Inchworm

Jenny and Ted discuss Parasite 10.4.

Episode Notes:

• Don’t overthink the mystery of Epeios
• Putting the Imp in impact
• Here comes the (new?) Protectorate!
• Jenny keeps leaving the villain part out of “hero-villains”
• Taylor’s gonna win, but maybe someone else will get captured
• TTRPG problem solving
• Gun talk
• Imp can make you forget her actions and not just her mere presence
• If Lisa can kinda remember Imp, can she kinda remember other stuff she forgot?
• Dragon isn’t self-righteous and we love that
• Dating, surveillance, and other topics

Links:

• https://parahumans.wordpress.com/category/stories-arcs-1-10/%c2%ad-arc-10-parasite/10-4/
• https://www.patreon.com/Wildbow

Jenny and Ted discuss Parasite 10.3.

Episode Notes:

• Jenny has a new theory BUT HOW CAN WE BE SURE
• The sibling dynamic explains a lot
• What a metaphor for a neglected kid
• A major change in motivation for Brian
• Family powers are at it again
• Does Imp's power work on Brian?
• Buffy comparisons (so many spoilers)
• Flechette's moment to shine
• Which Worm characters would we date?
• We're so happy for Kid Win
• But we're wincing for Vista
• Taylor once again leveling up her bug usage
• This is a pretty brutal way to do it, though
• Glimpses of Taylor's life without the Undersiders
• The problem of Weld
• We kinda see Bitch's point
• More of Taylor's utilitarianism in battle
• This is horrifying and fitting payback for Sophia
• Worm is good at taking tropes to their logical conclusion
• More Animorphs comparisons!
• Was this really the only way to get the data from the Wards headquarters?
• This fight might have been Plan A, actually
• A questionable plan, even before Dragon showed up
• Future anti-Imp measures
• New Madison theories

Links:

• https://parahumans.wordpress.com/category/stories-arcs-1-10/%c2%ad-arc-10-parasite/10-3/
• https://www.patreon.com/Wildbow

Jenny and Ted discuss Parasite 10.2.

Episode Notes:

• Where was Imp?
• Putting the Weld in Well Done
• We know the Wards better than Taylor
• What on earth are the Undersiders trying to do?
• Hopefully Imp is just a phase
• Ted doesn’t think Shadow Stalker could pull this off
• The PRT officer who bent the rules is gonna get canned
• Judgy teen Taylor is back, and might not want to look too closely in the mirror right now
• She’d be a fool to trust Coil
• How can you be so pessimistic about beating Coil and so optimistic about influencing him?
• Has Taylor lost herself since her big moment in Arc 8, or did she cut the reader out of her next insinuation plot?
• Seeing Dinah in the mirror
• Maybe Taylor is succumbing to nostalgia
• She just CAN’T settle for Coil
• Taylor brings herself low to get back with her ex-friends
• We like that Alec picks Taylor
• Brian craves control and Aisha is here I guess
• Bitch’s beatdown comedy
• New season, new team dynamic
• Should the Undersiders trust this much in the power of friendship? Of course!!!

Links:

• https://parahumans.wordpress.com/category/stories-arcs-1-10/%c2%ad-arc-10-parasite/10-2/
• https://www.patreon.com/Wildbow

Jenny and Ted discuss Parasite 10.1.

Episode Notes:

• Regent the Yeerk
• Talking through how his power works
• What’s their plan for Sophia, both short and long term?
• Arc 9 has made it harder for us to root for Taylor vs. the (non-Sophia) Wards
• Whatever she’s all in on, it’s not Coil
• Jenny could see Taylor setting any number of goals at this point
• Well, does she deserve it? The narrative tempts us to say yes or not think about it too hard
• Does Regent’s power doom him to villainy?
• Guessing at what’s in Regent’s head right now
• Genre tropes help cover up the horror
• Undersiders personnel changes
• Secret Grue feelings about Taylor
• Taylor spends a lot of time thinking about Rachel
• Jenny predicted Imp's annoyingness correctly
• Grue's dependency on Coil
• Why doesn't this version of the U.S. have endbringer FEMA?
• We're so happy to be back in Taylor's head
• Broken windows isn't a thing for Taylor
• The worms of Brockton Bay are thematically ascendant
• We're starting season two of the Worm TV show
• Procedural stuff continues to be satisfying
• What's eating Brian?

Links:

• https://parahumans.wordpress.com/category/stories-arcs-1-10/%c2%ad-arc-10-parasite/10-1/
• https://www.patreon.com/Wildbow

Jenny and Ted discuss Sentinel 9.6.

Episode Notes:

• We have feelings about Angelica
• Seeing Skitter from the outside!
• Unclear in what way Skitter is a member of the Undersiders right now
• What's with Imp?
• We contemplate degrees of premeditation
• Sophia: a means to an end?
• Could the Undersiders be turning on Coil?
• We feel so distant from Taylor. We need answers!!
• Murder attempts galore
• Sophia just gave Taylor carte blanche
• Did Piggot cover up a murder?
• Do the Undersiders know about Sophia the bully?
• The many ironies of Sophia
• We try to get into Taylor's shoes here
• Taylor was so impressive in this fight
• But she can't do it alone
• Bitch's training strategies
• Grue's power vs. Sophia's
• Sophia's rage levels are high
• The desire for power and freedom as an ongoing Worm theme
• The mental limitations on powers
• Emma the enigma
• Emma and Sophia's friendship, the other enigma
• Jenny discards some theories
• What has Sophia been through if she thinks the Wards are sheltered?
• Aegis the sartorial Ward??
• We remember that Sophia is a teenager
• We conjecture wildly about her trigger event
• Doing what’s necessary
• Predictions

Links:

• https://parahumans.wordpress.com/category/stories-arcs-1-10/arc-9-sentinel-interludes/9-6/
• https://www.patreon.com/Wildbow

Jenny and Ted discuss Sentinel 9.5.

Episode Notes:

• Sophia isn’t worth all this trouble
• Vista, in particular, has no way to reach her
• But we don’t want her to, because seeing her get under Sophia’s skin was SO SATISFYING
• Are there hidden costs to abiding Shadow Stalker?
• How superpowers sharpen and distort our understanding of why “bad apples” are protected
• Maybe Vista could leverage her strong rating if she had the mind to
• Hess’ The Art of Bullying
• Who, if anyone, does Sophia love? You’ll definitely guess Jenny’s answer
• Sophia’s just BSing but we do consider the horrors of Gallant’s power
• Weld steps up
• Gotta say, Weld’s PSA about crying will be great PR
• Less of a death wish and more of a death acknowledgement
• The symbolic power of Vista’s scar
• This thirteen year old cape is giving us a lot of Animorphs feelings
• Such a nice win for the Wards to find out Chariot's a spy. Too bad their knowledge won't help them!
• Taylor's anti-hero bias is going to hold her back
• We have the cutest scene in Worm so far
• Vista's power, politeness, and past: a mysterious triumvirate
• Vista's power as a metaphor--but for what?
• Who has seniority, Vista or Shadow Stalker?
• Turns out praise is a better motivator for Kid Win than hating himself was
• A Pact Easter egg
• Vista and intrusive thoughts
• Vista's take on death might be realistic but isn't healthy
• The pain of being forced into a role you've outgrown or didn't choose
• Piggot's personality vs. tactical choices
• A new theory about Weld's vice
• What if evil Dragon

Links:

• https://parahumans.wordpress.com/category/stories-arcs-1-10/arc-9-sentinel-interludes/9-5/
• https://www.patreon.com/Wildbow

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