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Jurgan posted:To be clear, you mean the finale of season 1, not the beginning of season 2? You should definitely not skip the two-part finale. Yes, I do include the finale in the "good" part.
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Aug 7, 2019 00:24
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posted:Amy and Evan, two interns at the PRA, start their own podcast called BCC to cover strange internet mysteries. They believe they've hit the jackpot with their pilot episode about a 2:76:00-long movie that seems to blink in and out of existence online. But when they (along with Nic and MK) dig a bit deeper, they find a clue that hints that this film and “The Last Movie” have something (or someone) sinister in common. There is no system of measurement of time for which 2:76:00 or world in which the existence of this podcast makes any sense.
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Aug 7, 2019 02:41
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Ratatozsk posted:There is no system of measurement of time for which 2:76:00 or world in which the existence of this podcast makes any sense. Alternate reality where the Thermidorean Reaction never happened, obviously.
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Aug 7, 2019 03:01
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SamuraiFoochs posted:You're joking, right? It's gotten EXTREMELY convoluted. I'm not going to drag it too much because it's well executed and it's pretty obvious with how smoothly it's been done that that was always the plan, but it's a wildly different podcast than it used to be, and it is extremely involved. I mean, it is more involved that Season 1, but it’s honestly not really any more complicated than a decently involved TV show of a similar genre after 4 seasons. Think Fringe, Person of Interest, that kind of thing.
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Aug 7, 2019 03:26
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Yeah, I can see how you could go from liking Magnus in the early episodes to having had enough by now. It's kind of following the same trajectory as The X-Files did (although personally I think it's a LOT more coherent than the X-files was) in moving from episode of the week with a small core cast and some breadcrumbs to indicate some things might be connected, to being 100% metaplot focused with a much bigger supporting cast and multiple antagonists all with their own agenda. Last episode specifically, Annabelle Cane has only been named in a single episode about 80 back so unless you've got a good memory or you've recently done a binge listen there's a good chance you wouldn't remember her story. edit: ^^^^ Yeah, but I guess in a TV show of that length you'd get a recap of the salient points at the start of the episode if they dropped a character from two seasons back into the episode as a main focus.
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Aug 7, 2019 08:29
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ketchup vs catsup posted:How long does wolf 359 take to get better? I’m 7 episodes deep and the ‘comedy’ is terrible.
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Aug 7, 2019 11:34
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it's called bathos
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Aug 7, 2019 13:03
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Fil5000 posted:edit: ^^^^ Yeah, but I guess in a TV show of that length you'd get a recap of the salient points at the start of the episode if they dropped a character from two seasons back into the episode as a main focus. I was going to make that same point. It would be really easy for them to throw someone in the room who hadn't listened to Jon's tapes or read the statement themselves to explain the character to as a means to catch up the audience, but instead they just expect everyone to do their homework. I'm okay with it, I enjoy the show for what it is. It's still the best of its genre.
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Aug 7, 2019 13:23
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immolationsex posted:this was a few years back but I remember going about 20-30 eps deep and the lovely comedy never went away. Yes they did introduce a grimdark story to actually connect episodes into some kind of narrative but they never stopped trying to keep up the comedy, thus finally dooming the whole show. Serious stories with macabre themes (if memory serves) do NOT mesh with slapstick comedy, ever. Like what you like, but I strongly disagree with this.
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Aug 7, 2019 13:37
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Fil5000 posted:Yeah, I can see how you could go from liking Magnus in the early episodes to having had enough by now. It's kind of following the same trajectory as The X-Files did (although personally I think it's a LOT more coherent than the X-files was) in moving from episode of the week with a small core cast and some breadcrumbs to indicate some things might be connected, to being 100% metaplot focused with a much bigger supporting cast and multiple antagonists all with their own agenda. Last episode specifically, Annabelle Cane has only been named in a single episode about 80 back so unless you've got a good memory or you've recently done a binge listen there's a good chance you wouldn't remember her story. TBF Even if not by name Annabelle has come up twice before this season. It's also not really necessary to know every detail of her history. The only part that's really important for the latest ep is that she's web-aligned, and the web has been a recurring theme this whole season.
