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- Bobby's Snacks Vol. 23 - Nobody Likes You When You're
Bobby's Snacks Vol. 23 - Nobody Likes You When You're
Bob Raymonda
July 07, 2024
Happy #AudioDramaSunday Pals!
Remember last time, when I said that the reason I would be taking two full weeks between publication was because so much life was happening that I needed a break? Well, instead of doing that, I used the intervening days to accomplish a veritable shitload. Between dialogue editing, script review, production breakdowns, and an entire podcast pilot script/pitch deck: I’m truly a person that doesn’t understand the concept of rest. That being said, there’s nothing that gets me motivated like an aggressive oncoming deadline that I’ve put off until the last minute (whether that be intentionally or because I didn’t know about it in the first place, which was the case this time). I’m gonna let the details of that pilot/pitch deck/deadline remain vague for now, but I’d like to give my heartfelt thanks to Jeff Vandreason, Wil Williams, Mac Rogers, Sarah Shachat, Gabriel Urbina, Jack Marone, Dan Toy, my mom, and my brother Adam Raymonda for all reading one of the several drafts of both documents that came out during that timeline. I genuinely believe that [NAME REDACTED] is truly some of the best work I’ve done in my entire career, and it wouldn’t be that way without all of your caring, incisive, and helpful feedback.
Outside of All of That™, the past two weeks have been full of other feverish celebrations of life, and I can barely keep up with it all. In under 48 hours, I watched both my niece and nephew graduate middle school and high school, respectively, one of my best friends marry the girl he started clumsily dating shortly after moving in with Sam & I (during our own first co-habitation experience 10 years ago), two more friends eagerly anticipating the arrival of their first child, bring my two youngest nieces out to Hapik for some social media footage, attended a graduation party for the first two, saw the second-ever concert by the band fronted by the lead actress from Gabriel Urbina & Sarah Shachat’s New Thing™, took my mother-in-law to the Yankees/Red Sox game for George Costanza bobble-head night, and celebrated another best friend’s 45th birthday in our Sopranos-style best. It’s been a beautiful time, even if the weather has been unrelentingly muggy, but I’m for sure exhausted, so…
Let’s get to it, then:
We’re coming up on the end of our season 3 Indiegogo Campaign stretch goals, but excited to be finally be kicking off this year’s Summer of Crossovers. I am beyond proud of the way this one turned out, between Naomi Clarke’s taught, tense script, to Rhys Lawton’s performance as Andromeda’s father, Cormac McCarthy (no relation to the celebrated novelist), to the dark iteration of our theme songs mashed up by my brother Adam Raymonda. If you haven’t listened to The Secret of St. Kilda, this is actually a perfect jumping on point! As in it serves as a prequel to their incredible first season, which you should go marathon as soon as you hear this. They are truly one of the best fiction podcasts out there and they just so happen to be a part of the Fable & Folly Network alongside us! Next month, we’ll be back with our Apollyon crossover, which I’ve already heard a fantastic cut of thanks to Faith McQuinn, and then capping it all off with our Arden crossover that’s pushed back to early September. After that, well… you’ll just have to wait and see.
Well, fuck. That, as they say, is that, isn’t it? Midst is over, and I’m honestly feeling really sad about it. I’ve said this many times in many ways, but there has never been another show as original as this one. And if you’ve been following me for awhile, you know that I’ve got a little bit of a thing with series finales. In a previous life, I ran Over & Out, a column at an indie TV criticism imprint called Syndicated Magazine run by my longtime friend and collaborator Dan Toy, diving deep on final episodes from some of my favorite (and least favorite) shows out there. And Midst? Well this team did every single possible thing right. The episode started with propulsive action gleefully described by its three offbeat narrators, a cathartic ending for the villain we all loved to hate, and a path forward for our heroes, and the people they banded together to give another chance at life, away from the cloying and nefarious clutches of the Upper Trust. Would I listen to more seasons of this show (or others, set in the same world)? In a heartbeat. But also? If I never get to? That final taste they left me with was truly delicious.
As this season barrels toward its blockbuster conclusion, its most recent episode took the time to explore a more reserved post-apocalyptic archetype. Cali is off on an important trading mission, and encounters the son of an old friend who has a very different perspective on the misadventures of her youth, as well as a keener view on what’s happening in the wastes at large, as Hannah and crew have stayed mostly in the Golden Gate community since their first foray there decades ago now. And while she does gain important food, supplies, and foreboding insight into the world at large, the most valuable part of her encounter comes in the form of a new doggo companion to walk the wastes with, ala Fallout’s Dogmeat.
