#despairduo

can i just say? Alex has outdone himself here! so proud! a couple of people seemed to not really like this volume, but i disagree! sure, it was a little short, but quality over quantity, baby!

i'll try to talk about everything in chronological order, but i might come up with other ideas as i'm writing this (take a shot every time i say 'seems' or 'think')

first off: the sailor bit. i don't think that alternate is going to be a recurring character, but it's interesting to see, nonetheless. the M.A.D psa from vol.1 did mention that all religious practices posed a risk for contracting M.A.D, but we've only ever seen christianity. it was nice to see something reference a different belief system. (the alternate seemed reminiscent of sirens from greek mythology)

next up: the narrations. all the animal talk seemed to be referencing the alternates, i think? gonna be honest, i completely forgot the specific words that were in it, but i remember the general message! kind of... okay, might need to rewatch it...

THATCHER AND ADAM!!! as a despair duo truther, i was cryinggg! he's so gentle with his alternate son!!! everytime Thatcher calls Adam 'kid' i just roll over and die because it's so cute! LET YOUR DEPRESSED COP FATHER HELP YOU, GOD DAMMIT! a couple of people have speculated that Thatcher might have died here, but i don't think so. Adam didn't seem to be attacking him, just running away as Thatcher chased after him

Now: Julie, Amanda and Noah. I think the girl Julie is talking about is Addison from cognitohazard. a lot of the details sound similar. Noah mentions two things that i find interesting. Amanda's job is to gaslight Julie into thinking everything's fine, and they haven't talked to Adam in a year. the second one might not seem that big of a deal at first glance, so I'll talk about that first

all the stuff with this trio occurs in 2011. the conversation between Thatcher and Adam occurs in 2009. that's 2 years. meaning Adam had stayed in contact with Noah and Amanda, even after the revelation that he was an alternate, only cutting contact in 2010. this makes me think: was Adam trying to hold on to his humanity by continuing to communicate with his friends? obviously, he couldn't talk with Sarah, since it seems like she was watching the footage of that interrogation, meaning she knows he's an alternate. and he probably wouldn't want to talk to Evelin. plus Jonah's dead but Noah? he doesn't like in Mandela County. there's no way for him to know about Adam's true heritage and then, at some point in 2010, Adam finally realises that there's no point in holding on to his humanity, and fully embraces his alternate side

Amanda gaslighting Julie. Julie seems very curious. she's focused on solving the mystery of what happened with Addison in cognitohazard. kind of reminds me of someone else. someone who was really interested in alternates and constantly endangered himself to learn more about them i think Amanda might have enlisted herself to be sort of like a caretaker for Julie, making sure she doesn't delve too far and gain some information she wouldn't like. Noah mentions that Amanda and Adam have bad blood with each other, which we already knew considering her email to him from vol.4. but i think she still genuinely cares for him, even just a little bit. i mean, she did go with Noah to meet up with him. maybe she saw what the BPS investigations were doing to him and doesn't want the same thing to happen to Julie.

now: the encounter. wonderfully shot! beautiful! lots of parallels with Adam and Jonah's investigation in vol.2 speaking of parallels, Jonah and Noah. both their characters and their biblical counterparts have a few parallels. both bible stories involve boats, but the difference is that Noah built the ark after being instructed by God. Jonah fled on a boat after disobeying God. Adam mentioned to Thatcher that Gabriel had been talking to him and 'he hasn't spoken to me in a while'. kind of implying that all the BPS stuff was done on instructions from Gabriel, who is the alternate equivalent of God. this part made me think of Six's 'wake up, Adam' monologue in vol.2 "you followed the shepherd. you are a fool. follow my voice instead. you will find great happiness. wake up, Adam. do not make me wake the others." it's been established that Six is not the same threat as the alternates, and whether or not they're working together is up in the air. but considering the theory that the government has been taken over by alternates and the fact that that same government has implemented a ban on tvs and mirrors, i think they're on opposite sides. my theory is that they were working together initially, with Six turning the kids he kidnaps into alternates, but they ended up turning on each other at some point. probably somewhere in between vol.333 and vol.5 this is probably why Six calls Adam a fool for listening to Gabriel. i think that when Adam met Six in the basement, that interaction somehow cut the connection between Adam and Gabriel. hence the 'he hasn't spoken to me in a while'

how does this relate to Jonah and Noah? i'm getting there. since it's implied that all of Adam's prior actions were on Gabriel's behalf, that means that he's basically a conduit, a vessel for Gabriel's bidding. (i'm probably explaining this horribly) Adam told Jonah to join him in the basement. Jonah refused and left. 2 years later, Adam told Noah to meet up with him, Noah did just that, staying behind even when Amanda left. just like their bible counterparts

the final part: the hunter story. to me, this could relate to a couple of characters

Noah: i think this is probably the weakest one of the three, but i will explain my thought process anyway! the fact that this bit happened right after the Noah segment made me instantly connect them. the pond in the story is said to be a 'perfect mirror', and where does Noah find Adam? a room filled with mirrors. the final part of the story is "the hunter never went fishing again". i think the 'fishing' in this scenario is a reference to him searching for Adam. and let me tell you, if i saw the same things Noah saw, i would never even think about Adam again (apart from when that face appears in my nightmares)

Thatcher: Thatcher has been hunting down these alternates for almost 2 decades at this point, specifically his own alternate. both alt!Thatcher and Adam mention reflections to him. "scared of your own reflection, lieutenant?" and "you've seen your reflection, haven't you?" which relate to the pond being a 'perfect mirror'. for the final line, i think it might imply that Thatcher has given up. after failing to help Adam, he's never going to investigate the alternates again. i know i said the Noah connection is the weakest, but i have changed my mind. there is no way my babygirl Thatcher is going to throw in the towel like this!

Adam: i didn't originally think of Adam but someone in the comment section of vol.6 mentioned this and i realised 'oh wait that's a good point'. for years, Adam has been investigating alternates, searching for information on what happened to his mother. the hunter's reflection stabbing itself reflects the realisation that Adam is an alternate. he'll never go searching for his mother again, because she was never his mother. he was never human

final thoughts: i don't think anyone died in this volume. you could make a case for Thatcher and Noah, but i think they're both good. as i said before, Adam wasn't attacking Thatcher. and it looked like Noah managed to escape in time. of course, the camera's battery died, so we may never know, at least until the next volume. but i think the only death we saw was Addison, and she wasn't really a main character. each volume has a main character die (Mark, Jonah, Ruth, Dave, Jude) but this time everyone seems to have survived. that genuinely surprised me!