Jump to content

S Town - The Podcast


Relic

Recommended Posts

Has anyone listened to this yet? It took up most of my Sunday, but I devoured all 7 episodes.

For those who don't know:

https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2017/apr/02/s-town-serial-exceptional-storytelling-week-in-radio-review 

 

" Much of the action takes place in Woodstock, a small, poor town in Alabama (the S in S-Town stands for shit), and there’s a gothic, we-don’t-get-many-of-you-folks-around-here ambience. Gradually, through interesting emails and phone calls, New York-based presenter/producer Brian Reed is drawn into investigating what seems like a local murder. The man that draws him in is John McLemore, an exceptionally bright, charismatic watch-mender and carer for his mother. McLemore takes Reed to places that he and we don’t expect."

 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I started listening to it last Thursday. By Friday afternoon, I was finished with it. I thought it was pretty great for the most part. I liked the twists and turns the story took. Living in a small town not all the dissimilar to Woodstock, Ala., I could relate to a lot of it. I could see something similar happening here, for sure.

My main gripe is that while the last episode was great, it felt less awesome because of just how good episode 6 was. The whole thing was totally engrossing, but episode 6 was the most gripping of all, IMO. I also didn't like how...

they never really resolved the whole "mystery" about what happened to the gold. And just kind of left several other things hanging out there too, especially involving the current town clerk.

But those are minor gripes. Overall, I thought it was excellent and have been recommending it to a lot of my friends.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

3 hours ago, MisterOJ said:

 

  Hide contents

they never really resolved the whole "mystery" about what happened to the gold. And just kind of left several other things hanging out there too, especially involving the current town clerk.

 

Spoiler

It would have been nice to have every wrapped up, agreed, but I'm not sure how they would do that without going onto the property and searching it themselves. It was also postulated, I think, that the gold might have been used as gilding for the clocks? Or am I mistaken about that?

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

22 hours ago, Relic said:
  Reveal hidden contents

It would have been nice to have every wrapped up, agreed, but I'm not sure how they would do that without going onto the property and searching it themselves. It was also postulated, I think, that the gold might have been used as gilding for the clocks? Or am I mistaken about that?

 

I think they hinted that there might not have actually been any (or much) gold and money left, but it was never really discussed after the fifth episode. I just wish they'd gone back to it in the last episode and put it to rest, even if it was something like, "We will probably never know what happened to the gold..." But that's a really minor complaint. It didn't stop me from loving the podcast as a whole.[\spoiler]

Link to comment
Share on other sites

In the second episode it all seems like some sort of dead end or prank being pulled on an earnest Yankee.  Then the end of the episode happens.

I'm only through the third episode, and I'm still not sure where this is going, but feel it may not be pretty. 

I'm rooting for two things to happen by the end of it all.: the rose-hedge maze to be intact and the dogs to all get adopted out to loving homes. Not optimistic about either.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Spoiler

I think it's fairly obvious that the stash of gold never existed. It's easy to see how a rumor like that could have gotten started - John, an already mythologized figure in town, dramatically shows off some gold that he uses for gilding clock pieces, and people start talking about how the eccentric out in the woods has a large stash of gold buried on his property. It's also easy to see why such a rumor would persist - John liked his notoriety, and would have played coy rather than put the rumor to rest. The reason the podcast focused so heavily on the gold wasn't because it was a credible rumor, but rather because the prospect of John's hidden wealth was what drove the narrative for most of the show. In so much as S Town had a plot, that plot was the fight over John's estate.

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

So I just finished it and that was a pretty damn heartbreaking tale. It definitely wasn't what I was expected but enjoyable nonetheless. A question: 

Spoiler

The clerk was on the phone with him when he commited suicide, but didn't they say his body wasn't found until over a day later? Or am I just misremembering that? 

I'd also like to think there was gold and that Tyler told Brian off the record that he did in fact find it, but I would probably lean towards there just not being some magic stash hidden. Although John did say he was leaving Tyler some gold so who really knows? 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...

I listened to it, and it's probably the most depressing thing I've ever listened to.

 

Spoiler

They tried to put a message of hope in there in the end with the last page of John's suicide note, but it didn't work. This was a story of desperation, hopelessness, and really just an indictment of wide swaths of the human population.

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

×
×
  • Create New...