THE MAGNUS ARCHIVES
ฝัง
- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 24 พ.ค. 2021
- Case ########-36 A statement on Reality recorded by Martin K Blackwood, recorded at Hilltop Road. Content warnings: - Manipulation - Altered reality - Spiders - Heights / vertigo (inc. SFX) - Mentions of: death, blackmail, war, knives, human remains, paranoia, body horror, live burial, children in peril, arson - SFX: harsh static, insects
Transcripts: PDF - cutt.ly/DlEuvpj DOC - cutt.ly/ClEuYa8
Thanks to this week's Patrons: demoneyes nightkiller, Gray Dodgen, Jessica Rowden, Katharine Brinker, Lina Vargas, Morgan Souza, Myoungjin, Zooglemoof, 10_a_knut, Alexandra Iles, Andrew Kornfeld, artisticProgram, Bonnie Pryor, Charlibug, chomp, Clara Joe Bailey, cuddlykraken, Dare, Dis-Aster, Evangeline, FriendlyCybird, grfailure, Joan Flyvholm, Jordan Graham, Kaitlyn Cottrell, Kale, kleffy, Lisa Stafford, Lisel, Mark A. Little II, Marta L, Mea Holloway, MothPrincess, Nora Sabban, Robin, Tsuki Mitsukai, useastory, Abby Norling-Ruggles, AbeTrve, Adrienne Gillevet, Breanna Schaeffer, Brynne Clouse, Cara, Caroline Seidman, Crowley, Emma Armstrong, Jessica and Anthony Moltisanti, Kelwyn Brennan, Kit. If you'd like to join them, visit www.patreon.com/rustyquill.
Edited this week by Nico Vettese, Elizabeth Moffatt, Brock Winstead, Jeffrey Nils Gardner & Alexander J Newall
Written by Jonathan Sims and directed by Alexander J Newall
Produced by Lowri Ann Davies
Performances: - "Martin Blackwood" - Alexander J Newall - "Annabelle Cane" - Chioma Nwalioba
Sound effects this week by 14GPanskaHonc_Petr, aarom, aunrea, baryy, BeeProductive, cmusounddesign, DWOBoyle, f-r-a-g-i-l-e, Fission9, freakinbehemoth, giddster, Huggy13ear, InspectorJ, j1987, jlozano, mmarkb, MichelleGrobler, MTJohnson, muses212, Native_Cell, nomenclatures, o_ciz, OGsoundFX, Ornitorrinco, patchytherat, PeteBarry, PMarcy, qubodup, RogerBoyX69, rsellick, Rudmer_Rotteveel, Sheyvan, SteveMannella, sturmankin, Timmeh515, Veridiansunrise, xtrgamr & previously credited artists via freesound.org. Additional sound effect from Little Robot Sound Factory via Zapsplat.com
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I _literally_ felt my skin *CRAWL* as she said "you have no idea what's listening, do you?"
same!!! i can still feel it!
@@ellac613 *_oh no._*
I always thought it was us, but we’ll see I suppose!
Annabelle: “Oh Martin, you have no idea who’s listening, do you?”
Me: hi
me also: hello there
The viewers, eating a sandwich: oh this is new, what’s up?
Me while doing a puzzle: rootin for ya Martin!!!
A.C: "What were you expecting?"
M.B: "I don't know, like, something a little more dramatic I guess"
A.C: "We'll see what we can do.."
*And she took his advice!*
Annabelle - and really a lot of the Avatars - has a pretty underrated sense of humor.
I have never encountered a character that sounds quite as smug as Annabelle Cane. There's no way she's not perpetually smirking.
"Crack in reality"
"You have no idea who's listening"
IS ANABELE TRYING TO GET INTO OUR UNIVERSE????
Hey, what did you think of 200?
@@biancamlf288Idk how to feel about this question
I thought it was odd that the tape recorders were being used in the presence of the eye!
A long con given that we know gertrude used them too.
still it would have maade sense imo as while beholding is generally portrayed by an eye, listening would also fit it.
though I guess an ear against the door or spying trough the keyhole would drift closer to the web's domain
Then again, they also could manifest in its absence
I have to admit I feel so vindicated by this episode! I always suspected Martin would secretly be linked to the Web because of how he acted in previous seasons and the fact he stated he liked spiders at one time. But after the Lonely, I started to feel like I was reading too much into things and having Annabelle basically say "yeah, you would have been a good fit for the Web if things were a bit different" feels weirdly rewarding!
