Popular Reviews of The Oyster

This has quickly has become one of my favorite podcasts to date. The story is heavy and intense, dealing with some signifcant existential themes and intense content. What is the purpose of pain? What does healing look like? How do we grieve? Who bears the blame? What does collective and personal trauma look like? It does not shy away from really challenging ideas, weaving in themes surrounding systemic inequalities in multiple areas and shining a light on the dangers of the status quo. It builds up over the course of the first few episodes, establishing the world and the initial conflicts. As The Oyster is introduced, I think it takes a sharp turn into existential horror and dread. The sound design is very similar to Darkest Night, giving this a familiar feel, but generally worked well to establish action, scene changes, flashbacks, etc. I found the characters to be complex and murky throughout, which made for a more unsettling listening experience. No one is perfect and everyone has their flaws--some more than others. The concepts presented and the story development is really intriguing, keeping me hooked throughout.

This was a very heavy but incredibly good listen. Usually with dystopias I find myself thinking that this could never happen to me. But honestly I'm not so sure with the Oyster. I loved the concepts we were introduced to and how they were looked at from both sides. I loved the critique of society too and the stories that were told of the aftermath (keeping it vague not to give spoilers). I also loved the different family relationships. As for the voice acting and soundscaping, I personally thought it was phenomenal. It's almost dreamlike at times and I would often think that it was incredibly cool that the sad story that was being talked about and the calm atmosphere were both telling a story. The only thing I couldn't quite understand was the fast and cheesy romance though I did like the progression and conclusion of it a lot. Overall a fantastic listen!

Psychedelic thriller that takes full advantage of audio as a medium by the makers of Darkest Night. Enjoyed the whole thing

Full disclosure, I didn't get through the first episode. Maybe I'll try again at some point. The voice acting was over dramatic. It was borderline too much. Like they thought "since they can't see me, I gotta give em a triple dose of voice". There were weird sounds for no reason in some places that turned me off.At one point, it went into a weird, kind of religious, lsd trip of a monologue that made me cringe while listening. I turned it off at that point.Maybe I haven't given it an entirely fair shake. I may go back and see if I can get through that unpleasant monologue. It's always possible that it was actually some lsd trip or something, since I never actually made it through it. But it was really a turn off, and it was not short, so we will see.

This is such an intense experience, listening to this podcast. Profound beauty, profound desperation, yet a real sense of what it means to be human to love life and to live one another. This podcast defies any easy categorization as to what genre it actually is. Sci-fi? Philosophical? Romantic? Spiritual? Horror in that at is a times deeply scary. Psychological?Overall it is deeply sensual, the music perfect, the three D sound effect bringing both enough adrenaline but also enough warmth to bring you in real close. Such great company during these long Covid evenings

Really ended up falling short. Sometimes it was even cheesy.

Interesting concept.

The beginning is very enticing however I felt like the plot fell flat quickly. The ending was definitely forgettable

This story gets dark (possibly the most bleak audiodrama I've listened to), with discussions of grief, self-harm (including suicide), and trauma (and depictions of the violence that lead to them); the first season's ending is grim despite the unearned glimmer of optimism displayed by the protagonist. The voices (all or mostly professional actors) are pleasant to listen to. The story addresses themes of systemic injustices, such as eugenics and racism, including in medicine. The main character's struggles with her job and desperation for connection are interesting. The society-forbidden romance is fine; the intensity of the romance increases a bit too fast for my taste, but at least the love interest has somewhat of a personality/inner conflict. The podcast tries to blend in the ads by making them in-universe, which is hit-or-miss at points.

clearly, this was meant to have another season, which no longer came. as it stands, it is miserable.

3.5 stars. worth listening to but not something that will stay with me. to me, the relationship between characters seemed underdeveloped, whish is why the dramatics of it didn't touch me in the slightest. the premice is gripping and yet wears you out in the boring kind of way. maybe I just wasn't in the right state of mind when listening to it or maybe it's just average

Fantastic acting and soundscape but has a weak plot, characters, and world building. Also has an ending you can see a mile away that made it hard to listen to. All that said, I was genuinely touched by the last episode and it had an emotional element that was handled very well.

Easy to get lost in

Top-tier voice cast and production set up an interesting premise where Earth’s inhabitants must live underground to survive climate catastrophe. Set two years since the populous went below we follow neuroscientist Ori who is struggling with her conscience and trauma from "the sorting" while overseeing The Oyster project. First off, in this audio drama's favour we have Giancarlo Esposito and Keith David whose deep butter-smooth voices charm the ears off any listener no matter how sinister their role. Logan Brown, as Ori, brings a poetic flavour to an emotive yet believable vocal performance, and I would say she elevates the writing. As a character, Ori is someone with good intentions but her actions I found questionable reflecting how continually self-centered she was. That could make for a good character arc but she is further undone as is the story by the injection of a romance that is rushed to an unearned climax. It becomes increasingly centred in the second half of the story and turns our protagonist from hopeful but hardened hero into a love-sick stereotype. The world-building despite great sound design, regular exposition through character flashbacks, and hit or miss commentary and ads from an inworld podcast is lacking in the rush to hammer home its themes and far from subtle metaphor. The cast is good and the social commentary hits but the story itself far less so.

Very practical premise. Loved the dichotomy between the oyster and love.