#Jonny sims strikes again

[spiral-man]

Needles being a man made of needles who basically hugs people to death is the protocols Grifters bone or monster pig.

[charlies-tma-blog]

just listened to tmagp 26. jonny. mr jonathan "terrible at coming up with names so i will have mc named the same as me and also like 5 michaels" sims. he heard us complaining about how he pronounced jared and gerard as if they were interchangeable and said : haha ok bet. and made this week’s statement about jarrod smith. the mix of dread and hysteria i felt when hearing that name in today’s episode… can we ever know peace

[ihatethis-things]

I just realised not even the main mag protocol characters have original names, because I totally forgot daisy is also an Alice

[cirrus-grey]

Currently making my brain buzz.

(From here)

[mag200]

just dropped an egg on the kitchen floor and my first thought upon hearing it wetly smack open was of harriet “full of worms” lee exploding that one time

[looseinthecatroom]

Jonny. Jonny I just need to talk.

Jonny how many alternate dimensions consist entirely of hungry emaciated cannibals?

Jonny why?

(I mean, or this is the same dimension that the guy who fell through the fun house mirror in 156 stumbled on, but given it's "we're isolated, liminal and disconnected from anywhere else" thing, I'd assume not.)

Jonny "would eat a human" Sims strikes again.

EDIT: Comments have informed me this one was Alex.

We respect his craft

Sir, why. Not you too. 💀

[cult-of-the-eye]

MAG 83 woop woop!!

JONNY BOY

ooh first proper statement in a while

Wait he took some statements with him??

Georgie is actually so right. I love her so much. He really needed some good fucking advice in his life from someone he hasn't thought might've killed someone before

I COULD BE ON DRUGS HAHAAAAAA NO YOU SMALL LOSER BOY

Why did he even jump to that conclusion?? I wasn't thinking ah yes drugs and I don't think a normal person reacting to this situation would immediately jump to drugs maybe insanity yes but not drugs

Universal autistic experience, having someone you're close to say that they know you "get obsessive about stuff"

YES GEORGIE!!!!! SHES THE ONLY ONE NOT FUCKING ENABLING HIM!!! HE DOESNT NEED THE STATEMENTS

oh shit is this the start of him depending on the statements??

Oh shit I guess not being able to go back to his flat makes him homeless

Oh right someone dropped the statement through the letter box

SHIT SOMEONE DROPPED IT THROUGH THE LETTER BOX

SOMEONE KNOWS WHERE HE IS

AND IS GIVING HIM STATEMENTS???

Fucking Elias I bet, who else would it be??? he was like yah I know where Jon is but I'm not gonna tell you to daisy and he's creepy enough to fucking send statements through the mail so there

Ok I'm sorry what was my man doing in those four days??? Sitting there rocking and muttering to himself staring at a fucking piece of paper?? Hmm?? Not fucking sleeping???

Investigating MY ASS what INVESTIGATION do you plan to do holed up in your ex gfs house???

Ah fuck he needs it

When does it stop becoming paranoia and start becoming an addiction?

YEAH GEORGIE YOU SHOULDNT BE KEEN ON WEIRD STALKERS KNOWING YOUR ADDRESS YOU'RE ABSOLUTELY CORRECT AND THE ONLY SANE PERSON IN THIS WHOLE PODCAST (apart from Joshua Gillespie and Karolina gorka my loves)

AHHH HE DIDNT EVEN GET THROUGH HEAD HES JUST GOOD OLD JONATHAN SIMS NOW

He doesn't have any of that pomp and fancy pants titles anymore, it's just the fucking paranoia and realisation that it's not just a normal job, he can't ignore it anymore

It's funny how it finally sinks in how it's not just a normal job when he gets fired from it

Ok just did a quick google fanton isn't a real department store that's a good start

Haha yeah customer service people deserve medals

Omg of course the tma transcripts write Halloween as Hallowe'en that's so tma of them

Oh fuck stranger alert

Oh shit is that Nikola??? As in everyone on Tumblr talks about her Nikola???

Her condition?? Why does it sound like they're describing her as a fucking werewolf??

Ok this is fucking creepy I actually fucking despise mannequins I don't think I'm gonna enjoy these stranger statements

FUCK I HATE CLOWNS

AHHHHHHHHH

Ooh she's smart she goes in with 999 dialled love that for her

oh FUCK that shhh was terrifying

Oh god Lana was killed???

