“Mind the Gap” has started double-shipping – which means revelation upon revelation for us Gap-Minders to mull over. Stepping things up a notch is the fact that this issue covers two time periods, giving us some history regarding the Jairus project as well as filling in some of the present-day details. Bearing in mind the gigantic reveal that the last issue left us with, let’s start things off with the present.
Alice’s Tea Cup
We start off with Elle flashing back to the circumstances surrounding the incident at the subway station, and see her picking up the injection she’s about to use on herself, accompanied by Eddie. Interestingly enough, the package has been entrusted to the up-until-now unheard-of Noelle and Haley at, of all places, a tea shop called Alice’s Tea Cup. Casting aside the weirdness of that for a second, there could be some interesting allegory here re: Alice in Wonderland. Over the course of Jairus, is Elle’s consciousness being “shrunk down”, Alice-like, only to be grown back up again? The Arctic Wooly Bear Moth process explored below certainly sounds like the first half of that.
Now, how Noelle and Haley got to be trusted by Elle is another matter altogether. Hiding a mysterious package for somebody at your place of work is kind of a big deal, and the only circumstances I can think of that would lead to that involve a) Elle being very close friends with them, or b) Haley and Noelle owing Elle a favour. It might not be a major plot point, but it’s worth thinking about.
The Original Plan
A page later, we learn that Elle wasn’t supposed to pick up the package at all (and that casts even more doubt on Haley and Noelle, come to think of it). Eddie was to collect the package and bring it to Min; but now Elle’s headed to Crenshaw’s so that he can inject it for her, prompted by an argument she had with her parents the previous night and spurred on by the revelation that Eddie has been spying on her.
This is definitely looking like the rebellious, spontaneous act I hypothesized last column; but the central mystery, why Elle wanted to be a part of Jairus, lingers on. My best guess, for now, continues to be that she has some kind of life-threatening disorder, and that this is the only chance she’s got.
Meanwhile, what did Min want with the package? Was she going to bring package and Elle, all together, to the Peterseen lodge, to begin Jairus in a controlled environment? Or could she have been reneging on Jairus, keeping the package out of Elle’s way? Something else to think about.
Elle’s Revelation
We come out of the flashback, and witness Elle’s realization that she actually did inject herself on the subway platform. It’s a fairly traumatic idea, and explains some of her repressive and erratic behaviour while in the Garden so far. Crenshaw takes this moment to explain that Elle must’ve trusted him, to attempt to go to his office for help, and while I’m not exactly sold on this guy yet, this explanation does hold water.
The Arctic Wooly Bear Moth
With Dr. Geller busting in on the “Save Elle” club – as she calls it – the Big Answers start coming thick and fast. Dr. Geller reveals that she’s done previous research on “cellular degeneration of the brain” – could this actually be Elle’s problem, which made Jairus a necessity? – and that it earned her an invite to the Peterssen lodge for a bogus conference. Her research involved using DNA from Arctic wooly bears moths with the aim of replicating their ability to shut down – basically freezing themselves – and come alive again. But, as she reveals here, it wasn’t her who started testing the findings on human DNA, drawing up the Markov chains that we’ve been getting hints about for a while now. That was N.F. Pharmaceutical, the company she was working with, and, it turns out, the Peterssen family company (more on them later).
Continued below
All in all, it looks like Jairus swooped in and picked up Dr. Geller’s research, taking it in some (possibly unethical) directions that she didn’t intend, at least not that early in the game. It’s all culminating with Elle, who appears to have been in the right/wrong place at the right/wrong time: she was a child with (I’m guessing) a life-threatening disorder, in a family that had inherited a legacy involving the resurrection of human beings (see below). That makes her pretty much the optimal test subject.
Dr. Geller’s career is starting to make a whole lot more sense now; after leaving N.F. Pharmaceutical, she wasn’t hired by the hospital she wanted, instead being shunted over to St. Francis. The aim here was apparently to keep her close to the Jairus Project without directly involving her. My guess is they did this because they will need her, eventually – or at the very least, will need a fall guy if the research comes to light. After all, the Jairus project has proven itself to be awfully good at fall guys so far.
