#and I don’t know enough about tma lore to know if she could find him

[littler3d]

I think Jack is actually a monster child because of that one story with the vampire baby. No I won’t elaborate

[pensivetense]

A List Of (Mostly TMA) Fic Recs Sorted By Vibe

Not an exhaustive list by any means, just a few favourites that caught my fancy. I shortened many of the summaries for space.

I’m going to pin this here and update it as I go.

Also, I’m pensivetense on ao3

MELANCHOLY VIBES

for when you want to feel comfortably muted

(sad but not utterly bleak endings here)

Hope, Etc. (Dickenson, et al.) by yellow_caballero

Jonathan Sims, six months after the Unknowing, wakes to find himself without a daemon - without humanity, without a soul. It’s a cursed half-life, but existence as a shell without a heart isn’t so bad: between solving the mystery of a persistent illusion cast over his friends and some light pseudo-cannibalism, a life as a monster is better than no life at all. At least, it would be, if it wasn’t for the fucking Owl.

A freaking. Amazing. Daemon au. Ties the lore of Dust with TMA lore very satisfyingly, but is mostly about Jon navigating what it means to be human, or, in the absence of that, a person, and doesn’t require prior knowledge of His Dark Materials. Cannot recommend highly enough.

after one long season of waiting by nuinuijiaojiao

Annabelle is not used to having nice things. or, Annabelle heads to Upton House, muses a little, and gets some well-deserved rest

I love survivalist Annabelle and also the concept of the Web as kind of a horrible Patron, actually.

i love you. I want us both to eat well. by SmallishWormMasterOfTheUniverse

At the safehouse with Martin, Jon decides it's time to quit statements once and for all. The Eye disagrees. Martin just needs Jon to be okay. It's quite possible that nobody is going to get what they want.

Scottish Safehouse Era, Jon and Martin coping with their respective Entities... really, really good.

the friend by doomcountry

He always greets a new spider when he meets it. It’s instinct, born in childhood, the same way he instinctively counts magpies, or flicks salt over his left shoulder. A little harmless superstition. A bit of politesse.

A great Martin character study with eldritch spider horror included. The imagery regularly haunts me (in a good way).

autumn’s rare gift by bee_bro

Annually, the two meet, renewing the binding ritual where it had all started. The procedure simple: a waltz.

Singlehandedly made me ship Gertrude/Agnes so there’s that. It’s so bittersweet and bee_bro’s writing is, as always, incredibly poetic. (I’d recommend everything they write, actually.)

smile, you’re trending by Goodluckdetective

During an encounter with another Avatar of the Eye, Jon faces his past, Martin takes a turn at playing Kill Bill and Basira has a second look at the monster she’s determined to see. For three people associated with the Eye, they could all use some perspective.

Features an original Eye Avatar character who’s a YouTube personality; she is infuriating and inspired and genuinely frightening and I cannot say enough good things.

Humility by The_Lionheart

have you no idea that you're in deep?/i've dreamt about you nearly every night this week,/how many secrets can you keep?

An OC centric story but don’t let that put you off, it’s amazing. Very heavily focused around Jonah Magnus and the other Avatars as they change through the years. Also, I’d die for the OC.

oh, for one sweet second without the eye series by faedemon

Beholding does not like in the way humans do, but it likes its Archivist all the same.

I’m just so fond of the way this is done stylistically. I have a great weakness for dialogue only/dialogue heavy writing, not to mention all of the wonderful character beats and interplay of humanity/inhumanity for Jon and Melanie.

Rewind by WhyNotFly

It takes eight days of forced confinement for Jon to start hallucinating. [...] It’s Martin, though, that his exhausted brain conjures, because of course it’s Martin. After all this time, of course it’s Martin.

Jon willingly allows himself to be confined rather than hunting for statements, and examines his relationship with Martin.

for a firmament series by supaslim

There is beauty in destruction. There is art in becoming. In which Jon becomes the Archive, and the Archive becomes Jon.

Part two posted this morning and uhhh. Good. Also if you’re here for weird eldritch body horror (I am), this one’s for you.

ONES THAT JUST HURT

for when you want to feel sad

(somewhat bleaker endings here/everyone is NOT okay)

Feste by yellow_caballero

If asked, Martin would say that he became the shadow director of the Magnus Institute by accident. But nobody ever asked, and nobody ever cared, and it was in this way that Martin stopped lying to himself. Or: break free, Martin. All you have to lose are your chains. And your sanity.

Oh, this one totally didn’t go the way I expected it to. A study in isolation. Could go into the category above, as the ending is not bleak, but the tone of the whole is somewhat more depressing than most there.

Ghosts of Love by RavenXavier

Nothing made Martin more grounded in the world than yearning for Jonathan Sims.

Lonely!Martin that really captures a sort of visceral ache. Hurts me and yet I keep rereading.

i do desire (we may be better strangers) by godbewithyouihavedone

For ages, it only knew how to worship, taking human bodies and living off the fear of those who remembered. It never knew love until it became Jonathan Sims. Now it must fight against every instinct to save Martin Blackwood. Archivist Sasha, Not!Jon/Martin, and the worst kind of Fake Dating AU.

Oh, this one just made me sad. The poor not!them, which is something I never thought I’d say.

Apple Of Your Eye by fakeCRfan

In which the Eye is fond of Martin. Perhaps a little too fond for comfort.

Somehow manages to be both sweet and horrifying—the characterisation of the Eye is incredible. ‘The Eye loves Martin’ is a scenario that’s so utterly doomed to failure and yet the writing is packed with so much pathos that I just want them all to be happy. A fantastic use of themes of agency and choice, and the single best use of Beholding as a source of horror I’ve read.

The Last Press by copperbadge

Jon Sims is awake, and has begun preparations for the Rite of the Watcher's Crown. Peter Lukas, who woke him, would be content to rule at his side. Martin is very upset about all of this, and the Lukases aren't thrilled with it either.

I really can’t say anything without spoiling the end and it’s so good. An alternate take on the Watcher’s Crown. Not a pairing that I ever thought would work for me, but this made it work.

watch the blood evaporate by 75hearts

It starts, like so many things in Jon’s life have started, with a nagging itch of curiosity. Jonathan Sims uses his healing abilities throughout s4. Read the tags.

Dear God please read the tags. But this is some high quality pain if it’s for you.

the lighthouse series by low_fi

Peter Lukas is a lighthouse keeper. One evening, he gets a call from a cryptic overseer tasked with monitoring his work.

This is such a vivid and yet subtle story—from the setting to the emotions portrayed, it creeps up on you slowly. The ending was like the gentlest possible gut-punch. The sequel just completed, and yeah, just as wonderful. This one is very much LonelyEyes but I listed it here because it is just exquisitely painful.

SATISFYINGLY HOPEFUL VIBES

for when you want to feel cozy

Clutching Daffodils by Gemi

Martin has always liked the idea of love at first sight. It’s such a romantic idea, the whole thing of it. Seeing someone and instantly feeling that strange, twisting feeling deep inside that every single media likes to obsess over. Of knowing you are in love within the day, petals falling from your mouth and warmth filling your chest as love burrows deep, vines twisting through your lungs. He always liked the idea of it. And then Jonathan Sims starts working at the Magnus Institute.

