
#extradirty

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Product Placement

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@arciam
Why yes - I am coping a normal amount after the Good Omens finale, why do you ask? Anyway, this song by Giulia Be honestly may as well have been written for GO3. In fact, it so much speaks for itself that I don't even feel like I have much to add in way of context: It's Good Omens, it's AziraCrow/Ineffable Husbands, it's sad, you're welcome.
Also, please direct any grievances at my friend Katie for literally only mentioning the song to me making me do this at gun-point..!! 😆
...Anyway, kinda crazy how Good Omens ended after only one season, huh?
Would have been interesting to explore some of the themes some more, but then again, I'm just glad they got the happy ending they deserved after 6000 years of hardship:
Smiling, in love, forever clinking their glasses in the world they've both come to love with nightingales singing just for them.
Love me a wholesome conclusion like that.
Ok i wanna put it out there, that if @arciam is right i will not be upset... mostly. I'm willing to accept they aren't together yet and if another book comes out and goes "oh yeah no they haven't been dating yet" I'd accept that and admit being wrong.
But i also just need them to be married ya know? I just need some gay people being happy and married in this economy.
I will say though you do make some good points about CoSS and the fact that they haven't talked it out properly as far as we've seen. I'm gonna need to get my hands on it to properly tear it to pieces and analyses so until then I'm working with the trilogy.
In the mean time idk if you have ever taken a dip in a certain Egyptian river but its quite nice water if you ever care to join me
Woah there, my dear friend - I feel like perhaps I should clarify something. 😅
If they do canonically turn out to have been together all along, or married, or will get married? I will be thrilled..!
Well, also mostly; might sport a mildly bruised ego at being wrong, but that's, like, a me problem. 😆
When I started compiling my case against them being a couple already, I was motivated - apart from confusion at the fandom's apparent unanimity on the matter - mostly by a refusal to accept that the current state of what we've been given is enough (in terms of pay-off to the romance set-up of Vol.1).
Because to me, it just isn't. Like yes, I get all the complicated issues surrounding putting queer stories into non-queer media, but to me, that explanation just doesn't cut it, to be honest.
I am not saying I would rather it was never put in there in the first place (fuck no), but it does seem kinda.... needlessly cowardly and cruel to be this explicit about their romantic interest in each other, but the moment it comes to the actual potential for a loving, committed romantic relationship - the exact kind you state wishing for in this economy - we're... supposed to be content with just inferring and extrapolating? That doesn't seem fair. Doesn't seem reasonable to expect of us.
So at the end of the day, I suppose, my theory that they have yet to get together? That's the optimistic take. That's me giving the Murdle-team the benefit of the doubt.
Because (and I'll grant I may not have been very good at communicating this throughout the analyses) what I'm advocating for is not an infinite "will-they-won't-they" in love-purgatory - rather, it's the hope for an unabashed pay-off. A pay-off that you and I won't have to philosophise back and forth about its degree of canonicity over.
I mean... is that really too much to ask still?
Either way: if it turns out that Irratino's question was indeed a marriage proposal, and we start Vol.4 with them stated to be married - I'll gladly take that, because at least it would finally be honest about them.
As you say, they deserve to be happy and married. On the page - not tucked between them.
Long story short:
We are both on the same page lmao, im just putting out there that im open to the possibilities bc admitedlly what you're tlaking baout is incredibly compelling to me as a writer as a consumer of murdle? THEY;RE MARRIED as a writer though?
complex character dynamics got me feeling some way its mentally stimulated and the idea of them having this relaitonship where its so obvious they want eahc other but refusing to enter it becasue of their problems is truly its own thing i cant pretend doesn't exist as fascinating
maybe thats its own post but yeah we on the same page and im thrilled to be in a meme lmao i feel immortalized
Also yeah i'm your dear fool, i want to note that "Fool" is mean tto reference tarot but also a jester (see being a writer and artist) so yeah dear fool
Aw, my dearest Fool 💛 Thank you for clarifying this!
Ngl, I was kinda starting to wonder where our disconnect was, and it really warms my heart to know we're essentially just debating two sides of a coin.
Because yeah - two souls, alas, are dwelling in my chest, and one of them needs them to be together, like, yesterday. Like 2023! 😂
Ok i wanna put it out there, that if @arciam is right i will not be upset... mostly. I'm willing to accept they aren't together yet and if another book comes out and goes "oh yeah no they haven't been dating yet" I'd accept that and admit being wrong.
But i also just need them to be married ya know? I just need some gay people being happy and married in this economy.
I will say though you do make some good points about CoSS and the fact that they haven't talked it out properly as far as we've seen. I'm gonna need to get my hands on it to properly tear it to pieces and analyses so until then I'm working with the trilogy.
In the mean time idk if you have ever taken a dip in a certain Egyptian river but its quite nice water if you ever care to join me
Woah there, my dear friend - I feel like perhaps I should clarify something. 😅
If they do canonically turn out to have been together all along, or married, or will get married? I will be thrilled..!
Well, also mostly; might sport a mildly bruised ego at being wrong, but that's, like, a me problem. 😆
When I started compiling my case against them being a couple already, I was motivated - apart from confusion at the fandom's apparent unanimity on the matter - mostly by a refusal to accept that the current state of what we've been given is enough (in terms of pay-off to the romance set-up of Vol.1).
