#MAG 173

[a-mag-meme-a-day]

Meme for @a-mag-a-day Day 178

MAG 173 - Night Night

[tumb1rprincess]

Dear God, my stomach just dropped when Jon asked Martin what he thought happened to the children once the apocalypse happened, that hadn’t even crossed my mind. And the whole situation is just fucked up. There are children screaming in the background all the time, the avatar of the Dark is just a kid himself, the statement reads like a fucked up storybook, and there’s nothing Jon and Martin can do except keep going and hope that turning the world back can fix everything.

[yoki-loves-stars]

need to relisten to MAG 173 (and im pretty sure i won't even find anything that i actually need) and Its like one of my least favourite episodes

not because of all the terrible things, horrors, fear, human sufferings and stuff, but because it makes me feel like a child of divorce (which i am)

"but complex healthy relationships" complex relationships my arse it makes me feel awfuuuuulllllll (doesn't mean it's bad tho, just to clarify)

[microclown]

I’ve listened to 173 and 174, the Dark and the Vast episodes. Tensions are understandably high, but given their circumstances I’m pleasantly surprised with how well Martin and Jon seem to be communicating. I’m also pleasantly but cautiously surprised with how well Jon seems to be hanging onto himself, despite, as Helen pointed out, ultimate power and no consequences. Especially since he’s admitted that he likes the suffering he feeds off of here, and especially with the person who is supposed to be grounding him egging him on to murder.

I am, I suppose, waiting for the second impossibly vast shoe made of grotesquely tangled together people, to drop.

[deadlykitten-404]

mag 173 - I was worried I was going to have to skip this episode, but it was tamer than it could have been

mag 174 - well, this was unsettling,,, until the second half. I was frankly so confused as to what the thing was supposed to be that it became not scary. like, it's a titan made of people?? I guess??

mag 175 - I think I now have a solid list of words I hate hearing Johnny narrate. bulb/bulbus. bulging. lump. sac. why does he say them like that.

mag 176 - OOOH DAISY GOT EM

[a-mag-a-day]

I'm submitting this now because it's relevant here and on MAG 200 day people are going to be focused on other aspects and you guys are going to be so busy:

In the finale scene of MAG 200, Georgie mentions that "we still need batteries for the nightlights." Since Jonny made a point of reassuring us in that scene that the Admiral and Rosie are both okay in the aftermath, I am convinced that this was his (somewhat more oblique) way of doing the same for the Night Street kids. Which means that, in said aftermath, Georgie and Melanie and possibly Basira are looking after the kids, presumably until parents and guardians can be located! From cult leaders to babysitters... in their case, not actually that much of a leap.

Oh mannn what an idea 🥺🥺🥺

[oaxleaf]

mag 173 - night night

martin has this tendency to view the world in an incredibly black-and-white manner. there are good things and bad things, right choices and worng choices. every problem has a straight, followable line from cause to issue to consequence to solution. he also has a very righteous nature, and wants to confront and solve these problems. i'd say he's a more logical person than jon, and he certainly is one of the people who has the most issues with not only understanding but also accepting dream logic. when presented with a problem that can't be solved, or an ultimatum with no good outcomes, he has a tendency to resist the truth and insist that there must be some third, alternate path

this is a point of conflict that takes centre stage in his arc this season, and something that repeatedly drives a rift between him and jon. it doesn't exactly help that jon is so often wrapped up in his knowledge of what is the 'truth' and can't really understand a perpective from where it is not seen as undenaiabel and unchaning. this is just one of many occurences where they fight over this

jon also is presented here with a situation where he is pretty much powerless. despite being protected in this new world and despite having god-like powers, he has very little chance of impacting the world around him. he knows this, but it's a pretty frustrating thing for an outsider to hear, i imagine. it's an interesting conflict though, since it's not based on the stakes of our main characters safety but rather on their more personal issues. jon experiences terrible guilt and a strong sense of responsibilty that is really only fueled by being safe. martin gets deeply frustrated by that prospect of being powerless to improve things

i just think this episode is one of the best in the season at really establishing their dynamic and characters, as well as not only their internal conflicts but also their conflicts with each other. no one wants children to be hurt and scared, but jon can't do anything about it and martin has a hard time accepting that. it sets up the dynamic of their conflict at the end of the season, but on a smaller scale

[yumaisbored]

maybe i’m just built different but i absolutely would’ve smote Callum Brodie, kid was a dick.