Somehow manages to be lighter and fluffier than most hanahaki fare, despite the setting. I’ve reread this one a lot.

the least he could do by Prim_the_Amazing

Martin should in fact not pick this man, specifically because of how attracted he is to him. It would be the responsible thing to do. Except he’s already following him. And he’s hungry.

Fluffy vampire au which everyone’s probably already read, but was too good not to mention.

rather interesting by bee_bro

Jonah Magnus realizes that, for some reason, when he comes in contact with weed, Elias Bouchard's consciousness will come into his life banging pots and pans.

Oh boy. So these are all favourite fics but this one is a favourite amongst favourites. The way Jonah is characterised (i.e. incredibly sensitive to scrutiny) is my favourite depiction of him, and the slow-burn between him and Elias is far sweeter than it has any right to be. Also, it’s hilarious.

The Magnus Records series by ErinsWorks

In a world parallel to that of the Archives and the Institute, a supernatural sanctuary stands against a cruel and uncaring world: A world of bureaucracy and tyranny, of murder and carnage, of loneliness and surveillence, of plague and death. But in this world of fear and misery, 14 entities born of the hopes of the world have emerged. And one of them has made their home here, at The Magnus Sanctuary. Perhaps, the employees within may lead happier lives than their counterparts did in the Archives.

This is just so goddamn pure. The author writes a really imaginative, fleshed-out alternate world and alternate Entities with engaging, well-written short statements. All of the character voices are absolutely on point, and it’s overall absurdly hopeful without ever feeling overly saccharine. I love this series so much, you guys, you don’t even know. I want to print it out and paste it on my wall. I love it.

HARD APOCALYPSE

for when you want to feel dark and angsty (and eldritch)

Most of these are shorts/oneshots because it’s just that kind of genre, y’know?

Ashes to Ashes by marrowbones

A conversation at the end of the world.

Oliver Banks is one of those minor characters that I am overly attached to. Love him here.

Employee Benefits by equals_eleven_thirds

The Magnus Institute offered some normal employee benefits: a pension plan, holidays, travel subsidies, free lunch on the last Friday of each month. Rosie makes it work.

This manages to hit that perfect sweet spot of satisfying and hilarious. Rosie gets to torment Elias, as she well deserves.

a rose by any other name by Duck_Life

Part of Jon blooms in Jared Hopworth’s garden.

This one was sad and honestly too gentle to really belong in this category, but I love it.

Eye to Eye by Dribbledscribbles

In which Jonah Magnus attempts a post-apocalyptic pep talk.

Unreliable narrator at its finest, and the implications are suitably horrific.

commensalis by doomcountry

The tower is endlessly, impossibly tall, but Jon’s work is taller.

If you’re here for the eldritch imagery, then this has some of the best.

SOFT APOCALYPSE

for when you want to feel gently triumphant

apocalypse how series by sunshine_states

Humanity adjusts. The Entities have Regrets.

Some nice vignettes set in a kinder apocalypse.

ceylon series by Sciosa

The one in which Jonathan Sims decides that no, actually, he isn't going to let the world just end.

I include this only for the sake on completeness, as everyone has no doubt already read it.

rituals by doomcountry

Martin is the first person to knock on the Archivist's door since it arrived, fully, into its little waiting temple. The Archivist saw him coming from down the hall, but decides to feign interest when the knob turns, and Martin—still a little bit smaller, a little more translucent than before—stands uncertainly just outside the room.

This one’s a little less focused on the world at large and more on JonMartin specifically.

we raise it up by savrenim

Jonathan Sims reads a book and saves the world; although maybe the real salvation is the friends he makes along the way; (although perhaps the world itself and the darkness that exists behind it isn't quite as out to get everyone as it seems).

More ‘soft revolution’ than ‘soft apocalypse’, but has the same vibe. A time travel fix-it. Incomplete but worth it if this is a mood that appeals to you.

Scarred Ground by DictionaryWrites

“You see," Elias said softly, "people always have this idea that only living things can be scarred - and they're right, of course. But a building is a living thing, Martin. And the ground can be scarred, too." "I don't have any scars," Martin said. "Yes, you do," Elias said. "You just need the right light to see them.”

Falls somewhere between ‘Apocalypse’ and ‘Soft Apocalyse’ but I’m putting it here because I feel like it. Also technically a LonelyEyes fic. I found it hard to follow at first but it’s worth sticking with; things will eventually begin to make sense and come together.

LONELYEYES

for when you want to feel lonelyeyes

marrying anguish with one last wish by procrastinatingbookworm

In which Elias isn't Orpheus, and Peter isn't Eurydice, but Elias brings Peter home anyway.

Lives in my head rent free forever. My favourite lonelyeyes fic.

ouroboros by Wildehack

“You know,” Jonah says, a muscle in his calf quivering agreeably where it’s slung over Mordechai’s shoulder, “it’s really quite--fortunate--that I don’t care for you at all.”

Oh, this one hurts in the best possible way. The endless cycle of their relationship, the way it comes full-circle... yeah, good. Actually, no, this one might be my favourite. It’s a tie.

Breaking all the Rules by Thedupshadove

Elias proposes a somewhat...unusual wager.

Soft lonelyeyes? In my recs? It’s more likely than you think. Short, sweet, and... sweet.

Threefold by Sprinkledeath

Peter Lukas breaks three rules.

I’m just a slut for mythology allusions I guess.

Luck Be A Lady Tonight by prodigy

In 2014, Elias Bouchard takes a rare trip outside of his comfort zone. Peter Lukas wastes a bunch of money. You'd be surprised how many things can go wrong for two beings of cosmic power.

I love the sense of the history of them you get while reading this.

love is just a word (the idea seems absurd) by kaneklutz

"Something's wrong. It's stopped hurting" An avatar of the Lonely and an avatar of the Beholding walk into a bar relationship. It was bound to blow up in their faces.

Short, sweet, painful. Excellent exploration of their priorities.

Victor by penguistifical

elias tries something with his powers that he hasn't attempted before

The one where Elias tries to raise the dead. Not incredibly LonelyEyes centric but that’s still the pairing.

Simon Says by penguistifical

“Peter asked me to drop by and have a word with you, and, so, here I am.” Simon chuckles at Elias’s disbelieving stare. “Well, he asked in his own way. He’s not a complicated man, you know. He either comes from your arms looking like a stroked cat that’s been given a dish of cream or looking like he’s been in that toy boat of his out in an unexpected storm. He was far angrier than normal, so I daresay you weren’t cream today.”

I mean personally I’d just go ahead and rec all of penguistifical’s LonelyEyes fics but this is a standout for me.

