#every episode i search the transcript and every episode shes not there

[midnightfox450]

Its Aydover :(

#where is sheeeee #every episode i search the transcript and every episode shes not there #at least we have bladebees #ayda aguefort #dimension 20 #fantasy high #figayda #fantasy high junior year #d20 #fh #fhjy

[douglysium]

Episode 12 TMP Quick Thoughts

Housekeeping and Prologue

Hello, this is Douglysium and you might not know me as that guy who wrote over 100 pages of analysis on the Eye (which can be read on Tumblr here (https://douglysium.tumblr.com/post/735599414228484097/the-relationships-between-the-dread-powers-the) or Google Docs here (The Relationships Between the Dread Powers: The Eye- Knowledge is Fear and Ignorance is Bliss)) or as that guy who wrote an article on the Extinction (which can be read on Tumblr here(https://douglysium.tumblr.com/post/717929126195003392/what-would-avatars-of-the-extinction-be-like-a) and Google Docs here(​What would Avatars of the Extinction be like?: A TMA Speculation)). Suffice to say I might be a bit of a TMA fan. Also, spoilers for TMP up until episode 10. You can read my ramblings on the last episode here (Episode 11 TMP Quick Thoughts).

However, Protocol offers a very unique opportunity and experience for me because I didn’t actually get into TMA until after it was over and I binged all of it. So this is my first time experiencing something even remotely similar to what the original TMA fans probably experienced when waiting for each episode week by week and slowly having to put everything together with the limited information they had. So I decided to throw my hat into the ring since this might be my only chance to do something similar. However, I’m working on some longer form TMA content so I can’t spend as much time on these articles giving a bunch of super detailed thoughts. I will try to keep these short and that inevitably might mean some could have questions about why I think or predict certain things and in those cases I would probably recommend you read at least some of the two articles I mentioned above to get a better idea of where I’m coming from. This also means I won’t be giving you a play-by-play of every single thing that happens in the episode so I encourage you to listen to or read them yourselves and feel free to comment if you feel something is important.

These reviews are probably going to end up focusing mostly on the Entities and their manifestations as they are what I have thought about the most and spent the most time interpreting and there’s been a lot of… interesting theories floating around about how the Entities are manifesting that I want to go over.

Finally, I’m just going to say it right now, spoiler warning for all of The Magnus Archives. I know that Jon and co said one could start with Protocol and be fine, and while that’s probably true, media like this tends to be made in conversation with or take into consideration what came before it in the irl chronology in order to connect them. While I’m sure you could skip The Magnus Archives, I don't really see the point of skipping over it when we are already getting characters from TMA showing up in TMP in Protocol. So to me it’s pretty clear that if we want to understand the full picture of TMP and all the things it is trying to say then we can’t just try to pretend TMA doesn’t exist or scrub it away. Just because you could understand what’s happening without the context in broad strokes doesn’t mean you're getting all the nuances.

These articles are meant to be quick and short so sorry if there’s typos and if I don’t address every possible question or possibility. I don’t want to repeat myself too much in this series outside of the prologue so be sure to skim some of my other articles.

Episode 12 “Getting Off”

I think this episode is definitely one of the more straightforward Protocol episodes we have gotten so far, so hopefully this Quick Thoughts won’t br too long (but knowing me I probably just jinxed it).

We take in the scene through a CCTV in the breakroom of the OIAR at night. The transcripts clarify that Celia is very tired and searching through the cupboards for something and it is quickly made apparent that she is looking for tea and, since the break room has run out, Sam gives Celia a teabag from a secret stash that he apparently has. Sam then asks Celia out on a date and while she is busy at the moment she does show that she is willing to go out with Sam on “Saturday, 6? under the clock at Leicester Square. That work? We’ll go for dinner- well, breakfast- you know what I mean.” Once again, we see that the OIAR jobs appear to be very exhausting and have odd work hours. I also wonder what Celia’s end goal is. Does she genuinely like Sam or does she see him as means to an end. Is Celia here to help Sam and co or is she here to harm them?

As Celia leaves, Alice walks in and proceeds to make fun of Sam for clearly being extremely nervous as he asked out Celia. Alice says “(normal again) You know it’s rude to have absolutely no game? Christ, all these years and you still ask people out like a baby foal learning to tapdance.” A reference to the fact that she and Sam dated at some point, and how Sam probably acted very similarly when trying to ask her out. Sam does point out “Look it worked didn’t it?” which seems like it could be a sort of double meaning. Sam’s nervous approach got Celia to agree to a date but also Alice presumably agreed to go out with him in the past too.

Sam apologizes to Alice for dragging her to the ruins of the Institute only to fund nothing… well nothing Sam and Alice know about since something escaped the Institute. Sam says he’s done with Magnus stuff and Alice responds with “So you’re telling me that if I had a case full of emails with the title “Magnus Institute re: Samama Khalid – Massive Conspiracy” you wouldn’t be tempted?” to which Sam says no before asking “You don’t, though. Do you? That was just, like, a joke. Right?” Alice then says “Come on, for now let’s just focus on getting you as jaded and apathetic as possible.” Considering that Alice does appear to be pretty jaded about listening to the cases and piecing them together this could be related to her point about ignoring the talkers and not getting caught up in thinking too much about what’s happening. 

NORRIS starts expositing the next case

“Claim Review: EL-56920 

Policy Holder: Soho Jack’s Ltd. 

Policy Number: 548651-656 

Policy Type: Employers’ Liability 

Site Address: Soho Jack’s, 9 Carlisle St, London W1D 3BK 

Affected Employee: Ms. Jordan Bennett 

Date of Incident: 9 March 2024 

Incident Location: On site. 

Documentation: Crime Report – Submitted 

Medical Practitioner Report – Submitted 

Incident Book Entry – Submitted First Aider’s Report – Submitted 

Supervisor’s incident Report - Submitted 

HSE communications - Submitted 

Health-And-Safety policies - Submitted 

Employment Contract - Submitted 

Claim Valuation: £1,560,000 Assessment 

Conclusion: Claim Denied Reason: Fraudulent claim (see incident description and police report)”

This, along with some information Jordan mentions later, means Jordan is suing Soho Jack’s Ltd. They go on to say that their lawyer has advised them to cooperate with Soho Jack’s insurance claim as a show of good faith, even if they’re planning on “suing your asses to kingdom-come.” They start recounting an event that occurred on the company’s property and apologize for their terrible handwriting (which we later learn is probably because Mr. Bonzo bit off one of their hands).

They go over how they started working at Jack’s in the spring of 2021 after they had finished Flair Academy. After struggling to find a job they managed to get an interview and then job at the aforementioned Jack’s. The club seems to have a good reputation as Jordan refers to it as “the Soho Gentleman’s club.” The company’s building “...has dances on the bottom two floors with VIP suites for hire above with a dedicated bouncer keeping them separate. Really, it’s just a quieter box with a private bar, some comfy chairs and the option of private dancers.” Despite this being “THE” Soho Gentleman’s club Jordan says “It’s always booked up with swank dickheads trying to show off, but Stags are the worst: they’re cheap, they’re loud, they drink too much, tip too little and only ever hire one dance for the groom. Plus there’s always some “nice guy” that won’t shut up about exploitation without even bothering to stop staring.” 

Jordan begins to explain how the party the specific party that led to them wanting to sue Jack’s. They state that this specific party’s lot was not the worst and were “Just a bunch of heavyset, middle-aged lads with names like Ozzer, or Rozzer or whatever. ” and notes that “The groom was fine, acted embarrassed even though he was obviously keen and they were easily pleased. ”

“They started giving the groom gifts. Same old tat as always, cufflinks, poo gags, all the standard stuff. Then the groom spotted the last one on the table, this cheap yellow and purple kids lunch box. It looked old and shoddy and no one admitted to bringing it but the groom just squealed with glee and carefully opened it before pulling out a bunch old souvenir merch. Pencils, postcards, keyrings, all sorts of crap, all the same yellow and purple and last of all a cracked CD case. When they saw it the whole bunch gave this big laughing cheer.” I have talked about how I think Mr. Bonzo is probably tied to The Stranger if we view him through the lens of Smirke’s 14. I will retread some of those reasons later but right now I want to point out that no one admitted to bringing the Bonzo CD. It could simply be that it’s a prank and someone happened to grab an artifact or something tied to Bonzo, and maybe someone from the OIAR even planted it there, but it could also be connected to the idea of The Stranger and the fear of the unknown because it could be that no one actually knows who got that CD.

We also know that The Stranger is no… stranger to dropping off or delivering strange artifacts in order to feed on the fear of people interacting with unknown /mysterious objects. Breekon and Hope’s delivery service are a good example of this (strangers that show up and drop off never before seen or uncanny objects and artifacts).

“I could see which way the wind was turning and sure enough the bestman came over and asked if he could play it. The cover had this awful comic sans title: “Mr. Bonzo’s On His Way” and I wasn't exactly thrilled by this.” Jordan explains that “Mr. Bonzo was way before my time and from what I had seen online he had always looked pretty messed up. But hey, it was their night, if they wanted to spend it on some cringy nostalgia trip, who was I to say no?” Which could mean that Jordan doesn’t know a lot about Mr. Bonzo, and lack of familiarity with something is one of the things that we know entities like The Stranger love to prey on.

“This kind of thing happened often enough that we kept a battered old CD Player in the back that we could patch into the room's speakers, just in case. So, I ducked back there, put it on, turned the volume down as low as I could get away with, and prayed it wasn’t too obnoxious. Immediately the cheering children’s voices blared out the speakers accompanied by bouncy tubas loud enough to drown out the rest of the club’s music. It was awful but I could hear the lads stamping the floor in rhythm and as the kids started singing the men were singing along: “Mr. Bonzo’s on his way, he wants to stay, he wants to play! Mr. Bonzo’s on his way, he wants to stay, he wants to play!” If you want to listen to the song Jordan is referring to it is actually available on Youtube: Mr Bonzo (from 'The Magnus Protocol'). Maybe you can put yourself in the shoes of an annoyed Jordan or ecstatic old man at the club.

Jordan clearly finds the song annoying and after waiting a minute, in order to avoid being a “total killjoy,” they decide to turn off the song before “ Derek came down from the office to “have a word.” I assume Jordan meant Derek would complain about the music. However, when Jordan turns the CD player off it “...just grew louder, rattling the glassware in the bar: “Mr. Bonzo’s on his way, he wants to stay, he wants to play!” I even yanked the cables from the speakers, but it just kept getting louder.” Obviously, something supernatural is going on but Jordan reasonably assumes that the player just broke and begins to reach for their walkie talkie in order to call for some tech support. However, as they do so they are interrupted by a massive crash coming from another part of the room followed by a cheer. Jordan gets ready to reprimand the party goers for whatever mess they might have made but instead sees Mr. Bonzo. “It was hunched in the doorway, a bulbous figure with a purple hat that cast crazed shadows in all directions thanks to the club’s lighting effects. Then it doffed its hat and pushed itself into the room, foam catching on the doorframe with a squeak that set my teeth on edge. Its massive bulbous google-eyes seemed to roam all over the room before settling on the groom and it was almost as if the huge toothy grin grew wider when it saw him.” We know that Gwen delivered a name and address to Bonzo and in the previous episode Lena even tells Gwen “I’m sure you’ve already worked that out. But just in case you haven’t, keep an eye on the case loads over the next few days. It should become abundantly clear.” Implying that this could be the case Lena was alluding to or that the groom (or someone else in the room) is Bonzo’s target (but it’s almost definitely the groom).

Everyone in the room assumes the appearance of Bonzo is some sort of gift or prank and “The rugby boys were tripping over themselves to get in and hug it, laughing and pushing the groom to the front and so I figured at that point it was a prank. Again, none of them took credit for it and there was a moment of genuine hesitation, until one of them yelled out “It's ya lapdance, Baz!” and they all fell about laughing.” Jordan is furious that a coworker named Joey presumably let Bonzo in and the idea that Joey might have bailed on Jordan again by “ducking out for a smoke.” But as Jordan moves forward they notice something- “I began to stride over, readying for the inevitable complaints then hesitated as I saw something far more unnerving than the ugly costume that was capering with the groom in the middle of the group. There was a pair of heavy boots on their side, poking just inside the still open doorway. Joey’s boots, and they weren't moving. Just then the google eyes looked turned to me, and a puffy finger raised cheekily to its mouth.” So Joey was killed by Bonzo and all the while “the men had all started chanting “Bonzo! Bonzo! Bonzo”, stamping their feet and banging the tables in a circle around the pair in the center…” and the music kept getting louder. So loud that it began to sound distorted from the strain the song was putting on the speakers.

Out of all the Entities the Slaughter seems to have a pretty strong connection to music but The Stranger also has a strong precedent for music. For example, The Calliope in TMA is an artifact tied to The Stranger. In MAG 024 (Strange Music) it is mentioned that the instrument has "Be still, for there is strange music" carved into the cover of the keyboard. While The Slaughter’s connection to music is probably due to an association between rhythm and war (think the marching of an army or the phrase “drums of war”) as well as the fear of “violent” music, The Stranger’s connection to music seems to come from the idea of either strange unknown sounds or a song / sound that sounds really uncanny. It is noted by Jordan that Mr. Bonzo’s song grows louder and more distorted overtime which would mean that the song is becoming more and more incomprehensible as it would slowly change into a song with lyrics you couldn’t understand or identify as easily. It could also be that the song sounds uncanny in the sense that it is familiar in some ways but something is off about it.

Jordan tries to call for help on his walkie talkie but can only hear Mr. Bonzo’s theme blaring out of its tiny speaker. Jordan tries to warn everyone and get out but no one can hear him over the music. Bonzo takes the groom and begins to “dance” with him by spinning around faster and faster until Bonzo decides to rip his arms off and even as this act of gorey brutality took place the other party goers present continued to laugh and laugh until Jordan’s scream caused them to realize this wasn’t some sort of prank. Almost everyone begins to yell in terror but some yelled in rage and proceeded to attack Bonzo: “A few of the bigger guys picked up chairs or bottles and began to beat and slash at the thing. It didn’t seem to notice, its bulbous, bloodshot, eyes staying fixed on the groom’s body as it raised it overhead.” Bonzo then proceeds to continue pulverizing the body by smashing it against the ground over and over.

