Martin is probably the only thing keeping Jon even _remotely_ tethered to what remains of his humanity, and that's beautiful and meaningful, and all that, but it's also.... Kinda really funny how it's handled. Because it's like: "No, Jon, suffering isn't funny" "oh. Well, if you say so" Like??? "No, honey, my love, who is basically a demi-god in this world, I do _not_ want to 'enjoy the show', because it's very much not enjoyable" And for Jon to just go like "oh shit me, you right, you right" Like??? I dunno, I just love those relationships between a human and very-much-not-a-human where the human has to point out very obvious things that the non-human forgot/doesn't know are non-human things
It just sounds like how people who have become numbed to trauma talk about trauma. When their friends try to snap them out of their unhealthy behaviors and go "that's not normal," and they just go "oh... guess it isn't. yeah okay then." It makes sense, given Jon is basically an avatar for trauma. Although I think he's still human. What makes someone human isn't their physical abilities or the fact they're immortal or not, it's that they still care. And jon is definitely still human in that regard. :)
@@bugjamsYeah, I’ve been repeatedly struck by the idea that avatars are mostly just people with unusual traumas and addictions. They’re not GOOD people, usually, but that wasn’t an option anyway.
The parallels between the emotional manipulation of "it's just a phase" and "you never smile when you're sober" and the physical manipulation of the puppet strings to take Francis away from the non-binary, sober self that they worked so hard to become... God this hurts. I want Francis to get out of this. I want them to be okay.
So Martin definitely is an unwilling agent of the web, right? The spider affinity, the spider lighter, the manipulating peter lukas and even elias to a point, the "burns are my least favorite pain" when the desolation is the only thing so far that has been shown to hurt the web, the annabelle phone calls... Also, congrats on being the most efficient anti-addiction program ever made!
Yeah, and thinking back to when Martin was burning the pages. It sounded like he was still holding them as they were burning. Then throw them into the bin when I guess they were mostly burned. I would imagine he would try to set it on fire as far way from himself as possible.
There's so much to be said about this episode, but something I didn't see mentioned was Francis' mom going "I'm sure you'll grow out of it, we're just trying to help." Whoo boy, that got my hackles raised in a hurry.
@@vera-whatsurdiscord diversity win! the gut wrenching soul crushing tragedy horror podcast is filled to the brim with lgbtq+ characters all suffering equally! (I love this show so much)
I always used to think of addiction and wanting as two completely separate things, that addiction is where you don't even want it but can't bring yourself to stop, and that if you want it, you can just stop. Lately though I've been getting a very hands-on lesson in how wanting something too much to stop and not feeling like there's a problem IS the first stage of the road to full-blown "Someone stop me, I cannot control myself" addiction. "I'm not addicted," you'll say, "I can stop any time I want." "No, really," you'll say, "I know everyone says that, but I actually could, I'm choosing to do it because it helps." Then comes the next day when you really feel like it would help. "I'm not addicted though," you tell yourself, "I've just had a bad day. I could leave it if I wanted, but I need something to take the edge off." Then comes the fifth, sixth, seventh day in a row. "Okay, I know how this looks, and I admit it might be getting a bit excessive, but if I don't take it I just feel depressed." You see the eyebrow raised at you. Don't you see how needing it or you feel depressed isn't healthy? "Okay, granted, it's not exactly a HEALTHY relationship with it, but this substance isn't even addictive. As soon as my mental health improves, I'll stop." Four, five, six months later. "I only take it because I don't know what else to do with myself otherwise. I get home and try playing video games, but they're just not fun anymore. It's either this or just lie there feeling sad, and that's really bad for me." Then comes the time you have too much and have such an awful experience you nearly kill yourself. "I'm not going to stop it though, I need it, I don't know what I'd do without it." Aha! There it is! Surely NOW you can see that it's an addiction! "No, it's not an addiction. I still want it. I still like it. I could stop if I wanted to, but I choose not to, BECAUSE I need it." But it nearly killed you?! "I'll be more careful in the future, but it's worth it. My life is so empty and joyless without it." Eventually you decide it's time to stop. "See? I told you it's not an addiction. I said I could stop any time I want, and now I'm stopping." Then the next day, as you get home from work. "I know I said I wouldn't do it, but... I REALLY want it... and surely just ONE little cheat day isn't going to hurt. After all, I'm still CHOOSING to do this. I can stop any time I want. I DID stop, this is just a blip. Not even a blip, a craving, a hunger pang. I could have totally resisted if I'd wanted to, I just like it." It isn't even the compulsion that hurts. It's the knowledge that as genuine as my continued use feels, I can never know, and am probably wrong. It's knowing that when I use, I'm probably giving in to a compulsion that I'm just rationalising as my own choice. It's the knowledge that if I wanted to stop, I probably couldn't. It's the knowledge that I've already decided to cut back on several occasions, and just fallen back into it, always telling myself it was my choice. It's the knowledge that the highs aren't as high anymore, and the lows have got so much lower, and that I miss the highs enough to risk it. It's the knowledge that even when I know all this, my life just feels so much worse when I don't use, and that always, ALWAYS results in me thinking "You know what? Fuck it." It's the knowledge that even if all my rationalisation is right, and I'm not actually addicted, that doesn't change the fact that I am going to continue to use, because being addicted doesn't feel bad, but being sober does. It's the knowledge that I'm fully aware of where this pattern eventually leads, but I just don't want to stop, and I know that one day I'll look back on my present self and scorn him for an idiot that sentenced future me to suffer as I eventually will. But I'm not addicted, I swear. I can stop any time I want.
@sheolcodemonkey4027 This is what antidepressants are for. Much better to have something always taking the edge off than a temporary rush. Still technically addictive, but much easier to stop once you have a good replacement for it. When you know that a pill won't give you any effect for 2 weeks because you've been off it too long, it's a lot less tempting to take one. You learn to deal with the anxiety because there isn't another option. I mean, okay, there's the final option, but even thinking about it makes you feel self conscious and it's not THAT bad yet... and it would be so inconvenient for everyone else... no, best to just try and remember what it was like with the meds and coast like before. (I haven't actually stopped taking meds yet, but I'm working up to it, and there was a period of two weeks switching meds where I had to deal with the above).
I remember when I was first struggling with addiction, before I knew how to look for communities struggling through the same thing I was, the phrase "I don't want to want it" was how I described my experience. I just came up with it on my own. I don't say that to brag, but just to point out that this is a very relatable quote because it touches on something really basic about the experience. Good writing.
"pause for laughter"...while the audience laughs at any emotion francis expresses AND laughs at francis's attempts to escape what they're going through is a very horrifying but real thing. i agree, this one cut deep.
I just had a thought. It seems like Jon's been becoming even more desensitized to the suffering of others and it seems like he's been enjoying getting revenge more and more. What if this is what Elias wants? Like, what if he wants Jon to go through all the fears and become used to all his powers and become even less human? So that when he reaches Elias, he won't even want to stop him.
The litany against fear from Dune is what I think of I must not fear. Fear is the mind-killer. Fear is the little-death that brings total obliteration. I will face my fear. I will permit it to pass over me and through me. And when it has gone past I will turn the inner eye to see its path. Where the fear has gone there will be nothing. Only I will remain.
the audience laughing on cue with the "script" really adds another side of "no ones in control" to this. also, francis being described by they/them only makes me really happy for some reason haha
I'm scared for Martin. He is not well. Especially since the burning house. I'm not sure if he trusts John anymore. And more important, I can't be sure if John notice or care about this.
Everyone's talking about the NB character and I'm just here, squirming in my skin, hearing the spiders skittering around as they burst from The Web's Abdomen.
I really like how this season has connected the fears with their most grounded versions like web manipulative parents, buried debt and Desolation landlords
Besides the absolutely wonderful storytelling, my favorite part of this show is that the actually make an effort to have representation. Even if said representation is a puppet for the web lol
somehow a detailed description of somebody's lungs filling with spiders is the least disturbing part of this episode! 16:54 is where the "statement" ends if it's too intense
idk how many people are still holding on to this theory, but i remember back when season 4 was airing some folks were so sure that the web could be an ally and insisting it wanted to help and i couldn't understand. the same web that manifested in children's books to eat them? the same web that preyed on teens in foster homes and homeless folks in shelters? as much as i love to speculate about how much the web's manipulation has influenced the events of tma, i hate knowing that line of question is exactly what the web wants. but yeah, this spider's gleeful victim blaming bullshit is directed as much at jon as it is at poor francis and it makes me very sad. the cult of the lightless flame were by and large a bunch of dipshits who couldn't agree on appropriate iconography and refused to learn how to raise a baby, but at least they knew enough to ruin the web's day any chance they got.
I started thinking that the Web was tied to general storytelling and maybe even the plot drama of this story as a whole. I make it sound too simple, perhaps, but in a way, that would still make it very sinister. Most if not all authors agree that a good story *needs* bad things to happen. Good things can and possibly need to happen as well, but something has to go wrong. For example, they did kind of push Jon into this whole situation as a child, providing him with a personal inciting incident. I'm not meaning to justify The Web, and I'm probably wrong. Either way, I can't deny, the Web is very bad news.
The only thing that "reassure" me is that the Web is still playing its game. The eyepocalypse was not the finallity it wanted. So maybe we still have a change. If the Web is still trying to influence your actions, it means your actions have consequences.
We could have stopped listening at any time, we could have stopped observing this tragedy which would have prevented these characters from moving forward
@@someoneawesome8717 people who stopped listening to the podcast altogether after "obviously i'm going to tell you if i see any good cows" are the greatest heroes.