[spacedemodulator]

MAG 173, Night Night

JON: Isn't it past your bedtime?

CALLUM: Bitch, I am bedtime.

MARTIN: Burn!

@a-mag-a-day

[lycanlovingvampyre]

MAG 173 Relisten

Activity on my first listen: cutting the French tamarisk in my garden. (Speaking of cutting, I’m going to put only one bullet point instead of three before the cut because the first two are so damn long...)

JON: "Look, I would just really like to get through here as quickly as possible." MARTIN: "How come? This one seems like the quietest place we’ve been in a while – it’s just rows and rows of quiet houses. I mean, I know some people don’t like that sort of thing, but – (slight laugh) – I’m actually finding it kind of relax–" JON: (cutting him off) "Martin. Please." [ALL OF A SUDDEN, IT’S APPARENT HE’S BREATHING HEAVILY.] Hm, thinking a bit more about the background why Jon sounds so panicked here. Like really, reaaaally in distress. I somehow can't imagine it's just about Martin not finding out where they are and what this is. So is this domain doing something to him? In what way, the fear usually feels right to him. Is it the knowledge that the fear of children feels good to him and he doesn't want that? Being reminded once in a while that it is the suffering of others that feeds him? One could argue that he kind of got used to that by now and he gets a bit of a wake-up call here.

JON: "The Eye prefers the more complex neuroses and disquiets of a fully developed mind. So the children are allowed to age – and they are placed into domains where their fears can… mature." Remembering there was something about no pets/children will be harmed in TMA, I think? (Sorry, Gertrude's cat I guess.) Is there more to this "Eye prefers more complex fears" or is it simply done for the audience to get info that they are growing out of their childhood, so no child is harmed? (This has been done before, making a comment that no child came to harm. MAG 97, there were no children in Bucoda, so they couldn't die in the pit. MAG 125, none of the victims of that Slaughter Leitner had children). What begs the question, is the suffering of some people more okay than that of others? Ah, it's fine though, they didn't have children? (regarding MAG 125 e.g.) Or where's the limit to childhood? 13? 14? 15? 16? 17? 18 you're legally not a minor anymore though I very much didn't feel all that different than 16. (What did feel different was that everything suddenly wanted money from me just because I hit that magic mark although I was still in school - damn you, Capitalism!!) This was venturing a bit into the territory of MAG 155 though and not so much what this is about here, I just enjoy moral debates as one might have noticed from my MAG 155 relisten post ^^’’ So returning a bit to the topic, actually I didn't really have the impression that the victims here are not children. The screams sound like children. The statement seems like childish fears. Parents are mentioned... (so the kids on Night Street are joining Gertrude's cat here, I guess xD)

MARTIN: "Anyone who’s chosen to spend their apocalypse tormenting children – God, you need to end them. Now." The one who torments children: Is a child Martin: Surprised Pikachu face

MARTIN: "This is that kid Basira went after last year, right? The one the darkness cult took. So, So that’s not even a kid, that’s whatever was inside Maxwell Rayner; it’s just wearing his body!" [JON INHALES.] JON: (calling) "Callum!" Callum: Whatever was inside Rayner died with him and besides, I was an asshole before this. Martin: Surprised Pikachu face Guess what, kids can be assholes.

MARTIN: "I want you to use your power. I want you to help them; I want you to make things better!" Jon's power. The one he gets from a Dread Power. Dread! Which is at its best passive. Yeah, he got Martin out of this Lonely state he was in in MAG 159, but there is no snapping out of it in this new world anymore. There are no nuances. It's either causing fear, or feeling fear. Martin really is not up to date on how all this works. It makes sense, he is a few steps behind. Steps Jon already made when the world was still normal. (But yeah, I love the trope of trying to use evil powers for good and it does, naturally, backfire horribly because these powers are designed to cause suffering.)

