#tma 60
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It now reflected the window behind me, and I could see a face staring in. It was dark outside, and it was almost entirely in shadow, so I couldnāt tell you much about the features, but he was huge, seeming to take up most of the window behind me. The only thing about it that I could see with any real clarity were the eyes ā bright, shining, bulging eyes, with pupils so dark it made me feel sick, drinking everything in, watching with a greedy intensity. I could feel its gaze burning into the back of my neck, feel its unblinking eyes.
This is literally what the statement giver in MAG 60 was describing:
@a-mag-a-day
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šļøObserver Effectšļø
I had to draw the scene from The Magnus Archives Episode 60 Observer Effect
I spent 11 hours on this according to Procreate
#tma#ceaseless watcher#the magnus archives#tma fanart#art#digital art#scopophobia#the eye#MAG 60#observer effect#TMA 60#illustration#fanart#theladart
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Favourite Episode Masterlist
#tma#the magnus archives#tma poll#tma season 2#tma season two#tma 51#tma 52#tma 53#tma 54#tma 55#tma 56#tma 57#tma 58#tma 59#tma 60#podcasts
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Mike Crew, determined to not be another victim became exactly that. He searched for power in many corners of the universe through several sources but was ultimately powerless. Itās not an uncommon theme in the Magnus Archives, but it is a shame we never got to see this character again. At least I think so, cause I never really knew why āThe Coming Stormā or Mike in general felt like afterthoughts in my head for the longest time? Iād latched onto characters that appeared far less. On relisten I realized it was probably because he dies in the same episode heās truly introduced.Ā
Mike wouldāve been an interesting candidate for Jonās position, as his search for power is very similar to Jonās own search for knowledge in Season 3 (definitely an intentional parallel). I wonder if Mike had managed to stay alive until Season 4 could he have successfully pulled off a master ritual? It did seem like he was content to stop once he found the Vast though, he doesnāt talk much about the other powers he never found, at least not directly. There are plenty of moments in his story that could lean into other entities if his own fear pulled them that way. The DARK upside down forest, him being HUNTED by the Lichtenberg figure all his life, even the lightning scar heās most recognized for couldāve easily been a desolation mark if it was the burning and the fire that really got to him, or the loss of his parents in that house because the Desolation is not just fire!! It is losing, the destruction of things you love. Which in its own funny way can tie into the Lonely etc.
The more you think about it the more the lines between these entities are very blurred and which one takes center stage for any given event is entirely subjective to the audience. Sure, monsters and servants can have some sway, but you donāt really see anyone trying to āgetā someone that isnāt already skewed toward that entity in the first place, whether through their own personal fear (like Paul MacKenzie from A Sturdy Lock, or Benjamin Hadid from Tucked In), or just the nature of their life putting them adjacent to it (like Karolina Gorka from Underground, Jordan Kennedy from Pest Control, or Rosa Meyer from Observer Effect). The second one is always more of a challenge so the end result may vary.
#tma#tma meta#tma spoilers#the magnus archives#mike crew#the coming storm#tma 91#the vast#tma 27#tma 86#tma 71#tma 55#tma 60
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you have never met a man so hands before in your life. he knows how to use hair clips. i promise
#rowan screams into the void#the magnus archives#tma cosplay#michael distortion#i love that i can be like 'oh i need 60s and 70s clothes where do i go' and the answer is always My Mother's Attic
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Hey...... Do..you guys listen to the ..magnus archives..... ...................................
#the magnus archives#tma#micheal distortion#jon sims#jonathan sims#gerry keay#gerard keay#listen im only on episode 60 be nice#don draws
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I just discovered the absolute genius and beautiful works of u/Flourine3. They don't have a Rumble so make sure to go support them on Twitter/X, reddit & instagram.
#tma#the magnus archives#flourine3#gerry keay#agnes montague#gertrude robinson#elias bouchard#michael distortion#someday im going to properly sit down and leaen how to digital art in the style#i might be 60 but it's foing to happen#ive been staring at the details and the lighting and everything for 50 years
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MICHEAL DISTORTION IN THE VINTAGE STOREāļøāļøāļø
#vintage#clothes#60s#tma micheal#michael the distortion#micheal distortion#the magnus protocol#magnus archive#the magnus archive#the magnus archives#magnus archives#the magnus institute#magnus pod#so silly#corn field#spiral avatar#special interest
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š
#the magnus archives#digital art#ŃŠŗŃŠ°ŃŃ#ukrart#michael distortion#the magnus archive fanart#tma#doorkeay#gerard keay#michael the distortion#digital illustration#some 60s dress lol#gerry in skirt!!#ŃŠŗŃŃŃŠ¼Š±Š¾ŃŠŗŠ°#Š°ŃŃŠŗŠ¾Š·Š°ŃŃŠ²Š¾
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THEY STAGED AN INTERVENTION FOR JONATHAN LOLLL
#tma podcast#the magnus archives#mag 60#jonathan sims#anyways. I think thatās another of my fav episodes now!!!#the statement was veryyyyy interesting and the supplement was so so so much to me <33333#it was really cool!!!!!!!#anyways#just finished mag 61 lol
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NOTHING like the absolute torture it is to find a cool super amazing thing and not be able to look for fanwork until you're done because spoilers š
im vibrating in my skin like silver jane prentiss worms PLEASE i need grumpy archivist art
#the magnus archives#i've gone through 60 eps in two days#this should not be possible#podcast#actually freaking out#one might call them brainworms#tma podcast#tma
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Iāve now gotten halfway through Season 2 of The Magnus Archives, so as per usual, here is my fifth post detailing my thoughts, analysis and theories on every episode, this time with a focus on Episodes 51-60!
Sorry that this oneās taken longer than usual to write, unfortunately Iāve had a few things clashing with the time I spend to listen to tma and write these recently, but hopefully Iāll be able to get back on track soon enough! Alsoā¦Iām gonna be real with you, these are just getting longer and longer as I descend down the rabbit hole, so I once again urge you to take your time reading this if youāre at all interested.
As always, please donāt spoil any future episodes for me, and if you havenāt gotten this far in tma thenā¦hereās your spoiler warning for everything up until Episode 60! And finally, I recommend you read my previous posts of this nature, as I will be referencing my thoughts and theories from those in here. Thereās a link to the masterpost containing all of them right above the cut!
Anyways, hope you enjoy! :)
- Episode 51, High Pressure š¤æ
Statement of Antonia Hayley, regarding a deep dive that took place near Sable Island, Nova Scotia in August 2006.
On tonightās episode of āØthe connectionsāØ, we bring you back to a jolly old rich dude who throws people into the void! So umā¦yeah, this one definitely brought back some interesting plot points. In all honesty, I have very little to say about my thoughts on the statement outside of some theories, as while the episode was really good, itās also a pretty simple one to understand. So, Iāll just run through a few rapid-fire thoughts on the episode, and then get into a few of the meatier topics. Firstly, itās always nice to have a statement outside of The UK, that definitely does a good job when it comes to the world building, and shows that āØthe horrorsāØ really are all around us, so I like that. This statement also gets bonus points for doing another great job at scaring me. Iām not especially thalassophobic, but the descriptions of the empty water devoid of life, and the way the darker waters creeped up into the surface levelsā¦I donāt know, it just got to me. I also found it interesting how we never learn what company Ms. Haley worked for, and how Captain Kemp seemed to have some greater awareness of what happened here, although I canāt really speculate on what all of this means outside of that I think itās important. Andā¦yeah, those are my thoughts on the standalone elements of this episode! It was really good, donāt get me wrongā¦I just donāt have a whole lot to say about it. But thankfully, this episode does bring up a good few interesting connections, and managed to further develop the story in some really interesting ways, and I have much more to say about that. The first thing I have to talk about is, of course, The Fairchild Family.
Admittedly, if it wasnāt for Episode 46 reminding me of Episode 21, I might have just forgotten about this plot point, so itās honestly very nice to see it getting some further development. Looking back at Episode 21, we see that Simon Fairchild was an old man who went skydiving with Robert Kelly, due to a charity raised for his deceased wife, and he was also accompanied by a relative of his named Harriet Fairchild, who was his instructor. Before he dived, he yelled āenjoy sky blueā at Robert, seemingly explaining why he fell into that endless sky, and later got āeatenā by it. Here, we learn that The Fairchilds are a wealthy family located in Cornwall, who invest in aerospace technology, shipping logistics, and underwater drilling and construction. Itās also implied that Simon Fairchild was a con artist in the 1930s who owned many pieces of jewelry, and that he was thrown out of a fourth floor window, yet no one noticed. The cases that would later contain this jewelry would start to mysteriously crack, as if something had been dropped on them. Jon states that Simon Fairchild was an alias of the con artist, meaning that if the con artist is the same person, the entire Fairchild family might be under a fake surname. And finally, Simon is most likely responsible for what happened in this episode. Andā¦thatās about all we know on The Fairchilds for now, although I must say that I have quite a few things to say about them, particularly Simon. So, I said in my last post that I think thereās a connection between The Fairchilds and Mike Crew, as they both seem to connect to and/or directly serve something known as āVertigoā or (more fittingly in my opinion) āThe Vastā. I still stand by this, and I think Simon, and potentially other Fairchilds, can throw people into wide open voids, taking the form of endless skies and dark waters. However, here lies something interesting. Initially, I thought that The Vast only encompassed the sky, given everything that had been seen up until this point, but now I think it just encompasses all horror relating to wide open spaces that just haveā¦a whole lot of nothing in them. Because here, we see that Simonās abilities manifest in the ocean rather than the sky, and The Fairchilds seem to invest in all sorts ofā¦wide space-like business ventures. I personally think that he shouted something like āEnjoy ocean blueā after Antonia, and thatās what caused her to experience the dark waters. As for where he got these powers, I donāt really know, but because Mikeās weird sky related experiences seem to be responsible forā¦whatever weird shit has happened to him, I have to wonder if Simonās defenestration back in the 30s did something to him as well, maybe whoever pushed him out the window was also kind of a weirdo. But mentioning him being alive in the 30sā¦this guyās age is a little weird. Like, my grandpa was born in the 30s, and while still pretty healthy, is nowhere near as mobile and adventurous as this guy who was at the very least a late teen in the 30s, presuming that the con artist is the same person as this Simon (which does make me wonder what his REAL name could beā¦). All Iām saying is that this guy must have some INSANE stamina going on, especially if he really is coming up on a century here. So yeah, I think the powers Simon had are pretty interesting, and that the information I think it seems to provide on āThe Vastā is also pretty cool. There are a couple of other things about The Fairchilds I find interesting. Firstly, I will say that itās strange this is now the third instance of an extensive family with paranormal ties, alongside The Keays and The Lukases. I donāt know if theyāre directly linked, but it makes me think that if one person in the family has a paranormal experienceā¦itās effects might carry over to the rest. Like, maybe Albrecht von Closenās encounter in The Schwartzwald still haunts The Keays to this day (even though the two we know of are at leastā¦somewhat dead.) I just wonder where exactly the weird stuff with these families starts, and where it ends.
The Fairchilds also have this weird association with riches, which like yeah, it makes sense because theyāre rich, but I find it kind of peculiar as a recurring motif. Like, Simon was skydiving for a charity that directly funded the family, he wanted to uncover the riches of his great-grandfatherās shipwreck, and he was at one point a jewelry con-artist. I donāt know if this actually means anything but I just found it kind of interesting. Finally, I kind of want to talk about the dark water. The way it was described, especially with the āhandā reaching outā¦it really reminded me of Lost Johnsā Cave. Like, a lot. Itās interesting, because I associate that episode with āØthe horrorsāØ that connect to compression and/or darkness, the former of which isā¦pretty much the opposite of The Vast, so these potential similarities are kind of weird to me, but still definitely interesting. Kind of makes me wonder if the events here were likeā¦maybe a collaborative effort between The Fairchilds and The Peopleās Church of The Divine Host, although that might be a bit of a stretch for the time being. So uhā¦yeah! Thereās my thoughts on The Fairchilds I guess! I really hope to learn more about this weird-ass rich family as time goes on, as I think the whole vibe that surrounds them is great, Iām a sucker for when relatively unassuming old people turn out to be pretty cunning and fucked up in reality, so Iād love to see Simon and other Fairchilds pop up again in the future. And while I do wish I had more to say about the core plot of the statement, I must reiterate that I thought it was good. Like I said, it did a good job at scaring me, so Iād consider that a win. But honestly, as fun as all of this isā¦I donāt think it quite competes with the supplemental, because WOW. This one is easily my favorite so far.
Let me start by saying what Iāve been saying the entire season. Jon. You need to get your shit together. Like OH MY GOD. I KNOW that heās technically suspicious ofā¦āSashaā, but even then! Why is it that he stalks Tim outside of his house, sees Martinās crush on him as threatening, and moves Elias to the top of his suspect list simply because he said ādude, stop stalking your coworkersā, but then SASHA, the lady who stares at the table you acknowledge is creepy, goes to a wax museum for prolonged periods of time every day, and who despite the abilities of the impersonator is still CLEARLY acting differently than how she did before the funky worm lady showed up, and she *somehow* lost a few tapes, is apparently still the least suspicious? What the hell are you on? Are you stealing from Eliasā secret drawer of the good shit or something? Honestly it kind of feels like Not!Sasha isnāt even trying to hide her identity, but thatās just because she has no reason to since Jon is just THAT. FREAKING. DENSE. Ffs you are an ARCHIVIST. You work at an INSTITUTE. You are INSUFFERABLE. But like, on that note, can I just compliment Jonny Sims for making a protagonist that is such an insufferable loserā¦and yet I still love him dearly? Like, not just ironically, Iām genuinely invested in him and still really like his character despite how insane and stupid he can be. That takes some serious writing talent. But anywaysā¦back to the supplemental. Firstly, Jon mentions that a few new artifacts have been admitted to the storage room, namely a wardrobe that light can not penetrate, an eye carved out of rock that interferes with video cameras, and a scalpel permanently covered in disease. I get the feeling that all of these are likely to show up in future statements, with the eye being the most curious to me personally. I feel like thereās probably a connection to Gerard Keay there, but the way it makes this video cameras malfunction is very reminiscent of how the computers canāt upload any real statements. But while thatās all pretty interesting, the real highlight to me is the recording of him and Not!Sasha.
Firstly, I just need to give some serious props to Eve Hewitt for her voice acting. You can tell that Not!Sasha has become more accustomed to her new identity over time, but itās still just soā¦perfectly off, and I still love the faint audio distortion in the back of her scenes. Secondlyā¦FUCK YEAH THE FRACTALS! I FEEL SO VALIDATED. For a while now Iāve held the belief that Micheal connects to fractals, which I still think is very likely, but I also found it interesting how the patterns on the table were described in a way very similar to the fractals, so I felt like there might be some connection. ā¦I still donāt quite know what that connection might be but PROGRESS. Now, Not!Sasha suggests itās more like a web that has caught them, but firstly, Not!Sasha is a lying little asshole, and secondly, I think she only says that due to her personal relationship with the table. You see, ever since the end of Season 1, I figured that the table was used to transport the impersonators, but Not!Sashaās dialogue here makes it seem like more of a prison, one that the impersonator does not want to be tethered to. Now, Iāve always assumed that impersonators are a species, and I still do given the existence of the anatomy students (which arenāt exactly the same but theyāre still just too similar to ignore), but now I think that one specific impersonator was tethered to the table, and it must go wherever the table goes. This probably means that Not!Graham and Not!Sasha are actually the exact same being, and āGraham Folgerā is likely to have justā¦vanished. Alternatively there could be still be multiple impersonators here, who get released from the table after they successfully impersonate someone, but no matter what the truth is, I just find it so interesting, as itās really our first true look at Not!Sashaās thoughts that come from the real entity, not the person itās pretending to be. But like, this just makes me think about the table itself even more. Like, whether the pattern is a web or a fractal, I think the fact that itās imprisoning another paranormal being is very interesting. If itās a fractal, then it connects back to Micheal, someone who recognizes Not!Sashaās true identity, and while still undeniably a messed up being given what he did to Helen Richardson, has ultimately been pretty helpful to The Institute, outside of when he stabbed Jon of course. But if itās a web, then a web makes me think of spiders, which not only ties back to the spiders in the box that I strongly believe to be the missing piece of the table (which also had an APPLE inside! Anatomy Class!), but also ties back to the spiders killing worms in the tunnels, showing at least some level of disdain for other aspects of āØthe horrorsāØ. I personally lean towards the pattern being a fractal, but either option is very interesting, and Iām really starting to wonder what this table even is. Lastly, we have the interesting reveal of Not!Sasha spending time atā¦Madame Tussaudās Wax Museumā¦of all places. Okā¦.I mean you do not actually you I guess. Iām sure there will be some genuine relevance to the plot from this information at some point, but for now, I think I can only extrapolate small things from it. Personally, I think that..at least one of the reasons sheās going here is in order to study how to become human, which is once again very reminiscent of Anatomy Class. Which likeā¦I get the motivation, but if you want to learn how to become more human, go take an anthropology class or something. Madame Tussaudās is definitely good in terms of wax museums but likeā¦wax figures are still inherently uncanny and not all that natural soā¦you should really find better ways of educating yourself Not!Sasha. (Honestly though, as much as I drag her for killing my beloved OG Sasha, I have developed quite a fondness for Not!Sasha. Like, sheās still very unnerving, but itās just kind of funny to have her be that new weird coworker in the office. Like, she is living someone elseās best life.) ā¦I got off topic. Anyways, all in all a good episode with a really interesting supplemental.
