The Magnus Protocol Reviews: “Interruptions”

“Interruptions” Is An Incomplete Story Installment

“Interruptions” doesn’t interrupt in the way I had expected. Given that the episode, for a time, kept flitting to different moments around the office, I had assumed that the entire runtime would take place there. No statement. No anthology elements. A true interruption from the status quo.

But, while the story technically only happened in the OIAR, what “Interruptions” turned out to be is lore. Lots and lots of lore. Conversations to tell us lore. Statements to give us lore. It doesn’t even quite feel like a chapter of a long-form story. Sam’s backstory is harrowing but doesn’t reveal anything obvious. The minister’s statements are curious, and Lena’s reaction to them interesting, but I am left without much more knowledge than I went into “Interruptions” with. Honestly, it leaves me unsure of what the overall point of this episode is, exactly—except the last few moments and various character interactions. There’s still not a centralized story, just monsters closing in and conspiracies and mysteries yet to be revealed.

So, while this article could be called a review, it’s more just seeing where we’re at. A check-in on my speculations. Let’s start with my assumptions. I had assumed Elias was the minister, but Trevor Herbert was a surprising choice. I guess he never found vampires in this version of reality and ended up in politics—and became more of an asshole. I also suppose the employees of The Magnus Institute were a lot more active in using magic than in The Magnus Archives. I thought their goal in this universe was to stop magic from happening, though.

The Episode Doesn’t Answer That Many Questions

But, for me at least, the most interesting lore moment is what Trevor said about the statements lessening. I had assumed—perhaps still correctly—that externals were hired assassins, doing their murders under government order. And that the reason the horrors of the fear gods were being cataloged was to keep things under control through observation. But maybe the whole point of the OIAR is to suppress information. The system removes evidence of the fear gods from various online places so the general public isn’t aware of them and is instead categorized in some internal database for maybe that group we saw show up in “Give and Take.” It’s probably my best theory so far. I can’t recall anything that would heavily contradict it.

A theory I’m shakier on, and is the most important to the story, is if Sam’s going to be okay. I don’t expect the series to have just killed him off—giving statements has consequences, but not usually fatal ones. But I did start to worry earlier in “Interruptions.” Trevor and Lena’s conversation suggested—obliquely—someone needing to be killed to cover up Ink5oul’s crimes. And then the narrative takes great pains to inform us that Alice, Celia, Sam, and Gwen are going to different locations, all at once. It’s textbook horror stuff, and if a character was going to die suddenly, this would be the time.

The answer is likely one episode away, thankfully. No long cliffhanger. “Interruptions” feels like the moment—similar to Jane Prentiss’ attack in Archives—right before the story flips from episodic to one, long narrative. And that’s what I’ve been wanting. That’s what I’ve been waiting for. So, though this episode is just kind of fine—its statement is not scary and the tension is worrying about Sam outside the actual tale—it’s a great setup for what I hope is a revelation of a follow-up.

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