Jenny and Ted discuss Sentinel 9.4.

Episode Notes:

• Kid Win has no name
• Ted makes a formal apology
• One of the objectively best things that happens in all of Worm
• The problems in Brockton Bay are stacking up
• Kid Win: really smart, actually
• So why does he not think so?
• And how much is it Armsmaster's fault?
• Maybe he just needs a gimmick
• Slaughterhouse Nine origin theories
• Maybe Kid Win is just a victim of the hero narratives
• Kid Win also lacks connections
• Like Taylor, he’s planning to reinvent himself… eventually
• Even if he was the weakest Ward he would still have plenty to contribute and be worthy of our esteem!
• We came away with different impressions of how risky what Trickster did to Vista was
• Theories about who is steering the Chariot
• Uhhhhhhhhh don’t you need a warrant for that, Kid Win?
• Why are we having a Wards interlude anyway?
• What’s in a (not being called by your) name?
• “Compact”
• Hard light
• Lily fits in and Weld becomes a better manager
• A new ship name
• The people of the Bay
• Kid Win makes a decision he doesn’t regret
• Predictions!

Links:

• https://parahumans.wordpress.com/category/stories-arcs-1-10/arc-9-sentinel-interludes/9-4/
• https://www.patreon.com/Wildbow

Jenny and Ted discuss Sentinel 9.3.

Episode Notes:

• Jenny's very good at predicting Wards (so far)
• Clockblocker: not a bad guy, pretty much!
• Clockblocker would have loved those training exercises
• We review some murder candidates and posit some new ones
• The Wards maybe should've thought before they fought
• But it's a very cops and robbers fight
• Trickster is a star!
• What is becoming of New Wave?
• Glory Girl using her pushy side for good
• The questionable benefits of proximity to Panacea
• We love Vista. Such Vista fans here
• RIP to the old Dennis
• Sometimes all you do need is a good fight, actually
• The emotional power of a crush on someone way too old for you
• What a classic professor. So professorial.
• Ted wants Jenny to write her Parahumans 103 final
• The seeding hypothesis supports the trio hypothesis
• Is the genetics explanation really off the table?
• We want to see Scion through Tattletale's eyes
• Powers vs. privilege
• Intelligent cape design? By someone other than WIldbow?
• Some powers do cause problems, though
• This seems like a difficult topic to be scientific about
• A new interpretation of Brian's trigger event
• Clockblocker is not a theoretician, but he's wrong
• Some alternate history, as a treat
• It's hard to do normal stuff when the world is falling apart
• Clockblocker has the worst possible power for this moment in his life
• Can it be a slur if it applies to only one person?
• Maybe Taylor and Clockblocker would be friends, if she hadn't put bugs under his eyelids
• We don't care about Gallant the way the characters do
• The hero narrative is useful in so many ways

Links:

• https://parahumans.wordpress.com/category/stories-arcs-1-10/arc-9-sentinel-interludes/9-3/
• https://www.patreon.com/Wildbow

Jenny and Ted discuss Sentinel 9.2.

Episode Notes:

• We don’t even need gaydar for this one
• Girl friends or girlfriends?
• Scratching the surface of Lily’s need for connection to see what’s underneath
• Sophia’s not putting up much of a front
• We establish a motif about D&D alignments
• The parkour here is top notch
• The city challenges outsiders in many ways
• Sophia sees power more clearly but also feels more insecure about it
• Whether Sophia “breaks” from a need to participate in what’s going on around her
• But does Sophia like spending time with Emma and Madison?
• It is fun to watch Shadow Stalker in action though
• Team Brutalize This Guy With The Trash Can Lid vs. Team Don’t
• There’s no good outlet for the people of Brockton Bay
• The PRT doesn’t have a signal beacon for delivering aid, so we think Lily’s using her power of discretion pretty well
• At least she’s a pretty sadist???
• Ted gets into how “breaking” works despite not really knowing how It works
• We ship it

Links:

• https://parahumans.wordpress.com/category/stories-arcs-1-10/arc-9-sentinel-interludes/9-2/
• https://www.patreon.com/Wildbow

Jenny and Ted discuss Sentinel 9.1.

Episode Notes:

• Weld doesn't have the trauma to relate to these Wards
• Classic new manager problems
• Piggot and a sink or swim philosophy
• Weld is a character from a different genre of superhero story
• The Wards are going through it
• The question of hope for Brockton Bay
• How does Coil feel about the Merchants?
• Piggot's sympathy for the people of Brockton Bay and good policies around white supremacy
• Piggot might just have a bad personality
• If only the Wards had done those trainings sooner
• Jenny attempts to describe what the categories mean
• But why aren't these categories SCIENTIFIC siiiigh
• Changer vs. shifter vs. shaper
• Have they stopped underestimating Taylor...
• They certainly haven't stopped underestimating Coil
• What would happen if Taylor showed up at Piggot's door and told her about Coil?
• Soft-launching SlugBug
• Weld the smart jock
• Superpowers as a race metaphor
• Maybe Weld's just into ASMR
• Turns out the cops and robbers thing is actually a deliberate strategy
• The Protectorate is all about DEI
• The stigma around capes has been shaping Taylor's story, too
• We want the Director Armstrong story
• A Shadow Stalker interlude??