AROMANTIC AND ASPEC MOODS

for when you want to feel Seen

The Aro Archives series by WhyNotFly

These are all just really really good. From Aro!Peter to two different aro-spec versions of the Scottish Safehouse to a long and beautiful aro hanahaki fic, this series is uniformly wonderful. The two Scottish Safehouse ones (Torn Edges and Murky Water) are my comfort fics.

and now all fear gives way by j_quadrifons

Before he can think it through, he murmurs, "Is that what it feels like? Being in love?" Martin's hand stills in his hair and Jon's stomach drops.

This one just. Wow yeah this is how it be. Another absolute comfort fic of mine.

Sweet As Roses by Prim_the_Amazing

Jon takes Martin by the shoulders, leans up on the tips of his toes, and kisses him.

I’m going to be honest—I didn’t know where to put this one. But it ended up here because the real standout of this fic for me is the portrayal of Sasha, and especially her portrayal as an aro character. So I’m putting it here. Mind the content warnings with this one!

HUMOUR

for when you want to feel delight

The Torment of Sebastian Skinner by Urbenmyth

After the Eye's victory, the statement givers are trapped in their horror stories, living them over and over again. Naturally, this works out better for some then for others.

Premise? Delightful. Execution? Fantastic. I read this one to cheer myself up when I’m sad.

Unlucky by VolxdoSioda

Jon’s dice betray him

Short, sweet DnD au, and the reason I cannot get DM!Elias out of my head now.

Voracious by beetl

A bird hits the window. Jon experiences The Flesh's thrall.

“Dead Dove: Do Not Eat” but make it literal.

The Stupid Endings by Urbenmyth

There are a lot of very deeply thought out and creative AUs on this site. These aren't among them. These ones are how the story could have ended, if Jonny Sims was a dumbass.

These are just uniformly hilarious, I cannot recommend them highly enough.

PODCAST CROSSOVERS

for when you want to make one of those “if I had a nickel for every time...” posts

The Sabbatical by morelikeassassin

Nicholas Waters is in need of an all-knowing eldritch entity beyond the confines of human imagining to help with his latest ritual. He'll have to settle for Jonathan Sims, who happens to have nothing better to do.

Crossover with Archive 81 (s3, specifically). Both fun and bittersweet.

The City And Its Sorrows by cuttooth

“What makes you think your friend is in Eskew?” David asks. He feels he can risk the scrutiny of the city that far. “I read that this is a place people end up when they get lost,” says the man. “This is a place people end up,” David agrees./The Archivist comes to Eskew.

Contemplative piece, and I love the way it presents David’s relationship with Eskew, the way he finds it horrible and hates it and yet belongs to it, is almost proud in the way he shows to to Jon. Great little vignette of two people oppressed by eldritch powers, intersecting.

Hiatus by bibliocratic

My name is Jonathan Sims, and I am in Eskew. (Jon gets lost in a Spiral city. It is not as easy as escaping.)

This one is far more focused on Jon than David, and is honestly more Eskew-weird than Spiral-weird. In the best way. Told in Eskew episode style, and is very good.

Sweet Music by Shella688

Eskew has a music to it, if you know how to listen. The percussion beat of thousands of footsteps, the melody in the squealing of the trains overhead. Today, the music of Eskew comes in the form of nine musicians, playing outside my office. My name is David Ward, and I am in Eskew.

Not TMA, but since a lot of Mechs fans go here—this one’s a Mechs/Eskew crossover. Short and simple, mostly David Ward centric, just a little well-written one shot I had to mention because I enjoyed it but it doesn’t have much traffic. Nice portrayal of the Mechs from an outsider’s perspective, and how genuinely strange and frightening they’d come across (especially if you’re already being haunted by and eldritch city). If you like Eskew-style storytelling, check it out!

NOT TMA

...but good enough that I physically cannot make a recs list without including them. Here!

[tifaria]

I was certain that 200 was going to end with them being separated somehow, permanently, with Jon going through the void or whatever and Martin trapped behind. Jon’s fate would be unknown, and Martin with no way to reach him ever again. I thought of stories I’ve enjoyed that ended in a similar heart-wrenching way, like His Dark Materials, Doctor Who (that Doomsday music still hits right in my gut. You know the one) and Madoka Magica.

The last is the one that has been stuck in my head for a few days. Yes, a magical girl anime from several years ago has an ending that I have been turning around in my head trying to apply to TMA. I’m probably going to screw up some of the lore, but just go with it. Don’t ask me to explain anything, because I absolutely cannot. But what if:

Jon somehow transcends death and becomes a being capable of undoing events in the past. Maybe it’s a last-ditch effort by what’s left of Jon as he dies. He just became the Pupil, so maybe he has just enough power in him to do *something*.

He undoes as much as he can.

He can’t prevent the Entities from existing, but he can undo the avatars. Jon finds all the avatars in history, all the way back to when humans were barely capable of thought, and pulls them from the timeline. They poof out of existence, neither dead nor alive.

But this doesn’t prevent future avatars. There will always be humans that are curious and gravitate towards the fears.

The Magnus Institute still exists as a research organization, but on the inside is an organization that works to prevent more avatars from coming into their powers. They know they have to prevent the fears from being fed. Maybe Gertrude and Tim and Sasha still work there. But this time they know what they’re working for. Jonah Magnus died an old man— really, properly died— 200 years ago. Jon makes sure of that. There won’t be an all-seeing asshole of a boss manipulating them this time around.

Jon’s new existence means that no one remembers him, except Martin. And try as he might, Jon’s powers won’t allow him to actually interact with Martin, even though he can see him whenever he wants. Maybe Martin works for the Institute, because it makes him feel closer to Jon, even if none of his colleagues remember him. Maybe Martin doesn’t, because it’s too painful.

Maybe sometimes Martin sees Tim in a cafe or Sasha on a train, or Georgie on a park bench. Maybe Melanie is still making Ghost Hunt UK, and maybe Martin watches it regularly just to hear a familiar voice, even if Melanie wouldn’t know him if she saw him.

Maybe Elias Bouchard, the original, real Elias, is living his best life somewhere outside the Institute, having never received the mysterious invitation to apply. And maybe he wonders what on earth he did wrong when he passes a young man glaring daggers at him on the street one day. Elias thinks there’s something familiar about the man, but he’s certain they’ve never met. He wonders what on earth he did to deserve such a glare.

Maybe Basira and Daisy still become involved with the Institute anyway, but on their own terms this time. Maybe they don’t. Maybe they never meet to begin with. Maybe they can’t help but meet.

Whatever happens, Jon sees all of it. He doesn’t Know everything anymore, but he still sees. He’s glad his friends are alright. He hopes Martin will be happy again one day. He’s glad the Entities are at bay, because he knows Martin would throw himself into the Lonely if he could. Martin knows this too, but sometimes he’s angry about it because he wants to feel nothing. Then he remembers what he and Jon gave up to save everyone, and he feels guilty and selfish. He knows he has to keep living.

If Martin were to find out about Jon’s new elevated plane of existence, what would he do? Jon wonders. It has to be this way to keep the world safe again. Jon supposes he *could* give it up if he wanted to, but he doesn’t know what he’d become if he did. He can’t risk making another dumb choice and dooming the world again. He wonders if Martin would understand.

