I have a lot of thoughts about this episode, too many to compile in the way I normally do with these. There are too many and my brain doesn't like to work with me, So I'm just gonna post a huge ass discussion about it and my opinions, while listening to music and hope that it makes sense.

Note: Spoilers obviously, and My Opinions, my take on what happened, you're free to disagree just don't attack me for them. I do not hate Roman, I do not hate Patton and I do not hate Deceit. I'm merely going to point out that hey, this episode wasn't the best for most of them. (It is also 2:40 am.) 

(Post writing note: It is now 5:30 am and this mostly became me analyzing what all happened to Roman, and somewhat to Patton. Then where I think this is gonna end up. 2700 words, Damn-)

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First off, let's just get the biggest thing out of the way first. Janus. I love his name, I love his name so much, and I love the meaning behind it so much. I've always loved the idea of the Janus theory. I just didn't use it all too often. The reveal and the events that occurred immediately after the reveal, I'm gonna talk about later. But, I love his name, I love it sooo much and I'm very happy the snek finally got his name.

Still gonna call him Dee sometimes though cause,,,, cute-

But anyways-

The entire first half of the episode was a little dizzying. I love Patton and Roman's discussion about these dilemmas, but Patton was going in circles, and Roman was only aiding in that. Which only added to Thomas' confusion. It truly was a downward spiral. Going all the way from just a simple decision to a life or death situation.

Patton is morality, so in theory he should have obvious answers to every moral dilemma presented to him. But he doesn't, and that's upsetting him. He wants to uphold the highest standards only because he wants to make sure that Thomas is a good person, as we have seen from both SvS and DWIT. And in all honesty I can't blame him for not having all the answers, some of those moral dilemmas have stumped the best philosophers and everyone is going to have a difference of opinion on them. I certainly have some different opinions on a few that others wouldn't have agreed with.

Patton wants Thomas to be happy, and be a good person, because when it comes down to it. That's what Thomas himself wants. But, Patton got confused when rules and guidelines he had put in place to ensure that Thomas was exactly what he wanted to be, began to conflict. Like a computer, if you have two conflicting commands, the computer does nothing and just gives you an error.

Unlike the computer though, Patton was so determined to not just say "I don't know" that he began making up new rules, trying to override anything confusing. But he ended up muddling up the process more.

His dislike for saying "I don't know" comes from Thomas being upset for the "I don't know the way." said during SvS. He thought that because Patton didn't have the answer, that he was morally corrupt. (HOLY FUCK realization while I typed that, Patton being all glitchy at the mega man frog bit, that's literally morality corrupting-) That he was a bad person. Which led Patton down a spiraling path to try to steer Thomas onto the right track, when in reality, the train had never gone off course.

He overcorrected the problem and caused Thomas a lot of stress over basically nothing. Unintentionally becoming overly strict.

Now onto Roman. The disney prince.

Roman is very important in this episode, he's trying his best to understand Patton's conflicting rules and moral guidelines. Patton is probably the only side Roman has been nice to, because in his mind they are on the same side (lmao). He doesn't like Logan much, as we have seen quite a few times now. Virgil was a dark side, prior to AA, Roman treated him the most harshly, which is easier to know why than just 'Their traits conflict', it's because of Remus.

Remus is Roman's 'evil' twin. He's the dark side of creativity, he's intrusive thoughts. Roman is Thomas' hopes, dreams, creativity, passion and self confidence. He loves disney movies and musicals. Roman always has seen Remus as the villain in their disney movie. That is quite literally how they were formed, the good and the bad. The black and the white. As evidenced by their outfits.

That is how Thomas sees them. Therefore, that is how they see themselves. Roman also has a fairly black and white view on the world, which is most likely why he and Patton got along so well. He's always known himself as the hero, he's the good guy that defeats the villain. That is how he has been for the entire series.

When confronted with someone who seemed to be a simple cut and dry villain, who did Thomas immediately call to help get rid of Anxiety? Roman. But, slowly over the course of the series, they're beginning to become more mature in their thinking, like Patton says at the end of SvS-R. Accepting Anxiety was difficult for Roman, because he was the villain Roman was sent there to get rid of as the hero.

