This is my second time trying to get into WTNV. The newest reviews will be displayed on top.
(19/07/2025)
This episode was much more fun than the previous one! The History Week segments in particular were really cool and added interest to the episode's structure.
I always love Cecil's jabs at Desert Bluffs, but this time I even learned a new expression - a grudge match. Genuinely thought this was a Night Vale thing at first - like, an actual grudge-holding competition, which would make perfect sense in the context of Night Vale/Desert Bluffs rivalry - but nope, it's an expression that simply means a match between long-time rivals. #justnonnativeenglishspeakerthings
I also loved the bit with The Night Vale Harbor. Hilarious AND frighteningly relatable because this is exactly how our government handles their fuckups (looks like it's not just ours though, and all governments are the same).
(19/07/2025)
I'm afraid I don't have much to say about this episode :( It felt a little boring to me personally, and I didn't retain much from it. However, the drawbridge debacle, which I did enjoy, was Hilarious and Accurate.
I also feel like the name Steve Carlsberg rings a bell? Is he a recurring character in WTNV? I honestly can't tell if I actually remember him from Night Vale or if it's just because of the Carlsberg beer... Time will tell, I guess.
P.S. Imagining whatever news we want sounds awesome! This just in, all dictators are dead and all wars are over!
(19/07/2025)
I accidentally missed this episode because it wasn't on the official Youtube playlist (possibly region-blocked for some reason?) and I went straight to episode 6 without even realizing it! So I listened to this only after eps 6 and 7.
I really liked this episode! It was quite existential, with Cecil exploring the possibility that he may be the only real person in the world and others are just a figment of his imagination. We also see Cecil disrupt the status quo for the second time in five episodes (the first being Station Management). I like these moments of nonconformity from him! I also like any and all allusions to Cecil's existence outside the radio station. He was sitting outside looking at the moon! He went to ask Carlos about it! He's not just a nebulous presence behind the mic!
(02/07/2025)
The pterodactyls mostly attacked women with glasses? *chuckles* I'm in danger.
The handball players popping their heads into the portal reminded me of The Jaunt by Stephen King where a kid did a similar thing and also came back dramatically changed. This is hardly a new idea, but it's universally scary, I think.
As I'm pretty much a new listener with barely any knowledge of Night Vale, I am Intrigued by the dog park. Will we learn more about the mysterious happenings there this season? I sure hope so! Also, the "interview" with the hooded figure?? It was right there, in the studio?? So exciting!
I'm also quite intrigued by Radon Canyon. It sounded like they were setting the scene for a Radon Canyon-specific storyline. Looking forward to that!
(26/06/2025)
This is the first episode that felt completely new to me (with the previous two eps I remembered tiny bits and/or characters). It started out a little boring, in my opinion, but it delivered at the end!
My favorite part of the episode was the sound design. Episodes 1 and 2 didn't really have the kind of action that would require many sound effects, but this one did and it was so much fun to listen to! The end of the episode and everything leading up to Station Management coming out of their office was pretty spooky. We also get to hear Cecil without his radio host persona, so to say. The slight tremble of his voice when he talks about the letter writing campaign and then the full-blown fear when the Station Management comes out... Delicious.
My other favorite thing was Cecil's dramatic reaction to Carlos having his hair cut. His beautiful, beautiful hair! Cut! Such depravity!
(22/06/2025)
Yayyyy it's the Glow Cloud!!! Welcome back, icon!
Honestly, the way everyone handled the Glow Cloud is exactly how people would handle (or are handling, really) the slow onset of the apocalypse. It's probably nothing. Everything is fine. We'll just build an awning over the field to protect the players from the animal corpses dropping from the sky. It's fine, really.
Besides the Glow Cloud, this episode had: sadly, no Carlos; post office mention (as a physical mail girlie, I get excited by that); the hovering cat, whom I *think* I remember from my first foray into Night Vale years ago; and some truth bombs/iconic quotes dropped by Cecil.
"The desert seems vast, even endless, and yet scientists tell us that somewhere, even now, there is snow." - this one goes so hard. A very poetic way of saying there are things in the world that are different from what you've always known, or that you shouldn't be too fixated on your current circumstances because things that are beyond them still exist. This second interpretation pairs quite nicely with the section near the end, right before the list of things.
"No pet is perfect. It becomes perfect when you learn to accept it for what it is."
"If you see something, say nothing, and drink to forget." - this one was my favorite quote back in the day, I'm kinda surprised it's said so early into the podcast.
"Sometimes you go through things that seem huge at the time, like a mysterious Glowing Cloud devouring your entire community. While they are happening, they feel like the only thing that matters, and you can hardly imagine that there’s a world out there that might have anything else going on. And then the GlowCloud moves on, and you move on, and the event is behind you. And you may find, as time passes, that you remember it less and less. Or absolutely not at all, in my case. And you are left with nothing but a powerful wonder at the fleeting nature of even the most important moments in life, and the faint but pretty smell of vanilla." - this is the paragraph that, I think, forms an interesting pair with the opening line of the episode. Both of these quotes, each in its own way, reference the fact that there are things beyond your present experiences. They even bookend this episode, almost! Pretty cool.
(12/06/2025)
My best friend was the one who was into Night Vale back in the day. I did try to listen to it around 2014, but I'm not great with the audio medium, so it never really stuck, though I loved the pod's weird fiction vibes. I think I listened to about ten episodes before I gave up. I think this club is the perfect means for me to try and get into it again!
My attention span isn't much better than it used to be. I checked the transcript immediately after listening to the episode only to discover a whole paragraph that I couldn't remember because I apparently zoned out (it was the one about the jet disrupting the practice)! Thank god for transcripts.
I think it was a good pilot episode. We get our first taste of Night Vale weirdness and are introduced to Carlos and Old Woman Josie and the Night Vale/Desert Bluffs rivalry. I loved the line that Carlos had "teeth like a military cemetery" - what a metaphor!
this layout was made by small cypress for the 32bitcafe spring '25 tea party