Episode 74:
The spiral or Destruction?
Okay, the way she talks about just feels like the last four months.
Oh look hi Michael!
7:59 – Is this based on the Russian Sleep experiment creepy pasta? Because this sounds like it’s based on the Russian Sleep experiment creepypasta. Which, god damn, I respect because that is a good creepy pasta but
11:54 – Unsurprisingly, because the Spiral likes Non-Euclidian, it’s likes circles and spirals and swirls. Because the original application/definition of Non-Euclidian is a sphere.
14:00 – She awfully optimistic about the fact that she going to, you know, LIVE. I respect it but goddamn.
15:51 – she’s going to die very soon, isn’t she?
I really respect the number of times a title has had double meanings for the story being told.
16:16 – Jonny is such a good voice actor because of his ability to convey how unnerved and yet believing he is of this is. The Spiral relies on madness, on the mind twisting and turning in on itself, destroying itself. I’m surprised the Spiral has lasted this long given that all it’s people seem to die, probably very young.
I am surprised that Jon doesn’t drink coffee. Given everything else we know about him, you’d think he’d mainline it.
After supplemental – I’m impressed with Jon, for respecting the fact that Basira is having her own issues to deal with and not drawing her into his shitshow. On some level, I’m kind of surprised that Jon isn’t on some level, one of the Spiral’s because fucking Madness is very close to paranoia. I mean, paranoia has to be at least one of the Entities’ wheelhouses, like the Hunt.
Given the last 6 months of Jon’s life, he’s very in the paranoia hole.
18:01 – That’s surprising, unless the flip side of the Eye is to conceal that which should, that wants to remain hidden. Or the nature of the architecture prevents effective monitoring. Or or it’s the same reason why certain cases cannot be recorded on anything but a tape recorded.
Going back to Binary (65), everything other than binary is considered analogue, and binary is basically magnets and 1s and 0s. CCTV is of course binary because it’s of how it’s recorded. Given the nature of analogue vs digital, and this might lead to a discussion/ research project of what other media (mediums) qualify as analogue. Sound obviously, writing but not typing? Unless on typewriter?
Not!Sasha doesn’t give a shit about you, Jon. As in, she doesn’t give a shit about your survival, except as useful as you are as a talisman rather than a human being to her.
19:22 – The idea that someone is moving solid wood out of the way is concerning, glad we’re on the same page. Is it anywhere near the cache where Gertrude hid her stuff? Is he looking for references to the Lietner books?
Episode 75:
Okay, based solely on the title, Jon’s going to be an idiot and go into the tunnels alone.
Old school cameras aren’t binary. Would he have better luck recording onto a VHS rather than something else, as VHS is magnetic. Pretty sure that new school CCTV does not use VHS.
3:16 – Stranger of Vast, because you know, heights; because, weirdly, Heights are the purview of the Vast AND the Stranger? I mean the Vast makes sense.
5:06 – It almost sounds like he’s speaking from experience. Or, you know, he knows someone who is like that.
6:03 – Oh look, man with lightening scar. Let’s talk about Michael Crew. Which in turn means it’s the Vast.
10:02 – Oh look, an Avatar of the Vast watching a man trying to overcome his fear. Did Michael cause the accident to make Grant climb the ladder? Is he trying to make Grant confront his fear or is this an offering to the Vast?
11:03 – Loneliness isn’t a sign of the Vast, is it? Cause the Lonely, based on the one lady who married into the Lukas family, which the Lukas Family really likes the Lonely. The interesting hallmark of the Lonely is that you’re alone in a crowded space, the graveyard, the church, the ship with containers.
A big wide open space is more the Vast’s speed. Even the ship, despite being on the sea, is still crowded. Standing alone in the middle of the Sahara desert if more the Vast.
14:50 – This is kind of ridiculous on the dude’s part. Your brother has a phobia of climbing up 2 flights of stairs on a ladder, like sobbing. And you think it’s funny to take him to a place that will probably almost make him go catatonic? That’s a dick move.
17:35 – Probably one of the first times that a working phone was taking into the domain on an Entity, that we know of. I mean, the phone is going to lose charge in a heartbeat, so Grant is fucked, but that anything go through is kind of shocking.
