Author Topic: EP765: Tru Luv  (Read 1622 times)

divs

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on: January 08, 2021, 07:58:00 PM
Escape Pod 765: Tru Luv

Author: Sarah Pinsker
Narrator: Mur Lafferty
Host: S.B. Divya
Audio Producer: Adam Pracht

Escape Pod 765: Tru Luv is an Escape Pod original.

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The first three Tru fanatics were already waiting outside Meetspace when Molly arrived to open the bar. They were easy to recognize, pushing up their winter coats’ sleeves and glancing at the insides of their wrists every two seconds instead of their phones, each hoping for their algorithm-matched Prince or Princess or Princex to cross into range and light up their implant.

For all that Molly thought the implants were a scam, she appreciated that they broke people of obsessive phone-checking, at least a tiny bit. It was actually part of the marketing pitch: “Put your phone away and make a commitment. This isn’t social media; it’s Tru Luv.” She was still amazed that so many had taken them up on it, but, then again, she hadn’t gotten into bartending for her ability to understand people.

“Your group isn’t even supposed to be here until seven thirty,” Molly told them. “And we don’t open until six tonight.”

“It IS six,” the tall one said.




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Álex Souza

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Reply #1 on: January 08, 2021, 11:22:14 PM
A very standard, stiff story I'm afraid. Hard to point out any mistakes, but hard to point anything special either.

The flagship of this story is the message, and that's exactly the problem. It's a good message, but the same cautionary tale has been made over and over again. Off the top of my head, I can name The Lobster (2015) and Hang the DJ (2017).

Another thing that made the story non-functional to me was its lack of dystopism; it just feels like a normal day in real life.

I think that the MC telling that she worked in the restaurant not because she was good at it refers to the relationships, that not always fit the best people together.

Jack Powell reminded me of William H. Macy's character in Magnolia (1999). Was it a reference? If not, it was a hell of a coincidence.

There's nothing special about the narration either. But this is just my impression after listening to some other amazing narrated stories.
« Last Edit: January 13, 2021, 12:38:39 PM by Álex Souza »

I just wanna go pro before AI takes over and the bot dogs from Boston Dynamics kill us all.


CryptoMe

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Reply #2 on: June 13, 2021, 10:19:43 PM
I enjoyed this story. I liked the analysis of people's obsession with coupling up and their desperate use of to technology to help them achieve this. And I liked the "lurg" workaround, where first the bar patron and then the MC use a similar but less invasive technology to signal their withdrawal from the craziness. Fun!