Transcript
Speaker: Worm is a web serial by J .C. McCray, also known as Wildbo. You can read Worm in its original format by visiting parahumans ah .wordpress dot .com or donate to Wildbo's Patreon at patreon dot .com slash wildbo. This story isn't intended for young or sensitive readers. Readers who are on the lookout for trigger warnings are advised to give Worm a pass. For a complete list, check the description for all of Worm's trigger warnings.
Speaker: Good morning, Brockton Bay. The news tonight, Q tag muted. yeah ah Literally. Okay. More details at 11. You know, to get monetized, you're not supposed to swear this soon, but you can bleep it out, Michael. That's, that that's even, honestly, it's even funnier when you bleep it. What a little like squeaker toy sound.
Speaker: make a squeaker total no no no wow one i was that was whoed that thank you thank you thank you oh my gosh you had that one like in the bank you were like ready it's like it's my time is i anything yet
Speaker: I was going suggest was like bug noises over it. Oh, I was going to say just a swarm of buzzing, maybe some cicadas or something, you know, whatever clogged his lungs. Yeah.
Speaker: Now I realize Alexandria, but I'm going to believe that he also got choked out. likeation Gagged, you might say. I'm gagged reading his gagging. You know, no glaze, but this was a pretty good arc. He was just way too shaland.
Speaker: um my god Yeah. no Fucking no aura. No. or Jacob, help. Help. It was not locked in. Honestly, I'm i'm enjoying this shit letting it go. I was in the chat. the chair All right. Let's ah welcome everybody. Thanks, Michael, for cueing me. We are at arc 22 of worm. We've come together to read this beautiful master.
Speaker: yeah turning the church of to the church of wildbo I mean, at this point, we basically are. Mark 22, verse one. And lo, it was the hell in the cell. The royal rumble. From the top rope. Yeah. I feel like we thought she was coming from the top rope. Hit him with the reversal.
Speaker: Yeah. the The old uno no you. What's that? What's that called? I'm not a huge wrestling nerd. I've watched occasionally. That's the, what's the whole, what's the reverse? Is it just called a reverse? Uh, I think it's called a heel turn. They grab them by the heel and they spin them around. That's not what a heel turn is. No, no, no, no. I'm pretty sure.
Speaker: I've been watching the world of the WWF nowadays. And let me tell you, those pandas are flipping each other over and doing some wild shit. WWF? I'll tell you right now, I so i grew up watching the WWF and even after they had their weird thank you over, I've kept watching the WWF. There was Hulk Hogan and now there's Spanky the Panda.
Speaker: I don't know what happened. and I don't know who got in charge of the other promotion, but you know, I'm still enjoying the panda. This might be off topic intro. We know know so know where we're heading. And if you want to hear more off topic rambles, ah consider joining our Patreon. We've got a bunch of fun stuff over there. ah We do. We've got some some fun little fuck married kills and ah some behind the scenes and ah Maybe, maybe, uh, maybe some, some Weaver dice rolls. I don't know. Maybe you should, uh, maybe we should check that out. Maybe there's just some that are just bullshit for an hour and a half. Who knows? Yeah, that too. A lot more than essentially. We're here to have fun. We're here to have fun. And we do, we do have lots. You know who hates fun? Director Tag.
Speaker: For Director Tag McBink. I fuck him. Wait, what? I feel like we've had two, like, two, the past two arcs have been good, but they've been slow and like building towards this moment. And now that we're here, it's like hard to contain ourselves. it It's like, this is one of, i I mean, this is just such a huge moment. It's, it's, it's crazy. not goingnna it It is one of the moments of worm, like,
Speaker: When you think about worm, there's, you know, ah for me, it's the Leviathan fight. It's the mannequin hunting. Spoilers up to this point. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I'm building up, building up, but we've gone through. Yeah. I appreciate it. Yeah. Keeping me accountable. Uh, it's, it's mannequin, you know, hunting Colin. Um, yeah it's, it's, uh, I think of what happened. It's, it's a shooting coil. Yeah. Yep. Big moment.
Speaker: And, and, and this, um because at first I'm like, Oh wow, this is, you know, you think like, this is pretty bad. And then you see the aftermath and you're like, whoa, I gotta go back and read two chapters ago, you know, or whatever was going on. and Like, did she really? No freaking way. And man.
Speaker: It's not they like, like in terms of big moments, like there's other stuff that goes down, but this, this is basically it for me. We have run out of my, my top moments of worm. Oh, really? Yeah. Yeah. Well, like, like wait here for you like yeah the one stick with me, you know, yeah that really just are standalone. I don't have, they are rent free.
Speaker: Yeah, that's fair. no I've got like two more big ones, but no, this one's definitely one of the ones you're like, I kept waiting for it to happen thinking. I was like, oh yeah, this is about to happen. I'm like, no, no, no, not yet. And then she finally got into prison. I'm like, okay, yeah, yeah, the yeah, yeah, yeah. Here we go. Yeah, Erica, here it comes there we go. yeah This is what we're here for. Oh yeah, those are the sins I died for.
Speaker: This is one of the arcs that comes up all the time in discussions and posts and things like this is one of the moments that a lot of readers keep coming back to. It's such a huge moment for Taylor. I mean, the story is in total, but Taylor specifically. We've been beating around the bush. Let's get into it. Let's do it. We've got some chapter summaries, Hannah. Do you want to start us off?
Speaker: I have them. I think the best way is to just go chapter by chapter. um So chapter one. ah Taylor gets taken into a cell ah that's pretty stark and listens in on the rest of the PRT building through her bugs. Dinah shows up, refuses to play ball with tag. We're so proud of her. Love that. And ah and Taylor ah finally sits down with them and reveals the time limit of sunset. That sunset is this, you know, catalyst moment that she's agreed upon with Tattletale.
Speaker: Dana's great. Oh, bless her. I'm so proud of her. I feel like she's been like, she, she's been treated so badly up until this point. Like she's had no one to stand up for her. She's not been able to stand up for herself and he or she like walks in. She's just like, fuck you. I do what I want and I'll, I'll give information to the highest bidder. Like I work from, I work for me and my parents are my managers. So like get fucked and I love it so much. It brings me such joy. Yeah. Yeah. I remember the first time reading this.
Speaker: being very pissed off at Dinah. Um, and this time around, I, I really do feel like you said the her coming into her own being like, you know, my rates and also I'll still give you a wrong answer. Cause cause I, cause fuck you. That's why tag. Um, and then then she's like, here's a freebie 22 % chance you fucking die and it takes a while.
Speaker: Oh, you can have that one for free and fucking put that in your pipe and smoke it. I fucking forgot that she said that. To be perfectly honest, I forgot that she said that. Yeah, yeah. Holy shit. How old is she again? She's what, 12, I think? 14 now. Maybe by this point. Maybe, yeah. Oh, no, no, no, no, Nick, you forgot. It's only been two weeks, so. Oh my God. Lord have mercy. It's really only been two weeks.
Speaker: Yeah, it's pretty recent. We are in the second month. We're not even at three months yet, I think. It was something like, yeah, no, in the last arc, I remember Taylor saying something like... She's 12. She is 12. Okay. But I remember Taylor saying something to the effect of these past three months have been crazy or something like that, or like the past less than three, however much it's been. And it is that realization of like, yeah, this story is not stopped once it started, huh? No, it's just gone.
Speaker: yeah um so Yeah. Yeah, this is like a good chapter. i I don't want to overlook either the ah psychological torment that they try to put her through. Absolutely. you know the ah Just the various methods with which they're trying to mentally break her kid when them realizing like, ah what if she has learned how to see and hear, we got to get kid went on this. He starts making these little drones to kill the bugs eventually.
Speaker: um But even just to the like slow psychological torture, um you you know, being forced to wash in a tiny little basin, all these things just, yeah, it's rough. It's rough. And it's, it's one of those things where, I don't know, I've, you know, thinking about prison and prisoners and what do criminals deserve? What do people deserve? You know, in prison, just anything like that is always a really tough conversation. So.
Speaker: kind of an interesting perspective, seeing it from the villain and being like, Oh, but he doesn't deserve that. And we're like, well, maybe she does. I don't know. yeah according to that we Right off the bat, we have the whole, like when they were, you know, they're, they're surrounded her and they've got, you know, the guns trained on her and everything, but they're not going up to her and doing anything, even though she's turning herself in and she's like on the ground, you know, like kneeling down, trying to like get arrested basically. Um,
Speaker: And they're unsure what to do because they don't want to approach her cause she's a villain, even though she's turning herself in. And it reminded me of like how force is used yeah on people with guns versus without guns. We're like, you are more likely to get attacked openly if you don't have a gun. But if you have a gun, like, uh, law enforcement is more likely to be like, whoa, let's talk about this. you know Right.
Speaker: It's like, let's, let's come to a peaceful option. Like, as opposed to if you don't have a gun, then it's like, Oh, well, you know, shooting is an option and isnt interesting because, uh, provoke, like they don't want to provoke force. And in this case, like they're not sure if she doesn't have the, you know, she, if she isn't going to attack them for some reason, and yeah when they finally like power dynamic. Yeah. I just thought of that when they wouldn't.
Speaker: to even touch her at first and then clock blocker and miss militia show up. And I love them. Yep. Yep. We do. We do like them. Lock blockers little like.
Speaker: different position. God, at another time. I know. He said it. I was like, Oh, he's so, I feel like we would be such good friends. And then like, he shuts that down so fast. It's like, Oh, come on. He's just being funny.
Speaker: He, I think such a fuckers like grown beyond his name now. Do you think he's like, Oh, I can't really change it. So I guess we're still like, he can't undo that. Like we've even seen like he's trying to be serious, but like it's still coming to mind. Like that was his first instinct was to be like freezing, you know? Yeah.
Speaker: Reminds me of the time I once asked a good Bible college girl what job she would be taking after college. And so I was like, Oh, what missionary position will you be taking? And she didn't get it at all because he just went right on explaining which missionary position she would be taking. Why would, you know, that be weird if you're going to be a missionary. ah Yeah, that's true. I do want, I want to, i I would just want to touch cause we We praise Wild Bo a lot for the way he writes powers. I think we all agree that's one of his strong suits with worm. um And specifically, the way Wild Bo writes ah any type of precognition is just brilliant. yeah I mean, he's got a couple of characters at this point that have it to some degree, right? The Simurff, Adina,
Speaker: um yeah a couple others that have, you know, tattletale a bit kind of esque, but not really. um But just the language that he uses to help the reader get into the mind of someone with that type of ability to see the future is just so good.
Speaker: like It's incredible how well we can follow Dinah's train of thought and like understand what she's seeing, which is so is such a bizarre like a familiarity to have with a character.
Speaker: You know, it's like trying. I think about this all the time when I'm like reading Lord of the Rings or something like that and you read about how, oh, the self is 3000 years old. And you're like, cool. I have no idea what that feels like. Right. You just can't. It's impossible mortality. But I understand what Dinah is saying. Like I get what she's doing and what she's coming from. Like she is meticulously planning everything she's saying because she already knows what she's what she's going to get out of it. Like it's so good.
Speaker: It was such a great moment. Yeah, i I just love her confidence. That's the other thing is like, yeah I feel like when we've seen her before, you know, she's hopped up on drugs, she's she's like so not mentally there. And like, so it feels like we haven't really gotten to see her power. It feels like we've almost seen her power distilled because it's like, she's always wanting candy, her head's always aching, she's spitting out numbers, but like, it's almost like she's not even 100 % aware of what they all mean or how they connect.
Speaker: And then like here, she so feels like she's in control of of them better. like She knows the numbers. She sees what's happening. She's connecting the dots. And then she is purposefully saying no and purposefully like denying tag the information. I love that. It's so good.
Speaker: Any other thoughts on chapter one? Oh my gosh, boy, do I. Let's see. Director Tag smoking right next to a no smoking sign. Yeah, it gets fun. Goes to show once again, people like him, it isn't about law and order. It really is just about power for them. Like it is about like, I don't want you to break the rules because that would be like, that would be compromising the thing that I'm saying I believe in, but also I want to be able to break the rules.
Speaker: I want to be at the top. Like, yeah, like I want to be able to have control over which rules apply to me and which don't. Exactly. So like I, it's one of the reasons I don't like tag and don't believe him when he gives any of his speeches about like trying to make the world better. yeah He's not, he is just doing it to be in control. Like,
Speaker: I mean, in that kind of regard, like he, he is doing most of the villain. The same reason that most villains are villains. Like I want to do this because I like feeling powerful, bada bing, a director tag. Yeah. You're just as bad as the villains at this point.