Anyway, great episode as always!
Throwbacks to "here's how web!martin can still win" posts on tumblr
“Before you say “oh god, Martin’s become some sort of spider person!” No, it’s just an expression.” Aged like some really weird milk
Didn't quite spoil, but didn't stay pure. It's like... the buttermilk of character progression
Indeed
@@rorygiambalvo2955 I don't know how to feel about your analogy 😅
@@azulBjort_1406 It's been two months and I still don't know either.
@@rorygiambalvo2955 I just finished the Las episode......
HOLLY GOD SHIT DAM WHAT THE DAM SIMS................
I'm literally hyperventilating 😅😭😭😭😭😭😭
.......woth it 👍
Nothing has ever affected me the way this wonder bloody thing has
And I love every god dam bit of it....
Now I'm going to calm dawn (it 5:35😅😭😭😭) with some Martin x John fluff✌️
So, I had a feeling the tapes were going to be something more meta, and Annabelle's last line pretty much confirmed that. Now, with that "hole in reality", I have a good guess of what is about to be revealed.
Let's go, boyos.
I really did not see that coming. I had a guess that the tapes were us through the Rift, but I thought it was still through the Eye.
I'm absolutely in love with Annabelle's voice
saaamee
SAME I LOVE HER
Anabelle saying "Step into my parlour" while welcoming Martin into Hilltop Road was genuinely epic
ANNABELLE'S SO FREAKING CREEPY. I LOVE IT.
I enjoy Annabelle's reference to the poem 'The spider and The Fly' with the little step into my parlor bit
thank you miss annabelle cane for my fucking life
if i were martin i'd simply join the web
Kept waiting for the shoe to drop on Hilltop Road, we got there folks.
*rubs my tiny theory hands together* oh boy oh boy oh boy-
annabelle! the drama! the intrigue! cant wait to see how this all goes.
I think that the cleaning lady likely came from a universe without the evil entities.
I really want an magnus archive ost Playlist the sounds when a statement is being read is so nice and ominously chilling
ms annabelle i have feelings for you
i concur, she
To verify, the materializing tapes were never the influence of the Beholding, but actually of the Web? Am I getting this right?
Yeah pretty much
after "you have no idea who's listening, do you?" I audibly went "its me hi
I'm sad it's nearly over but by all The Fears it's been an amazing ride
THE FRICKEN TAPES!!!! THE LOGO WAS A HINT ALL ALONG!!!! I KNEW IT I KNEW IT I KNEW IIIITTT
Annabelle has a slight airy quality ti her words, like someone talking with something in their cheek. I like to think that she has a pair of spider fangs hidden in her mouth making that happen
Lo-key one of my favorite episodes of the whole series. Getting a good rundown on this Spooky House finally, is so good.
Man, I started this series thinking it was complete. Now I have to wait for more episodes? I want to know what happens next!
It is complete! Listen on Spotify or Google podcasts or Apple podcasts or any other players. The episodes are released slower on TH-cam, but the series is completed already at episode 200.
@@statementofjoespooky1660 Wow! Thank you EA Wickett! You have solved my evening. :D
17:08 so did Annabelle just imply that Martin used to be manipulative?
Openly states it, lovely.
Yeah. Martin is a little manipulative. That’s was pretty much the plot of season 4 on Martins side - him manipulating Peter. He had that whole speech about it
Manipulative is such nasty word
"You have no idea who's listening, do you?"
I felt a shiver down my spine, the Web has been listening the entire time.
That explains why the tapes like Martin
While binging this show, one question that has stuck to the back of my mind the *entire* time is "are we, the listeners, diegetic or not?" Because there has been hints, but I've never really been too sure if this show was actually going to go meta like that.
