Saint James Infirmary #1366: “Pop Quiz”

[Daphne]

Script: Daphne • Line Art: Plutonian Knight • Colors and Lettering: Octavia Moon

[Sharque]

Hmm. This could be bad.

You’ve got to remember that Jakob’s ambition since the beginning has been to claim Erin for his own nefarious purposes. Thats why he left a trap for her in first Cherry and then Miriam’s minds, why Zenon attempted to claim her in the hospital, and even presumably why Dani was in Kearsarge with the watch to begin with. He needs her for some reason.

Now presume that whatever Miriam’s doing to these people is acting on some deep-rooted programming of Jakob’s which she may not even consciously be aware of. Obviously, such subconscious programming would include claiming Erin for himself. Miriam frames this claiming in a way Erin would be least resistant to, that of becoming a wife (she thinks of Adrian) who is simultaneously ensnared by the programming of “the doctor.”

Now, it seems, the fantasy is expanding so that Erin would be willing to grant her husband additional women. However, this makes no sense; Erin is already in a harem of women subservient to Adrian… unless the fantasy is supposed to make Erin open to bringing more women into her husband’s service by exposing them to the doctor, a la By the Book. If that is the case, then this seats deep within Erin her own programming protocol which could threaten the entire harem even if Adrian manages to reprogram them with the Watch. She could sink her tendrils into them and slowly begin turning them so that by the time Jakob comes for the final confrontation, Adrian has no weapons left on the table.

I’m becoming increasingly convinced that Adrian will find Miriam after she has concluded her scheme and will thus be suspicious but have no other recourse than a mere slap on the wrist for her, and because of his ignorance, everyone at Jacqui’s will now begin propagating Jakob’s will…

[GodWilling]

Possibly a key thing is that Erin's pentacle has disappeared in her dream. I don't know where her powers reside - mind, body, or soul - but possibly one of the delusions of which she has been cured is that she ever had them. Maybe that's the point.

I'm inclined to think one of those delusions was that she loved Adrian. It is her duty to be a loving, obedient wife to her husband, but she knows that it's a duty that has been assigned to her by the doctor.

But... she's only Adrian's wife-to-be; she isn't his wife. She doesn't have a husband. This plan seems flawed if the intention is simply to return her to Adrian and pretend nothing has changed.