Because to me, it just isn't. Like yes, I get all the complicated issues surrounding putting queer stories into non-queer media, but to me, that explanation just doesn't cut it, to be honest.
I am not saying I would rather it was never put in there in the first place (fuck no), but it does seem kinda.... needlessly cowardly and cruel to be this explicit about their romantic interest in each other, but the moment it comes to the actual potential for a loving, committed romantic relationship - the exact kind you state wishing for in this economy - we're... supposed to be content with just inferring and extrapolating? That doesn't seem fair. Doesn't seem reasonable to expect of us.
So at the end of the day, I suppose, my theory that they have yet to get together? That's the optimistic take. That's me giving the Murdle-team the benefit of the doubt.
Because (and I'll grant I may not have been very good at communicating this throughout the analyses) what I'm advocating for is not an infinite "will-they-won't-they" in love-purgatory - rather, it's the hope for an unabashed pay-off. A pay-off that you and I won't have to philosophise back and forth about its degree of canonicity over.
I mean... is that really too much to ask still?
Either way: if it turns out that Irratino's question was indeed a marriage proposal, and we start Vol.4 with them stated to be married - I'll gladly take that, because at least it would finally be honest about them.
As you say, they deserve to be happy and married. On the page - not tucked between them.
Long story short:
You think Logico ever listened to this during the break-up phase of Vol.1..? 😅
Irratino's question in Vol.3
Guys! I have a theory. ☝️
(And it is, thankfully, entirely independent of whether or not you believe they were already a couple at that point, so yay.)
~~~~
1. "Can you guess what it was?"
For context, this phrasing is what first got me thinking. Because we're not usually being asked that within the books unless we've already been given clear clues to solve it, too.
And yes - you could always argue that every Murdle book ever was the clue pointing us toward the question being, like, a marriage proposal or something of the sort. But I think I've found something a little more substantial (and I'm probably only the 637th person to do so..!).
So here's my prediction for what the question may have been:
2. "Do you want to help rebuild New New Aegis together and settle here permanently?"
(Except imagine it sounding much less formal.)
Alright, so there is one very specific thing that gave me this idea, but even apart from that - it kinda makes sense, doesn't it?
The end of Vol.3 is "tabula rasa" in many ways; the institute has been shut down, all of Logico and Irratino's stuff has been sold off, and the one place they'd both chosen to call home lies in shambles around them, yet it's also theirs to reclaim. Why wouldn't that be the action for them to take?
There is also attention drawn to the fact that Irratino is asking the question amidst the "snow-like ash of New New Aegis" which is "making it all look new again". So it certainly isn't a farfetched idea.
However, the specific clue I'm referring to is, of course:
3. "Agent Fuchsia. The Hard Hat. And The Giant Computer Terminal."
At first, as I went through chapters 3 and 4, I assumed this marot reading from puzzle 47 was (aside from a cute little Oxymorons moment) merely meant to be easter eggs foreshadowing elements we would encounter - and it certainly was that, too!
However, what actually stumped me was when it was brought up again by Irratino in puzzle 98, after we'd already encountered all three of them; fairly explicitly telling us to go back and read it again:
"It's not the reader that matters. It's the cards. I'm sure if we went back and looked at what she said, we'd find-"
It's not like the contents of the reading were - as I then briefly assumed - in any way pertinent to any subsequent mystery of puzzles 98-100.
Well, unless it was, of course.
The fact that attention was drawn to the reading this close to the end (and thereby, this close to the "final mystery") makes me believe that this is the clue we're supposed to refer back to.
"THE HARD HAT. This represents starting a new project. Or building something together. And THE GIANT COMPUTER TERMINAL. This represents a well-planned life."
And yes, of course there are multiple ways to metaphorically "start a new project and build something together for a well-planned life" (💍).
But there is also the literal one.
And personally, I just really love the idea of them investing themselves - together - in this place that has meant so much to both of them, and which is granting them this new beginning in the first place.
~~~~
Btw, this is the one thing I will not mind at all to be proven wrong about - because to be proven wrong would mean that Vol.4 actually exists! 😅
Other Murdle analyses I've written:
Logico's memory-rewrite in SoM
Their relationship status - part 1 | part 2
Their hilariously discrepant perceptions of each other in college
The Irratino Problem: A World of Pure Imagination
Part 2 of "Relationship Status: DVOO, UFXP." (part 1 here)
In which I soldier on and present my case to the court why I actually prefer if Logico and Irratino have yet to become a romantic couple... for ✨thematic✨ reasons.
Also, this was supposed to be the final part as well, but since it's turned out very long again, I will tackle "The Logico Problem" another time.
~~~~
1. Previously On
After I made my argument in part 1 for why it is my personal interpretation that Logico and Irratino aren't yet an item as of the end of Vol.3, I left on the question:
Does it even matter?
After all, regardless of whether they are together yet, I believe we can all agree - from a narrative standpoint - that it's an inevitability. So if you don't particularly care for explicit confirmation of their relationship status, what difference does it even make?