I definitely did not expect the answer to that question to come from Annabelle
Okay so, I kind of knew there was SOMETHING going on around the house but I didn't quite anticipate this (excellent plot device tho). And God that reveal about the tapes?!!! I've so so much respect for the Web now and I have to say I did not in any way anticipate this. It's SO GOOD. I can't wait to get to the final.
its funny seeing the reactions of everyone on youtube shjhfjg, good luck besties
this is such a good episode, i remember how good the web tapes reveal was omg
Hill Top road is genuinely a very interesting concept like the idea of a crack or fracture in reality barely noticeable but still making a slight difference whether that be a small echo or other is just cool.
Annabelle made Martin a cute snug sweater and we love her for that ❤
IIt's me!!!!! I'm listening!!!!!
jsdfbljshbfWVEF
I ALWAYS THOUGHT THE TAPE RECORDERS WERE ELIAS SPYING ON THE PEEPS
coming here after mag 200 really hits different :')
This has become Meta as fuck. I love it.
"You have no idea who's listening" AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH
I ADORE everything about Annabelle Kane (Cane?), her stated design, her cadence, her accent--
"O h, Martin...
you have *no* idea who's listening, do you..?"
UY
coming back here soon to see all the TH-cam listeners’ reactions! yeah, prepare yourselves for this one :)
All fears having touched one special place... this sounds eerily similar to the actual apocalypse ritual
5:36
"Won't you step into my parlour?" Said the spider to the fly
The Ravening Burn. Great name
Martin talking to the tapes: “How’s my little meow meow doing today ^w^?”
Annabelle: _”haha wtf”_
coming back while listening to the magnus protocol and genuinely will never get over the bit of acting at 17:08. martin’s little laugh landing somewhere between him literally doing exactly what annabelle just pointed out, and him taken aback by being called out for it. and then the way his voice hardens when he says “point taken.” all pretenses are dropped, there’s no point in putting on his usual show for the mother of all puppets. just two master manipulators having a conversation and it’s. so. good.
I don’t get how exactly their ‘bond’ makes her og plan invalid? The stronger the bond is the bigger the ‘push’ she’d give…Isn’t that what she wants to widen the crack?
OH MY GOD THIS ENTIRE EPISODE IS FANTASTIC AND I AM SUCH A FAN OF IT BUT THE PART I'M SO EXCITED ABOUT IS WHEN ANNABELLE IS TALKING ABOUT HOW MARTIN COULD HAVE EASILY BECOME AN AVATAR OF THE WEB, VERY EARLY ON IN THE SERIES! I KNEW IT WASN'T JUST COINCIDENCE, THEY WERE DEFINITELY HINTING AT IT. (she says this at 16:59)
Also, Annabelle Cane is adorable. Terrifying, but still adorable.
Oh my god get away from me you fiend
Ughhhh, it’s almost 2AM on a Monday and I have school in the morning, but I really want to listen to the next episode
:(( this one was super intriguing, the delivery on “oh, martin, you have no idea who’s listening, do you?” was amazing, and I really, _really_ wanna continue listening, but I can’t. Bye for now, TMA, I will be back as soon as possible !!!!
everyones reactions are really making me want to relisten to the entire podcast,, i might just do it
I'm currently on my 4th re-listen.
I just can't get enough. Every time I'm finished with episode 200, I feel like I'm saying a bittersweet goodbye to my friends.
@@mistydevillier2197 I spent the last three weeks slowly going through everything, and your comment doesn't help quell the ache of this podcast. Hearing about the continuation of TMA in "The Magnus Protocol" is nice and all, but even knowing that, 200 scares the shit out of me and has made me cry just thinking about how it ends. Props to Johnny and Alex for throwing me back hard into fanfic.
This episode is one of the best of any series out there. So perfect, so satisfying, so many puzzle pieces clicking into place. SPOILERS BELOW.
.
.
.
The reveal that the tapes were the Web listening in all this time blew my mind the first time I listened--even with all my theories and suspicions, I was floored by HOW WELL it was executed.
And even after multiple listens I still get giddy with this. The tapes! Hill Top Road! That ending!! My god, what a fucking masterpiece.
WHAT’S ABOUT TO HAPPEN?! AAAAAAAAAAA
All 200 episodes are already out on Spotify and at rusty quill dot com!
This just went from 1000 to 100000
THE WEB💯
getting meta
stop
I'm on a relisten and I think it's fair to share my opinion of the web here.
