i miss those days
Jan. 31st, 2020 10:30 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
kindkitTMA re-listen continues. Through episode 56, but with spoilers for all aired episodes under the cut.
44 (Tightrope): Hi Gertrude!
45 (Blood Bag): I'd love the story of John Snow's syringe. I also, because I have that kind of mind, want to know just how "close" Thomas Neill was to his boss. I mean, probably not that close, since he didn't know if the gambling rumor was true or not, but still. And speaking of inappropriate employee-employer relationships, Martin's caretaking means he inadvertently discovers that Jon's been watching Tim's house. And, crucially, we learn a few episodes from now that he tells Tim. He's not so caught up in his feelings for Jon that he'll just let Jon get away with stuff.
46 (Literary Heights): I always like the Leitner-related statements, and this one is especially fun in its mixture of the wildly supernatural and the mundane (a bad check!). Interesting that Herbert Knox reads Ex Altiora with no worse effects than falling off his chair. At least some of the books/manifestations only work on the already susceptible. Which makes me wonder why young!Jon was susceptible to A Guest for Mr. Spider. Was he already afraid of spiders? Presumably isolation makes people more vulnerable in general to the Entities, but if Jon's vulnerability was just a matter of isolation, I'd have expected it to be the Lonely that first marked Jon.
47 (The New Door): This one manages to be even more horrifying on re-listen, even knowing that Helen Richardson survives, sort of, to replace Michael as the Spiral's . . . persona? Embodiment? (The relationship of Michael/Helen to the Spiral to the Distortion seems to be a bit more complicated than simply being an avatar.) The fact that I now have some pity for Michael, who after all didn't become a monster on purpose but was chucked into the Distortion by Gertrude as a combination of sacrifice and spanner in the works, doesn't make it any better either. I still don't think I understand what exactly the Spiral was trying to achieve by intervening, but it may be moot now.
48 (Lost in the Crowd): The first instance of someone being saved by love. It only seems to work against the Lonely, unsurprisingly. We also get a delightful little glimpse of Gerry Keay on holiday, not wearing black for once. *hearts him* In the metaplot: it's interesting that Jon is suspicious of Elias from the first, but it's so lost in his general paranoia that he's never suspicious enough. It's fun to imagine how annoyed Elias must be about having to deal with all this workplace drama and pretend to be bothered that Jon has taken to spying on people. I hope your dysfunctional staff caused you lots of petty irritation, you bastard.
49 (The Butcher's Window): I always kind of like it when the statement-givers are not nice people, because then I don't feel so bad when they lose an arm. Jon, meanwhile, is remarkably unworried that Sasha keeps breaking computer equipment. I'd have expected that to ping his general paranoia, especially since he knows perfectly well that occult and digital don't mix; he notices some of Sasha's out of character behavior, but I guess whatever lulling effect this manifestation of the Stranger has (apart from the one person who always notices) is very strong.
Jon also should know better than to send Martin out to talk to people! Unless it's nice old ladies. (I note that the bad stuff in this statement happens in Stockwell, which is where Martin lives. For all we know he walks past that butcher shop every day. Given his experiences with Jane Prentiss, I wouldn't be surprised if he was freaked out to find spooky stuff happening so near him, and was so rattled that his interview went even worse than it would have otherwise. Not that Martin would ever be a skilled interviewer.)
And then there's Tim. On the one hand, it's funny that Tim gets information by romancing assorted police officers, filing clerks, etc. On the other hand, it's also very unfunny in the sense that Tim is using people, and deceiving even the people he has longer term relationships with (since his cop girlfriend and his cop boyfriend don't know about each other). And on a broader level, the untrustworthy bisexual who sleeps with everybody is a tiny bit stereotypical, no? I'll sort of give the show a pass on this given that, over time, several characters are revealed to be bisexual or biromantic and nobody else acts like Tim. But it's still kind of disconcerting, especially since Tim is the first character whose sexuality we know anything about. (I'm not counting Sasha, since it's not!Sasha and a fake boyfriend.) My feelings about Tim are complicated, let's put it that way.
50 (Foundations): And speaking of my complicated feelings about Tim . . . On first listening, Tim's assumption that Jon and Basira must be sleeping together irritated me (and, seriously, did he think they were going to get it on in the archive?). It still irritated me on re-listen, but I also have to give Tim a lot more credit for the way he talks with Jon here. He's had to complain to Elias about Jon, and he's fairly recently learned that Jon has been spying on him at home, but he's still being friendly in his very, very Tim way.