Does anyone else think Elias might be upset that everyone seems to blame JON for the apocalypse? Like Dude spends 200 years planning and orchestrating this, and everyone gives credit to the poor bastard who just happened to be the tool used to make it happen. It’s like giving a speeding ticket to the car instead of the driver. I don’t even know if Jon could’ve stopped Elias even IF he’d known. What could he do? Worst case, Elias kills him and finds another archivist to manipulate. There was honestly no way out of this except by killing Elias, and by the time they figured that out it was too late
I think I’ve finally found the statement that hurt me in a truly personal way. Martin being stuck in the house and forgetting people was upsetting, of course, but I’ve never forgotten things to that degree… and I was mostly just sad for Martin and Jon. This one… the sensation of being on a stage like an actor, being used for the entertainment of others, the awful feeling of addiction, the family going “we just want to help you, you’ll grow out of it,” the “lover” offstage enticing you to do things you don’t want to do… taking so many steps forward only to be dragged back. Well played Jonny Sims, you finally got me
@@ianbirchfield5124 likely bc of hte subtext bc of the mc is nonbinary -- "you'll grow out of it", "useless piece of shit" etc. etc. matches a lot of common transphobic phrases
Maybe I'm reading too much into it but when the spider talked about being controlled itself I wondered if it really enjoys/wants all of this. It was said before that the Web wasn't interested in any rituals, maybe it wants the world back to normal? Maybe that's why they send Jon to the Institut. Elias was gonna succeed sooner or later so they could at least give him an Archivist that they have control over when it happens
The implied Transphobia hit me like a truck, as a trans person who has felt and heard those things it caught me off guard and I was like "Ayo?" I full on had to do a re-take, but actually this show never fails to impress me. Lately these episodes have been hitting very close to home, shout out to the writers who managed to encompass the fear stuff it's so horribly perfect
i have loved the stories with the web, and the casual they/them rep is very well appreciated. but gAH SPIDERS. i don't even hate spiders??? they just give me the heebies. also another one of those Very Real episodes, for me. still amazed at how well these are written.
"You who watch and know and understand none. You who listen and hear and will not comprehend" - Jon MAG 160 Idk this line stuck with me. And what Jon was saying in 19:30 - 20:10 reminded me of it. If the eye watches, then the spider weaves a story.
[EXT. A WEB DOMAIN] [TAPE CLICKS ON.] [FOOTSTEPS.] [THERE’S A SLIGHT COMMOTION IN THE BACKGROUND - SOUNDS LIKE THE CHATTERING OF AN AUDIENCE.] [THEN A BRUSH OF FABRIC, AND THE FOOTSTEPS STOP. THE BAGS JINGLE.] ARCHIVIST Ah, hold up. Uh, I, I need to, um… MARTIN Now? Seriously? We’re almost out of here. [THE ARCHIVIST SIGHS.] ARCHIVIST (kinda breathy) I’m sorry. Not really up to me. MARTIN Fine. [HE SIGHS.] ARCHIVIST If you’re bored, you could always… take in a show. MARTIN That’s - That’s not funny, John. ARCHIVIST If you say so. MARTIN Just - Just give me a shout when you’re done. [AS HE SPEAKS, WE HEAR THE FABRIC SOUNDS OF THE BAG AND HIS MOVING AWAY.] ARCHIVIST Good. Right. (inhale) Ticket for one, then, I suppose. [IN THE BACKGROUND, SOME SORT OF ANNOUNCER IS SPEAKING:] ANNOUNCER (B.G.) Ladies and gentlemen, the performance is about to begin. Please take your seats. [THE AUDIENCE APPLAUDS.] ARCHIVIST (STATEMENT) (over applause) The Tragedy of Francis: A comic puppet show in all acts. [THE APPLAUSE PETERS OUT.] [NOTE: ALL “STAGE DIRECTIONS” AND “DIALOG” SHOWN IN BLOCKQUOTES BELOW ARE “READ” BY THE ARCHIVIST, AS IF HE IS HOLDING A COPY OF A SCRIPT. FRANCIS, THE SPIDER, AND THE PLAY’S OTHER “CHARACTERS” ALL SPEAK ONLY THROUGH HIS NARRATION. SOUND EFFECTS IN BRACKETS LIKE THIS - INCLUDING AUDIENCE LAUGHTER AND APPLAUSE - ARE ACTUAL AUDIBLE SOUND EFFECTS.] Act Forty-Eight Thousand and Sixty-Seven: A stage that is a room that remains a stage. The audience watches, drooling, expectant. A table stands in the middle with a single chair. On that table can be seen a bottle, cigarettes, paraphernalia of all shapes, sizes, and consumptions. From the space above the stage hang the hooks. They shift, gently, without the breeze, - [CREAKS.] - as eager and hungry as the patrons in the seats. Enter FRANCIS, stage left. They walk slowly, unsteadily. Every limb is shaking. FRANCIS, softly: “Please. Please god, not again. I don’t want it to happen again.” [LAUGHTER FROM THE AUDIENCE, BRIGHT AND IN OUR FACES THIS TIME. IT SOUNDS ALMOST CANNED, LIKE YOU WOULD HEAR ON A SITCOM.] Pause for laughter. THE SPIDER, offstage: “Then walk away, Francis, just turn and leave. All that is required is a little bit of willpower.” [THE CREAKING CONTINUES, SEEMINGLY DEPICTING SOMETHING, THOUGH IT’S NOT QUITE CLEAR WHAT YET.] “You have a little bit of willpower, don’t you?” FRANCIS begins to cry. They turn back towards the wings, keen to make their exit, but where they stood a moment before, there is now a dangling hook. It lunges at FRANCIS, digging into their leg, pushing through the flesh of their thigh. There is a thin trickle of blood. There is a thick shot of pain. FRANCIS’S FATHER, offstage: “Useless piece of shit. You need to grow up!” [THAT SAME AUDIENCE LAUGHTER.] Pause for laughter. [THE LAUGHTER GROWS LOUDER THIS TIME, EVEN CULMINATING IN A FEW CLAPS. THE AUDIENCE REALLY ENJOYED THAT ONE.] The hook lifts FRANCIS’s leg off the ground. They hop painfully, trying to escape, but the thread pulls tight, dragging them towards the table. THE SPIDER, offstage: “What a funny little dance, Francis. Such a funny dance.” FRANCIS simply screams in response. It is a scream of anger as much as it is of pain, and it cannot hide the dreadful inevitability they feel. The dull terror that this act will end like all the others. In their thrashing jig they stumble into another hanging hook. [WE HEAR SAID HOOK HIT FRANCIS’S FLESH WITH A THWIP!] [FROM NOW ON, WHENEVER THE HOOKS ARE DIRECTED TO DO SOMETHING IN THE PLAY, WE HEAR THEM DO IT AS WELL.] It burrows into their wrist with a noise of triumph. FRANCIS’S MOTHER, offstage: “I just worry about you, dear; that’s all. We want what’s best for you, even if you can’t see it. I’m sure you’ll grow out of it.” Between the two silk strings, FRANCIS dangles, eyes darting wildly about. FRANCIS: “Why are you doing this?” THE SPIDER’s giggle echoes around the stage. [AUDIENCE LAUGHTER.] Pause for laughter. THE SPIDER twists the string, alternating which of the two lines is taut, causing FRANCIS to whirl and pivot towards the table. Its bulbous, distended abdomen can now begin to be seen protruding from above the curtains that fringe the stage. FRANCIS goes limp, briefly allowing THE SPIDER to guide their movements smoothly. THE SPIDER: “Good, Francis. Good.” Without warning, FRANCIS kicks their free leg against the table. It does not move. It is part of the tableau. The force of the motion sends them staggering backwards; another hook brushes their cheek and takes its chance, ripping through the corner of their mouth and pulling it up into a grimace. RYAN, a friend, offstage: “You never smile when you’re clean, did you know that? I mean, what have you got to be so sad about? Honestly. You do make it hard sometimes. I don’t know.” FRANCIS tries to respond, but the hook in their mouth pulls tight, and their lips curve upwards, distorting the words. FRANCIS: “Shut up!” [AUDIENCE LAUGHTER.] Pause for laughter. FRANCIS tries to use their free hand to pull the razored metal barb from their mouth, but THE SPIDER reaches down a leg and pulls, hoisting its victim up by their face. The agonizing motion is too sudden to even give them time to scream, and their free leg kicks out, impotently into the air. It hits against another hook, which penetrates their worn and weary boots with ease, digging up through the sole and out through the back of the ankle. CHRISTIE, a lover, offstage: “Come on…! Helps me get in the mood, you know? Just a nice thing to do together. Makes me feel close to you.” As it lowers them back to the ground, FRANCIS tries again to curse at THE SPIDER. To tell it it has no right to these voices, to leave all of them out of this. But the pain of the hooks travels up and down their veins in thin lines of needling torment and robs them of their voice. THE SPIDER leans closer. Its grinning face and quivering mandibles can now be seen; its abdomen throbs with anticipation. THE SPIDER: “Oh, but I did not bring them. I did not write their lines in your little farce. You are the one that brought them. You devised the steps of this dance; I am simply here to… help you through them, when you forget.” (beat) “Oh, watch out!” THE SPIDER pulls abruptly on the threads hooked into FRANCIS’s legs, and they tumble forward, faceplanting in a nasty-looking pratfall. [AUDIENCE LAUGHTER.]