Supplemental: Michealā¦come backā¦I miss yoooouuuuuuuā¦
- Episode 52, Exceptional Risk š°
Statement of Phillip Brown, regarding a time working at HMP Wakefield between 1990 and 2002.
Yes. YES. YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES FUCK YEEEEEEEEEEEEEESSSSSSSSS. IāM SO GENUINELY HAPPY THAT THIS IS AN EPISODE THAT EXISTS! I havenāt really mentioned this before, since my thoughts on the first 20 episodes were extremely brief (looking back at that post now is an experience btw), but I absolutely ADORE A Fatherās Love. Itās such a tragic and interesting episode that I have not stopped thinking about ever since I first listened to it, not my all time favorite, but it is up there. So the fact it basically got a sequel makes me extremely happy, and while I donāt like this episode quite as much as A Fatherās Love, I still think itās really, REALLT good in its own right. Truth be told, this episode doesnāt reveal a ton of new information in summary, as we already knew that Robert Montauk died in prison, and it was likely due to The Peopleās Church of The Divine Host, but just being able to get a more vivid look at what happened really does add a lot in my opinion. So uhā¦yeah, letās start this off by talking about the episodeās protagonist, Philip Brown. And let me just say, this guy is absolutely the gold medalist for most dickheaded statement giver in the entire series so far. Congratulations, I guess. Once again, I actually like when we get morally questionable statement givers, but maaaaannn. I just wanted to see this man suffer. Not only because I had sympathy for Robert given my prior knowledge of his past, but also because they REALLY portrayed the cruelty of many prison guards extremely well. Honestly kind of a shame that he didnāt suffer more. And you know, while his experience was certainly paranormal, I got the vibe that he was only submitting a statement out of pettiness rather than genuine fear, but thatās just another example of great storytelling. Overall glad his wife left him, but he was certainly an interesting protagonist. Anyways, I also wanted to talk more about Robert because..uuuuuaaaagghhhā¦his story makes me so sad :(. I actually really liked the way they portrayed him here, because itās so real. Philip talks about his hulking size, how he broke the arm of another prisoner and was put in the exceptional risk unit due to his insane danger, as youād expect from a prison guard who only knows him as one of the countryās most notorious and threatening serial killers. But when you look back at A Fatherās Love, and how his daughter Julia talked about himā¦she just described him as her dad, because thatās who she knew him as. She obviously understood that he was a serial killer who did terrible things, but she still focused on the more tragic aspects of his story, and it provides such a nice contrast to that episode and this one, really showing how complicated everyoneās world views are. Itās just another great example of how good the storytelling here really is. But back to Robertā¦wow, it really is just so unfortunate what happened. To have this man do everything to attempt to save the lives of both his daughter and himself (presumably after his wife abandoned him, which admittedly I do wish was touched upon a bit more here), only to find that it was all for naught is just absolutely gut-wrenching. We already knew The Peopleās Church of The Divine Host were involved in his death butā¦just hearing about it from someone who (kind of, because it was dark) witnessed it directly makes it all the more depressing. Really, the only small bit of relief I got here was the part about him and Julia reuniting, but even then that was still really sad given how he felt he had to lie. But now I think I ought to discuss the most interesting elements of this episode. Truth be told, while this episode is very overtly connected to others in obvious ways, it didnāt reveal all that much new stuff. But, that being said, I still think there was a couple of interesting things here, those being Maxwell Raynerās first true appearance, and the return of the darkness.
Truth be told, at this point in time thereās likeā¦no information on Maxwell Rayner. All we know is that he was a defrocked Pentecostal minister, who according to Julia Montauk, might possibly be German. This would line up pretty well, as he is presumably a descendant of the World War 1 solider Joseph Rayner, whose body was found next to Wilfred Owenās in Episode 7. Obviously he was the ādetectiveā on the phone in Episode 9, and he founded The Peopleās Church of The Divine Host. Also, I completely forgot about this, but Rayner apparently disappeared in 1994, and the church disbanded around the same time. This is really strange though, because all of the episodes that definitely focus on the church have taken place after 1994, so I think itās safe to assume that the disbandment was just a cover-up of sorts. Anyways, with all that in mind, what does this episode tell us about him? Well, not much really. All we know now is that he definitely still held resentment for Robert, and that he seemingly orchestrated his death, and reallyā¦everything weird in Episode 9 firsthand. However, I still think his presence here is important, simply due to his one line of dialogue. That being āYou didnāt think you could kill it for long, did you?ā This isā¦honestly pretty interesting. I assume that the āitā Rayner refers to is meant to be the darkness that The Peopleās Church of The Divine Host serves, all because of the context. You see, I initially assumed Robert was sacrificing people to appease the darkness; the more people he killed, the less the darkness would come for him and Julia. But based on this line of dialogue, I now think that he was trying to actively fight back against the darkness. I think this adds up quite nicely, because looking back, at least one of the people Robert Montauk killed was a member of the church, so it doesnāt seem too far fetched to assume that EVERYONE he killed was a part of the church as well. I think he was killing them, not to appease the darkness, but to drive it away. And thatās why Rayner looked at him with such hatred, why the darkness killed him so brutally. Robert Montauk wasnāt just a failure to the church, he was a traitor. Butā¦mentioning his death, I actually want to discuss the darkness itself, as this episode gave a very new and interesting look into how it works. Now, the gross water and malfunctioning lights is all stuff weāve seen before, as is the mention of things that are just kind ofā¦wet and gross, but this episode provides a new aspect of the darkness, that being something reallyā¦animalistic. Like, we have tearing coming from the cell, Robert being dead from an excessive amount of stab wounds of all things, and then most notably, the darkness growling. I donāt know what exactly to make of this yet, but I just find it really interesting. I initially viewed the darkness as some sort of weird, mysterious force, but now Iām starting to see it more like a traditional monster, andā¦I donāt know, itās causing gears to turn in my head. In conclusion, while this statement didnāt offer as much new things as some othersā¦Iām - Iām just way to invested in this family drama to even care, and Iām so happy it wasnāt just a one-off thing. Soā¦yeah. Great episode.
But of course, thereās the supplementalā¦.s to discuss. Yeah, there was kind of two supplementals in this episode, I mean not really, but I donāt know where else to put the interaction with Basira soā¦uhā¦here you go! Now, the actual supplemental doesnāt grant much new information. I think itās safe to assume that Not!Sasha is lying about her boyfriend, but itās at the very least nice to see Jon genuinely justā¦not trusting her right now. (Also the phrase āproduce said boyfriendā now lives rent free in my head.) But thankfully, even though the supplemental is short, we have a mid-statement interaction with Basira! Super happy to see that sheās a recurring character, and that sheās brought a new tape with her! Iām interested by the prospect about a statement on The Library of Alexandria of all things, thatās always been a very interesting historical conundrum to me so Iād love to see how tma tackles it. But as nice of a reveal as that is, it pales, nay, it SQUEALS in comparison to the reveal that TIM. IS CANONICALLY. THE HOT ONE. FUCK. YES. I mean, it was already pretty obvious, the man has managed to seduce at least two cops of different genders, but Iām so happy that we know heās just likeā¦objectively hot. Whatever youāre most attracted to, thatās what Tim looks like. (Unless youāre not attracted to men, or anyone, but you get the point. Also the fact that Basira says he pulls off the worm scars while Jon doesnāt like CāMON YOU DONāT HAVE TO DO HIM LIKE THAT.) I also need to appreciate the fact that the first assistant Jon thinks of is Martin. ā¦Weāve come so far from the days of Episode 1 where he straight up didnāt consider him oneā¦and this is the first tangible sign of Jon maybe reciprocating his feelings so Iām very happy about this. And of course, how can I neglect to mention that Jon and Basira are just going to keep Timās assumptions afloat to avoid suspicion. Like, considering that this is one of the most horrific pieces of media Iāve every engaged with, I must say itās kind of insane how funny it can be at times. (Also, they might have been implying āIām not interestedā in their interaction, but Iām just going to assume that Jon and Basira were saying āIām not straightā because shut up I can dream.) So yeahā¦you guys werenāt entirely kidding when you said The Magnus Archives is a workplace comedy.
Supplemental: Iām thinking about the tunnelsā¦we havenāt heard about them for a while. Also, is Jon just not going to tell anyone about Micheal? Like, I know you value discretion, but that seems kind of important, no? I mean, he did kidnap a woman twice and then stab you soā¦.uhā¦.whatās going on man?
- Episode 53, Crusader š
Sergeant Walter Heller recording, regarding a discovery made near Alexandria during Operation Crusader in November of 1941.
Oh my god oh my god oh my god oh my god. Yes yes yes yes yes yes yes YES! THE BRAINWORMS ARE GOING WILD!!! Look, I already expected this episode to give some very interesting information just because of the fact itās another Gertrude tape, but WOW. This one did a LOT. It seems fairly isolated from others on the surface, but thereās so many little connections to other episodes that make my brain go absolutely wild. Thereāsā¦quite a bit to unpack here, but Iāll do my best to cover everything that shows up in this episode, and also my theories about what it might all mean. So, Iāll start by discussingā¦.letās say, the core plot of the statement.
So, not only is this another recording done by Gertrude, but it doubles as a statement recorded live from subject. And Iāve got to say, Walter Heller was a great protagonist, particularly due to his VA. I will admit that I initially found him hard to hear, but thatās ultimately kind of a me problem, and it doesnāt matter because by the time I finished the episode, I thought that Harvey Kesselman did a FANTASTIC job as him. The voice acting in tma has always been of fantastic quality, but this one might just be the most real and visceral yet. He really portrayed the role of a war veteran with implied PTSD fantastic, and made it so easy to sympathize with a character in just one episode, which given Walterās fate, is unfortunately probably the only episode heāll ever be in. But honestly, his story was just really sad, even if the WW2 aspect of the statement isnāt the main focus, the description of that battle in the desert, him getting shot in the leg and watching his comrade die in a fiery blazeā¦itās just really heartbreaking and shockingly real. I honestly kind of like how the first part of the episode wasnāt really paranormal, just a sad look at the horrors of war. It reminded me of Episode 7 in a way, although I donāt really get the feeling theyāre connected. (Also between this and Episode 48 I really have to wonder what Italy did to Rusty Quill.) But of course, after the battle, we move on to the plot about The Serapeum of Alexandria. As I mentioned earlier, this is a part of history that I really like, and I think it fits perfectly in tma. Butā¦regarding this plot line, this is where I have to get a little bit speculative. Because truth be told, thereās so many odd similarities to previous statements here, and so many weird new reveals as well that really do befuddle me. So uh..letās get into that!
So this whole part starts with Walter falling through a wooden door. Already itās evoking feelings of a previous episode, said episode obviously being The New Door. And not only do the tunnels that Walter ends up in kind of remind me of Michealās backrooms, but also give of feelings of many other previous episodes. These episodes include Lost Johnsā Cave, Old Passages, Too Deep and Schwartzwald, the last of which I feel isā¦particularly relevant for reasons Iāll get into soon. But as Walter goes through the tunnels, he find himself in multiple rooms, filled with scrolls. And as we learn laterā¦these scrolls are here because The Serapeum, or at least what lies beneath it, were a previous iteration of the archives. Specifically the ones in The Magnus Institute. ā¦.WHAT THE FUCK?! WHAT DOES THAT EVEN MEAN?! This just raisesā¦so many questions. I mean, the tunnels kind of reminded me of the old library in Schwartzwald, but THE Magnus Archives?! What?! This just raisesā¦so many questions. Like, what was on the scrolls? Were they also statements regarding the paranormal, or something greater. How does Jonah Magnus tie into all of this. Why and how did he replicate these ancient hidden caves when making his institute. If the archives have existed this long, is Jonah even the real founder of The Magnus Institute, or has it just existed for a long time, going under different names? And what exactly makes this specific breed of archive so special? Justā¦whyā¦howā¦whatā¦whenā¦whereā¦whoā¦HUH?! I know that my thoughts on this are super incoherent and scrambled but likeā¦I CANāT HELP IT! THIS IS JUST WAY TOO MUCH! Butā¦regarding what might make this archive and that of The Magnus Institute so specialā¦well, I think itās safe to say that they are both connected to the same member of āØthe horrorsāØ. That being the one associated with eyes. ā¦oh dear.
So, as Walter goes through the tunnels, he finds a corpse of a knight, which Gertrude later suspects to be of The Order of St. John, which I will touch in in a bit. All I have to say for now is that this guy wasā¦probably killed by the thing inside here. That thing is likely the long robed figure with spindly fingers and one eye. I will say that the fingers, alongside the door and the passages in general are all very Micheal-core, but I donāt know how connected all of this actually is to him just yet soā¦Iāll make a small note of that for the time being and just leave it as an odd similarity for now. Anyways, this figure, Micheal-related or not, gives Walter the ability to see perfectly in the dark, but also makes him feel as if heās being watched. So overall thereās a lot of eye and sight imagery here, which is already an interesting connection to Schwartzwald and The Keay Family, but things get really, REALLY interesting when Walter comes back to this encounter post-statement. Because apparently, he experienced the exact same feeling of being watched when he came to the institute. So, combine that with the fact that the archives in Alexandria are supposedly a previous iteration of those in the institute, and something becomes very clear. Every iteration of of the archives has been fucking haunted. Not just by worms, spiders, Micheal, Not!Sasha and etc, but by one of āØthe horrorsāØ in the flesh. (I know three of the things I listed I consider horrors but shut up Iām trying to be dramatic.) And I think that horror is the one associated with eyes. The very same one that is connected to The Keay Family. I already mentioned how this episode reminded me of Schwartzwald with the ancient library thing going on, and the eyes, but think about what Walter said. How he felt like he was being watched back then and felt the same thing when giving his statement. I think that Jonah Magnus might have sought to replicate the archive beneath The Serapeum, and in doing so, made it the new home of the being that once resided there. Maybe thatās the thing thatās inside the tunnels, the thing that Jon feels like is watching him. And when you think about how this thing might connect to The Keay Family, how Gerard can wield its power, not only does it make me think about how The Keays could potentially connect to The Institute (outside of the obvious yet very interesting fact of Jonah being close to Albrecht von Closen), but it also gets me thinking about Pinhole Books, Mary Keayās bookstore. While not technically an archive, itā¦still couldāve been something pretty close, right. Maybe she sought to create a home for the eye horror as well. Maybe Jurgen Leitner had a similar goal with his library! (Although granted, a lot of Leitners seem to connect to other horrors so Iām not entirely sure about that one.) Itās justā¦itās just a lot to take in. Obviously the institute has had to deal with things like The Flesh Hive and Micheal, butā¦to think that it might have been home to a horror this entire time is concerning. It gets me thinking about so much. From Jonah Magnus, to the tunnels, to Elias, to justā¦whatever true purpose this place might hold! Thereās so many other things as well though, like how the eye horror has a clear theme of knowledge since it hangs around in ancient archives and libraries, and yet Gerard, who clearly has a connection to it, is going out of his way to BURN. BOOKS. Whatās up with that? And like, what if the eye horror ends up being specific to just the archives? Does that mean that other places in the institute like Artifact Storage are more tied to another one of āØthe horrorsāØ? I justā¦UUUUUGGGHHH this is so much to take in oh my god. And you want to know what the funny thing is? Weāre STILL. NOT. DONE. Because both Gertrude and Jon have follow-ups to give us, andā¦.oh boy.
So, letās start with Gertrude. I think one of the most peculiar things about her follow-up is that itās very different from the one she did in Tightrope. There, she was entirely certain of what she was dealing with, seemingly having extensive prior knowledge on The Other Circus. Here though, I meanā¦sheās still a hell of a lot more sure of things than Jon, but it seems like this was part of an ongoing investigation she was doing, rather than being just another statement for her. Either way, she was clearly taking proactive measures to investigate this case and deal with what it impliedā¦but maybe she was just a little bit TOO proactive. ā¦Iāll get to that in a bit. The second thing of note here is that we learn the entire statement was done off the record, meaning that, on a sentiment shared by Jon, Gertrude did not trust the institute. And honestly, who can really blame her? Iāve already explained why I think the archives are home to some eldritch eye monster, and I get the feeling she knew that as well. Still though, considering she had a lack of faith in the institute for at least 17 years given the time between this recording and her death, I really have to wonder what she did with this mistrust? On top of that, it might add even more to the idea Elias killed her. After all, it would be in character for the head of the institute to do so if she threatened its foundationā¦although if he did kill her, I still think there might have been a bit more reason to do so. Anyways, itās just really interesting to know she figured out something was wrong with this place, and I amā¦very concerned by what that something might be. Anyways, after bringing up some real world history, Gertrude says somethingā¦very interesting. And Iām not talking about the accounts that describe people being tortured or sacrificed in worship of pagan deities, even though thatās interesting for admittedly obvious reasons. Iām talking about the part where she says that an unnamed historian claimed that the ones who destroyed The Serapeum were not Christiansā¦but a group known as āThose Who Sing The Night.ā And if that doesnāt evoke The Peopleās Church of The Divine Host, I donāt know what does. Obviously night makes sense as a motif, as does singing, since Natalie did a lot of creepy singing in Episode 25. But on top of that, Walterās torch went out for mysterious reasons while he was in the caverns, and you know how the churchās symbol is a closed eye? Well, that seems to signify a potential rivalry between the darkness and the eye horrors, which would explain why āThose Who Sing The Nightā would destroy The Serapeum, and why Walter was able to see in the supposedly paranormal darkness. The eyes were combating the power of the darkness, since they are the only things that can āsee in the dark.ā Still though, their potential presence here is interesting for another reason. Maxwell Rayner is old, but not THAT old, so thereās a very real possibility that the church has been reforged time and time again. Rayner isnāt the true founder, just the founder of the churchās modern iteration. Hell, maybe he isnāt actually in charge anymore, since the church supposedly disbanded in 1994, although I still think thereās a possibility that was a cover-up. Gertrude also makes a strange sound after mentioning this group, which signifies familiarity to me. I feel this makes sense, due to the screams coming from Hither Green Chapel on the day she died. Finally, Gertrude suggests that The Order of St. John might have been hunting down āØthe horrorsāØ, and that maybe the robed figure was a previous archivist. ā¦.If it really is Micheal Iām going to cut out my tongue.
