#Tmagp 03

[cult-of-the-eye]

tmagp is so trans oh my god we have statements about body dysmorphia and feeling peace in changing bodies and general body horror not to mention Alice fucking Dyer

#i love ittttt #body horror is so trans #tmagp #tmagp spoilers #the magnus protocol #alice dyer #tmagp 01 #tmagp 02 #tmagp 03

[syntia13treeman]

O_O

Colin: *threatens computer with bodily harm*

NORRIS: "HOMICIDE"

me: *flailing wildly* Holy shit! Freddie just thretened to kill you! Colin, RUN!

#the magnus protocol #tmagp #tmagp 03 #Colin Becher #FR3-D1

[tmagpposting]

Alice’s Attitude

and why I don’t think it’s going to save her.

I haven’t seen a lot of people talking about the implication of Alice's attitude towards the incidents and horror elements so far, so I’m going to. Someone else may have already made a post about this, but I haven’t found anything yet, and I couldn’t find a way to get this out of my mind without writing it down. Naturally, I’m also going to inflict this long-winded and potentially needless analysis on all of you, since I spent 2 hours typing it out (sorry in advance). TW for blatant overuse of parentheticals and politics towards the end. This draws on content from TMAGP episodes 1-3 and TMA overall, particularly the series finale.

I feel like a lot of us going into TMAGP and having listened to TMA already were probably pleasantly surprised by Alice’s attitude of “The Horrors? Just say no!” since a lot of TMA revolved around the idea that curiosity and investigation of the fears usually doomed people to be consumed by one of them, as we saw with a lot of the Archive staff, particularly Jon. I certainly was. Though her ideas about how to deal with the incident reports are definitely somewhat callous, in the context of TMA, they feel very pragmatic, and I found myself thinking, “finally, a character who knows what genre she’s in and refuses to surrender to it.” I’ve been seeing a couple people agree with this, and say that her approach might even help her stay afloat when things start to escalate as the conflicts of TMAGP develop in the coming episodes. I thought that too, at least for a while. 

After thinking about it for several days, I don’t think this is the case. Given TMA’s themes and propensity for tragedy, and Jonny’s approach to tackling social issues, I don’t think Alice’s apathy is going to save her. In fact, I think it’s potentially going to be the character flaw that will doom her in the first place.

1. Alice already cares (not about the horrors, but about people)

To start with, I’d like to point out that Alice will only be able to maintain her apathy to a limited extent, and when people she cares about start being harmed, she is going to get involved. In fact, we can already see this happening. Ep 3 notably starts and ends with Alice making a plan to get Central IT involved in looking into their computers, when she tries to mention them to Colin in the first scene, and when she asks Sam to call them on her behalf in the final scene. I’d argue that the issue comes up because she’s concerned about Colin more than fixing the OIAR’s computers. She tells Sam it’s because Colin may not be able to handle FR3-D1 as well as he thinks he can since he’s been working on it forever with very little positive progress, but given the additional context of the starting scene, I think it’s reasonable to assume she also wants to meddle for Colin’s sake. In the first scene of ep 3, she seemingly talks more softly/slowly than usual (to me, it sounds like she’s trying to be soothing when compared to how she normally talks, even outside of the times she’s actually soothing FR3-D1), she doesn’t make too many digs at Colin as he sounds increasingly stressed, and she asks gently and subtly about calling Central IT for help when she is generally pretty direct when she seriously wants something (like all the times she repeatedly shuts down Sam’s questions because she wants him to stay out of danger). It sounds like she’s trying to slip it in as a half-joke, but Colin treats it as a genuine suggestion when he usually either brushes off her jokes or plays into them instead, so I think it was her actual intent to involve Central IT even at that point. Furthermore, Gwen tells Sam something along the lines of “Alice is the only one [Colin] tolerates” in a previous episode, they have good banter throughout so far, and Colin’s explosive reaction to Sam mentioning the app completely deflates when he learns it was Alice’s idea. All of this seemingly demonstrates a bond that goes pretty far beyond what I’d think of as a basic work relationship with no actual friendship involved. Colin is already pretty deep into investigating FR3-D1 to the point that it’s probably going to be detrimental for him based on him threatening/ranting at the computers in the first episode, and Alice is already trying to intervene on his behalf. Simply put, she is doing a pretty bad job of pretending not to care and staying out of it so far, and we’re only 3 episodes in.

