the power of friendship wins!

All of Nick Mohammed's season 3 notes from this tweet, now hopefully easier to read

. As before, so much of Nate's story is deliberately unseen, unscripted or dialogue free - even more so now Nate is out on a limb. That feeling of abandon and loneliness were/are great drivers for Nate. In so much of the first half of S3 he's alone.

. Despite what Nate did to Ted, I felt it was important to aim for redemption right from the start of season three, even if it was primarily in the pauses between lines or in the way Nate's posture betrays his confidence. The horror of what Nate's done, of what he's becoming, of how he betrayed Ted, of the specific things he said haunt him throughout season three and no amount of bravado, fancy cars or words of 'encouragement' from Rupert can ever fully hide that.

. Incidentally, Nate's mum is called Maria Shelley - and Mary Shelley gave birth to Frankenstein/Frankenstein's Monster! "What have I become/what have I created!" . We see Lego Nate on the Richmond bench in 301… a sure sign of where things are headed - but we've a long way to go yet! More on the nature of redemption below, but even though that word is used a lot, 'catharsis' is probably a better way to describe Nate's S3 arc. To an extent redemption is in the eye of the beholder and as far as Nate's story is concerned it's more a look into our capacity for forgiveness. For some, there's nothing Nate can do to redeem himself - what he did at the end of season two simply crossed too much of a line. But for others, he will have done enough. Neither interpretation is right or wrong, but the challenge of season three with Nate was to make people question - even if just for a split second - their judgement at the end of S2.

. Part of the difficulty in forgiving Nate is because we believed in him from the start. We're so predisposed into buying a redemption story if we start off not liking them/their behaviour, but this was never the case with Nate - we rooted for him right from the off. Rebecca, Jamie, Colin, Isaac and even Higgins all make very questionable choices at the start of S1 - one may even argue just as bad as Nate's actions in S2 - but our capacity and desire to forgive isn't nearly as seductive as our desire to judge.

. Thanks to brilliant designer Paul Cripps, the first time we see Nate in Rupert's office is almost a direct parallel to when Anakin visits Emperor Palpatine's throne room in Return of the Jedi - a sure sign that Nate will eventually be redeemed!

. So here's a lovely example of Jason being Jason but also how often art imitates life in Ted Lasso… All through season one Jason would toy with a deck of playing cards on set practising sleight of hand. (Jason is a brilliant magician and it's something he and I would geek out over from when we first met and all through filming season one). In season two, because of Covid, there was way less time for this kind of social interaction, not least because we had to stay apart between takes. But just before we shot the scene in the lift in 304 (the first time Ted and Nate see each other following Nate's departure in S2) - and I don't know if it was by design or sheer fluke - Jason started toying with a deck of cards again… and that rush of adoration and connection between us all came flooding back. Even though I'm sure it was purely on a subconscious level, it was honestly so useful to use as a reminder of Nate's deep-seated love and appreciation for Ted.

. In 305 Nate opens up to Jade and says "[my date had to…] be really mean and leave" which is exactly what Nate did to Ted at the end of S2. Even though there's a way to go, there's a tiny moment of realisation here. A flash of the true Nate - which Jade sees.

. In 306 when Ted hallucinates seeing Nate in the diner we did the switch on camera for real (I think it's called a Texas switch and there's some great examples of it being done brilliantly in films on YouTube!) Supporting Artist Harry enters frame just as I dash behind camera. Hats off to the brilliant David Rom and Matt Lipsey for fathoming the choreography of this!

. 307 is the first time we see Nate smile and genuinely mean it/feel it all season (when looking at himself in the mirror in The Taste of Athens). Finally he has a chance to achieve something in his life without trampling on others - and it's no surprise that he ultimately returns to arts and crafts, something that connects us to the S1 version of Nate (and that connects him, specifically, to family). Up until this point Nate deliberately modifies his behaviour depending on what he feels others want to see in him (for better or worse). Jade doesn't want or need any of that. 307 is also the first time Nate refers to himself as 'Nate' - the name Ted gave him. Another sign that he's slowly but surely becoming comfortable with who he is.

. In general, Jade is such a guiding light in Nate's journey. That personal growth, intimacy and the beginnings of a truly meaningful relationship are subsequently enough for him to start seeing things differently… Not dissimilar to how Ted empowers Nate throughout S1. While I remember, I'll share a time-lapse of the wig being put on shortly, but hugest thanks to Chloe Hooker, Sophie, Nicky and team for pinning me in every day! From 310 onwards (more on that ep below) we switched to a much softer wig, which was deliberately less styled. A sign that Nate is becoming more like his old self. Of course he could never go fully back to having black hair - unless he dyed it! - but I like to think of the grey as a constant reminder to what Nate did and has been through. To a degree his tale is a cautionary one: careful what you wish for.

. As with the hair, Nate's suits track his downfall too. It's no coincidence that Nate chose a black suit to emulate Roy following his inappropriate pass at Keeley in 211, which is gross for all kinds of reasons, but shows Nate's toxic and confused mindset toward the end of S2. This suit stays with Nate for much of S3 but the way he wears it changes. I was forever asking Jason when we'd see the grey suit again but Jacky (costume) had a better idea! We do see it, but only the jacket. It's in the montage at the end of 312 when Nate's in the window seat (!) of the Taste of Athens enjoying a meal with his family and Jade. It's important Nate isn't beholden to Ted by this point hence just the jacket and not the full suit. I love that!

. Whilst on the subject of costume, the turtle necks and gilet were all chosen to give Nate a more uptight look while at West Ham. His posture becomes tense and unnatural. Again, it's a tiny thing, but it's another nudge towards him wearing the wrong outfit/pretending to be someone he's not. When you compare to how relaxed Nate is to when he's with Jade (in his own clothes) or to how he is in the gloriously comfy tracksuit that he wears in 312 on return to AFC Richmond! . Nate is fixated on Richmond from 308 onwards rather than himself. His behaviour is changing, he even thanks Roger after the match win rather than rudely dismissing him as per previous episodes. These aren't grand gestures and are less meaningful when viewed individually (Nate categorically shouldn't be praised for not cheating on Jade in 309 for example) but all these things taken together possibly amount to something close to redemption and are signs of Nate developing the emotional intelligence he's been lacking up until this point. This is a side note but Nate writing a text response to Rupert after he's seen Ted and Henry in the stands in 308 and then deleting it/changing it to something Rupert will want to hear is a great way of showing where Nate's heart truly lies despite what he's presenting.

. 309 is the first time Nate rejects Rupert (in Bones & Honey) and - importantly - their last direct interaction. The thought process in the aftermath of that moment is very specific… Nate's reaction goes from shock (did I just say no to Rupert), to have I lost my job (selfish), to where am I/I need to get out of here (realisation). His walk to Jade's (unseen) and their hug in the doorway is ultimately his release. But whilst Jade plays a huge part in Nate's arc (and impeccably played by Edyta Budnik) it's important Nate ultimately takes things into his own hands. But she remains a magnificent guiding light.

. I've already written about the significance of the violin piece used in 310 but just to gush a bit more about my amazing wife...! We first met during an orchestra rehearsal (she plays viola and piano) so to get to play this piece with her for the show was incredibly special. This scene is also special as it's the only scene that Rebecca and Nate 'share' (Rebecca's also my wife's name!) Both Rebecca (the character) and Nate are connected through Rupert - who once had a hold over both of them. And so to underscore her speech with Nate playing violin was such a great move on the writers' part (the intercut sequence was all scripted). A perfect example of 'show don't tell' by colliding their two storylines in this way. . We discussed so many different possible violin pieces. From memory the alt contenders were chiefly Ashokan Farewell, Danny Boy and an arrangement of Come Josephine, In My Flying Machine (which Jack whispers and sings to Rose when they're striking that pose on the front of the Titanic!)

. I asked Jason to be in my eye line when Nate's dad is speaking to him because when Nate aims his words at Ted in 212 those were undoubtedly intended for his dad (I would also try and interchange the words 'dad' and 'Ted' in the script so that I'd say one but think the other but don't tell sound!) The situation in 310 is mirrored. Nate doesn't cry here like he did in front of Ted though (and will again in 312) and it's important that that's not Nate and his dad 'fixed'. It does represent the start of a healing process, though. Similarly, Nate and his dad don't hug... that moment is saved for when he's with Ted and learns of his departure in 312.