Blood in a single neat line across her lips???

Uckinf SHITBALLS

Jesus fucking christ

I BET HIS ASS MISSES THOSE "EXPERT" ASSISTANTS

FUCKING BREEKON AND HOPE???

Circuses, skin, not quite real - the STRANGER

It seems like now he sort of knows what's going on, he's catching on really quickly, he's categorising things and using what he knows which is good it's steps in a positive direction

I guess he doesn't want another axe table fiasco

The taxidermy shop oh yeah the guy who was like yeah this is paranormal and creepy as fuck but he's not committing tax fraud so it's fine loved that guy

Elias probably sent it

Oh shit he doesn't know Elias knows where he is

SHIT IT WAS HAND DELIVERED

God poor Georgie, she's housing his pitiful ex boyfriend who lost his weirdo job and is going insane and bringing the weirdness to her life

What was he looking into??? Like Not-Them stuff??

"I've got work to do." Fucking famous last words

Jonathon "workaholic" Sims strikes again

Although I guess it's not workaholic when it's threatening your whole life

I guess it's just...surviving

[inkedmyths]

S1: E18 “Something Wicked This Way Comes”

Brought to you by Trade Anon, who started playing Cold Steel thanks to my influence. This one goes out to you, bestie

This episode featuring: Copious Shakespeare quotes, sick children, retail, and Dean’s guilt complex

Uh oh praying baby child. Never a good start

And thou, all-shaking thunder, Strike flat the thick rotundity o' the world!

Oh a spooky claw

NO NOT THE BABY CHILD

[ Shark has never seen Supernatural, and has no idea what's happening. They are imagining a disembodied Jurrasic Park raptor claw dismembering a child. This is not what happens, but it sure is one hell of a mental image. ]

Tis one of the weird sisters

Dean you're one to talk. You're also a smartass

"I'm the oldest which means I'm always right" LMAO DEAN

Oh? The park is empty? What's up with that?

Ohhh uh oh a bunch of kids are sick?

Oh I see its a spreading illness

Who are we impersonating today?

BIKINI INSPECTOR?

Dean I somehow don't think that's going to work

Damn ok I guess

WEIRD SISTER!!

Oh they're impersonating the CDC

Real Hansel and Gretel moments huh

Breaking and enteriiiing

Aha spooky handprint

OH BABY DEAN?? FLASHBACK???

[ Aspen also has little to no context, and is imagining a flashback like that one scene in Ratatouille. This is... not completely incorrect? ]

Oh baby Dean is still a sassy little shit

Little Sam....

Okaaaay interesting interesting

A strega?

A WITCH

Thats a lie Dean

NOT THIS RUNNING JOKE AGAIN. NO

Two Queens jesus christ

[ Crepe says it only gets worse. This is deeply upsetting to me. ]

Dean taking care of tiny Sam :(

They are so tiny...

Shtriga

Okay they're sucking out life force

Dean.... Dean buddyyyyy

Fair is foul, and foul is fair; Hover through the fog and filthy air

Sneaking around a hospitaaaal

Its not this old woman that would be too easy. They're just pointing a gun at some random lady

Lmao yep. Sorry ma'am

When shall we three meet again? In thunder, lightning, or in rain?

Yet another shitty Halloween decoration come to life, this time its one of the crones

LMAO SAMS LOSING IT AT DEAN

Uh oh the little brother

THE WINDOW YET AGAIN

Ah yes parallels with Dean again

WOAH MY AUDIO GOT SO DYSYNCED

[ We now take an intermission. A long one. This is because I had to go to work. Yay, retail. ]

1893... Heidecker??? OH THE DOCTOR

Right Michael...

[ Crepe freaks out, before I explain its the kid. I can only assume this means there is another character later named Michael. Jonny Sims Syndrome. ]

Dean?? Dean guilt complex???

Ohhh no bby Dean went to the Arcade and something happened right

AHA IT WENT FOR SAM

Oh ok so John shot it...

Ahhh so Dean feels guilty abt the incident years later bc he left and put Sam in danger...