“For a split second, all was still but the music just pounded on, barely recognizable now over the distortion from the smoking speakers as those voices, no longer childlike, still chanted the words “He’s here to stay… He wants to play…”” “Then Mr. Bonzo turned towards us with its head bowed almost reverentially and everybody went silent. Slowly, awfully slowly, it raised its head, titling it coquettishly to one side. Then the seams across its face split revealing its gaping maw filled with even larger, sharper teeth.” Jordan admits that they don’t remember much about what happened after that but “I dream about it most nights. In the dream it digs through all those men to get to me, grabbing fistfuls of them and throwing them to smash against the wall. The strobe fires as its hands plunge into the pile of us and each flash shows a little less flesh between me and it, between me and all those teeth… finally everyone else is gone. I raise my arm to protect myself and it gently but inexorably lifts it into its mouth, smiles and bites… None of us was left whole but I was the luckiest. All I lost was a hand, it wasn’t even my dominant one.” The biting was set up previously in episode 10 when the transcripts mention “Gwen holds out the envelope and Mr Bonzo snatches it into his mouth, audibly chewing it. His teeth are not soft.”

Jordan says that they “told the investigators everything I know, doctors too. I don't know why nobody outside the room heard or saw anything, why the cameras weren't working, why it let me live. But I do know why there weren't any bodies. All I actually want is my hand back so I can tend bar but that isn’t going to happen is it? So I’ll have to settle for the next best thing and sue you for everything I can get, because I don’t know what happened that night but it was in your venue and no one came to help. Not Derek, not another doorman, no one. So yeah, you’d better have one hell of a settlement waiting for me, or I'll see you in court.”

While you could make an argument for themes of Entities like The Desolation, Flesh, Hunt, etc. I’m still going to primarily argue for Bonzo being tied to The Stranger or a similar Entity due to what we see in his previous appearances. For the sake of clarity, if there is any debate about what The Stranger embodies in MAG 200 it is stated “And as they learned to know their friends and kin, so too did they learn to fear the unknown figure, the coming of the stranger” and in MAG 092 (Nothing Beside Remains) Jonah tells Jon “We thrive on ceaseless watching, on knowing too much. What we face is the hidden, the uncanny, and the unknown.” while in MAG 111 (Family Business) Jon says “The Stranger is the unknown. The uncanny.” and Gerard doesn’t correct him.

However, a lot of Mr. Bonzo’s behaviours in previous episodes resembles The Stranger (and The Stranger has violently attacked or killed people in the past). Mr. Bonzo is also described as being a clown. Something we know The Stranger has a precedent for manifesting as, probably due to both the idea of the uncanny valley being achieved with a costume or makeup and the idea of a traveling circus full of strangers you don’t know from out of town in addition to a clown costume acting as a disguise that can obscure whoever is wearing it. Not to mention that Mr. Bonzo is described as a suit, which could very easily connect to an Entity like The Stranger. Firstly, The Stranger tends to have a big emphasis on wearing things like skins and suits. Additionally, Gwen mentions in episode 11 “That… abomination wasn’t a costume. That was skin. It was sagging, it was sweaty!” and we know The Stranger has a tendency for wearing skin, skinning things (such as with taxidermy), etc. as a form of disguise, in order to hide itself, or to metaphorically rob something of their identity.

This also applies to costumes in general since usually wearing costumes or disguises can actually obscure who is wearing them and thus their true identity is unknown. There’s also the fact that costumes themselves can easily fall into the uncanny valley. Ever since Five Nights at Freddy’s became popular there’s been an uptick in horror media focusing on how creepy and uncanny things like animatronic suits can be. Not that Mr. Bonzo is an animatronic but it is a suit. Also, Bonzo apparently has hard teeth and having solid teeth on a suit could look uncanny.

The surprise gift and sudden appearance of Bonzo that others assume is some sort of surprise or prank could also tie into The Stranger and the idea of something mysteriously appearing or not being expected. Bonzo was originally made to prank celebrities. As Nigel explains in episode 10 that his produce ““inviting a famous person on, someone really serious, and we tell them we’re going to have them do a segment with a popular children’s entertainer. Now, obviously these folks won’t have any idea about what kids are actually watching, so we could come up with the most horrendous thing, claim kids loved it and see how long it took for the guest to realize that they were the joke. That they’d been “berried”” and “The problem with a surprise prank is that doing it on Saturday night primetime means pretty soon everyone knows about it, and the guests knew it was coming. A couple even requested it. So the prank part of it sort of died, and he just became an SOS mascot. One of my many tormentors in the dungeon. By the end we’d even retired Mr. Six, and it was all Bonzo.” Once again, a focus on surprise and I think it’s interesting that Bonzo loses his punch the more people know about and understand him. Bonzo is a character that thrived specifically on the guests not knowing who he was and did. So a potential relationship with the unknown again.”

In episode 10 Nigel says to Gwen ““Try not to stare. He doesn’t like it when people stare.” Which could relate to The Stranger. While all the Entities are connected, overlap, and need each other for a ritual bringing them into the world to work, with even seemingly opposing Entities bleeding into each other or having overlapping fears, The Stranger can often have an antagonistic relationship with The Eye and forms of being known. The Stranger tends to thrive off the fear of being unknown so staring at something aligned with The Stranger might make it react negatively. In MAG 092 (Nothing Beside Remains) Jonah tells Jon “We thrive on ceaseless watching, on knowing too much. What we face is the hidden, the uncanny, and the unknown.” In MAG 165 (Revolutions) Not-Sasha says this in regards to The Eye’s Post-Change world “Do you know how it feels? To be – anonymous? And yet known! To have all the sweetest dread I can create tainted by the relentless gaze of that damned Eye. I’ve suffered enough.” So if my theory that Bonzo is tied to something like The Stranger is correct, that could explain a potentially negative reaction to being looked at for too long since aspects of The Stranger often don’t like it when people try to figure out what they are. This could ring extra true if it does turn out that the OIAR is somehow connected to The Eye.

Bonzo’s eating and biting could potentially be linked to The Stranger’s tendency for odd uncanny behavior, like that time Breekon / Hope ate a butterfly. The fact that this monster looks like Bonzo could also be related to the idea of the uncanny, since he would resemble Bonzo but behave and look a bit off. Also, it seems hard to tell if Bonzo is a costume or a monster resembling a costume which makes it harder to know what he is for sure, and The Stranger loves playing up mystery (think how we never know which character is Breekon and which character is Hope from Breekon and Hope in TMA, and Jon describes one of them as “one half of Breekon and Hope”). Also, Bonzo can only say his name which means you never really know what he’s saying or talking about.

Bonzo killing everyone in the room but leaving someone alive is not a completely unheard of idea. The Entities in general often seem to leave witnesses if in doing so more fear is generated and we see creatures like the Not-Them kill and replace people while ensuring that at least one person remembers what the original persona actually looked like even if no one else does. The reason for this is because if the Not-Them’s disguise was perfect and changed every bit of memory and evidence then there wouldn’t be anyone to be afraid of the idea that someone they know has been replaced by a stranger.

Jordan mentions “I don't know why nobody outside the room heard or saw anything, why the cameras weren't working, why it let me live. But I do know why there weren't any bodies.” which emphasizes his confusion about what’s happening. While confusion is often tied to The Spiral, in this case it stems from a bunch of unknown factors and variables, like why there were no other witnesses and why the cameras weren’t working.” As far as there being no witnesses and the cameras failing to work, the Entities are known for usually being on the downlow and not common knowledge but Entities like The Stranger tend to thrive off the fear of mystery and have a precedent for things like mysterious disappearances or hiding people / things. The Calliope I mentioned earlier mysteriously disappeared from the Institute’s archives at some point in TMA and in MAG 092 (Nothing Beside Remains) Jonah tells Jon “We thrive on ceaseless watching, on knowing too much. What we face is the hidden, the uncanny, and the unknown.” Jonah specifically mentions that The Stranger has a connection to “the hidden” among other things. In MAG 102 (Nesting Instinct) Jonah even says that The Stranger essentially hid Jon from him when saying “I was doing everything in my power to locate you. Everyone was working on finding the ritual site.” and “[Irritated] I am sorry, John, that my powers have not yet reached the level of omniscience.” Jordan does say that they know why there weren’t any bodies which implies that Mr. Bonzo probably ate them.

Jordan having trouble remembering exactly what happened actually does have a precedent with The Stranger since the Entity does have connections to memory loss or a loss of identity. In MAG 165 (Revolutions) we see Not-Sasha watch over a Domain that takes the form of a merry-go-round with people fighting over faces. People with no faces must fight over the faces of others to rip them off and regain some sense of identity. When they lose their face it is said “And soon enough they will forget they ever even had one, rest assured; it’s best to step the dance and keep your face secured as much as you are able. Just. Keep. Running.” Jon and co also face memory loss when they interrupt The Stranger’ ritual in TMA and forget who they are and what they are doing for a period of time.

Some other Entities this statement parallels are that of The Slaughter (with sudden brutal and gory violence), The Flesh (via bodily disfigurement by way of losing a hand, Bonzo being described as releasing “some vile mixture of putrid water, rotten foam and rancid meat.” when cut at some point, and Bonzo biting into people), The End (a lot of people brutally die), The Corruption (from the aforementioned vile mixture pouring out of Bonzo), and even The Eye (with the strange and horrifying dreams Jordan is forced to relive over and over resembling how people who give Jon live statements are forced to relive said moments in the form of nightmares over and over). Like always, I have to at least touch on the fact that The Eye doesn’t seem to just be the fear of being watched but also being a witness to something you don’t want to see. Jon can force people to recount and relive terrible moments, Jonah can force information into the heads of people like Melanie and Martin, and in MAG 200 The Eye is stated to have been born from the fear of one’s own eyes showing them too much.

All this being said, I still think the OIAR is somehow connected to The Eye. There’s the cases being like statements but also the fact that they supply sensitive information (such as names and locations) to things like Mr. Bonzo. People like Jonah could almost always know one’s location thanks to their Eye powers and The Eye is connected to the fear of someone / something knowing too much about you (such as knowing where and who you are). I wonder why Bonzo was sent to kill this particular groom when he was just partying? Did the groom know something or overstep some line or was the groom just some sort of offering to appease Mr. Bonzo? How was this person’s name and address obtained? Was it just mundane tracking or something closer to Jonah’s clairvoyance? Nigel acted like he was doing the OIAR a favor so right now it seems like this was a target decided by the OIAR and not necessarily Nigel. Unless you want to argue that the “favor” is aiding in keeping Bonzo pacified, under wraps, or something potentially more mutually beneficial. I wonder if Jordan’s dreams are somehow connected to being directly involved in a case or facing an External of the OIAR? It could also simply be that Jordan is traumatized.

We cut to Gwen and the transcripts say she “is sat at her desk, stunned by what she has just heard.” and she only says “Jesus Christ…” I wonder if this is because the case is unusually brutal or gorey when compared to most others or if she realized there’s a connection between the letter she delivered and what happens in this case. Considering what Lena said it's very possible that some of the cases the OIAR gets are connected to the activity of their own Externals (such as Mr. Bonzo).

ALICE CONT. 

“Gwen? Hello?”

GWEN 

“(dazed) What?”

Getting sucked into a statement like this and statements having a negative impact on one’s mental state are both things we have seen in TMA. Jon had a hard time stopping once he started a statement and at one point Jon expresses worry that Martin was listening to a bunch of statements for Peter Lukas and his plan in regards to The Extinction. Although, it could be that Gwen is merely shocked.

Gwen explains that she met one of the Externals but Alice seems to think Gwen is just referring to some annoying assholes as opposed to any supernatural monsters that takes the form of beloved childhood characters.

Gwen seems to finally wonder the question that I’ve been wondering for a while now:

GWEN 

“What do you think we’re actually doing, here at the O.I.A.R.?” 

ALICE 

“Apart from mortgaging our mental health for a wage packet?” 

GWEN 

“We’ve both been here long enough to know this place. We’re not doing good. We’re not just sifting random data. There’s something wrong here.”

ALICE 

“What are you getting at?”

GWEN 

“You never wonder what the point is? Who benefits from all this awfulness?”

ALICE 

“I don’t wonder. I know.”

GWEN 

(sitting up) “What? Really?”

ALICE 

“(portentous) Oh yeah. I’ve known for a while. What we’re doing here, it’s all part of a grand plan to satisfy one of the most unspeakable evils known to mankind... “

Gwen’s on the edge of her seat. 

ALICE 

“(almost a whisper) …the UK government.”

In TMA the point of the Institute sifting through statements and stuff was twofold. Firstly, to feed The Eye but also to set up the lynchpin for The Eye’s ritual with the position of the Archivist. I wonder if something similar is going on here but I can’t say since while you could argue that being an Externals Liaison is like the Archivist and shares the role as being a “living chronicle of fear” (especially since Lena remarked that Gwen should show fear via screaming because Externals tend to like that) Gwen had to blackmail her way into that position. I have no idea who was the Externals Liaison before her or if there are other Liaisons, if there even was one(s) before / with Gwen at all. Also, unlike the Institute, the OIAR is explicitly connected to the government and is meant to respond to things (not just watch). So it’s very likely that the OIAR has a role that is different from just “The Mass Ritual / Institute 2.0.” They could still be gathering fear related to the statements and being observed like the Institute in TMA though. However, even the Institute still wanted the Archival staff to do a good job following up statements and stuff. Jon tries to reorganize the Archives after Gertrude purposefully left them disorganized and Tim corrects Jon about some errors he made when reading some statements. The OIAR doesn’t really seem to care how well or poorly their workers categorize the cases and I don’t know if anyone checks.

Alice’s joke about the greatest evil known to mankind being the UK government feels like foreshadowing considering that the OIAR, and by extension all the Externals like Bonzo, are connected to the government.

Alice’s comment “Apart from mortgaging our mental health for a wage packet?” references how stressful this job seems to be.

