This Week in Podcasts is back! This Week in Podcasts is a weekly roundup of mini-reviews of all of the podcasts I’ve listened to in a week. If you see any podcasts that you feel are missing from my list, there’s a good chance I haven’t listened to the show yet! Feel free to give me recommendations–as well as any feedback or discussion!–in the comments below, in my asks on tumblr, or on twitter.
This week, I updated my list of podcast subscriptions, wrote a review for the play table reading podcast At the Table, and wrote about why you should be listening to science fiction audio drama cornerstone Wolf 359. This was also a very good (if sparse) week for podcasts with no pitfalls to discuss.
Highlights
Join the Party
“17. Pool Party VI”
When I wrote my First Impressions review of Join the Party, I worried it wouldn’t be able to hit the emotional depth I expected from an actual play podcasts. This week’s episode easily proved me wrong, and I’m so glad it did. By now, the listener has had time to love these characters and see how their different personalities make them clash while still trying to achieve the same goal. “17. Pool Party VI” pushes that a step further and feels like the first big jump into more intense story moments to come.
Wonderful!
“Ep. 17: Wake Me Up Inside!!”
Like The Adventure Zone or What’s the Frequency, I will likely never stop talking about why Wonderful! is so great. This episode didn’t discuss any “wonderful” things I was especially drawn to; instead, the episode just had an especially nice cadence, more jokes that made me laugh out loud, and that lovely feeling of sincerity and levity one can always except from this show.
ars PARADOXICA
“28: Adversary”
An episode featuring Anthony Partridge is always a delight, and hearing him discover video games was as hilarious as it was depressing. As always, the writing, production, and acting in this episode were flawless. I sometimes wonder if the quality of ars PARADOXICA has made me take it for granted, but the quality even with the simplicity of this episode t made me remember exactly why I consider ars PARADOXICA one of the most important audio dramas in the industry.
This Week’s Ratings
Sunday, 12/31/18
- 2298, “ENTRY ONE / TERMS & CONDITIONS”: B
- The Cryptid Keeper, “Episode 40- Listener Stories!”: C+
Monday, 1/1/18
- Potterless, “Ep. 32 – Order of the Phoenix Ch. 25-27 w/ Eric Silver”: B
Tuesday, 1/2/18
- Beautiful Stories from Anonymous People, “93.5 Bonus: Beautiful Resolutions”: C+
- Join the Party, “17. Pool Party VI”: B+
- Greater Boston, “Mini-Episode: Assistant 2”: B
Wednesday, 1/3/18
- Song Exploder, “The Roots – It Ain’t Fair (feat. Bilal)”: B
- Wonderful!, “Ep. 17: Wake Me Up Inside!!”: B+
- Unmapped, “Top 3 Moments of 2017 [Bonus]”: B-
- Spirits, “Episode 58: Your Urban Legends V”: B
- ars PARADOXICA, “28: Adversary”: B+
- Join the Party, “Afterparty: Pool Party VI”: B-
Thursday, 11/4/17
- Unplaced, “Chapter Eight: Vindication”: B
- The Amelia Project, “Nathaniel McBride”: B
- The Adventure Zone, “Setup – The Adventure Zone: Amnesty”: B-
Friday, 11/5/17
- Nothing of note
Saturday, 11/6/17
- 2298, “ENTRY TWO / GUIDING HAND”: B-
- It Makes a Sound, “The Clubhouse”: B
Wil Williams Writes 
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