. I'm sure that many of you clocked it already, but the lavender fabric softer that Nate secretly adds to the towels at the end of 310 and which Will smells is a callback to 202 when Nate ridicules Will for using it in the first place. Worth noting too that Nate apologises and makes amends in the order that he broke those relationships (starting with Will, then Colin, Beard, Keeley and ending - ultimately - with Ted). . Nate looking up when Jade seemingly disappears in front of Isaac, Colin and Will in 311 is a callback to when Beard seemingly disappeared in Nate's office in 207! . I teased the first two words of this before 311 came out but I'll share Nate's full letter to Ted shortly too (shout out to the amazing props dept, Lizzie and Dylan for having so much fun writing this as it was indeed 60 pages and very Nate!) . Fun fact: I had to stay under the table for 45 mins while they shot all the previously unseen security cam footage of Nate hiding under the table at the end of 212 though revealed to Beard in 311 - including everyone doing a big conga line past Ted's desk! . The decreasing screen time with Ted towards the end undoubtedly points towards his ultimate departure. The last scene I shot on the show was the scene between Ted and Nate in 312 and was - whether by design or a sheer fluke of scheduling - filmed on our very last day. We effectively shot the rehearsal because I was too upset! The picture I accidentally posted on Instagram before realising it was a huge spoiler on the last day was of Nate in AFC Richmond gear but with a clear view of the slate confirming Nate's return in S3 - not my finest hour but attached here for completeness! . Once again, thank you for all your insights, theories, for your love (and hate!) to our phenomenal team of writers and directors and incredible crew. It's been an absolute blast. Now let's go Greyhounds! Yes there will/will not be a season four - delete as appropriate ;-)

Frankenstein Adaptation Review #1: Frankenstein (1910)

Masterpost of my Frankenstein Adaptation reviews

Title: Frankenstein

Year: 1910

Medium: Film

Director: J. Searle Dawley

Produced by: Edison Studios [edit: I went back to the wiki page and realized that this film was produced by the Thomas Edison. Wild.]

Synopsis

Kicking off my adaptation reviews with the very first of its kind! This 13-minute silent film is the first-ever film adaptation of Mary Shelley’s novel. Admittedly, I know very little about turn of the century film/silent film, so my analysis might be missing some added context (film students please pardon my ignorance on the subject). Fun fact, because this film is over a hundred years old and in the public domain, you can watch it at the Library of Congress.

Full review under the cut!

Grading

Faithfulness to the Source Material

Despite its very short run-time, and it's being silent, the film actually does a really good job of summarizing the broad strokes of the story. And it is self-aware of this fact, the first slide of the film calls itself “a liberal adaptation” of the novel. So being “liberal”, they chose to focus only on Victor’s perspective of the story, which means we do miss out on seeing how a turn of the century film would attempt to create an arctic environment or how they would adapt the Creature’s story. But in general they stay very true to Victor’s story. They make him an actual young, college-student, ambitious in the art of science. Victor and Elizabeth’s relationship is very wholesome so watch (as one might expect of a film from this period.) However, the ending does choose to stray from the original. After Elizabeth meets the Creature on her and Victor’s wedding night, the creature does not actually kill Elizabeth, but flees instead. Victor chases his Creature, but ultimately loses him in a very vague yet symbolic manner through a mirror (they got that symbolism y’all.) I’d like to point out that not one single person dies in this version, but conversely, there is a lot of fainting. And even without all of the death, Victor is still horrified by his creation and the general themes still translate here. Total Category Score: 8/10 points

Production Design 

I was genuinely very impressed with how this film was designed. There were a ton of really impressive scenic painting elements, like giant wooden doors in Victor’s laboratory, or the beautiful countryside outside the window of his family’s home. Obviously films of this time period had fewer resources to work with, but they were very strategic in how many individual settings they used and I think it really paid off. My absolute favorite setting was Victor’s study with the giant mirror. The mirror was genuinely the star of the show, I'm not even joking. They used it to create some really impressive reveals with the creature, and used it again for his symbolic escape at the end. My other favorite was the giant vat of acid that Victor uses to create the creature. I love that he is literally just ladling acid from a bowl into a wooden tub, with a full human skeleton just vibing in a chair next to him (absolutely camp.) At this point I must address the creature effects, because I think they were genuinely very smart. The scene of the creature taking form was genuinely spooky and honestly a bit horrifying. Both because of how they created this melted shape of a being that literally waves hello at Victor, but also because of how long the scene drags out this creepy imagery. When the creature comes into full form, he is truly a sight to behold. Being the first to create Frankenstein’s Creature on film, one can absolutely see where future adaptations took inspiration from it (namely the elongated forehead and tattered clothing.) He was also much more hairy than I expected him to be, which is an interesting choice considering he was reverse-melted into being in an acid bath. Extremely hairy is not how I generally imagine the creature to be, but it absolutely added to the monster factor in this version.  My last point on production design is that I am obsessed with Victor’s striped wedding trousers. It is hard to judge period accuracy here because the book is set in an undisclosed period in the 18th century, with the book being published in the early 19th century. This interpretation seems to have gone in a late 18th century/early 19th century direction, and although not perfectly accurate, it got the job done and was generally effective in alluding to the setting of the book.  Total Category Score: 8/10 points

Entertainment value

Silent films are obviously kind of goofy when watched with modern eyes, and maybe it’s my individual eagerness to watch these adaptations, but I did find myself actually entertained. A few scenes did drag a bit, and I probably won’t find myself re-watching this film anytime soon, but it was also not the worst film to watch in the name of research. I’d recommend giving it a go if you’re also Frankenstein obsessed like myself.  Total Category Score: 6/10 points

Bonus Points

Character(s) included/mentioned (1 point each): - Robert Walton and/or Henry Clerval: no. - The DeLacey Family: no. - Justine Moritz: no. - William and/or Ernest Frankenstein: no? Victor(y) points (1 point each): - Is Victor aged 18-26 years old: technically, yes. - Is Victor a college dropout: also technically yes. - Does Victor have an accent that is not American or British: n/a because it's a silent film. Miscellaneous (1 point each): -Setting is primarily in Switzerland: unknown - Are there homoerotic undertones: no, but Victor’s mannerisms were a bit flamboyant and I was eating it up. - Does the Creature have intelligence: maybe, but I'm interpreting yes. Total Category Score: 3/10 points

Final Score: 25/40 points

DW s12e10: It's Quite Unfortunate That This Child Keeps On Regenerating

It's only fitting that the first post on a blog called "SciFinal" should be about a season finale.

Not that fitting is the fact that in said post I'm going to begin where it all started for me.

Part One: How I Even Got into This Mess of a Show in the First Place

While I call myself a huge Doctor Who fan, even a – *gasp* – Whovian, I must admit I am not as familiar with the franchise as I would like to be; I've seen the new show, I've seen Torchwood (though, admittedly, I had to force myself to finish the fourth season – but that's a story for another day), I've listened to a handful of audio dramas (including Kaldor City, which I consider to be canon for both DW and Blake's 7) – mostly Torchwood audio dramas, but who cares, – I've read a couple of comics, I've got a novel or two somewhere on my bookshelf, I've seen the first couple of seasons of the classic show, but that's about it. I can't say I grew up with it – it wasn't on TV when I was a kid, there isn't an official Ukrainian dub, et cetera, et cetera. I first heard about it when I was about thirteen, when my classmate did a project about something they liked – and was pretty dismissive of my peers' hobbies at the time, believing myself to be somewhat above them, so I didn't pay much attention.

Then somebody finally pressured me into watching it (I believe I was fifteen or something back then) and I loved it. The first two episodes of the first season, I mean. I watched those, texted my friend something like "consider me a Whovian now!" and abandoned the show completely only to return to it maybe several years later.

I loved it. This time, for real.

Doctor Who has been with me ever since that time, it has a big soft spot reserved for each and every Doctor ever in my heart, and for each and every companion. I know full well it's cheesy, and it's stupid, and it's technobabble-y, and it's glorious in all of its cheesy technobabble-y stupidity.

And I hate this finale.

Part Two: Doctor, Why

I hate this finale – because I hate Chris Chibnall. Mind you, not the gentleman himself (I don't even know what he looks like, and I can't be bothered to Google), I hate what he did to Doctor Who.

Now, when it was revealed that the would replace Steven Moffat I felt... nothing. What did you expect? I had no idea who the man was. I know now he's made Broadchurch, and I know he wrote a bunch of stuff for Torchwood back in the day, including Cyberwoman. I had to drop Broadchurch because of how well-handled the depressing atmosphere was, and I love the flawed, dumb, sexy-cyber-bikinied, almost-fifteen-minutes-of-Ianto's-whining-including (I know because some time ago I literally cut almost every single moment of Gareth David-Lloyd whimpering, moaning, groaning, screaming, and mugging at the camera out of the episode and made those bits and pieces into a beautiful clip show called "I HATE THIS" to explain exactly why his face was and still is so punchable) mindless fun that is Cyberwoman (this is also one of the two episodes in which they actually do something fun with the pterodactyl living inside Torchwood's underground base). The latter also led to the creation of one amazing in how it develops Ianto's character audio drama entitled "Broken". I love Broken. I am now forcing you to look at its cover because of how much I love it.