Conclusion

Yeah, idk. This was a very simple episode overall and it mostly just seemed like it was following up Lena’s point about paying attention to the caseload.

Okay, hold on, before I end this I figured I should actually try to look at the voices in the computer system a bit more closely, since quite frankly, like with the alchemy symbols, I’ve admittedly been neglecting them and not focusing on them as much as I should have. This is because I actually couldn’t tell if there was any kind of correlation between the voices and the kinds of cases they read but a video by Maddie’s Maxis called “This Channel's First Video - The Magnus Protocol Analysis and Theories” (which you can view here This Channel's First Video - The Magnus Protocol Analysis and Theories) hypothesizes that there is actually a correlation. As we all know two of the computer voices sound like Martin and Jon and Maddie argues that the kinds of statements the voices read correspond to something that had to do with the character. For example, in theory NORRIS (Martin’s voice) tends to have statements relating to self-loathing and loneliness. I don’t know what they are feeding Maddie but Maddie is potentially cooking here. So I decided to glance over at some of the statements and see if there are any patterns.

I’m going to start with the theme that seems the most concrete in my opinion. The cases that NORRIS (Martin’s voice) reads seem to often be tied to themes of isolation, losing loved ones, or feeling abandoned. I should make it clear that while I know Martin in TMA is connected to The Lonely I am not saying all the cases NORRIS reads are connected to The Lonely. The mere presence of feeling alone or isolated doesn’t automatically make a statement Lonely related in the same way someone dying, getting attacked, or something taking place at night or in darkness automatically means End, Slaughter, or Dark respectively. Also, it’s important to remember that every Entity, even seemingly opposing ones, have overlap, shared fears, commonalities, etc..

But let’s look at the cases to see if this pattern is really there. The case NORRIS covers in episode 1 involves the Anglerfish, or something resembling it, killing and replacing their romantic partner. Harriet even says “And that voice I have loved for twenty years answered: “Some of him.”” So loss of a loved one.

In episode 3 NORRIS covers a case in which Dr. Samuel seems to feel immense guilt and sorrow about the death of Maddie. Once again, the loss of a close loved one.

In episode 8 NORRIS goes over a report Terrance submits about the effects of brutal liminalism. While no one dies or is replaced in the actual events of the case, Terrance does mention “originally took my role as a night janitor at Forton following a protracted divorce which cost me the majority of my friendships.” So while their partner isn’t dead they did lose a loved one, and if you read my thoughts on that episode you know that I actually think the case has a lot of similarities with The Lonely. The fog, the vaguely familiar but impossible to understand gibberish, people with repeating features, being isolated in a dark void, etc.. Even if you disagree that it’s The Lonely there is still a connection to themes of losing someone close and being alone.

If there was an episode to disprove this theory it would probably be episode 12 since it’s just Bonzo murdering a room full of people. Jordan does say “I don't know why nobody outside the room heard or saw anything” and earlier in the case they mention that they believed their coworker by the name of Joey the doorman might have ditched him again but this definitely feels a bit more like a stretch. Jordan does seem to blame the establishment for what happened and this is because from the perspective of Jordan no one came to help despite how obvious and loud the commotion was. Which could maybe tie into the idea of being abandoned or left alone but this is definitely pushin it and it’s clear that our understanding of what kinds of cases each voice reads might expand as the series goes on.

Maddie argues that CHESTER (Jonathon’s voice) seems to usually cover cases related directly to the Magnus Institute. Which is generally true, CHESTER covers the cases of RedCanary spelunking in the Institute’s ruins in episode 1, and the gambling dice being submitted to the Institute in episode 9 for example. But CHESTER also covers the case about Tom wanting to watch Voyeur in episode 5, the case regarding Hilltop Center in episode 7, Gordon’s encounter with the tattoos and Ink5 during construction in episode 11. It’s very possible that these are just related to the Institute in ways we don’t understand yet, for example some of the characters that appear could be members of the Institute or something, but in my opinion this definitely throws a wrench into some things.

CHESTER seems to have a stronger case for a theme of curiosity and a desire to know in general as opposed to just the Magnus Institute. RedCanary investigates the archives out of curiosity, Tom really wants to see the Voyeur movie for their blog, the narrator explains that they experimented with the gambling dice to figure out how they worked, and Gordon keeps talking about how they “just need to see it. I need to know what’s in the water.” As I’ve mentioned previously, The Eye also has a major emphasis on a desire to know and understand something even if it comes at the cost of yourself and / or other people. Hilltop Center still seems like a bit of an outlier here but while Dianne isn’t spelunking through ruins or anything she does mention that she was looking for people to help her work at the center. Which, while a bit of a stretch, could fit with a theme of curiosity or desire to know in the case of Chester. Or at least the idea of something being searched for as a theme at least. 

If you wanted to argue that CHESTER actually related to things being looked for you could say that the case about the gambling dice revolves around the narrator giving the Institute artifacts, and they even say “So yeah, I tell you all about them, how I got them, all that crap and you just… You take them away, right? You accept them? Good. I think. I’m pretty sure that’s how it works. It’s how it worked for me, at least. Put them in whatever vault you like, bury them, drop them in the ocean, for all I care. All that matters is that they’re yours now.” So you could say that the Institute was looking for artifacts. You could also argue that the narrator was looking for people to roll the dice, looking for good luck, or started making their way towards Gary when they found him.

AUGUSTUS has a voice I am not familiar with (and we will get to the popular theory in a moment). I can only recall AUGUSTUS voicing one case, I might be forgetting one or something, so I don’t have a lot to go on. AUGUSTUS could be covering really old statements, as Sam notes the one in episode 4 is from the 18th century, or statements revolving around others climbing their way to their top and doing whatever it takes to do so. It’s kind of unclear until I can see some more AUGUSTUS statements.

There’s also some obvious character associations with this theory. Martin, someone connected to The Lonely, has statements reflecting some kind of isolation or abandonment, Jon, the Archivist with a strong tie to The Eye and someone who was strung along while trying to solve Jonah’s plan and learn the truth about the Entities, has statements involving extreme curiosity or people looking for things, and Jonah, someone who is really old and ruthless (so ruthless that they made the world a fear hellscape in an attempt to avoid death), has had a statement taking place in the 18th century involving someone giving a blood sacrifice to play violin super well.

There’s a popular theory going around that the three voices in the computers are actually Jonathon, Martin, and Jonah, and this definitely seems like one of the more credible theories floating around the community to a degree. AUGUSTUS’ unfamiliar voice could be the voice of Jonah’s original body. Jon, Martin, and Jonah were all in the panopticon when the Change ended which could be the event that got them tied to the computers. It could also have to do with being the pupil of the Eye somehow. Jonah and Jon were both the Eye’s pupil at some point and Jon got his position by killing Jonah to take his spot. It’s possible something weird happened like Martin was about to become the Eye’s pupil after removing Jon from the position, giving them this common link, but I can’t say for sure.

Maddie also points out another big thing to remember in the video. I have mentioned that Annabelle seems generally right about what happens to the Entities’ various Monsters and Avatars after the Entities get pulled into the next universe. Monsters, like potentially the Anglerfish, presumably get sucked into the new universe since they are part of the Entities. Other people may or may not get sucked into the universe depending on how attached they were to the Entity. It’s also possible that they will always just be left behind. However, Annabelle also mentions that it’s possible the Entities will take the aspects of a person that are connected to or are a part of the Entity. So, it’s possible that the parts of Jon, Martin, and Jonah in the computer are not them in their entirety but merely specific aspects of their personality or being. It could literally just be their voices taken by one or more Entities for all we know.

We also know that some Entities, like The End, seem capable of making copies or “memories” of people after / when they die. In MAG 154 (Bloody Mary) Eric states “I know that I’m not really Eric; I’m just a memory someone wrote down. It hurts, most of the time. I don’t like it.” So one could argue that the voices in the computers are not the fully sentient original versions of Jon, Martin, and Jonah but “memories” or copies created by one or more Entities. This could also explain why the third voice might be Jonah even though Jonah potentially died before the Entities jumped universes. This voice could simply be The Eye’s metaphorical recollection of Jonah or Jonah wasn’t completely dead when the Entities switched universes. This also means that the voices in the computers could be more malicious than we first assume if there’s a chance they are in actuality not Jon, Martin, and Jonah or are in truth aspects of The Eye or bits of their personalities trying to achieve a specific goal.

As I’ve mentioned previously, the cases the voices read out don’t seem to be completely random. The second Sam is about to give up his search for the Magnus Institute CHESTER spits out a case that is perfect for reigniting his curiosity with the addition of a new clue, and when Celia takes the job the first case she gets is about Hilltop Center (which could relate to Celia’s questions about multiversal and time travel). I still can’t say if the CHESTER or any other of the computers are trying to help Sam or use him for more nefarious purposes.

I’m not super confident about this being the patterns the computers follow at the moment because frankly there isn’t a lot of cases to go off of, and I need to see more AUGUSTUS. It’s also possible that the cases are more variable or context dependant. What the voices read could depend on the person at the computer, for example: it’s possible CHESTER reads a bunch of cases connected to the Institute because that’s what Sam was most interested in. There are also some cases we don’t have enough context behind yet, for example the mysterious figure in the Hilltop Road case could be connected to something like the Institute in some way, or that some of the voices focus on certain Externals Liaisons, people, etc..

If you want another TMAGP theory video to watch here’s one by Pinkelotje: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MX51EHLy7BQ&ab_channel=pinkelotje.

#tmagp #tma #the magnus protocol #the magnus archives #theory

[bulkhummus]

okay my main silly points are these:

1. Lubelle vagued carlos on public radio <3

2. i just know cecil is a horrible driver “yeaaah now we’re really cookin” hes so cute .. YES YELL .. the whole town looking around at one another like is he okay

3. Cecils quiet “its true” about the exotic birds at a jewish service? i hate him

My main serious points are these:

1. THE MURALS (its like they knew i was reading transcripts just moments before….. ) very interested that they disappeared Jerrod. I do love the symbolism of trying to paint over something that is akin to a bleeding heart. Unable to cover up what makes up a living breathing town. Exposing a towns underbelly etc etc. the town is alive

2. ‘The words are still there but theres no power behind them’ — implications for one special radio host, i must say.

3. Absolutely entranced by the wording “the science of carlos” instead of saying ‘carlos’ science’ as if carlos himself, his way of being, his structure, is what is being emphasized. and its being labeled as good, kind, healing, love, humanity. That is who he is. Vs Lubelle, who is cold, dissected, conquering etc. it was just some fun wording

4. The idea of using good tools to do bad things is something i’ve talked about before in relation to lubelle, plus has been a debate in history throughout the century in regards to science. my mind keeps going back to the fact that carlos used to work with her, or in close proximity to her— and he called her frightening in her determination and drive. i love to speculate on why carlos left for night vale, how he heard of it, but now im wondering why lubelle is there (i mean aside from her mission). I keep thinking abt how she wants to explain everything away until there is not an ounce of poetry left — how do you keep wonder alive when all you do is search for explanation? When your occupation means whats discovered is then known? What was it about night vale that drew carlos in? Was there nothing left for lubelle where she was? Had she overturned every last stone where she was? A person who knows what theyre doing can still be lost. Its funny to see the similarities in her character in comparison to carlos— mainly because he could have been like her. Even his town meeting where he states “ive come to see just what is going on around here” is a lot softer version of lubelles plan. How much difference intention can make. I am reminded of what Cecil said shortly after, in episode 1, which is “I fear for Night Vale. I fear for anyone caught in between what they know and what they don’t yet know what they know.” <- gonna make a separate post about this

5. “We may never fully understand, or understand at all what it was and why it dumped a lot of dead animals on our community. But, and I’m going to get a little personal here, thats the essence of life, isn’t it? Sometimes you go through things that seem huge at the time, like a mysterious glowing cloud….. while they’re happening they feel like the only thing that matters, and you can hardly imagine that there’s a world out there that might have anything else going on. And then the glow cloud moves on. And you move on. And the event is behind you. And you may find that, as time passes, you remember it less and less. Or absolutely not at all, in my case. And you are left with nothing but a powerful wonder at the fleeting nature of even the most important things in life…” — episode 2, Glow Cloud. I’m very sad. It’s not about fully understanding something, sometimes.

#this is a mess but i wanted to get some of it out of my brain so i can sleep #p good episode #will check in tmrw to see what people are sayin #wtnv #wtnv spoilers #welcome to night vale #im so tired

[breakerwhiskey]

143 - ONE HUNDRED FORTY THREE

Please visit breakerwhiskey.com for more information or to send a message to Whiskey's radio. Breaker Whiskey is an Atypical Artists production created by Lauren Shippen. If you'd like to support the show, please visit patreon.com/breakerwhiskey.

Transcript under the cut. For more episodes, click here.

[click, static]

They’re coordinates. That’s—they’re coordinates!

I think.

46 degrees 40 minutes North and 100 degrees 52 minutes West. At least, that’s what I’m assuming. Any other combination of North, South, East, West puts me into the ocean or…Mongolia, so I’m just going to go with my gut here.

It’s North Dakota. I would guess maybe a ten hour drive—I’m already on the road and driving fast. Maybe I’m completely wrong and you’re yelling at your radio begging me to pull over and look at the numbers again and understand something but I…

Maybe I want them to be coordinates. I want you to be real—to be someone other than Birdie and to be telling me where to find you. I haven’t been to North Dakota yet, there’s still a chance that people are out there, that you want me to find them. To find you.

(laughs) I don’t know what—what am I gonna say to you? Would it—would it be strange to give you a hug? I’m not even that affectionate of a person but it’s been so long since—

[click, static]

Who is the last person that you hugged? Is it someone that you’re with? Are you with people? Looking through the messages I’ve received, I think you started to talk to me around my birthday. If I had to guess. Which means that you’re the one who told me the tornado system wasn’t automated, which makes sense, maybe Birdie didn’t know that either.

It also means that you’re the person who told me I didn’t belong. But I’m choosing to see that as a…problem with tone. You can only convey so much meaning with dots and dashes and maybe you were trying to tell me I didn’t belong on the West Coast because you’d been hoping I would go North instead of West. I don’t belong where there are no people and you know that—you know I’ve been searching. Maybe you were trying to say I belong wherever you are.

