podcast recs and reviews

synopsis: this one’s a little difficult to really... sum up so i’ll split it a little bit. seasons one and two follow av nerd dan, who has recently been hired to document and organize an archive of tapes for a mysterious company- he discovers something is not quite right, and consequences ensue. season 3 seems initially completely separate from these other two, following a pair of half-siblings as they maneuver through an intricate set of esoteric rituals left to them by their shared father.

that’s... really the best i got on that. ah ha. also apparently there’s going to be a netflix show? i literally JUST found this out during a cursory google search and i’d definitely be interested in that. i think it might work better as visual media rather than audio-only.

writing: 4/10

alright, this is my biggest gripe with a81 and the only reason i have a hard time with it. the writing is definitely good, but i think it’s almost too good. i will admit i had a very difficult time following the story and kept holding out and saying “oh, maybe next season will make more sense” but honestly? it never really did. it’s incredibly obvious that the whole thing is meant to all resolve at a later point and that the threads that tie seemingly disjointed pieces together will become more prominent as the story continues on. i like to think i am not an idiot, but listening to this podcast kind of makes me feel like one. there’s a huge undercurrent of things bigger than ourselves and all that, which i definitely am a fan of, but having it constantly framed in the sense that it will always be too big for the fragile human mind to comprehend is... well, not exactly always nice. there is some incredibly interesting philosophy involved and i do love the different things the podcast does with music and our perceptions of it, but it can definitely be a bit much and doesn’t seem to be well suited to my kind of casual listening. i definitely want to give it another listen through sometime and see if maybe things change but since my main reason to listen to podcasts in the first place is to not be bored as all hell when i’m working, that might take some time. i will also say that this one first came onto my radar as a highly recommended visceral horror story and while there are definitely some scary bits and some body horror and such, it feels... very light for something that’s generally touted primarily as horror. in my own personal opinion i’d call it more a philosophical sci-fi comedy with a strong horror flavor, but this misrepresentation (for the lack of a better term) essentially meant i was also a bit disappointed from the get-go. i wanted to feel my heart race while listening and i most definitely did not get that.

in short, i really want to love this because it’s SO up my alley but i just CAN’T

acting: 8/10

okay! ripping time is over! while i was initially not impressed with some of the acting in season one (primarily dan, imho he just wasn’t quite convincing enough) that quickly turned around as more and more characters were introduced and i understood that at least for my standards, dan was an exception and not the rule. he was also stepped way up in season two and i have nothing but mad respect for that, because it essentially means i got to watch an actor grow into his role and his own right. which is pretty neat.

aside from that, there’s not really much i can say on this. the acting is mostly pretty good, no emotions or accents felt too exaggerated and it was clear that there was a fantastic focus on having a diverse cast, which i also highly applaud. without going into detail, the highlight of the acting in the podcast is a certain character that features in season two that has to display an incredible amount of range in tone and articulation and that one left me supremely impressed. well done, a81 cast.

production: 10/10

okay i’m giving this an honorary 11/10 because this is where a81 truly outdoes almost everything else i’ve listened to thus far. the sound design and editing are i n s a n e. between there being a need for lots of tape noises and distortions (which were incredibly well executed) there’s a huge amount of original music and all sorts of weird supernatural noises that really help to bring the script to life. sound effects during action scenes are well done and it’s all balanced fairly well for a good listening experience- aside from some of the occasional distortions, but that’s kind of the point of them. so no negative points for that even though it’s jarring and i definitely would not listen if i already felt a headache coming on (which, without going into too much detail, did make my initial listen through pretty difficult since i have chronic migraines)

alright this is gonna be a bit experimental since is my first non-audiodrama podcast i’m reviewing, so i feel like my usual categories and averages system is just... not gonna work.

i am also not caught up with this one in the least, but given that it’s... not a huge story with a bunch of metaplots and such, i feel that at 15ish episodes in, i have a pretty decent feel for the podcast in general. so let’s dive in here!

