Kiki's Inner Catalogue

Wanted to share some upsetting observations/headcanons. Bring that signature Kiki’s Upsetting Dark Fact of the Week energy to another very effectively upsetting story.

-The first prototype of the Seance Machine was set up in Ervin’s house, to help him reconstruct what happened when his family died. Scenes include a Person 1 and 2 (daughters Tabitha and Maisie) in a room with code PL (playroom…) while Person 3 and 4 were in the Conservatory (this would be Ervin and his wife Lucy.) Shortly thereafter, Person 4 (Ervin) left to join Person 1 (daughter Maisie) in the Playroom. Tabitha apparently remembered so fast that she died during the same time code that Lucy did. He spent so long reliving this whole situation that the machine’s hallucinatory effects started to set in. Pippa was the one who helped him set all this up, which is why his plan required her to come to Galley House. (Edit: these room name inferences were just confirmed by a dev in their discord. I’m so good)

-Although actually it appears a version of the machine was tested at the D&M offices at some point. The manual refers to it as a D&M product but Pippa, from the Foughburn Research Center, provides the antennas which allow for location calibration. This is interesting, as D&M’s testing machine has multiple locations but no visible antennas. It also seems to imply that at least one person, maybe up to four, had died on company premises at some point? Which is a little odd.

-I would like to posit that maybe the unknown cause of death associated with the curse is not a secondary effect but a natural extension of the primary effect, to its epicenter. What I mean with all that waffle is: they’re dying because they forgot they existed. They’re dying because every single thing about them, every memory, along with the knowledge that they were ever even a person is being erased from their mind at once. Bloody hell. I have been thinking about this sort of story element for quite a while (I do love my functional invisibility stories) and this consequence had not occurred to me before…

-Eve answers the door to John in 02 with “Who the hell are you?” Which is the exact same thing Lawrence says when Pippa answers the door in 27. I don’t think there’s a way to link these… Eve is in the very specific situation of having forgotten there was another guest to the birthday party (if she had even known that John was coming in the first place) because she cannot remember that it is a birthday party. It is pretty weird that Lawrence doesn’t know Pippa, given he’s the machine supervisor and her equipment is directly interfacing with it, but I can’t think of an explanation for this gap that allows for a different and forgotten person to have caused it, so… nice parallel I guess?

-If you’ll allow me to editorialize… the most unique thing about the curse imo is that it can only transmit from the most recent victim. Once Harry is dead, for instance, Martha’s history with Rupert becomes completely unrecoverable no matter how many photos and keepsakes and memories she looks at. I have been trying to think of any explanation for this that would give more of a hint at the fundamental nature of the curse, but… it’s weird, right? It’s almost like the latest victim stays in the collective unconsciousness’s Recently Deleted folder until someone tries to recover them, at which point they actually get permadeleted. No explanation for this comes to mind.

-My own theory when I was playing through the game reversed the causality of the curse. I thought for a while that it was something being transmitted in some abstract social way, and that remembering the previous victim was a symptom experienced shortly before death rather than the infection vector itself. I think Ervin’s ability to manipulate that infection vector with his bag of death pretty much disproves this, but I thought it was interesting enough to share anyway.

-Of course there’s the other explanation, that if the curse can alter the memories of such an unbelievable number of unconnected people (see Broomsticks actor example) why should we believe that’s actually what’s happening? Maybe the curse instead alters reality and records of the past to insert people into history who weren’t actually there, and everyone’s memories are correct actually. Consider even that it is some extraphysical thing with a time-reversed vector of infection: add person, they immediately hallucinate additional person who does not exist, add new person, etc. Although I suppose this last explanation does not really account for the bodies.