I’d like to hug you for that. For telling me the truth about things, about the warning siren, for giving me something to look for. Maybe you’re affectionate with someone every single day but me—

Well, Harry was the last person I hugged. Obviously. Six years with someone, it’s bound to happen. But that was a few years ago now. She—maybe she is a physically affectionate person naturally but we rarely—

I’d had a nightmare. I get them sometimes, as you know. Or, maybe you don’t know, I don’t know how long you’ve been listening. Maybe everything I said before getting to Vegas was lost to you. Surely you would’ve told me about the warning system before then if you had heard me.

But, well, anyway, I get nightmares sometimes. About…well, it’s not important, but Harry—no matter what she felt about the situation that led to the nightmares, she never judged me too harshly for having them. And a while back, I—I think I woke up screaming. It was a bad one, it felt so real, and she came rushing in, thinking that something was really wrong and then she—-

Human comfort can mean a lot even when it’s given by someone that—that you—someone who doesn’t—

Well, our relationship has always been about as clear as mud, but she comforted me then. Held me until I stopped shaking. And that wasn’t the first time she’d done something like that, but it was the last.

But then again, sometimes, when she cut my hair, she’d…well, I thought…

She lingered. Her fingers in my hair, on my neck. Touching longer and more tenderly than they had to.

[click, static]

Just…when I get there, whoever you are…you can hug me. I give you full permission.

And whoever you are, just…stay there. I’m coming as fast as I can.

[click, static]

#breaker whiskey #audio drama #episode #transcript #Spotify

[wt-nv-quotes]

Hello,

I found your blog and need your knowledge about wtnw.

I listend to a episode, which I found hilarious and now I cannot seem to find it again. The last episode I listened was 80, so it has to be under it.

I remember it was traffic report about a farmer and his name was Erwin. And every time Cecil called him another name like edmin, Edwin, Edward,...

And then there was an episode with traffic too I guess about a woman and a man. The woman drives to a café or restaurant and they talk maybe. She drives further and further. I don't know. I find it very cool.

Can u help me??

Episode 86 has a traffic where two people meet at a party, then drive away from each other.

Episode 83 has a traffic about a farmer who hears a ghost party.

Episode 71 has a traffic that starts with a woman at a bar and uses the word "presumably" a lot, as well as having someone named Ed.

Dear listener, I, too, remember a gag where Cecil uses different but similar names starting with "E" for someone, but my searching up through episode 90 (just in case) has not been able to catch it (searching each transcript for " ed" so any words that start with Ed show up). The links above are to official transcripts of episodes, and all episodes have official transcripts if you wish to continue the search. Good luck.

intern z

#intern z #wtnv #welcome to night vale #can any listeners help a fellow listener out?

[walks-the-ages]

For screenreaders, this is a poll. The question is "Did you think Mickey was Cheating on Rose and had evidence in his emails he didn't want her to see?" and the answers available are: option one: "yes-- his emails contained evidence of cheating he didn't want her to see" option two: "no -- it was a generic joke about his emails containing porn" Option three: "other -- explain in tags or replies please" Option four: "No Opinion / Show Results"

Doctor Who fans, it's apparently """common knowledge""" (heavy skepticism) that Mickey Smith was cheating on Rose Tyler in the first season, even before the first episode aired-- what's the reasoning behind this?

There's a line Mickey gives in 1x01 when Rose is using Mickey's computer:

(thanks, Chakoteya.net for the transcript)

[Mickey's flat] MICKEY: Hey, hey, here's my woman. Kit off! ROSE: Shut up. (They kiss.) MICKEY: Coffee? ROSE: Yeah, only if you wash the mug. And I don't mean rinse, I mean wash. Can I use your computer? MICKEY: Yeah. Any excuse to get in the bedroom. (Rose walks into Mickey's room to use his computer) MICKEY, calling down the hall: Don't read my emails! [Rose uses Search-Wise.net to hunt for the Doctor Doctor, 17,700,000 results. Doctor Living Plastic 55,300 results. Doctor Blue Box 493 results. The top one says - Doctor Who? ...do you know this man? contact Clive here. She clicks on the site and there is a fuzzy picture of the Ninth Doctor.]

Mickey's line above about "don't read my emails" is apparently taken by some in the fandom as ~irrefutable proof~ that Mickey is cheating on Rose.

This assumption is a bit flabbergasting to me, as literally every single time I've seen episode one, I took that to be a rather generic joke about a guy having embarrassing porn on his computer.

So! Putting it up for fandom debate--

#tumblr polls #dw #doctor who #Mickey Smith #bold text #large text #1x01 Rose #racism #fandom racism #RTD racism #Mickey Smith deserved better

[adhd-merlin]

merlin S1 rewatch: episode 3

I'm putting this above the cut because I am outraged:

THEY CUT SOME LINES ON BBC iPLAYER. THEY CUT THE LINE WHERE MORGANA SAYS MERLIN IS "A LOVER"!! THEY CUT MERLIN SAYING "WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT". WHAT KIND OF VICTORIAN CENSORSHIP IS THIS!!!!!

seriously!! (I only noticed because I'm watching this with subs off this time, but I had a transcript to glance at on my phone because sadly I can't hear without my subtitles).

random thoughts/observation:

• Interesting choice to have Nimueh cast her curse via a Fabergé egg

• Nimueh doing her Galadriel shit in a very cool cave actually

• S1 Arthur had some snazzy little outfits. Love the Jedi vest.

• I don't like bad cop Arthur :(

• baby's first raid!!!

• okay but Gaius tells Uther the plague is caused by sorcery, and the king IMMEDIATELY sends Arthur to search Gaius's chambers? "we're searching every room in town" my ass. Uther only trusts Gaius as far as he can throw him, which explain a lot about the way Gaius keeps begging Merlin to keep a low profile.

• this is maybe one of the gayest episodes. if you don't think so you're looking at the wrong couple.

• Gwen picked flowers for Morgana. MORGANA WAS READY TO FIGHT A CAVE MONSTER FOR HER GIRLFRIEND MAID. Don't talk to me.

• Merlin and Gwen's friendship is so heartwarming and pure and I've missed it!! wish the writers had remembered they were good friends later in the series

• Can we talk about Merlin being such a lovely boy. a literal ray of sunshine. can we.

• Gaius (in ep 1): "Magic shouldn't be used for idiotic pranks!!". Merlin (in ep 3): "okay so can I use it to save a man's life?" Gaius: "NO"

• I can't tell whether or not Gaius knows about the prophecy (if the writers had even decided at this point). He keeps making allusions to destiny and great things to come, so it kind of sounds like he does?

• Merlin & Gaius having their first significant disagreement about the best approach to take to solve the problem at hand. They are Feelings vs Logic. I think fandom sometimes forgets young Merlin was fierce and opinionated as well as kind and sweet. Any boy less stubborn than him wouldn't have lasted long around Gaius. I think this is one of the ways in which they are similar — both headstrong and loath to back down when they believe they are right. Which they often do.

• Gwen only asking Merlin to remember her after she's executed 😭😭😭

• lol @ Merlin being laughed out of the room after his attempt at a heroic sacrifice. He really thought he was doing something.

• Arthur: "OBVIOUSLY he's not a sorcerer!! leave him alone. he's mentally ill and in love and stupid. did I mention stupid"

• the elemental solution was kind of stupid (the beast is made of clay > water + earth, so it can be defeated by fire + wind?). They literally didn't know it was going to work. MERLIN SWEETIE WHAT WAS YOUR PLAN B. WHAT WAS YOUR PLAN A, EVEN

• great Afanc monster clearly just a guy in a suit. that's just Steve from the make-up department.

• Merlin casting his spell without a care for who hears it. BABE YOU'LL GET CAUGHT

• I know the last exchange between Merlin and Morgana is meant to be a gag but it’s also sad how relieved and happy Merlin is at hearing Morgana say she knows his secret, and her asking if she can talk to him about it :(

All in all a cute little episode, not much to say about it

funny/notable quotes:

• UTHER (to Morgana): Have you ever seen an enchantress? Believe me, they bear no sign, no mark. There is no sense of evil in the eye. (👀)

• KILGHARRAH: You are but one side of a coin. Arthur is the other.

#rewatch1.jls #merlin's body count: still 1 #merlin

[captainsspnanon]

C2E69 - The Kings Cage - rewatch reaction

The episode that should have been NiceTM, and was not.

Whyyyy are the subtitles so fucked for this episode? They’re covering Travis’s face! I’m guessing it’s because of the PC icons that showed up. Wait, is this the first time that this has happened??? *checks previous episode again* Oh man, I’m so used to seeing this that 1) I didn’t notice when it wasn’t there and 2) I didn’t realize that this was the first time they showed up! I don’t remember this fucking up the subtitles before or in other episodes….maybe this was first time issues?

I am super distracted by Matt not noticing Sam’s shirt.

Funnily enough, this entire scene matches what the one dnd playtest is talking about with warlocks. Sometimes they are the only one calling for a short rest and you have this disparity in what the players want to do.

It is now July 4th, I last touched this a full fucking month ago. I have watched ~30 minutes of the latest Candela Obscura, but am struggling to get into it (a sad reality of me and CR one shots and mini-series.) SO LET’S GET BACK TO THE DRAMA!!

...I’m only 17 minutes in….*starts over from the beginning*

Oh geez I forgot that this was episode 69. They went into this with teasing hype for months about ‘lul 69’ and then they got this heart wrench of an episode.

Sam and Laura play the “I have Not(t)” bit really well. There’s just a touch in Jester’s tone which is inserting a comma in there ‘I have, Nott’, but it’s a clever bit of attempted deception as well, even though it fails.

I’d forgotten that Nott claimed the flask defined her as a person. T.T Once the campaign is over, it’s easy to remember the goblin alcoholism as mostly jokes, but there were some really deep and painful moments. I don’t personally know anyone who struggles with addiction, so I know there are aspects of this emotionally that I don’t relate to, but there these small moments are incredibly well done. Sam talked about how he discussed Scanlan’s attempts at addiction with Brian, I don’t recall if he also went to him for Nott?

The juxtaposition of Jester very seriously expressing her worries to Nott about how when Nott is drunk, she’s less cautious and will run straight at things without looking for traps, versus everyone else loosing their shit when she says ‘or trigger them’. I’ll have to try to pay attention, but I think even after this RP, Nott still doesn’t become someone super careful about looking for traps. We, of course, know her big moments in the future (happy fun ball time!), but I’m unsure if Sam/Nott is more on top of it.

I really do love the push/pull relationship that Nott/Veth has with her family and her love of adventure. In hindsight, I feel like Sam managed to hold the balance of it very well and very realistically. For most of the PCs, I feel like the epilogues give me enough to have a very good idea of their lives going forwards, even if only for a while. Veth is the one I’m curious about the most though, how does she continue to balance her love of adventure with her family? The dynamics have certainly changed from how they were pre-campaign, and that helps a lot, but I wonder if sometimes she may instigate small things for the Nein to go on, or if she insists she get invited along to someone else’s trip (maybe one of the trips to Aeor?). Or does she find herself content with the chaos of the summer camp in addition to her homely life?

LOL Sam and Laura pushing for Caleb to have a chin that matches Liam, and Liam at every instance making it clear with official art that Caleb absolutely does NOT have a cleft chin.

Does the whip ever actually get used in combat? I know it gets given to Fjord when he loses his power…. TELL ME, CRITROLESTATS. Actually transcript search might be better for this, I don’t think critrolestats says what weapon is used. I think it’s only used in the Obann fight here, and then with the purple worm by Fjord, and then by no one else ever again. XD It gets mentioned in another episode or two as a possibility to use (catching someone who might fall), but I don’t think it does?

WE NEED MORE CALEB AND YASHA MOMENTS!!! Him suggesting she be in the middle of the group, her not being sure, him saying that protection is not a bad thing, her saying it could be and then almost asking him permission to be on the front, him making it clear he’s not telling her what to do. Seriously, this pairing has SUCH a good dynamic and it only gets better from here, but we have so little interaction. :( I will forever grump and mourn and exclaim that we need more Liam and Ashley scenes. We were robbed of Pike and Vax moments in C1, robbed on Caleb and Yasha moments in C2, and I could ALWAYS use more than we currently have in C3.

LOL at the matching nat 1s for trying to determine what the sigil is. Very very glad that Caleb had fortune’s favor and could re-roll. The sometimes frustrating aspect of dnd is some PCs failing at stuff they should 100% be able to do. I’m reminded of the Hand’s heart scene where Liam kept failing checks for Caleb where everyone else was succeeding, despite the fact that it was arcana related.

...Torog? Moradin? Sehanine? What’s with all these 5e names, Matt? I’d thought you’d thoroughly switched to unique epithets by now. You’re even using with with the Allhammer and Moonweaver!

Why do they immediately assume devil upon red skin, yellow eyes, two horns? They’re all gasping before he gets to the wings, but couldn’t he just have been a tiefling with the description?

Did we ever find out what Obann thought he was actually getting from the Angel of Irons? We know they opened abyssal rifts, and that they were trying to free Tharizdun (without knowing that’s what they were doing). So like, is it just an image of an angel saying ‘free me by doing this, oh and also tear the planes apart to let demons in?’ ..demons? devils? This is the hardest part of 5e for me, dammit. Demons. Demons from the abyss. But Obann’s a devil. Aaagh as much as I enjoy the angel of irons subplot, it’s also I think the sketchiest plot in all of CR with no clear understanding of goals or what or why.

...Is this the first “making my way”??? *checks transcripts* Oh, it’s not – the first was in episode 60. BUT I think this is the first time since then, so here’s where it becomes a running gag?

Huh, not letting Fjord get off his eldritch blasts that triggered the whole initiative.

“what do a devil and a tree have in common? Intelligence” …..not gonna lie, I don’t get the joke at ALL. Tasha’s Hideous Laughter would fail just because I’m so confused. I’m ASSUMING that it’s just calling Obann dumb….if so I feel like it would be better if the object were ‘rock’ or ‘brick’, based off of ‘dumb as a rock’ or ‘dumb as a brick’.