Pause for laughter. FRANCIS’s free hand hits at the wooden floor of the stage weakly. It is unclear whether they hope to achieve something or if it is just an expression of despair. The hook in their cheek pulls tight enough to form a grim smile of sorts. FRANCIS: “What do you want?” THE SPIDER: “The same thing I always want, Francis, every time we do this dance, every single act of our - hilarious production. I want what you want, deep, deep down in the hidden bit of you you’ve tried so hard to kill. You can’t wait for the dance to conclude.” FRANCIS: “I don’t want that anymore. It’s different now; I’m different now. I’ve worked so hard.” THE SPIDER: “I don’t care.” The strings all go taut at once, yanking the weakly protesting Francis to their feet. [THE SWEET STRAINS OF A MUSIC BOX KICK IN.] They are dragged, back and forth and around in a series of clumsy motions that, in another time, in another place, might have been a waltz. But a waltz has a partner. FRANCIS only has a desire, an itch in their bones that flows into them, drip by oily drip, down the glistening strands that suspend them, guide them, hold them. A desire which injects itself through razor-sharp hooks and pools inside their stomach. They don’t want to want it, but… [AUDIENCE LAUGHTER.] Pause for laughter. [THE MUSIC BOX MUSIC ENDS.] THE SPIDER: “A fine dance, Francis; that last measure I barely plucked the strings. Now come. Sit down. It’s time for a break. I know how much you’ve been looking forward to it.” [A CREAKING TWIST OF THE HOOKS.] THE SPIDER is almost fully descended now; its bulk eclipses everything above FRANCIS’s head and it swells with joy and amusement. FRANCIS: “Please. Let me go. Just let me go.” THE SPIDER: “Oh, Francis. It’s such a shame that I couldn’t do such a thing even if I wanted to. The man in the audience saw to that. (laugh) I am no more free than you are, little puppet. Ah! If only you could see the strings that bind me, that wind together as they pull me along my own path. Perhaps then you would not blame me so. But they are not the tripping threads we are here to watch, no. So sit, Francis. It’s time.” Another tug of the hooks stretches the skin as FRANCIS staggers towards the table. The blood flows faster, so dark it is almost black. Their chest rises and falls rapidly as they are lowered into the only seat, the dusty air of the theater scratching their throat and drying their mouth. There is the taste of tin, growing stronger. The hits are all arranged before them, spread across the table in a cornucopia of promised oblivions, releases, and delights. FRANCIS feels the hooks tighten as they look upon the offering. That deepest want bubbles up to the surface, but at its core there is still that mute fear, that anticipation of what surrender will bring. There is no escape to be found here, no respite from the charade that is now found to be the sum of FRANCIS’s existence. By now, FRANCIS knows with utter clarity what falling to the call will bring, the awful crawling fate that they will endure before the next act eventually begins. The syringe vibrates, almost imperceptibly, as the dark mass of legs and tiny, glittering eyes that sit within it shifts in anticipation. The cork of the bottle moves ever so slightly proud of the top, pushed by the unfurling thing inside. The cigarette scuttles closer, inch by impatient inch. Their longing is awful. And mutual. Pause. FRANCIS: “I don’t want it. Any of it.” THE SPIDER does not reply. Staring over the table, a memory now tugs at FRANCIS, the faintest residue of an earlier time, when the things before them would have brought a genuine joy to their heart and even a temporary peace. A time when the hunger was sharp and real, not this dull, unending ache that does nothing but propel them towards one grotesque act of consumption after another, but - For all their keen awareness of what it might mean to do so, FRANCIS cannot deny the want THE SPIDER has gifted them. They resist. They sit oh-so-very still and keep their hands held tight to their chest. FRANCIS: “No. Not this time. I won’t.” [AUDIENCE LAUGHTER.] Pause for laughter. FRANCIS looks up at THE SPIDER, so close now the thick drippings of its jaws fall onto their shoulders in a sticky stream. It says nothing, but a hook leaps from the darkness backstage, fastening itself into the soft skin at the back of FRANCIS’s free hand. FRANCIS, offstage: “You don’t get it, like - it’s my decision. I know what I’m doing; just - can we stop talking about it, please? It’s fine, i-it just. Helps. It helps.” FRANCIS’s whole body shudders at the sound of their own voice, as the hook pulls their arm forward, across the table. FRANCIS: “No. No!” Their hand closes on the bottle, which shifts and chitters with delight as FRANCIS, shaking, brings it close. THE SPIDER’s legs twitch and jerk as it shifts the doomed marionette’s strings. FRANCIS watches as their hand gently uncorks the bottle, and the first of the tiny crawling spiders begins to emerge - just as their mouth is yanked open by its hook and their arm upends the bottle. As FRANCIS feels the cascade crawl down their tongue and over their throat, they wonder just for a moment, whether this is better or worse than when they scuttle up into their veins, or down into their lungs. It is an impossible question, and quite, quite pointless. Above them, their tormentor cries out in exaltation as its abdomen ruptures, and the spiders within are joined by a rain of countless, tiny legs from above, covering them, embracing them. Drowning them. There is no unconsciousness here, no calm detachment or serene buzz. There is only - the arachnids. Biting. Scurrying. Consuming. And so it will be until the curtain descends at last and THE SPIDER resets the scene, its belly already beginning to swell once again with replacements for the creatures it so gorily birthed. [AUDIENCE LAUGHTER.] Pause for laughter. [THE AUDIENCE BEGINS TO APPLAUD, WITH REAL ENERGY THIS TIME - THIS IS PERFORMANCE-ENDING APPLAUSE, FINAL ENCORE APPLAUSE, THOUGH STILL DEFINITELY IN THE RANGE OF ‘POLITE’ AND NOT RAUCOUS.] And so the curtain descends. [THE AUDIENCE CONTINUES APPLAUDING. SOME MEMBERS ARE CHEERING.] The Tragedy of Francis: A comic puppet show in all acts. [THE AUDIENCE QUIETS. STATIC BEGINS TO KICK IN.] Act Forty-Eight Thousand and Sixty-Eight - [THERE’S A SORT OF VOICE IN THE BACKGROUND. IT SOUNDS KIND OF LIKE:] MARTIN (B.G.) (very faded, almost underwater) John? - A stage that is a room that remains a stage. MARTIN (B.G.) One is enough. [BUT THE ARCHIVIST KEEPS GOING.] - The audience - [MARTIN SLAPS HIM.]
ARCHIVIST (wh?) I - Oh - Wh, What? MARTIN (breathing heavy) Sorry. You were starting another, and I didn’t want to wait. We should get going. ARCHIVIST You - You were listening, I - I, I, I thought that - MARTIN No, I - Not for most of it. I just thought I heard - something. Whatever. I went exploring, alright? I don’t know why; I shouldn’t have. ARCHIVIST No, y,you shouldn’t have! MARTIN You know how many stages there are in this place, how many - little theatres? ARCHIVIST Yes. Yes I do. MARTIN Right, stupid question. ARCHIVIST Martin… MARTIN Well, let’s just say they have a full bill, alright? [IN THE BACKGROUND, AN ANNOUNCER REPEATS THE SHOW-STARTING ANNOUNCEMENT FROM EARLIER.] ARCHIVIST Martin. MARTIN What? ARCHIVIST Why did you go looking? MARTIN (fast) Can we just go, please? ARCHIVIST Of course. But… you were safe here. And after everything that’s already happened, I - I, I just don’t understand why you would… MARTIN (sudden burst) Me neither, okay! ARCHIVIST What? MARTIN (emotional) I mean, that’s it, isn’t it? I don’t know! I don’t know why I went exploring. ARCHIVIST (carefully) Are you saying you were… compelled? MARTIN I’m saying I don’t know, do I? (slight movement) I thought I was just curious; it felt like curiosity, but - given where we are, and with the Web everywhere, and Annabelle Cane still out there playing mind games with payphones, I just - (slight exhale) I mean, how d’you even know if it’s your motivation, you know? Being here - (sigh) I-It just makes me second-guess all of it, and I - I don’t like it, it - really scares me. ARCHIVIST I, uh… MARTIN Oh, don’t say that’s what it wants; I know. ARCHIVIST I - I wasn’t going to. [BEAT.] [IN THE BACKGROUND, THE ANNOUNCER STARTS UP AGAIN.] MARTIN Okay. Right. ARCHIVIST I was going to suggest that I could… maybe… Know. I could look. Just a quick peek, to, to see if it was just curiosity or - something else. (beat) Well? MARTIN I don’t - [HE BREAKS OFF, TRIES AGAIN:] MARTIN If you look, and I was - influenced, then how can I trust anything else? How can I believe any of my thoughts and feelings are really mine? ARCHIVIST (struggles a bit) Uh - Well - I, I’ll still be here to check. I’m not leaving you. MARTIN Sure, but you’d be looking through the details of everything that ever crosses my mind? I don’t want that - y,you know I don’t want that. ARCHIVIST I know. [PAUSE. SOME CLOTHING SOUNDS, MOVEMENT.] ARCHIVIST Don’t do this to yourself, Martin. This is what it wants, the, the paranoia. (inhale) Trust me, I, I know. MARTIN Fair. [A SILENCE.] MARTIN (exhale) John, what does the Web want? It’s - I mean, we know it’s got a plan; can’t you just - see what it is? [THE ARCHIVIST SIGHS THE SIGH OF SOMEONE WHO’S GOT TO TRY AND EXPLAIN SOMETHING TO WHICH THEY ALREADY KNOW THE ANSWER’S NOT SATISFACTORY.] ARCHIVIST Knowing… Seeing… i,it’s not the same thing as… understanding. Every time I try to know what the Web’s plan is, if it can even be called a plan, I see a hundred thousand events and causes and links, an impossibly intricate - (announcer starts up again) - pattern of consequences and subtle nudges, but I, I can’t - I can’t hold them all in my head at the same time. There’s no way to see the whole, the, the point of it all. I can see all the details, but it doesn’t - provide - context or - (small sigh) Intention. I suppose the Web doesn’t work in Knowledge, not in the same way. MARTIN Oh. Right. ARCHIVIST Sorry. [MOVEMENT.] MARTIN And Annabelle? ARCHIVIST Still can’t see her. If it wasn’t for the phone call - (sigh) - I’d have said she was probably already dead. MARTIN (sigh) Yeah. [BEAT.] ARCHIVIST So… (inhale) Do you want me to? To tell you, if…? MARTIN No. (small sigh) No, I’ll just have to live with it, I guess. Hardly the worst thing I’ll have gone through since - (cutting himself off) I - um. It’s fine. [HEAVY EXHALE.] ARCHIVIST Would you like to leave now? [A BIT OF THE BAGS JINGLE.] [THE AUDIENCE LAUGHTER SURGES IN THE BACKGROUND.] MARTIN (…decisive) Yeah, screw this place. Never liked the theatre anyway. [TAPE CLICKS OFF.]
