2024-05-23 4:22:55 ¶ ●

Episode 16 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 15 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.

Oopsie

An addendum to my last article. In that piece I said “The possibility of a target being in this episode is interesting since Bonzo’s target also seemed like they were wealthy or had a decent amount of money at the expensive club in Episode 12 (Getting Off). Wealth and money seem like another noticeable theme in Protocol so far.” I went back and skimmed that episode and there’s no mention of the men at the club being rich or having decent money. Just that the club is at best well known or prestigious.

Episode 16 “Anti-Social”

As always, we take in the events of the episode through some sort of device. This time, something is listening through one of the computers in the OIAR’s office. Sam and Celia are comforting Alice sometime after her encounter with the mysterious drowning woman. It is confirmed that the woman did in fact die in the last episode but after Alice ran away she “…went back afterwards. Couldn’t just leave her. Tape player was gone and she’d stopped speaking, and when the paramedics turned up and they just called it straight away. Said she’d been dead for ages.”

I don’t remember if I actually said this in the previous episode, but I originally assumed that the woman wasn’t one of the dead bodies mentioned by Gordon in Episode 11 “Marked.” My original assumption was that the drowning woman had been alive until she met Alice and died. So I thought she was a victim of The Deep or Gordon. Gordon even mentions “It belongs to the deep. I’m going to go get it and I’m going to find it and if they try and stop me I swear the ocean will claim us all” which sounds like a threat. Gordon could easily be on his way to becoming some sort of Avatar.

However, what the paramedics say does make my original assumption a lot less likely. It is more likely that this drowning woman might in fact be one of the dead bodies uncovered by Gordon’s crew in Episode 11. TMA has always had a weird relationship with death in the fact that not every dead character necessarily stays dead and they can come back, or mimic coming back, under very specific circumstances. The most obvious example of this would be with Avatars. In order to become an Avatar one must experience some sort of death. Sometimes this death is purely metaphorical but it can also be a literal physical death acting as the trigger for an Avatarification. Annabelle, Trevor, and Oliver from TMA are all examples of Avatars that had died or were declared dead only to seemingly return later.

So is this woman some kind of Avatar? It’s kind of hard to say. I would say that when an Avatar dies they seem to come back pretty quickly and don’t just suddenly regain life years later and become an Avatar. It’s possible the woman already was some sort of Avatar before her burial since we know people connected to the Powers can have their life extended but this usually requires them to appease their respective Entity in some way. Usually an Avatar being buried and unable to gather fear directly for their Entity would lead to them “starving” and dying. However, in TMA there were previous Archivists who were seemingly ancient and mummy-like with bodies that still moved, and there is the Catalogue of the Trapped Dead. However, the latter doesn’t actually preserve someone’s soul, life conscience, or whatever you want to believe but merely makes a copy of it. 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.” We also know that Entities have ways of keeping people alive so that they can continue to torture them and draw out fear.

So the way I see it, there’s a couple of somewhat likely explanations on the table right now. First is that the drowning woman is some kind of Avatar. While this isn’t completely impossible or farfetched, at the moment I find this kind of unlikely. The second possibility is that the woman is someone who is being constantly tormented by The Deep and her conscience and / or body are somehow being maintained so that this Entity can feed on the fear or torment. It’s possible that while physically she reads as dead she is in fact alive and being maintained by a supernatural power or her vitals are so weird or wonky they wouldn’t read as normal vitals. The third possibility is that the woman actually is dead and someone or something is merely puppeting / controlling her body for whatever reason. There’s also the possibility that The Deep or some other Entity is recreating the woman’s conscience or somehow remembers what she was like before she died or this is some human-like manifestation / monster being used to scare or torture people (like a weirder version of Michael and Helen as the Distortion).

I should mention now that I think The Deep is an aspect of The Buried. It shares many similarities with The Buried, such as a call to return something to its grave and keep it there, deep waters in relation to drowning, etc.. While there are arguably some overlaps with an Entity like The Vast I would argue that they are overlaps that have always been present in terms of manifestations and themes in TMA. For example, both Entities had an association with tons of deep water and crushing weight (even if it was for often different reasons). Not to mention that two of The Buried’s names were “Forever Deep Below” and “Too Close I Cannot Breathe.” Both of which relate to The Deep in both name and themes of drowning and suffocation.

