arthur-lesters-music-stand

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This really is the "bad things happen to Arthur Lester" podcast huh

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has anyone smarter than me figured out what "standing at the threshold" and "awfully close to home" mean yet

'cus that sounds too specific and pointed to be anything but an intentional hint / call back to a specific instance or location, like the meaning is just on the tip of my tongue, but I do not have the attention span to devote to relistening to or thinking over the early seasons to remind myself of whatever is slipping my mind rn

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but still, you gave me your heart

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Orchestra full of Arthurs suddenly hits different when you remember that before everything, Arthur was a musician.

Maybe each one was from a different universe where instead of being a pianist, Arthur played the violin or the oboe (rip to percussion universe Arthur, whose Faroe died while he was jamming out a fat snare line)

And then Kayne takes his place in our Arthur's spot.. at the piano. Interesting.

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eternally not normal abt how for like, almost the entire series Arthur has been making it very very obvious that he really only wants John to be honest and open with him. even when there are like, so much more important things to get pissed abt, he’s almost exclusively angry abt his trust being betrayed or not reciprocated. bc lies and secrets create distance. and that’s the one thing he can’t deal with.

and this has taken John five seasons to come to terms with because it’s so anathema to who he is as a person and what every single defense mechanism is telling him to do. so much conflict over this one fundamental misalignment in how their busted-ass brains work.

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The themes of Malevolent are:

1. Platonic love is just as powerful as romantic love

2. Choices matter, even when an outcome is inevitable

3. Daddy issues

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Talking about the witch again because I love her

The Witch makes for a wonderful parrell to John and his goal of becoming human and I dont think its talked about enough

The Witch points out in her episode that John has this very hopeful and idealised view of humanity. Its where the Witch makes for a gorgeous parallel to him for where he has seen what he deems the best humanity has to offer. the Witch has seen and experienced the worst. While John has through Arthurs eyes seen some of the terrible things that humans can do ie Larson or The Butcher. John has never actually experienced this having only been able to watch (this is also an interesting point for Johns lack of autonomy and how it affects his worldview). Plus the horrors always are there doing something worse compared to humans.

The Witch also has a point when she says that his act was no sacrifice, while we the listener knows that John and The King are different John did introduce himself to her as The King. For all The Witch knows he did nothing and claims it to be an act of self sacrifice.

The Witch does not view humanity highly and has no desire to be part of it due to her considerable trauma at the hands of humans, so when she attempts John from Arthur she belives herself doing the King as John claims to be a favour. Since logically he should be able to return to his kingdom once he is no longer attached to the mortal. This is logical to her because she doesnt know that he is a fractured part of The King.

The both of them are opposites of the same coin. One is an entity trying to become human and the other a human trying to be anything but. Both try to change the others mind trying to save the other in their own way.

[arthur-lesters-music-stand]

has anyone smarter than me figured out what "standing at the threshold" and "awfully close to home" mean yet

'cus that sounds too specific and pointed to be anything but an intentional hint / call back to a specific instance or location, like the meaning is just on the tip of my tongue, but I do not have the attention span to devote to relistening to or thinking over the early seasons to remind myself of whatever is slipping my mind rn

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When will my beloved (Noel from Malevolent) return from war (Spain and/or mysterious Threshold)

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I said it before and I will say it again:

I love the casual queerness that in tma. Having read and watched SO MANY books/shows with little to no representation its SO AMAZING to see it in this podcast!!!

Statement giver casually mentioning their partner of the same gender. Tim flirting with men and women. Jon being asexual which is just randomly talked about without being a big deal. They/them pronouns used for the victim of the web in 172. I think there was some trans representation as well? I cant really remember which episode...

And OF COURSE the amazing queer relationships. Georgie and Melanie, Jon and Martin, even Jude and Agnes!!

Its so casual and so normal to have this representation and I LOVE IT SO SO MUCH

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I owe you my life for every time you draw Jon in mismatched socks

I do that a lot, huh

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Normal day at the office

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star gazing

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Discuss????

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What are they gossiping about

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S2 Jon Sims… save me.. Jonathan Sims, save me s2 Jonathan Sims