With that in mind, I don’t even think Colin will be the primary reason she’ll get involved as the series goes on, and I actually think Sam is being set up to be the one to draw her into much of the conflict. She cares enough about Sam to find him a job when he’s having a rough time, based on their conversation in the bar, and she tells him not to care about the incidents precisely because she cares about him, and doesn’t want him to get sucked in and hurt by them. With Sam’s propensity for curiosity established and likely being set up to be one of his fatal flaws, Alice will probably get drawn into the conflict whether she likes it or not if/when Sam goes digging and actually stumbles on something dangerous later on. As a side note, I really do think Sam’s curiosity is being set up to be something big here, since he repeatedly wants to look into the Magnus Institute and says it’s a “blast from the past,” he wonders about how the code system works and how it could be improved, and he’s generally shown to ask a lot of questions about the OIAR, Gwen’s backstory, etc. He asks about things more often than I think he would if his questions were purely an expositional device for the audience and not actual characterization (I could make a post just about this, but I think other people have definitely already done that). Finally, our very first introduction to Alice as a character in TMAGP shows her trying and failing to be glib and uncaring about Teddy leaving, where she jokes with him casually before admitting, sincerely and somewhat hesitantly, “I’m gonna miss you.” If her failing to not care about something in the opening scene of the entire series isn’t going to turn out to be important, if not Jonny Sims style foreshadowing of some kind, I’ll eat my hat.

2. Apathy kind of sucks, actually (thematically and otherwise)

Alice being saved by her refusal to care, assuming she manages to maintain it, feels too much like an easy out for the kinds of stories TMA was trying to tell, and clashes with its sensibilities in my opinion. A lot of people fall into the trap of nihilistic apathy when thinking about the state of the world right now, and TMA even acknowledged this in the series with the Extinction beginning to emerge as a new entity/fear. Between worsening climate change, the gradual rise of bigotry and the increasing trend toward fascism in the western world (especially america, it sucks here), escalating international conflict, poverty and the worsening cost/standard of living, like the fact that a majority of people my age will probably never own a house and our college debt is going to eat us alive, etc., it feels like we’re all circling the drain and no one with the power to help is interested in doing anything other than making it worse to make themselves money. A lot of people think the only way to cope with that is to decide to not give a shit, which is a pretty natural response to being constantly confronted with worse and worse news every year that shows no sign of stopping. This has also naturally inspired a lot of doomerism and a rise in insincerity/irony poisoning and cynicism in popular culture that’s really hard to escape even if you avoid the news entirely.

However, the idea that not giving a shit about the problems in the world can somehow spare you from them is a) ludicrous, since they won’t go away if you decide to ignore them (a majority of the TMA statement givers didn’t previously know or care about the fears, and they got screwed over regardless), and b) definitely not supported by TMA’s cannon or themes. Surrendering to the idea of your own helplessness is precisely what TMA ends by specifically not doing. Jon sunk into a hopeless state of mind throughout S5, with the culmination of this process being his proposal to let the world end and allow the End to consume everything, including the rest of the fears. It wasn’t necessarily that Jon didn’t care or was apathetic, especially since one of his primary motivation was to avoid inflicting the fears on another universe, rather, he didn’t think anything could be done to stop the fears from destroying his world or whatever world they ended up in, which is the same deterministic mindset that Alice’s style of apathy stems from (“I can’t change or fix it, so I don’t care”). The other characters refusing this course of action and banishing the fears is what ultimately spares TMA’s universe from the sort of extinction it would’ve had if they’d accepted that it was hopeless and Jon had gone through with what he wanted. TMA ends with the central takeaway that you can’t give in to the idea you won’t be able to fix things because then you won’t try, and shows the characters subverting their helplessness and actually solving the problem of the fears by getting rid of it at the source (the ethics of sending the fears somewhere else are definitely debatable, but that’s a totally different post). The idea that Alice could be saved from the consequences of the problems in TMAGP’s world by choosing not to care flies in the face of the conclusion to the previous series. Alice’s refusal to care won’t save her from whatever TMAGP has in store, and judging by the events of TMA, fatalism and apathy might even seal her fate. 

