Passenger List: Season Two discussion thread
June 24, 2021 6:11 PM - Subscribe
Atlantic Airlines flight 702 has disappeared mid-flight between London and New York with 256 passengers on board. Kaitlin Le, a college student whose twin brother vanished with the flight, is determined to uncover the truth... SEASON TWO discussion!
Here's the link to the last discussion (of season 1) which was two years ago, so starting a new thread.
Here's the link to the last discussion (of season 1) which was two years ago, so starting a new thread.
I spent a lot of the second season fearing that the show would just keep going in wild different directions, but they tied up most ends in a way that satisfied me. Maybe the wrap up was a bit fast (I think it could have maybe stretched to two episodes of explanation?), but overall, I was into it.
The acting was really great. The pacing was good. Clever and entertaining. I like this show! Others have suggestions for radio dramas?
posted by latkes at 6:13 PM on June 24, 2021
The acting was really great. The pacing was good. Clever and entertaining. I like this show! Others have suggestions for radio dramas?
posted by latkes at 6:13 PM on June 24, 2021
I've just started, so I will be back with my thoughts in a few days.
Others have suggestions for radio dramas?
Well, if I can link to my own FPPs, and you like weird/horror audio dramas:
Silt Verses
2021 Round Up
2020 Round Up
2018 Round Up
2017 Round Up
I've found a bunch of new ones, so I'll probably have another FPP by the end of the year, plus the Anthology one I am working on.
posted by GenjiandProust at 11:35 AM on June 25, 2021 [1 favorite]
Others have suggestions for radio dramas?
Well, if I can link to my own FPPs, and you like weird/horror audio dramas:
Silt Verses
2021 Round Up
2020 Round Up
2018 Round Up
2017 Round Up
I've found a bunch of new ones, so I'll probably have another FPP by the end of the year, plus the Anthology one I am working on.
posted by GenjiandProust at 11:35 AM on June 25, 2021 [1 favorite]
Passenger List was supposed to go on the 2021, but I forgot it!
posted by GenjiandProust at 12:56 PM on June 25, 2021
posted by GenjiandProust at 12:56 PM on June 25, 2021
Stuff I liked:
1. The voice acting is all good, Kelly Marie Tran and Rob Benedict are especially strong as the spine of the story,
2. Various sound effects and background sound/music are well handled, although they are occasionally intrusive (as someone aging into mild hearing loss the "phone call that is breaking up" often equals "a phone call that I can't hear what you want me to hear."
3. They do a good job of starting out as if this is going to be Dennison's story, then moving back into Kaitlin's narrative.
4. They do some interesting things with the way everyone is spinning a different conspiracy about what happened. Just as I was getting uncomfortable with thoughts of "have we passed the point where a conspiracy narrative is an ethical storytelling approach?", they brought attention to that very thing.
5. There is a decent development of paranoia, with Kaitlin convincingly starting to doubt her own narratives.
6. I liked the focus on a multicultural cast and how, say, a Muslim family would be affected differently than a Chinese immigrant family or a vaguely Anglo one. It was effective and didn't feel stunty.
What I didn't like:
1. The egregious commercial breaks combined with begging for donations. There is a reason broadcast TV is a shaky market these days, and trying to replicate that model in podcasts is just... bad. I will probably give Radiotopia productions a very hard look before trying one again. They are worse even than I Heart Radio, which is saying something.
2. Speaking of which, when you are doing a narrative partly about the dangers of conspiracy thinking, and the marketing team decides to run a listeners' club where "you try to figure it out," maybe that should be reconsidered.
3. If they had really wanted to get at Western conspiracy theories, someone would have blamed the Jews or, at least, "the globalists." You can't get away from it, it is the bedrock of Western conspiracy thinking, and it really needs to be addressed loud and long, because people slip into antisemitism on the regular due to "harmless" conspiracy theories.
4. At the end of the day, the conspiracy did not make a lot of sense. It seems like the problem could have been handled with much less effort and risk of blow back. Also, the stinger at the very end was just a let down. A fun ride to a "meh" destination.
5. It was a little long and baggy. The first season was more tightly written, but they could have trimmed about half of this season and just made one 12-13 part season. Dennison's story could have been mostly excised, I liked him, but all his side problems seemed to slow down the main action without really adding anything (I guess his daughter is supposed to make him want to follow/help Kaitlin, but it could be done in about two sentences.
