| “ | Oh, thank god! Somebody has to watch this object at all times, or it... it deviates! I've been staring at it since yesterday with no breaks... are you here to take over? | ” |
— Phillip Philson | ||
Agent Phillip Philson is a junior agent of the Federal Bureau of Control.
Biography[]
Phillip was part of Penny Bartwell's book club, the Bureau Book Bunch, and read and reviewed the book "Unless You." He perceived the book as a horror story with deviations from genre conventions, noting how characters treated their lack of control in a "very meta" way. He also liked the book's open-ended conclusion, wondering about the fate of a character left behind to watch security monitors for the rest of his life. However, he felt that much of the characterization was "clunky" and unbelievable, wondering "who the hell would follow orders from their boss in the middle of such horrible slaughterfest?" He still liked the book overall, giving it 4 out of 5 stars.[1]
At some point, Phillip was also reprimanded and suspended from work for a week after acting violently against a Bureau-owned refrigerator which caused his lunch to disappear.[2] The Review Committee also recommended that he be scheduled a single non-mandatory counseling session.[3]
Hiss invasion[]
During the Hiss invasion, a day before Jesse Faden entered the Bureau, Phillip was assigned to monitor the Arctic Queen Altered Item in the Panopticon, and was forgotten in the following chaos. However, he still kept to his severely-overextended shift out of a sense of duty and fear of what the Altered Item might do, ironically lining up with the character he described reading about in "Unless You". Jesse can optionally find him in the Panopticon and help him by notifying Frederick Langston to relieve his shift.
After getting him help, Jesse attempts to enter the chamber. However, as she reaches the door, it locks as Phillip cries out that the fridge is doing something, then screams. When the doors unlock, Jesse is greeted by the fridge looming over several bloodstains, with no other trace of Phillip remaining.[4]
Trivia[]
The two notes related to Phillip, Book Club: Phillip and Employee Incident, both foreshadow his fate:
- In the former, the character left behind watching monitors with an ambiguous fate resembles how Phillip was left behind to watch the Arctic Queen and his ambiguous fate. The comment about following orders in a crisis also resembles how Phillip continued to stay at his shift during the Hiss invasion. This is in line with the fates of the other book club members, who all suffered fates identical to what they described reading.
- In the latter, Phillip's earlier trouble with a refrigerator foreshadows his shift with the Arctic Queen. Papers which can occasionally be seen on the various cork boards throughout the Oldest House warn that a refrigerator in a Containment Sector break room is known to cause any food placed inside to vanish; this foreshadows Phillip's ambiguous disappearance as "witnessed" by Jesse.
References[]
- ↑ Book Club: Phillip
- ↑ A paper which can be found on various Bureau corkboards warns that a refrigerator in Containment break room 3-B is known to cause food placed inside to vanish.
- ↑ Employee Incident
- ↑ Events of Fridge Duty
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