Even though I personally do care about open representation of romantic queer relationships... for most of the series, I would have agreed that it doesn't make much of a difference, really.
...But that was before I arrived at Vol.3/94, and continuing on all throughout Case of the Seven Skulls, as well.
Why? Because whereas most of the series (in no small part due to its relative lack of dialogue) can make you believe well enough that their bond - charmingly contradictory and unusual as it is - just works... that impression quickly falls apart in CoSS and the final stretch of Vol.3.
In fact, I'll be so bold as to say: Their relationship really doesn't work (yet).
The way I see it, there are two major glaring issues preventing it from working as it is right now. (And if they indeed are a couple already, they won't be for long if those aren't adressed.)
Before I explain what I mean though, I want to put another disclaimer at this point: of course you will have differences, disputes, and kinks to iron out when entering a romantic relationship with another person - that's just part of personal growth.
However, as I mentioned in part 1 as well, narratives - even unusual ones - are still subject to storytelling conventions. And one of those tells us that it's narratively and thematically much more satisfying for our protagonists to first work through their respective issues and experience growth at each other's hands before throwing a fully-fledged romantic relationship into the mix.
2. Round One: The Irratino Problem
Let's walk back a few paces - to Vol.1/95:
"I felt horrible about faking my death without telling you [...]. The marot cards told me not to tell you, and I listened." "If you had used logic, you would have told me." "I know. I'm sorry." Logico thought about that, and he decided he would accept it, in part because he would need Inspector Irratino's help to get to the bottom of this mystery [...].
See, there's a reason I cut it off right there.
Because beyond the "aww..!" of Logico's encrypted admission, what this moment truly is, at the end of the day, is the point at which Logico is first clued in to the fact that Irratino's way of being and thinking isn't all just fun and games. It has real ramifications and consequences - and in this case, it had catastrophic ones for Logico.
Irratino had lied to Logico and let him grieve him. Severely so. And yet, after all that, Irratino's first reaction to being found out is merely to ask, "Would you believe it's not what it looks like?" Kinda unhinged, ngl.
In short: Irratino isn't Logico's "manic pixie dream girl".
He is a man with Issues™.
And funnily enough, I do believe that is precisely where Logico's realisation of love in that moment comes from, actually (when he had previously already acknowledged that they could have been "something more", and that Irratino was "more than a friend"). It's the awareness that he is dealing with a human person with human person flaws - and while a person's strengths demand appreciation, it's their weaknesses that inspire us to love.
The important distinction: Logico accepts Irratino's apology.
He doesn't necessarily forgive, and he certainly doesn't forget.
Skip forward to CoSS/3.5 (because chronology-wise, CoSS takes place before Vol.3), wherein they return to the island where Irratino once faked his death.
While it does say that "they'd gotten over their history here", everything else about this puzzle absolutely begs to differ:
Deductive Logico and Inspector Irratino didn't really get along on this island [...]. Fortunately, they had a dead body to preoccupy them!
Logico has bad memories from this picturesque cove [where Irratino "died" in his arms]. He doesn't want to talk about them.
Irratino scrambled the words of a clue to make it take longer for Logico to solve (↑ men will do anything to avoid talking about their feelings ig??)
They're... definitely not over it, Your Honour.
So yes, there is that still festering. However, worse than that: while Irratino may feel "uncomfortable" with the situation, not only is he avoiding the topic just as much as Logico is, but we know for a fact that he still doesn't truly understand the full extent of why what he did was wrong in the first place.
Because he might just do it all over again:
Instead of being relieved to see him, Logico was upset at being fooled again. "Why did you fake your disappearance?" Logico demanded. "I didn't not disappear!" Inspector Irratino replied. (↑ even more unhinged than "Would you believe it's not what it looks like?" tbh...)
This is the aforementioned Vol.3/94. Here, Irratino didn't even have a good reason to do what he did - he simply vanished from Logico's side without telling him in order to investigate something. He also immediately proceeds to fake his own murder again, and nothing exemplifies their disconnect as aptly as the subsequent conversation:
"You have got to stop doing this. They tried to convince me I was losing my mind!" "Well, it's good to lose your mind once in a while," Irratino replied. "Well, it makes me very nervous."
Even if we were being generous and wanting to interpret this as the "heart-to-heart" that puts an end to Irratino's shenanigans (which it isn't - Logico may be trying, but Irratino is plainly deflecting), it is in fact brought up again in puzzle 99 - and very purposefully left unresolved:
Logico said, "Just promise me you won't fake disappear again." Unfortunately, before Irratino could answer, they had another problem.
On the bright side, it is clearly being set up as a conflict that will be resolved at some point (which I love!).
However, I feel like the fundamental issue they might have to adress in order to do so is actually this:
Liars made [Logico] sick. Irratino, meanwhile, thought it was a little comforting. After all, the best way to make the world like you wanted it to be was to pretend that it already was.
Irratino is a liar.
Not maliciously so, mind. But he is an actor in his own life. It's merely a part of how he sees the world: he loves theatrics, he loves the comedy and tragedy of it, and he loves to pretend things are different than they "are". In small ways and in big ways, he loves to live in a reality of his own.
Nothing wrong with that, truly! However, what he has yet to realise is that problems arise when he involves others in his fabricated worlds - lies - without their knowledge or consent.