Here we go. Now, back to the point of me rambling pointlessly

In his video "Sherlock Is Garbage, and Here's Why", a well-known YouTuber hbomberguy pointed out how Steven Moffat's problem is that he is more than capable of writing a good one-off episodes, but ultimately fails at managing multiple complex, overarching stories, as visible when you look at the difference between Moffat's individual episodes and his run on the show.

Now, I believe that Chris Chibnall suffers from the same affliction: he's a good screenwriter but a terrible, terrible showrunner. Sure, he's made Broadchurch, but Broadchurch, in its essence, was a complete singular story with a beginning, a middle, and an end. There were no bigger, incomplete arcs expanding at the expense of other episodes, and the show did exactly what it was originally designed to do: it told an uninterrupted story.

Here comes Chris Chibnall's run on Doctor Who.

Now, while Steven Moffat was ultimately not very good at managing overarching stories, he tried to do so nonetheless, and the fans seemed to like his attempts. And while I can't be sure as to whether it was Chris' original vision for the show or he and his co-writers were merely trying to emulate Moffat, he attempted the same. A friend of mine has even pointed out how, to her, it was painfully obvious how the writers of the finale were desperately trying to copy Moffat's style (to give you some context, she grasped it from a 30-second clip of the CyberMasters' reveal, and that clip basically consisted of me filming my laptop's screen and laughing at their design, making the video wobbly and the audio distorted). At the time of writing this post this friend hasn't seen a single episode of Chibnall's era and, as far as I know, has no wish to do so – mainly because of two reasons that both have something to do with the finale:

Somebody's already spoiled it for her, so who cares;

I ranted to her about how shit this finale is and now she hates everything about Chibnall era.

I am very sorry for the latter, since I genuinely believe there are some nice episodes in these seasons, and I especially like the "historical" ones, they really are quite a lot of fun, I like Nikola Tesla and Thomas Edison fighting badly CG-ed alien scorpions, I love Lord Byron and Mary Shelley running around a haunted house trying to escape from a Cyberman (even though it's all too similar to the Agatha Christie episode from Russel T Davies' run), I adore that episode about Rosa P–– oh, wait, no, that one was crap and ripped off Blake's 7... Anyway, I love Jodie Whittaker's Doctor, I am a big fan of Graham, I like Ryan just fine, and I can put up with Yaz, even though it's been two seasons and I've still got no idea what's her personality supposed to be, and I absolutely love the new Master (he reminds me of a cute little pug with a big Tommy gun). There is plenty of good stuff in these two seasons, they are lots of fun to watch, but this finale... Oh god, this finale.

Part Three: We Had All of Time and Space at Our Fingertips and We Ended Up with This

We are getting to the point of this whole thing. I would love to begin with the obvious, the twist, but there's so much wrong with this who-cares-how-many-parter than this one big thing.

It is inept. It is impotent. It is incompetent. It is bad at almost everything except its okay camera work, somewhat good (for a British TV show, I mean) effects, and its really solid performances.

Its editing is tone-deaf to the extreme. There is a moment in the final episode where Ko Sharmas asks who will be the first to cross the Boundary and step into the unknown, and immediately it cuts to Yaz walking towards it, all fast and silent. I would love to show you a clip of it, but I don't have one and I can't force myself to download the episode and sit through this shitshow again just to present you with a ten-second clip. Nonetheless, that part is not edited like a dramatic moment. You edit comedies this way. Bad comedies. Bad editors edit bad comedies this way.

Its plot is incoherent. There are several plot threads in this finale, and they're managed in a way that doesn't make the viewer care about all of them at the same time, rather the viewer goes "oh, I've completely forgotten this was happening" and then, before they can even begin to care, the show cuts to something else. It's all over the place and oh so annoying.

The plot armour is painfully obvious despite every attempt to disguise it. There wasn't a single, solitary second when I believed the Doctor was really going to sacrifice herself and, lo and behold, here comes the old guy ex machina to do it for her. The only questions I was asking at that moment were "How are the writers going to prevent the Doctor's death now that they've seemingly created themselves a way to go on forever?" and "How can Whittaker care so much about her performance in this scene she's literally almost crying?". I wholeheartedly related to the Master asking "So why are we still here?" and shout–– hiss–– mumbl–– whatever-ing "Come on, come on, come on!" – at that point I've suffered through at least forty-five minutes of utter nonsense, people going preachy, religious Cybermen with Dalek motivations, that absolutely ludicrous scene in the previous episode when the show was trying its worst to make me perceive autonomous flying Cyber-heads with laser eyes as a serious threat, a shit twist and... Oh.

I've got to finally touch on the shit twist, haven't I?

It doesn't make sense. No, I mean it. I guess it makes sense from the show's writers' standpoint to retcon everything in a way that would allow them to go on forever without having to come up with a way to circumvent limited regenerations, yes. And I won't be touching upon all the lore people say this twist has ruined. No. It doesn't make sense as it is.

The twist is revealed to us by a madman that claims to have hacked into a database, claims to possess control over the Doctor's mind, and gives the Doctor and the audience no actual solid proof that the Timeless Child is, indeed, the Doctor. We have Ruth, sure, and she's nice enough (damn, I want that vest), and she's a Timelord that happens to own a TARDIS that looks like a blue police telephone box, and she calls herself the Doctor. Here's Ruth:

I really like Ruth. She also makes no sense from the show's timeline standpoint, since the Doctor's Type 40 TARDIS only got stuck looking like a police box in 1963, so there's no reason for the Doctor to not remember being her.

We also know that the Judoon have identified Ruth as "the Fugitive"... except in one of their previous appearances in the show they weren't able to identify their targets exactly and thus were seeking out non-humans. There is a possibility that they were only looking for a Time Lord on Earth.

You know what? It's possible that Ruth is actually the Master messing with the Doctor. I have just as much proof of this as I have of the fact that the Doctor is some kind of an endlessly regenerating superbeing.

But this is not the most maddening thing here. I loathe it, but I don't loathe the twist itself: I loathe its lifelessness, I loathe how empty, how unemotional, almost robotic it feels. When somebody'd spoiled the finale for me, I got angry, and I started asking questions, and when later I saw the actual thing...

This gif. I can't even explain how accurate it is. I stood there, in the middle of my kitchen, episode paused, holding a cup of cold tea and desperately looking around as if in my surroundings I could somehow find that emotional reaction that this show failed to evoke. I was ready to burst into tears of how empty it felt, and how empty I felt, and how the same show that has Christopher Eccleston go from literally foaming at the mouth with pure hatred to shocked silence in a matter of second because of one sentence that you, a viewer, can't help but be astonished by failed to make me feel the tiniest speck of literally any emotion. And slowly, I felt that vast void in my chest fill with sheer, pure, flaming hatred for the person who made me feel nothing, for the story that left me not bored – but empty.

And the next moment, in its own unique way of being absolutely tone-deaf, the show introduces the CyberMasters, looking ridiculous, being asinine in concept, making me burst into laughter with their dumb design. Wow.

So.

Chris Chibnall's Doctor Who is no longer a show. Chris Chibnall's Doctor Who isn't even, as somebody on Stardust said, a fan fiction. It's a rollercoaster. A lackluster rollercoaster that lifts you from the vast caverns of frozen hell, devoid of any life whatsoever, soulless and abandoned, to the heavenly torture of being so bad, so utterly awful and ridiculous, that you can't help but laugh as you watch something you used to love be distorted and deformed to the point where you can't recognise it anymore nor really care. This is what Chris Chibnall's Doctor Who has become. And I'm going to continue my ride on that grotesque rollercoaster. I'm going to pirate that ride and get on it again. Because I'm a masochist. Because I want to feel something, even if it's hatred towards those that make me feel nothing.

Because some time ago my fifteen-year-old self watched the first season and learned a lesson that I hold dear after all these years – that I can't abandon hope, and that someday, somehow, things are going to get better. That the future is being written right now. That the future can change.

