#The Panopticon Closes (episode)

[inspectorspacetimerevisited]

The Panopticon was created to hold ‘the greatest threat to untold worlds, covered in the blood of countless beings, the destroyer of galaxies, something that could turn up any given day and bring your planet to an end’.

That being? The Inspector, of course!

[transmascutena]

people talk a lot about utena and anthy's weird gay beds but i think there's something to the room itself too. because it isn't really much of a room at all. the giant window and the doorway to the main room of the tower that's barely covered by a see-through curtain leaves no room for privacy or even the simple feeling of safety and security that comes from being able to close a door to your own space. it specifically stood out to me when i was watching episode 32 yesterday with that scene at the beginning of the episode where utena gets up and stretches and anthy's voice immediately cuts in from the kitchen, where (more importantly) akio also is. because there is no seperation at all really between the rooms in that house. which i think is possibly symbolic of nobody being allowed to set any boundaries there either. that bed is where some of utena and anthy's most vulnerable and intimate moments happen, but they don't have a space that's truly theirs. it's all akio's. the panopticon....

[portablegoose]

Woooo so the Magnus Protocol premiered and I have things to say and things to overanalyse!

As we know, 'Chester', 'Neil' and 'Augustus' are, maybe?, Jon, Martin, and Jonah, respectively. Hence this:

And, of course, there's 'J1', 'M1' and 'J2' in the trailer.

However, I've seen confusion over the fact that the third 'Error' is voiced by Tim Fearon, who as far as I'm aware has not previously voiced any characters in the Magnus universe. Even though the name is distorted, I can make out what looks to be an H at the end of the name, so this very well may be Jonah.

My theory is this: 'Augustus' is Jonah (or just his voice). However, since the body of Elias was killed in the Panopticon, Jonah does not use Elias' voice anymore. Jon, Martin, and Jonah are all disembodied, if we are to believe they are somehow inside the computer/other technology (ie Alice/Sam's phone in the pub scene) or in some way somewhere adjacent to the world of Protocol. So it could, in a dream-logicy eldritch sense, follow that Jonah is able to survive in his own creepy old ass man way, and use his original voice. Obviously, I cannot corroborate this claim in any meaningful way. We have not heard Augustus speak yet, but I think it is a possibility nonetheless.

The fact that Augustus supposedly shows up to read cases aloud significantly less than Chester and Neil could also be a clue. Maybe Jonah is weaker than Jon and Martin due to his injuries, and is therefore unable to materialise as often as Jon and Martin. Maybe the voice that speaks the true cases (because, similarly to how true statements were identified using the tape recorder in TMA, I imagine true cases will be singled out using the text to speech system) is relevant to the case itself - ie, Jonah only speaks when a case is heavily linked to the Eye, etc.

Furthermore, there's the question of who is spying on who and when/why. By this I mean that we hear our perspective switch between devices (the phone, the computer, the security camera during Colin and Sam's interaction, etc), and I believe that this happens because one or more of the 'Errors' (as I am going to refer to them henceforth) is travelling between devices to spy on the characters' conversations. What we hear is dictated by what the Errors, characters who have prior knowledge of the Fears, deem important. This is backed up by the episode's closing scene: Colin's paranoid closing lines. It is clear that Colin believes someone is listening to them, and it is implied that he has made a connection between this and the Errors. What intrigues me is the Errors' motivation for doing this at all. If what they deem important is what we hear, and this is the first that we are hearing, then it seems to me that it is Sam's arrival that has given them cause for concern, or (in Jonah's case) hope (if he is plotting to return, or something, I don't put it past the scheming weasel). So, why are they listening? And how can we really tell if what we are hearing is the spying of Jonah, or of Jon and Martin?

Another thing. Jonny makes a point of letting us know that Alice does not think the work they do is of any significance, or is checked by anyone. She constantly mentions it in passing and is very casual in her attitude towards work. We obviously have the foresight to know this isn't true. The reason I point this out is because of what Sam does when filling out his paperwork: he ticks the 'Response' box, to which Alice responds that it doesn't matter. This could be nothing, it probably is nothing, but I feel like the fact that Sam has ticked the onboarding box of a mysterious department of an already mysertious organisation might come up later...

Yes I know I am jumping to a lot of conclusions, especially where the Errors are concerned. Please take every theory you hear, from me or anyone else, with a grain of salt, this is all speculative. From a writer's perspective, I honestly think it's pretty likely that Chester and Neil aren't actually Jon and Martin, and just their voices taken by the Web or something, but shh I can dream.

Edit: oh my god they changed his name to Norris that is even worse. Jonny and Alex were fr like 'neil is too kind, we need the name to be Chester levels of horrific'

[utilitycaster]

I think this is the last I have to say about it, certainly not until new episodes air, but the thing about What The Fuck Is Up With That is that it's emblematic of the issues Bells Hells have - and to be honest I suspect always might have - regarding trust. It's a party game. It's a fun way to get surface-level answers. It's an infodump. It's telling not showing. It's not a bad thing, but you don't build trust, actually, by providing every piece of information! In fact, sometimes, it's good to keep your inside thoughts inside! You build trust with other people through your actions: through keeping your word, through proving your ability to do what they expect of you. Perhaps this is a personal experience and not a universal tenet, but people who share everything about themselves right away and people who end up being genuinely reliable and close and trustworthy are often two nearly entirely separate camps.

This also does once again feel like something with an interesting echo within the fandom. Earlier on in the campaign, before the introduction of 4-Sided Dive, I received a lot of questions about whether it would be helpful if we had something like Talks and my response was usually "no, the issue is that I know everything about the backstory and not actually much anyone's motivations; I have a factual list of personal history and I'm looking for a sense of someone's personality." This still comes up occasionally when I talk about Laudna, whose motivations remain hazy much of the time; we have a quite detailed outline of her history but it is missing the only things that actually matter. We know what. We don't know why. Bells Hells knows so much what about each other and they still struggle, even now, with "why".

And when it comes to why, telling people is nice, but it's very easy to lie about motivations. Indeed, that's why Imogen ends up fooled by her mother; she knows what Liliana did but assumed there was a deeper why than there ended up being; that Liliana wasn't simply seduced by the idea that Predathos would free her and Imogen from the burden of their powers but was also working as a force for good within the Vanguard and wouldn't hurt so many people. The revelation that the "why" really was that simple was ultimately why Imogen felt betrayed. Knowing more details about Liliana doesn't help.

