#Trains Running

[m1ndp4rty]

Irving

There's really no way to say what will happen with Irving.

Again I've seen some hand wringing on whether this is the end of Irving's character or role in the story. I'm of two minds. On one hand Irving's innie died. He makes a sacrifice and scores a hit against Lumon with revealing Helena. He plays foil to innie Marks position in the finale in that he does step out of the exit hallway in chase of who he loves in the outside world, fulfilling his initial desire to non-exist together with Burt. (Versus Dylan who chooses a more symbiotic coexistence and Mark choosing to go full innie)

I also kind of love that death has real stakes here. Some people may see this as Irving getting put on a bus but it speaks to the fact that there are real consequences to defying Lumon, and that fundamentally if Irving B "died" as an Innie he can't come back. He is lost to the MDR, and to his friends because he quite literally "died." It's just as traumatic and consequential as if his outtie were to die.

It would be quite different I think for the show to make the argument of the equivalency of severed and un-severed existence if they bring Irving B. back. it means there are less narrative stakes for the innies when they're being threatened.

Also like with Gemma I'm fundamentally rooting for the Innies to be free or to "escape" Lumon and the severed floor. Maybe that is disrespecting their autonomy but to me it's a poor argument that their existence as Lumon intends it and whatever agenda their work serves for Lumon is something we should be championing.

Like with Gemma freedom from Lumon and the ability to choose what comes next is a win for Irving. Like with Gemma it comes at the cost of his "love" but (for the last time) like with Gemma it may not be the end of Irving's story. As I wonder what or where they might take the character if they decide to bring him back I'm more hopeful for the possibilities than angry with the choices they made.

Irving was in some ways the best of them, his experience, his compassion for his fellow severed selves and his laser focus on the goal echoes a lot great qualities that we see emulated in the remaining members. Narratively he's the Obi-wan, you strike him down and he could become more powerful than ever before. He also as the old wise mentor figure needs to be removed so that Dylan, Mark, and Helly can make mistakes or decisions without his guidance and wisdom. He's the Gandalf and he is too much of a stabilizing voice of reason with the ability to suss out what the problems are to be left alive. His absence hurts because he's a great character that we do want to see come back which is why I'm glad he's gone. It meant something that he lived, and it means something that he's "dead."

Time will tell if like the mentor figures mentioned he can come back in glory in a time of great need. I could certainly see Devon, Gemma, and Harmony tracking him down to link up with whatever organization or individual he was plotting with to get the scoop on Lumon.

For now Irving gets my favorite track on the original score for season 2. A sendoff that hints at better things, and someone who is more whole for having lived a severed life. Someone who's ready now for whatever comes next.

*Pure speculation time:

Like with Burt there is room I think to make Irving antagonistic in the next season. For one the nuance of him wanting to wreck Burt's marriage and not fundamentally caring if Fields gets hurt puts him neatly alongside the rest of the crew in terms of chasing love for good or bad regardless of who they "hurt".

If Irving is trying to take down Lumon or get to the testing floor there is a good chance that the served floor as we know it will end or the people in it removed. That once again puts him at odds with the innies who desire to stay alive.

If I were to speculate at Irving's backstory two roads that I think would be interesting to go down would be to follow the millitary angle: the government's role and thoughts on Lumon and severance as a technology are nebulous. I think many of us can imagine some fairly nefarious use cases for a perfected or imperfect severed technology e.g. agents for black ops or spying as gimmies. Or to flip it there was an incident with a severed spy/agent that they're trying to track down and prove now.

Irving being some kind of terrorist cell or deep cover agent trying to investigate in service of a government? would be a fairly reasonable path. It would bring higher stakes but would move a little away from the work/life corpo angle by bringing in the military-industrial complex. That being said big pharma and big tech in bed with the gov/millitary is almost sci fi show 101. It feels almost redundant to say Lumon must have gov/military contracts already.

I feel like if anything it's more likely he serves as a private contractor type with his ex navy/military background and discipline on a long sting operation and he's one of many attempts to get a handle on Lumon by a rival corp. That would make him similar to Burt as a hatchet man or enforcer type.

Irving as a kind of deep plant of a company that we saw Lumon fencing with like in the Lexington Letter. It would give Irving less of a squeaky clean motivation and reveal that he like Burt may have a fair few skeletons in his closet.

What was his goal? It seems that it's tied to whatever floors lie below the severed floor. We've seen testing now and with the rate of turnover I suspect it's not a specific person like with Mark and Gemma that Irving was trying to find. He's certainly been with Lumon for too long for me to think that's the case.

The end product of the testing, and the Manchurian candidate Lexington Letter innie bots though, however those are shipped (be it the chip or the person) I could see being of interest. If I had to guess that's what I'd put money on.

[asteroidtroglodyte]

5 years ago, I was in Rehab.

10 years ago, I was watching my Potential and Opportunities dissolve and evaporate in an ocean of cheap gin and expensive whiskey.

But 5 years ago, I was in Rehab.

One of the exercises they had us perform was to imagine ourselves happy, 5 years in the future.

Many of us in that room had forgotten how to imagine nice things happening to them. A few snorted (well, I snorted), finding the notion that we’d even still be around in 5 years grimly humorous.

For about half of us, it was the last stop on the way down.

But I indulged the therapist. I was there, after all, because I did not want to die. So, I imagined myself, 5 years hence.

Happy.

It came to me all at once; an artistic remix on Norman Rockwell’s Freedom From Want, reframed with myself placing food at the table.

Sunday Dinner At My Place, I answered, when it came my turn to share my fantasy. I was asked what food I imagined eating.

