#tmc analysis

Here’s what I wrote:

“this may sound kinda dumb and maybe I'm sorta reaching? But I definitely feel like there's some kind of Parraell between Amanda and Thatcher + Sarah (plus because it's really parraelling the same thing)

Hear me out:

So for Sarah and Amanda it's mostly with how they deal with someone kind of freaking out. First with Evelin then with Julie.

See with Sarah and Evelin Sarah gently introjects saying "hey, you were in love, don't beat yourself up over it!"

But with Julie and Amanda it's A more harsh

"Woah woah woah woah Julie Julie, slow down okay." "...Why? are you even-... [Sigh] what makes you think any of this is real"

There's a clear disconnect between Sarah and Amamda here. Sarah gently introjects with a soft "hey" and validates Evelin. Gently talking to her, telling her not to beat herself up over something like this, then gently reassured her "we'll get this all figured out"

But Amanda more harshly stops Julie, telling her to "slow down"

Then she follows it up with more accusatory questions, starting with "why are you even" before cutting herself off and, in a way, putting her down "what makes you think this is real?” Her tone is harsh, it's not gentle, the opposite of validating, she doesn't make much of an attempt to understand Julie's (very reasonable) concerns (like she watched someone kill themselves dude.)

I think this is clearly meant to show the difference between apathy and empathy, gentleness and a harshness. If that makes sense?

Like Sarah is being nothing but sweet and caring, while Amanda is mostly the opposite!

And I think this is ESPECIALLY shown with the fact that what Sarah cuts off is when Evelin says "I should've listened to Amanda she tried warning me."

clearly it seems (with how Noah talks about Amanda) that she has a reputation on putting people down, to make them feel bad, if mostly unintentionally! And that Evelin is one of those people, and then we see Sarah go directly against that! By being sweet, and understanding!

And with how things are situated in the Julie and Amanda scene , with it being a call similar to Sarah and Evelin, with one venting! It might be trying to parrell it! Showing the differences/ dichotomy you know?

Now how does Thatcher play a role in this? Well- it's the fact that he also parraels Sarah but in all of the ways they are SIMILAR you get what I'm saying?

My main points are these:

First when Amanda says "there's a millon and a half things that you could be woryying about. so, why does this happen to be worth your energy? Julie. You need to put your mental health first"

there's honestly a lot that goes into what she just said because it kinda reads as "well it's not happening in my back yard so... I shouldn't care about it 😤 I’m simply putting my mental health first 🥺” and it’s about a famine that’s wiping out entire orphanages.

But- mostly- it’s kinda?? Anti Thatcher?

We are shown constantly Thatcher is doing the opposite of this. Worrying about everyone and everything. Sacrificing his mental health just to help people!

I think a bit of me wants to interpret this as two ends of a spectrum “caring so much about everything but it destroys you” or “caring for yourself but it destroys others” because both is incredibly important! What’s important is the middle! But neither of them can seem to see that! (Very much similar to the core messages of EPIC the musical BUT this isn’t about that. This isn’t a comparative analysis of EPIC and TMC though those kinds of things are my most favorite things ever)

And my second major point for this is the scene where they’re walking through, what I assume, is Adam’s house but “abandoned” and over grown (it looks like his house but we also see the BPS van still parked there)

This is compositionally INCREDIBLY similar to when *Thatcher* was walking through Adam’s house. like it’s freakishly similar. And I think this is meant to be a clear parallel!

Amanda and Thatcher basically do exact opposites in this situation.

Thatcher stays. Amanda ran. (Very understandably)

Thatcher (seemingly) went through the back (given as we see him FIRST take a picture of the BPS van before entering while Noah sees it through the back doors AFTER he’s already in) and Amanda went through the front. Thatcher helped Adam and stayed for him, helping him despite Adam clearly being an alternate and therefore a face of his trauma. Amanda didn’t even get to see Adam! she doesn’t know that he’s an alternate (and I don’t think Amanda believes in them too much??) but ran away not helping anyone. (Her actions are 100% reasonable btw!! I’m not saying she’s awful for not helping Adam or Noah, and running! I mean- I would run too! What Amanda did was very much a normal persons reaction! And for that reason shows the extent of Thatchers compassion! Because what he did wasn’t normal! Therefore being a reflection of his character! Hence why it’s worth mentioning in this!)

As I said I think these three are meant to kind of parallel eachother. We can see this clearly in format, composition, and characters actions and traits!

Sarah and Thatcher parallel each other by how **similar** they are. How empathetic and understanding they are. How, despite being on “opposite sides” they really aren’t! They’re one and the same. In a sense. People who pour their hearts out and risk everything just because they care about **others** *that* much.

But for Amanda it’s a parallel in the sense that she is the OPPOSITE of them. And how despite being technically on the “same side” as Sarah, she really is not! A lot of what she says and does are things Thatcher and Sarah have done the exact OPPOSITE of!

I just find it interesting!”

Though’s there’s so much more I can say to this and so much more I can add! I can add so much more contextual evidence showing the pure amount or empathy and compassion Sarah and Thatcher both have! AND how they parallel each other! But I didn’t start with that because it would be LENGTHY. And I am still very much struggling with depression so, it would take a lot of mental energy to get to 😭Also! I should note! There’s obviously a lot more that goes into Amanda’s actions! This is focusing more on Thatcher and Sarah, so the way in which I described her was to show how she contrasts the two! But I don’t think Amanda is evil or a bad person or like idk the devil incarnate, not at all! It’s more complicated than that!

Again this isn’t my best analysis and honestly I wouldn’t call it much of one? But it’s a start! An introduction to Sarah and Thatcher!

In the mean time just have these descriptions of his personality that I gave to a friend a while ago 😭 I promise I can explain and back everything up with canon evidence

(The last two were my words just written down and by my twin for a project he was working on)

WITH ADAM IN MANDELA CATALYST WE SEE HIM BECOMING OVERDRIVEN POSSIBLY AS A DIFFERENT PRESENTATION OF METAPHYSICAL AWARENESS DISORDER THATS SPECIFIC TO THE REPLACED CHILDREN IT IS SHOWN TO BE EXTREMELY PAINFUL

ALTERNATE GABRIEL CAN POSSIBLY SHIFT BETWEEN THE DIFFERENT STATES AT WILL CONSIDERING THE TIMES WHERE HIS FACE IS SHADOWED OR GONE, WHEN HES NORMALISH, AND WHEN HES SMILING ALL CRAZY

THERE ARE NOT DIFFERENT TYPES OF ALTERNATES (excluding Gabriel and possibly also the Intruder) THEY ARE SIMPLY AT DIFFERENT POINTS IN A PROGRESSION OF ASSIMILATION THAT CAN POTENTIALLY EVEN BE REVERSED.

Jonah did the ‘right thing’ to a certain degree considering the context of the situation, and he was punished for it.

Although, if I recall Jonah was originally intended to survive, but even so, he was still targeted for running away.

In any other horror world, he would be the survivor, and Adam the victim, but here Jonah’s survival instincts* betrayed him, because the creature chasing him was something beyond humanity.

* Adding here that I don’t necessarily blame Jonah for leaving Adam behind, his adrenaline must have been kicking in and his sixth sense was going off like crazy, which, if you’ve ever had your sixth sense for danger go off, it can be intense. He still left his friend behind to die, which is a horrible thing to do, but that friend refused to listen to his pleas and worries. It must have felt like and was a live or die situation, and he, like most people, chose to live. Unfortunately, that wasn’t what the alternates had planned for him.