corpse town

i have so many, so many regrets .

[lazarus-harp]

ALINA , 22 ♡ any pronouns ♡ witchytwitchy .

welcome to my side-blog for joey graceffa's web series, escape the night! what you can expect to find here are my opinions and reads on everything related to the series. my personal favorite things to discuss are the characters and their profound bonds with one another, but sometimes i will delve into themes & such as well.

i'll also talk about my fics and upload any writing updates here for etn works i'm slowly chipping away at, post polls for what to work on next, and i occasionally will show off my art ( or other forms of art, like pinterest boards or playlists ) too. btw this is the home of the 'the detective has bpd' theory that i've poured my heart and soul into so expect that. and you'll see an overall distaste for one dimensional fanon takes in general. enjoy your stay!!

[lambjock]

give it up for the third wip wednesday! these are coming up a little fast for me, so i might need to do every other wednesday or something. we’ll see. but here’s an indulgently long snippet of an etn work i haven’t touched in … a long time? still, this whole project is important to me and will get done eventually. i started writing this around the time where the lost tapes was still the etn movie, and planned for this work to be an almost ‘goodbye’ of sorts to etn. not that i won’t ever write it again ( i still have at least one more etn wip besides this one, lmao ), but that i likely won’t follow much of the new era going forward.

so, it’s basically just matny good-feels with manny surviving the once very vague lost tapes plot. it felt fitting for my goodbye to feature them since they’re what made me fall in love with etn in the first place! that, and i’m allowing mat to heal one ( 1 ) time. any other works will always feature him broken and miserable, but he can get his once in a lifetime happy ending in my ‘thank you for changing my life etn’ fanfic.

[lazarus-harp]

btw on the night before my wedding me, my fiance, and one of my best friends watched the lost tapes and the intros to the other seasons for fun! … only to immediately notice that s1’s intro is just straight up ai on tubi, for some reason?

[lazarus-harp]

etn has a lot of really dark scenarios and potential and i fear i don’t capitalize on that nearly as much as i should … dead dove etn come to me!

[honeybunchesobees]

smth smth one-sided enemies to lovers safkita. nikita thinking safiya is a creepy shady weirdo, thinking it odd that matt and ro bring her to all their hangouts, wondering what they see in her, just generally getting obsessed... idk brain is braining.

@lazarus-harp my homie in safkita

[lazarus-harp]

been sitting on this post because i really want to draw or write something for this SO bad … god i love safkita so, so much. safiya is such a weirdo — so icy and standoffish and off-putting, and just generally surrounded by this air of superiority. nikita smells it because she’s like that too … but safiya’s company is so strange it’s insane, like, actually. mat is the biggest wimp nikita has ever met, and him and ro are too sunny, too overbearing. how can they stand safiya? what is nikita not getting? why don’t safiya and mat tear each other’s throats out, when mat is so special and so much better than safiya, when the entire group knows it and delegates her to second best? in what world could safiya care for someone like rosanna, who is all cookies and too genuine tears and mom jokes? things that safiya doesn’t laugh at but smiles at, sometimes, all stiff and awkward on her face ; like she doesn’t even know how to smile or find humor in things, the weirdo.

nikita doesn’t care, not really. she may pretend to be a petty bitch, but her shallowness is as fake as her tits. she’s manicured inside and out that way. she has better things to worry about than safiya … except she cannot stop analyzing safiya’s relationships, frowning when manny of all people vouches for her — and, worse, safiya does things and says things that make nikita respect her. real recognizes real, bad bitch to bad bitch, but this girl isn’t nikita’s usual type of friend : too reserved and weird and quiet for that. none of this knowing stops nikita from wanting to be closer though, a little desperate for companionship, for something she doesn’t feel like she can get from her best friend or anyone else she wants … nikita being drawn to safiya’s really silent ruthlessness and general oddity, wanting to know, wanting to peel back the reporter’s skin and just see — it’s not like nikita to want something so fiercely and be wholly consumed by cold feet. but, she’s so much more like their detective than she thinks, and so she sets out to conquer and collect eventually. safiya might be an immovable object, but nikita is an unstoppable force. her relentlessness surely wins out, right?

cue safiya just sort of along for the ride. at least nikita isn’t the most annoying person she’s ever met. in fact, she’s not even top five. thank god lol.

[lazarus-harp]

putting this oath out here now to be held accountable later, buuuut if manny and nikita do survive the lost tapes i promise i will write a multi chaptered ficlet of like. mat meddling in their fraught relationship post survival and desperately wanting to mend their rift ( for selfish reasons ) and so his golden idea is sending them to therapy. the only issue with this is that mat has never been to therapy in his life so he sends them both to a family therapist and then a couples one. hijinks ensue

[lazarus-harp]

joey basically doing this himself in lost tapes … i KNOW mat is fuming 😭 he wanted to fix that himself so bad.

[lazarus-harp]

just finished lost tapes and i can safely say that this mini series was not only lacking in heart but was also deeply uninspired and not at all worth my time. this felt like if someone was tasked to recreate etn in five minutes and just tried really, really hard to copy everything without understanding what actually makes etn good and unique … i’ll talk more in depth later but this thing was so boring. good god.