Speaker: but Got a big oof full cavity search. That's another one. I was actually, I wanted to bring that up. I was gonna say Nick mentioned this earlier and I was thinking, and then I didn't say it. So Michael, you could probably move this around if you wanted to later. Uh, but yeah, no, the full cavity search and then the like, Hey, yeah, you're going to need to like.
Speaker: Crawl freaking hands and knees under this like spigot and wash yourself off and I'm going to stand here and watch you do it. Like it's so, it's so uncomfortable. Like for just reading it, just like, Oh, Oh man. Like this, it reminds me of, Oh, go for it. Sorry.
Speaker: um Like Nick said earlier, with like it's it's meant to break you down. like It's meant to to ah humiliate you on purpose in order to like break your spirit and like see how you'll react and almost like push for a reaction. And it makes me wonder like how often they get people who come in here and like say no and just like freak out, refuse to cooperate, get absolutely zapped to hell and back, and then get like coded in containment foam. And it's just like the the game that they're playing of chicken of like waiting to see like, how is how is Taylor gonna respond in this instance. And I like that her
Speaker: her thought process is she thinks about lung. She imagines lung in this situation of like how he would have had to stoop underneath the shower head like to try and rinse off or whatever. It's like it would have been been even worse for him and that she doesn't think about it in the sense of like, oh my gosh, this is so humiliating. I can't believe I have, she's immediately like, well, could be worse. Like I'll take her.
Speaker: Yeah, I do love that when times of trouble come up, who does she look to for inspiration, but Baketa? Yeah, the villains. I love that. Well, it just shows that she respects that. Just quickly, those two I find as really weird.
Speaker: Like, well, it shows that there's a certain level of respect. Like, she doesn't like them. And she obviously, obviously did not want them to stay in Brockton Bay in any capacity. But, like, there's a certain element of respect and, like, recognizing that, like, well, they were super villains in Brockton Bay for a reason. They weren't just there because, you know,
Speaker: They were shitty. like No, they ah held they held parts of the city and commanded huge swaths of people. And not only that, they were ah you know as as the the later interlude talks about is like they the the element of fear. It's like, why do people fear you? And I think that that's part of it is like, because Taylor has so much been introspective about her own role as a villain. Like what, what do I need to emulate as a villain in that same way? Like she, she might not like them, but I think there's an element of respect.
Speaker: Oh, and you always remember your first.
Speaker: It's a formulative time and in young skitters life. Young skitters career. You take on your first bad dragon. You never forget your first bad dragon. and You really don't.
Speaker: ah yeah i love i love
Speaker: you Brought to you by Bad Dragon. and Bad Dragon. Go fuck yourself. We are accepting sponsors. Oh my gosh. Especially if it's Bad Dragon. Especially if it's Bad Dragon. Shit.
Speaker: the yeah where so on me on That's just Dragon's civilian identity and everyone's like, you're not fooling anyone. i know you are ah It's just dragon on her robot face draws angry eyes and she's like, now I'm the bad dragon. She has no idea what it means. She's like, yeah, I'm the bad. And they're like, you really shouldn't call yourself that. she's like no slight i am Trust me, don't angry dragon better. It's like, let's just stick with.
Speaker: Uh, but I do enjoy how for almost all of this, we are getting. What is essentially multiple, ah like we would in other chapters where multiple points of view are coming through. We're having multiple conversations with different people, but it's all centered because of Taylor's omniscience with the bugs. Yeah. But it doesn't feel like we're getting this all from Taylor's perspective. This feels like we are jumping, you know, group to group.
Speaker: like an interlude or something. Yeah, very much so. So I i i really enjoy it um for that. ah My favorite one is when she runs into the room. I forget who is the out of towner that joins them, but he's like, hey, Wards, does this have anything to do with what happened before? And they all go, it's classified at the same time. And he just goes, fuck you guys.
Speaker: That's so much. Oh, my ah that's, that's, set that's like little element of camaraderie of like the in group of like the Brockton Bay people. Like we know and you don't ha ha like, I got really love that. Uh, let's see. Good on Dinah for charging. You gotta make that money. You gotta make that money. Which, which if we remember the, I forget with the, uh, the piece of legislature that technically prevents her from making money off of this really like legally, I believe, but because they need her so badly yeah and she's a minor, like I feel like they're trying to not get on her bad side. Like the PRT is so desperate from everything else that they're not prosecuting her for making money off of her power.
Speaker: She's also a pretty high level pre -cog as far as pre -cog. Oh, a very high level pre -cog. You really can't afford to cripple that power. We kind of need it, so we're going to break the rules in order to use it. We just don't want to pay for it. Ask my dad, he'll let you know my rates. No, I love it. And they go up and they change every day. But also that means that she is on good terms with her family, I assume.
Speaker: Yeah, we'll do you like that. Not just as their daughter again, but as a pair of human, because that's what she was afraid of that they, they didn't want to pair a pair of human and that's why they were going to reject her. Um, and on both those accounts, she's doing pretty well. So I'm very happy for Diana. Yeah.
Speaker: Now I'm ready to go to chapter two. One last thing. I love the, that they recognize like the connect, the connection that miss militia makes when they realize that like Taylor's listening in is the reaction from the bugs where she's like, guys, guys, guys, like look out the fucking window and they like look outside and all the bugs have like swarm. I love it so much. There's a certain, like I, I love,
Speaker: the the play on on the whole fear thing with Taylor that she tries to use. And like the bugs are already scary enough. But this idea that like to look out the window and suddenly realize that there's like a giant monster right there or like a giant entity is like the same vibe as ah as a huge swarm of bugs just right outside the window. Like, oh, fuck, like, God damn it. And I love it. I love like love it so much. I'm upset that we all know now because it's a little bit harder to, ah you know,
Speaker: ah eavesdrop. But like still, it's it's ah such a good little reveal there. And I mean, we couldn't make it easy. like Taylor couldn't just eavesdrop the entire arc. We had to make it a little hard for her. i right But I love that. Pretty great. All right, let's move on. All right, chapter two. ah Taylor calls in her lawyer, Mr. Cal.
Speaker: Callie. Callie. Callie. Callie. Callie. Callie. Callie. Callie. Callie. Callie. Callie. Callie. Callie. Callie. Callie. Callie. Callie. Callie. Callie. Callie. Callie. Callie. Callie. Callie. yeah yeah person i did google that because i was curious i okay good that excellent excellent Um, yes, no, Taylor calls in her lawyer, Mr. Kaye, who writes out a list of their demands, gets everything organized paperwork wise and, um, presents, presents that. And, uh, we get a little information. Taylor finally learns that the slaughterhouse nine has gone into hibernation. So, uh, that, you know, just new things we learn every single day that make us just a little bit more worried.
Speaker: Uh, but she, she hands out her demands to, to, uh, tag and miss militia.
Speaker: Those are, don't get me wrong. I love every bit of this. Um, but those are, uh, like 50 % unreasonable demands from what I remember.
Speaker: because Okay, so her demands are leave the Undersiders the fuck alone. Don't go after them. ah ah the what What else? Oh, oh oh no. oh Yeah, that's right. Tag has to step down. Miss militia has to step up into his place. ah The PRT gets a whole revamp, basically. ah And what else? They get full amnesty.
Speaker: ah cry yeah Yeah, I mean that was part of the leave the underside. and yeah Yeah, I mean it it feels like it's really just like leave the undersiders alone and like hire a new director Okay, so if i that was the case if it was just hire a new director Like I could understand like hey, I'm calling for his step down Like somebody else. Yeah, but she's specifically asking for for mm for Miss militia, right? Yeah, which I think if you said but keep her as interim director for the time being, which is like the ultimate thing they come into, you know, they come into. But yeah like's what this this villain is essentially coming in, surrendering, and then going like, all right. Now you shall work under my rules. Now you shall follow my rules. And my rules say that I get to keep my parts of the city. ah You don't attack us.
Speaker: And and then we appoint the leader that I've picked. Yeah, kind of like, don't get me wrong. I understand. And I get that she even knows that this is a long shot, but like, yeah, kind of like, what did you think was going to happen at best? I think you get one of those. Like you get pay, stay off the undersiders for a bit.
Speaker: Like I'm thinking of other plea deals that people could make, you know, have made before in the past. And you could be like, yeah, like maybe you get immunity if you rat on everybody, or maybe you get protective custody for other people, or maybe you like get an unofficial, like, Hey, you'll stay off their back for a little bit while this gets sorted out. And they'll also not cause trouble for a little bit.
Speaker: But I don't you don't get all of those. That's a lot of things all at once. I'm I'm kind of surprised, like I the audacity of Taylor, like on a regular basis, but also like. Is it is it because she just thinks that it's going to work out? Like, is that what it is that like Taylor just assumes that everything will work out in her favor? Is that where the confidence comes from? Because honestly, I don't know where the confidence comes from.
Speaker: I think, I think part of it does have to do with like the competence of like, so this is going to work out somehow because Dinah said so. Like, I think she has a vibe for Dinah's predictions being that she is going to see the end of the world and that she has the opportunity to lower that percentage by doing certain things and that she's just kind of in in accordance with that. So like,
Speaker: things might go wrong, but like they aren't going to go so wrong that the world ends now. right So with that level the sort of that level of competence, you can, you can make us extrapolations for yourself that aren't entirely logical, but I mean, I think she even says as much where if it's this chapter, the next one where they kind of throw out, uh, you know, Oh, well maybe you take a click, take a plea and you do a couple of years and juvie. And she's like, well that would suck, but maybe that's where Dinah wants me. You know, like she's definitely playing and she's trying to sort of figure out what, what, what Dinah wants to happen. Yeah.
Speaker: I mean, it it's tough because, I mean, she came to them, she surrendered when she didn't have to. So I think maybe two part of it is her just thinking, well, I have all the power here. Like I came in and I've warned them about the time limit. And so they need to listen to me or else things are going to go bad.
Speaker: But I think it's very clear that she doesn't understand exactly the kind of situation she's in. And that only becomes more clear in the future as things get worse with her negotiations. But I don't know, it feels very, it does feel very naive. I'm with you guys on that for her to think like, Oh, you can just come in and demand what you want. And especially from tag, who you know, kind of hates you and has it out for you.
Speaker: It's a bit naive, Taylor, to assume this is just going to go well for you. What the fuck, Taylor? It is kind of crazy though, because in Taylor's defense, she stabbed Leviathan.
Speaker: in melee range and survived. yeah she She took over the city, routed out every major villain gang in the city and killed the largest villain leader personally. She rules the city. Then she survives and chops Echidna in half.
Speaker: and and is still ruling the city. like it she has What could they do? like what could they from From her perspective, right? like right what What are they gonna do to me? You can't touch this. Who the fuck do you think you are? She's she's got yeah got a little bit of that. A little bit of cockiness in there. Deserved. Which I'm here for. I'm here for. Yeah, for sure.
Speaker: I think it's sometimes like really easy to, frick because it is so always like the big fights are usually like but pretty big collaborative deals. Like it's sometimes like easy to to forget and get, you know, lose sight of the fact that like Taylor has been, like you said, Taylor has been a huge force behind a lot of these fights. And like why we did well is because of Taylor, like the kidney fight for one, like that that's just crazy. And she's done so much in the city and you look at You know her area specifically is like the thriving part of the city is like where the docks are and like the boardwalk like that whole area is like doing the best because of her.
Speaker: And it's clear that she has the support of at least some amount of the population because of what just happened at the school, right? And so it's clear that it's not just like, oh, she's a villain and everybody's scared of her. It's like, no, people legitimately like Taylor and want her to stick around and keep them safe. So yeah. She's the embodiment of everyone who's upset with the PRT posted by her.
Speaker: yeah who feels like they were just betrayed by the heroes or like let down by the heroes, like, well, you know, if the whole the whole idea of like, will actions speak louder than words? Like Taylor, if if we're going to judge people by their actions, Taylor's doing real well in terms of yeah public opinion.
Speaker: It does kind of feel like it, it, it, it almost, it kind of comedically does sort of read like Taylor going, I'm, you know, I'm motherfucking skitter here. What are you going to do? Send Alexandria, you know, we're getting there. Oh gosh.
Speaker: Um, And yeah, do you show I go on to chapter three? yeah Yeah. I'm sorry. I do have one one one thing, actually, about the the lawyer. um I love him so much. He is so cool. I love how like cool as a cucumber he is. He's like he knows exactly what's going on. He's got all the paperwork. He like shows up. He's like, oh, yeah, you want me to bring you a sandwich? You want some tea? And she's like, yeah, Doug, bring me some tea. He's like, I got um butt Let me break what you what you want. Toon on rye. I got you like.