Chetney ends up being the illustrative exception here, if that helps. He arrived late to the party. He never played What The Fuck Is Up With That. He even told them what he was there for (looking for Gurge) and lied about the "why" (werewolf reasons) initially. He to this day keeps secrets. But he's open about keeping secrets. That caginess allows him to be one of the party members most people trust on a fundamental level. They don't trust him to be kind, or generous per se; they don't even trust him to not hurt them. But they trust him to not hurt them intentionally, since he's repeatedly shown he will take steps to avoid this. He is cagey and uncooperative during most of the honesty exercise, but when he finally says something, it isn't a judgement - it is an explanation of his own behavior. When he declines to share his deal with Morri, he still reassures them that he did not do anything that would fall to them - and that's honest, and that's what matters, that he made a deal for himself and himself alone. Compare with Orym, who hides even the fact he made the deal, or Ashton a couple days ago, who hid their true plans with the shard. On the surface, Chetney is the one hiding something - but he is honest that he hides things. If Chetney's secret comes out? It won't change the party's understanding of his trustworthiness; it will just change some of the facts. If Orym's comes out or when Ashton's was revealed? That's a huge change in the party's understanding of their motivations.

Honesty in this party has been a game from the start, and as the exercises show, it still mostly is. A panopticon is, unsurprisingly, not a great way to make people trust each other; a little open hiding and actions over words are in order. I don't think that's necessarily a problem, in that I think Bells Hells share, if not a vast overreaching goal, an agreement regarding their pretty significant task. But I think any deeper trust is yet to be actually tested, tried, and forged.

[foxy-alien]

ERROR/The Archivist

This is my attempt and compiling everything we know about The Archivist as of episode 26!

This got very long so the rest is under the cut!

THE ESCAPE

They find a key in a filing cabinet, which… why is the key to the Archivist in a filing cabinet, but I digress. Also poor Alice

Like our universe the Archivist was a position. Were they turned into what they are now by someone? Why were they locked away underneath their office?

This is a stage direction that confuses me. How can the key be on top of the trap door – something that presumably the archivist is trapped within – and be moved by the Archivist to the lock. Does the Archivist have the power to control objects?

But the Archivist is freed, by Sam and Alice. 

In the very next episode Alice feels like she is being followed by someone she can't see.  Thus begins the encounters with ERROR/The Archivist

THE VICTIMS

We have the Drowning victim, The Wanderer, and The Runner, each of their statements have been recorded within a month of each other. 

With the Drowning Victim her "Statement" and appearance give us the basis for what the Archivist does to you. You seem to wander oblivious to the world outside of you as your greatest fear takes place in your head. It eventually causes your death.

The wanderer's body is affected as if she has been walking through a house until she died. It's the same for the drowning victim. What is happening to them is not just psychosomatic.

The wanderer speaks after death retelling her being trapped in the house on Church Street. She mentions meeting who we can assume is the Archivist

It's interesting that for Jarred we don't learn what fear he is trapped in. I assume that this line is his fear, but it also might be about the Archivist who appears right after. 

Now the line An Archivist is interesting, implying that they are not singular. I’ve seen this compared to the others from the panopticon. 

But this universe Archives and Archivists are different!

Jons victims recount something that happened to them and this one causes your biggest fear to happen to you. Jon soaked up the latent fear from a previous experience making it more palpable. This Archivist causes you to experience your fear first hand.

GWENS ENCOUNTER

The Archivist is also able to compel others. At first I thought Gwen was telling Ink5oul’s story, like how Elias did to Daisy, but it’s Gwen telling her own. It cuts off before we can tell if what she saw as a kid was supernatural or not. 

Their conversation reminds me of The Fears marking a person. Also the Archivist is much more spooky than Jon was.  

Again, hard to tell if the Archivist is saying everyone is theirs or if they are referring to the other OAIR employees. I’m leaning towards the other employees as cases keep cropping up around them. 

It’s also interesting how… possessive the archivist seems over them. It presumably could have killed Gwen here, It was close to Alice, why leave them alive? What other motivations does it have?

PERFECT ALICE BEING SMART AND SEXY

So now they know what we know, that they let something out in the institute ruins and now it’s following them. 

This to me is further proof that this archivist is acting differently than the ones in the Panopticon. If it is TMA Celia then she would have had first experience with them. Or if she is referring to Jon it still is acting very differently than he did. 

To Wrap Up

This Archivist used to be a person with an office and at some point was turned into what we know now and locked underneath the ruins. 

The Archivist now causes people to be trapped in their worst nightmare, this has effects on the body as well and will eventually pass from these injuries. It seems that their body will keep giving their statement after they die. 

The Archivist can compel others to tell their story like Jon. 

It is stalking the employees of the OAIR but has not hurt them yet even though it has had the opportunity too. 

[ash-pile]

Starting a thread for myself of theories and ideas about tmp. Gonna update it as I listen to episodes.

I’ve listened to 11 as if this first post. Also I think it goes without saying but there will be spoilers here, I might not have a ton of info but I do have and reference stuff in the episodes

Jon/chester/computer bois:

I think that Jon is using the cameras and things to see and listen, which is why he’s able to give statements that are very close to what’s happening with the characters.

Also I think he is trapped, but idk if he’ll ever get out. Maybe if he and Martin get out then Jonah Magnus can too so they’ll have to choose.

I wonder if they’ll be the same if they escape?

Or if there is a jon and Martin in the world too?

The entities:

-I saw someone else say this (don’t remember who or where tho) but I think that when the web and Jon pulled the entities thru the crack in reality in tma, they got squished and melted together.

- It would explain why statements often multiple fears now.

- They are so squished/interwoven that they litterally can’t separate.

Can they still do rituals/summonings?

Alice

-Another thing I saw but makes so much sense. Alice used to hold Lena’s job/she’s secretly the boss-boss of OIAR

-would explain why she and Lena got the message that Sam was trying to access restricted files.

-I mean why would Alice of all people see that. Lena make sense but Alice would only see it if she had the same kind of access

-also It might not end up being canon but I want Alice, Sam and Gwen to end up together as a poly. The whole scene with the mocha and Alice being confused but not hostile to Gwen was sweet and I want more of that trio

Celia

-I think she and the others who weren’t in any fear domains were brought here, so Georgie and Melanie could be there too.

-Would also explain why she seems to know more about the archives that most, cause she would have heard about them from those two.

-Maybe she ends up in random places regularly hence the ‘not again’ because the world recognizes she isn’t supposed to be there

-or she’s like Micheal. Tma 198 did reveal that the cult was taken back to their domains, maybe Micheal/something like him got to her before the end?

