. Given the knowledge he possesses, his mental state and general perspective...yeah, it totally makes sense for him to be as angry at Jon as he is, for him to feel so beaten down by the hand the world has been dealing him recently. And like I said...it is really tragic, it's good writing, and I do seriously feel bad for him. But...that doesn't mean that I enjoy seeing him like this at all. Like...I think it's amazing that Rusty Quill is able to evoke such feelings of sadness in me, and Mike LeBeau is doing wonders in terms of performance, but...yeah, it still feels bad. It's great from a writing, directing and storytelling perspective, but frustrating from an emotional one. And I mean..given what we recently learned about Jon and how his mind functions, along with how almost all of the odds are stacked against him at the moment...I'm more inclined to side with him than I've ever been before. Back in Season 2, I was more understanding of Tim's frustration, because...yeah, Jon was doing some really questionable things. Hell, I think that from a near objective standpoint, Tim's anger isn't any less justifiable, not only because he still lacks the truth behind what's actually been happening, but also because...Jon has overall done much worse things than him, at least as far as we're aware. But...A Guest for Mr. Spider has kind of flipped the script for me when it comes to Jon and Tim's opposition towards one another. While I do acknowledge that I need to see how their characters progress throughout the season, especially with Jon...at this precise moment, Jon has changed from a character who I really liked but often disagreed with, to one who I fully sympathize with and am in complete support of. So by proxy...Tim is getting harder and harder to side with on a personal level, and right now...I really don't know who or what to believe.

And once again, I don't expect Tim to suddenly be completely cool with Jon just because the audience is, he has every reason to believe that Jon is a violent killer when you look at things from his perspective...but it's still really depressing. I still really like Tim as a character, maybe even more than I did in Season 1...but as a person...he's just kind of a killjoy. Like, I get it, it's good writing, it makes sense, I sympathize...but yeah. I don't think there's any chance of getting good old Joe Spooky back, but...at the very least, I feel like I'm in pretty desperate need of a deeper look at Tim's psyche, because if so...I feel like I'll be able to see him and Jon as a bit more equal. And I mean, hey, we've now established that episodes that don't contain Jon, instead focusing on the assistants, are indeed possible, so...I'm willing to wait for his full character to take shape. But as of now...I don't know, he confounds me. I like him much more than I dislike him, but...yeah, for the time being, Tim is a character that makes me feel very turbulent emotions. Which like, once again, props to Rusty Quill for being able to evoke those emotions in me through a fictional guy. I still do have quite a large fondness for his character, I'm anything but not compelled by what's going on with him and his relationships with others, and I mean....hey, even if he's lost some of his razzly dazzly charm, he's still like...the third sexiest character after Jane and Michael, and as far as canon is concerned he still seduces police officers for the sake of extortion, so...yeah, at the end of the day he's still a radical king who I love very dearly. But like...I do need him to sort his shit out sooner rather than later. Well uh...yeah, that about does it for my rant about my feelings on the hot one, so how's he doing now? Well...yeah, I mean, he's kind of at the lowest point he's ever been. As soon as he enters the room, you can just tell how broken he's become by everything that's been happening lately, and...ok can I just gush about tma's voice acting for a second? Because like...it's been a while since I've done that for anyone who isn't Jon. I already said that Mike LeBeau portrays Tim super well, but like....there's so many others as well! Alexander J. Newall also does a great job portraying Martin's anxieties, Fay Roberts is genuinely really intimidating as Daisy, Sue Sims brings so much unique and calculated charm as Gertrude, Lydia Nicholas really sells Melanie's banter with Jon, Frank Voss makes Basira sound like the chillest person ever, same goes for Perdita Stott as Karolina, Luke Booys is delightfully insane as Michael (his laugh...oh my god), Carrie Cohen and Eve Hewitt are both just...absolutely terrifying as Mary and The NotThem, and Ben Meredith as Elias...oh my god, I will get to him later. Just...yeah, I wanted to show some appreciation for the voice cast, because I honestly can't imagine tma without them. Going back to Tim though, he enters the room and tells Daisy that she can turn the recorder off for the interview. And...that's when something really, REALLY weird happens. It stands out so much more, because truth be told...Tim's interview really doesn't give us all that much to dwell on, at least that I haven't already discussed. It kind of just boils down to him...also not having any knowledge on Jon's whereabouts or allies, agreeing with Daisy's notion of him killing Leitner, Gertrude and Sasha, and being very angry and embittered about his general situation. That's...about all there is to it. But when Daisy turns off the recorder for the interview...it turns back on. Without her doing anything. As if...out of its own will or something. Oh. OH. OH NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO I'M NOT READY FOR THIS!!!!

I um...I don't exactly have a very clear and concise theory on what this might mean yet, but uh...I certainly have some thoughts. For a while now, I've had my fair share of suspicions surrounding...I guess...the general framing device of tma. Like, the in-universe methods it uses to tell both its anthological one-offs and overarching narrative. As time has gone on, and the institute has proven itself to be weirder and weirder, I've started to grow more wary of what initially seem like meaningless details. Things that I initially brushed off as inconsequential contrivances that...didn't really work in the context of the world, lore and narrative, but made sense when you considered the technical aspects and general tone of tma as a real-world work of fiction...started to become a lot more genuinely weird to me. Like, for example, everyone being able to recount their experiences perfectly with...different, yet still uncannily similar cadences for seperate people, or...I don't know, all of the silly accents that Jon (and also Gertrude, even if to a lesser extent) put on for statements, as if they're actually is one of the people who submit these things. I initially wrote these off as just...side effects of tma having really good writing and voice acting. Sure, it might be a bit unrealistic for everyone to remember their stories perfectly, or for The Archivists to do silly little voices despite their mostly deadpan demeanors, but like...it's much better that we have that than have poorly summarized stories, or incessantly dull and repetitive voice acting. And like...yeah, I'm sure that these aspects of the podcast are all a part of the real world production process, but...I don't know, nowadays I get the feeling that they might actually mean something. Examples of why include that one part of The Smell of Blood, where Jon reads a quote from William Hay given to him by Melanie...and he almost immediately switches into his ominous statement reading voice, as if it's some sort of uncontrollable reflex. Or, funnily enough, the last episode Daisy appeared in, where she seemed really uninterested in giving a statement, only there to deliver a tape from Basira...but then proceeded to deliver a statement with perfect prose and detail, made even weirder by the fact that all it took to get her to give a statement in the first place was Jon (a guy who she is far from fond of)....politely asking her once, seemingly with no intention of pushing it. And...then there's the tapes, which have been even more blatantly weird. Small little details like the fact that, for whatever reason, the actually real statements can't be uploaded to modern technology and only work on tape, which...you know, is basically the entire reason we're getting to hear this story. Or how they're the only thing aside from polaroids that we know is immune to The NotThem's reality-bending properties. But...at the end of the day, those are all minor details. Definitely worth taking note of, I'm sure they'll become important, but they're never really acknowledged by the characters all that much. They've always been brushed over in favor of more obvious and important things. But now...we have this. Which...feels like the first example of the show blatantly acknowledging the weirdness of its own format and existence, or at least, the characters within the show are acknowledging it. ...Ok, wow, that was a much more long-winded explanation than I probably needed to give, but with all of that said...what do I think this detail actually means?

Well...firstly, I feel like this might give us a good idea of...what Season 3 is setting out to do, or at least one of its goals. One of Season 2's big plot points was...the inherent weirdness of the institute itself. As time went on, it became more and more apparent that the institute was just as paranormal as everything else in the statements, and it ultimately culminated in the reveal of it, and seemingly all the people within, albeit some more than others, belonging to The Eye. But the thing is...we still don't have the best idea of what that really means. I mean, we certainly do in some places, but...beyond the basic idea of "the institute is actually really freaky", we...don't have many extra details. For example, we know that the title of "Archivist" has a much deeper meaning than we initially assumed...but there's absolutely no clue as to what that meaning even is to begin with. So...I don't know, I feel like this little bit of the tape turning itself back on might signify that...while Season 2 gave us the basic confirmation of the institute being paranormal, Season 3 is going to give us a deep dive into HOW it's paranormal. Which like...it kind of already has, but I'll get to that in due time. But outside of what this means for the storytelling, what does it mean for the in-universe lore? Well...yeah, I feel pretty confident in saying that The Eye, or someone or something that serves or connects to it, maybe even Elias, is the thing responsible for the tapes turning on without a clear reason. I mean...pretty much everyone and everything in the institute is at least kind of subject to The Eye's influence, so...yeah, I think this is a pretty cold take. I did consider The Spider being involved, given both its connections to the institute, and the fact that...you know, I suggested that it was a sort of puppet master being, and...the tapes are the lens through which we hear tma's story, but...eh. I think The Eye works better, not only due to lack of information on The Spider and...the fact that I'm probably high on recency bias after the last episode, but also because I can provide a bit more proof for The Eye. Outside of the very obvious institute connections, The Eye is...well, an observer, a being that seemingly seeks knowledge, hence its presence in a place of academia and its fondness for the scholars within. This is likely why so many other members of ✨the horrors✨ seem to detest the thing, as beings like The Stranger, The Flesh Hive, and most likely The Divine Host's patron all seem to value being hidden, or...hard to really understand. This is also why I think "The Unknowing" is supposed to be a big attack on the institute, similar to what happened with Leitner's library, because...you know, they want to remain "unknown". But that aside...this desire for knowledge gives The Eye a perfect connection to the tapes. In fact, I wouldn't hesitate to call the tapes artifacts at this point. It seeks to record knowledge, seemingly with a preference for knowledge on all of✨the horrors✨ ...and that's exactly what the tapes do. Maybe the reason the tapes preserve the voices of The NotThem's victims is because of the rivalry between The Eye and The Stranger. Maybe the reason real statements don't record on computers is because either The Eye wants them on tape for some reason, and decided to corrupt the institute computers, or...maybe The Eye can't control computers at all, because they belong to whatever the fuck made Binary happen. Like...I don't know, I think it all adds up, and it gives good reason as to why The Eye would want to keep the tapes on in moments as important as Daisy's interviews. There are also...just a couple of miscellaneous things this reveal made me think.

Firstly, it...kind of reminded me of when I listened to Infestation, because...when I wrote about that episode, I said that Jon's monologue about his denial made me think that WE, the listeners, were causing his feeling of being watched. I kind of forgot about that, but now...I'm...unfortunately starting to believe that might be the case. Like, I don't know if I'm supposed to view The Eye as a metaphor for the audience or...literally us, and I know it's not a perfect analogy since we're listening and not watching...but like...you see where I'm going, right? Like, we are...in a way, witnessing everything, we're also constantly chasing after answers and trying to understand ✨the horrors✨ in a way that makes rational sense, and like...the tapes are the only way that we can even get the story to our brains, so...that kind of ties back to The Eye turning on the tapes so it can see what's happening? Maybe? I don't know, I think it could work as a cool analogy but...I'm really just spitballing here. But uh...if I DID want to take a more literal approach to this idea...well...given that tma IS a work of fiction...I don't know, I think the idea of the audience being The Eye could work well with my simulation theory. Oh, and on the note of The Eye using the tapes to gain information...that brings me to my second point. What if...maybe, when the tapes are off, The Eye is a little bit weaker. Like...the tapes amplify its power in some way, and that's also another reason as to why it's keeping them on. Like...we don't get to hear about anything that isn't recorded on tape, so...if you view the audience and The Eye as being somewhat connected, that checks out, right? Now, I don't think that The Eye is entirely powerless without the tapes. If that were the case, then Tim probably could've quit a while ago. But...I do think The Eye is weaker without them. Honestly...the main reason I'm proposing this is because I think it would be a cool explanation as to why Elias is as ok with doing insane shit on tape as he is, despite his previously dull demeanor. Like...I have other ideas as to why he's acting the way he is regardless of whether this theory is true or not, but...this would add to it. Rather than being careless and foolishly leaving a tape on while he does his song and dance with the pipe, he's intentionally leaving it on because he knows that it gives The Eye, and therefore him, more power. And...on that note, I guess I should finally talk about Elias' interview. Uh...anyways, the tapes are really weird, there's probably a bunch of stuff I've neglected to mention, but...yeah, that's all from me! Anyways, Tim leaves the room, I sigh as I think about how he's doing...and then...HE comes in. I just....what the fuck is this rich twink's problem.

I just...I find it so twisted and sick yet so funny that this guy, like...THIS GUY, who has the power to know everything everywhere all at once...decided to murder with a gun and a metal pipe. I just. He- he literally has eldritch god powers and that's how he decided to kill people. I just. Ok man do your thing. So...if I really wanted to, I could just reiterate a lot of the stuff that I said about Elias during The Librarian. Like, I used to think he was this very mysterious yet pretty average and practical guy, and if he did anything bad he would be on the morally gray spectrum, yet it turns out he's actually twisted as all shit. I'm very concerned by what he's capable of, whatever he's planning, how he generally works, what happened to make him this way, what he's already done in the past, and what him being a villain means for the rest of the story. So like...take that basic recap of my thoughts on him after Brutal Pipe Murder, and just...dial them up to eleven for this episode because HOLY FUCK. I'm...absolutely terrified of this man. The Librarian showed us that he was capable of some really fucked up things, but this...I mean, obviously we still know pretty little about him, but...this episode doesn't just show us how terrifying his actions are. Because on top of that...we just get to see how twisted his mind is, how he functions on a psychological level, how he chooses to interact with anyone who isn't of use to him. And in the lightest of terms, it is absolutely ghastly. Like...I'm genuinely stunned by how scared I was during the latter half of this episode. It's so weird as well, because like...in concept, an evil CEO with knowledge god superpowers doesn't sound like the scariest thing the podcast has made so far, and like...yeah, it isn't, stuff like the Daedalus space station still runs circles around him for me, but...damn, his yikes levels are surprisingly high. Now...I feel like I should just briefly note the one concern I have regarding Elias' characterization. I said back in The Librarian that while I'm not inherently opposed to twist villains as a whole, and while Elias ultimately worked in that episode, I do have a problem when twist villains do complete 180º turns in terms of personality, and I really hoped that wouldn't happen with Elias. Two episodes later, and...I'm happy to say that he hasn't taken that turn here. Like, yeah, we are seeing a side of him that he hasn't shown before, but like...given the context and the high position of power he has, (as well as the tape theory if it ends up being true) it doesn't feel out of character for him. I mean...if I'm being honest he didn't have the most well-established sense of character in the first two seasons, so like...yeah, out of everyone in the main cast I'm probably the most chill with him when it comes to drastic changes in portrayal. But that being said...the episode did raise some concerns that he...might go down the shitty twist route later on. I wish I could provide an explanation as to why I think this but...I really can't. It's...I guess it's just a weird gut instinct thing, but I'm ultimately going to try and use my head here. I think it'll all come down to...whenever we next see Elias interact with one of his staff, or at the very least Jon. It's worth noting that the only two scenes that crazy psycho Elias has been in so far were conversations with Leitner and Daisy, both of whom are people he has antagonistic relationships with. But...every other scene with him, all of which happened before Brutal Pipe Murder, were conversations between him and Jon, and then one between him and Jon with the archival assistants also in the room, and finally one between him and Sasha.

And I think it makes sense for him to be more calm, composed and courteous in these scenes, because if The Eye keeping everyone in the institute and like...his entire relationship with Jon so far are anything to go off of, Elias probably heavily values his staff. ...Maybe not in the most preferable, innocent and non-evil way, but he values them nonetheless, the same of which cannot be said for Leitner and Daisy. So basically...I just need to get a scene between him and either Martin or Tim before I make my judgement on whether or not he's working as a twist villain. Obviously, even if he acts the exact same as he did for the majority of the first two seasons, I'll have a different perception of him due to what I now know...but I'll try to take as unbiased of an approach as possible when seeing how he acts around his staff going forward. And if for whatever reason he unmasks his chill facade in front of Martin and Tim for no reason...I can probably stick it out until he and Jon next interact, since...he seems to be even more key to Elias' machinations than the assistants. Ultimately though, I don't think I should be too worried, since Jonny is a fantastic writer, and I have good faith that he can pull Elias' character off nicely. Oh, and one last thing about Elias' general portrayal in this episode. ...Ben Meredith, you goddamn legend. He's always played Elias well, but I think both the character's limited screentime and dry persona in the first two seasons definitely held him back a little bit. But now...he's absolutely killing it. You can just tell how much fun he's having playing this conniving bastard, and it absolutely pays off. Like...he adds SO much to this episode, and I NEED Elias to be a more prominent recurring character this season instead of hiding in the background, because...man, if Rusty Quill can give this guy the time, I think we could end up with something really special in our hands. Hell, as much as the dick pisses me off (er...Elias, not Ben), he did such a good job reading the statement this episode that I honestly wouldn't be upset if he became the..."replacement" for Jon this season. I mean...in the sense that he reads the statements, not in the sense that he becomes The Archivist, because...he said it himself that Jon would be hard to replace. And uh...on that note...let's finally get to his interview with Daisy. ...Man I am killing it with my segues today.

So, Elias comes into the room, and...already, something feels off. Compared to Martin's worry and Tim's exhaustion, he's...calm, collected, and while far from giddy and gleeful, he sounds just chipper enough to make it so that something feels...off. This odd behavior continues when he tells Daisy that he not only doesn't think Jon's the killer, but...expects him to return eventually. I'm...pretty sure I get why he's saying this. Based on his interactions with Leitner in The Librarian, it seems like...while Elias killed him in order to prevent him from gaining his secret files (which I REALLY want to know more about by the way) and destroying the institute, he specifically framed Jon...not so that he wouldn't be caught, but rather so that Jon would be forced to flee the institute for a while, which he wants for....some....reason. So I think this dialogue is meant to reinforce his goals...but it does also show just how unafraid of Daisy he truly is. It's shown in clearer and more interesting ways in a minute, but...I think the main thing that makes Elias so terrifying in this episode is how much power, and how little fear he possesses. He is in complete control of the situation, not afraid of repercussions for his actions whatsoever...and it's fucking haunting. He is not only more than willing to clear Jon's name, seemingly because he needs him alive for something, but is also willing to implicate himself for the crime if it means that Daisy doesn't arrest him, because...he can! He...he can just do whatever he wants, and I absolutely hate it. This also makes pairing him up with Daisy for a scene really genius, because both of them are people in high positions of societal power who abuse their status for personal gain, often hurting others in the process. But uh...I should stop rambling and move on, because once again, this dynamic is showcased in more clever ways in a bit. So, Elias kind of implies that he hopes Jon is a murderer, and...I cannot for the life of me understand what he means when he says this. Like...I feel like maybe I should know and I'm missing some deeper subtext, but it also feels equally possible that it's foreshadowing something that'll be explained later, or...maybe he's just pulling a Michael and fucking with Daisy, which would...admittedly be on brand. Well...I'll put a pin in that for now, but going forward, Elias goes on to ask Daisy if she's been able to identify the body, acting like a sassy little bitch in the process, which...I'm guessing he's secretly doing in an attempt to make sure no one knows it's Leitner? Maybe? I don't know, he....he's polarizing. Regardless, Daisy basically tells him that she hasn't been able to figure out the victim's identity, and that they're still a "John Doe", to which Elias laughs, saying that he's "just remembering an old joke" when Daisy asks why. Now, some people in the YouTube comments recognized John Doe as the name of one of the students from Anatomy Class (which I would NOT have recognized otherwise, so thanks a bunch for that). But...while that's pretty interesting in its own right, and while Anatomy Class is...certainly on the more comedic side of tma episodes, I think it would be more in character for Elias to laugh at this because "John Doe" is basically a placeholder name in The UK that's used for those who are unknown or anonymous, something that was established in Anatomy Class. And since Leitner's entire motivation for everything he did was to be recognized...yeah, it feels pretty fitting for Elias to find his fate as an anonymous corpse somewhat funny. Just...god, if that's the case then that is fucking twisted. But uh...disregarding that, we...we finally get to the real meat. Yeah, we...haven't even got there until now.

After all the back and forth, Daisy asks Elias her main question, that of course being whether or not he knows Jon's whereabouts. And...his answer is most certainly interesting. Because apparently...he does. He knows exactly where Jon is and exactly who he's with...and given what he does later, I'm...I'm inclined to believe he's telling the truth. And...once again, that's absolutely terrifying. Even if he plans to let Jon stay for the time being...he'll most likely want him back at the institute eventually...and I really don't like the fact that he could get him back as easily as it seems, especially given Georgie's involvement. But as Daisy tries to get more information out of him, he makes little jabs at her and her profession, questioning if it's worth operating entirely alone and without support, before he eventually makes it clear to her that he has no intention of telling her Jon's whereabouts despite his knowledge, solidifying that...he has no intention of letting the police find Jon until he does...whatever he wants him to do out there, and that much like with Leitner, he is willing to do whatever it takes to make sure that, through murder or not, all obstacles in his machinations are removed and dealt with immediately. Daisy then threatens to take him back to the police station, saying that she's more than willing to suspect him as Jon's accomplice, which is...unsurprising given his lack of subtlety on the matter. She also calls him a "weird little freak" which-....you know what, all of her crimes against humanity are immediately forgiven just for that. Not only is it exactly what I've been thinking, but it made me audibly laugh. Like...she is so real for that. But after she threatens this, Elias responds with, you guessed it, EVEN MORE psychological jabs. He basically comments on...just how much she kind of sucks at being an upstanding and just police officer. He comments on how her superiors ignore her more than questionable behavior for the sake of saving face, how Basira's recent resignation is just enabling Daisy to be even more toxic, how she hasn't done any proper investigations, evidence collection, or official records of all her interviews, how she's neglected to look for any other suspects, how she shows a complete lack of interest in Sasha's fate, and how she's only going after Jon because it acts as an outlet for her violent tendencies, she already doesn't like him for whatever reason, and she can if she wants to. And like...yeah, sure, I recognize that he's only saying this in an attempt to make her insecure about her failings as a symbol of justice, and is also most definitely using all this information as potential blackmail lest her actions and behavior get revealed to her superiors and she loses her job....or worse, goes to prison, but like...none of what he's saying here is exactly wrong. Like, he might be a murderer, a psychopath, and worst of all a capitalist, but at least he can recognize when the cops are bullshit. Anyways, Daisy responds to Elias' epic callout post by threatening to beat the shit out of him, but Elias...he...oh dear. So...you know what, I'm just going to quote him directly. He says: "Very true. However, you aren't going to do that, detective. Because of Calvin Benchley." ...Oh no. So, as it turns out, Elias...knows something about Daisy's past, something that pertains to one of her many...not so great actions, and a particularly touchy one at that. In fact, he knows a lot of things. He knows...basically everything.

So yeah...Elias is unfortunately the most knowledgeable person ever. I mean...if this episode is anything to go off of. He has...all of the information he could ever desire, even if by all laws of common sense, he...really shouldn't have that information. It explains not only why he's able to taunt Daisy about her actions, behavior and past, but also why he knows where Jon is, and just...generally how he's such a conniving mastermind. Now, we already knew from The Librarian that he could basically see everything in the institute, unless there was some other paranormal interference like Leitner's use of "A Dissapearance", but uh...turns out that, no, his powers don't just stop there. He...actually just knows everything everywhere all at once. Now, if I'm being honest, I...really don't have that much to speculate about when it comes to Elias' powers, because...it honestly seems pretty concise. Like, he's a servant of The Eye, and because of that he gets the ability to see and know everything. That's...really about it. I mean, maybe there's some secret complexities I don't know about, and there's obviously the matter of...how he even got claimed by The Eye in the first place, but...those are matters I just don't have the resources to speculate on at the moment. Right now, I'm much more interested by...how these powers will be used in the story, as opposed to how they work in terms of the lore and worldbuilding. Like, what's he going to use them for? How much is he going to use them, and to what extent of power? Is there anything else that can stop him? In fact...what the hell did he do with Leitner's remaining books? Granted, this matter is also hard to speculate, since the plot of Season 3 is still in very early days, but...this episode does give us a pretty good idea of how he chooses to utilize these powers, although I'll get to that in a minute. There is, however...one extra concern I have regarding these powers. Basically...if Elias has these powers because he serves The Eye...what does that mean for Jon? I'm already pretty certain that, willingly or not, he'll become a fully fledged servant of The Eye if he isn't already, so...is he also going to get crazy knowledge powers? In my opinion...not necessarily. We've seen before that servants of the same being can have different abilities. For example, Jane and Amherst both serve The Flesh Hive, but one of them has their evil worm zombie hivemind thing, while the other has the ability to spread disease, resurrect themselves, and have a general resonance with all sorts of insects. Combine that with the fact that the title of Archivist insinuates Jon is...special in some way, and it's not guaranteed that he'll end up exactly like Elias. But then again...you have characters like Mike and Simon, who (outside of the former's connections to electricity)...basically have the exact same abilities from the looks of things. I mean, Mike's powers are...a little vague to be honest, so this might not age as the best example ever, but really, I just think it would be interesting if Jon got the same abilities as Elias...moresoe because I want to see how their responses to it differ. Like, Elias is abusing his power to his whole advantage, and is clearly having the time of his life while doing so. Meanwhile, Jon seems absolutely horrified by the implications of him being claimed by The Eye, so...I don't know, I get the sense that if he got Elias' abilities, his feelings about it would be a lot more...scared and depressed, which could make them act as pretty good parallels AND foils to one another.