And various smaller observations which are still upsetting but do not offer much in the way of speculation:

-Damian spent his entire night interrogating people trying to find his fiancée’s childhood friend’s fiancée’s rude mom’s missing pocket watch that *wasn’t even hers* and for that reason only he dies. Like sure he would have died anyway probably but the fact that his death is precipitated by his need to pursue this completely unimportant investigation is really thematically oughhhhh

-The pocket watch is the most obvious of Rupert’s birthday gifts but the bottle of champagne, the player piano, and maybe the camera are gifts too. All of Martha’s things she doesn’t know why she bought are his. She even talks at one point about getting through a full bottle of sherry by herself before realizing that doesn’t check out. This guy’s death truly creates such an absence even within this one night. I just wish I could figure out who each of the gifts was from…

-Ok I know Ervin was one of the people hit hardest by the curse and he certainly drama monologues about it well enough but, uh, Tony? Would love even one scene where Tony stops ranting and raving about hypothetical cooking ghosts, reflects for a moment, and tries to rationalize to himself how his childhood happened. His dad died in the war probably before he was even born. What the hell happens to him when his mom dies? What would that do to a person? How is he not going to pieces? Pleaseeeee I need this scene

-or just more exploration in general of the mindset after Martha dies. Nobody Lives In This House and yet it is totally different to when Oswald used to live here. Why is he back tonight. None of the others have any connection to it whatsoever. Tony because of the aforementioned Situation. To Annie it is the abandoned house up the road from where her mom lives, which she visited for no reason and which is full of bodies. At least John had a physical invitation, damn

-I don’t really have anything specific to say about Eve or Annie or Victoria or honestly any of these other characters maybe I’ll add stuff later as I think of it just. Ouuuughhhhhhh. Eve and Annie specifically I am so attached to. My tragic girls how dare they know too much

To the esteemed player of Galley House I will disclose that the above video is in fact a rickroll. here's the post

-I have seen the correct information about Rupert’s memory trigger going around, but I’ll repeat it in case you missed it. The piano roll Eddie chose, I’ll Climb the Highest Mountain, features a musical reference to well-known composer Antonín Dvořák’s Humoresque no. 7 for piano, which is the piece pianist (not composer) Amelia West performed at a recital. What I haven’t seen mentioned (apart from the correct pronunciation of Dvořák’s name) is how Rupert’s memory was probably also triggered by the player piano. We know from Meg’s memory of Sam that, even without remembering the presence of someone who’s been cursed, she remembers the balls moving on the pool table— Rupert’s memory is being jogged because he is being reminded of the last time he saw a piano play itself.

-Before Oswald died, I think Annie was really, really close to realizing she had a sister. He’s pressing her on whether there could have been someone in her life she forgot, and she’s racking her brains considering it, but then he dies and she gets distracted by another bigger realization. The only character we know of to have realized a familial loss (without actually remembering the person lost) is Ervin… I’m really sad we didn’t get to see this happen with Annie in real time. But like I said in my last post. She had some Other Things to worry about.

-Sorry, actually, I’m coming back to this draft later and I’m partially wrong about this, Oswald also realized his loss of Rupert. It seems like he had had this suspicion before and it was confirmed by Rupert’s name being on Eleanor’s memorial. It’s really tragic how having Rupert in his life seemed to be such a big factor for Oswald’s friendliness and just his mental health in general, but even when he realizes that factor is missing, he doesn’t get that stability back…

-Something else fascinating I just noticed is (tying back to my first point) the music Oswald is humming in his solo study scene is definitely Humoresque and not Mountain. Sure, one quotes the other, but they are also distinct enough for this to be clear. (Although it is not easy to tell that he is humming anything specific… he’s as tone deaf as my dad.) Humoresque is a super well known piece so it’s conceivable he’s heard it in some other context, but given that Rupert expects him to remember Amelia I bet he was at that concert too… Crazy. I love these details.