Some of these points of evidence might be a little bit basic “water is wet” types of statements and I probably could’ve explained this in half the time, but I really do think that Alice’s apathy isn’t going to turn out to be very useful to her and I wanted to include everything I could think of that led me to believe that.

TLDR, Alice is just as screwed as the rest of the cast, if not more so, and her attitude is not going to get her out of it.

#tmagp #the magnus protocol #tmagp spoilers #the magnus protocol spoilers #tma #the magnus archives #magpod #tma spoilers #the magnus archives spoilers #tmagp speculation #tmagp theories #tmagp 01 #tmagp 02 #tmagp 03 #alice dyer #fr3 d1 #character analysis #meta #tma meta #jonathan sims #tma podcast #magnus archives #the magnus pod #magnuspod

[vieramars]

I'm so normal about fucked up gardens. I'm so normal about fucked up gardens. I'm so normal about fucked up gardens. I'm so normal about fucked up gardens. I'm so normal about fucked up gardens. I'm so normal about fucked up gardens. I'm so normal about fucked up gardens. I'm so normal about fucked up gardens. I'm so normal about fucked up gardens. I'm so normal about fucked up gardens.

#tmagp #tmagp 03 #the magnus protocol

[myiliterallyhavenolifegoals]

You can't make me hear the phrase "the star-crossed couple" in martin blackwood's voice and expect me to be normal

#tmagp spoilers #Tmapg #the magnus protocol #Tmagp 03 #Putting down roots #martin blackwood #alexander j newall

[aspookycrow]

🌈📢📣Audio Engineers and Editors listen to your audio through more than just your headphones before finalizing challenge📣📢💫

I never thought I had any issues with audio processing until The White Vault s5 came around. Became really unfun because I'd have to keep pausing and asking if the people I was listening with could tell what was going on. Me being unable to talk about it after until I read it through became frustrating for them, and for me.

Now with the last segment of today's protocol episode...damn. I hope they don't continue on with this far distance muffled conversation stuff for too many more scenes. Need to read the transcripts on this one, straight up jibberish through my car's Bluetooth and only kinda better on my phone's speaker. Phone with headphones in is better still, but...that rules out listening to episodes like this alongside my friends.

gg honestly, because all I want to do is gush and theorycraft. I think the fiction wouldn't be wounded by having the dialogue happen just a little bit closer or be a little less obstructed to whatever device is listening. We can endure the suspension of disbelief if you wanted to edit it like someone's coat pocket is a little thinner, or they're maybe a foot closer to the pay phone etc.

#the magnus protocol #tmagp #audio processing disorder #tmagp 03

[daylight-boyy]

See the thing is, lots of the stuff specified in the tw list would usually be really hard hitting for us, but the premise is in special interest territory so...damage negated

Fungi and plants are so cool

Can't scare me, we're just sat here like "ooooh cool"

#tmagp #tmagp spoilers #tmagp 03

[wildshadowtamer]

Live Reactions to Episode 3

-colin talks like he knows the computer is alive and senient -i love the banter -i love colin -yeah this is what error fixing is like -oh my god he climbed under the table -norris!! no augustus yet, then -buried case??? -lonely? -THE STAR CROSSED COUPLE???? -man what did you do?? -ruins of a 'bombed out church', dark church??? -can buried avatars become plant beings??? -ah, the ol endless entity area -i dont think thats maddie -ah. corruption, i was wondering when they'd show up -i know tmagp probably wont follow the same categories but its all i have to work with rn -its giving eye too -oooo ohohoho -Oh This Isnt Any Of The Entities We Know Is It -alice for the love of god be less calm about this -force fed your own keyboard? careful -"and i'll die down here" CAREFUL ALICE -oh, just the one statement, fair enough

