Curate, connect, and discover
God . I bet everyone who listened to the ep before me has said it already, but I genuinely think the car keys bit in the newest episode is like the best subtle horror thing malevolent has ever done.
John sorta serves the role of Arthur’s seeing eye dog. Theres an implicit trust in being forced to completely rely on someone to be your senses. And John did so good in that role for so long. He’s only ever explicitly lied ONCE (as far as we’re aware) and it was an understandable, albeit unwise act of self defense.
And then slowly the trust Arthur and the viewers are forced to hold is rattled. First by his memory degrading - but thats not his fault. His integrity is legitimately declining for reasons unknown. Its a scary thing, for Arthur, and him in equal measure. He doesn’t mean to miss details he should know, and he rushes to overcompensate when he realizes his memory has failed him. It seems noble and tragic.
He takes offense to Arthur relying on others, he seems to take it as a ‘you’re not good enough.’
And then the second blow comes. He is a creature of ulterior motives and manipulation at his core, no matter how hard he tries to play nice, its his foundation. His domain. His by rite of godhood. He can lie about what he sees. Easily. He can use Arthur’s trust however he sees fit. He can guide Arthur anywhere he wants, he can trap Arthur in any location through simple ‘yes’ or ‘no’ cues. you’re reminded that he can be unreliable on purpose. And suddenly that desire to be Arthur’s sole support seems like intentionally isolating him. Because someone else might alert Arthur of John’s misdirection and obfuscation. Might undermine his unwavering and unchallenged authority.
Its so fucked.