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Aug 7, 2019 17:54
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Droyer posted:TBF Even if not by name Annabelle has come up twice before this season. It's also not really necessary to know every detail of her history. The only part that's really important for the latest ep is that she's web-aligned, and the web has been a recurring theme this whole season. I'm personally fine with how the show is presenting itself, I'm just saying I can appreciate why when a character comes up and has an evident history people might feel confused if they can't remember them.
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Aug 7, 2019 18:11
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I’m waiting until Magnus is done to listen to it. It lost me when Jon got kidnapped several times in a row and I had to remember the indistinguishable names of several supporting characters I didn’t care about. However the plot is still interesting so once its done I can binge it.
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Aug 7, 2019 19:17
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Arcsech posted:I mean, it is more involved that Season 1, but it’s honestly not really any more complicated than a decently involved TV show of a similar genre after 4 seasons. Think Fringe, Person of Interest, that kind of thing. This latest season has very quickly become the "gently caress! Wrap up all the loose ends!" season. They've followed up on a lot of the very notable "standalone" episodes and put to rest a lot of the disconnectedness of those early stories. The Weaver (ep 147) was interesting to me not because of Annabelle Kane ( the lady with a skull full of spiders), but because it also had a callback to Jon's earliest recording, and how naive he was at the start, how much he's changed, and how utterly naive he still is.
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Aug 7, 2019 20:31
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HIJK posted:I’m waiting until Magnus is done to listen to it. It lost me when Jon got kidnapped several times in a row and I had to remember the indistinguishable names of several supporting characters I didn’t care about. However the plot is still interesting so once its done I can binge it. This, basically. The basic premise of the show is not confusing, but being expected to remember the name of the 43rd supporting character and the power they are affiliated with (not to mention the 50 nicknames for each power) after not hearing about said character for 100 episodes is getting a little too much. I didn't mind it when the interlocking parts of the narrative were subtle and added an additional layer of flavor to the more avid listeners of the show that kept tabs on every single supporting / side character, but the show has gradually gone from monster of the week + subtle metanarrative to being fully about the metanarrative.
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Aug 7, 2019 23:27
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tbh I recently started a relisten of Magnus from the beginning and it became immediately clear to me that the show hasn't actually gotten more metaplotty, we just have more context. The big difference is that there's more stuff happening in the here-and-now, rather than in the past of statements.
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Aug 8, 2019 01:30
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boo_radley posted:This latest season has very quickly become the "gently caress! Wrap up all the loose ends!" season. They've followed up on a lot of the very notable "standalone" episodes and put to rest a lot of the disconnectedness of those early stories. Unless I'm mistaken, this is the next-to-last season, with episodes 161-200 being where it wraps up in season 5.
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Aug 8, 2019 01:51
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Pope Guilty posted:Unless I'm mistaken, this is the next-to-last season, with episodes 161-200 being where it wraps up in season 5. Assuming, of course, that they are not stricken by whatever terrible curse compels pacific north west to keep revisiting their old poo poo.
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Aug 8, 2019 01:58
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HIJK posted:I’m waiting until Magnus is done to listen to it. It lost me when Jon got kidnapped several times in a row and I had to remember the indistinguishable names of several supporting characters I didn’t care about. However the plot is still interesting so once its done I can binge it. Hey, me too. I also don't have the mental bandwidth to consume a buncha good audio stories at the moment. For some reason, reading actual books is way easier right now. Plus, I just like having them around. They smell nice and there's just something about the heft of a good-sized book that ... I'm gonna go buy some more books after this post. Like, I get 'em home, and it just... doesn't feel like I got the right one yet. Weird. Oh well. Anyway, I'm also saving the mp3 files in case they vanish behind a paywall at some point.