There’s also the tape that the drowning woman was carrying. If you know about TMA you should know why these tapes are so important, and if you haven’t experienced TMA I don’t know what possessed you to read this. Regardless, the fact that the woman carries a tape only for it to seemingly disappear is interesting and it’s very likely the tapes will have another important role in Protocol. Just like in TMA, it seems like something is capable of listening through the tapes but unlike TMA they don’t seem to be limited to just tapes and can listen through electronics in general. It could be something like The Web again and it just no longer has the exact same plans for the tapes, or it could be some other being or Entity using them.

The fact that the tape disappears is also suspicious. Last episode I had to wonder if something was attempting to give Alice the tape or some information on the tape but that raises the question of why the tape disappeared. Maybe some other force intervened. Something like ERROR (which we still have not heard about for a while) could have something to do with this and I could totally see the possibility of someone or something collecting the tapes or trying to give them to certain people. It could also be that something just wanted to make sure it was specifically Alice who got the tape and took it away when there was a chance Alice might have given it to the authorities or if the paramedics found it instead. The tapes also first reappeared in the episode ERROR was released from the Institute’s ruins so it’s possible ERROR and / or Protocol’s Institute is somehow related or connected to the tapes more directly. The tapes were also capable of somehow moving on their own in TMA. They followed Jon by using The Web’s lighter as a sort of tracking device or beacon but without such a device I don’t really know where they could be moving to or why.

We should also consider the fact that the tapes were connected to each of the Entities. Part of The Web’s plan was to let The Eye’s ritual go off so it could use the voice of the Archivist and the connection all the statements have to each Entity in order to drag them into a new universe. So it’s possible that the Entities are somehow drawn or even attached to the tapes in some way. I don’t think the tapes would be what’s keeping them in this world or anything but I wouldn’t be surprised if the tapes being around causes an uptick in supernatural events. In TMA the tapes were an artifact of The Web so it’s possible that the tapes are somehow being used to control things, such as the drowning woman, in some way.

Going back to this episode’s original scene, Alice also explains that the paramedics found tons of water in the woman’s lungs. So much water that there’s no way the woman could’ve been walking according to normal logic. Alice wonders if she’s finally going crazy, probably from listening to all the wild cases and how strange people like Colin have been acting, and Celia says “I believe you” and reaffirms her belief when Alice doubts her. Celia says “I’m serious. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying I know exactly what happened, but I don’t think you just saw a body and freaked out. That’s not the Alice I know.” Now I’m not going to lie, I’ve lost track of how much time has passed since Celia first met Alice, so maybe they’ve hung out long enough for Celia to get a good feel for her, but I think there’s a bit more to it. As I’ve mentioned previously there are a lot of hints that Celia could be from the TMA universe and / or is at least aware of the Entities at a bare minimum. She shares the first name of a character that appeared in TMA as a part of Georgie and Melanie’s cult, she asks for Sam’s help in looking for information about multiversal travel (which we know is possible with the gap in reality, and in Episode 7 (Give and Take) she asks “Oh I don’t know. Every case about being buried alive or meat or… whatever.” Which sounds like someone using cases related to The Buried and The Flesh as examples.

Not to mention that on her first date with Sam she reveals that she already believed the cases to be real and last episode she was quite wary around Lady Mowbray and refused to give the aristocrat her name. So we can infer that even before Alice’s encounter Celia already believed all the supernatural events that were occurring. So whether she actually trusts Alice that much or would have believed what happened regardless is up in the air. I think it’s interesting that Celia comforts and hugs Alice. Especially given that in Episode 14 (Pet Project) Alice seems to take some sort of issue with Celia going on a second date with Sam, but it doesn’t seem like there has been any bad blood since and Alice hasn’t really done all that much to stop Celia and Sam from continuing to date. Seeing Celia comfort Alice like this is just really making me wonder where their relationship is going and if Celia’s relationship with Sam will cause friction in the future.