18:50 – Okay, let’s take a hot sec. Lichtenburg are fractals, as it turns out. Which means that each domain has overlapping indications. Spiral and Vast share fractals of all things.
20:18 – Okay, so Basira went “ah fuck this shit, I’m out.” Basira is a rare thing in that she’s a cop with morals that she’s usually not willing to compromise on. I think she’s realized that nobody cares aout this, they just want it gone.
I still love that Daisy is like “ah sure whatever, take them.”
Episode 76:
1:56 – Based on the name alone, the Flesh.
3:11 – Jon is a creampuff. I love that his response is, oh you’re going to yell at me? No fuck this shit I’m out. Oh you’re hurt; are you okay?
Jon is all “I’m trying to be bad/callous human being, and I’m failing.”
I don’t think I’m protective of Jon, but I recognize that I see a lot of myself in him, in the things I am capable of and prone to. I just need to find a Martin. We all need some more Martin in our lives.
I also love that the moment you pique Jon’s curiosity, he will throw everything but the researcher in him out the window.
I’m really glad that Jon is able to show concern so readily. Because given what we’ve seen of Avatars of the Entities, they lose a fundamental part of being human in the process. Since I’ve been looking at fanart, which is always a smart idea, Always. I know Jon is going to become something of an Avatar to the Eye. That’s literally the speedrun of the Archivist. I’m really worried about how much of his humanity Jon is going to lose.
6:08 – Yeah, we just all go to America because they have more cryptids and it’s bigger. We’re British, we have lovely accents, Americans are going to watch us. She’s not wrong.
Playing pass the potato with ghost stories.
7:57 – 1) Melanie is going to be associated with the Eye, isn’t she? Because “Oh look, a thing. I have found it. I can’t unsee it. Welp, time to dive in!”
2) is the connection between the people whose last names are horror writers that the Eye goes through them to get to Jon?
3) The idea that everyone instinctively understand “Oh, don’t go there, you might die!” I wonder if that’s going to make Jon seek out those places when Jon finally gets of his arse and goes exploring the world? Because, unlike Elias, Jon strikes me as the kind of person to seek shit out.
Which Entity smells like old blood? Blood is not the purview of one Entity
12:27 – All the descriptions make me want to go to a train yard. Trains aren’t scary
16:48 – Okay, Jon has to look older than he really is. Everyone looks at him and thinks he knows nothing of technology. Jon is not that dumb. He knows what memes are. That’s the view of anyone over 40.
19:42 – This is one of those cases where Jon’s voice is working against him because he sounds sarcastic or caustic even when he’s not. As a result, people think he’s being an asshole when he’s simply trying to convey concern.
20:52 – Melanie has a very good memory for faces. On some level, I can understand why she thinks Jon is gaslighting her. Being who he is makes people skeptical of his intentions. Jon is finally cottoning on that Sasha may not be who she thinks she is. I mean, come on. We’ve been saying this for ages.
Episode 77:
1:42 – Mary Key? Nope
7:17 – Hi, the Stranger. He chose this, so he’s finally doing research.
What I find interesting is that it’s people who haven’t seen the person in a while, because they have a very specific image of who and what that person looked like. When a Stranger takes over, you’d think they be better about it. Unless the point is to unnerve those that know by being “wrong”.
16:09 – After Gertrude’s statement. I think that’s interesting that she’s afraid to bring the desk. Something within the Institute allowed it to overcome the inherent defenses that exist within the Institute? I don’t know.
16:25 – Jon sounds like he’s on the verge of sobbing
16:57 – The issue I have here, is that Jon is utterly terrible at being assertive. He doesn’t know what to do most of the time. The sad part is that I bet if Jon explained all this to Martin, Martin would be all “Oh yeah, that makes sense.” And just go with it. Martin has a very good head on his shoulder sand is very good at taking control of a situation and getting shit done. Jon needs someone like that in his life.
17:30 – Awfully optimistic of you, Jon
Episode 78:
Oh look, Jon did something stupid
1:52 – It seems like Jonny Sims is very intent on giving us the gift of sounding Wrecked in the last 2-3 episodes of every season and I am here for it.
5:00 – I think the Stranger gets off on, as much as an Entity can, derives pleasure and satisfaction from the unease people are that realize that something is wrong, and they Thrive on it.
