Waiting To Be Proved Wrong - Tumblr Posts
Choice in TMP
Since it's going on hiatus, I relistened to (nearly) all of Protocol yesterday (still have ep 10 to go). And I was thinking about a lot of people saying things like, "They're Desires now, not Fears!" And I don't think that's quite it. What I noticed is that in nearly every case, there is a voluntary act, a choice, that allows the horrors in. And since actions generally follow from desires, it feels like desire is playing a stronger roll in this show.
I've been prepping to run a Mothership campaign for my friends, and the Warden's Guide talks about the TOMBS system of understanding horror: Transgression, Omens, Manifestation, Banishment, Slumber. In TMA, the Transgression was often just being in the wrong place at the wrong time, but in TMP, it seems like there also has to be a choice made, almost an invitation, for the horrors to Manifest. In TMA, a choice was required to become an Avatar, but not just to run into the Fears. Perhaps something about how the Fears entered this world changed this? Maybe Archivist-Jon had enough influence to create some new rules, or Martin's choice that brought them through echoed into the manifestation?
Anyway, I could be entirely wrong, but I'm going to go through the episodes pointing out the Choice (and where it doesn't quite fit).
Episode 1: Arthur's wife reached out to a mysterious company (we don't know why, but it seems likely it was claiming it could put her in contact with her dead husband) Red Canary chose to visit the Magnus Institute Ruins
Episode 2: Daria chose to get the tattoo.
Episode 3: The Doctor chose to follow the smell of jasmine.
Episode 4: The narrator chose to take the violin (but I am less clear on how choice impacted what happened to Oliver Bardwell; that's a bit that doesn't quite fit)
Episode 5: The blogger chose to enter the contest and to attend once he'd "won".
Episode 6: The mugger chose to attack Needles. (And I find myself wondering what Choice Needles made to became as he is)
Episode 7: DMargolis chose to advertise for assistants AND chose to accept the first rather questionable applicant.
Episode 8: Here, the weirdness started before he made the Choice, but he did Choose to enter the elevator to (attempt to) escape. Another that doesn't quite fit, but still has a Choice.
Episode 9: He chose to take the dice (though it does feel like rolling them may be compulsory in certain instances).
Episode 10: There was definitely a Choice made to create Bonzo the character, but I'm not sure we have enough context to figure out more than that yet.