I’ve seen some people say that Matt picked up the trick of stating a DC ahead of time from Brennan, but here he just stated that Beau needed at 25 DC acrobatics to do a flurry of blows on Obann (she fails with a 22), so it’s something that he has done beforehand. I think it’s just not something that he prefers to do much.

Only two rounds to free the Laughing Hand? Well, I guess it’s something that Matt really needed to have happen so that makes sense. I think I would have liked three or four rounds to give the PCs more time to do shit, but that’s just personal preference.

Oooo!!! I forgot that over the break he replaced the sarcophagus mini with a broken open sarcophagus! Fun!

Counterspell a Shield! Not quite a counterspell a counterspell, but still sexy.

Ashley interrupting to inform Matt that because of her Ring of Protection, Yasha’s saving throw was actually 3 instead of 2. I LOVE HER.

I really love the moments where something truly horrible starts happening to the PCs (Yasha being turned against them, being an unwilling creature for Fjord’s thunderstep) and while the PCs are NOT happy about it, the players are stoked and excited! It’s a fun juxtaposition of the true fun of ‘what’s going on’ in the game especially when compared with the more settled RP moments where the players are in full PC mode and their personal enthusiasm is sometimes hidden by the RP. Fjord is furious with Yasha for betraying them, but here Travis is wiggling and singing “this is getting interesting!”

I’m not going to research it, and a comments check didn’t help, but I wonder how many PC rolls the Bless-that-should-have-dropped actually helped. Quick check of the livetweets for critrolestats, maybe Yasha’s saving throw against the Hand’s laughter, and the rest are Beau attacks. However, Beau had advantage on many of them, rolled consistently high, and I think actually forgot the bless a number of times? So honestly? I think even if bless had dropped correctly, things still would have played out the way they did. Oh wait...Fjord’s last hit for the HDYWTDT was because of bless. (very sad the the critrolestats livetweets did not include Ashley correcting for Yasha’s 2 to 3 for the wisdom save XD)

MIGHTY NEIN ONE SHOT ANNOUNCED AS FIRST LIVE SHOW SINCE THE PANDEMIC!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (though I’m seeing some people saying they’ll be level 20, but can’t find any actual statement saying what level they’ll be?? Hoping before I post this that someone will let me know)

Beau using Stillness of Mind to end fear, UGH SO GOOD. Seriously, with the new UAs and everything for the new dnd I keep hearing about how bad monks are, but I haven’t ever experienced it because Beau is so GOOD (and I haven’t played with a monk yet. Someone had done a monk/cleric multiclass, but that game ended while we were still in level 2 due to some session 0 miscommunications)

Lesser Restoration not being able to cure fear, but Greater Restoration does just seems weird to me. Like, Lesser can cure blind, deaf, paralyze, or poison. While Greater…..wait. Greater doesn’t cure frightened either! It only reduces exhaustion, ends charmed or petrified, undoes a curse, undoes an ability score reduction, undoes an effect that reduces hit point max. Fear is none of those. So, neither of the restorations RAW end fear??? Well, I guess that’s the reason for Calm Emotions.

NOTT GIVES YASHA A FLOWER FROM HER HAIR I’m having my heart being crushed by things I didn’t remember! And Jester knew that Yasha was controlled, she tried to Charm her back but it didn’t work! All I really remembered from the Nein was Jester being very sad and Fjord and Beau being very angry, I didn’t remember that others knew she didn’t have a choice!

Oh FUUUUUCK I never realized that when Fjord is brought down by Yasha, only to come back with Relentless Endurance, when he asks her “why” he asks her in his true voice. MY HEAAAART.

I know everyone mentions it, but Ashley’s exaggerated sad-face when Taliesin starts to count her then skips her for Bless, then Matt winking at her and her grin. Even when they have such heavy emotional episodes like this combat turned to be, signs like that are some of the clearest that they’re all still having a blast.

Obviously didn’t say much for the combat itself, I think my only ‘analysis’ of it is that it’s one of the higher stakes combats in C2, easily matching the level of some C1 fights. Even a good chunk into C3, C1 is still the reigning champion for most intense combats. While I don’t all into the hivemind that shouts that Matt takes it easy on them, I do think there are times when Matt is taking it HARDER on them, and this certainly was one of those combats. I really do enjoy the combats where they are fighting an intelligent and evil enemy who is fully intent on destroying them. You get such great tactics and some real creativity in those moments that you don’t get as strongly on a standard 6v1/7v1 creature combat.

Ending the episode with the side by side of Matt and Ashley as Matt gently narrates the confusion in Yasha, the uncertainty of if she is being controlled or doing this on her own, it’s beautiful, heartbreaking, and perfect. (aside from the fact that because of the table layout, they end up facing away from each other during the close ups XD Who knows, maybe that makes it more jarring to go with Yasha’s mindset?)

#cr c2 rewatch #critical role #the mighty nein

[weakforarwen]

I searched through every Merlin episode transcript for the phrase "For the love of Camelot!". Arthur usually shouted it before a battle, and everyone else would parrot it back to him (eg. The Coming of Arthur, The Sword in the Stone, The Diamond of The Day, etc.). He also simply used "For Camelot!" at least once (Lancelot). I wondered if anyone other than Arthur had independently used the expression, not in response to Arthur, and I found that only one other person had.

In the same episode that "For the love of Camelot!" was first used, by Arthur, Gwen said it to Arthur, while he was on his deathbed:

You're not going to die, Arthur. I'm telling you. Because I know that one day you will be King. A greater king than you father could ever be. It's what keeps me going. You are going to live to be the man I've seen inside you, Arthur. I can see a Camelot that is fair and just. I can see a king that the people will love and be proud to call their sovereign. For the love of Camelot, you have to live.

At first, I thought Uther had also used that expression, since he was once King of Camelot and all his decisions had allegedly been made in Camelot's best interests. Yet he hadn't, and I couldn't even find an episode where he'd said "for the good of Camelot" or something like it, though I'm almost certain he used a variation of those words more than once.

This whole thing began because I had theorized that Arthur, Gwen, and Uther alone had uttered the phrase "For the love of Camelot!". To me, that would've reflected the fact that they, and only they, ever had the honor of being accepted as legitimate rulers of Camelot. They'd cared for Camelot the most, and their different approaches to ruling fascinate me. It's somewhat poetic that, in the end, Gwen was the only one besides Arthur to independently proclaim "For the love of Camelot!". She and Arthur ruled together for a few years, and they had similar beliefs and thoughts on ruling Camelot.

Arthur was constantly divided between Uther and Gwen, between tradition and reform. Uther and Gwen represented opposing styles of ruling: Uther represented the conservative, patriarchal, authoritarian style of ruling, which placed power above people; Gwen represented social reform, equality, kindness, a more modern approach to ruling in which the strength of a kingdom was measured by the well-being of its people and not its military prowess.

Arthur was the first in Camelot to knight commoners, breaking the first rule of the Knight's code, and to walk away from tradition by both marrying a servant and marrying for love; he shared Gwen's vision of a "fair" and "just" Camelot (descriptors they both used).

However, fear, outside pressure, and loyalty to his father, often steered Arthur towards Uther's vision of a strong, powerful Camelot. For example, in Another's Sorrow, Gwen worried Arthur was seeking revenge for his father's death; Arthur almost started a war to achieve it, as Uther would've done. In the end, he chose peace over revenge, but, in his grief, Arthur had almost failed to see reason. He initially showed Odin that Camelot's biggest strength was its Army, only to prove that Camelot's biggest strength was actually Arthur's kindness, hope, and compassion.

I just find it so fascinating that Arthur, Uther, and Gwen were all connected through Arthur. The figurative tug-of-war between Uther and Gwen was the main contributor to Arthur's growth. That's even more meaningful when you remember that Gwen wasn't just Arthur's love interest and moral compass, but also a future ruler of Camelot.

Throughout the series, Camelot knew four rulers: Uther, Morgana, Arthur, and Gwen, and all of them rose to power differently. Morgana and Uther "took" Camelot by force, through war (though the people of Camelot never recognized Morgana's claim to the throne); Arthur, on the other hand, inherited Camelot by birthright, and Gwen via her marriage to Arthur. The people of Camelot never chose any of their sovereigns, but they had approved of Arthur and Arthur approved of Gwen. In fact, Arthur and Gwen were the closest Camelot ever came to a democratically elected leader: Arthur, because he genuinely had the majority of his people's support, and Gwen, because she was chosen, by Arthur, based on merit and not on her royal blood or her connections. Gwen didn't become Queen because she was born into the right family. She became Queen because of her morals and her commitment to Camelot, even if Arthur had also married her for love.

Arthur and Gwen were truly the only rulers of Camelot who ever had the right to claim to do anything "for the love of Camelot!".

#bbc merlin #bbc gwen #bbc arthur #bbc arwen #gwen pendragon #guinevere pendragon #arthur pendragon #uther pendragon #arwen #gwen

[sunnydaleherald]

The Sunnydale Herald Newsletter - Wednesday, July 26 - Thursday July 27 - Part II

The Sunnydale Herald is looking for at least one new editor. Contributing to the Herald is a great way to get your Buffy on!! Find out more here.

[Images, Audio & Video]

Artwork: BTVS “Every Outfit” “Dirty Girls” Xx by whatshisfaceblogs (Buffy, worksafe)

Artwork: BTVS “Every Outfit” “Lies My Parents Told Me” Xx by whatshisfaceblogs (Buffy, worksafe)

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Vidlet: Faith Lehane Edit (BtVS) - Cochise Pocket Rocket by vu-prod (Faith, worksafe)

Fanvid: sonia j : Buffy & Faith ✗ Bad Girl by cornflowershade (Buffy/Faith, worksafe)

Artwork: Accepting that these are not getting finished! by snakeliciousbaby (various, worksafe)

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Moodboard: Drusilla (Buffy the Vampire Slayer) by originalwitchedits (Drusilla, worksafe)

Manip: HOW TO LOSE A GUY IN 10 DAYS ⌞ spuffy version by l0veisntbrains (Buffy/Spike, worksafe)

Gifset: [hands] Buffy the Vampire Slayer by deadwivesclub (worksafe)

Gifset: LEGALLY BLONDE (2001) || ANGEL (1999-2004) by charmedslayer (Harmony, worksafe)

Gifset: What is love to you? How would you define love? by andremichaux [incorrect quotes] (Buffy, Scoobies, Faith, worksafe)

Artwork: the chain by spikedru (Spike/Drusilla, worksafe)

Artwork: old tara sketch by softest-butch (Tara, worksafe)

Artwork: Faith x Buffy request for the pride event ♥️ by somewillwin (Buffy/Faith, worksafe)

[Reviews & Recaps]

The Buffy re-watch: S1E7 (part 1) by jvstheworld

PODCAST: Lap Sweater - Angel S05E02 - Just Rewards by Pop Culture Role Call

[Recs & In Search Of]

ISO: UpstairsReasonable71 seeks Accessing all audio commentaries [transcripts or direct from DVDs]

[Community Announcements]

SoS: Living with Spike Competition [reminder for Giles and Spike story deadline] by nightshade

[Fandom Discussions]

Giles would totally go with Buffy to Barbie and ... by angelique-of-the-volturi-guard

So if Spike is in the tub then... how does Giles do well anything in the bathroom??? by a-potato-wearing-plaid and several others

Do vampires in the Buffyverse have their own underground porn companies? by aphony-cree and multiple others

[cool and pathetic scale for main characters] by hersterical

POLL (and meta): female character fucked over the most by the narrative, specifically in ways the narrative doesn't acknowledge... by variousqueerthings

[thoughts on which season is the most depressing] by variousqueerthings

ethan rayne was the scary evil transsexual coming for your children... [sarcastic] by mag200

[Buffy and Willow comparison during Some Assembly Required] by coraniaid

Four times Buffy Summers climbs out of a grave... by coraniaid

Ask: Do you think Buffy and Angel "regress"...[post S3]? [no] by buffysummers

SoS: Olivia or Maggie in Season 4 [with Giles] by nightshade and others

Missing' Scenes/Scenes You Wished The Writers Had Included? updated by fauxindigo and thrasherpix

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How did I never realize this was the name of the Buffy/Angel theme? by gimmesomespace

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Were Spike/Buffy planned from the beginning? by atlasshrugd

OMWF / The Harvest [choreography parallels] by johnnyorac

smashed / the harsh light of day parallels by atlasshrugd

How much was SMG earning from the series? Did she get residuals? by WhatIsAName88

Gunn on the picket line [J. August Richards] by singleguy79

POLL: Which character's feelings were often overlooked or not taken seriously? by Opening_Knowledge868

How often do you rewatch Buffy? by pilatessong

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Everyones love [interest] dies by nearlyheadlessnik101

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[Articles, Interviews, and Other News]

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#btvs #buffy the vampire slayer #fan art #fan fiction #meta #angel the series #ats

[catsvrsdogscatswin]

Hellsing Commentary 8 Notes

This commentary is done by Taliesin Jaffe, the voice director and lead script adapter of Hellsing, and Crispin Freeman, the voice of Alucard. Direct quotes may vary in accuracy, as these are written down from audio without transcripts. I also didn't write down every joke or piece of trivia because I feel like people who watch the commentaries should get to have some nice surprises for stuff that isn't covered here.

-Taliesin notes that there's a lot of role-reversal in OVA 8. "Poor Anderson has to be the protagonist for, like, thirty minutes."

-Crispin is envious of the microphones Maxwell is using to broadcast.

-According to Crispin, the Vatican is flying American helicopters. "I mean, those look like Hueys to me." Taliesin agrees and says "They know quality and I think they'd feel a little awkward buying from the Israelis at this point."

-Upon commenting on a de-aged Walter, Crispin asks if he and the Captain "are a couple now?" Taliesin replies "That I imagine is implied. Well, that's what the internet told me. I went to this place called 4chan, and there's tons of manga pages of the two of them doing all sorts of terrible things."