Speaker: i'm I'm assuming that whole interaction so much His his agency feels like it's a big super villain agency that gets paid pretty like I mean they get paid Pretty well because it's not just like it's a private attorney that like they have hired and it's specifically for super villains I bet they are making bubble bank Bunk yeah, so like and And it's a flex to be like, show up with donuts free and stuff for your client.
Speaker: ah like you know, for her to be on the phone and be like, um, could I have tea actually, please? Also, I will have a breakfast sandwich, hold the mayo, like tags got to sit there and fume and eat stale bagels. how like Yeah, fuck him in his stale bagels. He's like, I'm um um'm about to go out and yell at the first intern, PRT intern, this guy told them to give me his breakfast sandwich.
Speaker: like
Speaker: That's what he's thinking that whole time. Like I i was, um' you know, i' I can't find it right now, but I'm sure Wildo said that, said as much. summer Right. Of course. I definitely remember reading that for sure. For sure. And the tag interlude. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. The tag interlude is just like a four year old. It's a four year old imitating, you know, any of their older siblings.
Speaker: ah the yeah so That's how, that's how I would have written the tag interlude personally. Um, real work of literature. Um, you know, it would start with him getting up in the morning and not being able to put like both arms through the correct holes in his shirt. Like his wife has to help him and it's still a struggle for the both of them to figure it out. And they realize he's put it on backwards. He's like, nevermind the jacket will be easier. And they, that it covers up the fact that his shirt is inside out. Like.
Speaker: It's just the most. But yeah, he is, Mr. Calais is really cool. I really love the description that he's got like a scar and a burn on his face. So he looks like a supervillain lawyer. He's not just a supervillain lawyer. He looks like a supervillain that is a lawyer.
Speaker: Which is unfortunate. He's like, I'm not your trial lawyer. We've done polls. I do not do well. Cause I look like a villain representing a villain and you do not want that. Yeah. Juries will are not happy to see me. Like I think that guy is evil. Like which one? I don't know. The one that looks like a bag.
Speaker: The one with the scar on his face? The one with the thunderbolt scar and the eye patch and the hook for a hand. I'm pretty sure that's the evil dude. Just going off of the everything about him. That's just ours. What are you talking about? Is he speaking German?
Speaker: I've seen the Lion King. Men with scars. Yeah.
Speaker: But yeah. And he keeps saying this, he says this a couple of times, but the lawyer keeps saying I've handled worse. Yeah. yeah I mean, and I know this is going to surprise you, but this is not the worst thing I've handled and look after everything. Like he's like, you talk everything everything like we Hey buddy, where are you? He's like, I am at the, you know how we had to clear a five block block radius because of you. Yeah. I am exactly five blocks away at a donut shop.
Speaker: Do you need me there? What can I bring you? Yeah. Like my man. I love him.
Speaker: It does make you wonder. So I've, I've had this idea for a bit, right? You know how Alan, you said you like the mundane stuff kind of, what would it be like? I'm imagining a novel, right? It's just a novel about Miss Yamada and Mr. Kaye. And you know what I want to throw in there is like an insurance agent.
Speaker: is like oh yeah just your average people who are not parahumans. Like a government property guy or like an insurance guy or an appraiser or something, right? Some guy who deals with like property destruction. And I just want i want a novel about the three of them. Just living their lives. It's like a Friday night dinner, they're all happened to be friends and they just get together and be like, all right, what'd you do this week? We won't believe that.
Speaker: Yeah. Oh my gosh. I love that. ah any Any books that are like, you think that you're following the main character of the story and you realize like, no, you're following like the person to like three steps to the left and you realize like, oh, this is about that guy. Yeah, no, I would dig would take that. Shall I go on? Yeah, let's keep let's keep moving.
Speaker: Okay. Um, all right. Chapter three tag is a bitch, uh, calls in Danny, um, in order to, to fuck Taylor up a little bit. Tattletale sets the final wheels in motion to make the portal hers. Very exciting. Uh, and then Alexandria flies in to throw a wrench in the discussion.
Speaker: um down now I love that as we're going around, uh, you know, Vista. ah we We talk about like vistas in the room and she's like, are you responsible for this? And Taylor has no idea what she's talking about. And she's like, Flechette and Taylor still is like, okay, I think I know what you're talking about. And I didn't realize it was going to happen. Yeah. Yeah. And, and then Vista leaves it as like points at tag. It is like, you're responsible for this.
Speaker: like I know that she's just wildly pointing fingers, but I love that tag being responsible for this is an option in her mind. yeah yeah This is because of you, motherfucker. Oh, i real quick. Real quick. I'm sorry. I just didn't want to miss something. One of her demands that we miss, which is important, is she wanted to join the slaughterhouse nine hunting team with dragon and defiant.
Speaker: That's right. Yeah. yeah the The most acceptable option, honest to God. You could be like, man, what is, what are you really good that good at that we could concede to? I don't know. Putting you with the other guy that we already like criminally rehabilitated yeah and the person who's in charge of the forever jail.
Speaker: like
Speaker: Yeah. And what are you good at? I don't know. Taking out the most supervillains. Yup. And then they count and they, I, they do not give her enough credit when they're going down the list. Like I get that she did not personally take out people, but we forgot like damn close, like she got damn close to whooping mannequins ass almost every time. Yeah. Um, you did real good. She you know coordinated the fucking death squad that wiped out
Speaker: Uh, that took like two of them out of commission that that they captured later, killed one of them, took control of the other. And then I think, you know, she got killed later as well. Shatterbird. Um, I think, uh, this dimensions at some point that she killed Shatterbird in this arc. So they, which way to go. this Yeah. Yeah. So like Taylor's track record.
Speaker: for and a kid. Now let's not forget a kid not being a big one. like Taylor's track record for killing monsters and basically not single handedly defeating them like as a group for the undersiders, but like Taylor has coordinated the defeat of the slaughterhouse nine in that city essentially. Yeah. Like given enough time, I feel like she would have kicked their ass six ways to Sunday and you're not going to use her for that, like, or give her credit for it. sounds like like Like, it seems like a pride thing. yeah like just yeah He's just, he's just mad. Yeah. Yeah. They mad. They mad. Well, the the funny thing about this condition though, to me is that what this shows is that she's either gotten over what happened with arms master enough or believes that she could get to that point to where she thinks she could work with arms master and dragon so closely.
Speaker: like i think I think that kind of shows that shows that she she could tell he was genuine at the school. At the school, but yeah. It shows that she she realizes he's had some growth. um And that that comes up more in the next arc. I read a little bit ahead, but you know no spoilers. um yeah But i what's interesting about this is we know now the Slaughterhouse Nine has gone into hibernation.
Speaker: but it's a weird way. So they, they attacked, um, this base of Tinkers, um, which is just great. It's basically like burning man for Tinkers. It sounds like, um, and, and so what they did is they probably got some portal technology and are just like somewhere between universes basically is what it sounds like. And that's horrifying. and it is you know Yeah, they are literally untouchable.
Speaker: yeah Yeah, and so yeah that one does kind of throw a wrench in Taylor's plans because she was like Who's the worst bad guys the slaughterhouse nine? I'll tell them I'll take them out. You can't take them out Taylor. Oh shit ah no lamp Well, it's like it's like when you see the spider you're like, oh god, oh guys a spider And then you like grab your shoe and you turn back around. And the spider's gone. And that's worse. All of a sudden, everything is worse. but ah there's nothing There are no boots big enough now for the missing spider. We just have to burn the whole fucking house down. like That's how it feels like losing to the slaughterhouse night. We knew where they always were because you know there's a a rampage falling along behind them, like burning cities in their wake. But now, now they're gone. And there is no can of raid big enough to deal with.
Speaker: Anyway, let's talk about Danny. Danny. My boy. Even Tag had to bring in daddy to do the work for him. Yeah, for real. Oh, gosh. All I can think of is Danny coming in here, given the situation. Danny's wife, I forgot what her name is, but Taylor's mom died in a car accident that she caused while texting and driving. Allegedly.
Speaker: ah yeah like you know what Allegedly. But like, that is kind of the, I understand that there's anger in this family and I get that like, it's an accident in which a big tragedy has happened to the person you love the most. And it was also their fault. Like that's gotta be some sort of really hard to resolve. Like it's not like they got killed in a car accident. It was completely avoidable. Like they were the cause of the incident. So like there's already a, a, you love that person, but you resent them from taking them away from you and getting themselves killed. And like, there's a bunch going on there. Yeah. And that leaves him with their only child, Taylor.
Speaker: who is now arrest, arrested for being a super villain, a thing that she could have prevented by not being a fucking super villain. And like, this is a thing that is avoidable that she, you like, if I was him, I'd be all sorts of like confused, angry right now. Also. Thank you, Michael. And that, and that Rose Herbert Taylor's mom.
Speaker: He texted while driving a campaign poster child for why you don't do that. yeah um Bad life decisions in it. Yeah. But like she died at an accident she caused. And now Taylor is about to go to prison for things that she has done that were like, both of these situations were avoidable and he's coming in with that. Like that's what I'm feeling for him. Like that's the stage that's set and When he gets there, he's like, man, the situation is dire. Yeah, but he, but he doesn't, he doesn't seem that angry.
Speaker: No. <unk>s just it and He takes it all very well. I like i like all of his response. like he He doesn't like get all... like even Even when he is faced with some things that Tag kind of throws at him that he didn't know about, and he like looks over at Taylor like, what? like but You did that? It's never it's never like overly accusatory. It's always just kind of like looking to her to ah explain Because like even in the end, he still trusts that maybe she has good reasons for the things that she's done and that like maybe she can she can give him some closure, like some answers to the things that he's hearing. like he He never is like, you did what? like you know He never acts like that. he it All of it is like confusion and hurt and like trying to understand what's going on with all of this.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: yeah I mean, he he does a he does a good job, I think, handling the situation as best as any parent probably could. It's pretty much a lose -lose situation as a parent. Oh, yeah. i mean We have to remember, too, that the last interaction they had was him finding out Taylor was a villain and her you know kind of brushing past him with the butterfly.
Speaker: And, you know, that's the last thing that they were, they've interacted, if you can even call it that. I mean, before that, you know, again, his whole life has but gotten turned upside down from that day at the school. Um, when he probably was thinking, I'm just now getting my daughter back. I'm so glad. And then everything happens at the school. And then to find out she's been arrested, you get a call from the PRT. You don't know what's going on.
Speaker: And, you know, and then they're, they're running him through the charges without Taylor there. So he's just hearing third hand, all these things that she's done. Maybe it's yeah. and I think he holds up remarkably well, you know, in all things considered. Yeah. It's one of those, like, I don't agree with what she's done. I don't even like it, but right now just judging off of.
Speaker: The situation I am seeing as it is, I don't like you, Mr. Tag. And there are a bunch of people out there that I've seen recently that do believe in her. Like they they have faith in her when mine is faltering. And you know what? Like that kind of bolsters me. Yeah. You know, it reminds me that my daughter's decisions are not just her being some crazy wild child that, you know, she's some lunatic loner making irrational decisions that don't resonate with people. Like there's a lot of people that follow her that, you know, are are on her side. And you know what? I'll be one of those. Great answer, Danny. Great answer. God, I love you.
Speaker: We stan Dan. Yep. We stan Dan. We stan Dan. And Dan stands on business. That's right. And I'm proud to be a. danic kid ah fairly people okay Oh my.
Speaker: Perfect. And Danny proudly stands up.
Speaker: He is the perfect American. is so He's my hero. He's all of our heroes. Number one on the field. Number one in your heart. ah Yeah. Yeah. Um. Yeah. So then, uh, come to find out, uh, Charlotte's still out there hanging out, helping out the other fighters.
Speaker: No, not sure. She's been around. Is this Sierra? Is this Sierra? Sierra. That's okay. I love Sierra. She's amazing. because Correct me if I'm wrong, with Sierra, her arc has been, she needed her brother rescued, but then when she got back, she wasn't comfortable with the whole villain thing. That's a lot. It's a lot. Not the person we thought was going to give up on the villain henchman lifestyle. That's true. We definitely felt like it was going to be, yeah.
Speaker: Uh, but it was Sierra. And so like her arc, as she goes from that to, I don't know what she's doing. Um, but now she, she, she is standing on business, big business.
