tbh the statements in s5 feel like obligations to the format, not drivers of the plot

yeah so far i totally agree. which sucks because in s1-4 they did such a good job of keeping the statements relevant and making them feel like the heart of the show even when a lot of plot development was happening outside of them. something i LOVE about tma is how thorough it is in addressing the questions of why is this being recorded, why does it sound scripted, how do we have access to this information, what are the consequences of our collecting and absorbing it.. and the mechanics of statement taking were a huge part of that. they added something to the story, even if they weren’t always heavy on plot-relevant information; they built out the world and gave it stakes even in the moments when the archive wasn’t being attacked by monsters.

but the s5 statements don’t seem to be adding much to the narrative; i don’t feel like they’re helping me visualize the world, because it’s more a collection of images and sometimes just of words than a description of anything, and i don’t feel like they’re telling me much about jon’s headspace or powers because he seems to get sort of possessed whenever he records one. they’re not a vehicle for violence or for the development of relationships, because jon doesn’t seem to be extracting them from anyone, and he’s not talking to anyone about them; they seem to come to him out of the ether and he records them all alone. i’m not caught up yet so i don’t want to pass final judgement but. yeah at this point it’s sort of unclear why the statements are still around in season 5 when everything else about the world and the story has changed so drastically. i like the idea that jon as he was growing in power needed to consume knowledge but now he’s so full of horrifying information that he actually has to expel it, sometimes at cost to those around him; but i don’t think it’s being executed well at all, and it definitely feels more like the writers are going through the motions than making a deliberate and effective narrative choice.