Magnus Archives Analysis

[writerkit]

Hey, Magnus Archives fans! I found these pretty cool essays on the internet:

https://findingfeather.tumblr.com/post/616763211741626368/so-the-tma-season-4-wait-wait-theres-more-jon
https://findingfeather.tumblr.com/post/616846833452548096/nerdytshirts-findingfeather-so-the-tma

They're basically all about trauma and how trauma is portrayed and how everyone behaves incredibly terribly in season four because they are extremely traumatized, which is... well, REALLY VERY ACCURATE and the show is doing this thing where it's portraying the effects of everyone suffering from trauma incredibly well without any self-consciousness about that fact (I mean, sure, Jonny wrote this into the show very consciously but he's just *portraying* it, not getting all head-fussed about it), which means it's all there but it blends so well no one really thinks about it too hard or discusses it much except to go "Y'all are BEHAVING BADLY" at various points in time.

Go read! Come back here to discuss if you're so inclined!

Comments

[schneefink]

Thanks for the links! They're very good essays, and I hadn't seen the second one yet.

I also really liked the one they linked at the top about Jon's captivity by Nikola, because somehow I'd not paid enough attention to the fact that it was one month. I originally guessed that it was shorter than that and that Jon just lost a lot of time in Helen's corridors, like when Martin and Tim were in Michael's corridors it felt like several days to them when I don't think it could have been more than a few hours, but we don't know that.

In these two I especially liked the parts about Georgie, probably because she's the one where I've most often seen people excuse her actions but I found it harder to put into words why I disagreed.

I also think it gives good background to why Jon and Martin seem so relatively not-wrecked in the middle of the apocalypse. What's a little additional trauma?, at least they have each other now and it can't get much worse.

My favorite comment (I forgot where) was "regardless of how it ends, TMA is already a tragedy."

[writerkit]

They also have *more* control of their situation now-- witness Jon killing Not-Sasha. He's fully come into his power now, enough that he can confidently say (in honestly a really scary-fierce tone) "I won't let it" in response to the question of whether the apocalypse wants to eat Martin.

I was getting really jumpy about everybody's behavior throughout seasons 3 and 4 because they all kept blaming Jon for it and it wasn't Jon's fault-- though I do really love (in a "look at what all this has done to you" way) his tone when he's in America and gets kidnapped. He's just like "Kidnapped. Again." in the most resigned tone ever.