Speaker: Amen. I love that. She is a a business lady, apparently, because now she owns some property. She owns everything. All that shit. She is the face of tattletales operation. Legal operation, I guess. and I do just want to jump to... I know it's in a an interlude later, but I do want to jump to when she shows up later.
Speaker: Just looking all professional, just being all like adult professional person. And I know she wasn't that young before. And her hair is still in dreads. No, never forget. I love it. Yeah, I was gonna say she was in dreadlocks and probably like some, you know, some new age looking. Dreads and a nice pencil skirt. Let's fucking go. Yeah. Now that is a look I can get behind. There's a lot of looks I can get behind and we'll get to the others in a second.
Speaker: ah Yeah. So that's kind of, uh, Taylor's attempt to, uh, twist the arm of the PRT. Um, doesn't seem to work that well, but you know, uh, we, she tries, she tries and that's what matters. Yeah. I'm i'm not going to lie. I get this, is you know, Oh, wow. You own the property to a portal. Do you know how easy it would be for the United States government to be just like, no that is a world shadower shattering thing you have there. And we are not allowed, not about to let that be private property. And you know what? I hard agree with them. what no No private individual should be owning that. For this one time, and one time only, I agree with the US government.
Speaker: It is ah is one of those, it's like, hmm, it's a nice property you got there. It would be a shame if ah somebody imminent domain it. Is that oil? I see. Oh my goodness. the Yeah. I mean, especially since Tattletails also spent so much money to like but buy up all this property and then like they own a lot of it and then it, it would be so easy to just be like.
Speaker: Yeah. And I, and honest to God, they like, I get the feeling that they do not. intend for that to be a permanent thing.
Speaker: i think that they It's a bargaining chip. It's a bargaining chip and one that can be easily overruled, but it's a big enough stage that it's going to be a conversation piece and an issue that People are going to have to deal with. Yeah, especially since later on in in the later arc, we do hear that like people have been promised a share of the neighborhood that they've been working so hard to fix. And kind of the idea that like, sure, Tattletale may own certain parts of the land, but like the people are invested into the city because they've been working so hard to fix it.
Speaker: And if you were to suddenly just swoop in and take that away from them, they would be fucking pissed. It's not just taking it away from Tattletale or Sierra in this case, you know since she's the official face, but you'd be taking it away from all of the the residents that stayed in Brockton Bay and that worked their asses off to try and make the city habitable again.
Speaker: Like it would be a bigger deal than just ah private property. We're going to take that. Like, no, that at this point, this, this isn't, this almost belongs to everybody at this point. Yeah. Which which is, which is face and the my, or yeah, which is, you know, I think like you said, the, you know, they're also talking about like, yeah, this is, we're planning on putting people on the other side. Like clearly they're not going to keep this shut down and yeah, just Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Absolutely. It's fun. It's fun though. It's a fun, nice little move Taylor. I love one moves. You tried one and then then the ocean moment. Yeah. Then they try one. You, you know, you do a thing and then they do a thing and then everyone's moving pieces. Yeah. Except you know, you're moving, you're moving pawns and the occasional, uh, uh, Springer as they call it in German.
Speaker: You know, the occasional night you're bopping around, do a little Trixie L move. Uh, and then they just whip out the, the queen, you know? Yeah. And you're like, shit. Uh, it's what Andrew shows up. What is this? What but an arrival in German. The, uh, the night is called a Springer. The pawns are called rum spring. The pawns are called boobs.
Speaker: i like i may I don't think that's true, but I don't know German. Somebody check it. Somebody fact check that shit. ah You know what it is. Michael always going to be true now. um i mean they then kind of about like shape yeah Well, isn't it more like the boobs? Like, Oh, it's such a boob. It's round.
Speaker: Well that, okay, not boob as in breast. I thought boob as in like, it's like, you're a booby, like a, it's like an old English term, like a dummy, right? Oh, probably. Oh my gosh.
Speaker: There's not even a boobie at the end. I'm googling it. A boob. A boob. A stupid, awkward person. It's just me. I am the boob. Are you looking up the definition of a boob? Yeah. We're not talking about... He said pawn in German is boob.
Speaker: Yeah, I know, but then I said that it was... oh I see where she's going with it. I see where she's going with it. I'm sorry, I missed something. I was too busy Googling. Michael was too busy Googling boobs. Yeah. All right. Just Google image search German boobs. Alan, I'm not seeing all not seeing any pawns in any of these images.
Speaker: no yeah you you're oh oh nick it's because of that it's Oh my gosh. Okay. I mean, my god it was it was, you got to look up. Okay. So there's a rule in chess. Um, it's like somewhere after the 33rd rule, look up chess rule, uh, 34, maybe, um,
Speaker: oh right will do anna a No, no, I'm sorry. i I wasn't actually paying any attention. i I looked up. I looked it up. And the fact the fact that every pawn in chess has the ability to become a queen implies that all pawns are women. They're all booing. You know what I'd like to think in today's society?
Speaker: That's not always true, Hannah. That's the word Ponzi scheme, right? That's true. Ponzi scheme? Nope. Nope. Yes. No! That's where it comes from, right? You're Germanic. Yeah, yeah, definitely. Germanic! Yeah! Alright, if somebody brings us back, please.
Speaker: Also, I like that. Where did I get that from? If people want to know where I got that boob from, when I played chess with the German kids, that's what they all call the pawns. I think they're just calling it. I think it might have just gotten scammed by some German kids. I was about to say, I cannot find any confirmation on this out. Maybe. This is right up there with the house rule where my grandfather used to have a saying,
Speaker: that I cannot find for essentially Queen's check. um And it was Damen Cadet. And I don't know how to spell that. I always thought it was like maybe German cause Damen, like maybe like Lady in Danger.
Speaker: But that, i I still think he made that, like you said, I think he made that up and I cannot find that. The only thing I can find to this is that the the name for the Chessmen and what they connotate, blah, blah, blah, the pawn in German is Bauer, which is farmer or peasant. That's the best I got better. Just imagining all the kids, German kids going, we will tell him, we will tell him the farm of Jews.
Speaker: zip
Speaker: You will confuse the shit out of him. yeah
Speaker: That's the funniest shit I've ever heard in my life.
Speaker: Oh no. Oh boy. Okay. I like that we got on this tangent. We got on this tangent right when things got tense and I think we needed it. I think we needed a little breather. Probably for the best. Yeah. Cause things get so serious now. um There we go. We got it all out. Yes. oh man Bring this back down. Oh, before we. Yeah. So I think it's I think it's an in this and in this chapter here ah where ah because I know Alan and I are both going to talk about this in chapter four, but I think it's here in chapter three where Alexandria says ah not a promise, not an oath or a malediction or a curse.
Speaker: ah Which is. When I read it, because, you know, Hannah has, uh, Warmentia, did not know what was about to happen. It had no clue it was about to go down. Uh, I read that. And when I read that part that Alexandra says it, it was so like, I felt like I feel like my whole heart seized up. Like, like I just, it, it brought me such.
Speaker: like frustraing Like, it felt like ah a turning point. Like, it felt like such a big moment. And I don't know, like at the time I was like, I don't know what why why this feels so big, but like it feels like such a taunt. And like, we can't let it go unanswered. Like, we can't, we can't, we can't let it go unanswered. And it just, ugh. I mean, it didn't, it didn't go unanswered. ah But just, this is where Alexandria says it.
Speaker: Um, and just, just wow. Yeah. What a moment. I mean, the moment she walks in first off would ah second, it's it like, do you say what? yeah I mean, just from the outfit description, she shows up, maybe honestly, she gives strong contested vibes here. So maybe that's just the thing I'm getting is like, maybe I'm into women in like office attire.
Speaker: Like, yes no, no nonsense women in office attire. That's what does it for me. She shows up jacket comes off rolled up sleeves. Like, yeah, it's hot as fuck. Like essentially she's, if anybody's seen a chainsaw man, she's miss whatever the head of their department is like the white, white shirt, black tie here for business. And.
Speaker: She rolls up her sleeves is like, I'm about to kill a motherfucker if you don't fast. And, and she's like, you got five minutes and Taylor starts to talk and she's like, you've got four and a half minutes. Yeah. I gotta, I'll go and keep this schedule rolling. And then gives her promise. And, uh, who I forgot about that little maldiction speech and. Hmm.
Speaker: also strong, strong the boys vibes. We were talking about this earlier before the podcast, but what makes, in my opinion, the boys show and comic to a lesser extent, but the the boys show so good. What it's strong suit is was, um, is every moment you are in a room as a normal person with a superhero, specifically Homelander, but others too, like is the most terrifying thing in the world. Just him being there. He doesn't have to do anything. You have to really like, but what happens if he accidentally turns and knocks into you, you know, you accidentally bump shoulders with him and he puts you out the window, like, or breaks, you know, spins you so fast, your spine snaps. Cause he just accidentally bumped shoulders with you. Like,
Speaker: He's his strength and power levels are out of like, what if he sneezes and accidentally, you know, laser beams like ah just, and and worse. What if he wants to do something like yeah there's nothing anybody can do to stop it. So like the concept of being in a room with absolute power. And that's how.
Speaker: honest to God, everybody should feel when they're like in real life, that's how everybody would feel in rooms with people like Alexandria. Like all it would take is, is, you know, a flick of the wrist and you're dead. Like she could do it on accident and you're, yeah you're done for. Um, and she shows up.
Speaker: And her being there is that presence kind of for the, I feel like for the first time in worm that we really get that gravitas and danger of being in a room with somebody that powerful. And we should have felt it before, but we definitely feel it here. And holy cow does it hit. Um,
Speaker: Yeah. hu What it reminds me of with speaking of the boys, I think one of the scene, one of the best scenes probably in the entire show of the boys is the scene where they've captured one of the superheroes um translucent. They have him in the basement in Homelander who has superhuman hearing, superhuman strength and all this stuff, right? Like his senses are above human. He is above ground talking to two of the members of their group.
Speaker: Like it's one of the most tense scenes in television. I think I've ever seen because you've seen what this guy can do and how strong he is and how much control it takes for him to not accidentally hurt people. And it's just immensely terrifying, right? And and it's exactly that too, with the scene where she comes in and even Taylor knows like, Oh, this is bad. Like things have gone horribly wrong for me.
Speaker: yeah Oh, it's spooky in a way. Um, and yeah, with, with everything going on and yeah, yeah, I mean, she comes in pretty hardcore. Yeah. I mean, she comes in essentially with the same goal as tag and is yet such a, I don't know. on It's such a different vibe. but
Speaker: Like she is going with the same goals as tag, but she's not trying to posture because how can she posture? yeah She can do everything she says she's going to do and more. Yeah. And more like anything tag says is bluster. Yeah. Yeah. This, I just want to read it. So she says, uh,
Speaker: Uh, this is Taylor says, you're planning to make threats? I asked. Threats is the wrong word. She said, but English is a limited language in some ways. There's really no word to articulate what I mean. A threat with a measure of inevitability to it. A promise to feeble. People break comp promises too often. A curse, a malediction, too magical. An oath. The connotations are wrong. When I say I'll do something, I make it happen.
Speaker: I didn't respond. Mr. Cai did. You seem rather confident. Overconfident? I imagine I seem that way. It doesn't matter.
Speaker: hey Hot. Yeah. yo
Speaker: Yeah. There's this, there's this dynamic to the triumvirate in general that, uh, we get glimpses of many times in worm, but have not confronted yet. And it's really exciting as a reader, like you get a little bit of legend, right? We get legends interlude. We get a little bit of legend during solder house nine, but he's really more of, ah of like general containment, really, you know, he's not involved in the same way, not as personal.
Speaker: And all we know about these characters is that these are the ones that go and fight the unfightable, the unkillable. That's all they do is go fight handbringers. Like they fight Godzilla as their day job.
Speaker: no And now here is the strongest one, arguably, right in front of you. And she's come to deal with you. Like you've become such an issue that she's like, okay, we're done. I'm putting my foot down. And she shows up like, oh boy. but you when Are we ready to dive in chapter four? Let's fucking go. This is the big one. yeah All right. Chapter four. Alexandria goes after the undersiders.
Speaker: I mean, isn't this, this I mean, you've already started, but I mean, isn't this where she says it's a curse? Like, yes, I realize it's it's at the very beginning of four, not in three. I said that wrong earlier.
Speaker: Um, but yes, no, this is where she says that. And then she goes after the undersiders, uh, and, and, and basically threatens to go after them to one every 30 minutes, I think one every 30 minutes or 15 minutes. Uh, is it every five minutes and then she goes 10 minutes to go get them.