-Taliesin's "half-assed" explanation for why Maxwell wants everyone in London dead is "Way back in the 1950s, Japan created a fantasy Europe in their manga, where...people lived in harmony and flowers were beautiful -in this fantasy Europe, I imagine, uh, they imagine that the- the separation of the church, when King Henry decided that he was going to have some divorces, um, sort've left a deeper scar, perhaps, in the actual Vatican than maybe it had. So this is, perhaps, the Vatican coming back to finally- the equivalent of England coming back to deal with the colonies once and for all, where we're finally weak enough that they can come back and claim the east coast. They're coming back in to, uh, remind England that they are Catholic."

-Crispin calls the Iscariot branch "very sort've Last Temptation of Christ, where Judas is the one who was the one who's willing to...take the black mark, for Jesus. How could Jesus become the savior if he was not sacrificed? and Judas is the one who said- eh, agreed to it. That's sort of the spin The Last Temptation of Christ puts on the whole story, that Judas is not evil, that in fact Judas is the one who made the necessary sacrifice, who's allowed to paint himself as the villain, in order to fulfill Jesus's savior."

-Taliesin has a big phobia of ghost ships and fish.

-Taliesin and Crispin talk about the three sides facing off, and when Crispin asks what he sees it as, Taliesin replies "Well, its- it's different attitudes towards the path to enlightenment, at this point. He's (the Major) going towards sacrifice, yeah, Max is pushing towards sacrificial magic, which the Nazis were really into, the whole theory that if you just- you just -enough bloodletting and you can get anywhere...It's the leech theory, it's one of the most interesting and ridiculous, uh, interpretations of the Ouroboros and the Bird of Hermes, and how sacrificial magic works. And then you've got the Catholics, who are not really- this is the interesting thing, is Maxwell is no longer really- Maxwell is going in for this power grab...Maxwell just sort've wants, uh, he's trying to grab power, and he's searching for his enlightenment through material gain. And...and Integra at this point, is just fighting for peace at this point. She is just trying to maintain her home. There's so little of them left, and all they have is just themselves, and they are sitting just for their own self-preservation. And its sort've the- I don't quite want to call it Buddhist, 'cause that's not quite right. But she's just trying to level the playing field at this point. And then we release the dragon, and once the dragon is there then we have St. George and the dragon for the rest of the episode."

-Taliesin also talks about the protagonist/antagonist roles in OVA 8, "The antagonist is imposing his will upon the story. That's your whole Act 2, is the antagonist saying 'I have a series of thoughts about the universe, and I am now going to impose them onto the universe. I am not reacting, I am to be reacted-to.' And your protagonist is your Act 3 character, and he's got a set of theories about the universe, of morals, o-or some sort of metaphor that he lives by, and he's going to live by it and see how that can affect what's going on. So he is, 'How do I react from the place that I believe towards what's going on, and how does that affect it?' So suddenly you're (Crispin/Alucard) the opposing force, and Anderson -who has now kinda abandoned the Catholics at this point, 'cause Maxwell has turned from the mission, his (Anderson's) imposed theory of the universe- now has to face you and has to react to your- to what you're doing to London."

-Alucard calling himself a dragon was "not a mistake," according to Taliesin: they wanted to paint Anderson "very uncomfortably, as Saint George -coming in to slay chaos, and slay the prime evil, and bring order back to the city. But he fails -as we'll all see- and he, he succumbs to his weaker instincts. He's a failed protagonist, which is why in the next episode we get to switch back- you have that moment, actually, which we will come to, where you go 'You're doing it wrong.'"

-Crispin questions whether or not Alucard actually ate horses when the cavalry familiars emerge.

-Crispin also comments on how "-it is interesting, because, you know, as we go later in this episode, Alucard keeps saying he's the dragon, and he's fighting this Christian knight, which is hilarious because historically Dracula was the Christian knight fighting the Sultan, he was fighting the forces of invading Islam, so it's sort of curious that he's now taken this demonic role."

-When discussing the waves of familiars engulfing the various fighters of London, Crispin brings up how awe-inspiring it is. "Where you talk about trying to make a piece of artwork that holds you in what James Joyce would call "aesthetic arrest," where the piece of artwork is so amazing you just go (gasp), and you just are sort of in this static place of aesthetic arrest. And many times that's accomplished through immense beauty, something so beautiful that you just look at it and you don't want it, or you don't dislike it, you just (gasp), you know? ...But the other way to do it, not beauty, is also what's called the sublime. And the sublime is when you're dealt with, you're dealing with something that's so huge, that's so powerful, that's so ego-destroying, that it obliterates your sense of yourself as an individual person, and you just kinda go- it's almost cosmic dread. There's this sort of awe, in the face of humongous power, or humongous destruction, or cosmic scale of things, that obliterates your personal ego, and you just go (extended gasp)...and sometimes in watching this, I go, 'I get it. They're trying to go for that notion of -we're just going to overwhelm you with this scale of destruction.' ...You're trying to go for that sense of sort of aesthetic arrest from this mass destruction."

-Taliesin agrees with Crispin and quotes a musician that "Beauty is the first glimpse of horror that we are just about able to bear."

-Taliesin calls Dracula "a much softer character" than Alucard and intends to reel in some of the voice effects on Crispin while he's in the armor.

-Taliesin has a friend who is an alchemist that he consulted with in regard to the Ripley Scroll.

-Apparently, Taliesin's Darby Bible wore out due to all the times he had to consult it when writing Hellsing.

-Anderson encouraging Alucard to hurry and come at him after his arm is partially shot off was meant to be a callback to Alucard encouraging Luke in OVA 2, "to really push the role-reversal."

-During the recording of Alucard and Anderson's fight, Taliesin and Crispin talked a lot about how Alucard was "trying to press a pre-recorded script on him, of how this is supposed to go."

-Taliesin builds on that during the commentary, saying "This is my theory: this is the script you (Alucard/Crispin) performed upon the Sultan, and then hundreds of years later, it just keeps having to be repeated -as, as the dead must. The whole point of being dead -and again, this is my wild speculations- is that you become- is that nothing new ever happens. And so this is very much, the script has to run its course, and that's sort of where your power comes from, is that this cycle of defeat and rebirth, and defeat and rebirth, and defeat and rebirth...which, in theory, is the whole point of enlightenment, is the Bird of Hermes, the Ouroboros, is the snake devouring its own tail." Crispin asks if the cycling is for Alucard's benefit or for other's, and Taliesin answers that "Alucard is wise enough to know that all is one and I think he's- on a certain level reached a particular type of enlightenment. And I think there's a part of him that understands that this is just circular and there is no beginning and there is no end, there is only the now."

-During the fight with Anderson, Crispin comments that Alucard eventually has the revelation that he's a coward, that he "admires those who are trying to defeat him, uh, he's got more respect for them than he does for himself. And it seems- it's almost like he wants their humanity to prove to him, he- he likes being defeated by those who have more humanity than he does. I wonder if it solves an argument for him in his head...Yeah, he wants to be the most- uh, the biggest dragon possible, because if he can be that powerful and still defeated by a human, then the human- the way of being human wins, and he'll be satisfied."

-Taliesin agrees with Crispin's assessment of Alucard's motivations and says "It is a vindication of the human soul. Which is where Anderson fucks everything up. (laughs) By rejecting humanity despite- supposing to be the champion of humanity while rejecting humanity, which...you can't do. It's actually- my god, I think we've finally hit a moral point in this show. Eight episodes in and we finally hit a moral point! My god! I think we've all learned something, finally!"

-On the topic of the Major saluting Iscariot and saying that they're struggling towards enlightenment together, Crispin states that "The philosophical core of what's going on here, is the idea that- it's a common trope in many- in much of storytelling that the difference between the hero and the villain, or the protagonist and antagonist, is that they're both two sides of the same coin. What's the difference between Batman and the Joker except that one's on our side and one isn't? Um...and so for him to say that everyone here is basically trying to go towards some sort of enlightenment, and whether you wanna do that through, uh, the paradigm of Christianity, whether you wanna do that through the paradigm of Nazism, or whether you wanna do that through the individual of Alucard, which I assume implies the paradigm of...his Cthulhu nature and everything else- that we're all gonna do this, not through beauty, but through the sublime. We're gonna do this through some sort of ego-obliteration."

-Taliesin agrees and says "I was trying to give Max (the Major) the same -and again in my, in the wonderful occult tomes that I have- the fundamental flaw in the occult philosophy of Nazism, which the Major is trying to point out, he's- I put the philosophy out there so we could see the fundamental flaw in it, which is- the theory being that the struggle is what its all about. And that enlightenment is that...is that birth is the endzone, if that makes sense. Coming at it from a more traditional occult sense, is that you have this very violent act, which gives birth to life, but the mistake that's made there is that the violent act is the end, is that that's where it ends, is that this is what we're all trying to do: create as much violence as possible so that we're all striving for the same thing...but that's not where enlightenment lies, because violence by itself is a...act of- the denial of higher powers of the universe. Violence by its very own nature, while sometimes it's something in nature and something that moves, it is by its very act, separating. It's not unifying, the act of imposing violence upon another person is self-mutilation in the eyes of an enlightened creature. And if you deny that that's self-mutilation, that you're trying to cut as much of yourself off as possible so that you have nothing left to think about other than you own enlightenment, that's false enlightenment."

-On a similar vein with the Bird of Hermes, Taliesin also talks about how "The Bird of Hermes is not consuming himself because he's trying to, you know, because he's trying to enact enough violence that he's got nothing left to think about, its- the metaphor is deeper than that. Its- he's consuming himself just because that much of himself is...uh, maintains growth, it's the passage of time that is the consumption of the wings, or the consumption of the snake (in the Ouroboros symbol). The head is not- the head is just perspective. The head is just the here and now, and it's to show you where the illusion lies. The head is an illusion. The Ouroboros is a circle, and the only reason the head is there is you can't see the circle when you're in it."

-Crispin also talks about "I think a lot of people look at Alucard and think he's so powerful, and he's not afraid of anything, but in fact, it is those who are most insecure who go for this kind of power. Those who are secure never need this kind of power over others. And that's, I think, what Alucard has probably learned over all these centuries he's existed, which is 'Oh my god, I went through- for all this power because I'm insecure. I would love it if a secure human would defeat me.'" Taliesin agrees with Crispin and says that that might be one of the reasons Alucard created Seras, "because she's such a wonderful mirror of his own internal insecurities, of her denial of self and her fear. And it's a way that he can project that onto someone else."

-Crispin explains that he didn't know about Seras's backstory until Ultimate, and says that she and Dracula share the same "kind of internal, emotional wound...and the two of them are sort of working from the same 'I was hurt, I feel powerless, and so a next step better than powerlessness is revenge, and anger. And so I'm gonna live in that place.' But I think, after spending a couple of centuries living in a place of anger and revenge, you realize there's more. And I think this...the 'sickness in his heart' is this idea that he's wounded. But he's not, he's as wounded as he wants to be." Taliesin brings up how that relates to Dracula's struggle for Mina's romantic feelings, and Crispin agrees, "Right, somehow Mina's gonna solve the problem, somehow something external is gonna solve the problem...So now of course the frustration that Alucard I think probably has, is that instead of having a human being who could defeat him, he now has a titan- so now we have two titans fighting, and that's gonna go on forever. It cannot- it does not resolve the emotional, uh, insecurity within Alucard. It does not resolve the emotional dissatisfaction within Alucard."

-Regarding Crispin's assessment of Alucard's feelings during the fight, Taliesin agrees and says "And if anything, it may bring him back, right back to that place he was when this all began, that feeling of weakness and powerlessness, which he's been running from for hundreds and hundreds of years." Crispin agrees and says "Which is probably on some level why he- it looks like he sort of gives up, at the end of this episode. That, in the middle of this he just sort've...ehh, you know, it's not like he hasn't been stabbed in the head by one of Anderson's blades before. But this time, it's like-" (Taliesin cuts in with "This is not Anderson anymore.") "-yeah, this is this other thing, and it's like, wow." Taliesin continues, adding that "This is his own denial coming right back at him."

-Taliesin has "fabulous plans" for Girlycard as of this commentary.

#Hellsing #alucard (hellsing) #alucard/alexander anderson #This is the only commentary not on YouTube rn so I tried to pull pretty much everything #Crispin really loves the philosophy of this series and it shows

[gayofthefae]

Decided to key word search transcripts of every episode since “follow your heart” for the word heart and write down the section of dialogue. (And some are gonna be missed because sometimes it’s onscreen and talked about but the word “heart” isn’t used so I’ll put those in where I remember them). Most of them can be metaphors. Obviously, heart rate is also mentioned a lot. I wrote all of them just in case, though. Because this show, man...

(Also, in Survivors, Bobby told Buck he knows all his impulsive actions come from his heart but it is 4am and I don’t wanna transcribe that right now)

Panic

“Well, it wasn’t a heart attack.” “Panic attacks can often present as heart attacks.”

“You had a heart attack. You must have a good boss. She kept you with us until the cavalry arrived.” “My heart’s racing. I can’t breathe. Am I having a heart attack too?” “Not necessarily. Could be a panic attack.” “Whoa, guys, we got another one! This is Captain Nash. We’re gonna need a second gurney.”

“Transplant team is ready in OR three.” “That’s great, but we’re not starting without the heart.” “I’m on with the pilot. They’re twelve minutes out.”

“Are you saying you had a heart attack?” “No, I’m not saying I had a heart attack. I’m saying the opposite. I’m saying I didn’t have heart attack.” “But you did think you were having a heart attack” “Can we just drop this?”

Desperate Times

“The place where this heart’s coming from, that was a tragedy. But once we land it’s gonna be a miracle, right?”

“Wait! The heart! This is a transplant flight!” (Eddie): “I got it!”

“It was a panic attack. Not a heart attack.”

Desperate Measures

“You’re not gonna pass out or anything, right? Your heart rate is not going up?”

