This American Life: #556: Same Bed, Different Dreams

May 9, 2015 11:57 AM

Stories of people who are tied together, but imagine radically different futures. In one case, a movie star and her ex-husband plot against Kim Jong-Il. In another, a woman stalks her doppleganger. And sometimes, one bed is the basis for an entire relationship, even for a man who almost never sees the person who shares his bed.
posted by wonton endangerment (4 comments total)

The movie star and ex-husband thing is almost rather sweet, isn't it? Heck, they even stayed together again!
posted by jenfullmoon at 2:52 PM on May 9, 2015

I thought this was a particularly good episode—the movie star/ex story was gripping and unusual, and I loved the way the doppelganger story twisted and turned. It was great to be brought into that story from the everyperson perspective ("ugh, identity theft sounds awful!") and then delving more into this particular woman's history/personality, and how this particular story (and how she pursued the theif) came out of her particular life circumstances. Great storytelling.
posted by Zephyrial at 3:09 PM on May 9, 2015 [2 favorites]

The story of the starlet and director was fascinating. The fact that South Korea was not really much more democratic than North Korea at the time this all happened lends a great subtle subtle twist to the feelings of the director.
posted by dry white toast at 8:48 PM on May 9, 2015

Also, yay for Nancy Updike.
posted by dry white toast at 8:56 PM on May 9, 2015 [1 favorite]