And finally, we have Jonās supplemental. Iām just going to start out by saying that OH MY GOD MARTIN IS THE SWEETEST MAN ALIVE. Heās so genuinely attentive and caring to Jon itās just soā¦UGH! I think everyone just needs someone like him around heās way too nice. And as always, Jon SERIOUSLY needs to get his shit together. Not only should he take better care of himself, butā¦come on man, do you seriously think people will believe you stabbed yourself with the bread knife when there are ELDRITCH HORRORS around? (Although I have seen people suggest Martin thought he was self harming, and if that is the case then consider my heart broken.) But anyways, Jonās existential crisis continues. Look, Iām concerned about Gertrudeās fate as well, Iām concerned about how the archivists might date back to at leastā¦letās seeā¦One Thousand, Six Hundred and Thirty-Two years ago?! Damn. Butā¦you seriously need a nap Jon. But outside of Jonās ordealā¦we have one last reveal (hey that kind of rhymed). Soā¦apparently, six months after the recording of the statement, an explosion happened near the caves in Alexandria that destroyed several buildings and killed seventeen people. And from the looks of thingsā¦that explosion happened because of Gertrude Robinson. ā¦wait what. what. I-Iām sorry. WHAT?! Damn, I guess she really WAS proactive. Look, Iāll be honest and say that I already got the feeling Gertrude wasnāt my just a sweet old grandma. Firstly, her name is the most mean old lady name Iāve ever heard, and secondly, sheās appeared in multiple statements, seemingly having pissed off at least two different cults. But likeā¦did she really have to go that far?! I know that thereās some horrific shit going on in there, but like, a guy find the remains of THE LIBRARY OF FREAKING ALEXANDRIA, and she just BLOWS IT UP? Like, as time goes on, itās become much more clear that Gertrude wasnāt a bad archivist, she clearly took her jobā¦maybe a bit TOO seriously, and I definitely think her poor organization of statements was done on purpose, either to get her successor to read the ones that were important, or to fuck with the institute she so clearly mistrusted. Butā¦can I really call her a good academic when she decided to destroy knowledge THAT valuable. Shame on you, you beautiful anarchist of a senior citizen. Also, I cannot get over the fact that she was SO eager to get rid of something that, for all we know, might also have a home in the institute, that she travelled all the way from London to Alexandria, and KILLED 17 PEOPLE. JESUS FUCKING CHRIST. Iā¦desperately need to know more about her, if I donāt know everything sheās capable of I will start fearing for my safety. Jon WISHES he could be her. And you know what, if Elias did kill herā¦I can totally see why! He might have not just been protecting himself, the institute and those close to him, he couldāve very well been protecting THE ENTIRE WORLD. Hell, it doesnāt matter who killed her (ok I mean it still does but like you get what I mean), because that sentiment remains true for EVERYONE. Isā¦is she the true threat of the series? Should I somehow be more concerned. ā¦I donāt even know at this point. Anywaysā¦great episode, loved the protagonist, the implications are amazing, Martin is the purest man to ever grace godās green abominable earthā¦but I really need to take a second and contemplate. Iām afraid there might be a Gertrude under my bedā¦
- Episode 54, Still Life š
Statement of Alexander Scaplehorn, regarding his evaluation of The Trophy Room taxidermists in Barnet.
ANGLERFIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIISH!!!! THE PLOT THICKENS YET AGAIN! So, after having to recoil from last episode, you know, what with the eye horrors and the old archives and Gertrude killing people, etc etc, it was nice to have a shorter episode here. That being said, WOW did this one give me some things to think about. Justā¦the amount of connections that are showing upā¦this podcast, especially this season, has never ceased to surprise me with what itās capable of. The protagonist, atmosphere and pacing already made this a great episode on its own, and the callbacks to the earliest season 1 episodes made it even better. So, letās just get into it! (Oh and, this isnāt really relevant but I might as well put it here. ā¦TAX collector. TAXidermy. Ha ha ha. Ha ha. Ha ha. Ha. Comedy.)
So, Iāll start off with some of the basic things. Firstly, I have to mention that I really, REALLY enjoyed Alexander Scaplehorn as a protagonist. Like, we STAN a king who simply does his job and otherwise minds his own business. Literally went through the horrors and then just went back to living as normal, what a champion. Honestly, this is probably the most sympathetic portrayal of a tax collector Iāve ever witnessed in a piece of media, and Iām surprisingly not upset about that. Also, some other people have pointed this out, but I think it needs to be said just in case. This man is excited to infodump on some guy he just met about taxes, is fine doing so as long as heās attentive, immediately notices how uncomfortable the atmosphere is, struggles making conversation, is simply trying to get through his day without troubleā¦and then goes on to say he has a cousin with autism. I think someone needs to tell him something about himselfā¦and thatās all Iām going to say. (Also jsyk this is coming from an autistic person who experiences all of this, so Iām not trying to make stereotypical assumptions or anything.) ā¦Anyways, outside of the second most legendary protagonist after Joshua Gillespie, Iāve gotta say that I really liked the whole atmosphere of this episode. Taxidermy, while admittedly kind of freaky, is something that Iāve always been a little bit drawn to ever since I learned about it just due to the vibes alone (unless itās of a cat, if itās of a cat I cry), so I really liked the whole vibe of an old taxidermy shop. And likeā¦I get why some might be freaked out by it, but Iād be lying if I said the idea of someone owning some of the worldās oldest skin didnāt kind of entice me, thatās just a pretty cool thing to own. One other small note I have, although itās not from the statement, was Jonās line here. āI may not entirely trust my assistants, butā¦I wonāt lose them.ā ā¦. :(. Anywaysā¦moving on to āØthe connectionsāØā¦(whoās going to tell himā¦)
Ok, so, the first obvious connection to a previous episode comes from when Alexander first enters The Trophy Room. (which by the way, is apparently the name of a real world taxidermy shop, but only in the US.) Here, Alex sees a stuffed tiger in the window with glassy eyes. As soon as I heard this, I immediately thought back to Tightrope, where this same tiger made an appearance. Not only does this connect the episodeās plot to The Other Circus, which Iāll get more into later, but from both episodes, we can tell that this tiger isnāt exactlyā¦.real (although the skin might still be), but itās definitely capable of ācoming to life.ā Definitely seems like this applies to the other taxidermies as well, and based on Tightrope, as well as other parts of this episode, I really do think that The Other Circus is Danielās supplier for the taxidermy, or at least part of the circus. And speaking of which, we have Daniel Rawlings. Now, much like Sarah Baldwin from Skintight, Daniel Rawlings was mentioned in Episode 1 as one of the people taken by The Anglerfish, and he too seems to now be an avid smoker with a connection to the monster. Along with this, both of them have a very apparent connection to skin which isā¦interesting. And obviously, The Anglerfish itself is here as well, hooray!(?) Not too much to say about its appearance here, other than that Alex was probably smart to have not went down to the basement in the end, and that I found it interesting how it was repeating a different phrase than what it did in the first episode. I think itās fair to assume that The Anglerfish changes the phrase it uses to lure people depending on its location. It asks for a cigarette while in the alleyway, and acts as a shop clerk while in The Trophy Room. I think thatās why Alex says it was almost mechanical in its speech, because the things it says are like auto-generated phrases made for specific circumstances. And the final overt connection to previous episodes was the return of everyoneās favorite deliveryā¦somethings, Breekon and Hope. Iām honestly kind of surprised by how frequently they show up, but Iām not complaining. I was also reminded by the last episode with how all of the taxidermies looked at Alex, but Iām not sure if that genuinely means anything or not, especially since the eyes were all glassy, signifying a lack of pupils to properly look at someone with. So, thatās a basic assortment of recurring characters and concepts, but with all of that in mind, how does everything connect?
Letās start off with Breekon and Hope, as well as The Other Circus. These two already have a very apparent connection, as Breekon and Hope were seen as members of the circus in Tightrope. Now, when I gave my thoughts on that episode, I suggested that these two left The Other Circus and started their own business, and while I still think thatās the case, I think that they might have less of an antagonistic relationship than I initially thought. Granted, itās possible they stole The Other Circusā taxidermies, and theyāre giving them to Daniel in order to keep them hidden, but I kind of think that, while now separate, their delivery company is still on good terms with The Circus, or maybe a straight up offshoot of The Circus, and thatās because ofā¦motivations. You see, the more I think about it, I realize that Sarah and Daniel seem to spread fear in a very similar way to that of the circus. You see, Sarah and Daniel never hurt the protagonists of the story, they justā¦unnerved them. Sarah pulled her skin off in front of Melanie King, and Daniel made the taxidermy move in front of Alex, but they never really tried to kill them. Danielā¦might have been trying to, but given how neither he nor Breekon and Hope bothered to give chase, I donāt really think he was that dead-set on murder. And then take a look at The Other Circus. Now yes, Leanne Denikinās ex-boyfriend died because of the calliope, but granted, no actual member of the circus played it themselves in that scenario, and when Nikolai Denikin, an actual member, did, no one was seen dead. And yes, Yuri Utkinās brother Ivan did die at one point, but thereās no real evidence that his death was caused by The Other Circus. When we look at what the circus actually didā¦they just scared people, nothing more. So you have these two groups with very similar methods of scaring people, andā¦I donāt know, it makes me think that The Other Circus and servants of The Anglerfish might be chill with each other, and that might in turn mean that Breekon and Hope maintain some form of a positive relationship with the circus, even if they arenāt direct members anymore. Butā¦that all gets me thinking even more. You see, on my list of āØthe horrorsāØ I cited two of them as āThe Anglerfishā and āWhatever The Other Circus servesā. But now Iām wonderingā¦what if The Other Circus serves The Anglerfish? They have this apparent connection now soā¦maybe. I still need quite a bit more time to wrap my head around this idea, but like think about it for a second. The Anglerfish HAS servants, and The Other Circus acts in a similar way to how they do, functioning with things like fake audiences, dolls and taxidermiesā¦it just feels like it connects in some sort of way. But then again, as time goes on, it kind of feels like The Anglerfish is struggling to live up to levels of eldritch that the other members of āØthe horrrorsāØ are, so what if it isnāt a horror at all, and something a bit lesser? WHAT IF- Ok. Ok Iām getting a little bit incoherent with my thought process now. Look, the cut and dry is that I definitely think The Other Circus, Breekon and Hope, and The Anglerfish and itās servants have some sort of connection, due to them all playing into this episode, and the fact that they all have similar themes, and that theyāll all end up coming together at some point or another. This statement is really good and a lot of fun on its own, butā¦it certainly has given me a lot to think about, even if itās not in the most coherent way. But of course, I canāt just stop here. Because we have a follow-up and a supplemental to get through andā¦well, itāsā¦certainly pretty interestingā¦
So, I already mentioned thatā¦absolutely gut-wrenching line from Jon, but thatās obviously not everything there is to talk about here. Firstly, Jon mentions that The Trophy Room is still in operation. There isnāt all that much to say about this, other than that itāsā¦concerning to know that whatever weird operation this trifecta of factions seems to be a part of is still continuing. But that aside, what really gets me here is the involvement of our beloved little freak, Not!Sasha. Now, I think itās safe to say that sheās obviously lying about how there wasnāt anything all that strange there (which Jon should REALLY catch onto soon), but as unnerving as that is, itās also pretty in character and expected of her. Whatās a bit more intriguing here though is howā¦eager she was to investigate. The most simple reason I can think of as to why she wanted to go check the place out was that she clearly likes wax museums, andā¦taxidermy stores certainly have a similar vibe. But I think thereās a bit more of a reason as to why she went to The Trophy Roomā¦and that lies in what Jon tells us about Daniel Rawlings. You see, outside of the identical hair, the Daniel who owns The Trophy Room looks nothing like the one who went missing in 2006. Couple that with the fact that Daniel is strongly implied to be a taxidermy himself, so you know, not a real person, and I start to get thinking. What if The Anglerfish skins itās victims, and puts them on top of non-human beings that then start pretending to be those people? What if the real Daniel Rawlings, and the real Sarah Baldwin are dead? What if āSarahā peeling off her skin was a way of showing Melanie King her true form? What if they are somehow aligned with the anatomy students? What if these non-humans are extremely similar to the impersonator, but need a higher being to give them identies, rather than just taking one themselves? What if Not!Sasha is a direct servant of The Anglerfish, who seeks to bring harm to the institute? ā¦I know Iām making some big claims here, butā¦I just feel like I might have uncovered a big mystery. Iāve thrown out the possibility of The Anglerfish maybe not being one of āØthe horrorsāØ, but in all honestyā¦I still think it is. Iām starting to wonder if maybe just maybe, all of these characters, Sarah Baldwin, Daniel Rawlings, Breekon and Hope, Not!Graham/Not!Sasha, the anatomy students, The Other Circus, and maybe even more, are all servants of The Anglerfish. All of them faceless monsters who are given new identities by their god, and seek to do its bidding by unnerving as many people as possible? At this point, Iāve basically just devolved into crack fan fiction, but I have to be honest when I say that, while Iām certain Iām far off from the truth in some aspectsā¦I feel like I might be on to something here. In short, I think that Episode 1 is much more important than I initially thought, and that a lot, and I mean A LOT of things are going to connect back to the very first spook. ā¦As scared as I am by Episode 53 introducing the prospect of one of āØthe horrorsāØhaving been in the archives this entire timeā¦Iāve gotta sayā¦Not!Sasha is giving it some close competition. But with all of that out of the wayā¦um, what about the supplemental?
āSupplemental: I broke into Gertrudeās flat.ā OH MY GOD. That hasā¦no right being as funny as it is. I would say āIām afraid Jonās hit rock bottomā, but thereās still 26 episodes left of the season, and 146 left of the entire series, so I get the feeling that his downward mental spiral is only just beginning! Yayā¦I-I think? Well, outside of Jonās 16th felony of the month, what did he actually find in here. Well, not much, as from the looks of things Gertrude was a minimalist, but there were a few things worth noting. Firstly, we now know that she owned a laptop charger, meaning sheā¦well, she obviously was in possession of a laptop at one point of another. This is intriguing if only for the fact that I feel like the series might be heading in a direction where Jonās going to have to break into her laptop, kind of like that one part of Gravity Falls ifā¦anyone whoās reading that has watched it. (And if you havenāt, go do that itās really good.) Secondly, Gertrude threw away books after reading them. Since most of her books were apparently on history, I wonder if she was secretly studying ways to get rid of āØthe horrorsāØ, and decided to get rid of the books in an attempt to cover her tracks. And finallyā¦the few books she did own had eyes cut out of the faces on the covers. Given what might be lurking in the archives I canāt entirely blame herā¦but it does make me wonder if much like Jonā¦she was suffering from her own paranoia. Hm. Well, that about wraps it up. Overall this episode was thoroughly enjoyable butā¦man, my brain has been absolutely frazzled. Iāll probably take a break tomorrow just to process everything, as thereās so many other rabbit holes I could go down if I wanted to butā¦I just donāt have the energy. Gertrude, the eyes, The Keay Family, Micheal, Not!Sasha, The Anglerfish, The Other Circus, Breekon and Hope, Jon, Eliasā¦.itās all running through my head, and I need a break.
Supplemental: Ok, there are a couple of other things I should mention briefly. Firstly, I cited Breekon and Hope as servants of The Anglerfish who unnerve peopleā¦even though they donāt do it nearly as much as others. There is an explanation for this though, that being that while I think theyāre still on good terms with The Other Circus, theyāre still somewhat disconnected nowadays, and if the circus does honor The Anglerfish, they might not be AS devout to it as others. Even so, they DID deliver the table to the institute, so I think they still serve it in one way or another. Another thing I wanted to mention was Martin, specifically that note about him lying. I havenāt brought much attention to it since the initial reveal, but someone in the YouTube comments mentioned that Martin has a fondness for spidersā¦and spiders do seem to be a prominent member of āØthe horrorsāØ. However, that fondness for them could still be nothing, and even if it is something, itās worth noting that the spiders are currently one of the more mysterious aspects of the story soā¦Iām not too sure just yet, but I thought it was interesting. Anyways, onwards to Episode 55!
- Episode 55, Pest Control š
Statement of Jordan Kennedy, regarding several encounters while working in Pest Control. Statement taken direct from subject.