"Is it because he is brave enough to fight the monsters? No. Jack is scared all the time. The world is so big and the night is so long, and the monsters are waiting under the bed and in the closet and down the hallway and in the street and round the corner and behind him." Oh, love the pace picking up here. It's getting this chasing rhythm.

"Her mother is downstairs, but she is part of the sofa now. She won’t stop staring at the television and laughing. Laughing and laughing." Haha, yeah, gotta love the TV zombies xD Do we have a word for them? That generation was quick to call the younger generation with smartphones “smombie”, while they themselves melt plenty into the sofa hypnotized by the TV in front of them. And then they just put a tablet (or a smartphone), the thing they condemn so much, in front of their children for them to watch YouTube so they don't have to play with their children... Sorry, this turned a bit into a rant about hypocrisy. Furthermore this is a domain of the Dark, but there is actually another fear in there. The parents not helping. Bit of Lonely? Or what would you say? This is also something that already dips a bit into the “matured fear”. When you’re a kid, you (usually) have grown-ups to stick up for you. When you’re the grown-up you gotta stick up for yourself and that can be very scary.

JON: "Is that enough for you? Do you need to hear more? See Luka. See Luka sleep –" MARTIN: (cutting in) "No, no, no; that’s enough!" [A JANGLING AS HE – REACHES OVER?] MARTIN (CONT’D): "That’s enough." [PAUSE.] [A FEW STEPS.] [THEN, CLOTHING SOUNDS AS JON SPEAKS:] JON: "Thank you for not hitting me this time." [A PAUSE THAT STRETCHES ON FOR THE SPAN OF THREE HEAVY BREATHS.] It's so interesting that this call out is phrased in a positive way. Highlighting, that now Martin has done it right rather then telling him what he did wrong before. But there is definitely hurt in Jon’s voice and Martin not reacting feels like he's taking time to consider what his actions really did to Jon and then stays silent out of shame. Also what did he do this time? Just pat Jon's arms? Shake him?

@a-mag-a-day

[themagnustournament]

Redemption Round 2 - Match 54

Alphabetically the first episode of TMA, A Cosy Cabin earned 182 votes in Round Two! It's against Night Night, with 124 votes from Round One. It's a Season Five showdown!

MAG 162 - A Cosy Cabin | Spotify - Acast - YT | Wiki | Transcript

Further statements of a personal nature.

MAG 173 - Night Night | Spotify - Acast - YT | Wiki | Transcript

Considerations of youth. Recorded by The Archivist, in Situ.

[flowersfrombefore]

Thanks I hate it

[libraryfag]

huh. that wasn't so bad, I actually really enjoyed this episode. much like mr spider it perfectly encapsulated the 'kids book' style of writing. its so clever how each fearscape has its own statement format, looking forward to hearing what the ones for the remaining powers are

[landscaping-your-mind]

MARTIN Huh, she couldn't help what she was, I guess. ARCHIVIST She didn't even try.

I can't break the cycle, am I just a fool? Falling down like dominoes, hit by family jewels Pass it down from kid to kid, the chain will never end 'Less I decide to go to it, will I see the end?

JORDAN I don't... I don't know how to be this. I don't want to hurt people. ARCHIVIST No. But you'll learn.

I have this dream that I am hitting my dad with a baseball bat And he is screaming and crying for help And maybe halfway through, it has more to do with me killing him Then it ever did protecting myself

The exterminator looks to her, then to the Archivist, and it is not certain which he fears more. The Archivist, for his part, is hopelessly willing the dream to stop, but as she takes one scorched step after another, it is clear that he has no power to make it.

You’re a monster, a beast, rotten to the core, Fangs, and claws, and a gaping maw, “You take after them,” -- and you can’t say it’s wrong, Because among the good ones, you don’t belong.

