What are you thinking about today? Oh, y’know, just the sheer relief on Dustin’s face when he thinks El has escaped from the military just to be followed by the horror and sadness in his voice when he sees El at the gate and realizes that she’s gonna stay behind to be destroyed with the Upside Down
"put some fucking wrist into it" and then jumping straight to a cut of dan zesting the lemon instead of phil 😭😭 now i know why your princess hasn't worked a day in his life and you're the main culprit man
"I'm out of ideas. And then I met you. And you had so many. It was like I could breathe again. We were building something. And then you just... you left me, with no explanation, you just..."
Lewis Pullman as Calvin Evans
Lessons in Chemistry | S1.E2
Thoughts on the two agents and the situation in Sekwang City.
Firstly, I get why they did what they did. It isn't something explicitly 'wrong' considering the stakes of the situation they're in. In a way it's the same as the triage done by paramedics, the Counselor and Kim Soleum were simply black-tagged; but since the agents are not actual paramedics they didn't bother with any false hope, which is better I suppose?
But it doesn't change the fact that it was gruesome.
Even the logic there is flawed, they could potentially at least rescue the cooperative Spirit Beast yeah? Since it'd help them long term in saving more people and hence would be worth the risk? And even on a personal level, watching the Fox Counselor trying to fucking reason with government agents whose sole jobs are saving people to save the person with him was horrifying to read.
Then we come to the whole seal and the Bureau. Judging by what we know so far, Sekwang Metropolitan was sealed off from the rest of existence and everything living on the surface that was subject to the S-Class Darkness was forced into the loop as sacrifices to keep it contained.
I don't think the sheer horror of the concept has been understood yet.
Perpetual Agony
Every living organism on the surface is forced to relive the day of their worst suffering under a insanely strong confusion spell that would assimilate their worldview so that no one notice the loop and hence try to break it (we see what happens when memories aren't erased in the Train To Tamra incident) to the point where even people who'd escaped had portions of their identity stored as 'echoes' to support the loop's conditions.
Even if their minds didn't recall the pain from a hell of eternity, their souls would.
"After I burned to death in there, I passed through the door and remained on the platform. Because that's the kind of being I am. And for four days, I was trapped, listening to the sounds of civilians committing suicide, trying with all my might to scan the surface, the outside. I was planning to beg anyone, in any way, to help this city… But."
...
"They started performing a strange ritual."
My heart tightens.
"Looking closely, it was a Sacrificial Ritual. I was on pins and needles, wondering what kind of sacrifice they were offering to stop this disaster, what kind of sacrifice and price they were paying to save my clients, yet I was also filled with elation, eagerly awaiting its completion…."
"The sacrifices were my clients."
"They put the countless people living in this city on the ritual altar and offered them up. No, not just people, but every single living thing, down to a single blade of grass on the surface, was scraped up. And, and…."
...
"May 4th started all over again."
You'd think this was Daydream Inc judging by the way the Bureau behaved. I understand their initial reasoning but the fact that they put in a cognition blocker for the city meant that they just wanted to sweep the whole incident under the rug...
I noticed a flash of realization piercing through my dull mind.
Ah
The day repeating… wasn't part of the Extinction-class supernatural disaster.
It was part of… the Sealing Ritual….!
If so, there were probably two reasons why the day was repeating….
To prevent the contagion from spreading.
And….
To continuously revive and supply the Living Sacrifices needed to maintain the seal.
Sekwang Special City, like a self-powering facility, was offering itself as a sacrifice every day to maintain the city's seal….
Trapped on May 4th.A terrifying chill settles in my body.
No wonder Ho Yuwon was bitter and angry towards the Disaster Management Bureau. Hell, I'd be batshit insane too. Not only did they fail to save both Yuwon and his clients, they intentionally sacrificed them. Not even to clean death. They would suffer endlessly.
"They will die miserably every day. I will keep watching them and burn to death. You've thrown these hundreds of thousands, millions of lives as bait instead of rescuing them. You deceived me with your lip service, with your sweet words, and you…."
Gotta love Soleum though, he immediately smashes his head against the concrete with no regard for his own wellbeing thinking it'd be enough to make sure the Counselor wouldn't go crazy on the Agents and hence not lose whatever he had left of his corporeal form. He cares so much asdfghjk—
And Yuwon placing Soleum on his lap and giving him headpats 😭
Just them trying to comfort each other...
Bawling rn.
Genuinely, this was such a peak chapter. Much more gut-wrenching than 208 too. It's even worse since that part was accompanied by Drag Path conveniently appearing on my playlist.
