In a system that is largely run by private business it was probably inevitable that sooner or later the profit-before-all fake-it-till-you-make-it narcissism of many businesses considered successful today would finally also hit American health care. As ever, while rich people play at saving the world, the ordinary among us are the ones who pay the price in our lives.
Mark pays a heavy price for his cowardice, his inability to face up to reality and do the mature, adult thing in a difficult and tense situation. I feel that Mark might be paying this price for the rest of his life, but Meredith pays a heavier price for her involvement with Mark.
The unpretentious, no frills way that Debbie presents us with the series of events, and their ultimate effect on her life, with very few interuptions is a masterclass in letting a story tell itself, and should be considered gold standard for true crime podcasting everywhere.
Moore, with her highly unique experience is slowly building a podcast which is valuble in the true crime field, it deepens our understanding of the innocents effected by brutal crimes, the ones that all our storytelling forms, news, films, books have neglected. For those who truly seek to understand the most devient crimes, understanding not just what led up to them, but also there half life is equally important, and Moore does so well in giving a voice, to those who had previously been voiceless.
The fact that behind the fandom, obsessiveness and excitement that true crime can illicit in it's follower there is terrible pain. Not a pain that is showey and ostentacious, but the pain so many people carry with them every day, which becomes a constant companion and eventually is just part of you. It is a reminder of how things happen to people, and the choices that impact us the most are often the ones other people make, sometimes far, far away. Their ripples are sent out throughout the world, but always hit the heart.
Once you've been consuming true crime for a while things can get, well, a bit boring. It is possible to hear the same cases again, and again, all researched from the same Wikipedia article, and as humans we crave novelty. However as a genre which has to do more than any other in terms of ethical naval gazing the search for novelty is something that has to be finely and carefully balanced with what is both legal and moral. It is this difficult high wire act where Unravelled is placing itself.
I think Thunderbay is a testament to Ryan McCann's, persistent yet somehow still gentle focus on this issue, and for pulling back from the true crime trope of focus on individuals, and looking at the bigger picture of how crime intersects with literally everything else. As humans we are messy, and complex and unpredictable, and our desire to want crime wrapped up neatly and quickly is probably a reflection of the fact crime gives us a sense of a lack of control.
Finishing the podcast felt to me like the time me and my wee brother, who is only eighteen months younger than me, both got on a see-saw, but as we were the same weight, it didn't move at all. No seeing, no sawing, just sitting there awkwardly in the middle, with our feet dangling off the ground, waiting for a grown-up to come along and help.
The Shrink Next Door is fascinating, horrifying and baffling all in one, but mostly it feels a little incomplete, and that's not just to do with the lack of bodies.
The road to hell is paved with good intention, and ego's that need the propping up of "doing good."