[lazarus-harp]

ETN : LOST TAPES, first thoughts & death speculation

a small prelude : i will be rather honest and admit to my many reservations regarding an etn revival -- i was rather disappointed by the movie announcement two years ago and i’ve also been a vocal critic over a lot of joey’s choices where it concerns the franchise. frankly, escape the night’s potential new direction might not be one i’m interested in! all stars was kind of ‘it’ for me … i am, overall, not fond of new characters nudging into a series i’ve been writing for and thinking of obsessively since s4 started to air, but i’m also not a big fan of constantly rehashing dead guests for the sake of pandering either. so, again, i don’t know how much i’ll like lost tapes or any future etn projects … if my thoughts are too pessimistic for your tastes, then i’m sorry! but i won’t be changing my opinions or softening them just because of my love for the show. though despite my personal feelings, i will be subscribing to tubi so that i can watch etn as it releases and i’ll be supporting the show however i can. even if etn’s revival isn’t ‘for me’, i know many fans want more of etn, and i do still believe it’s a show that deserves more. so please keep that in mind. i might be a bitch here, but i’ll be supporting the show just the same as anyone else.

but without further ado, let me talk about the lost tapes trailer!

for starters, let’s talk about our new cast!

as rumored long before this cast reveal, we have a gang mostly made up of repeat characters with only one new soul in tow. our roles are as follows :

joey graceffa, the savant

rosanna pansino, the fitness instructor

nikita dragun, the glam rocker

manny gutierrez, the jock

tana mongeau, the prom queen

jojo siwa, the burnout

like always, the style of dress and roles are based off of the time period of lost tapes, which has changed from the 1950s to the 1980s. personally, i find myself preferring the original concept more than what we’ve seen so far of this new one. for one, i think joey just looked better in that attire. and the use of ‘mr. sandman’ as a sort of theme song along with that retro diner aesthetic was rather iconic to me -- it mixed foreign coziness and familiar dread really well. i know the 80s was a prime time for horror ( i am a major slasher fan! ) but i think the 50s provided a very interesting sort of backdrop to etn’s scare factor. also, perhaps the roles would be more creative? i cannot help but be unimpressed with titles like ‘the jock’ for instance. it’s so … uninspired and boring. manny could’ve been the greaser instead within the original concept, and so on. mostly, i wonder why joey changed the periods as he did. maybe the more ‘modern’ vibe was better for their budget? either way, i’ll be mourning the teaser we got forever ago. i personally believe that vibe is much more up my alley than this one overall.

and then there is the actual cast itself, which i’m not nearly as mad about as i think some fans are. jojo siwa’s inclusion is … fine. she’s the bretman. i do my best to seperate the real life individual from their etn counterpart when watching, so i’ll afford her that same grace. jojo is annoying, sure, but there are worst people joey could’ve brought on ( trisha, for instance ) yet there were also better candidates as well, making this a very middling casting choice. at least jojo’s role and outfit is one of the better ones.

besides her, the rest are all stars. while i adore rosanna and tana, especially tana who was one of my favorites in season four, i really do not like having them back. lore wise, it grates on me. i know the whole ‘everyone who dies in s4 rots in hell’ note is heavily debated by the fandom, but as someone who has always bought into that story aspect, it’s maddening to see that tana and rosanna are just fine. what was the consequences of their night then? where’s the tragedy in their second and ‘final’ deaths? etn is an unfair game. it’s an ending that never ends happily, but will conclude in a bittersweet way. we primarily follow innocent people who are used as death fodder by an incompetent society, and there’s a reason for that : these characters, like us, are ill prepared for these horrors. they leave their homes without realizing the danger they’re waltzing into and they die. and if they live, their ending is only slightly better than those who didn’t escape. it’s an unending cycle of death and a story that works best when thriving off the humanity of its cast. we’re rooting for these characters because they ‘deserve’ to make it. we’re angry when they die because it’s unfair, and they might never come back. so on and so on … s4’s real core lies with the fact that these people are supposed to be getting saved, yet it’s joey, so they’re not. instead, they’ve been forcefully awakened and are now at the risk of burning in hell for eternity over choices they didn’t get to make, over a situation they didn’t even get themselves into. their options are bleak. either they survive and get to live again, or they’ll be hellbound forever. s4 is very heavy on the stripping of autonomy, from their determined fates to the whole concept of the setting in general, where these characters’ deaths and bodies are displayed and decorated for a voyeuristic lense.

so, tana and rosanna just being there and being present is … sad, i guess. especially when joey had so many other people who wanted to return! tyler, glozell, teala, jc -- i’m sure there’s more. if scheduling worked out, we all know matpat would’ve returned. jesse from s2 had also defended etn during the gabbie drama and was supposed to be revived in his original season anyway. i just wish tana and ro weren’t here. even without the storytelling element, i think it’s silly to bring them back on a competition level. people are already saying if rosanna dies, they’ll be pissed. i’m sure the same goes for tana … it’s just. how can joey expect fans to be satisfied with tana’s and ro’s fates either way? if they die, people will be upset, and if they survive over others, people will be upset. realistically, tana and ro had their chance in s4. i wish joey had kept it that way.

( i’m trying really hard not to nitpick this choice on a storytelling level, but it’s impossible not to be apprehensive of these subsequent arcs … tana’s and ro’s stories and characters feel so complete at this point. tana finally got to prove her worth after an entire season of being bullied and belittled, and rosanna still chose kindness and friendship even when those things slowly turned on her -- i cannot imagine where else these two could go that would be satisfying. like, i do not care to see bitchy and vindictive rosanna when her fatal flaw and most endearing trait is her kindness. i do not care to see tana either just stay the same or regress, for some reason, after seeing her come into her own and still choose love over pettiness. it all sort of bothers me, genuinely, but i understand this is more of a ‘fanfic writer brain’ thing than a show thing )

manny and nikita, on the other hand, are fine choices. lore wise they make sense, what with nikita being a survivor and manny having been in the soul jar. my thought for the soul jar has always been that those souls got sucked into pandora’s box with joey given the fact that they couldn’t actually leave purgatory, and thus they had just latched onto our savant who functions as a goddamn vaccum for magic. nikita doing some sort of rescue mission for joey makes sense given her sae background and genuine love for joey … except that’s not the lore the mini series is going with, because how would they explain tana and ro otherwise? i’ll talk about that later, but for now i have nothing too noteworthy to add about the mean girls and their reunion. it’s interesting! i’m glad manny and nikita are both well aware of where their characters stand in each other’s stories, and that they’re excited to play into that drama during lost tapes. you can tell they really care about the story going on and it’s a nice passion to see. my only fears is that a.) their drama will be boring and expected, with manny being rightfully pissy and nikita responding to that with equal pettiness instead of something more in character for the troublemaker, like genuine remorse or something, and b.) one or both of them will die stupidly. if nikita dies at all she needs the best death in all of etn because her whole thing is that she’s a powerhouse and unkillable, meanwhile manny’s death held a lot of emotional weight, so i wouldn’t want that to be replaced with a more boring, dull death ( cough, ro’s deaths, cough ) … they are my little favorites and are so, so important to etn that i need them to have good send offs. i know joey mentioned upping the ante on deaths during this so i hope he keeps his word.