AND IIIIIIIIIII WILL ALWAYS LOVE YOOOOOOOUUUUUUU!!!! Soā¦itās confirmed. Jane Prentiss is officially, indisputably dead. Her ashes are indeed with Jonā¦:(. Well, suffice to say, it was very nice to get an episode that kind of felt like a memorial for her, just a nice little sendoff. But despite me mourning her forever and always, WOW this episode made me giddy. It had another statement live from subject, which is always a pleasure, presented a great look at Jonās mental state and trauma from the infestation, and also set up some extremely interesting and EXTREMELY exciting plot points for the future. Manā¦this season just keeps on dropping amazing episode after amazing episode. Much like Section 31, this one had a structure where is was sort ofā¦multiple statements in one, so I think Iāll go one after another. So, that means Iām starting off with the ants! ā¦gross.
So, before I get into the statement, I should start with the few things that come before. As mentioned earlier, the statement comes live from one Jordan Kennedy, an exterminator who helped burn Janeās body. Now I admittedly donāt have all that much to say about Jordan as a character (and NO, itās not just because he killed the best character), thereās just not a ton to say about him that isnāt obviously seen in the episode. However, apparently Jonny was in a band at some point, and both Jordan and Basira are voiced by other members. I just think thatās really cool, and I might have to listen to that band at some pointā¦ Anyways, the other think that stuck out to me was Jonās mental state becauseā¦wow and yikes. Yikes as inā¦I donāt think heās doing that well, but wow in the sense that Iām very happy with how they portrayed his trauma here. Itās just nice to know that despite things like Gertrude and Micheal, the podcast is still very aware that the infestation hurt him badly. I mean, it hurts to seeā¦but it is very good writing. Well, with all of that out of the way, what do we learn from Jordanās first statement? Well firstly, itās nice to know that tma is still persistent in its efforts to prove that I find large amounts of insects disgusting, even when in my heart I wish I didnāt. Justā¦.ugh, the image of all of those ants in the house makes me squirm. I will also say that the whole scenario here really did remind me of Blood Bag, so while I initially found connections between that episode and The Flesh Hive ones pretty speculative, Iām a LOT a more sure of it now. ā¦I feel like the institute couldāve made use of that syringe in retrospect. I mean Salesa DOES give artifacts to them soā¦like, what the hell dude? You couldnāt have spared ONE syringe? So yeah, the ants are absolutely terrifying, I donāt like the fact that they didnāt immediately die, andā¦oh god, what the hell was in that fridge? (Well, you know, outside of ants.) Anyways, this couldāve just been written off as another gross as shit statementā¦until weāre met with the return of John Amherst, the creepy guy from Taken Ill. (Side Note: I already thought he was involved due to the description of his suit and the yellow oily residue, so getting those suspicions validated post-statement was VERY satisfying.) Anyways, Amherstās presence here isā¦strange. Jon had already made comparisons between Janeās statement and that of Nicole Baxter in MAG 36, but that was more of a reference to how the statement givers both talked about fear in similar ways. Outside of the general theme ofā¦gross, as well as a fly landing in Amherstās face, any other connections were interesting, yet tenuous. But nowā¦yeah, thereās a very clear connection! Obviously both of them gave off a very similar smell, but they also care deeply for the insects that reside with them, Amherst with his ants, and Jane with herā¦well, they call them worms, but in retrospect I actual think theyāre supposed to be Wasp Larvae, especially with the new information in this episode. Iāll still call them worms though. The major difference here though is that Jane was basically a walking corpse being piloted by her worms, while Amherst is a lot more human and in control of himself, although he is still clearly unstable given how quickly he was willing to kill Jordanā¦and also the fact that he seems to be making an effort to make his (former) home as disgusting as possible. Jane was also very destructive all of the time, while Amherst is clearly capable of holding back when he needs to, such as in MAG 36. So while I think these two are definitely connected, and both have probably forged connections with The Flesh Hive, said connections clearly work differently, and Iām interested to see where they go with this in the future! Itās very cool to see them delve more into the concept of regular humans who just happened to be marked by one or more of āØthe horrorsāØ, and as someone who loves Jane dearly, Iām very excited by the prospect of more like her, even if Amherst doesnāt quite live up to her yet, in my opinion.
There isā¦one other thing here in this story about Amherst that is pretty interesting though. The last major similarity between him and Jane is that they are both very weak to fire. Granted we already knew this, since C02 was used against Jane, and Trevor the Tramp and his companion seemingly set fire to Ivy Meadows, but this similarity becomes a lot more interesting when we look at the second story Jordan tells us. Oh uhā¦yeah, my thoughts on this story individually. Uhā¦yeah it was really good, super gross and Iām interested in Amherst. But anyways, the second story. Now, since Hive is still my favorite episode, I obviously REALLY liked this part. Not only because itās a cool callback, but also because as much as I love the abstract, slam poetry-like storytelling in Hive, it does make the episode a little bit hard to follow at times, which I overall think adds to the horror, but getting a look at those events from someone who isnātā¦basically dying was nice. So, the first thing here I find intriguing is the waspās nest in Janeās attic. Firstly, I already thought it was responsible for what happened to her, but this just confirms it, becauseā¦ew, I donāt like this thing. It might have produced one of if not the rawest line in the entire story so far butā¦ew. (Also, this doesnāt connect to the waspās nest but I donāt know where else to put it; Jordan mentions a smashed TV in Janeās attic, which reminds me of the episode Arachnophobia, and the spiders clearly have some sort of antagonistic relationship with The Flesh Hive soā¦hmā¦) But, hereās the more intriguing part. The waspās nest is described as being unnaturally spongey, and both it, Amherst and Jane are all easily flammable. (also did Amherst die there? Or do we just not know? And like, I know we like to joke about all of the Micheals, but thereās a lot of Johns as well. Ok Iām getting sidetracked.) Now, a couple of people in the YouTube comments pointed out that both of those are cited as features of vampires. And now that I think about it, isnāt it weird that Trevor Herbert, a vampire hunter, somehow knew how to deal with some sort of weird sickness that was seemingly entirely outside of his deal? Unlessā¦the two of them are directly connected. Tma already has a pretty unique depiction of vampires, so to make them Flesh Hive people would honestly just be icing on the cake. Granted what little weāve seen of vampires doesnāt really have many themes of disease or bugs butā¦I donāt know, it could work! Godā¦I am still really befuddled by Trevor. Like, how did he survive? Was the person with him Basiraās cop friend? Ugh god Iām getting sidetracked again. Anyways, this story from Jordan is all fine and good, itās nice to get some more context on Episode 32ā¦but things get really interesting when we see more of Janeās landlord, Arthur Nolan.
So, this guy was mentioned all the way back in Hive, and if Iām being honest, Iā¦did not think much of him initially. His death in a fire seemed a little suspicious, but all things considered..I had more pressing matters on the mind after that episode. Butā¦wow. Turns out this guy is a lot more important than I initially assumed. (Side note: As Iām writing this, I just realized I finally understand why The Flesh Hive hates the institute. Itās probably because itās home to another one of āØthe horrorsāØ! Sorry, itās just that Iām really realizing a lot of new things about my favorite episode lmao.) Obviously, Arthur Nolan has clear knowledge of the threat that The Flesh Hive poses, so much so that even though heās a landlord (which is probably the scariest thing in the entire episode), he was willing to burn the entire building and even sacrifice himself if it meant getting rid of that waspās nest. Now, not only is that a testament to how fucking scary The Flesh Hive is, butā¦thereās some other really weird things about Arthur. He didnāt just burn down the building on a whim, because according to Jordan, his flat was extremely warm, and he had an intricate scar on his chest that looked both like a flame and a face in pain. ā¦And all of these connections to heat and fire are just a little bit too suspicious for me to ignore. Iāve had some time to think about it, and I think Arthur Nolan was likely connected to the Sumerian demon Asag, maybe even a part of the same cult that Diego Molina was a part of, and that also seemed to be responsible for the events of Burnt Offering. The general connection to heat is one thing, but justā¦once again, the fact that he knew how to deal with The Flesh Hive shows a great enough understanding of āØthe horrorsāØ from him. And if my classification of āØthe horrorsāØ is somewhere along the lines of being correct, then that means The Flesh Hive is opposed to, and likely weak to at least three of them. Those are the eyes associated with The Keays and The Institute, the spiders, and Asag. Soā¦yeah. That about wraps it up on the statement of Jordan Kennedy. In conclusion, Amherst and Jane are clearly connected, The Flesh Hive is weak to fire, it has some strange similarities with vampires, Arthur Nolan hasā¦some sort of relevance, and even though Jane is deadā¦this story is far from over.
So, what about post-statement and the supplemental? Well, truth be told, there isnāt much here that I havenāt already gone over, outside of two things. Firstly, I found it really weird that Jon said The Flesh Hive ādoesnāt seem like the sort of being that would work well with others.ā In my opinionā¦I feel like this kind of goes against the point. Sure, Jane was a walking corpse, but the whole point of The Flesh Hive was that it wasā¦well, a hive, a hivemind. It functioned best when together, it gave Jane a twisted sort of love and affection, its whole goal was to infect more people. (Speaking of which, I think it wouldāve been cool if we had gotten to see some more worm zombies than just Jane and Timothy Hodge. Eh, maybe we still will, who knows?) Soā¦yeah, this just comes off as a weird thing for Jon to say in my opinion. But more interestingly, as short as the supplemental was, it does reveal that JON FINALLY GOT A GOOD NIGHTāS SLEEP FUCK YEAH!!! Super happy for you king, now letās PLEASE start making that a routine :). Also I do find it funny that the institute gets a fuck-ton of fake statements in Halloween season, thatās just perfect. Wellā¦since I donāt have much more to say, I might as well just mention a largely unrelated theory Iāve been having while Iām here. That kind of seems to be a running theme with this part of the post. Like, this episode is great on its own, but it really does just get me thinking about other stuff. So, something in the YouTube comments I found interesting was theory about how maybe thereās a āfour horsemen of the apocalypseā thing going on here. The theory suggested that The Flesh Hive is pestilence, The Piper is war, The Reapers are death, and some unknown thing is famine, and the entire series is building up to some sort of apocalypse. Now, do I believe this theory. Honestlyā¦no. The apocalypse idea just doesnāt have a lot of evidence right now, and there are many other beings like Micheal, The Anglerfish, the spiders, etc, that are just as, if not more weird and eldritch as the ones listed here. Howeverā¦it did get me thinking. I pretty much entirely forgot about The Reapers for a hot second, and the more I thought about itā¦they really donāt connect to any of āØthe horrorsāØ Iāve listed so far. The only possible connection is one of them showed up during a war like The Piper, but that honestly seems like a MASSIVE stretch that not even Iām willing to take. And I mean, Nathaniel Thorp did kind of imply The Reapers were at the whims of a higher powerā¦ So..Iād like to add a new being to āØthe horrorsāØ, one Iām dubbing āThe Master of The Reapersā until further notice. While shrouded in mystery, I could absolutely see this thing being one of āØthe horrorsāØ. Now, Iām not going to update my list, because Iām still wavering on whether or not The Anglerfish and āWhatever The Other Circus worshipsā are the same being. If they are the same being, then I still probably have one more horror to uncover, assuming that my number of 14 is correct. But if theyāre separateā¦well, consider the list complete until further notice! I know this might seem out of nowhere, but honestlyā¦Iām pretty confident about this one. Iāll just have to wait and see how close to truth I end up getting. Soā¦yeah! Thatās Pest Control. Overall it was another great episode, and Iām very satisfied with how it followed up on my favorite, and with how it sets up a potential return of The Flesh Hive in the future.
Supplemental: Doing school from home while also having terrible ADD can make things very hard when trying to pay attention during online lectures. So, I have come up with a solution:
- Episode 56, Children of the Night šļø
Continued statement of Trevor Herbert, regarding the latter years of his career as a vampire hunter.
OH MY GOD. LITERALLY RIGHT AFTER I TALK ABOUT HIM AT LENGTH. TREVOR. THE FUCKING. TRAMP. APOLLO HAS GRANTED ME THE GIFT OF PROPHECY. So, needless to say, I was very excited when this episode began. I mean, Iāve been wondering about Trevorās relevance in the story for quite a while now, so obviously Iād be very interested. So with that in mindā¦this episode isā¦kind of a weird one for me? Not bad, I still have a lot of good to say about it, itās justā¦I donāt know. It might be due to the fact that itās directly continuing off of a much earlier statement, and also the fact that parts of it are intentionally emitted, butā¦I have scrambled thoughts about this one. Iāll get into it as I go along, but for nowā¦just know that this is a bit of a strange one, and itās kind of hard for me to discuss. But regardless, was the episode good? Of course! All of them have been enjoyable and this one isnāt any different! Iām always up for a direct continuation of an older statement, which this season in particular has done a great job with, itās nice to get confirmation of Trevorās relevance, and it adds some interesting new elements to a plot point set up in an episode that in all honesty, if it wasnāt for the reveal that all the statements are real at the end of Season 1, I couldāve interpreted as complete bullshit if I wanted to. But with all of the preamble out of the way, letās get into it!
Firstly, Iād like to talk a little bit about Trevorās characterization here, and how it contrasts his previous statement, because I think itās one of my favorite parts of the episode. In Episode 10, Trevor wasā¦a bit more of a comedic character, or at the very least a notable standout. Compared to every other statement giver before him, and maybe even everyone after him so far, all of whom were unsure about what really happened to them with varying degrees of knowledge, Trevor seemedā¦entirely aware of what he was up against, which made him very memorable in my eyes. But while a little bit of that homeless tramp charm is gone here, Iāve got to say, I REALLY like the contrast in this episode. Here, Trevor isnāt fighting against vampires, heās fighting against a seemingly completely different horror, and grappling with his murder of another human, both of which make him just as lost and scared as any other statement giver, and help to insert him into the modern story. While I do miss his earlier portrayal..I have to admit, seeing a man that was once much more sure of himself now be shaken like everyone else really puts into perspective how mysterious and terrifying everything is right now, and itās a very interesting direction that for his character that I like a whole lot, and it makes me excited to see what happens with him next. I guess I also should mention the..odd lack of vampires here as well, considering he is THE vampire guy. Admittedly, while it is a little strange for them to not really be there, I did just write out a theory on how the previous episode connects to vampires soā¦I donāt know, Iām fine with it. But uh..anyways, what about the things that actually happen in the statement? Well, I feel like I should start off with the structure. Now, this is obviously a direct follow up to Vampire Killer, but not in the way that, letās sayā¦Tightrope follows up on Strange Music, more in the way that Desecrated Host follows up on Confession. The difference here is that Desecrated Host came right after Confession, while this episode is 46 after the one that contained the first part of the same statement. At the end of the day, I was still able to get a grasp of what was going on, since I still remembered Trevorās initial story well enough, butā¦it was just a bit of a shock structurally. Combined with the fact that there are still more missing parts of this statement (which can obviously be resolved in the future, but as of now itās still a bit of an annoyance), and this episodeā¦just kind of throws you back in after a massive break from the storyline. Usually, episodes take their time getting into things a bit better, and even when they donāt, like in Infestation for example, you still expect those episodes to be chaotic based on whatās going on at the time. Here thoughā¦I donāt know, itās nothing beyond redemption butā¦it just threw me off my course when I started listening. Honestly, I think a better way to handle it wouldāve been to have Trevor submit a second statement entirely separate from Episode 10, since we already know that he didnāt pass away right after giving it like we thought, and it wouldāve just allowed for some better flow. I know that was quite a lot of criticism, but ultimately, itās nothing that canāt be fixed. It kind of reminds me of Episode 4. I initially found that one to be confusing as all heck, and while I still think it might just introduce a little bit too much for one episode, Iāve only grown to appreciate it more and more as I learn more about The Keays, The Leitners and Mike, and I think the same could go for this one. I plan to re-listen to tma one day, since thereās probably a lot that Iāve missed or thatāll be recontextualized, so who knows? Maybe Iāll look at this episode more fondly one day, but for nowā¦the pacing was just a little too odd for me. Still though, if the institute can find those missing pieces and finish the statement, I think Itāll all be fine :). Ok, ENOUGH NEGATIVITY. Hereās some things that I actually liked.
Wow I got sidetracked. Ok, NOW Iām actually going to talk about what happened in the statement for real. So, while the stories here are pretty short, I think theyāre actually very effective. I still kind of wish that we got to learn more about some of Trevorās other huntings that are alluded to here, especially since the statement opens with one of those stories finishing, but I like what we got here as well, especially with the newfound unawareness in Trevor we see here. The first statement directly follows up on a minor plot point from Vampire Killer, andā¦wow. This was genuinelyā¦very bleak. This is probably the only part of a statement that genuinely isnāt paranormal (at least as far as Iām concerned), and yetā¦itās one of the scariest things I think this podcast has produced. Not in a shit-your-pants kind of way, itās justā¦really depressing. Thereās no strange explanation, no interference from āØthe horrorsāØā¦just a sad scenario where a guy, who while not innocent did not deserve death, is murdered by a tortured soul out of said soulās own trauma, convictions, addictions and mental state. Justā¦a really bleak and depressing scenario, and Trevorās writing here really seals the deal. If you couldnāt tell, my favorite part of this episode is just Trevor in general, I already liked him a lot, but this episode really made him grow on me. Honestlyā¦he might be one of the most terrifying statement givers so far. Not Jane levels, butā¦heās just so morbidly conflicting. Because like, you UNDERSTAND him, you realize why he thought Alard was a vampire, you understand how deeply distraught he was after commuting the murder, and really do sympathize with him, and yet he still terrifies me. The way that he talks about the hunt being an addiction harder to remove than heroin, the way it becomes so clear that heās become so traumatized and used to a life of stalking and killing monsters, that he can easily make a slip-up as grave as thisā¦itās just really depressing, and one of the best things about this episode by far. Ultimately, I donāt have much to theorize about here, since like I said, this doesnāt seem to be remotely paranormal, although I will say that the scars on Not!Stanley Kubrick (I know heās not one of those things, I just think itās funny wordplay) weāre pretty interesting. I doubt they were actually from Alard butā¦maybe Stanley had a chance encounter with some actual vampires. Hm.
