Thursday morning and I was all set to file this review, when something popped up on my podcast feed. The first episode of season two of Serial. And suddenly, everything went haywire. Serial’s server immediately crashed (the last series had around 70 million listeners), Twitter went doolally, Facebook lost its chump… and I spent the better part of three hours getting an “episode unavailable” message on my phone.
After 90 minutes, I accessed the episode via the website. And… I liked it. The subject matter is much less immediate (for me, anyway), but the beautiful storytelling drew me further and further in, until by the end of the episode, I was, if not utterly hooked, definitely interested. Also, Sarah Koenig’s throw-forward to the next episode was brilliant. A short clip of her on the phone, then she comments: “That’s me! Calling the Taliban!” How can we resist?
Anyway. Season 2 concerns Bowe Bergdahl, a US soldier based in Afghanistan who, in 2009, walked off camp into Taliban territory and was captured. He was handed back in 2014 in exchange for five Taliban members held at Guantánamo, and is now being charged with desertion by the US military. To those of us who grew up with news of hostages such as Terry Waite and John McCarthy, this is not a promising tale. Too big, too far away from ordinary life. Plus, it’s always hard to find sympathy for someone in a position of power, and US soldiers are not the little guys when it comes to war. For the casual podcast lover, B’s story is nowhere near as appealing as Serial 1.
Still, there are similarities. The “case” was brought to Koenig by someone who had amassed a lot of evidence already: writer and film producer Mark Boal, who recorded 25 hours of phone calls with Bergdahl (Bergdahl won’t talk to any press, including Koenig). It’s about a young man who is imprisoned and how he ended up being so. We hear his side of the story through phone calls. You need a map to understand what’s going on (the website provides a swooshy one).
Mostly, though, there is Koenig and the Serial team, meticulous story builders who really know how to get our attention. So many clever techniques! Koenig’s metaphors (she relates the tale to a child’s storybook). How she puts herself in and out of the action. The vivid descriptive details. The questions she asks to get those details. The non-hero aspects of the central character (I found myself shouting: “You tit!” at Bergdahl on more than one occasion). The stabbing chords of the piano theme, this time breaking out into a vaguely Last Post brass tune. Plus – and I know you were worrying – “MailKimp” is still present and correct. Now, get on with your life until next Thursday.
There are, of course, other auditory delights out there. Why not listen to them as you keep refreshing your podcast feed? Shelagh Fogarty is one. With 5Live’s daytime offering becoming increasingly snoozeworthy, I often find myself flipping to LBC. News and shouty phone-ins are fun when you’re in the right mood. And even when you’re not, Nick Ferrari, James O’Brien and Shelagh Fogarty are the type of presenters to make you enjoy yourself, despite yourself.
On Fogarty’s show last week, Not Going Home looked at what happens when an old person is discharged from a stay in hospital. It isn’t always nice. The biggest problem, as many practitioners mentioned, is capacity. There aren’t enough beds in care homes, there aren’t enough carers to pop in to see someone every day. One doctor said that about 25% of patients admitted to his acute ward wouldn’t be in there if they’d had the proper help in the weeks before their admittance.
And then sometimes a patient is taken home, only to be returned back to hospital. With one, the ambulance worker couldn’t get him in the door. The patient was a hoarder and his stuff was piled everywhere in his flat. It wasn’t safe to leave him. Touching stuff, and a lot closer to home than a wayward Team America soldier in Afghanistan.