Aha I get it now

Sam is RIGHT Dean u were only a kid

Oh poor Michael having this explained to him. Poor baby child

Ohhh he saw it..... :(

Poor baby boy I want to hug him

"You're a big brother? You'd take care of your little brother, do anything for him?"

"I would."

Man.

When the hurly-burly’s done, When the battle’s lost and won.

By the pricking of my thumbs, Something wicked this way comes

Look at them ugly ass moldy carrot fingers

OH SHIT IT MOVED

OHHH IT ATTACKING SAM ew gross

Get its ass Dean

"You okay little brother?"

Ew its deflating. Gross

Yaaaay all the kiddos are good

"Sometimes I wish I could have that kind of innocence."

"If it means anything, sometimes I wish you could too."

Yaaay ok ep over

-

Winchester Patented Guilt Complex (WPGC)

Very interesting insight into Dean as a person. Not his fault tho, he was a kid.

[askivyalexandria]

Log Entry Earth Date 28/12/2022:

When asked for an opinion on Jonny and Ivy, Tim said, “Theyre the best.”

Tim is shaky.

Ivy was sleepy posting. Loki, Tim and Lyfrassir told her to go to sleep. She refused until Jonny told her to. Tim ended up coming over to cuddle with them both too.

“You’re in her DMs? I’m in my fucking PJs.”

If given the opportunity, Ivy would hunt Jurgen Leitner for sport,

Mono explained how the crawlspace and the vents are different.

"I think that perhaps a few of us have evil monster bosses too.” “...how many of you guys have evil eldritch bosses? There's three so far.”

Loki is going to post their drawings, since it’ll be awhile til they reach Aurora.

“What the fuck does "rainbow bigboy sucks ass mean?"”

Loki was magic anon-ed a small spaceship.

Someone is sending in “Kiss, marry, kill” asks again.

Jonny and Tim are watching some Studio Ghibli movies.

Jonny and Tim’s date, from a few days ago went very well.

New Texas is similar to Earth Texas but not.

Nastya got stuck exploring Völuspá. Lyfrassir had to help her.

Ivy was gifted a dagger with both their initials and Raphaella’s engraved on it.

“gay” “Fuck you.” “love you too, sweetheart <3”

“You’re the reason I have to deal with the horrors, aren’t you?”- There’s a Jon Sims running around here now. Gods.

“how are the horrors treating you?” “Badly.”

Jonny now is having trouble avoiding the gay allegations. Good thing she is in fact, gay. Or something like that.

Brian is now going to watch Bee and Puppycat. He also watches Moomin Valley.

Brian’s stuffed toys are named Arnold, Sasha, Petya, and Cheesecake.

Michael Wave strikes again.

Raphaella has a new icon now.

Marius and Raphaella cuddled and watched a documentary together.

Stowaways keep pressuring Nastya to talk about Jonny’s bad hair phases.

“Is anyone straight? As far as I'm aware, none of us are straight.”- Marius

Nyarlathotep, somehow? Made a blog.

Cat grief counseling.

Ivy is Jon Sim’s favorite archivist.

Nyarlathotep asked Toy Soldier if it wants some teeth.

Other octokittens self-portrait.

Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm

Nyarlathotep is, “here because I want to be!”

[kalgalen]

Narrator: so the evil king trying to conquer the whole galaxy abducts Snow White's sister on her wedding day-

Me: ok why not

Narrator: - where she was going to marry her one true love, Cinderella -

Me: ????? Alright??

Narrator: & the reason the king kidnapped her in the first place is because he wanted to use her perfect-warrior dna to create an invincible army

Me: i owe you my life take my money take my soul

[kiwispeck]

so mag 187 huh

[mamahersh]

So I’ve been thinking, and obviously these are thoughts that will probably be expounded upon (potentially) in my final remarks post on Saturday, but I’ve been having some thoughts about JMart again. Condensing some of the previous commentary, the running themes I’ve been struggling with, ect. Perhaps my opinions with change with MAG 200, maybe 200 will only cement them, but hear me out:

TMA is a horror podcast, not a horror/romance podcast. “But mamahersh!” I hear you cry, “no duh! No one ever claimed it was a horror/romance podcast!”

You, imaginary reader, are quite correct.