Also, I want to know why Jon was in physical therapy. Aftereffects of the worms? (But those seemed to be shallow, although disfiguring, injuries and it's been months ago now.) Aftereffects of his leg injury during the Great Worm Invasion of 2016? Or aftereffects of Michael getting stabby a few weeks back in episode 47? (Getting five stitches doesn't suggest a major wound, but I suppose it still could have injured muscle or tendons or something.) Poor Jon. His life is really not good. Like, pretty much ever since he became Archivist.
51 (High Pressure): So are the Fairchilds a family or aren't they? *grumbles in Red String Brigade*
52 (Exceptional Risk): Tim's fortunate that Basira didn't figure out that he thought she and Jon were doing it. (Well, Tim is fortunate for a very narrow value of being fortune. Poor Tim.) Also, if I may complain about fanart again: Jon is not hot. Jon is not ethereally beautiful, or boyishly handsome, or someone whose scars make him look sexy. (People don't seem to have the same problem accepting that Martin isn't hot.)
53 (Crusader): Gertrude makes me think of that Leslie Fish filk about Blake's 7, in which Fish wonders why our heroes don't just nuke their opponents from space. Gertrude will always nuke them from space if it's an available option. She's seldom met a problem that can't be solved by explosives (and not caring who gets damaged collaterally). Sometimes, as in the case of stopping what she thought might be world-transforming rituals, I think she was perhaps in the right, ethically. Other times not so much. I'm not sure that destroying an old manifestation of the Eye was worth 17 lives.
Meanwhile, back in the metaplot . . . I wonder what Martin thinks is going on with Jon. Does he think Jon is (dramatically yet clumsily) self-harming? With a bread knife? (And really, Jon, was that the best lie you could think up to explain the stab wound? Was there even a bread knife in your office, and if so, why?) Interesting, too, that after moaning a bit about Martin hovering, Jon does go with him to the canteen. Despite both his bitchiness and his suspicions, he likes Martin's attention and he likes feeling cared for. One thing I'm paying attention to, on this re-listen, is exactly how Jon's feelings for Martin develop, and I think the roots of it are here, in the rather unpromising ground of S2.
54 (Still Life): For some reason I really like Alexander Scaplehorn, odd-looking tax inspector, and I'm glad he got away. And in the meta-plot: so can the Beholding see through images of eyes, or was Gertrude just being extremely cautious when she cut up her book covers? If it can, that adds an extra layer of creepiness to Gerry Keay's eye tattoos.
55 (Pest Control): I kind of want a spinoff series about the ECDC and/or Section 31, and the various practical ways that people not involved with the Institute try to fight against, or at least limit the damage wrought by, the Entities. Also I want to hear all about Team Archive's week spent back in research helping to debunk false statements. I'm glad Jon at least got some sleep out of it.
56 (Children of the Night): So what are vampires, anyway? Were the ever human, or are they just simulacra? The wiki links them to the Hunt, which makes sense, but it seems weird to get such a developed manifestation without any kind of human assistance. Maybe they're a particular kind of avatar, one that loses virtually all their humanity in the process. In the metaplot: I suspect the resurrection of Trevor Herbert is a retcon, as it's hard to believe even Martin could get the wrong end of the stick to that degree. And he pays for it with what must have been a harrowing conversation for him. Jon is scary when he's angry, and he's always quicker to take that out on Martin than anyone else. *stabs Jon slightly*
The revelations here make Martin's timeline confusing: surely he didn't try to pass himself off as a post-graduate when he was 17? And there's no evidence I can recall of him working at the Institute before 2009. So I'm going to assume he either had a period of unemployment or worked some dead end jobs first. (A lot of characters' timelines are weird and contradictory. Did Elias start at the Institute in 1991 or 1972, Jonny? Does the existence of so many statements in one place warp time?) Anyway, I see that Martin does here confirm something I was wondering about, which is that he was interviewed specifically by Elias. We've no evidence that Elias can see the future, so he can't have known how crucial Martin would someday be to his plans. I guess he just thought it would be entertaining--to himself and to the Beholding--to have a nervous impostor around the place.
Also: apparently in the TMA universe, someone can get an MA in parapsychology or a Ph.D. in manifestations, and yet most people don't believe in the supernatural? It makes me wonder if Jonah Magnus secretly founded a university (one which of course has as bad a reputation as the Magnus Institute, which not coincidentally is the only place its graduates can get jobs).