The second story that Trevor tells us is..almost the inverse of the first one. It doesnāt have quite as much in terms of interesting character writing for him, but it does have some very interesting lore implications. Even then, I still think thereās some interesting character writing here. This was definitely the moment where Trevorās life stopped becoming just about vampires, when he got involved with other parts of āØthe horrorsāØ, and it shows. Like, Jonny Sims REALLY did a great job with the delivery, even if itās slightly less comedic than Trevorās last appearance. It was also interesting how he talked about āthings lurking in the darkā. That does feel very Divine Host core to me. (Oh btw, Iām just going to calm it The Divine Host now, because the full name is way too long lmao.) Honestly, given the name of the episode, I fully expected The Divine Host to play at least..a partial role in the story here, and yetā¦nothing. I mean, I know they played a role in at least one, most likely two very recent episodes but.. āChildren of the Night?!ā I mean, what does that rule even signify outside of āspooky monster?ā Ok, Iām getting ahead of myselfā¦what about what actually happened here? Well, I canāt really say much about Craig for the time being, due to the pitiful amount of information, but I can talk about the spider lady. This is the first time spiders have been prominent in a statement since..Hive I think, and given how I speculate spiders connect to one of āØthe horrorsāØ, Iām more than happy to see more of these little things, even though I did not expect it at all. But anyways, the thing that really caught my attention with this spider lady was justā¦how similar to Jane she was. I mean, she pulls Trevor in like the waspās nest tried to do with Jordan in the last episode, sheās described as being kind of greasy, gross and later hollow, and is crawling with insects! Thatās literally just Diet Jane! ā¦But thatās so weird to me. I talked at length about how I think Jane and Amherst are at the very least vampire-adjacent, but Trevor looks at this thing that is so similar to Jane, and goes out of his way to separate it from vampires as much as possible, so thereās already a hole in that theory made right after I proposed it. And secondly, the spiders are implied to have an antagonistic relationship with The Flesh Hive, what with them eating the worms and potentially forcing it to attack the institute early, so WHY DO THEY FUNCTION SO SIMILARLY?! Someone in the YouTube comments proposed that maybe the worms, spiders and ants are all against each other, and while that could explain Jonās weird comment about how Jane and Amherst donāt seem like beings that would want to work together, it also..it just makes things so much more complicated at the moment. Because either I have to make ants their own thing (which forces me to make The Anglerfish the figure of worship for The Other Circus before Iāve even decided if thatās the route I want to go down), or I have to make all three bugs the same thing, and quite frankly, I CANāT HANDLE THAT RIGHT NOW. ā¦This whole podcast is one big mindfuck and I love it so much. Soā¦yeah, this one spider lady is driving me insane, and I have no idea how Trevor is dealing with it now. And you know, on that noteā¦I do have one more grievance.
Iām just going to add a quick disclaimer; Iām about to be so fucking petty. Look, like Iāve said a million times, I do still like this episode. In fact, as Iāve been writing this, and as Iāve been thinking more about what the episode does well, Iāve come to like it a lot more than I thought I did initially. The moral of the story is that first impressions are bullshit. But, I am basically tasking myself with documenting all of those first impressions, so hereās the thing. While Iām sure all of the strange mysteries surrounding Trevor will be solved eventually, and that all of these dumb complaints will mean nothing in the endā¦I was expecting a few more answers. The reveal of the reason for Trevor not dying just being thatā¦Martin got the wrong idea was, while a completely acceptable answer in the long run, a little bit anticlimactic for me. I think I need to accept that as time goes on, thereās a very real possibility that the answers might not be as crazy as I thought (which in some cases is a good thing, holy shit I will get to that when I talk about the supplemental), and thatās ok. I justā¦I guess after wildly speculating about how he survived in my head for 20 episodes, I was a little disappointed. But on top of that, there was some other things I was really hoping to get answered. I was hoping for more information on how vampires function, more on that person who seemingly helped burn down Ivy Meadows, and just more onā¦what Trevor is doing right now. Like, whatās his goal? How far has he moved away from vampires, and onto something greater? And all of this wouldnāt be that big of a deal if Jon had bothered to question some of it himself. Like, I know I worry for him constantly digging down rabbit holes, but like, Iām doing it too, AND INSANE CONSPIRACY THEORISTS STICK TOGETHER GOD DAMNIT. But in all seriousness, I wouldāve just liked him to speculate a bit more here, especially considering that it was him who revealed the identity of the old guy in Episode 36, not the actual statement giver. But like I said, please just understand that all of this is very nitpicky , and going on the assumption that most of these plot points get answers down the line, these complaints will likely be irrelevant one day. Also understand that I would not be bitching this much about something I donāt absolutely love, I do NOT have the mental stamina or the time to be a genuine hater. Even if I was initially a little bit disappointed by the lack of answers, and even if this isnāt my favorite episode in the season, it was still very good, which Iāve determined is the usual minimum quality for this podcast. While I hope to see some more answers in the future, this was still a worthwhile episode, and it gets me excited for whatās to come. Still a great time :).
But you know what, the statement couldāve been utter garbage and Iād still hold the episode in high regards due to the supplemental. Holy shit. Holy shit you guys. Iām not even breathing Iām hyperventilating at this point. So..Jonā¦manā¦.I think itās time for your sedation ššššššššššššššš Iā¦I donāt think this twink is doing too well everyone. Ugh, and this happens right after the episode where we get confirmation of a good nightās sleep for this āmanā. This is by far the most unhinged he has ever been, and while I kind of love that..I am also terrified by it. Once again, I have to give serious props to Jonathan Sims (real life) for his deliveries, because HOLY FUCK HIS POOR VOCAL CORDS. The fact that a simple misunderstanding, one that occurred MONTHS beforeā¦not even this, but the fucking Prentiss attack, can drive him so far over the edge is NOT. A GOOD. SIGN. Iām coming to love unhinged Jon, and the sheer furious energy of this scene only makes me love him more, but POOR MARTIN. Like, this guy is the only person in this show I can look at and be fully confident he has done nothing wrong, and yet HE has to suffer being yelled at by his loser crush. And he handles it so well too itās just UGH I LOVE HIM SO MUCH HEāS THE SWEETEST GUY AND I WANT ALL THE GOOD THINGS FOR HIM. Heās willing to expose his greatest secret to calm down Jon in a moment of emotional distress and, you know, if it wasnāt for all of the other shit that needs to be sorted, I would have Jon and Martin kiss right now. If there are plushies of them out there, please let me know, I would like to mash their faces together, and then tuck Martin into bed while I defenestrate Jon. Oh, and mentioning his secretā¦oh my god. 14 episodes of buildup, wondering what big secret Martin hadā¦and this is the answer. I never expected him to be evil or anything, but I did expect the reveal to be pretty big and shockingā¦but no. He justā¦he just lied on his rĆ©sumĆ©. That. Is. ā¦.peak comedy. Absolutely hilarious, ten out of ten. I am never going to forget this until the day I die. What an absolute icon of academia. He drops out of High School (Briāish) to support his mom, lies about PARAPSYCHOLOGY of all things on his rĆ©sumĆ©, and then some random stoner guy just recruits him, and the next thing he knows he is being hunted down by worms. He is the silliest guy known to man oh my god. This might just be the best example of a purposefully anticlimactic reveal Iāve ever seen, and that is saying something. And OH MY GOD IT MADE JON HAPPY! FUCKING YES! Now, I would say that I think this will help repair Jon and Martinās relationship, and that Jon will finally calm down. The only problem is that I donāt actually think that, butā¦itās progress. So, yeah, amazing supplemental, probably my favorite. Goodnight Tumblr, I hope you have dreams of squeezing Jon like a squeaky toy. :)
Supplemental: call me micheal the way i lure people into liminal spaces with my charm
- Episode 57, Personal Space š
Statement of Carter Chilcott, regarding his time spent in isolation aboard the Space Station Daedalus in September 2007.
Everyone seems to say that you will eventually find an episode of tma that targets you specifically. I donāt really want to give a definitive answer as to what that episode is until Iām finished, but for nowā¦this is absolutely that episode. Holy. Shit. What sins have I committed that warrant experiencing those 21 minutes of raw, unbridled fear? What does Rusty Quill have against me? And why is it that despite how fucking shaken I am, this is absolutely one of my favorite episodes in the entire series? Like, IT HAS NO RIGHT BEING THIS GOOD AFTER WHAT IT JUST DID TO ME. Wowā¦Iām still processing what I just witnessed. From the moment this episode started, I knew I was in for an experience, and while the plot is fairly simple without a whole lot of moving partsā¦that just makes it all the more terrifying and brilliant. Iā¦have thoughts on this episode. Boy oh boy, do I have some thoughts. Soā¦letās just get into it as I try not to scream. Actually, I shouldnāt have to worry about that now that I think about it. After all, no one can hear you scream in space :,).
So the episode starts, and Iām already scared shitless. Usually thereās a bit more of a slow build towards the horror, but NOT HERE. They just threw me right in, and it was horrifying all throughout, yippee! Granted though, I havenāt really felt that sinceā¦Burnt Offering, I guess, but the feeling hasnāt been this strong since Hive soā¦yeah you can probably see why I love this episode so much. Carterās speech at the beginningā¦haunted me. Thinking about how tiny and insignificant we are in the grand scheme of the universe is already pretty terrifying to me, but I at least find a little bit of comfort in the idea that we arenāt the only living things out there, that thereās more than just black void out in space. So to have Carter, this man who has seen the horrors of space firsthand immediately refute this idea with such conviction, while still standing by the idea that we are so finiteā¦damn. So already, the episode is off to a great start, but what about the rest of it? Well, a lot of my more in depth thoughts only really come out when you consider whatās revealed to post-statement, so for now Iāll just talk about some neat and terrifying aspects of the episode that I found notable. Firstly, thereās some pretty clever imagery here with the names of certain things. Most people probably know the name of the space station, āDaedalusā as the name the father of Icarus from Greek myth. You know, that guy who knew jack shit about how heat works? Well, Daedalus was also the guy who built the labyrinth, which was notably used to imprison and isolate certain people and monsters. These references to isolation continue with Carter watching ā28 Days Laterā, a film that deals with such a topic. Just thought those were some cool references. But, on the note of the name Daedalus, I did find it a little bit interesting that one of Carterās hallucinations was that of the door opening. Itās probably a stretch, butā¦given how Michealās backrooms were kind of reminiscent of the labyrinth, I do wonder if thereās a connection thereā¦hm. But anyways! What about all of the terrifying stuff? Well, I donāt have that much to say about the spacesuit, as I honestly haveā¦no idea what that was supposed to mean, outside of providing false hope of seeing another person, butā¦everything else was freaky as shit. The earth being gone, the cameras being cutā¦and the message on the lock. Holy fuck. That will haunt me in my nightmares. āNO ONE IS COMINGā is the new āTake her not meā. ā¦I donāt know if the code in the safe has any significance though. And likeā¦can I just talk about how tragic and traumatized of a character Carter is? Like it still amazes me that this show can make episodes about people nailing meat to their walls, and then make THIS, AND BOTH OF THEM STILL WORK REGARDLESS. Justā¦the fact that this guy was putting in all that effort to get prepared for the experiment, STILL experienced all of that psychological torture, and tried to kill himself in order to get out of what he genuinely considered to be hell (that part also haunted me)ā¦what a poor soul. Honestly my only complaint with this episode was that we never got to learn if Carter was ok or not. I NEED him to be ok. Soā¦yeah, thatās just an assortment of notable observations and things that scared me. But with all of that out of the way, itās time I talk about the bigger implications. At the end of the episode, we learn that the Daedalus operation was being run by The Fairchilds and The Lukas Family, and at the very least had some involvement from The Divine Host. And..I certainly have some thoughts about this.
Iāll start off by covering The Fairchilds, as theyāre probably the least I have to say about in this scenario. Firstly, I do love that the two big rich eldritch horror families are working together, I think thatās pretty funny, but secondlyā¦yeah, their involvement here just makes sense. I donāt have much more to say about it. I mean, it seems like the family definitely serves the being called The Vast, and given that we are in the VAST void of space, it makes perfect sense for them to be involved here, since such an experiment allows them to throw people into an endless void without even having to use cosmic powers, and we already knew that they worked in aerospace soā¦yeah, itās not a surprise to know that they were involved. If I had to guess, Iād assume they were responsible for the empty space suit and the earth, sun and moon disappearing, since both of those deal with some sort of emptiness. Outside of that, all we really learn is that they have a collaboration with The Lukas Family, which is pretty interesting. (Side Note, this episode is currently battling with Literary Heights when it comes to what my current favorite episode of the season is, soā¦yeah, The Vast does good work.) But mentioning The Lukas Family, what about them? Well, to my understanding, they have the biggest involvement in the experiment. I mean, I think The Fairchilds probably did the most when it came to developing Daedalus itself, but the experiment itself was probably manned by The Lukas Family. We already know they have a habit of isolating people, as show in the other two episodes theyāve been involved in, and obviously the experiment was being manned by Conrad Lukas. (Side note: Considering his mention here, as well as the fact he owns the company that the crew of The Tundra works for, I assume that Nathaniel Lukas is likely the ārulerā of The Lukas Family, and if itās a Manson-esque cult like I think it might be based on vibes, then he would be the cult leader.) So yeah, I definitely think this episodeās threats are mostly provided by The Lukas Family, which includes things like the lock, the clock stopping, Carterās weird dreams (which are of graveyards and an open sea, both of which relate to one of the previous Lukas episodes each), andā¦potentially the cutting of the camera, although that could go multiple ways. So yeah, this episode doesnāt give us that much new information on The Lukas Family, but it does still show us a new member, provides a connection to The Fairchilds, and also shows another strange action of theirs, which is more than enough. But before I get on to the final group, I have a couple of other things I want to briefly discuss. Those things are the food, and the other crew members.
Now, I donāt exactly know what group or power was responsible for infinitely restocking the food, but I think I might have a hunch as to what the food was doing. Itās implied that when Carter nearly starved himself to death, his colleagues took him back to Earth before he died, but I have to wonder if thatās not the case. You see, so much of what happened to Carterā¦shouldnāt be possible. Obviously The Fairchilds and The Lukas Family set some things up, and can make paranormal things happen, but as far as weāre concerned, none of them were actually onboard soā¦how would you get all of this weird stuff to happen when thereās no one who can make it happen. Wellā¦there might be an answer to this. Some other people also pointed out something similar in the YouTube comments butā¦I have to wonder if Daedalus was just a simulation. I know that is a bold claim, but think about it. In a simulation, anything as illogical as what happened on the station could happen perfectly fine, without needing a Fairchild or Lukas on board. So maybeā¦the food was keeping Carter inside the simulation, and when he stopped eating he simply woke up. Itās still entirely possible that he did starve himself, and that he really was in space, and that his colleagues did bring him back downā¦but I really like the simulation idea. It makes the whole thing even more tragic and terrifying, because it would mean that Carter never even got to go to space in the first placeā¦which admittedly might be a blessing for him nowadays, but still. And then we have the matter of the the other two astronauts. Thereās two possibilities when it comes to what role they play here. The simplest answer is to assume that they were just there in case of emergency, maybe also there to make Carterās despair greater, since he KNEW there were others outside his confinement. But the thing is, they apparently were also there to do their own experiments, and while that could be a lieā¦I have to wonder. You see, thereās likely three factions, each serving one of āØthe horrorsāØ, in charge of the Daedalus operation, yet Carterās experiment has a clear bias towards The Lukas Family and their desire to isolate. So, what if the other two astronauts were being put through their own torture experiments by The Fairchilds and The Divine Host respectively? And if Daedalus is actually just a simulationā¦what if theyāre still in there? I mean, Carter never ACTUALLY saw them, soā¦I genuinely do not know. This idea can go either ways, and both of them make me squirm with fear. But with all of those theories out of the way, we have but one more thing to talk about, that being The Divine Host.