So I did the math, on how long this has been happening. Jon says that it's act 48,067 at 2:00. The entire "performance" is 16.58 minutes long. Multiply them together and this has been happening for about 796,950.86 minutes. Do some more math and that comes to just over 1.5 years. I know that time and space is pretty much useless now, but its a chilling thought. Also, I forgot if anything like this is talked about toward the end. This could be completely wrong.
the comment is funny but the spider is not phobic-anything, it wants to take all your doutbs, vices, temptations, and uncertainty and juice as much fear out of you as it possibly can using these traits. if your enby, and got fears related to things in your life caused by who you are, the web will use that ammo. its why the flesh preys on those with body dysmorphia, it isn't "abliest" it isnt even sentient. a parasite isnt racist for feeding on a minority, its a leech that needs to be expunged
I love how this season is literally about an apocalyptic end of the world caused by paranormal entities, but most of the statements are now metaphors and psychological horror
Apparently, this episode hit hard for many trans/nb folks, but I'm surprised i dont see many comments from people struggling with addiction. This is the first episode that has left me feeling awful inside. The hollow reassurance from family and friends. The hard work that never seems to pay off. The desire to believe you've changed, only to have everything fall apart. Fuck, man
This is the first time I’ve listened to this episode sober. The ache is still thre, but now I have friends, hobbies, and a life that’s worth being present for. It’s hard, but you can get out of this. You can get better and use what you learned from this to help others.
God, the Web always gives me the heebie-jeebies! I’ve always had pretty bad arachnophobia, and while I’ve gotten better about it over the years, I still can’t handle spiders in multitudes. This episode was fuckin’ ROUGH, and wasn’t any easier the second time around. 😖 But damn is it still a well done episode! Bravo! 😁
The Golden Orb Weaver has a lovely golden thread so strong and shinny you do not notice the lesser web gathering around your feet. Look out my travellers.
"i never liked this place anyway" thats possibly true but id like to believe the web just made him think that bc they were inviting him out. and once he walks out hes like "wait but i Love theatre!?"
Does anyone else notice the amazing fact that the Non-binary character is afraid of the Web? Like, the power who uses coding and technology and binary.
So I'm not non-binary, but I have been dealing with mental illness, the behavioural impacts of trauma, and substance abuse, particularly recently, and this was... rough. The Web as a metaphor for the algorithms of one's mind is really something
Something I really like about going to these different fear places is that it’s making me think differently about the fears, and revealing an aspect of them that I never thought about before. Like of course addiction would be under the web, that makes so much sense!
Martin potentially being drawn into a Web domain, given what we learn in 197, is very interesting indeed. Maybe it was the Web trying to pull him in and he resisted, maybe it really was just curiosity the whole time. Either Martin doesn't like physical theatres or he doesn't like the medium while Jon IS theatre incarnate.
Jon and martin in every episode Jon: Are you actually asking me that question? I'm genuinely asking because I can't tell-- do do you want me to? I can count them out Martin: No no no Jon: seven thousand four hundred thirty-- your just so Litteral I can't tell
Diversity Win! The Victim Of Endless Torture As A Cruel Pantomime Of Their Wretched Life At The Hands Of The Great Spider God Who Sits In The Great Web That Spans Creation Is Non-Binary!
Do you ever just feel like a puppet on a string. Doing the same stage play over and over again against your own will. Suffering through similar events on repeat until the end
No. The notion that real life events repeat is a mental distortion. No matter how similar, the complexity of reality means there are differences everywhere. You have to be rational and acknowledge them.
Wow, this one was hard to listen to, but I feel so validated in a sort of weird way to have my fears acknowledged and validated. As a trans person, you get used to just being told you're overreacting - so to have it ACKNOWLEDGED IN A GOD DAMN HORROR PODCAST. I am so happy
I hate hate hate hate hate *hate* it when thr spider makes Francis drink the damn bottle. Ive been trying to lose weight for years but its difficult because i keep getting cravings for food and sugar and meat and it sucks. You spend a few weeks or months sticking to your diet, exercising and then you notice that your pants feel looser or that you can look down further and it feels great. You thrn get careless and then all it takes is one birthday party or new years dinner to get those cravings again and the next thing yiu know it all your progress is gone. Anyways, my point is that it really sucks when that happens. You just sit there thinking, 'am i ever going to reach my goal' or 'am i ever going to get out of this' and then you think 'never, im just going to be stuck like this forever' and the fact that the Spider is condemning Francis to this fate hits just a little too close to home
The Web is an evil monster, agonisingly dragging people back into addiction against their will but at least it respects people's pronouns so it's better than some people I know irl.
you've heard about the homophobic vase, now get ready for the transphobic spider
*queue laugh track*
AhHAAHhaahA
“Would you like milk, water, spiders, tea?”
“Spiders?”
“Spiders it is!”
“Oh wai-“
*But she had already began to pour him a brimming glass of spiders*
..pause for laughter
AHAHAHAAHA**
@@lettersviastars Perfect
*them
but yeah dgdgdg
Yummy
Homophobic Vase 2: Arachnic Boogaloo
happy pride month 🌈 🌈 🌈 lmao
GNSDFNSJHDGSJDH
Happy pride month 🎉🎉 🏳️🌈🏳️⚧️
Prid :) 🏳️🌈🏳️🌈🏳️🌈🏳️🌈🏳️🌈🏳️🌈🏳️🌈
🏳️🌈🏳️🌈🏳️🌈🏳️🌈🏳️🌈🏳️🌈🏳️🌈🏳️🌈🏳️🌈🏳️🌈🏳️⚧️🏳️⚧️🏳️⚧️🏳️⚧️🏳️⚧️🏳️⚧️🏳️⚧️🏳️⚧️🏳️⚧️🏳️⚧️
Martin is probably the only thing keeping Jon even _remotely_ tethered to what remains of his humanity, and that's beautiful and meaningful, and all that, but it's also.... Kinda really funny how it's handled.
Because it's like:
"No, Jon, suffering isn't funny"
"oh. Well, if you say so"
Like???
"No, honey, my love, who is basically a demi-god in this world, I do _not_ want to 'enjoy the show', because it's very much not enjoyable"
And for Jon to just go like "oh shit me, you right, you right"
Like??? I dunno, I just love those relationships between a human and very-much-not-a-human where the human has to point out very obvious things that the non-human forgot/doesn't know are non-human things
It just sounds like how people who have become numbed to trauma talk about trauma. When their friends try to snap them out of their unhealthy behaviors and go "that's not normal," and they just go "oh... guess it isn't. yeah okay then."
It makes sense, given Jon is basically an avatar for trauma. Although I think he's still human. What makes someone human isn't their physical abilities or the fact they're immortal or not, it's that they still care. And jon is definitely still human in that regard. :)
@@bugjamsYeah, I’ve been repeatedly struck by the idea that avatars are mostly just people with unusual traumas and addictions. They’re not GOOD people, usually, but that wasn’t an option anyway.
@@Kropothead Not much of a difference between an Avatar and a billionaire.
The only acceptable use of a laugh track
Martin Slap-Jon-to-his-senses Counter: 3
I remember the one before meeting Jude Perry and in this episode. What’s the other one?
@@goblinkid3664when he slapped Jon awake after he brought the weirdmaggedon I think
@@jainrosalinda7524 yeah'
The parallels between the emotional manipulation of "it's just a phase" and "you never smile when you're sober" and the physical manipulation of the puppet strings to take Francis away from the non-binary, sober self that they worked so hard to become... God this hurts. I want Francis to get out of this. I want them to be okay.
This an eldritch horror world I dont think they will be okay...
Same here
So Martin definitely is an unwilling agent of the web, right? The spider affinity, the spider lighter, the manipulating peter lukas and even elias to a point, the "burns are my least favorite pain" when the desolation is the only thing so far that has been shown to hurt the web, the annabelle phone calls...
Also, congrats on being the most efficient anti-addiction program ever made!
Yeah, and thinking back to when Martin was burning the pages. It sounded like he was still holding them as they were burning. Then throw them into the bin when I guess they were mostly burned.
I would imagine he would try to set it on fire as far way from himself as possible.
There's so much to be said about this episode, but something I didn't see mentioned was Francis' mom going "I'm sure you'll grow out of it, we're just trying to help." Whoo boy, that got my hackles raised in a hurry.
yeah the "just trying to help" hits hard
Okay but like fr it caught me so off guard and once I processed it I'm pretty sure I was ready to murder the mom
How nice of the elder god of judgment and exposed secrets to use its victims' preferred pronouns.
I imagine it just be like, nah im just curious dawg
I’m sure the reasoning is like that they do it because that is who a person is at their core and to really strike deep at fear
@@tonij-my9sp or maybe they are all allies 🏳️🌈🏳️🌈🏳️🌈 happy pride month eveyonep
@@vera-whatsurdiscord diversity win! the gut wrenching soul crushing tragedy horror podcast is filled to the brim with lgbtq+ characters all suffering equally! (I love this show so much)
@@irongiant5951 we love gay rights on this podcast! what do you think only the straights will suffer??