44 (Tightrope): Hi Gertrude!
45 (Blood Bag): I'd love the story of John Snow's syringe. I also, because I have that kind of mind, want to know just how "close" Thomas Neill was to his boss. I mean, probably not that close, since he didn't know if the gambling rumor was true or not, but still. And speaking of inappropriate employee-employer relationships, Martin's caretaking means he inadvertently discovers that Jon's been watching Tim's house. And, crucially, we learn a few episodes from now that he tells Tim. He's not so caught up in his feelings for Jon that he'll just let Jon get away with stuff.
46 (Literary Heights): I always like the Leitner-related statements, and this one is especially fun in its mixture of the wildly supernatural and the mundane (a bad check!). Interesting that Herbert Knox reads Ex Altiora with no worse effects than falling off his chair. At least some of the books/manifestations only work on the already susceptible. Which makes me wonder why young!Jon was susceptible to A Guest for Mr. Spider. Was he already afraid of spiders? Presumably isolation makes people more vulnerable in general to the Entities, but if Jon's vulnerability was just a matter of isolation, I'd have expected it to be the Lonely that first marked Jon.
47 (The New Door): This one manages to be even more horrifying on re-listen, even knowing that Helen Richardson survives, sort of, to replace Michael as the Spiral's . . . persona? Embodiment? (The relationship of Michael/Helen to the Spiral to the Distortion seems to be a bit more complicated than simply being an avatar.) The fact that I now have some pity for Michael, who after all didn't become a monster on purpose but was chucked into the Distortion by Gertrude as a combination of sacrifice and spanner in the works, doesn't make it any better either. I still don't think I understand what exactly the Spiral was trying to achieve by intervening, but it may be moot now.
48 (Lost in the Crowd): The first instance of someone being saved by love. It only seems to work against the Lonely, unsurprisingly. We also get a delightful little glimpse of Gerry Keay on holiday, not wearing black for once. *hearts him* In the metaplot: it's interesting that Jon is suspicious of Elias from the first, but it's so lost in his general paranoia that he's never suspicious enough. It's fun to imagine how annoyed Elias must be about having to deal with all this workplace drama and pretend to be bothered that Jon has taken to spying on people. I hope your dysfunctional staff caused you lots of petty irritation, you bastard.
49 (The Butcher's Window): I always kind of like it when the statement-givers are not nice people, because then I don't feel so bad when they lose an arm. Jon, meanwhile, is remarkably unworried that Sasha keeps breaking computer equipment. I'd have expected that to ping his general paranoia, especially since he knows perfectly well that occult and digital don't mix; he notices some of Sasha's out of character behavior, but I guess whatever lulling effect this manifestation of the Stranger has (apart from the one person who always notices) is very strong.
Jon also should know better than to send Martin out to talk to people! Unless it's nice old ladies. (I note that the bad stuff in this statement happens in Stockwell, which is where Martin lives. For all we know he walks past that butcher shop every day. Given his experiences with Jane Prentiss, I wouldn't be surprised if he was freaked out to find spooky stuff happening so near him, and was so rattled that his interview went even worse than it would have otherwise. Not that Martin would ever be a skilled interviewer.)
And then there's Tim. On the one hand, it's funny that Tim gets information by romancing assorted police officers, filing clerks, etc. On the other hand, it's also very unfunny in the sense that Tim is using people, and deceiving even the people he has longer term relationships with (since his cop girlfriend and his cop boyfriend don't know about each other). And on a broader level, the untrustworthy bisexual who sleeps with everybody is a tiny bit stereotypical, no? I'll sort of give the show a pass on this given that, over time, several characters are revealed to be bisexual or biromantic and nobody else acts like Tim. But it's still kind of disconcerting, especially since Tim is the first character whose sexuality we know anything about. (I'm not counting Sasha, since it's not!Sasha and a fake boyfriend.) My feelings about Tim are complicated, let's put it that way.
50 (Foundations): And speaking of my complicated feelings about Tim . . . On first listening, Tim's assumption that Jon and Basira must be sleeping together irritated me (and, seriously, did he think they were going to get it on in the archive?). It still irritated me on re-listen, but I also have to give Tim a lot more credit for the way he talks with Jon here. He's had to complain to Elias about Jon, and he's fairly recently learned that Jon has been spying on him at home, but he's still being friendly in his very, very Tim way.