Then again...it's worth noting that there have been many instances of people who get claimed by ✨the horrors✨ being terrified at first, before...gradually getting accustomed to it. Looking at Jane once again (she's basically my classic textbook example of these weirdos at this point), we can glean from her statement that she was...pretty mortified when she first heard the song of The Flesh Hive, but ultimately found a twisted yet loving home among the worms. So like...for all we know, Elias might have also been really freaked out when he was first claimed by The Eye, and by that logic...Jon could potentially come around after a while, making him similar to Elias beyond just their patron...and that is a horrific thought. But...it's also a fascinating one, I'm intrigued to see where Jon will go now that we have a better understanding of what being claimed by The Eye can actually do to someone. And mentioning that...let's get back on track, and go back to seeing Elias' abilities in action. So...Daisy is understandably shocked at the mention of someone from her past coming out of nowhere, and Elias continues to taunt her. He mocks her for the scar on her back, how it felt when she buried him, he even has the audacity to call her by her real name. He then makes himself perfectly clear. He's...oh god writing it down actually feels kind of sick. He...he tells her that he's going to make her statement for her, non-consensually, a statement about her past childhood trauma that she never gave to the institute herself, just...reading out her deepest darkest secrets as if she was giving them to him herself, demonstrating just how much dirt he has on her through nothing but his connection to The Eye. He then says that if she's smart, she'll drop the case. She'll leave the institute, give a basic cover-up story to her superiors, leave the murder behind, and stop looking for Jon. Once again, I don't even think he cares about getting caught himself, he just doesn't want his weird game with Jon to end prematurely!!! Like...what the fuck man?! All this for what? I'm genuinely asking! Uh...anyways, he then says that if for whatever reason she doesn't oblige...he'll tell her superiors everything. They'll know about not just her past, but every nasty little thing she's done. They'll be forced to face the music and confront the toxicity of their beloved detective, and then she'll have to face the consequences lest the LPD look even worse than they already do. Ok...putting aside the viscerally horrifying nature of all of this...I REALLY do love this whole idea from a writing perspective. I already said that I really like how this episode pairs up Daisy and Elias. Both of their characters act as critiques of the abuse of power often exhibited by cops and rich businessmen, so putting them together is really interesting...but it gets even more interesting when they're at each other's throats, and one is able to easily overpower the other. I...also find it interesting how we have...someone who I can only imagine as a rich white guy in a suit abusing power over a woman who pretty noticeably does not conform to gender roles. I...don't know if that was intentional on the writer's part, but...if so I think it could act as pretty interesting commentary. But I think my favorite part of this whole thing is...how it humanizes someone like Daisy.

Don't get me wrong, despite my jokey claim earlier I still think she is...not that great of a person. She has done some horrifically fucked up things, including within the backstory that is just about to be described. But like...right now, she is being faced with someone so much worse than her. And I mean...given what we learn about her childhood trauma, how it's shaped her into the person she is today, and also what we have to witness her go through in real time, being expertly performed by Fay Roberts in a genuinely crushing manner...yeah, it's really hard for me to not feel sorry for her. Just...my god, she's only really been around for two episodes, and they've already made such an interesting and nuanced character. Bravo. But uh., yeah...storytelling praises aside...THIS IS ABSOLUTELY HAUNTING. Just like...holy shit, Elias Bouchard is a massive sociopath. Like...how in the hell did he come up with a scheme as twisted as that? Just...using your eldritch all-seeing eye powers to leverage someone's childhood trauma against them as blackmail, all because they want to arrest your soaking wet trainwreck of an archivist? When you could've just said "lmao I don't know where he is", or if you really had to be conniving, just...send her to a decoy loaction or something? I just...ok man. Do your thing, whatever, I guess at least it makes things more interesting. But like...if this is just a fraction of what he's capable of dreaming up, I SHUDDER to think what the extent of his larger machinations even is, because...ugh. Well....anyways, despite both mine and Daisy's protests...Elias begins reading her statement. And...hearing him read out "Statement of Alice Tonner" without the "Daisy" in the middle...and saying "statement never given"...I just...fucking chills. ...You know how I said I wouldn't be upset if Elias started reading statements in Jon's place from here on out? Well...while I'm sure Ben would give a great performance...yeah, I think I'll retract that claim. Because like...given how this one was performed, I feel like every episode at the institute would be even more terrifying were that the case.

Ok, before I get into the actual plot of the statement, I just...need to talk about how it's presented, because like...it's genuinely phenomenal. Jonny, Alex, Ben, Fay, the editing team...all of them brought so much life into this. Starting off, I..completely forgot to mention this when I wrote about A Guest for Mr. Spider, but...we have new spooky background music now! Yeah, that doesn't pertain to this scene specifically, but...whatever, it's always nice to have and I thought I should shout it out. But as for what IS exclusive to this scene...man. The way it's written, and the way that Ben reads it out..it's just perfect. I think that the best way to describe it would be to like...imagine if it was any old statement, one being read by Jon or even Gertrude. If they were reading it, it would probably be...much longer and detailed, giving us a better idea of the scope of Daisy as a person. We'd get extra background information, there would be a more gradual build from the mundane to the horrific, The Archivist would try to emulate Daisy's energy a bit more, and...putting the potential lore implications of the theatre kid energy emulated by Jon aside for a second, they'd only be reading the statement because...it's their job, so they'd probably be much more willing to take their time and have a bit more fun with emulating the person who's statement they're reading. Oh, and of course, the statement would most likely have been given by Daisy out of her own will. But...that's not the reality we live in. Instead, Elias is a man on a mission, he is reading Daisy's own story directly in front of her against her own will, doing so in order to taunt, scare, traumatize and blackmail her for his own personal gain. He only delivers the freaky details of her past for the most part, reading the statement with utter haste and not a semblance of fun acting that doesn't come off as utterly sadistic. The only instances where he says anything that doesn't pertain to the stone-cold facts of what happened, are when he's making a taunt, saying something that Daisy would never say about herself, but...is ultimately true. He voices her own insecurities and trauma, pretending to actually be her all the while. He says things like "I like to be in control", "That's why it was my fault", "I felt a rush of fear, and strange sort of excitement", and even reveals one of her darkest secrets out loud...and it's just sick. It's all true, and Daisy knows it...but she's not ready to confront it. And it's all accompanied by eerie, encroaching background noise...and mortified intteruptions and hyperventilating from Daisy in the background. Just...wow. This is...one of the most viscerally mortifying scenes in all of tma. It's kind of perfect, honestly. This uh...this is going to be a really good season, isn't it? Just...knowing that Elias can do this kind of keeps me up at night. Like...what if he did this again, but with Jon's trauma. A Guest for Mr. Spider is already terrifying, so...oh god I don't even want to think about it. Why did I get cursed with the horror podcast autism and not the good at maths and science autism... Well, I've rambled enough about the amazing presentation, so...let's just dig into Daisy's past. It's...pretty short and concise to be honest given the way it's delivered, but...it's also really interesting, both in terms of the lore implications and how it develops her character. So uh...lets-a-go or something.

Ok. So, as Elias starts reading out "Daisy's statement", we're immediately given an answer to what has...basically been the biggest mystery surrounding her character, at least in my opinion. That is of course...why the hell do people call her "Daisy" instead of Alice. Apparently, it's due to a scar on her back that she got when she was younger, which the doctor said looked like a daisy. Even if it was a somewhat innacurate claim, since it apparently looks more like a starburst...the nickname stuck. So...yeah. It's not the craziest answer to the mystery ever, but...I like it! We'll get into how she got the scar soon enough, but for now, just know that I think it suits her really well, she herself says that despite it sounding kind of gentle on the surface (which to be honest I always thought was a kind of fun irony given her...less than gentle personality), its origins make her view the nickname as a symbol of strength that invokes courage. Well...did she say it herself? Ok look, I...should probably clear something up. Obviously...a lot of the stuff that Elias is saying here is stuff that Daisy would probably never say out loud, but....if he can know all of the details about her past like this, then chances are her mind isn't safe from his prying eyes either. I mean...we know that Daisy is the only person left alive who understands the nickname's origins, so...how else would he get that knowledge? Besides, I think the point here is that Elias is sort of....exposing all of the things Daisy doesn't like about herself, so...I'm just going to go on the assumption that everything said in this "statement" is stuff that she does actually think, and that it does accurately represent her emotions, even if she would never reveal or confront such things herself. Oh, and on the note of there apparently being "no one left" who knows about the scar aside from Daisy herself...that's certainly interesting. Really, the only people we can definitely say knew about it are Daisy's parents, the doctor who saw the scar, and most likely Calvin Benchley. We know how the last one died, but the others...hm. Granted, Daisy was at the very least in her 20s back in 2002, so...that places her at a rough minimum age of 44 or 45 in present day, so....if her parents and that doctor were on the older side when she was eleven, or this was even longer ago than I'm assuming, then maybe they did just die of old age, or there were health complications, or...basically it's far from unlikely that they died of rather natural causes. But I mean...her whole backstory does kind of revolve around violence and murder, so I'm just a teensy bit inclined to raise an eyebrow. Anyways, Elias then goes on to explain how Daisy got her scar. When she was eleven, Daisy was best friends with a boy named Calvin Benchley. They didn't hang out at school, because apparently all of Calvin's other friends were baby misogynists, but they would always play together after school in the nearby park. The park was small with a collapsed fence on either side, but beyond that fence...there was an old abandoned building site, but Calvin and uh..."Alice" at the time, were forbidden from going there due to the dangerous crowds that hung around the place. Honestly...even when you ignore all of the paranormal trauma, Daisy's childhood kind of sounds just...generally shitty. Like, the environment does not sound pleasant whatsoever, she was clearly bullied for misogynistic reasons, and her friendship with Calvin...while far from toxic, definitely gives off the vibe of something...more on the hostile side than others, especially given what happens next. Like...I don't know, the incident definitely affected Daisy heavily, but much like with Jon...I feel like she wouldn't be that far off from what she is today even if her trauma never happened, just....probably a lot more stable than she actually is. (Also, the parallels to A Guest for Mr. Spider are not lost on me, but...I'll talk about them a bit more later.)

Anyways, one afternoon Daisy dared Calvin to head to the building site, and he did. She heard some....crashes and violent noises coming from the site, and after fifteen minutes of silence she decided she should go and check on Calvin, not calling for any adults in fear of getting in trouble. And when she did...oh...yikes. She stumbled across the first two corpses she'd ever seen, seemingly having killed each other with broken glass. When she saw them, she...felt a strange rush of excitement at the sight of the blood, which is...fun. But on a nearby staircase...was Calvin, his eyes vacant as he stared at her. And behind him stood a grotesque figure, large, hunched and naked. Its body was covered head to toe in open red wounds that did not bleed, and Daisy watched as it mouthed out words that only Calvin could hear, flicking its long black tongue into his ear from a pointed mouth. Now, this figure initially kind of reminded me of The NotThem's true form for some reason, but...I strongly doubt that they're actually connected. In fact, I'm just going to cut to the chase, I definitely think that Daisy's backstory has to do with The Piper, which is...quite surprising honestly, but definitely makes sense for her. I mean, the whole thing is about murder and the nature of violent tendencies, if Melanie's second statement is anything to go off of then...blood and wounds are most definitely aspects of the thing, and the way that Calvin's vacant eyes are described is...almost identical to the war ghost that Melanie saw in the Rotherham Train Graveyard. I'll go into a bit more detail regarding what this presumed connection to The Piper might mean in a bit, but for now...uh...yeah, that's it. Anyways, it was as Daisy saw this figure that Calvin turned to her, running headfast before slamming her into the fence that seperated the building site from the park. The jagged metal of the fence pierced her skin in a burst of pain, resulting in the birth of her namesake scar, and the last thing she remembered before waking up in the hospital...was the look of bloodthirsty pride on Calvin's face. No one believed Daisy when she told them what happened, as they were all happy to just take Calvin's simple explanation of...her having tripped and fallen. That's...eerily similar to how the LPD is framed throughout, not just this episode, but other instances like Police Lights and the...mere existence of Section 31 as a faction. Just...ignoring the truth if that truth is too hard to bear. Still though...Calvin changed after that day. Everyone assumed he was just becoming a teenage shithead, but Daisy always knew something was up. But like, on that note, can I just say how much this backs up my point that Daisy's hometown seems kind of mental? Like....this kid quite literally murders or seriously injures six other kids before he leaves for University, and you chock it up to a "boys will be boys" mentality?! What the hell?! Maybe the reason why Daisy doesn't have an explicitly stated hometown is because doing so would be a GRAVE offense to some real life village in The UK. Also...the whole "boys will be boys" thing, combined with the misogyny she faced as a child, as well as that whole power imbalance thing between her and Elias I mentioned earlier...it all really does make me feel like this episode has some...pretty interesting subtext regarding gender. Huh. Anyways, Daisy continued to keep an eye on him even into adulthood, the scar on her back reminding her that he could never be trusted again. He always seemed to...feed on the unease and fear of others, but she could never make anything stick when it came to proving him guilty. He was briefly arrested as an adult, but...all childhood incidents were made into accidents, and all adulthood incidents had his victims proclaiming themselves the aggravators. Once again...if I were Daisy, I would really start to question the fact that she's working for an organization that is doing the exact same thing as everyone who ever doubted her. Like...girlie...get your character development.

Regardless, Daisy eventually realized that...she couldn't pin him down for anything. He would always find some clever or sneaky way to evade getting imprisoned...so she took matters into her own hands. Because...yep, Calvin Benchley ended up being the first human being she ever murdered. Yeah, the FIRST...christ. She knocked him unconscious as he was coming out of a bar, kidnapped him and drove him to....what I'm guessing are the woods where the police send her to burn the vampires, and shot him five times in the chest. ...He didn't even bother to beg for his life. No one asked questions. They just left it as a deserving fate for a rotten person, once again...doing whatever it takes to not cause any trouble. So...yeah. That's Daisy's big backstory. I understand that...when compared to A Guest for Mr. Spider, this is a much more rapid fire look at a character's past, but I do have my reasons. Not only did it only take up a small portion of the episode, being delivered quite hastily to boot, but...with A Guest for Mr. Spider, we were looking at the backstory of the protagonist who we had spent every episode up to that point with, and it also got nearly the entire episode to be explained. Here though...Daisy's only appeared in one other episode, small appearances in Basira's statements withstanding, so...I don't have quite as much to say or analyze as I did with Jon's backstory. But that being said...man, I REALLY did like this backstory. Even if we don't know Daisy as well as a lot of other characters...this did SUCH a good job at developing her further, and much like A Guest for Mr. Spider, it serves as a great explanation as to why she is the way she is. Both of these episodes have actually made me rethink how I approach writing character backstories, hell, tma as a whole has made me rethink a ton of creative writing strategies, so...yeah, it's pretty great. I'm honestly amazed by how good this podcast is at making characters super compelling in such a short time frame, especially with as large of a cast as it has. In fact, if I'm being honest...while I definitely personally resonate with the themes in A Guest for Mr. Spider a lot more, and therefore ultimately prefer them...I think this one might have slightly more rare and interesting themes to me. I mean...maybe, I'm still rather fresh off of listening to this one, but...either way it's really good. To me, Daisy's past and...really a lot of her character as a whole, can be taken as a really interesting interpretation of the idea of perpetuating a negative cycle. Rather than gain an inherent distaste for all of the bullshit she had to deal with in her youth, Daisy seems to have become...accustomed to it more than anything. Because...a lot of the negative things that were forced upon her in the past are now things that she's enforcing upon others. Whether that be because she views it as the norm, or because she's seeking some kind of equality or justice between herself and the people who've wronged her...I can't really say. Honestly, I'd really like to hear these events from her mouth one day, rather than that of an evil eye monster sociopath, because...while I do think Elias' words do reflect parts of Daisy's feelings on the matter...I also think he's only highlighting the negative aspects of her psyche, because...that's the goal. He's using his knowledge of her past as blackmail, so bringing attention to the more sympathetic aspects of her past would...kind of just defeat the purpose.

The point is though, no matter what her motivations might be...Daisy is allowing a negative cycle to continue. She was a victim of violence, murder and bullying, both in her relationship with Calvin and during...general life in her pretty shitty-looking hometown. Because of that, she has very little issue with being cruel, committing acts of violence, and killing others in cold blood. Throughout her entire life....she's dealt with people who ignore the truth for the sake of not having to think about negative things, with both everyone in her hometown and random civilians hurt by Calvin choosing to turn a blind eye to his terrible crimes. And because of that...she's now working for an organization who enforces that exact same mindset. The LPD puts anyone who sees too much into Section 31 in order to keep their mouths shut, they covered up the death of Leo Altmann because...I don't know, I guess this universe has the cops' escapades being broadcasted to six-year olds who couldn't handle the spooky darkness murdering someone, and they are actively enabling Daisy to do terrible things if it means that they can just deal with cases as quickly as possible, no matter how many people they hurt along the way. And even if she isn't the one directly enforcing this corrupt system....she most certainly isn't the one who's trying to stop it, if anything that title should probably go to Basira. But...I like that they show us that, while these traits of Daisy's are toxic and should definitely stop, they aren't just born of pure evil. They most certainly come from a real place of trauma. Honestly, like...I'm not even halfway done, and tma might have the most nuanced and well thought out depiction of law enforcement I've ever seen in anything. It can sometimes feel like most media either leans towards worshiping cops like saints, or....EXTREME ACAB mentalities with very little in between. If I had to choose between the two, I would most certainly go for the latter...but I'm very happy with how tma is handling it. It's calling out the many systematic flaws with law enforcement and is not afraid to paint them in a negative light. Hell, despite everything that happens to her in this episode, I think that provided she returns at all, Daisy will...probably play the role of an antagonist, or at least an anti-hero going forward, given what she represents. But despite all of the criticism...they still have the moral decency to recognize that these officers, while often heavily flawed and questionable...are still people at the end of the day. It thankfully doesn't use this as an excuse to completely forgive them, but it does use it to explain their actions, to make it clear that they aren't evil murder robots bereft of all dimensions. And...that honestly takes a lot more work than some people might think. Anyways, point is, I really really like Daisy's backstory, I think it expands her character in amazing ways and has some really great themes, but...what about the lore implications?

Well...there's a decent amount of interesting tidbits here. Not a ton that I find incredibly significant, but...still noteworthy. So, as I already said, I think Daisy and Calvin's encounter with the paranormal was likely due to The Piper's manifestations. I'm not going to go over why a second time, but I do want to talk about the intriguing aspects of its inclusion. So, it definitely seems like a manifestation of The Piper was haunting the old building site, hence why everyone there seemed to be filled with that ever iconic bloodlust. Now, I don't know how important this old building site or the lanky creature within are going to be, I'll take note of them, but...I think the main intrigue here comes from how this episode made me notice a couple of recurring patterns when it comes to The Piper. Firstly, out of all of ✨the horrors✨, it definitely seems to have the strongest affinity for haunting places, or at least...haunting places that aren't necessarily designed for it. I'm talking CMH, the Rotherham Train Graveyard, arguably that music venue in Soho,....maybe the field hospital Amherst was at, and now this. It also has a...pretty strong affinity for spectre like figures the more I think about it. There's The Piper itself (keep in mind that I'm just using "The Piper" as a placeholder name for whatever this war and bloodlust associated being is actually called, along with the actual three-faced figure), the ghost on the train, the...presumed ghosts in Amritsar, the ghosts that showed up at the Grifter's Bone concert, and then you have Melanie, a character who is implied to have been deeply touched by The Piper, and who used to run a show called "Ghost Hunt UK." So...yeah, The Piper has some pretty notable connections to more traditional examples of ghosts and hauntings. It's not the only being with these themes, for example, The End seems to have a particular affinity for ghosts given Mary's skin book, and like Leitner said, it's less about what ✨the horrors✨ manifest as, but what the more...metaphorical meaning behind their manifestation is. So like...if you want to determine whether a ghost comes from The Piper or The End, I guess you should...think about whether it represents the casualties of war or death and mortality? I don't know...I think that's what they represent? Anyways, they're interesting recurring motifs, and...given my logic for Melanie's connections to ghosts, I really have to wonder if I should be more suspicious of Georgie and her "What The Ghost?" podcast...hm. Anyways, uh...I definitely think that given his behavior, Calvin was most likely claimed by The Piper and became its servant. Like I said, he had that same dead look in his eyes as the train ghost that Melanie saw, and I mean...a servant of the god of bloodshed would probably do a lot of murder, so that checks out. There are some...interesting little quirks when it comes to how exactly he functions though. Like, how he was able to evade repercussions...relatively easily for the most part. Like, I'm sure there's pretty reasonable, non-paranormal explanations for it, the people in Daisy's hometown clearly wanted to turn a blind eye, and it seems likely that his later victims lied out of fear, but...I don't know, a more paranormal explanation would be pretty cool. I also find it interesting how Daisy (technically Elias but you get what I mean) mentions that Calvin...fed off the fear of his classmates. Like...I have to wonder if that actually goes for all servants of ✨the horrors✨. I've already made connections between ✨the horrors✨ and different types of fear before, even if they aren't literally fear incarnate I'm pretty sure they're supposed to represent it, so...maybe this line could imply that servants, or even ✨the horrors✨ as a whole feed on fear, and that's why they cause all this paranormal shit to happen? Like...specifically to scare people?

Because truth be told...none of these bozos have clear motivations beyond scaring people for shits and giggles. And sure, that's mostly a consequence of us not having met the majority of them in person, but like...look at the ones we have. Elias has only just been confirmed to be a servant of The Eye, so his motivations are pretty vague, Michael is...Michael, so he's just inherently vague by nature (and also it's kind of hard to tell whether he's the same as most other servants given all of the stuff Leitner said about "The Distortion"), and then you have Jane and The NotThem. Both of them were motivated by a desire to attack the institute, and that desire seemingly stems from a further desire to stay unknown. But like...why would they want to stay unknown? Well, that's simple. The fear of the unknown is a pretty powerful thing, so maybe The Eye's ability to know things is like...making it harder for ✨the horrors✨ to find fear to feed on? This could also explain why it seems like the only people who seem t survive encounters with✨the horrors✨ are the ones who just...don't give a fuck, like Joshua Gillespie or Karolina Górka. Like...they're not providing any fear, so what's the point in scaring them. I don't know, I'm pretty sure there's much more to it, and I'd honestly be pretty disappointed if every servant was just motivated by a desire to strike fear into others and nothing else, but...I think there's a decent likelihood that the desire for fear could be a common trait among all of ✨the horrors✨, because...Daisy's comments about Calvin just felt a bit to familiar. And finally...I'd like to talk about how this experience affected Daisy...on a more paranormal level, beyond just the trauma. And...I think the best way to do this is to finally look at how her backstory parallels Jon's. Now, let me be clear, I'm not going to say that Jon and Daisy...as whole entire characters are parallels to each other. Provided Daisy comes back after this episode, there's definitely room for that to happen, but right now...their dynamic doesn't really go beyond Jon finding her scary, and Daisy thinking he's a killer simply out of a general disliking for him. We just...haven't seen these two interact enough for me to make a claim that big. That being said...I do not think it is a coincidence that this episode came right after A Guest for Mr. Spider, because like...come on. Both of them have had childhoods that are...pretty shit right out the gate from the looks of things, but also went through deeply traumatic incidents that involved them witnessing something extremely paranormal, someone they knew arguably going through it even worse than they did, and ever since they have lived with tremendous guilt as they think about how they could've stopped those people from dying or becoming corrupted, they've never told anyone about what happened due to the feeling that no one will believe them, and both incidents have heavily influenced the person they are today in many different ways. Like...they're very different backstories overall, but there's way too many similarities for me to think that the stories don't parallel each other. Once again, their backstories parallel each other, but not necessarily the characters as a whole. So with all of that in mind...I think it's pretty safe to say that Daisy was touched by The Piper as a child, much like Jon. And no, I don't think she was claimed, not just because it would make more sense for her to be touched given how...you know, Jon was touched but not claimed by The Spider, not only because she didn't go through the same thing as Calvin with the wounded figure, but also because...her behavior doesn't really line up with someone who's been claimed.

Firstly, as I mentioned earlier, Daisy is at least 44 years old, and this incident took place when she was eleven. I feel like if she was claimed by The Piper...she would've probably figured that out by now, and would be actively serving it, and...I really don't have any reason to believe that she's been claimed by anything at this point. But secondly...her levels of behavior when it comes to...potentially being influenced by one of ✨the horrors✨ match up...pretty nicely with Jon. If we disregard his connection to The Eye for a bit, we can see that...while a lot of Jon's behavior does make sense when you consider his general personality and outlook on life, as well as how his past trauma shaped him in a non-paranormal way, it's...just off enough to make me thing that he's at least a little bit influenced by The Spider in some places. I'm not going to go into why, since I already did so for A Guest for Mr. Spider, but...yeah, I think the same goes for Daisy! Like, her violent tendencies make sense when you look at her outside of a paranormal perspective. Like I said, she grew up in a pretty violent, cruel and uncomfortable environment, she was the only one who bore witness to Calvin's actions with no one around to back her up, so it makes sense for her to become accustomed to pretty bloody behavior. But like....that bloodlust is just off enough for me to think that something's up. She's just...a bit too quick to jump to a violent solution in most scenarios, a bit too antagonistic, and the. you have weird things like the emotions she felt when she came across her first two corpses, and...yeah, something's up with her. Ultimately, I...don't really think I need to argue that she was touched. Like, yeah, she encountered one of ✨the horrors✨, obviously she was. But I do think it could be easy to misconstrue her as being claimed given her personality...which I doubt is the case, so...I'm just clearing that up. Now, what do I think her being touched by The Piper means for the greater story and her character? ...To be honest I have no goddamn clue. You see...with Jon, the reveal that he was touched by The Spider came with a whole mess of implications for me, but with Daisy...it better explains her behavior, but...I can't really tell what it'll ultimately amount to, if at all. It's just due to a...general lack of information, really. Like I've been saying, she's been in two episodes while Jon's been in eighty-one, so...I can't speculate as much. What also doesn't help is that compared to The Spider, which has been in a good number of episodes and has a lot of intriguing little plot threads strewn about (pun very much intended)...The Piper remains one of the most obscure members of ✨the horrors✨, and I don't have much of a clue as to what its relevance in the greater narrative will be. My best guess is that, given what it seems to represent, it'll have a pretty big role to play in the "struggle" mentioned by Michael, and...provided that she hasn't already been brutally murdered by ghosts, I think it'll be pretty relevant to Melanie's character, given how she's...basically the only reccuring thing outside of Daisy herself that has a connection to The Piper, but overall...I don't have much I can say. All I can say is that...if she comes back, I think it'll be important. I...do also wonder if her scar might connect to her being touched...maybe gaining that scar was what forged that connection? That could be kind of cool. Also, I forgot to mention this, but daisies are often seen as the flower of innocence and purity, so...maybe the scar is meant to represent how she lost what innocence she had left during that incident? Or maybe it's like...the last fragment of innocence she has left, given how it seems to comfort her? I'd also really like to see her interact with Melanie if they get the chance, given well...you know...shared marks from the looks of it. I...really don't know, but it's all very intriguing.