(Here’s where I say that we could get into the Madoka Magica movie and add that on if we want, if that’s your cup of tea. Maybe we don’t need all of it. Maybe we just take the part where Martin somehow is able to reach Jon and sever him from his new existence. Maybe now there’s two Jons, the one who manipulated history to make the world safe, who continues to exist at once throughout time in order to keep the new world the way it is, and there’s the other half, the Jon as we knew him. And maybe he’s able to live out his life with Martin again. But what if Jon isn’t happy that Martin brought him back against his wishes, and he lives life in a constant state of paranoia that any day now the Entities will be back and it will all be his fault *again*. And try as Martin might, he can never reassure him otherwise. They live a strained life. But maybe not, and they’re happy and content and they marry and do the mundane things Martin had not allowed himself to dream about because he knew, deep down, that they were doomed. And maybe sometimes Jon stares off into space, or Martin finds him talking to himself, or something is just not right about his husband. But they’re safe, and happy.)

[pilferingapples]

TMA S2 Natter I guess!!

LORE LORE LORE LORE WHOOO

under the cut for massive major spoilers of course

- I’m really glad I’m binging this, it helps me remember things to have a big chunk of story and lots to pick up on all stacked together and reinforcing itself. I still have to check and double check the Fan Wiki for names here and there, when I hear someone I KNOW I recognize from earlier; I’ve inevitably run across some spoilers that way, thanks to the structure of the wiki, so I’m really glad I’m needing to do that less and less as the show goes on; I don’t think I had to check anything in the last ten episodes, thought I did still have to go to the wiki to get links to the Transcripts, because 

- I find the tunnel-echo effects make the dialogue pretty unparseable no matter how loud I have the show, unfortunately. I could understand Michael,and not much else. (I mean,I could understand Michael’s voice, the Spiral’s motives and all are fairly opaque to me still.) The voices and acting lend so much ambiance, I would have been happy to watch along on the YT vid with subtitles , but it doesn’t have subtitles? Frustrating, but I do  really appreciate there being transcripts! 

- Michael makes me really, really sad. He was just a kid who stayed out in the rain a second too late! It wasn’t even his idea! And he got Marked and he lost his whole damn life to this thing before he was even old enough to have a good grasp on what reality is in the normal swing of things. Poor kid. Poor Michael-that-should-have-been. (ETA so I don’t answer this multiple times: I’m aware Lightning-and-Tower Michael might not be Hallways and Hands Michael, but this is just name-association, really.  Also, there’s a growing horror in S2 in finding so many people who seemed to escape their encounters showing  up again in much worse shape in other Statements...)

- Thanks to Tumblr Osmosis , I’m  sure the Endgame OTP (at least so far) in Jon/Martin, and while I’m currently not a fan of that (though totally prepared to change my mind according to character/relationship development!) I am  delighted to be able to enjoy Jon and Basira’s relationship without worrying that her character is going to be suddenly smashed flat to make her The Love Interest. I love their weird uneasy alliance!  I hope she comes back but also hope she goes somewhere Far Away and lives Ordinarily Ever After. 

-on that note, Daisy Daisy Daisy bring back Daisy, I don’t usually get into cop characters but WEIRD CRYPTID FORCE COPS are apparently a potential weakness for me  (..also I know, I know  they are probably Hunt-aligned. I’ve already said I’m unfortunately Weak for The Hunt ).  

-I miss Actual!Sasha >:

- Tim is seriously the only person in this whole damn institute with any self preservation either supernatural or normal??  “Yeah you’re right I don’t like the boss who stalks me and keeps secrets about a situation which is directly about my own personal safety like I was the enemy and takes his trauma out on me directly while I’m recovering from,in this case , exactly the same trauma thanks “

Martin: Wow Tim you’re so selfish, how can you even think about fleeing our supernatural hellscape, why aren’t you more concerned with the guy who is very overtly considering you a potential enemy and crossing all boundaries in a way that, in any normal job, would right off be enough to get HR and maybe the cops involved?  WHY ARE YOU BEING SO UNREASONABLE, TIM??...Now excuse me while I run to my probable death with no preparation in defense of a guy who seems to go out of his way to hit my very obvious emotional weak points and considered me so useless  he thought I might be dead already, because unlike you I am making good decisions!!! LEEEROY JENKINNNSSSSS”

-honestly the apparent connection between why the Institute/Elias accepted Martin as sacrifice an employee and Martin’s emotional Everything is both screamingly apparent and worth an essay all on its own , that’s some Good Charactering

-I never trusted Elia-- Never Trust the Boss Of Shadowy Organization With Mysterious Backers, that’s my motto-- but HE KILLED THE INFODUMP SOURCE. HOW DARE. INSTANT LEAST FAVE.

- I KNEW LEITNER WAS A RESEARCHER I KNEW IT I KNEW IT, who has a vast occult library BUT never really figures in any accounts of actually DOING anything?? AN OCCULT NERD DOING RESEARCH.  (I say, well aware that *I* did not do my research as fully as I’d like here, to avoid spoilers, and thus may be forgetting a Big Thing he apparently did)

- I did NOT know he was still alive?? and totally didn’t see him working with Gertrude (it was actually Gert’s Occult Book Hunting that made me slap my head and go OH RIGHT about Leitner!) 

-I want to know more about Gertrude 

- The OH NO moment I had during Leitner’s description of obvious multiple entities working together to just wreck his shop!!  BAD, BAD, THE INJUSTICE LEAGUE OF AAAAAH IS BAD 

- also now I know for sure that the Web and the Stranger are enemies? this puts at least 2/3 Fear Entities that could, I am aware , pretty much have me as a pawn for a cheap ice-cream cone allied against the one  Entity that makes me absolutely go into Screaming Phobia Murder Mode, I don’t know if everyone’s feeling the same way or if this is just the show happening to find my particular keys like that 

-...listen Elias is THE WORRRRSSSST and I am sure The Institute is Not Good but if The Stranger existed and was A Thing like this then they wouldn’t have  to Play me to get my assistance on taking it out , every single episode about it makes me go Mad Raccoon in A Box ,  I want it gone, the enemy of the Stranger is my ...slightly less enemy 

-Jonnycakes Sims is the Avatar of the Human Trainwreck, but I did not realize until this episode that he does not drink coffee??  I’m torn between thinking he should and thinking all caffeine should be taken away from him forever. 

-Also, Dammit, Jonet, this “keeping info about supernatural horror schemes from my team For Their Own Good” nonsense?  BAD , you are not a Victorian patriarch and they are not your children, GIVE THEM A FIGHTING CHANCE YOU GOOBER, DID YOU EVER READ ONE GOTHIC NOVEL, IGNORANCE IS DEATH 

- ..HOW DID YOU DECIDE TO SMASH THE TABLE YOU. GOOBER PIE.   I take it back, definitely Jonny needs to drink all the more caffeine. 

--in conclusion, ELIAS TOOK MY LORE HOOKUP AND HE MUST PAY FOR HIS CRIMES. 

