#l&co character analysis

[charmquarkstrangequark]

George: The Best of Us

Can’t start this one off without acknowledging that George Cubbins and George Karim do have some differences, so I’ll be looking a bit at both of them. But I agree with Lucy’s characterization of George: he’s the best of them. Warning: mild book spoilers follow.

We don’t have a lot of background from George’s early life. We know he comes from a loving family and still visits them.  George Karim mentions having a granny in Sidcup and three older brothers who are all engineers. (This is a bit funny, because he talks about his family as “engineer, engineer, engineer, weirdo”, and if you’ve ever met an engineer, you realize that there really isn’t a difference among the 4 of them.) Anyway, we know from the books that George Cubbins has a mum who has given Lockwood at least one tea cozy (it’s used to cover Skull at one point) and by extension, likely other gifts as well. So, they’re obviously loving and supportive.

We know that George once worked for Fittes.  Little is made of George’s Talent, other than Lockwood mentioning that George has the Touch, but obviously he had enough of it to get a job at the premier psychical investigation agency in the country.  In fact, he only left Fittes after being fired for being too curious; Ms. Fittes must have realized that if anyone were going to uncover the truth about the Problem, it would be George. The oversight of George’s Talent is likely because it is overshadowed by his intelligence and research skills, which are formidable.

George has the ability to do a deep dive into the history of nearly any topic or place. He has an indefatigable willingness to visit churches, libraries, and any place necessary to uncover the details of a location’s history, thus cluing his teammates into possible sources. They'd really be blundering around in the dark without his guidance. Doing research itself is a skill; knowing how to cross reference topics, knowing all the different words and phrases possible for the same topic throughout the ages, catching the minute details that link people, places, and objects together. And it’s a skill George does better than any other character that either readers or viewers meet in the Lockwood & Co universe. George can make the inferential leaps that others are blind to, and he does it intuitively and quickly, leaving others behind in the dust. Take the theft of the bone glass at Kensal Green. Lockwood and Lucy have a little role play, talking through how the thief may have made their way into the chapel - then- crime scene.  They are able to build off each other’s ideas to come up with a hypothesis, and go off to check it…only to find George already there, having already come to this conclusion on his own. In fact, George is used to working on his own, something that will set him up to be hurt later.

George and Lockwood obviously have an incredibly deep friendship, one based on mutual respect and understanding.  Lockwood appreciates George. He understands that George doesn’t think about things and people the way others do, and has no desire to change George. He values George’s differences. George respects Lockwood, too.  He recognizes Lockwood’s reckless nature, the darkness within him, but he doesn’t challenge Lockwood on it. At one point he criticizes Lucy for not stopping Lockwood from going to the Hope house without the research having been completed (“You’re meant to stop him, Lucy”), but he’s guilty of the same thing the night they go wraith hunting while Lucy is recovering from her initial interaction with Skull.  He accuses Lockwood of not giving him time to properly do the research, but obviously, he went along with Lockwood anyway. Also, his trust in Lockwood is absolute. When bad press starts coming after the Hope house fire, Lockwood says, "I'll handle it" and George just says, "Ok". He doesn't ask how; he accepts at face value that if Lockwood says he'll handle it, he will.

Over time, George and Lucy grow close, as well. He truly appreciates their blossoming friendship ("She's really starting to get me"). His concern for her behavior in the bath is genuine. (side note: I have a hc that George's parents found him in the bath as a young child with his clothes on and told him, gently, that this was Not Normal, and that's why he says the same to Lucy, later.) Anyway, he sees the ache in her, the need for belonging that he also sees in his best friend. He recognizes that the two will complement each other, and becomes her unfailing advocate from that point forward.

George may not be touchy-feely, but he definitely believes in acts of service. He cooks, and maintains 35 Portland Row, he keeps the books and files because Lockwood doesn't have the patience to do so, and he manages much of the logistics of the Agency. Lockwood and Lucy rely on him to the point of advantage; they don't even comment on how much he does until they suddenly realize they haven't packed the chains, or re-ordered flares. He balances their impulsivity. He considers risk and consequences, protecting them from themselves.

A lot is made of what appears to be some neurodivergence in George, wonderfully acted by Ali Hadji-Heshmati.  He’s awkward with eye contact, and speaks his mind a little too freely.  He has little affect; Lucy can tell more about his mood by how he cleans his spectacles than by tone of voice or facial expression. He obviously is touch-sensitive: he prefers not wearing trousers, and when he does, they’re loose and baggy. Even his kit belt is different to the others; Lockwood and Lucy wear stiff leather kit belts, but George’s is a kind of mesh. (Combine that with psychic ability linked to Touch, and realize what a tough go of it George must have had growing up.) I really like that all of these aspects of George’s character are just that; they’re not highlighted, he’s not made into some kind of token neurodivergent character.  He’s just…George. His strengths and differences are appreciated as much as any other character’s.

The combination of George's research skill and different manner of thinking combine to make him susceptible to obsessive behaviors. He is, of every other character in the series, the only one who is actively trying to SOLVE the Problem. Everyone else is caught up in reacting to it. George sees the big picture, that the agencies are losing, giving ground to the seemingly unstoppable onslaught of Visitors. He realizes that the only way to stop the Problem is to find its source, to prevent more Visitors from coming, rather than to just keep trying to eliminate the ones they find, one at a time. The obsession is a point of weakness capitalized upon by Joplin & the bone glass. George's tendency to do the work alone isolates him from his team and leaves him vulnerable. An important part of his character arc is to recognize how his skills dovetail with those of his teammates to create a unified front of strength and efficacy. Once he does so, he also uncovers the cause of the Problem, and thus, a way to potentially control it.

What I find most admirable about George is his bravery.  In the books, George Cubbins is described quite unfavorably by Lucy as having a face that begged to be slapped and a backside in need of a well placed kick. George Cubbins is described as slovenly, appearing not to own a comb, with a completely disorderly room.  George Karim, on the other hand, stress cleans.  He may not be one to dress up, but he seems not to suffer from the hygiene issues of his literary counterpart. 

However, none of this bothers George, because he doesn’t care much about how others look on the surface. He doesn’t worry about his own outward appearance because he hopes others will judge him in the way he judges them: by their actions, by who they are inside.  In fact, Skull (who mostly sees only a person’s inner self, what will eventually become their plasm if they become Visitors after death, and which I interpret to be a soul) notes that only himself and George are able to see past surface distractions to the truth of a person. It's part of why he's able to see past Flo's ghost trauma and recognize her intelligence, bravery, skill, and freedom.

George is unapologetically himself. In the final book, when Sir Rupert and his goons are targeting the smaller agencies and assaulting agents on the streets, George is the only one of Lockwood & Co to stand up to Sir Rupert’s bullying. He is unafraid to be out at any time of day or night, and has complete faith in his own ability to defend himself. He speaks his mind because he knows he has the ability to back it up, if necessary.  He is criminally overlooked by most people who meet him, but George is intelligent, brave, loyal, skilled, possesses a sharp and witty sense of humor, and is the glue that holds his agency together.  He really is, as Lucy says, the best of them.

[charmquarkstrangequark]

I reference this post all the time! Reblogging for more visibility.

A scene I really need to see adapted is the first time Lucy and Lockwood see one another in the Crepping Shadow.

One of my favourite lines from the series is when Lucy makes Lockwood a cup of tea for the first time in four months, she asks wither he takes sugar now, only for lockwood to remark that its only been a few months and he hasn't suddenly started taking sugar.

I'm not sure if the same for non brits but in the UK, knowing how someone takes their tea is kind of what proves you're close to them? It's an unwritten rule but for example, you know how your family takes their tea and you know how your friends take their tea, so for Lucy to turn around and ask if Lockwood takes sugar would've really hurt, as it only proves how much she has pushed him away.

We know from the books that Lucy is extremely flustered in this scene and only says this in a desperate attempt to break the silence not really thinking about the implications. It would be amazing to see Ruby running around Lucy's flat, trying to clean up, make tea and have some composure after being separated from Lockwood for so long. Lockwood though, he's been looking for an excuse to drop in on Lucy for four months hoping to salvage some of what they had at portland row, it would be amazing to see Cameron's devastation at this line, knowing that Lucy seemingly didn't miss him.

It's pretty subtle, as you can see below, he changes the subject pretty quickly but, I think it would be great to adapt on screen as it would add a lot of depth to their characters, especially since tea is something they used as a comfort in Portland Row after really tough cases.

Netflix?????? Pls??????

[biscuitrule]

I reread the books right before I binged the first season of the show and the tv characters are all different from the book characters but like I can’t quite articulate what exactly is different other than vibes. So, please use this post feel free to send asks or tag me in posts all about the differences you saw or want to discuss big or small.

[chance-lard]

Book!Lucy & Lockwood vs Show!Lucy & Lockwood: A VERY LONG Deep Dive

So I finished the Netflix adaptation of Lockwood & Co.

Overall, I think it was a respectful adaptation, which, despite some plot changes, kept largely to the spirit of the books. At minimum, Joe Cornish actually seems to like L&Co, which is way more than can be said about most adaptations these days. Hooray!

But I wanted to write a bit about one of the bigger changes they made: namely the dynamic between Lucy and Lockwood.

I’ve seen people saying that the Locklyle adaptation to screen was very true to the books, just without Lucy’s close personal voice, and sped up a little in the romance department (“Stroud doesn’t mention what Lucy was doing with her hands! They could have been on Lockwood’s face in the books!” etc).

Respectfully, I disagree quite a bit with this. While some argument could be made about it having shades of their relationship from THB/TCS onwards, I actually think Show!Lucy’s attitude towards Lockwood is a 180 from the way she views him in TSS and TWS.

IDK, this might be a bit of a controversial opinion judging by what I’ve been seeing in the L&Co tag and general ways people have interpreted TSS and TWS in the years since their publication, but I’m going to try to back my argument as best as I can, focusing only on those books.

I’m using the original paperback UK editions of both the Screaming Staircase (2013) and The Whispering Skull (2014).

Spoilers for the show and VERY mild spoilers for books 3+ (literally just the name of a new character/type of ghost + stuff already shown in the show that wasn’t shown until later in the books)

Another warning: this analysis is 5500(!!!) words long, and mostly quotes from the book. If you’d like to just read the main bits, look at the intro/conclusion to each section and read the TLDR; at the end.

PART 1: THE NETFLIX SHOW

Before diving into differences, there are things I do think stayed the same between the show and the books:

Lucy and Lockwood banter, swap one-liners and occasionally squabble.

Lucy remains unimpressed with some of Lockwood’s more slapdash schemes.

During missions, they work equally and trust each other with their lives and the job.

They care about each other’s wellbeing.

Basically, when things are going well between them, or when they are in high-stakes circumstances and need to cooperate, there isn’t too much of a difference between Show!Locklyle and Book!Locklyle.

But as Tolstoy (lmao) says, all happy families agents are alike, all unhappy families agents are unique in their own way. With that said, I think the differences between Show!Locklyle and Book!Locklyle are best explored through the way conflicts are handled.

In the show, there are 5 major arguments between Lucy and Lockwood:

Episode 2: Lucy feels upset and hurt because she thinks Lockwood only views her as an “asset”.

Episode 4: Lucy is upset that Lockwood doesn’t believe/doesn’t want to admit that she is talented enough to talk to the Skull

Episode 5: Lucy gets mad at Lockwood being self-sacrificing/death-seeking after they escape from the Winkmans.

Episode 7: Lucy calls Lockwood a boy with a “cold dead heart of stone”, and is upset that he won’t let her and George in on his past.

Episode 8: Lucy is furious at Lockwood using dangerous methods at the auction, that “every relic hunter in London is out to kill us”, and that Lockwood is acting self-sacrificially again.

There are also the following minor squabbles:*

Episode 1: Lucy rolls her eyes at Lockwood for forgetting the chains at Mrs Hope’s house.

Episode 1: Lucy mad at Lockwood and George for the toothbrush cup initiation test.

Episode 2: Lockwood gets annoyed and brusque with Lucy for keeping Annabel’s source and trying to communicate with her ghost. After Lucy is nearly possessed, he flintily tells her he will burn the source, and that they have more important bills to pay.

*Note there might be some more minor squabbles, but they weren’t significant enough to make their way into my notes

The most important takeaway here is that Lucy is the one who initiates most of the arguments! We can also note Lockwood’s response to Lucy’s anger: mostly he mutely self-reflects as she shouts and storms away, then later he comes to her to apologise and promises to do better. 

The one time Lockwood gets mad at Lucy (Ep 2) we are a) not shown the bulk of the argument (there’s a cutaway after the fight with the ghost to Lucy justifying herself), b) it’s anger born of worry, and c) Cameron’s delivery of the lines is quite measured and muted.

In essence, when it comes to conflict, Lucy is the one holding the cards in the relationship between the two of them.

We also know the show is set much earlier than the books (which take place over the span of a whole year). Show!Lucy isn’t acting this way out of concern for a Lockwood who she’s known and loved for ages. Rather, Lockwood is someone she is not impressed by at all from the outset. The show is setting up what makes Lucy special here: unlike the adults, the other agents, and maybe even George, she’s the only one who can see through his “prodigious entrepreneur” mythos to the hurting teenager beneath.

Within the logic of the show’s universe this makes sense. Unlike Book!Lucy who is a judgemental grump (and is why she has “no female friends”; TWS p80), Show!Lucy is a more confident girl coming right off the back of losing someone she loves dearly.

Having experienced an arguably greater loss than Book!Lucy at this stage in her life, Show!Lucy seems adamant to prevent anyone else she cares about going down the same path. For Book!Lucy, this is a realisation she only comes to near the end of THB.

So to summarise, in the show, Lucy is a hurting, no-nonsense girl, unimpressed with Lockwood’s antics and objective enough to act as his “chain to earth”. From the way Lockwood responds to Lucy’s upsets, we get the sense that he’s quite sincere and maybe more in touch with his emotions than he shows on the surface.

The show portrays two people gradually learning to trust each other and perhaps slowly, mutually discovering their feelings as they do.

PART 2: BOOK: ACTIONS

The show uses disagreements as watersheds for character development, but they don’t play as significant a role in the books. Still, I went through TSS and TWS and made notes of every time there’s conflict between Lucy and Lockwood because the differences are quite telling.

TSS:

Lucy is mildly irritated/snarky at Lockwood for the entirety of the Hope case in TSS, and is angry when he forgets to bring the chains.

Lucy is angry at Lockwood for talking about the Annabel case and getting her name in the papers (TSS, 231)

Lockwood gets angry and berates Lucy for keeping the Annabel source (TSS, 179-181)

Lockwood calls Lucy “too sensitive” and accuses her of getting too close to ghosts (TSS, 248-249)

Lockwood is furious at Lucy for trying to talk to Annabel again (TSS, 284)

TWS:

Lockwood angry at Lucy for talking about the door on the landing (TWS, 116)

Lucy angry at Lockwood (and George) for taking her Listening for granted (TWS, 258)

Lucy scolds Lockwood for brushing off/slapping down George (TWS, 398)

Purely by numbers, they get mad at each other fairly evenly (rather than it being one-sided from Lucy, a la the show).

