Jenny and Ted discuss Hive 5.3.

Episode Notes:

• Jenny thinks this could be the worst chapter of Worm for her, but just wait one episode!
• The world of Worm has a state-sanctioned violence problem
• ACAB (all capes, especially Shadow Stalker, are bastards)
• Taylor, don't become a cop!
• What if this chapter is a microcosm of the novel and Jenny's gonna be this mad the whole time??
• Theories on Emma the superpowered puppetmaster
• If only Taylor were a worse person, she'd be so much better at this
• You know what might make Taylor a permanent Undersider? Emma joining the Wards
• The system loves Emma, because the system is not good
• Assault and Battery: not siblings, not dating, but a secret third thing??
• Taylor learns that nobody is special
• People don't want the real story, because they like their heroes
• Every time we see Danny, we just love him more
• Danny values people over rules
• Does Alan know about Emma?
• The problems with hero worship
• Battery is a cool cape name...Assault, not so much
• The war on Taylor begins
• Reality doesn't matter. Only appearances matter. Taylor's not so good at appearances.
• Who turned Massachusetts upside down??
• Jenny already wants to burn all the heroes to the ground. Uh-oh
• Jenny starts on her evilness rankings. Apparently Emma is worse than Purity
• Is this conclusively not YA yet?
• Where could things go from here?
• Oops, we had more to say! An ACAB addendum

Links:

• https://parahumans.wordpress.com/category/stories-arcs-1-10/arc-5-hive/5-03/
• https://www.patreon.com/Wildbow

Jenny and Ted and Tanner discuss Hive 5.2.

Episode Notes:

• Welcome to guest host Moose/Tanner!
• Tanner immediately justifies the existence of the Inchworm podcast. It was worth it!!
• Wait, Taylor is actually the heart of the group??
• Rachel and Taylor are the most moral Undersiders
• Brian probably shouldn’t get a dog, or at least one that he has to train
• Has Grue already made up his mind about Bitch?
• Grue and Tattletale both talk down to Bitch
• Why the closing moments of this chapter were so significant to Tanner
• Taylor won’t have any problem betraying the Undersiders and becoming a villain, because she’ll definitely also change her whole personality to be braver and cooler at the same time!
• What it means that Taylor didn’t choose to try to be a Ward (with minor Scholomance spoilers, you can skip ahead 30 seconds)
• So just how delusional is Taylor about how this betrayal would feel?
• The BirdCage is in B.C. (#BuCketTruth)
• We check in with blissed out Alec
• Hookwolf’s ambush was probably planned
• Kaiser? More like DIE-ser, we hope! Note that this joke doesn’t work with German pronunciation
• Some Coil chat
• Not having powers would suck (except maybe for Taylor in Tilt? Ted hasn’t read it but it’s well reviewed on Discord)
• We check with Tanner about his decision to read ahead of the podcast
• Having succeeded at getting Tanner to read Worm, Ted tries to get Tanner to read Seek
• We wrap up with some speculation about whether Jenny will enjoy the end of the story
• Predictions and a plug from Tanner

Links:

• https://parahumans.wordpress.com/category/stories-arcs-1-10/arc-5-hive/5-02/
• https://www.patreon.com/Wildbow

Jenny and Ted discuss Hive 5.1.

Episode Notes:

• Jenny is a predictive genius
• No virtue signaling among villains
• Even villains want someone to look down on
• The cost of doing business in this town is being willing to sit down with Nazis
• Do the other villains at the table know that Grue is black?
• The Undersiders: not so under anymore!
• New ship just dropped: SmugLine
• Tattletale reveals a perfectionist streak
• Ted’s muppet theory
• It's nice that Newter and Gregor the Snail got matching tattoos to let us know they're in love
• Okay, maaaaaybe these villains don't want to kill 300 innocent people if they don't have to
• Taylor deserves a cape name she loves
• Apparently Jenny still doesn't know what this story is about

Links:

• https://parahumans.wordpress.com/category/stories-arcs-1-10/arc-5-hive/5-01/
• https://www.patreon.com/Wildbow

Jenny and Ted discuss Shell 4.x.

Episode Notes:

• We celebrate the craft behind the goodest narrative voice
• Whether Rachel is nice, kind, or good
• How Brutus is like our toddler (other than not being a murderer)
• How big is Rachel’s rescue operation?
• The Lesson (poor kid)
• Dogs is simpler than people
• “Alpha” dogs and “alpha” Brian
• The various ways we could read Rachel’s behavior
• The secret of Rachel’s cape name
• Arc 4 Storytime Cleanup
• This chapter made us cry
• Mister Smell-o-phane (you’d never nose he’s there)
• Revisiting the arc 2 fight
• A dozen cape names!!

Links:

• https://parahumans.wordpress.com/category/stories-arcs-1-10/arc-4-shell/4-x-interlude/
• https://www.patreon.com/Wildbow

Jenny and Ted discuss Shell 4.11.

