Reply All: #85 The Reversal

January 13, 2017 2:12 PM

For years, Dr. Richard Bedlack has hunted for a cure for ALS, a fatal degenerative disease.  And then one day he builds a website called ALS Untangled. That's when strange things start to happen.

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The ALS Untangled website

posted by radioamy (3 comments total)

I thought this episode was interesting but...disjointed. Maybe it's because I was walking downtown and not 100% paying attention, but I had a hard time following. And then the story didn't really have a conclusion. Which normally doesn't bother me, but for some reason this just felt...unfinished. Curious what other folks' reactions were.
posted by radioamy at 2:13 PM on January 13, 2017

I agree, I think it was always going to feel this way without an actual cure for ALS.
posted by ellieBOA at 11:54 PM on January 13, 2017

I feel like part of the problem was with the setup. I was expecting something crazy or controversial. But instead it was just about a doctor being a tad more willing than others to be open minded about what he takes the time to apply the scientific method to.

I do appreciate the episode for two things though. First, since Stephen Hawking is my only experience with knowing of someone with ALS, I had no idea that the normal life expectancy is so short. It definitely makes me feel differently about the disease in general.

Second, that epilogue was both heart breaking and mind blowing. I am glad that they didn't try to work that into the rest of the story.
posted by sparklemotion at 11:21 AM on January 18, 2017