I think the Web is the only entity with a genuine sense of intelligence, since they are the one who preys upon with traps and schemes, and as such that requires some sense of understanding. Unlike the Eye, that which knows without understanding, the Web needs to understand in order to enact the fear they cause.
The Web is my favorite entity because it's truly a mastermind.
Sidenote: I would be taken by the lonely but idk if I'd be an avatar or victim. Probably victim of it.
Awwww, i thought the tapes were a manifestation of us, the listeners =(
Still this makes a lot of sense now =O
I love how Annabelle's reason for not killing Martin is 'gay bois cute'
It feels weird, having "known" about The Web being behind the tape recorders for so long, but seeing people's reactions in the comments makes me realize that not everyone assumed that.
I was always like "Spools of tape 'catching' errant statements; being convenient and useful... oh, it's The Web". I had assumed that it was a known fact for so long that I feel like I really missed out on experiencing a "Big Reveal" 😅.
I had thought the Eye and Web were in cahoots for so long. I actually assumed that The Archivist ability to make people more coherent for statements was a boon from the Web; I thought the Web was what drew people to the archive to give statements in the first place...
Whoops I guess.
Too much overthinking/assuming.
Cheated myself out of a twist 😅 🙃😓
I heard the title and all my divergent neuro could think was "🎶This house
In the middle of this house🎶"
ANABELLE CANE🔥🔥🔥
spider waifu
[CLICK]
[FOOTSTEPS ON PAVEMENT WALK STEADILY, ACCOMPANIED BY BIRDS TWEETING]
ANNABELLE
Are you going to walk this slow the whole way?
MARTIN
Are you going to stay silent the whole way?
ANNABELLE
Perhaps… that’s because you didn’t seem to like what I had to say.
MARTIN
No, it’s because you weren’t really saying anything, were you? It was all just ominous foreshadowing again.
ANNABELLE
Perhaps I was just trying to make things feel… familiar?
MARTIN
Perhaps the whole ‘answer a question with a question’ thing is wearing a bit thin. Besides which it’s a bit late to play coy. You promised me an actual straight answer.
ANNABELLE
You’d have it a lot more quickly if you didn’t keep stopping.
MARTIN
Hey, this is your magic bubble. You’re the one making it so that we’re, like, actually walking, walking all the way to Oxford. So sorry I’ve got to sit down occasionally, like a human.
ANNABELLE
And the book breaks?
MARTIN
It’s not like you’re entertaining company.
ANNABELLE
And it’s nothing to do with the fact that any lost souls in our area also get a break from their torment? Hmmm?
MARTIN
…
So what if it does? Is that a problem?
ANNABELLE
Actually, I find it very reassuring.
MARTIN
Great, because I’m still going to need to rest. Some of these houses have actual beds, and I haven’t slept on a mattress since Sa-
[FOOTSTEPS SLOW, THEN STOP]
Hmm.
ANNABELLE
Problem?
MARTIN
Did he suffer?
ANNABELLE
Did who suffer?
MARTIN
Just… answer the question.
ANNABELLE
No.
I did it in his sleep.
He’d always been accommodating, so… I wanted to honour his wishes.
MARTIN
That’s a shame.
ANNABELLE
Is it?
MARTIN
I mean… he seemed nice. To us at least.
ANNABELLE
And what of his victims? The people whose lives he destroyed?
MARTIN
…
I can’t speak for them. I didn’t know them, did I?
ANNABELLE
No. You didn’t.
[FOOTSTEPS RESUME]
MARTIN
[Sighs] Is it much further?
ANNABELLE
Less so than last time you asked.
MARTIN
Could you just try answering a question properly? Just once?
ANNABELLE
…
We’re close now. Just a few more streets.
MARTIN
Thank you.
…
Oh. Uhh… Huh. Um…
ANNABELLE
Oh come on, Martin. You didn’t really expect him to find us before we got here, did you?
MARTIN
[Unconvincing] N… no…
ANNABELLE
We have a sizable lead, and the camera too, don’t forget. Besides, even if he did ‘ride to your rescue’, what then? Would you explain to him that you’re here of your own free will?
MARTIN
I mean, that’s a pretty generous way to describe being blackmailed.
ANNABELLE
Oh, it’s blackmail, is it? Offering you a way out of all this?
