I made it to the S3 finale in my TMA relisten today and was struck by one part of the statement in particular, when Elias says:
He hears her calling pathetically from the bottom of the graves, but by now he knows there is nothing he can do but stare. She begs to be released, to dream of this place no more, but there is nothing he can do.
So he watches her[.]
I just can’t stop imagining Jon the first, two, ten (?) times he has this dream, trying to reach down into the grave, to save Naomi, to save everyone else whose dreams he haunts–until he realises that no matter what he does, he cannot.
I got to this bit and immediately season 5 made so much more sense–when they are wandering through the fear domains, Martin is aghast at the suffering he sees, desperate to find some way to help those trapped in the domains, and frustrated with Jon’s repeated “there is nothing we can do” answer. It’s not that Jon doesn’t care, it’s not even that he Knows, it’s just that he has been witnessing and feeding on suffering like this for years and he has already tried and tried and tried to help those trapped.
And then there is the parallel between the way the people in the nightmares treat him, with disdain, as if he is a cruel monster (which tbf is a very valid response in their situation) and the way his colleagues treat him, especially in S4. Add to that his pre-existing survival guilt, and of course this man was going every extra mile to help those he can, getting his own rib removed to save Daisy.