So she’d be able to jump around with doors. Probably not on purpose tho.

-either theory explains why she’s looking into dimensions and space and physics things

Lena/OIAR

-I think that when Jon and Martin and Jonah and the fears came through, they came through at a different time but same space. The explosion from the gas destroying the building would have been brought over at the same time and thus destroyed the archives in this world

-and maybe if it was an important place for the eye/the eye is ‘staying’ there/leftover energy from the panopticon, maybe thats why redcanary was so affected and pulled out their eyes. They were forced to by some kind of eye powers

-so with that, I think OIAR formed to document what changes came about after the fears came through. And their database doesn’t work with the fears separately cause they aren’t separate any more

-I haven’t figured out what Lena’s deal is yet, I just think she’s aware of the fears in someway and uses them/avatars/whatever the monsters would be called now to control the amount of fear being spread

[anonymoushouseplantfan]

Having read the whole book (poor Plant) would you like to take a shot at calculating how much of it is pure fiction ?

Oh, like 90% of it. He flat out tells you at the beginning of the book that his memory is Swiss cheese and he has been living in a drug-induced dissociative state (with frequent hallucinatory and delusional episodes!) since his mum died when he was 12 years old. Plus the paranoia is evident.

I’m surprised that anyone is treating him as a reliable narrator about anything. He admits most of his childhood memories—like the funeral, South Africa trip and the Xbox—are based on tabloid accounts. He just picks which tabloid stories he likes and which ones he dislikes and chooses to remember the ones he likes.

The book is fascinating in that it’s the story of someone who was raised in a panopticon with few close/intimate relationships (basically just an eccentric father, an absentee brother, and employees who were just doing their job) and essentially crafted a personal narrative and an identity based on the feedback he was getting from the people surveilling him. Before Meghan, that identity was mostly negative—the naughty one, Spare, Prince Dunce, etc… Meghan, however, allowed him to change that identity and narrative, at least for a while. That’s why he ends the book with her quote. “This a MAN, this is no Spare.”

But the new identity and narrative is just as fake as the old one. As other anons have noted, he wasn’t actually there during Meghan’s supposed traumas. He’s on the phone, or he’s in England, or she’s out shopping. She just collapses into a teary puddle as soon as he arrives, so he can “save” her. He’s not protecting her from an evil press because that evil press doesn’t exist. He’s not defending her from Charles’ leaks or Camilla’s machinations because those don’t exist either. They are mirages, just like Ghost Leopard Diana and the singing seals. He essentially lives in a self-created magic reality world.

That’s why the Taliban are chess pieces, the paps are Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum, and the aides are wasps, flies, and bees. That’s also why Meghan is a faery silkie princess sent by Diana who the seals sing it to. He lives in a fantasy world BY HIS OWN admission. He documents the whole thing, thoroughly. ALL OF IT is fake. Well, Kate may actually own lip gloss and Charles probably does love Shakespeare and Classical music, but you really have to discern which details are true and which ones are just flat out fantasy.

And he believes the whole thing. He doesn’t think he’s lying. He believes the Whole Food shoppers swarmed around Meghan like hungry hyenas. He believes he shopped at the TJ Maxx annual sale that never existed. He believes they booked Thomas an Air New Zealand flight that never was. He believes Di got him an XBox years before it was released. He believes he was at Eton when the Queen Mum died.

But it’s all a fantasy. It’s not exactly a lie because he believes it wholeheartedly, but it’s still not real. And the weirdest part is that he thinks that WE are the delusional ones. WE are the ones living in the “tabloid reality.” His mission is to destroy the British Press and the tabloid reality they have created and have his own reality reign supreme. It’s wild.

[ao3feed-jonmartin]

Close Enough Welcome Back Dogwarts

read it on AO3 at https://ift.tt/NbyR1wZ by starstrucksun Jon and Martin didn't expect to open their eyes again as the Panopticon fell around them. Jon and Martin also did not expect to open their eyes to a bright, sunny, horrible day. Words: 1163, Chapters: 1/1, Language: English Fandoms: The Magnus Archives (Podcast), 3rd Life | Last Life SMP Series Rating: Teen And Up Audiences Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death Categories: M/M Characters: Jonathan "Jon" Sims | The Archivist, Martin Blackwood, Villager (Minecraft) Relationships: Martin Blackwood/Jonathan "Jon" Sims | The Archivist Additional Tags: Crack Treated Seriously, Angst, Aftermath of Violence, Location: Somewhere Else (The Magnus Archives), I haven't caught up on tmagp, and we ignore FR3-d1's (i'm sorry ily FR3-d1) existence, Blood, Respawn Mechanics (Minecraft), Dogwarts (3rd Life SMP), Eldritch Jonathan "Jon" Sims | The Archivist, Established Martin Blackwood/Jonathan "Jon" Sims | The Archivist, Martin Blackwood and Jonathan "Jon" Sims | The Archivist Travel to a Different Reality, 3rd Life SMP Setting, Heavy Angst, Murder, Post-Episode: e200 Last Words (The Magnus Archives), Red Lives (3rd Life | Last Life SMP Series), Beholding Avatar Powers (The Magnus Archives), Blood and Gore, Mentioned ZombieCleo (Video Blogging RPF), Mentioned Jimmy | Solidarity, I am regretting everything, no beta we die like Jon and Martin and Jimmy, .jmj error actually caused by sticking Jon martin and Jimmy into a world together read it on AO3 at https://ift.tt/NbyR1wZ

[my-catsface]

HEELLLLOO EVERYONE!! I am going to talk about THE MAGNUS PROTOCOL and a Theory (maybe theories?) I have so spoilers for the first two episodes of The Magnus Protocol and major spoilers for the ending of The Magnus Archives!!!

(Someone has very likely said this before so it might be repeat information)

Okay. okay. Okay. okay. You guys know… that one comment Alice made about the voices reading statements, right? How there are three voices you can hear when statements are read aloud? We’ve got Jon and Martin as Chester and Norris, but she also mentioned an Augustus there too. “Auhhh but who’s that?? There was nobody else in the Panopticon-“ WRONG!! It’s our babygirl Jonah Magnus.

First off, during the end of the Magnus Archives we get a little “after” dialogue from the girlies about what’s going on. They mention something happening to Simon and why it’s probably for the best that they didn’t find any bodies. But that’s the thing. They didn’t find ANY bodies. Not Jon or Martin sure, but Elias’s corpse should’ve just been hangin’ around in there. But this seems to indicate that it wasn’t. So where’d to go? Probably the exact same place that Jon and Martin went.