Speaker: Yes, that's right. And back. Yeah, it's incredibly fast. It's really fast, but she's gonna she's picking them off one at a time. um Taylor does her best to try and send a warning through Tag's phone by punching numbers in with her bugs. And then one at a time, we have Regent shows up with some broken limbs, an unconscious imp, and then a body bag. And when the body bag arrives,
Speaker: Taylor goes off. She suffocates Alexandria by forcing bugs into her lungs and attacks tag before being knocked out at the end of the chapter.
Speaker: My heart's still racing. I literally am like teared up right now just reading that. like
Speaker: i
Speaker: I was so afraid for a moment because i can't I couldn't remember what happened. And to think that somebody was in that bag, like and to think then how Taylor reacted, like her reaction feels so justified in that moment. like It is so well done that it it feels like You know, and I, I mean, I cried reading it, but like the, the hot angry tears of being like, I'm so sick of this. Like I'm so done. And then skitter goes off and it's like, yes, like that, that kind of that righteous anger, like let's bring the old Testament plagues back. Like that's how it felt. And it felt so good. I mean, yeah, she, she flips.
Speaker: She just starts piling them down. Alexandria's throat. Yeah. She starts, you know, has him go hog wild on tag. Who's like crawling after her. Yeah. And she's like standing at the table. Yeah. I have it here, you know, her, her, you know, line back. Yeah. Not a promise, not an oath or a maldiction or a curse.
Speaker: I said, sound and calm, probably an audible in the midst of tags screaming, inevitable. Wasn't that how she put it? I told them, warned them. Oh, it hits so good. It hits so good. And I just, yeah. And man, I loved it. And I had the only chance to think of how they just signed tags, death warrant. My power would still work while I was unconscious.
Speaker: yeah And I could have rescinded the orders in my last moments. I didn't. The callback to that earlier moment in art like six or seven, where that happens. When she passes out and wakes up with all the bugs. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Oh, so good. I mean, even the callback to when this was over from the moment you entered the room,
Speaker: yeah with arms master. Yeah. And then she beats his ass on the balcony. This was over from the moment you entered the room. Like flips it around on him again. Yeah. And, and, and Alexandra too, by flying, cause she leaves. So she's being attacked and she flies up through the roof and like out up into the like up out away from Taylor's ah circle of influence. Range. Yeah, her range. And kind of in that same idea of like thinking that, like well, if I can stop her, then I can... If I can get away from her, then the bugs will stop. But it's like, that's not how this works. And by by once again... ah ah what's What's the word? What's the word? Not undervaluing um
Speaker: Underestimating? Underestimating, yes. Thank you. By once again underestimating Taylor and what she's capable of and what her power does and how it works. Once again, you have fucked yourself by thinking that she's just another kid. And by not taking her seriously, you are, you're dead now. And like, I, I. Oh, it's so good. It's so good. And I love that Taylor is so calm through it too. Like she's so calm.
Speaker: Alexandria fucked around and we have now entered the find out stages. Find out. Also, this is our official what the fuck Taylor, but also in the best possible way. Yeah. It's a, it's a combo. What the fuck Taylor and a fuck. Yeah. Taylor. Yeah. so yeah yeah it's a lucky yeah Yeah. For sure. What the fuck? Yeah. yeah but the um I don't want to underestimate to her clever usage of the powers to try to warn tattletale.
Speaker: that they're coming. Yes, I love that. Yes, yes, yes. And just her like tapping the buttons, trying to communicate. um had It's so so like desperate though, right? It is that feeling of yeah yeah this inevitability, right? This inevitable force is coming for your friends. Every five minutes she goes out, then 10 minutes later she'll come back. A little bit more disheveled um you know than before.
Speaker: ah But yeah, oh, it's just so... Yeah, it's crazy. She is crazy she even she even takes the bugs and she puts them close to the light bulb so that they'll be warm in the thought that like If she needs to like press on a on a screen like the if it's like a touchscreen She's like I got yeah. Yeah. Yeah, you know the bugs have to be warm so like I'll warm them by the light bulb like oh my Yeah, just just getting into her thought process in this art or this chapter in particular is one of the most interesting parts to me. so as she Correct me if I'm wrong, because I was getting very confused with the phone thing, but I i know she attempted to get tags, but there are multiple times where, doesn't he take phone calls and stuff?
Speaker: Like on his self she's at it. She's at his desk using his landline basically. Okay. Okay. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Cause I was like sitting here like the phone off the, yeah. And then she communicates by hitting the buttons to make like yeah the button. You're right. You're right. Old style, ah old style texting. Yep. Yep. yeah Yep. You're right. But yeah, I did like you, like you, Hannah, I kind of forgot what happened and it it took me a second. I was like, wait a second.
Speaker: I don't think any of the undersiders die at this point. Like I'm, I'm trying to think, I'm like, I don't think they died. Like maybe regent and imp got captured. That's surprising in itself. The imp got captured. Oh yeah. Oh my gosh. I was like, annoyed me but then I was like, but wait, does somebody say somebody died? No, no. Like I'm like, something's weird. So I, I had a little bit of worm manager, but yeah, got something distracted by the yeah distracted by the, you know,
Speaker: Attack on Alexandria. what a yeah What a way to drown, right? Cause it's essentially drowning. oh yes Like Taylor describes the bugs going into her lungs. Oh, oh that's.
Speaker: Oh, it's horrible. It's horrendous. I mean, anyone we've all everyone's got a little bit of water, choked on some water in the pool before or something. And it's like, for that split second as you're coughing it out, it's terrifying.
Speaker: like yeah it's you know it's it's Horrifying your your your fight or flight sets in and you can't think rationally I just was reading this thing about how your brain works in a in a crisis but like your brain basically freezes up and it can't it like doesn't the normal processing thought of like okay i need to calm down i need to take a breath i need to you know raise my arms above my head or whatever you need to do to get the water out of your lungs let you know whatever it is your brain your brain doesn't think rationally it basically shuts down into fight or flight and that's it.
Speaker: And like that's where that panic is of like, oh my God, it's the guy who drank the LaCroix in one sitting and he's like, oh, do I do? That's his fight or flight kicking in of basically like, I just need to burp. That's all. But he doesn't know that because his brain is shutting down. like that's That's how your brain works. And it does it to protect you. like that's That's the reason.
Speaker: Because, you know, usually you can just run away and you'll be fine as your monkey brain. But like in this case, Alexandria, she bolts and that only seals her fate. And I. ah you You cannot get out of this, bitch. You cannot get out of this. This is the end for you for Dunzo. Close the book.
Speaker: Oh, I love it. Oh. In other words, ah teenage girl basically kills God. so yeah Yeah, I love it. Kill Superman. yeah Teenage girl kills Superman. Spider -Man kills Superman and I'm here for it. um yeah And if you think that crossover comic hasn't happened despite them being two entities, you would be wrong. I know they're separate. I know that Spider -Man is Marvel and that Superman is DC.
Speaker: you know That would be correct. failedil it They still had a crossover fight. you you know what that's ah That's a conversation for another time. It was back when the people who made those comics were better friends.
Speaker: Um, well, uh, maybe, but, uh, the, yeah, they've essentially they're in like a girdle construction tower at one point and there's kryptonite hanging in the construction tower. Spider -Man doesn't know this, but he's like beating the shit out of Superman. Like I'm getting good. And finally like accidentally something happens to the kryptonite and Superman just like grabs and is like, listen here, punk. Where did you get so strong? if There is no kryptonite. It's just bugs, baby.
Speaker: Yeah. She says dragonflies too. She says, uh, Alexandria in the basement, still choking, drowning on dry land with lungs full of dragonflies, spiders, cockroaches. Y 'all are talking about choking on water. yeah We've all choked on a bug before. like know um moce gene Then the bug just like comes in. You're like, whoops. Sorry. I've been on the back of a motorcycle. and Now imagine that, but like a thousand times more.
Speaker: Usually it's like a tiny gnat too. It's like you get a little gnat in your mouth and you're like, yeah. fit pi Yeah. And that's bad enough. Imagine, you know, even just that, that like weird tickle at the back of the ear throat that you can't quite get to is like terrible. i are you just natural but I'm done for the day. I'm going home yeah re acceptable.
Speaker: Yeah. mean thats I'm finding the fire escape and going up so I can throw myself off. I i just can't live like that anymore. Also earlier, Jacob, you said, you said like, oh, we've always all been in the pool and like choked on water. I was like, you mean like 10 minutes ago when I was trying to take a drink of my, out of my water bottle and like almost died? Like, is that what you mean? Cause like that's that's a regular occurrence for Hannah.
Speaker: Anyways, we can. So 22 .5. Yeah. we got one five I have no notes. So y 'all keep talking. I'm getting water. Okay. so Don't drown. Don't drown while you're drinking your water. po in the kitchengeon Okay. Yeah. No. Uh, moving on to chapter five after that trauma. Um, Taylor wakes up in an empty building and as far as she can tell, uh, an empty,
Speaker: city as far as her range is concerned, because it's just everything within the block radius has just gone empty. yeah she She breaks out of her cell um and gets caught by dragon and defiant. Wow, you know, trying to figure that stuff out, which is just, you know, the little cat and mouse of that is just yeah very fun. If I had a nickel for every time that Taylor thought she could outsmart dragon and defiant,
Speaker: I'd have two nickels, which isn't a lot, but it's weird as happened twice, right? Weird as happened twice. well But she has outsmarted Dragon before with the with the drone thingies. That's true. I guess I mean escaping a building, particularly. That's true. With Dragon and Defiant actively coming after her. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, yeah. I mean, it it it is again, I really just enjoy her thought process, um you know talking about heating up the bugs and doing this, doing that.
Speaker: ah At some point she has to do something with cockroaches and she's like, I'm just not going to think about how gross they are. It's fine. Um, and it's very interesting. And then of course, yeah, she gets caught with dragon and defiant and they're just like, we really need to talk. Like we've been trying to talk to you. Can you please stop wiggling? Like we're trying to like, can you chill? listen this We're not, please not going to kill you, please.
Speaker: please It's almost sunset. Things are about to go down. you're Your people are about to start an all -out war. Alexandria is dead. Tag is dead. Holy crap, please just chill. We need to chat. We need to just talk, please.
Speaker: Yeah. Also, I love when she tries to throw them off the building. Yeah. I think honestly, oh good yeah I think honestly, this is a bigger what the fuck Taylor moment than the previous one. Cause that one, I feel like killing Alexandria. I'm like, I get that. It's like, okay, clearly at this point, like, what are you going to do Taylor? Like you're going to try to throw defiant off the building. Like, come on. Like, I mean, it's sort of hard to do it again. Yeah.
Speaker: it It doesn't though. He's just like, ah grappling hooks himself back up and he's like, I'm fine. Why'd you do that? Stop it. Jesus. Kyle, please. We just want to talk. ah Bitch, please. No, I really actually enjoyed that. Also, I love her little ah her little like spy moment of sneaking through the building. So she's like, bum, bum, bum, bum, bum, bum, bum, bum, bum, bum. She's singing the krong theme song to herself. Yeah. So good.
Speaker: I love that.
Speaker: Yes. So good. Yeah. um It's a simple or is a simple chapter though. There's not much to say. it's There's not much to say about it. I like when she throws. It feels like a bridge chapter. It it really is. I do like when she she grabs the um the the the football drone thingy of um ah the tinker, the tinker's little You know, floaty thingy. Yeah, yeah, yeah. You know what I mean? Yeah, kid wins. Yeah, kid wins like a little bug zapper. Like she like grabs it and like stashes it under a trash can, puts like a TV monitor on top of it, like to hold it down. That was so funny. I enjoyed that immensely. Yeah. I just like her like trying to figure it. Yeah, get the fuck in there.
Speaker: Oh, it's so great. Her little, like, up up the stairs, down the stairs, take the elevator, get off at this floor. Like, trying to get away from them is so funny. I just love that. That was great. It's a little bit of, like, a chill before the, you know, after the absolute chaos of the previous chapter. Yeah. ah yeah And then 22 .6, you can read the summary, but she just absolutely masterminds everything now. And it's like, Oh my God, how did you, how did you go from.
Speaker: Well, I'll let you do the summary and then I'll say that. Go ahead. Well, yeah, no, that's okay. So, I mean, yeah, no, she she finds out that her team is okay and that it was all a trap to set her off. She strikes a whole new deal ah and and they make a huge announcement on live TV. Skitter makes a statement and officially joins the wards as Weaver. Ooh.