Also, I want to know why Jon was in physical therapy. Aftereffects of the worms? (But those seemed to be shallow, although disfiguring, injuries and it's been months ago now.) Aftereffects of his leg injury during the Great Worm Invasion of 2016? Or aftereffects of Michael getting stabby a few weeks back in episode 47? (Getting five stitches doesn't suggest a major wound, but I suppose it still could have injured muscle or tendons or something.) Poor Jon. His life is really not good. Like, pretty much ever since he became Archivist.
51 (High Pressure): So are the Fairchilds a family or aren't they? *grumbles in Red String Brigade*
52 (Exceptional Risk): Tim's fortunate that Basira didn't figure out that he thought she and Jon were doing it. (Well, Tim is fortunate for a very narrow value of being fortune. Poor Tim.) Also, if I may complain about fanart again: Jon is not hot. Jon is not ethereally beautiful, or boyishly handsome, or someone whose scars make him look sexy. (People don't seem to have the same problem accepting that Martin isn't hot.)
53 (Crusader): Gertrude makes me think of that Leslie Fish filk about Blake's 7, in which Fish wonders why our heroes don't just nuke their opponents from space. Gertrude will always nuke them from space if it's an available option. She's seldom met a problem that can't be solved by explosives (and not caring who gets damaged collaterally). Sometimes, as in the case of stopping what she thought might be world-transforming rituals, I think she was perhaps in the right, ethically. Other times not so much. I'm not sure that destroying an old manifestation of the Eye was worth 17 lives.
Meanwhile, back in the metaplot . . . I wonder what Martin thinks is going on with Jon. Does he think Jon is (dramatically yet clumsily) self-harming? With a bread knife? (And really, Jon, was that the best lie you could think up to explain the stab wound? Was there even a bread knife in your office, and if so, why?) Interesting, too, that after moaning a bit about Martin hovering, Jon does go with him to the canteen. Despite both his bitchiness and his suspicions, he likes Martin's attention and he likes feeling cared for. One thing I'm paying attention to, on this re-listen, is exactly how Jon's feelings for Martin develop, and I think the roots of it are here, in the rather unpromising ground of S2.
54 (Still Life): For some reason I really like Alexander Scaplehorn, odd-looking tax inspector, and I'm glad he got away. And in the meta-plot: so can the Beholding see through images of eyes, or was Gertrude just being extremely cautious when she cut up her book covers? If it can, that adds an extra layer of creepiness to Gerry Keay's eye tattoos.
55 (Pest Control): I kind of want a spinoff series about the ECDC and/or Section 31, and the various practical ways that people not involved with the Institute try to fight against, or at least limit the damage wrought by, the Entities. Also I want to hear all about Team Archive's week spent back in research helping to debunk false statements. I'm glad Jon at least got some sleep out of it.
56 (Children of the Night): So what are vampires, anyway? Were the ever human, or are they just simulacra? The wiki links them to the Hunt, which makes sense, but it seems weird to get such a developed manifestation without any kind of human assistance. Maybe they're a particular kind of avatar, one that loses virtually all their humanity in the process. In the metaplot: I suspect the resurrection of Trevor Herbert is a retcon, as it's hard to believe even Martin could get the wrong end of the stick to that degree. And he pays for it with what must have been a harrowing conversation for him. Jon is scary when he's angry, and he's always quicker to take that out on Martin than anyone else. *stabs Jon slightly*
The revelations here make Martin's timeline confusing: surely he didn't try to pass himself off as a post-graduate when he was 17? And there's no evidence I can recall of him working at the Institute before 2009. So I'm going to assume he either had a period of unemployment or worked some dead end jobs first. (A lot of characters' timelines are weird and contradictory. Did Elias start at the Institute in 1991 or 1972, Jonny? Does the existence of so many statements in one place warp time?) Anyway, I see that Martin does here confirm something I was wondering about, which is that he was interviewed specifically by Elias. We've no evidence that Elias can see the future, so he can't have known how crucial Martin would someday be to his plans. I guess he just thought it would be entertaining--to himself and to the Beholding--to have a nervous impostor around the place.
Also: apparently in the TMA universe, someone can get an MA in parapsychology or a Ph.D. in manifestations, and yet most people don't believe in the supernatural? It makes me wonder if Jonah Magnus secretly founded a university (one which of course has as bad a reputation as the Magnus Institute, which not coincidentally is the only place its graduates can get jobs).
