Mayfair Watchers Society - Podcast Rankings and reviews

I’m a huge Magnus archives fan. I needed to fill a hole with something spooky and I’ve been let down a lot. I didn’t think I would like this podcast as much as I did. It really grew on me. It reminds me a little of no sleep but I think it’s far more refined and concise in story. I actually really enjoy the actors. The production is great!! High quality and entertaining. There’s something magnetic about this series.

There are horror podcasts that are one note. The same themes, the same general mood to each episode. This is not one of them. It is absolutely symphonic. Most (almost all) of them are excellently scary but you get sort of classic creepy and more defiant stories where a character will be more fight than flight, you’ll get some that are almost observational that do a lot for the world building and the feel of the show, well and truly tragic ones (class of ‘76 had me especially disturbed) and on the odd occasion one that’s sort of heartwarming? I also thought the bit about the roving man’s name not meaning what you thought was super interesting. And using a barred owl that would be native to the area (I think the episode was Host?) and isn’t just the generic owl hooting is exemplary of the awesome audio design of the show and just a really nice detail. Thank you :)

I’ve listened to every episode and love the writing and themes. However, there is one particular voice actor that has made listening difficult on more than one occasion. I say this not to be mean, but hope it can serve as constructive criticism. The most recent episode, “Roadkill,” features a voice actor that appears to be doing their best version of an older Southern Black woman. The affectation, the drawl, the elongation of the words is so overdone it’s borderline offensive. I mean, minstrel show levels of offensiveness. I don’t see why that choice was necessary for the character, who claims to have lived in Mayfair her whole life. Since when is Mayfair in the Deep South? Honestly it’s the worst I’ve heard in a while. I would strongly encourage the producers to consider the implications of choices like this a bit more in the future. And to that actor, please reconsider your choices to so strongly racialize a character.

I also want to add; this is the first podcast review I’ve ever written. I listen to some seriously off the wall podcasts and am not the type to be easily offended at all. But this was just so, sooooo egregious I had to say something.

I love how this show brings art to life! There's so much creativity in Trevor Henderson's work and it's been great seeing how that creativity translates to the audio medium.