Frankenstein Undone #1

Frankenstein Undone #1 Dark Horse Comics 2020 Written by Mike Mignola & Scott Allie Illustrated by Ben Stenbeck Coloured by Brennan Wagner Lettered by Clem Robins     Mignola takes on Frankenstein! Frankenstein's creator lies dead in the icy grip of the Arctic, and the monster searches for a new purpose. Just as he thinks he's found one with a group of unlikely companions, disaster strikes—and the monster is catapulted out of Mary Shelley's novel and into the world of Hellboy.     This was sent to me for a review and I thought okay Frankenstein I am down with that. I had no idea it was going to connect to the Hellboy world but I can see that making sense for a number of reasons. So I sat down and started reading and I found myself thinking the idea sounds familiar and then things veered off into a new territory and I was hooked. Aside from the manner in which Frankenstein speaks, which I absolutely adore by the way, the anger, angst and loneliness that he feels and the regret for his actions come across so crystal clear. When he left and talked that revenge against him would be for him to suffer living than death well dammit right there and then was the moment I saw the brilliance in this book.     I am really rather impressed with the way that this is being told. The story & plot development that we see through how the sequence of events unfold and how the reader learns information is presented extremely well. The way the story flows and how we see and Frankenstein's journey as laid out before us just makes sense and you believe it. The character development here is off the charts and the connection to Frankenstein as he tells his tale throughout is strong, powerful and easily relatable to. Any one who suffers from body dysmorphia as he does can easily understand his struggle and that's really powerful to get across. The pacing is superb and as it takes us through the pages revealing the twists and turns along the way it helps to create such a dynamic ebb & flow to the book.     This engages the reader in a unique way and I doubt Mary Shelley was of what she was doing when she wrote him. Now more than ever the way the pressure to look a certain way that's placed upon us and how it can affect ever aspect of our lives and ability to love is as relevant today in ways I don't think she knew. So yeah to see his struggle with his acceptance of how he looks that's relatable to all of us.     I like the work on the interiors here. The linework is beautiful and how we see the varying weights utilised to bring out the attention to detail is stupendous! To see Victor on that bed in the pretty much Burberry design was incredible and the placement of his bolts is fresh and innovative though the nipples was a new one for me and well there kits for men to get that way heh. The creativity and imagination on display here is marvellous to behold. I am a fan of how backgrounds are utilised and their importance to a story. The way we see them utilised here is lovely and how that provides us with depth perception, scale and that overall sense of size and scope to the story is beautifully rendered. The utilisation of the page layouts and how we see the angles and perspective in the panels shows a superb eye for storytelling. I am also a fan of the colour work that we see here as well. I like how the various hues and tones with the colours are utilised to create the shading, highlights and shadow work that we see. There really is some beautiful work done I seeing the way colour is utilised. ​     This was an absolutely surprising and delightful story. Frankenstein as a character has always been intriguing but in this iteration I see new possibilities that I hadn't seen previously. I think that this is a book that went from request to curiosity to a must read book and I love when that happens. This is a phenomenal story and it's being told exquisitely.

Reviewing time for MAG137!

- What a delight, we casually got so many confirmations!

* Gerry indeed had a connection to Beholding, finally confirmed:

(MAG137) GERTRUDE: […] Gerard may have a connection to The Eye, but I’m not convinced it will be enough.

It seemed obvious, and not even (only) because of the eye tattoos covering his entire body or the eye painting decorating the Keays’ bookstore when Dominic Swain followed Mary Keay inside in MAG004. There have been a few occasions when Gerry apparently “knew” or “saw” things he shouldn’t have been able to:

(MAG012, Lesere Saraki) “Finally he nodded, as though dismissing me, and limped past into the corridor, towards the supply cupboard. I followed him, asked what he was doing. I got no answer, but he seemed to know the code to the door immediately and strode right in, scanning the shelves for something.”

(MAG048, Andrea Nunis) “He was staring at me in a way I found quite uncomfortable […] with an air of concentration, like he was trying to read something written very small on my forehead. […] He apologised grudgingly and said that, as he was here, he felt he should at least let me know that I was marked. He didn’t know what by, but… that it was close.”

… The fact that he was officially Beholding-aligned also sheds another light on his comment to Lesere Saraki (MAG012: “I stepped aside. He nodded in appreciation and said something that I remember very clearly, even though it still makes no sense. He said, “Yes. For you, better Beholding than the Lightless Flame”.), though; all the Fears are bad, point, but saying that yours would be better than another for someone else is a bit… (Gerry, I have no doubt that you weren’t exactly best pals with Beholding despite being a literal Posterboy for it, but you sounded a bit like a Recruiter there.) I wonder if we’ll know what happened to his Zippo lighter, one day? He had one with an Eye design on it, in MAG012 (the events took place in December 2011) and it seems like it would make a nice set with Jon’s Web-design one, mm? (… Will MARTIN get a hold on it.)

* Gertrude didn’t mention his last name so I probably shouldn’t assume that “Eric” means “Eric Delano” (after all, what if “Eric”s Are The New “Michael”s.) but I’m going to assume that it was “Eric Delano” anyway.

(MAG137) GERTRUDE: […] And I will admit I’ve grown… fond of the boy. I wonder, if I told him about Eric – whether he’d follow in his father’s footsteps. Still, that’s not like it kept Eric safe in The End.

(I’m arbitrarily giving those last words the capital letters because THAT PUN, GERTRUDE, COULD YOU PLEASE NOT…) Eric’s (first) name had been mentioned twice until now, if I’m not mistaken:

(MAG062) MARY: The End, of course. I could never truly serve it; I just don’t find death that interesting. I’ve always found a singular devotion far too restrictive. Just ask Eric… or what’s left of him.

(MAG085) ARCHIVIST: Date of original statement unclear, though paper quality likely puts it at between twenty and thirty years ago. […] There are some… short pieces of correspondence in the file, addressed to Gertrude, from someone called, er, Eric Delano, confirming that while he typed out this statement, he has no memory of doing so, and requesting some sick leave to address… persistent migraines he has developed.

And we had Gerry’s mention of his own father, without naming him:

(MAG111) GERARD: I never knew my dad. Not really. He worked in the Archives like you, but quit once I was born. I think he wanted to help raise me. But mum didn’t need the help, and after me she wasn’t able to have kids again, so she killed him in his sleep to practice her bookbinding. I guess she failed. I always thought he was in here, but when I eventually got hold of it, there wasn’t a page in there.

So mMMMMMmmm.

1°) Nothing new in that regard, but we’ve heard about Michael Shelley, we’ve heard about Eric Delano… and allegedly, there was a third assistant somewhere:

(MAG080) LEITNER: I think she was lonely. I didn’t meet her until about six years ago, after she’d lost the last of her own assistants. She would mention them sometimes. I believe she missed having someone to talk to on occasion. ARCHIVIST: I… I didn’t know Gertrude had assistants. LEITNER: Of course. Three of them, each meeting an unpleasant end.

I wonder if we will hear about them at some point…

2°) According to Gerry’s story, his dad… had managed to quit a job at the Archives. On the one hand, it’s possible that Gerry misinterpreted something (maybe his father hadn’t actually quit), or his father was still serving Beholding in a way and thus didn’t suffer Hell Like Tim Did When He Tried To Flee To Malaysia as a result. On the other hand… Gerry was presumably born in the late eighties, so I still wonder if perhaps the “Archival Assistant can’t quit” binding was something first implemented by Elias (since he became Head of the Institute in 1996)…

3°) So, on the one hand, Gerry was adamant that Fears don’t care about your blood, but about your choices. On the other hand, Gertrude confirmed that ~he had a connection to The Eye~… while Gerry’s family was full of it already: the von Closen line, Mary’s mother who worked as a researcher at the Institute when she was a kid herself, Eric who was apparently an archival assistant. Considering how aware Gerry was of everything, it still feels… very suspicious that he fell into Beholding’s domain himself of his own volition?

* I’m going to CRY, why would you punch my heart about Tim without even NAMING HIM:

(MAG137) GERTRUDE: […] Doesn’t help with The Unknowing, though. [HEAVY SIGH] We still have Dekker’s back-up plan, of course, but… it’s very risky. To be sure, I–I think the detonation would need to happen from within The Unknowing, while it was going on. Gerard may have a connection to The Eye, but I’m not convinced it will be enough.

… because Gertrude just laid out all the elements she had gathered to stop The Unknowing, here: a Beholding-touched person pulling the trigger when the ritual has begun, exploding it from the inside. Which Tim ultimately did in MAG119.

* We also got confirmation that The Slaughter is not an immediate threat and… apparently tried to pull off its ritual waaay before the others, which have been concentrated in the 2000s so far? (Unless the sinking of the Maria Fairchild towards the end of the 19th century had been the Vast’s? In which case The Vast would be more than halfway through its wait for the next attempt.)

* JON DOES REMEMBER ABOUT WHAT HE HAD BEEN TOLD ABOUT THE WATCHER’S CROWN, AND THAT IT’S INCOMING…

- Okay, that one deserved its own bullet points.