Okay okay SECONDLY!! This image (below)

Is taken from the trailer for the Magnus protocol, and I’m sure a lot of people are familiar with it already. The two things I want to draw attention to here are the J.01 and J.02 lines. J1 and M1 are… you know… Jon and Martin. But the J2 doesn’t really have an answer unless you think that it’s Jonah, whose body was never found when the Panopticon fell. Honestly I don’t know what’s up with the master and slave lines but I’m sure those (and the fact that they failed/are undefined) is important.

What I DO recognize however is the date that’s set for 2023 at the very bottom. Keeping in mind that Alice mentioned all this freaky stuff started happening a year ago, and the series takes place in 2024, this is likely the very event we’re seeing of the computers being all wonked out. Though the question I mostly have here is, did someone (or something) put those three in there intentionally, or did that just happen to be where they went after the end of TMA? Furthermore, why NOW? Why now years later (aside from real-life time happening (because I am 100% sure that Jonny has an answer for this and I want to know it)) in 2023? Is there something special about the specific date? What’s up with the EPA Polution Preventer (and why is it spelled wrong)? The memory test went okay, do the three remember themselves? Do they know where they are?

Okay. OKAY. I’ve rambled on for a while but don’t worry we’re close to the end of my scattered, disjointed thoughts. Because the one question I have now is “Who’s listening?” In TMA it was the Web, right? The web, with tape recorders drawn to the lighter (which I’m pretty sure is what was happening but I might be a lil forgetful). But there’s no lighter here? And we aren’t using tape recorders, we’re using… computers, maybe? A cellphone, possibly? The entities have been shown to not really play nice with technology… but there was ALSO the video of the dude who ate his own computer so I’m honestly not sure what to think. I don’t know if it’s the Web, still. Honestly I don’t even know of Smirke’s Fourteen can be APPLIED here. This might be one of those instances where TMA listeners have to forget some things to make sense of this different world. But if it IS applicable to an entity, the best guess I have would honestly be the Extinction. That might explain the EPA Polution Preventer (seems pretty extinctioncore), it might explain Jon Martin and (possibly!) Jonah here, having just come from an apocalypse/the end of the world/AN EXTINCTION EVENT, but aside from that? I honestly am not sure. Because we don’t know how many of the entities are actually intelligent. Sure they can like and dislike things but it’s kind of been very solidified in how much they aren’t very thinking, aside from the web.

So uh… what’s the deal? I have… no idea. I am frothing at the mouth in anticipation. I love this podcast. I love both of these podcasts… this is amazing… this is fantastic. I’m in love. Please anyone tell me if you have any ideas or counter evidence for any of this because I would LOVE to talk to you about all this!!

[velvetjune]

List of unrelated Control (2019) things I noticed on my second playthrough:

Langston (highly likely) being behind the Tennyson Report that Trench was investigating: The report loudly criticized Trench and Darling for being “anti-esoteric” by pushing the FBC in the direction of science instead of faith. Langston’s comments that Darling gets away with his strange behavior because he’s charming, disliking but giving Trench some credit for even going with the Panopticon, mentioning how altered items need to be treated better with rituals and kindness.

Langston taking a traffic light altered item to a movie

The archives having Pandora’s box (aka Hiss in a mod box) along with two astral spikes. Why. I fought so much for that extra Darling video and Threshold Kids episode (it was worth it).

Trench, Darling, and Marshall’s inner circle and close relationship that destructed with the investigation into the Ordinary AWE and Dylan. All three of them being figures of the old Bureau Jesse wishes to change (Trench being secretive about the Hiss; Darling with Heston/Polaris; Marshall with the Foundation; All about Dylan). Wish the game hinted at their connection and past more. Maybe they’ll still be in contact through the hotline.

Underhill and Darling being old friends, maybe exes (?) who still care for each other. Honestly, I love the mild one-sided animosity from Underhill for Darling’s research getting more attention (that we know is because he was committing ethical violations with Trench) while clearly having fun hating on him and working at the FBC again. Even funnier that HR was looking into their possible relationship status.

Underhill dropping her career and life in England for mold. Iconic

The sheer difference between Underhill’s shocked and sad reaction to hearing of Darling’s death versus Pope not giving a shit (and saying she’s sure he’s happy as long as he can take in his surroundings). Love Emily

The amount of drama between coworkers and departments. I’m convinced working in HR at the Oldest House would single-handedly be the most stressful job there.

There’s no way the Blessed organization/Chester Bless won’t be a part of a future Control game

Spoilers for Alan Wake 1/2: The night springs manuscript pages reflecting what happened to Trench and Darling. Incredible. But it only feeds into my belief that Alan is great at writing fun, cheesy genre stories. He was made for writing over the top sci-fi or noir mysteries (or even musicals). Let him write a Goosebumps book

Spoilers for Alan Wake: The Vivid Dreams dead letter by Bowker being a reference to the Bright Falls AWE. Being in a lake and seeing shadows that whisper phrases.

Spoilers for Alan Wake: Zane’s shoebox from Alan Wake maybe being o.o.p. that was found in Ordinary, Maine, protecting its contents from the effects of the AWE. The mention back to Samantha Wells from the House of Dreams ARG where Wells communicated with Zane in her dreams. The shoebox effects could be replicated, but it mysteriously went missing in the FBC.

Spoilers for Max Payne 2: The Flamingo altered item on the TV being the same as the logo for the Address Unknown show in Max Payne 2 (…which was a parody of Twin Peaks,, and would later become the plot of Alan Wake 1 and 2)

Spoilers for Alan Wake 2 Final Draft: The HRA video with Darling quoting Space Oddity—“Commencing countdown, Major Tom” (same song at the end of Alan Wake). 665 Neighbor of the Beast for black rock quarry in Darling’s presentation and room 665 for Zane. The Darling music video at the Oceanview Jesse finds in her dream state possibly being filmed at the Dark Place’s Oceanview Hotel. No idea of these were all fun Remedy references to itself for laughs (665 is in Max Payne too), but it truly is incredible that it led to the Zane and Darling collaboration.

[inspectorspacetimerevisited]

Out of all the times the universe was almost destroyed,

‘The Panopticon Closes’ absolutely takes the biscuit.

[total-drama-brainrot]

okay. panopticon talk made me think about a milgram total drama au with warden noah. i will elaborate on what that is later.

Total Drama Milgram Experiment? Anon is it that obvious that I'm a Psychology student? Are you using these buzzwords to intentionally get my mind racing with Ideas??