It’s just odd that the show writer tries so very hard to add romance in the show in S5 just to seemingly set up a final act romantic tragedy. Well, ok, that’s rather disingenuous, as there’s some off handed mentions of Jon and Martin hanging out in S3, and Jon spends like half his time in S4 pining after Martin. But more to the point: all actual romantic developments (except when needed for an important character moment to tie into something tragic later) are off screen. We hear second hand about Melanie and Georgie’s relationship forming, we can make our own assumptions about their closeness based on 158? and 190-192, we hear offhandedly about Jon and Martin’s S3 lunch dates (if I’m not misremembering that tidbit entirely), we can speculate about Jon and Martin’s relationship progressing and that it was a rather significant jump in progress after saving Martin from the Lonely while they sheltered at Daisy’s Safehouse...

I’m mostly trying to get at I think two big things I guess. 1) Jonny is spectacular at horror writing. S1-3, and the statements in S4 are spot on in terms of striking the right balance you need in a campfire story or a personal folktale or a short horror story. He also does a great job at writing long form dramas, what with seeding the clues to how the universe works from the very beginning and challenging the listeners to try and understand what’s going on right along with the main character. Keeping the listeners on their toes as they wait each week with baited breath to find out what’s happening this time to our dear blorbo Jarchivist. However, what he seems to enjoy doing less of, at least in TMA universe, is write “fluff”. He can certainly write soft moments between characters, quite well in fact! There’s a reason S5 has a bajillion animatics from when it was releasing based on the little JMart tidbits we were given. But that’s just it, they were tidbits, and even the patreon and public fluff extras never exceeded 10 mins. Goodness, not to say they should have! But more to the point: it’s quite difficult to write a healthy or even a compelling romance when you don’t have the time or “place” to establish it. which kinda leads into...

2) The reason I keep feeling like the romance between Jon and Martin in S5 is forced is because to some extent it is. There was no development of their relationship on tape, and then when finally do have the time to do so it’s in the literal worst situation imaginable to do so. All of the silly somft moments are eaten away by both the circumstances of Jon and Martin being able to spend all this time together (the literal end of the world and all that’s Good) and their general dispositions towards each other. You don’t keep a relationship healthy or alive by never trusting your partner, or never telling them anything in a way they can understand, or callously talking about trying end every “monster” like them, or never listening to their concerns. These two have always struggled with communicating and the apocalypse just seems to have exacerbated the problems 10 fold. Which, again, horror podcast. Dramatic Tragedy and all that. We are getting their relationship set up for 200, but also because it makes for a good reason that Jon hasn’t just jumped off the deep end yet.

Anyways, I think this nicely consolidates my thoughts on the matter. And just to be clear, I’m sure if Jonny Sims wanted to write full length episodes of sappy office drama I’m sure he could, but in the context of TMA he certainly can’t. Which is perfectly fine outside of suddenly trying to pull a Romeo and Juliet with Jon and Martin as a major B plot running through all of S5.

[theninjamouse]

Ok, heck it, I’m gonna write down some thoughts now. 

I think the biggest thing that stands out to me right now is that yes, I am hurting, I’m so, so SAD and I desperately wish that we got more answers, more time more SOMETHING. 

But for the first time in a long time, this hurt from a story isn’t born from betrayal by the creator. Jonny Sims gave us clues and hints and STUCK to them. There was no ‘A HA GOTCHA’ twist at the end. We all knew this might happen, we all predicted it. And he kept going with his plan. And to me, that’s something that’s just mindboggling these days. 

I’m hurting because I care about these characters so much and yes, they deserve more in context of the story, but as a story? The Magnus Archives freaking delivered. 

Did this episode feel abrupt? Yeah, maybe a little. All of the planning by Martin and the others, all of the build up, it just...felt like it was thrown aside BUT again, in context of the story, and of Jon, it makes SENSE. It wasn’t Jonny the writer throwing aside that plan, it was Jon the character, the Archivist, throwing away those plans.

Of course he would try to take this on himself, of course he would refuse to damn other worlds to the same horrors he has seen, experienced and caused. And maybe this, more than anything else, shows that he’s still human. Humans are imperfect, they make selfish mistakes, they make choices and Jon made his. There is so much that could be said about his choice and his growth and change as a character but honestly I think there are many who could do so more elegantly than me.

I wish so desperately that we had just a few more minutes, just a little more time. But that’s so often the case with loss isn’t it? It strikes hard and it strikes fast. It makes you want to cling to what you had as you feel it slipping away. 