So, The Divine Host isnāt actually mentioned by name here, but they absolutely have some level of involvement with whatās going on. This is because Optic Solutions Ltd., the company that provided the cameras, are stationed in Ny-Ć
lesund. Ny-Ć
lesund was mentioned in Growing Dark, an episode that VERY clearly featured The Divine Host (or whatever itās called nowadays), and was listed as the coldest place in the world where the nights are longest. Natalie Ennis kind of implied that the church was going somewhere, so I suspect that Ny-Ć
lesund is where theyāre stationed nowadaysā¦likely to do something very bad. Now, itās entirely possible that The Divine Hostās involvement here is the same as that of The Fairchilds and The Lukas Family. Theyāve launched people into space or a simulation, and want to do some freaky experiments. That makes perfect sense, and Iād assume theyāre responsible forā¦well, obviously the cameras, but probably the 20 minute blackout as well. Howeverā¦I have to wonder if their involvement was a little bit more antagonistic. Obviously they were involved in the experiment butā¦maybe not in the same way as the other two groups. You see, I just find it weird that The Divine Host would go out of its way to set up a camera, and then secretly cut the wires to make Carter feel more isolated, not only because thatās kind of elaborate and unnecessary, but also because the isolation is more of a Lukas Family thing. Sure, it could pray on the fear of being alone in the dark butā¦I donāt know, itās weird. And mentioning that, outside of the darkness of space, The Divine Host seems to have the least reason to be involved this experiment. Hell, even when the earth, sun and moon disappeared, there were still shining stars visible. So Iām just think that while the idea that theyāre working alongside the other two groups makes sense, itās also possible that maybeā¦maybe they were trying to sabotage the experiment. Maybe they set up the camera in an attempt to lessen Carterās isolation, but it was later cut by The Lukas Family. Maybe the blackout was a result of them trying to cut the experiment short. And this makes more sense when you consider the fact that even though The Magnus Institute isnāt really involved with this experiment, The Lukas Family, who is, is a strong ally of the institute. And assuming that the institute connects to the eye monster in Alexandria, and that the Divine Host opposes that monster due to their closed eye symbolā¦then theyād have every reason to go after a faction that allies itself with their enemy. And OH MY GOD, I just remembered that someone in the YouTube comments pointed out that maybe The Divine Host killed Gertrude, since screams were heard coming from Hither Green Chapel on the day of her death, and as archivist for the institute sheās probably be their enemy, andā¦ajdjfhejhfjdjsjdjjfjdjjd. ā¦.Ok, Iām absolutely spiraling out of control here. Simply put, I find The Divine Hostās involvement here the most interesting overall, and I think it could easily go in multiple different directions. Itās connections to The Fairchilds, The Lukas Family and likely The Magnus Institute are all very interesting, and Iām just very excited to see everything start coming together.
Wow. What an episode. This is at the very least my second favorite episode of Season 2 after Literary Heights, and it might even top that. The main character and themes of isolation and mental trauma were both relatable and absolutely terrifying for me, the connections between different factions it provides are all extremely interesting, and I really hope to see more of Daedalus in the future. As for the supplementalā¦well, thereās definitely quite a few things worth mentioning here. Firstly, Iāve noticed that Jon is getting a lot sloppier when it comes to hiding his activity. His meeting with Elias, as well as him admitting he doesnāt trust his assistants on a main recording once was already something, but this is just reckless andā¦Iām very concerned by that. Secondly, his dialogue here implies a future statement regarding Hill Top Road and the children who lived in that house, which is super exciting! Hill Top Road hasnāt shown up since Episode 19/20, and the children havenāt been mentioned since Episode 8. Itās a very interesting part of the lore to me, and hopefully Iāll learn more about what happened to all the kids living there soon enough. But while thatās all intriguingā¦we then have Not!Sasha. Firstlyā¦it is CERTAINLY interesting that she asked Jon not to record their conversations. Why is that? Hm? Is it because the audio is weird? CARE TO ELABORATE?! As for the items in her desk, well, the ripped paper could be anything, from scrap to actual torn apart documents (Iām implied to believe the latter, unfortunately), and as for her boyfriendā¦well thereās a few possible explanations for that. Tom, if that is his ārealā name, is described as looking like a stock photo. I hope he too is some sort of monster, but itās also possible heās likeā¦a wax figure or something, or maybe Not!Sasha is just editing herself into stock photos, idk. Either wayā¦her behavior is as concerning as ever. So yeahā¦that sure was an episode. ā¦Iām going to go curl up into a hall now, I think Iāve been a bit too scared todayā¦
Supplemental: Regarding the idea of The Divine Host killing Gertrude, it does seem a little bit obvious, and Iām still most suspicious of Elias, but I will admit that itās a pretty compelling argument and it makes me suspicious.
- Episode 58, Trail Rationsš“
Unsigned statement regarding potential cannibalism while attempting to travel the Oregon Trail.
ā¦That was nothing like the Starkid musical :(. No lobsters whatsoever. Ok, self indulgent jokes aside, this was a pretty decent one. I donāt have TOO much to say about it, (which is fine given how much Iāve been saying about recent episodes), but I still thought it was a pretty goodā¦if pretty disgusting episode. It definitely has one of the best and most unique framing devices so far, an interesting protagonist and plot line, and a couple of potential connections to other episodes as well. Unfortunately thoughā¦my thoughts are just kind of simple, so my commentary will be noticeably more brief than usual. But, with all of that out of the way, letās talk about yet another episode that displays a normal life in America!
Starting off, I have to say that one of my favorite aspects of this episode is by far the general premise. If youāve had a U.S. education, then youāve inevitably read at least a couple of excerpts from Oregon Trail journals, (and also probably played the game based on them, which is a certified classic), so you would therefore know that they are historically freaky as shit. Like. GOD. The things that happen there areā¦yikes. So Iām very happy that they decided to make an episode based on it, since it feels like a great thing to take inspiration from. And honestly, it really does read like an actual Oregon Trail journalā¦just if the circumstances were even more dire. Oh god, and speaking of that writing style, what about that opening. I always love it when tma displays the psychological state of its protagonists, and the opening did a really great job doing so. Anyways, what about the statement itself? Well, another thing I really liked about it was the protagonist, Mrs. Carlisle. Itās always a pleasure to have a genuinely intelligent protagonist in any horror story (hence why we stan Joshua Gillespie) and I really liked how she was portrayed as the smartest person in the story, as I feel thatās an unfortunate rarity among women in old-timey stories. Itās just a shame that she was too late to save her husband, I honestly felt really bad for her. As for the restā¦well, I thought Eustace Wick was a pretty intimidating, if kind of fun antagonist, and the part where Benjamin tells his wife to eat him after deathā¦yikes. That wasā¦certainly morbid. Lastly, I did really like the ambiguity on Mrs. Carlisleās fate, while it seems unlikely it does give me hope she survived, and I do have other reasons to believe that which Iāll get into in a second. Andā¦yeah! Thatās about it for my general thoughts on the episode. Itās just a very brutal and sad tale about one of the most brutal and sad journeys in U.S. history, with a great framing device and protagonist. I like it! But, there are definitely some notable connections to previous episodes, so Iāll make sure to go over that.
So, starting off, I definitely think that this episode connects to the member of āØthe horrorsāØ with a relation to bones and meat, and that Eustace Wick is a servant of it. Granted, he doesnāt display supernatural abilities like The Boneturner, but his prayer towards meat instead of Jesus makes me think he definitely serves this being, and that cannibalism is a part of the process. But that prayer actually adds a new element to this body horror thing, that being anā¦oddly religious one. This whole religious aesthetic is very present throughout the entire episode, and I find it pretty interesting. Granted, there are multiple cults that seemingly serve different powers, but none of them really take much from real-world religions as far as Iām concerned, outside of Asag being a Sumerian demon. This howeverā¦is very overtly Christian in its aesthetic, and I just find that kind of interesting. It also REALLY reminds me of Confession and Desecrated Host. These episodes are among the few that prominently feature Christianity so far, and if you recall, Edwin Burroughs ends up committing cannibalism after having his mind plagued by āØthe horrorsāØ. It does make me wonder if maybe the college students he ate also compelled him to, at least through his point of view, but unlike Mrs. Carlisle he actually gave in. The only problem is that I think he was being plagued by Asag, due to the amount of heat in Hill Top Road, and Iād be surprised in Asag and the body horror thing are the same. Then again, itās possible Edwin was subjected to multiple members of āØthe horrorsāØ, since there was an eye in the window of the church he saw, he walked through a twisted version of his home like Antonio Blake, and the whole thing was seemingly influenced by Breekon and Hope, who are seemingly most allied with The Other Circus, not Asag, soā¦I donāt know, I could definitely see there being a connection here with religious cannibalism. Another connection that everyone and their mother has pointed out is the last name of our protagonist and her husband, that being āCarlisleā. This is notable as we have already heard that name via Toby Carlisle, who conveniently also showed up in the 18th episode of a season, and had connections to meat. So, I am definitely of the impression that Toby Carlisle is a descendant of our protagonist, which is why I suspect she might have actually survived and made her way to Oregon in the end, but I guess only time will tell if thatās the case. But if thatās the case, then it makes me believe that whatever Eustace was working withā¦followed her even after she let the cave, and might have continued to haunt her family centuries down the line. The main question posed by Jon in The Man Upstairs was where Toby got the meatā¦and nowadays, I definitely think that the meatā¦got him. And lastly, we have what is probably the biggest point of interest here, that beingā¦why in the hell is this journal even here. Mrs. Carlisle never submitted a statement to The Magnus Institute, and yet it is still here within the archives. Soā¦what the fuck. This means that Jonah Magnus, or maybe someone working for him, went out of their way to go to some random cave in Idaho or whatever, and retrieve this journal that, by all means, might not even be paranormal at a first glance. Obviously what happened was terrifying, but Eustace couldāve just been some random psychopath, and Benjamin telling his wife to eat him couldāve easily been written off as hallucinations derived from starvation, fatigue or trauma. We only know itās paranormal because Jon has to record it on tape, meaning it is very real and important. But likeā¦what the fuck was going on with Jonah? Why and how did he find this single journal inside of some guyās corpse? Why was it so important? WHAT DID HE KNOW AND WHAT WAS HIS PROBLEM?! Godā¦Iāve got nothing against overworked Victorian men that possess potentially homosexual relationships with their correspondences, but you are all so annoying god bless.
Wellā¦that was a short one. Yeahā¦I do quite like this episode as a fun individual tale, but I just donāt have much to say about it that isnāt already blatantly obvious. Still though, Iām glad I was able to glean the information I was able to, and it definitely does bring up some interesting revelations about Jonah and the meat. As for the supplementalā¦oh thank god theyāve suggested therapy. I mean, itās a shame it hasnāt exactly worked, but Iām glad Iām not alone in thinking that. Also, I now just feel really shitty for kind of forgetting about Tim. Granted, itās hard to when youāre listening to whatās going on with Jon all the time, butā¦yeah, Tim also got pretty fucked up, didnāt he! AND THE FACT THAT HIM WORRYING MAKES JON MORE SUSPICIOUS GRRRRR. Either way, Iām glad that him and Martin are trying to do something to help himā¦I still think knocking him out with a brick would be a good idea but that might just be me. And on one final noteā¦I-I still canāt get over the fact that revealing he lied on his rĆ©sumĆ© was what Martin needed to make Jon trust him. That isā¦possibly the funniest workplace scenario Iāve ever heard. Recording ends or whatever.
Supplemental: I said this one was exceptionally short, but then I looked back at my first of these posts andā¦yeah nevermind Iām actually pretty satisfied with the length here. Me three months ago was a little coward who couldnāt be bothered to write anything meaningful down lmao. ā¦Or maybe I was just a lot more sane I donāt know.
- Episode 59, Recluse š
Statement of Ronald Sinclair, regarding his years spent in a teenage halfway house on Hill Top Road, Oxford.
HOLY FUCK. HOOOOOOOOOLLLLLY FUCK. I. WHAT. IāM GOING ABSOLUTELY INSANE I AM AT MY FUCKING LIMIT WHAT THE FUCK. Hold on, I should stop using the devilās tongue, lest Raymond Fielding throw me to the spiders. Iā¦I am not ok. This episodeā¦did so much. It gave so many answers but also SO many questions, validated one of my earliest theories, andā¦well itās just making me spiral out of control. It was absolutely fantastic all things considered, butā¦oh my god. Iām pretty proud of myself for keeping up with things up until this point, butā¦am I even going to be able to do that anymore? Is this some kind of sick joke being played by god to punish me for my hubris, where he sends me into the never ending chasm of knowledge as I search for the answers at the bottom that doesnāt exist? ANSWER ME YOU SICK BASTARD. Soā¦Iām happy we got another Hill Top Road statement! Definitely a very interesting part of the lore to me butā¦wow thatās a lot of lore. Unfortunately, I was being an inconclusive little coward when I wrote my āthoughtsā on the other Hill Top Road statements, so before I get into the events of this episode and the truckload of implications it provides, Iām going to a brief overview of whatās currently known about this house and itās history, as itās very important to understanding what happens here. Soā¦letās start with a brief recap. May god have mercy on my mind. ā¦How dare Jonny jumpscare me after the Oregon Trail cannibalism episode.
So, what did we know about Hill Top Road before this episode? Well, the house was bought by Walter Fielding in 1891, inherited by Alfred Fielding in 1924 and then inherited again by Raymond Fielding in 1957. Raymond was a devout churchgoer who used the house as a place where teenage runaways and young people with mental problems could stay and be rehabilitated. At some point in time, a young girl named Agnes showed up, who some presumed to be Raymondās actual daughter. When she showed up, more and more of the kids living there disappeared, until it was just her and Raymond when she was a young adult, with the latter saying all of the other kids had simply moved on. Eventually, Raymond disappeared, followed by a few local pets and a five-year old boy. In 1974, a week after the boy disappeared, the house burnt down, with Raymondās corpse being found within, his hand severed. Agnes was nowhere to be found. Now, the timeline gets a little bit tricky here, since Ivo Lensik and Edwin Burroughsās statements do not line up chronologically, seemingly due to mistakes on the writerās part. Iām just going to go with Ivoās statement for simplicityās sake, so letās just say that in 2006, Ivo Lensik started re-construction on the dilapidated house, eventually tearing down the tree in the backyard and destroying the box beneath it. He also met a man who claimed to be Raymond Fielding, who observed the tree in the backyard, before leaving the house with singes on the floor. On the same day, Edwin Burroughs seemingly reached the peak of his demonic possession and insanity, which eventually led to him cannibalizing two college students and being given two life sentences at HMP Wakefield. He also lost the ability to say words like āGodā or āJesusā, and to do prayer. According to Martin, one Agnes Montague was found to have hung herself in Sheffield on the day of Ivo tearing down the tree, with a severed hand (presumably that of Raymond Fielding) tied to her waist, seemingly having died the same day she did. However, this Agnes was aged 26, which could not have been the same age as the Agnes who lived on Hill Top Road. And Iām just going to say it right now: I think Ms. Montague is a younger relative of the Agnes on Hill Top Road, and that the reason Raymondās hand was said to have died the day she did was because Raymond only truly died either when he left the house for one last time, or when Edwin performed an exorcism, and that man who claimed to be him was indeed a ghost. Soā¦yeah. Quite the complicated history surrounding this place. In short, there was a creepy house with two creepy people, it burned down killing one of them, the fate of the other is up in the air although someone who at the very least has connections to her died in 2006, and now the house is dilapidated and haunted as all hell. Overall a mysterious history, but while we are still missing a lot of pieces, this episode gave a lot more insight into what was going on here. So, letās FINALLY get into it, as well as my overall thoughts on thisā¦absolute ride of a story.
First of all, I just want to say Iām very happy that we got this statement two episodes after it was teased, because I never want to have to bear the burden of waiting 10 episodes for Hive ever again. Anyways, going over the basics first, this episode comes from the perspective of Ronald Sinclair, one of the teenagers who stayed at the house during the 60ās. Not only does this give us a look at what Hill Top Road was like before it burned down, which is just really cool, and makes the other statements even creepier now that we know what happened, but it also made me realizeā¦man. I hate the justice system! Like, I know that Ronald was somewhat troublesome, but that is not how you treat abused children. Actually, how did they not figure out what was going on when the children disappeared? Likeā¦did they just not care to go looking for them. Or was there a more sinister answerā¦.oh no. Anyways, I felt really bad for Ronald, and Iām not surprised that heās still suffering from the trauma to this day. And that isā¦pretty much all of the surface level thoughts I have on this episode. Yeah, this one is just so full of back to back reveals and implications that I really donāt have much more to say outside of my wild speculation soā¦I might as well just get into the real meat right now. The main thing this episode does for us is reveal more about the relationship between Raymond Fielding and Agnes. Initially, Burned Out kind of led me to believe that Raymond was a victim of the creepy girl named Agnes, but now we know that while thereās still quite a lot of mystery surrounding the latter, that information was meant to deceive, and the truth is quite the opposite. So letās talk aboutā¦what the fuck is even happening.
Iām just going to cut to the chase: Raymond Fielding was a massive dick. And also a servant of āØthe horrorsāØ. Seemingly the one associated with spiders. So, at the end of this episode, we learn that Raymond was secretly killing the children who āleftā the house, and then started using their bodies as egg sacks for spiders. First of allā¦ew. Second of allā¦WHAT?! This wasā¦a very shocking reveal, especially with its timing in the episode, but it also just makes my brain go WILD. Likeā¦WHY was he doing this? What is the purpose of having all of these spiders? How did the authorities never find out? How many children did he kill? What about his ancestors before him? I justā¦SSDHHJGGGHHH. Now, Raymondās methods seem to mostly tie into the tableā¦but thatās its own can of worms, so Iāll get into that later. All Iām saying is that this man was absolutely terrifying, and I am GLAD that heās seemingly dead for real now. But while this is certainly a shocking reveal, it also reveals some interesting new information about the spiders. Theyāre tied to control. You see, throughout the episode Ronald and other kidsā¦didnāt necessarily feel like they were being controlled, but justā¦urged to do things that they usually wouldnāt do. And while Iām glad that an eldritch god still cares about good hygiene and moralsā¦kind of, this was still creepy as fuck, and at the end, Ronald is DEFINITELY being mind controlled as he head into Raymondās basement. (Side note: I will never not think of Micheal whenever thereās mentions of a creepy door opening.) So this is clearly another power of Raymondās, but it also applies to the spiders in general. For example, in Arachnophobia, Carlos Vittery was forced to kill the spider from his childhood over and over again, until eventually meeting a fateā¦very similar to his friends. In Children of the Night, Trevor felt a very similar compulsion when he met the anonymous lady filled with spiders, and Jonathan Archivist Sims himself was compelled to smash a spider on his wall forā¦no apparent reason, which then led to the worst day of his life (so far.) And while these incidents didnāt involve spiders all that much, need I remind you that Ivo Lensik destroyed the tree out of a strange compulsion, and that Edwin Burroughs said words against his will, and both of those incidents took place at Hill Top Road. Soā¦yeah, the spiders definitely have this interesting relationship with control, and as much as I like to and still will do my best to connect Micheal to everything (please come back baby I miss you so much)ā¦I might unfortunately have to agree with Not!Sasha describing the pattern on the table as a web. I no longer think she was just saying that due to her personal relationship with itā¦I think she was telling the truth. So yeah! Raymond Fielding was a shitty spider man with mind control powers, how delightful! But while this isā¦obviously very terrifying, we can at least find some solace in the fact that there was one person who could combat him. That person was dear old Agnes. Holy shit, where to begin with Agnes.