Which he does to Logico. A lot.
"What was the credible tip?" he asked Irratino, as casually as he could. "Oh," Irratino replied. "I saw it in a flame." "YOU SAW IT IN A FLAME?!" Logico replied. "I'm sorry Logico. I misspoke. I didn't see it in a flame."
(The fact that Irratino then won't let Logico look at the "ancient text" also implies that Irratino was already well aware that it wasn't ancient at all.)
Finally, Logico and Irratino stepped inside the mansion, and they could immediately sense a heavy presence in the air. "Do you smell that?" Irratino asked. "No," Logico replied. "Exactly!" Irratino said, though he didn't clarify his words.
(Similarly, the clear implication here is that Irratino suspected carbon monoxide all along but chose not to tell Logico.)
Inspector Irratino said he had a vision [...], but when he said it was a vision, he meant it was just something he had seen.
By reading the program of the show, Irratino knew [...], but he told Logico that it was just a hunch.
The list goes on, and on, and on.
This is the growth still needed on Irratino's part for them to work: not to lose his whimsy or idealism by any means, but to just care a little more about the real impact of his actions on his beloved. To realise that his games have real-life consequences.
All the world can very well remain his stage; but Logico is a partner, not an actor in his play.
It might sound like I am being very harsh on him, but again, Irratino doesn't mean to do any harm. This is merely a part of who he is - one of those lovable human person flaws which he and Logico will both have to adress and learn to navigate in order for a romantic relationship to work.
~~~~
Stay tuned for part 3, I guess? Also, in case you're interested, here are some other Murdle analyses I've written:
Logico's memory-rewrite in SoM
Their relationship status - part 1 | part 2
Their hilariously discrepant perceptions of each other in college
Irratino's question in Vol.3
Still not over School of Mystery tbh.
Because after reading SoM, I swear every trip back to Vol.1 is a fresh kind of hell.
Like. What do you mean the likely reason Irratino was stalking head-hunting Logico at the start of Vol.1 was because he remembered him from Deduction College? Because who wouldn't remember the wicked smart kid who solved, like, 40 murders over the course of only 4 years and casually unmasked powerful people every finals week? Everybody on campus knew Logico.
And meanwhile, Logico - the Logico - is so convinced that Mystery Boy was this amazing, gorgeous, untouchable person, whereas he himself was simply too shy, too uncool, too much of a wallflower to even talk to him.
Campus-celebrity Logico.
That Logico.
I mean, I'm not necessarily surprised because that's literally how every autistic person I know walks through life, but it's still wild to think about y'know?
Can't you just imagine Irratino pre-Vol.1 brainstorming ideas how to further the institute's research and suddenly going "Hey, you guys remember Logico?" and proceeding to deliver an entire sales pitch to his crew about how that's exactly the guy they need: brilliant, honest, principled and kinda cute ngl. He's perfect. Irratino is going to go find and scope him out scout him immediately!
Meanwhile, the others are a little less enthused at the prospect of inviting the stick-in-the-mud who couldn't help stirring up drama everywhere he went in college into their midst. After all, wouldn't his head, like, explode the moment they exposed him to a single paradox?
But Irratino is - as Irratino will be - not easily swayed once he has made up his mind:
"No no, guys, trust! Don't you remember how he stood up - all alone - to the headmaster in only his first year? Or how he didn't give a damn about Dame Obsidian's lawyers, reputation or money when he uncovered her nefarious activities? Or how he got up on the big stage to publically reject the trophy he had just won? All because it was the right thing to do? That's a guy who isn't afraid of NOTHING."
...nothing except talking to you, sweetheart.
~~~~
Other Murdle analyses I've written:
Logico's memory-rewrite in SoM
Their relationship status - part 1 | part 2
Irratino's question in Vol.3
Me writing my analysis:
(Don't get me wrong though: I absolutely still stand by most of what I said.
After all, there are many ways to slip something past the radar. The switch from "partner" to "friend" makes no more sense under the lens of having to skirt around restrictions than it does outside of it, for instance.
But I gotta admit - I may not have considered that perhaps it's not that y'all were seeing things that I wasn't, but just that people might be resigned to settle for "implied enough" instead. 😅)
Relationship status: DVOO, UFXP.
An analysis - part 1 (part 2)
As promised, or threatened, and partially prompted by conversations with @theoriginalfool: Here is my take on Logico and Irratino's relationship status, why I'm not convinced they're a couple yet (even though everyone else seems to be), and why it even matters.
~~~~
1. The People Have Spoken
First of all, let me adress the elephant in the room:
Me and the three (3!) other people who voted the first two options:
I am well aware that I am the absolute minority with my opinion. And I'm not terribly adamant about my stance, either - if I'm wrong, I'm wrong.
Nevertheless, I do want to point out the other plausible way to interpret the clues & evidence we're given. If nothing else, then because a second perspective always makes things more interesting.
So here we go.
2. The Good, the Bad, and the Ambiguous
For fairness' sake (and, quite frankly, because I don't want you to feel too distracted by all the possible counter-arguments you could make while reading this), I first want to adress the things pointing towards them being a couple post Vol.1... and also, why I don't think they're necessarily as clear-cut as they may first appear.