all crime, no cattle is a texas-centric true crime podcast that covers a variety of stories. there have been high-profile stories covered, such as the truck stop killer, and far less-known ones like the kfc murders that they covered in episode 1. now for anyone that knows me personally, it is a huge surprise that i’m so into this because i generally absolutely hate true crime. i hate the focus that so much true crime media has on seeing the person behind the killer, etc. there’s a lot of sensationalism and disrespect in a lot of mainstream true crime media, which just leaves a very icky taste in my mouth.

this podcast does none of that and in fact actively works to do the opposite. the hosts, husband-and-wife team shea and erin, are incredibly respectful in their conversations about the victims, they call out unnecessary sensationalism, and are generally just... good people to be doing this. the general format of each episode is a conversation, with one telling the other about the case while the other will interject theories and questions, often voicing the exact same thoughts that i, as the audience have. as many others have said, they have a fantastic chemistry and it’s obvious that not only do they love each other, but they love what they do, and that makes the podcast fun to listen to even with the often-gruesome subject matter. they’re also fantastic at toeing the line between overly serious/depressing and humorous- there is a lot of humor in the podcast. they’re funny people. but they have stated that there are certain lines they will not cross regarding jokes and the subject matter and as far as i’ve listened, they hold very true to that. the result is incredibly informative, entertaining, and tonally respectful coverage of things that other publications do not handle well at all.

last but not least, something i do quite enjoy is that they’ll also post photos related to the episodes on social media, and often keep an eye on local news not only to bring awareness and help to open cases, but also to close each episode with a little bit of good news- it’s like little palate cleansers of feel-good stories about cats being rescued or overwhelming amounts of toys donated to shelters, things like that. things that make you go “oh, maybe humans AREN’T complete garbage” even after... all that. i do also like that they have a good habit of citing their sources and encouraging you to read the same things if you’re interested in more of the nitty-gritty details or original media coverage. i think having that kind of optional homework is kinda cool.

synopsis: set in a wacky pythonesque steampunk london that has sprawled across the entirety of south england, inspector archibald fleet and clara entwhistle, aspiring reporter, are thrown into a maddening whirl of politics and crime and cover-ups and it’s up to them to find the truth. victoriocity is what i would call a thriller-comedy. many of the aspects of the world only work because of the comedy angle, but god... do they work. highlights include queen victoria being a mech after eleven failed assassination attempts and having albert’s consciousness installed on what i assume is a floppy disk, a records library that’s so huge it has its own train system, and a literal flying circus. even greater london, as it’s called, is home to many a crazy scientist, corrupt politician, and incredibly exhausted public service worker.

victoriocity is also the type of british comedy that is painfully self-aware, which is incredibly easy to tell from some of the names. prime examples include sandringham, mrs pomligan, and augusta bell.

in my admittedly small amount research i was unable to find any future plans for the podcast aside from “more” but... hey, more!

writing: 8/10

now i’ll admit, i am a bit biased here- comedy is not my favorite genre and i am suuuuuuper picky about it. that said, i think victoriocity does a fantastic job of balancing the serious and outlandish aspects of its plot. like any true comedy, many of the comedic aspects are completely necessary for the plot to function at all, but they’re implemented in such ways that it doesn’t seem forced or hamfisted to me. the sheer outrageousness of, for instance, the massive record library with its own public transit, only works in favor of the plot where time is of the essence in the location of one very specific file. there are a lot of very interesting worldbuilding aspects that are simply mentioned and minimally explored, which i am grateful for. these things are much easier to accept as fact if they’re just presented as such, after all. a great example of this is the daily public loudspeaker announcements from victoria and albert, which for some reason reminded me of the propaganda announcements in the game dishonored (which is fantastic).

acting: 7/10

here is where my only real gripe with victoriocity comes up. most of the acting is pretty damn good, but very occasionally you’ll get a supporting character that just... really hams up the britishness. like really, really. logically, i understand that this is just another form of the self-aware comedy, but in my opinion it can get a little bit annoying and detract from the overall listening experience. the whole network of underpaid cabbies is like this, and while it was funny at first, the absolutely overexaggerated accents did start to grate on me after a bit. the voicework is absolutely stellar and even those characters are an obvious stylistic choice that is executed well, i just personally don’t agree with it much. another thing i am not necessarily fond of but don’t have any real problems with is the presence of a narrator. the whole format absolutely wouldn’t work without him to set the scene and give little tidbits of worldbuilding that may be important, i just generally don’t like narrators. just my onion.