(MAG137) ARCHIVIST: […] Ever since I crawled out of that damn coffin, I feel like I’ve been… adrift. Filling in blanks and diving into History, but only…! [EXASPERATED SIGH] The breadcrumbs I’m finding are… stale. Old. … What the hell is The Watcher’s Crown? So far the only mention of it I’ve had is from Gerry, and he didn’t seem to know much about what it actually meant. [PAUSE] And he’s gone now. But if it is the grand ritual of Beholding, then I– … I mean… I need to know about it. Right…? I feel like I’m on a deadline, like I’m running out of time somehow – and I don’t even know where to go! What to look for, o–or… [EXHALE] Just casting around blindly for more clues to just… drop into my lap.

Worrying bits: the fact that Jon presented information (about The Watcher’s Crown) with a food-related (/fairytale-related) metaphor, which, yee-oops, Jon? Jon? Please, don’t; and more importantly… that Jon never mentions at any point that his goal is to prevent it (and not to ensure that it would happen or something).

I freaked out a lot about this – I was already worried about the way he had… not bothered mentioning that he was planning to make sure that this one wouldn’t happen either, when Basira informed him of the other Fears targeting them because they Still Have Their Chance in MAG123, and Jon’s suspicions about the Institute in MAG127. However, re-listening again, it… sounds more like… an attempt at bargaining / showing diplomacy? I’m not excluding the possibility that Jon’s choice might have involved not going against Beholding’s ritual, but so far, I would lean more towards the idea that either Jon can’t verbally mention that he’d like to oppose it (like Tim wasn’t able to “say the words” about quitting despite wanting to, in MAG065), or that… Jon is aware that it would be a dreadful idea to mention, in Beholding’s own temple, that he’s planning to fight against its ritual. He sounded a whole lot like he was… almost bargaining, trying to find a middle ground without compromising himself – and being awful at it? But it confirms that his researches into rituals weren’t only to pass time – that it was indeed to try and figure out which ones were still current concerns and which ones had already been dealt with, and that it wasn’t absolutely innocent and Jon still had The Eye in mind:

(MAG127) ARCHIVIST: […] Whatever is happening now… has its origins two hundred years ago. In the work of an evil man. … Exactly two hundred years, in fact. Don’t think that little detail has evaded me. I don’t know the precise date the Institute was founded, but I do know that it was in 1818. … Something’s coming. I know it is. … But I just don’t know what I need to do.

… Ggggiiiiven how Elias apparently knew that Breekon was on its way to the Institute at that moment / that, overall, Jon complaining about his lack of direction in MAG127 meant Breekon delivering the coffin the following episode, which gave Jon a purpose until MAG132 and Daisy’s successful rescue… I wouldn’ be surprised if “something” were to happen again now, throwing him a bone (ha.) to toy with. Going back to The Dark? Elias had also mentioned that Jon is in a ~very delicate stage~ hence his arrangement to have Jon forbidden from seeing him, so there is still the question of… what is Elias is waiting for, exactly, and what is Jon’s “delicate stage” supposed to be and what is supposed to make him come out of it. I doubt that it’d be as simple as waiting for Jon to finally admit that he wants/needs/craves to know about “The Watcher’s Crown” (and maybe not… solely out of concern because it’d be another Disaster, but because he just plainly craves the information) but, at least, the fact that Jon has finally outright admitted that he’s angsty about it specifically… feels like it could change something. I don’t know!

- At the same time:

(MAG137) ARCHIVIST: [HEAVY SIGH] So. Funny story. Turns out when Daisy broke the lock to get into Elias’s old office, well, she did a good enough job that it’s not… obviously broken. So it hasn’t been replaced yet. So I had a look around. [SIGH] M–mostly as I remember, but… There’s a box of tapes and statements in the corner. Obviously those Elias either didn’t feel he could trust me with yet, or maybe just the ones he was checking himself. Ideally, I’d like to avoid… tipping Peter off for as long as possible that I have access. And it turns out I don’t… Know… Elias’s safe combination. Not yet, anyway. So I just took the first one that called to me, and it’s… [DRY NASAL EXHALE] It’s good.

… “funny story” – JON, HE BLATANTLY LEFT THEM THERE IN THE OPEN FOR YOU, OH MY GODS………. There Are Many Layers of Secrecy In Elias’s Office: the safe mentioned above, his drawers, his overall ~safekeeping~:

(MAG116) ELIAS: During the… “difficulties”… ARCHIVIST: [AGGRAVATED SIGH] ELIAS: … with your initial absence, Jon, I took Gertrude’s tapes into my safekeeping. ARCHIVIST: Yes, I thought as much.

(MAG118) MARTIN: … Did you find anything? MELANIE: Ah, yes, I fi– Jesus. Are you okay? MARTIN: Do we have what we need? MELANIE: I… I think so, yes. He didn’t even have a safe, just a few locked drawers. It was… it was easy.

That’s various levels of keeping things in the open for you to get them at some point, and Jon hadn’t noticed them in his office in MAG116, and Elias was aaaaall but waiting for the police officer in MAG120… so yep, unless someone/something (many-legged, spying with its eight little eyes) moved them, he absolutely left them there for Jon when he would wake up. Maybe Elias just wasn’t expecting it to take more than six months. (Is MAG120’s tape amongst these ones?) … and hum, implicit confirmation that Elias actually HAD a safe and only bothered to put Leitner’s murder in his drawers, he really made it easier for the assistants to plot his arrest?! … Or is it the other way round, and he had to face that he had been an Utter Dumbass by just putting away the recording of him MURDERING SOMEONE in his vaguely locked drawers, and he bought a safe for when he would be gone?

(Also laughing forever that: Jon apparently hadn’t tried to sneak into Elias’s office before, nooo, he waited for Daisy to break into it because she’s a casual Brute but he’s still a polite boy – I got the same feeling as when in MAG092, Elias dismissed everyone-besides-Jon and they just… agreed to leave, quietly. Sulkily, but calmly. Y’all way too civilised/British.

Also laughing a lot that Jon presented what he did as… kind of sneaky? When what probably happened was: Jon, making Elias’s door creak so loudly that the entire institute heard it, accidentally spilling a stack of paperwork, crashing into the desk, breaking a vase or something. Peter, invisible in the room, staring at the ceiling like in The Office. Elias, shrugging in answer from his prison cell.)

- Important questions are also: what is in Elias’s safe (Barnabas’s bones? A tape of a discussion with Gertrude? An item for The Watcher’s Crown? … Manuela’s Black Sun because he already knew that this one isn’t a threat anymore? A Leitner? Mr. Spider’s book?) and what is the code (if it’s “E109GHT8″, Peter is suing).

(I’ve been laughing a lot over Jon’s stance towards the safe: “And it turns out I don’t… Know… Elias’s safe combination. Not yet, anyway.” => that “not yet”… Jon, what is your life.)

- Mmmmm, does that mean I was been wrong to assume the exchange between Martin and Peter from MAG126 took place in Elias’s office because of the clock in the background (… + Martin taking care of the Scheduling), after all? Or maybe Martin has a key, and stopped going there after Daisy broke into it?

- On the list of things that worry me a bit re:Jon, there is the mention of his tiredness + his audible restlessness. Is it because of a lack of statements, too many statements, a random lack of sleep? Is it because the absence of Daisy in his dreams encourages him to sleep less since he won’t see her anymore? Or is it deeper, because time is passing and the clock is ticking and bringing him towards… something, and he will feel worse and worse as long as The Watcher’s Crown isn’t launched, because it’s supposed to be his purpose as The Archivist…?

I’m curious, though, about the distinctions he made between people around him:

(MAG137) ARCHIVIST: […] Everyone else is… running towards something, or running away, and I… [SIGH] I don’t know what I’m doing. [PAUSE] [SIGH] I’m just tired. Think I might go lie down for a while. Get a cup of tea. [HUFF] … Daisy’s got me listening to The Archers. I hate it. … But it feels nice, to hate something that can’t hurt me. [CHUCKLE] I don’t know. That’s it, I–I guess. End recording. [EXHALE]

… who is “running away”? Melanie is clearly moving forwards; Daisy doesn’t give me that impression either (though she could be avoiding a few of her problems with Basira but… well, she just came back and is healing, that’s hardly running away?!); does he mean Basira and Martin here, from his point of view…?

- Meanwhile, obligatory screaming about the fact Jon wants SOME TEA, and Tea is something… he had been shown to share both with Georgie and Martin. Who both left him behind to follow their own choices. Aouch. (Also, Jon. Jon. Tea is not supposed to help you sleep, you need an infusion, not TEA.)

