#mag 4

[212thghost]

once again i am thinking about the way Mary refers to Gerry as “her Gerard” and “my Gerard” in MAG 4. it sounds so possessive. it’s like his title, almost, a clear way of saying he belongs to her. also she’s already a ghost at this point, haunting his every step, controlling what he does from beyond the grave. then when he dies, he is bound to the Catalogue and literally made into an object just because he’s useful. he’s treated as nothing more than piece of paper to be passed around when there’s a tough question in need of answering.

and then in MAG 80, Jon snickers and says “that’ll be our Gerard.” it’s a show of camaraderie and admiration. it sounds like an old inside joke, though Gerry isn’t there to hear it and they haven’t even met yet. there’s no possessiveness, no claim, just a ‘we’re on the same side.’ in MAG 153, because mr. waistcoat cannot let me know peace, Jon says to Julia and Trevor, “Gerry wasn’t yours.” someone finally treats him as his own person. not his mother’s son, not an asset, not a piece of that book. Jon uses that nickname and sets his soul free and reaffirms Gerry’s personhood.

Jon was the only person and Gerry has no idea

[redlobter]

Episode four, Pageturner. Gerry Keay! My son! Also the first Vast episode, and the first mention of Jurgen Lietner and his library. It's a big one.

[giraffecatfish]

Mary Keay

[passiunclepaltry]

if you don’t love him at his “exhausted unshaven creepy little wreck” mag 4 you don’t deserve him at his mag 111

[eyedoption]

In mag 4, Dominic Swain said something about how he didn't want to let Gerry in the second time but he "knew he'd wait there as long as he needed to" and on my first listen I thought that he was also inhuman in some way but nah, he's apparently just dedicated like that

[runasulienadanika]

the vibe i bring to the function

[givemenoname]

listening to my first actual run-through of tma i am full of spoilers

i just finished MAG 12 i might make this a reblog chain on my side account just with my reactions and guesses for horror(s) are represented after each episode so here are my thoughts so far

MAG 1 - strong start, definitely tells me what kinda ride i’m in for. absolutely adore the little michael The Door foreshadowing at the end. i originally thought this was a stranger one, but it’s probably a spiral the more i think about it.

MAG 2 - the second i heard the word “money,” i immediately went “buried” and wouldn’t you know it, i was right.

MAG 3 - graham got stranger-ed guess he’s not!graham now. i get beholder/eye vibes from the story itself, though, like she had to know what was happening to him.

MAG 4 - VAST VAST VAST first indications of mike!! and gerry is there too, i guess, hi gerry.

MAG 5 - lots of things but honestly?? eye. the teeth freaked me out, though.

MAG 6 - no comment, just grossed out, corruption is terrifying to me.

MAG 7 - ok, this one seems like something i’d write. it’s so cool, i love it so much, the piper is such a vibe, it’s gonna be so hard to draw, definitely end or slaughter.

MAG 8 - classic desolation episode, more ghosts and fire please.

MAG 9 - original thought was slaughter, but now i’m thinking dark. love that robert’s just a dad trying to look out for this daughter, even though he’s a mass murderer, more of this dynamic in media.

MAG 10 - vampires read as hunt to me, loved the description of the tongue being more like a leeches than a humans, really sets the vibe.

MAG 11 - prophetic dreams are so fun, i don’t care how overused they are. originally thought eye or desolation, but it was revealed to me that this is an end episode. thanks google, i just wanted a reference for the veins, i didn’t need the fandom wiki for oliver banks.

MAG 12 - desolationnnnn liminal hospital setting is such a good place for a desolation episode, also gerry’s here i guess. hi gerry, thanks for letting me know that your eye tattoos are not just a collective fandom thing, you’re gonna make practicing anatomy a lot harder.

[agnessdei]

please rant about Mary Keay I really wanna hear

WITH PLEASURE! (i will be repeating myself, but idc. here are my other posts about her: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5) (sorry it took so long!)

she is literally this post:

she grew up to be very similar to her own mother, who introduced her to the paranormal world and the institute and who ignored her because of work. Mary was left to her own devices and she spent that time hunting for leitners. later, she did the same thing to Gerry: ignored him because of work, sent him out after leitners etc.

except that she did one thing differently from her mother, and i believe that she genuinely gave Gerry all she wanted to have as a child: while her mother worked at the institute and never had any authority or power (which made Mary "feel cheated like she wasn't important enough for a destiny" like Gerry said), Mary tried to build something. she never affiliated herself with the institute, she tried to gain power and knowledge, tried to make her family great. Gerry was supposed to be her heir, be a ruler.

