Personal Highlights
The Silt Verses: Chapter 25 – But We’ll Never Be Rid of Each Other. It’s a great title for an episode that focuses on two very different pairs of siblings, and an enemy they have in common. It’s a very disturbing depiction of a faith and its followers, the joy and delight only creating a more nightmarish image of their collective actions. It’s one of the story’s more horrifying episodes so far for me, this twisted vision of a holiday park, created for the gods of this world and their sacrifices.
Lost Terminal: 9.7 – Maddie isn’t talking to me. Things had been going so well for Seth, but this marks a more obvious return to the helplessness he feels when he can only watch others without being able to do anything to make their situation better. Between IVAN and LUNA, it’s a lot for him to deal with, and then there’s also Maddie. She’s clearly been through a traumatic experience, one we’ve only seen the aftermath of, and which Seth has a very superficial and naive understanding of. The relationship between the two has been irrevocably changed, and even though Seth tries to put one of his typically optimistic spins on this, it’s sad to see how things have progressed.
Don’t Mind Cruxmont: Episode 10. The opening flashback scene gives us much more context to not only the following surprising event, but also to the story as a whole. Neal has a huge sense of guilt that we hadn’t seen him fully explain, but which he finally has to confront in this episode. While Neal is trying to escape, Gwen continues to dig deeper and deeper into the mysteries of Cruxmont, as this episode takes a very clear turn towards darker horror themes.
The Pasithea Powder: 25 – Are You Trying? This season has allowed the story to dig deeper into the themes of loss and grief, and in this episode, there’s a new perspective. There’s an interesting re-examination of Jane’s actions and the use of Pasithea, as well as a certain amount of insight into the wider societal trauma caused by the war. There’s so much pain in this episode, different kinds of pain being treated in different ways, but Jane and Pasithea Powder are always at the heart of it all.
InCo: Episode 52 – Ready. This is an extremely satisfying conversation, as Vierai descends on Nova to ask for her help with Hatov. All of Nova’s cunning comes to play, as she manages to manoeuvre the conversation towards the good of the entire planet. Faced with a manipulative person who wants to control her son, she has the intelligence and the determination to fight back enough to try and convince Vierai to turn her attention towards a better cause. If Nova’s plan goes through, this would be the start of an extremely unlikely alliance.
Debuts
Human Error is a new podcast from Ali Hylton, the creator of Dining in the Void, set in an apocalyptic 2033. A tense and emotional episode introduces us to this story, which begins with the fall of society. This apocalyptic world and the threat the humans are fighting is quickly established, as a family tries to make its escape from a city.
Patient Zero is a mini-series from Observer Pictures‘ Apollyon. The story focuses on Dr Lucas Soto, the first person to contract ADS – the virus which caused the pandemic in Apollyon. We meet him through a recording, documenting the start of an expedition to the Monteverde Cloud Forest, in Costa Rica.
Trailers and Prologues
Moonbase Theta, Out (note: I play Reception Bot in MTO, and also appear in this episode) is back for its fourth and final season, with the first of five prologue episodes. As the story picks up from the end of season three, tensions are understandably a little high on Base Theta, with a clear distinction between plans they’re putting into action, and how they’re unable to help with the rocket’s journey. The situation in one (sadly familiar) location back on Earth is also established, with the Enclave Officer still very much on his supervillain arc.
The Love Talker is an upcoming folk horror podcast from the creators of The Book of Constellations and Delivery. This week a new teaser was released for the show, where a voice introduces us to the strange town of Kilruane.
Mockery Manor released a trailer this week for its third season, and as with season two, we’re introduced to a new theme park. Claytonville is much closer to home, and I’m curious to see the implications of this return to the UK, right next door to the manor.
Returns
The 24-hour podcast-creating project Hubris is back, with the episodes that were created in its fifth round. The theme given to the groups assembled in this round is ‘soup’; and in this first episode, titled The Mage in the Mist, there’s a very creative and interesting interpretation of this theme.
Crowdfunding
Urban fantasy VALENCE is currently crowdfunding for its third and final season on Indiegogo.
A Sky Full of Pods 