MARTIN
You said if I told John or waited then you’d leave, and I’d never know.
ANNABELLE
And you believed me, which was very gracious of you.
MARTIN
[Sputters slightly] I shouldn’t have.
ANNABELLE
Why not? I didn’t lie to you, I do have another option for you. One that means neither of you need to die or be consumed by any dark power.
MARTIN
Oh, but you can’t just tell me or John. Oh no, no, that would be far too straightforward.
ANNABELLE
I could.
[MARTIN SIGHS]
But it’s much better if you see it for yourselves. And he would not have come willingly. He needs to think he’s coming for you.
MARTIN
He can see literally everything. I’m sure he probably knows it already.
ANNABELLE
In a way, perhaps. But I guarantee that being here in person is something very different.
Come on.
MARTIN
Hey, is that - ? You told me not to bring a tape recorder.
ANNABELLE
No. I said we wouldn’t need one. We have plenty of tapes.
MARTIN
But then -
ANNABELLE
We’re here.
[FOOTSTEPS CEASE]
MARTIN
This is it?
ANNABELLE
Ah, I forget. You’ve never actually been here before, have you?
Well? What do you think?
MARTIN
It’s… I-I mean, it’s, um…
ANNABELLE
Just a house?
MARTIN
Well… well, yeah.
ANNABELLE
What were you expecting?
MARTIN
I don’t know, like… something a bit more dramatic, I guess.
ANNABELLE
We’ll see what we can do.
[FOOTSTEPS, THEN CREAKING AS ANNABELLE OPENS THE DOOR]
[Dramatically] Step into my parlour.
MARTIN
Hmmm.
Fine.
[FOOTSTEPS AS MARTIN FOLLOWS, CHANGING FROM PAVEMENT TO WOOD]
[DOOR CLOSES BEHIND HIM]
ANNABELLE
Do take a seat.
[MARTIN PUTS DOWN BAG, TAKES A SEAT]
MARTIN
[Warily] So… What now?
ANNABELLE
I’ve written you a statement. I would like for you to read it.
[PAPER RUSTLING, THEN FOOTSTEPS]
MARTIN
And if I don’t?
ANNABELLE
Then we sit here in silence until the Archivist arrives. But I would suggest you do read it. I believe you’ll find it… illuminating.
[A LONG PAUSE BEFORE MARTIN SIGHS HEAVILY]
MARTIN
Screw it. Fine.
Fine.
MARTIN (STATEMENT)
[THROUGHOUT THERE IS THE OCCASIONAL RUSTLING OF PAPER AND CREAK OF WOOD]
Once there was a house, a building that, for all it might have looked like those around it, was not the same.
Stop, no.
It didn’t start with the house. It was here long before any might have thought of it as a home.
Once, there was a patch of land, not quite as firm in this reality as that which surrounded it.
Stop, no.
It’s not about the land. Mud and soil has no part in what is there.
Once, there was a point in space that did not quite obey all those petty rules that decide what can be allowed to happen in a world.
Stop, no.
It’s not a point in space. The Earth spins and hurtles through the darkness, but it still carries it along.
Let us simply say that once there was a place. A place where the universe had… cracked.
None of us remember what had caused the crack, not even those things beyond time who might measure a generation in the echoes of their screams. It has been there as long as they have, if not longer. It’s not a large crack, and to walk by it, even through it, you’d never pause to notice. Perhaps the air around it is slightly thinner, lights slightly dimmer… In the summer there may be the slightest chill. In the winter a warmth that is almost unsettling. The fungus that grows in the damp there is somehow more vibrant in its whiteness, while flowers remain duller than those that neighbour them. But these changes are slight, and none have dwelt on them long enough to call the place cursed. Indeed, few have ever thought much of it at all. Perhaps there are many such places across the Earth. Perhaps it is unique. Certainly, no-one has known either way.
The first to build a home upon that spot was named Eowa. He was a Saxon, and a coward, who had fled the field against the Mercian king, and sought to find his peace there. His squalid little hut was far removed from those of his once-kinsmen. Nonetheless, there he lived and worked, and tried hopelessly to forget the stench of blood and rot, and the feel of a seax knife in the wound he carried to the end of his life. Did his terror call to him with the drumbeat voice of carnage? Did it sing to him with the squirming melody of decay? Could any have told you the difference?
