The Oyster

Podcasts have really taken advantage of high production values, with lots of cool sound FX, high-quality acting and editing. And many seem to strive to utilize a wide spectrum of the audio range. BUT…. the result is that the quiet parts are REALLY quiet and the loud parts are REALLY loud. This one, The Oyster seems to be trying to compete for the most soft-spoken, barely audible dialogue that suddenly burst into shouts or action! Unless I listen to it in total silence, even minor ambient sound gets in the way, and I’m getting tired of backing it up to hear what I missed. It’s maddening! And this happens with MANY dramatic ‘casts. I *think* there’s an interesting story going on here (though the current-pop-culture flavor that runs through it gets old and frankly, won’t age well), but I’d love to hear an episode clearly all the way through. To the producers: try compressing the dialogue A LITTLE. It won’t hurt the soundscape, I promise!

Like a few others, there is a large volume discrepancy between effects and dialog. So you’ll get blasted with effects when trying to understand what they are saying. Headphone users be wary. The story itself is pretty intriguing. People being forced underground. Different perspectives of what is happening. This is not for those that want a cohesive story and follows only a few people. There is an overarching story with a few major characters. The ads are a little on the longer side and try to integrate themselves with the world as to not break immersion.

The storyline is amazing. I was hooked in the first episode. It is definitely best to listen to with headphone. The final episode brought me to TEARS. I felt like I was apart of their whole journey. Might have to listen again until season two comes out.

This is a beautiful show in terms of acting, sound design and ideas though the ending felt a little melodramatic. Definitely still worth a listen, though be prepared for heavy subject matter!

I love audio dramas. This, however, really let me down. It’s just one depressing episode after another—suicide, depression, self harm, addiction, metaphors for substance abuse, racial injustice, murder, forced abortion, familial anguish, pet death, broken hearts, broken government, broken spirits. I gave it two stars because the production quality and voice acting is good, but the plot is terrible and highly reliant on cheap emotional trauma to keep it afloat. Also, there are wayyy too many ads in it for the pace the story moves. The placement of the ads is also super choppy and poorly integrated. (They tried to do in-world, lore-friendly ads incorporated into a radio show. It didn’t work very well.)

This podcast got chosen for a ‘book’ club group because the description had such promising topics like climate change and the future of humanity. Unfortunately, despite the great voice acting, the writing ruins it. It’s like season 8 of Game of Thrones: so much potential ruined by shallow writing. The romance that dominated the second half of the story sounds like it was written by someone with only an immature view of love. The ending made me think I just listened to some secretly religious cult propaganda. There was no twist. There is nothing to discuss for our book club meeting except how little was done with so much potential.