Listen to me. I'm grabbing you by your shoulders and shaking you, please listen to me. In a TD Milgram experiment, Chef would be the warden/experimenter. Or maybe Chris, at a stretch. The whole point of the warden/experimenter is to be an authority figure, and Chef the closest thing to authoritive we have.

But Noah could always be the learner. He's Chris' assistant, after all, so having him as the confederate in this experiment make sense.

And now I'm thinking of a whole AU where the TD cast are forced to experience a whole circuit of morally charged psychology experiments.

Let's say that this whole experiment is a late-game challenge, post merge, and the competitors are tasked with 'teaching' a 'learner' (Noah), the same set up as the actual experiment itself. But the real goal of the challenge is actually to disobey Chef and show an inkling of compassion for the student.

Maybe this is part of the hypothetical Total Drama Dirtbags instead, and the challenges are geared towards teaching 'bad' people things like Ethics and Morality. But instead of the fake cast introduced during the Celebrity Manhunt episode, it's an All-Stars adjacent collection of the 'antagonists' and 'villain-adjacent' competitors across the first two generations. (I'd add gen three, but I haven't watched PI yet.)

So you'd have the obvious villain characters like Heather, Alejandro and Scott, alongside morally grey characters like Courtney, Duncan and Jo, paired with characters who aren't traditional antagonists but have the potential to be so like Eva and B (he's not villainous, but that boy carries around ice carving tools and knows how to hotwire explosions- he's nonconventional, and probably anti-authoritarian, and would make such an interesting antagonist due to his hypercompetence). Chuck in some polarising characters like Gwen and Lightning for flavour, and you've got yourself a cast chock full of potential.

So the challenge begins with the final four; since the experiment itself is a one-person deal, having it be an individual challenge close to the finale makes the most thematic sense- plus, learning when to defy authority as a moral objector is a pretty advanced Morality and Ethics lesson, so it would make more sense to present this moral dilemma later on in the season. I won't make any concrete statements here, but Courtney's definitely one of the final four here.

So she gets to go first.

-

Courtney is ushered into a sterile room, housing two desks and a doorway. At one of the desks, the one closest to the entrance, Chef is sat almost boredly. He's dressed smartly, like a scholar, with moon-rimmed glasses sitting on the bridge of his nose and a clipboard clutched between his hands.

The other desk, which is vacant, is situated against the wall next to the other doorway. On the wall itself is a switch box, displaying countless switches labelled "15" to "450"; there's a warning sticker peeling off of the box next to the "450" label, reading "WARNING: FATAL". Above the switch box is an empty screen.

Courtney stands awkwardly at the centre of the room, waiting for Chris to enter and explain what her challenge is, or for Chef to do the honours. After a few uncomfortable moments (during which she can feel Chef's judgemental stare boring into her back) the door opens, revealing the grinning face of Chris McLean, tailed by a reluctant looking Noah.

"Noah? What are you doing here?" She asks. He wasn't part of this seasons' cast, after all.

"This guy," The cynic points towards Chris, who's arms are crossed over his chest in a self-satisfied manner, "decided that my 'contractual obligations' included helping out with this challenge. I think it's a load of bull-"

"Thank you, Noah-it-all! What he means to say is, as my personal assistant, Noah was just jumping at the chance to help me out with this next challenge!"

The pessimist rolls his eyes, but doesn't offer any rebuttal.

"Speaking of, this one's gonna be a little different than your usual challenge; I call it 'The Mind Electric'."

Chef stands from his seat at the door-most desk and gingerly removes the bowler hat from his head. As he approaches the trio, he displays the hat before Courtney and Noah.

"You two'll pick out a role from the hat. One of you will be the Teacher, and the other will be the Learner."

"'Teacher'? 'Learner'? What's that supposed to mean?"

"I lost my teaching certificate in the mail, so can I just go or...?"

Chris narrows his eyes at Noah for the snark, then turns to face Courtney.

"A good question! You'll find out soon enough. Now, take your pick from the hat."

-

I'm losing steam, so I'll just summarise the rest of the 'challenge' here.

There's two folded papers in the hat, both of them have 'Teacher' written on them but since Noah's in on the act he claims to have picked 'Learner' instead. Chris leads Courtney and Noah through the doorway by the second desk, revealing a smaller room; it's mostly empty, save for the electric chair at its' centre.

Chris straps a reluctant Noah into the chair, explaining that it's a "variable of the challenge" and "nothing to be worried about", then leads Courtney back through to the first room. Chef's already sat back down at his desk, and Courtney is instructed to sit at hers (the one with the switchboard).

Once she's sat, Chris leaves the challenge site entirely, claiming something about the dangers of electricity as he does so. Chef then takes over as the main authority over the challenge, handing his clipboard to Courtney and telling her to recite what's written on it into the microphone at her desk.

On the clipboard is a series of passages, followed by a list of multiple choice questions about the passages (each question has four answers, labelled 1-4). Courtney reads out the first passage and it's questions, and Noah's answers appear on the screen above her (the screen displays a glowing number, 1-4, depending on his answer). Unsurprisingly, he gets them all right.

Until the last question. Which he gets wrong.

Chef instructs Courtney to flip the first switch- a "controlled electric shock" to work as punishment for getting the answer wrong. She does so, and a muffled yelp resounds from the doorway beside her- the door was left ajar, so she can just barely hear it.

The challenge continues, and Noah gets more answers wrong. Each time, Chef instructs Courtney to flip the next switch. She quickly realises that the intensity of the shock Noah receives increases with every switch, as his surprised yelps soon devolve into genuine cries of pain.

Courtney starts to question the validity of this 'experiment', but Chef emphasises the fact that, if she stops, she'll lose the challenge. She has to go on.

Courtney, being the competitive person she is (and not at all because she, as a teacher's pet, always questionlessly adheres to authority), continues.

From the other room, she can hear Noah's begging and crying. "Please, I don't want to do this anymore! It hurts! Please! Stop! It hurts!" She feels guilt crawl it's way into her gut, sharp nails dragging against the lining of her stomach and threatening to make her puke, but Chef insists that she has to carry on or she'll lose. So she continues.

Eventually, she finishes all of the questions on the clipboard (there's a few page's worth, so it takes about ~10 minutes). She's flipped the majority of the switches on the switch box, and Noah's pitiful sobbing has gone eerily silent in the other room.

Chris re-enters the room, a sombre look on his face.

