Opener
The human brain can go to great lengths to protect itself during times of stress, or in dire circumstances. As the brain grapples with the emotions brought upon this time of stress, these may manifest themselves in dreams. This concept is what sets the plot of Lucids, as a variety of characters struggle with coping with problems in their reality, thus retreating into an alternate self- their dream self. From this alone, Lucids introduces a labyrinth of minds and dreamscapes that demonstrate how a variety of characters branch off and out of their ‘original’ reality as a way to escape hardships and preserve their mental well-being. However, this act of doubling does not come without issue.
Background
Lucids is a story created by Nicholas Podany that was originally shared in the form of TikTok posts, but later became exclusive to Youtube. The two primary protagonists, Benjamin and Oliver, are sent on a wild goose chase to find the memory of another character’s son in an “imaginary dimension” so that they can return to their reality. Not only is this son lost in a location that appears to be intangible, but the matters are even further complicated by the fact that every character in Lucids exists only in a series of dreams, and there are layers to the reality that showcase the complexities of the people in the dreams and the complexities of reality, dreams and memories themselves. Should the protagonists fail, the memory of the son of Mrs. Hills may be damaged irreparably. Each dream (or dreamscape) is controlled by whoever is holding an apple, therefore biting into the apple would transport the person into the reality of the owner of the apple in each dreamscape. Those that traverse different dreamscapes are referred to as Lucids, which is what Benjamin and Oliver are trained to become by Mrs. Hills.
Doubling
To go home is to let go.
The characters in Lucids had to learn how to confront their troubles- however, in the process of this, two ideas were presented: the ability to control the situation however much they wanted, or to let go and let things happen as they always had.
Benjamin’s potential reality was doubled which resulted in internal conflict, as he had to choose between whether or not he would try to make changes to his story in hopes that his wife would not leave him as she did in the reality that he was originally from. Oliver’s potential reality was doubled because he had attempted to run away from his mistakes as Benjamin did, getting into a car accident while he was driving which resulted in his brother being in a coma. He did not want to return to this reality once he had left. Quinn also ran away from his reality as Mrs. Hills sought him- Quinn, as Mrs. Hills’s child, had died when he was four months old, and in her grief Mrs. Hills had been unkind to him in her dreams (which was his reality).
In the end, every character decided to choose their original reality and let go of the control that they had to change everything, instead returning to the life they were familiar with and owning up to their mistakes.
