#tsv 24

[siltslut]

my dealer: got some straight gas 🔥🔥 this strain’s called “the silt verses” it’ll have you zoinked out of your gourd 💯💯🦀

me: yeah. sure. i don’t feel shit.

one hour later: hey i think there are some fucked up wolves over there

nana glass: the door’s been sticking lately, give it a good push. lay the table. we’re almost there. if it doesn’t rain tomorrow, we can get you started on repainting the coracle. what do you think? we’ll have enough leftovers for tomorrow. would you like to say grace, mallory? you’re very quiet, girl. everything all right? it’s getting dark. damn, em, he knows he mustn’t be out this late. you’ll have to do his work for him, mallory. you’re old enough now - yes, it’s about time. unlock the cellar. take that boy by the halter and lead him down to the garden. make him ready for the angels to come. and see that he’s tethered properly, too. lose him, and i’ll make you chase him down yourself. what do you mean, you don’t want to? “a coward comes prepared with the soundest arguments. courageous souls need none at all.” and why not? if we want our god to hear us, this is the method. it’s the only method - it’s the way that’s always been. it isn’t a pleasant duty, it isn’t something we should take joy in, but it’s a part of life. the boy’s to be given tonight. and you’re the only one who’s to do it. do you think you’re above this, mallory?

[tsvwords]

But you can’t actually be certain about tonight, can you?

You find it difficult to keep the facts straight in your head.

You can’t even be sure, as you stand in your nana’s kitchen again, that this was the worst night of your life, the most shameful night, the night that makes you coil your fists and wince as you remember it.

Perhaps it was the night after. When Em finally came back home - looking stoned or hungover, refusing to answer any of Nana’s questions about where he’d been - and as he sat and painted the coracle as punishment, you danced around him in the silt and you boasted to him about what you’d done while he was away.

You pretended you were proud to have participated, proud to have helped your Nana. You scornfully acted out the soft, desperate cries of the boy that you’d left tethered out by the water. 

You boldly bragged that you intended to carry out the next sacrifice yourself as well, as he’d been doing it for far too long and you were owed a proper turn.

And Em looked at you like…what was that look he gave you?

Because it wasn’t pride, like you were hoping for.

It was something else.

— Chapter 24: And We'd Be Gone Without A Trace.

[hezekiahwakely]

Carpenter's VA deserves every award for her performance. Chapter 24 has ruined. Me.

[starsandwriting]

Baby (demonic) who cheered!!!!

[catwyk]

crab boy had it coming he shoulda known not to mess w carpenter's pancakes (original version below cut :p)

drew this partway through the 11hr s3 marathon during a flight when i was desperate for healthy happy interaction

[cherrywhite]

I keep thinking about Carpenter's final moments of the podcast and I cannot stop thinking how, despite everything, she was still choosing to move forward and live on. Her brother is dead. She just had to say goodbye to him for the final time. Her friends are fled from her, with no certainty if she will ever catch up to them (and it will haunt me, that she will never know that Hayward died. That he got the ending he wanted even if it might not have been the reunion Carpenter had hoped for them. And if she does suspect what ultimately happen to him, it will haunt me that she chooses to believe they both made it out despite the odds). She's all alone.

And she could find a nice spot and wait for her ending. Lie down and let the long grass take her. But she chooses to get back up. To dream of some sort of future, with cats perhaps, where she lives on. Gets a haircut. Raises a toast to her friends. She will choke on her Nana's song, "There'll be no more need for hurt, word or deed. For sorrow," she will choke on the words and forget the lines and brokenly laugh at the absurdity of it all in the midst of all that grief as she chooses to trudge on, aching and in pain.

"I'll see you back around here another time soon." she says.

[lights-at-night]

ngl my first thought abt todays ep was omg the cannibalistic baby from the silt verses

[clonerightsagenda]

Oh that was a brilliant use of the in-episode credits, in the last few minutes Carpenter did the "these are the silt verses and these are our acolytes in the order of their appearance" and rattled everyone off ending with Harlan Guthrie and I went 'hey didn't he play the guy who knocked Faulkner out last episode' and then he showed up and knocked Carpenter out

[new-hyperfixation-every-month]

vigour of the young

(@thesiltverses)

[fromthebunkers]

Worst groundhog day ever

[mintytea-exe]

carpenter feels guilty for the way she treated faulkner in season 1 ohhhhh I'll never be okay again

[eyesteeth]

where im at rn wip wise is i have 2 pieces that are almost done, 1 that has several more hours in the hole, and 2 that are just in the brain stage. one's a companion to the carp n faulk comic i did and one's an absolutely fucking massive idea titled "all dogs go to heaven" which i just know is gonna bust my wrist again if i attempt. but golly am i in the soup. i am never not in the soup

[tsvwords]

You’re an organ in the working body of this world, Mallory Glass. No amount of scornful looks and sour remarks is going to change that. You’re no better than what’s come before, and you’re no better than what’s coming after. So - you will participate.