(Supplemental:P) 

I'm getting the impression, from responses to my earlier little post, that people don't? like Tim ?? and I am Afraid this means he is Something Horrible?? but he's fun and friendly and smart and reacting like a human with normal human self-preservation instincts + a touch of Heroic honestly?? why do people not like Tim, is he a secret Horror, NO DON'T ACTUALLY TELL ME but  D:  NERVOUS NOW

[friendlycybird]

Season 3 Reactions - Part 1

I’ve developed a strange association since I’ve begun listening to The Magnus Archives.  I don’t know how it started but somehow, my go-to food choice for listening is, for some reason, Cup of Noodles. Chicken Flavor, Typically.  I don’t understand how this happened, or why, but I strongly associate Cup of Noodle with TMA and I will never understand it, I’ll just go with it. So it is with a Styrofoam cup of cooking noodles set beside my computer that I begin this post.

I’m halfway through season 3, which I was told way back when I was halfway through season one would be the big Lore building season. I just didn’t anticipate how much.  I know so much more now then I did at the end of last season, and I’m fully aware I’ve only scratched the surface. So, as of right now, here’s what I think of the first half of season 3. 

81. Jon’s awareness of his personality flaws dating all the way back to childhood is, on one hand, good. On the other, I’m always wary when I hear a parental figure described as having “done their best” with a troublesome child...I’m never convinced that was a healthy upbringing. 

82. I have a lot of feelings about Martin’s unwavering faith in Jon. Well, unwavering may be a slightly strong word for it but I almost cried when he had that pleased reaction to being told people say he and Jon are close. 

83. I love Georgie. Also, I am of course, not surprised that it was a circus display, of all things, that went wrong in this statement. 

84. I am so happy that Martin’s reading statements now? I mean. I’m not happy for Martin since reading statements is obviously extremely draining and difficult but I love Martin so getting more of him is always good for me, however bad it may be for him. Also, Melanie stepping in to replace Sasha gives me some...mixed feelings. I really like Melanie and I’m glad to have her on board but this...this kinda makes it real, you know? I think this is when that last bit of hope I was still stupidly clinging to, even after Leitner stated point-blank that Sasha was dead, finally died as well. Sasha’s well and truly gone and has been since season one.  It’s Melanie’s turn. 

85. I’ve heard this rhyme before. Taking it to its logical conclusion like this was deeply unsettling. 

86. This episode was a reminder exactly why I didn’t use to listen to TMA at night. I’ve become a lot more flexible on the subject, and yes, I regret it. I fully intended to sleep with the lights on after I listened to this episode. My partner needed it off so she could get to sleep though so I gave in and settled for just not being alone. 

87. I’ve listened to... thirteen episodes after this one. Thirteen. When I listened to this episode, Gertrude’s closing comments were...largely nonsensical to me. All I knew was that something was that she’d been injured somehow, and that this statement suggested an unexpected alliance between avatars and a rushed timeline for The Unknowing. Already a lot of information.  I just went back and read the transcript of her closing statement and...there’s so much here. The connection between Gertrude and Jude Perry was one I picked up on a couple episodes later.  Looking at this now, it seems like a pretty clear who’s-who of the biggest players currently on the board. 

88. I love Martin and I genuinely feel so bad for him with all this.  Recording statements is hard and change is harder and everyone expecting him to know things. 

89. It’s not often anymore I hear a piece of media and have a bone-deep jealousy of the performer. Jude Perry is a character I want to play.  Her dialogue, her *statement*, her power, her...god. She’s just. She might be my favorite antagonist. 

90. Poor Tim. He tried to leave, he actually tried to just pack up and go, and it almost killed him. He hates this place with everything in him and hates himself for working there but he’s not ready to die just to stop. 

91. I can not tell you how taken aback I was by the fact that the first line we hear from Mike Crew is “You’re sure I can’t get you a cup of tea?” The fact that it seems all he really wants is to be left alone with his powers makes him...I can’t properly say sympathetic. Not after episode 75 but close enough that I’m a little sad Daisy killed him.

92. I was...genuinely prepared to come out of this hating Elias. God knows everyone who was in that room did. I don’t though.  Elias comes off to me as nothing so much as the tutor who’s finished his masters thesis on a subject and is sitting down with a first-year undergrad in that subject and trying to explain that yes, I absoloutly could tell you exactly how all of this works but if you don’t learn it for yourself you’ll never pass your tests.  Except, with the stakes turned up to 11. I think about Elias a lot. I don’t...I’m not as attached to him as I am to the others, to everyone else who was in that room...but I like him. He’s...interesting. 

93. Admiral is a good kitty, comforting Jon like that at the beginning. But the exchange toward the end I will never be over is “I don’t want to talk about it.” “Tough.” “Look, I’m moving out anyway, so just...just forget it. I’m out of your life. Alright?” “No.”  - Just. Georgie’s absolute refusal to take Jon’s shit and insistence on actually properly *helping* him - I love her. 

94. I remember we’ve seen this philosophy before, the idea that “The moment that you die will feel exactly the same as this one.” the idea that the present and the future are not distinct from one another. I can’t remember what episode it came up in before but also the thought that - accepting that? Accepting the...smallness? Of the universe? Of the human experience? Would just kill you where you stand or, if you survive it, stop you from ever feeling fear again? That’s...a powerful statement really. And one I’m not sure I agree with? It’ll take some time to unpack the philosophy here. 

95. Poor Martin. I say that a lot but no really, poor Martin. He’s trying so hard and it’s all just too much. For him to give up on professionalism is just sad. His exchange with Basira at the end is another look into the philosophy it seems the show is building. What do you do in the face of helplessness?  “You make the best of things.” Basira says. Of course, as interested as I am in the overall message of TMA (beyond always carry a fucking flashlight, which was the lesson I took from season 1 and now there’s one clipped to my purse) I’m even more overwhelmed by the fact that the idea of escaping himself never occurred to Martin. 

96. Feels good to get some answers about Breekon and Hope finally. Proper ties to the circus it seems, although the questions from episode 93 all still stand.  TMA is really good at it, at giving you an answer, and it’s definitely an answer you know something you didn’t - and yet, none of your actual questions have been answered. 

97. As if it wasn’t enough that the statement hit a little closer to home than the typical TMA episode as I live in Oregon, so less then 500 miles from whatever the fuck that pit was. Of course, when the statement occurred I was safely down in California but all the same, unnerving.  As if THAT WASN’T ENOUGH. Fucking. Orsinov fucked me up, guys. I was *shaking*.  I don’t know what it is but she is, as a character, well beyond terrifying. I. I don’t have words for how much she scares me. I don’t even know why. I just. Everything about her is just. Fuck. 

98. I quite enjoyed Tim pointing out the problem with the “They can never know I have to project them” bullshit that Jon is prone to. That said, I find it ironic that Tim can, in the space of a page, go from calling the Institute, and by extension the Eye, evil, to saying “ignorance isn’t going to save anyone.” - because that’s what The Eye seems to be. Just knowledge. Observing, Learning, Knowing.  It’s not...at least...I don’t know that it’s as evil as Tim thinks it is.  Ruthless, detached, inhuman, yes. Evil? I’m not at all sure of that. 