Possible Characters Of Note:

-dr samuel webber (presumed avatar/dead now) -harriet manning (therapist) -gerald andrews (probably also dead) -maddie webber (dead) -caroline jennings (officer) -uncle t (webber, presumably)

#tmagp spoilers #tmagp #tmagp 03

[yellow-yellow-jacket]

it’s INSANE how we’ve gotten an ‘iconic line’ in every tmagp case so far. we got “some of him,” we got “canaries should stay above ground,” we got “if i wanted to clear the canvas, i would’ve used turpentine,” we got “i think i shall stay here for a good long while”

the writing in this show is crazy so far

#makin me wanna make lil fanarts for each case #tmagp #the magnus protocol #magp 01 #magp 02 #magp 03

[its-your-mind]

Alice: what actually is a .jmj error?

Colin: Nothing. It’s an excuse for the system to ruin my day. It’s doing this on purpose. Don’t encourage it.

Meanwhile, inside the system:

#tmagp #tmagp spoilers #the magnus protocol #magp 03 #tmagp fanart #tmagp art #chester tmagp #norris tmagp #augustus tmagp #fr3 d1 #.jmj #I just know that martin is tearing shit up and causing problems on purpose #alice dyer #colin becher #nochest

[cult-of-the-eye]

Be the change you want to see in the world...get on all fours before a computer....

#tmagp #the magnus protocol #tmagp shitpost #tmagp 03 #colin becher

[syntia13treeman]

aw, shit!

It just occured to me, right after hitting 'reblog' on the previous post:

If Freddie (FR3-D1) is indeeed spying on OIAR crew, which is how we get to hear about their 'adventures',

and Freddie is the one compiling spooky cases for assessment,

wouldn't it be fucked if one of the crew got killed/maimed/otherwise traumatized by the spookies completely off-screen,

and the way we (and rest of the crew) found out was by a new case dropping in Sam's workbox?

#the magnus protocol #tmagp #tmagp speculation #tmagp 03 #FR3-D1

[frogphantom]

Yet another take on magp3 please send help i only want to draw flower people

#the magnus protocol fanart #magpod #the magnus protocol #tmagp #tmagp 3 #magp 3 #magp 03 #i dont know how to tag individual episodes help #tmapg ep 3 #???

[lia-the-normal-human]

Database Additions for MAGP 03: Putting Down Roots

Released 25 Jan 2024 Episode written by Graeme Patrick Edited by Jonathan Sims & Alexander J Newall

Episode summary from The Magnus Database

SPOILERS BELOW CUT

CASE

CAT2C8175-03042009-22012024 Infection (full body) -/- arboreal [journal entry] Read by Norris

Parties mentioned: Mrs. Campbell Caroline Jennings Gerald Andrews Harriot Manning Maddie Webber Samuel Webber

Locations mentioned: 12 Castlehill Av Lock-up at 13 Marigold Drive Overgrown garden Uncle T's allotment Unidentified hospital

Misc objects mentioned: Plant-like infection

Other Parties Introduced

Central IT

Other Locations Introduced

None

Other Misc Objects Introduced

None

Connections/Item Relationships Found (New)

None

Voiced Characters

Colin Becher Alice Dyer Norris Samama Khalid Gwendolyn Bouchard

Database

The Magnus Database has been updated for this episode.

#record #the magnus protocol #tmagp spoilers #episode #magp 03 #the magnus database

[they-call-me-haiku]

all of the episodes were amazing but personal screening was something else! i wasn't exactly scared but i do so adore the open internet format!

