I'm not sure how to start talking about Five Minutes to Midday. I think that's because I don't have a lot of thoughts about themes or some over-arching idea. It's a solid story, if somewhat unremarkable in terms of plot. There are some mechanical experiments that I like but they're tied up some ideas that aren't necessarily bad, but that run counter to modern convention for the exceptional stories, making them opaque for current players.

You meet the Subdued Protestor, and pretty quickly he confides in you that he plans to bomb the Brass Embassy, and he needs your help. You can turn him in to a couple of different factions, if you so desire, but in the way of many ES's, past and present, you're told to go along with things for now. I actually thought the justifications worked pretty well (though I didn't pick one of them myself). The Brass Embassy has protection contracts with London and the Bazaar, so a bombing becomes a point of leverage. Constables want him caught in the act, Hell wants the bombing to happen, albeit with notice. The Subdued Protestor, meanwhile, just really wants to strike a blow for freedom.

You spend most of the story casing the Embassy, and making preparations for the attack. Getting a peak inside is interesting, and you get some minor lore tidbits. There are some small outside activities tie ins. You track down someone with a key using an Investigation, and similar. They're small enough as to not break the pacing, like Flash Lays are in danger of, and it makes the ES feel like a part of the larger game (though that may not be a good thing, for every player).

At each stage of preparations you have a choice of alternatives, where one is more expensive, but will earn the Protestor's trust. While the expensive options are usually better in stories, it's notable that trust-gaining options are signposted with hint text to make it explicit which options raise trust, because I don't think the narrative reasoning is always clear. It's obvious he wants a real bombing, to really hurt the embassy, so picking the harder to reach target over an accessible location which will cause more superficial damage makes sense. It's less clear why he cares how you handle the Goat Demons.

The hint text there is particularly noticeable, because the big difference between this story and modern ones is how little is explicitly signposted, including mechanical Rubicons that lock you out of options. Reporting the bombing plot early will, I think prevent you from fully supporting the protestor afterwards, and similarly if you toast him "Sincerely" while drinking together, then you won't be able to fully betray him. Both of these are reasonable conclusions, but a modern story would make these lock-outs explicit, particularly because there are times when something that seems final isn't. And that's the big hiccup in playing. I think if this had become the norm, that there was always a degree of scrutiny expected from the player to work out when a permanent choice was being made, that we might be in a very different but reasonably functional environment of Exceptional Stories. That isn't how things shook out though, and that makes playing this one somewhat confusing.

The climax has the bombing go through, or not, and further consequences, based on the choices you made. The epilogue for the story is more protracted than stories usually are. If, for example, you did bomb the Embassy, it will be under repair for some time, with you being locked out of Hell's opportunity card until you've cycled it long enough for repairs to complete. There's a reward so that you aren't just being punished for this, and the final denouement actually makes it feel like maybe things have or will changed as a result of your actions. It's an impressive feat considering by that point mechanically everything is back to where it started.

I like this story, despite the parts that have become dated by evolving story conventions. It brings more information on Hell, and introduces more texture to Revolutionaries too. They usually appear as tacit allies of Hell, due to them both being opposed to London, the Bazaar, and the powers that be in general. They have close ties in the Iron Republic. But as you get to dig into the Protestor's motives you get one of the glimpses of the real evil that devils are capable of. The sort of thing you rarely see outside the campaign of '68. And the Protestor seems genuinely baffled by just how comfortable people have become with them. It's a lot less cartoonish than the usual kerfuffle about their desire for souls, and it adds welcome depth to both sides.