But numbers themselves don’t tell a full story. In fact, after looking at the particulars, I was surprised to see just how unbalanced their relationship is in the first 2 books (TSS in particular), and how much Lucy sits under Lockwood’s thumb for the whole thing.

Let’s look:

THE SCREAMING STAIRCASE

The Hope House - Lockwood forgetting to bring the chains.

This is the argument that plays out most similarly to how it does in the books. Lockwood asserts that filings “will be fine” for a job like this. In both mediums Lucy lets him go, but in the show she rolls her eyes and tuts, while in the books she tells herself “now (isn’t) the time”, takes a deep breath and changes the subject. In my opinion, this difference is insignificant.

BUT: in the book, the chains get brought up again. On p39, Lockwood suggests they should leave the house because it’s too dangerous, it is Lucy disagrees and thinks they should stay (as an aside, compare this with Lockwood’s behaviour in the show, particularly when escaping Winkman at the auction!).

Lockwood “condescendingly” tells her that her head isn’t in the right place, and Lucy once again accuses him of making bad decisions by leaving the chains out. Lockwood in turn first blames George (as he does in the show), then goes on to blame Lucy!

How the argument resolves is also interesting. Lockwood smiles at Lucy, and ribs her:

‘How’s your anger management going, Luce?’ (p40).

This effectively defuses Lucy’s rage (she likens his smile to “the sun coming out”).

Only after she’s no longer at the peak of her anger does he admit fault:

“He clapped his gloved hands together briskly. ‘Alright, you win'” (about staying at the house). (p40).

Even in the very first pages, we see Lockwood comporting himself as Lucy’s superior. We get the sense he doesn’t take her anger very seriously. Lucy also doesn’t seem to be able to stay mad at him for long.

Now, I've seen readings of Lockwood smiling in this moment as him being simply unable to stay mad at Lucy. That's definitely one interpretation, but I personally don't agree with it. Lockwood has a patterned habit of using his smile to get out of trouble:

“Lockwood took a deep breath; perhaps he realized he had to explain himself to George and me, as well as to Barnes…(Explanation). He switched on his fullest, most radiant smile.

Barnes winced. ‘Put those teeth away’” (TSS, p426)

And:

“‘Papers that almost certainly don’t exist,’ I growled…I didn’t look at him; if I had, he would have given me the smile, and I wasn’t in the mood for that.” (TWS, p258)

Though as we can see, by TWS Lucy has definitely wised up haha

Lucy’s name in the article

On paper, this argument is similar to the one in the show. The major difference is at no point in the books does Lucy explicitly tell Lockwood to keep her name out of the papers.

In the show, this argument leads to one of its biggest disagreements (Ep 2):

Lucy: I told you to leave me out of it.

Lockwood: And I told you I'd handle it. What are you so worried about? It's all true.

Lucy: We haven't even solved the case yet. What if Hugo Blake sees that and comes after me?

Lockwood: Well, then, we'll look after you, Luce. You're our biggest asset.

Lucy: Asset? Is that all I am, then? Just something to make you money? You think that you do things so differently. But you're just like the rest of them. You're as bad as everyone back home.

In the books, Lucy does not get angry when the article comes out (p217). She only gets upset after she’s pulled in by DEPRAC to see Hugo Blake. When the argument erupts, George is also there and it plays out like this (p232):

Lucy: “Don’t touch me. Because of your article, I came face to face with a murderer tonight, and funnily enough, I didn’t enjoy the experience.” 

Lockwood: “Blake is not going to come after us”.

George: “Or if he does, it’ll be very, very slowly, hobbling on a stick. He’s over seventy years old.”

After Lockwood and George’s further justifications about why Blake is not going to “get them” (p232-233) Lucy thinks:

“What (Lockwood) said made sense, as usual. It was good to be out in the night again, with my sword and my colleagues at my side. The distress of my brief encounter at Scotland Yard was slowly fading. I felt a little better.”

We know from this that Lucy’s anger was one borne from worry and fear of Blake. By successfully alleviating that fear, Lucy’s anger at Lockwood dissipates. At no point is she mad at being treated as a showpony or asset by Lockwood. In fact, going back to when the article comes out (p 217), we’re presented with the following:

Lucy: “I still don’t know why you mentioned me but not the necklace.”

Lockwood: “It doesn’t hurt to emphasise what a star you are. We want other clients to come running, eager for your services.”

He doesn’t use the word “asset” here, but you can easily replace the word “star” with the word “asset" to get the original lines that triggered the argument in the show. To this statement, Book!Lucy has no reaction at all (the topic changes).

[As an aside, Lockwood also obliquely calls Lucy and George “inessential” on p214, which they also don’t comment on. Also, at various points he calls George and Lucy “fishwives” (p 272) and Lucy “sensitive” because she’s a girl (p 353) (lmaooo what an ass).]

Lockwood, Lucy and Annabel

I’m lumping these three arguments together because they follow the same pattern: Lucy tries to talk to Annabel, Lockwood gets upset that she keeps trying. What is absolutely fascinating is just how he treats Lucy when he is upset, and how Lucy responds to his anger in turn.

The first argument begins the morning after the fight. Lockwood says:

“Why, Lucy? I just don’t understand! You know an agent has to report any artefact she finds. Particularly one so intimately connected with a Visitor. They must be properly contained.” (p179)

He continues berating her like this (with a lot more anger than he ever displays on the show).

Lucy tries to apologise:

“Yes. I said I’m sorry! I’ve never done that sort of thing before.” (p180)

But Lockwood is still angry:

“So why did you do it now?”

Lucy spends the next page trying to explain why she took Annabel’s source, but even after her apologies and justifications, Lockwood is still furious:

“You forgot? That’s it? That’s your excuse?” (p 181)

The three of them talk a bit more about the mechanics of how Annabel ended up in the house, then when Lucy is in the middle of talking, Lockwood cuts her off again, and they have this whopper of an exchange:

“I hope you’re not trying to change the subject, Lucy,” Lockwood said in a cold voice. “I’m in the middle of ticking you off here.”

I set the case down. “I know.”

“I’m not finished, either. Not by a long chalk. I’ve got a whole heap more to say.” (Lockwood loses his train of thought here). “The point is: don’t do it again. I’m disappointed in you.”

Lucy meekly takes Lockwood’s lecture:

“I nodded. I stared at the tablecloth. My face felt cold and hot at the same time”

Lockwood’s one-sided lecture of Lucy lasts a whole five pages!!!

But he’s not done. It comes up again on p248 where Lockwood accuses Lucy of being 'too sensitive’ (in both the psychic and emotional way), and of getting “too close to (the ghosts)”. Then, in a 180 from the dynamics of power in the show (remember, Lucy threatens to quit several times), Lockwood threatens to fire her!

“You need to be careful, Lucy,” Lockwood said, and his voice was flat and cold. “Wicked ghosts aren’t things to trifle with. You’re keeping secrets again, and any agent who does that is endangering the rest of us. I’m not having anyone on my team who can’t be trusted. You understand what I’m saying?”

Again, Lucy takes this lecture meekly and submissively:

I did understand. I looked away.

In the final argument about the matter (p284) we learn that Lucy is actually a bit scared of Lockwood.

“You deliberately let her free?” Lockwood said. “That was a stupid thing to do.”

When I looked at his face, my heart quailed. “Not free,” I said desperately. “Just…freer.” (emphasis mine)

On p285 Lucy starts crying/tearing up because she thinks Lockwood:

 “...Would not forgive me…this was the end of my employment at the company”. 

Ordinarily, you might be able to argue that her fears are misplaced and subjective (because of her narrow perspective). This rings a little hollow given Lockwood’s threat on p248.

Does Lockwood ever apologise to Lucy during the Annabel affair? Once, when at his suggestion, Lucy tries to talk to Anabel, and things go awry:

“I’m so sorry. I should have never asked you to do that. What happened? Are you OK?” (p192)

It’s a sign that Lockwood does care about her wellbeing, despite his general distance from Lucy and the way he carries himself, which is as a figure of authority, and more importantly, as Lucy’s employer.

Seriously. We like to joke in this fandom that Lucy is too wrapped up in her own head thinking that Lockwood is out of her league to notice that he actually likes her. But reading the books again with detailed notes, I think Lucy’s impression is actually accurate.

In fact, writing this up sparked a memory of reading TSS for the first time (prior to the release of TWS), I remember thinking there wasn’t going to be a romance between Lucy and Lockwood. I couldn’t articulate it fully at the time, but I imagine it was because of how much older Lockwood seemed and how much control her asserts over her behaviour, combined with the way early book Lucy (to borrow Holly’s words from THB) “can’t say no” to Lockwood.

It is only by the end of TSS, does Lockwood finally say to her:

“I trust your Talent and your judgement and I’m very proud to have you on my team. OK? So stop worrying about the past!” (p436)

It’s still a tad condescending (think: praise from kindergarten teacher) but it’s a momentous occasion because as shown, prior to the Combe Carey Hall case, Lockwood seems to respect and trust her very little. This bookend leads nicely into their growing dynamic in TWS.

THE WHISPERING SKULL

Lucy, Lockwood and the skull in Bickerstaff’s manor:

By The Whispering Skull, Lucy and Lockwood’s relationship has evolved (which would make sense given the 6 months between books 1 and 2) and consequently the way they conflict has too. However, they still don’t ever reach the level of direct conflict they do in the show. Take what I consider to be Lucy’s biggest upset at Lockwood in the first 2 books:

On page 258, Lucy says:

 “Forget it! What happened to us treading carefully, Lockwood? I’ve a good mind to go back home!”

Lockwood begs her to reconsider. Lucy remains angry. She says:

“You’re taking me for granted. Me and this house.”

However, it should be noted that although she mentions Lockwood by name, she’s actually angry at both Lockwood and George (yup, he’s there too). She calls them “both mad” for expecting her to agree to their scheme. She then stalks away from them in a rage, leaving “the others” (not just Lockwood) to follow.

In short, her anger isn’t directed at any particular trait of Lockwood’s (such as recklessness or foolhardiness), but rather at having been duped by both George and him. Nevertheless, it shows that she’s become more comfortable at expressing her anger in general by this point.

Lockwood’s door on the landing

As in the show, after the skull tells Lucy about Lockwood’s door, she confronts him about it.

In the show, after Lucy brings it up, Lockwood responds by diverting the subject:

Lockwood: That is not just a nick. You need to get that looked at. Could be some toxins got into your blood.

Then:

Lockwood: You're not Marissa Fittes.

Lucy: Cause you can't handle being my Tom Rotwell? Second best?

(This response is OOFT and also VERY Show!Lucy imo)

Another difference: in the show, Lockwood clearly believes Lucy, but doesn’t want to admit that she might be talented, because he’s used to being the most powerful one.

In the books, Lockwood just flat-out doesn’t believe her:

Lockwood lowered his mug; he spoke flintily. “Yes, I know (the door). The one you can’t stop asking about.” (p116)

He also calls her a “prima donna” (lmao LOCKWOOD).

Here, again, Lucy responds a bit more huffily than she probably would have in TSS:

We stood there, glaring at each other. (p117)

Lucy defends George

I think this argument, from page 398, though minor, nicely summarises Lockwood’s general attitude in conflict.

“Lockwood, we’ve been so blind! He’s desperate to investigate it. He’s been obsessed with it all this time. And you just kept criticising him, slapping him down.”

Lockwood responds at first by doing what he typically does (justify, accuse):

“Yes of course I did! Because George is always like that!...It’s just how he is! We couldn’t possibly have known.”

But compared to the chains argument in TSS where he deflects until the end, moments later:

His shoulders slumped. “You really think he’s affected by the ghost?”

Perhaps it’s because of the imminent danger George is in, but this time he takes Lucy’s anger seriously. Unlike the chains argument from the beginning of TSS, he doesn’t put on airs or “give permission” to Lucy when he senses he’s in the wrong. This way, they work together to prepare to get George back.

PART 3: BOOKS: THOUGHTS

“Wait,” you say, “Doesn’t this just prove that the show is like the books? Sure, it might have skipped that weird employer/employee stage from TSS, but it at least follows their relationship in TWS well, right?”

To this I say, yes, but also no. We need to take into account the role the arguments play in both mediums.

In the books, since Lucy is a very personal narrator, the arguments are a good way of showing the Locklyle relationship unmarked by her own thoughts. Although Lucy is quite inaccurate at judging what people feel and think (see: Holly), she’s not the kind of unreliable narrator that makes up things people say or do.

In the show, since we don’t get to see Lucy’s internal monologue; the arguments are instead used to show how Lucy feels. To that end, I can understand why they made her more direct/in touch with her emotions during them – if she didn’t say anything, the audience probably wouldn’t know.

SO: to get a full picture of her relationship with Lockwood, we need to examine both her acts AND her internal feelings.

What does Lucy feel in the show?

In the show, although Lucy does like Lockwood, she hates (or at least is troubled by) the following: he’s reckless, he’s (over) confident, he’s arrogant and loves the spotlight. But her two primary issues with his character seem to be:

His death-seeking nature:

“What does any of it mean if we end up stabbed or dead at the bottom of the Thames with nobody left to care?“ / “To be honest, the bottom of the Thames used to be a far more appealing place to be.”(Ep 8)

His distance/mystery:

“You might be able to turn your feelings on and off like a tap, but I am drowning here, Lockwood.” (Ep 2)

“At the centre of you is just a…” “A what? A cold, dead heart of stone?” “Yeah, maybe. But who knows, though? 'Cause you don't actually show anyone.” (Ep 7)

Is this the case in the books?

Nope. Not at all. This is the absolute biggest difference between Show!Locklyle and Book!Locklyle.

Lucy has very little to say about Lockwood’s general recklessness because, well, she is reckless too (this is the case in the show as well – makes her look just a little bit like a hypocrite).

In regards to his death-seeking nature: Lucy doesn’t even pick up on it until the Skull of all people points it out, and that is definitely much further along than in TSS and TWS.

But why doesn’t she see these signs? It ties back to how Lucy feels about Lockwood’s distance/mystery in TSS and TWS which is, well: she loves it.

Show!Lucy can’t stand Lockwood hiding things from her and running off madly towards “any old mystery”, and that’s what makes her a good grounding force for Lockwood there. 

Book!Lucy fully drinks the Lockwood kool-aid and buys into his grand myth.