99. Another American Statement, this time about The Dust Bowl. We also get names of several more...powers. The Spiral, The Buried, The Hunt. But more then that. We find out that Michael use to be Gertrude’s Assistant!  Which. Is he like Mike? Did something change him? He always felt...older...than that? It would explain why he seems to have so much curiosity toward the archive and the archivist though...

100. and finally, an anthology of sorts, of what happens when people who don’t have The Archivist’s ability try to take statements live. Two things stand out to me about this.  The first? Martin, you absoloute sweetheart why are you trying to pay the woman? She gave you fuckall and might not even have been telling the truth.  And also... “Elias can be quite... ‘protective’ of his people.”  Like. !!!!!!! I mean.  After reading that statement, that whole speech for Jon before everyone got there back in episode 92... after all that and people like Peter Lukas still see Elias as ‘protective’  ...I..you know I think it might be true? His total lack of anger when Melanie tried to poison him and just the fact that he’s trying so hard to prepare Jon? I don’t know. It’s funny, I’m always inclined to think the best of people. With Elias though, I’m not so quick to think there might be anything genuinely good to him, but, I definitely can’t see him as evil either. 

[g1ngerbeer]

spoilers for tma lore up to season 4!! 

also it’s a very long post lol--

anakin gets to be the archivist because 1) eldritch anakin! eldritch anakin! 2) that’s the sort of thing palpatine would pull and 3) TERRIBLE DECISION MAKING

when anakin was like 23 or so shmi was killed during the slaughter’s attempted ritual which failed after agents of the vast stopped it. he immediately began researching paranormal incidents to try and find out what exactly happened, and because he’s very good with computers and has enough academic credentials to get him access to the institute’s resources, he managed to find the magnus institute. however, a lot of the more sensitive documents (which are what he’s looking for) are restricted for employee access only, so he made the very well thought out and rational decision to go apply for a job there.

when he went in for a job interview, palpatine took one look (Look) at him and decided he’s the perfect candidate to be the new archivist. even though there’s a lot of potential candidates who have, y’know, actual experience? he did it for palpatine reasons.

the previous archivist was qui-gon and he died in mysterious circumstances that no one knows anything about (not even obi-wan, who was his assistant before he died) other than he supposedly died at his desk.

obi-wan used to use the institute’s library while he was in college and joined the institute after graduating. he started by working in the library itself but eventually qui-gon requested him as an assistant and he worked in the archives for five years or so before qui-gon died. honestly everyone expected him to be the next archivist but whatever palpatine says goes.

ahsoka joined the institute right after qui-gon’s death when obi-wan was frantically trying to get the karking archives organized somehow (a couple weeks before anakin joins?) but she’s been hanging out in there for years because her father plo works in the library and everyone knows her. palpatine assigned her to go work as an archival assistant after anakin joined.

technically obi-wan and ahsoka are anakin’s assistants but anakin basically knows,,, n-nothing about the entities or anything so they end up making the plans more often than not until anakin has enough experience to at least half know what he’s doing. they ALSO end up doing most if not all of the actual archiving.

so yeah basically anakin sits down at his brand new desk (which isn’t actually brand new it’s still slightly scorched from qui-gon’s death but shh) and starts trying to organize the absolute MESS that the archive is because qui-gon apparently didn’t care for organization. he actually didn’t care but the mess also served the purpose of restricting what palpatine can See. but of course no one knows this because obi-wan’s the only one of them who maybe COULD know something and qui-gon was never very open about his intentions. and obi-wan’s been trying to get qui-gon to clean his crap up for YEARS so he’s definitely willing to help

after they get most of the random papers and filing folders off the ground, anakin starts trying to record statements on his laptop! but it doesn’t work! and he’s not happy about this! he’s actually VERY SALTY because he made an entire new filing system for this and now he can’t use it!! ahsoka digs up an old tape recorder that looks like it’s from the time yoda was head archivist (because it is) and tells anakin hey, you might as well try it if none of your attempts at making the statements record properly are working and he grumbles about it but he doesn’t exactly have any better options

qui-gon didn’t record a lot of statements for various reasons so most of the statements are read out by anakin but occasionally a tape in his voice turns up and obi-wan has to go for a walk while anakin listens to it

and things start happening, vaguely. i don’t have an actual plot arc yet and i might never have one--

SO HERES SOME MORE CHARACTER HEADCANONS

the fett brothers are basically freelance paranormal investigators a la melanie or adelard dekker, and they aren’t really associated with any entities. they work with the archives gang a lot. less often during qui-gon’s tenure but they’re a lot closer to the new gang. rex knew anakin in college and the first time he, cody, fives, and echo show up on an investigation anakin’s Very Confused. eventually cody and rex end up being sheeved into joining the institute

padme is technically the institute’s receptionist but she tends to go on a LOT of the archives gang’s not-very-well-thought-out plans and she can definitely hold her own

dooku is an avatar of the lonely who used to work with qui-gon and the institute but doesn’t anymore, he occasionally appears to be sinister in the background, peter lukas vibes

ventress is also an avatar of the lonely but she’s only been one for a couple years and she’s a lot less influenced by the entity so she eventually has a redemption arc and becomes an independent investigator (actually her vibes are more the hunt? but i’m attached to her having some connection to dooku and she IS pretty lonely in can0n)

maul is an avatar of the desolation who palpatine had kill qui-gon. he’s still around somewhere. he keeps trying to kill obi-wan because palpatine’s orders were to kill everyone in the archives and he provided pictures and descriptions but obi-wan wasn’t t h e r e at the time.

savage also becomes an avatar of the desolation after maul finds him

palpatine has been the head of the institute for... no one really knows how long. no one thinks to question it. maybe cody or rex eventually bring it up and the entire dumbass archives trio is like ohhhhhhhh hold up a minute. but until they arrive with the brain cells no one thinks about it. he’s just. the head of the institute. also he’s secretly darth sidious and the original founder of the institute (which technically means it should be the sidious institute but that just sounds terrible so no)

jocasta was head archivist before qui-gon and she was COOL AS HECK. sometimes they find statements taken by her and she’s very cool. (her vibes are gertrude! in this house we stan gertrude!) she died under mysterious circumstances

yoda was the head archivist before jocasta who ALSO died under mysterious circumstances (hmm) and occasionally they find some tapes he recorded. anakin HATES these because of the syntax so he always makes ahsoka or obi-wan listen to them and lead research because they've heard stories about the guy from plo and qui-gon respectively and are pretty fond of him

most of the other jedi are either former assistants who sometimes are heard on old recordings or working elsewhere at the institute

satine and bail run paranormal incident reporting sites and occasionally they’ll come and use the institute’s resources to research historical incidents

bo-katan is an avatar of the hunt along with pre vizsla and the rest of death watch

// cw brief mentions of violence to eyes + blinding // tahl was one of qui-gon’s assistants and she managed to quit her job but only because it happened after the people’s church of the divine hope captured her and blinded her. and because of this obi-wan assumes you can quit if you want to (YOU CAN’T)

ok ok ok but what if

the magnus archives set-up but make it clone wars characters

[centaurianthropology]

The Magnus Archives ‘Exceptional Risk’ (S02E12) Analysis

Another tie in to an old stand-alone!  We spend some time with a serial killer, and a darkness.  Despite this chilling setup, however, I felt like the episode needed a bit more payoff to be truly memorable.  The lackluster central story was very nearly worth it, however, for a particular exchange that happens about half-way through the episode.  Come on in to hear what I think about ‘Exceptional Risk’.

