Saint James Infirmary 318: Pit Stop.

[Daphne]

Friday, August 8th!

[jmundt29]

One of those titles that could mean a lot of things.  Could be Jakob finally emerging.  Could be Jakob's minions pulling over after a long car trip.  Could be the cops talking about the crazy scene they tripped over with the girls tonight.  Could be Rain and Marliese stopping off for supplies trying to find Vik.  Hell, it could be Vik stopping at a gas station to rob the place for escape cash.

I'm hoping for another Erin/Pearl scene myself, but I trust we'll have one soon.

[mns_95125]

Cherry and what's his name stop for gas and snacks?  They're the only ones we know of right now who are on the road.

[GodWilling]

Well I thought Diversion was going to be Erin and Miriam having to avoid Jacqui on their way to wherever they're going. So this could yet be something similar.

But - and I can't stress this enough - it could easily be something else.

[mns_95125]

Cherry and what's his name stop for gas and snacks?  They're the only ones we know of right now who are on the road.

Damn.  When I'm right, I'm right.

Two interesting things here.  This confirms that the "crystal" the duo left town with was Zenon's, not the shell from the Watch.  By implication that also confirms that Julian and Cherry were behind the break in of Zenon's office, and most likely Vik's lab as well.  Those were already high probability conclusions, but I'd say now they're certain.

Second, the way Julian is using it implies either that it has special powers of its own or that he is a very talented hypnotist in his own right.  I'd have to guess the former, since the latter would make it hard to understand why the crystal would warrant breaking and entering.

[jmundt29]

I love that our villainous henchmen have positively Gilmorian appetites, but this actually raises more questions than it answers (for a change).

If that's crystal is Zenon's and it's such a potent hypnotic tool, why wasn't he bothering to use it himself?

If this crystal has some tie to Wilmot, why is it a different crystal family than what's in The Watch, Vik's Ring, or, apparently, the belltower?

Who is this nice cashier?

Who was she talking to?

Have we met him or her before?

[GodWilling]

This certainly looks like Julian. He's dressed like Julian. And that looks sufficiently like the black BMW Cherry and her driver were in.

But I don't get why we're not seeing his face here and why the driver was blacked out when we saw Cherry getting into the car in 282.

It's not going to be a big revelation if we find out Julian is the driver with Cherry, so why the evasiveness?

Have they taken Zenon's crystal to stop him picking up Dani on Claudia's behalf? Can we have a splash page of this woman saying, "Well, that's very pretty sir, but I'm afraid I'm going to need either cash or credit..."

[jmundt29]

I'm not sure how clear Jakob is about what's been happening in his absence.  The oddest thing about this whole exercise it that it seemed design to steal something that the mark wasn't using, even though it appears that it would have been handy.  How much did these two know about The Watch, incidentally?  Might they have been tasked with recovering the powering crystal in The Watch too?

And where did Vik's ring come from?

[GodWilling]

We have an inkling Marliese may have stolen the lists of Zenon's new "random" hypnotic triggers on Rain's command before the break-in. If his hypnotic prowess is entirely dependent on the crystal then he's somewhat scuppered. Perhaps.

He was using, it seems, one trigger, which was there to be exploited by Derek. We know that this was the heart of the plan hatched between Claudia and Zenon, and in which Derek was a hired hand.

But after Derek had fled and Zenon returned there was that strange meeting between Zenon and Amy (97). We don't know what Amy told him but it appeared to be an account of what Derek had been up to. She tells him three patients were involved, presumably meaning Dani, Caitlyn, and Laura. But 51 tells us she's a patient too - and she was also abused by Derek.

It's not clear that Amy would have reported this to Zenon of her own accord. Presumably she hasn't told him all the women involved are now Adrian's sex slaves. But telling him what she does tell him leads to the implementation of the random triggers. It looks like it's part of Rain's plan. And there are, by the by, certain superficial similarities between Amy in 97 and Johannes's secretary in 317.

(I've never quite understood Amy's pose in panel four of 97, by the way. I've always assumed she's supposed to be in some kind of trance, but I'm not sure why that means she's standing like that. But if it does mean that, can we assume that she's now actually under the control of something more powerful than Zenon's crystal? The February 2012 bonus shows Amy using the crystal on Hayley (I think, or vice versa). I assume that's not "canon".)

