Saint James Infirmary 109: Older and Wiser

[Garg22]

Extremely hot work on this.  Love the sense of passing down sexual knowledge from one generation to another.  The only way to completely express myself would be to say that the SJI team rocks in every way possible.

[Michael Moorman]

Hope to see more of there relationship in the next storeline. I like to see those three keep making love to each other and talking about the other 5 women as well.

[jmundt29]

Hey, guys--this storyline isn't over.  It looks like they're just revving up.

mns--It's even more complicated than you think.  Caitlyn, who is definitely part of the group you classify as "the second cohort" refers to Adrian as "Master" when discussing him with Mallory and Danielle--which suggests some awareness of her second level of hypnosis.  Jacqui makes direct reference to Adrian "saving" the girls of the second cohort from Derek's hypnotic control (issue #81, "Performance Review").  It seems that the programming that Mallory tried was designed to make them think of Adrian as a mutual boyfriend, but also altered their perception of what happened with Derek.  It's unclear exactly what they now think happened with Derek.  Laura's been the most vocal about it, but her statements don't match.  She remembers the scenes Derek made her act out, but apparanetly thinks they were voluntary.  She described the weekend to Vik as an ill-advised holiday fling when he asked.  She claims to have believed that the "hypnocock" sequence was just part of the LARP Derek was having them play.  We haven't really heard much from Cait or Amy about that yet.

[Daphne]

 She described the weekend to Vik as an ill-advised holiday fling when he asked.

It's possible that she remembers her involvement with Derek as voluntary. It's also possible that she decided "Oh, was some guy's hypnotic slave over the holiday break before my new boyfriend rescued me" was too much to get into when she's trying to get out the door to a date.

[mns_95125]

People's attitude towards mind control seems much more casual in the SJI universe than in reality.  We'd view it as a serious criminal assault, equivalent to or worse than rape; in the SJI world it seems more like having your house egged.  It's annoying, and not something a decent person would do, but if it happens you just grumble a bit and clean up the mess as best you can.

I'm not sure that we can interpret Caitlyn's use of the term 'Master' as meaning she's aware of her having been hypnotized by Mallory/Marliese.  We know she was programmed to think the feeling were natural, but she still has the feelings.  In effect, she thinks of herself as Adrian's slave and thinks that being so is natural, not a result of mind control.  But you are correct that the second cohort could have had their memories of their time with Derek altered -- we have no evidence on that one way or the other.

[jmundt29]

Well, it wasn't a pet name.  When aware of it (see Marliese's hypnosis arc) Adrian doesn't particularly like it used in reference to himself.  In fact, this was a sticking point in the new program.

As to the attitude concerning MC...I really...well, we don't have a neutral viewpoint.  Every woman who's weighed in on the subject has been under some form of hypnotic control at the time.

It seems like the comments from all of the second chort in the last half dozen issues indicate some sort of awareness that they are still under hypnotic control.  Look at the comment in the most recent issue.

[raven]

If you'll recall, they know they all belong to Adrian, love him, and are his sex slaves, but were programmed to believe it's completely natural.

[jmundt29]

I actually forgot the third of those four items.  However, thinking back on it, I do remember the induction.  I guess I thought that, like calling him "Master" the sex slave bit was supposed to be understood but not spoken so as to maintain the appearance of normalcy and to avoid any awkward hesitations on Adrian's part.  They're trying to keep the programming from him.

[mns_95125]

I think those things are not supposed to be said where Adrian can hear them -- but if he isn't around, it's apparently open season.  It might have been smarter to program them to never be said, but who says Mallory/Marliese can think of everything?

I think the casual attitude towards MC can be seen in Adrian's failure to file a police report against Derek.  The response to his departure was basically just 'good riddance', but in the real world there would probably be an APB on him for multiple counts of kidnapping and rape.  And Adrian is as close as we get in this comic to a neutral observer.

[Vidor]

I've been accused in the past of overthinking these things

sweet Jesus yes

[Daphne]

Speaking as the author, nothing makes me happier than detailed analysis of the strip.

[GodWilling]

.

[jmundt29]

While Jacqui's immediate comment makes this difficult, I was left with the idea that Dani's comment about "fixing up the other girls" is supposed to encourage Adrian to assume that the watch was used to deprogram everyone.

Adrian's reaction to being installed as owner of the harem is far different than others' in Dani's experience and it could be that it's a unique response, which might explain why Dani was so blunt in the beginning.

The idea that all the subjects of the watch want to extend the harem as part of their programming is an interesting one and one that I hadn't considered.

As to the law itself in this sleepy little town--I'm not sure Wilmot even has campus police and what exactly could Adrian tell them that they'd believe?