"Huh. Didn't think you'd actually go through with the whole thing. Looks like someone's failed the challenge."

Courtney's understandably outraged at the prospect, because she did exactly as she was instructed to. But that's just the issue; she was supposed to question the immorality of the situation, not just blindly follow instructions.

Chris asks if she wants to see the state she's left Noah in, heavily implying that she's either killed him outright or severely hurt him. Courtney's hesitant, but eventually concedes that she should at least see the consequences of her actions.

So she's even more outraged when they enter the smaller room to see Noah playing Candy Crush on his phone, entirely unharmed. Not a single indication that he'd been shocked at all, despite the heart wrenching cries and sobs she'd been tortured with.

Maybe Noah gives a demonstration of his acting skills here? OR Maybe Chris decides not to let Courtney see Noah, leaving her in the dark to stew in the guilt of what she might've done. 🤷‍♀️

-

Uh. Got kind of carried away there. Oops?

[ceaseless-bitcher]

-TMA Spoilers(?)-

As I re-listen to The Magnus Archives (again), I become increasingly aware of our lack of actual knowledge about how the characters’ relationships develop. We only hear what The Web deemed relevant enough to lure the Fears: interactions directly related to The Fourteen. We hear statements, commentary, encounters, and fights/conversations that specifically develop The Mother’s own plan, as that is what allows her to build her literal web on Hill Top Road.

Even in early seasons, when it isn’t just The Web compelling various people to start recording at points (or turning on the recorders itself), we literally only get post-statement commentary and interruptions. So few give us direct insight into who these characters are beyond their jobs.

It kinda breaks my heart that we don’t get to hear how Jon and Martin slowly grow closer, becoming friends after such a rocky start. We hear Jon’s fights with Tim and Melanie, but the only things we actually get are the breaking points. There are massive gaps in their personal and private lives over the years the story occurs. Jon, Sasha, and Tim were close friends, and yet it takes nearly the entire series to realise that!

We hear Tim make some very interesting remarks in episode 65 (Binary, statement #0170701), in his fight with Jon:

“And the worst thing – the actual worst thing – is that no one here has my back. With any of it! Elias doesn’t care, Martin just wants a tea party, and Sasha – ugh – and you! – you’re treating me like I’m somehow to blame for it all, like I didn’t suffer the worst right alongside you!”

What I find fascinating here is the, “and Sasha- ugh,” as he sounds highly distressed in the recording. We know the two are very close, particularly due to the 2015 Tim-Sasha interaction played in episode 162. They were best friends, so Tim was the most directly affected by the Not!Sasha’s new personality. We can compare the two Sashas to find that the original was far kinder, showing her goofier side almost exclusively to Tim. Right after Tim’s own traumatic experiences with Prentiss in episode 40, his best friend completely changes, refusing to offer him any support. In Episode 78 (The New Cousin, #0011206), Jon can hardly get through a sentence talking about the Not!Sasha. It is so heart-wrenching to know that they experienced that hurt and confusion we never hear in those 7 months (29th Jul, 2016-16th Feb, 2017).

Also, Melanie and Helen were friends??? We never hear Melanie and Georgie’s relationship develop! Listeners are, deliberately, deprived of the soft character-building one has come to expect from media.

I think it’s a fantastic plot device and I completely understand why they did it, but another part of me desperately wants to know the smaller details of their lives. What was the break-room gossip like? What other weird things were kept in Artefact Storage?? How did the rest of the Institute react to the Archives constantly nearly dying??? How often did Elias come down to fuck with them????

What I am arguably most curious about is whether The Mother intended for these recordings to be heard in the universe they enter next. The last word we hear from them come from Basira, after the Panopticon’s collapse:

“If anyone’s listening… Goodbye.

I’m sorry, and… Good luck.”

It implies that the diegetic reason we hear these 200 episodes at all is because our universe was the one the Fears were flung to. If that is the case, then it would make sense that the Web would ensure the next “round” of humans was fully equipped to repeat the actions taken to allow the Fears to escape entropy- the plan is put at much higher risk because the Fears enter at a point where the human population is much greater, with advanced technology and communicational tools that could enable The Watcher’s Crown too fast for favourable conditions for The Web to develop as well.

Maybe the recordings placed into the Hill Top Web weren’t just to attract the Fears, but also to prepare a new humanity to confront them.

[galliversary]

Introducing Drago, one of our page artists, collab artists, & merch artists!

Where can we find you?

Tumblr: @eriktheshitmusician

Twitter: Dragovidthegay

Who is your favorite Gallifrey character?

Braxiatel but so closely followed by Narvin that I am unable to really say for certain.

What is your favorite season of Gallifrey?

Season 4. It is full of so many absolutely perfect character interactions.

What is your favorite episode of Gallifrey?

Annihilation. It has everything: pain of losing Brax, trio thats left being adorable, Romana's insane plans, vampires.... What more can one ask for honestly.

What are some of your favorite scenes/moments in Gallifrey?

Brax walking into the panopticon and stealing the title of the president for himself, and the famous Leela and Narvin door scene in Extermination.

[go-to-the-mirror]

FUCK YEAH PANOPTICON TIME!

Firstly, this is my favourite almost season finale, like, the whole thing has so much going on (good), we get a resolution to Daisy and Basira's stuff, an actual culmination of 3 or 4 seasons of wondering about the circumstances of Gertrude's death (i love the future gertrude stuff, i do, but i'd be fine if she didn't show up in tape again after this episode), the revelation of Elias being Jonah Magnus, Martin's stuff is delt with, that moment when Elias laughs.

It's phenomenal. I just had to get out that it's phenomenal.

Now, @a-mag-a-day, the antepenultimate episode of season 4. Panopticon.

Let's go.

I think you should also know that I have my cat lying next to me :3 He's really cute.

MARTIN That's a Leitner. PETER It is! MARTIN And the, um… the blood on it? PETER (Cheerfully) That's Leitner too!

I love this part, it's very funny. You know, I will never understand those who hate Peter Lukas with the same vitriol as I hate Elias with. Peter's voice is just really nice okay. I sort of find myself... liking him. He's fun, I don't know.

NOT-SASHA So you finally decided to let me out, Jon? (Calling) Jooooon? (Beat) Who's there? (Martin's terrified breathing can be heard) Who let me out? Don't be shy… I just want to say thank you.

Martin's terrified breathing was heard. Good lord, 10/10 great terrified breathing. I'm guessing that Martin and/or Peter used their spooky, lonely powers and hid from her.