(- ;; Sometimes, I remember that Georgie is still in Jon’s dreams, and aaah… I want them to talk again so badly…? I’m realising more and more… how much Georgie had given to Jon, back in season 3, and again by watching over him during his coma. And now that Jon escaped death and has experienced trouble readapting to the world, felt a few changes in himself while still feeling the same… I think it could likely make him think about Georgie’s experience, about her own End experience, about what she had suffered herself, what she went through, why she decided to lead her life the way she did afterwards? I don’t know, these days, I feel like I really want Georgie and Jon to talk again, and for Jon to give something back to her in return, in some way, even if it’s only validation…)

-I’m SO GLAD that Daisy gets to Do What She Loves again:

(MAG106) MELANIE: I literally cannot picture Daisy listening to the radio. BASIRA: The Archers. MELANIE: No?! BASIRA: Hand of God. MELANIE: I, I actually do not believe you. BASIRA: She never missed an episode. MELANIE: [LOUD EXHALE]

AND I’M EXTRA-GLAD THAT SHE’S DRAGGING JON ALONG… well. Sharing what she Loves. Congratulations, Jon, you made a friend.

I wonder if Jon’s strong opinion about it is a hate-hate thing or a hate-but-he’ll-get-used-to-it-thing. Worst thing that could happen, Beholding will become addicted and Jon will have to listen to EVERY episode EVER to fulfil the junk-food craving.

I’m so glad for Daisy, meanwhile… you listen to what you love, honey, you deserve it… so many months to catch up on…

- That’s two statements in a row where I’m hit by a sense of nostalgia because of the background music! The main one in MAG136 reminds me strongly of season 1 for some reason (I think it’s because of the season finale credits?! And I think it was used in MAG041 too); the one in MAG137 was the one I associate with Mr. Spider. As usual, I’m always engrossed by the sense of quietness, in Slaughter statements: how everything feels ordered somehow, with the butchery violently breaking through at some point; here even more than before, since people were regulated by music and dance, with everyone in their place and who they needed to be, slaughtering before getting slaughtered in turn.

I found that Gertrude was putting a bit more emotions into her reading than usual…? Was it because it was towards the end of her life…?

- And then, big mood whiplash when she gave her Final Comments and it was just Typical Gertrude. Though:

(MAG137) GERTRUDE: […] Still the anti-climax is fascinating: I can only assume they were supposed to be… bombed at the height of the ritual. Maybe by Japanese aircraft, maybe Allied, maybe… both. […] We still have Dekker’s back-up plan, of course, but… it’s very risky. To be sure, I–I think the detonation would need to happen from within The Unknowing, while it was going on.

… could you please maybe CALM DOWN with your fixation on big explosions, Gertrude PLEASE.

- Gertrude, also, please:

(MAG137) GERTRUDE: […] And all this time, the answer was just sitting in the Archives at the Songling Centre. [INHALE] Funny how that works, sometimes…

You’re not in any place to complain about other Archives’ organisation, pSSSHHH…

And interesting to note: Gertrude did say “archives” here. Not “library”. Jon had introduced the Pu Songling Research Centre in Beijing as “something of a sister organisation to the Institute” (MAG105), Xiaoling as the “librarian”, and indeed, she was referring to him differently. Multiple Archives and only one Archivist, or are there local Archivists at the Usher Foundation and the Pu Songling Research Centre as well…?

- The episode indeed answered one of the Questions about the statements Gertrude had consulted back in 2014:

(MAG105) XIAOLING: Yes. There were two accounts that Gertrude took out in 2014. ARCHIVIST: A–and can I read them? XIAOLING: According to our records, we don’t have them anymore. ARCHIVIST: [SIGH] Well, Wh–what happened to them? Where are they? XIAOLING: Apparently, they were sent on at the request of the Magnus Institute. ARCHIVIST: Gertrude asked for them t–to, to be sent to her? XIAOLING: I believe so. ARCHIVIST: To the Institute or…? XIAOLING: No, we have other channels of delivery for that. ARCHIVIST: Then where? XIAOLING: I believe it was an American destination.

(MAG107) ARCHIVIST: Anything that came was to be sent on to the Usher Foundation in Washington DC, who I assume would send it on to the Magnus Institute. […] I’m, er, planning to make the journey down to Washington in the hopes that Gertrude might have visited the Usher Foundation. According to our earlier emails, they don’t have any record of it on file, but…

Jon hadn’t managed to find them in the end (he had been ~intercepted~ by Julia in MAG107 on his way to the Usher Foundation). Two statements, though, so there is still another one roaming free in the wild – Stranger-related? Or a Beholding one?

- Given the date of this recording (9th October 2014), was Gertrude travelling with Gerry at that moment? (Was he IN THE ROOM NEXT TO HERS.) Gerry had mentioned that he hadn’t seen any tape recorder with Gertrude when they were traveling, though, so maybe not. At least, confirmation that Gerry was still alive at this point ><

- Mmmmm…

(MAG137) GERTRUDE: […] Anyway. Point is, you can probably discount The Slaughter. It had its chance. [CLICK.]

… Is this a rhetorical “you”, or was Gertrude actually addressing her tapes to SOMEONE in particular? (Leitner had done a bit of the same in MAG080, when Jon had left for a cigarette, though it sounded like an old person thing back then: talking one-sidedly to Gertrude’s memory because he was in what used to be her office. But here, it really sounds like Gertrude is delivering a message to someone, and it’s not Adelard nor Gerry, since she mentioned them in third person… Or was it meant to be heard by Leitner? Mmmm…)

- Gertrude seemed to imply that at least Eric knew what was up with the Institute (“I wonder, if I told him about Eric – whether he’d follow in his father’s footsteps. Still, that’s not like it kept Eric safe in The End.”)? Which is… unlike Michael, whom she kept in the Dark the entire time (Michael-the-Distortion had commented on it in MAG101). I… got the impression that Gertrude sounded a bit fond of Eric, or at least had some sympathy for him? The fact that she called him “Eric” while… Adelard is “Dekker” when she mentions him, is a bit striking. (Gertrude, please, he had sex with MARY KEAY, you can’t do worse than this!!)

We’re still not sure what she did of the page, since Jon… hadn’t found it either:

(MAG062) GERTRUDE: And do you have any proof of this? Your… “magic book”. MARY: Yeah. [PAPER RUSTLING] You can keep this page. I made sure it was in English. GERTRUDE: Go– Who… who is it? MARY: A surprise, dear. Just make sure you’re alone when you read it. [CHAIR SCRAPPING] Goodbye, Gertrude. Wish me luck. [DOOR OPENING] [DOOR CLOSING] GERTRUDE: Well. I–I don’t… really know what to add to that. If what she says is true, I should think carefully before reading this page aloud. I should probably destroy it. [GRUNT] I do rather hate the smell of burning skin. Anyway… that’s a decision for another day.

(MAG062) ARCHIVIST: […] what sticks out to me more than anything else in that tape… is the very distinctive floorboard, at the end. […] Because it had Gertrude’s hidden compartment beneath it. Hmm. No… strange skin page. But there is a laptop. And a key. I wonder what it opens.

Jon confirmed here that he indeed destroyed Gerry’s page in MAG117, but what about Eric’s…? (And there is also the question of WHY Gertrude had book-bound Gerry in the end; he certainly hadn’t been able to tell. If she had kept Eric’s page, was she planning to make them meet or something? Or was it only because she needed to keep Gerry behind, somewhere, in case something would happen to her and someone would try to retrace her quest to stop The Unknowing…?)

(- Guh, the DIFFERENCE between Gertrude calling Gerry “Gerard” and Jon, who has very faithfully called him “Gerry” since MAG111 because he had requested it from ~a friend~… Jon, you’re still such a sweet bean ;;)

- It looks like Gertrude had initially planned for Gerry to fulfil the role of sacrifice during The Unknowing, though she was dubious about his chances of success and possibly didn’t want that fate for him anymore even before he died? So, after his death, what was her plan? Who was she planning to use, if she was already aware of these requirements in October 2014? Was she planning to do it herself, sacrificing herself while timing for the Archives to get blown up at the same time? Had she set her ~eyes~ on another Beholding-touched person to throw them in there whether they wanted it or not? (… was she planning to trap Elias.)

………………………………… and now, I’m. Wondering. About Elias. Because it’s likely that he had listened to that tape: it was in his office, along with others, and he had been suspiciously very open to the idea of Jon’s team using explosives when they discovered that Gertrude had made preparations for that:

(MAG116) ELIAS: Yes. And I believe your plan… simplistic, as it may be, does have a reasonable chance of working.

aaaaaand he didn’t sound absolutely certain that Gertrude and Gerry had travelled together, though he had suspicions

(MAG102) ELIAS: … Sorry? Gerard Keay? ARCHIVIST: Uh… yes…? ELIAS: How did you… Who, who told you he was working with Gertrude? ARCHIVIST: No-one, I–I–I just, I… I read it in one of the statements. ELIAS: I don’t think you did. ARCHIVIST: I… but… aaah… ELIAS: You just… knew it! […] ARCHIVIST: Look, I don’t– Look… Haaa… Gerard’s not really a lead. He… he’s dead, isn’t he? ELIAS: Yes, but I believe he and Gertrude travelled together, shortly before he passed away. Perhaps if we could retrace their steps, we might find something.