Is it just me, or does our narrator this week, Philip Brown, sound a lot like the narrator from ‘Piecemeal’? The sort who comes into the story as a real piece of work?  Only Brown doesn’t even start to lose bits of himself, which seems to me a bit of a shame. He’s definitely the sort of bully who beats up on prisoners and women, and I admit that I would have liked him to spend considerably more time in the darkness than he did.  Then again, that’s part of the horror of this show: it’s indiscriminate.  It could happen to anyone, good or bad, deserving or not.  And in the same vein, those we hope get eaten by darkness walk away without a scratch.  

Anyway, this one is about Robert Montauk in prison, who gets more physical description this episode. I admit that I hadn’t expected him to be so gigantic or intimidating.  He also received a visitor: an old man with cloudy eyes who somehow managed to blow all the lights in the visitation room before saying “You didn’t think you could kill it for long, did you?”  

So, yeah, Montauk and an appearance by Maxwell Rayner, erstwhile defrocked minister from the People’s Church of the Divine Host (‘Growing Dark’) who does seem to bring his control over darkness with him.  But whether that control is internal to him or belongs to some external entity is unclear.

Equally unclear is what killed Montauk after this conversation.  We know it was dark, though we don’t know if, like in ‘Growing Dark’, once it was dark the players were actually in another place.  Brown doesn’t move from where he was standing, so if there were new surroundings he didn’t take them in.  Nor did he hear anything beyond whatever was tearing Montauk apart. We know it growls, but that’s about it.

I do wish that, after all that buildup, we got to spend a bit more time in the dark.  I was expecting something a bit more protracted and horrific, but the actual encounter with the supernatural was very brief this week, and told from the perspective of a character who couldn’t really add anything to what we already knew about the darkness, Montauk and Rayner.

I suppose this is at least good evidence that whatever Mark Bilham encountered in the Hithergreen Chapel in ‘Growing Dark’ is connected with Robert Montauk, and all of this is bound up with the Closed Eye, whatever that turns out to be.  It’s unclear if the Closed Eye pendant is directly related to the People’s Church, or if the organization merely borrowed a much older symbol.  We got no further on that front this week, as there was no direct reference to Rayner beyond his brief visit.  He did mention that there is an ‘it’ that one can ‘kill’, at least for a while.  But whether that is a physical entity, the darkness itself, or something altogether different is unclear.  

We know that the People’s Church seemed to worship the darkness, if the behavior of Natalie Enis in ‘Growing Dark’ was any indication.  We also know that they believed something to be coming for them, although they waited in anticipation.  Montauk, it seems, may have been trying to hold that same thing back, or thought he was doing so.  And what about Rayner, who was both running the People’s Church, and working with Montauk. Was he some sort of double agent? Was he playing Montauk, or his congregation?  I wish we’d got at least a hint this week as to the game he was playing, but no such luck.

I doubt we’ve heard the last of Maxwell Rayner, in any case.  Hopefully next time, we get a bit more to work with.

Basira Hussain

Oh wow, the fantastic awkwardness of that exchange.  Easily the best part of the episode.  We don’t find out a lot, but it was still very funny, well written, and well performed. What snippets we did manage to glean are as follows (all of them somehow hysterical): Tim is ‘hot’ and almost pulls off the scars while Sims … doesn’t; Sims immediately assumes that anyone talking about his ‘assistant’ must mean Martin, or at least assumes that when they use the dubious tone that Basira used; we find out just how hysterically awkward Sims can be when confronted with a situation altogether outside his comfort zone. These are all vital and important things that we needed to know.

I do wonder at the fact that Basira claims she hasn’t listened to any of the tapes, which means she’s sending them to Sims unheard and unscreened.  Either she’s got surprising trust for a cop dealing with a very twitchy dude, or something else is going on.  Much as I like Basira, I still don’t know if I trust her.  It just seems exceptionally strange that, as the chief investigator looking into this killing, she hasn’t bothered listening to any of the tapes that, according to Martin, were literally surrounding the body.  And that she passes them off to an outside party without screening them herself.

Not-Sasha

Claims that she has a new boyfriend who works at Mme Toussand’s.  I certainly doubt it, although she may well be meeting someone there. I wonder if they’re setting up a little parallel between Sasha and her contact, and Sims and Basira.  Both are pretending to be couples to cover up something altogether more suspicious.  

At least Sims doesn’t seem to buy Not-Sasha’s excuse, even if he knows that he can’t confront her about it.  He seemed a little more in control of himself this week, if still exhausted.

Conclusions

This one wasn’t my favorite, I’ll admit.  The exchange between Basira and Sims was the highlight of the episode, and I definitely think Finger-Guns!Tim has been canonically confirmed.  We got a little more about the Not-Sasha situation, but not much. At least they haven’t ruled out the possibility of an archival field trip to the wax museum!

On the other hand, the actual meat of the episode didn’t do a lot for me this week.  The mystery around Montauk, the People’s Church of the Divine Host, Maxwell Rayner, and the whole Closed Eye thing got poked at, but I wouldn’t say we got any information that we hadn’t had before.  We did get an outside perspective on Montauk and Rayner, which was nice, but no new evidence.  Certainly no indication of how all this fits into the larger ecosystem of TMA.  Just as in ‘A Father’s Love’ and in ‘Growing Dark’ there appears to be something or many things inside the darkness, but they can only attack in the pitch blackness.  You can also apparently kill them for a while, but how one goes about that and what that actually means weren’t really addressed.  

This set-up—the isolated prison wing, the dangerous prisoners, the sudden and complete darkness and the lurking horrors that lay there—had fantastic potential to be very spooky indeed, as ‘Growing Dark’ proved, but this time around their presence was so incidental that we didn’t get much time to get properly creeped out. I would have loved to have explored that place that Mark found himself in during the events of ‘Growing Dark’, maybe got some indication if the entire world of darkness was marble and cold, or if there were other setting correlating with the real-world location. Something to expand the lore and make the darkness more unsettling.  

Not my favorite episode, I’d say.  We do return to Robert Montauk, which I was excited about, but we didn’t really get anything new about him.  We got to find out what really killed him, sort of, but didn’t spend enough time with that darkness to really feel the horror of it.

Oh well.  I think we’ll be getting another Gertrude episode next week! And it’s called ‘Alexandria’!  Fun!

[centaurianthropology]

The Magnus Archives ‘High Pressure’ (S02E11) Analysis

Diving!  Deep sea mysteries!  The return of a mysterious old antagonist and some immense Lovecraftian horror, and a few answers (that raise more questions) about one of the assistants.  This one hits all my buttons, and I thoroughly enjoyed it.  Come on in to read my take on ‘High Pressure’.