But he made the effort, and he started to get along better with Virgil. Even if there were backwards steps, he still made the effort. Then Deceit was introduced. He appeared as Patton, wore the bright smile and was able to manipulate Roman to do exactly what he wanted, by being the one person that Roman knew he could trust to guide him in the right direction.

(Can Lying Be Good?)

"Patton, never stray too far away again! Deceit really had me doing his bidding today! Playing into my love of theatre? And my love of getting what I want? Ugh! I feel so used!"

"Aw! I'll always be here Roman! Even so, you enjoy those knights and fantastic heros don't you?"

"Oh, do I?"

"Well, what would they do?"

"Face any and every challenge with courage and honesty."

It sounds like a parent and a child talking, especially that last little bit. But that's how Roman tends to think. Disney movies and other forms of media like that, are what influenced how he appears and acts now. And they are kids movies.

After getting that little boost of reassurance he needed (Again, lack of self-esteem, See: Am I original? "No if I can't come up with an original idea what will you think of me?? I can't let you down.") Patton assured him that he will always be there for him. Which is why, even though tensions have strained with Patton and Virgil, and Logan and Roman. They were always the ones to most likely agree first. They're always there for each other.

Roman always looked to Patton for guidance, since Patton is the heart and since he is the one that promised to be there for him.

The events in SvS even show how much Roman would side with Patton. Even with Deceit bringing up all the points he needed to, to convince Thomas to go to the callback, even with how badly Roman wanted so desperately to go to the call back. He went with what Patton wanted, because in Patton's mind, that was the "Right thing to do". And he trusts Patton.

Out of spite most likely, anger, and wanting to prove his point to Thomas. Janus did something even worse than he did in Can Lying Be Good.

The events of and leading up to Dealing With Intrusive Thoughts. While it hasn't been said by Janus himself, we can easily infer from the song that he was the one that sent Remus. He basically said "If you want to be purely honest, sure. Go for it. See what happens." Knowing that Remus was someone that Thomas didn't know about and that the other sides hated or just wanted to pretend didn't exist.

Remus doesn't have a filter, he is honest most of the time, he says what comes to mind with no second thoughts about it. He has a filthy mind. But he is still a part of Thomas. Another one of the dark sides, the others. The main reason that Patton, Roman and Virgil didn't want to listen to Deceit was because, well, he's deceit, he's a dark side.

Roman gets immediately knocked out after being kept out of the loop from everyone. Even Patton. The one he thought he could trust. He wasn't able to give his input at all as to what was happening. Even though it was his twin, and part of his trait. Creativity.

Here is where we get the funhouse mirror metaphor. Roman sees Remus as the twisted villain half. The evil part.

Patton realizes that he's being too strict, which leads to rethinking a lot of things. Choosing to go for a different approach. Changing what Roman had known. Roman always knew Patton and him were the good guys, but now Patton was realizing that maybe he hasn't been the best either.

Then what was that going to say about Roman? The reflection of himself was already crumbling. He was the good guy, wasn't he?

Then the SvS Redux. Roman wants to do whatever Patton thinks is best, because that's what he knows is good. That's what he's always known is good. Patton is always going to be there for him right?

Then Patton admits that he doesn't know, he breaks and crumbles. Knowing that Deceit was right, he was contradicting himself. Trying as hard as he might to give simple solutions, that doesn't work.

Deceit was right. Patton was wrong.

Roman's pretty black and white, good vs. evil, hero and villain world, gets turned upside down and breaks. If Patton was wrong, what does that say about Roman, the one that had been using Patton to make sure he was the good one of him and his brother.

To Roman, Deceit is only doing this to further manipulate him. Like he had been manipulated several times before. He's astonished that Patton is even considering that Deceit could be right. Patton had gone back on his promise, and was not there for him anymore. He had sided with Deceit.

He was hurt, humiliated, confused, and angry.

"My name... My name is Janus..."