As Celia and Sam reassure Alice that she’s not crazy Sam says “Same. And it’s not like it’s any weirder than half the stuff we read here.” and Alice responds with “(touched) Thanks guys. Maybe… Eurgh. (sighing) I know it’s selfish but, I kind of hoped I’d paid my horror dues working here, y’know?” Before Celia says “I think there’s plenty of it to go around at the moment.” This implies that at least a part of Alice believed the cases were real and that she simply hoped to avoid the supernatural or believed that there was nothing she could actually do about them. At this point it’s safe to assume everyone working at the OIAR at least suspects something supernatural is going on while people like Lena already know. Alice’s comment about paying her horror dues is interesting because later in this episode Lena is extremely upset that Gwen invited Mowbray to the OIAR and she even says “Because that’s the only possible explanation I can find for why you would think it was appropriate to bring an External into our offices.” and “Safer? You marched a dangerous asset right through the office without taking any precautions! For goodness sake, you gave her a tour! You introduced her to your colleagues! That poses a completely unacceptable risk to personnel.” along with “Gwen, if the O.I.A.R. is to function it is imperative that the Externals respect us and the boundaries we impose upon them.”

While I don’t think there’s any sort of trade off or “horror dues” to be paid it does sound like the OIAR does in fact have some sort of procedure or protection (a protocol if you will) in place for its employees safety either officially or unofficially. At the bare minimum, these procedures apply to the workers while they spend their long odd hours in the office. Whether there’s any kind of protection or procedure for when the workers are not on site or off the clock is to be seen. Lena mentions how hard it is to find any workers but if a worker was suddenly taken by The Deep or some External outside of office hours I wonder if the OIAR would anything about it… could they do anything about it? It’s also possible that these are just in place to protect workers from the OIAR’s own Externals as opposed to any and all supernatural occurrences or beings. This is all a long winded way of me saying that Alice may actually have some level of protection granted to her by the company even if she doesn’t realize it. I think Alice believing she “paid off her horror dues” could be her mistaking this protection for some sort of odd metaphorical karma system or something. Then again, it could always just be some level of luck on the part of Alice. What Alice is saying also sounds like she was hoping for some sort of balance of sorts, in the sense that there were “horror dues” that could be paid off or if she experienced enough horror there was less of a chance she would run into it later. In episodes like 13 (Futures) and 9 (Rolling with It) both the case givers seem to be under the impression that there is some sort of societal or cosmic balance only to be proven wrong or screwed over. This actually seems like a continuation of one of the themes present in TMA. Robert Smirke was someone who believed some balance between the Entities could be achieved to safely harness them only to eventually come to the tough realization that this was a false assumption when The Flesh started emerging.

So it seems like Protocol is expanding on that theme. Protocol also does use some alchemy symbols in its logo and such and I could see the themes of balance and alchemy being related somehow. Maybe someone tried / tries to achieve some sort of balance with alchemy only to mess it up or realize the “alchemy” doesn’t work in the way they thought and there is no such balance. The balance thing also seems like a commentary on society. While we would like to believe that everyone gets their dues eventually bad people can still get away with stuff scott free and innocent people who didn’t do anything can get fucked over, even if if they did everything right (this is also something brought up in TMA, and it can even be seen with characters like Sasha. Someone even Gertrude admits was the most qualified for the Archivist but she got screwed over and killed anyway).

Sam asks Alice if she’s okay enough to work and she says “Yeah. I already wasted most of Sunday crying about it. Anyway, odds are Freddie will spit out a transcript of the whole thing. Least I can do is make sure it’s filed properly, right?” Again, I have to wonder what’s determining what the cases the computers choose. Are all the cases somehow related to the OIAR’s externals or only some of them? Are they all just connected to the OIAR in some way (so it could include any employee or hire)? Maybe they’re just more random and only some of them have to do with the OIAR or someone / something is submitting relevant cases for some reason? Sam does what every TMA fan has done at least once and attempts to categorize the encounter, much to an awkward silence: “So would that be Z for zombie or…?” Protocol seems to have some commentary on how unwieldy or awkward viewing the categories as a binary can be when going through statements / cases and this moment might be a funny little jab at fans (such as myself) who will sometimes say “wow that was totally Vast” after going through some sort of experience. Alice has also implied that Sam can talk about his job a lot and Celia admitted he could be intense so this might be a way of showing how Sam’s job is slowly spilling into how he interacts with people and thinks (even if he is literally at his job right now and Alice is talking about it). More likely though, it shows that Sam is actually thinking about the categorization systems and is probably trying to learn about them.

Also, Alice saying that she spent a good chunk of Sunday crying about her encounter could be a joke or hyperbole but it also points to the idea that sometimes Alice is putting up a facade of some sort or that stuff gets to her more often than she might let on at first blush.