It’s not the meal itself, I said, it’s the implications framed around it. Sunday Dinner At My Place means that I have a Place. It means that I have Family that will actually speak to me and friends who actually want to see me. It means money enough not just to feed myself but others too. It means having the time to spare to take the time preparing the meal.

A lot of nodding heads all around me. A struck chord. Many people with no Place, in that place. Nowhere that would lament their leaving.

5 years hence, as I lay down to sleep in my Home, with my Wife and my Son, surrounded by my Art and my Flowers, I reflect.

It was a long road. It was hard. We lost people. So many people. There were long days and long nights and hospital stays. Angry arguments with ghosts. I changed, in ways I never hoped for, or expected. Good ways, finally, for once. Slowly, against the backdrop of a world in chaos, I found my mind.

Sometimes, My Wife wondered aloud, what she did to deserve me. After some stumbling with my feelings, I eventually settled on an answer.

I’m a Rescue.

She gave me a Home.

And, so, I gave her a Family.

It seemed fair

This Sunday, my folks, which whom I have not had a shouting match in years, will come over for dinner. We will cook and eat together. My Friend became My Wife, and she took a piece of me and with it she made Our Son. There will be many hugs, and no violence. Good Things Happened.

I don’t know who needs to hear this, but you don’t know what the future holds.

don’t give up yet, ok?

It could get good, even.

[lessmouse]

day 17 / apocalypse never

[hansoeii]

the doctor on their way to steal your heart

[puttingwingsonwords]

Dracula scrambling around the castle pretending to be his own servants is so important in showing that aside from being a super powerful evil vampire-sorcerer he is also a huge loser

[marlenacantswim]

i'm back with another Psych-Missed-Opportunity-Episode-Idea: Murder on the Orient Express episode. jules and lassie are on the train to get to a police conference or smth. gus is on the same train but going somewhere completely different; prolly a convention. shawn isn't supposed to be there. he snuck on. everyone is Unhappy about this, but before lassie can bring him to the authorities, a dead body is discovered. cue intro.

throughout the investigation, gus keeps suggesting the "everyone did it" conclusion bc he knows the original story and sees the parallels. shawn keeps telling him he's being paranoid. lassie is doing a terrible job hiding how pumped he is ab this pop murder investigation. gus's vast and intricate train knowledge keeps coming in handy. there's only a brief moment where any of them have cell reception, and shawn uses it to call in a henry-specific tip (after almost squandering it calling a restaurant to ask if their enchiladas come with sour cream, then trying to request a delivery to a moving train). there's a classic runaway train segment where juliet is the only one in the conductor's compartment and she's getting instructions from gus via walkie-talkie (which lassie had packed for this trip bc he has Problems) while the other two are elsewhere in a stand-off with the killer.

ripe for a goofy and absurd cast of suspects, like the clue episode. i'm thinking later seasons. there's a celebrity guest star who famously had a role in some train-related media. tell me you guys see the vision.

[contact-guy]

HI Watson's Sketchbook returns with THE BOSCOMBE VALLEY MYSTERY! Details:

Mary met Miss Kapoor at the ball she went to during FIVE ORANGE PIPS. We may meet her eventually...

I can never resist illustrating Holmes making detailed observations about Watson's personal appearance. why does it happen the most during his marriage? who can say.

last scene I wanted to play with a new brush, and have had that image in my head for a while.

One or two more parts in this case to come! This is in the Watson's Sketchbook series.

[teaboot]

Personal shit but the more I work in security related fields like bouncing and surveillance and childminding and sex ed, stuff like that, the more I find myself compulsively intervening with situations I encounter in my off time and I’m beginning to feel like being the hypervigilant and paranoid parentified eldest child prepped me for this life like one of those retired service dogs that just keeps doing service dog stuff

Like not to pathologize shit cause my therapist told me not to but I genuinely do wonder if I’d be capable of surviving like. A white collar desk job. Or if I’d just lose my mind without a group to watch

[poorly-drawn-mdzs]

Ooh, you want to know what happens at the gay bar run by ex-pirates, ooh...You'll just have to read Tiger Tiger to find out...

(Inspired by this Disco Elysium comic)

[eliounora]

back from the travels🍎

[aivy-saur]

So I went to my school's christmas concert yesterday and there's this band that got a lead vocalist that looks too much like Leona and it fucked me over so bad I couldn't stop myself from making this

[bitchslapblastoids]

did sister daniel have a lesbian situationship at her christian all girls school?

she fuckin ran through that thing like a train, you have no idea. there was nothing left.

……….my all-girls-catholic-high-school-lesbian-romance-having ass is listening intently

[habken]

The whole werewolf concept is basically izuku gets attacked (sometime between first getting ofa and a little bit after the dorms were put in place) and doesn’t fully remember what happened but shortly afterwards, his senses are amplified and he’s faster/stronger. He chalks it up to training and ofa, but what he’s oblivious to is the fact that during the nights surrounding the full moon, he transforms into a bloodthirsty wolf-man

Meanwhile, Aizawa and some other underground heroes have been tracking down a “villain” with what they think is a wolf quirk. At some point, Aizawa finally subdues the villain and hands him over to the police. With a job well done he gets some much needed rest

The next morning, his students are panicking because they can’t find midoriya. While looking for his missing student, he gets a call from the precinct telling him something strange happened with the villain he arrested; the wolf turned back into a human and it’s a kid. A kid who is looking for Aizawa specifically. A kid with green hair and freckles.

[punkk-draws]

capsaicin is 100% the kinda guy who is way too enthusiastic in the morning

[ticalsstallion]

[rocketbirdie]

fateful encounter