anyway, now to briefly talk about the elephant in the room : clearly this mini series is founded on the theory that everyone was revived at the end of season four. so apparently s4 was a successful rescue mission and the series didn’t think to let us know this … fun! obviously, i hate this choice. like genuinely i straight up just hate it. seeing all these dead people recieve packages from the mail like every regular season before it made my head spin! like … okay. they’re just alive and well, and have been for six or so years. cool. etn had a random happy ending and none of us had any real idea until now, where everything’s going to get fucked up again because … why not? i know i’m being a massive downer but. i loathe this sort of thing and i find it extremely lazy. it’s the simplest way to explain this cast and joey took it. ugh. i think a lot of my criticism will be founded on this idea that while joey loves etn to death, he cares more about seeing it picked up than he does about actually providing a creative and immersive season. which makes me nervous about this mini series because the whole point is that, somehow, this is supposed to wrap up all the previous seasons and lore … which, now that joey can’t just pull an ‘and then i revived everyone!’ card, i have no idea how he’ll pull this off in a rush. it just makes me sad is all. where is the grief? the consequences? what about the true tragedy in living with the choices you made, and with the survival or deaths you’ve ‘earned’? where is the beauty that is love and humanity that’s found in even the darkest and most morbid of scenarios? this single choice threatens to turn etn from a tragedy/comedy into a regular horror series … and that’s exactly why i don’t think this new look will be to my tastes anymore. hopefully, i’m wrong, or better yet, joey does all of this shockingly well and i can withdraw my pessimism, but i guess we won’t know until the 27th.

though for the actual contents itself, my first compliment is that the mini series manages to look good. the trailer is gorgeous with the uses of lighting and composition … and the aesthetic of tapes and vhrs is a rather fun one. i do like the slogan littered throughout the promotional images and trailer : be kind, rewind. it feels like something that could have a lot of meaning behind it and could, if handled well, pack an emotional gut punch. i enjoy the metaphor of wanting to turn back time in a life full of trauma and pain. there’s something personal about it, an idea we can all relate to … plus the more thought out ‘theme’ will do the story a lot of good, in my opinion. anyway! yeah! i do think this season looks amazing.

the lieutenants also look really fun! big fan of the red cult guys myself -- they seem spooky and are also visually appealing. i like the sharp red and gold of them … i wonder what their deal is, as people trapped in or manifested by pandora’s box. vessels of the cursed god mayhaps? people who used to be like joey, but have slowly went crazy, and are trying to find their own way out? i’m not usually a fan of enemy groups in etn ( the clowns, the vampires ) but this seems like it could actually change my mind! i’m most excited for them, genuinely, though the krampus figure and breaking bad motherfuckers seem fun too. hopefully these villains are better than s4’s lot.

i do wonder how the challenges will work, with so few people? the escape the night instagram has implied there’s still voting cards, but i wouldn’t be surprised if they only use those once. it mostly seems to be a ‘you get captured, you go in’ sort of vibe, maybe? there’s a lot of capturing at least. you see jojo and tana hanging from cuffs in a meat locker ( an aspect of the mini series that has been spoiled to hell and back due to the tana and ro drama ) and there’s an image of nikita and ro similarly captured, lying motionless on a floor. manny also gets grabbed by a cultist. etc etc. surely there’s not zero consequences to being captured if it’s in every episode? otherwise, that would grow boring quick … maybe it’s like s3 ep9, where if the person isn’t saved or doesn’t save themselves in a certain amount of time, they’re killed? hm. hopefully we still have plenty of puzzles on top of all the tag going on. the only real ‘puzzles’ i could make out was a scene about collecting gems and some sort of chemistry lab thing, and thankfully, both of those seem intriguing!

also, i hope this girl is our ‘helper’ this mini series. etn could do with some more diversity always, especially since this cast in particular is lacking in it.

she seems cute … love her style and very quiet vibe so far. big fan!!!

mm, i don’t have much more to say as of now. my only other contribution is my hastily whipped together ‘death prediction’ sheet that i did in a hurry. i’ve never got to do one of these before for a season, so i was pretty excited to do one of these.

i’m rather confident in my first two guesses because it seems that in a lot of the later clips, tana and jojo seem more absent. they could, of course, be captured and hanging around somewhere, but i feel like that’s not the case. i know for sure tana dies due to the earlier drama from last year, and i doubt that jojo can beat the other contestants because they’re rather strong and experienced etn players at this point. they’re well versed in the lore and all three of them have either survived or had been pretty damn close, so. i don’t see jojo making it far, or at least surviving. i’m like 99% sure our final four will be ro, manny, nikita, and joey. now i cannot tell you who will actually die out of those four … joey’s immune because his death won’t ‘count’ if the rules from past seasons still holds up, and etn has always had a boy-girl survivor duo no matter what, to the point that it feels rigged … i guess this season we’ll find out? either way. i think nikita, ro, and manny are all fair game to die in episode three, with only manny having some leeway if the survivor duo is indeed scripted to be a boy and a girl. nikita has no friends so she’s a good target ( and you even see manny discussing this with ro, who is likely coming into this mini series with her own grudge against joey ) but rosanna has now been killed twice by challenges she fairly failed … nikita is the stronger competitor, but ro is more beloved … it’s genuinely a toss up between them, but if i had it my way, i’d want manny and nikita to be the survivors. sorry, rosanna :(

or, who knows, maybe the twist will be that joey dies to allow all three of them to live. wouldn’t that be something lol. lord knows joey’s in desperate need of redemption … although as for the rest, i have no idea. the cursed god has never seemed like a tangible entity, much less one that could be wrapped up in three episodes, and joey’s arc at this point is so messy that i’d find it more palatable if he had an entire two hour film dedicated to finding a place to end it. this all seems to be operating on burrowed time, and if that’s the point, i’ll applaud joey, and if not, then it’ll just be another pacing and lore nitpick lol.

overall, i’m interested to see where the mini series goes, which is a much better mindset than i had previously, so props to joey and his crew for that. will i be happy with everything? definitely not. but if joey can give me a mini series that’s flawed yet full of heart, or a mini series that’s horrible but fun, i’ll come out of this experience pleased at least. and that’s all i can really ask for!