Case

Part of this episode’s case is given to us by Chester (Jonathon’s voice) and it follows a series of videos made by someone going by Madam Electrum (according to the url given by Chester) and the transcript refer to her as Madam E. There are some hashtags that tell us a bit about her channel: “#Gothgirl #lifestyle #beauty #alternative #aesthetic” This is also the return of Ink5oul (pronounced Inksoul): “Madam E/Ink5oul - Tattoo Reveal! 30-10-2023.” We even hear Ink5oul speak finally, even if it isn’t much and doesn’t tell us a lot about them. Madam E reveals that she is getting a tattoo from from Ink5. She also says “And let me say, they are the absolute GOAT so I’m here for my very own, completely personalized, absolutely aesthetic, totally vegan, boujee ink, for free!” Apparently, vegan tattoo ink is actually a thing but I don’t know much about it.

Also, electrum is “a natural or artificial alloy of gold with at least 20 percent silver, used for jewelry, especially in ancient times.” This could be some sort of reference to alchemy since gold and silver are very important metals in alchemical belief. According to wikipedia “Electrum was much better for coinage than gold, mostly because it was harder and more durable, but also because techniques for refining gold were not widespread at the time.” Neither gold or silver rust even if both metals can tarnish. So there might be something going on here with the idea of an alloy that never rusts and is resistant to degradation.

Madam E explains “This is seriously… I’m going in straight blind and trusting the process, I am that full on Ink5oul stan. So, as I finna get marked, make sure you’re following on socials, subbed to my Youtube and OnlyFans (if you know, you know) and sending those like, like, likes!” and Ink5 asks “You ready for your heart’s desire?” Madam E saying she’s going to get marked is interesting. Obviously, she might just be referencing being marked with a tattoo but Episode 11 (Marked) has the term in its name. Once again, that could also just be a pun revolving around tattoos BUT in TMA the term “marked” was also sort of used to reference people who were being targeted by or had a direct encounter with one or more Entities. In MAG 019 (Confession) a possessed Bethany O'Connor says “I am not for you. I am marked.” and Jonah’s plan for Jon involves having Jon get “marked” by each Entity. So “marked” here might actually have an extra layer of pun to it. People are getting marked both literally and metaphorically. Or maybe the tattoos are some weird physical manifestation of being marked.

Ink5 asking “You ready for your heart’s desire?” is also kind of interesting. I previously assumed Ink5 was some sort of Avatar of The Flesh, and while I stand by the idea that the case in Episode 2 (Making Adjustments) probably had to do with The Flesh, I’m not so cure Ink5 is specifically an Avatar of The Flesh anymore. Ink5 might be more similar to Robert Smirke in the sense that they have some sort of technique or knowledge that lets them interact with or call upon the influence of one or more Entities in specific ways without being an Avatar themselves. Smirke had his architecture and Ink5 might have their tattoos. Ink5 commentary on “heart’s desire” does sort of resemble how they behave in Episode 2. In that episode Ink5 doesn’t start tattooing until Daria tells them that she’s an artist, to which Ink5 responds with “The artist becomes the canvas!” So there’s definitely some weird “passion” or “heart” thing going on. I don’t think it’s a coincidence that the tattoos seem to relate to things that people desire taken too far or twisted (such as artistic perfection or internet popularity). We’ll get back to Ink5 and their tattoos later since there is definitely some other stuff to talk about (such as how their tattoos seem to have different effects and where they might be getting their ideas).

Based on Madam E’s reaction we can assume that, like with Daria’s tattoo in Episode 2, getting it was extremely painful. I mean getting tattoos in general seems painful but these tattoos might be abnormally painful. Daria mentions looking down and expecting to see a bloody mess but maybe this is just Daria’s own expectations despite how weird the rest of the session was (she mentions getting no after care for example). This does seem to parallel what happens to Madam E here since she also seems just as wowed by Ink5 tattoo but Ink5 almost immediately tells her “Now get out.” Once again, Ink5 rushed their client out the door. Is there a reason for this? Is it Ink5’s way of protecting themselves from the supernatural tattoos they make or some other reason, like maybe they don’t want the other person to be able to confront them as easily when the tattoos start taking effect?