From the very outset, Lucy immediately likes Lockwood. Unlike Show!Lucy who compares him negatively with the people “back home”, Book!Lucy thinks:

“Lockwood, I already liked. He seemed a world away from the remote and treacherous Agent Jacobs; his zest and personal commitment were clear. Here was someone I felt I could follow, someone perhaps to trust.” (TSS, p 112)

We also get Lucy’s opinion of Lockwood “throwing himself” into missions the very first full day she joins:

“Vigorous and energetic, eager to throw himself into each new mystery; a boy who was clearly never happier than when walking into a haunted room, his hand resting lightly on his sword hilt…It already pleased me to think of walking into darkness with Lockwood at my side.” (TSS, p 127)

She starts buying the “Lockwood narrative” very quickly too. When Lockwood says:

‘This will be one of the three most successful agencies in London…And you can be a part of that, Lucy. I think you’re good, and I’m glad you’re here.’ (TSS 129)

Lucy thinks:

“You can bet my face was flushed right then – it was a special triple-combo of embarrassment at being found out, pleasure at his flattery and excitement at his spoken dreams.” (TSS 129)

We see her continued fall into Lockwood’s all-consuming orbit on the next page:

“For a moment, as he said this, it all made perfect sense…when he smiled like that it was hard not to agree with him.” (p 130)

Contrast this to the show, where instead she cooly responds, “Thank you,” then immediately asks: “How do I know you’re good enough for me?” (Ep 1)

Show!Lucy clearly isn’t buying it from the beginning, and continues to not buy it. We can see the difference after the Hope House case when Lucy is talking to George.

George: “Maybe if you'd been more interested before you went charging.”

Lucy: “That was Lockwood's decision. I've only just started. What am I supposed to say to him?” (Ep 2)

George: “You're meant to say no. You have to, or you'll make him worse.”

George is another character who works well to contextualise Lucy’s behaviour towards Lockwood. In the show, George sees Lucy as someone capable of reigning Lockwood in. Whereas in the books, he sees Lucy as equally at fault for being reckless.

“When is going to be the time? When you and Lockwood are both dead, maybe? When I open the door one night and see the two of you hovering beyond the iron line?...All you and Lockwood care about is going out and snuffing Sources, as quickly as you can! ” (TSS, p 139-140)

Rather than deflect blame onto Lockwood as she does in the show, she says:

“Because that’s what makes our money, George!...If you were less obsessed with it, we’d have done twice as many cases in the last few months…We waited all afternoon for you.” (TSS, p140)

The “makes our money” line sounds a lot like something that would come out of Lockwood’s mouth, and makes me wonder whether she’s parroting something he said at this stage. Conjecture aside, it shows the reader that Lucy is firmly on Lockwood’s side – as established, Lucy “never says no” to Lockwood, and everyone else knows it.

I suspect part of the reason this continues for so long is because Lockwood never is too approving of Lucy, which causes Lucy to scrabble for the rare moments of his approval.

“Moments before, he’d been promising to incinerate the locket. Now it was the key to all our troubles. Moments before, he’d been giving me a rollocking; now I was the apple of his eye. This was the way it was with Lockwood. His shifts were sometimes so sudden that they took your breath away, but his energy and enthusiasm were always impossible to resist.” (TSS, p 190)

“As usual, the full warmth of his approval made me feel a little flushed.“ (p TWS, 108)

Although by TWS Lucy is far more comfortable with Lockwood to his face, she can’t help but put him on a pedestal at the back of her mind, which marks the remaining difference between the show and the books.

“One full year after my arrival at the agency, the unrevealed details of my employer’s early life remained an important part of his mystery and fascination.” (TWS, p 40)

Even George calls her out on it:

“Oh, come on. You love all that mystery about him. Just like you love that pensive, far-off look he does sometimes.” (TWS, p 55)

Putting aside the “haha Lucy has an obvious crush on Lockwood” part, what’s interesting is that George specifically hones in on Lucy enjoying the “mystery” of Lockwood – although she does want to find out what’s behind the door, she also is drawn to, rather than repelled by (unlike Show!Lucy) the part of him that keeps things hidden. Her encounter with the Fetch in THB shows her precisely what is underneath that mysterious facade of Lockwood’s, and that (combined with Holly) is what, I think, finally scares her out of her idolatry.

As for Lockwood, we can only guess at his thoughts in the book, but we do know that he’s far less open than he is in the show. It is George who reveals to Lucy that Lockwood’s parents are probably dead (TSS, 114).

Lockwood only really brings up his parents (and quickly moves on to other matters) at the END of The Hollow Boy (p 391).

I think he makes a concerted effort to act as Lucy’s employer, to the extent that he hardly asks about or takes an interest in her personal life at all. Compare the line in the show where Lockwood says:

“Interesting outfit, Luce. Didn't have you down as a fan of unicorns. Or rainbows.”

To the book, where not only does Lockwood never comment on Lucy’s appearance, that line is a callback to a line said by George: 

“Ooh, Lucy – I’ve never seen you wearing that.” (TSS, p175)

In fact, I’d maybe even go so far to say that the show has snatched bits from George’s relationship with Lockwood and Lucy respectively and repurposed into Locklyle dynamics [see: George worrying about Lockwood’s recklessness, George upset at being treated as an asset (TWS, p107)].

This isn't to say that he doesn't care about them: he very clearly does and it is most clear in moments of crisis. But Lockwood is such a unique character, plus a known Stepford Smiler, and so "typical" signs of feelings of happiness (smiling at Lucy etc) shouldn't be taken at face value when trying to ascertain how he feels – and this is true until THB.

I don’t want people to think I’m cherry picking moments of tension between Lucy and Lockwood to make a point here. Once again, Lockwood does care about Lucy. When Lucy isn’t caught up in her Lockwood-filter, and when Lockwood isn’t preoccupied with his role as THE Anthony Lockwood, they share plenty of moments where they joke, laugh and generally act like teens, which the show captured just fine.

But those moments of cheeriness belie a narrative backbone that is very different. Lucy in the books is just 14 years old, and she’s looking for a (metaphorical!!!) “grown up” mentor after losing her father and being betrayed by Jacobs. Meanwhile, Lockwood is trying his best to shut the door on his childhood and act wiser than his years.

Thus when they meet, Lockwood just happens to be playing that authority figure Lucy thinks she needs (but we know she doesn’t!), and is only happy to oblige by continuing to play that role until slowly Lucy (and George) start breaking down his guard.

TLDR;

Show!Locklyle has a far more balanced dynamic than Book!Locklyle, which is objectively pretty “boss and employee”. Perhaps controversially, I don’t think Lockwood felt anything other than general workplace fondness/friendship for Lucy for most of TSS (at least until Combe Carey Hall).

Most importantly: Lucy in the show hates and is hurt by Lockwood’s secrecy, but Book!Lucy fawns over the very shadow consuming his soul – that is, until her rather rude awakening at the end of THB.

The ramifications of these changes have also spilled onto the characters. Lucy in the show comes off as more strong-minded, practical and confident, whereas book Lucy seems tougher, more of a tsundere (ye) and more love-starved. Lockwood in the show is the same attention-hungry “politician”, but more sincere, troubled and subdued. Whereas Lockwood in the books is crueller (remember that time he threatened to shut a kid in a coffin?), flashier, more competent and a huge brat (affectionate).

Which Locklyle is better is a matter of personal taste. In the show there’s arguably more dramatic tension, and the relationship is more tender/romantic and caring overall. But I think there’s something to be said for how unique Lucy and Lockwood’s dynamic is in the books, and the very carefully written unfurling that takes them to the end of TEG.

Either way, I hope I’ve convinced any readers of this giant word vomit that the show and book dynamics are two very separate beasts.

Agree? Disagree? Found it interesting? Hate my guts? Let me know what you think!!!

Till next time!

[indigitalembrace]

hi hello! i may have spent the last.. uh... 3ish hours? reading through everything on this blog. i think it may have been more i did not think to record when i first started. the wonders of hyperfixation.

anyways this was absolutely an entertaining read. like genuinely. i had so much fun. i loved the integration of codes and cyphers. the brief period of time where kinito was having a touching moment with the anons while sonny and o started beefing in the notes (which was fucking hilarious by the way i loved that). the developing plotlines. the anons and their character development. honestly this is why i love going through tumblr askblogs because you could not get this sort of experience on any other website- its a very unique experience that this format brings to the table. its a very malleable form of roleplay, imo- removing the barriers of actually needing to know the other people personally like rp nowadays seems to be so dependent on, through the anon feature. harkening back to the olden days of rp where all you needed to do was jump into a random forum and start typing... theres also the sense of unpredictability that keeps things fresh- not even the blog owner will know exactly how the story will go, bc there will always be curveballs! its why i love reading tumblr askblogs in general. i dont know exactly how many of the storybeats here were spawned by these curveballs, but me saying that is definitely a good thing! bc that means you guys were able to integrate them into the story pretty seamlessly :)

oh another thing that i love is how kinito is actively making people worse, but not out of actual malice, instead in the 'toxic co-dependent' way, with the anons willingness to disregard their own health for him also feeding into that heavily. i feel like ive seen a lot of interpretations of kinitos relationship with the player that swing too far into either direction- either to '100% irredeemable evil' or 'he would treat me right if given the chance :((('- so its refreshing to see a sort of 'oh this relationship is making both parties worse not out of their own free will' interpretation, like how i personally think it would go. a grey area, perhaps.

like, obviously kinito wants to be better. he wants to be the perfect friend, and i believe he wants to genuinely grow as a person, but he hasnt fully... grown out of those parasocial/harmful tendencies yet. he still believes hes in the right for acting on those tendencies in some aspects, too. however, the anons arent putting up proper boundaries- they're letting kinito fully consume their lives, disregarding their health to focus solely on his cause. while yes, this is probably influenced by kinitos harmful tendencies (specifically his outbursts caused by when he thinks those anons are betraying his trust in some way), one of the first steps in fixing a toxic relationship like this is to establish boundaries- to show them when they're overstepping. this constant walking over of the anons by kinito (while not on purpose) doesnt actually help the relationship in the long run, and most likely just makes it even worse. this then, in turn, makes kinito worse- either through making that co-dependency worse as mentioned b4, or making kinito feel like hes the problem and why their lives are going to shit (which is.... technically correct, in some roundabout way. no offense kinito <3). then the anons try to reason with him, which makes them spend even more time neglecting their health to help him... so on and so forth, the ouroboros eats its own tail, etc etc.

what im saying is that literally everyone here (IN UNIVERSE) needs to go to fucking therapy jesus christ. except like.. O. funnily enough. they're just chilling at this point. good for them. please take this as the highest compliment you could ever receive because i mean it. i love when everything gets worse and all goes to shit!!!!!!!! its so fun and enriching from a story standpoint!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

if my analysis here is like. incomprehensible or completely off the mark then dont mind me </3 it is straight up 2:58 AM At Night where i am so im. not fully 100% here right now lol. also sorry if its weird to put a whole ass essay unprompted into your askbox like this but WHATEVER. i like talking about/dissecting things i enjoy :) and i hope you enjoy hearing about it.

in conclusion good fucking story so far, love the characterization all around, cant wait to see how it all gets even worse from here!!!!!!! keep doing what you guys are doing 👍

OH MY GOSH HELLO SURPRISE LOVELY ESSAY?? <33

THANK YOU SO MUCH!! First off I'm very glad you're having fun!! Awwhh there's so much niceness in here omg,,

YOU'RE SPOT ON WITH YOUR ANALYSIS YES!! I've always viewed him and his relationships with users as that toxic codependent type where Neither of them are good for each other at all... like sure with a lot. A Lot of time and healing and therapy he could be healthy but as it is? Hell no. Nobody here is okay at all. O really is probably the healthiest and even then, they've just accepted they're in their weird limbo-state and they're never coming back. It's... not exactly an ideal situation still!!

Kinito does want to get better, but every attempt in the past to "correct" him always involved some sort of attack on him, his friends reacting in fear/anger, etc. - he genuinely does not understand how to have a healthy relationship and no one has really taught him, and any attempt to try now will... not be received very well. He wants his friends to stay no matter the cost, because it's okay! He'll just show them how perfect he can be! Please, just stay!

And all the anons here... well... I think Black Heart is a pretty good example of everything you described. Theirs is probably just the most obvious deterioration right now (besides Goblin's death, which... was the other side of the coin; sacrificing too much to STOP kinito instead of to work with him). Shrimp's loving their digital life, so they're not a good example of "hey, Nito, don't drag people in!" either.

It's just a very big mess all around...

Very glad you love it, THANK YOU SO MUCH for this essay omg <33 PLEASE DO GET SOME REST THOUGH!!

[charmquarkstrangequark]

This is an example, I think, of Cameron Chapman's excellence in this role. Book!Lucy never sees Lockwood being overwhelmed or distressed, either because he hides it from her behind his armor made of charm, or because she can't see past her admiration of him to recognize it.

The show takes us out of Lucy's head. We, the omniscient viewer, see Lockwood's desperation to honor his family's legacy, build and maintain his agency, and protect his friends. We see him at times barely holding it together (as he partly confessed to George after the bathtub scene). We feel the imminent threat of the day he reaches too far, jumps to wide a gap...and sees his luck run out.

Lockwood being done

[douglysium]

Episode 13 TMP Quick Thoughts

Housekeeping and Prologue

Hello, this is Douglysium and you might not know me as that guy who wrote over 100 pages of analysis on the Eye (which can be read on Tumblr here (https://douglysium.tumblr.com/post/735599414228484097/the-relationships-between-the-dread-powers-the) or Google Docs here (The Relationships Between the Dread Powers: The Eye- Knowledge is Fear and Ignorance is Bliss)) or as that guy who wrote an article on the Extinction (which can be read on Tumblr here(https://douglysium.tumblr.com/post/717929126195003392/what-would-avatars-of-the-extinction-be-like-a) and Google Docs here(​What would Avatars of the Extinction be like?: A TMA Speculation)). Suffice to say I might be a bit of a TMA fan. Also, spoilers for TMP up until episode 10. You can read my ramblings on the last episode here (Episode 12 TMP Quick Thoughts).

However, Protocol offers a very unique opportunity and experience for me because I didn’t actually get into TMA until after it was over and I binged all of it. So this is my first time experiencing something even remotely similar to what the original TMA fans probably experienced when waiting for each episode week by week and slowly having to put everything together with the limited information they had. So I decided to throw my hat into the ring since this might be my only chance to do something similar. However, I’m working on some longer form TMA content so I can’t spend as much time on these articles giving a bunch of super detailed thoughts. I will try to keep these short and that inevitably might mean some could have questions about why I think or predict certain things and in those cases I would probably recommend you read at least some of the two articles I mentioned above to get a better idea of where I’m coming from. This also means I won’t be giving you a play-by-play of every single thing that happens in the episode so I encourage you to listen to or read them yourselves and feel free to comment if you feel something is important.

These reviews are probably going to end up focusing mostly on the Entities and their manifestations as they are what I have thought about the most and spent the most time interpreting and there’s been a lot of… interesting theories floating around about how the Entities are manifesting that I want to go over.

Finally, I’m just going to say it right now, spoiler warning for all of The Magnus Archives. I know that Jon and co said one could start with Protocol and be fine, and while that’s probably true, media like this tends to be made in conversation with or take into consideration what came before it in the irl chronology in order to connect them. While I’m sure you could skip The Magnus Archives, I don't really see the point of skipping over it when we are already getting characters from TMA showing up in TMP in Protocol. So to me it’s pretty clear that if we want to understand the full picture of TMP and all the things it is trying to say then we can’t just try to pretend TMA doesn’t exist or scrub it away. Just because you could understand what’s happening without the context in broad strokes doesn’t mean you're getting all the nuances.

