#tmagp solo work

[brettanomycroft]

Sam fumbled Gwen’s Bonzo reveal… but he’d been primed to do so

I suspect that there's going to be a LOT of conversation around Sam after this episode, and since this episode was so good that I couldn't think of a meme or shitpost, I decided I'd throw my hat into the ring and do some character analysis instead. CW: Spoilers for The Magnus Protocol episode 18, "Solo Work" under the cut.

Episode 18 finally gave us the Sam and Gwen interaction I (and I think a lot of others) have been so desperate to finally see, and boy oh boy do I have Thoughts… none of which are new per se, but Sam’s reaction to Gwen dropping the Bonzo Bomb seems to have reinforced  the way I’ve been reading (and projecting in fanfiction oops) Sam, his personality, and his motivations.

Out of everyone new we’ve been introduced to so far, Sam has by far gotten the most explicit development and conversation around his personality. Even before episode 1, folks who participated in the ARG got a preview of our favorite baby shrimp’s personality through access to the child database spreadsheet that was, presumably, used to document the results of the experiments run on children participating in The Magnus Institute’s “gifted and talented program.” From this spreadsheet, we can gather that Baby Sam is logical, empathetic, works towards the benefit of others (prosocial), and fair… but also a rule follower and highly willing to follow the lead of an authority figure, even if it is in conflict with his personal views. The picture this information paints is an interesting one, but when taken in a vacuum leaves us with an impression of Sam as someone who is kind but lacking in backbone.

This idea of Sam as “kind but lacking in backbone” is further reinforced in canon, as Alice of multiple occasions rags on him for being “noodly” and “ickle fawn” and a “baby shrimp,” all seeming to highlight that Sam has the sort of helplessness about him typically ascribed to sopping wet kittens and baby birds. And I think that if we view Sam’s outburst when Gwen brings up Bonzo through this lens alone, it’s going to seem WAY out of character for him and a downright cruel response.

Now while I do believe that Sam is empathetic and fair and, sometimes, a little helpless, I’ve been inclined to believe from early on that much of Sam’s affable self-deprecation is a way to cover or soften what can be, at times, a tendency to be hard-headed, temperamental, a little manipulative, and petty (and I’m totally not just saying that as a people-pleaser-and-gifted-kid-in-recovery who has been projecting hard on Sam since Day 1). And it’s this second batch of personality traits, the ones that make Sam so real and interesting to me, that I think set up the disaster of a conversation between Sam and Gwen.

We have definitely seen hints of Sam’s hard-headedness and manipulative leanings in previous episodes: it comes out most often around Alice, showing his stubbornness in the form of refusing to give up his lines of questioning and curiosity about what is happening in the cases and at the OIAR; and revealing his willingness to manipulate a situation the form of subtly redirecting Alice’s focus away from prying into his crush on Celia and during the mocha incident (I have, of course, already explored Sam’s manipulative tendencies in my totally comprehensive shitpost).

And we’ve even been shown at times before episode 18 where Sam can be petty, his buzzed insistence that Alice try and keep things “professional” at work after his date with Celia being at the top of the list. The case headers filed for “Putting Down Roots” and “Pet Project” also suggest to me Sam’s ability to be stubborn and petty: in both instances, Alice and Gwen suggest a different classification than the one that Sam ultimately files. In the case of Gwen in “Pet Project,” she’s dismissive of him when he tries to ask if she’s all right.

While there’s no way to know for sure, I interpret this interaction as part of the reason why Sam ultimately disregarded Gwen’s suggestion for how to file the case—she shut him down and shut him out, and the petty part of his heart couldn’t resist ignoring her recommendation out of spite. This scene also begins to lay the foundations for Sam and Gwen’s interactions in episode 18 and, I suspect, the rest of the season.

So with all of this in mind, let’s look at episode 18. When Gwen emerges from Lena’s office, Alice has just finished shutting Sam down, again. Throughout most of this season, Sam has been desperate for some validation that the cases they are listening to are real, that whatever happened to him at The Magnus Institute was real, and that him pursuing this line of questioning and wanting to find answers isn’t a waste of his time. Alice has, of course, been not-so-gently nudging him away from this line of thinking for most of the season, while Gwen has been icing him out about it up until this point. Just about the only one who has given his questioning any air has been Celia who is, conveniently, not there. Even after Alice has her very own supernatural experience that is reaffirmed in the case Sam receives, she strongly pushes back on his idea that they should investigate and pursue this further. He understands why she doesn’t want to learn more, but it’s clear that he’s still frustrated at the end of the conversation.

Enter Gwen. Here, for the first time, it seems like she’s opening up about what is going on at the OIAR, and Sam is immediately hooked, even dropping his softer and sympathetic side when Alice tries to redirect with one of her classic barbs.

After being shut down time and time again, Sam is so eager for confirmation that there is more to all of this than meets the eye. And then Gwen says the B-word, and Sam loses it.