Like I said, I was initially unnerved by Agnes, even in this episode. I thought that Raymond was a sweet old man who ended up being one of Agnesā numerous victims. Now, while she is still a little bit spooky, I realize that the truth was the stark opposite. Agnes showed up at Hill Top Road two months before Ronald was to āleaveā, which seems to discredit the idea that Raymond was her actual father, unless his motivation for murdering children was divorce. If sheās not his actual daughter, then her appearance there is all the more strange, becauseā¦why? Well, either way, Iām glad she showed up, because before Ronald left, she gave him a quick kiss on the cheek. And later on, right before he was about to become a spider nest, said cheek erupted in hot searing pain, and broke him from Raymondās control. This shows us that Agnes was a hero, and hopefully means that no children after Ronald diedā¦although Iād still be cautious of that assumption. But this gets me thinking about Agnesā power. You see, I initially thought Hill Top Road was associated with Asag, due to the whole heat thing going on. Now, youād assume that after this episode Iād come to the conclusion that the house is haunted by the spiders, but hear me out for a secondā¦why not both? Agnes herself is anything but a servant of the spiders, and has these connections to heat, so what if thereās actually TWO beings haunting Hill Top Road. Both Asag and the spiders reside there, residual forces left behind by Agnes and Raymond, who burn and control those who come into their house. Itās interesting that someone so young could forge a connection to such a powerful and horrific force, and I have to wonder if she even connects to that mysterious cult at all, since she doesnāt seem to be a member. Either way, itās very interesting that we now have two members of āØthe horrorsāØ who are weak to heat and fireā¦makes me wonder more about how The Flesh Hive and the spiders are connectedā¦also why the hell was Raymond a churchgoer if he was clearly worshiping something else? Or was he not? Was it all just a ruse to keep the neighborās suspicions at bay? Or was the church also full of spider worshippers? Is that why the neighbors all hated the children? WHAT THE FUCK WAS GOING ON IN THIS HOUSE?! ā¦did you know that Basiraās colleague Daisy mentioned spider husk people in MAG 43? Idk, where else am I going to mention that? So yeah, Agnes was definitely a much better person then I anticipatedā¦but this relationship between her and Raymond still leaves a lot to be desired. While this episode sheds a lot of light on what was going on when Hill Top Road was still a halfway houseā¦thereās also quite a bit that needs to be unpacked about itās future. Thereās a lot left to understand. And I am GOING to understand.
So, welcome to the āØtheoretical timeline of Raymond Fieldingās halfway house on Hill Top Road, Oxford until further noticeāØ, starting after Ronald Sinclair escaped from his spidery clutches. So, according to Anna Kasuma, all of the children left (or were killed) when Agnes was 18 or 19, with it just being her or Raymond in the house, so thatās roughly eight years after she first arrived and started saving people, starting off with Ronald. ā¦And that also means that she was there past the age she was supposed to leave, making her appearance there blatantly different from that of every other child. Now, Raymond clearly knew that something wasā¦off with Agnes, and I doubt it wouldāve taken him eight whole years to realize how she was helping people. So why didnāt he justā¦kill her? Well, Ronald thought that Raymond was afraid of her, and Iām inclined to agree. If Agnesā power was capable of severing the control over the kids, then I think itās safe to say that Raymond knew not to trifle with her out of fear for his own life. I think they spent the next eight years locked in a stalemate, where Raymond kept on trying to kill his kids (that is a sentence), and Agnes kept on trying to save them. (lmao, imagine being weak in the face of an eleven year old, get fucked bozo). Itās said that around this time, Raymond went missing, followed by local pets and a five year old boy. Now, Burned Out made me suspect Agnes was behind this, and I meanā¦that could still be the case. I canāt say with certainty that Agnes was 100% good, I mean she does have eldritch god powers and looks like the twins from The Shining. Butā¦I still think this was Raymondās doing. Because, think about it for a moment. Raymondās body was found in his house, meaning that he couldnāt have gone far. And according to Ronald, he was a recluse who never left the house outside of church, to the point where neighbors would often worry about him. If Raymond simply stopped going to church, which he very well couldāve given that there was no one to go with at this point, then people mightāve just proclaimed him missing because they never saw him anymore. So, maybe those pets and that young boy ended up becoming his new prey now that the house was almost empty. And while I can excuse child murder, I draw the line at animal cruelty. Fuck you Raymond, everyone hates you. (If youāre wondering why I hate him so much more than any other antagonist so farā¦I donāt know, I need someone to vehemently hate so it might as well be him.) Anyways, it was after the disappearance of the young boy that the house burned down, and Iām inclined to attribute this to Agnes due to her likely connections to Asag. I think she burned the house down, killing Raymond in the process, and fled with his severed hand forā¦some reason. However, due to the fact that the place was home to two servants of eldritch godsā¦things probably god freaky. Whatever powers Raymond and Agnes served still lay dormant in that abandoned house to this day, burning and controlling whoever walks inside, explaining what happened to Ivo and Edwin. Finally, we have the matter of Raymond and Agnesā fates, along withā¦that tree. That damned tree. Iā¦still have no idea what the fuck is up with this thing. Itās likeā¦THE thing that this episode avoided giving answers on. Still though, Iāll try to rationalize what I can, although this is where my thoughts get a lot more muddy.
So, Raymond seemingly persisted as ghost into the future, and I personally think he was tied to the tree. It would explain why the tree was bleeding, and also why his box was underneath it, although why, when, and how he was tethered to it, as well as who tethered him to it and put the box underneath (who is most likely Agnes but thatās still subject to change), is a complete mystery. Either way, I think Ivoās destruction of the tree and box, Edwinās exorcism, or both is what led to Raymond truly dying, explaining why what is presumably his hand was found to have died on the day Ivo and Edwin visited. This is very very speculative, but itās the best I can do when trying to rationalize the timeline. As for Agnesā¦sheās even MORE difficult to pin down! I initially said that I think Agnes Montague is not the same person as the Agnes from Hill Top Road, but is still related, likely biologically. This is because she was of an age much younger than Hill Topās Agnes shouldāve been. However, I will concede that thereās a slight possibility she is the ghost of Hill Topās Agnes in the same way as Raymond, explaining why she looks 26, as she wouldnāt have really aged. However, I think there are a few flaws in this way of thinking. First of all, assuming that Hill Top burned down around the time Agnes was 18 or 19, the chances of her being 26 and dying in the burnt down house are ultimately hard to pin down. Itās not impossible for that to be the case, but I canāt be certain. Secondly, Iām playing by traditional ghost rules when discussing Raymond, in that I believe he was bound to the tree, and the house by extension. But Ms. Montague was found dead in a Sheffield, so she canāt really work in the same way as Raymond in this scenario. And finally, Ms. Montague had an actual tangible body after death, where as Raymond, assuming he only truly died after Ivo and Edwin arrived, did not as far as I am aware. So the idea of Agnes also truly dying due to Ivo and Edwinās actions seems a bit far fetched to me. So, Iām still sticking with my original theory here. That theory is that Agnes Montague is a descendant of the Agnes on Hill Top Road, who was given Raymondās hand, and died on the same day Ivo tore down the tree for mysterious reasons. Andā¦thatās about it! In short, Raymond and Agnes were quietly beefing with each other for eight years, give or take, Agnes burnt down Hill Top Road, killing Raymond and stealing his hand, left behind two eldritch gods, a creepy tree and Raymondās ghost, said ghost was dealt with when Ivo Lensik and Edwin Burroughs visited the dilapidated house, and Agnes Montague, a descendant of Hill Top Agnes, hung herself on that same day with Raymondās hand on her waist. This isā¦extremely bold of me to make. I only do this because much like Micheal, Hill Top Road is something that is very clearly important with tons of connections to other things, but is also extremely difficult to rationalize at the moment. Soā¦Iām just going to take whatever headcanons I have on Hill Top as fact when writing these until further notice, and then use those headcanons to craft theories thatāll probably end up being wrong. Overall, there is still a lot to learn and a lot of questions to be answered. Like, whatās Raymondās history? Whatās his motivations? Whatās Agnesā history and her motivations? What happened when Ronald left? What is up with the GOD. FORSAKEN. TREE?! All of this is very interesting and Iām very excited, but also terrified of uncovering the truth behind this creepy house and its creepy residents. ā¦But do you want to know what the funny things is. Weāre STILL. NOT. DONE. Because there is one last thing. One thing that I have neglected to mention. The thing that from now on will haunt my every waking moment until death. The fearsome, gruesome, UTTERLY TERRIFYINGā¦
tabel :-)
Let me just start off by saying that: I WAS SO FUCKING RIGHT!!! One of if not my single oldest standing theory Iāve had while listening was that the box underneath the tree was the missing piece of the table, and finally, after FIFTY-ONE episodes of waiting for the answer, I FINALLY HAVE IT CONFIRMED. THAT IS SO FUCKING GRATIFYING YOU HAVE NO IDEA. Part of why I love this episode is because it really makes it feel like Iāve gotten to a point where so much is starting to come together, and that tiny little reveal was just the icing on the cake for me. But enough gloatingā¦this stupid piece of wood. WHY MUST YOU HAUNT EVERY LITTLE CREVICE I TRY TO HIDE IN YOU SICK FREAK?! Soā¦this is an interesting episode in regards to the table, in that it is the only one to have it, while also not featuring the impersonator. Now, I can think of a few reasons for this. You see, Not!Sasha described the pattern on the table as a web, which I do believe now due to Raymondās powers, but thereās also a lot that suggests she said that because the table has trapped her, she must go wherever it goes. So, itās possible that at this point in time she justā¦wasnāt bound to it. However, itās worth noting that in all statements that feature the impersonator, the box is missing from the center. So maybe the impersonator was inside the table, but due to the presence of the box, its bindings were even stronger than usual, to the point where it couldnāt even take anyone. And as for the final potential theory, which is COMPLETE crack; I just think it would be kind of cool if maybe the impersonator was likeā¦the souls of all of the children being used as egg sacks. Like they all got sucked into the table, and start taking over other peopleās lives in order to get their own ones back. Thereās likeā¦a two percent chance that this is the case but I thought it was an interesting idea. Ultimately, all this really does is make the timeline more confusingā¦and also makes me think the impersonator doesnāt have a good relationship with spiders. And speaking of which, I feel like itās worth mentioning how Raymond utilizes the table himself. I think his having everyone gather around it on Sundays was basically his way of keeping control over them, and that maybe the table was what gave him this ability in the first place. Since itās capable of binding the impersonator on its own, maybe he learned how to harness its power and use it on the children. Itās also pretty clear that the apple in the box is what ultimately caused all of those kids to die and become egg sacksā¦but given how Ivo destroyed the thing I donāt know if we have to worry about that anymore. But I think the biggest takeaway from all of this is that the table is a weapon. It can be used for good purposes like binding the impersonator (which has backfired multiple times but likeā¦itās better than just letting it run rampant), but can also be used for sinister purposes like mind control. And given how itās in the institute as we speakā¦well, I can only hope that itāll be used for good going forward. Butā¦UGH thereās so much that its presence here opens up! Like, how do Breekon and Hope fit into all of this? At what point did they bring the table to Graham Folger and then the institute? How many other people was it brought to, if at all. Why was the box separated from it? And why didnāt Jon mention it post-statement?! Iā¦.SSTFYGFTUUJGREEERTTYYUUIIUIKJFEWWERYUKKKLL!!!!
Wellā¦that was certainly an episode of The Magnus Archives, a podcast distributed by Rusty Quill, and licensed under a Creative Commons attribution non-commercial share alike 4.0 international license. There is a LOT that I did not touch on in this episode, and probably a bajillion things that havenāt even occurred to me. Hopefully though, Iāll touch on those in the future when theyāre appropriate to bring up. And like I said, Hill Top Road is like another Micheal to me (oh godā¦the tableā¦and the fractals with Ivoās dad OH NO) with how it just feels like it connects to EVERYTHING. The history of this house, Raymond, Agnes and justā¦everything that surrounds it is so mystifying to me. I feel as if Iām staring into the face of an endless void as we speak, and I donāt know if thatās a good thing or not. Hopefully I will get answers regarding this house soon, but for nowā¦uuuuggghhhh someone save me before I have to give in and become a Jon kinnie. Oh, and speaking of Jon, what about the post-statement and supplemental? Well, we learn that for whatever reason, information regarding Hill Top Road has been largely lost or damaged, which isā¦concerning. I get the feeling that further information on this house must beā¦pretty heavy stuff if itās all been destroyed. Jon also mentions Martinās fondness for spiders here, which we already knew about butā¦itās a bit more strange to me nowadays. I donāt want to be too suspicious of him, especially after he delivered the most legendary plot twist of all time, but I still find it to be an interesting little quirk of his. Lastly, we learn in the supplemental that everyoneās avoiding Jon. And while I do feel bad for him, trulyā¦yeah no shit. I mean Iām sorry sweetheart but youāre not exactly being subtle in your investigations, you shouldnāt be all that surprised by this. ā¦oh dear god. I reach the mid season finale tomorrowā¦please just be somewhat digestibleā¦.
Supplemental: oooooohhhh spooky
- Episode 60, The Observer EffectšŖ
Statement of Rosa Meyer, concerning a persistent feeling of being watched.
Wellā¦here it is. The mid-season finale of Season 2. Now, while this episode isnāt quite as grand and shocking to me as Desecrated Host, it is a very, VERY intriguing one. The statement is one of, if not the shortest one yet, which is fair as it needs to make room for the fairly lengthy supplemental, but it does seemingly help to further verify a few of my theories, brings up some interesting new ideas, has some VERY a interesting implications on a thematic level, and it definitely feels like itās pushing the story intoā¦I guess, another phase or something like that. While I think that this is a solid way to end off the first half of the season, I might not have as much to say about the plot of the statement as I do for some others, as while it is definitely very intriguing, it doesnāt have nearly as many shocking revelations as an episode like the last one for example, just adds to some things that were already implied or suspected. But thatās absolutely fine! Hell, I think I needed something to take my mind off of piecing together Hill Top Road lore, so this is more than welcome. But enough preamble, letās get into the episode that wasā¦oddly personal to me, but likeā¦personal in a really weird wayā¦yeahā¦
So, I kind of just want to start off by answering why this episode was soā¦personal to me. Because itās really weird. Itās not personal in the same way episodes like Lost in the Crowd or Personal Space are, as while this episode did scare me quite a bit, it wasnāt on a deep, psychologically personal level. No, the reason itās personal is just a lot more simple. Itās personal because not only do I live in Norwich, (which isnāt that big of a deal, I mean it was bound to show up in tma eventually)ā¦but my dad edits for BBC Look East. ā¦The same show Rosa Meyers, the protagonist of this episode, presented for. So like, this episode doesnāt affect me that deeply, but it just feltā¦WEIRDLY targeted by how well it lined up with a notable part of my family and Iās lives, and thatās already gained this episode a special place in my heart. Ok, thatās enough of revealing personal details thatāll hopefully not bite me in the ass during future job applications. What about the actual plot of the statement? Starting off, can I get a YIPPEE for our FOURTH cold opening in a row?! HOORAY FOR TRAUMA!!! The whole opening segmentā¦is just so incredibly well performed on Jonnyās part. He always does a great job portraying statement givers in distress, but honestly, this single scene might just be the second best example of this after, like, all of Hive. He REALLY sold how distressed Rosa was when giving this statement, and I fully believed that she was spiraling and breaking down as she wrote it. Iām also really happy that the episode allows this whole breakdown to take up a decent amount of time, as not only does it hint at Rosa being aā¦somewhat unusual statement giver, but it also helps to drive home what I believe is the main point of the episode, although Iāll get into that later. Anyways, the opening is great, and honestly managed to tap into my own fears of being watched with how visceral the voice acting was. Going forward, we learn about how Rosa gained this feeling after doing inventory for her deceased brotherās estate. And based on the way she described his stroke, as well as what he was involved withā¦I mean yeah I doubt he died normally. The man was clearly digging very deep into things he probably shouldnāt have, so I think that āstrokeā was actually something much more sinister. Oddly enough, his death reminds me of that of Ivoās father in Episode 8, and Paul McKenzie in Episode 27, both of whom died in seemingly normal ways that had much more sinister undertones. I was also a little bit unnerved by her sibling-rivalry comments on Christopher, which Iām 99% sure doesnāt mean anything, butā¦Lost Johnsā Cave did things to me soā¦.yeah. Anyways, we also learn here that Christopher Meyers was doing research into ancient religious artifacts, which is obviouslyā¦a very interesting thing to mention given the presence of cults and artifacts throughout the podcast. He even wrote about vampires at one point tooā¦ This weirdness is backed up later when we learn that he was doing research into āouter cultsā and their practices, which I can only assume refers to things like The Divine Host, The Cult of Asag, The Other Circus and more. All of it seems to further suggest that the driving force behind this plot is a war between āØthe horrorsāØ. Itās all very peculiar, and given his mysterious deathā¦as well as the fact we learn he was consulting with The Magnus Institute for unknown reasons, I definitely think that Christopher Meyer will hold some significance later. This statement was given in 1972, meaning that not even James Wright, Eliasā predecessor, wouldāve been in charge at this point, and itās very possible that Gertrude wasnāt either. So I assume itāll be fairly hard to dig up information on Christopherā¦but itās interesting nonetheless.