We might not have gotten the full closure that we wanted. But we got our moment to say goodbye, we got the knowledge that whatever happened to Jon and Martin, wherever they might be, they at least left together. 

I just have to say thank you to Jonny, to Alex, to everyone who worked on this show. It’s lodged itself deep in my heart as a story I know I will listen to over and over again.

[generic-hufflepuff1]

The Fun Part (Tma Analysis)

Heyo! Here's the part two to This, using the data from Here.  

Now in part one I give some of my rationalisation as to why certain Entities show up in statements less often than others.  

In this one I’ll just be pointing out some interesting things in what the numbers say and/or some rationalization for weird numbers or sometimes just making up a in universe reason for some of Jonny’s writing quirks (Like how if you look at the numbers Jonny just finds ideas for Hunt episodes harder to think of) 

Im gonna be breaking this down into seasons 

Season 1

In Season 1 the most frequent entities are The Corruption and The Stranger (8 episodes each).  

Both of these make sense.  The main antagonist of Season 1 is Jane Prentis and having looked at all the Stranger episodes* it is quite clear that it is Jonny setting up for future arcs and plotlines.  But that's the boring reason. The fun reason is that The Corruption is ready to perform its ritual and The Stranger is busy setting up for their own ritual and as a result there are plenty of statements within easy reach of Jonathan Sims for these two entities in particular, with two to four times the number of statements of the other entities.  

Other notable entities are The Spiral and The Flesh.  

Mostly just because they each get a couple more entities than is the usual as ten of the fifteen entities have between two to four episodes.  The Spiral gets a bit of a boost from Micheal popping up every now and then and that works for me.  The Flesh is a bit weirder I can't really think of a writing reason for it all I can say is that they tend to be quite striking and it's quite clear Jonny had a lot of fun with them and honestly that's fair.  But again, boring.  One reason could be that as mentioned in the other post there is a bit of a requirement for a statement giver notably they need to be desperate enough and you know still alive to go to the Archives, and these statements** are quite obvious as The Flesh has no patience for subtlety, but still enjoys the act of delaying the suffering.  

And the final segment “What's the Eye Doing?”

The reason i'm including this is because Ive noticed that the Eye is strange in that it is the most popular entity over all of the show but is not the most frequent in most of the seasons.  So Im just gonna keep an eye on it.  

The Eye shows up in three episodes: 12 First Aid, 23 Schwartzwald and 40 Human Remains,  and of these only really the Mag 23 is the only real statement about it I just find this interesting no real notes about it though.  

*1 Angler Fish, 2 Do Not Open, 3 Across The Street, 24 Strange Music, 28 Skin Tight, 34 Anatomy Class, 39 Infestation, 40 Human Remains

** 5 Thrown away, 14 Piecemeal,  17 The Boneturner's Tale, 18 The Man Upstairs, 20 Desecrated host, 30 Killing Floor

Season 2

Now sure this season has three entities (The Stranger, The Buried and The Spiral) that have more episodes than the others and I will talk about them but what stands out more than anything else is just how spread out it is. I mean with the exception of those three and the Extinction the rest have between two to four with half of them having four and Hell even The Extincion gets one.  This is by far the most fair the spread ever gets.  Here’s the spread:

6: Stranger, Buried, Spiral

4: Desolation, Dark, End, Web, Eye

3: Vast, Flesh, Corruption

2: Hunt, Slaughter, Lonely

1: Extinction

So Why the Stranger, Buried and Spiral

Again the Stranger is being set up for season three and are working on their ritual, not to mention the presence of NotSasha gives a sizable boost.  The Spiral is a bit stranger but at this point Micheal is still running around and this gives it the needed boost.  The Buried is the only one that is not immediately obvious, after looking through the episodes* it still baffles me, as far as I can tell it's due to the focus on the Tunnels.  It could be that Jonathan in an attempt to understand the Tunnels tried to find similar statements and as a result the trend developed.  

The Extinction?

So season 2 has the first mention of number 15, well maybe it does.  See the thing with most of the Extinction’s manifestations is that it could maybe be something else entirely.  The Extinction episode of the season is 65 Binary and might be the Spiral instead but the focus on a new type of life and technology means that it is very difficult to say really.  