-Can we. can we talk about Meg for a hot second. because first of all there is something fascinating about the way she is being framed in Reya’s memory as inexplicably malicious. and that is an impression that is going to *last* precisely because it is a first impression. But, holy hell, that is so thoroughly untrue. Meg in actuality was manipulated by Ervin to draw everyone to the house. Understanding the curse is clearly something super important to her, to the point where she figures out its infection vector with no context beyond having looked into the relationships between some previous victims. (Oh yeah, she’s crazy smart, by the way.) Ervin took advantage of her interest and her continued position at D&M, asking her to arrange the meeting under the pretense that they could figure out where the curse came from, and she trusted his plan. (She trusted his plan a lot, inherently, and without questioning him about the very weird details, suggesting to me that he was a mentor to her before leaving D&M?) Once she figured out the curse was there with them, she did the thing I was just going on about in my last post saying I couldn’t do it— she carefully avoided thinking about who else was in the house. It is because of this that she stayed safe from remembering her coworkers even while the curse was transmitted between recent acquaintances and college roommates. (Oh yeah, she has crazy mental discipline by the way.) She chats with Reya and apologizes and changes her mind right away and decides to get the list of IDs back. (Oh yeah, she’s crazy adaptable by the way.)

-And then she ends up in the kitchen with Ervin and immediately with no hesitation stabilizes him with the injection and she finds out what’s going on. And this character who is Smart and Disciplined and Adaptable and has just been told she is going to die tonight… doesn’t argue, because she’s already determined there is no argument, enough of her coworkers have died that she’d probably be next anyway, and she’ll be going out for a reason. She still trusts Ervin. She will die for his stupid plan. She doesn’t even ask him how the curse got back to Galley House, or if it was his doing. This is it.

-And yet, immediately afterward, when this SHOULD BE THE ONLY THING ON HER MIND, excepting the continued mental effort she is exerting to avoid thinking about who she might have lost— she goes to bat for Reya. She starts arguing with Ervin, the guy who was absolutely no question about to go upstairs and kill Reya, and she throws multiple different arguments at him about how Reya’s not a danger and she doesn’t know you at all and it’s ok I’ll die faster to make sure she doesn’t get caught in it and she never signed up for this (MEG DID NOT EITHER) and it works, because Meg is a goddamn icon, and Ervin leaves, and immediately thereafter we see Meg use that mental discipline to remember faster than anyone has ever remembered before. (… With the exception of maaaybe Maisie Dolskey.) This is why Reya remembering her as this malicious actor who’s quietly following some indiscernable plan is such a travesty. Like. Noooo she was your best friend she saved your life

-expanding on this whole thing a little bit. It has been more than two weeks now since I played the game? and the best thing about it is that at any point I can just pick a character and look into them individually and within minutes burst into tears. There is so much hidden characterization in this game that makes each of the deaths so individually and specifically tragic, alongside their effects in aggregate. this is some fucking Writing, dude. uuuuuuhhhhhhghfhhh what else

-yeah I'm not gonna go into either Eddie or Martha right now in much detail because they are a topic for another post. I don't know how I can showcase my analysis of each individual tragedy but it doesn't always work in bullet points. I like having new stuff to say in these posts but I also have to keep them short enough that I actually post them eventually. this has been in my drafts for, like, a week

-BUT that said (because I swear I said it somewhere but I can't find where!) I will talk about how both Eddie and Martha have this weird and almost manic response to stress. Whatever is going on with Eddie on day 2 is very clearly an underlying mental issue, but, the particulars of his coping mechanisms align so well with Martha's own response to being put in a tense situation: Let's Fix the Problem, quickly and without commotion, and once it's fixed, we can Go Back To Normal. Threatening a guy with a gun and then going upstairs to propose to your crush is not typical behavior, but this is coming from the son of the woman who was ready to have a dance and enjoy herself as soon as she had finished getting rid of all those pesky ghosts. what a family. Rupert is not the eccentric one I don't think

-and one final thing to tie this post together. I've just listened to Mountain (...again) and reached the suddenly obvious conclusion that Eddie likes this song so much because of his feelings for Victoria. It is not flattering. You should really listen to the song yourself and read the lyrics (I promise this music link is legit), but, excerpts... "Without you dear my life means nothing to me" but also "I know that I'm to blame / That's why we've drifted apart / But if you knew what I'm going through / You would forgive me sweetheart". yeah that's what's happening here. although just in general it's a great song and super thematically resonant with the game, especially given the central motif is finding someone who's been lost from you... "I'd pray to get to heaven / Cause I know that if I got to heaven I'd find you" is very sweet in its original context but in the Galley House context it is Ervin adjacent and, as everything, oughhhhhh.