[sewersammy]

this video makes me unreasonably happy

[junglefurytrash]

I don't think I ever posted this moodboard I did for Sarah, so with the Escape the Night fandom rising from the dead, I figured I may as well post it to remind you that we Stan Sarah Supremacy in this household.

Bonus moodboard: My OC I ship her with, because I love the Cold Quiet Introvert & Loving Sunshine Extrovert trope.

[lazarus-harp]

we got jatny content but at the cost of matnny, they all should’ve been a throuple instead of fighting each other, anyways the document on my computer about their relationship is rotting in the corner forever 💔

i know … this does deeply depress me as an og matny shipper but i’m so desperate for yaoi i’ll take what i can get 💔 these are my jatny crumbs and i’ll eat them GLADLY! i’m glad you see the vision as always though because i think every problem in etn s3 could’ve been solved if these three just kissed and decided a throuple could fix them. yet they instead made their interpersonal gay drama everyone else’s problem :/ … men am i right? i hate them so bad. lost tapes is gonna have me writing janny now and then i’ll have to also write mat being jealous about it.

also HI??? PLEASE??? pleaseeee show me the document 🙏 please don’t let it rot in the corner … us jatny fans are starving ……..

[lazarus-harp]

OH WHAT THE FUCK??? nobody touch me. i’ve prayed for times like these.

[lazarus-harp]

putting this oath out here now to be held accountable later, buuuut if manny and nikita do survive the lost tapes i promise i will write a multi chaptered ficlet of like. mat meddling in their fraught relationship post survival and desperately wanting to mend their rift ( for selfish reasons ) and so his golden idea is sending them to therapy. the only issue with this is that mat has never been to therapy in his life so he sends them both to a family therapist and then a couples one. hijinks ensue

[lazarus-harp]

dude we are so back. have u seen the etns5 teasers??? MANNY AND NIKITA ARE REAL AGAIN!! RO TOO!!! manny is the JOCK and its genuinely crazy 2 me . what are ur thoughts

i have! i follow a nifty and very informative etn fan account on twitter, so thankfully i’m always in the loop in regards to escape the night news. i’m VERY happy manny’s back! he’s one of those rare few i was very eager to see in another season of some sort … he was robbed of all stars and he clearly loves the show, so i’m beyond overjoyed he gets to have fun with it again!

as for nikita — i’m excited but scared? i’m really anti survivors dying … i am the biggest hater of an all survivors season … i would hate to lose her! while i’m more than interested to see her and manny go at it and all their unresolved issues, i know i’m going to have the biggest crash out if she dies. it feels unimaginable. nikita is so unkillable to me … this sort of despair is why i’m actually super happy that mat is not in this whole thing lol. as much as i’d love to see him again, i’m more relieved he’s out and safe somewhere … even if this season’s turnout is just begging for a detective crashout ( manny, nikita, and ro? if he loses all three i think he might just keel over tbh! )

ro and tana are mixed bags for me. i was heavily pro tana in s4 and i enjoy rosanna immensely, however i’m not particularly happy with all stars returning like this? to me the whole consequence of season four’s deaths was that they would then be sent to hell and unfairly so … which makes them coming back despite that bother me on a lore level. if joey has an explanation for it, great! if not, then i’ll be bothered the whole time alas. there’s so many other characters too that could’ve used a second chance ( some of which appeared in a video of joey’s wanting to be on etn again : like teala, glozell, and tyler ) so i’m very, eh, about these three timers. i hope they dazzle me and make me feel differently, but as of yet i’m not feeling it nor them as a cast.

also i don’t care for jojo siwa so i do hope she dies first lol. i already figured i wouldn’t be rooting for the new guy ( i was a big bretman hater back in all stars until a few years ago ) but this only solidifies it. i have no real opinion on any of her drama and i’m big on the whole ‘seperate the people from their characters’ thing so who knows! i could like the burnout! though i do find jojo annoying, so we’ll see.

anyway besides that i’m simple minded. i want manny and nikita to be the survivors. i want joey to enter his full villain arc finally. i hope this mini series encapsulates the vibe of the mr. sandman song they played in the movie teaser forever ago. i hope there’s a really good twist regarding this ‘lost tape’ motif and i hope this wraps up all the previous seasons as nicely as joey says it will!! my only request is that there’s not a hasty ‘and everyone was revived’ plot because i find that deathly boring and etn is at its best when it’s allowed to be a tragedy.

[lazarus-harp]

dying to hear your thoughts on etn s3e9 actually. because holy fuck there is so much there

there is! i love episode nine dearly, actually, and was planning on doing a liveblog about it anyway — so thanks for the opportunity!! please note that, due to me doing this in a discord server, sometimes my dear friend res ( @showgirlcentralstation ) pops in to talk. for convenience, most of those asides will be shown via screenshots. hopefully it’s not too messy to follow!

