Before I talk about the story itself I have to say that the narration on this episode was fantastic, Anson did a beautiful job of hitting the mood. Whether you liked the story or not, I think it is fair to say that the craft in the writing itself was exquisite, and the narration did it full justice. Also, since this was part of the Artemis Rising showcase, I should give Kelly the archaic (and possibly insulting) compliment of having written a really great male character - yeah okay, that kudos is so "1980s" and usually given to male writers of their female characters...but it works.
Am I the only one who questioned whether this is actually an afterlife story? It definitely follows the trope, and if so, I particularly love a story where the sense of heaven or hell depends on what you make of it. But then, if "hell" is a state of mind, then surely you must still be alive to experience it. Is the "dead man", dead or dying? Is he in fact still in the just-crashed car? Or perhaps he's in a deep coma. The brief references to hospital smells, uncomfortable non-beds, and unknown, unseen crowds of visitors directs me to the latter.
He is clearly tormented by his two greatest sins, his childhood humiliation of Loulie, the girl with cancer, and his recent affair.
For me, the beautiful twist in the story is that he can't see what it is that he really did wrong. He's a narcissist who never really loved his wife. His letters are beautiful, but they aren't love letters. They are long circuitous explanations that never quite reach apology, and his only outreach to her as a person is purely sexual. No wonder he can't remember her name. In the end he is only able to reach a state of acceptance with the Loulies, perhaps because at least with her, he understands what it was he did to her. As he continues to be obsessed with his own penis, it seems that absolution for his affair is a long, long way off.