#casements

• OMGODS, GWEN! Stop being such a dick to the one person who has consistently been there and helpful to you.

• Good on Celia for calling her out on her shit though! I really worry about Celia. She does not seem to be doing well. Even with all the help she has been getting from Georgie...

• Gwen... Gwen why? Don't antagonise the spooky tattoo artist, Gwen, what are you doing?

Like I get that you have only met Bonzo and got spooked, but also you have only met Bonzo. He is a leashed external and you just pissed off an unleashed one with buddies in the external community.

Remember what got Colin eaten by a computer? Maybe we shouldn't be rude towards the people whose actions are the reason casements exist.

Like, I get why, but good grief. The point of the contracts is to make the externals' violence exclusive to the OIAR's whims. I mean, basically, right?

So.... congrats, Gwen. You've fucked us.

• I love that despite how prickly and bombastic Alice is, she is actually really good at dealing with Externals. I would have loved to see what would have happened if Lena had promoted her instead.

(I feel like it would be much like Sasha as The Archivist where, yeah, she'd be better at it/more qualified in some ways, but she still had flaws that would have doomed her in that role in much the same way Jon was doomed. And maybe in worse ways too.)

• This episode's casement was so good. Though the idea of "smearing" a tattoo is blatantly ridiculous. That's not how tattoos work.

Also 2 loops is such a short amount of time before resorting to murder. Like, don't get me wrong, I get it, but so few loops. Also also were they actually loops or did she just get teleported back to her bf/husband/ex/whatev every day? Because it didn't seem like she was actually repeating days. What with the blisters on her feet and such seemingly remaining.

• The foreshadowing too! The way Sarah Lively's choices don't matter until she finally hurts someone and then they do. The way Alice being polite and 'Friends' with Heinrich is fine until it isn't. The way she is forced to make a choice between two options only to find out that the choice was already made for her.

• The way 'I'm sorry I hurt you, but I'm not sorry I got out.' Is basically the Celia/Sam situation to a T.

• One last casement thing: wtf was up with her therapist? Do you think he knew Ink5oul? He isn't Dr. David, is he? It's just so weird the casement had a gaslighting Therapist and a man named David.

• Alice... Oh, Alice, my love. I get that you've been traveling around with a nightmare and are afraid and stressed and miss Sam, but don't take it out of Celia. She... kind of deserves it because of the Sam thing, but also you don't know that part yet, so chill. Put the spikes away. She has been trying to cover for you this whole trip and has been doing so with Gwen as a manager.... That would break most people, I think.

• Heinrich... Oh, Heinrich Unheimlich, my love. I adore how he calls Alice "Liebchen". It makes my heart all warm. He is "polite, not kind", but the endearment still gets me. Also I feel like Politeness vs Kindness and the balance of the two is kind of a reoccurring theme in TMagP and I find that fascinating.

• Do you think Heinrich has been planning this toy thing all along or do you think he just decided to do this after the phone call and Alice calling him her "terrifying new friend"? Because, like, all his other "friends" have been children and storytellers who could spread the fear of him around. And, my gods, what a bargain he'd have in Alice being one such person:

Not only is she afraid of him, but she is also afraid of losing people/not being in control. And he played this in a way that perfectly hit all of those buttons.

He gets Celia with this as she is afraid of anything happening to Jack and of her secrets being revealed and of potentially being betrayed like she did with Sam.

If they fail to keep the toy from getting to Jack then Heinrich Unheimlich also gets a child who is young enough to grow and shape into being his Friend. A friend with potentially very little fear of him, much like Klara.

I would be willing to bet money that Externals can feel The Recording happening which means doing this frightful thing while we're listening is already growing his power and spreading his story.

• Speaking of. Idk if this is where they are going to go with it, but I am a little in love with the idea that The Recording that is happening is making all the Externals more powerful because it is spreading their stories. Making people aware of them and their deeds.

I do wonder though if it could be used to do the opposite. I mean, Heinrich Unheimlich told us that being known too well, being reduced to a list of crimes and sensationalism makes them weaker. So how does one keep that balance?

Would sending an External through the Justice System/demystifying their deeds be a different way to balance the Fear Humors without just constantly making the amount in the world higher?

Almost like a form of bloodletting instead of only giving supplements when the Fear Humors are out of wack. (IE: working to lower the DPH in the world instead of sending out Bonzo to make more W.)

• Idk. This episode was super interesting and I'm so excited to see what happens as a result of it.

Thoughts below the cut, nothing graphic:

If my mother says she needs money, I give it. 

I must be careful on the stairs or they will break and I will fall.

If Tom needs me to put together more lesson plans, I will. 

I must be careful on the floor or I will step upon an upturned nail. 

If Hannah needs her clothes washed I’ll do it. 

I must be careful with the doors or the handles will give me splinters. 

With my mother’s help I had built the house anew, not on Church Street, but inside me.

I wander lonely. I will die in this place. And no-one will miss me.

Window Rest..