The next video is titled “Videos: Recent Ink5oul rumours! 19-12-2023.” Madam E has gotten into some sort of internet drama with Ink5 and as she explains it she reveals that the tattoo she got from them was that of a heart in addition to the fact that she and Ink5 were in a situationship. Dictionary.com defines situationship as “a romantic or sexual relationship that is undefined and noncommittal.” The point is they were in some sort of close and probably intimate relationship, which makes the tattoo being a heart more poetic / ironic. “So like, since getting that ink I been feeling AMAZING and I admit I mighta got a bit extra, simping on Ink5oul. So you knows ya girl was slidin’ into their DMs- Holla to all them other thirsty girls!- and got into a bit of a Kiki.” The most straightforward interpretation here is that this heart tattoo somehow relates to things like love or likes in some way.

Madam E asked Ink5 about where they get their tattoo ideas from but didn’t get a straight answer since Ink5 apparently just says “secrets” and Madam E says “and, sure, but that got me sus cos like, we was high key vibing then suddenly they’re just dead y’know?” (so Ink5 became more quiet or despondent). After a period of not talking Ink5 asks Electrum ““so are you a real goth or not?” And I’m like “I’m more goth than y’all can handle”, and they just send me ”from.vision.ruled, Thursday, two thirty AM”. Takes a tick for me to clock that it’s a three words but when I look it up, turns out it’s this patch up in Highgate Cemetery.” So Electrum and Ink5 sneak into the cemetery and “We head on through the graves and then they point to one of ‘em and just give me a look. I was no cap shook and then they just said “dig”. I laughed, ‘cause, like, the ‘hell? But they were serious. “I thought you were goth?” they said. Now ya girl is hella goth, but this, this was just nasty so I told them they were outta pocket and they just give me the look again and whisper “don’t make me break your heart.” And I’m telling you, I could feel the words in my chest y’know? Brutal. That does me and so I am out of there like that.”

While this account does seem to share some similarities with the body being stolen in Episode 11 (Marked) there is a lot of evidence to suggest that this is actually a different body than the one Gordon was talking about. For one, this body is being dug up from a grave while the one in Episode 11 was taken from a medical facility as it was being examined. Not to mention that according to one of the email titles the cemetery Gordon found the bodies in was Padstow Civil Cemetery, but this is Highgate Cemetery. So this is probably a different body but it probably has its own special tattoo, like the one seen in Episode 11. Ink5 saying “don’t make me break your heart” is ominous and potentially implies a strange effect of the heart tattoo, as Electrum even says she could feel the words in her chest.

Electrum claims that she bailed and then the very next day there’s news of someone breaking into Highgate and robbing graves (presumably Ink5). Madam E says “Y'all gotta know what’s up. And, like, where does Ink5oul get all their ideas huh? Are they really all that or maybe, maybe they’re just bitin’ stuff from some mouldy old bodies? Nasty. Ya girl is a goth, not a ghoul and I am done with Ink5oul.” This does raise an interesting point. It’s possible that Madam E just doesn’t know what she’s talking about because, like most people, she seems unaware of the supernatural. However, she still might be onto something even if she didn’t have the entire picture. In Episode 11 (Marked) Ink5 appears to steal another corpse that we know had a tattoo on it. In addition to that Gordon recounts “According to them the tattoo is an “Oscar Jarrett”, and that’s a big deal to some folks in that community – something to with Sutherland Macdonald whoever that is.”

As I went over in the Quick Thoughts for that respective episode, “Oscar Jarrett doesn’t seem like a style or type of tattoo. Which points to the idea that Oscar is a person. Considering all the tattoos we are seeing, Oscar might be comparable to Smirke in some ways. In the sense that in the same way there was special Smirkean architecture, there could be special Jarettian tattoos if that makes any sense. Tattoos that are designed to have supernatural effects of some kind. It’s also possible that Oscar simply learned and taught some kind of supernatural technique, kind of like the techniques that The Boneturner’s Tale could grant someone in TMA or how Martin sort of ended up learning how to “disappear” by following Peter Lukas’ attempt to connect him to The Lonely. Oscar Jarrett and Ink5 are definitely people to look out for in the future. Sutherland Macdonald surprisingly did yield actual search results. He is apparently “a prominent English tattoo artist in the late 19th century and early 20th century, and the first tattooist in Britain with an identifiable premises open to the public.” This makes Sutherland notable for the same reason someone like Smirke might have been in TMA. A historical figure who somehow learned and / or spread knowledge about the Entities. Again, it’s possible that there are Macdonald style tattoos in the same way there is Smirke style architecture. It could also be that the Oscar Ink5 is referring to is in fact the body with the tattoo that Gordon found and Gordon just doesn’t know what they are referring to. It could also be that there are multiple tattoo artists or Oscar is some student or follower of Sutherland in the same way people like Jonah, Maxwell Rayner, and Mordechai Lukas all had a connection to Smirke via being students or associates. Some characters even explicitly got the idea of possible rituals from Smirke and his research, despite the fact that most weren’t concerned with Smirke’s ideals of balancing the Powers.”