Links:

• https://parahumans.wordpress.com/category/stories-arcs-1-10/arc-9-sentinel-interludes/9-1/
• https://www.patreon.com/Wildbow

Jenny and Ted discuss listener questions, again.

Episode Notes:

• A flawless intro
• The shoes have dropped
• How Worm has infected Jenny
• Rachel disambiguation
• Jenny picks favorite moments, characters, and predictions
• New theories from Jenny, with an assist from our friend Dave
• The unexpected relevance of Madison
• Our most anticipated interludes (in order!)
• Jenny faces several dilemmas when she is isekai’d into the start of Worm
• Correcting the record on “one of the bad days”
• Revisiting “Worm”
• Expectations for the rest of the story
• Comparing Taylor and Buffy
• How it all ends
• Mayorlor theory
• When does Coil fall?
• Shipping corner!
• Jenny picks some cosplays and almost gets cancelled
• Harbinger, Sundial, Katamari, Black Hole, and Singularity
• Animorphs corner!
• Can Taylor control a Yeerk? And other such questions
• What other podcast-worthy properties can we think of?
• The superpower that every listener shares!!!!

Links:

• https://www.patreon.com/Wildbow

Jenny and Ted discuss Extermination 8.x.

Episode Notes:

• Merry Inchmas! It’s the first Noelle chapter
• Coil hasn’t won yet but realistically who’s gonna stop him?
• Details of horrible vices left as an exercise for the reader
• Are Coil’s timelines basically a guilt-free personal Westworld?
• Do absolute power fantasies corrupt absolutely fantastically?
• And yet, Coil is unhappy
• While writing these notes, Ted realizes that if he had Coil’s power he wouldn’t mind exercising at all omggggg jealous
• Coil wins the Stanley Cup
• Like with his collection of useful people, Coil has made himself desperate… for control
• The horrors of Noelle and Creep are also left to our imaginations
• We have a lot of questions but not many answers about Noelle
• The way Dinah's odds change just underscores how chaotic the world can be
• Some Undersiders speculation
• Coil learns that he took a bad risk overnight
• Coil’s people are his possessions
• Tattletale’s blind spot re: Coil’s character
• Coil’s (potential) blind spot re: Taylor’s possible desperation
• The potential torments of her future are not left to Dinah’s imagination
• Ted isn’t buying Mr. Pitter’s backstory
• Coil is the evil next door on a couple of levels
• Jenny predicts Coil will win, only to lose later
• Announcement! Inchworm will return with a mailbag episode on 1/6/26

Links:

• https://parahumans.wordpress.com/category/stories-arcs-1-10/arc-8-extermination/8-x-interlude/
• https://www.patreon.com/Wildbow

Jenny and Ted discuss Extermination 8.8.

Episode Notes:

• The end of Book One of Worm
• The power of “I can do better than that”
• The mystery of what Taylor will do next
• Can Taylor get Dragon’s number from Armsmaster?
• Envisioning Taylor’s Crew
• Bug-based humanitarianism
• The distancing effect of a small time skip
• Is it time for Taylor to make amends with Danny?
• Arc 8 shows how Wildbow is an excellent Game Master
• Taylor’s meta-textual luck
• The more Coil controls, the better his power gets
• What if a normal person had Coil’s power?
• Re-tracing Coil’s effects on the story so far
• Lisa was taking on so much risk with Taylor, and we’re wondering why
• Rating Lisa on a scale from 1 (Bestie) to 10 (Mastermind) is tough
• Jenny’s head canon for Lisa’s smile destroys Ted
• Friends vs. morals
• Taylor’s comb-over
• This conversation forces Taylor to face reality
• Lisa is really listening to Taylor
• Taylor’s choice feels clearly derived from her character, even if the narrative is opaque
• Ted thinks Endbringer funerals could work like college graduations
• Those who are left off the memorial
• What does Coil know about Skitter?
• The end of Act One of Worm: The Musical
• Taylor, alone and guilty and conflicted
• Voltron capes

Links:

• https://parahumans.wordpress.com/category/stories-arcs-1-10/arc-8-extermination/8-8/
• https://www.patreon.com/Wildbow

Jenny and Ted discuss Extermination 8.7.