PETER Make sure everyone is too busy to follow us. They'll be fine. Probably. You could still go help them. If you insist. (Beat) (Martin lets out a resigned breath) (Satisfied) Very good. Come on.

I mean, he's still a bastard, I just don't hate him.

PETER Why'd you think this was chosen as the Institute's location when the prison closed? It's a significant site of power for the Beholding. From the tower in the centre of this room, you can see everything.

So, quick little... fun facts, I suppose. Milbank Prison was first designed by Jeremy Bentham, and it was meant to be a panopticon prison, guarded by just one person who could see anything - but not everything. None of the inmates would know if they were being watched so, Bentham theorised, the inmates would act as if they were being watched all the time. The prison guard who watched the inmates would in turn not know when they were being watched by the general public and public officials. Bentham intended for this to be used as a solution for the question:"Quis custodiet ipsos custodes?", who guards the guards, who watches the watchers?

There's a whole lot more about the panopticon as a thing, but I'm actually pretty interested in it and I know I'll get dragged into a little research spiral, so instead, more about the prison itself.

The site of Milbank Prison was bought in 1799 by Jeremy Bentham, and the panopticon plan was abandoned in 1812. There was a competition for who's prison design would be built on the site, and William Williams' won, and was adapted by Thomas Hardwick. After 18 months, Hardwick resigned and was replaced with John Harvey. In 1815, Harvey was dismissed and Robert Smirke took his place, completing it in 1821. The prison closed in 1890, and demolished on and off till it was finally gone in 1903.

This all to say, that I think Jonah Magnus attempted The Watcher's Crown around 1890, because he said he moved it to London after it failed.

I convinced Smirke to work on Millbank, leading him to design it as a temple to all the Fears in equilibrium, such that my own modifications to the design of the Panopticon went… unremarked. It. Took. Years, for the dread of the prisoners that passed through to fully suffuse the place, and I was an old man by the time I made my first attempt at the Watcher’s Crown, sat in the centre of that colossal eye, the great ring of cells encircling me like a coronet. It was… flawed, of course, as all Smirke’s rituals were, and none of the inmates survived as the power I attempted to harness shook the building almost to pieces, and the murky swamp upon which the prison was built consumed it. But it left me a gift: For sat in that watchtower, I could see everything I turned my mind to. It was a dizzying power, and one I discovered I maintained even as I found vessels to extend my life. Of course, I had to make sure the location was kept under my control while I worked on revising my plans, and so I moved the organization I had founded to assist in my research down to London, and the Institute as you know it, was born.

(MAG 160)

However, this does say "the dread of the prisoners that passed through" so it could have been in the 1840s and 50s, when Milbank was a holding prison for convicts going to be transported.

I just want a timeframe. But, I mean, if we did get one it would probably be contradicted to hell and back (/lh /nsrs).

PETER I don't mean the cells, Martin! I mean everything. Come on. Mind your step, this comes from an era before safety rails.

I think safety rails were first used in the 1930s, but don't quote me on that. Meaning, yes, this does probably come from an era before safety rails.

PETER Jonah Magnus! His body at least. Sitting here, watching. Binding it all together, growing ever older. If you want to take his place, well… MARTIN I'll need to kill him. PETER Yes. Don't worry, though, I brought a knife.

I feel like you're going to need to start carrying a knife if you work at the Magnus Institute. I mean, it's illegal to carry a knife of certain sizes of varieties (no switchblades!), it's also just illegal to carry any knife without good reason and "I have a high risk of death to supernatural creatures at my archiving job" probably doesn't cut it. Still, Jon bought a knife back in season 2. Jon bought an axe back in season 2, how the hell did he carry it around without raising quite a bit of suspicion?

MARTIN Where are his eyes? [A footstep] ELIAS Exactly where they've always been, Martin. (Martin gasps) Watching over my Institute.

That's such a cool line!! Also, uh:

But he remembers so clearly what he was thinking as he looked at what was left of Allan Schrieber: where are his eyes? What did they do with his eyes?

(MAG 193)

It just immediately got me thinking about that line.

BASIRA And you're sure? ARCHIVIST Yes, I'm sure it wasn't here before! BASIRA It's just that there's a lot of tapes around. ARCHIVIST And I don't keep any of them with the key to the tunnels. It's been left for me. DAISY And it says 'play me'. Kind of suspicious.

IM SORRY, THERE'S JSUT A LITTLE TAPE WITH A STICKY NOTE ON IT SAYING "PLAY ME" AND BASIRA THINKS IT COULD HAVE BEEN THERE BEFORE?? IM SORRY IM JUST DYING OVER HERE

GERTRUDE (Disparagingly) I'm not really in the mood for nostalgia, Elias. You might have noticed I'm rather busy so either shoot me or— [A gunshot rings out; Gertrude gasps and collapses] GERTRUDE Well… (gasp) there it is. (gasp) Thought it would hurt more. (Elias sighs) ELIAS Pity.

I really love that we get to hear what I thought - and to be honest, kind of hoped - was the last Gertrude tape in this context.

Like, everything's coming to a head, here and now in this episode. Peter's plan with The Extinction, whatever Elias' deal was (actually Jonah Magnus), Daisy's whole thing, and finally hearing Gertrude's death here was just amazing! Like, we take all the plot stuff, we throw it in one episode, this is our Unknowings, our Hide and Seek, our Infestation.

Then, there's The Last that's like, ok we get the emotional resolution between Jon and Martin and Martin's whole lonely thing, finally and then we're like yeah, the next one's always a bit more of a resolution, but Jonah Magnus is planning someone, ahaha Peter what did you MEAN "he got you"? WHAT???

But, focusing on Gertrude's death... I... ok, look, I'm going to grab messages I sent to my friends, because I can't explain how much I love Panopticon and Gertrude's death scene here.

Her [Gertrude's] ending in panopticon is PERFECT like, that's the End of gertrude robinson And i liked the bits we got of her in mag 161, 162, and 167 But i REALLY like just like that ending, the whole "who killed Gertrude Robinson", "what was Gertrude Robinson's whole deal", all the mysteries about Gertrude Robinson just wrapped up neatly in a noose around her neck If you're listening to tma for gertrude, PANOPTICON IS LAST Like oohhhh words cannot describe how much I LOVE the placement of the tape with gertrude's murder Panopticon is SUCH a good episode Like, The Last was our emotional resolution, The Eye Opens was our Jonny comes into our houses and fucking MURDERS us episode, but Panopticon was our original recording episode and <33 It's like!!! - Martin MAKING HIS CHOICE - THE GERTRUDE TAPE - Jon FINALLY GETTING TO SAVE MARTIN LOVE THE GAYS - Daisy giving into the hunt - LITERALLY EVERYONE AT ONCE ATTACKING THEM

Do you understand me? I hope you understand me.