This leads to the question of how exactly Ink5 taking inspiration from these tattoos works. It could be that Ink5 is taking inspiration from some sort of technique or style from each tattoo. Which would mean the tattoos don’t have to match exactly or they could vary. But Ink5 could be copying the tattoos 1-to-1 and major deviations, if any, might not be possible. So the question becomes this: When Ink5 comes across a new tattoo is that like adding to their style or is it just like adding a new kind of tattoo to their portfolio? As mentioned previously, in both of Ink5’s appearances their tattoos don’t seem to be picked randomly. With Daria Ink5 waits until they feel inspired and the tattoo Ink5 gives Electrum seems to be based on their situationship and E’s desire for internet popularity. Of course, all the grave robbing causes Electrum to break off her relationship with Ink5.

The next video is “Videos: Madam E – OMG That callout video! 19-12-2023” and Madam E says “Y’all probably heard by now that Ink5oul dragged me on their channels. It was… it was vicious pick-me trash and everyone bought it and their stans are seriously extra cos… yeah there’s been proper hate at me and y’know I try to rise above… but it’s hard.” Madam E insists that they’re a good person despite all the callouts, death threats, and doxxing. Even the cops are trying to pin the grave robbing on Madam E despite Ink5 probably being the culprit.

But then something weird happens. Madam E lets out a gasp and clasps her chest before saying “It hurts. All that hate, all those people wanting me dead or worse… I can feel it. No cap, it hits right here. It’s like y’all are bees stinging me over and over right in the heart. I dunno if the camera’s picking it up but you can even see it… ” This is probably related to the warning Ink5 gave earlier “don’t make me break your heart.” She then says “That’s not okay. I’m not okay. I just, I just wanted y’all to listen but instead… ” before announcing the decision to take some time away from her socials.

The next video is titled “Videos: Madam E – Help (Unposted) 03-01-2024” and takes an even sharper turn with E coming to us from some sort of hospital room and sounding worse for wear. Electrum has been getting some comments expressing worry and E explains that the threats and doxxing have been getting worse: “So since that last vid, things got worse… started getting dodgy mail… then someone set my door on fire… The cats are okay but… had to move back in with mum and dad and now…” We then get more details on her condition as she says-

She coughs weakly. It sounds awful.

MADAM E

“I’m… in the hospital… there’s something wrong with my heart… but they’re not sure… She gasps again.”

MADAM E

“It hurts… It hurts so much… mum says its stress but doctor says its an infection from the tattoo. but… I know it’s more than that…”

She coughs painfully again and begins crying.

MADAM E

“I just wanted to be noticed… I just… I don’t deserve this… please, please just stop… the views are cutting me… the comments hurt… I’m done… I’m done and… and…”

She struggles to breathe, an alarm starts beeping. There is the sound of tearing skin and a gurgled sound, as though something were tearing itself free of her flesh. The recording ends

In this dialogue even the doctors directly link Madam E’s sickness to the tattoo. Okay, where do I begin? I’ll start with the usual. If we were to view this through the lens of Smirke’s 14 the most obvious Entities that come to mind are The Eye and The Corruption for me. The Eye is the more obvious one since it relates to fears having to do with judgment, being doxxed or having information revealed. The Eye has also manifested as strange diseases in the past. Albrecht von Closen had an encounter with The Eye after coming across a tomb and taking a bunch of old books with numerous statements (something Jonah later stole). In MAG 127 (Remains to be Seen) it’s clear Albrecht is being beset by a strange illness and he is becoming sickly and dying (he’s also spouting statements and staring at people). Albrecht later dies from unknown causes (the mysterious illness) and an autopsy reveals that his internal organs, bones, and inner skin had been covered with eyes… So growing eyes or some other observational tool / organ where they shouldn’t be would be in line for The Eye and potentially explain the pain E feels. E talking about how the views are cutting her and the comments hurt could relate to The Eye and the theme of judgment or being perceived. The fear of people judging you and not liking you is very in line for The Eye. Ink5 threatening to break Madam E’s heart could tie into The Eye’s connection to judgment.