& two stupid bonus observations

-I just wanna shout out Galley House for having a character named Damian who is just a normal, chill guy. That name has been used in so many projects by so many people including my own friends as a catchall Suave Evil Guy name that even catching onto this trend five years ago I wrote into my short story a background character named Damion whose only character trait was that he thought lizards were cool. (This was also meant to be a Normal Chill Guy indicator.) I love Damian Maseko he’s a great character and it’s a brave step using a name with context like that. which, btw, if Eve’s full name is Evelyn, 10000 bonus points to the devs that name has even worse rep

Wanted to share some upsetting observations/headcanons. Bring that signature Kiki’s Upsetting Dark Fact of the Week energy to another very effectively upsetting story.

-The first prototype of the Seance Machine was set up in Ervin’s house, to help him reconstruct what happened when his family died. Scenes include a Person 1 and 2 (daughters Tabitha and Maisie) in a room with code PL (playroom…) while Person 3 and 4 were in the Conservatory (this would be Ervin and his wife Lucy.) Shortly thereafter, Person 4 (Ervin) left to join Person 1 (daughter Maisie) in the Playroom. Tabitha apparently remembered so fast that she died during the same time code that Lucy did. He spent so long reliving this whole situation that the machine’s hallucinatory effects started to set in. Pippa was the one who helped him set all this up, which is why his plan required her to come to Galley House. (Edit: these room name inferences were just confirmed by a dev in their discord. I’m so good)

-Although actually it appears a version of the machine was tested at the D&M offices at some point. The manual refers to it as a D&M product but Pippa, from the Foughburn Research Center, provides the antennas which allow for location calibration. This is interesting, as D&M’s testing machine has multiple locations but no visible antennas. It also seems to imply that at least one person, maybe up to four, had died on company premises at some point? Which is a little odd.

-I would like to posit that maybe the unknown cause of death associated with the curse is not a secondary effect but a natural extension of the primary effect, to its epicenter. What I mean with all that waffle is: they’re dying because they forgot they existed. They’re dying because every single thing about them, every memory, along with the knowledge that they were ever even a person is being erased from their mind at once. Bloody hell. I have been thinking about this sort of story element for quite a while (I do love my functional invisibility stories) and this consequence had not occurred to me before…

-Eve answers the door to John in 02 with “Who the hell are you?” Which is the exact same thing Lawrence says when Pippa answers the door in 27. I don’t think there’s a way to link these… Eve is in the very specific situation of having forgotten there was another guest to the birthday party (if she had even known that John was coming in the first place) because she cannot remember that it is a birthday party. It is pretty weird that Lawrence doesn’t know Pippa, given he’s the machine supervisor and her equipment is directly interfacing with it, but I can’t think of an explanation for this gap that allows for a different and forgotten person to have caused it, so… nice parallel I guess?

-If you’ll allow me to editorialize… the most unique thing about the curse imo is that it can only transmit from the most recent victim. Once Harry is dead, for instance, Martha’s history with Rupert becomes completely unrecoverable no matter how many photos and keepsakes and memories she looks at. I have been trying to think of any explanation for this that would give more of a hint at the fundamental nature of the curse, but… it’s weird, right? It’s almost like the latest victim stays in the collective unconsciousness’s Recently Deleted folder until someone tries to recover them, at which point they actually get permadeleted. No explanation for this comes to mind.

-My own theory when I was playing through the game reversed the causality of the curse. I thought for a while that it was something being transmitted in some abstract social way, and that remembering the previous victim was a symptom experienced shortly before death rather than the infection vector itself. I think Ervin’s ability to manipulate that infection vector with his bag of death pretty much disproves this, but I thought it was interesting enough to share anyway.

