Fascinating that besides the unexpected bad weather in both storylines, the two main threats this season have been (at least for now) decidedly unsupernatural in origin, with our protagonists separately facing human traffickers and terrorists. I’m wondering exactly how all this will play out in the long run; the continued thread of the horror of sudden weather phenomena shines through though, and the show still maintains that specific White Vault feeling throughout. The scene in ep 2 where Dís struggles to get a new flight in the airport manages to be endlessly engrossing. I don’t know how KA Statz does it, but she manages to make scenes like that feel so authentic and simultaneously fraught and tense.

White Vault spoilers below the cut

I KNEW JASON WAS SUS BUT I DIDNT THINK HE WAS THAT BAD JESUS CHRIST

a list of things i like or notice about don't mind cruxmont, composed at 2 a.m. mid-listen:

(there r spoilers here a lil bit)

gwen's "a-a-and..."/"ah-ahhh..." verbal tic that shines through especially in tense situations or when She Is Lying Or Being Crafty

neal can be super abrasive and rash but also pulls back to gentle concern at a speed of 273627 mph if the situation calls for it and that's real endearing

the sound the sound the sound design. i've said it before and i'll say it again the sheer immersion travis can envelop kaitlyn's worlds in is so excellent

the inherent and ever present agony having of a loved one who is unwell. the crushing guilt of wanting an escape from the overwhelming pressure of being a support. the panic of not knowing if they are okay because you are tired and worn and want a second to yourself but you want them to be okay, just for a little. the weight of bearing another soul. oh man

basically every time neal and colin have a flashback interaction or he talks abt colin i have to take a minute man it hits close to home

that said. They Are Gamers, Your Honor.

the way gwen owns and pursues her goal while acknowledging that there is some level of selfishness to it!!! protags should be selfish!!! i love her for that that was a good part!

the intergenerational dynamic/bond neal and gwen form is so so super good. i love the dry humor they employ with each other in the situation. i love the earnest little "stay safe"s. do you understand. i LOVE them

another thing i mention literally every three to five business days but. dude daniel demerin is literally one of the best underground VAs i love literally every single one of his roles so much and this one is no different. neal my bestie the loml my good time boy

there is a rawness that ka statz employs when conveying things that are very harsh or tragic or intense, and that the voice actors carry to a tangible degree. idk how to describe it but like. okay im dipping into VAST and TWV a little bit here

gwen at the pond. poe in the escape pod. eva's "please find them. please find us." dude i feel those in my core. it's visceral. essay pending on that in particular later ig lol

there is such an air of hostility and suspicion over the whole village and i've been listening with a sense of mild discomfort the whole time which i think really is the intent. superb

also love that neal ends up tussling with children all the time that rocks. i esp like how they give up and indulge him like Man You're Annoying. that's great

I refuse to believe Graham Casner dies in that bunker. To date mans has survived:

All previous expedition and survivalist experience he had up to Fristed

Those weeks in the bunker

Demonic psychological warfare

Being dragged underwater

Actively hiding from forrmynður in an uncharted cave system for multiple days and not dying of starvation on Svalbard

Post-Fristed PTSD

Patagonia~

Cave-ins and murder

Fog From Hell

The helicopter ride BACK TO SVALBARD

He is a cockroach. You can’t kill him. They can try, but this bitchy Russian-Canadian man is impossible to kill. If anything he just gets more powerful. Personally I think he should be given a military shipment of explosives and be turned loose. He deserves it.

Listening to TWV: Goshawk without having heard Echoes: God this shit is slow and boring.

Relistening after having heard Echoes: GIRL YOU IN DANGER.gif

I'm thinking about the first arc of The White Vault again, and how my absolute FAVORITE aspect of the horror is so subtle you don't even realize it at first but once you do - even if nothing bad has kicked off yet - you're still anxious.

The story is told from the stuff left behind at the base! Their journals and notes and audio and video logs and the Documentarian doesn't know EXACTLY where they all fit together on the timeline. THEY'RE NOT THERE TO TELL ANY PART OF THEIR STORY OR CLARIFY ANYTHING.