TMA also likes to play around with irony too when it can. This wouldn’t be the first time someone wished for fame or to be noticed only to draw the attention from a being that feeds off the fear of being perceived or known by others.

Then there’s The Corruption. The Corruption is an Entity that embodies fears relating to disgust. As I’ve mentioned previously, this does include non-physical things. People can find specific actions, mentalities, or kinds of relationships gross and / or off putting (which is where The Corruption’s connection to toxic relationships often comes from). Not to mention, that The Corruption can have themes of self-loathing stemming from disgust one might feel towards one’s self. Hopefully, you can see how this could easily relate to the fear of others finding you disgusting. I would go as far as to say that the fear of judgment is something The Corruption and Eye can very easily overlap in. Being afraid of being judged and found gross often go hand and hand, and someone judging you might label you as gross.

So there could be the fear of Electrum’s fans becoming disgusted with her. Not to mention that Madam E seemed to find Ink5 digging up bodies gross, since she says “Are they really all that or maybe, maybe they’re just bitin’ stuff from some mouldy old bodies? Nasty. Ya girl is a goth, not a ghoul and I am done with Ink5oul.” You could also relate this to The Corruption’s theme of unhealthy or gross relationships because this all happened due to Electrum’s situationship with Ink5 (which didn’t seem healthy considering the threats). You could also make an argument for Electrum having an unhealthy relationship with her followers or people on social media. When E describes the pain in her heart she describes it as “bees stinging me over and over right in the heart.” The Corruption has an obvious connection to bugs since they are often thought of as gross and The Corruption has manifested as things such as wasps and hives in the past. Not to mention, out of all the Entities, The Corruption has the greatest precedent for manifesting as diseases due to the connotation sickness has with feelings of disgust.

Something also sounds like it might be bursting out of E’s chest at the end of the video, I can’t say what exactly though. It’s possible something was gestating in her heart like some sort of parasite or hive but maybe her heart just sort of… walked away? I know that sounds stupid but Ink5 did threaten to take her heart so maybe they literally got it somehow.

As for other Smirkean categories that could relate to this case, there’s The End and maybe The Slaughter with the death threats, The Desolation in regards to Electrum’s home being threatened from the door being burned down, and The Web with Ink5 trying to manipulate E and Madam E feeling a negative backlash when she doesn’t follow their command. There’s also themes of The Flesh with something potentially emerging from, or distorting, E’s body.

CHESTER

In episode 12 (Episode 12 TMP Quick Thoughts) I went through each of the voices on the computers to see if there was any sort of pattern. I won’t go through all of them here, but I argued that CHESTER, Jonathan’s voice, seems to show up with cases that have heavy themes of curiosity or someone looking for something. The most obvious example of this would be CHESTER covering the case of RedCanary investigating the Institute’s ruins to find unexplored areas and sate their curiosity in episode 1. There is an argument that this specific episode could have similar themes when you consider that it involves Ink5 looking for a body and trying to dig it up while Madam E is trying to get more followers on the internet.

It’s also possible CHESTER covers cases related to the Institute but we can’t say for certain if Ink5 has any relation to the Institute yet.

Rest of the Episode

This case seems to be getting to Alice and as she walks off Celia and Sam go to comfort her. The cases are probably starting to hit a bit too close to home after her experience with the drowning woman.

Gwen enters the room just as everyone left and exclaims “For god’s sake! The second I’m not around…” She probably assumes everyone is ditching work or something. The transcripts clarify that Gwen “…leans over starts reading Sam’s case.” which is interesting. I wonder if she was about to categorize Sam’s case for him to finish his work or just wanted to see the last thing he had been reading.

