Malevolent Thoughts: SPOILER FOR SERIES SO FAR
Heads up! I will be talking about the podcast thus far, so there are spoilers in this post.
I just finished ‘Malevolent’, and I haven't been so fixated on a piece of media since The Magnus Archives. I've been fixated on media sense then for sure, like with ‘Our Flag Means Death’, but that sense fizzed out. While with TMA and Hannibal, my love for those live on. I feel that love for Malevolent, that interest that will keep its hold for a good while. Whether forever or not, I'm not sure, but it's found a corner of my brain and gotten comfortable.
I first heard about the podcast after going through the TMA tag on tumblr, and I ran into a fanart by @gunstellationas that had Jon and Martin meeting Arthur and John. I saw it tagged with ‘#Malevolent’ and was intrigued. Trusting a fellow TMA fan, I figured it was worth checking out. I found their website at 10:04pm on March 31st, and listened to the first episode. The obsession began. I've been listening to it everyday for the last week, and I have a lot of feelings. I want to get them all out so I don't explode at one of my friends, like a crack forming in a dam that holds my random thoughts and feelings back from flooding me and those around.
I'll start with talking about the main detective man himself, Arthur Lester. This man is everything I love in a character; he's got a big mouth that he can't keep shut, he's squishy as all hell, he loves his daughter SO MUCH, he's artistic, and he's got a realistic, flexible morality. He wants what's best, and sometimes it's logically best for the situation and sometimes it's best for him emotionally. He's not perfect, he's not the ‘hero’ character from something like anime or a superhero movie, he's a person who's had a rough life which has shaped his reaction to the world around him. The part I think most shows this is when Arthur finds the mines when John has just returned, and he's hell bent on finding Larson and killing him. Arthur keeps reacting emotionally, not caring for anything but his goal which has him being unsympathetic to the cultists and willing to leave them to their death. Then we learn that the reason is because of what Larson did to his own daughter, and Arthur feels that touches too close to how he feels about his own involvement in Faroe's death.(Also as a note, Harlan's acting is so stunning, especially in the moments with Arthur really going through it emotionally. Especially with Arthur's final death in series one is so well acted I very nearly cried, and I do not cry really ever for the media I consume.) He's filled with such self hatred for his own actions that seeing someone else do the same thing makes him want to act towards them how he cant to himself. He's such a complicated character in a way that just feels real, and it's really well done. On a less serious note, his quips and the way he uses his intellect to talk down sometimes to other characters is so fun. Like when he's in 13th century England and he gets to the castle, the way he starts going all ‘detective’ on the other characters, in my head I pictured him looking up through his eyelashes all nonchalant but spitting dagger after dagger at the other characters' prides. It's just hot honestly, and I know its not just me cause this man can not stop attracting fucked up guys to want him in one way or another. The obvious one is John, and the King in Yellow as a whole, who actually loves him and doesn't want to be separated from him, even when given the chance to be ‘whole' again. Their codependent relationship is such a treat. Then you have Kayne who finds Arthur so fascinating that he just can't leave him alone, going so far as killing every other Arthur from every other universe just cause he can't figure him out (or why Lilith likes him so much, the puzzle he can not solve.) And then the Butcher (my love~) who sees him as an equal which he had not found before, someone who can properly see him and challenge him, a proper cat and mouse chase like fucking Tom and Jerry. And of course there's Lilith, and while she doesn't feel as much for him at the start, he's just a useful tool for baiting Kayne, by the end of them being in one body I think she too is not immune to this man's bratty charisma.(Especially after the whole piano scene, I love that whole episode.) There's a tumblr post by @throwusaboner that described his affect on these characters perfectly;
‘Arthur Lester's main problem is that he has the perfect combination of vulnerable body and indomitable spirit that makes him basically irresistible to anyone and anything with a functioning prey drive. If he whimpered a little less prettily, or mouthed off a little less competently, I think maybe 80% of the plot of malevolent would not have happened this way.’
Also this was tagged with ‘#arthur lester walks in and every brat tamer in the vast unknowable cosmos perks up like a dog #and then he does in fact call them a dog’, which are great tags honestly. It describes him so well! He is also often described with such pretty words, like Kayne calling him an ‘English rose’, which yes he is our little british guy but that's such a delicate nickname! Also, let's be real, this man whimpers and grunts every god damn minute. Is it because he's almost always injured? Yes. But does he have to do it as the tumblr post said ‘so prettily’? No. Am I complaining? Absolutely not! I love this sad, sad man and want to wrap him in a big warm blanket with a cup of tea in front of a fire. But I'll leave that job in John's capable hand (hee).
