The more boring and mundane Michael Shelley is portrayed as the more psychological damage I take from the idea of Michael and Gerry’s ship.
Because the thought of Gerry, someone who was forced into a world of horrors at a young age, finding solace with the most normal guy alive who just wants to have an average life is so bittersweet in a way that lives nonstop in my head.
(And so angsty too if you think the idea of Gerry finally getting a normal life with his normal boyfriend for a little while, only to have his “normal” boyfriend turn up as a monster and pull him back into the world he only had a brief escape from.)
One of my headcanons for Michael Shelley is that he always had low-simmering rage.
It started when he was a kid, right after Ryan disappeared and the adults around him became frustrated by his confusing story. He was asked so many times what really happened that day, and he never had an answer to give. Not even to himself.
It wasn’t long before their frustration crawled under his skin and became something he internalized. He spent a long time being mad at himself for being too disoriented by what happened that day to be of any help to Ryan in the aftermath. Yet, he was upset with someone else too: The adults who wouldn’t believe that something strange had happened to him. Who wouldn’t just say “Yes. That sounds scary. I’m sorry you had to go through that,” instead of “That couldn’t have happened.”
When he joined The Magnus Institute, that angry part of him was giddy to have the chance to prove them wrong. He wanted to find books and statements about missing people that would give him the chance to say “See! I was right all along!” But he didn’t. And every time it seemed like he stumbled on something close Emma would run up behind him and put all his eagerness to rest with a reasonable explanations.
That only made Michael’s frustration grow. He was in the one place he could hope to find answers, and he was still just as lost as when he started. He could feel himself become a little angrier everyday, but he shoved it all down to be just as pleasant and kind as he always was. After all, he didn’t want to scare his frail, timid, elderly boss by having a meltdown and ripping down every shelf in the place until he found the information that would validate him. So he just bottled it all up.
Up until he became The Distortion and exploded.
Michael calling Jon “Archivist” really hits my brain in all the right ways because:
On an analytical note: Michael calling Jon “Archivist” is very likely a Michael Shelley choice instead of a Distortion choice. I say that with a pretty good amount confidence because Distortion Helen notably calls Jon by his name, even in Season 5 after he has become a full-fledged Avatar of The Eye.
So I feel safe saying that it’s what’s left of Michael that calls Jon “Archivist.” Personally, I think that’s interesting enough information on it’s own, but I do have a few more thoughts.
On a speculative note: I wonder if a large part of him calling him that is because, to Michael, the fact that Jon is now in Gertrude’s role is far more important than any personhood he has. It doesn’t matter who Jon is. It only matters that he’s connected to the Institute and the women who betrayed him.
On an analytical note: I think it’s interesting that Michael downplays Jon’s humanity by calling him his role instead of his name…just like how his name got (metaphorically) taken when he was forced to play the role of “The Distortion” instead of just simply being allowed to be Michael Shelley. I wonder if that’s a conscious factor that plays into Michael calling Jon “Archivist”, or if it’s just meant to be a parallel.
Either way, I think it’s an important note on their dynamic, and I do love to take those. After all, the few times Michael and Jon interacted in the series fed my Magnus Archives hyper fixation like a five-star chef. So I am always very eager to analyze them.
Assigning Magnus Archive Characters DND Dice Based Solely On Vibes:
Jon -
More Undercut
Martin -
Tim -
Sasha -
Melanie -
Basira -
Daisy -
Peter -
Elias -
Gertrude -
Gerard -
Michael Shelley -
Gerry comes home with a cake and Michael asks him what the occasion is and Gerry doesn’t know how to answer “It’s Jurgen Leitner pipe murder day.”