I. Narrative Logic
First up, and most convincingly I think, there is a certain narrative logic to it, isn't there?
After all, we leave them at the end of Vol.1 in a great and comfortable spot: Logico has realised and admitted to himself that he is UZOORMT RM OLEV, he's engaged in charming bickering with Irratino, they even become official work-partners if the larger office is any indication... what should be stopping them and the clear trajectory of their relationship at this point?
We don't see any - well, not much - pining angst in any of the sequels outside of SoM, so they gotta have worked it out and become a couple, right? And it's gotta be such an obvious, natural thing in fact, that it never even needed any explanation, or declaration, or show of romantic affection... or exchange of romantic words... or.....
Hm.
Come to think of it, they don't really act much like a couple in the other books, do they.
If them being an item was truly just the obvious, natural thing, not even worth bringing up - then there really shouldn't be anything keeping them from the occasional ILY, the casual kiss, or even the simple gifting of a flower which we saw all the way back in Vol.1, either.
In short, the same narrative logic that makes it reasonable to assume they would be a couple, is precisely what can make you question it, too.
Which brings me to:
II. Schrödinger's Relationship
Don't be alarmed, but I can almost guarantee that most of what you're thinking of when you think of their "couple-y behaviour" post Vol.1, is really only couple-y under the assumption that they indeed are a couple already.
I think the best example of this is in Vol.3: having plans to watch TV together and not thinking twice about hiding out in a shared apartment together is, like, such married behaviour tbh. ...If you're a couple, that is.
If you're not, then it's just... being friends. And roommates.
Sure, we still get more than enough confirmation that they continue to be very interested in each other romantically - Logico's dream, Irratino's novels, just to name two -, but not so much in terms of how they actually interact.
(And again, my argument is simply that if the love story aspect of the books wasn't supposed to be a secretive thing - which it definitely wasn't in Vol.1 - then it should also be possible for the books to show their romantic interactions equally freely as they do their romantic interest in each other.)
III. Their Murdle.com Wedding
Yes, I do agree that the Detective Day puzzle was a very thinly veiled easter egg depicting their wedding, and that's very sweet.
However and I don't know how alone I stand with this particular take?, I don't necessarily consider the website canon to the books. To me, the characters and their relationship seem quite different between the two.
(As best exemplified by the one time the books directly borrow the words immediately recognisable to any prolific murdler: on Murdle.com, Irratino continues to have been Logico's "rival, antagonist, and friend" every single Sunday - in the books, he was immediately his "friend, his rival, his maybe something more". It's softer, more sincere, with less of a tough act surrounding it.)
3. So - what is my deal?
With all this out of the way, let's talk about the specific bits and pieces that have made me question the idea that they would have already been an item by the end of Vol.3.
Ultimately, two stand out above all:
I. Vol.2 - That Case
Up until Vol.2 puzzle 38, I myself didn't even really question their relationship - but then The Dream happened.
And I want to make a very clear disclaimer at this point: I am of course not saying you don't or can't have sex dreams about your significant other in real life.
But I'm not talking about real life.
I'm talking about a story, which, while certainly an unusual one that does seek to break tradition in many ways, is still subject to - if not storytelling conventions themselves - then to the necessity of communicating with its audience through the means of storytelling conventions, and/or the deconstruction thereof.
And what kind of narrative device is a dream?
At the end of the day, it's a showcase of a character's fears and desires (neither of which that puzzle is even being at all subtle about), and it's a means of signalling those fears and desires to the audience in lieu of dealing with them - yet - within the story itself.
So honestly, Logico wet-dreaming about Irratino (and having it implied that this is a regular occurrence) really just signalled to me that this particular tension is an as of yet unresolved one.
And the conclusion I drew was "neat, guess we still have that to look forward to". ...The resolution that is; not the sex. ...at least not only.
(Also, Irratino's novels kinda give me a similar vibe btw, but I could go either way on those, really.)
II. Vol.3 - Words matter, people
Similarly to Vol.2, I spent much of Vol.3 wondering if they had gotten together off-screen between volumes, and low-key assuming they had, until I arrived at puzzles 86 and 87.
But when the lights came on, Irratino wasn't there. "Where did my partner go?" Logico asked. - Solution puzzle 86
Ohhhh, I see what you did there, Mr. Karber..!
Being all sneaky and tongue-in-cheek, by using a word that may be obviously romantic in most contexts, but which is the one term a detective specifically can refer to someone as being without it necessarily meaning anything! Clever!
Very in line with the overall ambiguity of their relationship, 10/10, no notes.
Logico wasn't about to let the third point in a pompous tirade prevent him from finding his friend. - Solution puzzle 87
His... friend.
Wait what..? Where'd the clever ambiguity go? Literally the very previous puzzle you had Logico openly and ambiguously calling Irratino his partner - why not just... keep that up?
Again: I am not saying your significant other is not your friend.
But it does give me serious pause that they genuinely created the perfect set-up for Logico to keep referring to Irratino as something that could mean whatever you want it to mean, only to drop it immediately in favour of "friend", of all the possible words to use in this context.
And so, similarly, I reasoned that this must mean we can still look forward to Logico's "maybe something more" finally becoming "something more" than his friend.
