September 10, 2019
SOMETHING NEW
Post-apocalyptic worlds have been beaten to the brink of death, and yet creators everywhere have continued to set stories in the after party to the end times. And to be honest, I kind of dig it. These stories distill the basest elements of what it means to live in and apart from a society, regardless of the availability of running water or a regular romance fully separated from the fate of the human race. Zombies or totalitarian governments inspire fear about the worst possible fate that could befall us as a species - the 180 degree turn away from one’s sense of normality. While some cataclysmic event lingers in the realm of possibility, we are far more likely to suffer minor tragedies, gradual setbacks that don’t turn our world upside down but do certainly force a considerable shift in lifestyle. Ellie and The Wave splits the difference between a mass extinction event and global warming. The new narrative fiction podcast centers around 30-something Ellie browsing through her recorded memories as an imminent virus destroys the global cloud.
You might be thinking, “Hey, the cloud is super important, and even a momentary disruption could send major economic sectors into a tailspin.” And you’re probably right. But Ellie and The Wave focuses much more on the human element of the title than The Wave part. Voiced expertly by Natalie Morales, Ellie is talking herself through a midlife crisis via videos she captured in her youth. Family and friends appear tangentially, and Ellie is the only character that directly addresses the listener. This makes the listening experience function like an autobiographical social media story retrospective, and it is every bit as hypnotic as scrolling through (insert-social-feed-of-choice). Granted, not every person has banter as clever as Ellie’s (and the writing here is really good), but the episode arc nails the aspect of storytelling that gets set aside in favor of droll BS about connecting people.
The threat of digital collapse is a secondary character, and I kind of liked that. It helps motivate the reason for Ellie reckoning with her past without becoming a tropey distraction, and the race to access every essential memory is far less compelling than the narrator’s journey of self reflection. Listeners are left to wonder how Ellie’s relationship with her brother dissipated, when/how her father passed away, and why her mother is so absent from her life. All of these holes and Ellie’s inner emotional turmoil provide so much substance for wonder that the globe-sweeping cloud erasure often falls by the wayside.
There is something about Ellie that feels really relatable. Her wit is snappy and it keeps the whole show feeling crisp, yet crucially without being too contrived. She is self-aware and seems to cop to playing up her own slightly exaggerated persona on the recordings that comprise the podcast. Maybe I’m riffing own my own ambivalent feelings of being adrift as I leave my 20s in the rearview, or perhaps Natalie Morales is just that charming. Most likely it’s a mélange of all things tied into one: the experience I bring as a listener of similar age, the well-crafted script, the seamlessly integrated clips with banging sound effects (props to this show for using a foley artist!). Verisimilitude is a rare feat in fictional podcasting, and something that Ellie and The Wave accomplishes in a very affecting way. If this is the way fictional podcasts are heading, I’m “here for it” as the kids say.
You might be thinking, “Hey, the cloud is super important, and even a momentary disruption could send major economic sectors into a tailspin.” And you’re probably right. But Ellie and The Wave focuses much more on the human element of the title than The Wave part. Voiced expertly by Natalie Morales, Ellie is talking herself through a midlife crisis via videos she captured in her youth. Family and friends appear tangentially, and Ellie is the only character that directly addresses the listener. This makes the listening experience function like an autobiographical social media story retrospective, and it is every bit as hypnotic as scrolling through (insert-social-feed-of-choice). Granted, not every person has banter as clever as Ellie’s (and the writing here is really good), but the episode arc nails the aspect of storytelling that gets set aside in favor of droll BS about connecting people.
The threat of digital collapse is a secondary character, and I kind of liked that. It helps motivate the reason for Ellie reckoning with her past without becoming a tropey distraction, and the race to access every essential memory is far less compelling than the narrator’s journey of self reflection. Listeners are left to wonder how Ellie’s relationship with her brother dissipated, when/how her father passed away, and why her mother is so absent from her life. All of these holes and Ellie’s inner emotional turmoil provide so much substance for wonder that the globe-sweeping cloud erasure often falls by the wayside.
There is something about Ellie that feels really relatable. Her wit is snappy and it keeps the whole show feeling crisp, yet crucially without being too contrived. She is self-aware and seems to cop to playing up her own slightly exaggerated persona on the recordings that comprise the podcast. Maybe I’m riffing own my own ambivalent feelings of being adrift as I leave my 20s in the rearview, or perhaps Natalie Morales is just that charming. Most likely it’s a mélange of all things tied into one: the experience I bring as a listener of similar age, the well-crafted script, the seamlessly integrated clips with banging sound effects (props to this show for using a foley artist!). Verisimilitude is a rare feat in fictional podcasting, and something that Ellie and The Wave accomplishes in a very affecting way. If this is the way fictional podcasts are heading, I’m “here for it” as the kids say.
From: Himalaya
Recommended for: 30 somethings (even if you think you have it all figured out), and also anyone who uses social media even semi-regularly
Drop Schedule: Seasonal:Weekly
Average episode length: 25 minutes
Rating: Gotta Have It
THE LIST
Wesley Morris is a national treasure, and I'm pumped that he'll be back with Jenna Wortham on the New York Times podcast Still Processing. But this episode features Morris at the helm of an episode that connects yacht rock to slavery. It might sound heavy, and no doubt that the topic is something to grapple with, but the delivery makes for one of the most captivating listening experiences I've had all year. It's part audio doc, part editorial, and all framed in such a way that makes it accessible to a wide audience.
Few would have predicted the ubiquity of smartphones even a decade ago, but now it is hard not to view these tiny portable computers as normative. Turns out that coffee, tractors, and the very first telephones once sat on a precipice of mass adoption, and society seemed more aggrieved than any proverbial hand wringing I've heard about the iPhone. This trio of tales from Throughline makes the future feel less scary, but also made me wonder how we can shake any complacency in the face of change that does have damaging long-term effects.
Sand. It's everywhere and used in so many things, but we are also rapidly running out of it.
HONORABLE MENTION
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