2025-09-12 1:12:09 ¶ ●

I’m a huge “you should listen to TMA at least twice” propagandist, so I wanted to share my opinions that changed on my second watch:

I liked Tim and Melanie so much more on a second listen. I liked them well enough on a first listen too, but seeing Tim’s “happy go-lucky, workplace joker,” attitude again in Season 1 while knowing where his character progression was going to go was tragic.

The same can be said for Melanie as well. It’s crazy to listen to “Skintight” and “The Smell Of Blood” while knowing that she’s going to stab Jon and mark him with The Slaughter. She was a super interesting character to look back on because she was always angry, but it doesn’t feel the same in earlier episodes. I could really see her character progress from “pretentious person with a temper,” to “rageful person trapped in all the prestigious knowledge they thought they wanted,” when I knew where it was going, and it gave me a newfound appreciation of her for sure.

I also liked and disliked multiple statements more with added context. I disliked “The Man Upstairs” a little more knowing that Toby had something going on with The Flesh, because personally I think the body horror element of the The Flesh is a lot more interesting than the meat element of The Flesh, and also there’s not a lot done with Toby after this so this isn’t third watch material for me.

However, on the other more positive side of things, I loved “Pageturner” SO much more on a second listen. Dominic’s “random” story about his childhood friend who was struck by lighting made me so excited on a second listen because I know who that’s stories referring to now! Plus, it’s super cool to see how early some of the main plot threads are laid down. AND I loved how “Pageturner” contributed to Gerard Keay’s story when I had the full context of his character. I love seeing how weird and cryptic he is on his first appearance. His humanity is slowly built up throughout the series and that’s much more apparent when you know more about him.

I also fell even more in love with Agnes on a second listen. I loved her in the first too, but listening to her story for the second time really shows all the humanity that Desolation cultists didn’t want her to have. For never getting to make a statement of her own, Agnes’s humanity and tragedy is always there.

What really certified my love for TMA was my second listen, and I’m just saying that fall is coming up and aesthetically it’ll be a great time to listen to TMA.