Well...that about wraps it up for everything regarding Daisy's past. Overall, I really liked the story, I think it had fantastic themes, some neat implications, and overall did wonders for fleshing out her character. But...getting back to the plot, after reading out all of her trauma straight in front of her, leaving her mortified even further, Elias makes his final proclamation. She says that if she takes any action against him or the institute, she will let her superiors know about her crimes, and will make sure that they can't cover it up. What's interesting is that...he doesn't actually tell her to stop pursuing Jon. He obviously doesn't reveal his location to her, but...he advises that if she chooses to seek him out, she should kill him quickly. Not only does that make me wonder...what the hell Jon might secretly be capable of, provided Elias isn't lying, bluffing or...building up the "killer Jon" shtick, but I think it also shows...just how confident this fucker is. Like, he clearly needs Jon alive for something, but is willing to take the risk of letting him out into the world where god-knows-what is out to kill him, and he isn't protected by the institute's power...because he knows. He knows that he's going to win. He knows...everything. I. HATE. That he KNOWS EVERYTHING!!! It's just...he is the last person who should have that power, which...honestly speaks for a lot of real-world people of his societal status. But with that...Daisy admits defeat. She gives one last threat towards Elias...and leaves. I'm...honestly not sure if we'll ever see her again. I mean, I think we will, this episode definitely shows that the team is willing to do some really interesting stuff with her, and I think it would be a waste to not push her character further. Plus...I feel like if given the chance, she'll still go looking for Jon, not even for her job but just out of...anger at this point. And she'll...probably try to kill him as well, so...yay! I...please don't fight you guys. Even though one of you is objectively more corrupt than the other I love you both so much. Just. Please. No. But uh...even with all that said...I don't know. It's entirely possible that she runs and never looks back, because, I mean...it would certainly be a good display of Elias' power, that's for sure. ...sigh. Well, after she leaves and Elias gives one last snide remark, we're left with a short recording of an argument between Martin and Tim. We learn that they saw Daisy rush out with a mortified expression on her face, but while Martin thinks something is up, Tim, who is...once again, clearly just...so, so tired at this point, brushes it off as her hating the place like most. We also see how while Martin is still holding out hope that Sasha's alive, Tim is almost entirely convinced that Jon killed her, much to the former's frustration. What's interesting to me is that Tim is the one to say that if she's not dead, then she must have been the thing they saw (referring to The NotThem), and Martin actually denies this. This is peculiar because...back in Hide and Seek, they had the exact opposite opinions, so...it's intriguing to see this change. Maybe Tim's tired attitude has gotten just that bad, maybe Martin is doing whatever he can to hold out hope for the best case scenario...but it's most likely both.

Tim goes on to throw out all possibilities of what the thing was, including the idea that "maybe she was always some messed up mutant and we just never noticed", which is...unfortunately not that far off. He also refers to Michael here and says that "it basically told us it was working with Jon", which is...huh? Uh...what exactly does he mean by that? Like...when he says "it" the second time, is he referring to Michael or The NotThem? Because...unless they saw the former in the backrooms off tape, I don't think either of them insinuated they were working with Jon. Sure, Michael doesn't seem to be directly out to kill him like most other servants or aspects of ✨the horrors✨, but...he most certainly isn't against his death in general, and I would much sooner call him Jon's enemy than his ally. So...I really don't get what Tim means by this, maybe it'll be elaborated on further at one point but for now...I'm confused. Or maybe he's also confused and is just throwing shit at the wall until something sticks, I don't know. Regardless, he ultimately decides to leave the room and go lie down, accepting that the institute is just a place where bad shit happens and people die in utter defeat. Martin tries to go after him, saying that they need to talk about things (which I STRONGLY agree with)...but before he can give chase, he's...surprised to see a recorder running. Oh...that bitch turned itself on, didn't it? Oh me oh my. ...Hello Magnus Archives Season 3.

So uh...that's it for The Eyewitnesses. ...Can I just say how much I love that episode title? Tma always has great ones that do a fantastic job of sticking with you, but I find this one particularly cool. Like, it has the obvious inclusion of "The Eye", but also references every major character in the episode. Martin and Tim as the people who discovered Leitner's body, Daisy as the witness to Calvin's crimes, and Elias as the witness to Daisy's crimes, even if not directly. But overall...damn, what a phenomenal episode. Not gonna lie, it was pretty polarizing to me at first, simply because it's just...super different from what I'm used to with this podcast, and that initial shock honestly made it take a really long time to figure out how I was going to write about it (so uh...if you're wondering why this one also took a while, lo and behold), but...after finally getting my thoughts down and into text...yeah, I think this one's pretty damn amazing. While tma has always had fantastic characterization, especially in regards to how memorable characters that only show up once and/or don't show up in person are portrayed...this is the first glaring instance I can think of where an episode excels in the characterization over the story. Don't get me wrong, I'm glad that tma usually prioritizes its narrative, it usually pays off and is ultimately of very little consequence to the character development, and I do love the story of Daisy's past in this episode, but...man, those characters just hit different. Ok well, Martin admittedly didn't do much, but like...how can I be mad at him, I'm just happy he's here. But as for everyone else...damn! This episode allowed me to make major strides in sorting out my current opinion on Tim, it made Daisy even more interesting and...honestly created one of the most unique and nuanced characters so far in such a short time frame with her...and then we have Elias. Oh my god, Elias Bouchard. I am...genuinely stunned by what they accomplished with him here. In roughly half an episode, hell, a pretty short one by tma standards, they gave him like...at least 50 times more development and endearing qualities as a villain than the first two seasons combined. Before this I was...intrigued by him, for sure, but didn't really care for him too much, or have the same level of brainrot for him as I did the rest of the major characters, and even a decent amount of the minor ones. But now...I mean...my god. He's just...immediately shot up to my favorites within a matter of minutes. He's even more mystifying than ever, but also has a great presence and performance, such an interesting psyche, and despite being the most outwardly normal...I'd dare to say that he's actually the scariest out of the four major antagonists we've had so far, at least to me. I...DESPERATELY need him to stop spending his time smoking weed off-tape now, because...he is just way too compelling of a character for them to keep in the background. I NEED to hear what he's like high, PLEASE. But outside of all of the brilliant character work, this episode was just generally a terrifying treat of an experience, and I'm happy to say that...it finally feels like Season 3 has been properly established. ...I know it's been like two episodes but given how long these take to write it's been like a few weeks for me lmao. Sure, I definitely think that some...general patterns need to be set up, like, I still have no clue as to how the episodes with Jon are going to function, but...we at least have the status quos of the two main story arcs set up now, which is good. And hopefully that also means that I can finally break out of these last six episodes of info-dump, and just...finally get something more standard. Like...I've loved these past few episodes a lot, but...please just let me rest a bit. Please. Please. Please. Please. Please. Please. Please. Please. Please. Please. Please. Please. Please. Please. Please. Please. Please. Please. Please. Please. Please. Please. Please. Please.

Supplemental: Ok...I have admittedly garnered quite a few thoughts ever since I finished writing for A Guest for Mr. Spider, but...I did say that I would briefly talk about the Season 3 trailer when I felt the time was right, so...I'm going to save all of those miscellaneous thoughts for the MAG 83 supplemental, and talk about that for now. So...oh boy. The trailer takes place shortly before Daisy's interview with Martin, and...truth be told, her interactions with Elias here don't give us anything that isn't elaborated on further in The Eyewitnesses. However...there is one thing that stand out. Daisy hears a strange melody playing from across the institute's halls, which fades after a while. And looking at the transcript...we can tell it's calliope music. Oh no no no no no no no. So...as I'm sure we're all aware, the calliope organ belonged to The Other Circus...who are in service of The Stranger, and therefore...most likely going to participate in whatever "The Unknowing" is. What's interesting though is that this music likely isn't just being done for dramatic effect, because according to Jon....Nikolai Denikin's calliope is actually located in artifact storage. So...that means that someone was actually playing it. And since it would make no sense for it to be an institute employee or...anyone who's normal, at least given the knowledge we have at the moment...then that means it's likely an agent of The Stranger has found their way inside. It could be Breekon & Hope, who we've already seen get inside. It could be some unknown member of The Other Circus, or worst case scenario an escaped NotThem, but..this tells us that The Stranger, or at least someone working with them...has access to the institute. And...given how I suspect The Unknowing to be a direct attack on the place that's primarily orchestrated by The Stranger...yeah, that's uh...that's a good omen. ...You know, I say that with sarcasm, but honestly, like...who's really evil at this point? Everyone? ...Yeah that checks out honestly, the whole situation sucks major balls. Well um...I can't think of a clever way to end this, so....byeeeeeeeeeeee!!!

- Episode 83, Drawing a Blank 🎨

Statement of Chloe Ashburt, regarding a new window display at Fanton’s department store in Hammersmith.

OH THANK GOD FINALLY SOMETHING NORMAL!!! ...Well, er...normal by the standards of this podcast at least. Look, the past...six or so episodes have been an absolute blast from top to bottom, some of the best in the series alongside my absolute favorite...but when you have to spend time writing down as many of your thoughts on them as possible...yeah, something more standard is a godsent. So uh...yeah! We finally have our first, good ol' spooky... kind of anthological statement of Season 3. Now, the status quo feels a lot more properly set, which is nice, I feel like I'm finally starting to get a better sense of...what this season is like. As for the statement itself, it's...good. To be honest, it's far from the most innovative or crazy thing that tma has ever done for me, like...it's a fairly standard horror story, all things considered. But....this is honestly the perfect time to throw in something a bit more down-to-earth, so I am absolutely not complaining. And despite that, it's still a very well written story that was constantly interesting, brilliantly paced, had some pretty unnerving imagery, and some decently interesting little connections that seem...particularly relevant to the overarching narrative of Season 3, which is interesting considering how...standard the episode is at large, but very welcome nonetheless. So uh...yeah, I like this episode! The finale of Season 2 and premiere of Season 3 were brilliant, but...it's nice to have something a bit more familiar. I really don't have much more to add, so...spooky mannequin statement!

So...one of the most surprising and interesting aspects of this episode is...kind of the fact that it exists in the way it does...at all. Like, the general framing device for the episode genuinely surprised me. Let me explain. So, after The Eyewitnesses, we've come back to seeing things from Jon's perspective as he hides away with Georgie. Already, this makes me guess that the season will be going under a format where...every odd episode follows Jon, and every even one follows the institute, which I like the idea of! It's more than enough spotlight on the archival assistants, while not forsaking Jon's presence in the story, so...yeah, if I'm right and that's what they're going for, I think it'll be pretty effective as a way to shake things up a bit...but not TOO much. But the fact that we're getting another episode with Jon isn't the thing that stands out to me, rather it's...what he's doing in the episode. If you recall, I assumed that because he wasn't in the institute anymore, all episodes with Jon that occured after A Guest for Mr. Spider, or at least...until he returns to the institute if Elias is to be believed, which...I think he unfortunately is given his abilities and nature, would be...different. Like, even with her podcast in mind, it's unlikely that Georgie has a bunch of statements lying around, so the question is...what does Jon even do from here on out? Well, this episode seemingly answers that question, at least I assume, and it's quite surprising. Because as it turns out...our guy is still reading and researching statements. Now, I don't have a problem with this at all. While it would've been kind of cool for Season 3 to just have...a completely different format for Jon's episodes, not doing so saves me the trouble of having to adjust to something new, and I mean...hey, the statements are still fantastic, they're what make up the majority of the story, so at the end of the day...the more the merrier, I guess. But it obviously brings up a lot of questions. In terms of storytelling...well, there's still the matter of how episodes back at the institute are going to function. I won't speculate TOO hard about it, since chances are we're going to get answers in the very next episode, or at least not too long from now, but...will they also be statements read by someone "filling in" for Jon like I initially assumed, or...will THOSE episodes be the ones that take on a completely different format? I...guess I'll just have to wait and see. But in terms of the actual plot, the big question is...why does Jon even have this statement lying around in the first place? Well, the information we have is scattered around both pre and post statement, but I'll do my best to summarize it. So...as it turns out, this statement just...showed up in Georgie's post box four days ago, with no clear sender, but clearly delivered by hand due to the lack of a return address and a postmark. So one must wonder, who sent it, and why? Well...figuring out who sent it isn't all that difficult. Because, yeah, I'm like 98% certain that it was Elias. Perhaps it's a red herring, but...I don't know, this feels like one of those situations where the audience knows what the characters don't, like a tamer instance of Not!Sasha. Because, come on. It's been well established that he knows exactly where Jon is hiding, which lines up perfectly with an anonymous sender delivering a statement clearly for him to Georgie's address, and I mean....he's just genuinely creepy like that! He clearly has some sort of big master plan that Jon is supposed to play a part in, he most likely knows the true meaning behind Jon's job title (which is mostly reading statements!!!), like...do I really need to explain any further?

As for why though...well, I already kind of implied that I think this connects to Elias' big plan and the role of The Archivist, but...both of those are WAY too mysterious and vague at the moment for me to make a tangible theory out of. However...this statement specifically pertains to The Stranger, which Jon says himself, and therefore it...probably has something to do with The Unknowing, which is being built up as a MAJOR threat right now. And while Elias seems uncannily confident in the institute's ability to stop this thing...that doesn't mean he doesn't want to stop it at all. So in my opinion, Elias sent this statement to Jon not only because of all of the...weird Eye and Archivist stuff, but also because it's really relevant at the moment. And assuming that he's going to keep on sending these things going forward...then I think this theme of relevance will continue. If I'm right, then all of the statements that Jon reads will likely pertain to The Stranger, The Unknowing, or really...anything that we should just start seriously worrying about soon, and if it turns out that the institute episodes will also be statements, then...I guess they'll be a bit more like what we're used to, they might focus on stuff that isn't imminently important, or just be classic one-offs. If I'm right....then I kind of like that! We won't be entirely sacrificing the charm of characters or concepts returning within statements when you least expect them to, but things could end up feeling a bit more focused if Jon's episodes end up as what I think they will. So uh...I guess we're doing statements for Jon again, there's some interesting stuff surrounding Elias and The Stranger there, and...yeah. Anyways, I should start talking about the actual chronological events of the episode now. It opens up with Jon and Georgie discussing the strange statement that just arrived in the mail a few days ago. Jon exhibits this...strange compulsion to read the statement, saying that it's simply his job, it's...what he does. This understandably confuses Georgie, because as far as she's concerned, he got fired so terribly that it caused him to lose everything, hence why he's staying with her. Heh...get fired from The Magnus Institute. Imagine. But...Jon just brushes it off as "being complicated." Sigh....you'd better keep good on your word and start getting help mister, especially with how generously willing Georgie seems to be to give it. I...want to quickly examine his weird insistence on reading and recording the statement though. On one hand, I think it makes sense. Even when you ignore the connections to The Stranger, Jon has gotten invested in...everything that's been happening, and understandably so. Sure, many a time there's been a lesson that it's better to just...back away and ignore things if you want to survive ✨the horrors✨, but...Jon straight up says that he's in too deep to back out now, and I unfortunately can not argue with that. So like yeah...if I were him, I would also probably want to research this, and the recording bit also ties into his desire to not be forgotten. Which...now that I think about it is one of many very unnerving parallels to Leitner, but...let's save that discussion for another time, shall we? But uh...the point I'm trying to make is that...while it makes sense for Jon to act the way he is here, it's obviously not that simple.

In fact, that feels like kind of a running theme in this season so far. Examples of characters doing things that make sense when you look at them through a regular and human lens, but...definitely seem to be at least somewhat influenced by weirder forces when you think about it. Stuff like Daisy's violence likely being partially influenced by The Piper, the many instances of Jon potentially being manipulated a little bit by The Spider, and now...this. I'm pretty sure that despite his genuine desires, Jon's insistence on reading and recording this statement is being influenced by The Eye. I mean...it just adds up. Jon's job as The Archivist, while still very mysterious, is almost certainly connected to his additional status as a supposed servant of The Eye. Reading and recording statements, when you whittle it down, is just a method of gaining and storing knowledge, and...that definitely seems in line with what The Eye is supposed to represent. Hell, before we even had confirmation of The Eye ruling the institute, I already suspected that by doing their jobs, the archival team was unknowingly (that's a weird word to use in this discussion given its meaning in tma but you get what I mean) doing The Eye's bidding, so...yeah, all in all, I think that Jon's weird desire to read and record the statement in the exact same manner that he did back at the institute is being influenced by The Eye. I...also do have to wonder if The Spider is also involved. After all, what Jon's experiencing here is...a compulsion, a desire, a want to do something even though he doesn't understand why he wants to. And...The Spider is all about control and manipulation, and I've already suspected that Jon has been influenced by it ever since his childhood trauma, and that The Spider and The Eye are relatively close, so...yeah, I could see it being involved as well. All of this might also explain...why Jon never tried to quit his job until push came to shove, because prior to Tim's downward spiral in Season 2...I'd argue that he seemed to hate his job the most, so...maybe this desire for statements explains why he kept on doing his job despite his personal feelings on it. So...yeah, overall, this is a really weird trait he's exhibiting, and I really hope some further light gets shined on it going forward, because...it feels like it could be our first major clue as to what it even means to be The Archivist, and...an even more prevalent example of how you can't really quit your job at the institute, now that I think about it. ...You know, the more I think about it, the more excited I am to learn about how this whole thing affected Gertrude. Like, reason dictates that she was also a servant of The Eye, but like...how did she experience it? Did she ever learn what the true meaning of her job was? Was she a servant by choice? Or...given how she was so close to succcessfully destroying the archives if not for Elias, did she somehow break free? Oh, and mentioning Elias...I still can't shake the feeling that something's off with his murder of her. Like, I don't doubt that he killed her, but...there has to be more to it than him just shooting her because she tried to destroy the archives, right? Especially with how cosmically terrifying her corpse was in Antonio Blake's dreams...there has to be...SOMETHING more to it. I don't know what but...I get the feeling that Leitner didn't give us all the details. Sorry, sorry, I'm getting off track.

Going back to the present, Georgie continues to be suspicious and...pretty worried of Jon's condition, but he keeps on trying to make things seem tamer than they actually are. On one hand it's very unfortunate to see him act that way, but on the other, hearing Jonathan Archivist Sims angrily defend his ability to do drugs like he's the nerd in front of the cool kids in some cliché high school movie did leave me choking. Georgie shows herself to be rather perceptive, realizing that Jon often gets obsessive over things, and highly suspecting that he got dragged into something that went horribly wrong...to which he doesn't even bother to deny. First of all, her calling him out on his obsessiveness...radiates SO much ex energy that it's not even funny. Like, I'll be more surprised if it turns out they DIDN'T date at this point. ...God I hope they don't go down the route of getting them back together. I mean, I like their dynamic, for all I know it could work, but...justice for Martin please? Because let's be honest, his incessantly horrendous gay crush seems to be the only thing keeping him hopeful for the future at the moment. But uh...secondly, I think this....general ability to tell what's up with Jon that Georgie shows here...makes me think that with her around, Jon's not going to be able to keep the "looking for a new job" charade up for much longer. You know...I initially kind of shitted on Jon for potentially dragging Georgie into his mess, and while I still stand by a few claims here and there...the more I think about it, she might be the EXACT person he needs in his life right now. Because like...he's realized that he needs to start getting help from others, but so far...hasn't really exhibited an ability to do so. Of course it's still early days for the season, and therefore his current arc, but my point is...Georgie is the best person to have around in order to get him to rely on others for once. I think he'll have to come clean sooner rather than later given her perceptiveness and skepticism, and if, or...honestly more like when that does happen...it could be a big step for his relationships with others. After that, it's just up to Georgie to be understanding and accepting of his situation, which...I understand is a VERY tall order given how insane the plot is, but...I'll have faith in her until proven otherwise. I mean, she almost certainly has...some level of familiarity with spooky shit, provided "What the Ghost?" isn't a load of bull, so...she might be more readily prepared for this sort of thing than I'm currently giving her credit for. Also, this is completely unrelated, but I love how Jon has come from shitting on Melanie for her "unprofessionalism" to having his only friend at the moment be a woman who runs a ghost story podcast. That is absolute peak character development. ...Every day we don't hear about Melanie I get more and more worried for her. ...Christ I have gone on a tangent, I TOLD MYSELF THIS ONE WASN'T GOING TO BE TOO LONG DAMMIT!!!

...Anyways, Georgie goes on to tell Jon that his insistance on reading the statement...isn't right. Obviously she doesn't realize the greater implications of this desire, but...she's smart enough to pick up on the fact that something's up. As funny as the "I could be on drugs" bit was...I actually think it's kind of telling the more I think about it, because it feels like Georgie is equating this whole thing to a drug addiction of sorts. She tells him that it's not helping, that it's "part of the problem", recognizes that it has to do with...what she assumes to be some sort of cult indoctrination, which is unfortunately not that far off from the truth, and realizes how badly it's affecting Jon. ...Apparently he's spent the last four days obsessing over it with little to no sleep, which is...a bit too familiar to his darkest hours of Season 2 for me. Please, I just...I need him to grow, he might be fictional but...after A Guest for Mr. Spider, I'm care about his wellbeing more than ever. That's...actually something I forgot to mention earlier. In the previous two seasons, while I always liked Jon...it took me a while for me to be genuinely empathetic towards him. He was always a very endearing little scamp, but...outside of certain instances, usually in the later parts of the seasons, I...spent a lot of time internally screaming at him, not to the point of me ever disliking his character, but...still. I definitely grew more concerned for him in Season 2, but a lot of the time it was in less of a "poor baby :(" way and more of a "get your shit together" way. Basically, what I'm saying is that up until A Guest for Mr. Spider, my love of Jon's character was, outside of a few instances here and there...not ironic, but more...born out of a desire to toss him around like pināta than a genuine care and understanding for him as a person. But now...I don't know, I really resonate with him, and my love for him is an honest and earnest one. Like, while I realize that he's fictional and do not value him as much as I do the real people that I actually know...I care about him in a very similar way. Uh...regardless, going back to what Georgie's saying...she's pretty right. Obviously she doesn't have the full picture, and while I can't exactly blame her for thinking this way...it is admittedly unreasonable to expect Jon to just...stop. Once again, it makes perfect sense for her to think this way, she almost certainly doesn't know why he feels he has to read and record this thing, hell, I don't even think Jon knows himself, but...there's likely a lot more to it than him not being able to break away from what he's used to. Oh, and I have to agree with her on how unnerving it is that Elia- I mean ✨the ever mysterious sender✨ knows her address. That is...a very bad sign.

Ok, with all of that out of the way...we can FINALLY get to the actual statement. I'm...pretty sure this'll be the most in detail part of this section. Just...keep in mind that going forward, I'll be talking more and more about the characters alongside all of the plot and lore, because...I'm getting PROPERLY invested in them now. Like, I've always really liked tma's cast, but...it's only recently that I feel like the full scopes of these characters are starting to take shape, and I'm able to appreciate them for more than just the sum of their parts. That's not a bad thing whatsoever, I think the fact that tma prioritizes plot, or at the very least did so at the beginning, has ultimately paid off and will likely continue to do so going forward, and given the fact that I have roughly three entire seasons left, on top of...whatever the fuck The Magnus Protocol is...yeah, I'm sure I'll have more than enough time to appreciate these characters in their more complex forms...at least provided they don't die horribly premature deaths, but...I have the feeling that if any of them do die...I mean, I'll be sobbing my eyes out, but Jonny'll probably make the deaths worthwile given his skill as a writer. But um...my point is, characters who I used to like...mostly for vibes and not much more (which once again, worked for the time), are now becoming characters who I really appreciate as like...properly fleshed out people. It's not like they were bereft of complexeties or anything, but Jon, Martin, Tim, Daisy, especially Elias, and many more have all seen some tremendous growth as well-rounded characters in my eyes, and I feel like Georgie's already standing toe to toe with them given how quickly I've gotten invested in her personality. It's sad that Sasha can't be on that list but...I guess that's kind of the point. Sigh...I miss you every day queen. Ok, but uh...for real this time, let's get into this mysterious statement.

...Ok I lied. There's just one little detail that happens before the actual story starts that I'd like to unpack, but I SWEAR it's just the one thing. So, rather than calling himself "Former Head Archivist of The Magnus Institute, London" like he did in A Guest for Mr. Spider, Jon just...uses his name and nothing else. Now, I definitely think that this is a sign of his...likely futile attempts to distance himself from his position, and hopefully means that he's taking Georgie's advice...at least somewhat into account, but...there might be another meaning to it. Because...someone in the Youtube comments pointed out that using his name and not his title...is exactly how Gertrude opened up the statements she recorded. That's...kind of interesting. At first I thought that this could be a clue to like...Gertrude successfully distancing herself from the title of The Archivist, but...now I have other thoughts. The narrative relationship between Jon and Gertrude is endlessly fascinating to me, while they barely knew each other at all when the latter was still alive, their characters are chock full of parallels and foils to each other, something that is almost said in the show by Leitner. So...taking their parallels into account for a second, what if this new similarity could be suggesting that...Jon is going down the same path as Gertrude? I mean, given how their is very clearly a long-ass line of Eye servants known as The Archivist, with at least two of them (Gertrude and the Alexandrian one) having met really strange fates...this idea that they're destined to all end up like one another kind of works thematically for me. Now, this could definitely tell us some pretty interesting things about Jon. Maybe it could suggest that he'll eventually become a hardened and destructive badass like Gertrude, which would be a pretty cool subversion of all of the comments doubting his stomach for ✨the horrors✨ made by people like Elias and Leitner. ...It could also suggest that he'll die a grizzly fate too but...let's just ignore that for the time being. But uh...I'm actually a bit more interested by what this parallel, and really...all of their parallels means for Gertrude instead. You see, I get the sense that one of the major aspects of Jon's development at the moment is...deepening his connections to ✨the horrors✨. It's possible that's maybe just a subconscious side effect of me now having confirmation that he's been touched and claimed by some of them, but...I don't know, it still feels like his bonds with The Spider, and ESPECIALLY The Eye...are just getting a bit stronger. So, if you pair that with the idea that he's currently heading down the same path as Gertrude...then maybe that can tell us something about her. Maybe she was getting closer and closer to The Eye in her final moments, and her attempt at destroying the archives wasn't just done to stop...whatever the hell Elias and the institute at large are up to, but was also done as a last ditch effort to sever her connection to The Eye, and therefore stop being The Archivist. But...maybe she failed, and um...you know that Alexandrian Archivist who seemingly survived as an apparition of The Eye? Well...what if that's what happened to her? What if that's what happened to every Archivist that failed to sever their connection? She's just like...down there in the tunnels somewhere, floating around as a cyclops ghost thing. And that means...Jon could end up the same. Also, I have to wonder...if my theory about The Spider pulling Jon towards the institute so that he could become The Archivist is true...what does that mean for Gertrude? Did she also encounter it in her youth? Or did she come there out of her own will for some completely different reason? I uh...I could really go all day. Just know that the parallels between these two haunt me all the time, and this single line of dialogue has pushed me down another rabbit hole OH COME THE FUCK ON I WAS JUST ABOUT TO TALK ABOUT THE STUPID MANNEQUIN.

