Audio Drama Listening Recap 05
February 2025 Edition
Since February was and is a shorter month than all the others, this ADLR includes listening for the entire month. Because of this decision, the first or last week of March will be one of rest. Therefore, a shorter timespan to listen. This month’s listening recap is more focused on fantasy as opposed to the science fiction genre like last month’s ADLR. There’s still a few some staples of that genre and part of the podcast fiction space in this edition. It just doesn’t go as deep as January’s listening period. Anyways, onto the recap.
Early in Wolf 359’s Final Season
Listened to episodes Episode 50 to 55* last month. In episode 50, I forgot Hilbert died. I knew about Maxwell’s death, but after a month of listening to other shows, I honest to God wondered where the once villainous doctor was in season four’s fourth episode. The story is taking a dark turn and I’m both here for it and not. I’ve never been a fan of zombie-like conformity in stories. The whole “there is no war in Ba Sing Se” vibe has always creeped me the hell out. This was most likely intentional on the writer’s part to have the audience feel despair through the visage of everything being overly fine.
*I finished episode 55 on March 1, but started it on February 28.
Tress and the Emerald Sea (Graphic Audio)
I finished Tress — on the audible app (I had a credit to spend and it was there) — in the middle of the month and loved the twist. Unlike Dawnshard’s less than stellar premiere as a dolby atmos title, “Tress and the Emerald Sea” suffered no problems. The tone was romance meets whimsical and swashbuckling adventure you may have read as a K-12 school student. Apparently there’s another one twist that the author mentioned in a recent writing lecture on YouTube. The writer/lecturer, Brandon Sanderson, called them a plot twist and a character/emotional twist. I think I know one of them, but I’m not sure which twist the author considers it to be. Whatever the other twist is? 🤷♂️
Two Audible Originals and an Audiobook
In preparation for the Ambies this year (2025), I decided to listen to some shows in the best performances in fiction and the fiction category as a whole. Since the second “Hot White Heist” was nominated in four categories, I took the plunge and listened to the first episode of the first “Hot White Heist” story. At the time this goes live, the most recent story is an audible exclusive until March 7.
Hot White Heist
The best part of this podcast is also probably the worst part about it for certain audiences. At least that’s the case regarding the show’s first half. It takes the crude humor from Austin Powers and makes it queer in a time where people are complaining about “overt” LGBT messaging in their stories. While the story isn’t marketed at these people, subtext can be a great tool for informing people who are easily swayed right on the political spectrum. See “The Soulmate Quest” section below for a good example of this style of story.
Have you read it yet? Good. Obviously a fantasy quest story is a different genre than the modern world and a heist as the capital “P” plot. Metaphor and allegory are not the only ways a story with such a diverse LGBT cast can be told. Lorne Michael’s production company Broadway Video and a slew of queer performers like Bowen Yang, Alan Cumming and Jonathan Bailey set out to say F-U to those who shout negative and offensive slogans about the woke left ruining media. It’s clear they’re saying you think having a non-caucasian Snow White is bad, you might have a heart attack listening to this.
Babblin’ about Babel
On the opposite end of overt messaging is subtly and depth. While the topic may not be related to the LGBT community, colonialism is another topic with heated arguments on both sides. Something “Babel,” by R.F. Kuang tackles so well by the end of the book. This audiobook sat at the 2/3 mark for a bit before I got back into it. For those who’ve read the book, I stopped at the part where someone dies and the main cast is trying to hide that fact by pretending he’s alive. Once I got back into the story, the time just flew. Normally for me narrators can come across as white noise if listening long enough. Rarely did I experience this and that’s a huge plus in my book. Shout out to Billie Fulford-Brown and Chris Lew Kum Hoi for the awesome narration of the book and footnotes.
I was introduced to Kuang’s work through a review of my first published novel. The reviewer called it the equivalent of “The Poppy War,” which also happened to be Kuang’s first published work of fiction. Having read/listened to a good chunk I honestly don’t see it, but I’ll take the free publicity. While I’m not a huge fan of the plot so far, I can’t deny her writing style/voice is above my own. Moving back to “Babel.”
Maybe I read into it too much, but there’s a secret history vibe throughout “Babel” where you aren’t sure if the linguistics and silver is metaphorical or literal magic. As far as I remember, how the study of languages can affect the metal’s magical properties is never shown or explained. That’s probably the biggest criticism I have for this book. I’m not sure if this counts speculative fiction, though maybe that’s because it’s setting a new trend for the genres inside the category.
When You Finish Saving the World
This audible original is broken into three-parts. They are the father, son and the holy mother. The first section is entirely from the father’s point of view. Played a little to well by Jesse Eisenberg, making me question whether he was acting in “The Social Network” movie. While this character isn’t a megalomaniac like the Zucker “ice” berg that got rid of fact checkers and instead replaced them with community notes like the letter X, brought to you by nazis, does with its social media platform.
Not gonna lie, I got a bit emotional by the end of Nathan’s (Eisenberg) part when he said he was a failure as a dad. I am not a father, but I’ve felt similar emotions when I wave at someone who waved at me. Except, they aren’t waving at me. They’re waving at a person behind me and the sky is falling and the pits of hell are opening up.