Episode Notes:

• The interlude placement discourse heats up
• The agonizing tension of Taylor finally having people but not people she can keep
• It's not as simple as good people and bad people!
• Maybe putting villains into prison isn't a good solution to the world's problems
• Consequences are so darn hard to predict, even of your own actions!
• What if the bugs...are a metaphor??
• This story started with so many dominoes already set up
• The narrative doesn't feel inevitable, which makes it more powerful
• Wait, why didn't the ABB take the money?
• Danny continues to be the cutest, and Jenny continues to dream of him as Taylor's ally
• Some very parental SomeBug. We don't know what to think!
• Lisa's nailing her performance checks here
• What happens if Lisa figures out Taylor's secret? And could she sell Taylor on villainy at this point?
• Taylor's not going to betray these guys. But she's not ready to admit that yet.
• Any Flappertale fanart out there? 
• Danny and Taylor’s good relationship might make the Undersiders wary
• Maybe Taylor's powers are growing!! If not, she'll at least probably get better at bug prep
• Worm gets a good grade in concussions
• The challenge of realistic injuries in an action story
• Jenny wants to see Taylor being extra honest under the influence of brain damage
• We're not sure Lung is going to let the Undersiders lie low after this
• Interlude speculation

Links:

• https://parahumans.wordpress.com/category/stories-arcs-1-10/arc-4-shell/4-11/
• https://www.patreon.com/Wildbow

Jenny and Ted discuss Shell 4.10.

Episode Notes:

• It’s our first altered mental state chapter and it’s a great one
• Ted immediately derails the summary (Sorry Jenny!)
• Whatever happens next, this feels like a deeply earned victory
• Bakuda’s only held back by her personality
• Toe rings as classic misdirection
• How Taylor must look to Bakuda
• The amount of strength it takes for Taylor to take that lucky shot
• Is Bakuda a mad scientist or does she just think she’s a mad scientist?
• The analysis devolves into reading our favorite lines, this is just a really well written chapter

Links:

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

Jenny and Ted discuss Shell 4.9.

Episode Notes:

• Introducing our new protagonist: Angelica Worm
• No jk we think it's a pain bomb
• Returning segment “Ted reads a page from Worm”
• So much SomeBug (a real ship name we didn’t just make up)
• Does Brian think of Taylor as a sister, a dog, or something more??
• We expose the boss's duplicity
• Unless there's a secret civilian leader of the ABB
• Deflating Bakuda
• Grue could work on his TattleTemper
• Regent could work on his strength training
• He did some reputation reps this chapter, though
• Does Tattletale know she's in a novel?

Links:

• https://parahumans.wordpress.com/category/stories-arcs-1-10/arc-4-shell/4-09/
• https://www.patreon.com/Wildbow

Jenny and Ted discuss Shell 4.8.

Episode Notes:

• Bakuda: actually a monster!
• But do we smell an uprising?
• Tattletale's so good at taunting, people think it's part of her power
• The only thing they have to fear is… bombs in their heads. Yikes. 
• Bakuda is omg so random
• So Bakuda's a cape and a genius? Come on, pick one!
• Would other villains in Brockton Bay care about the possibility of blowing up all the ABB's hostages? Maybe Bakuda's just putting a target on her back
• We're side-eying Regent
• You have to shut Tattletale up to give someone else the spotlight
• But she’s clearly still using her power
• A deep dive into who Bakuda might have been
• Taylor has her own ABB (A Buncha Bugs)
• Does this death change anything for Jenny? (Nah!)
• Most of the Undersiders won’t care for immediate retaliation

Links:

• https://parahumans.wordpress.com/category/stories-arcs-1-10/arc-4-shell/4-08/
• https://www.patreon.com/Wildbow

Jenny and Ted discuss Shell 4.7.

Episode Notes:

• Where did Bakuda learn to play chess and why is she so good at it?
• Elite planning or just Leet planning?
• Ted gets to be a Bakuda fanboy for just one teeny tiny moment
• In the Metal Gear Solid games, Bakuda’s codenames would be Bomber Mantis, Fatwoman, and The Bomb
• Does E88 make it easier for the ABB to exploit people?
• It’ll get worse before it gets better
• Sweet character moments with Grue and Tattletale
• What’s the sound of a black hole, Ted?
• Bomb Corner

Links:

• https://parahumans.wordpress.com/category/stories-arcs-1-10/arc-4-shell/4-07/
• https://www.patreon.com/Wildbow

Jenny and Ted discuss Shell 4.x (bonus).

Episode Notes:

• Ted is wily!
• As is Wildbow. Way to hide the ball, Wildbow.
• Boo! There’s racism inside this feminism!
• Maybe Kayden is tragic but not sympathetic?
• She’s also seemingly very ineffective when not fighting
• Kayden and Aster as symbols
• Purity, blankness, and whiteness
• Is Theo too “pure”? Or is he lacking “manliness”?
• Empire Eighty Eight sounds like working at Amazon
• I don’t really have a quippy line about this, but we try to grapple with how 2011 supervillain Nazis feel different from the 2025 mundane ones
• Does Kayden want to change? Or even want to want to change?
• Oops we compared Purity to Tattletale
• If we can think Kayden's a hero for three-quarters of the chapter, what does that say about heroes?
• Purity and Bakuda are both changing the odds for the upcoming gang war
• This is an interlude more like what Jenny was expecting
• Jenny reads the first five words of the next chapter
• Does the dog die??

Links:

• https://parahumans.wordpress.com/category/stories-arcs-1-10/arc-4-shell/4-x-bonus-interlude/
• https://www.patreon.com/Wildbow