- lucy’s introduction is infinitely better than the one provided for the twin dolls … i do not care for her much at large mainly because harlequin sterotypes are not my thing but i do enjoy how nicely she fits in with the other lieutenants as a victim of abuse / their environment. also her whole relationship with the carnival master makes me deeply uncomfortable ( ‘no, daddy, not again!’ ) yet i do like that. like i do think they were treading on some very dark but fitting material here and i can’t say i wish they committed more or not but hmmm … given the intense sexuality of this episode i am like. okay so lucy is a sexual assault victim. right

- or at least doesn’t have a good relationship with anyone in general which is interesting LOL … i wonder if her boyfriend was loving or not and how much of the killing she enjoyed / maybe got catharsis from … i mean cutting off someone’s fingers and toes and then leaving parts of them in places to be found certainly feels very pointed. where does the carnival master’s manipulation begin and end etc

- ON TOP OF THAT i did not notice that cm collars her with the artifact before — or i did and just didn’t care but. interesting. does this imply that the collar does long lasting irreversible damage if worn for long? because why would he take it off of her at any point … and the artifacts all change the lieutenants in permanent, horrible ways but lucy remains mostly human looking so? mindbreaking collar? like for real? anyway just stuff to consider i never pay that much attention to lucy so

- also also. acab. like on one hand yeah i’d be the same way over my nephew but also you’re a cop and have no rights much love ( ignore my love for the strongman that’s DIFFERENT okay )

- god damn this episode starts off strong jesus christ not the immediate “and you don’t need me now?” scene phewww boy. so so many things to say. okay! well!

- for starters i do love how this episode picks up pretty much immediately after the last episode in terms of energy. like you can tell that the conversation sort of just died in ep8 only to be picked back up again in this one after they all settled in for their quick regroup … i know this is a ‘poor mat’ scene and i agree but on the other hand i do not blame manny or nikita whatsoever for growing defensive and prickly over his constant grim demeanor. none of them want to be reminded that they still need to lose another person rn! it is just not what they want ; especially for them, when they’re hyperaware that it could be each other. you can tell that manny and nikita don’t mean a word they say here either — their voices are just. lifeless. a little stale almost. these are not points nor ideas they are passionate about because we’ve seen them passionate and this isn’t it! … like manny and nikita get so much flack but frankly they are just exhausted and internally filled with dread and do not want to humor mat’s insistent need to remind them of how bad things still are. which is valid! and frankly characters have been killed for this sort of dark attitude before — notably matt in season one and colleen just a few episodes ago. just because mat isn’t as dramatic doesn’t mean he isn’t similar

LITERALLY! like yes mat we understand the rules of the game we’ve been doing it all night. honestly mat has shown time and time again that he does not want to look on the bright side of this mission whatsoever — he has never had any desire to save everlock nor the people within and while he may sometimes be inclined to indulge in something like happiness or relief it is not how he operates long term at all. his glee for the girl rosanna dies for withers quick and that’s what really kicks him into his whole ‘yeah well someone still has to die rip’ spiel that he cannot drop. meanwhile manny and nikita have both accepted their circumstances long ago ( manny especially ) and are like. relatively happy with saving the town … as much as one can be at the expense of their own lives … honestly most of the group is but mat is so pissed about it always. he does not want to die for this town. he does not want his friends to die for this town. he is so bitter and distrusting in ep8 so it’s not shocking he continues this in ep9 like he truly does not give a fuck. its logical hopelessness vs hopefulness at its best here and it’s not even the sort of match up you’d expect because the ‘good team’ is manny and nikita and the ‘bad team’ is mat … insane

ofc there’s no bad or good team where it concerns philosophy but. you know. it’s about the implications of such ideals … ANYWAY moving on to more of this scene. i am literally not even five minutes in

- “and you don’t need me now? why am i suddenly expendable again?” ah. the most important line for mat’s character. well one of many but A HUUUUGE point that has helped me with his characterization greatly

no yeah like. given nikita’s bretman inclusion i have always personally hc’d nikita as someone who is very desperately trying to move on with her life post everlock. she isn’t the greatest at it but she has relatively accepted it and moved on because she leads her life with her mind and what’s necessary and not with her heart ….. while she is not as touched by the saving everlock aspect as manny was she does accept it as a highlight. like their deaths aren’t in vain and that’s nice, she supposes. but like yeah it’s no wonder her and mat’s relationship is so intense and rocky because his mindset is so different

all of mat’s struggles post s3 can be attributed to his attitude about everlock in general like … he cannot accept the good of it. there is no good to him. it is all bad and horrible. he is plagued by this to an insane degree to the point he’s willing to let strangers die because he’s inherently distrustful and almost blames EVERLOCK for what’s happening …. like. to mat there is no awh we’re saving people! it’s just. my friends are dying. innocent people who didn’t sign up for this are dying. i hate it here and by extension this town. etc.

and in turn he hates the mission etc etc …. he is very overt about all of this i will forever find it funny when people say mat does care about saving everlock but is feigning otherwise because i promise he is not feigning shit lol. his feelings about the mission have stayed consistent since episode two and have only worsened … lets be fr

- “no, no, no, no, don’t worry, you’re not expendable.” joey is like mat is my emotional support dead man walking and i’ll be DAMNED if anyone insults him! … i jest. this episode is one for the joey/mat enjoyers though for sure. we love to see joey fighting for an underdog due to his own projection and we love to see him show his shriveled, definitely rotted heart … s3 joey i love you. you are at your worst and most selfish and yet there are still enough scenes to show us he’s not fully gone yet

- the gays ( manny and joey ) are fighting 😔

- nah but everlock really does want manny though. can we acknowledge that. is it okay to acknowledge that. manny’s consistent brushes with death since episode five really feels integral — he’s gone into a challenge every time since then, minus the maiden of madness which is decidedly not a challenge. but the strongman, the funhouse, the witches, and then this episode where he finally kicks the bucket …. i do not blame him for feeling oddly paranoid or exhausted. i know some fans might say ‘deserved’ because manny survived the funhouse ‘unfairly’ but truly i think he wishes he had just died THERE … and even before that episode, it’s been nonstop. lowkey it’s so easy to view these locations in etn as their own entities that breathe and exist and have intention — even though, usually, they’re just regular places being steered about by evil hands. though when something wants to kill you so bad, when something has a thirst for it, does it matter? is it really his friends manny’s nervous of or is it some higher, unimaginable other? i wonder this a LOT. for manny it’s genuinely less of his friends and more of himself, or circumstances, or luck

