the magnus archives
Dec. 31st, 2019 05:06 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
kindkitI've now seen through episode 71, "Underground." Please no spoilers for anything after that.
Jonathan, stay out of the tunnels! What are you thinking?!???!!! They are not good!!!!!
Not that anything else is good or safe, either.
I keep thinking about the confrontation between Jonathan and Tim at the end of "Binary," and how Tim can't quit and Jon can't fire him. I love their interaction (the shift from mutual fury to a kind of quiet mutual despair is . . . ouch), but even more interesting is what it says about the Institute. I'd long since concluded that the Institute is corrupt--their donors are shady and, hey, what exactly is their purpose, since they're not doing anything to fight all the badness they document--but it hadn't occurred to me until then that the Institute may itself be actively evil. It kind of seems to eat people, in a more literal way than toxic workplaces usually do.
(A thing that will likely tell you more about me than about the show: at the beginning of "Book of the Dead," when Martin asks how Jon and Tim can manage to work together and Jon says it's the only thing they can do . . . I immediately thought of something else they could try. It probably wouldn't make them like or trust each other any better, but it would pass the time. And might--assuming they are both actually human and not filled with worms or whatever--be a little comfort. Maybe)
I've also been thinking about the various entities/cults and how they seem to operate like rival gangs, fighting over territory. For example, whatever it was that possessed Father Edwin Burroughs "protected" him from the Lightless Flame when he was trying to exorcize the site on Hilltop Road, but only so that it could destroy him itself. And Agnes Montague's kiss protected Ronald Sinclair from the spider things at Hilltop Road, but on the other hand, her kiss burned Jack Barnabas's face off. Though she did seem to regret that? Anyway, it makes me even more sure that Michael's offer of help to the Institute has costs and consequences, and is at best a way of him somehow gaining an advantage over his rivals. Nor is saving the Institute necessarily a good thing, although I want Jon and Martin and possibly Tim to be okay. (They won't be.) (I also want Basira and Daisy to be okay, and I'm hoping that since they're not part of the Institute, maybe they have a chance.)
I think the person/entity that has scared me the most so far is Mary Keay. At nine years old, before any supernatural evil had touched her (as far we know so far, anyway), she was already capable of callous murder to get what she wanted. What she wanted being one of Jurgen Leitner's nasty little books. She reached right out for evil and death and embraced it. *shudders*
Which makes Gerard Keay, the only supernaturally-involved person so far who seems ever to have helped someone purely to help them (when he saved Andrea Nunis, the marked tourist in "Lost in the Crowd") all the more inexplicable. I hope he's genuinely good, because I want someone to be. Though the closed-eyelid sigil that's associated with him is not a hopeful sign.
(I love TMA, I do, but I do wish there was occasionally a little bit of light in the darkness.)
Jonathan, stay out of the tunnels! What are you thinking?!???!!! They are not good!!!!!
Not that anything else is good or safe, either.
I keep thinking about the confrontation between Jonathan and Tim at the end of "Binary," and how Tim can't quit and Jon can't fire him. I love their interaction (the shift from mutual fury to a kind of quiet mutual despair is . . . ouch), but even more interesting is what it says about the Institute. I'd long since concluded that the Institute is corrupt--their donors are shady and, hey, what exactly is their purpose, since they're not doing anything to fight all the badness they document--but it hadn't occurred to me until then that the Institute may itself be actively evil. It kind of seems to eat people, in a more literal way than toxic workplaces usually do.
(A thing that will likely tell you more about me than about the show: at the beginning of "Book of the Dead," when Martin asks how Jon and Tim can manage to work together and Jon says it's the only thing they can do . . . I immediately thought of something else they could try. It probably wouldn't make them like or trust each other any better, but it would pass the time. And might--assuming they are both actually human and not filled with worms or whatever--be a little comfort. Maybe)
I've also been thinking about the various entities/cults and how they seem to operate like rival gangs, fighting over territory. For example, whatever it was that possessed Father Edwin Burroughs "protected" him from the Lightless Flame when he was trying to exorcize the site on Hilltop Road, but only so that it could destroy him itself. And Agnes Montague's kiss protected Ronald Sinclair from the spider things at Hilltop Road, but on the other hand, her kiss burned Jack Barnabas's face off. Though she did seem to regret that? Anyway, it makes me even more sure that Michael's offer of help to the Institute has costs and consequences, and is at best a way of him somehow gaining an advantage over his rivals. Nor is saving the Institute necessarily a good thing, although I want Jon and Martin and possibly Tim to be okay. (They won't be.) (I also want Basira and Daisy to be okay, and I'm hoping that since they're not part of the Institute, maybe they have a chance.)
I think the person/entity that has scared me the most so far is Mary Keay. At nine years old, before any supernatural evil had touched her (as far we know so far, anyway), she was already capable of callous murder to get what she wanted. What she wanted being one of Jurgen Leitner's nasty little books. She reached right out for evil and death and embraced it. *shudders*
Which makes Gerard Keay, the only supernaturally-involved person so far who seems ever to have helped someone purely to help them (when he saved Andrea Nunis, the marked tourist in "Lost in the Crowd") all the more inexplicable. I hope he's genuinely good, because I want someone to be. Though the closed-eyelid sigil that's associated with him is not a hopeful sign.
(I love TMA, I do, but I do wish there was occasionally a little bit of light in the darkness.)
no subject
Date: 2020-01-01 05:49 pm (UTC)(I am inferring you don't want to be spoiled on these topics, but correct me if I'm wrong.)
This should not be interpreted as implying anything about whether Gerard Keay is or is not good or hug-worthy. I could have put this on the previous post with equivalent disclaimers re: not implying anything about Martin.
However, I hope it's not too spoilery if I say that YES, there are absolutely little bits of light in the darkness, lots of them, and they're WONDERFUL. As I have said elsewhere: this is a cosmic horror universe, but I don't think it's a grimdark one. It's full of these moments of kindness and courage and altruism, achieved against great odds, and I really love it and feel very passionate about this.
It's the opposite of despairing. Which is something I appreciate a great deal in the current political context.
no subject
Date: 2020-01-02 05:40 am (UTC)Correct! And thank you for taking the same care with character development spoilers as for plot ones (I think if anything I'm more spoiler-averse about character stuff).
It's the opposite of despairing.
That is good to know.
no subject
Date: 2020-01-01 06:00 pm (UTC)Got to say this is a high bar for Magnus shipping, since the boundaries of "human" are somewhat fuzzy around here and characters are prone to slipping. Maybe best to settle for "not actually filled with worms" (unless one is into that, and some of the fandom seem to be). *g*
I think the person/entity that has scared me the most so far is Mary Keay.
I KNOW RIGHT??? She's kind of awe-inspiringly terrifying. And it's such a fantastic performance by the guest actor (Carrie Cohen), not to mention Sue Sims as Gertrude -- two very very scary women circling each other, and the sort of politeness that has knives in it.
no subject
Date: 2020-01-02 05:43 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2020-01-02 05:40 pm (UTC)Also, this may amuse (Mike LeBeau is the VA for Tim):
https://twitter.com/Mikey_Scamp/status/1111397115211771910