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Aug 8, 2019 02:59
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It isn't truly necessary to keep track of secondary characters, only the powers they serve, which is not all that hard to follow because the statements / segments focus on them and there are only a handful. You don't need to know who the ringmaster guy is and his story, you just have to be able to grok that when a guy in a circus ringmaster costume is mentioned, puppets are in there somewhere. The first time a character call-back happened it was the first Infection / Swarm testimonial guy showing up as a corpse. There have been a few important figures - Leitner the librarian dude, the Key kid, the web guy, Gertrude - but it's very rare that any statement truly relies on another to make sense, if that's ever happened. The real-time audio drama stuff can get that way, though.
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Aug 8, 2019 04:15
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Arrhythmia posted:Assuming, of course, that they are not stricken by whatever terrible curse compels pacific north west to keep revisiting their old poo poo. I think the issue with that is that PNW didn't actually have an end in mind when they started... anything. Jonny Sims has had a beginning, middle and end in mind for Magnus since the start, and concieved it as a five year run, so even if they DO go back to the well at some point it should actually have a conclusion.
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Aug 8, 2019 09:22
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Arrhythmia posted:Assuming, of course, that they are not stricken by whatever terrible curse compels pacific north west to keep revisiting their old poo poo. They aren't, because Jonny Sims has the entire story written. He isn't throwing poo poo at a wall, he has an entire arc plotted.
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Aug 8, 2019 14:57
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If it makes you feel any better, Jon getting repeatedly kidnapped is joked about by his colleagues regularly.
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Aug 8, 2019 15:35
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neongrey posted:tbh I recently started a relisten of Magnus from the beginning and it became immediately clear to me that the show hasn't actually gotten more metaplotty, we just have more context. The big difference is that there's more stuff happening in the here-and-now, rather than in the past of statements. But the metaplot has become the show. As was said, before it felt more like Easter eggs or flavor text. Now it's the entire show, especially given the number of additional characters, many of whom I find barely distinguishable.
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Aug 8, 2019 15:38
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I love it dearly and I barely follow all the connections. If I can't figure someone out, I Google it. People have done all the hard work for you.
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Aug 8, 2019 15:43
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New Leaf posted:I love it dearly and I barely follow all the connections. If I can't figure someone out, I Google it. People have done all the hard work for you. Yeah. My point is that the quality of the show (IN MY OPINION) majorly suffers for that. You shouldn't loving have to. If you do, it's an indictment of the writing and/or, more accurate here because it's really well written, the format.
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Aug 8, 2019 15:52
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Basic Chunnel posted:It isn't truly necessary to keep track of secondary characters, only the powers they serve, which is not all that hard to follow because the statements / segments focus on them and there are only a handful. You don't need to know who the ringmaster guy is and his story, you just have to be able to grok that when a guy in a circus ringmaster costume is mentioned, puppets are in there somewhere. “you don’t have to remember 7 different characters just remember the 12 different powers instead” is uh, not that different actually. Like I get it, there’s probably some stupid chart on reddit with “Magnus EXPLAINED!” written on it and there’s probably different colors to represent the different powers and it’ll be at a huge resolution except for the chart legend which will sit in the corner at 4 font size. That’s cool. Maybe someday I’ll print it out and just stare at it while I listen to episodes. I just don’t want to spend an hour Googling each connection per episode when Jon starts trying to figure out the finer details of whether he’s dealing the MEAT or the Spider Lady or the Circus or the green goo that sits at the bottom of abandoned undersea Spanish galleons which is a specific power for some reason or whatever. I don’t care if someone else has figured it out, I am morally indignant about doing homework to understand a podcast. I want this to be a purely listening experience. However I think these connections will be more apparent on a relisten without week long breaks. This podcast did introduce me to Fallen London which is a ridiculously good game though.
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Aug 8, 2019 16:16
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pop fly to McGillicutty posted:They aren't, because Jonny Sims has the entire story written. He isn't throwing poo poo at a wall, he has an entire arc plotted. Technically we only have his word for that. There are a lot of examples of creators claiming to have a grand plan when they’re just making up as they go (Battlestar Galactica comes to mind, and maybe Lost but I never watched that so I don’t know). The story holds together pretty well, so he’s probably telling the truth, but if he’s not then the illusion is good enough that it doesn’t matter. Anyway, I don’t really try to follow the metaplot. Generally a statement will end with Jon saying “clearly this is the spiral” or some such, so it’s explained for me. One thing that confuses me is The Extinction. I like the idea of new powers rising in response to new social fears, but I thought these things were ancient unknowables that were the source of our fears? Has this one just been lying dormant for millennia?