All in all, an OK listen but well short of the best that audio drama can do.
posted by GenjiandProust at 6:53 AM on June 26, 2021 [1 favorite]
1. The voice acting is all good, Kelly Marie Tran and Rob Benedict are especially strong as the spine of the story,
2. Various sound effects and background sound/music are well handled, although they are occasionally intrusive (as someone aging into mild hearing loss the "phone call that is breaking up" often equals "a phone call that I can't hear what you want me to hear."
3. They do a good job of starting out as if this is going to be Dennison's story, then moving back into Kaitlin's narrative.
4. They do some interesting things with the way everyone is spinning a different conspiracy about what happened. Just as I was getting uncomfortable with thoughts of "have we passed the point where a conspiracy narrative is an ethical storytelling approach?", they brought attention to that very thing.
5. There is a decent development of paranoia, with Kaitlin convincingly starting to doubt her own narratives.
6. I liked the focus on a multicultural cast and how, say, a Muslim family would be affected differently than a Chinese immigrant family or a vaguely Anglo one. It was effective and didn't feel stunty.
What I didn't like:
1. The egregious commercial breaks combined with begging for donations. There is a reason broadcast TV is a shaky market these days, and trying to replicate that model in podcasts is just... bad. I will probably give Radiotopia productions a very hard look before trying one again. They are worse even than I Heart Radio, which is saying something.
2. Speaking of which, when you are doing a narrative partly about the dangers of conspiracy thinking, and the marketing team decides to run a listeners' club where "you try to figure it out," maybe that should be reconsidered.
3. If they had really wanted to get at Western conspiracy theories, someone would have blamed the Jews or, at least, "the globalists." You can't get away from it, it is the bedrock of Western conspiracy thinking, and it really needs to be addressed loud and long, because people slip into antisemitism on the regular due to "harmless" conspiracy theories.
4. At the end of the day, the conspiracy did not make a lot of sense. It seems like the problem could have been handled with much less effort and risk of blow back. Also, the stinger at the very end was just a let down. A fun ride to a "meh" destination.
5. It was a little long and baggy. The first season was more tightly written, but they could have trimmed about half of this season and just made one 12-13 part season. Dennison's story could have been mostly excised, I liked him, but all his side problems seemed to slow down the main action without really adding anything (I guess his daughter is supposed to make him want to follow/help Kaitlin, but it could be done in about two sentences.
All in all, an OK listen but well short of the best that audio drama can do.
posted by GenjiandProust at 6:53 AM on June 26, 2021 [1 favorite]
OK, on review, that sounds harsher than I meant it. It’s a good example of a modern thriller. If you liked the first season, you should like this. I also liked that Kaitlin was like able but not too likable. There were times where she was a pure pain, but for very good reasons.
posted by GenjiandProust at 10:30 AM on June 26, 2021
posted by GenjiandProust at 10:30 AM on June 26, 2021
Thanks for this thread, latkes!
The second season was more uneven for me than the first one was. The acting was really good, and I enjoyed the addition of Rory's character. I wish he had been a little more integral to the conclusion of the story, but it was getting pretty busy already.
I was relatively satisfied with the conclusion, but not the way that it ended? After episode 6, I remember thinking, "There's only two episodes left, will I have to wait for Season 3 for a conclusion?" I was glad that the story wrapped up over the next two episodes, but episode 8 in particular seemed like a lot of information all at once. On the other hand, most of my loose threads were tied up, so.... you win some, you lose some, I guess.
Also, GenjiandProust, do you mean to say Rory where you mention Dennison in your posts? Rory (Murray) is the British lawyer (played by Ben Daniels); (Jim) Dennison is the FBI agent (played by Rob Benedict).
posted by invokeuse at 8:08 PM on July 1, 2021 [1 favorite]
The second season was more uneven for me than the first one was. The acting was really good, and I enjoyed the addition of Rory's character. I wish he had been a little more integral to the conclusion of the story, but it was getting pretty busy already.
I was relatively satisfied with the conclusion, but not the way that it ended? After episode 6, I remember thinking, "There's only two episodes left, will I have to wait for Season 3 for a conclusion?" I was glad that the story wrapped up over the next two episodes, but episode 8 in particular seemed like a lot of information all at once. On the other hand, most of my loose threads were tied up, so.... you win some, you lose some, I guess.
Also, GenjiandProust, do you mean to say Rory where you mention Dennison in your posts? Rory (Murray) is the British lawyer (played by Ben Daniels); (Jim) Dennison is the FBI agent (played by Rob Benedict).
posted by invokeuse at 8:08 PM on July 1, 2021 [1 favorite]
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posted by latkes at 6:12 PM on June 24, 2021