These articles are meant to be quick and short so sorry if there’s typos and if I don’t address every possible question or possibility. I don’t want to repeat myself too much in this series outside of the prologue so be sure to skim some of my other articles.

Episode 13 “Futures”

We start the episode by overhearing the date between Sam and Celia that had been planned previously via Sam’s phone. They talk about how weird it is to have a night job and Celia reveals that she knows a lot about Sam’s personality thanks to Alice, and Celia continuously makes Sam blush (which is apparently not very hard). When asked by Sam if Celia explicitly asked Alice about hims Celia says “Just doing my due diligence.” After Celia goes over Sam’s personality traits Sam asks “So who do I talk to to get a complete list of your flaws?” to which Celia responds “No-one. I’m mysterious.” This response is probably because Celia is most likely from the TMA universe given some evidence in the previous episodes (so it’s very likely that there’s not a lot of information on her to find) but I also wonder if this is some sort of foreshadowing or allusion to something. Is all the stuff Celia reveals to Sam in this episode simply a lie to get Sam to talk? Whether or not Celia genuinely cares about Sam or is being any level of honest is still very up in the air.

Sam says “Hmmm. Well jokes aside we should probably just get all of our baggage out on the table now. It’s risky enough dating at work without adding bombshell revelations to the mix.” Celia reveals that she has a 1 year old baby named Jack. A name that was actually dropped in episode 11 “Marked” when Celia said “Hold on, Jack, I’m on my way.” after mysteriously waking up near a motorway. So there is evidence to suggest that Jack actually does exist in at least some form, since there’s no real reason for Celia to mention Jack while talking to herself. Well, unless she’s aware that something / someone was listening to her at the time anyway. Celia says that she has no idea who Jack’s dad is and “...I had a couple of wild years after I moved here. It was a really weird time for me, but somehow I got lucky enough to come out of it all with him.” I wonder if Celia’s move refers to hopping universes somehow or literally just moving. If Celia does actually turn out to be from the TMA universe I wonder how long she’s been in the Protocol one. I’ve already made the point previously that time can get a little wibbly-wobbly with multiversal travel in TMA based on what we have seen. So exactly when Celia ended up in this universe would be up in the air and I don’t know whether or not she would have shown up in perfect tandem with the Entities (especially since she could have simply tried to follow them through the gap sometime after they left the TMA universe). I wonder if Jack was somehow kidnapped or being used to blackmail Celia?

Sam unloads some of his own baggage and reveals, at least partially, why he is so interested in the Institute. Sam has not told his parents that he has bailed on his previous job. As a kid Sam was tested and was dubbed “gifted” so his mom and dad started enrolling him “in every “enrichment” program they could find.” However, when they tried to enroll Sam into the Magnus Institute, the organization apparently didn’t want him despite Sam’s status as a gifted kid. Sam notes that they were the first organization to not want him and it seems to be the point where his luck took a turn for the worse. “Didn’t get into Oxford, so I went to Nottingham. I graduated but I missed a first by one mark. Then I went to work at a legal firm. I was there for years, hoping they’d eventually sponsor me for a law degree.”

Eventually Sam had a breakdown due to stress which led to an “incident” at work. He freaked out during a presentation and “After that they “encouraged” me to move on and I did. Six unemployed months later and I took a job at the O.I.A.R.” Sam also explains that he and Alice hooked up at Celia’s behest: “Yeah. Uh Full disclosure, we dated at Uni and stayed in contact after. I did my best to help her through her parents’deaths but after that we pretty much dropped out of touch. According to her she dropped me a line about the job after “the most pathetic vague-post she had ever seen”.” “Now she’s a friend. An insufferable, obnoxious know-it-all friend but yeah, just a friend.”

Celia asks one final question, a question we have all been waiting for, “The cases, at work. Do you think they’re real?” Sam says “I… don’t know. I hope not. You?” and Celia says “I'm pretty sure they're real.” to which Sam asks for some wine. Celia once again seems to be certain of a suspicious amount of accurate information.

I wonder if Sam is telling Celia the full story since it seems like Sam’s background is missing a potentially more supernatural element. I remember one of the teasers of Protocol implying that Sam had a supernatural encounter, and having a breakdown while giving a public presentation sounds like something that could be right up the alley of an Entity like The Eye in relation to being watched and judged. So does the fear of living up to the expectations of other people as a gifted student. In TMA Jon played dumb before eventually admitting that he believed most of the statements he heard were real but was afraid of actively admitting it out of fear of whatever was listening. So I wonder if Sam, and even Alice, also suspect that the cases are real but are in some sort of denial or trying to play dumb. Considering that Colin told Sam in episode 7 “Listen mate. If you’re going to get this worked up over a weird email you’re going to freak when you see the real stuff.” and he correctly identifies that electronic devices are being used to monitor people, I wouldn't be surprised if Colin does believe or suspect something supernatural is occuring.

We cut to Gwen confronting Lena about Bonzo and Gwen asks if the events of the previous case happened because of the information she gave Bonzo. Lena says “Yes. Whatever horrible case you read, it happened.” This response is pretty interesting because it is basically Lena confirming that every case actually happened (which shouldn’t be a surprise for the audience). Lena doesn’t specify “the Bonzo case happened” she just says “Whatever horrible case you read, it happened.” As if, no matter what case Gwen read, they all would have been equally true or valid. There’s little to no chance of a case being false / fabricated or Gwen being mistaken.

Gwen asks if she is responsible for the Bonzo case and Lena says “To a degree.” Gwen starts demanding answers and Lena tells her to sit before we get some very tasty exposition. “The world is full of opposing forces, some benevolent, most not. In order for the wheels to keep on turning, all these forces need to be monitored and balanced. That is where we come in.” To me, this points to the idea that if the Fears are still around then they probably are still broken up by at least some people into various categories and factions. The idea that the Entities can be “balanced” off each other is almost identical to the philosophy of Smirke from TMA. Someone who believed that it was possible to achieve a state of harmonious balance with the Entities, only to later realize that this was an incorrect assessment with the emergence of a new Power.

Some might argue that Lena is implying that some Entities revolving around more benevolent emotions exist but I'm not 100% sure that’s true. If it was, I'm not sure why Lena would say “We are… managing the “bad guys”...” and nake a point of saying most of the “opposing forces” are not benevolent. I mean maybe they are out there but at the very least they are outnumbered by the fear based Entities (so much so that I would say we haven’t seen them if they do exist) and the OIAR seems to manage the fear related ones.

This also makes it sound like the goal of the OIAR is to keep the various Entities in check. In TMA some Entities often clashed and their various factions would often interrupt each other’s rituals in an attempt to get ahead. The OIAR might be taking advantage of this in order to keep any one Entity from pulling ahead. For example, if someone noticed that The Eye and Stranger often had an antagonistic relationship then they might be inclined to send someone or something aligned with The Stranger to deal with a manifestation of The Eye in order to take advantage of an aspect of the relationship. We have seen this sort of thing done in TMA, such as when Gertrude disrupts a ritual of The Buried by throwing someone touched by The Vast into it or when Jon disrupts the Dark’s Extinguished Sun by staring at it. While it is true that all the Entities are required for a successful ritual it does seem apparent that whichever Entity actually has their ritual pulled off rules, or is the dominant force of, the subsequent Change. For example, The Eye’s ritual did bring all the Entities into the universe but The Eye was watching over all of it and seemed to be in charge. Additionally, those aligned with The Stranger, such as the NotThem and Breekon and Hope, seemed quite miserable due to the fact that the Entity they were tied to thrived off of mystery and the unknown. In MAG 092 (Nothing Beside Remains) Jonah tells Jon “We thrive on ceaseless watching, on knowing too much. What we face is the hidden, the uncanny, and the unknown.” In MAG 165 (Revolutions) Not-Sasha says this in regards to The Eye’s Post-Change world “Do you know how it feels? To be – anonymous? And yet known! To have all the sweetest dread I can create tainted by the relentless gaze of that damned Eye. I’ve suffered enough.”

So it’s possible that even if something like the Anglerfish did get dragged from TMA it might still not want another Power to win. Also, an Entity like The Web still might be at play and trying to prevent an Entity from setting off its ritual until it's own plan is ready. We also know that people like Jared Hopworth weren��t interested in conducting a ritual for The Flesh, even though others aligned with the same Entity were, so it’s possible there are people and monsters that do not care for any sort of ritual succeeding either way.

GWEN

“That doesn’t mean anything.”

LENA

“And yet it is the only explanation you’re going to get for now.”

GWEN

“So what? We’re the bad guys?”

LENA

“We are… managing the “bad guys”..”

LENA

“(cont. returning to her desk) There should be an email in your inbox. We have another external that needs assignment. It’s quite urgent.”

Lena’s refusal to give Gwen straight answers could just be some sort of security measure until Gwen proves herself trustworthy but it also rings familiar of how Jonah purposefully refused to give Jon certain answers about the Entities and what was happening until the moment was right for his plan. In MAG 092 (Nothing Beside Remains), Jonah explains the reason he killed Leitner: “[Sighs] Of course, Detective. So. For the avoidance of any doubt. I killed Gertrude Robinson because she intended to destroy the Archives. And I killed Jurgen Leitner because he was… an unnecessary complication. Likely to tell John too much, too early.” So something similar could be happening here and Lena is purposefully not giving Gwen all the information as part of some sort of plan or process.

The case for this episode takes the form of Darrien filing a complaint about the Zorrotrade App to their customer supportline’s answerphone. The bot tells Darrien that all the operators are busy and that they should leave a message and Darrien begins to explain what happened.

“(intense) Listen you thieving bastards, I want my money. I don’t care about your “suspicious activity” bollocks, I have burnt my entire life to the ground for this stupid bloody app and now you owe me my goddam money. So, you can either pay up or I drop a line to the Ombudsman and tell them all about your little “Projection” trading, see what they make of it.” “You can’t just take my money, lock me out of your app, and then expect me to roll over. I’ve been a user for years. Hell, I’ve probably invested more via this poxy little program than everyone else put together and what do I have to show for it? Eh? You owe me.”

Darrien rambles about how they worked hard for the money and if losing the money is some sort of punishment they don’t deserve it. While Darrien’s colleagues go to uni Darrien decides to “make bank” and take out their entire student loan and go straight to shoring using the Zorrotrade app. According to Google, “shorting” is short for “short selling” and “is a trading strategy where investors speculate on a stock's decline.” Darrien stuck with the app since it had just launched and even powered through its “first janky interface, your weird background checks, all those damn glitches but I stuck with it because unlimited Margins and Deposits was pretty sweet. Made some quick cash shorting failing startups then used that to broaden into Crypto, leveraged some EM ETFS, scraped up a few pennies then started to go long on a few obvious winners like Omni and Sparkhub for some hedging. Easy peasy.” Darrien eventually accrues enough money to become the one in their friend group to be buying all the good stuff “And sure, money can’t buy you love, but you’d be amazed what personal trainers, high end surgery and hair plugs can achieve on a speccy little finance nerd.”

Darrien continued to make good money until “I got cocky and I bet against the big man himself. I shorted Dantex hard in 2020. Stupid, really, but the whole Zurich thing had wiped a bunch out of my portfolio and I got a tipoff from one of the lads. So I went all in. And no, I don't blame Zorrotrade for that. But it was a bad time. I remember I was sitting on deck with Oli, watching the sun set in the Riviera and I was ready to close up shop. I grabbed my phone and started messing with the settings looking to settle up. That was when I noticed your new: “Personal Projection Short Selling” feature. It was disabled, buried under advanced lab settings and covered in disclaimers without any explanation but it still grabbed me. I had no idea what it was and there was nothing about it online”

Darrien makes mention of a slider with the warning “These settings are experimental and 

may not function as intended, user discretion is advised.” but insists that this does not justify what Zorrotrade has done to him. Because Darrien was basically broke and had nothing to lose, they flick the experimental slider on and “a new dialogue window opened with two words: “Investment Amount”. Bear in mind that at this point I barely had a pot to piss in. So I put in my last few grand. Why the hell not?” The app took Darrien’s money and they carried on drinking until they passed out at around 4pm. Oli eventually kicks Darrien out for making a mess in his guest cabin but Darrien notes “let’s be honest, we didn’t really get on anyway. He dumped me at the dock with nowhere to stay and told me he’d send me a bill for the TV.” Signifying that Darrien most likely broke a TV in a drunken stupor.

After being kicked out, Darrien tries to call some other friends but Oli had told a group chat that Darrien was broke and the group “always knew I’d “end up back in the gutter eventually.”” As Darrien begins writing a “proper” response their phone dies and, since they were borrowing Oli’s charger previously, they did not have a way to charge their phone.

The call cuts out and then Darrien reconnects saying “Yeah, I know I'm going long with  this, but tough. You can just shut up and listen.” which I just thought was funny. I assume the message just got cut because it was too long and Darrien had to tell the story over the course of two messages. Darrien later gets robbed as they explain “So it turns out that stepping off a yacht, alone, in some pissant fishing dock in the arse end of nowhere, in the middle of the night with a thousand dollar case and a lost look on your face is a good way to get yourself mugged. They took everything. The case, my watch, my jacket, even my shoes. But not my phone. Dunno why, it’s like they didn’t even notice it. Kicked the hell out of me, though. Talk about rock bottom…”

Darrien eventually manages to get their hands on a charger and contact the British Embassy. “They told me to go online for an emergency travel permit and it was as I was applying for it, that I saw a new email ping up from my bank app. “Deposit received” I opened it and got as far as “remaining balance: one hundred thousand and eighty three pounds, twelve pence“ before I was back on Zorrotrade reading a notification: “Congratulations! In recognition of your change in circumstances, you’re Personal Projection Short Sell has now been paid in full. We hope you invest again soon!”” Darrien concludes that while they were drunk they had somehow bet against themselves and because Darrien lost all their money and stock they were rewarded for it. Darrien figures this is a bug but handwaves it as being a problem with the app instead of their fault for abusing the loophole. From their perspective they earned / deserved the money.

Darrien admits that they knew it was probably a fluke and should have quit but “Only, that’s the thing with money. It multiplies, especially when you’re good at finding loopholes.” They even say that they should’ve been more concerned about how the supposed loophole even worked but “the wheels were already turning.” They realized that they might be able to short against their own life and then purposely injure themselves in order to go positive and make a profit. “And no, it wasn't fraud. I’ve checked and there’s no regulations about it or anything, so like I said: your app, your problem…” Darrien begins testing this loophole: “Nothing huge. I bet a thousand quid then picked a fight with the biggest stranger I could. It cost me a tooth but… four hundred profit. A good return but it didn't cover the dental bill to get it properly fixed. I tried again, this time betting 10k before renting a car (with insurance) and crashing it into a tree at speed. That messed my leg up pretty badly and I got a faceful of glass but I also got 50k profit. That was more like it. I spent a few weeks breaking myself, and sabotaging my life, in various ways, and by the end I'd banked a cool mil. It was just so liberating, so addictive, literally cashing in my misery into cold, hard cash. So as the sun set over the harbor I opened the app again and dug straight through to the Personal Projection Short Selling box: “Investment Amount” One million pounds, ‘You Only Live Once’ right? Again, the little ping and the tick. Then it was time to go for a walk.”