- for example, with alex from s2, it’s definitely his friends sending him into all these challenges. MOSTLY. they start to view alex as this top dog who can cull the weaker contestants … and when they’re not sending him in to finish a job, alex is volunteering himself. his end feels more self made. manny’s however is a string of rancid luck and just … this town really wants me dead for some reason! also, joey is hilarious for getting upset about this when he’s the most paranoid, vindictive person alive ( or dead i guess ). man who constantly kills the people who puts him in danger gets mad at man who is angry at constantly being in danger. lmfao

- mat’s insane speech where you think you know where it’s going but then he just SAYS things and you’re like oh what is wrong with you??? he’s like we all deserve to be here! anyway, we ALL suck except nikita lol. you know the girl with whom i fight with the most? her? yeah? well she’s amazing. love her to death actually. his whole speech is so odd that not only does nikita awkwardly and suspiciously accept the praise, but both joey and manny are like ‘uh, anyway, map? yeah. map’

- you cannot tell me that these three are not deeply unnerved by mat right now. nobody has any idea how to handle him and mat maintains this almost manic state throughout the entire episode …… two extremely emotional deaths back to back on top of a messy revival and traumatic murder has probably done him irreparable damage. who could’ve guessed!!

- “new map, new troubles, honey.” manny says, like a smoker

- STRANGE YOU’D EVER FORGET THE NIGHT. sorry. i love this throwaway line. to me this is the thesis of escape the night. i know this is about the clock clue and whatnot, but something about this sentence, this brief glimpse, these words that are in the center of the map … something about it scratches at me in a way that’s unexplainable. maybe because it encapsulates the survivors so aptly for me. something something ‘cause no one truly escapes the night’ something something … this is a tragedy etc

- it’s been awhile since i’ve watched an etn episode so seeing mat move is insane. he LOVES talking with his hands. him making a circle with one hand and pointedly moving where the ‘six’ and other numbers would be on this metaphorical clock … his clap when he realizes what’s going on before rushing to the actual clock itself … he is a Talker and so, so animated. i know this is glaringly obvious in all mat does but sometimes the movements are pointed enough that you’re like ah okay. i see. he isn’t even looking at anyone when making these gestures, he just makes them instinctively

- mat and nikita pointing at cubicles is funny lowkey. they both don’t need to be doing that but then again joey and manny don’t need a third pair of hands to help arrange the artifacts around </3 i bet nikita didn’t know what to do per se so she just angled towards mat and was like yeah, okay, i can order prople around i guess

- the ‘safe’ lounge proving to repeatedly be unsafe since safiya’s death is sooooo? the way everyone is so annoyed about the eighth artifact being in their room!! the illusion was already broken but this is an extra shattering, maybe? just. constantly being reminded that they were never really safe in this place and that’s the THING! the guests are only really protected by the fact that these monsters follow strict guidelines. they have rules and they like these sorts of games, or at least most abide by them anyway. but they do not have to! especially the s3 lieutenants whose master is currently locked away. but like … again, their safety has and always will be a front. it will always be dependent on the monsters they deal with. it’s always a ‘mercy’ of sorts because it would be so easy for the monsters to just kill anyone at any random time. i know it’s not that deep and that the monsters are controlled by rules because it’s better television, and this is a competition show, but … in-universe i find the concept interesting. sue me

- manny just staring at joey as he suggests nikita put the collar on and the second she accepts this suddenly mat has a DIFFERENT suggestion! he’s like we could put the collar, which mentions control btw, on manny. just. are we sure we don’t wanna do that instead. the only explanation for this is that mat either thinks manny would pull off the collar better or that mat, naively, assumed that they could control the person wearing the collar. and he decided he would much rather pilot manny than nikita. i cannot blame him for the latter belief because manny is a physical powerhouse ( which mat is all too aware of! ) but thank god nobody listened to him and just wrote him off as weird or whatever. manny in that collar would’ve been a nightmare to fucking deal with

- the best final four of all time what do you mean these three men are standing around and trying to compliment nikita in a collar made of skin and eyeballs. what do you mean she’s fishing for compliments about it. god even when they’re fighting they are disgustingly supportive about the most stupidest of things ❤️ etn is a comedy ❤️ can these four talk about their feelings and sort out their issues? well NO but they can and will assure their girl that she’s soooo smoking hot in her cursed collar don’t even worry about it girl!

- manny is so worried about nikita :((( he’s like nikita? NIKITA???? immediately trying to grab her before she’s commanded away ….. also him noticing that lucy’s feeding the dog candy …. manny is forever beating the dumb allegations

they are watching nikita about to kiss lucy’s ass i cannot stress enough that this is so funny. joey’s brain isn’t even online rn his reaction is so LATE

me when i see nikita kissing lucy’s ass i guess. INSANE. they are so fucking goofy

- “nikita, can you come here? >:/” mat sounds a little peeved i know he’s so mad lucy made nikita do that. my hero etc

- ah and here’s lucy who just straight up starts sexually assaulting mortimer in front of everyone! again, darker content, darker episode. i do understand why a lot of people are adverse to these themes within etn ( which is primarily a comedy, despite how seriously i personally take it ) but again — i like these darker themes on occasion! personally. especially seeing how uncomfortable it makes the boys almost instantly ; how both manny and mat turn away physically, like, whole body turns, and they even try walking away from it lol. something about it is so different compared to the other horrors they’ve went through and it’s revolting in a new, scary way — lucy is a particularly horrible monster tbh. her just groping mortimer is so …. augh … making nikita kiss her ass, humiliating them both, laughing about it … it was almost childish before but now it’s oddly real and hard to swallow. again, i don’t think etn should do this all the time, but i like the occasional introduction of something like this here and there. disturbing as it is

- calliope stays a girl failure. she can’t do anything right … i love her to death but she picks fights and gets her ass beat everytime ADJAKDKAS … girl stand down. fr

