Comments on: Episode 135: Harlan’s Wake by John Mierau

By: graham pollard

graham pollard — Thu, 08 Nov 2012 15:14:46 +0000

Thanks
Dunesteef

By: Andy D

Andy D — Thu, 18 Oct 2012 20:00:10 +0000

I should probably let the episode finish before I comment… Oh well.
I think that Tom changed when he saw that the alien hadn’t changed Harlan at all.
Like, he had been raised with the belief that the aliens took a person over and changed everything about them, but then he saw a real alien revive his dad, and his dad was just the same ugly person he had always been, and so what else about these aliens am I wrong about?
Also maybe a little bit of the contrast between this alien who was kind, and his dad who was a real monster.

By: Andy D

Andy D — Thu, 18 Oct 2012 19:16:58 +0000

I really liked this story.
As soon as I heard Michael I was thinking “Boy that sounds a lot like Tom Merritt…” and I was right. You got some TWIT in my Dunesteef. And it is awesome.

I heard this story once before, but it was the original ending where he makes peace with his father.
I like the idea that his dad could be changed by his (near?) death experience, but really this ending was just as good because the important thing wasn’t that his dad grow out of his hate, but that he loved his son. And if he had come back changed, it would have been a more painful thing when Michael took his life force back.

By: Pirvonen

Pirvonen — Sun, 14 Oct 2012 17:51:33 +0000

I loved, loved, loved the narrator’s tone. The quiet, withdrawn style fits the character of the protag so perfectly!

I didn’t love the production values quite that much. At times the production values overrode the story; I had to concentrate to comprehend the words from under the banjos and effects. Apart from that, the pacing, the balance, the clarity of different voices was beautiful.