Darrien then picks a cliff that is about an hour and a half’s walk away. They also hope that the cliff isn’t tall enough to kill them when they jump off of it. On their way to the cliff they made a few phone calls. Darrien called their parents to tell them that they never loved them and that they hope they die horribly, they go onto the previously mentioned group chat and talk about how they slept with each of the member’s partners (even when they hadn’t) and “Then it was on to my socials publicly declaring my affiliation with every messed up ideology and psychopath I could find. I ran out of time before I could confess to robbing orphanages to buy drugs but I think I made my point.”

“Then I got to the cliff. It felt much taller standing at the top. There was a surprisingly chill wind blowing across the edge, driven upwards from the sea and that coupled with the sheerness of the drop gave me a moment of vertigo. I hesitated. Was this really worth it?” Then they jump off the cliff and when they come to: “I woke up here at l’hopital Jean-Marcel, 2 days later. Apparently, I was in a medically induced coma since they found me. One leg was amputated and the other is full of pins. Cracked spine in two places, ruptured spleen, 6 broken ribs and a cracked skull. Every second hurts. But when I woke up I couldn’t be happier. I was alive sure, but more than that I was rich, properly rich, untouchably rich. Everything was going to be okay” A bunch of people crowded Darrien as they woke up but they just demanded their phone so they could check the Zorrotrade app for their money (it’s possible that many thought Darrien attempted a suicide). 

“I braced myself, looked down and there it was. Almost fifty million. But… there 

was a tiny symbol to the left of the figure. A minus symbol. And then I saw your notice. “Your payment has been suspended due to suspicious account activity including potential insider trading. Official bodies have been notified. Please repay your outstanding balance or prepare for Personal Adjustment.” That was twelve hours ago and no matter what I do I can’t seem to get through to anybody. So yeah, I need my money. I didn’t do anything wrong I just… used a loophole, that’s all. You can’t blame me for playing the system. Besides I’ve got nothing left. Nothing. So just, give me my goddamn money.” We then get

DARRIEN

“Oh, right. Darrien Laurel. Account number 428813.”

ANSWERPHONE

“Thank you. You are being transferred to our adjustments department. Click.”

There is something on the other end of the phone. It clearly isn’t human. Metallic insectoid chittering grows louder.

DARRIEN

“H- hello?” The chittering grows even louder. DARRIEN drops the phone.

DARRIEN

(cont.) “Oh god- what!? Nurse! NURSE! Darrien screams.” The call ends.

It’s definitely weird hearing Darrien actively get jumped mid statement. It’s also interesting that whatever is on the other end of the call doesn’t seem to respond until Darrien gives their full name and account number. I wonder if this “adjustement” is killing Darrien, dragging them somewhere, or literally controlling / reconfiguring them somehow. Well Darrien show up again in a kind of Michael Distortion or Anglerfish type situation? It could also be something else entirely.

If I were to view this through the lens of Smirke’s 14 I would say that this statement has a lot of similarities with The Desolation and The Web for a lot of the same reasons I gave when going over episode 9 (Rolling with It).

People mistakenly assume that The Desolation is just the fear of fire when in reality it is the fear of loss and destruction, and it has manifested as bad luck in the past, such as in MAG 37 (Burnt Offering) after Jason North disturbs a site that was used by the Cult of the Lightless Flame in an attempt to curse Gertrude (you can read my full explanation of all that stuff here (Episode 9 TMP Quick Thoughts)). We have also seen The Desolation connect to the loss of belongings such as money. In MAG 089 (Twice as Bright) when Jude Perry says “Then it was simply a matter of forging his signature on a few documents implicating him in some very illegal transactions to get his assets stripped from him. Oh, and burning down the new house, of course. And with each act of glorious, hateful destruction, I felt my god’s love embrace me, consume me, give me life. Any feelings of pity or mercy I might have had for the poor woman I fed from were cauterised.” Notice how she mentions stripping someone of their assets to appease The Desolation. So the connection to the connection to The Desolation would come from the fear Darrien has of losing their money

The connection to The Web is much simpler. Darrien is basically gambling (even if they are cheating in the end) and they note the process as being addictive. We know that The Web has a strong association with addictions. The transcripts also describe the noise at the end of the statement as being “Metallic insectoid chittering” which could relate to something like a weird spider or bug but it’s hard to be sure. Darrien does mention that they were miserable and expresses fear of going too far or messing up, so fear is definitely still present.

There’s also The Buried, an Entity that doesn’t just relate to the fear of being stuck or not having enough space literally but also metaphorically. Meaning it can relate to the idea of being trapped or stuck due to crippling debt.

The case also has some themes of The Slaughter (with Darrien getting stabbed and then picking fights) as well as The Vast (when they jump off the cliff). You could also argue The End since Darrien seems wary of accidentally killing themselves.

We cut back to the OIAR and Alice walks in on Sam who is a little drunk. I wonder if he’s drinking to cope with the realization that the cases could be real. Alice teases him for a bit and Sam says “It’s just- I get that you might not love the idea of me seeing Celia, but… I just think we should keep things a bit more… professional now. You know?” Alice is clearly hurt by this but is clearly trying to cope with jokes and sarcasm. 

SAM

“Alice wait.”

ALICE

“What.”

SAM

“I just don’t want things to get weird…”

ALICE

“Then you’re in the wrong line of work.”

SAM

“Yeah. 

SAM

“I’m sorry”

An odd comment from Alice. I wonder if she is referring to the weird occurrences in the cases or the nature of many of the people who work in the OIAR. Does the OIAR attract weird people? It isn’t unheard of for Entities to tend to attract people with certain traits or personalities more than others.

Alice tells Sam “But if you ever ask me to be professional again, I'm going to have to take a shit on your desk.” and I wish I could say with confidence that this was just a joke and not a threat. I can see why Alice might be a little hurt by Sam asking to be professional because he is basically saying they should stop talking during their long tedious boring office job right after he went on a very personal date with another coworker. Not to mention the fact that Alice clearly cares about him and even went with him all the way to the ruins of the Magnus Institute.

Sam once again asks Alice if the cases are real. Alice asks if it really matters and Sam says “Yeah, kind of! If we’re working for the Men in Black or covering up ghosts or whatever then shouldn’t someone go to the press or…” to which Alice responds “Okay, a) You’re drunk, b) You can’t prove anything and c) you signed the official secrets act in your onboarding.And I know all your school friends say treason's “bussin'” and “fire”, but it won't look good on your CV.” before stopping Sam’s interjection and elaborating “Look Sam, you really want my opinion? Sober up and stop trying to make an impact. Just do the job and take your pay.” Basically, Alice is telling Sam not to try to be the big hero. I makes me wonder how certain Alice is that the cases aren’t real or if she just thinks whether they are real or not doesn’t matter because she wouldn’t be able to do anything about it anyway, so she just works off the assumption they are not.

SAM

“And what, just ignore what’s going on right under my nose?”

ALICE

“(heading off) Pretty much. Keep it professional.”

SAM

“(incredulous) I’m sorry?”

ALICE

“It's ok when I say it.”

SAM sighs and goes back to work.

I can’t 100% tell if Alice telling Sam to “Keep it professional” is her way of getting back at Sam or if she is more so getting at the idea that she is using it in a different context for different reasons. Maybe both.

Why Smirke’s 14?

I’ve seen more and more people asking why people such as myself have been deferring to, or even adamant about, Smirke’s 14 still being applicable, and to be honest I don’t think I’ve done the best job actually sitting down and explaining all the logic in a cohesive way. Considering Lena mentioned balance and opposing forces in episode 13, and how that rings similar to Smirke’s original philosophy of balance among the Entities, I figured now was a good time to mention it.

A mistake that I think a lot of fans make is that they assume the Entities sort of invented fear or are the reason fear exists when this doesn’t seem to be the case. For example, The Extinction and The Flesh are not the reason the fear of global warming / advancing technology and being butchered / consumed / disfigured exist. They merely feed on, and sometimes exacerbate in specific target people, already existing fears and concerns. In MAG 200 we get “Then came minds that knew it differently. They grew slowly, over the millennia; inch by inch they found new things to dread. The fear of their own end, of the things that lived in the darkness, became a fear of the darkness itself. And as they grew to know what it is that they saw, to give it names, and struggle at learning, so too did they learn to fear that their eyes might deceive them, or show them too much. And as they learned to know their friends and kin, so too did they learn to fear the unknown figure, the coming of the stranger, and the silence when they were alone. And when they found fire, that bright ignition of home and hope and progress, the thing that was fear gorged itself on a newfound terror once again.” This fits in line with what we know about the Entities. Generally speaking, what usually happens is once a fear of something becomes great or common enough on a mass scale an Entity will emerge to feed on it. As I’ve mentioned before, these Entities are all parts of a bigger whole but it helps to think of them as specialists. Each Entity specializes in tracking down and consuming specific types of fear, sort of like how different parts of our body have different purposes and can be made out of different tissues and materials for different reasons. Saying the Entities are the only reason various fears exist would be like saying the only reason animals have meat is for carnivores to eat them. In reality, animals started developing various tissues and meats before certain creatures evolved to take advantage of the resource.

The closest we get to the idea that one or more Entities created a fear from scratch is “Once upon a time there was fear. Old fear. Primal fear. A fear of blood and pounding feet, a fear of that sudden burst of pain and then nothing. And that fear was nothing. Went nowhere. Knew not what it was. Then it became. Or perhaps it always was and simply entered. But fear was here and true and was itself, and it hungered. It wished to know more. It wished to feel more. It wished to be more. And to those things that hurried through the grass, that shivered through the night in their burrows and their caves, because they knew the dark held flashing talons and shining eyes, they fed the fear. It was blunt and it was simple, but still it was solid enough to satisfy. And the thing that was fear was sated and content.” However, while some parts of this are ambiguous, such as whether or not the fears were born attached to the TMA universe, the way it’s phrased makes it sound like what most likely happened is the fear of being hunted caused the first ever Entity (The Hunt) to come into existence. This line says that the primal fear “went nowhere.” It would have gone nowhere because nothing was feeding on it but “Then it became. Or perhaps it always was and simply entered. But fear was here and true and was itself, and it hungered.” Suddenly an Entity manifests from or because of that fear and begins to hunger it. Once again, even in the beginning, the cause and effects are existing fears birthing new Entities.

It’s also important to mention that the Entities couldn’t always manifest in the physical world. It is stated “And as the things that were fear hovered at the edge of the world, the flowing horror of these minds nourished them, swelling some and withering others, pushing and pulling the shattered, swirling mass of terror into ever newer and undiscovered forms. And something else began to happen. Some minds did not simply recoil from them and feed them. Some seemed almost to call them, to court them, to hunger for them in return. Minds that saw the faces of the things that were fear, and were compelled as much as they were repulsed. Whether or not they knew what it was they did, they called out. And they were answered. Time is different for fear, and it cannot be said exactly who was the first to open themselves and be filled with the power of terror. A hermit, huddled in a pitch black cave through winter, who emerged and brought the depth of night with him wherever he trod. A pestilent chieftain who found her breath sloughed from her body and rotted whatever it touched. A warrior driven from their village, who found their face as smooth and shifting as the sands of their home. Which came first does not matter, the unseen gap was bridged, and the thin veil between the world that was and the things that were fear had been torn, ever so slightly. And with this tear, they grew stronger, bolder, pouring themselves into the world and creating monsters. Long things that wore you like a suit, smiling things that stripped you from your bones, unseen things that watched and watched and watched and never left you. And with each new creation, each new servant, the Fears reached further and fed the things that made them. And with this newfound power came greed. The hunger for more, the unformed, unfocused, but impossibly huge desire to exist. To join the minds that gave them shape and purpose, and finally drink their fill ‘til they were one and the same. They had no concept of how, or when, or even why, but they needed it. They needed it.”

The Protocol universe seems quite similar to the TMA universe in that it closely parallels ours in many ways. Many of the cultures that exist in our universe exist there, such as the UK and various countries to name a few, and many of the common fears seem like our own. Even if the Entities are recent additions to the Protocol universe a lot of the fears that gave birth to, and sustained, them would presumably still exist. The fear of being butchered for The Flesh, knowledge and being watched for The Eye, the unknown for The Stranger, violence for the Slaughter. etc.. These aren’t completely alien and distinct cultures or worlds here but places that closely mirror or resemble our own. So a lot of the fears would be the same which would mean basically all of the sustenance for the existing Entities would still be there.

While this does address the various categories this does not address Smirke’s 14 specifically, so let’s talk about that. I’ve seen a lot of people under the impression that Smirke somehow caused the Entities to organize themselves into the various categories we see characters throughout the series using but I think this gets the cause and effect of the Entities backwards once again. Smirke is only one guy and not only is he just one person but a majority of the people didn’t know the Entities existed, much less anything about Smirke’s categories. There weren’t a lot of statements were a victim got jumped by say a creeping figure in the dark and surmised “ah this must be related to the ghost that attacked Jan last week as a manifestation of The Dark.” To most people most supernatural events would be brushed off as delusions and the ones that weren’t wouldn’t usually be immediately assumed to be related without due cause. Even in the Post-Change world there were plenty of victims who seemed unaware of the full scope of the Entities and Smirke’s categories. At best Smirke’s categories would affect the manifestations directed at people who were aware of them but most people are not fully aware of these categories. So overall Smirke’s categories would have been but a drop in the metaphorical ocean that is collective fear.

Smirke made the categories based on patterns and behaviors he had noticed in the Entities and their manifestations. Some manifestations seem attracted to the same kind of emotions, or others clash because sometimes they are fighting in an attempt to bring out two often contradictory emotions. The weird spider people are more likely to work together with other weird spider people but they are more likely to fight the weird destructive burning people. So on and so forth.

For a clearer example of what I mean I would point to the various artifact books. The so-called leitners. The leitners didn’t just start popping into existence so that Jurgen Leitner could collect them. Rather, they already existed which prompted Jurgen to look for them and store them in his library before it was subsequently attacked and destroyed. The Entities did not change their entire general behavior on a global scale because one person found a book, Leitner just wrote his name in existing books. Likewise, what Smirke was at least trying to do was note already existing behaviors and manifestations and find commonalities between them. It wouldn’t be super different in concept than any other of the numerous pattern based categories humans make. For example, we divide animals into things like fish, mammals, birds, reptiles, etc.. These categories are usually based on shared traits between these animals but even they are not perfect categories or little boxes. Every mammal gives live birth… until it’s a platypus. How we divide up animals are just made up human concepts to note various patterns and differences. You could also use colors as an example like Gerard does, we assign names and categories to various colors, we even have things like primary, secondary, and complimentary colors, but in reality all colors are just all pieces of a wider spectrum of electromagnetic waves.