“Lena angrily knocks on the glass of her office.” and Gwen is clearly annoyed. Gwen tries to get out of the situation by saying “Look maybe you didn’t notice but no one is at their desks and the case load tonight is” which might imply that Gwen was about to do Sam’s cases for him. It might also point to Gwen being a bit of a workaholic or overworking herself unnecessarily. She might also be doing all of this to try to cope with horrors such as Mr. Bonzo or avoid Lena.

After Lena tells Gwen to sit down she begins to tear into her.

LENA CONT.

“Are you stupid?’

GWEN

“(bristling) Excuse me?”

LENA

“(louder) I said Are. You. Stupid?”

GWEN

“I don’t”

LENA

“Because that’s the only possible explanation I can find for why you would think it was appropriate to bring an External into our offices.”

GWEN

“I just thought it might be safer if they were in a controlled environment.”

LENA

“Safer? You marched a dangerous asset right through the office without taking any precautions! For goodness sake, you gave her a tour! You introduced her to your colleagues! That poses a completely unacceptable risk to personnel.”

GWEN

“I was with her almost the whole time. Besides, Lady Mowbray is a lady, an actual, married into the house of lords, Lady. It’s not like I was holding doors open for Mr. Bonzo or anything.”

LENA

“You have no idea how dangerous she is.”

This is actually a very interesting interaction because it sheds light on the general relationship that the OIAR has with its Externals. Lena describes them as a dangerous asset that shouldn’t be brought into the office. She even says that introducing her colleagues posed a risk to Gwen’s coworker’s. That point in particular is interesting. In the last episode Lady Mowbray takes an interest in Celia and asks for her name. Luckily, Celia doesn’t give her a name but this would point to the idea that if Celia had she probably would have been put in some sort of danger. Nigel also mentioned it was probably for the best he and / or Bonzo didn’t Gwen’s name. This could mean that not revealing certain names is a part of the OIAR’s protocol.

This conversation also reveals that there is some sort of protocol or standard (be it official or unofficial) in place to help keep the OIAR’s workers safe / safer, at least while they are at the office. It also shows that the OIAR’s Externals might not usually know that much about the OIAR or what’s happening within it.

Gwen tries to defend her actions by arguing that Mowbray isn’t a monster like Mr. Bonzo. As we know from TMA, plenty of monsters and Avatars can look like normal people. Also, I don’t find the argument that Mowbray is a British aristocrat, so she can’t be evil, to be very compelling given what I know of history.

LENA

“You have no idea how dangerous she is.”

GWEN

“No, I don’t, because you don’t tell me anything!”

LENA

“And I will keep it that way until you have proven to me that you can be trusted to think before you act.”

GWEN

“Or I die right? Because I can’t help noticing that you’re happy to send me out alone to meet all these dangerous Externals that you are too afraid to even let into the building!”

LENA

“Gwen, if the O.I.A.R. is to function it is imperative that the Externals respect us and the boundaries we impose upon them. Otherwise”

GWEN

“Fine! No Externals on site, understood. Happy?’

LENA

“It’s becoming clear to me that you are struggling with your new position and so I think it might best if you”

GWEN

“Give me another assignment.”

Gwen is obviously starting to lash out because of the lack of answers. This is all too familiar if you’ve seen TMA. Since Jon and co also got very annoyed on several occasions as Jonah strung them along and refused to give a lot of straight answers. So here we have another weird boss putting their subordinate in extreme danger for seemingly unknown reasons. Gwen explains that Lena never told her not to bring Externals on site and seemingly manages to get another chance or at least wants to prove herself. It’s plausible that the reason Gwen invited Mowbray was in an attempt to get answers but it’s also possible that she was just scared and what she said about the controlled environment was her actual justification.

This situation is kind of ironic because for all of Gwen’s talk about how dangerous this job seems, Lena actually didn’t think Gwen was ready for the job. Gwen forced Lena’s hand by blackmailing herself into the position. If it was up to Lena Gwen would probably not be in this position. This does make me wonder who was acting as the Externals Liaison before Gwen or if there are any others though.

Conclusion

If you want to see the categories for this episode’s case in the transcripts they are-

CAT1RB1565-30102023-25032024

Tattoo(influencer)-/- Cardiac

Incident Elements:

- Cyber Bullying

- Intimidation

- Harassment

- Mentions of: heart problems, hospitalization, tattoos, needles,

exhumation

- SFX: Tattoo gun, screaming, coughing

If you want to see my previous articles you can read them here: TMP Quick Thoughts Archive