Inchworm

Jenny and Ted discuss Snare 13.8. Episode Notes: Boy are they ever ensnared! Jenny is cautiously optimistic. But maybe not about Grue Alert! We have body horror! Jenny's list of options for who's about to show up Oops no one knows they're there The Nine are just too adaptable Faultline vs. sheaths Maybe she can kill Mannequin already One Leviathan event per story, please! A meditation on fridging...

Jenny and Ted discuss Snare 13.7. Episode Notes: Trickster the optimist Cherish: “We have Tattletale at home!” Tattletale at home: Cherish. Who was Sarah? Maybe Cherish is just bad at this Nobody is surprised at the accusations against Coil Skitter gets violent Taylor can’t see how to win over the heroes Legend is Bionic Bunny Miss Militia is like “Yeah, as you now know, when you fight the Nine, y...

Jenny and Ted discuss Snare 13.6. Episode Notes: Who got snared? Cherish is a liar but sadly sometimes she tells the truth There's nothing off the table with Bonesaw Our villain heroes are catching up to our knowledge of the Nine Siberian is Aegis without the damage The capture of Shatterbird puts us at odds with Battery The many pitfalls of rescuing Grue Oops we've misplaced Imp But she had such...

Jenny and Ted discuss Snare 13.5. Episode Notes: Somewhat hypocritically we can’t believe they’ve forgotten Imp Clever Skitter A partial metamorphosis New Skitter takes a blunter approach with the Travelers The edge that fear gives you Choosing villainy The unwritten rules are also unspoken Character economy and creating room for New Skitter How going after the Nine is like punching Rachel Is this...

Jenny and Ted discuss Snare 13.4. Episode Notes: Things don't look great for Skitterland More cheating!! We suspect Taylor doesn't have a plan Narratively, we could really take a curveball Do the Nine even have keystones anymore? Jack doesn't care about fair Burnscar's a bird of prey, basically Taylor's making some big leaps about a lack of affect The dark triad We want Burnscar to stay complicate...

Jenny and Ted discuss Snare 13.3. Episode Notes: Monster dog biology The narrative pendulum Jenny’s expecting rescuers  Share your favorite visual references for Mannequin’s “laughter” Mannequin’s priority targets Taylor is making all the right moves to earn Bitch’s trust again Where Bitch finds her extra dog juice Bastard the Most Valuable Pupper To kill or not to kill? Burnscar was probably...

Jenny and Ted discuss Snare 13.x.5 (bonus). Episode Notes: We make peace with interlude labeling Cherish's potential demands The sticking point: the Siberian Imp's regard for her own life vs. her own reputation Sheath knowledge is our new secret weapon So many missed shots at Jack Imp_______ Brian needs to get it together and listen to Aisha Maybe we need to start taking Aisha seriously as an Unde...

Jenny and Ted discuss Snare 13.2. Episode Notes: Mannequin is formidable but Taylor just might have the narrative advantage again It’s not fair that tinkers can use their sideboard between rounds!! Of course, Grue and Imp have sibling powers Mannequin’s misprinted knives and a double Wormiversary! On the other hand, a win in round one suggests Taylor would be due for future defeats… Bitch isn’t ju...

Jenny and Ted discuss Snare 13.1. Episode Notes: It's possible this is the bad-joke arc We've been successfully reminded of the tension How much narrative space are we gonna spend on these rounds of testing? Skitterland! We love what she's done with the place! Taylor, Lisa, and the mortifying ordeal of being perceived Taylor, Brian, and the cautious approach to villainy Taylor, Colin, and the vuln...

Jenny and Ted discuss Plague 12.x.5 (bonus). Episode Notes: It’s 10 minutes in before we tell you whose interlude this is We deliver our verdict on this instance of enemies-to-lovers(?) Jenny thinks that if Cauldron needs to call on reinforcements that fate has a loss in store for the Nine (and an ironic mission in store for Battery) Battery’s cop brain and total lack of commitment to her stated v...

Jenny and Ted discuss Plague 12.x. Episode Notes: Jack missed his calling as a normal non-murderous manager, or maybe as a middle school teacher The best we can say about Jack is that maybe he's indifferent to murder What if Jack's deepest desire is just to play a lot of Mafia Or...to be a novelist? This interlude was really the Nine's, not Jack's Did Jack make the deal harder for himself before t...

Jenny and Ted discuss Plague 12.8. Episode Notes: Now that Jenny knows that Taylor knows that Plan A is bad, she’s a lot more forgiving Taylor needs to be stronger, or maybe just have a stronger stomach Lisa appears to be all in, too Sadly we won’t get to immediately her Brian complaining about Plan B… or will we? Will Alec and Rachel come along? Taylor just wants to be honest with Brian People sk...

