Ok, I’m curious, (if anyone can answer this please do) what kind of degree does Jon have?
Obviously not a library science degree, but what degree would you need to become an academic researcher?
I’m guessing the The Magnus Institute was his first job out of university, so he was probably in uni for about 5 years, so he at least has a bachelor’s if not a master’s.
From what I could gather, he probably got a degree in experimental psychology. I’m guessing he did more of the mathematical side, analyzing data, statistics, and research methods, rather than the more biological stuff.
It would be really interesting if he did have a degree in psychology, cause that would mirror how Annabelle Cane was a subject for a psychological experiment.
It would also explain why he thinks Martin is so incompetent; Martin claimed to have a master’s in parapsychology, so he should have known a fair bit of psychology, but of course, we all know that he did not in fact have such a degree. So I’m sure he would have gotten lost pretty quickly if Jon started talking about psychology with him.
I listened to Red Valley, so here are some of my thoughts.
- Could not tell Gordon and Warren apart. (honestly, still can’t. I’m using context clues.)
- Is it just me, or does Gord not sound anything like Gordon?
- Totally thought that 100s of years passed and Gordon was long dead, but put his brain into an AI, so he would be there for Warren when he woke up. (And got really sad thinking about it.)
- Thought Clive was a funny but horrible person, now I’m actually kinda liking him. (I mean, he is still kinda horrible.)
- Am very much wondering if Gordon is Ace, solely because he is an Archivist.
- Definitely think Warren and Gordon are either boyfriends or in a QPR. (Personally think it’s a QPR)
- I really like the dialogue, I’ve found a lot of podcasts can sound odd and scripted, (because it is.) but it is very realistic here.
- I’m still a little suspicious of Aubrey, she’s being really vague.
- Warren reminds me of Arthur Lester, mostly the lack of self preservation and mood swings.
- Gordon is my favorite, he’s a really sweet guy, but he’s also a little unhinged.
- I do think Gordon will survive the hyper-sleep, but will be really messed up in the head. Warren was in for a month and lost a lot of his memories, Gordon has been in there for 44 years straight, who knows what happened with his head.
- I wonder what Bryony has been doing for 40 years. I do wonder if she’s been hyper-sleeping the whole time. I bet it was her that took Rebecca’s dad.
Something that keeps nagging at me is, why did Jon continue to take statements?
I’m not talking about season four. In episode 120 it is revealed that Jon gets dreams of the statements, and in episode 114, Daisy asks about his shirt, meaning the dreams weren’t just happening during the coma. (Also 120 states that he’s had these dreams before)
And look, I know Jon loves trying to deny things, he spent the entirety of season 1 doing just that, but he’s not stupid; no one would think “hm, I’ve been getting dreams of the live statements, where I watch them live through their trauma again and I’m turning into something not quite human, probably just a coincidence. Nothing to worry about.” So why does he continue to take live statements?
Because even if Jon doesn’t know that the other person shares the dream, why would he want to keep dreaming them? Because he enjoys it. He’s not suddenly more “monstrous” in season 4, taking strangers statements, it wasn’t like he suddenly started making these selfish decisions, he already was.
I’ve seen a lot of people say that Jon doesn’t become an avatar until season 4, but, to me, he already was one, his choice in episode 121 is more about becoming the Archivist not an avatar of the Eye. Because in season 3 he can already compel people, he can already Know things, and he is already enjoying people’s fear. He plainly tells Gerry that he likes compelling people.
So, I think, Jon enjoys taking peoples statements, and he enjoys watching their dreams, because he doesn’t have a choice. Jon admits that he thinks he’s losing himself to the Eye:
“ARCHIVIST
Avatars! But they end up getting these abilities, and they lose a lot of their self. Sometimes all of it.
GEORGIE
And you think… that’s what’s happening to you?
ARCHIVIST
Yes. Yes. The Institute serves one of these beings.”
The Eye took a part of him, and now he has to enjoy others’ suffering, he still feels immense guilt for his actions, but as Helen said “When has your guilt, or your sadness, or your hand-wringing ever actually stopped you from doing what it wants?”
Why was my first thought for this episode “this is the same Jared. But he’s gay so he took his husband’s name. That’s why his name is smith.”
Also, no way this archivist is our Archivist, there’s absolutely no way Jon could run that fast.
Sometimes I think “why do I always have to be such a hater?” So many of my posts are so negative, (not to mention all the drafts I have) why can’t I just make funny memes and let others have their fun.
