The Magnus Protocol Reviews: “Out of the Box”

“Out of the Box” Is An Apt Name For This Episode

“Out of the Box” is perhaps the first comedy episode in this series and the second in Magnus as a whole. Maybe that’s just because of me being exposed to some much horror content, and not being bothered by the body horror, but I chuckled multiple times.

It’s all because of the framing. A person doing a tech review on their personal blog, and then launching into an outlandish horror tale, is stretching the conceit of Protocol—as many episodes do—but the blogger being committed to keeping up the schtick is just hilarious. He almost died, and had grievous bodily harm, and is still laying things out in categories and even praising aspects of the technology. No one would do that.

In fact, “Out of the Box” doesn’t feel like it takes place in our world at all. “Binary” had computer horror, but kept things very low-tech, very fantastical, so that it felt more like a curse that happened to use a monitor. But this one’s technology is teleportation. Straight up, it’s just teleportation. It’s a window that things can pass through, and cross great distances. If this was a sci-fi series, several of the scenes would be perfect, especially the concept of what happens when it’s turned off mid-use, but the blending of genre conventions leaves “Out of the Box” with a weird narrative energy.

The Tech Is Weirdly Too Advanced For This Setting

It does, however, continue the trend of there being groups that design things basically just to kill people. “A New You” back in season one established an internet subculture of people who encourage a harmful biological process. “Futures” establishes some kind of in-built program that can remotely attack people. Even “Well Run” has a group of hunters who seemingly can shoot at people without repercussions. These all existing in the same world suggest something bigger, and the OIAR plotline gave us the hint we needed to take some guesses.

I was curious what “balance” Gwen was dealing with, and now I think it’s coming into focus. I had already suspected the “Externals” were told to kill people for a reason, but now there appears to be some kind of being(s) that needs appeasement, and it needs the violence to be varied. Considering that Mr. Bonzo is in the “W” camp, I assume there are four possible categories. I’m unsure how this connects to the Dread Powers, except what Alice posited, but I suspect we’ll get more answers soon.

I also like how Alice and Celia now have this odd cat-and-mouse but also allies dynamic. It’s not exactly a new trope, having someone hiding information while still trying to uncover related information, but these characters are so well-established, and the details of it so interesting, that I’m willing to go along with it until—likely—the season finale brings the whole thing to its dramatic conclusion.

As I may have indirectly alluded to, I really can’t stress how much I think giving us these recent clues really cemented this season for me. I don’t feel unmoored, I feel like there’s momentum, and that each piece of the bigger whole is moving along its own path—and that they will smash together, eventually. “Out of the Box” didn’t begin that opinion, but it did cement it, and that makes it a favorite.

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