The Magnus Protocol - Blog Posts

I would bet anything that the OIAR's computers have magnetic tape data storage, and that at the same time FR3D-1 began reading out cases, that storage was overwritten by the Magnus Archives tapes.

I want to believe Gerry is happy and remains so. However,

JONNY

GODDAMN

SIMS

RESPITE REVOKED, GERARD KEAY

I am so scared for my little guy

The Magnus Archives is wild because it'll make you glad a character's dead. Yes! Finally they can be tortured no longer! Freedom from this fearful world!

I like to imagine TMAGP'S Gerry is just as goth, but covered in paint (and hair dye)

TMAGP 8 NOTES

SPOILERS BELOW

SERIOUSLY THESE ARE HOT FRESH SPOILERS

Statement:

Felt like a classic MAG episode. Reminiscent of the lonely, but felt more like a hunger for company that was reflected and warped.

Also, liminal spaces. Lots of em.

The thin people are reminiscent of MAG 156 Reflection.

Characters!

ALSO WHAT THE FUCK "GIGI???"

GIGI AND GERRY

Bruh

I'm delighted

I'm horrified

I'm so scared

"my grandson?"

Looks like he dodged the brain cancer bullet this time. Gigi dodged the... literal bullet.

Maybe Gertrude gets a cackle this time?

Also, if Gerry doesn't remember anything, maybe they brain wiped him and that's why he's like that. Or, the change of personality is irrelevant.

Sam

Investigating the Magnus Institute still, and confirming that he participated in their "gifted kids programs."

Celia

Celia??? Weird physics???? Time travel?? Oh my holy fuck

Georgie's podcast too. Could it be crossing the gap btwn worlds?

Alice & Gwen

Obvious tension on the job change. Alice seems like she wants to leave, but also like she's morose over Sam leaving with Celia. I really feel like she's hyper jealous, hope she doesn't get chopped up or something for leaving. Bc who's heard from Teddy?

Note: Colin's on mental health leave. Doesn't sound like he hurt Sam? Just the phone.

TMAGP's liminal spaces so far (EP 7 spoilers):

1. The Graveyard, the Magnus Institute

2. In5oul's studio

3. The Garden

4. N/A? Perhaps where the protagonist met the merchant

5. The Theater

6. N/A? Does an alley count? Does a call station count?

7. Hill Top

I'm calling them liminal bc they're described only at certain times of day (middle of the night for the graveyard) or in terms that make their entrances and exits, as well as the passage of time within them, unclear (like the tattoo studio and the garden). The theater preserved from childhood memories, yet staffed with only one employee, the Magnus Institute where doors are all open while it lies abandoned, etc., feel solidly liminal to me.

Hill Top is mainly there because of, y'know, but I do think the events of 7 make it a space with unclear limits and volume. It would be ironic if it has nothing to do with Hill Top Road.

I feel like the OIAR office is liminal (between sunset and sunrise, for one thing). The sheer vibes off that place!

TMAGP 7 SPOILERS

FUCK YEAH FUCK YEAH FUCK YEAH

Celia:

- wants to search by "meat"/etc.

- recognizes Chester's voice

Colin:

- says there's "real stuff" outside the emails/etc.

- violently refuses to allow external electronics onsite

- discusses a weird email from "John"/"Jon" with Sam

Gwen:

- shows the Klaus video to Lena

- believes someone paid Lena to attempt his murder

- confirms with Lena that there's "real work"

- becomes the "externals liaison"

Statement:

- HILL TOP, HILL TOP, HILL TOP

Theory:

This feels like almost complete confirmation for all of the following:

1. Hill Top Road allowed MAG's powers in (does not confirm if they remained in their old forms i.e. Smirke's 14),

2. Celia is "that" Celia,

3. "Chester" has the voice of Jonathan Sims, not just the man but the character, and the same for "Norris" having the voice of Martin,

4. "Augustus" also has the voice of a significant character,

5. The "Response" part of OIAR will become more important.

I know these are basic conclusions, but I'm just laying it out to process. I think with the computer voices' sources confirmed, that removes a lot of uncertainty regarding how much TMAGP will engage with MAG's immediate consequences and characters.

I hope it leads to "grumpy computer archivist archly assists with casework" but you never know.

TMAGP 6 SPOILERS BELOW CUT

TURN BACK BBY

"Just make sure you eat them on site" what, do the mini donuts fucking dissipate off site, Lena? Are you a goddamn Fae Lady, """Lena"""?!!

The SIZE OF THE BUILDING is disproportionate to number of employees... Feels significant

fuckin NEEDLE PERSON HARVESTING FEAR

CELIA. CELIA WHOSE NAME WAS STOLEN? IS CELIA ALSO FROM THE ARG???

they're going to eat Celia, Celia Ripley

Alice feels kinda jealous with the overwrought lampooning of Sam's conversation with Celia

TMAGP 6 SPOILERS

This feels like a break from form. In this case we got someone explicitly feeding on fear and seeking more out, whereas others had someone drawn in, lured, without the fear being super explicit.

I don't know if Needles is exactly an avatar, but they seem like a vector of fear more than any other statement characters so far.

Also...no one at the OIAR was really scared of this guy who was deliberately trying to elicit fear. FASCINATING.

MAG 68 mentions documents leaked in 1999. Diff universe, but maybe relevant to the Magnus Institute's downfall in TMAGP?

Can people really quit the OIAR? Or do they "not last long" as in they die? Lena brutal pipe murder?

Maybe we hear him in the puters.

You cannot quit the Archives even if there's an apocalypse and you die and get exported to another universe. You still gotta read statements.

✨job security✨

TMAGP has me thinking about the sublime. The idea of beauty and terror sharing a space in your brain, and the exultation of artistry - a painter like Daria or the virtuoso with the demon violin - to the point of destruction. The joy and horror at seeing a loved one return from the dead. The excitement and fascination of becoming something not quite human, the distress and panic as your body is changed. The shiver of fear as a pleasurable sample of terror.

I wonder where they're going with this.

Sam's really out here, episode 4, already Magnusing the Protocols. Smh.

TMAGP I'm so thirsty

One drop of mercy, Mr. TMAGP, please

Praying for sweet gay rain that is .jmj

The fact that TMAGP begins with boot up noises -- and it's implied that Teddy turned off his computer but it turned itself back on -- establishes that we're listening from the same vantage point as whatever's in that machine. Or the system at large.

So the pub conversation is what confuses me. Is whatever's in the OIAR system on Alice's phone? She would DEFINITELY ignore regulations around not connecting personal devices to the network/etc. But is it following her intentionally, or did it just get on there? You hear camera noises while Sam talks to Colin, so it feels intentional. Malicious or beneficent, though...

The transcripts also say that Norris's and Chester's readings occurs in "CYBERSPACE," which is cool to me because TMA didn't get super deep into fears of technology (certainly cameras, keyboard eating, and uncanny automata could all be lumped in, but tech itself wasn't the "fear" - it was the eye, the spiral, and the stranger). So far technology, the complexity of it, the things lurking in spaghetti code, are front and center.

All of the stories so far have also touched on body modification, even transhumanism (esp. 3), and I can't resist thinking I KNOW where this is going. Gimme that sweet sweet .jmj 🙈

I also wonder if the mere act of categorizing these cases is constructing the new fears.

MGP 1 "First Shift": a critical role reference? In my good Magnus? Delightful!

Also love how the voices transition from very computerized into very human, great performances.