Chapter 5 pulls back the proverbial curtain on what happens to the enemies of the Church of Unitology, and Christ, is the look that gives us a bleak one. While one of the subjects that Emmeline encounters still has access to some semblance of language, it’s clear that the road ahead for him, and everyone else in his circumstance, is a difficult one. The Unitologists’ willingness to create such horrifying monstrosities in the name of progress is, of course, a giant red flag for our intrepid journalist, but that doesn’t stop her from feverish pursuit to find out what happened to her sister. And what could very well happen to her, if she isn’t careful during her investigations…
Speaking of witnessing the dangerous hubris of scientists, I’ve finally finished Bloody FM’s second collaboration with The George A. Romeo Foundation, Ephemeris. And while I know I’ve compared the setting of this show to trashier sci-fi slasher sequels, the way in which that writer Jeff Whitehead utilizes the tools in his haunted space station is far more deft than that implies. Big secrets are unveiled, before being hidden all over again, as the clash over whether or not to destroy the final zombie sample, or let it make its inevitably catastrophic descent to the earth in one of the station’s final remaining escape pods. Can’t wait to start the next installment!
Michael has finally convinced his step siblings to really pay attention to this woman claiming to be his mother, because while they’ve enjoyed her uncharacteristic doting, it’s becoming obvious now that something is off here. Back in the lab, the scientists argue over what to do with the real Larsen, who has at no point wavered in her staunch (and correct) insistence that she is not, in fact, their alien. I’m sad we’re already almost at the end of this show, but excited to see how it ends, and excited to see what series creator Stephanie Elie does next!
Speaking of endings, what a finale this was! This very Canadian murder mystery wrapped up in the most Canadian way I can imagine: the guilty party turning themself in, after an exceedingly competent and polite explanation by Chiefficer Dougie and the accused, Frenchie, on why it couldn’t possibly be him. There’s no grand, explosive moment. Just a bunch of folks who recognize that they got caught up in the uncharacteristically salacious story of it all, and couldn’t see what was in front of them the whole time. Kudos to Drew Frohmann and the entire team on a fantastic series!
I understand that I am not an unbiased party when it comes to this show (or, frankly, a lot of others that I’ve written about over the years, considering the friendships I’ve built in this community), but wow: has anyone else this deep into their run come up with such a perfect idea, as this team’s season 5 victory lap through history? Getting to witness the ways in which the stories of The Interviewer and Kozlowski’s clients have impacted their lives over the centuries, and how they’re still impacting them today? Is absolutely chef’s kiss. Not to mention that unreal sound design by my brother which brought this tragic glassblower’s story to life. Glad to see that Phillip Thorne and Øystein Brager will still be taking the wheel on some of these part 3 scripts, despite all of the fantastic guest writers they’ve enlisted (myself and Jack Marone included)!
Abigail is sounding relaxed again. Calm. Content (at least passably) in a way that she wasn’t when she was wandering the country by herself. Being back with Harry is clearly good for her, even if they’re still doing the whole sapphic longing thing instead of further exploring their love for one another. That isn’t to say she’s ready to sit still, or any less wary of the information she’s getting, versus what’s being withheld from them by Birdie as they continue to venture north. We’re nearing the end of Year One of this show, which I know will serve as a season finale of sorts, but again: I can’t say enough how incredible it is that in under 365 days, we’ve already experience 250 new episodes of a Lauren Shippen show. A triumph.
In an update that’s entirely unsurprising, but still fun to explore, bureaucracy continues to be enemy number one at the end of the world. Sure, are there Gremlins lurking around the T? But if your only means of reporting the decidedly new and supernatural happenings around the city is an archaic, glitchy, borderline unusable website that offers no true helpful solution, and instead simply asks you to narc on your fellow beings in this world… who is that tool really for? Is it asking citizens to continue to be cosplay as cops, spying on their neighbors, and reporting mostly harmless (if alarming) behavior? Or is it there to help mitigate the unknown dangers that will inevitably crop up in this world? I think we all know the answer to that one, folks.
The Deposition
Last (but very much not least), is this new production by my fantastic friends over at Hug House Productions. Did you know that tech billionaire and sentient Pepe the Frog meme Elon Musk was recently sued for defamation by Ben Brody, a Twitter (never X) user who Musk accused of being guilty of some sort of false flag operation? Well, he was. And as hard as Musk and his lawyer tried to make the Deposition they underwent in regards to the suit private… it is not. And this crew of goofs used the very transcript of that deposition as a script for their newest podcast: a so-funny-because-its-true experience anchored by vocal chameleon extraordinaire Josh Rubino. It is very good, and you should listen to it.
BONUS SNACK
When I saw the runtime for this film, I became immediately cautious. 2 hours and 45 minutes is dangerously close to 3 hours, a growing (and extremely frustrating) trend that I wish that Hollywood as a whole would do more to buck. I’d already been forced to sit through Beau is Afraid, a overly self indulgent 3-hour opus made by Ari Aster, a filmmaker whose work I had otherwise loved. Was this going to be the same thing? And I’m happy to tell you… it is very much not. At least for me. And maybe that’s because I’ve been a Yorgos Lanthimos fan since The Lobster (and have even went back and learned to love Dogtooth), so I was more prepared for his brand of overly self-indulgent filmmaking. Or maybe, because he’s been working at a larger scale for longer, he was more equipped to do it. But this movie was everything I loved from Lanthimos and more: unsettling, funny, weird, and gruesome in a way that just works. It certainly doesn’t hurt that it’s got a cast chocked full of actors working at the top of their game. Is it for everyone? Probably not. But it was definitely for me.