-Of course there’s the other explanation, that if the curse can alter the memories of such an unbelievable number of unconnected people (see Broomsticks actor example) why should we believe that’s actually what’s happening? Maybe the curse instead alters reality and records of the past to insert people into history who weren’t actually there, and everyone’s memories are correct actually. Consider even that it is some extraphysical thing with a time-reversed vector of infection: add person, they immediately hallucinate additional person who does not exist, add new person, etc. Although I suppose this last explanation does not really account for the bodies.

And various smaller observations which are still upsetting but do not offer much in the way of speculation:

-Damian spent his entire night interrogating people trying to find his fiancée’s childhood friend’s fiancée’s rude mom’s missing pocket watch that *wasn’t even hers* and for that reason only he dies. Like sure he would have died anyway probably but the fact that his death is precipitated by his need to pursue this completely unimportant investigation is really thematically oughhhhh

-The pocket watch is the most obvious of Rupert’s birthday gifts but the bottle of champagne, the player piano, and maybe the camera are gifts too. All of Martha’s things she doesn’t know why she bought are his. She even talks at one point about getting through a full bottle of sherry by herself before realizing that doesn’t check out. This guy’s death truly creates such an absence even within this one night. I just wish I could figure out who each of the gifts was from…

-Ok I know Ervin was one of the people hit hardest by the curse and he certainly drama monologues about it well enough but, uh, Tony? Would love even one scene where Tony stops ranting and raving about hypothetical cooking ghosts, reflects for a moment, and tries to rationalize to himself how his childhood happened. His dad died in the war probably before he was even born. What the hell happens to him when his mom dies? What would that do to a person? How is he not going to pieces? Pleaseeeee I need this scene

-or just more exploration in general of the mindset after Martha dies. Nobody Lives In This House and yet it is totally different to when Oswald used to live here. Why is he back tonight. None of the others have any connection to it whatsoever. Tony because of the aforementioned Situation. To Annie it is the abandoned house up the road from where her mom lives, which she visited for no reason and which is full of bodies. At least John had a physical invitation, damn

-I don’t really have anything specific to say about Eve or Annie or Victoria or honestly any of these other characters maybe I’ll add stuff later as I think of it just. Ouuuughhhhhhh. Eve and Annie specifically I am so attached to. My tragic girls how dare they know too much

To the esteemed player of Galley House I will disclose that the above video is in fact a rickroll. here's the post

-I have seen the correct information about Rupert’s memory trigger going around, but I’ll repeat it in case you missed it. The piano roll Eddie chose, I’ll Climb the Highest Mountain, features a musical reference to well-known composer Antonín Dvořák’s Humoresque no. 7 for piano, which is the piece pianist (not composer) Amelia West performed at a recital. What I haven’t seen mentioned (apart from the correct pronunciation of Dvořák’s name) is how Rupert’s memory was probably also triggered by the player piano. We know from Meg’s memory of Sam that, even without remembering the presence of someone who’s been cursed, she remembers the balls moving on the pool table— Rupert’s memory is being jogged because he is being reminded of the last time he saw a piano play itself.

-Before Oswald died, I think Annie was really, really close to realizing she had a sister. He’s pressing her on whether there could have been someone in her life she forgot, and she’s racking her brains considering it, but then he dies and she gets distracted by another bigger realization. The only character we know of to have realized a familial loss (without actually remembering the person lost) is Ervin… I’m really sad we didn’t get to see this happen with Annie in real time. But like I said in my last post. She had some Other Things to worry about.