I also think that they enjoy how much Anger it inspires, that someone had taken and twisted this person they had known.
13:37 – It’s the table with the spider web
16:30 – On some level, the Web and the Stranger are opposing forces. The spider can trap the Stranger.
17:00 – Magnus Institute or Cockney boys
18:18 – Jon is very good at torturing himself.
The supplement: Jon is all “I’m sorry I fucked up. I made life hard for you. Please leave the Institute so that I can go fuck shit up, and then go down into the basement like an idiot.” At least he recognizes he has been helpful and is telling them to take a couple days off.
Martin: I care about you, please take care of yourself.
On the one hand, Jon’s been kind of a dick to Martin, but also, I see where Martin is coming from. Someone needs to take care of Jon, he’s a helpless idiot, and I’m really good at taking care of people. And Jon’s all “Well, yes please but I won’t actually ask”.
I also love that Jon, unlike most men in media, says “I fucked up, I’m sorry.”
Martin is all: Oh no, you’re going to do something stupid and suicidal. We need to stop/take care of you.
Tim is all: You’re going to do something stupid and suicidal. Hell yeah, plausible deniability! Washing my hands clean of this bullshit.
(cackling) okay, I love this statement “It is remarkably easy to get an axe in central London.” That sounds like Jonny tried it. I wonder if Jonny Sims now owns an axe that he has no idea what to do with.
I like that when Jon is actually in danger, Michael stopped sounding so amused with the Universe and actually started sounding serious. I don’ understand how Jon came to the conclusion of “Oh hey, this is a thing that keeps the Stranger controlled. I should destroy it”
What protections does Jon have on him? If we assume that the protections are both real and metaphysical, what could Jon be wearing that act as protections?
- The axe (steel? Stainless steel?)
- The Archivist of the Eye
- The tape recorder??
- Is Michael providing protections?
- Is Elias providing protection simply to avoid finding a new Archivist?
- Metaphysical protections?
Oh look, a crisis. Jon falls apart like a shitty car.
Would a stainless steel axe through the chest kill a Not!Them?
Episode 79:
1:15 – why the fuck is Martin reading a statement? (I completely missed that it’s his own poetry)
Do we ever find out what the K in Martin K. Blackwood stands for?
1:24 – I guess, Tim was less “Oh joy, plausible deniability” and more “okay, let’s let him have a head start and go rescue his idiot ass. God damn it.” Tim is much better at lying than Jon is.
How many times has Jon snuck off to smoke a cigarette? Because it sounds like Tim has caught him at it a number of times.
1:55 – I find that awfully optimistic that Tim thinks there’s going to be police involvement in anything that goes on in the Institute. The tribunal might just be Elias and a handgun, if we’re lucky. If we’re not, it’s Elias and a crowbar.
(Is Time more likely to get together with Sectioned Police Officers?)
I wonder if anyone can shoot? Given that Tim is played by Chris Hemsworth, I wouldn’t be surprised if he could cave someone’s chest in with an axe. It might take him a couple of swings, but he sure as hell going to try it.
2:43 – “Had one too many at the office party and started ranting about the Greeks”. Is that a specific instance, or is it the British equivalent of ‘started ranting about the immigrants moving into the neighborhood and destroying property values (even though that’s complete bullshit)’?
Given that the fandom sees Jon as British-Indian, that seems weird.
Tim, you fucking liar. Martin is the recordings as well, reading the statements, unless it was his bad poetry?
3:25 – Can we just take a moment to appreciate that fucking effective sound design? Because that felt like your mind fucked with a straight razor
I appreciate the gods of irony and comedic timing being all
Martin: What you think the Institute is haunted?
Tim: No, worse
Not!Sasha (doing her best Kool-aid man impression)
I will admit that my first thought was that it was Michael opening the door and shoving Jon out with streaks of white hair. Cause that would be hilarious.
3:56 – I love that Tim is all “Nope, nope, nope. I am not going near the tunnels. I already went down there once and I got scarred and that shit sucks.”
And Martin is all “I can’t leave him~”
I think this is where .. No, you could argue that the start of the crush happened back in Season 1. So what the fuck is this? Unless Martin is like me, and once he gives his loyalty, you have basically murder a kitten in front of him to lose it. Or violate his trust multiple times. Jon has done that a couple times, what with the stalking. And the sketchiness.