Speaker: yeah yeah Okay, so yeah in this one arc, she goes from a prisoner who is the biggest crime lord in Brockton Bay to the killer of Alexandria, one of the triumvirate, the biggest hero who they need in the Inbringer fights.
Speaker: to now joining the wards. And being a hero and being recognized as a hero and twisting the tale of Alexandria into being a ah ah fucking traitor and and that she's the savior in all of this. Yeah, yeah.
Speaker: Yeah, getting that to work is was so clever, um just kind of turning because like from Taylor's respect perspective at this point, I don't think she knows fully right what like we know ah with The audio reader knows a little bit more about Cauldron than Taylor does, but she still knows that Cauldron is a thing, kind of manipulating stuff. And can and like uses that as like, hey, you've got an out here. ah you know you can say like this you Not to sell it to the to the people, because people don't know what Cauldron is, but to like sell it to the leadership here.
Speaker: You know, like you all realize that your whole systems fucked 10 ways Sunday. Royally fucked. Yeah. So this is an easy sell for the other capes that kind of know things aren't going well. Like it was just ah such a great move. and I remember rereading it, caught me off guard here. I totally forgot that's how she spun it and was like, Oh, that was so brilliant. It was just a good play. Yeah. So good.
Speaker: And like it works. I love. Yeah. We were talking to, uh, talking to them on the phone, like, Hey, undersiders. Um, just want to let you know, uh, killed Alexandria and everybody you hear cheering in the background, except for one person just goes like basically like fuck. You're like.
Speaker: Uh, grew. Yeah. and one guy who Isn't it regent and imp that are like, that are mostly just like, yeah, like let's go. Yeah. I want to say i in my head, I don't remember it's true, but I'm going to say that bitch was also like, yeah, fuck that bitch. And, and Lisa's like, damn girl, get it. And meanwhile, Cruz like, Oh, we fucked up.
Speaker: Oh, they're going to come after us so hard. Oh, they're going to drop a bomb on our heads. They're going to fucking fire bomb us like they did the slaughterhouse nine. God damn it. Damn it, you guys. Here we go again. One dude who's thinking practically this whole time. Yeah. Yeah. I will go ahead.
Speaker: take a place No, I was going to say I do. I did love during the newscast scene um that after the announcement is made, there is an uproar of barking and howling surrounding everything. Oh my God. Here's the thing though.
Speaker: So bitch doesn't control the dogs. She's just good at like training them and communicating them. So in my head cannon, the dogs are sentient enough to understand what's going on and started barking and howling of their own volition outside of bitches control. That's my thing. my I think I might I might instead my head cannon would be also bitch started howling.
Speaker: Like a sad dog. Bitch howls. Her dogs all howl. And she, wherever she is, we've talked about, doesn't she have like 200 dogs now? She's a lot of dogs. She's got a little dog driving. She got a few. So all of, you have that many dogs making noise. Every dog in that city is making noise. So I think it's just a cascading effect. yeah Much like, oh, we found ah her secret power. It's sort of like,
Speaker: a Shatterbird, except just with dogs. Just affects all the dogs in the area. It got really gross in my mind really quick as I'm just imagining Shatterbird power.
Speaker: okay
Speaker: You ever seen one of your you read a dog that just started shaking suddenly this like that but he' so just vibrating untroably but Yeah, no, I think that's the ideas that like she cuz she has like 200 dogs at her facility or wherever she's at they all started howling and it ah erupts with every other dog in the city howling through. Yeah, i I read it very similar to that, except more so of like.
Speaker: they they know her so well, they can read her body language. Like when when we're in an altercation, even if she hasn't responded or told them what to do, like they start, you know, their hair starts bristling, they start growling. And that same idea of like they're reading her body language and they're reading like what she is and they can they can like feel the emotions coming off of her. And so then, we you know, one dog starts howling and then all of a sudden they're all howling. But like that, I cried.
Speaker: when they all started howling that was when I like I cried when when everything happened but I also this was where I was like it really hit me that one that one hurt yeah and if you're basically the and when you do need me You can call me Weaver. And that's when I reached up and touched my cheek and was like, am I crying right now? Wow. Did not expect that to be the the moment that got me, but damn. Uh, yeah. Yeah. So good. Also call me Weaver. Yeah. You can call me Weaver. Uh, dots on the new name. I mean, she weaves that PR campaign to work in her favor. So. did
Speaker: Do we like it better than Skitter? It's better than Skitter. I think so. Yeah, I think it's better than Skitter. I'm trying to come up off the top of my head a better name that hasn't already been taken. Yeah. Bug. Yeah, bug.
Speaker: Like, honestly, something like a queen bee or queen or, uh, maybe is like two high school. ah It's, oh yeah. The high school girl took high school, uh, web, like it's literally something maybe more abstract, madam. Well, maybe that's what I was thinking. Oh, let me start on that. Um, but yeah, no, something really something more like skitter is very Uh, uh, even as a villain is a much more direct action person. And I think we've with the final direct, you know, kind of like killing off of some people, but like, I think now that we've, we've moved into a master, a master. Yeah. Like a master thinker phase of.
Speaker: Kira Wing for Taylor, like where she doesn't whip out a baton anymore. She whips out her bugs and actually that is her main weapon. And she actually sticks with like, she doesn't go in and do it herself. She just sends in her bugs to do everything. fine Like, and that'd be the end of it. So I think having the more hands off approach with a more hands off name.
Speaker: having something that is more abstract. Isn't the isn't the one ah superhero parody from from Rick and Morty, one million ants? Yeah. yeah it One million ants.
Speaker: Uh, also another thing with the Weaver is she, she makes a comment in the previous chapter about how when she was out, um, another things that her bugs did unconsciously is they wove a bunch of cord for her. They like set up a bunch of, women and so I was thinking about that with Weaver is that it feels like a lot more spider esque and the idea of like setting traps and like, like weaving the story, weaving. Oh, the tangled web we weave, you know, a very like.
Speaker: It's also, I mean, it's just more constructive. Yeah, yeah, that too. But I think what you said, Alan, about the whole master thinker vibes leaning more towards that than like, ah, yes, she's the more you know brute force bug villain. Like, no, she's she's a mastermind here. And the idea of like leap leaning, excuse me, leaning more into that. I like, I like that a lot. So. I mean, I guess Weaver, Weaver is the best I can, I like I like Weaver. Yeah, I was thinking of trying to think of something line like Legion sounding, you know. Oh, I love that idea. Oh, my gosh. I think we already said swarm is already taken. Yeah. myriad salary Is myriad taken? Myriad would be good. Myriad is so close to Mirden. Mirden is dead now, so. Yeah, but still. Never forget.
Speaker: um Um, this is something that I don't know if it was in the very, I think it's at the very beginning of this chapter. Uh, when, when, um, Mr. Kaye shows back up to help her like rewrite, he says, so they're, they're working on. Yeah. Yeah. This is this chapter. Sorry. I'm looking it up right now. He says, I'll credit you this, Ms. Hebert. My lawyer said, as he typed away, you manage a great deal of grief and chaos in very short spans of time.
Speaker: And that's something we've talked about before of like the idea that everything happens so quickly that like even the wins don't feel like wins because there's always one thing after another and Taylor doesn't ever get to really celebrate those wins. And I was thinking about that like even here, like even after everything, we immediately go into something else. we have Then we immediately move into something else. like we find we yeah She thinks that her her people are dead. her you know um Basically, the underside is her family. ah Someone's dead and she goes off. She kills two more and then she wakes up and it's like, oh no, JK, actually everyone's fine, but you did totally gank Alexandria and and ah fucking tag.
Speaker: And then also, now you will be a hero. Like, that's so much piled one on top of another, just quick, rapid fire. And ah like, I like that he points that out. I like that her lawyer notes that and is like, yeah, you deal with a lot. Like, yeah, she fucking does. Got a lot going on.
Speaker: Yeah. We love her. We love her.
Speaker: When moving into, uh, interludes the interludes, let's do it real quick. What do we think of the, did we talk at all about the lie that they come up with that Alexandria, they basically confessed that Alexandria was a traitor. Yeah. Yeah. We kind of blew past it, but yeah, with, with legend and idol on watching. Yeah. Yeah.
Speaker: Legend can shut the fuck up, he knows. yeah yeah He knows that he's a big fat liar too. Now see, legend Legend I'm fine with. Eidolon's the one who I'm like, hey yeah, okay, you're you're not getting off of this sea either, you know? Yeah, because Chevalier is the one that's with them, right? I'm sorry, Chevalier. Yeah, thank you, thank you. Chevalier.
Speaker: Oh my lord, I cannot. I cannot with you guys. ah yeah But yes, he is there. Yes. Okay, cool. I always get Chevalier and Eidolon can like mixed up in my head. yeah And so I had for a moment, I was like, wait, and let me just... Chevalier is a... He's an arms master but cooler, right? Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. He's young hip arms master. yeah And Eidolon... He's a cannon blade.
Speaker: That's right. And Eidolon is boring and old and sucks. It sucks. Embrace the suck. Yeah. He is the dude. You're like, Oh, what's your favorite color? And he was like, rainbow. I'm like mother fucker. That's not. Eidolon is like, if you're, if you're HR person at work became a superhero and here's like, okay, here's my benefits package options. What do you guys want me to pick this time? Yeah.
Speaker: Oh my God. I want you to use, find the power that flies you away from this conversation as quickly as possible. I don't know. Legend, legend, I, legend, I I'm still a fan of. I like legend. No, no, no. That's what I'm saying. Like legend knows he's a big liar. So like, he's just going to feel guilty about the thing. Like, Oh, like I can't believe my friend died, but also like, what am I going to say? Like I ain't going to say shit. Cause you know, I'm just as bad.
Speaker: Yeah. Eidolon's like, I can't believe they do that shit. You know, Oh, how dare they, but also I don't want to get outed. Oh yeah. Nevermind. I have to take power Viagra.
Speaker: So, you know, and keep an eye out for Viagra. It's true. I'm just imagining the surprise Pikachu face is what Eidolon's doing. He's like, what? yeah She was a traitor? yeah It's like, have you seen the the interview where the news and news is interviewing the one guy on the street about an illegal gambling rig a ring in their neighborhood? And he's like, what? I didn't see nothing. In fact, I'm 70 % blind in my right eye.
Speaker: yeah
Speaker: Oh, I forgot to keep my power of seeing shit up. Oh, I can't see shit no more. Yeah. Classic. ilon All right. Into the, uh, into the, uh, yeah, the interlude. So our first we have to, uh, for this arc, uh, the first one is a Charlotte interlude, which I really, really enjoyed this one.
Speaker: um more shasha Charletiste's the news, ah and the whole neighborhood is abuzz. Sends the kids to bed, and then Danny and the undersiders show up. um Preparations are made to defend Skitter's turf, and little Aiden dreamed of space. Let's just kick this off. That and that shit piece shitfather, Scott, is still there.
Speaker: He's still here. He's still there and he's still bitching. He never stops. He could leave. He could leave. He could go anywhere else, but he enjoys being here just so he could bitch. I mean, we all know, we all know at least one person who's like that. Like who's soul, soul. And they're all named stop. That's the other thing. Stop.
Speaker: I'm not all named Scott. Sure. Some of them are named Alan.
Speaker: Yeah, I love it. now We have a long and proud history of villainy and doing other things. that is We don't sit around and we bitch at, you know, the the good job and the ah fucking land we get to live on. Looking asses. God.
Speaker: Yeah. So he's there and he has a name and he's a piece of shit moving on. Uh, let's see. Oh, so Danny is there and that's kind of creepy at first, but then you're like, Oh, you're her dad. And he's like, yeah, I'm just, because he's this lanky motherfucker. Yeah. He like shows up, especially on the heels of all the reporters. Yeah. And so, yeah.
Speaker: I love that Charlotte brings him in and then asks him if he drinks tea because that's what Taylor drinks. And she assumes that she would also maybe she she, that she grew up in a tea drinking household. house love it I do love it.
Speaker: Then bitch shows up and hands out therapy. share therapy dogs Okay. I have to, I had to find it cause I was prepping for this. I, this is my, my favorite line so far in the entire cereal is, is right here. It's during the puppy therapy.
Speaker: and um bitch, hands a puppy to Danny. I'm going to read it. You oh bitch asked Danny, no, thank you. You don't miss your daughter. Bitch asked, narrow her eyes a little. I do. I mean, I think I'll see her soon, but then take it for now. It just takes the puppy.
