started listening to the blood crow stories
and honestly im not a huge fan so far!! i’ve listened to the first episode and then half of the second trying to figure out what was rubbing me so wrong about it and i think i’ve finally pinned it down. it's because the format is "researcher listens to recorded tapes of accounts from the past" which is a common audio drama theme, nothing wrong with that by itself. but the researcher character keeps up this running commentary on the tapes which i’m NOT a fan of. he keeps breaking off to say stuff like “oh, this exchange we just heard is so interesting!” and “oh [character] is so funny, i love her!!” which, i guess isn’t wholly unrealistic as far as commentary goes, but it feels like a very cheap ploy to endear me as a listener to the characters, and it’s not working.
that, and the dialogue of the entire podcast just sounds so blatantly scripted- no one’s speech is natural, characters keep dropping awkward phrases a person would never organically use out loud, the conversations are stilted and forced- it’s like i can see behind the screen of this story to where someone is pulling the puppet strings. all of these characters feel so flat and one-note, and the researcher commentary trying so hard to convince me that they’re not is doing the narrative no favors. i’ve seen absolutely nothing but praise for this podcast so far so i’ll keep giving it a chance for now, but currently i’m disappointed. especially because i’ve seen this exact format executed in a really successful and compelling way- which is basically a PSA to listen to the magnus archives! it’s the same basic premise but it feels real in a way the blood crow stories season 1 isn’t managing to at this point. maybe i just hasven’t given it enough time, but we’ll have to see if my patience will allow that.