Home and Away

(Claudette taking call) “Home invasion robbery. The homeowner and his grandson managed to hide but it sounds like Grandad’s having a heart attack. Lonnie, the paramedics are real close, I promise, but they can’t enter the house yet. Do you still hear the intruder?” “Yes, yes, I can hear him” “And what about your grandpa? Is he breathing?” “No, no. He’s dying. I think he’s dying.” “You’ve got your earbuds in, right?” “Yes, yes” “I’m gonna talk you through doing compressions” “No, no, I can’t. They’re gonna hear.” “Five-Adam-19, suspect in the front study, hard right as you enter the house.” “Lonnie, the police are coming in. It’s gonna be loud.” “I can hear them coming” “Don’t be scared by the noise, okay?” “Are you still pushing?” “Good” “Five-Adam-19, you need to go now” “Copy, 19, sending rescue in” “133, suspect’s in custody” “You’re clear to enter” “Paramedics tell me your grandpa’s heartbeat is back. You did real good.”

“Claudette’s a big personality. But she’s got an even bigger heart.”

Peer Pressure

“Probie, if you’re gonna vomit, do it somewhere else” “His heart rate’s elevated. Blade must have nicked his carotid, but at least it’s giving us just enough pressure to prevent him from bleeding out immediately.” “Okay, Buck, I got the weight. You got the disassemble when you’re done there.”

Brawl in Cell Block 9-1-1

“My son...he’s here in the ICU. Congenital heart failure. Kid’s been waiting almost a year for a new heart.” “So you’re here to force his way up the list at gunpoint.” “No. I’m here to give him mine.”

“Legally, it’s complicated. But he wants the state to kill him so he can donate his heart.”

“He wants to donate his heart to his kid.” “Buck, that’s not on the table.” “State of California doesn’t allow death row inmates to donate their organs.” “Come on, that’s just a technicality.” “It’s a law, Buck.” “Prisoners have made petitions” “and every request to become an organ donor has been denied” “There’s gotta be something else we can do”

“You think this is what he wants? To get your heart and live the rest of his life knowing how much blood you shed so he could have it?” “What do you want me to do? Go back to prison? Sit there rotting in my cell while my kid dies?” “I want you to shut up. And let me help you.”

“Go grab a crash cart and help me keep his heart pumping.” “What happened?” “He shot himself. Bullet through his brain.” “Eddie, he’s dead.” “But his heart isn’t. And I need it to stay that way.”

“That boy is going to die without that heart. And the father...or whatever you wanna call him...has made himself the donor. Let’s just let them do the surgery. Figure the rest out later.” “This is way above our pay grade. We don’t make the laws. Just enforce them.” “The governor is never going to pardon him for a triple homicide. Even posthumously.” “What would he say to a commutation?”

Ghost Stories [Halloween]

none

Defend in Place

“ICU is now full.” “But I’ve got a heart patient that needs immediate attention.” “Your nearest hospital is going to be Mont Grove.”

Past is Prologue

“I knew it was wrong but...when Clive talked about the future we could have together. I saw it. And I wanted it with my whole heart. But the day I was supposed to meet him I...Stood him up.”

Wrapped In Red

none

Outside Looking In

none

Boston

“Heart rate is rapid and irregular. Legs and ankles also appear to be swollen.” “Could be possible right-sided heart failure. Does your friend have a history of heart trouble?”

“Let’s immobilize his hand and elevate it above his heart. Don’t want it to swell more than it is.” “The venom’s making my heart swell. I’m gonna die.” “No, I meant your hand. And statistically speaking, people don’t die from snake bites.”

“Maddie?” “Howie.” “We have acute alcohol intoxication. Heart rate severely low. BP 80/60 and she’s cold to the touch. Let’s start suction and get her on a gurney.” 

Fear-o-Phobia

(Jonah with spider guy) “Pressure’s bottoming out. Might be a reaction to the steroids.” “Wouldn’t that increase the pressure?” “Yes. Unless he was on some sort of prescription meds. Clear!”  “Heart rhythm returning to normal.” “You sure he’s okay?” “Yeah. Just gave us a scare.”

“Phobophobia. The fear of being afraid. The terror that comes from imagining the pounding of your heart, the racing of your pulse, and the ensuing loss of control.”

Dumb Luck

(Heart drawings) “That one’s mine. I misunderstood the assignment.”

“Okay, Jules. Your pulse and this entry wound are telling me [the stop sign] has not damaged your heart. You’re very lucky.”

FOMO

“Your heartbeat is muffled, which could be cause for concern.”

“Heart on the right, spleen on the right.” “All his organs, including his heart are on the wrong side of his body. That’s not in his questionnaire? That’s a huge thing to leave out.”

“He’s bleeding into the sack around his heart. It’s filling up and it’s keeping his heart from beating fully.”

“I need to drain the blood.” “Wait, from his heart? What if you’re wrong about the dextrocardia?” “I’ll collapse his lung. But I thought I’d try not to do that.” “I can hear his heartbeat clearer now. He’s returning to normal sinus rhythm.”

(the mother) “Heart rate’s way up. Blood pressure’s really low.” “Can’t really feel much.” “Could be the adrenaline. Likely a pelvic fracture. Abdomen is warm to the touch, belly’s full of blood.” “Need...my kids.” “They’re waiting for you up at the surface.” “I’m not gonna make it back to them, am I?” “It’s hard for us to know how severe it is from down here.”

“Look, I know your heart’s in the right place. Or...I guess yours isn’t, but due to your undisclosed medical condition, you won’t be able to participate in the show.” “But what about Alyssa? I know she really wanted to get married.” “She still does.”

May Day

[Claudette died of cardiac arrest]

Hero Complex

Jonah killed every body by giving them heart attacks so that’s most of it.

#like i said most of these can mean something and many of them are just heartrate but some of the heartrate ones could also mean something #911 fox #911 spoilers #eddie diaz

[deadmenarentdreaming]

Transcripts 12/11/23

Sleeve #1:

I wonder if the trees are as fond of their birds as I would be. Do they sigh their sweet, gentle sighs when the birds flee the nest? Do they cry as much as a tree is able to cry? Are they relieved..? Perhaps I would be relieved. I'm not cut out to raise the birds in my nest. They'd peck at the scars on my wrists. No, I'd much rather live with the trees who's branches have been cut. I'll move on if a bird moves in.

Cup #1:

What's the answer to the questions I can't bear to ask? I want him to tell me when he's alone in his mind. Does he know the answers? No. He's a witness to my worst episodes. He doesn't know. Will he ever know? No. I think he knows that I don't relate to the trees. I know he relates to the barks they shout late at night. Does he know why I stay up late? Does he know I imagine him around every corner? Does he know I love his songs? No.

Sleeve #2:

What do you think about when I'm away? What will you talk about when I'm dead? Please forgive me for asking, but will you cheer when I'm gone? I'd like you to. I'd like you to stop liking me, too. Let me be the cast of the shadows that cover the room before the lamps turn on. I'd like them to stay off, please. The lights whisper to my mind when they're on. Please cheer when I play my last song.

Cup #3:

Sometimes I wish I were born a boy. My dad would like me better. My mom would get the son she's been searching for. People wouldn't stare anymore. My body would finally be my own. Is there a reason I resemble the blue jay? He apologizes when I see him, cries about how I look. I don't like him sometimes. I'm a fake. I must really be a sparrow painted blue. My fingers start to turn blue as I write this.

Sleeve #4:

Hunger consumes me every once in a while. She asks politely, quietly, for more slices, for less energy. I obey. She's a comforting presence when I'm trapped. I can't avoid her tender kiss. She fills my mouth in blood, my arms in scars. I ask her to stop, through staggered breaths. She shakes her head, she holds my chin in her white hands. "Stay." I obey.

Cup #4:

Why am I so protective over my shadow? He can fend for himself. No, he needs me. He must. I need someone to need me. Will you ask him for me if he needs me? Would he rather I hang myself in the forest I write this in? Don't ask him. Maybe I'll just do it. The lights have been off for too long.

[silenceforetold]

Mixed and Matched

All of the issues going on in America has me especially thinking about my personal identity and my role within the world. I also want to express that this post has a lot to do with an episode of a show on Netflix, Ginny & Georgia.

I am biologically Black ADOS (American Descendant of Slavery), Asian, Native American, and White. I have the privilege of being light-skinned as well as somewhat racially ambiguous, and so I want to begin this post by acknowledging these privileges and stating that I do not, will not, and cannot speak for other people of color. I can only speak on my own experiences and my own perspective based upon those experiences.

For those who have yet to see Ginny & Georgia, the general plot revolves around a White mother from the South named Georgia, her biracial Black and White daughter Virginia nicknamed Ginny, and her White son Austin when they move into the New England community of Wellsbury.

Before I go any further, I want to make it very clear that there will be big spoilers for the Netflix Original Series: Ginny & Georgia: S01 E08 “Check One, Check Other.”

As is expected with a titular biracial heroine, Ginny’s biraciality is a key aspect of her character and a focal plot point as she navigates living in a primarily White high school. Much to Ginny’s chagrin, she quickly understands that racism and racial bias is not restricted to the southern United States and makes an enemy of her problematic literature professor. Ginny is not the only biracial narrative we encounter, however, as we soon meet the character Hunter and are given the perspective of a half Taiwanese male when the two characters begin a romantic relationship.

Without giving too much away, I will disclose that their relationship is not exactly an ideal one due to a third party, but I am choosing to ignore the romantic love triangle arc as a whole to instead just focus on the relationship of Hunter and Ginny without acknowledging the problematic love triangle within the show.

Very early in the show’s narrative, we are introduced to racial stereotypes such as “smart Asians” in the way that the literature professor, Gitten, constantly praises Hunter’s academic prowess while simultaneously refusing to acknowledge Ginny, the only Black individual in his class, as being at least equally as intelligent as Hunter. Not only this, but Gitten also takes every possible opportunity to single out Ginny when it comes to talking about problematic racist rhetoric within classic (i.e. White-centered) literature. While Gitten does not seem to give Ginny unfair grades, he absolutely refuses to express her capabilities to the rest of the class while freely holding Hunter on a pedestal as his star student.

This comes to a head when the class is given an essay assignment explaining the place that they feel they most belong, in which was part of a national competition. Ginny, worried about her lack of extracurriculars for college applications, takes it upon herself to aim to win. After some time soul-searching with her father and being exposed by him to slam poetry, Ginny decides to submit a poem in lieu of an essay.

Ginny’s poem transcript:

Growing up, I thought people were born with their heads cocked because that’s how they always looked at me. Boxes. Check one, check other. People don’t know, they don’t furrow between the layers like I do. They don’t switch and twitch and actively make the decisions of which. Which part of me belongs today, which aspect of my personality will offend the least and blend the most and work and succeed and bury the lead like a switchboard of traits that decide my fate and I’m always an imposter. Always lost, always asking for directions and people point my way like the scarecrow. Like tornadoes blowing me whichever way the wind blows. Well, Dorothy doesn’t want to play today, she’s prepping for the SAT. Just the scantron. The box is empty and glaring and daring me to choose one. Well, I’m an expert at boxes. My whole life can fit inside it and I’ve got it down to a science. I can pack my entire identity in an hour because where there’s roots, there’s power. But I’m all top soil. My blood runs like water and oil refusing to stick. My dad’s old books, read in secret nooks. That camera that locks all my memories in a flash, saved for when my recollection doesn’t last. That lighter that sparked that fire. All fit in a box ready to be carried from door to door, but that’s not the kind of box people ever ask for. So many lines in the sand, so many “can’t”s and “can”s. I see both worlds so clearly, and I skip and jump and dance and fall between, never seen. I belong in the spaces between. Check all that may apply.

While Ginny’s poem was incredibly well received by her classmates, it came as no surprise after the set-up tension between Ginny and her professor Gitten that Ginny would not be announced the winner within her class. The conversation between Ginny and Hunter later at her house stems greatly from Ginny’s belief that she had been cheated out of winning the contest due to racism.

It is then that the complex histories and interracial relations between Asians and Blacks as a whole unveils itself through both characters, both biracial people of color who suffer from not feeling “enough” as well as attempting to navigate the complexities of racial stereotypes and the problematic idea of racial hierarchies. Furthermore, it was not surprising when Hunter was chosen as the winner. The purpose of this post is not to argue if Gitten was justified in his decision or even if Gitten was racist, however, so I will opt not to venture into that controversy. Instead, we will focus on what Ginny and Hunter say to one another that leads to their separation.

Argument scene transcript:

Ginny: I should have won. Gitten's so clearly being racist. Hunter: Uh… Ginny: You don't think I deserved to win? Hunter: Your piece was impactful. I loved it. Trust me, I get it, but the assignment was to write an essay, and you didn't do that. It was unconventional. Ginny: You're siding with Gitten right now? Are you serious? Hunter: I'm just saying if you're so concerned about him and what he thinks about you, why are you always causing drama in his class? Ginny: I have to speak up because I'm a person. I have a voice. Hunter: Okay. Ginny: You're an artist. You should get this. Hunter: Yeah, exactly. I didn't do a song. It's all about survival. I keep my head down. I do the thing that's asked. Ginny: And you're proud of that? Hunter: Why can't I just be who I am? Ginny: Because you're half Taiwanese. Hunter: Exactly. I'm not full White, so Gitten can't be full racist. Ginny: Not in the same way I'm not full white. Asians get to be stereotyped as talented geniuses and prodigies, okay? Black women are… are stupid, lazy, angry. Brodie doesn't fist-bump you. Hunter: Do you know what it means to be Taiwanese? I have to serve in the military when I turn 19 because I'm a guy. Or I can relinquish my citizenship because I'm lucky I'm also American. But then I'm a draft dodger and just another soft American p*ssy. When I went to Taiwan, I thought, "Wow. Finally, my people." But it was just this hard reality check that, "No, you don't belong here either." You have no idea what it's like for me. I'm sorry. Does that not fit with me being the cool guitar guy? I worked really hard on my essay, and I followed the rules. Ginny: You really think that if I'd followed the rules, I could've possibly won? You don't get it. You are closer to white than I'll ever be! Hunter: Together we make a whole White person! Ginny: Your favorite food is cheeseburgers and I know more Mandarin than you do, you’re barely even Asian! Hunter: Sorry I’m not Chinese enough for you. But I’ve never seen you pound back jerk chicken. Last time I checked, Brody twerks better than you. And I liked your poem, but your bars could use a little more work, homie. So, really, how Black are you then? Ginny: Excuse me? Hunter: What? Literally, What? Because if we’re gonna play that game, let’s do it. Oppression Olympics. Let’s go.

