tma sideblog

she wouldn't've been an amazing Archivist, she would've been amazing at following gertrude's steps (not in like. a Bad way. but i mean as in figuring All That shit out, possibly wanting to stop the powers too, etc) and its exactly why elias didnt choose her. SHES TOO SMART.

i dont remember if this was text or not, but im pretty sure elias was misleading on purpose to make gertrude think sasha would be chosen next. and is why i think gertrude was not deceiving around sasha.

gertrude put up a mask around certain people, (as we can see with michael shelley, for example), to make them think she was an old frail vulnerable woman. and she could've kept that mask up with anyone if she wanted. but when sasha talked about her... she defended her competence, and called her a “stone cold bitch (positive)”, we as the viewers can definitely agree, but this was a surprise to tim. and i believe this was intentional. now, that and the tape recording she made for sasha, its fairly safe to assume gertrude was 99% sure sasha would be the next archivist, (or why would she show that side of her if she werent sure sasha was to be trusted with it?) she wouldve hated jons ass, probably. or found him stupid. but if she knew he'd be next, i'd like to imagine she'd at least given him a hint LMAO.

but jonah didnt want that. jonah needed someone foolish enough to take too long to realize something was wrong (or stay in denial of it), someone that would refuse to ask for help, and that wouldnt have people to talk to to snap him out of it before it was too late, etc. and jon was perfect for this.

Gertrude was good at stopping the rituals. she wasn't good at tricking Jonah. Gertrude didn't act against him so he let her do her thing. until he didn't and he figured out her plan (despite not reading her mind!). I would take the whole "Sasha would trick Jonah because she is smart like Gertrude" if Gertrude didn't fail to kill him/destroy the Institute.

now, I really disagree with your view on Jon. he is reckless and paranoid and doesn't consider some things but ultimately he was manipulated, systemically isolated and put into situations where he just couldn't make better choices. and Sasha is similar! yes she suspected something about the mess in the archives because she was more familiar with Gertrude, unlike Jon who only knew the front she presented. but that wouldn't matter! even knowing order would help Jonah, she'd need to some organising in order to uncover the truth about Gertrude. because even if she somehow got the recording she wouldn't know they don't work. Sasha is as reckless (her following Michael, dismissing Prentiss as a threat because Martin survived) and quick to invade people's privacy as Jon (not to say paranoia is a valid excuse but at least he wasn't doing it for funsies).

there was no going back for Sasha once she became the head archivist as she wouldn't have been able to quit. perhaps she'd be able to restrain herself like Gertrude. or be like Jon, desperate to gather information to stop the rituals. could she retain her humanity or would she be unable to resist her curiousity? just reading the statements would tie her further to the Eye and she'd have to read a lot of them.

yes, she was told to not trust Elias. Jon didn't since s2. Basira didn't trust him in s4. that didn't help them, did it? Basira still followed his false clues.

I also deeply disagree with the idea that it's Jon's foolishness that dooms him. he is very genre aware! (and while I dislike how omnipotent and omniscient the Web is) Jon was doomed since he was 8, he wasn't chosen because he was stupid. he was chosen because the Web said this one and Jonah decided it to be a sign of approval from the one entity he wouldn't want to cross.

Sasha wasn't going to be the Archivist because the Web didn't want her to be (going so far as to get rid of her). but if she was, she would be like. because even if she Gertrude that wouldn't safe her from being manipulated by Jonah (it surely didn't save Gertrude herself) nor being used by the Web.