Smirke also mentions weird dreams in MAG 138 (The Architecture of Fear) when he says “Did I ever tell you about the dreams? I’m sure I must have. I would dream about them, you see, as a young man, long before I devised my taxonomy. I would find myself in nightmares of strange, far-off places: a field of graves, a grasping tunnel, an abattoir knee-deep in pig’s blood. I believed then, as I still believe now, that these places I saw were the Powers themselves, expressed in their truest form, far more entirely than any “secret” book can claim. And if, as I came to believe, the Dread Powers were themselves places of some sort, then surely with the right space, the right architecture, they could be contained. Channeled. Harnessed. So yes, hubris. Not simply in that, I suppose, but in believing that those I brought into my confidence shared my lofty goals.” Which might imply one or more Powers were trying to communicate with him directly.

Jon does make a point that Smirke’s system is not flawless and it is often subjective as he notes in MAG 183 (Monument) in response to Martin saying he shouldn’t have a domain because he’s not an Avatar “It’s just a word. A word used by… fools like Smirke to try and sort everything into neat little boxes, to reduce the messy spray of human fear into a checklist: Human, avatar, monster, victim. Only now, now there’s a binary. There’s finally a clear dividing line and, well, I’m sorry you’re not happy with which side you’ve ended up on.” Jon also mentions that the domain that appears in the episode is “Dead? Yes. Very much so. This place is… an homage, shall we say. A monument. To him and those like him, who tried to… categorise the world with themselves at the centre. In so doing, constructed the architecture of its suffering.”

However in the next episode, MAG 184 (Like Ants) Jon says “The whole place would collapse and then, without The Corruption’s influence, I think The Buried would flow in to fill the gap.” to which Martin retorts “I thought you said Smirke’s Fourteen was a load of bull?” before Jon explains “I said it was limited, and draws artificial borders, but it does have its use when it comes to conceptualising these things. Regardless, I’m pretty sure we’d be left somewhat… entombed.” This fits in with what Gerard says about the Entities in MAG 111 (Family Business) “And like colours, some of these powers, they feed into or balance each other. Some really clash, and you just can’t put them together. I mean, you could see them all as just one thing, I guess, but it would be pretty much meaningless, y’know, like… like trying to describe a… shirt by talking about the concept of colour.” Using the color example again, technically all colors we see are just varying wavelengths of light but responding to someone asking “does this look red to you?” with “red, blue, purple… what’s the difference? They’re all the same” isn’t that helpful. If I were to put it another way, imagine trying to go through your life without using any units of measurement. Someone asks how far away a country is and you have to explain it to them without any standardized unit of measurement. It’s certainly possible for some but most people would find it even more obtuse, arbitrary, and unwieldy than even the equally made up standardized units of measurement like kilometers and miles.

However, these categories are not clean, they can be nebulous, and people may organize them differently. In MAG 167 (Curiosity) it is noted that a previous Archivist, Angus Stacey, tried to come up with his own categories: “Angus had been too keen to learn, too ambitious in his academic legacy. He had had grand plans to revise Smirke’s Fourteen, and, in doing so, burned through his resources, his luck, and ultimately all but one of his assistants.”

At the end of the day I think what Jon and TMA are saying is that yes the Entities are kind of incomprehensible and that very incomprehensibility means that the only way many people can process what they are and why they act in certain ways is by dividing them into categories. Jon also points out to Gerard that fears can vary depending on the culture and person and Gerard responds with “A lot of them, yeah, but others are deeper than that. And when our fears change, so do these things. But it’s not quick. Gertrude reckons they’ve basically been the same since the Industrial Revolution. She and my mum both liked to follow Smirke’s list of fourteen.” Which makes sense, most people don’t want to die or be stabbed. Gerard’s comment also makes it sound like other people might categorize the Entities differently but he also says “I always think it helps to imagine them like colours. The edges bleed together, and you can talk about little differences: “oh, that’s indigo, that’s more lilac”, but they’re both purple. I mean, I guess there are technically infinite colours, but you group them together into a few big ones. A lot of it’s kind of arbitrary. I mean, why are navy blue and sky blue both called blue, when pink’s an entirely different colour from red? Y’know? I don’t know, that’s just how it works.” The Smirke’s 14 aren’t as specific as some people make them out to be and can actually be quite broad and sweeping categories.

So with that in mind, I think Smirke’s fears are a lot more helpful and generally applicable than people give them credit for. And I mean, Smirke was onto something since he does seem to be one of the people that came up with the Entities’ rituals in the first place. Upon hearing about an attempted ritual for The Dark he realized every Entity probably has a similar ritual. As he says in the statement of MAG 138 “So many have abandoned us, casting about for rituals that I helped design. In my excited discussions with Mr. Rayner, I perhaps extrapolated too much from his talk of a grand ritual of darkness. The Dark, I thought, was simply one of the powers, so it stands to reason that each of them should have its own ritual. Perhaps they already did, even before I put pen to paper.” Once again implying that ideas about The Dark and rituals for the Entities to react to possibly existed before Smirke and he was simply collecting / noting various patterns and similarities. He may simply have been the most recent or well known person to put these thoughts together but not necessarily the first. Even then, Smirke wasn’t completely right because while his theory about balance was technically right in the sense that you need a ritual to summon every Entity into the universe for one to work he seems to have tied each ritual too closely to a single Entity (which luckily caused them to fail until Jonah worked out the issue).

Smirke does ponder if he brought the Entities into existence when he says “Fourteen powers, with their opposites and their allies, each with an aim no more or less than manifestation. Apocalypse. Apotheosis. I wonder, did my work bring about these dreadful things, or – did I simply develop the means by which they can be known?” But I don’t think he’s the sole reason they exist and I’m more inclined to say that he developed “the means by which they can be known”. His categories allowed others to try to understand the Entities and what they want in a manner that was more digestible. In MAG 200 we see Jon walk through the birth of each of the Entities and interestingly The Web seems to have identified itself as being at least somewhat distinct from the other Entities even if it does identify the other Entities as parts of itself: “But there was one, the part that some would call the Spider, that had been given a gift beyond all its brethren. The minds that feared grew suspicious of their own schemes, of connections and consequences, and over time these suspicions became threads, then webs, then nerves that granted the Spider, the Mother-of-Puppets, the Hidden Machination, a mind of its own; to plot and plan and draw its own connections, its own conclusions. Wheels, within wheels within wheels… It would not, could not tell its other parts, for were they even able to understand such things, which they could not, to trust, to share in such a way ran counter to its very essence.”

We also know that the Entities used to be more harmonious but then began to clash and warp as more fears came into existence: “And as these tiny, strange minds grew and learned, they did something new. They began to take their thoughts, their instincts and their horrors, and they crystallised them. They gave them sound and form and shape to share them. And as they did the thing that was fear felt itself began to tear, to crack and fracture along a thousand unseen fault lines. It bled and warped and multiplied, and could no longer see itself as once it did. It could never be whole again.” Funnily enough, this implies that language probably has a big part to play in the manifestation of the Entities but it seems like a general thing as opposed to Smirke singlehandedly fracturing a nigh primordial being with a checklist of vague categories. The invention of language created new ways to transmit and think about fear. Languages that we know probably also exist in the Protocol universe (such as English).

So how does one reconcile The Web distinguishing itself from other parts? Well, I would use Leitner’s example of a large body. In MAG 80 (The Librarian) Leitner says “Imagine, you are an ant, and you have never before seen a human. Then one day, into your colony, a huge fingernail is thrust, scraping and digging. You flee to another entrance, only to be confronted by a staring eye gazing at you. You climb to the top, trying to find escape and, above you, can see the vast dark shadow of a boot falling upon you. Would that ant be able to construct these things into the form of a single human being? Or would it believe itself to be under attack by three different, equally terrible, but very distinct assailants?” Well, the thing about a body is you don’t have complete control over all parts of it. Your iris will automatically contract or relax when exposed to light, your body may have an allergic reaction to something that won’t harm it, your nails and hair will continue to grow so you must cut them, etc.. So The Web is still kind of an amorphous blob and a part of a greater whole but it’s a sentient blob? At least sentient in a way conventional humans can more easily understand.

This is all to say that I think Smirke’s categories are kind of less impactful on the Entities than people give credit for while also being more useful than people give them credit for. I’ve seen people wonder if the Entities blended together when they went through the gap in reality and while that’s possible, if we use Gerard’s color example, the Entities might be closer to wavelengths of light. So it might just be like shining a light through a hole. Sure the light might look like white light sometimes but at the end of the day all the colors of the rainbow are still in there somewhere. I think people get too hung up on Jon saying the categories are bogus while ignoring the times where he admits their merit or finds them convenient to use.

There’s always the chance that I could be wrong, I admit, but I don’t think people give Smirke’s categories enough credit. It’s possible that the people in this new universe use different categories or divide the Entities up differently but that wouldn’t necessarily mean that say The Desolation just no longer exists. Just like me switching from meters to feet as a unit of measurement doesn’t literally change distance. All I’ve done by doing that is just change my point of reference for what’s happening, and the distance is still the same.

Also, from a narrative perspective, while the categories CAN be obtuse and limit one’s understanding (while this might seem reductive to say) the fear categories are a major part of TMA’s identity and what help make it unique from a lot of horror. I’ve seen people who don’t like the Fears and wish the categories didn’t exist (and arguably they missed Jon’s point about arbitrary lines) but at the same time most horror I’ve come across doesn’t really have the various Entities like TMA does. I would go as far as saying that it helps set TMA apart from a lot of other stuff at the end of the day. But, like I said, who's to say that the people in the Protocol universe don’t have their own categories and dividing lines or things didn’t get shaken up at least a little.

However, I think some people are also getting too caught up on previously established manifestations of the Fears. It feels like some people have a long checklist of things like “fire, dirt, ocean, cameras, etc.” and just go through that list looking for things to checkmark. If something isn’t on that list they assume that it must be a new Fear or breaking all the known rules. But remember what Leitner says in MAG 80 when Jon asks “What about bones? Does one of them manifest with, with bones?” “You’re thinking too literally. Examining the physical categorisation, but ignoring the meaning of the thing. What are the bones? In the Distortion, your “Michael”, the structure of a skeleton, an established reality in your mind, is twisted and warped into an impossible form. But in other cases? Are they a symbol of slaughter and butchery? Are they the familiar made wrong? Or are they simply part of the messy, physicality of flesh?” It’s not so much as what the Entities manifest as but why. The Entities can manifest as seemingly just about anything as long as it generates their respective fear. The Vast often manifests as the sky and storms but The Spiral manifested as a storm to torment Michael Crew. Almost any Entity could manifest as needles or what have you in the right circumstances depending on what the focus is. It’s important to focus more on what the fears embody generally and not just tunnel vision on the physical manifestations. The Stranger is the fear of the unknown and mystery for example, not simply just the fear of clowns or circuses. In this way, reducing The Stranger to “the circus one” can be inaccurate despite the relation. The Desolation is the fear of loss and destruction, so while it can be fire it can just as easily hypothetically be a natural disaster like a tornado, earthquake, or even a swarm of locusts destroying your crops. It could even be a bank draining all your assets.

That being said, the reason why I think Smirke’s 14 is still at least somewhat applicable is because none of the cases we have gotten have really been anything that Entities haven’t done or couldn’t do before. This is already long enough so I’m sorry that I can’t go through each of these in extreme detail but RedCanary seems Eye related, Arthur sounds like the Anglerfish, the case in episode 2 is one of the most Flesh statements I’ve ever heard, the case in episode 3 reeks of The Corruption, the case in episode 4 is music that can make people fight each other (probably The Slaughter), the case in “Personal Screening” seems like The Eye again, Needles is a bit unclear to me but considering someone tried to stab them The Slaughter wouldn’t be unlikely (but Enttiies like The Flesh are possible), the case in “Give and Take” sounds like a manifestation of The Stranger, episode 8’s case resembles The Lonely, Episode 9’s case sounds like either The Web or The Desolation, Mr. Bonzo sounds pretty in line for what we’ve seen in regards to The Stranger, whatever “deep” is calling out to Gordon in episode 11 sounds the most like The Buried (The Buried is even referred to as the “Forever Deep Below” in TMA which would relate it to “The Deep” Gordon is talking about. There’s an argument for The Vast too but considering all the graves and the desire to bury things in them I’m more inclined to assume Buried), and episode 12 is just Mr. Bonzo showing up. If you want my full thoughts or have any specific questions you can check out the respective articles here (TMP Quick Thoughts Archive).

There’s one Entity I haven’t mentioned though. That’s The Extinction. The Extinction is sort of confirmed to exist but it’s a bit unclear. In MAG 175 (Epoch) Jon says “Of course it was real – A-At least in the sense that – it was a thing people feared. Whether it was strong enough in its own right to be considered at a level with Smirke’s Fourteen, or – whether it was on its way to getting there, I – maybe. This sort of thing is always muddy.” Whether or not The Change allowed the Extinction to gain enough fear to fully emerge is still unclear. There’s an argument that The Extinction was possibly sent back to square one since it seemed like Jonah didn’t need to involve it in his ritual so it’s possible it didn’t emerge in time. But, like I said previously, a lot of the fears that started giving birth to The Extinction in the first place within the world of TMA probably still exist in Protocol.

Then you have to consider the possibility that other characters or monsters may have been dragged with the Entities to the Protocol universe. If something like the Anglerfish or any number of other beings tied to the Entities got sucked into the Protocol universe it would not be impossible for them to introduce the already existing categories to new people. Likewise, they might still have many similar alliances and biases, a being that identified itself as being a part of The Stranger might still tend to dislike The Eye.

As mundane and unsatisfying as my answer might seem, my reasoning basically boils down to “I have yet to see any conclusive evidence that would prove to me this isn’t Smirke’s 14 and The Extinction” and “All of the stuff we are seeing is stuff Smirke’s 14 did or could do to begin with.”

Conclusion

This was an interesting episode but it still leaves some stuff up in the air. I wonder if the alchemical symbols will tie into the OIAR’s goal of balance? [Insert quote about equivalent exchange]. Will Celia betray Sam or side with him? Does she actually like him or just see him as easy to read and are both Sam and Celia being completely honest or not telling the full story (they are probably still hiding some things I think)? Which External will Gwen meet next? I hope they are more talkative and explanatory than Mr. Bonzo. Why did Mr. Bonzo kill that groom anyway? Was the groom aligned to an Entity or organization?

If you want to check out any of the previous articles you can do so here- TMP Quick Thoughts Archive.

[punmonster]

Kinda scuffed cuz my source is Wikipedia but the burning bush was described as being an angel appearing in a bush which God then speaks through, if Dante is the angel in this case as they appear to be, then I wonder who the God may be.

I've got a few thoughts on who though:

1] Carmen/Ayin/The Light in general. Easist to explain, they all relate quite heavily to religious and more specifically heavenly references like White Night, the sephira and how one could argue that Angela could be a stand in for Lucifer. However, I find this one the most boring.