It is strange. That a name, a face, a taste of fear should linger through the centuries, and yet I cannot be sure which of them it was that ate so well. Some fears are eternal, but within them lie a hundred titles, whispered in the secret places of every era of every corner of our world. Who can say if any of them are true?
Whichever it might have been, they knew Eowa’s terrors well. Until he was no longer there. Until he awoke in a place that was a place but… somewhere else. Somewhere the Mercians had pushed further, had taken more. For all his dread of a violent death, his end was quick and clean. And none of his kinsmen ever knew his fate. His hut, left unattended, quickly fell to disrepair, then to collapse. No-one used the wood; the grain was warped.
[BIRDS TWITTER FAINTLY]
Many lived in that spot across the following years. Some in peace, some in misery, a few in strangled fear. But none tied their sorrows to the land or the dwelling they might have erected upon it. The village slowly grew, and became a more populous town though not ever a remarkable one. That said, perhaps, sometimes, in the quiet, those who tried to make it their home might have felt a whisper, an echo of some other place, some place not quite their own. But it never disturbed their sleep.
So what does it mean, for a place to be haunted? A place can be haunted by someone, some poor soul whose bones lie restless in the shallow soil. It can be haunted by something, some crime or atrocity that indelibly marked itself upon the soul of a spot. But can it be haunted by somewhere? An echo of worlds that are not our own, alien pasts that draw to unknown presents, leaking through the smallest, narrowest crack at the very edge of existence?
The closest anyone ever came to knowing was a man named Geoffrey Neckam, a scholar from the University. He bought the house that then sat there from a bow-legged milliner whose name he never bothered to learn, seeking some peace and removal from his more raucous colleagues. He was a man of God, of course, but also a keen master of natural philosophy, a study he put to use when he first felt the oddities that pervaded his new home - the strange draughts that shifted his candle flame, the gentle murmur that almost sounded like voices. Once he even found a new room, though he very wisely did not enter it.
His investigations were crude, of course, convinced as he was that it was some working of his God; an unseen passage to a heavenly sphere, perhaps, or, as he more often feared, an infernal one. That said, his observations were surprisingly astute, and his rubric of belief closer to the truth than you might imagine. But Geoffrey Neckam had neither the words to talk of dimensions, nor a mind able to meaningfully conceive of worlds beyond the one within which he lived, and its requisite afterlives of course. And so, as a result all his mediations and his intellect ultimately lead him nowhere.
They were not, however, entirely in vain. Because, you see, Geoffrey Neckam lived in fear. There was a reason he chose to live apart from his peers, why he cooked his own paltry meals in privacy, and avoided academic meetings. He was certain that his scholastic rivals were somehow plotting against him, weaving intricate schemes to ruin his reputation and cost him his position, even take his life. It was this obsession that first brought him to the attention of Mother-of-Puppets, the Great Spider, and how we became aware of what this place was. What it might mean.
Eventually, the long-awaited knife in the dark did indeed find its way into the belly of Geoffrey Neckam. But by then his only meaningful work was done, and another, altogether grander plan, was now in motion.
It was no easy task, keeping the place close through the ages, working all the while to weaken that crack, luring in the servants of other powers, and so in the resulting clash, pressing ever harder against the edges of our reality.
For a while it belonged to a sculptor of puppets, who made his strings from the tendons of those he felt did not appreciate his art, and he would dance them around in a mocking effigy. He was, in time, slain by a crusading hunter of the Reformation, who would let no heresy go unanswered. He was bisected with his own wood saw.
Once there lived there a writer of anonymous letters, who could not have told you where his secrets came from, only that he knew the darkest desires of many souls, and had the wit to use them to their best effect. He was deemed a civil war traitor and buried alive deep beneath the house in which he had drawn his schemes by a man whose teeth were always stained with mud.
So many schemers and spiders and full-throated monsters. Twisting manipulators and furtive liars. Each meeting a violent, grotesque end; each widening the crack just a little. Until finally, a man named Raymond Fielding, a smiling pillar of the community who fostered children into food for his grotesque arachnid god, was murdered by flame, immolated by the Chosen of the Ravening Burn. The house of the time was destroyed along with him, reduced to ashes, and with that the crack finally became… a gap. A hole around which time, dimension and reality began to bend, shudder and leak.
