#mag 187

[mitwodlemi]

MAG 187

[ashes-in-a-jar]

Honestly good for it

[job-ross-the-second]

HELEN NOOOOO

[a-mag-meme-a-day]

Meme for @a-mag-a-day Day 194

MAG 187 - Checking Out

[that-agender-from-pluto]

This is just their relationship in one screenshot lol

Love that we got an episode all about helen love her rip ill find you in the afterlife

[martinknorrisblackwood]

guys guys

[lickmycoffeecup]

MAG 187 sticks out, cause its the first time we hear Jon having an issue with being touched (I swear it happens again later too).

Was this an issue he always had?

Or was this a product of all his kidnappings?

It just stuck out to me. Not only because he sites the suffering happening within The Distortion as a reason for shattering it, though obviously not the main reason. And the woman that touches him is suffering. So why have an issue with that? Does physical contact make the fear too potent? Is it a product of him being less human, and not wanting a “victim” to touch him?

Jon is just such a curious character. Cause he cares, he does. But he is just really drunk on The Eye, and all that that brings with it.

[bitter-goodbyes]

JONS WITH HELEN???????

[kat-and-their-cats]

Favourite Episode Masterlist

[landscaping-your-mind]

i like my characters unfathomably powerful and uncharacteristically callous about human lives

[a-mag-a-day]

Helen gaslight gatekeep girlbossed too close to the sun

Too accurate

[styxiegoesinsane]

what really happens when you text 61016

[written-among-the-stars]

Status: MAG 187 - Checking Out

I think I haven't commented on season 5 at all until now, but don't worry, I'm progressing

these episodes are heavy. like I always need some time between listening to them just to digest

I loved the Distortion as a concept, it's so interesting, and the way Helen was exposed this episode - I felt called out, being unsure myself whenever she appeared about whether to like her or not, about her intentions.

[oaxleaf]

mag 187 - checking out

instinctually, i want to say that helen is not a person. not just in the sense that she's humanoid but not quite human, but in the sense that she's about as much human as a computer program immitating humanity. an external expression of charm and friendliness and complex thought and motivation, but really just a cog in a larger machine

but here's the issue: she was genuinely scared of him. she must have been. not threatened by or wary of him, but rather feeling true fear, an actual emotion, for it to have been a lie

it's hard to figure out where the intersection between human and illusion starts and ends. if it's even there. i think that even us as a fandom has a hard time reconing with the fact that the things we like most about her were probably just fabrications to make us like her. she was so well written that us, the audience, were able to ignor her horrible actions too (which, tbh, is really rare with female characters. their negative actions tend to turn us far more against them than men's, and the fact that i've yet to come across anyone who deeply dislikes her for what she did is testament to how excellent her charm was written)

helen was also an opportunity for projection. she often acted as a voice for the audience, commenting on the same things we would and thus further endearing her to us, but she also functioned as something for jon to project his view of the original helen on. it's this strange intersection of both disliking her fortaking helen away and not being able to remove the fondness he had for her even if she's now another creature's face. it further allowed her to perform questionable actions without him never letting her back in, even if it was always very grudgingly. she uses his idea of what helen might've been to her advantage, and even though he knew what she was, jon's always struggled to seperate knowledge and understanding and acceptance. which is why i think this statement is really important - it shows helen from an outside perspective. no personal relationship, no complicated projections of wants and needs, but just her as the pure manifestation of horror she truly is

helen was an excellent character, and this episode blew my mind the first time i listened to it. i'm sad to see her go, but it was necessary, and goddamn was she great from start to finish. top five character, easy

[hezekiahwakely]

Started thinking about the Distortion's arc again. Dozens dead hundreds trapped in endless spiralling hallways for the rest of eternity.

[social-mockingbird]

MAG #187: Checking Out

Are you telling me the Hotel California is a domain of the Distortion?