Man poor Francis,, "But I'm different now, I worked so hard!" That hit, :(
This episode cuts deep to anyone who's struggled with addiction
They don't _want_ to want it, but...
Pause for laughter
I always used to think of addiction and wanting as two completely separate things, that addiction is where you don't even want it but can't bring yourself to stop, and that if you want it, you can just stop. Lately though I've been getting a very hands-on lesson in how wanting something too much to stop and not feeling like there's a problem IS the first stage of the road to full-blown "Someone stop me, I cannot control myself" addiction.
"I'm not addicted," you'll say, "I can stop any time I want."
"No, really," you'll say, "I know everyone says that, but I actually could, I'm choosing to do it because it helps."
Then comes the next day when you really feel like it would help.
"I'm not addicted though," you tell yourself, "I've just had a bad day. I could leave it if I wanted, but I need something to take the edge off."
Then comes the fifth, sixth, seventh day in a row.
"Okay, I know how this looks, and I admit it might be getting a bit excessive, but if I don't take it I just feel depressed."
You see the eyebrow raised at you. Don't you see how needing it or you feel depressed isn't healthy?
"Okay, granted, it's not exactly a HEALTHY relationship with it, but this substance isn't even addictive. As soon as my mental health improves, I'll stop."
Four, five, six months later.
"I only take it because I don't know what else to do with myself otherwise. I get home and try playing video games, but they're just not fun anymore. It's either this or just lie there feeling sad, and that's really bad for me."
Then comes the time you have too much and have such an awful experience you nearly kill yourself.
"I'm not going to stop it though, I need it, I don't know what I'd do without it."
Aha! There it is! Surely NOW you can see that it's an addiction!
"No, it's not an addiction. I still want it. I still like it. I could stop if I wanted to, but I choose not to, BECAUSE I need it."
But it nearly killed you?!
"I'll be more careful in the future, but it's worth it. My life is so empty and joyless without it."
Eventually you decide it's time to stop.
"See? I told you it's not an addiction. I said I could stop any time I want, and now I'm stopping."
Then the next day, as you get home from work.
"I know I said I wouldn't do it, but... I REALLY want it... and surely just ONE little cheat day isn't going to hurt. After all, I'm still CHOOSING to do this. I can stop any time I want. I DID stop, this is just a blip. Not even a blip, a craving, a hunger pang. I could have totally resisted if I'd wanted to, I just like it."
It isn't even the compulsion that hurts. It's the knowledge that as genuine as my continued use feels, I can never know, and am probably wrong.
It's knowing that when I use, I'm probably giving in to a compulsion that I'm just rationalising as my own choice.
It's the knowledge that if I wanted to stop, I probably couldn't.
It's the knowledge that I've already decided to cut back on several occasions, and just fallen back into it, always telling myself it was my choice.
It's the knowledge that the highs aren't as high anymore, and the lows have got so much lower, and that I miss the highs enough to risk it.
It's the knowledge that even when I know all this, my life just feels so much worse when I don't use, and that always, ALWAYS results in me thinking "You know what? Fuck it."
It's the knowledge that even if all my rationalisation is right, and I'm not actually addicted, that doesn't change the fact that I am going to continue to use, because being addicted doesn't feel bad, but being sober does.
It's the knowledge that I'm fully aware of where this pattern eventually leads, but I just don't want to stop, and I know that one day I'll look back on my present self and scorn him for an idiot that sentenced future me to suffer as I eventually will.
But I'm not addicted, I swear. I can stop any time I want.
@sheolcodemonkey4027
This is what antidepressants are for. Much better to have something always taking the edge off than a temporary rush. Still technically addictive, but much easier to stop once you have a good replacement for it. When you know that a pill won't give you any effect for 2 weeks because you've been off it too long, it's a lot less tempting to take one. You learn to deal with the anxiety because there isn't another option. I mean, okay, there's the final option, but even thinking about it makes you feel self conscious and it's not THAT bad yet... and it would be so inconvenient for everyone else... no, best to just try and remember what it was like with the meds and coast like before. (I haven't actually stopped taking meds yet, but I'm working up to it, and there was a period of two weeks switching meds where I had to deal with the above).
I remember when I was first struggling with addiction, before I knew how to look for communities struggling through the same thing I was, the phrase "I don't want to want it" was how I described my experience. I just came up with it on my own. I don't say that to brag, but just to point out that this is a very relatable quote because it touches on something really basic about the experience. Good writing.
"pause for laughter"...while the audience laughs at any emotion francis expresses AND laughs at francis's attempts to escape what they're going through is a very horrifying but real thing. i agree, this one cut deep.
Diversity win: ever-watched victim of the Spider - Mother of Puppets, Spinner of Schemes, the Hidden Machination - uses they/them pronouns!
I just had a thought. It seems like Jon's been becoming even more desensitized to the suffering of others and it seems like he's been enjoying getting revenge more and more. What if this is what Elias wants? Like, what if he wants Jon to go through all the fears and become used to all his powers and become even less human? So that when he reaches Elias, he won't even want to stop him.
The litany against fear from Dune is what I think of
I must not fear.
Fear is the mind-killer.
Fear is the little-death that brings total obliteration.
I will face my fear.
I will permit it to pass over me and through me.
And when it has gone past I will turn the inner eye to see its path.
Where the fear has gone there will be nothing. Only I will remain.
as a non-binary with a crippling fear of spiders i am in awe yet terrified at the same time
They say there's an episode for everyone but man this one REALLY called you out, huh
The laugh track is a fantastic touch and even got me to laugh 😂
Sitcoms have done a number on the old grey matter
idk why it surprised me so much to hear that martin has never liked the theatre LMAOO
Same. Like yeah he apparently likes poetry but not theater?
I think its a gay joke.
i think for this entire episode i was just distracted by how francis is nonbinary
me, a nonbinery myself: ooh, they a them :)
🤝
lol same. You know you're starved for representation when you forget about the gut wrenching horror in your joy at hearing one (1) nb character
ikr and i've only recently been trying out the NB label + my *new* name is frances (not quite the same as francis but still) haha
They're just like me 🥺🥺
How many times is Martin going to slap Jon awake??
the audience laughing on cue with the "script" really adds another side of "no ones in control" to this.
also, francis being described by they/them only makes me really happy for some reason haha
i know the reason 👁
@@takeoats * fnaf creepy ambiance starts playing *
I'm scared for Martin. He is not well. Especially since the burning house. I'm not sure if he trusts John anymore. And more important, I can't be sure if John notice or care about this.
😢
I love how martin just smacks john like "no, nope, no more"
Adding this one to the list of episodes this season where the descriptions have made me physically cringe
yeah the hook sound every time they said a hook dug into francis' wrists was painful
Everyone's talking about the NB character and I'm just here, squirming in my skin, hearing the spiders skittering around as they burst from The Web's Abdomen.
I really like how this season has connected the fears with their most grounded versions like web manipulative parents, buried debt and Desolation landlords
Martin: I've never liked theater anyway
me a theater kid: 😶😔
I feel similar, Martin’s not helping my will for my oncoming tech week tomorrow. We’re doing Les miserables
Poor Francis,they deserve better
Besides the absolutely wonderful storytelling, my favorite part of this show is that the actually make an effort to have representation. Even if said representation is a puppet for the web lol
somehow a detailed description of somebody's lungs filling with spiders is the least disturbing part of this episode! 16:54 is where the "statement" ends if it's too intense
but what if we went on a date to the Great Spider Theatre to see people be humiliated & forced to relapse & feed on their fear/dread together ( .///.)
This is an interesting one, especially given Martin's affinity for spiders.
idk how many people are still holding on to this theory, but i remember back when season 4 was airing some folks were so sure that the web could be an ally and insisting it wanted to help and i couldn't understand. the same web that manifested in children's books to eat them? the same web that preyed on teens in foster homes and homeless folks in shelters? as much as i love to speculate about how much the web's manipulation has influenced the events of tma, i hate knowing that line of question is exactly what the web wants. but yeah, this spider's gleeful victim blaming bullshit is directed as much at jon as it is at poor francis and it makes me very sad. the cult of the lightless flame were by and large a bunch of dipshits who couldn't agree on appropriate iconography and refused to learn how to raise a baby, but at least they knew enough to ruin the web's day any chance they got.
I started thinking that the Web was tied to general storytelling and maybe even the plot drama of this story as a whole. I make it sound too simple, perhaps, but in a way, that would still make it very sinister. Most if not all authors agree that a good story *needs* bad things to happen. Good things can and possibly need to happen as well, but something has to go wrong. For example, they did kind of push Jon into this whole situation as a child, providing him with a personal inciting incident. I'm not meaning to justify The Web, and I'm probably wrong. Either way, I can't deny, the Web is very bad news.
The only thing that "reassure" me is that the Web is still playing its game. The eyepocalypse was not the finallity it wanted. So maybe we still have a change. If the Web is still trying to influence your actions, it means your actions have consequences.
We could have stopped listening at any time, we could have stopped observing this tragedy which would have prevented these characters from moving forward
@@someoneawesome8717 people who stopped listening to the podcast altogether after "obviously i'm going to tell you if i see any good cows" are the greatest heroes.
@@bridgetb.7965 And then we got hit with the hook of "Hello Jon"
Does anyone else think Elias might be upset that everyone seems to blame JON for the apocalypse? Like
Dude spends 200 years planning and orchestrating this, and everyone gives credit to the poor bastard who just happened to be the tool used to make it happen.
