#and hes not as depressed as he used to be so i dont think eskew would be able to bring him down that much

[relictraveler]

thinking about doing more retrospective posts on here to encourage myself to like. consume more media and not just rewatch/replay things incessantly lol. also to think more critically about media because i am unfortunately an english major and i need to get better at that.

i finished i am in eskew last night! went through the last three episodes in one go. more specific thoughts under the cut but generally it was a fantastic first podcast for me and id recommend it if you enjoy more episodic and “[laughs nervously] what the fuck” type horror

okay more spoiler thoughts now

definitely did not expect it to go quite as like. literary as it did. i knew going in it would read more like a novel, which really helped me settle in because ive never listened to an audio drama before, but even in just its execution this feels like something i wouldve read in a literature class. its so well constructed and theres so many underlying themes i feel like it deserves going back to really dig into the text and get to the true meat of it

on that note its also a really great piece from a critical disability studies perspective. it reads definitely as a piece delving into how we attempt to navigate an abled world as mentally ill people thats already so unkind to us. how we live in a complicated relationship with that world because it claims to care about us and give us what we need but those gifts arent really gifts at all, more pittances and inconveniences made to reassure the abled that they did help when it did no such thing at all. i also feel you could really dive in to how the body horror plays into this but again that would require a reread/relisten and i need to let it sit a bit lol

i will say though because the podcast increasingly relied more on that above message, which i still think it did fantasticly, it became significantly less creepy as it went on for me. i think i stopped having creep out moments after kenneth’s death. if i had to pinpoint a reason i would say its because the focus increasingly shifts toward eskew’s personal relationship with david specifically rather than how it just fucks around in general. it was more intimate, personal, which made it seem more controlled and knowable as opposed to earlier episodes where it’s david trying to navigate rules and “games” he doesn’t fully understand. i dont actually think this is a bad thing because again the mental illness allegory is so strongly written its just a difference

riyo is such a good character. i fucking wish we got to dive more into her psyche than we did but i also dont because then that would ruin the mystery and mystique. such an intriguing character. genuinely episode 28 might be my favorite i fucking loved every part of it. a great short story on its own and also just a fantastic exploration of her character. love her

weakest parts of the show are when we’re not in riyo or david’s perspectives. theyre fine and the writing is still solid i just personally did not have much of an opportunity to give a shit about what happens to them as opposed to david because im so removed from them? like david and riyo just narrate it to you directly. the first episodes of eskew are david trying to cope mentally with his experiences by keeping a kind of audio journal. theres not much narrative distance because theyre either narrating directly to you or youre experiencing their direct thoughts later on. the non-david/riyo episodes have way too much psychic distance from the events. it might be the third person actually. the shows built under the assumption its delivered by david specifically it doesnt really work as well under any other context i think lol

not sure how i feel about that ending. i think ill like it more the more i sit on it, because im more warmed to it now than i was when i finished, i just wish the reflection’s narrative importance had been... foreshadowed more? earlier? we hadnt heard from the other david since like his introductory episode. it just felt really sudden when i first listened to it. again im fine with it because the writing was so strong and im probably not yet Attuned to its greater literary meaning yet but right now im just like? sure? sure????

overall though great podcast. love that depressed bastard and his morally ambiguous partner in crime.