Ok...no excuses now, I...actually have to get into the statement. Here we go, for real this time. Hopefully the train of thought doesn't get derailed and fall off a bridge for the 50th time. So, this episode's statement comes from a woman named Chloe Ashburt. Truth be told, I don't have too many opinions on her, but she works well as a protagonist and tells her story nicely. I will say that the one thing I did really like about her was how she was able to just...naturally be a little person in the story. It's only really implied throughout the statement and properly mentioned by Jon at the end, but..I liked it! It wasn't too shy to bring attention to the fact, and while it does make some comments about Chloe not being tall enough to reach things or facing discrimination in the workplace, it all felt like it was handled in a very natural and tasteful way, not interrupting the narrative while still allowing to exist as a part of her identity. Just...I really appreciate it when disabilities are allowed to be normalized in fiction without it being treated like the hottest take of the century. Anyways, a good while before submitting her statement to the institute, Chloe was working at Fanton's department store in Hammersmith. Overall it was a decent job for her, she didn't have much passion for it and...well, customer service blows about as much as you think it would, but her coworkers were generally friendly, it payed well enough to get her through her true passion of art school, and she was shifted around jobs just enough to the point where she didn't get bored. But overall...it was just a standard part-time job made to get her through university, and not much more. There was...one thing however, that kept the job pretty entertaining, and that was the window displays. As an artist (thankfully not the pretentious kind, looking at you Joseph Russo), Chloe had quite the interest in design, and her super cool line Lana Billings was well aware of this. So, Chloe was often left on the teams who set up displays, and while her perfectionism sometimes made things slow, and...she kind of wishes she had stopped after a while due to what ultimately happened, she had a pretty good time for the most part. But about a month before she submitted her statement, it was time for the store to start setting up some autumn displays, which Chloe was a particular fan of due to the more...out there or dramatic themes they usually held. The theme for the display she was sent to arrange was...."Nights at The Circus". Oh dear. Among them was a mannequin dressed in hoops and acrobat clothing, a paper-mache lion, and another mannequin dressed in the outfit of a ringmistress. That last one was particularly striking, adorned with a red top hat and holding a whip with great conviction. Now...already, it became clear to me that we were dealing with The Stranger, or more specifically The Other Circus, with the paper-mache lion REALLY reminding me of that tiger "taxidermy" that's shown up in a couple of statements. Granted, after listening to the episode, I don't actually think the initial display had anything to do with The Other Circus, rather, I think it was just...ill timing on the department store's part, having inadvertently attracted the attention of the paranormal. But, the point still stands that...The Other Circus is very much still in operation. If the calliope music in the Season 3 trailer wasn't enough, then...yeah, contrary to my prior beliefs they are very much still around, and seemingly playing a big role in The Unknowing, although...I'll go into more detail on that after I overview the statement.

Anyways, going back to Chloe, she notes that the other thing that kept work at the department store interesting was the...privileges granted to her by Lana. Due to both her status as an art student and her tendency to work rather late shifts, Lana would often have Chloe close up the store, but would also let her stay and draw the mannequins past the usual closing time, despite the protests of rather bigoted higher-ups. Chloe would often spend hours drawing the figures, and obviously, she would not leave the "Nights at The Circus" display exempt from her sketches. She spent night after night drawing every possible detail and angle of the figures, particularly the beautiful ringmistress, to perfection. But...that just meant that when all of a sudden, the mannequin had been replaced, she was the first, and...unfortunately only person to notice. Yeah...this was most definitely where our beloved cult of The Stranger started getting involved. At least...I think that's what The Other Circus is supposed to be? I don't know, even with all the new information we've gotten on ✨the horrors✨, especially The Stranger, my stance on that hasn't really changed since Strange Music, they are just...WAY too cult-like. Regardless, one day the mannequin was just...off. It had the same clothes and was in the same pose, but certain elements like the length of the arms and the size of the neck had been altered just slightly, and where there had once been at least...some semblance of the structure of a human face was...a perfectly blank head bereft of all features, plastic in perfect condition outside of a small crack. The changes were so miniscule that no one who hadn't drawn the figure to memory would ever notice it, and even Chloe started to question her own sanity, which is...very reminiscent of The NotThem now that I think about it, and for pretty obvious reasons. The only logical explanation that she could muster up was that someone must have removed the old mannequin and replaced it with a new one in the exact same position, but why and how was even more of a conundrum. Worst of all was that not only had nothing of worth been stolen, but even if she did get someone to believe her, no one would really do anything about it because...what could they even do to begin with? So...she just kept quiet. ...Ok, the overlap between The Stranger and The Spiral really bugs me! Like, I think it probably has to do with that whole...thing Leitner talked about that implied ✨the horrors✨ aren't as easy to understand and differentiate as 1, 2, 3, but like...you can see why I was so adamant that The NotThem and Michael were somehow connected, right? Like, they both have this whole thing of making you question your sanity or...just kind of gaslighting you overall. The main difference seems to be that The Strange does this by making things seem...slightly off or a little bit uncanny, while The Spiral does it by making things that are just...absolutely impossible by all laws of nature and life. But still, they're very similar in a lot of ways, and...that annoys me, because unlike The Eye and The Spider for example...there's like...NO proper examples of these two working with each other. Whatever The Unknowing is, it clearly harms the institute in some sort of way, and therefore harms The Eye. But...Michael, who is basically the poster-child for The Spiral, just...does not seem to be a party involved with the thing, he's much more of a chaotic neutral force who just wants to see what happens next. So like...what's up. Are they allies, enemies, or just entirely unrelated? I uh...I really don't know, but I want answers.

Ok, brief side tangent aside, for the next few weeks, Chloe just went about her business, accepting that she was unable to really do anything. Still, whenever she got the chance, she would inspect that mannequin again and again, and every time it got more and more unnerving. There was just this...feeling of difference and unease that emanated from the thing, she felt like it was watching her, which like...look, I get it, but it's funny to hear someone feel like they're being watched by The Eye's biggest hater. But just as she was about to start getting used to its presence...something even weirder happened. One day, Lana called Chloe into her office, and she seemed...on edge. She questioned her for a bit, asking if she had stayed around the night before, if she had done anything other than drawing, and if she had messed with the displays, the last two of which Chloe firmly denied in confusion. It was then that Lana pulled out a picture taken of one of the previously empty autumn display windows. And...where there was once nothing was a tangled mess of plastic mannequin limbs dressed in garish colors, holding its detached head in the air, with a big smile and a red pompom in the manner of a clown wig plastered upon it. On top of that, none of the CCTV showed this vandalism occuring, which...I assume is due to the concealment abilities of The Stranger, but all Lana saw was further evidence of he act being committed by someone who knew the camera placements well, so...someone who likely worked there. As inherently cool as all of this imagery is...it is also admittedly pretty creepy, and that's coming from someone who otherwise really vibes with mannequins. I don't think it's unreasonable to assume that this was the work of the mannequin monster or something related, but...I do have to question why it did it. It could be a part of some elaborate scheme made to lead things to exactly where they ended up, it could be done to make sure that Chloe couldn't find out what's up with it after hours, it could just be done for the sake of The Stranger's off-putting nature, or...maybe this is at the very least symbolic of how the mannequin monster was made? I...don't really have a reason for that beyond just vibes, but...those vibes work for me personally. Anyways, despite initially coming off as suspicious due to her tendency to stay around late and her...artistic endeavors, Chloe was ultimately able to convince Lana that she was not responsible for the disfiguring of the mannequin. Lana agreed to not pursue any further action...but she unfortunately had to stop letting Chloe stay around after hours to draw the figures, which...she technically shouldn't have been doing in the first place. While Chloe was understanding towards her manager's reasons and realized she was getting off lightly...it ultimately made it so that her job was a lot more dull, and the customer service was even more insufferable. But during this time...some odd things happened. Due to Chloe's new restrictions, Lana had assigned the job of closing up the place to a number of people on rotation, but every day, whoever closed up the night before would appear a bit more....on edge, constantly jumping or glancing as if something had really spooked them. And eventually...it happened. The Wednesday before Chloe gave her statement, Lana couldn't find anyone who was willing or available to close up, meaning that she had to do the job herself. Chloe said she would help her do so if it meant she got to stay around and draw the figures for a bit, and she...reluctantly agreed. But that night...things were off.

There was a strange feeling of unease in the air, one that Chloe doubts was born of her own cognition, and when Lana should've been providing her usual talkative commentary...it was dead silent in the store. It was then that Chloe rounded the corner of the "Nights at The Circus" display as she was heading out...and saw that the mannequin, the one that had been unnerving her so heavily...was gone. The other displays had been torn apart, which I take is meant to signify the mannequin dropping the facade and separating itself from the normal displays. Chloe was...understandably left stunned by this, wondering if this was some elaborate prank being played by Lana...until she heard her voice, hoarse, on edge and forced as she called out for her. ...Oh dear. Chloe made the unfortunate mistake of running after her with 999 dialed, afraid of the guilt she would live with if she left her behind, and she rushed to the storeroom where she heard Lana calling from. When she opened the door, the room was dark, the light switch completely broken, and then...a tall and thin figure approached. It was the mannequin, cold, plastic and faceless...but alive. It leaned down towards Chloe...and shushed her with its artificial finger, leaving a single bit of blood on her lip. For unknown reasons, Chloe is unable to recall what exactly happened next, but the police eventually showed up. They...found Lana's body strangled and...partially skinned in the storage room, but the CCTV thankfully proved Chloe innocent. They would go on to work on the assumption that Lana was murdered by some deranged killer who was stalking the store, which...isn't technically wrong...but Chloe remembers. She will always have that feeling of cold plastic upon her lip.

So...yeah, that's the statement of Chloe Ashburt! ...I feel like it's pretty on brand of me to have less to say about the main plot of this episode than I do all of the stuff surrounding it. Overall, it's a very simple and...pretty easy to understand statement when you consider what's going on at the moment, but I think it works! It's a very versatile showcase of the forces of The Stranger, making good use of the uncanny, doubts of sanity, things being ever so slightly off or unnerving, the circus, skin, and of course, mannequins, which I'm...honestly surprised tma's never dealt with before. Like, it's dealt with similar things, but...yeah. I thought it was paced very well, I always have a bit of a soft spot for tma statements that evoke a very...classic horror sort of vibe, and...yeah, it just works overall! Now, I don't think I have...too much to say about it that isn't already pretty obvious, but before I get into some light observations and speculation, I should go over what Jon tells us after the statement. Unsurprisingly, it is...a lot harder for him to collect additional information without a team of assistants and academic funds to spare, so...he doesn't have quite as much to give us as he usually does, but there were still some things of note. There's not much new information on Chloe and Lana, but...there was one thing of note. In an article discussing Lana's murder, a picture of the service entrance to Fanton's department store, which the police speculated the killer used to break in, is shown. But...just off the edge in the distance is an all too familiar off-white van with an unreadable logo plastered upon it. So..yeah, Breekon and Hope were definitely hanging around the place, furthering their connection to The Stranger and whatever grand plan is building up to The Unknowing. I think it's rather reasonable to assume that they delivered the mannequin to the store, and maybe took it back after it killed Lana. That's...really about it for the relevant concrete information Jon gives, so...what about my thoughts? Well, while I think it's not incorrect to assume that Elias sent this statement to Jon so that he could learn more about the general history of The Stranger, given how I speculated that he's handing him statements based on immediately relevant subjects, and how relatively recent the events are in comparison to a lot of other statements...I definitely think this is somehow involved in The Unknowing, likely some piece of preparation for it in a similar vein to The NotThem being sent to steal the institute's secrets. The mannequin is most definitely the main catalyst for this piece of preparation if I am to be believed, and I'm guessing that murdering and skinning Lana has...some sort of relevance? I don't know, I doubt it killed her because she knew something, she overall seemed pretty ignorant to what was going on, especially in comparison to Chloe, who was a lot more aware of things and also survived. So uh...I guess The Unknowing requires skin or something? The skin association for The Stranger we get here is pretty interesting, it's never been entirely absent (i.e. The Trophy Room and The NotThem "wearing" people), but like...Lana's death is the most blatant example of it so far. And yes, it's obviously uncannily similar to what happened to Mary and all the other people in that book, along with that one passage in The Book of The Dead, but...like Leitner said, it's more about what the manifestations of ✨the horrors✨ represent rather than what they literally are. I'm...honestly struggling a bit to really see what skin, or...rather the lack thereof, has to do with both The Stranger and The End.

If I had to guess, skin, or at least....natural skin that isn't stapled onto horrific monsters, is a lot of what makes us appear human, hence the emphasis put on the creepiness of a plastic, skinless, yet living being in this episode. ...Oh my god what if the mannequin was stealing Lana's skin for itself, that just hit me. And then for The End...I guess skeletons are symbols of death and without skin we're just skeletons? Yeah...it's vague, but the connection is definitely there, and I'm guessing skin is also probably involved with the meat thing in some sort of way, because...I mean, it is a part of our bodies just like everything else. Anyways, uh...point blank, The Stranger has a pretty relevant skin association, and that probably connects back to The Unknowing in some weird roundabout way. I will also say that...the act of skinning someone, potentially to give that skin to a being that otherwise doesn't have it, is...very reminiscent of what seems to be going on with The Anglerfish, Sarah Baldwin, and Daniel Rawlings. Which like...yeah, no shit, they are also very clearly involved with The Stranger, but...it does make me wonder if this mannequin, and therefore The Other Circus, have a...deeper connection to The Anglerfish than, let's say...The NotThem for example. Oh yeah, The Other Circus! Obviously the circus theme tells us that they were involved with this, probably more than any other servant of The Stranger, so...yeah, they're definitely still around, which is good to know since there was some room for doubt. Uh...the mannequin might be one of their ranks, and if so that...definitely makes me question the humanity of its members. I mean, Gregor Orsinov would probably have to be a little bit inhuman by nature if his troupe were to survive this long, and...now that I think about it, none of the servants of The Stranger seem to be all that human, which makes sense given how their whole deal seems to be uncanny shit, but...it's interesting when you compare it to other servants, who...just seem like humans with eldritch superpowers. Um...Breekon and Hope's presence here shows that they're still on good terms with The Other Circus, even if they have their own company as well...somehow, I...guess this implies that they've moved from Russia to England for the sake of The Unknowing? I uh...look, I'm really trying to extrapolate as much data as I can here, but truth be told, The Other Circus is...one of the more mysterious recurring groups on our hands, having only shown up a couple of times before this, so...I don't have a ton to say. The point is, they are still alive, kicking, and involved with whatever's going on, seemingly more so than I initially thought. There's...two other tiny details I'd like to point out. Firstly, I just...really, REALLY liked the imagery of the mannequin shushing Chloe. Just...it felt like everything came full circle there. Throughout most of the statement, she was afraid to speak up about her unease out of fear of being seen as crazy, and now, even after she's seen the truth....she still has to be quiet out of fear for her own life. And secondly...I found the mannequin just...lingering there to be pretty interesting. It's probably at least partially because it was waiting for the opportune moment to strike, but...given how everyone who was left to close up shop was left uneasy the next day, and...given how I suggested that ✨the horrors✨ like to gradually feed on people's unease given the behavior of Calvin Benchley and a few others...I have to wonder if that's what was going on with the mannequin, like...it was having its fun gradually unnerving everyone over time, which could also explain why is supposedly disfigured that other display. Fitting for what we know of The Stranger I suppose. And uh...yeah! That's...really it.

Truth be told, I can't really form a coherent and concise theory about all of this at the moment, because not only is this episode...pretty clear and concise with the information it does provide, but also...we still just do not have enough knowledge on The Stranger or The Unknowing to make an educated guess. I think this episode is less about revealing new information, and more about...telling us what we should be paying attention to right now. It's basically saying "hey, here's what we're dealing with". And that's fine! It's still very early in the season, and I'm sure we're going to get more information on it very soon, so...yeah. Despite all of my burning questions, I think that just having an episode that pushes all of this into the limelight is a good idea. I think the main takeaway is that The Stranger, which is being followed by The Other Circus, Breekon and Hope, The NotThem and The Anglerfish, is becoming more and more active with all of those parties involved, whatever The Unknowing even is, we can at least say it's...some sort of plot being piloted by The Stranger, and...it is probably very close to becoming an imminent problem as we speak. And...that's all we need to know for the time being. There are...a couple of little tidbits Jon gives at the end of the episode though. Basically, he talks about all of the elements, people, groups and themes he believes belong to The Stranger, which I've already discussed in great detail, and speculates about who sent him this statement, which...yeah, like I've said, it's most likely Elias. More interestingly though, he speculates on why this statement specifically was sent to him. And...it basically verifies what I've been saying. Jon suspects that this is some sort of warning, that the statement is meant to tell him...he and potentially many others are in danger, that The NotThem was just the beginning, that The Stranger as a whole is becoming more and more of an imminent threat. And...he's not just going to ignore that. He ends the episode by proclaiming that he's going to continue investigating further, that he is...adamant on finding out what's going on. On one hand, I agree that he should probably find out what the whole deal with The Stranger and The Unknowing is before it becomes a big problem, and...hey, at least his desire to gain new information doesn't involve stalking his coworkers anymore. But on the other hand...this is probably exactly what Elias wants him to do, and...it's just a bit too reminiscent of all that stuff with The Eye and The Archivist and...knowledge as a theme in tma for me to write it off as nothing but a good thing. So uh...in the simplest terms...yikes. Well, that about does it for Drawing a Blank! Overall it's a pretty damn solid episode! I'm a bit more intrigued by what it's setting up instead of what's in the standalone episode, and...I do find it a bit of humorous shame that I had much more to say about the opening with Jon and Georgie than I did the actual statement, but...I still really enjoyed the entire episode! My thoughts on it were a lot less extensive than usual, but...once again, I am more than ok with that given what I've just done. Anyways, see you next time, I'm going to get to constructing a cursed mannequin! (no I won't) (i do not have the time or energy)

Supplemental: ...I just realized that it doesn't seem like we have supplementals for Season 3 anymore. I mean...I guess that makes sense given that Jon isn't doing crazy suspicious glances at his coworkers (who he admittedly hasn't seen for at least a week) anymore, but...I'll still kind of miss them, they were a lot of fun. Whatever, nothing's stopping me from using them in my posts. So uh...as promised, here's just a list of some additional things that have been floating around in my head recently! First of all, you know how I said it was sad and unfortunate that Jon called himself a "deeply annoying child" when he probably wasn't, and Mikael was just a dick? Well, while I still stand by the fact that that isn't a great mindset to have, I...would be lying if I said I didn't do the exact same thing a lot of the time. Thank you Jonathan Sims, your existence calls me out every day. Secondly, I was...kind of thinking back to how I suggested that "Mr. Spider" and "Mr. Pitch" were allied or connected in some sort of way, but...then I realized that might not make sense, because The Eye is very clearly allies with The Spider...but enemies with The Divine Host. However, it might make sense if you consider the possibility that..it's actually very easy for✨the horrors✨ to be allies with two beings who are enemies with each other, and not face any repercussions for it. I think this lines up pretty well since due to the existence of Daedalus, we can probably assumed that a group like The Lukas Family is close to both the institute and The Divine Host, depsite their supposed rivalry. And I mean...✨the horrors✨ are kind of implied to be mindless cosmic monsters on unimaginable levels of power, so...I don't really know if they CAN face repercussions. Do eldritch gods have a justice system? Probably not, they're committing crimes on the daily. ...Oh god, what does the existence of ✨the horrors✨ mean for mainstream real-world religions in the tma universe?! Like, I know that they haven't been confirmed as creator deities or anything, hell, Leitner suggested that considering them as equivalent to gods is kind of a fool's errand, but like...imagine being Christian and learning that no, Jesus doesn't exist, but you can go worship the backrooms instead. ...Then again, the meat has a lot of Christian undertones....aaaaaagghhhh I'm going down a rabbit hole again. Anyways, my point is that in regards to that spider darkness thing, I've either been proven wrong or I'm actually on to a lot more than I initially thought. And finally...I found this Tumblr post, and I just wanted to say...this is the best summary of my writing process and my motivations for making these posts that I've ever seen. So here you go, a deep dive into the mind of the "author":

- Episode 84, Possessive 🗞

Martin Blackwood, Archival Assistant at The Magnus Institute, recording statement number 9900112, statement of Adrian Weiss.

You know, tma is a very...diverse podcast, in a lot of ways. I mean, these episodes can take so many forms. Some of them are extremely scary, some are really emotional with complicated themes, some are just a really fun and creative concept. But then, every once in a while...you get one that makes you want to vomit. Ok, that's...admittedly an oversimplification in this episode's case, because it's actually really good with a lot going on! The statement is creative and bone-chilling with a lot of mystery and moving parts behind it, it has some pretty interesting themes at play, and I especially like what other parts of the episode do for the greater narrative. Like...there is quite a bit on that front. But with that being said...EWWWWWWWWWWWWWW!!!! Like, I know it's supposed to be gross considering which member of ✨the horrors✨ it seems to align with, but...dear god. It might not quite be the grossest statement of tma in concept, but just...the way it's described, every little line...it adds to the atmosphere in the most disgusting way possible, and like...I absolutely love that, I think it's genuinely amazing that an episode can make me feel so unclean, but...stiil, yikes. Now, to be completely honest, I'm...struggling to piece together everything that's going on in this episode, as it's a little bit vague. Not necessarily vague by nature like...Fatigue for example, but...even though a lot of the general themes and ideas are more than familiar, this episode deals with entirely new concepts and characters, and it feels like there are quite a few missing pieces which...I feel like leads to multiple possible interpretations of what exactly happened here. Still though...I'll try my best to make something that works. I often find that ideas come to me a lot more easily if I just...sit down and write rather than mulling it over in my head at 2 AM, so...yeah, let's just get into this disgusting hell rodeo!

So, before the main plot of the episode even starts, there's already a decent amount to unpack at the very beginning. Don't worry, it's not as much to unpack as what I had last episode...probably. So, I think it's safe to say that after this episode, we now have a good idea of Season 3's format fully established. This episode brings us back to the institute, seemingly showing that my hypothesis of every odd numbered episode being focused on Jon and every even numbered episode being focused on the others was correct, and we also have confirmation that both storylines will still primarily focus on statements. Admittedly, I do think it would've been...kind of cool if they tried out a completely new episode format for one of the arcs, but the statements have been just as generally good as ever so far, and it feels like the podcast is more focused on the overarching narrative than any other point in its history beforehand, so...I really can't complain that much, especially since changing the format TOO drastically could come with a potential risk. Anyways, it's nice to finally get a full sense of what this season's whole deal is, but...one question remains. With Jon absent...who's reading the statements? Who is, in the non-paranormal sense, our "Acting Head Archivist"? Well...I'm proud to announce that it is the one, the only....Martin K. Blackwood. Hell. Yes. Ok, well...technically it seems like the responsibility has been thrust upon the archival assistants as a unit, but...as much as I would love to see it, I doubt that Tim's going to be reading statements any time soon given his current emotional state, hell, even Martin kind of backs that up inadvertently. There's also the matter of the new recruit, but...uh, you know what, we'll get to her later on. So as far as I'm concerned, Martin is filling in for Jon...and I could not be happier about that. I mean...I guess I could do without the horrifying implications of what working at The Magnus Institute does to a person and the world at larger, but like...look at him!!! Look at my guy!!!! He started out as the office punching bag and look at him now!!! Oh my god...Season 1 Jon would be QUAKING at this revelation if he saw it. But uh...yeah, I'm really happy that Martin is reading statements for the institute episodes, because it means we get to spend a lot more time with him. And...while I can't exactly speak for how likely it is at the moment, it might also mean that we'll get more time with the other assistants if they read out statements as well. I...also guess I should mention my thoughts on how Martin, and...Alex by proxy read this statement. This is the first time we've ever had someone other than Jon read a statement that isn't there own, with the obvious exception of Not!Sasha and Elias, but...in their cases, they were made off-putting and ominous on purpose, and their deliveries weren't really supposed to emulate the actual person they were acting as. In short...this is the first time anyone other than Jon has read someone else's statement for a simple job with no known sinister motivations. And Alex/Martin...does a pretty good job at it! I don't think his delivery here quite reaches the heights of Jon/Jonny's theatre kid deliveries, but...this is his first time, so I'm obviously not going to judge his overall prowess too early. Either way, he does just as good of a job as Jon and every live statement giver at delivering the story with a sense of conviction and terrifying immersion, so...yeah, he's made a very strong first impression, which is unsurprising given how well he did for his own statement in Colony.

But to be honest, the main reason I'm talking about this is because, as I've said before, I think that Jon's crazy deliveries have actual lore implications. So the big question is...does that same pattern of oddly accurate portrayals of statement givers apply to Martin as well? Does it only apply to The Archivist (or...I guess just Jon for the time being since Gertrude's also a bit up in the air with the accuracy of her deliveries), or is it something found across all archival employees? Well...I think it's hard to say. Like I said, it doesn't quite reach the heights of theatre kid energy seen in episodes like Piecemeal, Hive and Literary Heights, and those episodes are the kinds that make me suspicious of the deliveries in the first place. And...yes, while Martin's delivery is still really immersive, that same principle applies to all of the people who have given their statement live, and...sure, while I do have some suspicions about how they're able to recall their statements directly, (such suspicions being made even greater due to later events in the episode) I think that their visceral deliveries are entirely natural in their case. It's only suspicious to me when someone is reading another person's statement, and seemingly manages to emulate that person's cadence perfectly, and as of now...I really can't tell whether or not that actually applies to Martin. His delivery is visceral, sure, but...I can't tell if he's actually emulating the tone of Adrian Weiss, or if he's just kind of freaked out. At the very least, I think I can say that statements definitely have...some kind of weird effect on the people who read them, not just Jon, but...I'll get into why later. Regardless, the short is that I'm really happy Martin's filling in for him, I think this first statement read by him was really well performed, and...there's certainly some interesting questions regarding this development that have still yet to be answered. But will all of that out of the way...let's finally get to the main event. See? I told you this wouldn't be as long as last time! ...I swear I'll get rehab soon.

