If this episode isnāt evidence that these characters absolutely need to trust Rowan, then I donāt know what is. Also the Rowan and Sydney parallels are stronger than ever with this one.
Also, something about that monologue that Sydney had about Rowan after the hole was closed made Rowan feel so weirdly relatable to me. The way that they dismiss everything that he says, because they see him as crazy. They all laugh at his little quirks as he digs for shelter. And yes, heās not right all of the time, sometimes he has panic attacks and raves about the apocalypse just because of a weird meal that Mathew cooked. But, that doesnāt mean that he never has anything valuable to say, or that his mannerisms and mental health issues should mean that the others should dismiss everything he has to say.
In fact, thinking back to his first major role in an episode, The Squall of Prophecy, the whole thing was showing that his prophecyās are often misleading, but what I find interesting is that in that specific instance, the cause of the prophecy was soup, and in this episode, they take special care to point out the soup being the only thing the hole keeps, even going so far as to put it in the title. The only reason I can think as to why theyād choose something as specific as soup of all things with no explanation as to why the hole likes it would be to parallel his visions from The Squall of Prophecy. To have us remember that nearly every single time this man has been brought up, it is to talk about his visions in some patronizing way, as if to say never listen to him, to devalue and diminish the mentally ill, and to strip them of their voice. Which, yes Rowan doesnāt have a real world mental illness in canon, but his visions absolutely serve as a parallel. It doesnāt work directly exactly since itās also how he knows important stuff, itās a double edged sword curse type of thing, but it still does work to capture the emotions of that situation.
Him and Sydney are in such similar situations, they are both disabled and not taken seriously (again Rowan technically has no real world disability but I consider his prophecies to be disabling and to count), so they should be working together, and yet Sydney patronizes and dismisses him over the loudspeaker for all to hear. Of all people, Sydney should understand, but what I think that the difference between the two of them is, is that Sydney always tries to keep in his upbeat and cheery attitude, making the best of every situation even when heās been dealt some of the worst cards. (My poor doomed boiiii), but Rowan doesnāt, he says things as they are, Sydney even says that Rowan scares him because he speaks in truths, and thatās why Sydney may be treating Rowan this way. It could be a bit of a power move, like hey, Iām crazy, but at least Iām not as bad as that guy, right campers? He doesnāt mean it like that, he clearly cares about Rowan, but it may be a subconscious power struggle. Sydney is afraid of someone who so openly is so gloomy, who doesnāt try to put up a front, who is extremely unpalatable to the nuerotypicals at the camp. Donāt get me wrong, Sydney too is not easily palatable either, but he does try to be friendly, and Rowan just isnāt. A lot of things that the others describe him doing are very unsettling, but he doesnāt stop. He keeps taking his meds, but heās building up a tolerance and thatās not his fault because what else is he supposed to do. Despite the terror that his visions bring him, and some of them being untrue, he still has important things to begin to the table, and he deserves to be acknowledged and not diminished.
Sydneyās apology at the end gives me hope for the two of them. I hope that this means that Sydney has accepted their similarities, and the two of them will be able to work together in the future. However, it is unfortunate that in order to prove himself, he had to fix the hole problem on his own. He is not taken seriously until he has to go to far greater lengths than anyone else does to prove himself. (Anyway my ocd brain relates to him sooooo much, especially after this episode)
