Part 58 was so important. John tried to be the King again, be who he thought he needed to be. And Arthur was willing to accept that even if he could tell John wasn't happy. Because as us in Arthur's shoes, it's not our place to tell our friends who they are and aren't. John had to sort that on his own. And it was so important for Arthur to realize he doesn't get to make that decision.
It's a beautiful culmination of John's arc. It is one thing to build an identity when the beliefs are force-fed to you by a need to survive, it is another to take what works for you and blend it into who you really are. We have watched John grow over these 6 seasons, but he's never had the agency to choose who he was. Even his chosen name was something given to him essentially by accident as John Doe came from a necessary act for the survival of his host.
And now, as the King, he has the ability to choose. And he does. He makes use of his agency to decide after that John IS who he wants to be. He chooses to go BACK vs if they had never separated it could have been easier to passively stay put than to actively make this decision.
And also what a beautiful culmination of Arthur's character arc to stop seeing Faroe and John as only their relationships to him and extensions of himself as he has been prone to do and now sees them as their own people with their own identities. He's finally learning to let go of the selfish tendencies that have shaped him over the course of this show.
And because of that he could write Faroe's Light, symbolizing his ability to let go of the guilt that has tainted his grief and memory. Because of that he could support John trying to decide who he wanted to be rather than potentially fighting him tooth and nail because "well this just isn't right" which could have served to push John away instead of aiding him.
I dunno man, I think part 58 is my favorite episode. And this isn't even me digging into how deeply personal this episode feels for me. That could be a whole post of its own.
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