4. But does it even make a difference?
Honestly, I myself didn't even think it did - until the final chapter of Vol.3, as well as much of CoSS.
However, seeing as this is already massive, I think I will have to split this into 2 parts.
~~~~
Let me know your thoughts and whether you think I missed something; I'll be delighted to hear people's takes. In the meantime, here are some other Murdle analyses I've written:
Logico's memory-rewrite in SoM
Their relationship status - part 1 | part 2
Their hilariously discrepant perceptions of each other in college
Irratino's question in Vol.3
Excuse me?
This right after their awkward stint on Amaranth Island??
I could probably write an entire long post about my thoughts on it except I can't; I'm on vacation, but it's stuff like this that makes me at least hope, for their sake, that they wouldn't have been a couple during the time CoSS takes place. (I'd say beween Vol.s 2 and 3, as the 2nd Drakonian Civil War is still ongoing?)
I mean, apparently they weren't even at a point yet where they could talk openly about what happened - Logico "doesn't want to talk about it" and Irratino would rather scramble their clues to keep Logico occupied than broach the subject -, or where Irratino even truly understood how reckless his way of thinking can end up being for those around him.
So much more character development still needed on both ends for that relationship to work, sheesh...
Another quick question:
(This time not for any specific theory/analysis, but I've found that polls like this are a good way for a newbie like me to get a good gist of the general thoughts and opinions of the fandom. 😂)
Are Logico and Irratino (as of post-Vol.3) already a romantic couple?
No, they have yet to actually make a move
No, but that's what Irratino's question was going to do
Yes, since between Vol.1 and Vol.2
Yes, since between Vol.2 and Vol.3
In a way..? (it's undefined and won't be defined)
Other (?)
"Just because something is faked doesn't mean it's not real." - Logico, Vol.1
Or: There is more to Logico's memory-rewrite in SoM than you realise. Yes, even more than that thing you're thinking of right now.
~~~~~
Alright, it's happening. I've entered the analysis-writing phase of my Murdle obsession.
Spoilers ahead for Murdle Vol.1 and School of Mystery.
1. Establishing Baseline
One disclaimer before I delve into this: I only joined the fandom about 3 weeks ago, so there really is no feasible way for me to know whether this post isn't just reheating 2024's leftovers.
Thankfully though, responses to my recent poll have reassured me that I do not need to go into detail about the following base assumptions at least:
Logico's memories of the SoM-events were heavily altered, as implied by Case 39
Logico himself altered them, with a certain degree of purpose (albeit an uncertain degree of consciousness) to create a version of events in his mind where he didn't miss his chance to bond with Irratino earlier in life by being "too shy"
This alteration was kicked off or at least heavily exacerbated by Logico's grief over Irratino's "death" in Vol.1
(Though I am sorry to the 1 person who voted in favour of the in-depth explanation - if you're really curious, you can always dm me.)
With these out of the way, I can skip right to the more interesting idea:
2. "Losing Irratino to death had been hard, but losing him to betrayal was worse."
The thing that sparked this particular line of thought was, funnily enough, the post/fanfiction I wrote the other day.
In it, I made quite a marked case for nearly all of SoM being a result of the time in which Logico believes Irratino to be dead in Vol.1 - including SoM chapter 5.
And while it does make a lot of sense in some regards (especially the way both graduate Logico and grief-stricken Logico start trying their hand at esoteric practices), in others, it really doesn't.
Specifically, even as I was writing my post/fanfic, there was one thing that just never sat quite right with me:
The falling out between Logico and Irratino.
Within my post, I essentially argued that Logico might imagine his college senior self abandoning Irratino in the name of reason - as a form of self-punishment in the present, almost.
Though not impossible, it still just didn't make much emotional sense to me. After all, while it would indeed be easy to see with the gift of hindsight that Logico was treating Irratino unkindly in that moment - from (projected) college senior Logico's point of view, it was still Irratino who betrayed him.
Who lied to him. Who broke his heart.
It never quite felt right to me that (in memories which Logico edited specifically to create a happier version of events in which he got to know the person who "made his heart leap with joy" sooner, supposedly during a time in which he was grieving them, too) Logico would include a prolonged episode of feeling betrayed and lied to by that very person.
Why add months of feeling disappointed, ashamed and forlorn into his narrative? Why envision that the person he'd loved and lost was secretly a criminal mastermind who broke his trust and ultimately left him with nothing but heartbreak, betrayal, and confusion?
...Wait.
Fancy that.
A near identical scenario in which Irratino has allegedly been drawing the strings of a criminal operation and lied to Logico about it, and which culminates in a dramatic confrontation and separation between the two.
In short, I've come to believe that while SoM up to and including the dream in which Logico realises the truth of his altered memories do "take place" (or more accurately, are projected backwards) during the time in which he believes Irratino to be dead... the falling out and what happens afterwards in SoM are instead the equally projected manifestation of Logico grappling with - well - the falling out and what happened afterwards in Vol.1.