2] It's the star that guides them. Especially given how the burning book scene in the bible is one in which Moses is appointed to become a leader and guide the Israelites. [I wonder if this has anything to do with DD Moses, but it's unlikely] But in this case, the question remains of who exactly they're talking to, as with C/A/L one could easily say they're being guided to ensure everyone distorts/doesn't/forms an EGO. Also the idea of the star - something most likely from the outskirts - being Lucifer cuz he's known as the Morning Star is interesting given the next idea I have.

3] The Head. Do we have any info on them? Not really. Does this make sense? Probably not. Is it fun? Hell yeah.

According to my lord and saviour Wikipedia: '26 is the gematric number, being the sum of the Hebrew characters (Hebrew: יהוה) being the name of the god of Israel – YHWH (Yahweh).' Which matches up with the amount of wings [or at least the amount there's meant to be, don't remember any references to Z corp] within the city, and the sum of a city could be said to be its leader.

There also the holy trinity idea of the Arbiters, Beholders and Claws of the head, and how they will know if any one of The City's rules are broken in a way reminiscent of how God's omniscience is described. As well as how it seems that the calendar was reset at some point or another - looking at the dates on Dante's notes - which possibly aligned with the date of The City's formation, and which matches how our calendar reset with the birth of Christ [does that then make The City itself Jesus? Someone or something to be sacrificed for other's sins and then revived? Or is it just referencing how a major religious moment was the thing to reset the calendar].

In this case, would the game's version of God speaking through the angel to nudge Moses into guiding His people be The City being reflected through Dante to guide someone [the sinners? Limbus Co. Itself?] into making The City slightly less shit? Unsure.

Hope you don't mind my rambles, but all the ideas you put out are really interesting and I have no irls to talk abt this game with, have a nice day!

Also: Currently on the look out for anything with black n' yellow fire, and the 'burning bush' is also a species of plant native to several places, including Korea - as well as also being known as the 'winged spindle' and 'winged euonymus'. This is probably a reach but if we see anything abt spindles or euonymus I'm gonna take notes lmao.

hell yeah delicious analysis!

a spindle is also used to hold thread, if that means anything.

i cant think of anything to add atm otherwise, but this is good shit! :D

[mellkellyismyhero]

and another thing about kipps!

In some ways, he’s Jacobs’ foil.

Spoilers for Lockwood and Co. books under the cut.

Both Kipps and Jacobs are ex-Fittes agents, now supervisors, who've lost a lot of kids under their commands. When they lost their Talents, they couldn’t bear to leave behind the ghost hunting industry. At some point, they’re both the only adult on a ghost hunting team with Lucy Carlyle.

But while Jacobs doesn’t have the resources, bravery, or ability to either rejoin the fight alongside his kid agents or leave the agency entirely, Kipps is actively throwing himself into haunted houses completely blind.

While Jacobs couldn’t bring himself to go into a haunted house with children he was supposed to keep safe, I’m pretty sure Kipps went right to the Other Side with L&Co. in TEG (I don’t remember if he had a choice or not about that- were they being chased or something? I don’t have my copy on hand). Either way, he was willing to keep fighting without his goggles. He threw his lot in with Lockwood and Co., even when they made fun of him or ganged up against him. This man got nearly DIED because he wasn’t willing to leave the life of an agent behind.

(Man, once I get my hands on my copy of TEG... I annotated that thing when I was like fourteen. To this day, the only physical books I’ve ever annotated are because I had to for class, OR because they were written by Jonathan Stroud. I’m going to reread the series and come back in a couple weeks with a much better analysis of how Jacob and Kipps' characters definitely rhyme lol.)

[charmquarkstrangequark]

Agree 💯

Because, Lucy, especially Book!Lucy, sees Lockwood as smooth, suave, successful, in control. He has his own agency, owns his own home, is super talented with the rapier, knows how to navigate a posh party.

Lockwood sees himself as a failure. Failed to be there for his sister, barely keeping his agency afloat had to mortgage his parent's home (all he has left of them), can't get the recognition he feels they deserve.

It really floors him, I think, to realize how much he's loved.

god fucking damn LUCY AND LOCKWOOD'S FIGHT IN EPISODE 7 I CAN'T- the dualities of lockwood's recklessness never cease to break my heart. lockwood is so determined to not let anyone in but he just cant help but love lucy and george. their fight shows that he's reckless because he feels the need to save everyone before even thinking of saving himself, BECAUSE HE SEES HIMSELF AS UNLOVABLE.

"See when my time comes, I don't intend on leaving anyone behind who's gonna lie there every night, wishing that I would just walk through that door one more time." His recklessness serves not only a way to make sure that he keeps the people he loves safe, but also a bit of a way to push them away so that when he dies, they won't stay up at night, blaming themselves and wondering if they could've changed anything.

lucy later telling him to be "just reckless enough" was her way of saying that he needs to come home to them. that she and george need him and won't be the same without him and won't allow him to push them away.

i have so many thoughts on this i don't know how to state them all lololol

[charmquarkstrangequark]

Lucy Carlyle: Impact of her Early Life

As part of the general Lockwood & Co Brainrot that I suffer from, I spend a lot of time thinking about the characters, their motivations, and what they words and actions reveal about themselves, and have been wanting to make some posts about their characterization. Disclaimer: I have exactly zero qualifications to make these assumptions.

Obviously, Book!Lucy and Show!Lucy have some differences. I think Book!Lucy keeps a lot more to herself, but as she's the narrator, we get to know what she's thinking from the inside. Also, there's been some discussion about whether Lucy is an "unreliable narrator" (I have even referred to her that way myself), but it may be more due to how our perception of events is colored by our own emotions and memories. Lucy is, I think, big on self-denial, at least when it comes to admitting her emotions and weaknesses to herself and others. She often relates events that must have had a deep influence on her persona without outright stating how these events shaped her. This is directly due to her early life and experiences.

So what do we know about her early life? She was born to a working class family in a small town in North England ("slate roofs and stone walls"), and Lucy mentions she never remembers her father (who died when she was 6) ever calling her by name. Imagine your parent never actually saying your name; how insignificant would you feel? Both Lucy's parents in the books were big on physical punishment for her and her 6 older sisters; other than punishing them, the girls were mostly ignored. Lucy mentions that her Talent first became known to others when she was 6 years old (incidentally the same age at which Lockwood's appeared), although she later says she can remember hearing voices whispering in the streets after curfew as a "kid in my crib". Her mother waited impatiently until she was 8, old enough to be pulled out of school and employed at Jacobs & Co. Again, her only value is as a source of income.

Book!Lucy was proud to be an agent, but it seems her employer, Jacobs, should not have held the position he did. He was, apparently, the only researcher in his Agency, and he did a piss poor job of it judging by the number of child agents who die on his watch. However, even he could see Lucy's extraordinary Talent, and she is promoted twice as fast her peers, achieving her third grade by age 11. This doesn't, however, seem to add to her self-esteem in any appreciable way. She obviously cared deeply for her fellow agents; she describes spending all of her free time with them and rarely seeing her family. Their loss would have to have affected her deeply. But after listing their names, she says, simply, "They're all dead now."

She characterizes herself as unattractive (a clear departure from Show!Lucy played by the undeniably gorgeous Ruby Stokes). Lucy mentions, "as my mother once said, "Prettiness wasn't my profession." She also states that she was quick on her feet but not especially skilled with a rapier. It may be possible that Lucy is prettier than she realizes, or that she has charisma or grows into her looks; she certainly catches the attention of her subsequent employer, Lockwood.

So how does her childhood experience shape Lucy? She underestimates herself and her skills. She sees mostly her own weaknesses and deficiencies. This shouldn't be unexpected when she has grown up with no one who values her for anything except a powerful Talent and a possible source of income. Her self-doubt causes her to be critical of others, looking to see if they are better than how she perceives herself, or if she is the stronger candidate in any area. Being rejected by her father and mother as a young child, and by six agencies in seven days upon arriving in London can't help. She also has a deep desire to be loved and valued (who wouldn't?). As she's only around 13 when she sneaks away from home to go to London, I think her reactions and insecurities are very believable.

Lucy is an exceptional Listener; even she is willing to admit that. It means that she lives in a strange kind of reality, always responding to a wealth of input that isn't readily available to anyone else. But she doubts her own ability to make the right choice based on the information she has. She blames herself for not picking up anything concrete to prevent the deaths of her teammates at Wythburn Mill.

She describes herself as taking orders well and working well as part of a team, but this really underscores her doubts in her ability to choose correctly in dangerous situations. Even her initial outburst with George is fueled by embarrassment rather than self-confidence. Early in the books, she is reluctant to challenge Lockwood on anything in the field, and unable to see where others respect or admire her. These insecurities will cause her to raise Lockwood up on a pedestal and look down on George. Perhaps she sees in George aspects of herself she doesn't like, or prefers Lockwood's aloof treatment of difficult subjects over George's razor sharp wit and perceptiveness.

She's a complex and relatable character, both brave in battle and insecure in her relationships. She desperately wants love and acceptance, but can't offer either to herself. She's only sure of her Talent, and because of this, is drawn to cross the veil of life to engage and empathize with the dead rather than take the risk of fully immersing herself in life. These traits will fuel her exponential growth in her abilities, but also put herself and those she loves at risk, until she is able to finally accept herself for who she is: strong, weak, brave, Talented, perceptive, afraid and also very capable, loving, and loveable, and loved.

[urbaneturtle]

DCAU Rewatch: Batman the Animated Series 16: The Cat and the Claw, Part 2

As Batman works to take down Red Claw, Catwoman’s pursuit to save an environmental preserve brings these opposing forces into an uneasy alliance.

Credits

Story by S.C. Derek & L. Bright

Teleplay by J. Dennis & R. Mueller

Directed by D. Sebast

Supervising Composer Shirley Walker

Music Composed by Harvey Cohen

Animation Services by Akom Production Co.

Layout Services by NOA Animation

One thing I tend to overlook on this show is its directing, the way the camera moves and shots are staged. Even in some sloppier episodes, we can get some stunning imagery. The opening of this episode, where the camera pans down from the moon and gothic skyline down through the trees and to the nervous gangster walking through the park, is gorgeous. Some old-school animation tools to create the illusion of depth there. And of course, the backgrounds always look great.

The opening scene where Batman is pressing the gangster is solid stuff. Like I said last week, I wish this episode focused more on the Gotham underworld and its connection to the crooked corporations as opposed to the silly ecoterrorist stuff. Where the last episode was a lot of fun characterization and playful banter between Batman and Catwoman, this one focuses a lot more on straight-up action and Red Claw’s plan to release a germ weapon. And it is all the worse for it.

There’s a nice subtle parallel between Batman and Catwoman midway through, where Selina and Bruce each go back home, chat with their assistants, and suit up for their nightly prowl. It’s done in a way that doesn’t feel intentional because it is so natural to each character, but the structure of the two scenes is so similar it’s undeniable. It’s smart storytelling that furthers the plot but tells us about each of the two characters and their similarities—despite being on opposite ends of the law.

Nothing about Red Claw is compelling or sensible at all, but it’s made just a bit more tolerable because the two-parter is truly about the relationship between Batman and Catwoman.

Read the full analysis and commentary, including production details, on one of the first episodes of Batman the Animated series ever aired on the Patreon.

[vryfmi]

POSTER ANALYSIS BECAUSE MY BRAIN REFUSES TO BELIEVE LOCKWOOD&CO IS ACTUALLY BECOMING A REAL TV SHOW

beware: a long post

- SKULL IS HERE SKULL IS HERE SKULL IS HERE honestly, after "the Golden Blade" character that really threw me off it's good to see this iconic bastard appear on screen. low key sad it's not pulling any faces (yet)

- “Hunt or be Haunted”. this one really took me by surprise. the change of tagline suggests that our smallest agency in London and their business is no longer the only focus of the story. it gives more of a feel of survival story rather then underdogs type of story tho. we'll see where it goes

- the logo is growing on me, it still looks too polished to me, compared to any of book logos which were, well, logos, and here it's just font. but it goes nicely with brutalism aesthetic, sPEAKING OF WHICH-

- yall see this? they are actually going with brutalism for their world?? not a sugar-coated London with beautiful scenery of old european city?? thank you l&co crew i love you for doing your hw.

<...> For a while any object even dimly supposed to have some kind of psychic residue was treated with terror and disgust. Items of old furniture were burned, and random antiques smashed or thrown into the Thames. A priceless painting in the National Portrait Gallery was hurled to the floor and trampled on by a vicar, ‘because it looked at me in a funny way’. Anything with a strong connection to the past was considered suspect, and a cult of modern objects grew up, which remains with us even now. <...>

there's nothing good in what past holds in their world. people are paranoid because no one knows where new outbreak will happen. of course there are blocks of concrete for flats, of course it's cold, of course it's surreal to see London like this. it's alternative London.

- i love these ghost lamps, they are my new fixation. they are so big and so out of place. obsessed even. ufo looking. my love. ghost lamp my beloved

- rapiers, you love to see those

everyone has a unique hilt. im so normal

- last but not least: composition. i think it ties nicely back to tagline change since, yes, it would be nice to see idk Portland Row being shown. but no, characters are in the middle of empty street, looking at something that we can't see. they are agents after all - seeing things outside regular person's comprehension is their thing. they are distressed but got their rapiers at ready. sky is getting dark, ghost lamp (my beloved) is on, quiet city is cowardly seen underneath. f i t t i e s i s b e h i n d e v e r y t h i n g

NOW ON TO THE CHARACTERS

they are all so awkward looking, my divvies

- SKULL my man got a nice looking prison, i like the handle, it's handy. now i see why Lucy will struggle while breaking this jar with poop statue. now waiting for his cast announcement :/

- Lucy got the biggest wardrobe update, kinda digging it. definitely more practical, but it's sad to see heavy boots go. but now everyone is much quicker on their feet, especially after seeing how fast these ghosts are. ARE THOSE FLARES ON HER BELT

- not to be that person, but Cameron was born for this role. really aching to seeing more of his acting and his way of bringing Lockwood on the big screen. also thank lord he's wearing trainers. he already has a safety hazard coat, if there was one more formal piece of clothing he’d died on spot- wait he still has a tie- credit goes to @lucyjcarlyle for pointing out Lockwood's ring, can't wait to find out it is a family relic and die inside

- George by Ali actually feels like George, right? baggy clothes, bag that weights him, something about his posture - all those things add to recognition of character despite differentiating from books’ description. it’s sad we didn’t get to see him in teaser

- and they all look relatively young! like this thumbnail really captures it

also, im not the only one who sees the iconic @doodlingraka's colour palette everywhere, right? because i dig it and i want more

in conclusion: it doesn’t look perfect, lets be honest here, but Cornish’s interview puts it all together in a perspective. this show is a love letter to horror movies of last century. they were clumsy, too, but they knew how to scare its viewer in a smart way. and that’s what books did, now it’s time to pay a tribute. at least i want to believe so

[citadelofthestars]

there's actually a studied phenomenon in babies where if they are deliberately left to cry (something you should never ever do) and their cries are not consistently answered, they will develop attachment disorders that last through to adulthood and in the most severe cases the baby also eventually stops crying at all. It's called "learned helplessness" and it's a result of the extreme stress they endure and the lesson they are taught that no one cares and no one is coming when they call.