So, this statement comes from a man named Adrian Weiss, who came to the institute to detail a notable event during his childhood in the Suffolk village of Cratfield. Now, as I'm sure you're aware at this point, I'm a pretty big fan of the statements that take place during childhood, so we're off to a great start. Although, I have to say that this episode made me think...are minors allowed to give statements to the institute, or can they not do that until they become adults? I mean, given its paranormal nature it's...probably a good thing if they can't give statements? But like...imagine if a 16-year old discovered something that gave answers to every major mystery, but couldn't tell Jon because of their age. Actually...how much does The Magnus Institute connect back to the UK government? It definitely seems pretty independent, but...most if not all officially certified academic institutions need some contact with the government, and I doubt they'd let a lot of what the institute is doing slide so easily. Then again...both the guy who runs it and some close contacts like The Lukas Family do have their connections to terrifying eldritch forces, and...I guess what he did to Daisy gives us a good idea of how Elias would likely handle troublesome government agents, but...I'm still intrigued by the topic either way. Ok...I'm rambling and need to take my meds. Anyways, Adrian moved to Cratfield when he was about ten or eleven. It was a far cry from his previous home in Ipswich, and...much like me after listening to the episode, he always found the place to be absolutely filthy with all of the natural rot and manure around, even as a child. Still though...it was overall fine. It was rural, open and isolating, but Adrian did feel like it was a fresh start after a difficult school life, and while the local children weren't exactly his favorite people in the world, he was content enough to spend time with them, and overall preferred their company over being alone. There was one kid however, who stood out quite a bit, and his name was Gordon Goodman. He was a younger teenager, but he was extremely short with hair that fell over his eyes, and had a rather quiet tone. But when compared to the other more...meat-headed children (uh...the regular kind of meat headed, not the tma kind), he was actually rather calm, kind and polite, always taking everything in stride. I find it...a little bit weird that Adrian says it never really felt like his name fit his character though? I mean, I guess he doesn't sound like the perfect definition of an upstanding guy, and...given what we learn later I would actually hesitate to call him a good person...or maybe even a person at all, but like...on the surface he seems like he was nice enough, so...I don't know what Adrian's going on about here. Anyways, despite his general pleasantness, there was always one thing about Gordon that struck Adrian as...a little bit odd. On the edge of Cratfield was a small field that almost everyone avoided, as it was arguably the filthiest part of an already filthy village. Its only resident was an old woman named Margaret Carnegie, who lived in a small bungalow in the middle of the place, hence why the place was colloquially referred to as "Maggie's Dump". She was a hoarder by nature, no one really knew where she got all of the stuff she owned (...I don't really think I want to if I'm being honest), but her supply of junk seemed never-ending. Eventually she had to start keeping it in the area around her house, and since she never bothered to tie it down or keep it secure, it just kind of...got all over the place. Almost as if she was...intentionally making the place a mess....yeah I see you. But since Cratfield didn't have an actual dump, and because Maggie didn't seem to mind the mess whatsoever...other people just started throwing their own discarded shit in the area, and thus, the dirtiest place in Cratfield was born.

And this is where we get back to Gordon, as for whatever reason he was the one who took up the decision to deliver Maggie her food, which often led to him being teased by the other children. You know...I really have to say, I find Gordon to be quite the fascinating character in all honesty. Like...it's so interesting, because up until the end of the story I genuinely really felt for him. He seemed like a super sweet and altruistic kid who unfortunately got wrapped up in some creepy stuff, and he might actually be a genuinely nice person in terms of his demeanor and personality, but...then that final line comes along and just makes you question everything you've been led to believe, and it's clever as it is unnerving. I'll...obviously get to that later, but just know that I find him decently interesting on both a writing and lore perspective, and given how a lot of things regarding both him and his relationship to Margaret Carnegie remain unsolved, I kind of expect him to return in some kind of way later down the line, so...even if I might not have many concrete theories regarding him at the moment, I definitely feel like it's worth taking note of him. And mentioning his relationship with Maggie, while Adrian was not nearly as judgemental toward Gordon for his seemingly noble actions as others, even he was a bit confused as to why he would do such a thing. He suspects she was likely a relative of some sort, and...I'm honestly inclined to agree with that, both due to later evidence in the statement and because it adds fuel to a little theory I'm crafting. Regardless, as much as Adrian was intrigued by Gordon's actions, he was a lot more intrigued by Maggie herself. Naturally, the presence of a strange and reclusive elderly woman with odd habits and relations in a small town would lead to a number of ghost stories, especially among the children. Most commonly were rumours about her being a witch, which...I guess isn't too far off? I don't really know, I think that kind of depends on how arcane they decide to go with ✨the horrors✨ going forward but...I guess Jane was also a witch, and she seems to serve the same force as Maggie, so...even if ✨the horrors✨ aren't really a witchcraft deal, it's possible that The Flesh Hive specifically might have a...strange fondness for that sort of thing, if you know what I mean. ...Ok that's probably a stretch, but anyways, the other big theory regarding her was that she had murdered her husband, chopped him up, and buried him beneath all the garbage. I'm...not sure how inclined I am to take this as canon, since the idea of killing your loved one and dismembering them seems more akin to someone like John Haan, but...the idea of burying corpses beneath the rubble actually seems not too out of the possibility given what we definitively know about her, so...yeah. Also, I absolutely loved that one mention of the neighborhood kid who was a compulsive liar. We need to bring attention to those little shits more frequently in my opinion. Ok, I'm getting off track and probably over-analyzing. The point is, Adrian was...certainly scared by these stories, but also fascinated by the fear he felt, he got a rush out of it. I actually really appreciate this detail, we've certainly had statement givers who are inherent fans of spooks before, but this is the first time I can recall it applying to a child, and I think it's a pretty realistic depiction of how kids often respond to fear as an emotion, just as fascinated as they are apprehensive. But anyways, this interest in Maggie led to Adrian often accompanying Gordon on his walks through Maggie's Dump, at least until he got a little bit too frightened and ran back to the fencepost that he deemed a safe space. Gordon was always somewhat oblivious to Adrian's fear, but he seemed to enjoy the company.

Adrian...never actually saw what Gordon did though. He would ring the doorbell with food in hand, Maggie would answer, and...Adrian never stayed around to see him come out, even if he tried to. He would always be at school the next day, and if Adrian asked what had happened, Gordon would always brush it off to the best of his ability, although...he could never quite hide how his fingernails were stained with dirt. I...guess now's a pretty good time to just outright say which of ✨the horrors✨ I think applies to this statement. It is...quite obviously The Flesh Hive in most conceivable ways. It'll become more apparent later, but there is a clear presence of filth, rot, decay, diseases, insects, parasitic relationships, and even that classic yellow ooze here, so...yeah, another example of old faithful. However, the presence of dirt, things being kept underground, and a place that seems rather claustrophobic with all of the rubble in mind...I do have to wonder if the unnamed being with relations to compression that's seen in episodes like Lost Johns' Cave and Underground also played a role here. Like...it seems unlikely that Maggie was actively serving it when opposed to The Flesh Hive, but...I have a sense that it was around. But then again...Leitner kind of gave off the sense that ✨the horrors✨ aren't as easy to understand or organize as both the characters and the audience (/The Eye possibly hehehehehe) would hope, so...I don't know, it might actually be a lot more complicated than just assigning one being to every statement, or every artifact, or every servant, or every- you get the idea. I think I'll still stick with the method of organization I'm using for the time being, since it ended up being more relevant and correct than I initially expected, and...hell, Jon himself is doing it to an extent (not Martin though because holy shit it just hit me how LITTLE the assistants know about what's actually happening right now), but...I'll keep an open mind just in case. Point is, using my current methods of classifying ✨the horrors✨, I think this one is primarily tied to The Flesh Hive with some minor influence from the compression power. Anyways, uh....fuck where was I. Oh yeah, so despite the...relative innocence of Gordon's kindness towards Maggie that existed on the surface, Adrian definitely knew something was up with them. And...it all came to a head when one day, Gordon didn't return from Maggie's Dump, and he didn't come to school. Given all the rumours and superstitions surrounding her, Adrian was quick to figure out that Maggie had likely...kept him there, and as soon as school finished he rushed to Gordon's house to confront his parents about the matter. This is where...something pretty interesting to me happens. Adrian was met with Gordon's father, and for whatever reason...he lied about what was going on, saying that Gordon was sick and asleep in his bedroom, refusing to let Adrian in. It's technically possible that he was lying in order to not make Adrian panic or worry, but...given the podcast's track record, I'm inclined to be a little bit suspicious. I...definitely think that Gordon's father, and likely the entire Goodman Family by extension, was aware of what Maggie was doing to him, and....that probably means they were ok with it given their lack of action on the matter. This is why I assume that Gordon and Maggie have some sort of familial relationship, and if that's not the case, then...there's most definitely some sort of relatively close connection to her going on that I hope gets addressed on some level. Regardless, with no answers coming from his father, Adrian decided that he was going to have to save Gordon himself.

It's here that he points out Maggie's desire for the junk surrounding her house to stay with her, verifying the idea that she wants it for some...not so nice reasons, but he also mentions how in the years since, he's tried to deny that what he saw was real despite his better judgement. That's another very interesting aspect of his character to me, as....I mean, my memory might be failing me here, but it doesn't feel like we ever get statement givers who want to deny the reality of what they saw, it always feels like they have something to prove. The only prior exception to this that I can think of is like...Mark Bilham from Growing Dark, but outside of that...yeah, this feels pretty new. Like, (and this genuinely just came into my head because truth be told I hardly plan these posts out in advance at all and this is just my train of thought converted to text and yes I am hoping to get my ADHD diagnosis in the upcoming months how could you tell) this statement honestly has a pretty good and interesting cast all things considered. But getting back to the plot, Adrian traversed the piles and piles of filth, making it further than he ever had before...and that's when things started to get much, much worse. An all too familiar sickly-yellow glow emanated from the windows of Maggie's bungalow, reflecting off of the empty bottles surrounding her house, and Adrian fell to his knees upon the horrendous stench that also suddenly appeared. When he did so, he noticed that all of the food that Gordon had been delivering to Maggie was being kept behind her house, still unopened, showing that the food delivery was just a mask for whatever was really happening. But alongside all of the unopened food...was a pristine, clean can of baked beans, stood upright and completely out of place amongst all of the pestilence and filth. Adrian reached for it, wanting to feel a semblance of anything clean...and then, of course, it began to shake violently, throbbing and pulsing as something tried to break free. This definitely reminded me of...whatever the hell was in Amherst's fridge back in Pest Control, but...also kind of reminded me of the coffin given the lack of knowledge on what's inside? I mean, I sincerely doubt that the coffin is related to The Flesh Hive at the moment, and...we know that it at the very least as stairs inside, the mystery now being where those stairs lead, but...I have pointed out that the coffin could relate to the compression power, even if I still think The Spider is a little more likely, and I did say this statement could also relate to that same being, so....hm. Well, regardless, Adrian stumbled back upon the sight of the can, but...as he tried to get back on his feet, he felt the dirty and vile ground try to pull him down. Just...the description of his entire arm up to his elbow being coated in grime....ugh, that might just be the most disgusting part of the statement for me if I'm being fully honest, which is saying something, although I also think it's the best evidence for the presence of the compression power's presence. But while he didn't scream, Adrian was still mortified as he pulled his arm out of the ground by force and flung away as much mud, soil, and...you guessed it, worms, as he possibly could. And then, as he looked down to where he had torn his arm away from...he saw Gordon. Except it wasn't Gordon, rather, it was an uncannily perfect recreation of him, made entirely out of old newspapers and cardboard that worms had made a nest out of. As...unnerving as this was, and...as much as it gets me to think that maybe this supposed replica of Gordon was what tried to drag Adrian down under in the first place, it did get him to remember who he was even for. Adrian made his way back up to the bungalow, and when he peered through oily and slimy yellow windows...he saw something that would forever scar him. No traditional witchcraft, no dismembering and burying, but instead...oh god.

He saw Gordon Goodman, sat motionless in an armchair, and above him was the hunched and crooked figure of Margaret Carnegie. Tiny and inscrutable organisms were crawling all over Gordon's face, and Maggie was covering him with ancient, yellow paper, and a rancid fluid that emanated from her body. She sang a soft and ominous song, a...bit too similar sounding to what Jane described in her infamous monologue to ignore from my perspective, and as she did, the creatures on Gordon's face began to crawl at an even more rapid speed. It was then that Adrian accidentally broke a glass bottle...and he ran. He didn't care if Maggie hadn't heard him, he didn't care if it meant Gordon meeting a grizzly fate, he was not going to take any chances if it meant facing what he had just seen in person. But the next morning...Gordon was there as if nothing had ever happened. He was at school the next morning, once again acting as if nothing had happened, although...for whatever reason he stopped going to Maggie's Dump. He and Adrian would lose contact when the latter moved to Liverpool with his family about a year later, and...over the coming years, he managed to convince himself that what he saw that day was nothing but a dream. That was...until a business trip of his in Ipswich, one that happened a month prior to his statement. The drive back home had taken him through Cratfield, and he decided to take a quick pit stop there. He engaged in some idle chitchat with the locals for an hour or so...but then, someone mentioned leaving an old mattress behind in the nearby dump. Adrian asked when Cratfield had gotten a dump, and the citizen casually said it was just a field where people would throw away their junk, saying it as if he had no idea of the place's relevance, of its unnerving rot and dark secrets. And then...Adrian asked if the place had a name, and the local said yes, that it was named after the recluse who lived in the area. The place was now called "Gordie's Dump." .....fuuuuuuuuuuuuuck.

So uh...wow. Ew. Gross. Even icky. Some might say that was wretched and vile. Perhaps disgusting. That's uh...that's great. Just. Just great. I guess you could say this truly was a "Statement of Adrian Weiss." But in all seriousness, I did really like this one! It had a surprisingly intriguing cast of characters, some very creative uses of gross-out horror, and just...this general sense of mystery, of not being able to truly piece together what was actually going on. And uh...on that note, I guess I should talk about my theories and speculations regarding this one. Because, truth be told, this statement is surprisingly vague in a lot of places. There's a lot of things that don't feel clearly explained, or are just really up to interpretation in nature. I certainly have some ideas, but...I can't really speak for how fleshed out they'll be. Like, I'll be able to make some propositions and explain why I think what I think, but...whether or not I can make a fully concise and coherent theory for the events of this statement is something that only time can really tell. And hell, I'm not unaware of the possibility that none of this actually matters. I'm only trying to make theories because...all of this gives off the energy of something that will eventually return, at least to me, and I want to see how right I'll end up being if it does indeed come back around. But...I am not unaware that Jonny and Alex have gone on record to say that not every minor mystery will be resolved, and it's definitely possible that this episode is just a one-off that is meant to remain vague forever. And you know what, I like that, I think the fact that tma will ultimately leave some things as loose ends by the time it finishes is good, it adds to the mystery, intrigue, charm and of course, horror, but...I still can't shake the feeling that something's up, so I'm going to try and piece together whatever I can. Before I do though, I should definitely go over what Martin has to say post-statement, which as expected, is...a lot more in depth than what Jon provided for us in the last episode. I'll...go over his strange reaction to finishing the statement a bit later, but for now, what does he have to tell us? Well...that unpleasant patch of land in Cratfield is indeed owned by Gordon Goodman in modern day, having been bequeathed it by Margaret Carnegie after her death in 1982. By my estimates, this means that Maggie died...probably a few years after the events of Adrian's statement, and I think that Martin mentioning Gordon was her sole beneficiary adds to the idea that they might have been blood relatives. What's most interesting however is Maggie's cause of death, as while official records list it as being through "natural causes"...that's clearly not the case. Autopsy reports show that her lungs were apparently filled with newspaper pulp, and while she's listed as having "cancerous growths", Martin notes that the report makes said growths sound more like...insect legs, and that they were apparently still moving after death. ...Uh oh. Finally, Gordon was apparently the one who found her body, although it went missing the following night. Martin suspects that "he didn't want to let her go either", and while he is unfortunately cut off from saying what he thinks Gordon did by something I'll discuss later...I'm guessing he thinks that he held on to Maggie's corpse, possibly keeping it beneath all of the trash like those rumours used to say. Also, this is completely unrelated, but I really like how Martin reads all of these post-statement details. It's just...I don't know, it feels a bit more opinionated than Jon, a lot less matter-of-fact, and a bit more interested while also a bit less mortified, I think it suits his character quite well. Anyways, with all of those details in mind...what do I think?

Well...like I said, I only have some ideas at the moment as opposed to fully fleshed out theories. I...honestly think we just need to learn a bit more about how ✨the horrors✨ function, specifically in terms of how they affect otherwise human beings, before I can make something concrete. For now...well, let's just start with some explanations of the simple miscellaneous mysteries. So, like I said, this episode most certainly deals with The Flesh Hive, and I'm not going to explain why in full again. Just know that...pretty much all of the inherently gross stuff in this episode connects back to The Flesh Hive in some way, shape or form, and that includes some of the mysterious stuff. Like, I'm not going to get too hung up on what was inside that can, because for now...I can't really say anything more than just "something belonging to The Flesh Hive." Uh...Maggie and Gordon are both most certainly servants of The Flesh Hive like Jane and Amherst, chances are their ownership of the dump and desire to live in an unclean and disgusting environment serves it in some way, and...when it comes to Maggie's death, I think it might be something similar to what happened with Jane. I'm not too concerned about the newspaper pulp in her lungs, since...that just feels like another creepy detail meant to solidify her connection to her patron, but....if you recall, Jane...kind of died from the looks of things, the one that attacked the institute was very different from the woman who gave her statement a couple of years prior, and was basically just a corpse being piloted by a parasitic worm hivemind. And I think something similar happened with Maggie, she was likely fully overcome by The Flesh Hive and became a walking corpse or sorts, hence the moving insect legs. Which...might also mean that she is not entirely dead, but...I guess we'll just have to wait and see if that's something worth worrying about. That does get me wondering though, about like...how people are overcome by ✨the horrors✨, and what the supposed stages of the process are. Because like...Leitner basically said that the conscious beings who serve ✨the horrors✨ are still their own entities, just with connections to higher powers, and in a lot of cases that is true, but...then people like Jane seem to have been entirely consumed by The Flesh Hive, just another cog in the machine. So like...is it possible that the Maggie present throughout most of Adrian's statement was a conscious person serving The Flesh Hive, and after her "death" she became even more intertwined with the being? Could this theoretically happen to servants of other powers? Like, maybe Elias is just a servant of The Eye at the moment, but he'll become a part of The Eye itself later on? Oh my god...is that what happened to Michael? Like, I think it makes more sense that he's just the human persona of The Distortion at the moment, but like...what if he was just a relatively human servant of The Spiral at some point, and gradually became more and more connected to it, until we get to modern day where he basically says that he and his always are just limbs and organs of a much larger thing, that being either The Distortion or The Spiral at large. I just...oh god that's interesting to me. But...even then, I think the most interesting stuff comes out of the main theme of this episode, that being...well, possessiveness. Unhealthy love, the desire to keep what is most dear to you as close as possible no matter the cost. This has always been a...kind of underlying theme of The Flesh Hive to me, seen through examples such as Jane's past, or how the first statement involving the thing is, to this day, the only one that's really about sexual desire.

And I think this component explains a lot of Maggie and Gordon's behaviour, the hoarding and Martin's suspicions of Gordon keeping her body are obvious ones, but I also think this serves as a pretty good explanation for the weird...newspaper model of Gordon we saw. I had...quite a few conflicting thoughts surrounding this, but I think it makes the most sense to assume that Maggie was making these copies of him out of an...unhealthy obsession with him, and that the part where she was smoothing paper over his skin is meant to show us how she makes the models, like...she was getting his proportions. Hell, even though I don't think the newspaper in her lungs is all that worth worrying about...I can concede that it might very well represent Gordon...returning the favor, so to speak. She coveted him by making those copies, so now...he's coveting her, filling the things that keep her alive with her everlasting materials in order to keep her with him forever, literally and/or spiritually, tying back to what Martin said at the end of his wrap-up. All of this seems emblematic of their relationship, an unhealthy one between...what I'm once again guessing are relatives, one where they are both victims and abusers, where they refuse to let go of one another...and it's absolutely haunting. As much as all of the physically gross stuff unnerves me...the more emotionally gross aspects of The Flesh Hive are probably the most terrifying to me. With Jane, I found it kind of beautiful in its own twisted way, but here...it's just really cruel and visceral, and I absolutely love it. But...while all of these themes of possessiveness and unhealthy love are certainly emblematic of their emotional relationship, I also think it's supposed to tell us about their more...paranormal relationship. In my opinion...Maggie and Gordon's relationship is another example of a connection to ✨the horrors✨ being passed down through an organization, connection and/or bloodline. Maggie served The Flesh Hive, and is now passing that responsibility down to him, possibly explaining why he stopped going to the bungalow after Adrian saw him, as he might have finally, truly been claimed that day, or maybe explaining why Maggie died the way she did, as she had passed down her responsibilities. This might also add further explanation as to why Gordon's father seemed aware of and ok with what was happening, as...if Maggie did indeed have a familial relation to the Goodman Family, then it's possible they were somewhat similar to the Keay Family, being a bloodline that served one of ✨the horrors✨ and expected their young to do the same. This also makes it extremely likely that...this inheritance of the dump has been going on for a long-ass time, added to by the fact that Maggie seems to be kind of a faded memory by the time Adrian arrives back in Cratfield, and implying that many came before Maggie, and...Gordon will likely choose a successor of his own if he hasn't done so already. I...did also consider the possibility that maybe their relationship was something similar to what I suspect is going on with Maxwell Rayner, where "Maggie" is just some greater power or spirit possessing its successors generation after generation, but...I really don't have any evidence for this other than that it would make the title of the episode really clever, and...I don't know if we can equate the power of The Flesh Hive to that of The Divine Host's patron all that easily, especially since Rayner's abilities seem...decently reliant on the dark aesthetic. And uh...yeah, that's really it.

I'm...genuinely really sorry I don't have more to say on this, and that it's pretty half-baked and incoherent. I definitely have a lot of thoughts when it comes to this episode, it's certainly getting the juices in my brain flowing...but it's hard to connect it back to other episodes outside of its pretty obvious connections to The Flesh Hive, and...that makes it pretty hard to speculate on, since a lot of my theories rely on making logical connections to previous episodes, and I'm not all that good at making theories with just the content of standalone episodes and nothing more. Plus, I don't even know how relevant this episode is supposed to be, and oh god I'm rambling just-. ...Ok. Look, the point is, I don't have a ton to say on this one that isn't pretty surface level, and I think that's fine. I have some basic thoughts, and...hopefully I'll be able to make some greater theories out of what I've established going forward, but for now...this is it. I think I've made it...clear enough what my thoughts are, but to recap...the main conclusion is that the owner of the dump in Cratfield is inherently hereditary. Margaret Carnegie and Gordon Goodman are likely just two of many prior and likely future beneficiaries, all servants of the power known as The Flesh Hive, there to fill the field with filth and covet as much junk as possible. That's...basically all. Well...except for one thing, kind of. It...isn't really relevant to the plot of this statement specifically, but...Maggie and Gordon got me thinking about, like...others who are similar to them. Basically, people who have been claimed by ✨the horrors✨...not necessarily because they were directly sought out by the beings themselves, or had some crazy paranormal mishap, but because they had connections to other people or groups that were already claimed themselves. I'm talking The Cult of The Lightless Flame, The People's Church of The Divine Host, The Other Circus, The Lukas, Fairchild, Haan and Keay Families, and...likely The Archivists and the heads of The Magnus Institute. Because...while I've done zoom-ins on all of them individually before, I've never really talked about these cults, families and positions at large before, and...given all of the mystery surrounding what it even means to be The Archivist, I feel like this topic is going to become pretty relevant sooner or later, so...I should probably start talking. You see, with people like Jane Prentiss, Jared Hopworth, and Mike Crew...they're all relatively easy to understand, at least as a broad concept. They all started serving ✨the horrors✨ because of some sort of paranormal experience unique to them, and said experiences seem to run a little bit deeper than the average encounter with something spooky. But...when it comes to these larger factions, they're a bit more difficult. I've divided them into three types in order to explain them better. Cults, families, and positions. Let's start with the cults, namely The Divine Host and The Lightless Flame. I'm...going to exclude The Other Circus for the time being, as while it does seem like they're going to be relevant very soon, we...really don't know that much about its members beyond Gregor Orsinov, Breekon and Hope, nor do we know how exactly it's structured, how it recruits, or...really have any idea on the backgrounds of most of its members and associates. Hell, most servants of The Stranger are questionable in their humanity, which I understand is probably intentional, but...it does make it possible that, while almost certainly still a cult of some kind...The Other Circus could be a bit different from the....other two. I...did not intend to make that pun but I guess we just have to live with it.