- mortimer going ‘we got to go, manny!’ and reaching out for manny’s hand, and manny just like. blindly, almost clumsily, offers his arm so mortimer grabs his wrist and they run … i do find it charming, i’m afraid. meanwhile matkita is out here winning with the whole hand splaying right above mat’s belt and nikita very visibly dragging him by his tie like it’s a leash … i love sexuality in horror <3 yippee

- manny is so smart. i never want to see claims of his uselessness again! he is completely by himself with no aid, no help — trapped in a drugstore with a demon dog — and he still manages to come out on top because he cleverly stuffed his pockets full of candy earlier due to!! his observation!! then he locks the demon dog in there and makes a beeline for the mailbox … does all this while thinking on his feet and scared shitless mind you

- “calliope, you’re okay.” OUGH … manny says that so sweetly <3 my boy!! then he rushes to her and, despite acknowledging she’s fine ( or alive, at least ), begins asking if she’s okay : are you okay? calliope not even answering and instead asking about the others … to which manny has no idea!! like he really is so alone at the moment. he has no idea what happened to mat or joey and nikita is some mindless pet now. mortimer was grabbed too and all he has is himself and suddenly an injured calliope …. i think this is the most independent he’s ever been? maybe the most alone anyone this season has been besides, like, mat later on in the crypts

- “use that core! use those ab workouts, man!” once again we love to see support for the most mild of things. all joey’s doing is trying to heft beanbags into a bucket with his legs and mat is acting like they’re at a rally or he’s spotting joey during a workout ……

- joey : mothertrucker hell —

mat, giggling : watch your language.

joey, in the most snide voice ever : mothertrucker is watching my language.

i hate them so bad

- mat said i’m going to project my savior complex i’m rapidly developing onto a stuffed horse and try to assuage my intensifying guilt over losing everyone i have ever loved as well as myself by saving blanche. surely, this isn’t concerning whatsoever and his sudden surge of passion about this means nothing at all

- if there’s one thing mat’s gonna do it is making fun of gay people. like he didn’t need to comment on being glad that joey can recognize boobs but he did anyway <3

- manny belatedly copying mat’s hand movement is endearingly cute. mat is like so we all need to touch, and he puts a hand out to emphasize that, and then manny reaches his own out to copy only to be a second or so late … manny does this a lot actually if i remember correctly. copying little movements like that

- ohhh not that little disgusted look from manny when he realizes they have a CHOICE to save nikita or not …. his mouth quirks incredulously and his eyes flash almost … there is no way he would’ve ever let mat and joey leave nikita to her fate like that

- like yup manny immediately jumped to nikita’s defense and when he got at least joey’s agreement he quickly pivots to talking about the church instead … he doesn’t even let mat say anything about it, manny’s just like yup, we’re saving nikita. i don’t care. i can’t imagine leaving here without her. and i’m like ….. oh manny’s death. oh the tragedy of it

- joey said we can’t go there!! the carnival master is there!! and mat is like ( through barely concealed rage ) is that not the guy we’re supposed to defeat. is that not him joey. he is SOOO frustrated by this sudden fear from the savant. he really says “that’s the whole point.”

- humilation torture central starring mortimer! whump fanfic writers love to see him i’m sure

- them all specifically having to touch nikita and basically hold her until the collar pops off … hm!! something about that given this whole episodes theme

- mat’s rapid reassuring patting that he gives to manny instead of nikita LMFAO … he’s so out of it atm that he can’t even be assed to properly offer his condolences or whatnot. meanwhile nikita comes straight out of her violent posession pissed off and already concerned about missing earrings and her wig … iconic as always. all the boys going ‘wow you’re a bitch’ like. well yes!! ( also i know most of my notes are just me laughing at these dynamics but like. c’mon now )

- “oh, you can’t come in!” mat immediately resorting to MOCKING the demon dog … he’s so funny i’m sorry he is the biggest bitch ever. he’s no different than nikita or manny i promise. they are all bonding rn over taunting this thing that desperately wants to kill them — at least until manny decides there has to be a limit to their mocking because they might have to go outside

- manny and nikita being so oddly mad about being handcuffed together is hilarious like. what’s the problem. would you rather be handcuffed to joey? matthew? they’re literally best friends yet take being stuck together worse than mat and joey did

- mat randomly having candy in his pockets … i’m trying to look closely to see if there’s ever a moment where manny gives him any but?? there’s nothing?? where did he get that. honestly, this is why etn is a gold mine for ‘missing scenes’ because there was definitely a scene where manny remembered the candy and handed it over and told mat what he had noticed — mat hasn’t been to the drug store since episode three iirc? so?

- regardless mat saying they’re all so exhausted … yeah </3 they really have been running around for hours, experiencing nonstop adrenaline straight to the heart, shock, etc. that shit takes a toll!! i was going to make fun of joey for giving up on the demon dog so quickly but genuinely these peoples’ legs are on the verge of giving out at any opportunity you just know it. the aches and pains the survivors will have tomorrow will be unmatched

- “i get suckered in,” mat admits, sheepishly. his willingness to bond with anything so long as it shows even the slightest hints of interest is SOOO

- not mat belatedly realizing that the note meant a human snack and he’s like “maybe — oh, shoot.” his sudden hesitance to voice this thought because he desperately doesn’t want to put manny and nikita in danger like that … man who sadly gives a fuck! like. i think ep9 shows this a fair amount but so much of etn is truly about how these people aren’t evil or even malicious really, they’re just emotional and reacting upon these intense emotions … none of these characters actually hate each other or want one another dead. if there’s a chance to save someone ( nikita, in this case ) then they’ll take it and take it gladly … but there’s usually not that choice. and so things get muddled and insane instead. this is important!! especially for mat who. hm!! well. we all know what he does later

- “don’t apologize to him!” joey is pro revenge, pro murder

- something is so wrong with mat good GOD. him murdering the demon dog while apologizing profusely, then saying he didn’t actually feel remorseful at all and enjoyed killing it, to sympathizing with lucy’s anger, to then saying ( almost gleefully mind you ), “might as well just put her out of her misery then, huh?” …. mat truly has no idea what he feels or thinks i’m losing it … he killed one thing and now he’s slamming between the two ranges of human emotion : delight and sorrow 😭