Moving as my niece would say “Taylo” swift(ly) along, I glimpsed at the middle section of “When You Finish Saving The World,” which Eisenberg was the writer. I was intrigued how they were going to use Ziggy’s character as Ziggy is Nathan’s child and a baby. I was hoping for an hour of baby babble. Instead, so far, I’ve gotten teenage babble instead. Never have I felt like an old man on a porch as much as I did while listening to a young adult Ziggy talking “brainrot.” It gave me serious negs.
I finished roughly halfway through Ziggy’s chapters and the boy takes after both his parents personalities equally. Funny how genes work, huh? Of course, as a listener I only know the wife/mother Rachel through Nathan and Ziggy’s eyes. In teenage Ziggy’s time, having an AI as a therapist is something I imagine the tech bros/big pharma trying to implement into healthcare, because how could insurance possibly get worse? Am I still talking about the story, or have we reached that level of capitalism in 2025?
Obligatory Ad for an Free Audible Trial
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The Soulmate Quest: A Queer Romantic Fantasy
Last month I listened and wrote a hybrid article on “The Soulmate Quest.” If you want my thoughts and the creator’s thought process making it, check out the last month's post. As far as this section is concerned, that’s all she wrote.
Edict Zero FIS Season Five
Like Wolf 359, I didn’t make it very far in this season before moving on. I’ll listen again once life gets less chaotic. I stopped after the first episode of the season. I will say, the title “Everything Changes (III)” and what I remember of the plot aligns more with the previous two “Everything Changes” episodes all the way back in the show’s second season. The first two parts of “Everything Changes” take place back in season two. The specific episode numbers are one and two of the show’s sophomore season.
I will say that I did not expect to hear Stefan Rudnicki’s voice in the opening of this season. Congrats to Kincaid for getting a high profile voice actor to agree to voicing a character. I had to look at the credits to confirm the voice was his, but it was a nice surprise to the say the least. Rudnicki’s appearance just goes to show the podcast’s popularity.
Marvel’s Wastelanders
Listened to this out of order. I listened to episode one of the Star Lord podcast, but then life uh … found a way. I recently tried to listen again, this time starting at the end. This more or less mirrored my MCU journey in phase one. I saw “Iron Man,” The “Incredible Hulk” and “Iron Man” two in theaters. Back before the first Avenger’s film the idea of a team-up movie would sound ludicrous. Then the trailer dropped and I quoted Ludicrous to “Captain America: The First Avenger” and “Thor.” Okay, it wasn’t quite like that, but I skipped those two movies and went straight into “The Avengers.”
Needless to say, that got me interested in the previous two movies leading up to the “Avengers” theatrical release. Long story short, I probably wouldn’t have watched the first Captain America and Thor films if I didn’t at least know it was leading to something. Now in phases four and five of the MCU, they’re actually doing the same thing. This time I’m not seeing a road map to “Avengers: Doomsday” and “Avengers: Secret Wars.” I’m seeing a bunch of spaghetti on the wall and nostalgia holding the sauce in place.
Two Chapter Ones: Star-Lord and a Hawkeye
Hawkeye is set in the Wastelanders’ universe where heroes are dead and the villains have won both the world along the hearts and minds of the people. Listening to Hawkeye after the Star-Lord podcast and the differences between the two are striking. With the benefit of hindsight, the first show in the Wastelanders’ universe feels like a cold open where the listener starts in medias res with everything going on. Star-Lord the show is a safe first entry, but by no means genre-defining. In all honesty, the state of the world is more interesting than the plot. Rocket and Quill being the only two Guardians of the Galaxy members left gives the 10-episode intro chapters to this shared audio universe an emotional start that I expected, but didn’t enjoy any less because of it.
If the Star-Lord podcast is a cold open beginning in the middle of things, Hawkeye is the show meant to catch the listener up to speed. Both types story openings have their place in the world storytelling, but a thin line separates their functions from each other. When placed next to each other, those lines are thicker and the similarities become more noticeable rather than the differences. In essence, there are two openings for this shared audible universe. Like having multiple prologues in a novel makes the barrier for entry harder to climb, two chapter ones fulfilling more or less the same purpose increases a listener’s chances of tuning out.
Since the Star-Lord podcast originally released under the title “Old Man Star-Lord,” there may have been a behind the scenes decision from Sirius XM and Marvel New Media. The “Old Man” moniker was supposed to be the connective tissue between the shows before the powers that be landed on “Wastelanders.”
The “I Almost Forgot” Section
Last, but certainly not least are the “Wind and Truth” audiobook of which I made it halfway through the middle of day two. There are ten days total and each section takes place within that day. I wanted to wait, but I did listen to a good chunk of it that I’d be remiss not to list it here. I’m enjoying the second day much more than the first. Despite the chapters being relatively shorter in day one’s portion of the book, the pacing was almost unbearable.
I’ll have more to say once all the parts from the Graphic Audio adaptation release. Suffice it to say, I started “The Way of Kings” audiobook before Graphic Audio did their version and haven’t picked up another Stormlight Archive book until “Wind and Truth” released. I didn’t plan on the symmetry, but it’s almost poetic starting and ending in the same way. Those keeping tabs on my habits, I listened up to chapter 31 last month. Also, why are you that interested?
And that’s that. The fifth listening recap is finished.