Uh...anyways, the other two seem very similar in nature, so...I'm going to assume that they have similar methods of getting people to join their ranks, and therefore get claimed by ✨the horrors✨ in the process. We have no idea how these groups were founded, hell, The Cult of The Lightless Flame has no known leader at the moment, and the best we have is that...Agnes was pretty relevant to their machinations, but...we can make some good guesses on their recruitment methods. With The Divine Host, we have a clearcut example of someone joining their ranks in Natalie Ennis. She became a servant of their patron after joining them, showing that they have...some way of getting people claimed. I don't exactly know...why they chose Natalie specifically, I get that she was a vulnerable person with a recently shaken faith, and therefore easy to pray on, but like...did she just happen to be the nearest potential recruit, or was there some greater meaning to it? I'm not really sure, but...hey, we at the very least have a decent idea of how The Divine Host gets people...kind of. Now, as for The Lightless Flame, we don't have a super clear example of how they recruit people, but...I'm guessing that Agnes was likely recruited after the destruction of Hill Top Road. Yes, I know that she was likely there to deal with Raymond, but...that could easily be explained as just...the nature of servants of Asag, not just members of the cult. Remember, Mike Crew serves The Vast, but he doesn't seem to be a Fairchild, so...yeah, I think you can still serve one of ✨the horrors✨ without being in an organized group of other servants, and...maybe a rivalry with The Spider is just a thing that all of the fire people have. Also, I know that The Lightless Flame is evil, children aren't safe in tma, and Agnes was pretty powerful even in youth, but...do you seriously think that this cult which is serving a provably real force would recruit a ten-year-old girl? Sure, Rayner seemingly tried to possess Callum Brodie, but that's different from literally having a child among your ranks. And no, I don't think that Agnes was possessed by The Lightless Flame leader, because not only is that way too much of a reach given what information we have, but it's also implied that she entirely wasn't happy with her position, which...makes me doubt that she was the founder and/or leader to begin with. She seems much more like a high-ranking member who wished for some sort of escape, but likely couldn't because...if The Montauk Family is anything to go off of...escaping a group that serves ✨the horrors✨ is no easy feat. And finally, I know that the way Agnes aged is...questionable, and you wouldn't be entirely wrong if you proposed the idea that she's like...a 600 year-old fire demon who took on the shape of a young girl while at Hill Top Road, but...Anna Kasuma's talk about the house's history is enough to make me believe that she aged naturally up until a point. Plus, her lifespan seemed directly tied to the house, since she basically started dying when Ivo Lensik tore down the tree, so...yeah. Ok, that was...a LOT or rambling, but my point is...Agnes likely served The Lightless Flame before the cult recruited her, and...that means that they're probably ok with recruiting anyone who was claimed before meeting them.

Now...despite the way I've formatted this kind of suggesting otherwise, let it be known that I am not trying to suggest a distinction between these two cults. I have no reason to suspect that The Divine Host hasn't recruited people who met their patron before they met the church, nor do I think that The Cult of The Lightless Flame doesn't have some way of getting people claimed upon recruitment. My goal here is just to show two ways that the cults in tma recruit people, therefore turning them into servants of ✨the horrors✨, while also showing how that's interestingly different from people who get claimed on their own and never become a part of any organized group. It...just so happens that we have very little clear cut examples of how these cults claim people, and the examples we do have come from separate groups. But the main point is...cults in tma either seek out people who were already claimed, or seek out normal people and THEN get them claimed. And....while I still can't say this for certain, I have no reason to assume that The Other Circus doesn't operate in a similar manner. ...Man, talking about this reminded me about how much I love Agnes....it's a crime and shame she's dead. Anyways, the second kind of....uh...fuck, what term do I use? Uh...I guess I'll just call them "horror groups". Yeah, the second kind of horror group I want to discuss are the families. Basically, the bloodlines that seem to serve ✨the horrors✨. Oh, uh...I guess I should just say that...I think Maggie and Gordon fall somewhere in between families and the next type of horror group I'm going to discuss, having a blood relation, but also a succession of position. Just understand that...this classification I'm using isn't something that I actually think exists in tma, rather, it's just a system I'm using so I can better explain my thoughts and differentiate the horror groups. All of these groups, no matter how intertwined they get with each other on a plot level, are...kind of their own things at the end of the day, and specific ones can...borrow attributes from others in a lot of cases. Anyways, if memory serves correctly there have been four horror families so far, although...I think most of the details that are relevant to this examination can be gleaned from the Keay Family, with everything else just being trends that are common among them. With the Haan Family...there's like three confirmed members at the moment, and they don't really have anything glaringly different from the others outside of the power they worship. That's...kind of a common trend among all four of these families in all honesty, at the moment they aren't that different aside from what they worship and their...less paranormal occupations, and I'm only focusing on the Keay Family because we know them...arguably the best. Uh...anyways, as for the Fairchilds and Lukases, well...we can't actually say for certain that they're blood related. I don't know if I've ever actually mentioned this in a post before, but...I've always kind of thought that based on the way they present, they could be something akin to the Mansons, a cult that only uses the "family" moniker for aesthetics and manipulation purposes. Well, er...really only based on how the Lukases present, it...also doesn't help that we don't really know any Fairchilds other than Simon, and we only assume that they all worship The Vast due to their jobs fitting the vibe. But like...I really don't have too much of a reason to not think of them as genuine families, other than superstitions....and also the fact that it's a little silly that servants of isolation incarnate have so many god damn kids, but overall...I think it's fine to lump them in with the Keay and Haan families.

Anyways, how exactly do I think members of these families get claimed? Well...despite all of that buildup, it seems pretty simple. I initially assumed that the existence of families that worship ✨the horrors✨ implied that like...you could pass down those abilities and connections through blood alone. And...that could've easily sent me down a really mind-boggling rabbit hole, but thankfully, I don't think this anymore, and it's mostly because of Mary Keay, and...likely Evan Lukas, even though we don't know as much about him. The Keay Family has seemingly worshipped The Eye for a long time, but Mary was able to break away from its influence. Sure, she's still somewhat involved with it, but she's also involved with many others among ✨the horrors✨, and this time it's out of her own choice. It's...a little bit interesting to me that Gerard seems to maintain that familial servitude towards The Eye though. Like, we know that he doesn't have the best relationship of all time with Mary, but it's actually pretty unclear how much she was a part of his life to begin with, so...maybe he was raised by another, more devoted member of the family? Maybe his dad if he even had one, although...his dad would supposedly be from a different bloodline that likely didn't worship The Eye, so...I can't be too sure in all honesty. But if he wasn't raised by a more pious family member...that kind of implies he brought the connection to The Eye back himself. And like...I get that Mary is terrible in her own right, and I get that familial culture is very important to a lot of people...but when your culture is worship of an eldritch monster...I don't know, it might be worth considering otherwise. Uh...anyways, Evan Lukas also seems to be an example of someone who broke away, as unlike his isolating family, he was a very sociable man. Granted...even though his death was supposedly ordinary liver failure...I am a little suspicious as to if he ever truly got away without repercussion, especially with how cold and emotionless his family seemed at his funeral. Anyways, I've gotten pretty sidetracked, but the point is that connections to ✨the horrors✨...likely cannot be passed down genetically, as members of these families are shown to be able to get away, even if some can do so more easily than others. And obviously, we don't have examples of this phenomenon for the Haans and the Fairchilds, but...they're so similar in nature to the Keays and Lukases that I'm inclined to believe that they can do the same. Hell, the Fairchilds and Lukases literally worked together on Daedalus so...yeah. Anyways, this all makes me think that...the families aren't all that different from the cults in all honesty. The only major difference is that rather than go scouting for anyone they can make use of, their members are supposedly composed of only their own blood, and they likely attempt to indoctrinate them at an...unfortunately young age. This makes me inclined to equate the families to real-world religious families, where the religion is often passed down from generation to generation, and...in the more toxic religious households (which I do believe are what these families are meant to represent), it can be seen as a massive betrayal if you go against the faith.

And uh...on that note, there is one other thing about these families that interests me. Going back to Mary and Evan for a second...I feel like they might imply that it's easier to break away from the families than the cults. Which I understand probably isn't that true to real world cults and real world religious households, I personally wouldn't know, but...from what I've heard I think it's pretty hard to break away from the latter, and...the former is often a matter of how they've sunken their claws into you. But like...in the case of tma, think about it. Mary seems to have betrayed her family with no reprocussions, Evan...is a bit of a mystery, but for all we know his death was just a normal tragedy, but...then you have the Montauk Family, who betrayed The Divine Host and suffered everything because of it. So...yeah, maybe it's easier to break away from the families than it is the cults. Well...that's about it for them, they uh...they basically indoctrinate their young into eldritch religions. That's...kind of all I have to say on them. But finally...we have the positions. This is the other category I think Maggie and Gordon fall into alongside their likely blood relation, basically....titles that are passed down among different people. And as of now, the only other examples we have of this both happen to come from The Magnus Institute itself, and...one of those examples is admittedly purely speculative at the moment. Let's start with the non-speculative one, which is of course...The Archivist. And...truth be told, I don't have too much to say that hasn't been said already, outside of one thing which I'll get to in a second. Basically...it's a job position that has been held by Jon, Gertrude, and many others dating back to at least The Serapeum of Alexandria, and anyone who holds the position seems to get immediately claimed by The Eye, and for some unexplained reason that matters. A LOT. We...kind of know all of that. However...all of that talk about people breaking away from their planned patrons made me realize something. That...might actually be possible with The Archivists, despite how intertwined they seem to be with their position. Now, keep in mind, I am not outright stating that I think Jon will break away from his position. It's certainly not impossible, but...just understand that I think this because of how Gertrude acts as The Archivist. And...Gertrude was clearly quite an exceptional person, and many people, including Leitner who is...basically the closest thing to a sentient lore bible the story has ever given us (I know Elias knows everything but he also tells us nothing most of the time so I don't count him), have stated that Jon is not nearly as powerful as she was. She is...an exception, but even exceptions can prove some interesting possibilities. Because, here's the thing. Gertrude...doesn't act like a servant of The Eye, in fact, she acts much more like its enemy. Which is super weird, because as far as we're concerned, being The Archivist comes packaged with being a servant of The Eye whether you like it or not. Sure, Jon shows that they can get lightly touched by other members of ✨the horrors✨, but...they're always claimed by The Eye. But the thing is...Gertrude doesn't just try to run from her patron, she actively antagonizes it. She blew up the serapeum remains, cut out the eyes from all of her book covers, helped Leitner hide from Elias, has statement deliveries that do not feel quite as grandiose and entrenched in the statement giver's personality as Jon's, and even tried to burn down The Archives in her last hours. Now...I will concede that it is very tempting to say that because of this, along with the fact that unlike Jon, she hasn't shown nearly as many Eye-core traits in her episodes...Gertrude was never The Archivist to begin with. But while that is a very fun idea...I do not have nearly enough evidence to make a proclamation THAT grand at the moment. I'll write it down and make a theory for it if I have the evidence, but for now...I'm not going to run with that.

Rather, I think it's more likely that Gertrude just...found a way to rid herself of her patron through force. It's kind of like what Robert Montauk tried to do by killing members of The Divine Host and driving back the darkness encroaching on his home, but like...on a much grander and likely more successful scale. I...will also admit that, given how she has shown a tendency to destroy things via flames on multiple occasions, and...how pictures of her also showed up in that ritual circle in Scotland, I was...a little bit tempted to say that she was actually serving The Lightless Flame. However, saying that would require me to go with the idea that she wasn't The Archivist and/or a servant of The Eye, which I already said I have no evidence for...or have to go on the assumption that you can get claimed by more than one of ✨the horrors✨, and I just...do not have the time or energy to shake my entire view of this world like that at the moment. I mean, I think the ritual circle implies she was at least connected to The Lightless Flame, but...given how the bottles those pictures were in, you know, set everything on fire, I'm more than happy to interpret that as a sign of an antagonistic relationship between the two, and write Gertrude's arsonist tendencies off as pure coincidence. Then again....The Lightless Flame is against The Spider and The Spider is allied with The Eye...no no, I'm getting ahead of myself. The main point here is that Gertrude found a way to fight back against her supposed patron through force, and maybe even severed herself from it entirely for all we know. And...unless she got this ability from some unknown external apparatus...then that's an innate ability that any Archivist could theoretically gain. Sure, Jon is probably nowhere near Gertrude's power levels at the moment...but nothing's saying that he can't get there eventually, and therefore possibly sever his connection to The Eye. I just...I don't know, it's an interesting possibility. Oh, I...probably should have said this earlier, but I guess I'll just mention it now. I...have absolutely no clue how you attatch one of ✨the horrors✨ to a job title. Like...no clue, and I think I'm just ging to wait for more clues to come rather than make a bunch of baseless speculations right now. Just....wanted to clear that up. Um...anyways, there is one more hereditary position I have to discuss, and...truth be told, I don't have much to say about how it functions, mostly due to a lack of information. Rather...I just want to prove that it's a hereditary position in the first place. Because...yeah, I think that the connection to The Eye is something passed along to each institute head, and it's not just a trait of Elias. I don't really think that's much of a hot take, but...I've never really discussed it before so I might as well do so now. Firstly...I mean, in the same way as The Archivist, being the head of the institute is just...generally an inherited position. If the head dies, retires, or is for whatever reason is unable to continue their jon...someone replaces them, that's common knowledge and true amongst most businesses. But as for the idea that all institute heads have served The Eye...that's a bit more tricky, but I have plenty of reasons to suspect it. Firstly...Jonah Magnus was kind of a weirdo! Like, we know next to nothing about him at the moment, but like...he supposedly built the institute over the remains of Millbank despite his knowledge of Smirke's creepy architecture, got his hands on an Oregon Trail journal with paranormal properties...somehow, and most damning of all is the fact that he and his institute have historical connections to an Eye worshipping family that persisted for centuries. That's...just inherently kind of weird. I mean, the Keay Family worked at the institute in times before Elias took control, so...at the very least, the institute has had some sort of connection to The Eye before him.

There's also the fact that while "The Magnus Institute" has only existed since 1818...The Eye's Archves have existed since The Serapeum of Alexandria, and subsequnetly, so has The Eye's Archivist. That...kind of makes me wonder if rather than it's own, orginal thing, "The Magnus Institute" is...just a rebrand for what could broadly be refferred to as "The Cult of The Eye". Like, you know how The Divine Host supposedly disbanded in the mid-90s, but is still around underneath either a different name or no name at all, and supposedly had an ancient itteration known as "Those Who Sing the Night"? Yeah...I kind of wonder if The Eye has a similar thing going on. Maybe just as the archives in the serapeum are an older itteration of the archives in the institute, The Serapeum of Alexandria as a whole is an older itteration of The Magnus Institute...as a whole! Which...yes, would be greatly twisting real-world history, but like...it's not like tma hasn't done that before, and...we literally have a character who is the living embodiment of unreality, so...get real, you hypothetical contrarian. But maybe Jonah, while still the first head of the institute, wasn't the first head of...uh...[INSERT PLACE OF ACADEMIA THAT SERVES THE EYE HERE]. But...ok, I might've proved that the institute has had a connection to The Eye since it's inception, and that The Eye has been possessing multiple places of academia all throughout history, but...how does that prove that the head being an Eye servant is also hereditary? Well...simply put, Elias is always in complete control of everything, arguably more than real CEOs or real businesses, and the similarities between him and The Eye look like they run so deep that...I feel like the head kind of represents the institute as a whole. The archives seem like the beating heart, the most important thing to Elias and The Eye's machinations, but...Elias himself is the brain. Literally nothing evades his sight, the institute and everyone inside it are both being treated like his pet project, unlike The Archivists he seems to serve it out of his own will, and everything The Eye seems to want is also what he wants. It's just...like, yeah, I don't know that much about Elias. I don't really know what he's planning, what he wants, where he's coming from, really nothing beyond his personality and the sheer terror his presence evokes. But what I do know is that The Eye has always been here...and he is just way too connected to it, way too similar to it for me to not think that something's up with him. And when you combine it with the weirdness of the institute's founder...yeah, I think the head of the place is, much like The Archivist, a position that comes with some dark, dark power. Ok...wow, I just put a lot of mental energy into something that probably isn't that out of pocket, and I probably overcomplicated things in a way that made my arguments come off as really half-baked, but...there you go. A thorough as mentally possible examination of the cults, families and positions of tma, how they lead to people getting claimed by ✨the horrors✨, and their...general nature on a lot of fronts. Does this really tell us anything big about the relationship between Margaret Carnegie and Gordon Goodman, or the entire statement of Adrian Weiss? No, not really. Like I said, I think that Maggie and Gordon's relationship is somewhere in-between a family and position being passed down, but uh...yeah, this whole thing doesn't tell us much more about them. Rather, I think it's more accurate to say that Maggie and Gordon were...a catalyst for a larger discussion. They just got me thinking about all of these organized groups of weirdos and how they function in a time when I otherwise wouldn't have, and I just thought...."you know what? There's no time like the present." And..I uh...I wrote all this. It's just...kind of a collection of information that I hope to make use of going forward, and...even though it is overall barely connected to the actual episode I'm supposed to be talking about...I hope you enjoyed it regardless!

But...I should probably get back to the actual episode now, specifically...the stuff that happens after the statement. And oh boy, it is...quite the doozy. So...here we go. Ok, so I said I was going to mention Martin's...weird reaction to finishing the statement, that of course being his exasperated and...kind of terrified breaths. Now, this is actually pretty in character for him. Despite how well he's been taking all of the general stress recently...I'd still argue that he has a slightly weaker stomach for the paranormal than Jon (except for when it comes to spiders for SOME REASON....god I hate how similar I am to Season 2 Jon a lot of the time), and this statement also just so happens to deal with the member of ✨the horrors✨ that spent half of Season 1 terrorizing him, but...you should know at this point that I'm in an era where every little oddity that relates to reading statements is especially suspicious to me. And...I feel like this is meant to show us that, no matter who you are...reading someone else's statement can put you in a bit of a trance, explaining why Martin was...presunably emulating Adrian's voice, like I said it's a bit hard to tell at the moment how far he'll go when voicing statement givers, and also why he's acting as if he just broke out of some sort of zone. He might not have all of the traits of The Archivists just because he's filling in, like...please keep that in mind for later, but this is further proof that there's something weird about the statements themselves, not just how people read them. Regardless, just as he's about to finish his follow-up, he notices...someone outside. A...very notable someone. That's right, it's the one, the only....MELANIE KING!!! SHE'S NOT DEAD!!! YAAAAAAAAAY!!! I mean...she's not doing great all things considered, and like...some pretty freaky stuff involving her is minutes away from happening...BUT WHO CARES?! I'm super happy that she's come back for Season 3, like...I know that it's only been eight episodes since her last appearance, but that was like two months for me, so I've been getting more and more worried for her life by the day, so...phew. Crisis averted. Anyways, before I get into the following conversation, I wanted to point out how Martin initially mistakes her for Helen Richardson. That shows that they haven't forgotten about her...which does admittedly make me wonder if I was wrong when I said I didn't think she was the woman in the backrooms. I mean, my main argument against the idea was that she was feeling hunger, fatigue and dehydration, implying that you could just die over time in there, but...then again, it's kind of implied that time doesn't work entirely normal inside there, and...Michael does seem to have a penchant for causing feelings such as fatigue, if the episode of the same name is anything to go on, so...who knows, she might very well still be alive. I'll...keep her in mind just in case, but I still feel like it could easily be someone else inside there. Anyways, Martin notices that Melanie doesn't look all that good, and she uh...well, she responds with...uh...you know what, I'll just quote it. She "Got shot. Sort of. In India.". ....WHAT DO YOU MEAN BY THAT?! I JUST....WHAT?! WHAT?! "GOT SHOT, SORT OF?!" HOW DO YOU "SORT OF" GET SHOT?! DOES IT HAVE SOMETHING DO DO WITH THE WAR GHOSTS?! THE PIPER?! DID SHE GET EVEN MORE MARKED BY IT?! I just...oh god. Uh...I unfortunately don't have that much to say about this beyond my sheer confusion, as we don't really get much additional context on the matter, but...that HAS to be something that gets addressed later on. Like...we NEED that third Melanie statement eventually, because...there is not a chance in hell they aren't addressing this after all of that buildup. Anyways, Melanie returned from Amritsar to give a statement to Jon about...whatever the hell happened to her, but...since our beloved archivist obviously isn't here at the moment, Martin offers to take her statement instead, much to her understandable confusion.

Regardless, she agrees to come inside...what I'm guessing is Jon's office that's currently being occupied by Martin? Anyways, when she does....something REALLY weird happens. She just....completely fails to give a statement, instead opting to ask about where Jon is after a couple of stammers and stutters. That is...really weird to me. So...I'm sure you're aware that I've talked about how weird I find it that nearly everyone is able to recount their experiences in such detail, as like...the general populace aren't that good at writing. Sure, I was content to write it off as a suspension of disbelief needed to allow the writing to stay good, but as time has gone on and the podcast's format has become more and more apparently strange...I cannot help but feel suspicious of it. And in my opinion...this little detail of Melanie failing to give her statement is meant to show us what happens when Jon isn't around to take statements, showing us that The Archivist is directly tied to the ability to get perfectly recounted statements, especially given how this whole interaction between her and Martin is meant to emphasize how Jon's absence is affecting the place and the people within. Now yes, I will concede that it's not inherently out of character for Melanie to fail giving a statement here, she is very clearly confused by Jon's absence and probably not in the most calm state after getting sort of shot. If it wasn't for my prior suspicions, I wouldn't read into this at all. But...let's remember that we have had statement givers in much worse mental states and much more stressful situations before, and they've been able to recount their stories perfectly fine. Funnily enough, Helen Richardson is a prime example of this, she was having the second worst time of her life behind actually being stuck in the backrooms, yet still told what happened with nearly perfect prose. Hell, even people like Jane and Lydia Halligan, people who were in horrible states of mental decay, probably gave more coherent statements than whatever Melanie tried to do here. Sure, they were a lot more vague and poetic, more reflections of their mind than actual stories, but they still had overall better flow. And yes, I understand that this is just a single line of dialogue, but like...come on! After everything else that's happened regarding this matter of statement recollection...I have to bring attention to this, it's just way too damn suspicious to me. I...really hope that someone else tries to give Martin a statement in person sooner rather than later, because that could really help to confirm my suspicions. But for now...yeah, I'm going to keep a very close eye on this detail (THE JOKE WAS UNINTENTIONAL I SWEAR TO GOD), and I feel pretty safe in saying that, provided these perfect recollections are more than just the way the show is written, then...they are definitely reliant on the presence of The Archivist. Well...disregarding that for now, Melanie goes on to ask about Jon's absence, and a conversation between her and Martin ensues as he gives her the details. It was nice to see that Melanie's actually on Martin's side in not thinking that Jon could murder someone. Granted, it does seem to be for very different reasons, I feel like Martin has genuine faith in Jon being an overall good person due to their relatively decent connection to each other (and also his crush but he would never admit it), while Melanie just seems to think that he doesn't give off that energy, even though she does kind of hate him as a general person and thinks he's insane, even lightly poking fun at the idea of him snapping being inevitable. But still...I'll take anything if it means someone being on Martin's side for once, even if it comes with some conflicting opinions.

I will say though...Melanie mistaking the metal pipe for a smoking pipe was comedy gold, both because the idea of using that as a method of murder is somehow funnier than an eldritch monster using a lethal weapon of human design, and also because Jon going for a smoke...did technically lead to Leitner's death in a roundabout way. I also found it funny how when the topic of Sasha came up she just...completely noped out of talking about her after what happened with Jon last time...although it is once again a tragic reminder about what happened, and how Martin and Tim still don't know about it. Which...I guess might potentially be resolved earlier than expected if the blanks get filled in for Melanie, but I'm getting a bit ahead of myself there. Anyways, Melanie goes on to express frustration at just...her general predicament. All of her friends have left her behind, she apparently has no money, and is at a complete dead end in terms of the investigations that kept her going, implying that her trip to Amritsar was..unfortunately filled with more instances of sort of getting shot than answers. Yes, that is indeed going to become a running gag throughout these posts whenever possible, for some reason I just find it very funny. But not only is this a pretty sympathetic struggle...but I actually find that last part very interesting when you remember that Melanie parallels Jon just as much as she foils him, especially when in regards to their never-ending search for the truth. I felt like her dialogue here kind of implied that...I don't know, her investigations into those war ghosts was the last thing that kept her going? Like, at a point in her life where she felt like she had nowhere to go, those investigations acted as a distraction of sorts, the one thing that kept her from breaking, and...given the nature of her prior career, maybe Ghost Hunt UK also fulfilled a similar role for her, even if to a lesser extent given the presence of friends and money at the time. Which...admittedly makes me want to know more about her past prior to Skintight, but I'm getting ahead of myself there. But the point is, all of this really reminded me of the last episode, where it felt like Georgie was kind of likening Jon's constant search for knowledge to a drug addiction, so...also something keeping him going in a rough time where he's also bereft of friends and a job. ...I am trying so hard not to ramble about the lore implications of the drug addiction allegory a second time you have no idea. But yeah, the basic point I'm trying to make is that this is another great example of how Jon and Melanie parallel each other, and it's just...MAN I LOVE THIS DYNAMIC SO MUCH!!! Having themes like this to begin with is already one thing, but having them strengthen the narrative and change the way I perceive the characters involved and their relationship with one another to THIS degree...it's genuinely fantastic, and I'm super glad that they're allowing the parallels to continue growing and flourishing with Melanie's return, and it also makes me even more curious to see where both her and Jon will end up in the end. Regardless, Martin tries to offer her comfort after hearing this, which is genuinely really sweet of him. Like, despite how fundamentally different these two are in a lot of ways...I don't know, I kind of get the feeling that Melanie's newfound larger role in the narrative could lead to a really fun dynamic between the two of them, just one scene together and they're already bouncing off one another greatly. But uh...mentioning Melanie's larger presence...I guess we should get to the bit that is both really exciting...and horrifically unsettling.

