Remnants : An Audio Drama

Talented cast, good atmosphere. Too much of the framing story dialogue is “I don’t understand” or some variation of the sentiment. It gets old very quickly, especially in season 2. We know the apprentice doesn’t understand, it’s a mystery. We don’t need to be told 10x an episode. The stories themselves and how they knit together are great. I don’t pick up on the horror elements, nothing gives a sense of unease, I actually find it a very emotionally peaceful and pleasant story.

I had heard of this advertised on several episodes of The Magnus Archives (which I listen to regularly and all the way through. I never grow tired of it.). And I wanted to check it out before I started MA again. And all the sudden I’m crying at my desk at work because a young man gave another guy a ring, and one described his freckles. This is beautifully written. I keep waiting for it to get old or boring. But no. Thank you for yet another audio drama I adore.

Unique, poetic, pulls you into its depths, makes you think, wonder. Makes you want to start from the beginning and pay better attention. Lulls you to sleep at times except for the ads, which aren’t nearly as bad as most. ((It’s just the advertisers, all of them, are abrasive and intrusive in their style which actually makes a person not want to listen)). This is like water that starts as ice melt at the top of a mountain, becomes a trickle over rocks, a steady stream, a little river, turns and twists, divides, sometimes a pond takes form and sometimes one already formed flows over and adds to the little torrent that’s become from just a little blip in time. Tributaries that add to and break away and some to say they saw it all and a sea for it to pour into, an ocean it becomes. That’s this, to me, this story of stories and the places it folds and bends and is witnessed.

“Oh, THAT'S what's going on!” I literally said this out loud after I listened to the fourth episode. It's quite well done, and the creator spent a lot of time not just getting things right, but with subtle audio elements that help you fall into this mostly narrated tale. It's worth multiple listens!

I realized in the middle of listening to this during my shift that I can’t actually follow what’s going on… this show has extremely long and descriptive narration that would fit better in a novel. It’s narration with the narrator also reading the dialogue of the characters and using “he said / she said” to differentiate… ie, an audiobook. I appreciate the effort made with this but it’s hard to follow along, not to mention the narrator has a high and mumbling voice which makes it even harder to follow 😭.