- ohhh i forgot how absolutely devestated they all are about seeing their cards and a fucking voting table … there’s this immediate spike of panic and despair and joey’s all like “guys, i thought there was going to be a twist. i didn’t think this was going to happen again.” SIGHS! mat ripping his glasses off and just giving this bitter i told you so in the face of all this … but you can kinda tell mat forgot about the voting stuff too until now, despite how hard he clung to this final sacrifice and loss earlier. ugh

- it has been so long since i’ve watched etn so i can’t remember if there’s similar reactions to the ep9 voting in the other seasons but i don’t think so? like … and if not then joey of all people being surprised and upset about this says A Lot to me. again, s3’s group is very much a bonded one, there are so many emotional connections and ties despite the occasional animosity!! they work the best together as a team and unit!! and even joey got caught up in that. while they’ll do what they always do here and vote for themselves as an act of love and mercy ( a time honored tradition for ep9, besides in s4 ) it is so telling that joey didn’t expect this at all. like. joey of all people. was it the revival of mat that got his hopes up? was it safiya’s unfair death that broke every rule he ever knew? was it them being able to save nikita? why didn’t joey think this would happen! it always happens! they all got so caught up in their hopes and the act of saving people and each other and prevailing in the face of danger that they forgot the death that’s always looming overhead and it’s so fucked. so so fucked :(

- mat said anyway i’m still achingly tender and bruised from our earlier arguments about how i should die again or whatever. and this WILL drive the rest of my actions in this episode alas … seeing those cards and knowing what lies ahead really pressed on his wounds and reopened them sigh

- i DO wonder what nikita was going to say before joey’s ‘vote ourselves in’ plan. she’s like “i don’t want to be That person right now”, and i’m sooo curious about what she wanted to say. although, again, i do love nikita always stepping up, ready to do the hard part … the part that nobody else here really wants to do. manny’s dead quiet, joey’s rambling about how tough this all is, and mat’s brimming with anger but he’s not pointing any fingers, really. they’re just aimless and so nikita was probably going to take charge, make the hard decision, etc — until joey thankfully came through with his tried and true ep9 plan

- manny and nikita getting drawn is so foul and devestating and always will be, but is also the most poetic, infuriatingly tragic event ever actually ….. the immediate despair and then anger from the two of them, the shock and sympathy pangs from joey and mat initally …. mat is like i did say once upon a time that this is the worst possible outcome. besides me going into the challenge, obviously. and this is still true!

- SLIGHTLY BETTER LUCK TO MANNY!!!! mat said despite my praises for nikita earlier i do have a favorite. slightly better luck to manny is revolutionary actually. if you ever shipped these two that line feels like a shot of cocaine or something i promise

- anyway i could talk about mat’s whole snide pettiness here for hours and hours ( and i have! ) but anyone who genuinely thinks that mat is a.) right for his assessment about nikita’s and manny’s feelings over safiya and MUCH LESS ro, or b.) genuinely thinks mat feels this way are people i don’t understand. this actually has nothing to do with ro or safiya and so much more to do with, again, their earlier arguments and clashing. you can even see him getting all hurt about it during the voting section with his mini spiral about his supposedly ‘certain’ fate … it’s about that. his insecurity within the group suddenly. him feeling unwanted and unloved and spited. it’s about mat being terrible at managing his emotions much less his thoughts or feelings and so it all spills into this big confusing pile of — stuff. is mat probably upset about the reactions to safiya’s and ro’s deaths? sure. but this is so much more than that and also mat is such a dick for this lol. again, there is nothing really seperating him from nikita or manny in terms of morals, besides his own imaginary lines

- GO, MANNY!!! mat’s so fucking silly

- mat rather firmly rooting for manny besides shouting out vague encouragements to ‘find those keys’ and then here’s joey who is oscillating between cheering for both manny and nikita … fun little differences

- manny was lowkey killing this shit … rip to a king. but also mat, OF ALL PEOPLE, going “there’s that strongman!” i’m like. if i was manny i would be so certain mat hates my guts and blames me for his death or something but no mat just. really likes complimenting manny on the whole strongman thing. like a weirdo

- KILL YOURSELF OR KILL YOUR FRIEND. YOU DECIDE HOW THIS ENDS. god this truly was the best challenge of all time … peak

- manny :((( no but how traumatic must it be to have your best friend in the whole wide world literally say “i love you” as she decides to shoot you multiple times in the chest lol. manny holding up his hands and saying that nikita’s not going to shoot him … she’s just not … how he doesn’t even sound sure himself … </3

- the detective is the fakest idgafer because wdym you’re cracking jokes about it rn because not even a second ago you were WAILING “you shot him?! you shot him!”

- nikita hyperventilating “i murdered him,” and just hugging herself as she’s frantically swept up in mat and joey’s pushing and fast reassurances … tired of the ‘nikita is a heartless monster’ takes. she is also a fake idgafer. this is why her and mat either swimmingly get along or fight like nobody’s business

- not mortimer BOWING to the carnival master ….. what kind of dymamic is this 🤨

- “i can smell the stench of the society all over you. they called you into a war that’s not yours.” okay wait banger ass line but also the carnival master is genuinely just right. he’s so right. fuck the sae always … oh and also rip calliope and mortimer i guess

well. that’s that then. sadly i do not find the end of ep9 all too memorable … but this was still a fun watch! i kind often forget how good of a manny episode this is because manny is such a quiet guy surprisingly. he’s just not obtrusive like mat and nikita and even joey sometimes are … anyway. ugh. rip to the best final four in all of etn i’m sure seeing manny and nikita together again in the mini series won’t be heartbreaking at all! and, of course, thanks again for the ask + wanting my thoughts specifically <3

[lazarus-harp]

“ there’s no justice here. ”

now playing ‘ THE DETECTIVE ’ on spotify !

[lazarus-harp]

so. etn in about nine or so days ….