Another thing is his relationship with Faroe. In series one obviously she isn't around but still holds a huge place in Arthur's life. His guilt revolving around both how he handled his relationship with Bella, the fact he wasn't there for Faroe's birth or Bella's death, and then the guilt over Faroe's death really shapes Arthur, and I feel is the biggest hurdle for him to traverse emotionally for series one. All the little snippets of their life together that we hear are so sweet and just heart breaking as they're all tainted with the knowledge that that little girl isn't there anymore. Arthur was a good dad I feel confident in saying, but he was also a bad dad. While her death couldn't have been predicted by Arthur, he should have gone to her after Tess told him she had put Faroe in the bath. And Arthur knows that, he doesn't try to shrink his responsibility, what he needs to learn is to not let that guilt morph his memories of her. And I really like that it doesn't mean he moves on, that he never even tries to, it means he remembers the good in the time they had together. Like when he composes ‘Faroes Light’ after Lilith says that absolute badger of a line, ‘There are no minor keys in the heart of a child, Arthur.’.(My absolute queen, what a line!) This section I think really neatly describes Arthur's own journey from viewing Faroe as this greatest failure, to remembering who she was, the light of his life.(Also again when Arthur dies at the end, and Lilith turns herself into Faroe so he can be with his daughter one last time, it was so beautifully done and nearly killed me.) Also, because Faroe is only really a memory, Arthur has her on such a pedestal. She's his light, his happiness, his everything, and that's nearly fully shaped by her as a baby, someone who didn't quite have a personality of their own yet. He loves her so much, and I don't think that will change for anything. What will be interesting to see in series two is how Faroe handles being seen in rose tinted glasses, and how Arthur handles her being her own person now. Arthur is not a good guy, he's not a bad guy, he's a guy. A very interesting, and genuine guy. And I can't wait to see what other shenanigans he gets up to.
Now our next love, John Doe (Yellow, The King in Yellow). {Note: I shall be using they/them pronouns for John.} I love the format of this show with the main character being blinded and the entity in him has his eyes and must describe their surroundings and help him get around. It is so cool and really hooked me right off the bat. And more specifically about John, I love an otherworldly entity gaining a sense of humanity that makes them softer, more so sometimes than their human counterpart. Same as Arthur, John makes choices sometimes that are more emotional than logical, and it's because they’re learning human things like empathy for the first time. Harlan said in one of the end of seasons Q & A that John is very similar to a child in the fact that they sometimes switch wildly from being kind to being violent, either emotionally or in action or what action he wants Arthur to do. Such as with Oscar, he wanted Arthur to get rid of him cause they thought he would replace them. But then with Charlie/Noel, they saw a friend and wanted him to be close. John goes through such a huge character arc in series one, from willing and ready to claim Arthur's body for themselves, to choosing to stay together forever. The scene where Arthur is about to leave with Lilith, and The King in Yellow calls him back asking to be his eyes again is so good, it's such a sweet scene!
The season that really brought up a lot of interesting things about John's character in my opinion was season 3 in Addison. They have finally reunited, but Arthur’s different, colder in a way John doesn't know what to do with. Arthur has been his guide through humanity, so suddenly having to be the voice of reason between the two of them is a shift and it makes for such a fun contrast from the previous seasons. Arthur was the one who wanted to save people before, but now it's on John to make Arthur see reason into making sure they save the cultists from the mines. The shift from “human wanting good, entity wanting bad” to the reverse adds so much to both characters, and shows John's growth as they find out who they are/ who they want to be.
John's relationship with their physical form is so queercoded. I know the creator mentioned in a Q & A about trans people's relationship with their identity versus those around them' s perspective on their identity, so it's cool to see there's some intentionality behind that. John making the choice in the end to stay with Arthur, and leave their physical form behind because that form wasn't truly what they wanted now, and that it was only what they thought they should want, was such a cool character choice. I think for most people they'd see that choice as bad, and the idea of having no body terrifying, but as a gender queer person myself the idea of not having a body for people to stick their own opinions or ideas on does sound kinda nice. John is with someone who knows them and ‘sees’ them as they are now, so letting go of their old body didn't represent who they were anymore is a type of freedom. That John doesn't have a physical form so has to express themselves via just their words means they and Arthur have really deep conversations, especially once they start being more honest with one another. It's really refreshing to hear two characters have healthy communication and also take time to ask for consent before doing something. It is again really refreshing and makes their relationship and their separate characters more real.