-Sorry, actually, I’m coming back to this draft later and I’m partially wrong about this, Oswald also realized his loss of Rupert. It seems like he had had this suspicion before and it was confirmed by Rupert’s name being on Eleanor’s memorial. It’s really tragic how having Rupert in his life seemed to be such a big factor for Oswald’s friendliness and just his mental health in general, but even when he realizes that factor is missing, he doesn’t get that stability back…

-Something else fascinating I just noticed is (tying back to my first point) the music Oswald is humming in his solo study scene is definitely Humoresque and not Mountain. Sure, one quotes the other, but they are also distinct enough for this to be clear. (Although it is not easy to tell that he is humming anything specific… he’s as tone deaf as my dad.) Humoresque is a super well known piece so it’s conceivable he’s heard it in some other context, but given that Rupert expects him to remember Amelia I bet he was at that concert too… Crazy. I love these details.

-Can we. can we talk about Meg for a hot second. because first of all there is something fascinating about the way she is being framed in Reya’s memory as inexplicably malicious. and that is an impression that is going to *last* precisely because it is a first impression. But, holy hell, that is so thoroughly untrue. Meg in actuality was manipulated by Ervin to draw everyone to the house. Understanding the curse is clearly something super important to her, to the point where she figures out its infection vector with no context beyond having looked into the relationships between some previous victims. (Oh yeah, she’s crazy smart, by the way.) Ervin took advantage of her interest and her continued position at D&M, asking her to arrange the meeting under the pretense that they could figure out where the curse came from, and she trusted his plan. (She trusted his plan a lot, inherently, and without questioning him about the very weird details, suggesting to me that he was a mentor to her before leaving D&M?) Once she figured out the curse was there with them, she did the thing I was just going on about in my last post saying I couldn’t do it— she carefully avoided thinking about who else was in the house. It is because of this that she stayed safe from remembering her coworkers even while the curse was transmitted between recent acquaintances and college roommates. (Oh yeah, she has crazy mental discipline by the way.) She chats with Reya and apologizes and changes her mind right away and decides to get the list of IDs back. (Oh yeah, she’s crazy adaptable by the way.)

-And then she ends up in the kitchen with Ervin and immediately with no hesitation stabilizes him with the injection and she finds out what’s going on. And this character who is Smart and Disciplined and Adaptable and has just been told she is going to die tonight… doesn’t argue, because she’s already determined there is no argument, enough of her coworkers have died that she’d probably be next anyway, and she’ll be going out for a reason. She still trusts Ervin. She will die for his stupid plan. She doesn’t even ask him how the curse got back to Galley House, or if it was his doing. This is it.

-And yet, immediately afterward, when this SHOULD BE THE ONLY THING ON HER MIND, excepting the continued mental effort she is exerting to avoid thinking about who she might have lost— she goes to bat for Reya. She starts arguing with Ervin, the guy who was absolutely no question about to go upstairs and kill Reya, and she throws multiple different arguments at him about how Reya’s not a danger and she doesn’t know you at all and it’s ok I’ll die faster to make sure she doesn’t get caught in it and she never signed up for this (MEG DID NOT EITHER) and it works, because Meg is a goddamn icon, and Ervin leaves, and immediately thereafter we see Meg use that mental discipline to remember faster than anyone has ever remembered before. (… With the exception of maaaybe Maisie Dolskey.) This is why Reya remembering her as this malicious actor who’s quietly following some indiscernable plan is such a travesty. Like. Noooo she was your best friend she saved your life

-expanding on this whole thing a little bit. It has been more than two weeks now since I played the game? and the best thing about it is that at any point I can just pick a character and look into them individually and within minutes burst into tears. There is so much hidden characterization in this game that makes each of the deaths so individually and specifically tragic, alongside their effects in aggregate. this is some fucking Writing, dude. uuuuuuhhhhhhghfhhh what else

-yeah I'm not gonna go into either Eddie or Martha right now in much detail because they are a topic for another post. I don't know how I can showcase my analysis of each individual tragedy but it doesn't always work in bullet points. I like having new stuff to say in these posts but I also have to keep them short enough that I actually post them eventually. this has been in my drafts for, like, a week

