season 4 was the season that felt like it revolved around one specific power the most, because the entirety of it was spent meticulously isolating and alienating jon. it reeked of the lonely, not just for martin, but for jon. something that i think gets overlooked is that the other archival staff’s violence and hatred toward him, and their inability or refusal to compromise or communicate with him, was likely very entangled with the lonely having a strong presence there. it certainly didn’t cause it entirely, but that’s what the fears do. they exacerbate what’s already growing there to an intense and alarming degree. one slaughter bullet took melanie’s anger and turned it into a violent frenzy. the lonely controlling the institute likely took the distrust permeating the staff and dialed it up a hundredfold. i think it was excellently done, but the one issue i have is that it was never addressed afterwards. post-s4 nobody ever acknowledges the mistreatment of jon or the way the lonely affected everyone, not just martin.
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