Anyways, going back to Rosa, itās here that she opens one of Christopherās boxes, and finds the note and mirror that lead to her being watched and gaining extreme paranoia. (By the way, I learned after listening that the title of the episode refers to a phenomenon where you alter the behavior/state of whatever you see, simply by just observing it. Just thought that was pretty cool.) Admittedly, Iām not all that concerned about the note and the mirror in terms of what they could do. The mirrorās shattered now, and either the note canāt act without the mirror or is just kind of creepy, so Iām more concerned about where exactly Christopher even got itā¦and what it mightāve done to him. Breekon, Hope and Mikaele Salesa obviously have a reputation of handing out creepy artifactsā¦but Iām more concerned by the possibility he got it from The Magnus Institute itself. And unfortunatelyā¦I think that might be the case. You see, this mirror and Rosaās following experiences have to be tied to the eye horror, because what else it going to be? This horror has always stuck out to me because of how little it seems to show up compared to other onesā¦but maybe thatās by design. This thing is an observer, a spectator by nature, so it naturally doesnāt get involved all that much, unless someone directly triggers it to, or itās beingā¦carried around by someone like Gerard. And I think that nature is why it connects to The Magnus Institute, why it likely makes its home there, because the institute is the means through which we are told these stories. Most of the people who are working there donāt directly connect back to the statements themselves (at least as far as we know and with the exception of Not!Sasha), so they are therefore also just outsiders who observe the story, collecting knowledge but not really trying to get too involved. So if we have this spectator being that usually doesnāt get involved unless someone walks directly into its domainā¦well, where else would Christopher have gotten that mirror? It lines up pretty nicely with Crusader as well, since Walter Heller was haunted by what was seemingly the same being after stumbling into an older archive. So yeahā¦while the mirror itself doesnāt scare me much, the circumstances behind it definitely do. Following Rosaās encounter with the mirror, she ends up dealing with extreme paranoia and loses her job, eventually bringing her to giving her statement, in hopes of learning more about whatās happening to her, and her brotherās involvement, ending the story. Now while this episode definitely provides some intrigue here and there, especially regarding the eye horrorā¦it is still pretty short and simple. Not a bad thing at all, I still thought it was very solid and chilling, but outside of connections to the eyes, which are clearly VERY importantā¦it doesnāt seem as grandiose as the halfway point of Season 1. However, I still think it works for one reason, that being how Rosa parallels, and potentially foreshadows Jon.
Throughout this episode, there was justā¦a lot of really weird similarities between Jon and Rosa that really scared me, maybe even more than anything confirmed in the statement itself. The most obvious similarity between them is their sheer amounts of paranoia, which is at the very least partially stemmed from the fact that they are both being watched, likely by the exact same thing. ā¦This unknown observer genuinely terrifies me with how mysterious they are. They both have gotten increasingly paranoid, doing whatever they can to get answers on the things that haunt them, start mistrusting people or things in their job that were once familiar to them (which makes Elias stating they donāt want to fire him VERY upsetting), and itās gotten to the point where both of them have caused some level of harm to others. These parallels might not mean much, outside of the obvious connections it provides between Jon and the thing that watched Rosa 24/7, but I think itās what makes this ultimately work really well as a mid-season finale. Weāve witnessed Jon get progressively more and more unhinged as the season goes on, going as far as to stalk his coworkers, suspect them of murder, and break into Gertrudeās flat, and these parallels, combined with the supplemental which Iāll get to later, really do drive home how far the listener has come, and it feels like a nice way to end the first half. Butā¦there is one thing about these parallels that worries me more than anything else. You see, Rosa apparently murdered a delivery van driver named Danilo Costich, who was seemingly delivering stationary to the institute, threw out the stationary, and replaced it with petrol before stealing the truck. Not only is this very reminiscent of Gertrudeās actions in Crusader (which kind of creates a parallel triangle between Rosa, her and Jon)but itās clearly meant to tell us that Rosa had plans of blowing up The Magnus Institute, likely due to the fact she felt more watched in the institute than anywhere else, and figured her observer was in there. This is already worrying enough on its ownā¦but when you consider how her story seems to parallel Jonā¦.it makes me really worried that heāll end up doing something very very stupid sooner rather than later, something that may hurt his colleagues. And thereās one last thing that bothered me. Despite how similar Rosaās situation was to hisā¦Jon didnāt bother to even draw any attention to that, even though his voice was a little bit shakier than usual. This has been a weird pattern of his recently, one very evident in cases like him neglecting to mention the table in Hill Top Road. Itās gotten to the point where I donāt feel like itās unintentional, I think itās a case where Jon, while not exactly in denial like he was in Season 1, is just trying not to draw attention to the things that affect him directly, in order to keep what little sanity he has left. ā¦All in all Iām very scared for him. Soā¦yeah. Thatās The Observer Effect. This is a very intriguing episode, itās short and sweet, but itās brought me back to some ideas Iāve neglected in the past, and is absolutely one of the most thematically rich episodes for me so far. Itās really making me think about this anonymous watcherā¦how it feels like everyone in the institute is its puppet. Well, hopefully the second half of the season will give some big answers, but Iāll just have to wait and see in the meantime.
Lookā¦I know itās a unfortunate situation. I know itās a result of Jon falling so deep into paranoia and insanity that heās hurting both himself and the people around him. I know that it really hurts to see that heās fallen this far, and that his relationships with people who may have once been his friends have fallen apart this much, to the point where he canāt trust them and they canāt trust him. I understand itās a terrible result of trauma and that we hate to see everyone write off his paranoia as folly when there is at least one eldritch monster among them. Butā¦if Iām being honestā¦thank GOD they finally gave him an intervention. Like HOLY SHIT this was long overdue. So yeah, as much as this supplemental did kind of hurt to listen toā¦itās probably for the best that it happened in the first place. But on top of that, it comes with some pretty interesting revelations thatāll likely change the course of the season from here on out. Starting off, Iām absolutely insane about how Jon recorded the intervention that was regarding him recording things. That isā¦so uniquely him. Iām also insane about how despite everything thatās happenedā¦Martin was still decently nice to him. Justā¦can someone please give him all of the riches in the world? Admittedly, this intervention does really show how damaged Jonās relationships with everyone else have become, but Martinās behavior here at least gives me hope that theyāll be able to get on amicable terms in the future. (maybe evenā¦kissā¦) I also really enjoyed the part where Jon mentioned monsters being out there, and cuts himself off before suggesting any of them might be oneā¦oh god that hurts considering Not!Sasha but itās so good. Oh yeah, and Not!Sasha continues to be a dirty little liar in the worst ways possible. Donāt get me wrong, I think sheās kind of a vibe, butā¦āwe care about you Jonā and āletās have no more of this paranoiaā made me want to punch her so badly you have no idea. ā¦I kind of hate the fact that Iām getting used to her being around. All in all itās just a really unfortunate but extremely well written scene. Even though we donāt get to see much of the archival assistants and Elias in Season 1 overall, you can really tell how much things have worsened after Jane showed up, andā¦it hurts. I hope that Jon will be able to repair his relationships with everyone, but logically speaking I really donāt know if thatās going to happen anytime soon. ā¦There is one last thing, however, that I find very intriguing. That is obviously how Elias gave Jon the CCTV footage of the week Gertrude died. Thisā¦seemingly proves that Gertrude was not murdered by anyone in the archives, and Jon starts suspecting that she was murdered by whatever is in the tunnels. Now, I could honestly see this as a red herring. After all, Iāve suspected Elias ever since the cause of death was revealed, and he was the guy who gave Jon the footage, so for all we know he could be obscuring thingsā¦but Iām honestly not all that sure. The being in the tunnels is aā¦complete mystery as of now, like I genuinely have no idea who or what it might be, nor do I know whoās apparently sneaking in when Jon isnāt looking. (My best guess is Not!Sasha but part of me thinks it could be Tim since he was the first person to find them.) In all honesty, Iām now open to multiple interpretations. I donāt feel like I can be fully on board with this theory of Jonās until we learn more about the tunnels, but I am definitely a lot more open to the idea of the killer being someone outside the institute now. I also found it interesting how Gertrude was described as constantly going in and out, looking frantic. After he broke into her flat, Iāve come to the conclusion that Jon and Gertrude were more similar than he would like to admit, so I definitely think she was dealing with her own paranoia sometime before death, and this nearly confirms it for me. Itās also interesting how there arenāt any cameras in the archivesā¦despite that being the room where all of Gertrudeās blood was foundā¦hmā¦also when is Jon going to find her laptop?
Overallā¦this feels like a pretty substantial change. It doesnāt reveal much new informationā¦but it feels like itās sort of changed the direction of the story. I suspect that in the second half of the season, weāll get more information on the tunnels, Jon will turn away from suspecting his employeesā¦a bit, (which is concerning given the existence of Not!Sasha butā¦I digressā¦) and heāll probably start digging in other directions to find Gertrudeās killer. I think weāll get more insight into the members of the archival team going forward, and hopefully, thereāll be some big answers around the time of the finale. But, only time will tell. In conclusion, I thought this was a very satisfying mid-season finale. Itās different from what I was expecting, but I think it serves as a nice way to segue from one half to another, and it definitely pushes the story in new directions. Butā¦Iām more concerned for Jon than ever holy shitā¦
Supplemental: I just recently had a thought regarding Not!Sasha and the table. For a long time, Iāve assumed that the table, and by extension the spiders, are like her captor, and while I do still think that makes the most senseā¦I did think of a potential alternative. You see, Iāve compared her to the anatomy students quite a bit, and the anatomy students have a lot of apple symbolismā¦which might be relevant given the presence of the apple in Hill Top Road. I still think she has more connections to The Anglerfish than anything else, and that the table is her enemyā¦but itās interesting food for thought regardless.
OH MY GOD IāM FINALLY FINISHED. Wowā¦that wasā¦excruciatingly long. Like, it was fun, Iām very proud of the work Iāve put in but LORD ALMIGHTY. So yeahā¦Iāve somehow reached the halfway point of The Magnus Archives Season 2! Itāsā¦genuinely kind of insane to me that not only have I made it this farā¦but that Iām in the mental state I am because of it. Like, I knew this was going to be my new big thing as soon as I listened to Do Not Open, butā¦WOW. This has absolutely taken over my life and brain, andā¦itās justā¦HOW DID I GET FROM A CREEPY GUY ASKING FOR A CIGARETTE TOā¦ALL OF THIS?! AND WHY AM I TALKING THIS MUCH ABOUT IT?! Overallā¦I am simultaneously anticipating and dreading what comes next. This season has already been significantly more packed with insane shit than all of Season 1, so I am NOT PREPARED for whatever comes out of it in this next half. Anyways, thank you so much for making it to the end, you have no idea how much it means to me, and I hope youāll be around for the next post, where Iāll be covering episodes 61-70! Bye! :)
Supplemental Supplemental: Ok there is actually one last thing that popped into my head just now. Iāve taken some time to dwell on it since Still Life, and Iāve come to the conclusion that if The Anglerfish isnāt directly worshipped by The Other Circus, then itās probably just a smaller branch of whatever it does worship. I think I just needed to stop being set on the idea of The Anglerfish being one of the big bads, because as mysterious and inscrutable as it is, it is entirely possible that itās a lesser monster more on the level ofā¦vampires or something. So, here is my current list of āØthe horrorsāØ, updated for Season 2B, now with some potential servants listed as well!
- The Flesh Hive (6, 22, 26, 32, 39, 40, 45, 55)
Servants Include: Jane Prentiss, John Amherst
- The Vast (4, 21, 46, 51, 57?)
Servants Include: Mike Crew, The Fairchilds
- The Piper (7, 42?)
Servants Include: Maybe Alfred Grifter?
- Asag (8, 12, 19, 20, 37, 43, 59)
Servants Include: Diego Molina, Arthur Nolan, Agnes
- The Spiders (8, 16, 19, 20, 38, 59)
Servants Include: Raymond Fielding
- The Darkness (9, 25, 52, 57?)
Servants Include: The Divine Hostā¦In Generalā¦
- The Observer (12, 20, 23, 53, 60)
Servants Include: Gerard Keay, Potentially all of The Keays, The Alexandrian Archivist, Potentially the entire Archival Team?
- Isolation Thing (13, 33, 57)
Servants Include: The Lukas Familyā¦In Generalā¦
- Meat and Bones (14, 17, 18, 30, 49, 58)
Servants Include: Angela, Jared Hopworth, Tom Haan, Eustace Wick
- Compression (15, 41, 50)
Servants Include: George Gilbert Scott, The Governor, Maybe Laura Popham, Maybe whatever is in the tunnels
- The Anglerfish (or something close to it) (1, 24, 28, 44, 54)
Servants Include: The Other Circus, Breekon & Hope, Sarah Baldwin, Daniel Rawlings
- Micheal (8, 26, 47)
Servants Include: ā¦Himself? idk (:/)
- The Master of The Reapers (29)
Servants Include: The Reapersā¦duhā¦
And then thereās probably something else Iām missing. Or maybe not idk. Ok, goodbye for real now! :)
#tma#the magnus archives#jonathan sims#not!sasha#basira hussain#gertrude robinson#walter heller#martin blackwood#jordan kennedy#tim stoker#elias bouchard#simon fairchild#robert montauk#the anglerfish#jane prentiss#trevor herbert#carter chilcott#raymond fielding#mag 51#mag 52#mag 53#mag 54#mag 55#mag 56#mag 57#mag 58#mag 59#mag 60
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been sketching magnus archives bits in coloured pens in my tiny notebook ! i think they came out sufficiently scary and unnerving !
here is an image from ep. 60: observer effect
below the cut: jane prentiss and her worm-burrowed skin holes :) from ep. 32: Hive
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āI do not eat and I do not drink and I do not sleep. I subsist on suffering. I delight in suffering. I am the all and the end and the being. I am the mother of cruelty.ā ~ Desolation
āShe is at least seven feet tall, shrouded in red and gold. Her eyes are long. I know that doesnāt quite make sense, but theyāre just long, thatās what they are. Her cheeks are sharp and sunken. She has a broad smile but I think that might be carved into her face.ā ~ Stranger
āHow does one fight when one cannot be confident that your thoughts are your own? Perhaps we should check with Mother Lauren. Surely she knows what to do here. No! No! Cleary I have been influenced. I am sorry listeners. I cannot be trusted. I am part of her plan too.ā ~ Web
Mother Lauren is really just bringing a fear salad to Night Vale, huh? Though I am curious,
#wtnv#wtnv 248#lauren mallard#mother lauren#tma#the desolation#the stranger#the web#personally i think sheās Desolation#with some Web and Stranger influence#bc yes she is uncanny and yes the mind control but.#if her ultimate goal is to cause suffering?#that just screams Desolation to me#but also thereās a LOT of Web there sooo maybe equal influence?#idk I feel like itās maybe a 40%/60% situation#welcome to night vale#the magnus archives
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Alright I have to say my piece because I have seen some people theorizing that the reason the institute is burned down is because of Gertrude or it has to do with the destruction of the panopticon but I have a theory and itās kinda weird and crazy
In MAG 60: Observer Effect the statement giver Rosa Myers is a news broadcaster in the 70s but after unpacking her dead brothers boxes she finds and hand mirror and is seen by the eye she then has the constant feeling of being watched she suffers a breakdown and loses her job she says in her statement she would lay low until her parents died and 12 years later her both her parents had passed away over the 12 years she worked a civil service job laying low after which she found out that her brother consulted the institute before he died presumable about the artefact that marked her around 20 years after she was marked she killed a truck driver and stole his trucked pumped it full of petrol and drove it with the aim of destroying the Magnus Institue fortunately she got into a crash before she made it to the Institute
My theory is that instead of getting into a crash she drove into the institute destroying it in 1999 which is around 20 years after the 70s I donāt know if it has any significance but I just thought I would throw this out there
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just listened to mag 60
thinking about the observer effect
someone reminded me that Amy maybe stopped the Not!Them from getting Graham by watching him
and maybe Jon's paranoia has actually been the thing stopping Not!Sasha from doing some creepy stuff...
but now the others have calmed him down so he might stop watching... 0.0
#god tma is not good for my paranoia#this whole thing is freaking me out#and yes i'm apparently liveblogging now#i don't really think this is a good theory but i need to put these thoughts into words#tma#the magnus archives#tma liveblog#tma theory#tma vague#tma the eye#tma podcast#jonathan sims#not!sasha#not!them#mag 60#mag 003#the observer effect#graham folger#amy patel
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