she wasn't a loving mother, but she didn't even think that parental love was important, mostly because there was clearly something wrong with her, no normal person murders someone when they're 9 (but the Von Closens had a connection to Jonah Magnus and the institute so it really could be in her blood), but also cause she never experienced it. again, she's literally this:

she was practically abused as a child but she never realised it, for her it was normal.

i dare to say that she loved her son. in the context of how she treated others...she wanted him to be powerful, to have a destiny. she loved that she could shape him however she wanted to, how she could make him do anything she wanted him to do. when she performed the binding ritual she wanted his handwriting on her skin, she wanted him to make her immortal. she refused to let him go, haunted him for 5 years after she died. she was disappointed in him but she tried to get him on her side again. it was toxic and twisted, but in her case it was the thing that resembled love the closest.

as for why she killed Eric: her father died when she was little and it was clear she didn't care ("my idiot father got himself killed"). additionally, Eric wanted to shelter Gerry. if she wanted to build an empire, she couldn't allow that so she got rid of him. from her perspective it was completely reasonable, she didn't need a father so Gerry also would manage without him. except that she percieved some people as her property, so she kept Eric because she could. i think it was comforting for her: he truly loved her (this whole situation is very Corruption coded, the post where i talk about it more is linked).

i don't want to look like i'm victim blaming, i'm not doing it, but Eric himself said that the only person lying was him. she never hid what kind of person she was, she was pretty straightforward: she killed, she manipulated, she was dangerous. Eric took what he saw.

she's the kind of character that is always Hungry. she was never satisfied, wanted more, felt unimportant and decided to change it: in the end she failed. she tried so hard to be a part of something bigger, but she never made a huge impact, her only legacy was a murder trial and two skin pages (Gerry's and Eric's). what she did though, was influence and corrupt her husband's and son's lifes so much that even their last moments were dedicated to her (in Eric's case in obvious way but you get the vision). Gerry didn't want her to take his last moment, but she did it anyway.

we hate on Jurgen Leitner because of the rant, but she is everything the fandom makes him to be: she collected the books to hurt people and gain power, she murdered, destroyed lifes on purpose.

in the podcast we can see her from different perspectives: in mag 4 as an old woman who's creepy, crazy and witch like, in mag 62 as a little girl who's already twisted and evil and hungry, in mag 111 as an abusive mother who's understood just as she is hated and in mag 154 as a wife who's cold, ruthless and cruel, but honest

i just find her so fascinating. at first i saw her just as a shitty abusive mother. which she is, but there's also so much more! she's someone who repeated a cycle of abuse. product of he upbringing but also not exactly, because Gerry somehow turned out good. so was it in her blood? she's honest, she's manipulative, she neglected and ignored her son while praising him to strangers, she killed her husband to get rid of him but she kept him in her posession for around 18 years. her obsession with power destroyed any chance she had for gaining it. wanted to be great, became forgotten.

mother, wife, witch, murderer, someone who killed herself in order to live forever

"I've grown a mouth so sharp and cruel /It's all that I can give to you, my dear / And when you come in quick to steal a kiss / My teeth will only cut your lips, my dear / And I know that you mean so well / But I am not a vessel for your good intent / I will only break your pretty things / I will only wring you dry of everything / But if you're fine with that / You can be mine like that"

"Rock on, ancient queen / Follow those who pale in your shadow / Rulers make bad lovers / You better put your kingdom up for sale, up for sale / Well, did she make you cry / Make you break down / Shatter your illusions of love?"

"I've earned myself a reputation / That my bark is much worse than my bite / But I keep snapping at Goliath's hands / With all of my tiny might / There are no stones at my disposal / There's no God to award me a crown / But I am always swinging at / Somebody I can't knock down"

"Every time a guy writes a song, he's a cowboy, a sailor / Playing with the world in his palm like the first pioneer / Every time he opens his mouth, it's a loud movie trailer / Clipping every image and sound he thinks proves he was here / A hand, a spike, a physical fight, a flash of light, a curtain / A toll, a tithe, the passage of time, a height, a dive, a burden / A girl, a night, a typical type, a siren in the water / A scroll, a nod, a message from God, a son, a Holy Father / Every time a guy writes a song, he's a sailor, a cowboy / Holding out the world in his palm like he made it himself / Every time I open my mouth, I think, "Wow, what a loud noise" / Still on the soapbox, just hoping I seem underwhelmed"

i hope everything makes sense (i'm writing this at 1am lol). i didn't expect it to be this long but i love overanalysing side characters. so yeah.