But for me, criticizing a piece of media is how I like to engage with it. So just to be clear, almost any and all criticism comes from a place of love for the media.
If I say something you don’t like, or disagree with, just block me. Block me and never look back. I can be a very argumentative person, any argument will likely end with neither of us changing our views and wasting both our time.
I was re-listening to MAG 142, scrutiny, and I talked about this with my brother before, but Martin is such a dick to Daisy.
Like, yes. What Daisy did was not good or justified in any way, but how is an interrogation where she is looking for a suspected murderer at all comparable to Martin drilling her about her trauma that lasted like 7 months straight and only ended a few months ago?
Also, as I only just realized today, that’s a pretty wild thing of Martin to do immediately after a woman just told him that Jon has been making people re-live their traumas.
Martin: what the Hell Jon?! You can’t just do that! It’s so wrong to force others to re-live their trauma!
Daisy: Oh, hey Martin, how are you-
Martin: how was the coffin, Daisy? Hey, do you remember the coffin? Let’s talk about the coffin.
levaagrace:
Actually. Y’know what? Less about my personal grievances with the characters, more about the internal inconsistencies of the world building and lore.
The Archivist can compel people to tell the truth regardless of if they want to… but the statements that feed and empower them can have unreliable narrators.
Georgie was unaffected by the apocalypse due to her loss of fear… but Jon was able to compel her to tell him a truth and feed from her statement?
Martin had a domain and was able to hide in the Lonely, but he never had to feed on anyone to strengthen these abilities.
I just. Don’t get it. Can someone explain?
I’m sorry if this was more of a rhetorical question, but I’m gonna answer (what I think) if this is a genuine question.
(Sorry this is so long)
Something to keep in mind is that it is said that the Fears use more of a dream logic, so it’s not always gonna make sense. Which sure, can be seen as sloppy writing, but I personally don’t think there’s any major issues in consistency. (Also, there’s the fact that the podcast medium doesn’t usually allow for a lot of different drafts to be made)
The compelling one, it’s like the other people said, they’re unreliable because that’s what they remember. For example, the statement of Timothy Hodge, he claims he burned the entire flat down, but it didn’t. That could be because he remembered it burning the whole flat or, again, dream logic, it really did burn, but was magically put back.
I don’t know, the dream logic of the Fears doesn’t really bother me, I feel like they follow their internal rules well enough, and if they show signs of other Fears, I personally don’t mind because the Fears are also kinda one whole thing anyway.
For Georgie, Jon’s not really feeding off her. She doesn’t feel fear, so Jon has nothing to feed from. But that doesn’t mean she can’t be compelled or show up in the dreams. Like, if Georgie met Jude Perry, Georgie can still get burned and hurt by Jude, but there wouldn’t be any actual fear. Likewise Jon can still compel and dream.
I do think Jon might have been able to feed off of Georgie for her statement, but like it was an old written statement, not like the usual fresh live ones. Cause there was fear in the story, it was only at the very end that past Georgie wasn’t afraid.
As for Martin, I would argue that he was actually feeding, he just didn’t know it. He was feeding on Jon, he kept his distance from Jon, he turned the other people in the archives against him, and when Jon tried giving him an out, he cruelly laughed in his face.
Martin may have had his whole “I say no” speech in ep 158, but this show is about choices, and he made the choice to isolate and reject Jon, he can justify it however he wants, but he did choose to do those things.
And for some things you mentioned in one of the reblogs.
Jon actually might have had powers as early as season 1, it’s unclear how he knew about Jane Prentiss, it’s possible that he Knew it. I also assumed he was getting the dreams after the first live statement, but maybe not.
So for Jon to have powers that early, it’s not that far a stretch for Melanie to also have powers, but honestly, her only “power” was that she was actually effective on the Flesh avatars. And she was also probably feeding on Jon in season 3, she nearly attacked him in ep 102, and she never exactly hid how much she wanted to hurt him.
For me, the watcher vs watched isn’t really a retcon because it’s not saying that “avatar” meant nothing, just that it doesn’t hold any meaning in the new changed world. Previously only those that well and truly showed some aspect of a Fear became an “avatar,” but with the Fears in their world, anyone that can elicit more fear than they themselves generate is a “watcher” and those that can’t are “watched”
Okay, I’m done now. Once again, I apologize if this was a rhetorical question. Also I’m in no way trying to say you’re wrong, these are just my personal opinions, and I can totally understand not liking some of the dream logic and contradictions.