An opening into, we believe, other worlds than this tired old thing.
It was not wide enough to allow true passage, not yet, save for the odd accident. But it was wide enough for what we now intended…
[MARTIN EXHALES]
MARTIN
Okay.
So.
A crack in reality?
ANNABELLE
Oh, it’s so much more than a crack now. It’s an aching hole, a gaping wound in the very fabric of our world.
MARTIN
And a gateway to other dimensions.
ANNABELLE
Not quite yet.
[MARTIN EXHALES SLOWLY AS HE PROCESSES]
MARTIN
Oooooookay.
ANNABELLE
Dramatic enough for you?
MARTIN
So this is what you wanted me to see?
…
Annabelle?
ANNABELLE
[Wistful] It’s a real shame, you know. I was so looking forward to filling you with spiders.
MARTIN
E- Wh- Excuse me?
ANNABELLE
They would have hollowed you out, and worn you like a cheery jumper!
MARTIN
Uh, right. But, since you’re telling me I can assume you’re not going to now, right?
ANNABELLE
That’s the thing about webs. People get so caught up on how intricate they are, how perfectly constructed. They never consider how flexible they can be. The sort of storm they need to weather. You can’t be precious about a single strand.
MARTIN
R-Right, yeah, but a-a-again, because you didn’t really answer me, um, filling me with spiders isn’t a strand of your web now, right? Um. I-I just want us to be, heh, absolutely clear on this.
A-Annabelle?
ANNABELLE
…
No.
[MARTIN IS RELIEVED]
Not anymore.
MARTIN
R-R-Right, thanks. Sorry. S-S-Sorry to interrupt, just, just checking.
ANNABELLE
It’s such a shame. There was a time when I was certain you had what it takes to join us.
MARTIN
What? Because I like spiders? Well, used to.
ANNABELLE
Because you always managed to get what you wanted through smiles and shrugs and stammerings that weren’t nearly as awkward as they seemed.
[SMALL SOUND OF MARTIN’S CONCESSION TO THE POINT]
MARTIN
Point taken.
ANNABELLE
But I didn’t foresee how deep you would fall into The Lonely. Or how far the Archivist would go to get you back. It made things… awkward.
MARTIN
Why are you telling me all this?
ANNABELLE
[Strained] Because… explaining things, giving answers, like this… it’s not what I am. It’s difficult, against my nature.
And I’m trying to practice.
MARTIN
Why?
ANNABELLE
Why do you think?
[MARTIN GROANS]
Sorry.
MARTIN
Okay, let’s try a different question. What was your plan?
ANNABELLE
I was going to snatch you away. Lure you both into this web, and then take you. Drive him to despair, so that when you returned to him, bulging, and talking in a thousand tiny voices, it would drive him to a final push.
MARTIN
And now?
ANNABELLE
[Sighs] Your bond is too complicated. I couldn’t drive that kind of rift between you now. I’ve considered every angle, examined every cause and effect, and have finally come to the conclusion that I… [sighs] I need to tell you the truth, to explain things.
MARTIN
[Frustrated] Yeah, but why?
ANNABELLE
Because if I do… you’ll do as I ask.
MARTIN
Oh, will we?
ANNABELLE
Yes.
[ANNABELLE TAKES A DEEP BREATH AND A FEW PACES]
He’s nearly here.
MARTIN
John?
ANNABELLE
Let’s make the setting a little more… appropriate, shall we?
MARTIN
Hey, just… ah, hah, p-put the camera down, okay?
ANNABELLE
You said you wanted something more “dramatic”, right?
MARTIN
Wh-What? No, no, no, wait, wait, wait. Wait… wait -
[ANNABELLE CHUCKLES, THEN HEFTS THE CAMERA INTO THE GROUND]
[GLASS SHATTERS AS HARSH STATIC CRACKLES AND CRACKS AND TWISTS THE SCENE… WIND WHIPS AROUND AS THEY STAND ON AN IMPOSSIBLE WEB STRETCHED ACROSS A GAPING CHASM]
MARTIN
[Distorted] Ooooh shit…
That’s a long way down
ANNABELLE
Further than you can possibly imagine.