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Aug 8, 2019 16:37
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HIJK posted:“you don’t have to remember 7 different characters just remember the 12 different powers instead” is uh, not that different actually. We’re however many seasons in and the thrust of the overarching plot really isn’t that complicated. There are various cosmic entities embodying primal human fears. People who read occult books associated with a fear are entrapped by them and tend to become monsters or cultists. It turns out that humanity only really survives because the powers, who seek to destroy / dominate it, interfere with one another’s culminating rituals. The Institute, which turns out to be the cult of “fear of being watched”, is attacked in the first season by a cult of Infection (which is apparently destroyed or made dormant in the attempt). In later seasons, the Institute goes up against a cult of Mindlessness and only foils their culminating ritual due to additional interference from a cult of War. Recently it’s turned out that the Institute previously fouled a ritual from a cult of Darkness, and may need to stop them again. Throughout the entire series, an agent of Manipulation has tried to infiltrate the Institute. The show has expanded the mythology to sketch out various other powers (fear of falling, fear of being buried alive, a new fear of “just feeling generally doomed”) but they haven’t been plot relevant, they’re just there to allow episodic breathers from the core plot.
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Aug 8, 2019 17:07
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Jurgan posted:Technically we only have his word for that. There are a lot of examples of creators claiming to have a grand plan when they’re just making up as they go (Battlestar Galactica comes to mind, and maybe Lost but I never watched that so I don’t know). The story holds together pretty well, so he’s probably telling the truth, but if he’s not then the illusion is good enough that it doesn’t matter. The Powers arise from fears, not the other way around. The Slaughter is a fairly new one, for example. The Extinction is new because it's really only recently in our history that human beings have understood extinction as an imminent possibility to actively fear on a mass scale rather than an abstract, far-off threat.
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Aug 8, 2019 17:18
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HIJK posted:“you don’t have to remember 7 different characters just remember the 12 different powers instead” is uh, not that different actually. loving nailed it. The best analogue I can think of that I'm intimately familiar with is Supernatural. It started very MotW and has since gone very metaplot. There's three key differences: 1. Supernatural still has MotW episodes. Not every goddamn thing is connected to the larger plot. And the MotW episodes still feel lovingly crafted much of the time. 2. The characters are so much more distinctly crafted. The problem with TMA is that it's essentially the powers vs. the powers. Jon isn't the main character because he's a man trying to figure this out, he's the main character because he's a vessel for one of the powers. Martin is pretty distinctive. But IMO everyone else is fairly indistinguishable, and yet we need to understand the office drama. The statements are usually less than half of the episodes now. 3. It's easier to follow on TV than in audio. It just is. It's a much harder line to walk with an audio drama. I lament to say that I don't think Rusty Quill is walking that line very well. 4. The genre has changed. IMO it's less horror, more supernatural drama now. I thought it was better before. That's subjective, but it's how I feel. 5. There are too many characters that are important that get disproportionately low screen time. It really mucks things up. And it happens a ton. That kinda thing works well with a singular Big Bad. TMA has a bunch of them. It's a mess.
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Aug 8, 2019 17:32
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FWIW, I don't bother looking up old characters that come up again at all. If I don't remember it then whatever, I can usually figure out what their deal is from context clues.
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Aug 8, 2019 18:00
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Basic Chunnel posted:I find that pretty hard to believe tbh. All the powers are defined by bold, primary color portfolios that contrast starkly with one another. It’s like not being able to tell the difference between a flu and a broken leg. That’s nice man, but nothing you said actually contradicts my assertion. It’s not that Magnus needs a PhD to figure out, it’s just that it got really frustrating listening to one episode per week and having to go back and figure out who they were talking about when plot developments happened. I don’t want to ignore those little details either, because not knowing who’s talking about who bothers me. That’s why Imma binge it when the time comes so all the information is fresh. It’s not that deep.
