#a1p8

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[smytherines]

Once again thinking about that thing Corey Lubowich said in the commentary for A1P8, where DMA and Owen can almost be considered different characters because Owen has gone through some shit. Because it's really interesting to me how much different Owen is in the post-DMA reveal scene vs when he's just alone with Curt on the staircase.

Owen is very big, very showy, very performative during the villain monologue. You don't get much of a sense that he's hurt by what Curt did to him, he's just being snide and saucy and condescending. He's still in the role. He is grinning and performing for the crowd.

But when it's just Owen and Curt on the staircase, something feels different. He's still condescending, but there's a bite to it. He loses control of his emotions, he shows all that pain and hate and sadness. He hesitates. When Curt disarms him and steps up to put a bullet in his head, he doesn't look angry or vengeful to me- he looks sad and scared.

It just really messes me up.

[jasperthejester]

was watching a1p8 and got to where the recording of cynthia was played and was struck with a Though (aka, a crack theory that worked better than it should the more i typed it out)

so we know chimera’s little birdies are everywhere, and it probably wouldnt take much to get a lower level agent loyal to chimera to bug cynthias office. but what if, it was susan?

susan is cynthia’s right hand man, they’d have access to almost everything cynthia does. while this is important to chimera as a whole, its also becomes important when curt gets involved again

how did the dma know curt was going to be there that night? did he just send tatiana down to the casino every night until he showed up? or did they know curt would be there then, because susan was right there?

during the world peace gala, susan is very intense on curt not going rogue, which helps out ass, but also prevents him from messing up chimera’s plans with the prince

in keep your eyes on the prize, they get so worked up during their “you gotta! you- you gotta!” and while its funny and a bit, it could also be the stress of being a double agent —especially that high up the chain— peaking through; they’re telling themselves they gotta keep their eyes on chimera’s prize

anyways yeah i think it be a fun au/crack theory

[hi-aston-blog]

A1P8 Sekskat🔥 #uflex @uflex_headwear @uflex_australia #sunrays #model #portraitphotography #portrait (at Wildekrans Wine Estate) https://www.instagram.com/p/BtiMvgLnko4/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=iockr8krbcv3

[smytherines]

I think about Owen and the Chimera surveillance network a lot, because to me it isn't a question of having a surveillance network or not. It is happening. The question is: who will control it?

The surveillance network is an arms race between Chimera, the U.S. government, and I would imagine also the Russians and the British as well. One of these entities *will* succeed, Chimera is just the furthest along. Its like the race for the atomic bomb- each superpower pursued its own nuclear weapons program simultaneously, the US (collaborating with the British) just crossed the finish line first.

Here's my argument.

The first crucial piece of the puzzle is Barb Larvernor. The first time we hear about the concept of computers making spies obsolete, it isn't from DMA/Owen. It's from Barb. In A1P5, Barb says:

"Well picture this- the world's first, large-scale, information collective and archival system... Its just an idea I've been toying around with. If it worked, we'd be able to take down syndicates by doing the detective work from the safety of our desks. It would take the guesswork out of your job, hopefully saving some lives in the process- including your own. Can you imagine if this technology existed?"

There's also this conversation between Barb and Tatiana from the interludes during One Step Ahead.

Tatiana: I need you to search for an island, the size of a compound, that can store hundreds of computing systems

Barb: Easy, I have actually already been researching locations that fit that exact criteria... see, I have been thinking of a technology that can revolutionize- found one!"

From these two exchanges, we know that at the very least Barb is working on this "information collective and archival system" for the US government to use, although she seems to still be in the research and development phase.

Now, let's move on to what we know about Chimera's system, and what Owen wants from it.

First, we have this dialogue from A1P8, of DMA outright telling Curt his plan:

*recording of Cynthia plays*

Curt: where did that come from?

BVN: a little birdie told me

DMA: that little birdie being an advanced network of information surveillance that we've been-

Curt: boring!

Then, from A2P5, we have Owen explaining the system and why he wants to control it:

Tatiana: bird? Little birdies? His scientists developing... you're after the technology

Owen: Pop goes the weasel! An advanced Nazi information surveillance network to collect and archive state secrets.