What's the Eye Doing?

The Eye falls right into the average place in the hierarchy for the season with four episodes.  Those being: 53 Crusader, 60 Observer Effect, 62 First Edition and 79 Hide and Seek.  These seem to work to expand what exactly the Eye is.  As I said, season 1 kind of lacks this and here Mag 53, 62 and 79 bring up the weirdness of the archivist, whereas Mag 60 explores how the Eye can manifest.  But the Eye isn't special every single entity gets fleshed out in season 2.

*41 Too Deep, 50 Foundations, 51 High Definition, 61 Hard Shoulder, 66 Held in Customs, 71 Underground

Season 3

This is the run away season.  This one is similar to the previous one but it does skew quite wildly at its end to favour the Stranger, for entirely understandable reasons.  But ultimately is still quite fair with only The Eye and The Extinction fall outside the three to five range.  

So the Stranger 

The Stranger has ten episodes this season and why is quite obvious as the climax of the season revolves around the Stranger.  Not much to say here.  

Again the Extinction

Now my notes had 114 Cracked Foundation as one of the Extinction episodes but for some reason I can no longer find any mention of it on the Wiki so I have no Idea what happened here.  My guess is that in the wake of Mag 196 and 197 this particular entry got a lot of attention and the link with the Extinction removed. 

What's the Eye doing?

This is the first season in which the Eye starts to take up the main spotlight with seven episodes. However looking through the statements* and it does not really appear in the statements but rather in the pre and post statement drama, as Jonathan and Elias use their abilities.  So as a result the Eye ends up feeling very different compared to the other entities and we don't see the ‘Horror’ of it for a lot of the podcast.  

* 82 The Eyewitnesses,  92 Nothing Beside Remains,  105 Total War,  106 A Matter Of Perspective,  117 Testament,  118 The Masquerade, 119 Stranger and Stranger

Season 4

So season four is very, very weird in that the Extinction is the most frequent entity (tied with the Eye).  It does make sense as Jonny needs to catch the audience up on what exactly it is as it does not have the breath of work that the other entities have, so as a result Lucas spends his Time telling Martin about it. 

Other notable Entities

The Lonely is also quite popular this season with five episodes but that also makes sense due to not only the presence of Lucas but also Martin’s fall into the Lonely.  Other than that The Hunt only has one statement* that has to do with it’s ritual.  The combination of this and the Extinction’s frequency in this season and the hunts underperformance in other seasons (4 in season 1, 2 from season 2, 3 from season 3 and 1 in this season) means that it has just slightly one more episode than the Extinction.   I do cover my rationalisation for this in the other post (Here)

What’s the Eye Doing?

Leading the pack that's what.  This season also has what other seasons lack statements that the Eye features in.  Now this is probably Jonny finally having the chance to explore the concept properly as it is a bit harder to really understand, but in world it could be due to a combination of Elias trying to keep Jonathan blind and Jonathan trying to explore his new identity as a ful blown avatar and going about it like a baby gay, consuming all media surrounding the topic.  

*133 Dead Horse

Season 5

I debated not including this section but hell I'll just add on any updates if it's necessary.  

So in this one to (to no one's surprise) the Eye is the golden child in this season after a brief jaunt into a domain for each fear the focus becomes almost entirely Eye focused, and if you want to be technical you can just add the Eye to every single episode but I did not.  

The runner up

The Web is definitely making up good numbers especially with how the finally is turning out. 

Other notables

The Lonely, Buried and Spiral all get a little above average.  Why? Well Martin has to deal with some baggage from Season 4 and Gaslight Girlboss is still running around but the Buried is a bit weird.  Again I think jonny just finds it easy to write claustrophobic horror, but again thats boring.  So lets have a look* and when I did I noticed that all three of these (and the Eye and Web) all are in 167 Curiosity so that adds a bit to the count.  But other than that its clear that it’s easy to add the Buried on top of another entity so its clear that the Eye simply likes how the Buried spices up the other flavours of fear.  And then finally the Extinction and Slaughter only get one each (163 In The Trenches and 175 Epoch) and they are the compulsory exploration episodes and unless the finale really is a complete curveball this probably won't change.  

What’s the Eye Doing? 

Having the time of its god damn life.  