— Chapter 24: And We'd Be Gone Without A Trace.

[hezekiahwakely]

Was that a fucking Silt Verses reference

[resident-quilt]

Shrue’s descent into radicalism and what the Silt Verses says about our world today

(also, regarding the giant poem that the episode titles make) ITS A TUMBLR ESSAY BABYYYYYYYYY

Kill your gods. Starve them out, topple their statues, forsake their comfort— Kill the stories that gave birth to them. Tear away your flesh that bears their marks.  Adjudicator Shrue, Ep. 43

The Silt Verses is a story born of its time, to a 21st century world which is slowly decaying—and everyone in it is doing their part to help it decay just a little bit faster. It speaks of capitalism, of corruption, of power and belief and environmental destruction and the rift between generations. When Charles tells Val he can’t really stand behind the idea of a family (“You wonder about what kind of world we’re bringing children into, y’know?”) I had to pause and gather myself; it’s something we hear from so many Gen Z’ers today.

But then Shrue’s speech came, and it made no sense.

Shrue calls for an end in any form it can be given. They call for the loss of all faith and love and community in the world; they call for us to kill the stories of our history, to kill the figures we believe in and the ones that give us hope. Anything, everything, all we can give to stop the decay and degradation of the world. They demand us to defeat the corrupt system we have built by trading our lives to do so.

If our words and stories sustain them, let us fall silent. If our communities rely on them, let us drift apart and die, lonely, in the polluted wilds amongst the howling winds of long forgotten deities.

It made no sense because TSV, most simplistically, embodies “no ethical consumption under capitalism”—and this solidly did not fit. So I cast about for an answer to what it all meant, because TSV had grown to be more than the “folks, look where capitalism got us” which I thought it to be. And Shrue's “we can’t do anything to escape the system but die” was just too flat a conclusion. 

Then I fell upon the poem compiled from each episode’s title.

It begins with the start of humanity: a story of things that have happened, things people have believed, things which have roamed the land from then til now. 

Let me speak first of revelations, and next of dark deceit. Then I’ll speak of champions, of lovers, gods and beasts.

And so the poem continues in a description of this story, until it eventually twists to become entirely self-destructive around Chapters 18-24. It's a reference to how everything in the TSV universe seems to eat itself: their system of gods, sacrifices, even the characters themselves.

If I could trace with bloodless fingers, if my hands could shape the flow, I’d bear this song to the precipice and rend us both to dust below.  We’d both go plunging downwards, one final fall from grace— I’d howl, I’d scream, in victory, and we’d be gone without a trace. 

At Chapter 25, we get a respite from the story. We get a short poetic break which concludes that yes, we’re doomed to die—but we continue as we are despite it, and write our story even if it’ll be lost in the end. It’s a classic conclusion that a lot of literature and poetry fall to, because it’s so very human. It’s a cliche, and it’s a cliche for a reason. 

But we’ll never be rid of each other, my song, my sorrow, and I,  So I’ll bear it trembling onwards: to drift on, to dream, to die.

With that, the poem progresses forward until it starts addressing our end and what happens when we face that. It screams of last-ditch efforts keep on believing, even as we plunge down and down and the world just gets worse and worse. Shrue’s speech takes place in “One Last Song of Revelations” (the title is so fitting!), where they vocalize their realization that their pacifist attitude isn’t doing shit to change anything. 

But when they switch towards radicalism because it’s, evidently, the only way anything will ever get done—the only way anything will get the exposure to maybe make an impact—they speak of the destruction of society as a whole. Not the eradication of capitalism, nor the installation of kinder gods, nor the lowering of sacrifice ceilings. They speak of true destruction. Utter destruction.

Shrue’s speech isn’t some call to action, nor does it embody any concrete ideology which the writers are trying to convey. It’s just an expression of desperation. Nothing is working; no one is listening. 

What this poem sounds like is a story of how our world goes. It's its birth, its self-destruction, its philosophical revelations, its finale.

