TMA S1 relisten

[kindkit]

I've only relistened through episode 18, "The Man Upstairs," but discussion and comments will include major spoilers through the end of S4.

Of course I'm struck by how cruel Jon is about Martin. He's not wrong to doubt Martin's competence in some areas (like Latin), but really, Jon? Really? Sending him off on the scariest bits of research, like going to find Angela from "Piecemeal," and then laughingly claiming that you don't really want to get him killed? I hope you feel terrible about that now. (He does. Of course he does.)

Jon's opinions of Martin vs. the Martin we actually will meet in episode 22, who survives a very bad situation and is far from a fool, is an interesting storytelling choice. It tells us a lot about Jon himself (namely, do not trust his opinions of people), but also a lot about how the story is going to build little by little, one person's partial viewpoint at a time. Nobody knows as much of the truth as they think they do, and their limited understandings cause them to make huge mistakes.

(I'm hoping this will turn out to be true of Elias as well. He is, after all, an avatar of a single Entity; Jon, who has been marked by fourteen, may in the end be able to see clearer.)

Returning to Martin (as you do), I want to know how he ever got hired and how he kept the job afterwards, because lying on your CV will only get you so far. Especially if you don't have either the smooth, plausible personality to bullshit your way through, which Martin doesn't, or the class privilege to get away with it, Boris Johnson style (or original!Elias style), which Martin also doesn't. He clearly learned to function in the job, to some extent; he's able to find out people's current addresses and things like that, but it would be blatantly obvious to anyone paying attention that he doesn't have the academic training he claimed. I'm assuming Elias made Martin one of Jon's assistants specifically to slow Jon down and prevent him from working too much out too soon.

I started writing a little fic about it, and it made perfect sense, but then I had a closer look at the timeline and it won't work. (My second line of explanation is that the Institute's reputation is so bad that it's actually a haven for semi-incompetent misfits, and thus camouflaged, Martin went unnoticed.)

. . . now that I think about it, I'm also trying to figure out how Jon didn't know Martin before becoming Head Archivist, when Jon had worked in research for several years before then, and that's presumably where Martin was also. I suppose they could have known each other, but Jon just successfully avoided Martin most of the time. (I'd be tempted to think Martin actually started out as the tea boy, but not with that fake MA in parapsychology.)

Argh, I hate having to think this hard about tiny little plot details, but that's what happens when you start to write fic.

Hoping I can repurpose the bit where Elias tests Martin's Latin. Because I think it's hilarious.

Comments

[rydra_wong]

but really, Jon? Really? Sending him off on the scariest bits of research, like going to find Angela from "Piecemeal," and then laughingly claiming that you don't really want to get him killed? I hope you feel terrible about that now. (He does. Of course he does.)

I'm sure he does. Though to be fair, there's no indication that Angela is any danger to people she hasn't been hired to hurt. And of course we see how Jon reacts later when it comes to danger to Martin which he thinks is real.

Returning to Martin (as you do), I want to know how he ever got hired and how he kept the job afterwards, because lying on your CV will only get you so far

I assume that Elias met him, saw through him and his CV like a pane of glass (when Martin tries to stop Melanie from being hired, he drops a vicious line about how "Formal qualifications aren't everything, Martin", so it's clear he's known all along), went "Oh, you're going to be fun and useful", and hired him immediately.

Elias gives no fucks about actual academic research being done, but someone who's smart and inventive with a massive psychological wound and pre-existing vulnerability to the Lonely (and no-one who'd miss him if he vanished)? Very handy pawn to have around.

(And I can imagine him being amused by Martin's chutzpah.)

Especially if you don't have either the smooth, plausible personality to bullshit your way through, which Martin doesn't

Not in the obvious way, maybe, but look at the way he successfully plays Peter in S4. Or Elias at the end of S3; even if we assume with hindsight that Elias saw through it, it's still a very impressive (and terrifyingly brave) bit of manipulation.

And I think it's all the more effective because Martin doesn't remotely seem like the kind of smooth, confident person who could be (for example) lying about their entire CV.

(It has been noted that people who grown up in emotionally abusive family situations often get very good at lying, managing the emotions of those around them, and hiding aspects of themselves in self-protection.)

but it would be blatantly obvious to anyone paying attention that he doesn't have the academic training he claimed.

On the other hand, Sasha says (in ep 26, I think) that Martin's a "great researcher", so he's managed to pick up a lot. And he's clearly very bright.

(Jon has noticed some of the specific gaps, like lack of Latin proficiency, but is feeding it into his "Martin is an incompetent lazy idiot" schema.)

. . . now that I think about it, I'm also trying to figure out how Jon didn't know Martin before becoming Head Archivist, when Jon had worked in research for several years before then, and that's presumably where Martin was also.

Apparently there's a mention somewhere (possibly in the liveshow or somewhere else quasi-canonical?) of Martin having worked in the library.

[flo_nelja]

I guess that Martin's fear of being discovered as a fraud fed the Eye and Elias hired and kept him for this.