Personal Highlights
Lost Terminal: 6.7 – I am free. The conflict between Seth and Antarctica has reached something of a stalemate. Here the differences between them are very clear, as Seth finally begins to understand her true nature. It takes a lot for him to distrust others, always wanting to see the good side of everything. One AI is an optimist, and the other a pessimist, fittingly reflecting how they used to live on opposite ends of the Earth – and this pessimism has manifested through Antarctica’s destructive nature. There’s also an interesting conversation with TASSI, based in what used to be California. We haven’t really heard much about the humans who created any of the other AIs we’ve met along the way, and TASSI’s story is bittersweet. I really liked the episode’s positive ending, which echoes some of Seth’s past thoughts about legacy, and leaving a mark on the world.
SHIFTS: S2 E02 – It Stings the Toes and Bites the Nose. The lines between reality and this artificial world are blurring in this second season of SHIFTS. It’s a strange feeling of co-existence, at this point we now understand how they both influence each other, and the importance of this constructed reality. The situation is still fairly dream-like, emphasised by Dahlia’s fairly carefree nature in spite of everything; but we now have context for the additional voice we hear during this episode, cutting across her thoughts, nudging her in the right direction. And yes, that was quite the pun.
Within the Wires: Season 6, Episode 6 – Saturday 27 October 1973. You know those podcast episodes that make you audibly yell at them? That was me yelling ‘NOPE’ at the end of Side A of this episode of Within the Wires. It’s almost as if Cliodhna’s waking reality is more dream-like than the strange dreams she keeps having every night, with so many unexplained things happening all day, every day. The influence of Irish folklore is very interesting, especially in a world where nations and national identity have been erased. The past can never truly be forgotten, and Cliodhna’s dreams and how they bleed into the daytime continue to give us some insight into Grainne and her house’s history, as confusing as they may be.
The Pasithea Powder: 22 – Time to Go. That was one heck of a season finale! All hell breaks loose following Jane and Sophie’s plot to acquire the cure to the Pasithea Powder, and the consequences of their actions stretch far out into the galaxy. There’s a shocking twist at the end of the episode that left my head reeling as I was listening to it; but in hindsight, after everything we’ve seen this season – and before – it’s an extremely fitting ending.
InCo: S3 Episode 17 – Liar. It’s a tense episode between two royal siblings, Hatov and Zahlia. It’s not a surprise that Hatov is still dealing with his off-planet experience, and this creates some new and difficult dynamics within the royal family. His new insight doesn’t match up with how things should be, and the more time we spend with him on his home planet, the more we realise how much he has changed. It’s also interesting how much this episode reflects some of the themes of the previous one, as far as the various lies that are told by and on behalf of the King are concerned.
Witchever Path: S402 – Sentry Part 2: Charge. The revelation in this episode was still on my mind the morning after I’d listened to it. The focus of the story has completely shifted from the first episode, as the audience’s vote led to a disturbing discovery when an abandoned phone was charged. There’s definitely something creeping in the woods, but it’s not who we imagined it to be – what exactly it is, however, still remains a mystery.
Modem Prometheus: 2 – Turn around where possible. The full moon brings a new episode, and it’s another story which focuses on the city’s night; a time and a place that hides many secrets. There’s an interesting revelation almost half-way into the episode; after establishing new characters and settings, a link is created to the show’s first episode. The world we’ve seen in these first two episodes is partly ours, and partly very much not; straddling the line between real and fantasy, the modern and ancient.
Debuts
As I mentioned with the trailer of Wolfwhistle, I found this podcast thanks to Emma Sherr-Ziarko (Wolf 359‘s Minkowski), tweeting about it. Set in 1934, Wolfwhistle is a radio show broadcasting from WPR 104 Metro in New York. The show gives an opportunity to the most prominent people in the country to talk to the public, in a break from the other programmes being broadcast. The world’s largest building is being constructed in the city, a highly ambitious project, especially during the Great Depression.
Apollyon launched its first season, after a crowdfunding campaign, and the pilot episode which was released in April. Set in a post-pandemic world, Dr Theo Ramsey is a research scientist working on a new vaccine to combat a virus which killed 75% of the world’s population. This second episode follows on from the first, with an emphasis not only on the process of Theo and her team’s research, but the effect the virus still has on humanity – and more specifically on families and familial relationships.
Keep It Steady is a new podcast from the Procyon Podcast Network, set in a high school in 2005. Zach and Gabe meet in detention, and make for an unlikely pairing. Zach is a slacker who sleeps in class, and new kid Gabe? He got in trouble for pointing out that the school didn’t have any gender neutral bathrooms. Yup, this high school sucks – and surprising absolutely nobody, this school especially sucks if you’re queer. Gradually, Gabe’s influence wears off on Zach, and because of how much this school sucks, Gabe suggests to Zach that they pretend to date each other – to take the heat off another queer couple.
Trailers and Prologues
2298 released another episode ahead of its upcoming second season. I was very intrigued when I noticed when this episode was set before I started listening to it, and that was only the beginning. There’s a lot to take in in just a short episode, including one big twist in particular, and I was left processing the ramifications of this scene – set in the past – for some time after it ended.
What Will Be Here launches on the 21st of November (today!) and released an Episode 0 last Sunday. Jules is testing out the mic ahead of the messages that will be recorded, documenting life on a dying Earth.
Returns
Sci-fi podcast The Phenomenon returned with an anthology season titled Survivors. Set after the events of the first three seasons, and following the disappearance of the aliens which had invaded Earth; in this episode we meet two women who had been hiding together in a basement somewhere in Mexico. The return of crickets signalled to them that it was safe to return outside, and they try to navigate the wreckage of this new world to find other survivors.
Casting Calls
As well as having just launched the show, Keep It Steady is running a second round of auditions. Paid, deadline December 10th at 11.59pm EST.
A Sky Full of Pods 