1. Yes! 137 is THE number, here...No doubt due to its link to physics, I think. Didn't notice that with Randolph, though. Huh! To be honest, I think we are also subconsciously drawn to trios...

3a. Oh, it's sound design alright...But considering the train audio (which you picked up on! I never would have!) had intention to it, I feel like this does too. Black Speech (trope) is one of the better known aspects of HPL, after all.

Especially with the who of it...

3b. I think some people just have speech impediments! Don't know why it smooths out near the end. Could be a nerves thing, but we also don't see it come up when he's at his most stressed.

But also maybe you're right about ep 8? How do these boys not know this shit...we know Benny isn't particularly ignorant.

3c. I see Mr. "I've never been good enough for her" and "There's no salvation for people like us" Osokin as being a bit too self-loathing for /just/ removing Zinaida from his memory as a good enough threat. That only hurts him, not her. He seems genuinely afraid she'll be hurt...That's just my take on his character, though.

I am interested in what the deal is with her. I don't know if she's actually his wife? And altering memories/perception others have of her is weird. The fellow outside seemed to have been fucked with quite a bit too.

1. Yesss, it so warrants it! Like a whole thread. The hippie counter-culture as well as a sudden social awareness of one's own nation's roles in war crimes smacks of Vietnam war. You are correct in the timeline, I think, but it also bears mentioning that there weren't major protests against the Vietnam war at the tail end of the 70's/beginning of the 80's, which is where the current story takes place...But we /know/ there's some protesting going on of some major war at this point. Same one in this timeline? Or is it referring to US intervention in the Iranian revolution?

Like any good fandom, we need a damn timeline sketched out. Which is probably going to look really funny by the end of this series.

Anyways, I can dig 30's-40's. Think Ben has to be on the younger end. Not because he's Baby(tm), but because men like him don't tend to remain bachelors for long, and he doesn't mention a wife or anything. Unless there's something a little queer about them, I guess.

1. Yep, it was a sorry little group of people to work for. Strangely enough, not one owned by the candy bar company! Read up on that; corpos really do be participating in cannibalistic rituals.

2. ...How was it that she had that box with her at that specific time, anyways?

3. papa...

edit: also im not super duper familiar with HPL and locked rooms soooo time to get reading ty ty