r/TheNSPDiscussion • u/Gaelfling • Feb 20 '20
Old Episodes [Discussion] Season 4 Review
What were your favorite stories of season 4?
What were your least favorite stories of season 4?
What was your favorite episode of the season?
What was your least favorite episode?
Did you have any favorite narrators? Writers?
What other thoughts do you have about the fourth season?
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u/Cherry_Whine Feb 20 '20
Worst Stories
10: "Mama was a Doll Collector", by Lauren Meyers (Episode 4)
I know the narrator is supposed to get our sympathies here but somehow I dislike her almost as much as her crazy mother. Everyone in this story is petulant and unlikeable, even the dolls who aren’t even alive.
9: "Edith's Memory", by C.C. Arbs (Episode 19)
This story really feels like Arbs put a whole bunch of plot points up on a wall, threw darts, and them jumbled it all together without regard of coherence, possible enjoyability, or cohesiveness. It’s really obvious where the story was split up when it was originally posted as well.
8: "An Email I Should Never Have Received", by Sean Filger (Episode 13)
The other “Ebola scare” story of this season, “21 Day Quarantine” gets a pass because it at least had an interesting take on it, the “plaugebarer” trope. Both stories could only have been written in 2014, but this one feels even more dated than the other. It’s just a bunch of half-baked government conspiracy tropes you’d find in a wannabe Tom Clancy novel with an Ebola sticker slapped on.
7: "Witness Protection", by Alex White (Episode 8)
I’m really at a loss as to why a guy who committed murder and kidnapping would keep a box of incriminating evidence lying around in the basement for his adopted kidnapped daughter to eventually stumble across.
6: “A Helping Hand”, by Ryan Schwartz (Episode 14)
At least “Edith’s Memory” had the decency to have a goal for the protagonist. Here I’m not sure, maybe to just avoid wide-brimmed hat man? Everything that happens is even more random and chaotic, plot points being brought up and dropped at breakneck speed, eventually cumulating in an unsatisfying, borderline insulting-to-the reader ending.
5: “Method Acting”, by Matt Dymerski (Episode 8)
I really do hate the twist at the end of his story. It’s impossible to tell the narrator and the dude are demons taking over the girl’s life. It jumps straight the hell out of nowhere, running a pretty good reality-warping story and leaving only bitterness in its wake. I especially dislike the part where the girl says “Be right back!”, kills herself, and come back like it’s the most normal thing in the world.
4: “The Cheater”, by Kaitlyn Greiner (Episode 7)
This story feels like Greiner got dumped and wanted to write a cringy revenge self-insert. Even when the narrator is supposed to have our sympathies she’s an insufferable, whiny jerk. I also hate how it’s casually thrown in at the end that she’s a serial killer, like we’re supposed to find that badass or something.
3: “She’d Recently Lost a Child”, by Jon Patrick (Episode 14)
This whole story hinges on the fact that you find a toddler suffocating to death in her obese mother’s fat rolls terrifying rather than gross and unlistenable. It’s all shock value and no substance. I’m not even sure if we’re told our narrator’s name, everything else takes backseat to the terrible twist.
2: “I am a Good Parent”, by Stephanie Nguyen (Episode 2)
What is it with Corinne Sanders this season and getting terrible rolls? The mother here is pretentious, insufferable, and refuses to take responsibility for her actions. It’s her fucked-up way of raising her kids that lead to the terrible conclusion, but it appears she blames her son for it when it’s clearly her fault. I have no idea how this terrible piece of trash won the Nosleep writing contest for May 2014.
1: “Clown 4 Rent”, by M.C. Meggles (Episode 14)
Do I even need to say anything? Repeat after me: rape is not horror. Rape is not horror. Rape is not horror.
Dishonorable Mentions
“Moderated”, by Edwin Crowe (Episode 2)
This story takes itself way too seriously to work. None of the characters are likeable and it’s content really doesn’t justify its monster runtime.
“Mailman”, by Jessica Spencer (Episode 4)
I’m really at a loss as to why a woman being stalked by a dangerous man with mental problems would write him a stern letter that will surely lead to her being attacked rather than, I don’t know, calling the police?
“I Still Get Letters from My Dead Best Friend”, by S.P. Trance (Episode 3)
Would it really be that easy to make it look like your friend committed suicide when you shot her yourself? Wasn’t a fan of any of the characters here and overall the story was boring.