About the purpose of the cult in tma
I don’t think that inclusion of the cult was pointless.
- The cult offered perspective how this eyepocalyptic world looks from normal human perspective. Not normal human trapped in the nightmare but real normal human without supernatural background observing this. I think it would be shame lose chance of getting this perspective and it would be rather hard to see this distinctive set of possible approaches to this.
- The cult served as a way to flash out Jon and Martin. Not only we could see how hard is it for normal human to grasp the concept of what’s happening but also how hard it is for Jon and Martin to relate to that view. We got enough of Jon being fleshed put as not really human anymore but the interaction with the cult really helped to show that neither is Martin. And it’s understandable that after all they’ve been through it would be hard to not unsee or even interact with someone who’s completely missing the point. (I loved the Martin and Arun interaction so much-…)
- But most importantly: the cult served as a way to flash out Melanie and Georgie. It would probably feel a bit wierd if Jon and Martin after all the struggles arrived to London and found what the girlfriends were just hiding in the tunnels the whole time doing nothing. As if they were waiting for someone to give them some purpose what to do. Them not being seen by the Eye might probably play some role in the finale so it would be extra wierd for them to have thid power but still be like “yeah we are totally safe and unseen and yet we were doing nothing till you arrived.” The cult was good way to flesh out their power and also to show that they really did not just wait for Jon to fix it all but were trying to do something no matter how pointless it might look in the end.
But in the end I just want to say that I understand frustration and I’m not saying anyone criticizing Jonny for inclusion of the cult is wrong I just wanted to offer my perspective on this.
Honestly until the mild backlash I haven’t even thought about the cult too much. But I never really expected them to play any other role in the finale than stakes for Georgie and Melanie…