#the magnus protocol #tmagp #tmagp spoilers #tmagp episodes #tmagp poll #tmagp ep 1 #tmagp ep 2 #tmagp ep 3 #tmagp ep 4 #tmagp ep 5 #tmagp ep 6 #tmagp ep 7 #magnus protocol #tmagp podcast

[bonzos-number-1-fan]

TMAGP 12 Thoughts: Nostalgia Bait

I have no real preamble on this one. I think it was a fun, straight forward, episode without too too much to really sink out not-soft teeth into here. Also please laugh at that subtitle, I'm very proud of it.

Spoilers for episode 12 below the cut.

A lot of office stuff here it feels like. Not a huge amount to really say on it as like with the rest of this episode it's more building on stuff we've already seen than it is adding new things to the show. Which is obviously not a bad thing but it's fairly straightforward. Celia and Sam are going on a date, which is cute, and Alice is very obviously jealous, which is also cute.

"You wouldn't be tempted?" "No" [bzzt]. Uh huh.

So first things first for the incident, this episode took places on 09/03/2024. 09/03/2024 is the date the incident in episode 10, Saturday Night, was filed. So everything that went down here was the same night that Gwen gave Bonzo the instructions and presumably he just killed whoever had their name in their. We don't really know who that was as of yet. Of the known characters I said it'd likely be Klaus but this was someone new. They're only identified as "Baz" in the episode, assuming the first victim was the main target, and we don't know any Bazs, Basils, or Barrys AFAIK. But if that's someone Gwen would know I think that only leaves two or three people it could be. I think most people will think Baz is a Bouchard or some other family member. I think it's possible that it's either someone on the corporate ladder that Lena eliminates as a show of "this is what it takes to move up in this company". There has been a lot of focus on Gwen's naivety in that area after all. The last main option I see is that it could just be someone fairly "random". Not someone Gwen is necessarily connected to but just some form of threat. Gwen "knows" them more in a general sense of "you know what I'm sending him to do, eliminate a threat". Hard to say just from the incident alone. The lunchbox and theme tune are "real" too, which is fun.

Outside of that not a load to say but it was a fun episode and it's nice to see Bonzo doing Bonzo things. It's really interesting that he appears to have either two "forms" or that he's got some sort of mental manipulation abilities. When Gwen saw Bonzo, despite being aware of him from TV, she reacted with abject horror. The party guests didn't. So either Bonzo didn't look like his current self or he's able to manipulate people's perception of him. Both would account for the reactions he got. Just a guy in a Bonzo suit. Not a sweaty meaty monster.

After that we just see Gwen horrified by the case. Which is an understandable reaction but I don't think its an elucidating one. I wouldn't say how she reacts shows anything beyond terrifying realisation about what the OIAR is. Her brief conversation with Alice also leans in that direction. So if it's a family member it doesn't look like one who's loss is felt as an immediate gut punch.

The only other comment I have on this is how refreshingly different Bonzo is being treated as a primary monster in this show. Unlike in TMA which did a lot of slow build up, small appearances, and things like that we've gotten two episodes very close together where he shows up and is a large focal point of the episode.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Incident/CAT#R#DPHW Master Sheet

DPHW Theory: 4728 all seems pretty reasonably for what we saw. Death and Helplessness were not major thematic factors but Pain and Weird very much were.

CAT# Theory: 1.

R# Theory: B is totally in line with my ideas on this.

Header talk: Mascot (Kids) -/- Frenzy is what I have been waiting for. Sweet repetition. Sweet, sweet repetition. Episode 10, Saturday Night, was CAT1RB2275 - Mascot (Kids) -/- Murder. An identical Section (Subsection) with a different Crosslink.

This largely confirms that Crosslinks impact DPHW gradings. It doesn't say much about how these things are calculated but I'd wager it's something like Section (Subsection) gets a rating that is then modified by a Crosslink. Rather than all those combinations being in the book. It's not exactly useful information but does give more clarity on the role of the Crosslinks. With both cases having the same CAT#R# it's impossible to say at the moment whether that can be changed by the Crosslink.

#the magnus protocol #tmagp #tmagp theory #tmagp speculation #klaus = kl4-u5