Though that “I believe” could be a figure of attenuation. But there is a possibility that he suspected they had travelled together BECAUSE of Gertrude’s comments from MAG137’s tape, that would make sense and would be a reasonable assumption, actually! … So if he already knew about this, and about Gertrude and Dekker’s “back-up plan”: did he just want Jon to discover it on his own, to be able to handle it during the crisis? Was he hoping that Jon would discover a more reliable plan (whether Gertrude had one in the end or not)? … and if Elias knew that a Beholding-touched person was necessary: was it because Jon was supposed to pull the trigger himself (hence him telling Basira that Jon’s performance during The Unknowing had been ~disappointing~ in MAG135)? Or. *squints* I’m not banking on it, right? But: did he make Basira sign a contract because SHE was supposed to be cannon-fodder, hence his extra reluctance to let Tim come along, and hence his currently having his kicks toying with Basira?!

- I’m curious about Gertrude’s two hypotheses regarding who could have thwarted the ritual:

(MAG137) GERTRUDE: […] Still the anti-climax is fascinating: I can only assume they were supposed to be… bombed at the height of the ritual. Maybe by Japanese aircraft, maybe Allied, maybe… both. I wondered what stopped it: a Japanese radar filled with… spiderwebs; a US destroyer, finding itself suddenly alone in the open ocean? [HUFF] We’ll probably never know.

That would have been super-straightforward from The Web (though it makes sense that it was monitoring that no ritual could succeed). As for The Lonely: Peter Lukas had transported Michael Shelley and her to stop The Great Twisting; do the Lukases also have a tradition of meddling with others…? (It seems that, however, that wasn’t the habit of previous Archivists from the Magnus Institute? Gertrude hasn’t even raised the possibility that one of her predecessors could have found a way to prevent the ritual.)

- One confirmation about Gertrude’s life:

(MAG137) GERTRUDE: Final comments. Well, that’s quite a relief. Nearly forty years I’ve been wondering about The Slaughter’s ritual, keeping an eye out for anything that might be stirring. And it turns out I needn’t to have been worried at all! The Risen War failed a few years before I was even born. 

-> She had understood pretty fast into the job what the rituals were about. Jon had mentioned that she had been Head Archivist for “over fifty years” (MAG004), which indeed put her age at at least 70 when she died, and it does work with what she confirmed here (she was born after 1944). Curiously though: forty years was about when James Wright became Head of the Institute… and I’m now realising that Gertrude’s first tapes where right after Elias had succeeded him. Mmmm…

- I’m intrigued by the fact that in so many of the rituals so far… there was often One Witness who wasn’t taken like the others around them, and who found their way to the Magnus Institute (or another Beholding-affiliated Institute) to tell their story. Is it ~the bias of survivorship~ which Jon had mentioned in MAG129 – we only know about the insides of the rituals when there was a survivor? Or… something else entirely, like The Eye itself sneaking in and using someone, making them mostly a passive viewer, to leech on the events?

Abraham Janssen had survived the previous Unknowing in 1787 (MAG116) – interestingly, he was… in more than one way in the position of a spectator (the ritual attempt was taking place in a theatre). Percy Fawcett saw his son get seized by The Hunt when initially searching for the city of “Z”, though he kept his own mind during the never-ending ritual (MAG133). Wallis Turner strongly opposed the concept of killing or hurting others, and wasn’t taken by the frenzy during The Slaughter’s attempt at the Risen War (MAG137). Jackson Ellis was able to see the gigantic pit in the town of Bucoda and didn’t get attracted by it, unlike the other inhabitants (MAG097). Lucia Wright, who was fascinated by Gnostic churches, remained lucid when serving as an unwilling participant in The Flesh’s attempt in October 2009 (MAG130). Implicitly, Gertrude witnessed the failing of The Buried’s and The Spiral’s rituals, in the same way Jon was there when Tim pulled the trigger that stopped The Unknowing. Though regarding that last point… Jon apparently didn’t remember how things had ended, when he woke up in MAG122…

Anyway: the fact that the witnesses apparently found their way to Beholding-related facilities, and weren’t… tracked? by Gertrude, who would have been trying to get their story, makes me wonder if they’re not drawn to Beholding’s temples specifically because they watched….

- Back when MAG133 aired, I had made a list of what we currently knew about the rituals – I am delighted to see that I can now add or rectify so many things to the list, hhh. Shameless copy-pasting-editing:

Rituals that Gertrude stopped or contributed in stopping (in chronological order):

* The Buried: “The Sunken Sky”, 17th June 2008, in Bucoda, Washington (USA). Stopped by Gertrude by throwing pieces of Jan Kilbride’s Vast-touched body into the pit (MAG097, MAG129).

* The Flesh: “The Last Feast”, October 2009, under an old Gnostic temple near Istanbul (Turkey). Stopped by Gertrude and Adelard Dekker thanks to a bunch of explosives (MAG130).

* The Spiral: “The Great Twisting”, somewhere between October 2009 and 2011 (since Leitner told Jon that Gertrude has lost her last assistant “six years ago” in February 2017), in Sannikov Land, which does not exist, somewhere in the Arctic. Stopped by Gertrude by sending Michael Shelley with a map inside of The Distortion, to fuse with it (MAG101, MAG126).

* The Lonely: we’re still lacking details about when/where/how it was called, but Gertrude apparently ensured that they lost their chance in the current roster (MAG134, Peter: “it’s going to be decades, if not centuries, before I get another chance to bring Forsaken into this world. Your last Archivist saw to that.”). Probably happened after The Spiral, since Peter didn’t ditch Gertrude into the sea on the way back from Sannikov Land as far as we know?

* The Stranger: “The Unknowing”, 7th August 2017, at the House of Wax in Great Yarmouth (UK). Gertrude had prepared the thwarting with Adelard’s help, stocking plastic explosives and understanding that it would take someone touched by Beholding in the middle of it, had thought of Gerry for that role though wasn’t sure he could pull it off (MAG137). The ritual was effectively stopped by Basira, Daisy, Tim and Jon using that plastic explosive (MAG118, MAG119): with a Beholding-touched person pulling the trigger in the middle of it – Tim. Previous attempt was in October 1787, at the Court Theatre of Buda, Hungary, and was interrupted by an agent of The Slaughter (MAG116).

Rituals that are currently not a Cause Of Concerns:

* The Hunt: “The Everchase”, ongoing for at least the past two centuries, aggregating Hunters in America. Doesn’t have a culmination (MAG133).

* The Slaughter: “The Risen War”, should have happened centred around the Nemesis in late 1942, in the Pacific Ocean. It failed due to not meeting all the requirements – probably needed a bomb. Gertrude finally got confirmation in October 2014 that she didn’t need to worry about it; she wild-mass-guessed that The Lonely or The Web could have been responsible for thwarting it. (MAG137)

* The End: according to Peter, neither wants nor needs a ritual (MAG134: “it knows that it gets everything eventually, so why bother. The End manifesting would not be a new world of terror; it would be a lifeless world. Devoid of everything.”)

* The Web: according to Peter, has never tried to manifest or to get a ritual – though he didn’t sound absolutely sure about Her motives (MAG134: “The Web, I’ve never really been sure about: if I were to guess, I would say it actually prefers the world as is, playing everyone against each other, and so on.”)

Rituals that are Status Absolutely Unknown at the moment, as far as I can tell:

* The Vast (come on, that’s mean, Jonny.)

Some that Gertrude referenced, or was cautious about, or was preparing to stop, or might have stopped already:

* The Desolation: apparently stopped shortly before October 2014 (MAG087, Gertrude: “It interests me that Jude Perry would be involved. I was unaware that The Lightless Flame had had any contact with the Stranger’s ilk, but I suppose it makes sense that it would be a possible ally to the Devastation, especially since their own plans have so recently, erm, gone up in flames.”). Plus, the fact that Jude really had no love lost for Gertrude in MAG089 also implied that Gertrude might have indeed actively messed with them. Their ritual attempt might have had to do with the site with the bottles containing Gertrude’s pictures in Scotland, near Loch Glass (MAG037)?