When we began following Carpenter and Faulkner in the reeds of the White Gull River, we were consuming a commentary on capitalism. Now, it’s more. It’s a commentary, yes, but it’s not only that—it’s an exploration. The Silt Verses is a tragic exploration of our world as it connects to theirs, of how we’ve been driven so far and been corrupted so deeply that only radicalism makes a difference because only radicalism is what gets the notice and attention to spark moderate change. And that same radicalism is going to destroy the society we have left.

But it’s all the same in the end, because society's collapse was going to happen anyways. So at least someone had it in them to fight for something.

GAHHHH I LOVE THIS SHOW

[cherrywhite]

TSV Fan Favorite Survey Results

Last week I made a small TSV survey for the heck of it and ended up getting way more results than I originally expected!! Wanted to share the results.

When I'm in a "Who's your favorite TSV main character" competition and my opponent is Carpenter 🤯 (Okay but.. is anyone surprised?)

Fun fact: for a while Hayward had only one or two votes and idk why that surprised me so much. Though I'm shocked he got more than Faulkner overall

Top 5 minor characters, as voted: Val > Shrue > Sibling Rane > Gage > Sid Wright

Also unsurprising! Though I regret that I didn't word the question as "Pick up to 5" instead of top 5. Val almost got 100% of the votes in this category... off by 4.. I respect you but also who are you 4 I just want to know

Top 5 side characters, as voted: Acantha > Nana Glass / Greve > Charity / Elgin > The Homesick Corpse > Chuck Harm (though Cross came very close to tying!!)

Acantha at the top is also unsurprising! Though.. looking at the top one.. looks like we all have a thing for old ladies, huh? Definitely my mistake in that I didn't add Em and Vaughn in there to begin with💦 Shoutout to the one person who voted Helen. Also, we love to see that Daggler got 0 votes.

Favorite God, as voted: Th Cairn Maiden > The Many Below > The Trawlerman > The Watcher in the Wings > The Saint Electric

The Beast that Stalks in the Long Grass and The Last Word each got one vote. Also, The Chitterling got a vote. Henge, the god Hayward mentions in s1, the one that takes things people wish to lose, got two votes! :D Idk why, but it's such an unexpected pull to me, it makes me happy to see it was remembered!

Top 5 s1 episodes, as voted: Chapter 4 > Chapter 7 & Chapter 15 > Chapter 1 > Chapter 13 > Chapter 3, 8, 11, & 12 (tied with 3 votes)

Fun fact: of season 1 episodes, only 4/15 episodes weren't picked as someone's favorite!!

Top 5 s2 episodes, as voted: Chapter 24 > Chapter 29 > Chapter 19 > Chapter 17 > Chapter 23

Also not surprised because chapter 24 is also my favorite (probably my most relistened to episode and it still makes me cry). Though, I will say, I was surprised chapter 20 didn't have more votes since that one also seems to be a favorite writing wise!

Fun fact: of all s2 episodes, only 1 episode wasn't picked as someone's favorite! (okay, idk why it's important to me to point out, I just think it's interesting!! Though I can admit I could probably phrase it better. I think the fave episodes are spread out pretty evenly for each season though, which is really neat in my opinion.)

Top 5 s3 episodes, as voted: Chapter 46 > Chapter 38 > Chapter 37 > Chapter 36 (we are not immune to a good tragic love story, I see) & Chapter 43 > Chapter 44

For a while, Chapter 38 had the most votes which I thought was.. idk how to better phrase it, but.. sweet. Because Carpenter's returning home episode was the fave of s2 and if Faulkner's returning home episode had also been the fave... something something we sure do love these terrible siblings, huh? But! Unsurprisingly the finale is the big fave of the season. How many of us have recovered from it??

Fun fact: Of season 3, only 3 episodes weren't chosen!

Boooo I shouldn't have given y'all the option to abstain from picking!! "Don't make me choose," you cowards!! /lh

mandatory link to this recommendation

Favorite episode title:

Hi. So, um. I'm an idiot. And didn't realize that Google Form automatically turns short answers into a bar graph. So unfortunately, the results for this one is..well

And half of these are the exact same title with slightly different phrasing 🙃

BUT I'm nothing if not determined so I went through and organized everything though I didn't make a pie chart. Needless to say. I think we all know the favorite episode title (care to make a guess?)

Favorite episode title: But We'll Never Be Rid of Each Other (25%)

Its Wrath Shall Scald the Sun came second with only 9% of the vote. We sure do love our doomed siblings, huh?