Firstly, I want to address exactly what Twitter addressed when this scene from Ginny & Georgia first began trending: the scene is rather cringe-inducing. It felt inorganic simply because the show writers did not do enough characterization and build up for this scene to feel like anything more than the means to an end of the characters’ relationship. Essentially, the scene just felt like a plot point afterthought for Ginny to be free to explore the third in their love triangle rather than an actual intent to have the hard exploration and discussion of race politics and historically strained interracial relations in America.

Not only that, but Ginny & Georgia tends to dance back and forth between deciding how to depict Ginny dealing with her race and how Black people are treated in the United States. For example, at beginning of the series, Ginny expresses distrust in the police, but, later in the series, there is no consequence for her White mother calling the police on her biracial Black daughter and allowing her to be arrested. For context, Georgia called the police to make a noise complaint when she discovered that Ginny had snuck out to have a party with her friends across the street. Upon arriving, the police arrested the teenagers and Georgia simply listened as her boyfriend detailed watching the police place a drunken Ginny into the back of a police car. Not only that, but Georgia refuses to go save Ginny, leaving Georgia’s boyfriend to make the decision to (without Georgia’s permission) bail Ginny out and bring her home. The trauma of that situation for Ginny as a Black girl is never addressed and Georgia is never held accountable for purposely putting her daughter in such a situation.

Netflix and the show writers basically just pick and choose when it’s convenient to remind viewers of non-White raciality and then retreat into color blindness when raciality no longer serves a purpose of justification to tension. For people of color in the real world, this tension from raciality can never just be turned off and on, it is consistently always on. But, I digress…

All of that said, it should be acknowledged that arguments like this are not non-existent and happen a bit more frequently than people might notice or like to admit.

In light of the shooting in Atlanta, Georgia that resulted in the death of 6 Asian American women (as is confirmed thus far), fear and outrage sparked as anti-Asian racism reared it’s ugly head into the forefront. While the issue is one familiar to all Asian Americans, the concept has unfortunately taken some by surprise enough to make even other people of color question: has anti-Asian racism risen recently or has it always existed?

As a mixed Asian American woman, I find the very question and it’s implication offensive. My offense aside, however, I would like to state that my stance and answer to the question is both.

Anti-Asian racism reaches back to the Gold Rush when an influx of Asian, most notably Chinese, gold miners immigrated to America an an attempt to achieve wealth just like their European counterparts. Of course, one could also go back into history much further to when Europeans first “discovered” Asia, but to keep things more simple, I will opt to only speak about anti-Asian racism within the United States.

Anti-Asian racism has persisted throughout history, some examples including but not limited to:

1854 People v. Hall which established that Asians had no rights to testify against White citizens. To note, during the 1800s, anti-Asian racism was primarily directed towards Chinese individuals and anyone that was perceived as Chinese.

Anti-Coolie Act of 1862 in which Asian immigrants were forced to pay a monthly tax to run businesses in California.

Naturalization Act of 1870 which allowed naturalization for Blacks and Africans, but denied citizenship to Asians as well as denied the immigration of Asian women.

Chinese Massacre of 1871

Page Act of 1875 was an immigration law in which Chinese women were denied entry into America as a means of “population control”.

1878 In Re Ah Yup Case in which Asians were ruled unfit for participation in government and thus ineligible for naturalization.

1879 Constitution of California in which Chinese employment became strictly prohibited.

Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 passed by President Chester A. Arthur and Congress that implemented a 10-year ban on Chinese labor immigration. This also included anyone perceived as Chinese.

Geary Act of 1892, an extension of the Chinese Exclusion Act.

1885 Rock Springs, Wyoming Murders in which 28 Chinese coal miners were murdered, 15 were wounded, and Rock Spring’s Chinatown was burned to the ground.

Chinese Americans had a huge part in connecting the country through the building of the Transcontinental Railroad and were frequently given the most dangerous, fatal jobs while earning less than their White counterparts.

1900-1904 San Francisco's Chinatown Bubonic Plague in which Chinese citizens were segregated and quarantined while White citizens were allowed freedom.

1904 World's Fair Louisiana Purchase Centennial Exposition in which Filipino immigrants were placed within a human zoo.

Pacific Coast Race Riots of 1907

The Asiatic Exclusion League, also known as the Japanese and Korean Exclusion League.

1913 Alien Land Law in which Asian land ownership was restricted and then banned entirely.

Immigration Act of 1917 in which immigration from the Asia-Pacific was banned with the exception of select professionals.

1922 Cable Act in which Asians were excluded from citizenship.

1923 US v Bhagat in which it was ruled that all Hindu people were ineligible for naturalization.

1924 Immigration Act in which ass immigration from Asia was banned.

1924 National Origins Quota in which Japanese were excluded from immigration and citizenship.

1927 Lum v. Rice in which it was ruled that the exclusion of Chinese American children from school did not violate the 14th Amendment.

1933 Roldan v. LA County in which Filipinos were denied citizenship and the Anti-Miscegenation Laws were amended to forbid the interracial marriages of Filipinos and Whites.

1934 Tyding-McDuffle Act in which Filipino immigration way limited to only 50 people per year.

1937 Anti-Alien Land Law in which Filipino Americans were banned from becoming landowners.

1942-1946 Executive order of President Franklin Roosevelt that forced all Japanese people, regardless of citizenship, into Japanese Internment Camps.

1943 Magnuson Act that repealed the Chinese Exclusion Act and banned more that 105 Chinese immigrants per year.

1946 Luce-Celler Act in which Indian immigrants were banned beyond a quota of 100 immigrants per year.

1982 Murder of Vincent Chin in which the Chinese American man was beat to death with a baseball bat in Detroit after being mistaken as Japanese by two anti-Japan White men. His assailants were convicted of murder but never served any jail time.

1985–1993 Jersey City based anti-Indian and anti-Hindu hate group known as the Dotbusters

Post-9/11 Islamophobia

2001 Murder of Balbir Singh Sodhi in which the Sikh American man was profiled as an Arab Muslim by a White man on an anti-Muslim shooting spree in Mesa, Arizona.

2007 Murder of Cha Vang in which the Hmong man’s body was found in the woods near Peshtigo, Wisconsin after being shot and stabbed.

2011 Military investigation of the death of Danny Chen in which the Chinese American was found dead from a presumed death by suicide in his living quarters at the base in Kandahar province, Afghanistan. It was reported that he was subjected to extreme physical abuse and ethnic slurs and insults at the hands of his superiors and fellow soldiers.

Many Asian Americans are assumed foreign even if they speak perfect, fluent English and even if they have lived in America for generations, igniting the fear of deportation that can discourage Asian Americans from reporting anti-Asian hate crimes. Asian Americans are also frequently blown off by non-Asians if they harbor even a slightly perceived accent, often deeming them “incoherent” while the Model Minority Myth is consistently used to justify non-Asians minimizing the Asian struggle into just “complaining” rather than being actual legitimate problems.

Tension between the Black and Asian communities has occurred for what almost feels like the dawn of history and remains perpetuated by the Model Minority Myth that hyper-fetishizes Asians as the “good” and “ideal” people of color that are “honorary White” while treating Blacks, Latine, and BIPOC as the “bad” and “problematic” people of color. Essentially, the Model Minority Myth has persisted as a tool to advance White Supremacy by inciting horizontal aggression to remove White Supremacy as the focus and root to systemic racism.

I do not write about this nor focus so heavily on anti-Asian racism to discredit or minimize anti-Blackness nor will I ever deny that too many Asian Americans have internalized the Model Minority Myth and anti-Blackness. However, that does not excuse anti-Asianness any more than anti-Asianness excuses anti-Blackness.

Prior to the murders in Atlanta, the reception of Ginny & Georgia’s “Oppression Olympics” scene was not well received by critics and, more devastatingly, less well received by people of color. A quick Google search regarding the scene could bring up dozens of articles that focused on the cringe-worthy scene, but more overwhelming were the personal responses of people of color on Twitter. More specifically, from my observation, the responses of Black and mixed Black Twitter patrons who claimed that such a scenario was unrealistic and dramatized because they had never personally found themselves in such a situation.

I do not wish to invalidate those people, but I vehemently beg to differ because scenarios such as the “Oppression Olympics” scene are ones I, and likely many other Asian identifying people of color, have found myself in repeatedly during my life. Dishearteningly, majority of the critique against the scene focused on Hunter utilizing Black stereotypes and anti-Black rhetoric while Ginny’s responses laced in Asian stereotypes and anti-Asian rhetoric were ignored and unacknowledged.

In fact, the entire scene was meant to be offensive with both characters trading racist rhetoric to prove the point that being “Black enough” or “Asian enough” is a battle that neither could ever win when the very definitions utilized to describe their respective ethnicities are rooted in racial bias and racial stereotyping founded by White Supremacy. Yet, this point seems to have gone over the heads of many viewers precisely because of the unyielding societal belief that anti-Asian racism does not exist and and the subsequent gaslighting and denial of Asian struggle to reduce Asian racial struggles into simply “complaining”.

White Supremacy has tricked every person of color into the belief that oppression has only one face, one method, and one mode by insisting on the Model Minority Myth and the Black-White Binary in which our entire American socio-political society was built and continues to act on.

I feel like I have nothing more to add at the moment that would not just be a repeat of things I have already addressed, so I will instead end this post with three TikToks I have happened upon that I believe are significant to the topic.

chinforshort

theluncheonlawyer

peterperrylam

Below are some resources related to anti-Asian racism to supplement this post.

“Anti-Asian violence has surged in the US since COVID-19. But it didn't start there” by Maura Hohman

“The Muddled History of Anti-Asian Violence” by Hua Hsu

“The long, ugly history of anti-Asian racism and violence in the U.S.” by Gillian Brockell

“The history of attacks against Asian Americans is complicated. Addressing it will be, too” by Harmeet Kaur

“The long Western legacy of violence against Asian Americans” by Jane C. Hu

#author's note #substack saw it first #social justice #interracial relationships #interracial relations #black history #asian history #ginny and georgia #netflix #netflix series #netflix ginny and georgia #pop culture analysis #long post #critical race studies #critical race theory #op ed #opinion post #writeblr

[dreamboundedstar]

Okay, I'm claiming this as foreshadowing before someone else does so I can feel smart! XD (Wag the Song - Season 10, Episode 14)

Tammy - My song name-checks every kid in school in locker order, 'cause who's not gonna clap for their own dumb name? ( scoffs ) ♪ Willa Prentiss, Hogarth Haber ♪ ♪ Lily someone, she's my neighbor. ♪ It's extremely unluckily it's Lily Belcher because I doubt they would leave a locker vacant that long in a public school. (What do I know though, I was homeschooled XD). The fact that they didn't give Lily a surname implies something at the very least.

What it implies is the joke was supposed to be how it's sad Tammy doesn't know the last name of her locker neighbor. The fact she knows her first name also implies Lily is a kid that is currently alive and in Wagstaff. So this possible foreshadowing is doa.

I just thought it was interesting. I google searched transcripts of Bob's Burgers episodes and found the word "lily" was mentioned 3 separate episodes before the reveal of Lily Belcher but only twice referring to a type of name. The last one isn't worth bringing up because the scene was only referring to a shade of white.

#Bob's Burgers #I'm just grasping at straws at this point #Foreshadowing or I'm just stupid? #Analysis kind of maybe

[markstucker]

YCBK 253: Why campus tours keep Presidents up at night

    (09:15) Mark and Susan discuss a July 10th article by Adam Platt that appeared in the Twin Cities Business Magazine,  entitled, “Why Campus Tours Keep Presidents up at Night”. The article looks at how the college tour is such a high stake game that it is a source of concern for Presidents.

  https://tcbmag.com/why-campus-tours-keep-college-presidents-up-at-night/

    (59:00) Our question from a listener, comes from Cadence, a student a Stuyvesant HS in NYC. Cadence sent in two questions about interviews that we will answer over the next two weeks:

  If I am asked, what other schools are you applying to, how am I supposed to answer that question.

  (01:26:21) Our interview is with Heath Einstein, the Dean of Admissions. In Part 1 of 3, Mark and Julia discuss the following:

Part 1

  Welcome and Greetings

Julia shares how she met Heath

Heath gives his backstory

Heath answers the question, “Who is TCU”

How does the mission at TCU impact the educational experience

I find that both TCU and SMU are at times challenging for students to consider as a goof fit for their college list if they don’t identify as Methodist or Christian , how would you answer the question, why should I consider TCU if I don’t identify as a Christian?

The mascot at TCU is a “horn Frog”; what is a Horn Frog?

TCU is known for its School spirit, the Horned Frogs, where does this come from and how does it impact the student experience?

TCU is also known for friendly people and a strong sense of community, same question, where does this come from and what does this look like?

Describe the TCU campus?

  The TCU interview with Dean of Admissions, Heath Einstein will also serve as our college spotlight. 

(01:38:56) The recommended resource is  https://www.studentloanplanner.com/blog/ This is the work of Tyler Hornsby, who we have interviewed on our podcast. This is the best source Mark knows of to follow the student loan forgiveness and all other student loan options.

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  Please send in your questions either on Twitter at @YCBKpodcast using the Messages tab (this is our preference) or via email at [email protected] for the 27 admissions interviews we are doing in the summer and fall. Our interviews are with the following people at the following schools:

Confirmed interviews you can still send in questions for our guests: Bard-Mackie Siebens Mercer-Kelly Holloway Rice University-Tamara Siler American University-Andrea Felder Pitzer College-Yvonne Berumen Chapman University-Marcela Meija-Martinez Connecticut College-Andy Strickler* Trinity College-Anthony Berry* College of the Atlantic-Heather Albert* Spelman College-Chelsea Holley* Scripps College-Victoria Romero* Saint Louis University-Daniel Wood-(Interview is about transfer admissions, Daniel is a transfer counselor) Colby College-Randi Arsenault* University of Georgia-David Graves* Washington University St Louis-Ronne Turner

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