The Magnus Protocol Reviews: “Mixed Signals”

“Mixed Signals” Contains Such A Good Horror Tale

It’s been a few weeks since I reviewed another episode of The Magnus Protocol and I’m so glad that “Mixed Signals” is the one I returned to. This episode is fantastic, and it’s mainly due to such an interesting, novel, and evocative horror concept.

But before we talk about that, let’s do the roundup of the main characters. “Mixed Signals” doesn’t have much hinting or clues in the “metaplot,” but it does deliver a lot of solid character work. Gwen being demoted because she can’t handle “externals” is not where I was expecting the plot to go, but it could lead to some interesting outcomes. I also love the idea that Alice has other reasons for staying around. It’s hindsight, but, yeah, unless I’m forgetting something, it is curious that we don’t have an answer given. As far as I know, there’s no magical curse this time that prevents people from quitting.

That’s all for later episodes, though. Let’s talk about horror concepts. Horror is a genre of novelty, perhaps only matched by science fiction. You can get a long way by having novel ideas. The Magnus Archives, arguably, won over a lot of fans because of things like “parts of a building secretly being arms.” The franchise has always tried to be creative with its concepts. And “Mixed Signals” contains one evocative horror idea I’ve never seen before. A brain scan talking back.

This Episode Blends A Few Types Of Horror Ideas

My only complaint about the episode is actually that it doesn’t get to the big moments fast enough. Maybe it’s just being aware of storytelling conventions, but as soon as I realized where “Mixed Signals” was going, I just wanted to know what the brain’s hidden message was. This episode evokes The Vast through water and sea imagery, but—for perhaps the first time—equates all of that imagery to how much we don’t know the fullness of another person’s thoughts. Meaning, this might be the first time we’ve gotten a direct message from one of the gods of fear. And it was a cool message.

It was also—I assume—an important message. For basically the entire runtime of the podcast, I’ve been wondering how the gods of fear were going to interact with this new dimension. I have the theory that they only got in “recently,” and all of these historic documentations are showing the first times the gods affected things. Considering that drowning person in “Well Run,” maybe The Vast is hiding in people’s heads? Maybe a lot of the gods are somehow flitting through the parts of the brain responsible for the fear response? I’m intrigued for sure. I’m engaged with this narrative, for certain.

And, obviously, I’m excited to see where the story goes next. “Mixed Signals” is genuinely scary for a few moments there, certainly peak cosmic horror, and paced in a wonderful way. All that’s usually good is good here, and “Mixed Signals” instantly belongs in the esteemed pantheon of memorably weird episodes.

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