Speaker: ah absolutely i ah I also got such a good a good bet and I just because she's so scary looking and but she's holding this tiny little puppy and like you can't really say no to her so you just kind of like take the puppy like you don't miss your daughter not only is she raising animals to like live in households now But she's also, she's literally bringing them here as therapy dogs. Like she's not, they're not to keep, although they might keep, you know, end up keeping one, but like she's bringing them here just to get attention from the kids and to help the kids yeah because honest to God, that's what helped her. Like when she was a kid and she's like, Oh, I guess I should do the thing like, you know, that helped me. And then they get to talking the politics that like Charlotte is falling asleep to.
Speaker: And Danny is just kind of like lost, but watching and bitches, they're trying to soak it all up yeah so hard because she's like, this is what Taylor would have wanted yeah would to be in the middle of this. And I've got to step it up. And at the very least be able to hold my own and figure out what's going on because she's not going to be there to coddle me anymore. And she did kind of.
Speaker: have my back on this and help me with my stuff. So I got to kind of take over for what, you know, what she was trying to teach me. yeah It's so good. it it Like we've talked a lot about this with the dissecting where I'm thus far, like their relationship, having growing and having grown over all of these arcs and all of these you know seasons, whatever. This feels like such an excellent culmination of like, like bitch has no other choice, but to like really learn from what she's, you know, take what she's learned from, from Taylor and then like be better. who yeah And I love it. It's so good. Yeah. You know, I do love that we can see, uh, Rachel's growth here as a character. It's just, this is one of those, this is one of those arcs that feels
Speaker: just so nice in a way of like seeing all of these characters groves. I don't know. um Seeing Charlotte, seeing Forest, you know, do his thing. It feels like a good moment for Danny as well. um Maybe getting a little bit of closure. They were trying to understand, um you know, because something we don't know is that ah the to be on the wards, you have to have a guardian basically say like we approve of that.
Speaker: Yeah. So he's very much like, uh, but what if, like, should I, maybe she should just go to jail. Like what's best for my daughter? Is it getting off with this and becoming, and he was in, I mean, even thinking about that, right? Like he was in the room and she killed Alexandria. Yeah. Yeah. And that his whole thing of like, tag she killed, ta Alexandria wasn't in the room, but. Well, she flew. Yeah, that's right. She flew out. But when, when he saw that him being like,
Speaker: What I saw then wasn't my daughter. It was a monster. And now I don't know how I feel about it. I don't know. It's just so interesting. And Charlotte being just the best, as always, is great. Yeah, just the best. She's so good with the kids too, like, and just find it.
Speaker: Yeah. Power couple. Oh my gosh. I just, I, I love the way that like forest talks to the kids too and like handles the kids, but like she's just, she does it. So, and like I, she, so there's a section where she's talking about, uh, Kathy, I think the girl's name is. There's another girl who kind of like keeps an eye on the kids and she's taught, she's like, she's thinking about it and she's, she's talking about how like Kathy's a lot better at like.
Speaker: immediately knowing what to do, the right thing to say, like when to offer a hug or like a soothing word or whatever. And for her, like she finds it a lot harder. And like i totally I totally get that. like I'm not natural with like little, little kids either, but like it's it's seeing that and being like, I'm going to still choose to be here every day and like be with these kids and like help these kids and like help stand in and in Taylor's territory. And like she goes up to Taylor's old room, that's now her room, and kind of this idea that like Taylor has created something here, and then she has handed it off. And now it's like, it's in a place where it's okay without her. But like, we can all be better. and And like, Charlotte is at a place now where she wasn't before, and she's grown, and the the community's grown, and they all support each other in a way that they didn't before. And it's just so... Ugh! This whole freaking chapter just felt so good. Like, ugh!
Speaker: That's a good one. Yeah. It makes me afraid for what chaos may come. Cause I don't know what happens next. Like, like this, this whole up until now and we'll no, no, no, I'll say as a whole, this arc is what I want from worm front to back. You have the sort of mundane,
Speaker: superheroing, but with the lawyering and the talking for a long time combined with the action puzzle solving that goes on with her listing into the conversations and, uh, and, and, you know, calling on the phone and stuff. And then ultimately the action of, you know, her attacking people in one of the biggest crescendo moments, you know, just an absolute climax here. Uh,
Speaker: killing Alexandria and tag. And then, you know, then we kind of have the cool down of she you know has the action sequence of her running away, figuring stuff out, you know, alone in the PRT headquarters to the conversation with dragon and everything. And then back to the maintain of writing up legal stuff and doing a press conference. And then a fun interlude that's kind of an epilogue of showing all the the fallout that's also very mundane. And, you know, all this, I would almost say a very happy, it's ambiguous, but it's somewhat happy. Like, Hey, look,
Speaker: There's Danny, he's, he's doing all right, but he's conflicted. Uh, oh, there's Charlotte and the kids and forest and they're they're doing all right. And it's really cool. And here's the undersiders and yay, like glad to see they're doing good. And what are the next steps they got to take? And, you know, Oh, the, what's this Aiden, do you have hours? What's going on with you? Like set up for the next generation. Like this is the microcosm of worm for me, like the best parts that I enjoy and what I would love to see worm.
Speaker: as in almost every chapter, like there's breathing room on both sides for me, even though that, you know, she's in prison and dealing with tag, like it's not a rush, rush, rush around the whole time. And I, I think I really, this might be a top arc for me. Yeah, same. This is my problem. This, the ah yeah. Oh yeah.
Speaker: It's another one of those were like, I, I think the only weak part in this for me is I don't like ah her running around in the empty PRT building. Like my brain just glosses over that. Cause it's just like, fun all right, just get to the roof. Okay. Okay. Okay. There we go. Okay. We're finally interacting again. Um, it's just a lot of moving through environment. and I really don't care. Um, but, but other than that, I am like.
Speaker: engaged the whole time. I'm enjoying all the different segments. It's, it's, it's really good. It's really good.
Speaker: Also Aiden and his ah powers, not powers, who knows? Yeah, it was weird. It was weird half power. Yeah. Yeah. Maybe we don't know. Who knows? I don't know yet. I'm very excited to find out. Hard to tell. Any other thoughts?
Speaker: Not on that one, I think I'm good there. Yeah, we do have one more. Yeah, always in forever. Good thought. For the worst. One more interlude. Don't worry, forest, forest and the boils will go out there with some socks and some diesel batteries. They'll give them the exclusive interview, you know what I'm... They're giving them a little 60 minutes, you know what I'm saying? They're going to soak the scabs is what they're going to do. Anyways. Okay, so final interlude of the arc.
Speaker: is a long, actually, a long interlude. um We get the history starting off um as just a Japanese kid in a gang that invades a meeting. The woman in black, ah which I think is, I think is Kintessa, I'm guessing is Kintessa, kicks ass. So much ass.
Speaker: So much ass basically kills almost every kills almost everybody except for him ah without spilling a drop of blood. Um, Kenta as his name is survives and has a trigger event, which I have a whole line of thought on that.
Speaker: ah Lung fights Leviathan, we kind of see a little bit more about his power there, is capped by the Yangban, I think it says? Yangban. Yangban recruits Bakutah and learns about more recent events while in the birdcage present day. Okay.
Speaker: Okay, real quick. I'm sorry. I'm sorry to go back real quick. no and I just remembered though. I don't take notes usually when I read. I'm sorry. It's just how i yeah I took exactly one note on this. And I wanted to share it. It's for 22 X, the first interlude. Um, one of the kids is like, Taylor was a good guy. And the other kid is like, I don't know. She's kind of a villain. And he's like, she bought us pizza.
Speaker: which you you said You too can buy us pizza, Patreons, if you would like to. It no it wasn't just discipline for me but makes you a pretty good guy. doesn No matter what else you've done, you could have killed God. But if you buy us a pizza, you're good in my book. Much like the PRT, we will look past a lot of shit as long as you get us a pizza.
Speaker: Alan will look the other way. I will maybe judge while eating my pizza. Yeah. Ooh, we should get special pizzas for like each one of the undersiders or something. ah Well, what would the what kind of pizza with the undersiders order? Whoa, whoa, whoa, hey, that's that's a great content. That's right. Whoa, whoa, whoa. Don't waste that for regular viewers. Free content for the normies. Absolutely. But you want to see it all over to our Patreon.
Speaker: You want some mukbang pizza worm content? Oh my God. Boy, have we got some for you. by
Speaker: I'll be now eating the region. Oh, oh but okay. Anywho, back to the interlude. Okay. So, so Nick, I don't know if you caught this, this name thing, ah the the reference here. Okay. So, but.
Speaker: ah Our boy, Kenta, who is not just Japanese, he's half Chinese, half Japanese. Which if you know anything about their history, that's a rough rough mix right there. Nothing good for that kid. It's rough. So, it maybe prompted me to look up a Reddit post about this.
Speaker: So Nick, I know you know this. So hear me out. Interesting. There is a Japanese delinquent whose ability is to summon a ghost that's stronger than he is in order to fight. He's even 17 years old. What character am I talking about? Japanese. du am I got to think about this. Are you thinking like real life person, anime, manga?
Speaker: It's a, it's an anime got a bear anime character. Yeah. Yeah. Oh God. Let me think Japanese. So anime character summons a ghost to fight for him. That's stronger than he is. Oh, what is that? Think about, think about some, some really, some really odd shows in which characters have to like,
Speaker: bring out, youre sort of about i um, Oh God, it's just a stand from Jojo's was our adventure. out That is correct. It is just our boy Daichi is just Jotaro and part three he your jar joter with a stand. Oh, that is funny. I didn't think about that, but that prompted. I was looking this up. I'm like, wow, this sounds familiar. So I prompted me to look up a Reddit post. So there is a post on parahumans two years ago by user video dump.
Speaker: He asked is, you know, is Daichi from lungs interlude a Jojo reference? Great question. Always a legitimate question. There is one response to this post. It is from wild bow. This is the only response to this post. And the answer is no. All the way up to that.
Speaker: It's so fudy that is funny. though Death of the author, it's yes. Like many other things, I don't think he knows what he's talking about. so that makes you not an eyes Mark. Mark.
Speaker: marques marquis in
Speaker: I mean, I think the bigger one is that we still say idol on, even though it is technically done I don't i dont dolan i get the idol. No, it's I don't lie. Oh my God. Like Homer Simpson. I don't. and
Speaker: colon There's your, there's your diss track right there. Michael, we're talking about for the patrons. One of them, we're looking for the diss track. You know, I'm messing out here with an eye Dolan.
Speaker: worse than a semi -colon. Oh no way to put them when I'm rolling. Michael. mut him need him no i'm cooking He starts on the second birth. Let him cook. God damn.
Speaker: ah Yeah, fun interlude. it was kind of the centerlude It's good. I do like it. It's so out of place. I know it's a donation interlude, so it was kind of yeah was written as a bonus for the readers at the time, but it is really funny getting to it after this just behemoth of an arc.
Speaker: And then, ho ho ho whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, no spoilers. And then just, sorry, a Leviathan of an arc. And then, there we go. there Just back to, a just let's go back and talk about that guy that we have forgotten about for the last 10 arcs. yeah it is It is maybe somewhat appropriate only in the sense that we talked about how she was imagining what Lung would do in the situation. And so, yeah in the prison situation. So getting to see his... um True. Getting to see his trigger event was, I think, really neat. Yes. God, what a drug -induced trigger event. Oh my gosh. Okay. Just from getting your face shoved into a break of cocaine. yeah did he so like We need to talk about this.
Speaker: You know what? Honestly, worst ways you could trigger a hot dominatrix chokes you out into a pile of cocaine. and And as you've established in a hot in a absolutely badass looking like.
Speaker: suit outfit. Yeah. No, no, she, she curbs stomps him into a brick of cocaine. I'm pretty sure is what happened. I thought she was, this I thought she, is that what happens? I thought she held him down with her hand. Well, no, she holds him down with her foot. Yeah. back on his head but yeah Oh, then yeah very step on me, mommy. Yeah. Kinky. I think sure that's not what caused him to trigger. And he just also happened to be in a brick of cocaine. Yeah. It's possible.
Speaker: bricked up in a brick, you know what I mean? Oh, my God, do I. But I do love I love his fight with Leviathan, too. It is just such a cool scene to imagine. And he's like, I'm going to keep getting stronger. I'm going to keep getting stronger. And he's one of the few people who can say, I beat back, you know, I i beat off Leviathan. Oh, he beat him off. No. yeah why didn' Use both hands.
