(SPOILERS) long review
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“This may sound a little choppy cause I didn’t want this to be super long lol sorry.
Pros: the show was interesting in the beginning and kept me coming back. I think the acting was pretty good despite the writing. Like other’s have pointed out, Tessa’s character is unlikeable, but I don’t think that’s a dealbreaker. Like I said, the writing often makes me cringe, and not in the unnerving way they’re going for (see: Tessa calling Oscar a simp and the entirety of ep 7).
Ep 7 is where it really fell off for me. The writing felt unrealistic, and I feel like the characters talked about sexual abuse for a long time for no real reason. The abuse of the drill sergeant serves no purpose other than to make you feel sorry for her and feel less bad for her abuser when he’s murdered – same goes for Tessa’s dad being abused by (and later killing) his mother. They made the corporal a cartoon villain to justify his death and the drill sergeant and Tessa’s affair. This made his death not at all a surprise and way less exciting. The show could’ve had a meaningful conversation about SA in the military, but instead used it as a tool to show how disturbing they can make their show. It doesn’t feel genuine and only serves to potentially trigger and alienate part of their audience. I understand they have a content warning at the beginning of every ep, but that doesn’t mean I am prepared to (or that I want to) listen to characters talk about rape for 10 minutes and do nothing to push the plot forward. They could’ve used that time to make anything interesting happen or to tie up loose ends in the plot. The same goes for a lot of cringy conversation that could’ve been cut out.
Speaking of, several things don’t add up for me. For example: Tessa’s dad managed to go back and forth to the base to raid Tessa’s bunk and kidnap several recruits, and no one saw him? We only hear of one missing recruit and don’t hear about the others until the last ep, so when did that happen? The ending feels rushed. I wish they would’ve made me suspicious of Tessa’s dad longer, other than making him say something suspicious and then revealing “it was him all along!” five minutes later. I get they only had 8 episodes, but like I said they could’ve cut out a lot of fluffy dialogue and smaller plot lines. The theme of “the military celebrates you for killing” is so obvious it comes off as preachy and hits you over the head like a brick in the final ep (and I don’t even like the military). Overall, it seems they were too focused on making the most disturbing show they could just to say “military mean” instead of a well-rounded story.”
Darcy is awesome! via Apple Podcasts ·
United States of America ·
12/14/20
More reviews of Ghost Tape
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“The acting is good. But the story isn’t strong enough to keep me listening. After two episodes I don’t really know what’s going on, which is fine, but from what I have heard so far I also don’t care. Shame”
Bubbles2236 via Apple Podcasts ·
Great Britain ·
11/19/20
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“I wasn’t annoyed by the military inaccuracies that bothered so many others. I suppose if I had knowledge of military ranks it would bug me, but I didn’t notice.
The story was interesting enough to keep me listening. But the final episode cuts off mid-sentence. SO DISAPPOINTING! Maybe it was the...”Read full review »
Jeez33 via Apple Podcasts ·
United States of America ·
01/01/21
“QCode has great story writers and excellent sound design; their podcasts are enerally the best examples of what I want most in the modern day embodiment of how radio cereals started.
However, this show is filled with military inaccuracies. Some of the terms, language and general conceptions are...”Read full review »
atxvan via Apple Podcasts ·
United States of America ·
11/29/20
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