*166 The Worms, 167 Curiosity, 184 Like Ants, 185 Locked In, 195 Adrift

[disregardcanon]

a few thoughts after the last 4 episodes of tma

1. they did a good job of setting up basira’s reaction to the unknowing in that episode with the little statements beforehand

2. jon finally decided that he’s going to trust the people around him right now just makes me so sad. because it’s too late for tim. it was never going to happen with melanie because she just doesn’t like him, and basira... i dunno, it might happen with basira. it WILL happen with martin because, like, of course, and hopefully it will with daisy. but most of these people are either people it was never going to work for or too far gone for it to matter. :(

3. tim, burning ball of rage: i am here to fuck shit up and jon you had BETTER NOT GET IN THE WAY

jon: i want you to live through the fucking up? :(

tim: i AM gonna die an angry martyr and you can’t fucking stop me

jon: :( :( :(

4. i don’t think this comes to anything but HOO BOY did they dangle martin mcspiderhands out there.

5. uh. elias. can you perhaps? chill? for a moment? peter out here offering counseling services because you’re destroying the employees. and i am not touching martin’s vision with a ten foot pole thank you very much

6. jonny boy sims and his fantastic relationship with his parents striking yet again. like, not only is this man close enough to his parents to ask them to be in his horror podcast, he is secure enough in his. like. self. that he could write the characters his parents play verbally assaulting him.

jonny boy give me your parental relationships

7. elias just. locked up. is so funny to me. this man trying to look put-together while in gen pop and in (do they wear orange in britain? whatever color they wear there) and trying to be composed while he’s surrounded by these normal but intimidating dudes who all want to kill him for being a rich, pretentious asshole. they unfortunately won’t be able to with his powers but like, a girl can dream

8. vaguely concerned about peter lukas’s presence, but like. jon’s in a coma and the only way he can get out of that is becoming more avatar and elias still has some steps to that plan he’s gotta get through before he can go Full Apocalypse TM so peter isn’t the only unpleasant piece on the board.

9. OH YEAH AND DAISY’S TRAPPED IN A COFFIN GOTTA DEAL WITH THAT EVENTUALLY s

[dangerous-disposition]

I'm not going to pretend that this show isnt going to end with Jon dying. like I'm not stupid. but I'm sorry if after 4 and a bit seasons of the story going into what makes us human, and the choices we make, and the grey area of good and evil, that I don't buy for a second that Jon becoming "evil" is remotely in the cards. It would literally defeat the purpose of the entire show, it would be the worst possible "tragic" ending because that's the ending where the writer says "fuck you" to their audience.

I said a month ago or so that Jonny doesn't strike me as a writer that does that, that leaves their audience feeling like they lost, that they themselves failed. And a lot of us who have internalized a lot of the central theme of "finding the humanity in being a monster" would be, essentially, told "fuck you" by Jonny Sims if Jon turned evil in the end.

like we know this is a "cosmic horror story", we know it's not going to end happily, and nothing I've said has ever implied I did. I just think Jonny is too good of a writer to throw petty romance conflict on top of the main conflict like this, and he's also too good of a writer to just throw away the entire build-up to something truly tragic for the Easy Tragic. Which Jonny has stated that he hates writing that takes the easy road, that is lazy and does the easy way.

like to me? what's more tragic is Jon retaining his humanity, even if it gets harder and harder to do so, and in the end it comes down to a decision to fix things, and that decision would end in his death somehow, and he makes his decision and while yes, the world was saved, he doesn't get to live to see it. he dies along w the other monsters, even if in his heart he had stayed human. but he gladly takes it because while he didn't choose to make the world what it was, he could choose to make it better again. even at the cost of his own life.

ending the show with Jon turning evil would be boring and lazy writing. it's the EASY tragic. I want tragedy that chokes me, that hurts deep in my heart bc I know it was WORTH something, that while we lost something, we didn't lose everything. that kind of tragedy sticks with you, lives in your soul forever, and that's the onlynkind of tragedy I accept from writers as good as Jonny Sims.

sorry if my expectations for the media I consume are higher than yours? esp given the writer and director of said media easily meet those high expectations again and again?

*not here for a debate, so if you disagree just don't reblog it. also, yes I have begun listening to The Mechanisms and I stand by everything I've said. Jonny Sims is too good a writer to go for the Easy Tragedy.