It’s like giving a speeding ticket to the car instead of the driver. I don’t even know if Jon could’ve stopped Elias even IF he’d known. What could he do?
Worst case, Elias kills him and finds another archivist to manipulate. There was honestly no way out of this except by killing Elias, and by the time they figured that out it was too late
4:34 The amount of times I’ve heard this line… it is no less painful to listen to. I stand with you Francis
I think I’ve finally found the statement that hurt me in a truly personal way. Martin being stuck in the house and forgetting people was upsetting, of course, but I’ve never forgotten things to that degree… and I was mostly just sad for Martin and Jon. This one… the sensation of being on a stage like an actor, being used for the entertainment of others, the awful feeling of addiction, the family going “we just want to help you, you’ll grow out of it,” the “lover” offstage enticing you to do things you don’t want to do… taking so many steps forward only to be dragged back.
Well played Jonny Sims, you finally got me
I WILL CRY OVER THE TRANSPHOBIA PARTS BUT ALL TOGETHER THIS IS GORGEOUS
transphobia? because Jon refers to francis as "they"?
@@ianbirchfield5124 likely bc of hte subtext bc of the mc is nonbinary -- "you'll grow out of it", "useless piece of shit" etc. etc. matches a lot of common transphobic phrases
@beltaya exactly this!!!
@@beltaya276 i see. i've never even met a trans person, so i haven't got a clue what it's all about.
I don't think the comments of the voices refer to trannsphobia (although they could easily double as such) but to the drug addiction.
Maybe I'm reading too much into it but when the spider talked about being controlled itself I wondered if it really enjoys/wants all of this. It was said before that the Web wasn't interested in any rituals, maybe it wants the world back to normal? Maybe that's why they send Jon to the Institut. Elias was gonna succeed sooner or later so they could at least give him an Archivist that they have control over when it happens
This episode hit deep as a nb person with addiction issues and a past to go with it, and terrible arachnophobia
The implied Transphobia hit me like a truck, as a trans person who has felt and heard those things it caught me off guard and I was like "Ayo?" I full on had to do a re-take, but actually this show never fails to impress me. Lately these episodes have been hitting very close to home, shout out to the writers who managed to encompass the fear stuff it's so horribly perfect
i have loved the stories with the web, and the casual they/them rep is very well appreciated. but gAH SPIDERS. i don't even hate spiders??? they just give me the heebies.
also another one of those Very Real episodes, for me. still amazed at how well these are written.
As a nonbinary, hearing Francis struggles hurt. :( I want them to be saved but I know they're gone.
"Never liked theater anyway." OUCH! MARTIN WHY!?!
"You who watch and know and understand none. You who listen and hear and will not comprehend" - Jon MAG 160
Idk this line stuck with me. And what Jon was saying in 19:30 - 20:10 reminded me of it.
If the eye watches, then the spider weaves a story.
[EXT. A WEB DOMAIN]
[TAPE CLICKS ON.]
[FOOTSTEPS.]
[THERE’S A SLIGHT COMMOTION IN THE BACKGROUND - SOUNDS LIKE THE CHATTERING OF AN AUDIENCE.]
[THEN A BRUSH OF FABRIC, AND THE FOOTSTEPS STOP. THE BAGS JINGLE.]
ARCHIVIST
Ah, hold up. Uh, I, I need to, um…
MARTIN
Now? Seriously? We’re almost out of here.
[THE ARCHIVIST SIGHS.]
ARCHIVIST
(kinda breathy) I’m sorry. Not really up to me.
MARTIN
Fine.
[HE SIGHS.]
ARCHIVIST
If you’re bored, you could always… take in a show.
MARTIN
That’s - That’s not funny, John.
ARCHIVIST
If you say so.
MARTIN
Just - Just give me a shout when you’re done.
[AS HE SPEAKS, WE HEAR THE FABRIC SOUNDS OF THE BAG AND HIS MOVING AWAY.]
ARCHIVIST
Good. Right. (inhale) Ticket for one, then, I suppose.
[IN THE BACKGROUND, SOME SORT OF ANNOUNCER IS SPEAKING:]
ANNOUNCER (B.G.)
Ladies and gentlemen, the performance is about to begin. Please take your seats.
[THE AUDIENCE APPLAUDS.]
ARCHIVIST (STATEMENT)
(over applause) The Tragedy of Francis: A comic puppet show in all acts.
[THE APPLAUSE PETERS OUT.]
[NOTE: ALL “STAGE DIRECTIONS” AND “DIALOG” SHOWN IN BLOCKQUOTES BELOW ARE “READ” BY THE ARCHIVIST, AS IF HE IS HOLDING A COPY OF A SCRIPT. FRANCIS, THE SPIDER, AND THE PLAY’S OTHER “CHARACTERS” ALL SPEAK ONLY THROUGH HIS NARRATION. SOUND EFFECTS IN BRACKETS LIKE THIS - INCLUDING AUDIENCE LAUGHTER AND APPLAUSE - ARE ACTUAL AUDIBLE SOUND EFFECTS.]
Act Forty-Eight Thousand and Sixty-Seven:
A stage that is a room that remains a stage. The audience watches, drooling, expectant.
A table stands in the middle with a single chair. On that table can be seen a bottle, cigarettes, paraphernalia of all shapes, sizes, and consumptions.
From the space above the stage hang the hooks. They shift, gently, without the breeze, -
[CREAKS.]
- as eager and hungry as the patrons in the seats.
Enter FRANCIS, stage left. They walk slowly, unsteadily. Every limb is shaking.
FRANCIS, softly: “Please. Please god, not again. I don’t want it to happen again.”
[LAUGHTER FROM THE AUDIENCE, BRIGHT AND IN OUR FACES THIS TIME. IT SOUNDS ALMOST CANNED, LIKE YOU WOULD HEAR ON A SITCOM.]
Pause for laughter.
THE SPIDER, offstage: “Then walk away, Francis, just turn and leave. All that is required is a little bit of willpower.”
[THE CREAKING CONTINUES, SEEMINGLY DEPICTING SOMETHING, THOUGH IT’S NOT QUITE CLEAR WHAT YET.]
“You have a little bit of willpower, don’t you?”
FRANCIS begins to cry. They turn back towards the wings, keen to make their exit, but where they stood a moment before, there is now a dangling hook.
It lunges at FRANCIS, digging into their leg, pushing through the flesh of their thigh. There is a thin trickle of blood.
There is a thick shot of pain.
FRANCIS’S FATHER, offstage: “Useless piece of shit. You need to grow up!”
[THAT SAME AUDIENCE LAUGHTER.]
Pause for laughter.
[THE LAUGHTER GROWS LOUDER THIS TIME, EVEN CULMINATING IN A FEW CLAPS. THE AUDIENCE REALLY ENJOYED THAT ONE.]
The hook lifts FRANCIS’s leg off the ground. They hop painfully, trying to escape, but the thread pulls tight, dragging them towards the table.
THE SPIDER, offstage: “What a funny little dance, Francis. Such a funny dance.”
FRANCIS simply screams in response. It is a scream of anger as much as it is of pain, and it cannot hide the dreadful inevitability they feel. The dull terror that this act will end like all the others.
In their thrashing jig they stumble into another hanging hook.
[WE HEAR SAID HOOK HIT FRANCIS’S FLESH WITH A THWIP!]
[FROM NOW ON, WHENEVER THE HOOKS ARE DIRECTED TO DO SOMETHING IN THE PLAY, WE HEAR THEM DO IT AS WELL.]
It burrows into their wrist with a noise of triumph.
FRANCIS’S MOTHER, offstage: “I just worry about you, dear; that’s all. We want what’s best for you, even if you can’t see it. I’m sure you’ll grow out of it.”
Between the two silk strings, FRANCIS dangles, eyes darting wildly about.
FRANCIS: “Why are you doing this?”
THE SPIDER’s giggle echoes around the stage.
[AUDIENCE LAUGHTER.]
Pause for laughter.
THE SPIDER twists the string, alternating which of the two lines is taut, causing FRANCIS to whirl and pivot towards the table.
Its bulbous, distended abdomen can now begin to be seen protruding from above the curtains that fringe the stage.
FRANCIS goes limp, briefly allowing THE SPIDER to guide their movements smoothly.
THE SPIDER: “Good, Francis. Good.”
Without warning, FRANCIS kicks their free leg against the table. It does not move. It is part of the tableau.
The force of the motion sends them staggering backwards; another hook brushes their cheek and takes its chance, ripping through the corner of their mouth and pulling it up into a grimace.
RYAN, a friend, offstage: “You never smile when you’re clean, did you know that? I mean, what have you got to be so sad about? Honestly. You do make it hard sometimes. I don’t know.”
FRANCIS tries to respond, but the hook in their mouth pulls tight, and their lips curve upwards, distorting the words.
FRANCIS: “Shut up!”
[AUDIENCE LAUGHTER.]
Pause for laughter.
FRANCIS tries to use their free hand to pull the razored metal barb from their mouth, but THE SPIDER reaches down a leg and pulls, hoisting its victim up by their face.
The agonizing motion is too sudden to even give them time to scream, and their free leg kicks out, impotently into the air. It hits against another hook, which penetrates their worn and weary boots with ease, digging up through the sole and out through the back of the ankle.
CHRISTIE, a lover, offstage: “Come on…! Helps me get in the mood, you know? Just a nice thing to do together. Makes me feel close to you.”
As it lowers them back to the ground, FRANCIS tries again to curse at THE SPIDER. To tell it it has no right to these voices, to leave all of them out of this.
But the pain of the hooks travels up and down their veins in thin lines of needling torment and robs them of their voice.