(As I imagine, acknowledging within the dream that he had indeed fabricated these memories would have been the moment where the illusion broke, which is why the abruptly warped realism afterwards make sense. After all, even within this altered world, Logico likely wouldn't have found it realistic that he should be invited to join a secret society on campus two days before graduation. Similarly, he wouldn't have believed that a trinket from his dream truly could manifest itself physically on his nightstand. These inconsistencies, I think, mark the difference from before to after the fracture.)
Whether the imagined events of SoM chapter 5 are the result, the reflection, or the cause of how Logico deals with the situation throughout Vol.1 chapter 4 though, I couldn't say. I could go either way, really.
However, I do want to point out that there actually is a little more to this theory than just the fact that it's what makes the most "emotional sense".
We've got parallels, people:
3. Clues & Evidence
First up, as I already mentioned, there's the thematic similarities between the two confrontation scenes themselves. The expressed sentiments are very much the same; Logico's incredulity
"It looks like you faked your death and have being building fake ruins and placing them everywhere as some kind of publicity stunt. Is this what you spent the million dollars on?"
"How could you be the leader of a group founded by the murderer of the founder? You've been wearing garnets all around campus! It's horrific!"
the thing that truly hurt him
Logico grew cold. "Did you fake your death on the island?"
"And what's more, you lied to me about it!"
and Irratino's resignation to the accusation.
Irratino tensed up, and then let his head fall. "It was the only way."
"I..." Irratino seemed to stammer. Finally he said, "You're right, I did."
A very direct, very literal parallel is also found when Irratino feels disappointed with how quickly Logico had jumped to the conclusion that Irratino was guilty, instead of trusting what he knew in his heart:
"I'm not mad," Irratino said. "Just disappointed." "In what?" "I would tell you, Logico. But I know you don't believe anything you don't see yourself."
"I thought you'd learn to look inside yourself, and see the truth your logic could not." "Why didn't you tell me you were innocent?" "I knew that you'd never believe anything you didn't deduce yourself."
And finally, my personal favourite. While it's not quite as literal, the underlying sentiment and the point in time are a perfect match.
In Vol.1, it is said that, following the revelation and subsequent heartbreak,
[Logico] gave up detective work and began to focus on purely logical problems, like how many sides a triangle could have before it became a square.
...A brief and markedly facetious statement (as rather typical of Vol.1).
However, if you were to take the underlying sentiment seriously, then wouldn't another way to put it be that... instead of going out into the world and applying the means of deductive reasoning to solve all the worlds problems (i.e. "detective work"), Logico decides to stay behind and focus his work purely around the value of logic itself?
Or contrariwise, what was the "doctoral dissertation" really other than a vain effort to retreat into himself and stick to pure reason, as it simply hurt too much to consider anything else?
4. Great! ...Now what?
I believe the most interesting thing one can do with the idea that SoM chapter 5 is a reflection - or result, or cause - of Vol.1 chapter 4, is to start looking for what this connection might say about Logico's state of mind in the latter.
What it adds.
After all, there is still one thing you could argue directly contradicts the theory I just proposed. Namely, the path Logico takes to arrive at the point of reconciliation in either book.
In SoM, the whole point is that Logico is required to let go of his absolute subservience to reason first, in order to fully understand.
"Logico, you need to see to believe. But to truly see, you must first believe."
[...] he knew, as clearly as he had ever known anything, that Irratino must be innocent, that logic could guide you, but it should never control you, for while your feet may be planted on the ground, your eyes must be aimed up at the stars. And suddenly he realized the truth.
By comparison, Irratino, at the end of Vol.1, was ostensibly still right - Logico didn't accept that Irratino was innocent until he had deduced so himself. No starry night sky to guide him along towards the Truth.
...But is that really all there was to it?
If we assume for a moment that my theory is correct, and we can indeed draw from SoM for a deeper understanding of Vol.1, then isn't there another way to look at Logico's actions as he works his way through his feelings and misconceptions in Vol.1?
"I've been looking at the stars above us, Logico. And they tell me that the chess player was near a classic car." Maybe, Logico thought, I shouldn't keep calling, but it was hard to resist.
Logico didn't think these two were comparable, but he remembered that Irratino said no two things were ever comparable. But he still couldn't forgive him for what he'd done.
Throughout the puzzles, hints and solutions of chapter 4, we see a conflicted Logico struggling between what he has reasoned to be true, and the compulsion to keep reaching out for Irratino.
And at the same time - while admittedly a far cry from the heavy-handed challenges to his reliance on logic that he receives in SoM (the blatancy of which, to be fair, is easily explained by it being a manifestation of Logico's ambivalence and not real) -, we do also see Logico starting to lean in to the hunch, and the elusive connection of dots in the back of his brain.
But, looking around the stage, Logico was struck by the thought that just because something was faked doesn't mean it wasn't real. (↑ in itself a highly "illogical" idea btw... oxymoronic, even!)
Logico stared at them. They reminded him of something, but he couldn't quite place it.
So. With all this in mind, what might SoM tell us about Vol.1 Logico's journey to the Truth, in the end?
Well, in essence... I feel like it tells us of a tiny, yet powerful drive that may have been spurring Logico on (but which he would have never admitted to, except in the depths of the kaleidoscopic fragments of himself):
"This time, it wasn't just reason," Logico said. "This time, I wanted to do it."