Sam is laughing here, but honestly? I think he’s angry, and his reaction is one of complete disbelief that Gwen would set him up like this just to, in his mind, take the piss out of him. He thinks that, at best, Gwen is having a breakdown and he’s once again being shut out or, at worst, Gwen is making a joke at his expense. Now, he’s used to being the butt of a joke thanks to being friends with Alice, but despite that we’ve never heard him call her an asshole the way he does Gwen. Temperamental and petty, turning around his hurt and anger over being stonewalled again and again to lash out at Gwen with his joke.

And honestly, can you blame him? (I can’t.)

Of course this wasn’t the ideal reaction. I have been waiting for Sam and Gwen to have a serious heart-to-heart about what’s going on forever, and Sam pretty much blew that chance without even realizing it. And I would be surprised if we get an apology out of him anytime soon, not only because this interaction is likely to push Gwen away from wanting to even be around Sam, but also because he’s not going to believe that Gwen wasn’t making fun of him or that Gwen isn’t having a delusional breakdown until he sees Mr. Bonzo with his own two eyes.

I also think this conversation would have gone very differently had Celia been there instead of Alice. Sam’s slew of psychological testing suggests he’s willing to follow the leader, and in this case he doesn’t seem immune to Alice’s general dismissiveness of Gwen. He may have even been primed to lash out at Gwen in this moment because Alice is constantly ragging on her; chameleon-like, he’ll take on the shade of the strongest personality when he’s on uncertain or dangerous footing. It’s almost a guarantee that Celia would have taken Gwen seriously, not only because she’s likely from or connected to the TMA-verse of horrors, but also because it was Celia who received the first Mr. Bonzo case. And had Celia been there to temper the disbelief, Sam would have absolutely been ready to hear Gwen out in full. I honestly cannot wait for Celia to be back in office; she’s going to walk in to these new, rancid office vibes like Troy from Community walking into the whole room on fire while casually carrying the pizza.

So, what do I think this means for the rest of the season? Well, the title of this episode seems telling: Solo Work. Gwen and Sam’s respective desires for their experiences to be validated and their goals to be taken seriously paired with the seeming dismissiveness of those around them are going to push them along their separate paths, dangerously alone. And I suspect that it is only going to be Celia or, more likely, an encounter with Bonzo, that is going to put them back on the same path—if it happens at all. Good luck, babes!

[ceaselessims]

this caused me to scream louder than the horror

[lilaczx]

Live Blogging TMAGP Ep 18, Solo Work

Reading the Incident Elements, oh okay.

Teddy is back, wait why is Teddy back

Irritating, but Erotic that is so Tim coded

Teddy has gone MIA

Wait Teddy likes Sam

Teddy do not keep Alice on read

Stalking

Wait nothing fucking bad should happen to Teddy

Oh shit Lena and Sam interaction

My silence a compliment, it be like that for real

Lena is accepting of Celica being a single Mom, woo

Ok so another medical exmainer

wait Augustus

Okay so a death of a white lady

Shit she is taller than me

Oh they killed her

or had a hand in it

oh shit who casted speak with dead

giving her statement?

Web statement?

Spiral statement?

Oh my god a collab between the both

Helen???

Is she trapped in a hill top road situation?

The lonely as well

And corruption??

Oh there is some yellow wallpaper influences with the daffodils

I am listening to this statement as my Baba is sing, it is two very different vibes

shittttt

ah sleep paralysis demon

oh that makes sense, I do

Jon??????

Alice you are projecting

The cases you are listening are most likely true (think about tea and sims confirming that)

Alice might have PTSD

Curiosity gets you killed, yep that is true

The guy from the coffin case had the right idea

ohhh Bonzo

I mean Alice is right, Gwen the known classist

Mr.Bonzo

Sam that is disrespectful and I love it

Gwen also has PTSD probably

Georgie?!!!!

Oh my god

Wait is she his babysitter

Are you spying on you for the government, is wild

Thanks Baba for the Bacon as a snack

[cirrus-grey]

Georgie sounds like she may be without a Melanie and I am devastated.

[thecorruption-thespiralsversion]

So we going to talk about this?

The MAG episode about how "curiosity gets you killed"!

Can we 🙏

Please!!!!!

[myfandomscollide]

After some thought, the meaning of this episode, Solo Work, is about Jonah/Augustus letting the relevant people know that he's watching the horrors… and Gwen/Alice parallel the corpse's statement as they reach out for aid or support, Gwen mainly is compelled by her job to continue operating with the externals. While Alice is relatively annoyed and uninterested. The examiner in the case file wants the corpse to stay silent, Meaning Augustus wants the OIAR to continue to stay silent, presumably to continue observing the horrors.

Featuring some screenshots of mine regarding Episode 4.