Now, to the thing that's been holding me down and shaking my spare brain cells loose, the relationship between Arthur and John. I've never wanted something for myself more in my life. Are they healthy? Not really, but fuck if they don't love eachother! As an aro/ace person, I love how much they read as a queer platonic relationship. There's no sexual tension between them, or hyper romantic with how they engage, they just care for one another deeply. The fact they quote poetry at each other, and have these check in with each other that isn't them trying to pressure the other into doing something cause they trust the other is so lovely! Like when Arthur is talking to John who's back to being the King in Yellow, and Arthurs just ‘I don't think this is the right move, but if this is what you want I will support you’, it got me! It's nice, just so nice! And the fact as well that John chooses in the end to return to being Arthur's eyes cause while they thought they wanted to be back in their body, they'd much prefer to stay with Arthur and continue learning and seeing the world with him! And even though that would mean being blind, Arthur said, ‘I would much prefer to hear the world described in the way you see it. It’s a cold, drab place, but you’ve always tended to make it sound brighter.’ like COME ON!? It's just so lovely, I don't know how else to say it, it makes me feel cozy and it's nice to see a deep relationship I could see myself having, and I don't see that near ever.
They've also changed so much since the beginning of the series, and their growth both comes from the stuff they go through and what they offer to each other in terms of perspective and checking each other. They both call each other out for bullshit, and they both still make bad choices or decisions the other doesn't like, but the biggest thing that changes is the way they respond to the advice and criticisms given to them. There's the joke about them going through divorces throughout the show, and they definitely argue both like a married couple and then like two people who are ready to throw down hard, but also because they are stuck together they have to then either make up or talk about it, or else they'd go crazy. And that forced confinement forced them to work up to having pretty healthy communication. They can't hide from each other or their problems, and they can't pretend something didn't happen because the other will bring it up. It's like the opposite of the miscommunication trope (which I personally have a burning hatred for). A good example of it is at the end with the manager where Arthur instead of putting John in ‘time out’ like he was asked to, kept John there to hear the offer too, so they could make a decision together. Though the fact they are two beings sharing one body really forces a lot of these I know, and I don't think they would have had such good communication if they were in different bodies, their relationship has still progressed in a way that felt earned. And I just really enjoyed the dialog and the use of things like poetry as a form of connection and motivation for both of them. I just love good character centric stories, a character's story will always get to me more than a story of a world. The multiple universes are sick, and the setting is very interesting, but I would not be as invested as I am without these two and the relationship they grow into having.
As well with what we have so far in Threshold, with Arthur wanting to tell Faroe about John but both of them agreeing to wait, while it's because John is an entity inside Arthur's head and they would need to also tell her about the fact that Arthur is not her original Arthur, it can also give the vibe of Arthur worried about telling his daughter about his masc-presenting companion, and Johns own reservations about it just add to that for me. It has a really easy queer comparison, and it will be cool to continue on with the relationship between all three of them and how she will react eventually to John. They're already being the ‘step dad that stepped up’, and I can't wait to see more of that.
There are so many other characters in this show who I also love, the Butcher especially has my heart I love that freak, but I had the most thoughts about Arthur and John and their relationship so that's what I wanted to get down and out of my head to hopefully clear up some space to allow me to process this show even more. Cause surprise, I've been relistening to a bunch of episodes even after catching up cause I cant stop wont stop. I've also finally been checking out fan content which has been a joy. The fanart and especially everyone's different interpretations of John, Yellow, and the King have been so fun to look at and really have inspired my own idea for the designs. I will say, this is one of the few series where I prefer the original work over a lot of the fanfictions I've seen though. By no means am I saying I disliked the fics I have read, I've been enjoying those immensely, but in terms of their relationship nothing quite itches that scratch like the podcast itself. I've also found that I prefer fics with no sexual content, and again doesn't mean I don't enjoy some, It's just not how I see the characters dynamic. Though I will say, I have read one where John gets a body and they use sex as a way for them to feel one again, and that fucking slapped! Love my codependent lads! In the end, what I reach for the most if I need my Malevolent fix is just the podcast itself, which again has been a rare thing for me in terms of the media I consume. The only other thing I'm like this with I think is the Magnus Archives. Something about horror podcasts that give me the queer characters I've been hungry for it seems. I don't know what that says but oh well, that's for a different day!
That shall be all for my rant, thank you Harlan for such a wonderful show and giving me a new sad man to obsess over, and I can't wait to keep listening to this podcast as it continues to go on. Here's to Threshold!
I have since listened to the newest episode and lord! The argument they have that they clear up so quickly was so good, and a great show of their growth as individuals and as a duo. Also writer John is so precious, I'm so proud of them finding their own artistic expression!