Somewhere deep down, he had kept looking. And he, too, had simply wanted to do so.
Follow Logico's gut and look for clues that might exonerate Irratino, point the finger at someone else, and reveal the true secrets [...]. It was irrational to believe such evidence existed, and yet, as Logico looks up at the stars, a part of him still believes.
Because a part of him still believed.
~~~~
Other Murdle analyses I've written:
Their relationship status - part 1 | part 2
Their hilariously discrepant perceptions of each other in college
Irratino's question in Vol.3
Quick question:
If I was - hypothetically speaking - to post a theory I have about School of Mystery, would it be necessary for me to first elaborate on the following points or can they already be taken as baseline?
Logico's memories of the SoM-events are heavily altered, as implied by case 39
Logico himself altered them, with a certain degree of purpose (albeit an uncertain degree of consciousness) to create a version of events in his mind where he didn't miss his chance to bond with Irratino earlier in life by being "too shy"
This alteration was either kicked off or at least heavily exacerbated by Logico's grief over Irratino's "death" in Vol.1
Do they need further elaboration first?
Yes, please
No, these are already well-understood
Not all, but one or two of these points require elaboration (If so, which?)
(Reason I'm asking is because, being as new to the fandom as I am, I have absolutely no idea which theories and analyses are already regarded as "the general consensus" anyway - and if the above points are, I could skip right to the other thoughts I have.)
Welp - time to go through my BTS collection to find the best-fitting Oxymorons songs, I guess?
Locked in my Head
(Remember when I said I had feelings about the School of Mystery plot twist? Well, this is the promised post whose topic that is.)
-------
Thinking about college student Logico, unintentionally kicking off his memory rewrite through simple enough what-ifs. Merely revisiting, merely daydreaming - again and again - the day he first saw the gorgeous boy he never grew brave enough to talk to.
So many scenarios and possibilities to consider, if only he had been.
Thinking about college senior Logico still reminiscing about Mystery Boy, whom he hadn't seen around campus for a long time now, and imagining the kind of person he might have been:
Mystery Boy was enigmatic, Mystery Boy was gentle, Mystery Boy had the warmest smile.
Mystery Boy was forever wearing an amazingly well-tailored black wool jacket, had the most unbelievable hair and piercing emerald eyes.
Thinking about college graduate Logico, who enters the workforce and makes a living with what he knows to be his passion, yet quickly feels so inexplicably empty that his mind starts to feel the pull of something beyond itself. Getting lost and tangled in worlds where perhaps, that secret society he had heard so many rumours about at college was - in truth - a circle of conspirators working to denounce the very concept of logic itself.
A vile idea..! Intriguing, sure, but vile. Maybe he and Mystery Boy could have investigated the matter together.
Thinking about Deductive Logico finally meeting Inspector Irratino, when, at this point, the genuine memory of Mystery Boy has been reworked and recorded over so many times that it takes Logico days, weeks, to even make the connection.
The realisation of which, he is hit by as by a ton of bricks.
Thinking about Logico in his initial adventures with Irratino, subconsciously beginning to fill in more and more details about the real person into his memories:
Irratino was refreshingly mischievous, Irratino was rich, Irratino carried some heavy personal history.
...Irratino was also kind of an airhead who believed he could abstract truth from random chance and derive clarity from chaos.
(Of course, the only logical conclusion to draw about such an illogical individual was that he would have been nothing less than the very heart of the esoteric conspiracy - which college senior Logico appeared to grow increasingly amenable to with every reimagining, for no related reasons whatsoever.)
(At the same time, the Mysterious Irratino - much like his current counterpart - now sought out Logico's company, as the mental image of his smile grew warmer and brighter than it had ever been before.)
Thinking about grief-stricken Logico spending the first however many days following Irratino's apparent death wrapping himself within shifting realities as within a blanket.
The wishes were desparate, the memories a bone that healed wrong each time and grew more fragile for it. The more determined Logico was to hold on to the worlds in which he had received so much more time to spend with Irratino, the more they came apart at the seams.
"You're remembering everything wrong."
(In those moments, however, when he resented himself the very most, he felt in his core that college senior Logico would have still made himself a traitor to even his deep affection for Irratino, merely out of unwavering loyalty to reason - no matter what it would continue to take from him.)
Thinking about....
Logico sighed, his mind now shifting toward his current self.
He looked at the cards he was placing down in order to solve another murder, having begun to try his own hand at all of these unreasonable practices in Irratino's absence - perhaps, in some mildly disconcerting attempt to honour the dearly departed.
And yet still Logico kept going back, still filling in details, still trying to find meaning in the kaleidoscope of his broken memories.
What if, after everything that happened, or had indeed never happened, college graduate Logico began - as he did now - to look to the stars for answers?
What if he too had, in so doing, managed to discover the greater truth behind not only the school's history, but behind the nature of truth itself... and his own emptiness?
What if the final answer to all of his lifelong searching was that the Logical and the Irrational - contradictory as they may appear - simply belonged together? What if he could have reconciled with what he had lost?
...What if he could have just mustered up the courage to ask this gorgeous, mysterious, wonderfully illogical person their name all those years ago?
What if, indeed. But he hadn't.
"You still met me eventually."
But not soon enough.