#but obviously the real star of the show was Carlos and the completely unprecedented character depth that they smothered him in.

[kingdomoftyto]

"Carlos, if you could just pause your experiment for a second--if you could only hear me out, hear my hypothesis! I think once you understand the science of the situation, you--" Carlos opened the door. He was crying. She had never seen him cry. He was overwhelmed and unsure of how to express his emotions, since he usually only did so in carefully worded sentences, not with water from his body. "The science of the situation?" he snarled. "That Otherworld. I was trapped there, Nilanjana. I couldn't see Cecil for ten lonely years. I was kept away from the people I love, in that desolate place where you never get hungry and you never have to drink water and so you never live. It is a place that devours. It is a place that is empty. That is the science of the situation, and I study it so I can fix it. Only I can do that. Only these experiments can do that. I'm sorry, Nilanjana; I'm not going to stop so you can tell me what science is."

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#Tyto listens to WtNV #spoiler warning I guess for a book that came out a few years ago now #anyway yeah hi I finished the book #the resolutions to the plot and to Nils' character arc were pretty good. nothing to write home about but fun and serviceable #I personally get annoyed whenever a story pulls a ''you thought this romance would end with these two TOGETHER? lol NOPE'' #like we get it it's more realistic for whirlwind romances to end in a breakup and sometimes it's better for people to just stay friends #but firstly this isn't real life; it's fiction. with narrative devices and such. #and secondly WtNV of all media does NOT get to preach about realistic relationship trajectories when its lead fell in love at first sight #lmao I'm just saying. I'm not MAD about it or anything it just made me roll my eyes. #ANYWAY. that aside: it was good. and I do genuinely like the friendship Nilanjana builds up with Darrell at the end #but obviously the real star of the show was Carlos and the completely unprecedented character depth that they smothered him in. #not ONLY recontextualizing over a year's worth of the podcast but ALSO saddling him with LAYERS of guilt over the events in this book #he *KILLED* the *GODDAMN* *CENTIPEDE* #after his beautiful little speech about not killing things just because we don't understand them! #he was just SO traumatized by his time in the Otherworld and SO afraid for his family after Janice nearly got Got that he KILLED IT!!! #and THEN!!!! not only do they find out that the centipede wasn't responsible for the destruction!! #but it turns out it was HIS OWN MACHINE THE WHOLE TIME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! #his attempts to keep everyone safe were what actually caused the danger!!!! AUGH HE WAS ONLY TRYING TO HELP #HE'S JUST SCARED AND HE WANTS EVERYONE TO BE SAFE AND NOT EXPERIENCE THE SAME HORRORS HE DID AUGHDUSHGHDH #...anyway yeah back to my regularly scheduled episode listening tomorrow