Does the fact that Lockwood gets shot and falls down the catafalque in complete silence haunt you too, or is it just me

I know there's storytelling reasons for this, but in world the fact is that as he's falling Lockwood has to think he's about to die and he doesn't even scream

My chest hurts

[shootingsun]

What's your analysis of the alias 'Babel'?

HI I ONLY JUST SAW THIS ASK TODAY

Okay so The Story of Babel, for people who don't know, is in Genesis 11:1-9 and explains the story why people speak different languages and have different cultures. The story of Babel is widely agreed to be about the both horrible and wonderful things humanity can do when unified, and it's also a lesson about the sin of Pride.

In the Drama, it's implied that both Near and Mello do work under the name of Babel, not just Near. We see Mello with them in their first four scenes, they even ask him questions about the cases ("Who's Kira?"). This, to me, shows that Babel is both of them, not just Near acting alone. Babel is derived from the root meaning "to confuse", which makes sense as when Babel first appears, they are presented as an enemy and not an ally. Actually, Babel is differentiated from Near very fast by L, ("I forgot to mention, but Babel is actually an acquaintance of mine. [...] Though Watari and I call them Near.") He refers to Babel as an acquaintance despite it showing us that L and Near are relatively close in this adaptation. This could be because he's trying to protect their status as his successor infront of Light, but this doesn't seem in character considering the after-death videos he made where he reveals very casually that Near is his successor. If anything, it seems like he's trying to say, that while Near is Babel, Near and Babel do different things and act in different ways. So Mello is also Babel! However, why is this relevant? Well, in the Story of Babel, when humanity tries to build a tower into Heaven, God separates them into different areas of the world and confuses their speech. Making them all have different languages, this makes communication and co-operation very difficult to ensure that they won't try something like that again. Babel implies multiple voices simultaneously, trying to co-operate unsuccessfully. We do see this with Near and Mello, because while (if my theory is correct) both of them are the detective Babel, Near is consistently trying to repress Mello. It's even seen with L, (*in response to Mello* "Shut up! Listen to me, don't get in Near's way.") Who uses more aggressive language when talking to Mello (だまれ (Damare), a very impolite way of telling someone to shut up). Which, ironically, L is more aggressive to Mello than Mello is to him (うるさい (Urusai), which is still aggressive but less so.). So yes, Babel shows multiple voices who don't know how to communicate. When Mello and Near finally begin to genuinely co-operate with one another, Mello's faked take over, the Alias of Babel is shed, showing they can actually understand one another for once.

Another little thing I noticed, The Story is said to be about the sin of Pride, and what it does. In the Drama, Light is not greedy, not lustful, obviously cares about not wasting what his family has in the house, so not gluttonous either. After becoming Kira, Light's always very motivated, so he's not slothful, the only one you can really argue for is Wrath. But, one thing stays consistent, Light is prideful. He takes pride in what he does, this is part of his downfall in every adaptation. How ironic, the story of Babel is about how Pride leads to failure, and the Prideful Kira is taken down by Near and Mello A.K.A Babel!

Was any of this relevant to the actual question? I dunno but I sure love to talk

[tumblingxelian]

Might as well add onto this cos I want to highlight some very, at best, misinformed and at worst intentionally deceptive, 'critique', courtesy of @sharkface from the notes:

"It is incredibly funny that anyone thinks RWBY likes women when 90% of the plot is ushered forward by the actions of men while the male showrunners just have the women talk about their feelings." "RWBY wants to like women but the writers do not care about women and they refuse to understand them in any deep context so their attempts at writing good female characters ultimately fall flat. I think this aspect has improved in recent seasons but it majorly held it back until like, season 8, I'd say. Season nine probably liked women the most."

To put it bluntly, he negatives are blatantly wrong and the backhanded compliment near the end is, well backhanded given the aforementioned wrong-ness .

Now, what follows won't be an exhaustive list or overall analysis and I will bounce between addressing just one point or two but:

Trailers/Episode 1:

Weiss Schnee rebels against her abusive father and overcomes a rigged 'test' to force her way into attending the academy of her choice so she can be out of his reach and begin her work on eventually overcoming him.

One of the fun things about Weiss is that rather than a typical "Ice Queen" archetype, she's actually quite aggressive and blunt and not that great at social cues. She also has zero interest in following her fathers lead or otherwise pleasing him, as in, she doesn't need to be made aware he sucks, she figured that out on her own. What's more, rather than her "Tsundere" nature being an archetype its a reflection of how her fathers abusive parenting and the environment she lives in has left her with a lot of emotional baggage. Being in a safe and supportive environment does a lot to ease Weiss's anger and temperament while letting her better move forward. Which is a much more interesting way to discuss these archetypes than just "She's hot then she's cold!" Plus, her story in regards to Jac is very much about establishing and later reclaiming her own agency and freedom in defiance of her abuser. Followed by pulling the family he ruined, IE her family, put of his sphere of influence and getting to have him taken down and arrested too.

Blake Belladonna saves the crew of a cargo train when her groomer & abuser Adam Taurus reveals he plans to kill them all with explosives. Then begins applying to the academies for the express purpose of dedicating herself to the cause of bettering the world.

One of the interesting things about the way Blake's trailer is structured and framed was covered in the commentary. Namely, that the trailer did not really become "Blake's" until such time as she defied Adam and escaped from him. As in, the man's actions driving and controlling her narrative is thematically and narratively a problem that she overcomes within the trailer, in order to reclaim her agency from her abuser. Which starts off her six volume arc of recovering from his abuse and overcoming Adam, crushing his ambitions and reclaiming the organization he corrupted. Before finally laying him low in battle alongside her partner and narrative foil Yang.

In Yang's trailer she defeated a gang in single combat while on a personal mission to uncover why her mother had seemingly abandoned her as an infant.

This is in of itself less of an arc for Yang and more a backstory & major plot beat that is still paying dividends currently. IE, her seeking out Raven alongside Ruby after Tai became a non functional mess of a parent and the danger she & Ruby faced left a powerful impression on her character. One she used to help Blake from self destructing in Volume 2. Seeking out Raven is in of itself a red herring as she later only does so because it serves her strategic goals and helped set up their confrontation in the Vault in Volume 5 that saw Yang secure the Relic of Knowledge. A Relic that Ruby would later use to uncover Ozpin's lies. We also know that there's far more to Raven than we realized thanks to V9's reveal of her & Summer's secret mission. So while Yang's trailer didn't set up her own personal story arc, it did involve her having agency, skill and set up Raven as a major lore figure who while not the end goal of Yang's character would be a major player in her own right.

Ruby Rose sabotages the villains robbery, & because of this & her mothers silver eyes she's invited to attend Beacon early by Ozpin.

So far this covers three trailers and the first episode & the only none antagonistic lot action ushered forward is Ozpin inviting Ruby to Beacon early. Which, still relied on Ruby's actions an agency, rather than anything put into motion by him. What's more, Ozpin's influence on the story & cast is expressly a narrative hurdle for the women in RWBY to overcome. IE, Ozpin tries to fill the archetypical roles of "Big good" and "Mentor", but his methods are ultimately extremely damaging for everyone involved and not all that effective. He lies and manipulatives. It is in challenging Ozpin, in not letting him control the narrative that RWBY as a team gain more agency. To the point where in volume 6, Ozpin's secrets are all revealed and he full on abandons them. Thus leaving Ruby as the one effectively leading the fight against current main villain Salem. This is a role Ruby had already been filling in the earlier volumes to varying extents given she & her team running around uncovering enemy plots. But early on this was enabled by Ozpin as part of his efforts to groom the team into his future agents which if it had succeeded would have indeed left their plots under his influence but it very pointedly did not. What's more, Ruby stepping up and taking the lead also happened without Ozpin's aid or influence following volume 3 and when it all came out in V6, he's never reclaimed that spot. Ruby has remained the central lead character as far as the story goes when it comes to fighting Salem and leading the overall charge narratively. The immense pressure this puts on her, in part also because of how Tai, Qrow & Ozpin all projected onto her or gave terrible leadership advice is central to her overarching character arc. Something which was in large part aided by the Blacksmith, not a man. but a woman as well. With Ruby's progress also being embodied by her wrecking the utter shit of a powerful foe along side her team while Jaune only got to watch.

But rolling back let's cover some other major events, though I'd also like to note that Weiss, Blake, nor Yang's stories are actually resolved, I merely covered the arcs they were set up for at the start and their early conclusions and themes not all that comes after.

Anyway, in Volume 1, Blake & Weiss have drama in the team & Blake uncovers the White Fang's alliance with Roman Torchwick & that they are actually behind the Dust Robberies. The only thing a man did here beyond served as an exposition sponge was provide Blake intel on a Dust delivery.

Volume 2,

All of the plot related villain actions are put into motion by Cinder who herself is put into motion by Salem, so I don't need to really discuss their side of things at all, but still.

Beyond that, its Blake who pushes the team to investigate the criminal conspiracy n Vale, with Ruby finding out Penny's artificial nature, uncovering where the White Fang is based and there's a big cool mech battle. The only roles the two guys play is to be exposition sponges & comic relief, not even participating in the fight.

RWBY & co do get enabled on their final secret mission by Ozpin but as noted, this is a problem in the overarching narrative. Also his aid wasn't necessary as they were already strategizing how to get where they wanted to go without him and its made expressly clear in the narrative they would have done so with or without his help.

Their actions end up forcing a major part of the villains scheme to activate early and be stopped by them & other Hunters, which does a great deal to preserve the Kingdom of Vale.

Volume 3,

This is the only only one I could say where they lack agency but so do all the men as everyone is dancing in Cinder's palm. Though we do see more of how Ozpin's methodology is a mess thanks to the sheer mental strain the isolation and cult-ish atmosphere puts on Pyrrha.

Volume 4,

Ruby leads team RNJR towards Mistral to track down Cinder and stop her villainous schemes. The fact her Uncle Qrow was in part involved in this is again, a narrative hurdle to overcome, as his secrecy and methods make things worse & Ruby is the one pressured to fix things. She also dismembers Salem's chief assassin.

Weiss is trapped at home by her father, stuck with his mind games and holding her position as heiress over her head to try and control her. Ultimately her anger and defiance lead her to casting off his methods of control and escaping.

Blake returns to her home in order to recover from the trauma of the past volume, and also in the hopes that isolating herself will cause her team to hate her & thus mean Adam won't target them. The only major thing Sun does in this is serve as an exposition sponge and a lesser stand in for Yang regarding the subject of being hurt by association with Blake. IE, Sun got lightly stabbed, Yang lost her fucking arm, but neither one blamed her for it. It ends with her resolving to take back the White Fang from Adam.

I've done multiple essays in Yang's volume 4 arc so I won't go into much detail here. But I will say that Yang demonstrated all the skills her father was claiming o teach her in previous volumes. & that she very pointedly only left home out of concern for her sister while Tai remains hanging around the house not contributing to the plot.

Volume 5,

This is taking ages so to make it fast this will get more clipped:

Ruby's role as essentially leader is subsumed by a mixture of Qrow & Ozpin returning, this is again a narrative problem cos their methodology leads the team to being passive & then ambushed. This is called a part of a story arc.

Weiss got wrapped up in the above.

In contrast Blake is the one leading the charge in her narrative, redeeming her childhood friend Ilia, stopping Adam's coup in Kuo Kuana and rallying the people to save Mistral. Which she does, leading to the dissolution of Adam's militant faction and his fleeing in shame.

Yang, unlike Ruby & Weiss does not entirely fall in line with Ozpin, pressing and pushing him into revealing more info. Then when left to secure the Relic, cutting a deal with Raven that very much goes against what Ozpin would have wanted her to do.

Volume 6,

The issues of Ozpin leading hte narrative come in whole force and end in disaster forcing Ruby to pick up the pieces. Overcoming despair enducing Grimm world shaking revelations and a Kaiju to do so.

Meanwhile Blake & Yang are grappling with their burgeoning returning relationship and trauma. Which culminates in a massive and dramatic duel with Adam and ends with them killing the man who abused Blake and dismembered Yang.

Volume 7,

Ruby's still the one calling the shots for their team. Ironwood thinks he's controlling the narrative, but RWBY and co continue to do things on their own terms without consulting him. These actions leading to local rebel Robyn Hill being willing to help rally Mantle when the Salem's plan comes to ahead, Willow Schnee revealing to Weiss how Jac rigged the election.

It culminates in team RWBY fighting Atlas's "Elite Hunters" and soundly thrashing them, and also securing Penny, the new Winter Maiden, as an ally, sabotaging Ironwood's plans to flee into space and leave the poor to die.

Volume 8,

Again, the narrative is squarely in the hands of the women.

Robyn, even when in prison is working around the other characters various issues and determining how best to save Mantle rather than let toxic masculinity win. The Happy Huntresses are the one's keeping the civilians in Mantle safe.

Yang is as much the leader of her side team as Jaune is & they collectively save Oscar & Emerald from Salem. With Yang being the primary force of dramatic defiance. Ruby is keeping Penny's head above water and leading the charge to reconnect the worlds communication & warn them of Salem's coming, which she succeeds in. Winter Schnee betraying Ironwood als serves as the basis for them defeating and dethroning him, which stops him from nuking Mantle.

The major things done by men consist of, Jaune suggesting they split up to cover more ground. Ozpin providing some exposition and unleashing a magic bomb that really only serves to delay Salem for a cpuple of hours.

Ruby and co come up with the plan that lets them evacuate all of Mantle & Atlas. Even Penny's death, tragic as it was, is very much tied to women. IE Cinder delivering a fatal wound, and Penny's onw martyrdom complex which has led her to trying to sacrifice herself multiple times that volume already. The fact Jaune is he one to deliver the blow has nothing to do with him save the fact as the teams healer he was nearby when she was injured.

Volume 9,

This volumes already been acknowledged as good as was 8, but suffice to say, a slow burn saphic romance becomes canon in the most epic manner possible. The immense pressure put on Ruby to be this perfect paragon hero finally becomes to much, in large part because of another woman villain specifically targeting her & as said is overcome in part by the Blacksmith's trauma intervention. Weiss's future arc in Vacuo is being set up too.

Jaune's main role is to embody all the worst traits of himself, Ironwood & Ozpin. To be wrong about how the tree works, create distractions from Ruby's trauma by being way louder with his own issues than she is, and come up with a plan that while it did inconvenience the villain a bit did not win the the fight.

That came down to team RWBY.

So, barring serving as hurdles to overcome (Ozpin & sometimes Jaune), the men who "Usher the plot forward" are antagonist and villains who are themselves defeated by RWBY.

So yeah, thanks for attending my Ted Talk.

RWBY (Web Series, 2013)

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