#thebrightsessions

I have been writing a masters thesis for the last few months about the arrival of bigger companies (QCODE, Gimlet, & co) in audio drama, monetisation of AD, and its potential consequences on independent producers.

I have recently realised that an important part of this subject is about the audience -what they listen to, what their role is... Therefore I come to you with a favour and a link: could you please reply to this form?

Partway through (I wanna say) season 2 of ars Paradoxica, there’s a fun little crossover episode.  It’s a standalone, and its continuity status is...questionable? at best.  It’s just got two characters: one from ars, and one from the other show.  And by the time it was over, I had already added The Bright Sessions to my feed.  The same day I finished ars, I started Sessions.

The Bright Sessions, created by and co-starring ars cast member Lauren Shippen, takes place in a world much like ours, only one in which people with super powers exist.  Dr. Bright is a therapist who helps people cope with their strange abilities while also, secretly, keeping tabs on them for a shadowy pseudo-government agency with a non entirely benevolent agenda.  The show starts small, with a tight cast and the barest hint of an overall story:  mostly we just follow this diverse group of individuals as they progress through therapy.  But as time passes, the world grows and the story begins to unwind.  By the end, it becomes a tale worthy of any comic book, with heroes and villains, world changing discoveries and epic confrontations.  But somehow, in all of that, it never loses the intimacy it began with.  The Bright Sessions is, at its heart, about people, and the show never loses sight of that.

This cast of this show is fabulous without exception.  To me the standouts are Briggon Snow, who portrays a character struggling through myriad life changes and ranges of emotions in such a way that I felt like I was inside his head; Charlie Ian, who...look, spoilers, but he made me feel SOME KINDA WAY.  If you know you know.  And Julia Morizawa, who plays Dr. Bright, demonstrates a level of casting perfection on par with Kristen DiMercurio in ars Paradoxica.  Serving as lead character, narrator, and also as a therapist to the various other characters, she quickly became someone I trusted and cared about.

The Bright Sessions has two spinoffs which continue the characters’ stories in different ways: The AM Archives and The College Tapes.  Both are worth successors and you’ll want to keep listening to them as well.

Do I love Damien? Yes, 1000%.