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Aug 8, 2019 18:13
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Pope Guilty posted:The Powers arise from fears, not the other way around. The Slaughter is a fairly new one, for example. The Extinction is new because it's really only recently in our history that human beings have understood extinction as an imminent possibility to actively fear on a mass scale rather than an abstract, far-off threat. There was one episode where someone first explains how all the powers worked (I think he listed all fourteen of them for the first time), and I thought for sure he said that they were the source of our fears, not reflections of them. Maybe I misunderstood; I’d have to go back and listen again or read the transcript.
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Aug 8, 2019 18:31
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I think it's reflection because unless I'm remembering wrong the meat one isn't a human born fear. It comes from animals because there's enough commercial farming that there is enough fear of being eaten it's a thing now.
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Aug 8, 2019 19:13
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HIJK posted:“you don’t have to remember 7 different characters just remember the 12 different powers instead” is uh, not that different actually. I think this is well put, and I agree with the other poster that said the show is tending more towards supernatural drama rather than horror. Sometimes I feel like I'm just listening to each episode waiting to be told what power we're going to learn about this week.
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Aug 8, 2019 19:22
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SamuraiFoochs posted:But the metaplot has become the show. As was said, before it felt more like Easter eggs or flavor text. Now it's the entire show, especially given the number of additional characters, many of whom I find barely distinguishable. It felt like easter eggs or flavour text because we didn't have the context. Some of these super early episodes are infodumpy as hell. Literally the only reason it didn't seem that way at the time is that we didn't know what half of what was being said meant. Agnes Montague at Hill Top Road is literally in the first ten. Jane Prentiss goes on about the Beholding. I was really surprised when I went back to the beginning because I did think there was a shift in the prominence of the metaplot, but being able to now identify it, it's a massive presence right out the gate. The current seasons are really tonally different but it's not because the metaplot has become more significant-- the tonal difference is from both the characters and the listeners actually being able to identify the metaplot.
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Aug 9, 2019 02:07
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Basic Chunnel posted:The first time a character call-back happened it was the first Infection / Swarm testimonial guy showing up as a corpse. There have been a few important figures - Leitner the librarian dude, the Key kid, the web guy, Gertrude - but it's very rare that any statement truly relies on another to make sense, if that's ever happened. The real-time audio drama stuff can get that way, though. Eh, 143 leaned heavily on previous statements. 146 reached back pretty far. There's a bunch of minor characters and having to fire up the wiki when they argue about somebody that I haven't heard of in actual real and literal years is irksome.
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Aug 9, 2019 02:41
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Thanks for the advice on sticking with wolf 359. I’m around episode 22 now and while I’ve called a couple of the twists, I really do want to know what happens next. The writing is better now that they’ve toned down the comedy from ‘this is all very funny, right? Right?’ To ‘cracking jokes cause we think we’re gonna die’
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Aug 12, 2019 19:39
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ketchup vs catsup posted:Thanks for the advice on sticking with wolf 359. I’m around episode 22 now and while I’ve called a couple of the twists, I really do want to know what happens next. Still recommend jumping to girl in space. It’s about a perfect podcast except for the update rate.
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Aug 12, 2019 21:02
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Hughlander posted:Still recommend jumping to girl in space. It’s about a perfect podcast except for the update rate. It's the venture brothers of podcasts! Seriously though, I'm dying to hear the last episode. Along with Vast Horizon, I started on Janus Descending recently. The two have a lot in common. Space themed, woman protagonist, thrown into unknown and terrible situations. I've been thinking of this as an emerging "trauma-core" genre. They both seem to thrive on really just loving up their characters beyond any reasonable tolerances; they feature mental breakdowns, brutal physical injury, and both physical and mental isolation. I don't get it, but I really don't think I'm the target audience for any of them...
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Aug 12, 2019 22:15
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