The Magnus Protocol Reviews: “Internal Investigation”
“Internal Investigation” Wastes Its Horror Concept
The wait is over, but “Internal Investigation” was not worth that wait. The hiatus made me think that we would get a bombshell of an episode once we returned to The Magnus Protocol. I was wrong. Not only is this episode not scary, it barely gives us any new information for any of the ongoing mysteries.
Like, it should be more interesting that we have another case of a person replacing another—it’s a very quick line, but that’s what happened—and more alchemy stuff. All of those metals being mentioned feel like a direct reference to those practices. And we even have another little group that’s going around getting people into this stuff. I’d fully accept that the online group from “A New You” could be related to this weird little MLM mentioned. But the only actual clue we get is that it’s all somehow related, which is kind of obvious to anyone who knows how this type of storytelling works—and is especially obvious to someone who’s listened to Archives. I want some cool little revelation, even if it’s minor.
“Internal Investigation” Appears To Be Mostly Filler
And what’s worse is that “Internal Investigation” is kind of hard to listen to for the majority of its runtime. It’s so damn dry. I understand the appeal of having the horror play out over the course of an autopsy, but there’s not enough storytelling in it. You get a good sense of the scary part too quickly, and we don’t know much about the victim to feel any connection to them. The only entertainment I got out of it was hearing the excellent voice acting and the slight mystery element. You do—sort of—get to feel like a detective as you piece together the various medical information to get a full understanding of what happened. But that just hammers home how annoying it is to not get more of a series-wide answer for all of that trouble.
The other two sections actually have similar issues, but feel a little less so because it’s obvious how we’ll eventually get closure. Gwen will go meet Lena, and Lena will explain some stuff. Alice and Heinrich are going to some address with more answers. It at least gives me hope for the season and a sense of some momentum.
Really, I think the hiatus hurt “Internal Investigation” more than anything else. If I could listen to the next episode right away, and that episode has fun answers for me, I would’ve appreciated “Internal Investigation” more as a pacing tactic, an interstitial scene, rather than a slight dud of an episode that leaves me wanting more. But that’s what it is, and that’s what we’ve got right now. Oh well.
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