I have no real doubts that once Martin admitted to faking his resume (which I bet Gertrude knew and just did not give a shit about), that Jon stopped stalking him.
I wonder if there are things off-screen, little drops of kindness like honey on the tongue that keep Martin’s crush going?
4:06 – Tim, don’t lie. You like Martin way too much to let Martin go down into the evil, scary tunnels of Doom by himself. You care way too much
4:33 – I can’t tell if Michael shoved Jon out into the tunnels because it’s the only place he could or because he’s a little shit. Michael for me, on some level is knife cat via the Cheshire Cat. Michael is basically the Cheshire Cat for me nw. Actually the Cheshire Cat is the domain of the Spiral.
Or because the tunnels, on some level fall under Michael’s domain.
5:07 – Jon is a damsel in distress. “oh no, something I can’t overcome. Oh no. I guess I’ll just wait.”
5:17 – Can Not!Sasha track Jon? Is there some kind of metaphysical residue on him for having destroyed the web table?
6:11 – Jon, if you know how to pray, now might be a good time to start.
7:05 – Can we take a moment to appreciate that Martin’s idea of a light at the end of the tunnel is to save Jon? Let’s be clear, he says explicitly “save Jon”. Martin is the dude in shining armor. E is Aziraphale.
7:33 – Tim: There’s nobody here
Michael: (peering around the corner) I’m right here, guys.
I also think that this is the point where Michael stops playing the smiling man because he’s invested. I wonder if Michael watches Jon and Martin dance around each other and he just like “This is the best soap opera. Oh wait, Jon’s being an idiot about something. Oh Fine. I can’t have them die. I want to see them get together. Fine”
Martin: Stay Back
Michael: No
7:53 – is Martin associated with the Spiral? I understand he’s all “I need to know, I need to know”. Or is Tim the Spiral? Martin seems like the kind of guy who, if duel affiliations where possible, he would. Because he’s going to warp reality until it meets what he’s looking for. Is it rose-tinted glasses or is it something else?
Does Michael ever refer to Jon as anything other than the Archivist? If he hasn’t , that’s an indication that Avatars can tell who has the potential to become an avatar, and assign them that role, assign them that Name. Even if he hasn’t, that can still mean that, because Jon could have grown into the role of the Archivist. Can one Avatar work against the creation (self-realization??) of an Avatar of another Entity?
8:43 – Did Michael shove them in? Did he threaten them in with his creepy knife hands? Is Michael basically Edward Scissorhands? Michael is inspired by Edward Scissorhands.
9:49 – I can’t tell if, How likely would it be for Martin to be the one who knows that Jon is no longer Jon? Because given what the Stranger seems to seek out of its victims, it’s fear and anger. Martin would be a good candidate given how much he cares.
10:37 – This is the point where the Not!Sasha sounds the most like Sasha.
It would be so much easier to believe you and trust you if your voice didn’t echo 50K times and sound like Legion
11:54 – Can we take a moment to appreciate that as long as he’s the one being threatened, Jon is almost blasé about it, and at the thought of being destroyed, he is more angry than scared about it. But the moment one of his assistants is mentioned as being in pain, he gets angry?
This has been consistent. I will admit that Not!Sasha’s threat of wearing his is a little uncomfortable, not gonna lie.
12:19 – “You and your little acolytes”
They can tell when someone is close.
It feels like the worst kind of pyramid scheme, actually. Acolytes, something else, Avatar. Religious leader connotations. That’s what it feels like everyone considers Jon to be right now, with the potential to be an Avatar.
Who are the acolytes? Martin, obvs. Tim? Reluctantly. Melanie?? Basira??? Not Daisy. She couldn’t give any less of a shit.
13:01 – Of course the Eye is the enemy of the Stranger. It’s about being known, being seen, being recognized.
14:06 – The Stranger is looking for secrets. How to fuck up other Entities, maybe?
The Stranger is imposter syndrome
14:39 – How does the Archivist get chosen?
Episode 80:
Paul Sims is ridiculous
2:43 – The tape recorder is probably a protection!
I love Lietner: Please Mr. Sims, I’m an old man. Am I really a danger to you? YES.
I love how the moment Jon is no longer in danger, he becomes arch.