So...unfortunately it could not be avoided for long. As just as Martin's about to offer some comfort, the archives are graced by the one and only Elias Stoner Bouchard, who definitely did not know that Melanie was in the building at all. He comes in to introduce himself to her, and...SOMEHOW recognizes her as the person who ran Ghost Hunt UK, much to Martin's understandable disbelief. You see, this is the thing that pisses me off the most about this sexy-ass murderer man. Take a look at Jon. He goes out of his way to hate-watch Melanie's show, spending however long those episodes are to thoroughly decipher everything he hates about them, and then probably writes long-ass pretentious hate comments under an alias. Elias on the other hand...he just KNOWS. He doesn't have to put in the time and effort to watch her show, he just gets that information handed to him on a silver platter. God...he really is an academic CEO. Maybe take some time to enjoy art for once in your life you undergraudate heathen! *spits on him*. Oh my god...I just realized that him being a shitty student makes perfect sense now. He doesn't need a good degree because he just supernaturally knows everything. If that was intentional...that is amazing foreshadowing. Oh, um....I guess I should probably mention my thoughts on how Elias was portrayed here, since I expressed my worries about how that would go a while ago. And my verdict is....he was done...pretty well. I think I was a bit more pessimistic at first, and felt like he was being portrayed as much more evil than he should be in front of people like Martin and Melanie, but...I kind of realized that a lot of those feelings come from just...the external audience knowledge of him being bad news. Like, if I was Melanie in this situation, I probably wouldn't be all that suspicious of him. I do admittedly think that there are some lines that...just teeter on the edge of being a bit too villainous for the situation, and I did feel like he was a bit too ominous towards Martin for my liking, but...then again, it has been pretty well established through how he treated Leitner and Daisy that Elias is...pretty damn ruthless, even against the most minor inconveniences. Like, this is the kind of guy who would pull out a chainsaw on a fly, so it's not too out of character for him to act like this towards Martin...even if it plays into some pet peeves of mine that persist throughout fiction as a concept. But at the end of the day...can I really complain that much? Like, yeah, he's not the most subtle villain of all time and the shift from boring manager to maniacal supervillain is a bit polarizing, but...he is ultimately a hundred times more interesting, endearing, and entertaining than he ever was in the first two seasons, and even if it's not exactly what i expected out of his character, I would much rather have that over the...more realistic but much less interesting Elias of old. So like...yeah, it doesn't really bother me that much, I'm just pointing it out because...I otherwise have so little negatives with this character. I mean, in terms of writing, as a person he's a stinky bastard man who we should all throw wrenches at. Anyways, getting back to the plot, Elias makes some kind of passive aggressive comments at Melanie, which I genuinely love. Like...not even her supposed relevance to his scheme is enough to stop him from shitting on her show, which on a more unironic note, just goes to show that...he doesn't really need to be all that subtle, because he can easily get what he wants with his powers alone, and that...kind of gives me a new appreciation for the shift in portrayal between seasons. Also, I think it would be funny if it turned out that Melanie's show was just...genuinely shit. Like, I doubt it, since she feels like someone we're supposed to root for a lot more wholeheartedly than the more questionable Jon and downright malicious Elias, but...it would be a funny revelation at the same time.

Anyways, Martin...kind of seems to catch on to what's happening, doing his best to get Melanie to leave as swiftly as possible, but unfortunately...Elias is just a bit too persuasive. Because just as she's about to leave...Elias makes her a quick offer. Supposedly recognizing her talent and mentioning the recent loss of an assistant...he...he offers her a job. Oh. No. Oh no no no no no no no no no no. I mean...also yes, but like...there's a lot of no to go around as well. So..I'll get into what her acceptance of this position might mean in a little bit, but for now...I want to talk about why Elias made this offer to begin with. Now, I don't think the reasons he says are outright lies on his part. I do actually think that Melanie's experience in paranormal investigation and the recently vacant position for an archival assistant are reasons as to why he's recruiting her...but even those have their own weird connotations. Firstly, her prior experience with the paranormal hasn't just given her some regular job qualifications...it's also left her heavily touched by one of ✨the horrors✨ on at least two, and most likely three seperate occasions, which he is almost certainly aware of. Sure, she wasn't touched by The Eye...but then again, neither was Jon, and it's not impossible for The Eye to be aligned with The Piper in some sort of way that benefits Elias' goals. I mean...he did murder with a "pipe"...just saying. A similar thing goes for the argument of the vacancy, because...not only do we not know why he needs archival assistants to begin with, other than doing their regular jobs, but...we also don't know what's up with the number of "three" specifically. Like, it just hit me, but...is it not a little bit strange that Elias is only offering this job to Melanie after Not!Sasha's been dealt with, even though she was a servant of his enemy, and he was aware of that? Is it not weird that Gertrude apparently had the exact same number of assistants? Like...I don't know, I feel like a specific number of three assistants should be seen as kind of relevant. But even outside of all of that, there's the fact that he's taking advantage of someone's vulnerable position, jobless status and naiveté, how he's offering the job to the one person aside from Jon and himself who knows the truth about Not!Sasha, and...also how he wants someone with way too many similarities to his dearly coveted Archivist, which includes that never-ending desire for knowledge that The Eye seems particularly fond of. Like...there are just way too many suspicious things that come with this offer of his, and while the podcast isn't subtle about the nature of his request...finding out what exactly he wants out of her is quite the tricky and unsettling endeavor. But...moving forward, Martin continues to try and find ways to prevent her from accepting the job, bringing up her lack of formal qualifications, to which Elias makes a rather snide comeback that is clearly referring to the lies on his resumé. But...while this initially seems like nothing more than a comedic callback, it made me realize that...Elias knows Martin lied on his CV. Which is on one hand hilarious, but on the other hand it makes me wonder...if Elias knows that Martin doesn't have any actual qualifications for his job, then...why did he hire him? Because like, as currently curious as I am about his motivations for hiring Melanie, I am just as curious as to why he hired Martin, Tim, and even Sasha, although...in her case it's kind of a toss-up as to whether or not we'll ever get any answers on her reasons, so..I'd be willing to write it off as he joining out of her own interest in the paranormal, even if that's a little sad. But like, in the case of Martin and Tim...why? What is it that makes him want to hire them? Sure, we don't know much about their past, and what we do have doesn't point to anything paranormal, but...that just makes things even more confusing! Just...WHAT IS YOUR PROBLEM AND WHAT DO YOU WANT FROM ALL OF THESE GAY PEOPLE YOU OLD FART?!

Well, anyways...getting back on track, Melanie...fortunately for me and Elias, unfortunately for everyone else including herself, and despite her previous misgivings towards the institute and the archives...takes the job offer in a desperate situation, completely unaware of what's to come. Interestingly, we hear a static noise play when she accepts the faustian barga-I mean job offer, and it just so happens to be the exact same noise that played when Tim became aware of his inability to quit back in my dearly beloved Binary. I think this proves that this noise is the respective static meant to represent The Eye, and it likely plays whenever The Eye is exerting its power over someone. In Binary, we were likely hearing it preventing Tim from quitting and Jon from firing him, but here, we're likely hearing it turning its gaze upon Melanie, which...yep, basically means that she has been touched by yet another one of ✨the horrors✨. ...Great. Damn...someone in the Youtube comments pointed this out, but...it kind of just feels like she's been doomed from the start. Like, ever since her encounter with Sarah Baldwin, or arguably ever since she started investigating the paranormal, this has been...unfortunately kind of inevitable, especially given Elias' sheer power. Just...it really does feel like unless you don't give a shit, you're screwed on arrival. Martin fails on one last desperate attempt to get her to stop what she's doing...and she follows Elias into his office in order to sign some completely normal paperwork. The episode ends with Martin making frustrated sounds as he realizes his inability to save Melanie, and the recorder clicks off. I think this is a good tell of where he is right now and likely where he's headed. Thanks to Tim he knows that you literally cannot quit a job at the institute, and thanks to...well, basically everything that's been happening since early 2016, he knows that joining the place just puts you in innate danger. But...I think this whole exchange is likely his first big look at just how...not-so-nice Elias is, how he's more intertwined with the institute's less desirable aspects than he'd like to believe. Like...I don't know, I don't think Elias can keep up his charade for much longer, but...then again, it's debatable whether he even needs to anymore in the first place. So uh...yeah. Melanie's...an archival assistant now. I...certainly have some mixed feelings on this, as you can probably tell. On a level of personal enjoyment...I mean, this is absolutely perfect for me, it goes beyond what I ever could've asked for and then some. I've always really enjoyed Melanie's character despite her limited appearances, so having her officially become a main cast member, getting a basic guarantee that she'll play a significant role going forward...it's an absolute dream come true! I'm super excited to see how she'll affect the narrative going forward, how she'll interact with other characters, what her arc will be like, what more we might learn about her, and I'm also glad to see the absence of a female main character being filled back in so quickly (I do know that Georgie arguably fills in that role as well, but it's a lot harder to gauge how much she'll be around at the moment than with Melanie). But on a more moral level...holy shit this is terrifying. Like...the poor woman has no idea what she's getting herself into, and I mean...let's be real, being in tma is just an inherently bad thing for someone to go through, no one in this story is both a good person and having a good time. So...yeah, in short, I'm really happy that she's not only alive but a main character now, and I'm super excited to see where this leads, but...may ✨the horrors✨ have mercy on her soul. Just...Christ on a bike Elias, I know you're the bad guy but I need you to explain yourself sooner or later because if you don't...I might actually just explode. Just...man. England really is hell.

So uh...yeah, that's Possessive. Overall, another fantastic episode.. It had a really creepy and wonderfully disgusting statement with some pretty neat intrigue and mysteries, led me to some fascinating places in ways I didn't expect, and most of all...it really pushed things forward in terms of the overarching narrative. Stuff like Martin reading statements, the ever-bewildering behavior of Elias, and of course...the introduction of Melanie into the main cast are all really exciting and interesting to me, and...yeah, I'm just getting really pumped! Although, if I had to nitpick...I do kind of hope that we get some big, showstopping statement in the not-too distant future, or really...just an episode where the statement feels like the highlight. Sure, that was the case with A Guest for Mr. Spider, and...arguably The Eyewitnesses as well, but both of those statements are very different from what we usually get, I'm referring to the more standard statements. Because like...I'm extremely happy that tma's overarching plot is making more progress and becoming more prevalent, and the statements haven't decreased in writing quality or enjoyability to listen to at all...but like...given how they're the bulk of the episode, I hope we don't forsake them too much for the sake of the overarching plot, at least at this point in time. I understand that this is probably a very irrational fear of mine, and maybe even a little bit contradictory to my previous wises, but...I don't know, just having the odd episode where the statement is the thing I have the most to say about would be very appreciated, and could also provide some balance between the episodes that focus on the overarching story. because..neither this nor Drawing a Blank have quite given me that feeling. It's certainly not unfun to write about them, but...when compared to both the fun I used to have writing about statements, and the fun I'm currently having writing about the overarching plot...it's just a little bit lower than preferred for me at the moment. Granted, I think the fact that I'm currently not able to listen to episodes or write on a frequent basis...doesn't exactly help things, and has kind of skewed my perception of time when it comes to these episodes, but...my basic point is that I hope that not too far from now we'll get...a statement that is a mostly standaone thing, but still great and really interesting in its own right. Not neccesarily as good as Binary since that's a very high bar, but like...with the same sort of charm as Binary, if you know what I mean. Once again, this is...overall extremely nitpicky, it's still early days for Season 3, and I'm still having a phenomenal time listening to these episodes and writing about them, but...yeah, I just felt like I should get those feelings out just in case. I do also want to note that...Season 3 kind of feels like a finale season in a way so far? Like, it very clearly isn't, but...I don't know, with all of these minor pieces becoming more important, the overarching plot taking more of a center stage, and long standing mysteries like Jon's past, the nature of ✨the horrors✨, and...whatever The Unknowing is finally getting on their way to being cleared up...it just makes me very curious as to what they plan to do for Seasons 4 and 5, and how they plan to build those up going forward. Like, I don't fear that they'll be boring or tacked on at all, I think there's still so many unresolved plot threads that Season 3 can't possibly hope to address in a 40-episode run, but like...I don't know, maybe the end of Season 3, or...hell, even the mid-season finale given how it's also the mid-show finale could mark some sort of big shift in the story. Maybe...even bigger than what Season 2's finale did, which...kind of scares me. A lot. Well...I'm starting to ramble now, and it's also past midnight, so...I'm probably going to nod off now. This was a great time, I once again give you thanks for reading this far, and I hope to god that Melanie isn't traumatized by morning.

Supplemental: Oh god...not even halfway done and I'm already nearing the length of the last post. I uh...I don't really have that much to say regarding the podcast itself here, but uh...I did want to just say that I was actually in Oxford last weekend, and...I decided to pay a visit to a rather important place. It was just as spooky as I could reasonably hope it would be. Also, GRANDMA LIKED MY PART ON A GUEST FOR MR. SPIDER LET'S FUCKING GOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!

Well…that’s all she wrote. As for any final thoughts…uh…there’s not too much to say that I didn’t already voice in my post explaining what I plan to do with these going forward honestly. Well…there’s also my thoughts on MAG 85 and MAG 86, but I’ll probably share those another time. All I’ll say for now is that…both of them CERTAINLY fit the bill for that “Binary-like” episode I was looking for…almost a little too well in the former’s case. Oh and uh…on that note, maybe disregard some of that stuff I said about wanting a big showstopper after Drawing a Blank and Possessive? Or at least realize that my actual thoughts are a lot tamer than what I said. Like, while they still aren’t top-tier or ridiculously memorable and unique to me…it’s pretty damn hypocritical of me to start begging for something crazy when I was begging for things to slow down a couple of episodes prior, and it was very late at night when I wrote it, so…yeah, take all of that with a heavy grain of salt please.

I do have some additional lore and plot related thoughts though, both of which I initially planned to fit into my supplemental for MAG 85. Firstly, I mentioned how we don’t really know how The Other Circus might recruit other members, if at all, nor do we know how human most servants of The Stranger are. But…then I remembered that Nikolai Denikin exists, and…that kind of changed things. Given how he had a seemingly normal granddaughter in Leanne, and also died through seemingly normal means (which Leitner kind of implies the more…non-human servants might not be capable of doing when he talks about The NotThem), I think that makes it safe to assume that at some servants of The Stranger are pretty human, (although after listening to MAG 85 I…have some fluctuating thoughts on what qualifies as a human and what doesn’t in tma but uh…once again, for another time) and that The Other Circus may very well have recruitment methods similar to what I assume is going on with The Divine Host and The Lightless Flame.

There was one other thing that came to mind as well. I’ve talked a lot about how I find it really weird that people are able to recount their experiences perfectly in their statements, and how I think it has something to do with Elias, The Institute, The Archives, and/or The Eye, but…then I realized there’s a pretty noticeable outlier to this rule. And that is Trail Rations. This statement was never actually given to the institute, instead it seems like Jonah Magnus just…came across it, and we have no idea how. And yet, it is just as well recounted as any other statement, albeit with some more flowery language due to both the time it was written and Mrs. Carlisle basically being hours away from death by starvation. So…that’s a little bit weird. I still think there’s enough out there to support the idea that the perfect recollection is some kind of weird in-universe phenomenon, I mean…after the whole tape recorders being sentient thing I don’t trust anything or anyone, but…I do kind of wonder if maybe I was wrong about the cause. Like…maybe it’s not the institute that’s responsible for this, but instead ✨the horrors✨ at large, and anyone who’s touched by them gains this ability. But then again…there’s some implications that Jon and likely Gertrude have some weird effect on the statement-givers…and that the statements themselves put people into a trance of some kind…so…maybe The Eye was actually present during Mrs. Carlisle’s journey and I just never noticed. I mean….that would be on brand for this thing that basically seems to see all. Eh…food for thought anyways.

Well uh…that’s all from me! Once again, thank you so so much, from the bottom of my heart for reading all of this, it means everything, and I hope that you’ll be cool with whatever I cook up going forward, even if it’s not as crazy detailed. I’ll make sure to post some of those new-form thoughts when I get the chance. Bye! :)

[noirshitsuji]

Fic authors self rec! When you get this, reply with your favorite five fics that you've written, then pass on to at least five other writers. Let’s spread the self-love ❤️

mmmmmmm. MMMMMM. okay. there might be some recency bias in this, but in no particular order:

liededamp - as much as i meme it up myself i feel like i did manage to have some good character discussions in it and wrestle some real emotion within it as a crackfic, and i think it's resonated with some people a lot actually, which makes me very glad.

tried to touch you but you're cutthroat (stay to see it unfold) - obviously there was going to be a chloe(luka)-centric thing in this list because yes. i'm pretty satisfied with how the theming turned out in this one and my character work on chloe as well.

now this one sits here (whispers things to me) - also obviously there had to be an adrien piece there, and this is?? maybe my most popular one?? even though it's technically love square-focused. i spent like 20 mins trying to pick from the others and couldn't, and i am quite proud of that summary (and the rest of it, but the summary i think i did very effectively) and yes.

did you ever want it? (did you ever fight it?) - one-sided fabian pov fabriz fic. this one also really resonated with people who read it/seemed to leave an impression, and not just bc of the ship but a bunch of other things i put there, and i love fabian and it was so fun exploring the way i see his character and how he'd handle pining for his best friend, and i think i managed to pull off the theming around the five stages of grief reasonably well, so?? i'm happy with it.

saint, bastard, king - grisha fic where it's just. idk man something about the kaz/alina/nikolai (potential) dynamic makes the cogs in my brain turn. the way they're all leaders in their different ways and how they operate in different worlds but then they intersect and it's so??? fascinating to me??? but yeah i worked hard on this trying to figure out how to convey it and i think i managed to quite well??

ok yeah this was very difficult just because i do like?? a lot of my work?? like i always look at it and spot something to edit but overall i enjoy reading it and i'm happy with it and yes. i would've added circumscribe, eight-two-five (my kipps-centric l&co fic) as well bc it's the longest character-study/backstory/one-shot thing i've done and i'm very happy with it, but yes. oh look i did it anyway-

[myheartalivewrites]

20 questions for fic writers

Thanks for tagging me @bitbybitwrites @kiwiana-writes @cha-melodius I continue to be emotionally withholding from my WIPs so this was a fun little distraction.

1. How many works do you have on AO3?

15 and I realised tomorrow is the anniversary of the first fic I ever posted! Might do a little celebration post about it.

2. What’s your total AO3 word count?

259,263!

3. What fandoms do you write for?

Red, White & Royal Blue ❤️🤍💙

4. What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

Confirming the mad recency bias in RWRB fics, they are all my most recent fics, all published from August onwards with the exception of the last one, hospital cupboard hook-up fic my beloved:

Deep Blue

In His Wildest Dreams

Just Like That.

Oxford Days

Tumbled Down and Tangled Up

5. Do you respond to comments? Why or why not?

Yes! Comments are the best thing about ao3 and pretty much the only reason to post my stuff online! I feel boring sometimes, like I'm replying the same thing over and over, but it is SO true that every single comment means so much to me and I hope commenters know that

6. What is the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

I don't do unhappy endings. The closest I've come to not a HEA is Don't Wanna Be A Fool For You which is still a happy ending lol, but I didn't go into the future and left them only JUST beginning to recover from all the angst

7. What’s the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

Oh, tricky to decide this. I'm gonna go with Down By The Water, simply because I go deep, DEEP into their happily ever after in the epilogue (it is 12k of a 63k fic which should give you an idea of just HOW deep), even though it’s still quite… yearn-y.

8. Do you get hate on fics?

No, though I did get some intense emotional responses to a few chapters of Deep Blue, which... well, they were supposed to hurt, but it was A LOT. Never have I used the 😬 emoji that much.

9. Do you write smut? If so, what kind?

Hah, yes. A lot of it. All but one of my fics are E and even that one has got a smutty end scene I didn't publish and might post around the holidays. A Christmas treat for a Christmas fic! I'm not sure what 'what kind' is really supposed to mean here, so: very explicit but always emotionally relevant to the story, and particular in long fics I like to use the, ahem, smut progression to show how their feelings and the relationship is deepening.

10. Do you write crossovers? What’s the craziest one you’ve written?

No

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

Not as far as I know 😬 Only tumblr posts 🙄

12. Have you ever had a fic translated?

Oooh, someone asked me if they could translate Deep Blue to Spanish, so I'm excited to see that (but it is 76k so it might be a while)! That would be my first though.

13. Have you ever co-written a fic before?

No

14. What’s your all time favorite ship?

Oh, firstprince, no doubt. Alex and Henry have my heart.

15. What’s a WIP you want to finish but doubt you ever will?

I absolutely REFUSE to say I won't finish something. I plan to finish all my WIPs.

16. What are your writing strengths?

This is hard to answer, but I think I'm good at building tension, both in the overall story developments, but also within paragraphs and scenes, playing with sentence length etc. At the very least I like how I do that!

17. What are your writing weaknesses?

Yikes, pulling no punches. Sometimes I get bored of writing all the 'getting to know you' dialogue, and get fed up of writing banter. It’s the kind of thing that tends to get me blocked on a WIP. I find it quite hard, possibly because Alex and Henry banter so much it feels like it's all been done before. Oh, here’s Star Wars! Oh, your dog’s name is stupid! Etc etc.

18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language in fic?

Love it. I have one WIP currently which has some French dialogue, and my French is middling at best, so I'm going to have to ask for help with it, but I'm not there yet.

19. First fandom you wrote for?

RWRB ❤️

20. Favorite fic you’ve written?

IMPOSSIBLE QUESTION. I reserve the right to change this answer, but right now it's Down By The Water, I literally fell asleep last night wishing I had time to go reread it.

Phew, that was a lot! No pressure tagging a few friends who might want to play: @indomitable-love @historicallysam @14carrotghoul @cultofsappho @celaestis1 @suseagull04 @heybuddy-drabbles but open tag if you too wan to join!

[msmargaretmurry]

For writing ask game, 13, 17 (about a WIP or a fic/series you've already done!), 27, 28, please!

i answered 13 here and also technically 17 but in an extremely cop-out way 😂 i am one of those people who really doesn't like sharing much about fics before their posted but here are some assorted bits of lore from published fics:

- several years before i wrote tnno, i had originally conceptualized of it as a mceichel fic. i'm pretty sure i wrote several very long emails to friends about it. but then i decided i liked the mcstrome version better, et voilà 😌

- i started writing haw in january 2022 thinking it would be "a quick 40k" and finished well before the season was over, so i just made up how the playoffs went. obviously that didn't happen and the actual playoffs were such good content that i rewrote a bunch of it to use the real playoffs instead of my fake playoffs. and then the trade to florida happened and i was just like, fuck it we are fully ignoring that 😂 haw is its own universe now

- it is no secret in haw that matthew is miserable because he's trying so hard to be what he thinks he's supposed to be, but an underlying part of that which didn't get a lot of attention is the hockey part of that. he's lonely in calgary and kind of knows he might be happier playing somewhere else but he feels like the ~correct thing to do is stay and make good on what he's said about the city and be a good captain like brady is in ottawa. no one has ever commented on this but i always thought the way that sutter gives him the c in haw is kind of dickish -- no time to decide if he really wants it, no time to prepare a speech, no time to invite family to his first game with it. not exactly an auspicious start to his captaincy!

- also in haw, connor likes matthew as a person just fine but he's going to be so wary of him as leon's boyfriend for a while the same way brady is wary of leon as matthew's boyfriend. that guy broke his best friend's heart!!!

27. Who is the most stressful character you’ve ever written? Why?

head above water matthew!!!!! that fic was supposed to be like 40k but he took sO LONG to figure out his issues!!!!!!!!!!!!!

28. Who is the most delightful character you’ve ever written? Why?

oh brady for sure. possibly recency bias here but in both the haw verse and my various wips he is just so easy and fun. he feels a lot of feelings but is also laid back and kinda goofy and deeply caring and that's just pleasant to write!

[yukarishoodie]

Prompts for that vocasynth ask game you rbed the other day - 2, 10, 14, 24? No pressure to answer all or even any of these it just looked fun to ask!

I forgot I actually posted the ask game 💀 Under the cut because I am unable to list just one song/vb per entry

2. Fave UTAU

Recency bias says Fourier Moreau, Gekiyaku and KANATA but Sekka Yufu, Yamine Renri and Kohaku Merry will always have a soft spot in my heart.

10. First Vocasynth song

Either the Kagamines cover of Magnet (precisely that YT video) or Gemini with Glider's PV. It could be some other song (Butterfly on Your Right Shoulder and Meltdown are contenders) but it was definitely a Kagamines song. It's been more than a decade, it's amazing I remembered this much lmao.

14. Fave Vsynth classic

Oh this is tough... I don't think Crime and Punishment was popular enough to count as a "classic" so I'll say Shiryokukensa or Chaining Intention. Well since I'm bringing up early 2010 songs I might as well bring up Sayonara Chainsaw, the undisputed Yukari classic.

24. Covers you prefer over the original

MioDioDavinci's VY2 cover of Erika and KonranP's Kohaku Merry cover of Possible World Theory. Bringing up cillia or Takaoka Mizuki feels cheap but hey good covers are good.

[meeblo]

Top 5 fave Arknights events (be it story, gameplay, or both), GO!

Oh, this is a tough one. These won’t be in any particular order, and I might merge a few events I think of as related into one entry.

Il Siracusano is phenomenal. An interesting story executed very well, with good pacing, great character moments, and strong themes. The Azione Solos, map, and other bonus parts of the presentation complement and accentuate the already great elements of the main event story. No one who read Il Siracusano will ever forget Rubio's speech. Gameplay-wise, I don't think its mechanics are especially exceptional but they aren't bad either. They're fun, they make you approach stages in different ways from usual, but they aren't why I love the event. The music is a highlight as well, with an excellent battle theme, menu theme, and one of the most memorable boss tracks in the game, as well as great operator EPs.

Lone Trail, even accounting for recency bias, definitely makes my top five. It's an effective and evocative conclusion to multiple longrunning narrative threads, with numerous delicious thematic parallels drawn between members of the cast. Its presentation is wonderful, and like Il Siracusano the bonus text entries benefit the overall experience greatly. Unlike Il Siracusano, the event welfare character is usable, as well as being unlike many alters in that she's a well deserved alter; Silence the Paradigmatic great way of capping off Silence's arc, with a kit that reflects her character growth and some juicy file entries and voicelines. The event's mechanics are quite fun. Running enemies over with balls never gets old, and the enemies that are tanky but lose defense/res on hit open up strategies that allow fast attackers and multi hit characters to see use where most of the time they aren't as valuable next to characters who have big damage per hit. And of course, there's the mechanics that encourage shifting, which is always a blast. Once again phenomenal music that I find myself listening to frequently. I'd also like to shout out Mansfield Break. It is, imo, one of the most ambitious event stories. Not only is it told via frame story in a fascinating structure that no other event replicates, it begins largely in medias res. As the first Rhine Lab event, it pulls no punches with the preestablished character dynamics and complex landscape of the internal politics of Rhine Lab. Mansfield Break is a strong story on its own with a great cast of characters and well articulated themes, but it's even stronger when taken in full context of the Rhine Lab narrative that followed it and just how many things that Mansfield Break set up or alluded to in ways that trusted the reader's intelligence without outright spelling things out or leaving things unsaid entirely. Dorothy's Vision is great too of course but it lacks that special something to have me rank it as one of my top events, whereas Lone Trail and Mansfield Break absolutely have it. The Columbia events all have some of my favorite societal critiques Arknights does. As someone living in the U.S, they get so much right about the issues they bring up.