Timeline Reminder
Here we get a final affirmation as to the projected timeline of Jairus: Elle is to die four days after her first injection – less than 24 hours from now.
And now, speaking of time, let’s address the flashbacks.
Die Heilige Schrift
We start off in Germany toward the end of World War II, with a young kid, Roderick, being advised by his father as they both flee an air raid. He gives Roderick his notes, and explains that Roderick and a bunch of other boys have to flee because the research of their fathers might be looked upon as Nazi science, even though it’s (apparently) something entirely separate and different. Roderick is to escape with them using the same escape networks as the Reich, preserving the research at all costs because – again, apparently – it’s something that “will change mankind”. What the research consists of, we have no clue as of yet; but it’s all compiled into a volume with “Die Heilige Schrift” on the cover.
This is where things get interesting, because “Die Heilige Schrift” (“The Holy Text”) is simply what the Bible is called in German. This is corroborated in the last panel of the second flashback, where we see the passage concerning Jairus. Whatever the research involved, then, it centered on the Bible, likely taking the story of Jairus as a jumping-off point.
This looks like the beginning of the Jairus project as we now know it. And since we’re already getting a feel for the “freezing” process, thanks to Dr. Geller, this part of it, with its emphasis on resurrection, might be the other half, the waking up. Maybe this is the more mystical/magical side of Jairus that was hinted at back in issue 8? In any case, there’s likely something as religious as it is scientific going on here.
Father Gave Us Each A Brother
A couple of years later, in Argentina, we see that Roderick’s brother Konrad has succumbed to polio, and needs an iron lung to breathe. This is another one of those typically McCannish moments, where there can be two readings of one panel – one usual, one extraordinary. In this case, “Father gave us each a brother” could merely be Konrad indicating how grateful he is to have a brother. However, given the context of Konrad being stuck with an iron lung, this “brother” could be something to do with their father’s research. If, as I began to suspect last issue, Jairus involves transferring Elle’s consciousness from a doomed body into a functioning one, and if this sequence is indeed the beginning of Jairus, the “brother” that each boy has could be something like a clone; a back-up plan, a second chance at a healthy body. If this is the case, of course, it would be fair to ask where those clones are, or if it’s possible that they are each other’s clones. It looks like we’re going to need more information to sort this one out.
Continued belowThe Resurrected Five
Next flashback, we see an older Roderick take up his father’s legacy, and organize himself and the other transported boys into “The Resurrected Five” – of which he is, unsurprisingly enough, the Fifth.
While I do feel I may have been a bit hasty in naming Elle’s grandfather as the Fifth last column – the fact that Edward called him that might just reflect his slightly lower ranking in the Jairus project as a whole – it still looks pretty airtight. Constance addressed Elle’s grandfather as “Erik” last issue, and while the young man we see here is named Roderick, we saw earlier that Konrad shortened it down to “Erik” as well. The timing also fits; if Roderick was ten or twelve in the mid-’40s, he’d be in his 80s now.
Now, what, exactly, The Resurrected Five intended to do with their research isn’t really laid out, but bearing in mind that they call themselves “Nein-Funf” in German, this looks a hell of a lot like the beginning of N.F. Pharmaceuticals.
Recap
So that was an overwhelming info-dump of an issue, but finally, finally, we’ve got some answers that are beginning to stack up in a meaningful way. We know:
– that Jairus relies heavily on research done by Dr. Geller;
– that Jairus relies heavily on research preserved by Erik and the Resurrected Five;
– that both courses of research center on resurrection;
– that Dr. Geller is purposely being kept close to the project, and
– that Elle will die in less than 24 hours.
Basically, we’ve got most of the history of Jairus down, as well as part of its mechanism of action; now we just need to figure out the purpose. Do you think we can go forward presupposing that the end of Jairus really is to save Elle’s life? And how do you guys feel about the mystical/religious aspect of Jairus? As always, be sure to leaves some thoughts below!
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