[ye-olde-tardis]

GEORGIE???? GEORGIE, MY LOVE, IS THAT YOUUUUU?????? AAAAAAAAA

[everchased]

how do you feel about gerry return

INSANE TBH. i haven't stepped into tmagp really and i'm still deciding if i want to but i did enjoy hearing his very alive and not-a-book-ghost voice from the clip posted on here <3

[tak-angina-jasne]

its funny how whenever they say house in this episode i somehow hear it written in the blue font

[fractal-voidling]

MAGP018 │ Solo Work

CAT1RC2374-20032024-10042024 Memory (derelict) -/- compulsion

excellent narration, hated every second

Alice, you bxtch

[disappointingcabbage]

Tmagp 18 thoughts, spoilers under the cut!!

Episode title was originally going to be “I Wandered Lonely” but they changed it to “Solo Work”

I think Teddy might be coming back to the OIAR despite his insistence that he’s interviewing somewhere else

Celia’s not at work, apparently had a childcare emergency (another teleportation incident?)

Augustus (Jonah?) statement :0

Talking corpse!!! Might be the drowning victim Alice encountered, or something similar

Ooh the talking corpse’s statement sounds like the lonely house Martin almost got lost in during the eyepocalypse

There’s fog, Big Lonely Moment

She seems to have died walking through the lonely house according to the injuries listed on the autopsy report

Sam immediately made the connection between this case and Alice’s incident

If there were more details in the case I would agree more with sam that alice should investigate it but as it is, Alice is right, she should probably avoid it due to trauma

Alice bringing up curiosity being what gets you killed is very much a Jon callout

GWEN IS ACTUALLY TELLING PEOPLE THINGS HOLY SHIT

Oh fuck Sam never heard the Bonzo statements he thinks she’s kidding

I hope he realizes she wasn’t kidding

GEORGIE!!!

also jack has a voice now

“You don’t need to lie to me” “I’m not!” Immediate big glitch

Are they roommates?

poor Georgie is paranoid

Yup, definitely a teleportation incident again

[theeverchase]

TMAGP 018: SOLO WORK.

I know this is a long one but bear with me!!

I really liked acting it out and I love cosplaying Gwen…this scene is so epic big up my fav anousia battersby 🤨🏃

[loveabledustbunny]

TMAGP episode 18: Solo Work

[tuberculosis-lover-69]

Ranking tmagp episodes

18 solo work

4 taking notes

16 anti social

7 give and take

15 well run, error

8 running on empty

3 putting down roots

15 well run, lady m

13 futures

2 making adjustments

14 pet project

1 first shift, Magnus institute

5 personal screening

10 Saturday night

9 rolling with it

12 getting off

19 hard reset

11 marked

17 saved copy

1 first shift, death grief

6 introductions

Relisting and decided to rank them

I'm ranking each statement, spooky event? description ? This doesn't include the meta plot

[cirrus-grey]

I also just want to point out that Violet never said what questions that reaching figure in the alley was asking so until proven otherwise I’m going to assume it was “can I have a cigarette?”

[broodingheroine]

tmagp 18 thoughts

solo work...... lonely...... hmm.....

humming??

TEDDY!

didn't recognize??

HES AT THE OIAR???

is he coming back..... pls no.......

alice let the man speak

yk I'm a little scared that teddy keeps coming back

oh he's definitely avoiding her for some reason

lena and sam moment !!! love it when sams all awkward

"why would I need to talk to you" lena I'm obsessed with you pls be MY boss

AUGUSTUS!!!!!!

malnutrition...... like when darrien dimension hopped???

yk I think this is why ppl record their autopsies. in case smth weird happens.

SPIDERS?????? SPIDERS??????

TURNING PASSAGEWAYS?

UH UH UH UH

wasn't there a house in the eyepocalypse that was a lonely domain or smth

FOG

A HOUSE INSIDE OF YOU??? LIKE THE HALLWAYS ARE A PART OF YOU?????

oh my god oh my god oh my god

DISTORTIONNNNNN

ASKING QUESTIONS?????? WHAT THE FUCKKKKK

ON THE STAIRS.... THERE WAS A MAN UPON THE STAIRS.......

also uhhhh speaking after theyre dead? seems like a trend

mayhaps an archivist is asking victims abt their experiences and they spout it out AFTER they're dead

sam you are suuuuuuuch a manipulator I love you

jonathon sims needed an alice.

gwen <3

"not fun" gwen you're so detail oriented

alice you have no right to not believe gwen rn after you just saw a drowning victim speak after death

SAM....... what the hell man

GEORGIE............ GEORGIE BARKER........

um. taking whose what?

I'm sorry until she's already GONE?

oh she sleep walked again rip

GEORGIE WHAT?

god she's such a conspiracy theorist

are they both dimension hoppers and don't realize the other is???

okay this episode was a doozy

most importantly: GEORGIEEEEEE

second most importantly: distortion????

third most importantly: spiders hhhh

so sams theory of someone being able to make you live your worst nightmare is....

shit got crazy at work so I can't fully articulate my thoughts rn but pretty much: jesus christ