Darknights Memoir, A Walk in the Dust, and Vigilo I'm all lumping together. Honestly, I'm not sure if I should really include them at all given they tie so closely to the main story. All three provide fascinating looks into W, Kal'tsit, and the Doctor respectively, as well as being thematically rich and filled to the brim with important lore information. Vigilo has, in my opinion, the most interesting and well executed story of the three, with one of the only dialogue choices in the entire game that had me stop and think for a few minutes what I wanted to choose. All three are mandatory reading imo for someone who has finished main story act 1 before they move on to act 2, though Darknights Memoir can be read earlier than the other two. I also want to mention What the Firelight Casts as another main story adjacent event, but Reed's story doesn't have direct ties to W, Kal'tsit, or Doctor so it felt odd listing WtFC with the other events. For all intents and purposes you can consider it part of this entry as well, the "basically part of the main story" events. It's another great character focused story with a relatively smaller scope so it can focus in on its subject, while simultaneously having a number of notable connections to the main story regarding its themes of what a resistance/nationalist movement should prioritize and the setup for Eblana's entry into the Londinium Crisis.

A Light Spark in Darkness is one of the game's most interesting events structurally. The shifting PoVs make excellent use of dramatic irony, with events the reader knows are coming looming over the story as you see another character's view of what led up to them and what happened in the aftermath. The event is thematically focused and has a smaller scale and lower stakes relative to many other event stories that allows it to laser focus on how the stakes and events of the story are relevant to the characters in specific ways. In addition to being a wonderful self contained narrative, it also has additional depth when taken with the context of what happens in other events regarding Grani, what neo-Reunion's role in the main story as a whole is, and Cannot Goodenough's sparse narrative threads the game drops into a number of events. I would recommend it to everyone were it not for it having episode 8 spoilers by implication.

Lastly, I'll shout out Who is Real. It's definitely my favorite of the three Sui events I've read (I haven't read Where Vernal Winds will Never Blow yet). I love Kroos, Mr. Nothing, and Lava as a trio of characters, Nian is both fascinating and fun, and Dusk herself is very interesting. The star of the event for me, however, was Saga. I loved how Saga embodied so many of the event's themes, with her philosophical debates with Dusk on the nature of art and of life in general and her decisions within the painting to help its false inhabitants, refusing to stop treating them morally. I really want to know more about what happened with Kroos prior to the events of Who is Real and what caused the breakup of A1 Preparations Detachment. Dusk's presence through the event was very well done. Though she herself doesn't appear in person until relatively late in the event, everything about the painting and her actions through the storyteller inform the reader as to her characterization and disposition. Invitation to Wine feels like it tries a similar thing with Ling only appearing fairly late into the event, but it doesn't stick the landing like Who is Real because Who is Real had so much directly tying Dusk to the nature of the events unfolding and the direction of the conflict occurring while Invitation to Wine's central conflict was spurred by the second brother, the Sui Regulator, and others rather than being as tied to Ling as the setting and conflict of Who is Real's painted world were to Dusk.

There's plenty of other events I loved too but didn't list here. Twilight of Wolumonde is the strongest of the game's early events, Under Tides and Stultifera Navis have some great stuff in them, Near Light has tons of outstanding scenes but as I'm yet to read Maria Nearl or Pinus Sylvestris I couldn't properly appreciate it, ditto for An Obscure Wanderer, Break the Ice is great and I have a lot of respect for the story staying true to Silverash's characterization despite his popularity in the fanbase as it would have been all too easy for the writers to have caved and painted over his actions and make him Not That Bad Actually He Said Sorry, Guide Ahead is very solid but didn't resonate quite as much as I had expected it would from things I'd heard about it going in, Ancient Forge is a ton of fun and has very nice subtle characterization for Lava and Nian as you can see what parts of the script were Nian's choices and what of Lava's original script survived the rewrites, To be Continued has some great followups on other past events, and the Luo Xiaohei crossover It's Been a While was way way better than I had expected it to be going in. There's a few notable events I haven't read yet since they haven't been rerun or I haven't had the time, so don't worry Lingering Echoes fans, I'm not snubbing it I just haven't read it.

[cookies-over-yonder]

Father-Son Bonding (feat. Hermie Unworthy, Uncle/Brother/Unwanted Roommate)

CO-WRITTEN BY @silverlistenstothings

Nicky comes over to visit Taylor while Cass is at work. Hermie is also there, for some reason.

Part 19 of The Mortifying Ordeal of Being Roommates

ao3

According to Taylor, Nicky is coming over to bring Taylor dinner while Cassandra is out at a work function. This has been in the books for a few days now, and Hermie has been dreading it the entire time. Taylor, on the other hand, has been reminding Hermie every moment he can, practically bouncing with excitement at the opportunity to see his dad. 

Therein lies the problem, Hermie supposes. Despite Taylor and Cassandra’s insistence that they want Hermie around, it’s not something they can believe. It’s not something they’ll let themself believe. Hope only opens them up to hurt, so they’ve given up on it a long time ago. They might think they’re fine with Hermie now , but as soon as Cassandra readjusts to Nicky’s presence in her life, as soon as Taylor remembers how much better Nicky is, they’ll come to their senses and finally rid themself of Hermie. Recency bias is the only thing keeping them around. 

Taylor has spent most of the afternoon in the bathroom, singing and humming and getting ready for Nicky’s arrival. Hermie, of course, has spent the entire day curled up in bed, trying to fall back asleep. They don’t want to listen to Taylor be excited about Hermie’s inevitable replacement, and they certainly don’t want to hear how well he gets along with Nicky. It’s two parts fear of being kicked out, and one part envy. They’re not proud of how often they resent Taylor’s relationship with his parents, but then, they’re not proud of anything they have going on. It’s nothing new. 

The doorbell rings, and Taylor turns the music off before hollering ‘I’m coming, dad!’ and scampering down the stairs. Hermie rolls over and brings the corner of their pillow up over their ears. It doesn’t quite muffle the sounds of conversation, but at least they can’t make out the words. 

They’re about to finally doze off again when Taylor calls their name from downstairs. They very much consider ignoring him, but there’s no real point to it, they suppose. 

Is he really going to kick them out already? Is a single one-on-one interaction all it takes for Taylor to realize how much better he could have it?

Well. They suppose that makes sense, actually. They roll to their feet in no real rush, and step out of their room. 

"Come down for food!" Taylor calls. 

Ah, one last meal before breaking the news. It's clear he's trying to soften the blow. Whatever, they'll take the bait. 

Hermie sighs, straightens their stolen shirt, reminds themself that they really have nothing to prove, and heads down the stairs. Nicky glances at them over the back of the couch, and raises his hand in a half-wave.

“Hey, Hermie,” he says casually, without a trace of guilt. They didn’t want to guilt Taylor into keeping them around, but they feel like Nicky could at least show a little remorse. 

“Nicky,” Hermie greets cooly, tentatively circling around the other side of the couch. They keep an eye on both Nicky and Taylor, bracing themself for their inevitable dismissal. 

“I just got you the same thing as Taylor, hope that’s ok,” Nicky explains, handing Hermie a warm takeout container. 

“… which is?” Hermie asks, sitting down against the arm of the couch, with Taylor between them and Nicky. 

“Chicken fried rice!” Taylor chirps happily. 

Oh. Good. Great. They can’t eat this. But it would be weird to say something about it now, wouldn’t it? Nicky bought them food for some reason, so they should be polite. Besides, Taylor hasn’t said anything, and he should know that Hermie’s vegetarian, and Hermie doesn’t want to make him feel bad for forgetting.

… oh, Hermie never actually brought up their dietary preferences, did they? It’s not even Taylor’s fault. They dug their own grave, so they can’t complain about laying in it. 

“Thanks,” Hermie says, a bit belatedly. They unwrap their chopsticks and snap them apart, before undoing the lid of the takeout container. The scent of chicken hits them immediately, closely followed by a wave of nausea. 

Ok. Well. They thought they might be able to choke some of it down, it’s not like they’re allergic or anything, but they’ll definitely throw up if they try. 

Taylor says something about what they’re watching, but Hermie barely hears it, too lost in their own head. Maybe if they compact the rice enough it’ll look like they ate some? Just enough that Hermie can say ‘I’m not really hungry right now, thanks though, I’ll have the rest for leftovers’ and then Taylor will ask the next day if he can eat their leftovers and Hermie can say that that’s fine and the crisis will be avoided entirely. 

Yes, this is the perfect plan. 

They glance over at Nicky and Taylor. Taylor is digging into his own rice with enviable fervor. Nicky is eating at a more reasonable pace, and meets Hermie’s eye when they look over. Hermie quickly looks away. 

They poke at their rice with their chopsticks, trying to remember how to even use them. They might not be selling it well, but moving the bits of chicken around to one corner of the container is keeping them entertained more than whatever Taylor put on the screen.

Suddenly, a spring roll comes into view. Hermie looks up to see Taylor holding it out to them.

His eyes are wide and there's a slight smile on his face. It's weird.

Supposedly the spring rolls don't have any meat, because they remember the V written on the box earlier. Hermie glances from Taylor’s face to the spring roll and back, before cautiously extending a hand. Taylor places it in their palm with palpable satisfaction, before returning his attention to the screen. 

Alright. They are now holding a lukewarm vegetable spring roll. The longer they hold it, the colder and sweatier it will get, neither of which are traits Hermie especially wants from their food. They should eat it, but also the smell of chicken is still nauseatingly present and just because it’s a vegetable spring roll doesn’t mean there’s no meat. 

… it probably means exactly that, actually, but Hermie can’t be sure . No, they need to investigate themself. They half-close their carton of fried rice and lay it in their lap so they can use both hands. When a glance confirms that neither Nicky nor Taylor are watching, they lift the spring roll to their nose. It mostly just smells like vegetables and Hermie’s awful, sweaty hands, but it warrants closer investigation. They carefully split the casing with a claw, parting it to reveal, to the surprise of no one, nothing but vegetable filling. 

Great. They’re not sure why they did that, actually—

“Hey, uh, Hermie, what’re you doin’ to that spring roll there?” Nicky asks, somewhere between concerned and amused. Hermie jumps, and immediately rushes to hide the evidence.

In their mouth. 

Obviously.

It’s a small enough bite that they’re not at risk of choking, but they probably definitely shouldn’t have shoved it in their mouth all at once when they’re still feeling a little queasy. Their body makes an attempt at gagging, but they refuse to part their lips. They are not going to throw up, that would be embarrassing . 

They chew to the best of their abilities. Nicky is staring, definitely leaning further into concern now. Taylor is sending them worried glances too. After what feels like an impossibly long time, they swallow.

“What?” Hermie croaks, before clearing their throat and repeating themself. 

“Yeah, nevermind I guess,” Nicky says, and that’s that. 

Nicky returns his attention to the screen, and Taylor does as well after a moment. Hermie suddenly wants very badly to go wash their hands, but it’s not like they can just get up and dismiss themself. 

Well, they can, obviously, but they don’t want to attract any attention to themself. As soon as they do, Taylor will remember why he called them down, and he’ll break the news, and it’ll be awkward , after everything he said a few days ago. 

Taylor wordlessly slips another spring roll into Hermie’s hand. To make up for swallowing the other one whole, they nibble at it slowly. It tastes a lot better when they’re not preoccupied with trying not to choke. 

They try to tune into whatever anime Taylor has them watching, but they’re already at the end of the first, maybe the second episode, so they figure it’s basically a lost cause. They already have no idea what’s happening, and they’re not about to ask. Hermie wants to leave to go do nothing in the privacy of their own bedroom, but they’re still waiting on the real reason Taylor called them down here and it also seems like a lot of work, getting up and going all the way up to the guest room. 

They kind of zone out after that, watching the screen in only the vaguest sense of the word. Nicky makes some comment that has Taylor snickering and saying something in response. They’re not whispering, but Hermie can barely make sense of the words anyway. Whatever it is has Nicky grinning and throwing an arm around Taylor’s shoulder, pulling him close and ruffling his hair. Taylor is grinning, leaning into the touch like an affectionate cat when Nicky’s hand brushes against his horns. 

“… growing in!” Nicky is saying when Hermie finally gets their brain to focus on the words. Taylor preens under the praise. 

“Yeah! Aren't they cool?”

“They’re awesome, kiddo.”

“Sometimes I get headaches, but I know it’s just growing pains,” Taylor brags, puffing out his chest. 

“Yeah, I’d get those too. You’re doing well, you little demon.”

The fondness in Nicky’s tone makes Hermie’s stomach twist a little.

Taylor’s horns have grown in quite a bit, considering there was nothing there less than a year ago, but they still aren’t anywhere near the size of Hermie’s, nor do they have the slight gradient to a lighter color near the tip… but then, the coloration is something they very clearly inherited from Jodie, and any amount of pride is shot after that. The shape of their horns is closer to that of Nicky’s, but it’s not like he’s taken any notice. He’d much rather pay attention to Taylor.

Obviously. Because that’s his son. It’s embarrassing to even think about Nicky giving Hermie the same treatment, all casual affection and praise. They don’t want that, at all, from anyone, but especially not from Nicky. 

Which is why they keep thinking about it, and why the thought is making their chest hurt a little. Obviously. 

They shake their head to clear the thought from it, and make another attempt at focusing on the show. It doesn’t get them very far, especially when Taylor leans into Nicky’s side and nudges his foot against Hermie’s thigh, but at least they’re not consumed by that worthless sense of envy anymore. They set the abandoned container of takeout on the floor beside the couch, and settle against the arm rest. 

Despite the fact that Hermie has been laying in bed all day, they still somehow manage to doze off against the arm of the couch. They only jolt back awake when Taylor shifts his feet away from their leg. They weren’t fully asleep, still semi-conscious of the Japanese chatter from the tv, but it was embarrassing to get that close to falling asleep in front of Nicky. 

Not that Nicky is paying any attention to them. Neither is Taylor, actually. Nicky is standing up, stretching his arm over his head and rolling his neck. Taylor, fully sitting up now, bounces to his feet. Hermie watches quietly from the couch.

“Well, I should be heading out soon,” Nicky sys, and there’s a flicker of anxiety in Taylor’s expression—gone as soon as it arrives—”You two think you can finish all this food?”

“Definitely!” Taylor says, smiling once more, “ehe… you’ll be back soon, right?”

His voice raises an octave seemingly involuntarily—it makes him sound smaller. Nicky doesn’t seem to notice, as he pats Taylor’s shoulder a couple times. 

“Of course, kid,” he says, reassuring but casual. God, he really is an idiot.

“Okay, uh-“ Taylor clears his throat. “See you soon!”

“Yeah, see you-“

“Can you like, give him your number or something?” Hermie cuts in, sliding to their feet to approach the door. “Right now the only way we have to contact you is threatening Taylor’s life, so.”

“Oh hell yeah, good thinking,” Nicky says, sliding his phone out of his pocket and unlocking it in one smooth move before handing it to Taylor. “Put your number in, I’ll text you.” 

His eyes slide over to Hermie, but instead of just glossing over them like most people tend to, he smiles a bit when they lock eyes. “You too, Hermie.”

Hermie is unsure of how well they’re able to hide the shock on their face. 

“Pardon?” 

“I mean, you’re around, so like, might as well, right?” Nicky says casually, and Hermie supposes that makes sense. Hermie is merely another point of contact in case Taylor and Nicky can’t reach each other directly. It's not like Nicky has any interest in keeping in contact with Hermie themself.

Taylor hands Hermie Nicky’s phone— his own name is input as T SWIFT , complete with a sunglasses emoji— and Hermie quickly puts in their own number. They hesitate over the last name, before ultimately deciding to leave the field blank. They return the phone, and Nicky takes it back with a nod. 

“Alright, see you soon, kiddo,” Nicky says, ruffling Taylor’s hair before ducking out of the house. 

Taylor watches, only closing the door once he's out of sight. His shoulders slump a little when he does, as if just now stepping off-stage after an important scene. Hermie notes the reaction, but refrains from commenting for the time being. 

When Nicky texts them later, Hermie registers his number, but doesn’t reply. 

[hollywoodsargeant]

What's your favorite Logan picture?

this is. a great question. and as someone with 715 pictures of logan saved to their phone (yes actually) there is no way i can narrow it down to just one so i will do some greatest hits. under the break bc i think this post might be disgustingly long

okay i can't Not include this picture ... maybe a bit of recency bias but i love this one entirely too much it's my whole ass LOCK SCREEN like. horrifying behavior actually. but i love him ... his little smile ... he is so stupid i am obsessed with him entirely. saw this picture for the first time while i was in public and actually didn't fully recover for an entire hour. so there's that

and on that note i just really like all of his dumb instagram story selfies. ik he has more but these were the first two i found and i am emotionally attached to both of them. why is he socute. dumb boy

look at him. he is so babygirl. so little guy. logan has never looked so baby. i'm not gonna pretend i don't like his normal look but the hair with no gel is a good look too logan take notes!

classics? idk? logan eagle pose? the f2 one is my laptop lock screen and my chrome tab background fyi. oh and i have it on my phone home screen too ... WELL. definitely very normal behavior. anyways i like these pictures like why is he so dramatic. but it's fitting. very in love with him

UHHHHH i like all of the photos from the whole australia shoot but This one. uhm. hi. it's really big on my screen now and i'm looking very disrespectfully jesus christ. no further comment aside from i want to lick him

hiii silverstone podium ... i am calm. i am so calm. (i am not calm at all). he looked So good this whole podium it's embarrassing how attracted to him i am (in case if you didn't know, i'm attracted to him btw) but the head back deserves a mention. LOOK AT HIM. grrrr

okay and last one. he is so cute. he is soooo cute. i'm so abnormal about this photo i had like a 30 minute meltdown over it idek how to put it to words maybe i'm just obsessed with him ???

and there Are more but i won't include them however consider: all of the volleyball photos, those old williams suit photos where he has his arms crossed and just looks Really Broad, the picture of him and oscar as actual children that oscar posted (he made it to the family fridge!), the merch shoots where he's wearing jerseys (i have a weakness okay), that one picture post-silverstone where he's going in for the hug w his team, and. yeah. before i list off every recent picture of him in existence i think i should stop

[thebeckster]

20 Questions for Fic Writers

Tagged by @emeraldhazeart, thank you so much!

1. How many works do you have on AO3?

85 total, across 2 separate accounts and including some ~Secret Works~ (aka Anonymous fics) that aren't listed on my main work count.

2. What’s your total AO3 word count?

1,147,857. I have been writing for a very long time and my posts on AO3 go back to my earliest fics from ~2008.

3. What fandoms do you write for?

The bulk of my fics are either Star Wars, Harvest Moon/Story of Seasons, and Rune Factory. But I've been known to dabble in other fandoms when the muse strikes.

4. What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

Gonna focus on my main account because otherwise I know at least half of the list would be [Redacted] (because ~secret works~)

Wells of Silence (Star Wars)

Aggressive Negotiations (Star Wars)

[Redacted] (Star Wars)

Among Scuttled Ships and Scrap (Star Wars/The Bad Batch)

How Far Ahead The Road Has Gone (The Hobbit)

It comes as absolutely no surprise to me that all of my top 5 fics from from Enormous fandoms

5. Do you respond to comments? Why or why not?

I do! I love responding to comments. If anything just to thank the people who take the time to read and comment on my stuff. But I also love engaging in conversations with readers! I try to respond to every comment, but sometimes I just don't have the time/energy/spoons when it comes in, and then it falls through the swiss cheese holes in my brain and goes unanswered (but never forgotten).

6. What is the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

Maybe it's recency bias, but Fated comes to the top of my mind. Soulmates who spend almost all their lives separated and come together only to be fated to kill each other? The angst was just So Delicious.

7. What’s the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

Oh man, a lot of my fluffy oneshots have happy endings. It's tough trying to pick one with the Happiest ending.

8. Do you get hate on fics?

Not to my face.

Realistically and statistically I'm fully aware that my writing is not somebody's cup of tea. Just by the numbers I know someone isn't going to like something about my stories. But anyone who is unhappy is at least gracious enough to not be mean to my face or in places where I could find the hate.

9. Do you write smut? If so, what kind?

Only once. And I think I overcompensated a lot with angst. Smut isn't why I read or write fanfiction, and while I thought it fit well and was necessary for the one story I wrote it was an interesting exercise. I might include smut in future stories, I don't know, it's not entirely off the table, but I'd probably just stick closer to the M/PG13 cutaways and implications.

10. Do you write crossovers? What’s the craziest one you’ve written?

Not really. Beyond characters from different installments of a franchise/universe interacting when they don't in canon (which I don't count as a crossover).

The closest I've gotten is doing a Rune Factory Star Wars AU recently for a fun little one shot. But again, it included RF characters in the SW universe, and no SW characters so I'm still not counting that as a true Crossover.

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

Not that I know of.

12. Have you ever had a fic translated?

I don't think so, no.

13. Have you ever co-written a fic before?

No, I've done other collaborations but never a full co-writing. I think one could be lots of fun though!

14. What’s your all time favourite ship?

I don't really have one. I'm a pretty fluid shipper, I'll ship anyone with anyone if it compels me. I have a few comfortable oldies I'll fall back on, but I don't think I could rightly say they're an All Time Favorite.

15. What’s a WIP you want to finish but doubt you ever will?

There's some Really Old WIPs that I kinda abandoned from 10+ years ago that I don't think I'll ever get back to. Part of me never wants to give up hope, but I've moved on from the fandom and the muses and they'll probably stay unfinished for all time.

16. What are your writing strengths?

I think I do quite well with taking what could be a 'meh' idea and putting an interesting enough spin on it to make it a story worth telling and reading.

17. What are your writing weaknesses?

Sticking to a consistent writing schedule and wrangling my muses long enough to finish long projects. My focus is Very Easily broken and I am super susceptible to distractions and chasing the nest shiny ideas. 😭 rip all my wips i was just gonna take a 'short break' from and it's been like a year or longer since the last update.

18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language in fic?

Unless I have some confidence in the language, or it's a common enough phrase within the fandom that everyone knows what it means, I won't do it. I might translate choice words or phrases when necessary and appropriate. But I'm not subjecting my readers to google translate dialogue. Anyone who is fluent will know it's a bad translation, and for anyone who isn't I'd have to translate back to english anyways.

19. First fandom you wrote for?

If we're going back to before I started really writing fanfiction, but was still doing creative writing in a fandom, it would have been Warriors Cats.

But my first real fanfic was for Jak and Daxter. (And can still be found on my ao3, but oof is it old)

20. Favourite fic you’ve written?

This is a cop out answer, but I genuinely can't pick a favorite. I can find something I love and I'm proud of in every fic I've written. But I'll give into the recency bias and say Tongues & Teeth is still living in my brain rent free even after I wrote it down and posted it.

Tags! No pressure tags, and if I don't tag you and you want to play around, feel free to say I tagged you! @durotoswrites, @thychesters, @lookforanewangle, @aashiyancha, @kindlystrawberry

[dustofthedailylife]

more hot takes because why not huehuehue >:)

worst and/or best character story quest/ hangout? by this i mean the plot and whatnot of the quest itself, but of course its influenced by the character's personality haha

one of my favorites is actually the Limited Lantern Rite version of Xiao's quest, genuinely made me cry once the cutscene panned to him :')

Let's gooo! Idk how hot my takes here are but we'll see hehe. I'm enjoying this :P <3

Worst?

I'm sorry, my love... Ayato. Like we just play wedding crasher and political games and don't even get a cool cutscene? I mean yeah, all character quests are just this "oh wow, random NPC has an issue, let's help them" but it felt more prevalent in Ayato's. You may learn about his work and his ways there, but I'd much have preferred something that made me learn more about his personal life/family.

Nilou... as some of you might have noticed I don't like her much. She feels too "Mary Sue" to me. Ms Can Do No Wrong. Although it has gotten better over time, she's okay now. But during the Archon Quest and her Story Quest she annoyed me. The message of the SQ is actually pretty cool but the "wooo we love Nilous and are gifting her free stuff all over the place all the time" during her quest irked me.

Best?

Alhaitham. Das it. The cutscene was really cool. You learn more about him as a character despite it being mostly NPC mumbo jumbo as usual. Then the whole thing with Kaveh at the end where you learn more about their relationship as well. Mwah *chef's kiss*

Baizhu. It may be recency bias but genuinely, it felt really enlightening... I had such a wrong impression about Baizhu all these years. He is so selfless and genuinely just a good dude to the point he actively sacrifices his own health for his patients. And the like 4-minute long cutscene at the end? Hoyo played favorites here for sure.

Almost all limited events explore characters more since they're not just "random NPC has an issue". Kaveh's rn, all Lantern Rites so far, the Albedo Lore during all the winter events? LOVE IT. Just a shame those are limited and new players can't play themselves anymore... especially Kazuha who has most of his lore locked behind events... like??

Favorite Hangout?

Heizou without a doubt. Love the cheeky fucker. The only one who is probably able to top this is going to be Kaveh. He is my pookie and I love him (in a bestie type of way).

[branmuffins22]

🗣 Share your favorite dialogue exchange.

from this ask game

There might maybe be a bit of a recency bias in this one, since I only wrote it like 2 days ago, but I've been obsessed with this phone call in which Vee tries to get rudimentary ghost-detecting advice from Luz.

"Okay, so first, you wanna lick your finger, make sure it's good and wet," Luz started. "Uhh, okay, then what?" came Vee's voice through the receiver. "Then stick it straight up in the air and see if you can tell which way the wind is going." "...Okay, and what's next?" Luz had to think about this. There wasn't really a next step, just advice with what to do with the information. But Vee didn't know that. ...This was an opportunity too good to pass up. "...Luz?" Vee tried again. Steeling herself for shenanigans, Luz spoke up again, "You're gonna wanna stick it in your ear, and twist it around a bit. Really jam it in there." A brief pause, and then "Eugh. Okay, now what?" Jackpot! "OH TITAN DID YOU ACTUALLY DO IT?!" "Wha, yes? You told me to??" she squeaked. "AHAHAHAHA" Luz laughed, and turned to call through the door into the shack, "GUYS, I JUST GOT VEE TO GIVE HERSELF A WET WILLY!" "A what?" Gus asked in the distance, at the same time as Amity (well-versed in the ways of siblings, and having already learned the human name for it) could be heard saying "Ew. Why." "LUZ!!!" Vee must have finally understood what happened, and was no doubt already beginning to plot some petty revenge, but Luz was too busy laughing at her expense to care.