THE SPIDER leans closer. Its grinning face and quivering mandibles can now be seen; its abdomen throbs with anticipation.
THE SPIDER: “Oh, but I did not bring them. I did not write their lines in your little farce. You are the one that brought them. You devised the steps of this dance; I am simply here to… help you through them, when you forget.” (beat) “Oh, watch out!”
THE SPIDER pulls abruptly on the threads hooked into FRANCIS’s legs, and they tumble forward, faceplanting in a nasty-looking pratfall.
[AUDIENCE LAUGHTER.]
Pause for laughter.
FRANCIS’s free hand hits at the wooden floor of the stage weakly. It is unclear whether they hope to achieve something or if it is just an expression of despair.
The hook in their cheek pulls tight enough to form a grim smile of sorts.
FRANCIS: “What do you want?”
THE SPIDER: “The same thing I always want, Francis, every time we do this dance, every single act of our - hilarious production. I want what you want, deep, deep down in the hidden bit of you you’ve tried so hard to kill. You can’t wait for the dance to conclude.”
FRANCIS: “I don’t want that anymore. It’s different now; I’m different now. I’ve worked so hard.”
THE SPIDER: “I don’t care.”
The strings all go taut at once, yanking the weakly protesting Francis to their feet.
[THE SWEET STRAINS OF A MUSIC BOX KICK IN.]
They are dragged, back and forth and around in a series of clumsy motions that, in another time, in another place, might have been a waltz.
But a waltz has a partner. FRANCIS only has a desire, an itch in their bones that flows into them, drip by oily drip, down the glistening strands that suspend them, guide them, hold them. A desire which injects itself through razor-sharp hooks and pools inside their stomach.
They don’t want to want it, but…
[AUDIENCE LAUGHTER.]
Pause for laughter.
[THE MUSIC BOX MUSIC ENDS.]
THE SPIDER: “A fine dance, Francis; that last measure I barely plucked the strings. Now come. Sit down. It’s time for a break. I know how much you’ve been looking forward to it.”
[A CREAKING TWIST OF THE HOOKS.]
THE SPIDER is almost fully descended now; its bulk eclipses everything above FRANCIS’s head and it swells with joy and amusement.
FRANCIS: “Please. Let me go. Just let me go.”
THE SPIDER: “Oh, Francis. It’s such a shame that I couldn’t do such a thing even if I wanted to. The man in the audience saw to that. (laugh) I am no more free than you are, little puppet. Ah! If only you could see the strings that bind me, that wind together as they pull me along my own path. Perhaps then you would not blame me so. But they are not the tripping threads we are here to watch, no. So sit, Francis. It’s time.”
Another tug of the hooks stretches the skin as FRANCIS staggers towards the table.
The blood flows faster, so dark it is almost black. Their chest rises and falls rapidly as they are lowered into the only seat, the dusty air of the theater scratching their throat and drying their mouth. There is the taste of tin, growing stronger.
The hits are all arranged before them, spread across the table in a cornucopia of promised oblivions, releases, and delights. FRANCIS feels the hooks tighten as they look upon the offering.
That deepest want bubbles up to the surface, but at its core there is still that mute fear, that anticipation of what surrender will bring.
There is no escape to be found here, no respite from the charade that is now found to be the sum of FRANCIS’s existence. By now, FRANCIS knows with utter clarity what falling to the call will bring, the awful crawling fate that they will endure before the next act eventually begins.
The syringe vibrates, almost imperceptibly, as the dark mass of legs and tiny, glittering eyes that sit within it shifts in anticipation. The cork of the bottle moves ever so slightly proud of the top, pushed by the unfurling thing inside. The cigarette scuttles closer, inch by impatient inch. Their longing is awful. And mutual.
Pause.
FRANCIS: “I don’t want it. Any of it.”
THE SPIDER does not reply.
Staring over the table, a memory now tugs at FRANCIS, the faintest residue of an earlier time, when the things before them would have brought a genuine joy to their heart and even a temporary peace. A time when the hunger was sharp and real, not this dull, unending ache that does nothing but propel them towards one grotesque act of consumption after another, but -
For all their keen awareness of what it might mean to do so, FRANCIS cannot deny the want THE SPIDER has gifted them.
They resist. They sit oh-so-very still and keep their hands held tight to their chest.
FRANCIS: “No. Not this time. I won’t.”
[AUDIENCE LAUGHTER.]
Pause for laughter.
FRANCIS looks up at THE SPIDER, so close now the thick drippings of its jaws fall onto their shoulders in a sticky stream. It says nothing, but a hook leaps from the darkness backstage, fastening itself into the soft skin at the back of FRANCIS’s free hand.
FRANCIS, offstage: “You don’t get it, like - it’s my decision. I know what I’m doing; just - can we stop talking about it, please? It’s fine, i-it just. Helps. It helps.”
FRANCIS’s whole body shudders at the sound of their own voice, as the hook pulls their arm forward, across the table.
FRANCIS: “No. No!”
Their hand closes on the bottle, which shifts and chitters with delight as FRANCIS, shaking, brings it close.
THE SPIDER’s legs twitch and jerk as it shifts the doomed marionette’s strings. FRANCIS watches as their hand gently uncorks the bottle, and the first of the tiny crawling spiders begins to emerge - just as their mouth is yanked open by its hook and their arm upends the bottle.
As FRANCIS feels the cascade crawl down their tongue and over their throat, they wonder just for a moment, whether this is better or worse than when they scuttle up into their veins, or down into their lungs.
It is an impossible question, and quite, quite pointless.
Above them, their tormentor cries out in exaltation as its abdomen ruptures, and the spiders within are joined by a rain of countless, tiny legs from above, covering them, embracing them. Drowning them.
There is no unconsciousness here, no calm detachment or serene buzz. There is only - the arachnids. Biting. Scurrying. Consuming.
And so it will be until the curtain descends at last and THE SPIDER resets the scene, its belly already beginning to swell once again with replacements for the creatures it so gorily birthed.
[AUDIENCE LAUGHTER.]
Pause for laughter.
[THE AUDIENCE BEGINS TO APPLAUD, WITH REAL ENERGY THIS TIME - THIS IS PERFORMANCE-ENDING APPLAUSE, FINAL ENCORE APPLAUSE, THOUGH STILL DEFINITELY IN THE RANGE OF ‘POLITE’ AND NOT RAUCOUS.]
And so the curtain descends.
[THE AUDIENCE CONTINUES APPLAUDING. SOME MEMBERS ARE CHEERING.]
The Tragedy of Francis: A comic puppet show in all acts.
[THE AUDIENCE QUIETS. STATIC BEGINS TO KICK IN.]
Act Forty-Eight Thousand and Sixty-Eight -
[THERE’S A SORT OF VOICE IN THE BACKGROUND. IT SOUNDS KIND OF LIKE:]
MARTIN (B.G.)
(very faded, almost underwater) John?
- A stage that is a room that remains a stage.
MARTIN (B.G.)
One is enough.
[BUT THE ARCHIVIST KEEPS GOING.]
- The audience -
[MARTIN SLAPS HIM.]
ARCHIVIST
(wh?) I - Oh - Wh, What?
MARTIN
(breathing heavy) Sorry. You were starting another, and I didn’t want to wait. We should get going.
ARCHIVIST
You - You were listening, I - I, I, I thought that -
MARTIN
No, I - Not for most of it. I just thought I heard - something. Whatever. I went exploring, alright? I don’t know why; I shouldn’t have.
ARCHIVIST
No, y,you shouldn’t have!
MARTIN
You know how many stages there are in this place, how many - little theatres?
ARCHIVIST
Yes. Yes I do.
MARTIN
Right, stupid question.
ARCHIVIST
Martin…
MARTIN
Well, let’s just say they have a full bill, alright?
[IN THE BACKGROUND, AN ANNOUNCER REPEATS THE SHOW-STARTING ANNOUNCEMENT FROM EARLIER.]
ARCHIVIST
Martin.
MARTIN
What?
ARCHIVIST
Why did you go looking?
MARTIN
(fast) Can we just go, please?
ARCHIVIST
Of course. But… you were safe here. And after everything that’s already happened, I - I, I just don’t understand why you would…
MARTIN
(sudden burst) Me neither, okay!
ARCHIVIST
What?
MARTIN
(emotional) I mean, that’s it, isn’t it? I don’t know! I don’t know why I went exploring.
ARCHIVIST
(carefully) Are you saying you were… compelled?
MARTIN
I’m saying I don’t know, do I? (slight movement) I thought I was just curious; it felt like curiosity, but - given where we are, and with the Web everywhere, and Annabelle Cane still out there playing mind games with payphones, I just - (slight exhale) I mean, how d’you even know if it’s your motivation, you know? Being here - (sigh) I-It just makes me second-guess all of it, and I - I don’t like it, it - really scares me.
ARCHIVIST
I, uh…
MARTIN
Oh, don’t say that’s what it wants; I know.
ARCHIVIST
I - I wasn’t going to.
[BEAT.]
[IN THE BACKGROUND, THE ANNOUNCER STARTS UP AGAIN.]
MARTIN
Okay. Right.
ARCHIVIST
I was going to suggest that I could… maybe… Know. I could look. Just a quick peek, to, to see if it was just curiosity or - something else. (beat) Well?
MARTIN
I don’t -
[HE BREAKS OFF, TRIES AGAIN:]
MARTIN
If you look, and I was - influenced, then how can I trust anything else? How can I believe any of my thoughts and feelings are really mine?
ARCHIVIST
(struggles a bit) Uh - Well - I, I’ll still be here to check. I’m not leaving you.
MARTIN
Sure, but you’d be looking through the details of everything that ever crosses my mind? I don’t want that - y,you know I don’t want that.