It's the fact that you already KNOW none of them survive. You know that whatever happened was so bad that there were no survivors. And it lends a whole other aspect to the horror of listening to these people try to plan and survive what's going on while the entire time you KNOW it doesn't work. You know they fail. And that's horrifying.

They're already dead by the first episode! They're sitting there joking and drinking and complaining about the coffee while you're listening in knowing they're all dead and the only thing you can do is listen to their story slowly be pieced together to try to figure out HOW they died. You can't do anything to help! You know they don't make it home but they don't! Even when stuff starts going sideways and there's already a body count and they're still trying desperately to survive and you have to sit there with the knowledge that they don't succeed.

The absolute horror that went through me when I realized in like the first or second episode, when nothing was actually going on yet, that they all die because I realized how I was accessing their story? That's a feeling I wish I could replicate. If I could wipe my memory of this podcast JUST to relisten to this first arc blind again I absolutely would.

It's phenomenal. (I may have some complaints about how the story continued past this point but this first arc will keep this as one of my favorite horror podcasts forever.)

season 1&2: man, I can kinda still understand Rosa- maybe I should look into a spanglish podcast so I can brush up on my spanish :) season 3: 

NOOO LEAVE THEM ALONE THEY JUST GOT MARRIED 😭😭😭

And on another note I'm so pleased w house of leaves bc it reminds me enormously of the white vault :]

(heavy spoilers for twv and a bit for hol under readmore i just wanna ramble)

I know in twv there is technically a monster(s) inhabiting Oupost Fristed and Base Camp Piedra, but the place itself is also alive and actively hostile. It's not only the Forrmynður who dislike the presence of others in the site, the land itself is a willing participant. Some people might say that the infinite storm and never ending night are product of the Guardians but as I have always understood it, the Site is very much its own organism and reacts to the presence of others accordingly, the Guardians acting like an immune system protecting it against infestations and infections. The Site doesn't warp around and shift and evolve like the house does, it's not plastic in that sense, but it does have the ability to detect and proccess the stimuli that inhabitance creates and it reacts accordingly, same way the house does: while the Family roams somewhat safely among the Guardians, strangers are identified as harmful individuals, alien to the Site itself. The house reacts to its human inhabitants, but not to the family's pets. It, the place, has the capacity to take actions for specific situations based on individuals, granting it consciousness or at the very least awareness. There's a vague, intangible nervous system, same way there is a musculoskeletal system and a respiratory system and a circulatory system and a digestive system. The place itself is an organism (maybe it wouldn't be fitting to call it an animal) and it acts as such. And God, that is just so wonderful and horrifying. The land hates you, wants you gone, wishes you harm and makes the active effort to wound you. I find few things more terror inducing than that. You can't run from the monster, there is no safe room or dark closet you can hide in, crawling under the bed is useless; at every single second your presence is known to this thing that is both nowhere and everywhere, and until you get out of there your life is in immediate danger, constantly, no matter what you do. So pray it allows you to leave.

I haven't come to terms with what happened to Graham yet. I'm sitting here like

Horrifying to have such human and intentionally cruel and sadistic villains this season. Despite the eldritch beings of the last 5 seasons being cognizant and fucked up enough to demand sacrifices, there was something comforting about their alien lack of understanding about the depths of the harm they were causing. Listening to Es (and Lewis) take pleasure in torturing Jean and toying with Iffy, it’s truly nauseating in how intentional the cruelty is. They’re not even ruthless efficient pragmatists, they’re barely capable hunters, they’re doing it this way because they want to.

THIS HURTS ME. The situation is so familiar to Graham that it feels to him like that first loss of Karina being dragged out the door all over again. I’m sure he started to make that connection as soon as Josefa started repeating the “When you see it, it sees you” chant.

Also oh Josefa I’m SO sorry I saw this coming for her but OW.

Is the documentarian going to condemn Casner to death and take over the family business, seduced by the allure of the Forrmynður, or has she snuck in explosives on her person and is playing the long con and going to enter the white vault herself and destroy the sites from the heart of it?

Love how Graham Casner refers to everyone from the Svalbard team by their first name apart from Walter.

And this continues even after death when the creatures imitate them. He still likes that one slightly less.

Feeling so fine right now :) <- is not fine