The Magnus Protocol Reviews: “Breaking Ground”

“Breaking Ground” Is All About Giving More Clues

“Breaking Ground” is another exposition episode, mainly serving to establish a few more pieces of information about the “Protocol” that we’ve heard so much about. This doesn’t make it a bad episode—or even a mediocre one—just that it doesn’t have much in the way of a self-contained story. It doesn’t have the time to build to much tension.

But the little pieces of information we do have are all interesting. And if you’re reading this review, I kind of need to assume that you’re keeping up with the series. This is an article about the twenty-first episode of The Magnus Protocol, after all. So, I feel a little more comfortable almost entirely talking about spoilers this time. But this is your warning if you need it.

Because the way I perceive it, we’re essentially seeing the storylines all converge on something related to the Dread Powers. Both in the various character check-ins and the anthology story section. Everyone seems fully aware the supernatural is real. Alice is aware that the computer system is actively trying to push Sam towards more investigation. Gwen is quite literally running for her life from an Avatar—and is evoking some strange “statement” defense to keep Ink5oul away. And the more I think about it, the more likely it is that Celia is from The Magnus Archive’s reality specifically, and thus was aware of what happened when all of the Dread Powers got out.

The Episode Is Oddly Matter-Of-Fact About Its Plot

But our biggest clue(s) is naturally the main focus of “Breaking Ground”: the short horror story. Which consists of one admittedly quite scary piece of imagery, and a few pieces of social commentary, but otherwise exists purely to give a reason for our narrator to deliver exposition. I don’t mean this as a critique, mind you. I was forming more and more theories as I listened. This is a thing I like about this series. But I can’t tell if the Institute is trying for a ritual, a counter-ritual, or a summoning of some other type. I’m guessing it failed because The Buried or The Extinction got there first, but that, or even it failing, is a heavy assumption.

It’s the older copy that especially complicates matters for me. That’s the thing that’s messing with all my working ideas. I’d feel more confident if it was just a monster—but we keep getting examples of copies. And yet this copy was way more supernatural than the one in “Saved Copy.” So, are they related or not? Do they also have something to do with the weird people in “Running on Empty” and “Give and Take”? I’m sensing more connecting themes, but less and less cohesive rules. It bothers me in a very cosmic horror way.

And funny enough, my review of “Breaking Ground” is basically contained in that last statement, in my constant reframing of theories. The series isn’t withholding much information—as far as I can tell. It’s giving us lots. We are just unable to find the connections that would really break things open. And that’s not easy to incorporate into a story. Revealing just enough info that it’s not frustrating or obvious isn’t something most series in any medium can usually manage. What I’m saying is Protocol has been expertly weaved. And as long as each new episode keeps picking up plot threads like “Breaking Ground” does, I foresee the next set of episodes contributing to possibly the best overarching horror narrative we’ve gotten from either show. 

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