So we immediately get immersed in the fascinating world of deep-sea salvage, which is a departure from many of the more mundane jobs we hear about often in TMA.  I don’t know if the writer has ever done scuba before, but his descriptions continue to be one of the highlights of the show.  The level of obvious care in research and in detailing the job and the situation make it all the more immersive when things go wrong. And that’s critical, because the descent into horror (literally as well as figuratively this time) could seem slow, but instead builds a sense of dread that pays off in beautiful, unexpected ways.

I immediately hurried over to the Wiki page for ‘The Bosun’s Call’ as soon as I realized it was another story about the sea, as I thought that her captain, Kemp, might have been in that one as well.  No such luck, but there was a callback to an old episode.  The salvage crew was hired to find the yacht owned by the grandfather of the mysterious Simon Fairchild, last heard from in ‘Freefall’.  We knew very little about Fairchild, aside from that he seemed to have vanished, was involved with someone being eaten by the sky, and was a pseudonym for something.

So it was exciting to draw him deeper into the web of mystery that is this expanding and complicated universe (and indeed he seems as deeply enmeshed in the wider world of TMA as it is possible to be).  It’s interesting that both of the stories he’s featured in involve diving.  One skydiving, the other deep sea diving.  

Moreover, there are definitely similarities between the situations in ‘Freefall’ and ‘High Pressure’. Both involve people in dangerous professions that involve descent.  But while ‘Freefall’ was about a man who was temporarily—and then not so temporarily—trapped in a world of endless sky, this ocean, though as empty as that sky, did have a bottom, and a particularly creepy sunken wreck from the 1890s called the Maria Fairchild.  

Our protagonist, Antonia Hayley, found a hole in the hull while exploring the ship to recover heirlooms. The hole seemed to have been torn out from the inside, and the water beyond was far darker than it ought to have been.  When Antonia looked through that hole, she seemed to have been transported to the twilight zone of the ocean, or at least an endless expanse of crushing water similar to the twilight zone of our own oceans.  In this ocean, as there was in the endless sky, there was no life and no surface, no up or down; just an endless expanse of water.  The light was so dim as to be almost useless, but she made out, stretching as far as her vision could reach, an impossibly large, impossibly distant hand.  Even as it began to move, she bumped against the sharp hull next to her, and came back from whatever terrifying place she had been.  There is no word on what happened beyond that, as she was overcome by the bends.  Her diving partner and Simon Fairchild both seem to have disappeared.

Lore-wise, this one is rich, and ties together two surprising stories: ‘Literary Heights’ and ‘Freefall.’  Yet again, we have the impossibly large, impossibly distant being as a motif, now perhaps real albeit in some other, endless ocean.  We have the same language of impossible immensity used in ‘Literary Heights’, the same despairing smallness.

But what does that mean? Leitner seems more and more like a hub, a collector for all the impossible things that exist in this world, and a collector who imposes no restrictions and no safeties on the acquisition of knowledge.  We had the being made of lightning, first, and now we have at least one and possibly more than one being of impossible vastness.  Again I wonder if Leitner isn’t providing some sort of transport or access to other worlds through his books, and allowing other worlds access to ours. And I wonder how Leitner’s abilities, seemingly more based in his collection than himself, relate to those of Simon Fairchild.  He too, if we’re getting properly Lovecraftian, has keys to the Outer Gates, and we’re dealing with some serious Great Old Ones.  And more interestingly, this seems to be a family affair, with his grandfather having the same access to that endless ocean that he did to endless sky.  I wonder what might have lurked in that sky, if we’d had a first-hand account of Robert Kelly.

It’s also possible that Simon Fairchild is not the grandson of the man who owned the ship, but was himself that man.  We have Sims’ account that there was a con-artist thrown to his death from a window in the 1930s, linked to a minor haunting he himself investigated as one of his first cases as an Institute Researcher in 2012, who went by the same alias. While it may well be just a coincidence, I somehow doubt that the previous Simon Fairchild would have been introduced if he wasn’t somehow involved in the larger story of this one. There do seem to be records of the Fairchild family, at least.  They appear extremely wealthy, with links to aerospace and deep sea drilling, perpetuating that strange link to the sky and sea, and the strange vast places he seems to have access to.  That puts me in mind of the Lukas family, and I do have to wonder if these two dangerous, strange families ever crossed paths.

Not-Sasha

On another note, we got a bit more on Sasha, or well … we didn’t.  It turns out that, despite personally requesting her to work in the Archives, Sims didn’t actually know anything about her beyond that she started out in Artifact Storage, and still knows nothing more than the brief biography we got earlier this season.  

But if we got very little from the real Sasha, we got a surprising, if small, insight into Not-Sasha. It seems she has a more complicated relationship with the table than we initially imagined, claiming that the sort of thing that took over Graham didn’t seem the sort to allow itself to be bound to an object.  I have to think that, by extension, pertains to Not-Sasha.  She’s bound to that table against her will, putting me even more in mind of Michael and the beings that are also places.  If the table isn’t actually the origin of Not-Sasha, where did her kind come from, and how are they linked to that table?  Is it at all possible that our Sasha is in that table, and still alive?  

I also find it interesting that, despite her implied frustration with the table, Not-Sasha spends hours staring at it.  What is she trying to do when she looks at it?  She claims it’s not a fractal, but a web.  And Sims, to my surprise, agreed that they were all trapped by it.  What did he mean by that?  At least he seems smart enough to request that Sasha’s access to that table be limited.  At last I might see if my speculation that Elias actually knows about Not-Sasha and is studying her might be borne out or totally refuted.  Either way, I really want to know how both he and Not-Sasha react to this.

Also, why does Not-Sasha take extra-long lunch breaks in Mme Toussand’s wax museum?  Dare I dream of a multi-voice exploration of a wax museum? An archival staff field trip?

A girl can dream.

Conclusions

The horror itself was deliciously Lovecraftian, and took a really chilling turn with that impossibly immense hand.  I think we might finally be scraping the surface of the wider, WIDER universe at play here.  The idea that there is an ecosystem of monsters and horrors has been floated before, and seems all the more valid now that we’ve caught glimpses of being far vaster and likely far more uncaring of our existence or our world than either Jane or Michael.  This is the fear, not of the unknown, but of the unknowable.  Of something so immense and so alien that we cannot comprehend even a single one of its hands.  That is exactly the sort of horror that excites me the most!

We also got some great snippets about Not-Sasha, and more about Simon Fairchild, who definitely seems to be a big player in whatever game is going on in this universe.  What exactly he can do and why is a mystery I’m eager to hear more about.  I also really want to find out how he ties in with the Lukases or with Leitner.  More and more surprising links are being forged in this series, and I feel like we’re seeing this universe the same way that Antonia saw that impossibly large being in the endless ocean: the shadow of an outline of a single limb has been shown.  We can’t even begin to guess the shape of the thing beyond, and can only speculate as to its enormity.

Hell of an episode, this one.