production: 10/10

synopsis:

put out by fool and scholar productions, the white vault is a true survival horror podcast, dealing with extreme cold, starvation, and isolation, as well as a mysterious supernatural threat. seasons one and two focus on a team sent to research outpost fristed in svalbard, approximately 33km northeast of ny ålesund, the northernmost populated settlement on earth. upon arrival, they are trapped by a particularly intense and long snowstorm, which turns out to be the least of their problems...

season three switches gears to a new team documenting an archaeological site in the patagonian mountains, with some eerie parallels to seasons one and two- something goes fucky, and they too are trapped on the mountain surrounded by fog and strong winds that make descending back down nearly impossible.

all three seasons are presented in a found-footage format by an unnamed academic narrator that the script simply calls “the documentarian”. she herself is given some minor background eventually and seems to somehow be involved with the situation, although it is currently unclear.

the white vault is intended to be five seasons long, with season four launching in october 2020, and you bet i’m gonna be listening as it releases.

writing: 10/10

this podcast is phenomenally written. i don’t think i can put it in any other words. the writing achieves a fantastic balance between what you know and what you don’t, which is ridiculously difficult to do in horror. we know, from the fact that it’s presented as found footage after the fact, that it is likely the characters are all dead in the time we are hearing their story, but it is never stated, leaving the actual status very much in question. we get very little context outside of what the characters individually know, but boy do we get a lot of that. we get a lot of journal entries, video diaries, and group recordings that piece together the plot and the characters’ theories, across all three seasons. 

characters themselves are incredibly well-developed and well-written. one thing i really appreciate about the white vault is that in both plotlines, we get an incredible diversity of characters without it ever being a big deal in any way. the svalbard team consists of a brit, a mexicana, an icelander, a german, and a russo-canadian. the patagonia team (i believe, there are some who i do not think are completely specified) consists of a brazilian, two chileans, an unspecified latina, a chinese woman, and an mlm american. none of these are ever brought up as plot points or big deals- the only times it comes up are the occasional discussion of “back home” and even then it’s just given as a fact. each of these characters also speak their own native language at one point or another, and fool and scholar productions made a point to hire native speakers both to ensure accurate translation, and to actually voice the characters. that level of dedication and attention to detail does not go unnoticed and is a huge factor of why the podcast feels so realistic to me.

acting: 10/10

i touched on this a little above, but one detail fool and scholar productions did not skimp on is the acting, especially with the unique language aspects of the production. often written notes are read out loud by the character actor themself, rather than the documentarian, and the first few sentences will be in their native language, before they switch to english. those first few sentences are also repeated in the english translation, so you definitely won’t miss anything. i noticed this immediately, being a native german speaker myself and perfectly uderstanding the german character in season one. each character also has a very unique voice from the others and each speak with the kind of authentic accents that only a native speaker could bring to the table. this makes following the podcast much easier in my opinion, because i can always tell who’s saying what, which i will admit i have a hard time in stories where everyone is, for instance, from the same small american town. the acting itself is also top-notch.. we get incredibly realistic screams and gasps and strained breathing, and everything else you would expect. the white vault has definitely set the bar high for me on this count and honestly? i can’t complain about it at all

production: 9/10

okay, the only reason i am not giving this one a perfect score is that sometimes it’s produced a little too well. the sound design is impeccable, between just various mic effects mimicking echoes in caves, the soundscaping, and audio distortion where it is appropriate. the audio distortion is the only thing i somewhat take issue with, and even then i can’t really be too mad because the entire point is that sections are meant to be so deep-fried they’re unintelligible. i personally struggle with audio processing issues now and then so occasionally i have missed things when the distortion beings to fade out and things become audible again, but given that the transcripts are online free and i’ve honestly relistened to this podcast... what, three times now? it’s not a huge deal to me. but to anyone else that might have these kinds of problems, be aware.