A heart that yearns

Truman startles and gets out his gun the moment Jean stabs Blackie. But rather than intervening in any way, he then leans in closer to see what's happening. Jean lowers Blackie to the ground, and as her head rolls over her eyes open slightly, and her gaze lands on Truman. Jean follows her line of sight and spots him through the curtains.

The fact that he gets out his gun implies he understands that violence just occurred. The fact he then lowers his gun, and leans in for a better look-

A voyeur and a bystander. Fascinated by what is happening. Unwilling to act immediately to try to save her, but willing to endanger his cover by staring. That's how their cover is blown- Harry is the one who gets caught.

Which is more likely: that Nancy, after being beaten into the wall by Cooper, badly enough he didn't think to restrain her further, somehow got out from behind Cooper and sounded the alarm? Or that Jean, having slipped out of Truman's line of sight, alerted the guard, who would have killed Truman, Cooper, and Audrey if Hawk hadn't followed them?

Truman identified himself as his best man, and would have doomed them all if his actual best man hadn't arrived in time. Hawk did more with a hunting knife than Truman did with a gun.

The last thing Blackie saw as she died was the face of a stranger, watching her through glass, only acting after Jean shoots at him. She died knowing someone was there. She was not alone. And no one saved her.

Truman got out his gun, yet still lingered. What part of him knew that a woman had been stabbed, and what part wondered of it was only a kiss? If no part did: why did he watch?

Round One, Bracket 2

Propaganda below the cut:

Margaret (The Log Lady) is a seer, a conduit between some other thought or world, translating her log to deliver cryptic but helpful information to our protagonists. At first we thought the wagon wheel on her house was a spinning wheel; it still calls to mind the Norns and other spinners of fate. She knew they would come. They must submit to her rules and rituals ("Wait for the tea!") to obtain access to her knowledge; and they must be polite. Dale lost an earlier opportunity to learn from her because of his lack of faith and respect.

This brings me to Harold, who follows very similar formatting. Donna must come to him, and meet him in his house on his terms. She brings first a physical offering (he meals on wheels) and then a spiritual one: her life story. He then agrees on the condition that he read Laura's journal to her, and that the journal doesn’t leave his home. He makes explicit, even, that she's agreed to a binding arrangement: "A bargain has been struck". He's very fey: bound to his home, surrounded by lurid flowers, and collecting the secrets of those who come to him. I think of Angela Carter's Erl-King, of dryads and other tree spirits, of every fairy deal.

Hell, you can argue that Blackie fits her own template in the same vein; she's the enchantress in her castle, in control of her domain, encorselling the unwary into her service. Audrey (and every other girl) signs a literal contract. Audrey must pass a test, prove she has something worthwhile to offer. And Blackie too is a seer, albeit a self-serving one; she reads the cards every night, divining her future; she transforms her own employees into these same cards- "Pick a card." She even has a little old hunchbacked woman who sews these identities onto the girls, as fitting as any fairytale hag

Of course, the tragic thing about Blackie's control is how arbitrary, even false, it is. She is only the mistress when the owner is away, and dies trying to gain ownership of her own house. She is killed with a kiss, mastered from outside. She invokes Circe, Morgan le Fay, and The Lady of the House of Love, a vampiress and a prisoner.

"Through the darkness of futures past, the magician longs to see."

Who talks to Audrey like she's a little kid and outright ignores Johnny, who competes with his brother for the chance to deflower a girl they've trafficked, who mocks the madame going through withdrawal telling her she "used to be so pretty" right after threatening her, who gets furious whenever anyone who works for him asserts a boundary or expresses displeasure, who cares more about a deal going through than a girl dying.

And he's a silly goofball the whole time. And he and his staidly-dressed brother who takes business seriously are exactly as bad as each other. None of the dressing matters.