As I say, I'm wondering if the crystal was stolen in order to prevent Zenon picking up Dani on Claudia's behalf. Maybe the crystal was an end in itself, although I doubt the incentive was free snacks. But if the intention was to scupper Zenon then there seems to be some overlap between Rain's plans and those of the mysterious Julian-alike driver.

[jmundt29]

Wait....wait a second.  Back before the Night of The Watch, Zenon uses that crystal?  Huh?  It's been quite awhile since I looked back that far, but I thought he used a watch.  Not The Watch (obviously) but just a hypnotic prop.  One second.  [glances back quickly]

Oh...horsefeathers!!  *slams head repeatedly against tree and considers looking for a dapper yellow shirt with a central black squiggle pattern*

There it was, big as life in Issue 15, putting Dani under during her session with the doc.  Now, we have a whole new set of questions about the doc.  Hmph.

[mns_95125]

But after Derek had fled and Zenon returned there was that strange meeting between Zenon and Amy (97). We don't know what Amy told him but it appeared to be an account of what Derek had been up to. She tells him three patients were involved, presumably meaning Dani, Caitlyn, and Laura. But 51 tells us she's a patient too - and she was also abused by Derek.

I'd always assumed that the three patients she mentioned were Caitlyn, Laura and herself, since those are the three that Derek was using repeatedly.  Given Zenon's low-key response to the news, though, it's quite possible she never explicitly told him the actual names.

But telling him what she does tell him leads to the implementation of the random triggers.

I've always been curious about that.  It seems to me that changing the triggers would require some kind of contact between Zenon and the patients, but we've seen exactly zero sign of that.  So have the triggers actually been changed?  If so, how and when?

[GodWilling]

There it was, big as life in Issue 15, putting Dani under during her session with the doc.

It was fairly prominent in the second cover as well.

It seems to me that changing the triggers would require some kind of contact between Zenon and the patients, but we've seen exactly zero sign of that.  So have the triggers actually been changed?  If so, how and when?

I agree it requires a session between Zenon and each patient. And taking another look, if those pages are in synch then Marliese took whatever she took from Zenon the same day that 97 took place (which was Wednesday I think). So if the triggers were what was stolen it would have to be merely a copy of what all the new triggers should be. (Like jmundt, it's been a while since I looked at these pages. I think that's what I used to assume had happened.) But actually it doesn't look like they'd even created so much as a list of new triggers by the time Marliese took whatever she took.

I've never been able to think of anything else Marliese could have been stealing in 113. Especially as she makes an implicit reference to the triggers being changed when she talks about Zenon needing to change his alarm code too. But if it was just the triggers Rain wanted, couldn't she have just got them from Amy anyway?

I don't know if it matters which three patients Amy is referring to. Maybe it doesn't matter that she says three rather than four. As ever, it would be interesting to know exactly what she told him. I think it's his calm response to what she's telling him that makes this conversation look like a hypnotherapy session. Obviously he knows about Derek, but he's not supposed to. For the sake of appearances, he should be acting far more concerned than he is, and Amy should be surprised that he isn't. So is she supposed to be in a trance? And does the last panel suggest that she was only pretending to be so? I took the three rather than four thing to be an indication that she's actively lying to him. And I think the important thing there would be to hide the fact that she herself was now "working for" someone else. But maybe not. I've never really understood this page. Evidently.

[jmundt29]

Presumably, as an added security measure, Zenon would condition the office staff he trusted to only remember/regurgitate the triggers for implementation or revision at his instruction.  Otherwise, Zenon runs the risk of a twit like Derek overreaching and mucking up his practice AND his search for The Watch.  Although whether or not anything distinguishes that scenario from what actually happened is debatable.

[mns_95125]

I think it's his calm response to what she's telling him that makes this conversation look like a hypnotherapy session... For the sake of appearances, he should be acting far more concerned than he is, and Amy should be surprised that he isn't.

I've noted before that people in the SJI-verse take a oddly blase view to mind control.  If Miriam is really convinced that her mother is being held in sexual servitude through drugs why wouldn't she go to the police?  That seems like it should be a crime.  Ditto for Derek, the serial rapist.  I think that may be a background condition of the universe -- an erotic mind control comic in which the controller gets shut down and put in prison for rape and assault wouldn't be much fun to read.

[Daphne]

I think you can consider this roughly equivalent to the superhero comic universes' attitude towards property damage.