I’m super curious about how people’s opinions on TMA character’s changed on a second listen because I had a lot of shifting opinions on my second watch.

A big one is in regards to Jon. The second time I listened to TMA I genuinely had to force myself to be more critical of him because I loved his character too much on the first watch. I was in full “I could fix him.” Yeah? Well I could accept him as he is,“ mode. Which…is not great for character analysis.

That’s why was interesting to rewatch the series with Jon being The Archivist in mind. It was a lot easier to see the million times Jon was given the choice not to push the plot further and decided against it. Which was fascinating from a fan perspective because it made me realize how often I didn’t clock Jon’s mistakes because I wanted the plot to develop just as bad as he did.

I think when you’re watching the series for the first time it’s almost a natural instinct to think "No, Georgie, you don’t get it. Stop telling him to leave it alone because I want to know what’s going on with the weird circus.” And then that’s why a second listen is so fun because when you know how everything end’s up it’s easier to go “Oh. Yeah. Georgie’s right. Jon really should have backed off his investigating as much as he could after Leitner and his lack of willingness do so does contribute to the events of Season 5.”

And that’s not to say I don’t like Jon after a second listen. If anything I like him more now because I think he’s a fantastically written stand in for the audience and their feelings towards the plot, but I can also say that about other character’s BECAUSE I was more critical of Jon on a second watch.

I liked Tim, Melanie, and Georgie so much more on a second listen. Tim and Georgie SO valid 90% of the time, and Melanie lashes out in the wrong place a lot, but I still think rewatching her interactions with Jon knowing how everything was going to turn out gave me a lot more context towards her feelings. Because like…Yeah, Jon was pretty hostile to her from the moment they met, and the one time they have a positive interaction, it ends with Melanie thinking that Jon was gaslighting her over Sasha. It makes way more sense why she’s so on guard with him throughout the entire series when you’re reading their interactions with the hindsight that they never really fully get along.

Anyways. This was a lot of talking to say “TMA is a really good series.”