ARCHIVIST
I know.
[PAUSE. SOME CLOTHING SOUNDS, MOVEMENT.]
ARCHIVIST
Don’t do this to yourself, Martin. This is what it wants, the, the paranoia. (inhale) Trust me, I, I know.
MARTIN
Fair.
[A SILENCE.]
MARTIN
(exhale) John, what does the Web want? It’s - I mean, we know it’s got a plan; can’t you just - see what it is?
[THE ARCHIVIST SIGHS THE SIGH OF SOMEONE WHO’S GOT TO TRY AND EXPLAIN SOMETHING TO WHICH THEY ALREADY KNOW THE ANSWER’S NOT SATISFACTORY.]
ARCHIVIST
Knowing… Seeing… i,it’s not the same thing as… understanding. Every time I try to know what the Web’s plan is, if it can even be called a plan, I see a hundred thousand events and causes and links, an impossibly intricate - (announcer starts up again) - pattern of consequences and subtle nudges, but I, I can’t - I can’t hold them all in my head at the same time.
There’s no way to see the whole, the, the point of it all. I can see all the details, but it doesn’t - provide - context or - (small sigh) Intention.
I suppose the Web doesn’t work in Knowledge, not in the same way.
MARTIN
Oh. Right.
ARCHIVIST
Sorry.
[MOVEMENT.]
MARTIN
And Annabelle?
ARCHIVIST
Still can’t see her. If it wasn’t for the phone call - (sigh) - I’d have said she was probably already dead.
MARTIN
(sigh) Yeah.
[BEAT.]
ARCHIVIST
So… (inhale) Do you want me to? To tell you, if…?
MARTIN
No. (small sigh) No, I’ll just have to live with it, I guess. Hardly the worst thing I’ll have gone through since - (cutting himself off) I - um. It’s fine.
[HEAVY EXHALE.]
ARCHIVIST
Would you like to leave now?
[A BIT OF THE BAGS JINGLE.]
[THE AUDIENCE LAUGHTER SURGES IN THE BACKGROUND.]
MARTIN
(…decisive) Yeah, screw this place. Never liked the theatre anyway.
[TAPE CLICKS OFF.]
thank youuu
enby gang how we feeling
upset>:(
hooked
😭🕸️🕷️
living in Spain without the S-
deja vu
Ooo spider’s domain, the imagery in this is bloody amazing
Me, whose name is Francis, and uses they/them pronouns, starting this episode: *weird mix of elation and fear noises*
twin
rest in peace my friend you will not be unharmed
So I did the math, on how long this has been happening. Jon says that it's act 48,067 at 2:00. The entire "performance" is 16.58 minutes long. Multiply them together and this has been happening for about 796,950.86 minutes. Do some more math and that comes to just over 1.5 years. I know that time and space is pretty much useless now, but its a chilling thought.
Also, I forgot if anything like this is talked about toward the end. This could be completely wrong.
Bruh, I hope none of these people remember this shit if they survive
the spider is enbyphobic :/ /j
I wAS tHIiNkinG tHat
That's what the eye feeds on, it feeds on fear.
the comment is funny but the spider is not phobic-anything, it wants to take all your doutbs, vices, temptations, and uncertainty and juice as much fear out of you as it possibly can using these traits. if your enby, and got fears related to things in your life caused by who you are, the web will use that ammo. its why the flesh preys on those with body dysmorphia, it isn't "abliest" it isnt even sentient. a parasite isnt racist for feeding on a minority, its a leech that needs to be expunged
I love how this season is literally about an apocalyptic end of the world caused by paranormal entities, but most of the statements are now metaphors and psychological horror
Apparently, this episode hit hard for many trans/nb folks, but I'm surprised i dont see many comments from people struggling with addiction.
This is the first episode that has left me feeling awful inside. The hollow reassurance from family and friends. The hard work that never seems to pay off. The desire to believe you've changed, only to have everything fall apart.
Fuck, man
This is the first time I’ve listened to this episode sober. The ache is still thre, but now I have friends, hobbies, and a life that’s worth being present for.
It’s hard, but you can get out of this. You can get better and use what you learned from this to help others.
God, the Web always gives me the heebie-jeebies! I’ve always had pretty bad arachnophobia, and while I’ve gotten better about it over the years, I still can’t handle spiders in multitudes.
This episode was fuckin’ ROUGH, and wasn’t any easier the second time around. 😖
But damn is it still a well done episode! Bravo! 😁
Oghg this one hits so close to home
HAUNTED DOLL WATCH, BEEP BEEP BEEP BE BEEP
this one was one of the scariest one
fantastic imagery of the hooks and the stage
The Golden Orb Weaver has a lovely golden thread so strong and shinny you do not notice the lesser web gathering around your feet. Look out my travellers.
Is noone gonna talk about how Martin slaps John every time to make him shut up and listen to him? xD
"i never liked this place anyway" thats possibly true but id like to believe the web just made him think that bc they were inviting him out. and once he walks out hes like "wait but i Love theatre!?"
Does anyone else notice the amazing fact that the Non-binary character is afraid of the Web? Like, the power who uses coding and technology and binary.
They really put the “non” in the binary
Love how even though the web is a piece of shit dark god, it still respects peoples' pronouns
So I'm not non-binary, but I have been dealing with mental illness, the behavioural impacts of trauma, and substance abuse, particularly recently, and this was... rough. The Web as a metaphor for the algorithms of one's mind is really something
Hi Alex!
Something I really like about going to these different fear places is that it’s making me think differently about the fears, and revealing an aspect of them that I never thought about before. Like of course addiction would be under the web, that makes so much sense!
Noooo, you leave the enbies alone, Mr Spidey!
I love that the whole torture kept Francis's preferred pronouns
This is the first episode I had to skip through after the arachnophobia one way back… and ironically it wasn’t because of the spiders this time TvT
It's my first time listening to this podcast, and something tells me that John should have looked
Martin potentially being drawn into a Web domain, given what we learn in 197, is very interesting indeed. Maybe it was the Web trying to pull him in and he resisted, maybe it really was just curiosity the whole time.
Either Martin doesn't like physical theatres or he doesn't like the medium while Jon IS theatre incarnate.
only fitting that the addiction metaphor comes right after the eating disordered one
this is now one of my favorite eps, such amazing writing and sound design
Jon and martin in every episode
Jon: Are you actually asking me that question? I'm genuinely asking because I can't tell-- do do you want me to? I can count them out
Martin: No no no
Jon: seven thousand four hundred thirty-- your just so Litteral I can't tell
Also we're really the web with our table and dot and connection trying to figure out between the episode
sanders sides reference?
@@skyhideaway sanders sides reference indeed
@@epiphanierosenstern5635 I'm surprised to find another fander here lol
okay this was the first episode where I genuinely couldn't handle listening to it. I had to skip that entire scene I just couldn't do it.
NGL this one was especially hard to listen to.
So they're not theatre nerds after all. Noted.
Diversity Win! The Victim Of Endless Torture As A Cruel Pantomime Of Their Wretched Life At The Hands Of The Great Spider God Who Sits In The Great Web That Spans Creation Is Non-Binary!
This is my favourite episode for how absolutely heartwrenching it is. The web was already my favourite fear, and this ep. does it so much justice
What a chillingly good episode, damn
Do you ever just feel like a puppet on a string. Doing the same stage play over and over again against your own will. Suffering through similar events on repeat until the end
No. The notion that real life events repeat is a mental distortion. No matter how similar, the complexity of reality means there are differences everywhere. You have to be rational and acknowledge them.
Poor Francis :(. I hope they make it out alright.
Wow, this one was hard to listen to, but I feel so validated in a sort of weird way to have my fears acknowledged and validated. As a trans person, you get used to just being told you're overreacting - so to have it ACKNOWLEDGED IN A GOD DAMN HORROR PODCAST. I am so happy
this one really gets to me. Not the scariest episode, but affects me personally more than any other
as a trans person named Frances, *chuckles* I'm in danger
Man, this ep was spinning with lore
Jon you’re not supposed to read the stage directions out loud
this is one of the worst episodes to listen to. fuck, you guys are good at writing misery.
Out of every episode, this is the one that's scared me the most. It's too easy to imagine.
wait is the man in the audience jon-
Holy shit this one will give me nightmares
this episode made me feel the worst so far
dang spiders
ooughh this one was really upsetting
a real mix of web and stranger in this one
Oh they’re an alcoholic
OH FUCK THATS NOT WINE
Ah more internal screaming from me
I hate hate hate hate hate *hate* it when thr spider makes Francis drink the damn bottle.
Ive been trying to lose weight for years but its difficult because i keep getting cravings for food and sugar and meat and it sucks. You spend a few weeks or months sticking to your diet, exercising and then you notice that your pants feel looser or that you can look down further and it feels great. You thrn get careless and then all it takes is one birthday party or new years dinner to get those cravings again and the next thing yiu know it all your progress is gone.
Anyways, my point is that it really sucks when that happens. You just sit there thinking, 'am i ever going to reach my goal' or 'am i ever going to get out of this' and then you think 'never, im just going to be stuck like this forever' and the fact that the Spider is condemning Francis to this fate hits just a little too close to home
22:37 Dave? The _good_ china now, please
Oh, you can't see the big picture ? May I advise you to have a little chat with Fairchild then ? 👀
Never took the spider to be a theater kid
The Web is an evil monster, agonisingly dragging people back into addiction against their will but at least it respects people's pronouns so it's better than some people I know irl.
starting this and my house might be on fire idk but we stay silly !! cuz we already past the desolation ep !!!1!
I wish i knew what the music box sfx they used for this is called?