Not Nearly Funny as It Thinks It Is
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“And also trivializes the extent that executives and others sexually harassed talent in the 90s and the 00s. At the end, one of the "hosts" explains why they named their detective agency "Arden". The explanation makes no sense, but their conclusion is that Everything is Connected. The writers apparently think this means that everything can be included in their hour long episodes.
It is hard to be hateful because the acting and production are good. Perhaps the characterization of Brenda and Bea are is a little simplistic, and the fact that 75% of the humor is about the leads, one the hardened cop who needs an answer and the reporter looking for a big break (Podcast Style!), and the awfully Big Daddy sponsor of said podcast Andy Wheyface (white face!?!). That is tiresome and there is just too much including the dumb parody ads like (seriously) one for "Oral Emojis".
It is amusing enough until the 11th episode when it is revealed there is True Crime that the show is about. Distantly but just enough the disappearance of Julia Capsom is ultimately related to a Harvey Weinstein-like director's attempted sexual assault of the teenage starlet. Trivializing because the daughter of an established star married to a rich and powerful lawyer was not the target of Weinstein and his like, but more ordinarily actresses who had climbed a rung or two up in Hollywood and had much more to lose.
Their probably can be a silly even funny podcast about Me too, but we are meant to take Julia and Ralph's story as a tragedy and her reaction to her predicament as sad. At the mushy core, there is a meet cute and a story about what Ralph's dad said to his mom at their meet cute. (By the way Mrs Montgomery is a visa overstayer from the 1980s. This show cannot go an episode without including some talking point.) Instead getting annoyed about the lack of substance in the podcast, this illustrates the Arden point: everything is connected, so anything can be brought up.
It is not just tonal shifts between episodes and within each episode (somehow the couple are both the most saintly teenagers ever and are thought so by friends) but how the whole podcast lives in am imaginary 50s style era of plot points, motivations and even slang and the jokey voices of the larger casts. Julia is called a "debutante" by her friend and Ralph (who has a doomed affair with a Ralph?) is called a "science whiz". I would not be surprised if the car with the torso was a Malibu. It seems the writers are a bit self-aware of this, but it reinforces what the podcast is really about. It is not a parody, not a mystery, but a cozy form of of true crime fanfic that happens to include Me-too as a plot point. To use a different line from the podcast, "It was made in 2006, so it was about 9-11." I think Arden is really about 9/11 and I hope this is addressed by the second season.”Read full review »
RobCrowe via Apple Podcasts ·
United States of America ·
06/03/24
More reviews of Arden
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“Sometime a little much but a good time.”
walterbees via Apple Podcasts ·
United States of America ·
02/12/19
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“Funny, heartbreaking, and thought provoking at the same time! Once I started, I couldn’t stop. Can’t wait for s2!!!”
viva__america via Apple Podcasts ·
United States of America ·
01/21/19
“It’s so good!!! I’m in love!!!”
SpookedListener via Apple Podcasts ·
Great Britain ·
10/26/18
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