the magnus archives 163
Apr. 16th, 2020 05:50 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
kindkitSome thoughts on TMA 163, "In the Trenches," under the cut.
First things first: oh, Jon. Oh, Martin, with your boundaries and your scaredness and your courage. *hugs them both a lot*
Also, damn, that was intense.
I've been wondering how S5 would be structured, and this episode seems to answer that for the first half. We'll have Jon and Martin's journey, going through one Fear per episode. I expect there'll be detours and complications to keep things from getting stale. Either that, or Jonny will deliberately blow up the expectations he's just created with something completely wild.
I continue to worry/wonder about the tape recorders, for reasons I've mentioned in previous posts. (Namely, what are they and why are they, now that the Fears have direct access to the world?)
The ringing phone adds a new element of uncertainty and worry. Eventually, I suppose, Martin or Jon will answer it. (We all know Jon would find it very, very hard to ignore. There might be knowledge on the other end of the line.)
The thing is, the phone, plus the way the logic of the trenches nightmare echoed that of Jon's coma dreams back in 120, plus the utter weirdness of the cabin stuff, is making me wonder. Did the world really end/change, or did nothing change except the inside of Jon's and Martin's heads? Could this be the equivalent of another coma dream? I do think Martin is really there and not just a figment of Jon's imagination, because we've seen him on his own when Jon isn't nearby to perceive him. But that doesn't mean the world they're in is real; at this point, I think it's reasonable to assume that Jon and Martin are mystically linked, and one's nightmares could drag the other in. (BTW, by "mystically linked" I don't mean Destined True Love, but rather all the things they've done that have created bonds and led them to become one another's anchors. One of the things I like about this pairing is how very much it isn't destined true love. Our boys got there through hard work and painful experiences and a bit of dumb luck.)
I don't think this scenario is likely to be true, because it would be a pretty obvious fake-out and one that, if handled badly, would come across as cheap. (I would, however, trust Jonny to handle it well.) But on the other hand, the earlier coma happened, in part, because Jon stubbornly refused to make an impossible choice. What if, right now, he's stubbornly stopping a door from opening all the way? What if the Fears can't get farther into our world than Jon's mind, and by extension Martin's?
Ringing phones are a pretty classic trope for "this character is trapped in a dream and needs to wake up." Just saying. (Though if my speculation is right, Jon and Martin shouldn't wake up. Waking up might really let the Fears loose into the world.)
Also, on a minor point, did Martin just literally put his fingers in his ears, or did he "go away" into the Lonely? If he can still do that, I don't like it one bit.
First things first: oh, Jon. Oh, Martin, with your boundaries and your scaredness and your courage. *hugs them both a lot*
Also, damn, that was intense.
I've been wondering how S5 would be structured, and this episode seems to answer that for the first half. We'll have Jon and Martin's journey, going through one Fear per episode. I expect there'll be detours and complications to keep things from getting stale. Either that, or Jonny will deliberately blow up the expectations he's just created with something completely wild.
I continue to worry/wonder about the tape recorders, for reasons I've mentioned in previous posts. (Namely, what are they and why are they, now that the Fears have direct access to the world?)
The ringing phone adds a new element of uncertainty and worry. Eventually, I suppose, Martin or Jon will answer it. (We all know Jon would find it very, very hard to ignore. There might be knowledge on the other end of the line.)
The thing is, the phone, plus the way the logic of the trenches nightmare echoed that of Jon's coma dreams back in 120, plus the utter weirdness of the cabin stuff, is making me wonder. Did the world really end/change, or did nothing change except the inside of Jon's and Martin's heads? Could this be the equivalent of another coma dream? I do think Martin is really there and not just a figment of Jon's imagination, because we've seen him on his own when Jon isn't nearby to perceive him. But that doesn't mean the world they're in is real; at this point, I think it's reasonable to assume that Jon and Martin are mystically linked, and one's nightmares could drag the other in. (BTW, by "mystically linked" I don't mean Destined True Love, but rather all the things they've done that have created bonds and led them to become one another's anchors. One of the things I like about this pairing is how very much it isn't destined true love. Our boys got there through hard work and painful experiences and a bit of dumb luck.)
I don't think this scenario is likely to be true, because it would be a pretty obvious fake-out and one that, if handled badly, would come across as cheap. (I would, however, trust Jonny to handle it well.) But on the other hand, the earlier coma happened, in part, because Jon stubbornly refused to make an impossible choice. What if, right now, he's stubbornly stopping a door from opening all the way? What if the Fears can't get farther into our world than Jon's mind, and by extension Martin's?
Ringing phones are a pretty classic trope for "this character is trapped in a dream and needs to wake up." Just saying. (Though if my speculation is right, Jon and Martin shouldn't wake up. Waking up might really let the Fears loose into the world.)
Also, on a minor point, did Martin just literally put his fingers in his ears, or did he "go away" into the Lonely? If he can still do that, I don't like it one bit.