* The Corruption: Gertrude’s laptop revealed that she had bought pesticide (MAG066: “There’s also the matter of the products she was ordering. There were several online orders of petrol, lighter fluid, pesticides, and high-powered torches. They are sporadic, but notable, in that she did not drive, smoke or work in pest control.”) and there might have been something attempted during the Prentiss siege against the Magnus Institute on 29th July, 2016, with some of the worms forming a “ring” in the tunnels (MAG041: “Then I found the circle of worms. […] a few were still embedded in the wall providing the clear outline of a circle. The ceiling was higher here, and all told it must have been about… ten feet in diameter. Its size was not the most disconcerting thing though. Inside the circle, the stone was… wrong somehow.”)

* The Dark: “The Extinguished Sun”, MIGHT BE A CURRENT CAUSE OF CONCERN, though could also be Elias misleading Basira-and-then-Jon into panicking about it while it’s actually already been dealt with. The attempt(s), if any, happened after July 14th, 2014, when Manuela Dominguez gave her statement to the Institute, claiming that they were ready (MAG135). Gertrude’s laptop revealed that she had bought many, many torches (MAG066: “The torches would make sense, if it wasn’t for the quantities in which she ordered them.”), which inspired Jon to tell Basira to take a lot along when the police went after Maxwell Rayner (MAG072: “Bring torches. […] As many as you can get your hands on.”). Unclear as of now whether the People’s Church of the Divine Host attempted their ritual in Hither Green Chapel on May 15th, 2015, the night Gertrude officially died (MAG025) and roughly when a full solar eclipse was happening in Ny-Ålesund (MAG108), or on February 10th, 2017 in the industrial complex up in Harringay, with the kidnapping of Callum Brodie (MAG072, MAG073), when Elias tipped off the police to take care of them, resulting in the (apparently definitive?) death of Maxwell Rayner. Jon has spotted people sporting the symbol of the cult recently (MAG125: “I’ve seen two different people wearing symbols for the People’s Church of the Divine Host”); Elias claims that there has been suspicious activity in Ny-Ålesund lately and that remnants of the cult might be planning to try and pull off their ritual. (In real life, a partial solar eclipse happened there on August 11th, 2018, which is a few months away in-series.)

* The Eye: “The Rite of the Watcher’s Crown”. According to Gerry Keay, it was the next one on Gertrude’s list together with “The Unknowing”, and she had already devised a plan to stop it (MAG111: “She didn’t tell me much about that one, just that she knew how to take care of it”), which might have involved reducing the Archives to ashes (MAG080: “I assume [Elias] discovered we were planning to destroy the Archives.”, “Planning a little light arson, are we Jurgen?” / MAG092: “So. For the avoidance of any doubt. I killed Gertrude Robinson because she intended to destroy the Archives.”). Might “have” to happen in 2018, as Jon noticed the two-hundred years anniversary of the Institute’s founding (MAG127) and is experiencing a feeling of urgency (MAG137: “I feel like I’m on a deadline, like I’m running out of time somehow”).

MAG138’s title is HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH. What a nice title. Apparently, it’s the title of an anthology? But anyway: it screams ROBERT SMIRKE and I have no idea about the Fears that could get involved besides “all of them” (though: maybe we could get something about the tunnels, and maybe about the Corruption / what the heck was up with the ring of worms during the Jane Prentiss invasion? Corruption and Desolation still haven’t got any statement in season 4, babies, everyone is so mean to you.) Of course, thinking about “Smirke” means “thinking about Tim” means “crying a river in which he’d be able to go kayaking”. (I wonder if we’ll find a few traces of his existence, something he left behind, at some point? ;_; Notes on a statement he had been working on before the worst of season 2, or a recording, or something… I still have a Tim-shaped hole in my heart, uuurrrg…)

CC Blogger - New Arrivals @ Collectors Corner : Wednesday - 5/22/19

CC Blogger - New Arrivals @ Collectors Corner : Wednesday - 5/22/19 Complete list of items shipping to the stores, some items may be limited in availability. If you see anything you want to purchase on the list and are not a subscription member at Collectors Corner, just contact us and let us know if you want an item held at the stores. email - [email protected] Subscription Membership & Free Membership Card : Collectors Corner’s No Obligation (FREE) Membership Card or FREE (In Store) & ONLINE Subscription Membership saves you 10% Off ALL Bagged & Boarded Comic Book Back Issues, Board Games, Graphic Novels, Manga & Special Orders. Plus Never miss a comic again! Computerized and organized + you can add and cancel titles on your subscription list from home on your own time, or in the store when you pick up your comics at : Maryland’s Coolest Stores! 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STUDIOS Amazing World Of Gumball Adventures In Elmore GN, $14.99 Avant-Guards #5 (Of 12)(Cover A Noah Hayes), $3.99 Avant-Guards #5 (Of 12)(Cover B Cara McGee), $3.99 Avant-Guards Volume 1 TP (Discover Now Edition), $14.99 Black Badge Volume 1 HC, $29.99 Bone Parish #9 (Of 12)(Cover A Jonas Scharf), $3.99 Bone Parish #9 (Of 12)(Cover B Jakub Rebelka), AR Buffy The Vampire Slayer Volume 1 TP, $14.99 Faithless #1 (Of 5)(Paul Pope 2nd Printing Variant Cover), $3.99 Faithless #1 (Of 5)(Tula Lotay 2nd Printing Erotica Variant Cover), $3.99 Faithless #2 (Of 5)(Cover A Paul Pope), $3.99 Faithless #2 (Of 5)(Cover B Vanessa R. 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Joe A Real American Hero #262 (Cover C Blacky Shepherd), AR Ghost Tree #1 (Of 4)(Simon Gane 2nd Printing Variant Cover), $3.99 Ghost Tree #2 (Of 4)(Cover A Simon Gane), $3.99 Highwayman TP, $19.99 Road Of Bones #1 (Of 5)(Cover A Alex Cormack), $3.99 Shining Beacon TP, $19.99 Sonic The Hedgehog #17 (Cover A Jack Lawrence), $3.99 Sonic The Hedgehog #17 (Cover B Jamal Peppers), $3.99 Sonic The Hedgehog #17 (Cover C Nathalie Fourdraine), AR Star Trek The Q Conflict #4 (Of 6)(Cover A David Messina), $3.99 Star Trek The Q Conflict #4 (Of 6)(Cover B David Messina), $3.99 Star Trek The Q Conflict #4 (Of 6)(Cover C George Caltsoudas), AR Team Sonic Racing Plus Deluxe Turbo Championship Edition #1, $5.99 IMAGE COMICS Ascender #1 (Dustin Nguyen 2nd Printing Variant Cover), $3.99 Assassin Nation #3, $3.99 Black Magick The First Book Of Shadows HC, $34.99 Cyber Force #10, $3.99 Die!Die!Die! #6 (Chris Burnham 2nd Printing Variant Cover), $3.99 Die!Die!Die! #8 (Chris Burnham 2nd Printing Variant Cover), $3.99 East Of West Volume 9 TP, $16.99 Gasolina #18, $3.99 Matador Volume 1 TP, $19.99 Middlewest #7, $3.99 Middlewest Volume 1 TP, $9.99 Monstress #22, $3.99 Redlands Volume 2 Water On The Fire TP, $16.99 Redneck #20, $3.99 Rumble #12 (Cover A David Rubin), $3.99 Rumble #12 (Cover B Arvell M. Jones/Kevin Nowlan/Dave Stewart), $3.99 Savage Dragon #244, $3.99 Warning #7, $3.99 Wayward Volume 3 HC, $39.99 IMPACT THEORY Neon Future #3 (Of 6)(Cover A Jheremy Raapack), $3.99 Neon Future #3 (Of 6)(Cover B Jheremy Raapack), $3.99 Neon Future #3 (Of 6)(Cover C Maciej Kuciara), $3.99 KEVIN EASTMAN STUDIOS Drawing Blood Splilled Ink #1 (Of 4)(Cover A Ben Bishop), $3.99 Drawing Blood Splilled Ink #1 (Of 4)(Cover B Kevin Eastman), $3.99 Radically Ronin Ragdolls #1 (One Shot)(Cover A Troy Little & Kevin Eastman), $3.99 Radically Ronin Ragdolls #1 (One Shot)(Cover B Kevin Eastman), $3.99 Radically Ronin Ragdolls #1 (One Shot)(Cover C Ben Bishop), $3.99 Radically Ronin Ragdolls #1 (One Shot)(Cover D Freddie Williams II), $3.99 Radically Ronin Ragdolls #1 (One Shot)(Cover E Stan Sakai), $3.99 KODANSHA COMICS 10 Dance Volume 3 GN, $12.99 Grand Blue Dreaming Volume 6 GN, $12.99 Love In Focus Volume 2 GN, $10.99 Quintessential Quintuplets Volume 3 GN, $10.99 Seven Deadly Sins Volume 32 GN, 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