They discuss why Owen wants the land (silicon babyyy), and then:

Owen: Don't you get it? Those stores of silicon from beneath the Earth's crust will allow us to mass produce Von Nazi's technology and deploy his system on a global scale! I'd have all the world's secrets. I'd be God. Now what a world that would be, eh?

The conversation continues:

Curt: my government will never allow this

Tatiana: not even the Soviets will

Owen: not at first, no. Everybody likes to do the watching, but nobody likes to be watched

Tatiana: you can't just invade the privacy of civilians without reason or suspicion

Owen: well, I like to think we are just turning everyone into a spy, they just aren't aware of it

Moving on to A2P6, the staircase scene:

Owen: YOU STILL DON'T SEE, DO YOU, CURT? There won't be any agency to go back to, once the system is global. I'm going to single-handedly dismantle everything you've ever believed in

Then

Owen: the future is happening, Curt. And it's not going to wait for you. What use will one man be, when a box in a room can do his job in seconds, huh?

Curt: sounds boring

Owen: you're a caveman, and I've invented fire

To me, this absolutely reads as Owen being aware that somebody- be it Chimera, or the US, or the Russians- will have this surveillance network. The future is inevitable. The future is surveillance (he was soooo right), the future is computers. Curt just can't see it yet, because he doesn't know technology the way that Owen and Barb do.

Going back to "I'd have all the world's secrets. I'd be God." Makes me believe that Owen is doing this so that *he* will control the flow of information. That he will be able to protect himself against what is coming. That he will never have to be vulnerable to his secret again.

Because here's the thing: we don't know if Chimera is going to use this information to punish or harm queer people. Given that Owen believes he will be in charge of the surveillance system, I'd say at the very least he does not believe it will be.

His goal seems to be "a world without agencies, a world without spies, a world without secrets." It seems to be the destruction of spying as an institution, and undercutting the nations which make use of spies to influence global events. At no point does he say that he will expose queer people if he is in charge of the surveillance network.

But, the US government absolutely will.

The US government is already hunting down queer people, even without a fancy surveillance network. Having control over Chimera's network would only make that task easier for them. Curt's secret, the secret of any queer person in this time period, is almost certainly safer in the hands of a gay man than it would be in the hands of a bloodthirsty global superpower that is already hunting down queer people.

Finally, at the end of the show, after Cynthia says that pretty soon nerds in lab coats will be running the show, we find out that Barb is getting the resources to fully work on the technology she has been talking about the entire show:

When Curt killed Owen he did not kill the surveillance network. Not for Chimera. But also, by handing A.S.S. evidence of what Chimera was doing, he likely influenced the US government to fund Barb and make her surveillance system a reality. A surveillance system that will invariably be used to hurt people like Curt and Owen.

Its possible that Curt never takes down Chimera precisely because the US now has a surveillance system to tell them that their ex-agent, the agent who went rogue, is also gay. And I don't imagine they would be very Gay Rights about it.

From a real world perspective, Owen and Barb were right: surveillance technology was the future in 1961. It is the present we currently live in. Warrantless, invasive, built into every piece of tech we use. The future happened, and it didn't wait for Agent Curt Mega.

[smytherines]

Ok so I'm watching the Spies Are Forever commentary for A1P8 (Torture Tango) and someone, maybe Tessa or Lauren- the voice is faint, asks something like "so were you writing it like DMA is Owen, how much did that factor in?"

And I believe it's Corey who answers her with "theoretically Owen commits to it so much, like he should have been an actor, he gets so deep into the role that he doesn't let- like in a lot of ways they are separate characters." There isn't captioning for the commentary but I think after that he says "Because Owen's gone through some shit." And it broke my heart

There's also a part during the song where Joe Walker said that when they did Spies Reloaded in Chicago he had had a little time off from the role and came back to it thinking much more like "this character is Owen." And it's going to haunt me forever because I am sooo interested in how different that performance might be. Maybe we'll get that interpretation for the LA Spies concert?