In the third episode of\u00c2\u00a0Serial Experiments Lain<\/i>, Lain\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s life gets weirder and weirder as the show does, too. TOO MANY LEVELS. Intrigued? Then it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s time for Mark to watch\u00c2\u00a0Serial Experiments Lain<\/i>.\u00c2\u00a0<\/p>\n
What is this show???\u00c2\u00a0What is it?<\/i><\/p>\n
I have to believe that a lot of the recurring motifs, themes, and imagery found within \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Psyche\u00e2\u20ac\u009d are part of something larger. It helps me piece together this puzzle in that sense, but I also worry that I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m assigning meaning to things that are meant to be random. I CAN\u00e2\u20ac\u2122T ACTUALLY TELL. But it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s easy to assume that there\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a\u00c2\u00a0reason<\/i>\u00c2\u00a0why Mika\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s and Lain\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s mother is so distant. It cannot be an accident at this point! This is the third time that we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve seen her interact without any real interest in her daughters, and it seemed so strange to me that she cared about Lain getting to school late, but otherwise, she didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t express anything else. Nothing! It made me wonder how she even knew her daughter\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s schedule. Of course, I also have no real explanation for her behavior. At least there\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s some more depth to Lain\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s father, but even\u00c2\u00a0he<\/i>\u00c2\u00a0is distant or non-existent for most of his time on the show. Why\u00c2\u00a0this<\/i>? Is this meant to be commenting on something of the time period?<\/p>\n
The same goes for the recurring image of someone following Lain. The last episode, they remained in the shadows, and it frightened Lain. Now, someone (WEARING \u00c2\u00a0WEIRD HEADGEAR, I DON\u00e2\u20ac\u2122T GET IT) is sitting outside her house, and at one point, they wait for Lain to arrive. Why??? What could they possibly want with her? I can guess that it has something to do with the Wired, but here\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s the problem:\u00c2\u00a0I CAN<\/i>\u00e2\u20ac\u2122T FIGURE OUT WHAT THE WIRED IS<\/i>. Yet again,\u00c2\u00a0Serial Experiments Lain\u00c2\u00a0<\/i>is deliberately keeping the truth away from me. I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m wondering if that is the point. Am I supposed to feel so helpless? Because that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s kind of a fascinating storytelling technique, since most stories aren\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t so openly confusing like this one.<\/p>\n
But let\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s talk about this further because THIS WIRED THING IS RIDICULOUS. I really do wonder if Lain is an unreliable narrator, because\u00c2\u00a0I don<\/i>\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t remember her joining the Wired<\/i>. She doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t use her Nav beyond anything superficial, but what if she\u00c2\u00a0has<\/i>? What if the woman the shooter saw in the last episode really is her? What if everyone else saw her, too? Why is this other personality the polar opposite of her? I found this all intriguing because it reminded me of how the Internet has allowed people to become other people, both in an empowering sense and a frightening one. I like the idea that the Wired has made Lain into something she wants to be, but it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s still in a fucked up way. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s not exactly celebratory, is it? She\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s hearing voices, except\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 hell, what if those voices are\u00c2\u00a0actually there<\/i>? She\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s gotten subliminal messages before, so it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s not out of the question. How can the people in The Wired contact others? I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m right back to the idea that Chisa wasn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t lying, that the Wired really provides a way for people to live on outside of their bodies.<\/p>\n
So did Lain join the Wired yet or not<\/i>? Oh god, this is so weird, and I really need to know more.<\/p>\n
The video for \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Psyche\u00e2\u20ac\u009d can be downloaded\u00c2\u00a0here for $0.99<\/a>.<\/p>\n Mark Links Stuff<\/b><\/p>\n – I am now on Patreon<\/a>! There are various levels of support, from $1 up to whatever you want! You’ll get to read a private blog, extra reviews, and other such rewards.<\/b> In the third episode of\u00c2\u00a0Serial Experiments Lain, Lain\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s life gets weirder and weirder as the show does, too. TOO MANY LEVELS. Intrigued? Then it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s time for Mark to watch\u00c2\u00a0Serial Experiments Lain.\u00c2\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[661],"tags":[662],"class_list":["post-5821","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-serial-experiments-lain","tag-mark-watches-serial-experiments-lain"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/markwatches.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5821","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/markwatches.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/markwatches.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/markwatches.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/markwatches.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5821"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/markwatches.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5821\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/markwatches.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5821"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/markwatches.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5821"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/markwatches.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5821"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\n– I\u00c2\u00a0will be at numerous conventions in 2016! Check the full list of events on my Tour Dates \/ Appearances page.<\/a>
\n– My Master Schedule<\/a> is updated for the near and distant future for most projects, so please check it often.\u00c2\u00a0My next Double Features for Mark Watches have been announced here.<\/a>
\n<\/b>-\u00c2\u00a0Mark Does Stuff is on Facebook!<\/a>\u00c2\u00a0I’ve got a community page up that I’m running. Guaranteed shenanigans!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"