We finally get to learn about Ji-Ah, who's been a voice on the phone and a figure in Tic's nightmares. We look at the parallels between her life, Tic's, and those of the episode's supporting characters while asking an important question... can monsters love?
This podcast supports monsters loving. We're not too big on the whole eye-tail-tentacle mashup thing. We're also not big on proxy wars and imperialist interference in other peoples' lives.
Some additional context, this 1996 retrospective on 1st Lt. Leon Gilbert delves into his 1950 court-marshalling and death sentence (later changed to 20 years with parole after 5), his PTSD from Italy, the state of the Korean war at the time, and the obliteration of the last remaining all-black regiment. It's a long read but also talks about the U.S. Army's complete inability to handle psychiatric stress at the beginning of the Korean war.
Ruth: This week, I'd like to recommend two books which take on the same thing in vastly different ways. The first is N. K. Jemisin's THE CITY WE BECAME (hardcover, pre-order paperback). It fully falls into the category of Weird Fiction, while being so much more too. The second, Alyssa Cole's WHEN NO ONE IS WATCHING (paperback) is a gentrification thriller, set in Brooklyn, in a reality so close to our own that I felt the urge to check the news. Both tell stories of communities forming or drawing on deep roots help them create something bigger than themselves as they go up against sinister adversaries. I try not to get involved in series before they're finished, but I am itching to order the next book in Jemisin's Great Cities series.