CALLUM I-I-I was, I was scared, alright? I was really, really scared. [...] And it was da-dark, and I couldn't see anyone, and, I didn't know where I was, a-and there was something on my face and it was cold, a-and it was slimy. And it didn't like me. [...] ARCHIVIST And it was after that you started shoving smaller kids into cupboards, right? CALLUM Yeah, give them a taste of it. Make them afraid of the dark.

If I had no sense at all, I would go into that room and stab him with a kitchen knife.

Cycles

"MAG 188 - Centre of Attention" / "The Family Jewels" - Marina / "MAG 184 - Like Ants" / "Father" - The Front Bottoms / "MAG 120 - Eye Contact" / "Fight Response" - landscaping-your-mind / "MAG 173 - Night Night" / my writing on 18 September 2022

[chaoticpinetree]

Okay so I listened for a whole bunch without writing posts about it but in my defence let's just say that it's been hectic, going back to both studying and working :C

So, let's make one thing clear: the bits with Sasha and Tim broke my heart. 'Nooo, you took it too far! I'm unforgettable!' OH YE MAYBE JUST RIP IT OUT OF MY CHEST HUH. ;-; But also oh god, Elias's whole behaviour on that tape. Did I already mention that Elias's motivation is evil in a very simple way? Oh yeah I did. Oh wait I'll add the read more because this will be a bunch.

So. So every single human being in the world is now tortured except for the ones who are doing the torturing and Jon because he's <checks notes> Ceaseless Watcher's Special Boy and Martin because Jon basically protects him. And maybe Basira who is chasing after Daisy apparently. Gosh it's like. Obviously it's fiction, obviously when you think about it, it's horrible. Throughout the whole four seasons I was really chill about the statements and well, objectively I still am because it's not that easy for me to find something in fiction 'scary' but it is a bit easier for me to find something 'disturbing' and a lot of these domains quickly become such if I think about it for a while.

Since this is honestly my first proper, deep experience with horror, I have to admit that it's a feeling I'm not very used to when consuming fiction but it's also a very interesting one.

Anyway, this aside... I mean this feeling will likely follow me for a while but you know, it's not all I think about this season. So this aside, a bunch of other stuff.

CEASELESS WATCHER, TURN YOUR GAZE UPON THIS WRETCHED THING. Oh that scene was so damn cool, love it, Jon can just smite people <3 The way Martin's reaction was an immediate whoa! omg we gotta do it again! Jared was so chill with being smote lmao

Helen is such a shipper of Jmart and she's so valid for it. My friend described season 5 as only fluff and comedy and I was like literally no way. And it is very much NOT oh god. I mean she has really strong powers of denial. I told her hey you... Know that TMA generally is more of a tragedy right... And she said that it really only hit her once she started reading fanfics heh. I mean she's valid for her denial powers, that's for sure, but STILL

AND ALSO OH GOD EPISODE 170. I got so emotional over this one. There was just something about the way Martin kept losing his train of thought and starting over again and again and he realised something was wrong a few times and called out to Jon but lost that thought too, it was. Damn. Damn.

By the way, I see the way Jon finds it all horrible and fascinating at the same time, the way he kind of... Does want to drink all that fear in. He told Martin 'you are my reason' regarding the quest, regarding walking through all of it but I think it also applies to not... Losing himself, so to speak.

And also oh damn the children. There is something... I mean it's like, it's like the danger almost doesn't exist. Are those monsters there or is it just their imagination that Callum nudges into even scarier directions? And the fact that they're basically cultivated by the fears until they grow up and their fears become something more interesting to the Eye. Damn.

Things also sound rather tense between Jon and Martin at times, but honestly I'm not surprised, considering... The whole situation. I'm just glad they can be there for each other even though the world sucks :C

[yeetthebottle]

MAG 173

What the fuck, what the fuck, what the fuck, what the fuck, what the fuck, what the fuck!

What the fuck

This one fucked me up, the children constantly screaming in the background, them describing the monsters and how they are going to kill them, Callum literally creating new monsters by just saying they are real and the childen fearing them actually make them real.

What the actual fuck