Roman obviously thought this was the funniest thing, the side that had been this intimidating manipulator, the villain, had this stupid name.

So he commented on it.

What he wasn't expecting was for Janus to snap right back at him. Going for the jugular. Calling him what he feared the most, the evil twin.

Patton and Thomas didn't defend him, in fact they both looked away when he looked to them for back up. They had chosen their sides. And it wasn't Roman's.

They took the side of the enemy. Who was the villain in the story now?

In 'Am I Original?' We got the first real look at how Roman was desperate to please Thomas and be the good guy. And once Thomas finally reassures him that he is important to him, that he has been important to him in the past. As Roman leaves, Thomas stops him.

"Hey, Roman?"

"Yes?"

"You're my hero."

Roman has let that stick with him, most likely used it to motivate and cheer himself up.

"Thomas, I thought I was your hero."

"You are!"

Roman has been manipulated, deceived, lied to and, in his mind, betrayed. With how confused and upset he already was he needed some kind of reassurance that Thomas was being honest. So he looked to Janus. Who nodded.

But Roman took it wrong. He took it as Janus saying that Thomas was lying. And that broke Roman. Now he couldn't trust anyone, could he? So he left.

Roman has been breaking since Can Lying Be Good. This was the last straw. Now, I love Roman, writing that all out made me feel for the guy, he used to be my favorite! But, his arc is going to be heavy, and very much an uphill battle. As he's going to have to readjust to his entire perspective being flipped.

Everyone will be crucial to helping Roman here. They all have harmed Roman in one way or another. He's not going to change so easily again, this is a major backwards step, which is a part of the change. I have a big feeling Roman's room is next. And he's going to be worse than he used to be. Even worse than season one. He's going to be angry, he's hurt and heartbroken.

Janus being on the road to being accepted and trusted is going to probably piss Virgil off. And there's no way that Remus won't be present for Roman's arc.

The world isn't black and white, there are goods and bads to almost everything. That seems to be the main theme with Season Two. This coming to terms and accepting it, even if it's hard. Seems like a fitting conclusion to it. Patton and Roman have pretty much had a joint or parallel arc.

That means that season three will focus on Logan. (And probably 'the orange side') Which, with how the playlist was, and with his constant being pushed to the side in this episode alone, will not be pretty.

This episode was a lot. It made it apparent what exactly was happening and what was going on in Thomas' head in a much clearer light. In this video, it's clear as crystal to see that, yes while Janus represents a 'bad' thing, Patton needs him. There has to be a balance.

It was well worth the long wait it took to get this video, it's message is clear and it's an amazing video for the lore purposes and theories. But I'm just gonna say this because this seemed to be a tiny bit of a one sided like analysis when it isn't meant to be???? I just get side tracked very easily and go off in tangents

Roman went too far.

Patton went too far.

Janus went too far.

Janus realized that he was going too far, that he had gone too far, and is now working to change it.

Patton needed Janus and Remus to realize how far he had gone. And now, he's accepted it, and now knows it's okay, backwards steps happen. As long as he's honestly trying, which he is.

Roman is going to need all of the others to realize how far his ideas had gotten. How skewed his view of the world and of the others had gotten. Everyone is probably gonna have to apologize to this boy tho- and someone give him a hug.

These next few episodes are going to hurt, they're going to be heavier than this one was probably. But it's needed for it all to come to a conclusion that both makes sense and is satisfying.

Patton has been hurting probably since Growing Up? He tried to make an effort to be what the others said he should be, but then it was an overcorrection. Then Moving On happened. He's been trying to do everything he can to make sure nothing goes out of line, but it ended up being that way because he was overstressing out about it.

But, now, he is able to let go a little, and know it is okay not to know the answers. He knows it's okay now. It will just be their job to convince Roman, actually convince Roman, that it's okay.

That's mostly what I wanted to say about this episode. If I think of more, I'll write more and post a part two. But for now, thank you for reading!

There's a lot of angst potential in this episode, for obvious reasons, so maybe I'll even get some fics out! But who knows? Online School is a bit of a bitch. Lmao

Bye guys!

-Logan.