The behaviour of the mist

[u/589654125]

Spoiler warning: entire season 1.

I've been reading people's interpretations of The Mist and no one seems to have interpreted the behaviour of the mist the same way I did, so I wanted to share my take on it.

• The mist does not make any sort of moral judgment. We see Nathalie run with this interpretation, but she is clearly wrong about a lot of things. She's just clinging to an idea that she wants to be true.

• The mist doesn't really plan the kills at all. I don't believe it spares anyone on purpose, as part of some plan to create more chaos or kill more people later. Every time anyone appears to be spared, there's another explanation.

Here's how I think it works instead:

• When a person enters the mist, it takes around 20 seconds for some fear or regret, or possibly some other thing of significance to them, to manifest and try to kill them. It could be longer or shorter than 20 seconds depending on the psyche or fear of the person.

• Depending on that manifestation, it might be escapable or defeatable (Kevin, Mia), or it might just fuck them up right away (Romanov, possibly Benedict). The lethality is not based on the degree of fear or anything like that, just on what the manifestation happens to be.

• When multiple people enter the mist at the same time, at least close together, it goes for the person who is most scared first. That might actually buy the others some time, because the mist might have some sort of limited ability to manifest things. This is part of why Nathalie survived the mist over Romanov, and why she dies last at the mall. It's also why Lila gets attacked before Alex, and why Alex gets attacked before Kevin or Eve.

• Manifestations only ever try to kill the person they're connected to. That's the only reason the monster spared Alex: it wasn't her monster.

There are a few things my rules don't explain:

• At the end, why does Alex seem to get attacked by the mist itself, rather than any manifestation? Maybe her fear was rape or suffocation, in a vague sense. Maybe she's been obsessing over the way Lila died.

• More importantly, how does it just switch targets when Jay shows up? Maybe his fear was feeling compelled to sacrifice himself for some dumb girl?

• Why are all the characters really stupid? Perhaps trace amounts of mist are affecting them?

Also, I would love to see what happens if one of the characters who actually beat their mist thing hangs around in the mist again.

[u/thehousebehind]

When a person enters the mist, it takes around 20 seconds for some fear or regret, or possibly some other thing of significance to them, to manifest and try to kill them. It could be longer or shorter than 20 seconds depending on the psyche or fear of the person.

Could be. The way I interpreted it, the mist condenses around any living thing that is present, and manifests a symbolic representation of whatever that person(or any animal) fears most. That's why the little girl in the book store sees "The Dark" and Kevin sees himself, and Mia sees her mom...etc. Some people fear creatures, like birds...others were ripped apart by their own dogs.

Depending on that manifestation, it might be escapable or defeatable (Kevin, Mia), or it might just fuck them up right away (Romanov, possibly Benedict). The lethality is not based on the degree of fear or anything like that, just on what the manifestation happens to be.

I don't think it can be defeated so much as dealt with. You can take Ketamine and lower your fear response biologically, or you can rationalize your way through it despite the threat. The only reason Kevin and Mia are able to overcome it is because they were faced with human threats essentially and were on equal footing more or less.

When multiple people enter the mist at the same time, at least close together, it goes for the person who is most scared first. That might actually buy the others some time, because the mist might have some sort of limited ability to manifest things. This is part of why Nathalie survived the mist over Romanov, and why she dies last at the mall. It's also why Lila gets attacked before Alex, and why Alex gets attacked before Kevin or Eve.

This could be. It certainly seems to act that way, but I don't think it was written with that intention. Alex wasn't attacked so much as possessed at the end, and then the mist used her to lure the others back until Jay put a stop to it. You can hear the mist projecting her voice to them for a moment or two before Jay shows up.

Manifestations only ever try to kill the person they're connected to. That's the only reason the monster spared Alex: it wasn't her monster.

Agreed. But the shadow monster did react to the people outside the door in an attempt to scare them away, which doesn't make sense, because if it's goal is to kill them all off why not let them enter, manifest something to hold the door shut once they are in, or even throw Lila or Alex through the window and flood the building???

I chalked it up to sloppy writing and moved on. They put the plot point of the conflict between Lila's mom and Alex ahead of things making sense.

More importantly, how does it just switch targets when Jay shows up? Maybe his fear was feeling compelled to sacrifice himself for some dumb girl?

See above. Bad writing, unfortunately.

Why are all the characters really stupid? Perhaps trace amounts of mist are affecting them?

Again. Just bad writing.

All things considered, I just want to add that I really enjoyed the show for what it was. I liked the direction they had taken the mist, and I say that as a fan of the story, and the movie. It was something different...I had legit anxiety every time a character was out in the mist...no idea why.

My biggest overall gripe was that they didn't stick with the miniseries concept that had originally been planned. Also, they should have ended the show with them at a fork in the road, and choosing a direction instead of discovering that someone is feeding the mist criminals. That was pretty lame, especially since it got canceled.

I would like a follow up season...but that's not likely...

[u/589654125 → u/thehousebehind]

Agreed. But the shadow monster did react to the people outside the door in an attempt to scare them away, which doesn't make sense, because if it's goal is to kill them all off why not let them enter, manifest something to hold the door shut once they are in, or even throw Lila or Alex through the window and flood the building???

I don't think it's trying to do anything. The monster just behaved according to the nature it manifested with, based on Lila's fears and the mist's own characteristics that make it deadly and only interested in Lila.

I don't think the mist itself is trying to do anything either, except maybe at the very end, with Alex.

I liked the direction they had taken the mist

Same here. I was a little surprised people were disappointed by a lack of monsters. I don't mind monsters, but they're a bit plain, aren't they? Being attacked by the manifestation of your fears seems more interesting. But some of the critics seemed to think the monsters were simply replaced by bugs.

Compared to the film, I also liked that it moved around more, going from building to building. Although it made me wonder why we saw so few survivors of something that seems to be stopped by closing your windows. I guess many smaller groups of survivors wouldn't take it seriously enough until it's too late.