3:24 – “Whatever it does, they don’t come back.” Has anyone ever checked?
Does Leitner feel safer in the tunnels because he’s not observed there?
Not!Sasha called Jon the “pupil of the Eye”. The Pupil focuses the Eye. Does that mean the Eye can see where Jon is in the tunnels, despite not being able to see into the tunnels in general?
Jonny Sims’ voice is going to age Well.
4:06 – I wonder if Jon finds recording statements meditative? The same way that certain statements were talking about diving into the trench or putting that stun gun to the cow’s head. A place of calm, a place where you’re not thinking, just existing. There’s something very clearly ritualistic for Jon about how he starts each statement with “Statement begins” and his voice shifts and then when he says “Statement ends” his voice shifts again. From a meta perspective, I realize that it’s just because he is getting ready to read clearly so that anyone could understand him, but from an internal narrative, it is interesting because it shows a shift in thought, in the state of mind of the person, bracketed by ritualistic words that are consistent statement to statement. Jon clearly derives a lot of comfort from the routine of saying “Statement begins”. It’s almost like a preacher reading a prayer. If Entities seek to experience fear from their victims, then Jon reading the statements is basically the closest that the Eye gets to that .. source of power??
5:15 – He’s basically saying that the books are remote controls! What the shit? It’s like you need to construct a manual for each book to be all “read this at this time, read this to achieve this effect here”. Which in turn leads to, does this work with other books? Can you affect the fabric of reality or is it only Smirke’s Architecture? Because within his architecture, intentionally reading for a book is purposefully fucking with the balance of the structure, thus allowing you to build and create new walls.
5:04 – The way he says that implies he’d been down there a damn long time, because that kind of experimentation does not happen in a weekend.
5:57 – He literally put bumpers so that Jon had an area to bounce around in. That’s adorable
6:04 – Why should it have struck Jon odd that he could map the tunnels in some weeks? Like any sensible tunnel system should be able to be mapped in a number of weeks.
Is Lietner Striving for Balance?
8:30 – 1) I love the way Lietner says “angry goth”.
2) The fact that Jon says “Our Gerard”. That is a very interesting slip. Who does the “our” refer to?
3) Mary Kaey should have taught Gerard better than to think that everything is due to Lietner. Why he did beat Lietner to death for his mom?
9:58 – “I branded them with my seal.” That’s very specific phrasing. “Seal” can mean a lot of things, but especially to contain a thing in a seal. To seal something away. A way to track something on a metaphysical level. Was Lietner almost trying to make something like the Archives crossed with Smirke?
Are the tunnels out of Balance, and is there any way to fix that? Or do you just expose the tunnels to the other Entities and hope for the best?
12:00 – Is Lietner the Hunt? Because finding things? That seems to be an overlap between the Eye and the Hunt.
13:22 – Lietner would do so well in the Magnus Institute
15:35 – 976. More than 1 per Entity, makes sense. He’d gotten almost 7 per Entity.
16:17 – How the hell is the Institute still standing?? All the artifacts??
17:22 – Do the fates of the assistants reflect the books they had been reading? Their deaths. Why would the Entities work together???
Certain Entities clearly hate/cannot work with each other. The Web and the Stranger. The Spider and the Destruction/Fire thing.
Is the relationship between Agnes and her father a reflection of the relationship between their respective Entities or vice versa?
18:55 – I feel like Lietner is Balance. He wants to guard something.
20:43 – The Eye does not make connections. It just catalogues, observes, records. It cannot draw conclusions. It’s like a really tired lab tech. It’s everything Elias said.
Jon is doing a speedrun of becoming the Archivist. He’s been at this job for 2 years.
21:32 – Half a step to the side of our reality. One foot in, one foot out.
21:54 – They’re not gods, they’re not even beings, they are forces of nature that had functional been made manifest by the fears of humanity. It’s collected power.
25:41 – Jon’s like “Oh my god, this is so much to take in.”
Lietner: Well hurry up, we’ve got arson to commit.
26:12 – Given how important the Archives are to the Eye, Elias, acting as an Avatar (???) of the Eye must have murdered Gertrude to prevent the destruction of the Archives.
26:55 – We don’t have time for you to have a breakdown. You can have a panic attack later.