ELIAS (Faux-hurt) Peter. PETER (Cold) Elias.

*deadpan* The joys of marriage.

PETER We're the same, you and I. We don't need anyone else. Watching from a distance, that's always who you've been. Haven't you enjoyed it these last few months, drifting through the Archives unseen, unjudged? You'll like it in there. I promise. MARTIN Yeah. Yeah, I think I would.

When you're numb from the cold, it feels better to be in the cold then to be warm and defrost. And if you do get warmed up, but can't stay warm for long enough it does more damage. But you've got to get to the warmth eventually. It's going to kill you out there, in the cold because it's safer than getting hurt.

Would you prefer it there? Maybe. It's numb. It doesn't sting. "But as with all [...] that promises respite, it is a trap."

ARCHIVIST Do ah… do I get a gun? BASIRA You ever fired one? ARCHIVIST (Indignant) You never taught me!

I just like the way Jon says it. Gosh, they're all having the absolute worst days, aren't they.

NOT-SASHA Hello, Jon. DAISY Oh, shit. ARCHIVIST You gotta be fucking kidding—

If there was any place for swearing it is definitely in this situation where everything that (he knows) could have gone wrong HAS gone wrong. Like, just, absolute worst time over here.

I love it when Jon just gets fed up. Like, when in 107 where he was just like "so, kidnapped. again." and the whole "how embarrassing for you". Just like, fuck yea dude, be a bit of a bastard when there are many, many, MANY things trying to kill you.

BASIRA God dammit. Jon, go, we'll keep them busy. ARCHIVIST What? No! I— BASIRA Don't argue. Just go! NOT-SASHA (Distant) Joooon? ARCHIVIST Fine. Just don't die. DAISY Go.

I think it's really nice that... i dunno, they told him to run, they risked their lives for martin, someone who they thought was "working for the enemy" or whatever. especially for basira.

MARTIN It's not him! It's not anybody. It's just me. Always has been. I... When I first came to you, I thought I had lost everything. John was dead, my mother was dead, the job I had put everything into had trapped me into spreading evil and I… I really didn't care what happened to me. I told myself I was trying to protect the others, but honestly we didn't even like each other. Maybe I just thought joining up with you would be a good way to get killed.

I really didn't appreciate Martin enough on my first listen. I was just... so caught up in the whole... Jon thing. He was my favourite since about episode 30. I liked Martin fine, I really liked Helen, but most of the characters I liked was done through the context of... loving Jon. Just really couldn't see past him.

And then... so I was talking to my friend about how Jon has adhd because I'm projecting, and it brought up that Martin's got that social anxiety & depression combo. And as I read those quotes that she collected, I realised he was right, and I realised I knew him. And from that day forth, I began to love Martin K Blackwood.

Then I listened to recollection on the bus and started crying.

So, this is my first listen where I know Martin. I'm not entirely sure what to say about this, I just... poor guy. I get him :(

And then… Jon came back, and… and suddenly I had a reason.

A WHAT?

Funny. Looks like I was right the first time. It's probably still a good way to get killed.

I'm sad. I'm sad about him. God, I just wanna give him a hug or something

ELIAS Your choice. Just make sure to leave the door open.

the fucking. the fucking. door.

(Elias lets out a long, triumphant laugh, then sighs, contented)

I want to murder him with my bare hands. He's won. He's fucking won. I am SO glad he was stabbed. HHHHhhh murder.

ELIAS (Pleased) …My you have grown. Yes. A masterpiece, isn't it?

I'm gonna kill someone and his name is Jonah Magnus.

ARCHIVIST Yeah. It is. And that's you then? Your… body?

Look, I mean, yeah evil, but also like, kinda cool though-

Also, like, he's also kind of... evil. It's complicated. I mean, he did have the whole "it is the worst place that has ever been beautiful and it should not exist" thing like-

No one is even blaming him for this, it is PURELY the piece of my brain that exists only for playing devil's advocate, which, like, USEFUL, but also, shut up!

ELIAS From out here? Impossible. ARCHIVIST You want me to follow him? ELIAS No, Jon. You want you to follow him.

That's not even bloody subtle. "You want you to follow him" says guy who LITERALLY MANIPULATED THE SITUATION SO THAT HE'D HAVE TO GO INTO THE LONELY, christ i am so FUCKING GLAD HE GOT STABBED

I can't do this, I literally cannot. Considering murder. Ben Meradith does a great job at doing a voice so punchable, and then Jonny does a great job at writing lines so stabbable, and together it's the beginning of MAG 200 :3

ELIAS (CONT’D) Very good. Are you scared, Jon? ARCHIVIST (Quietly) Yes. [The Lonely static crescendos] ELIAS Perfect.

HISS HISS KILLING AND MAIMING, FUCK HE WON

he... won.

i haven't done a relisten to season 4 before, it's just as physically painful as season 1, 2, and 3, good lord.

LIKE, OH MY GODDD AARHRHGHRGHR RIPPING AND TEARING "ARE YOU SCARED, JON" "YES" "PERFECT" FUCK YOU FUCK YOUR RITUAL FUCK THIS IM GOING TO SCREAM

oooohohhhhhh well done, you bastard, all fourteen fucking marks got. you're gonna live forever, or as close to forever as is possible.

i am so glad that in that final moment he was alive, he told jon that he didn't think jon would go through with it and jon fucking stabbed him.

THIS IS MY THING FOR 158!

so, 160 is going to be... it's going to be quite... interesting.

[a-mag-a-day]

Okay I need to talk about this episode so bad. It's literally very high up on my all time favorites, half because I just love season 2 because its the last season that stays fairly contained with the horrors (despite my adoration of the podcast, I am not one for lovecraftian or eldritch horror, just not super interesting to me)

And half because god that scene down in the tunnels. With the arrow and the closing walls. NOBODY talks about it enough and it drives me mad because I completely adore that scene so much its also one of my favorites. The great characterization of post prentiss jon, with his mania at some otherworldy force taunting him. The walls closing in on him (one of my irrational fears lol) its all so delightfully threatening and freaky and joy to listen to. The voice acting is great and its a great way to drop exposition about the panopticon. Just such a good episode. I love this episode so much guys please talk to me about MAG 41 Too Deep im so normal about it (lie)

A great start to a great season