[MARTIN QUIVERS AUDIBLY]
[STICKY SOUNDS SLAP WETLY AS ANNABELLE SLINGS WEB]
MARTIN
Oi! W-What’re you - ? Urgh! Urgh. What i-? What - ? What is this?
ANNABELLE
What do you think? It’s for your safety. So you don’t do anything… unpredictable. I’d hate for you to fall.
[WIND CONTINUES AS THUNDEROUS RUMBLES AND BUZZING INSECTS INTRUDE AUDITORILY]
MARTIN
When John gets here, he is going to kill you.
[MARTIN CONTINUES TO EXPRESS HIS DISGUST AT THE SILKEN RESTRAINTS]
ANNABELLE
As long as he listens to me first, it won’t matter.
[CLICK]
ARCHIVIST ON TAPE
So just listen -
[CLICK]
[CLICK]
Listen, Martin, you should know -
[CLICK]
[CLICK]
Now, listen to me, Martin, li-listen -
[CLICK]
MARTIN
Wait. Wait…
The tapes…
ANNABELLE
A fine material to spin a web with, don’t you think?
MARTIN
What? All this time, through all of this, it, it was just you spying on us?
ANNABELLE
Oh Martin. You have no idea who’s listening, do you?
[CLICK]
"Step into my parlor" I think is a reference to the poem the spider and the fly??
Weird fucking core memory got activated for me there that book was formative for me
YOU MEAN TO TELL ME IVE BEEN A PART OF THE WEB THIS ENTIRE TIME???? *WE* WERE THE WEB LISTENING TO EVERYTHING???????? This also explains why the tapes "favored" Martin. Wow.
Dude I love Annabelle’s voice. It’s so pretty, she could tell me to do anything and I’d do it.
…
_Wait._
This episode got so meta, omg! I've never felt more guilty about being Known and enjoying a piece of media 😅
All the false starts with the statement- the web still isn’t as good as the eye with that.
Love listening to Annabelle talking.
Martin is all trust up in tape, ready to be devoured. Omnomnom.
Someone: Annabelle Cane is evil
Me: Yeah but she has a cute accent and something adjacent to a lisp and is gorgeous and I love her🥺🥺🥺
i love anabelles voice sm shes such a silly
Tim told us time doesnt work right around hiltop house on season 1 iirc
Sorry but growing watching This Old House and knowing it is the most wholesome show on public broadcast just makes this episode title really funny to me
Kept waiting for Bob Villa
Dam that was a good episode omg that invoked real feeling with that last line and the sound design omg Evil Gods tier🎉
YEEEEESSSSSSSSSSS THe TAPES ARE WEBBBBBBBBBB
Chioma Nwalioba has a cute accent! 😃
so what now? WE are the web?! the new logo is making so much sense now
WHAT
i fucken knew it was those damn spiders listening
I always thought that we were just the tape recorders. Are we part of the web?
An aching hole you say 😊
Does the web controlling the tape recorders mean that we’re all spider followers?
"its a gaping hole." um
I don't want Annabelle to perceive me.
1:02
Yes, yes, yessss this payoff is so satisfying 👀
It feels like every person who finished the story went back and spoiled almost everything in all the early episodes, so this episode was kind of a let-down. I can't believe Martin is still trusting Annabelle when she claims she's not going to do something horrible to him. Jon literally caused an apocalypse by reading a statement, Martin might have enough of that compulsion to read to get caught up as well. He's being very foolish here. So much for the suspicious and prepared manipulator.
I'm sorry. I do not like Annabelle's voice. Its like there's marbles in her mouth. Or she's slavering. She isn't scary even if she's an abusive murderer. She's just sort of unpleasant. The constant coyness turns me off; the answer to this sort of person isn't to play games with them. Its to not deal with them at all.
Basira and Georgie/Melanie have pointed out that Jon is too dependent on magic now. Part of the reason he feels desperate is that he didn't find a magical fix and he can't see ordinary legwork and deductive reasoning. Of course, his assistants all effed off and only talked to him to blame him, but still. There were possibly other possibilities and even the Web doesn't know everything.