Speaker: and detailed to do it, but he'd be off. Dear God, why? It is a super fun fight though. um And then we get it a little bit into the Yangban, the Chinese superhero team, right? Is that who they are? Yeah. Super creepy. um yeah There is no war and bossing sake kind of vibes. yeah yeah
Speaker: I get to see a little bit of how he recruited Bakita. It's just kind of a fun chapter. It is, yeah. It really is. Oh my God. We got to talk about teacher though. yeah oh god damn oh Can I can i say one thing power go ahead guys oh yeah can i just say one thing before we move into teacher? Because I do want to talk about teacher, but I want to talk about ah just real quick about lungs power. So multiple times he talks about, so so we've talked before about how it's kind of like a you choose your power, but your power also chooses you and you kind of affect each other both ways kind of a thing.
Speaker: So he triggers while high on cocaine. Like he he talks about the high as it hits him. And he's like basically like super high while triggering. Okay. But then later when he's talking about the, the um when he's in the fight with Leviathan, he talks about how every time there's like the more of the the the dragon pops out, it's like he's like getting high again and like falling in this ever, like this ever never ending chasm that's just like, and like when, I mean, I haven't ever had, I haven't ever done cocaine, but like I've been high before.
Speaker: And it was like, I felt a little bit like that where you're just kind of like, very weightless and just falling forever. And the idea that like, ma what if his trigger event is so tied to his power that he like, every time he fights, his brain is like getting high again. Like every time he like, dragons out, that's his brain like,
Speaker: basically dosing itself to be high. Because like as he goes, he loses himself and like slips further and further into himself the more he like grows until he can't necessarily like control it as much anymore. And like he recognizes that he's losing like his stamina in the fight with Leviathan, but there's like nothing he can really do about it now. And he's just going to keep fighting. And all he can think is, like I'm going to fucking win. I'm not going to back down. I'm just going to keep going. And he would have drowned if it weren't for the fact that Alexandria pulled him out of the water.
Speaker: And like i that's what I was thinking about that because he he the verbiage he uses when he talks about it, about fighting Leviathan, is very similar to that when you're talking about being high.
Speaker: Interesting. I like that a lot. No, I mean, I didn't read i read into that, but I but i really like ah really like that ah interpretation a lot. I just like the idea that the powers are so connected to us, that you can't really have a cookie cutter power that doesn't in some way shape and change because of who you are, but then also shape and change you. Yeah. I like it.
Speaker: Okay. That's all I needed. I needed to say we can talk about teacher now because teacher is fucking all the just real quick, real quick. Um, fuck you, Amy. Got to get it out there. Let's talk about teacher. Yeah. Yeah. So interesting powers. I was looking up on the Wiki just to make sure I understood exactly what his powers did.
Speaker: So basically he can give others a variety of thinker and tinker powers, ah but with the disadvantage that they become susceptible to his manipulation. um As long as eventually like if he intensifies his power, then the powers he gives will be stronger, but at the inverse correlation that their faculties will be reduced and his control over them will be more complete. um He does have to like re -up his powers, they're not permanent. um But yeah, it's kind of like one of those, once he kind of touches you, it's kind of like Regent where it's like once he's yeah in your head, he's got it got you a bit easier. um In addition though, he's also able to modify existing ones. um
Speaker: Basically like almost creating a second trigger event, but not quite. So it's it's a really interesting one because this all comes up when he's talking with lung about like, Hey, I could make you stronger. I could make it so maybe you didn't have to, you know, get high, so to speak. Like we were talking about every time you wanted to use your power. Um, I could make your transformation faster, right? Like all these things, but, uh, what's interesting is long. He just totally miss.
Speaker: misunderstands lungs goals and personality except the end of the, at the end of the chapter of lungs, just like, well, he's added to my kill list. Yeah. Like he has no idea what he just started. Yeah. Yeah, man. I do not like teacher. Like power wise it's interesting, but something about him just cool. I mean, here's the thing. Here's the thing.
Speaker: it It gives off really bad vibes because you have a person who isn't who is. In a sense, impersonating the role of a school teacher, which is meant to be a very trusted, reliable adult figure, but we've all heard stories about school teachers abusing kids in lots of different ways. Um, and he, he just has that vibe, right? Of like the.
Speaker: You know, maybe the, the school teacher who gets a little bit too close to some of the students after school, you know, like it's like, he gets he does give big creeper vibes for sure. I was going to, I was going to say it as it's like, he's the most boring individual in the world. And he is also trying to like manipulate everybody, but everybody's kind of aware of it, which he makes it weirdly interesting. Yeah. Like, which is also kind of insidious that like,
Speaker: It's, it's like having a sleep paralysis demon all the time, but it's the most boring motherfucker in the world. But they're always standing in the corner where he's like, Hey, I could give you that little plus one to thinker. And you're like, no, why would I take that? But you know, he's always ends up being in the corner of the room somehow. And he's like,
Speaker: Have you thought about my offer and you're like, no, why would I think, why would I think about that offer? Like it's a terrible deal, but like by sheer him being there, it does feel like this weird inevitability that you're going to give in and you're going to be like, and fine, fuck it. You know what? Why not? Let's just, let's go for a plus one, one time. He's like, yes.
Speaker: And you know, and this motherfucker just keeps doing, he got trickster. Yeah. Yeah. He got trickster. I read that. I read that sentence like three times. So I was like trickster. Why the fuck is trick? Wait, trickster? Oh shit. Trickster. Like, Oh man. Yeah. Yep.
Speaker: you know Forgot about him. Not like he was that long ago, but had already forgotten. Yeah. Also kind of back to lung real quick as I'm glancing over this, like, yeah, a little lungs looking at hit and they're like, didn't that girl whoop your ass? And he's like, whoa, whoa, whoa. Hold up. And then I also thinking ah about it. It's like, well, she killed Alexandria. So by, you know, so by some weird math, like you obviously could have beat Alexandria because you
Speaker: And you fought her to a standstill at the very least. Like, she totally didn't rip your balls off at one point. And then your eyeballs. No, no. Although I appreciate the lungs perspective on that. Cause he's kind of like, no, no, she beat me. And she did. No, I'll take it. and square Yeah. And and interestingly. He accepts that after she kills Alexandria. Well, no, it seems like maybe he's even come to peace with it though. Cause she's not on his hit list.
Speaker: Yeah. Of like people to mess with, you know you know, it's almost like he looks back at it and he's like, you know what? I was angry, but hey, she, I think at first it was maybe the, the wounded pride of getting beaten by a a nobody. But now that she's like an actual villain, even, I think even before killing Alexandria, it's like, no, no, she's an actual villain. Like, yeah, she got me. She got me good. Like I was a fair fight and she won. ah He admits, he admits to, to her winning one of their fights.
Speaker: Not going to give her two dubs in a row. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker: I'm all out of notes. Any final thoughts on the arc overall? any any Anything we last get them, get them in now forever. Hold your peace. I i loved this arc. Go ahead. It was a good one.
Speaker: It was really good. I've been waiting. I've been waiting for this arc for a long time because I really enjoy the Weaver arcs. I know that a lot of people don't. I'm really excited to see what's coming next because i I legitimately have absolutely no clue what's about to happen. And I want to see, ah well, actually, no, I remember one thing, but I don't know if it's in the next arc or in the arcs later to come. I mentioned it to Alan already.
Speaker: Um, you cut this bit out Michael because obviously it's a spoiler but I know and there is um I was trying to find it. I had one one final parting thought that I was trying to find. There was a comment that Wild Bo made a few years ago. Over the years, ah fans have taken issue at times with the way Taylor beats Alexandria, given that Alexandria is introduced and explains that she has essentially the perfect ability to read people. And she should have seen Taylor was about to strike.
Speaker: and And I'm trying to find the quote by Wildboat, I can't find it, but he talks about that. And there's a really interesting thing and he admits he probably could have worded it a bit better. But the reason that Alexandria does not sense Taylor's emotional state is because subconsciously, Taylor releases her emotions through her bugs, not directly. So she could not. see Yeah. That has been shown a few times where she's been like internally processing. In this art. And people notice the bugs moving or doing something weird. rather Yeah, in this art. The whole thing with Dinah. Right, you see that. yeah Yeah, absolutely. That's interesting. I love that though. i i didn't I wasn't aware that that was something that Alexandria did as a power of like that she could read people so well. Like I knew that she could, but I didn't realize that that was, it was like a big part of her power. So that's really cool. I like that a lot.
Speaker: Also get fucking Alexandria.
Speaker: That's what you get for being such a cocky bitch. You're gonna replace the fuck you just did with that squeak naked in the very beginning. And that's how we end the episode. Wait, we can't end without... Favorite superpowers? Favorite powers. I guess there's not many new ones here. It's a little weak on the new powers. Nick, what's your favorite power? I want to know. Well, here's the thing.
Speaker: There's not really many new powers, right? There's supposed to be new power. Just favorite power of the start. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. I do like Daichi. I mean, I think the idea of having a stand is cool. I think one character that I've been meaning to play in D &D someday is the Astral Monk, which gets like Astral Arms to punch with that are not their own. And so it's just kind of a... What's it called in Borderlands? Yeah, yeah, basically, yeah.
Speaker: Um, or like a stand and JoJo's was our adventure. Yeah. You know, um, one of the greatest anime of our time. Um, I do like that one. Um, I think teachers power is interesting, but I'm not going to say it's my favorite. I think Daiichi is probably more interesting to me. Just the idea of like, you're vulnerable, but you make a ghost of yourself. That's very strong and fast.
Speaker: And so you have to be careful with how you play it. Obviously he was kind of a teenage moron and abused it wrongly, but you know, that's life. Hmm. That's me. Uh, I like Alexandria. Uh, we get to see her come in. Um, I like the, I mean, she's got the, the Superman power package, but also her main ability is not the flight and super strength package. It's.
Speaker: She's really fucking smart. Um, so you've got a combination of the fact that she ages at a very slow rate. Um, yeah and that she, you know, she got because of advanced healing, she's super intelligent and super strong. And like, it is the best package deal in terms of just a straightforward, very simple power set. Um,
Speaker: But I love that her intelligence is the main ah one there.
Speaker: I am a lung girly myself. I really like seeing his powers more here, especially knowing the trigger event and the the whole thing, my my whole theory about his his power and the being high thing, I think that's really interesting. And like the the the image of him with four wings coming out of his back when he's at his height.
Speaker: of Dragon S, you know, during the fight with Leviathan is just like such a lovely image. oh yeah I'm just, I'm ah um'm a huge fan.
Speaker: And I'll throw out Contessa, probably one of my favorite sort of secondary characters throughout the series. Anytime we get some Contessa moments, I'm there for it. And excited too.
Speaker: revisit them in the future. Fun character. Yeah. Well, I think, uh, I think that wraps it up for us here. Arc 22 real short episode. Yeah. Yeah. Just quick in and out, quick in and out arc. Uh, we'll be back. Well, next week we'll be dissecting for arc 22 dissecting worm. Stick around for that.
Speaker: And then following that will be into arc 23 as we inch closer and closer to the end of the series, which is coming ah just faster than I can think. How many how many total arcs remind me again?
Speaker: 30. 30? There's a 30. We have completed 22 of them. Yep. I will say that with the sadness that comes with knowing that we're getting closer and closer to the end of warm is the absolute excitement I have for potentially reading Ward with this group. It would be fun. If we do that. Listen, of people if the people are worse If the people want it, yeah we will read. Oh, I want it so bad. Yeah. If they want it, we will read. Yeah. No, that would be fun. Be a lot of fun.
Speaker: And special thanks, as always, to our patrons. Really appreciate the support we get from that. Yes, so much so. And we have a lot of fun content. We're slowly kind of figuring out little benefits and things we can give for anyone who donates. So if you've been enjoying the content and want to see more of this, more of the unedited, unhinged rants that we like to go on and other little funny games that we've been playing and ideas for the future, we'd love your support. It means a lot to us.
Speaker: so Thanks so much for everyone who's donated. Link in the description. Link in the description. Thanks, Michael. All right. Well, if that's it, if no one else has any final thoughts, we're going to go ahead and sign off. Thanks so much for listening as always. It's been a pleasure. We love doing this. And we're going to continue here ah for the foreseeable future. So stick around. Michael, play us out.
Speaker: Thank you so much for listening. Read along with us at parahumans .wordpress .com. We'd love to hear your thoughts. What did you love? What did you hate? Anything you think we missed, etc., as long as it's kind. If you'd like to get in touch, you can find us on