-BUT that said (because I swear I said it somewhere but I can't find where!) I will talk about how both Eddie and Martha have this weird and almost manic response to stress. Whatever is going on with Eddie on day 2 is very clearly an underlying mental issue, but, the particulars of his coping mechanisms align so well with Martha's own response to being put in a tense situation: Let's Fix the Problem, quickly and without commotion, and once it's fixed, we can Go Back To Normal. Threatening a guy with a gun and then going upstairs to propose to your crush is not typical behavior, but this is coming from the son of the woman who was ready to have a dance and enjoy herself as soon as she had finished getting rid of all those pesky ghosts. what a family. Rupert is not the eccentric one I don't think

-and one final thing to tie this post together. I've just listened to Mountain (...again) and reached the suddenly obvious conclusion that Eddie likes this song so much because of his feelings for Victoria. It is not flattering. You should really listen to the song yourself and read the lyrics (I promise this music link is legit), but, excerpts... "Without you dear my life means nothing to me" but also "I know that I'm to blame / That's why we've drifted apart / But if you knew what I'm going through / You would forgive me sweetheart". yeah that's what's happening here. although just in general it's a great song and super thematically resonant with the game, especially given the central motif is finding someone who's been lost from you... "I'd pray to get to heaven / Cause I know that if I got to heaven I'd find you" is very sweet in its original context but in the Galley House context it is Ervin adjacent and, as everything, oughhhhhh.

& two stupid bonus observations

-I just wanna shout out Galley House for having a character named Damian who is just a normal, chill guy. That name has been used in so many projects by so many people including my own friends as a catchall Suave Evil Guy name that even catching onto this trend five years ago I wrote into my short story a background character named Damion whose only character trait was that he thought lizards were cool. (This was also meant to be a Normal Chill Guy indicator.) I love Damian Maseko he’s a great character and it’s a brave step using a name with context like that. which, btw, if Eve’s full name is Evelyn, 10000 bonus points to the devs that name has even worse rep

Because then his sister dies and Tony goes from being the second child who's thought less of, but also has a strong bond with her (so interesting how his mom always compares him unfavorably to his sister, while admitting she herself doesn't have a very functional relationship with her) to being an only child who's not living up to those expectations all by himself. With that loss the family dynamic becomes inexplicable and Tony becomes this character desperately trying to help his mom while also trusting nobody else. He is so suspicious of John, and he phrases his paranoia as wanting to "stay out of it", and he tries so hard to be the protector for her because that is the role he has left. He is so grateful to Martha just for being friends with her. And he cannot stay out of it, purely because he is worried about her. He is being so vulnerable when he admits that to Martha and it's the first time and it's because he's so alone! I know it's only for two scenes but the change in his character here is so fascinating already

Because then his mom dies and now of course Tony doesn't have an identity because he was never able to build one, but also because his only familial connection is this Idea of his father who he has never met. He's called Tony like him (why?) and he went to war like him (why?) and he feels like he knows what his father was like and there's no explanation for that. He has been chasing the echo of a man he couldn't possibly know for his entire life. Oh, and he has no reason to be here. He says he was invited, but is he telling the truth? Why does he think he has come to visit all these people he barely knows? He feels more kinship with John now which is really interesting, but also, of course he sticks by Annie the way he does, she's the only person he knows. And, of course he's paranoid about ghosts; (I never made this connection before) he's probably started forming this strong association between this inexplicable childhood he had, this empty house he went back to between terms, that he wrote letters to while in the army, that he left from in an empty car to come here, for no reason-- and this strong impression of his dead father that came from nowhere but which he has been following for so long.

Look, my point is, I think Annie was able to work this whole thing out because she didn't seem to be struggling through any of it with having lost Victoria. Like, she got there eventually, but first she had the opportunity to logically work through what was happening at the house, because nearly everything that happened to her was contained in the house. There is No way that Tony would have gotten there because forgetting your whole family is incomprehensible. There is No way that once his new and final memory of his life was solidified he was going to be able to make sense of it by inferring the existence of people he was never going to remember. No, of course it was ghosts.