Jenny and Ted discuss Plague 12.7. Episode Notes: Taylor totally would've won that fight In the world of Worm, all Alans are terrible Hurrah for the skitizens The vindication of art supplies Ah, the joys of being underestimated Mannequin and emotional buttons, including his own Taylor's delegation is only improving Taylor's good at theater, actually Spider silk is a metaphor. Surprise! Hipster Guy...

Jenny and Ted discuss Plague 12.6. Episode Notes: Skitter is never cooler than when she’s irrationally determined Mannequin put Skitter in a corner and will reap the consequences… … if she can even do anything on her own?? Was Skitter targeted just for what she’s doing now, or did Mannequin come here to teach her a lesson? Couldn’t the government be doing better against the Nine? The status is not...

Jenny and Ted discuss Plague 12.5. Episode Notes: Skitter does her best yet Loved ones can provide collateral aid The chapter avoids a simple moral lesson about Danny’s fate What Taylor’s missing about what makes her effective To slash Jack, or not to slash? WWCD? Wait Colin and Coil are one letter away from each other omg Have we ever seen them in the same room at the same time Wait yup we did an...

Jenny and Ted discuss Plague 12.4. Episode Notes: Jenny hates the Nine and Ted loves the chapter We stop trying to make “Undlers” happen Shout-out to biomechanimagical for the new team name! How deep into the bench of Worm characters do you have to go to find a certified Tumblr Sexyman? The “deal” gambit will unite our herovillains if not all of Brockton Bay Taylor and Jenny are sus-Bitch-ous Lisa...

Jenny and Ted discuss Plague 12.3. Episode Notes: We loved hanging out with the Travelers Jenny's off-by-two error We're pessimistic about Bitch The Slaughterhouse Nine are winning at shogi Taylor and her hold-out secret identity We're so invested in Noelle now (unfortunately...) Ted would've been friends with Trickster in high school Oops the Travelers are the Animorphs The Undlers are so good at...

Jenny and Ted discuss Plague 12.2. Episode Notes: There’s a special frustration when someone gets in our protagonist’s way A bright clear red line for Taylor: no bugs on naked people, ew Hookwolf knows his audience (dumdums) What’s changed since Somer’s Rock? A lot of turnover and little institutional memory Is Coil’s alternate timeline on the island with us right now? Taylor’s big no-ment Save th...

Jenny and Ted discuss Plague 12.1. Episode Notes: The Slaughterhouse Nine are just waiting for everyone to mass against them Taylor needs to catch up with our level of information already The possibility of heroes crashing the villain meeting Let's do arc 5 again against the Slaughterhouse Nine Taylor the Tailor: we love to see it Taylor's a good person to give your resources to Grue's thinking to...

Jenny and Ted discuss Infestation 11.h. Episode Notes: Jenny didn’t see it coming but Ted brought receipts Look, I know you weren’t asking, but the incest math checks out Amy got her “resenting an unwanted burden” from her mom I guess Intrusive romantic feelings are deeply tragic Jenny and Ted do what Assault and Battery simply refuse to do Amy’s fantasies and fatalism The category of “healing” ne...

Jenny and Ted discuss Infestation 11.g. Episode Notes: Jenny ALMOST got this one right Content warming for murder set up as suicide?? Cherish is in a tangle Some very strong symbolism Thrill-seeking is a family trait We're not happy about these thralls, Regent We're happy about his friends, though Cherish is powerful, but it's a Wildbow power, so she has to work for it Playing with point of view C...

Jenny and Ted discuss Infestation 11.f. Episode Notes: This one’s got TWO unseen monsters! It’s not too late to save Dinah, but it doesn’t seem like anyone’s close to doing so Why did Sundancer become a villain? The Travelers’ ties bind them from helping and from hurting The temptation of community The eventual Marissa and Taylor team-up Jenny theorizes that Ballistic and Genesis were here the who...

Jenny and Ted discuss Infestation 11.e. Episode Notes: Will the threat of the Slaughterhouse Nine bridge the gulf in Empire Eighty-Eight? Hookwolf has too many “friends” to be recruited Shatterbird: great at picks, bad at pitches Ted does a British accent But does he even care about the lore as much as Shatterbird does? We’re doing the evil Hunger Games! Possibly the Slaughterhouse Nine's only via...

Jenny and Ted discuss Infestation 11.d. Episode Notes: The most romantic chapter in Worm Butterflies in the machine The nature of Colin’s ego What difference does it make that Colin has this connection to Dragon? How real love can be selfish Could love hold Colin back from something he sees as the greater good? If Mannequin thought Dragon would keep Colin alive, why doesn’t he try harder to isolat...

Jenny and Ted discuss Infestation 11.c. Episode Notes: We speculate on Wildbow lore Very different interludes, each with a Slaughterhouse Nine member to placate Parallels with Theo Why did Labyrinth lie to Burnscar? Burnscar's guilt and Labyrinth's internalized ableism Two different takes on depression A correlation between strength of power and disability? A possible explanation for the Slaughter...