Escape Artists
PseudoPod => Episode Comments => Topic started by: Bdoomed on November 09, 2009, 07:31:33 PM
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Pseudopod 016: Medicinal (http://pseudopod.org/2006/12/08/pseudopod-015-regis-st-george/)
By Peter King
Read by Ben Phillips and Mur Lafferty
When this first started I would scream or panic or even go for the window. The only thing I can do now is whisper.
To her. To me.
“That’s not the guy, Lorainne,” I say under my breath, but it does me no good because the thoughts keep coming.
–transverse cervical–
“Besides, you’re dead, Lorainne. And I’ll never find him. That guy over there… that’s not the guy.”
It does no good, because my head still goes all swimmy. Whatever is trapped up there… it can wait no more.
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Listen to this week's Pseudopod. (http://media.rawvoice.com/pseudopod/media.libsyn.com/media/pseudopod/Pseudo016_Medicinal.mp3)
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This wasn't a bad little short short. I liked that the dead wife was a female narrator, and the echo effect with it was fun.
The premise isn't too bad. It sort of reminded me of some elements of Memento, where one character drives another unwilling character to do their violent bidding.
I did find it hard to believe, though, that nobody would even attempt to stop him as he runs away.
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I wasn't terribly moved by the story. However, I loved the voice work, editing, and production.
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I just started this one and, I have to say, I was rather shocked by Mur's into. I'm not too sure where she got the idea that, in A Christmas Carol, Scrooge's primary motivation was a fear of death. Mortality played into it, yes, but I would definately say it was pretty apparent that he was motivated by a fear of avoiding both a miserable life both on earth and in the afterlife (I think Marley pretty strongly indicated that he'd suffer for eternity under the weight of his own sins...). Her intro really confused me and, maybe I'm going out on a limb here, but I might say that it was overly subjective.
As for the story itself: it was well narrated, but it was pretty thin plot wise. It felt like the description of a concept, rather than an actual plot with an arc etc.
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I tend to agree with your assessment of Scrooge's motivations. The terror of the ghost of Christmas future is not so much that he will die, but that he will die unmourned and forever bound by chains (maybe even sent hauling them back to earth like Marley's apparently doing as community service).