Episode Notes:

• This revelation to the Undersiders had to happen, actually
• Why did Tattletale go along with the lie?
• We think better of some of these heroes than Taylor
• Legend is someone who cares about optics
• Turns out Armsmaster is a shameless hypocrite with a lot of reasons to hate Taylor
• Jenny is still rooting for the Amy / Taylor friendship
• The meaning behind the hero and villain labels
• Armsmaster as a foil for Taylor
• There's a reason Miss Militia and Legend believe Tattletale's story -- and a reason the Undersiders believe Tattletale's
• Armsmaster's downfall made this chapter so much more palatable than it would've been
• The arm is a metaphor
• The power of teen sass
• Worm is dark and gritty and still gives us the occasional escapist fantasy
• The potential for a future Undersiders reconciliation
• Hard to see where the story goes from here
• Each cape’s personality matters a lot
• Where are our post-battle pamphlets?
• Jenny still feels like they should be better at this Endbringer thing
• You’re not paranoid if they’re really out to get you
• Jenny's dreams of Taylor outing Shadow Stalker
• The challenge of reclaiming straying heroes
• We're glad they see the value in Taylor and the Undersiders
• Jenny distrusts Taylor's Emma theories. Fortunately she has her own
• Taylor is back to her Arc 1 self (she’s been through a lot!)
• The power of friendship (only takes her so far)
• Hero and villain as social roles
• Lisa is the best improv artist
• Choices that are false choices
• Look, everybody should read Worm!

Links:

• https://parahumans.wordpress.com/category/stories-arcs-1-10/arc-8-extermination/8-7/
• https://www.patreon.com/Wildbow

Jenny and Ted discuss Extermination 8.6.

Episode Notes:

• Oops, Taylor and Jenny both forgot about protecting secret identities
• Odds are good that Sophia doesn’t know Taylor is Skitter
• Reviewing what we remember about Sophia’s two identities in light of this knowledge
• If anyone other than Taylor knew that Shadow Stalker had caused Skitter’s trigger event, wouldn’t it be a huge deal?
• Taylor’s reason for not joining the Wards is also a very real and relatable existential horror
• The Protectorate probably have non-threatening reasons to debrief Skitter
• Amy pulls the rug out from under the heroes here
• When you push Taylor’s buttons this hard, this is how she responds
• Unlike Lisa, Amy doesn’t get anything but thrills from these mind games
• Operation Roach Key
• Maybe Taylor’s power is SPECIAL
• What earns you a bigger rating from the PRT?
• We go back to bug school (and monster school)
• Whether Amy qualifies as “decent” or not, she’s sure creepy!
• Amy’s afraid of being bad, which is why she can’t pass up on the ethical hall pass of tormenting Skitter
• Taylor’s genuine apology is dismissed
• The legal landscape around Endbringer fights
• Taylor’s biggest mistake this chapter is main character syndrome
• Is Taylor right to be paranoid, given the specific heroes she’s worried about?
• Taylor alone, again
• Reframing Taylor’s behavior as rational with iffy priors
• Predictions (and other odds and ends)

Links:

• https://parahumans.wordpress.com/category/stories-arcs-1-10/arc-8-extermination/8-6/
• https://www.patreon.com/Wildbow

Jenny and Ted discuss Extermination 8.5.

Episode Notes:

• One of Jenny's least favorite moments of anything ever!
• We're outraged by the medical establishment and also the PRT
• Maybe Taylor should have known better than to, uh, be a villain
• Taylor got here through a tragedy of circumstances
• Maybe she should've just joined the Wards, though
• Panacea predictions
• Scion is so Jesus-coded
• Theories about Taylor's power-up
• Was Leviathan trying to target Coil?
• Unfair that Leviathan's attention is focused on destruction at so many different scales
• The halberd is a beautiful prop
• The triumph of the bug people
• Passing a persuasion check
• The New Wave family saga
• How come Scion can't kill the Endbringers?
• We want an interlude from Scion's human contact
• Does Scion actually hate humans, or what?
• Effective anticlimax
• The best revenge is being better than Mr. Gladly
• Taylor's relationship to preserving her own life
• Taylor's not the main character in other people's lives
• Feelings about Bitch the hero and her connection to Taylor
• The Undersiders might have made it through this fight okay? The dogs definitely didn't though
• We want Armsmaster and Flechette to collaborate
• We were sold on bringing all these random capes to the fight
• Where's the tinker army in this fight?
• Strider's death has some concerning implications
• This arc is really creating a desire for the extermination of the Endbringers
• This story is about capes, but sometimes we have to remember the civilians

Links:

• https://parahumans.wordpress.com/category/stories-arcs-1-10/arc-8-extermination/8-5/
• https://www.patreon.com/Wildbow