Current Events > The Black Tapes podcast is the worst ending I've ever seen. *spoilers*

(+) Yeah! (+)

Not sure how many people will care about a small fiction podcast, but holy shit, that was awful and I want to vent. Even GoT did a better job. The quick summary is that a radio journalist named Alex Reagan starts doing a story on Richard Strand, a guy who more-or-less professionally debunks stories of the supernatural. The plot kicks off when she discovers the unsolved cases he keeps in black VHS cases: the Black Tapes. It eventually evolves into an extremely complicated plotline about an ancient religious order who believes it can bring on the apocalypse by opening a gateway to hell using music, math, and the Large Hadron Collider. There's even more shit I barely remember, it's really dense and kind of convoluted.

The last episode plays out like a normal episode. Alex and Strand are planning to go to Geneva, but they're warned that it's a trap because the cult needs Strand in some way to bring about the apocalypse. Out of fucking nowhere, Alex's boss asks her if she's going on this trip for journalistic purposes or because she's in love with Strand. In 30 or so episodes, there'd only been one tiny hint that they were into each other. In fact, Strand's motivation for a large portion of the series was finding his wife who he still loved. Which, btw, he got a call saying that the cult was holding her hostage to make sure he comes to Geneva. Sure, that's fine.

But then the ending. Holy shit, the ending. The night before they're supposed to go to Geneva, Alex says that they might not want to go because it's an obvious trap. Strand says that he's not sure he can live without knowing the truth. Standard stuff. But then Alex says that while he has two tickets to Geneva, she bought two to [redacted location] and they could just fuck off and leave it all behind. Their jobs, their search for answers, everything. And then it ends. And that's it. So you just kind of assume they did indeed fuck off and leave it all behind.

Holy shit, I'm mad I listened to that bullshit. If I never hear another ad for Bombas socks, I'll die happy.

Man I think I remember listening to the first few episodes many years ago. It sounds familiar at least.

It sounds like they wanted to do a creepypasta "They probably died!" sort of ending. But then chickened out with the possibility that they hooked up in case that's too dark? Weird lol

The beginning of the black tapes was incredible. It kept getting worse and the ending is just dumb. I read some stuff about it a while ago, but apparently one of the show runners just got tired of it and wanted to work on a new podcast.

Punished_Blinx posted...

It sounds like they wanted to do a creepypasta "They probably died!" sort of ending. But then chickened out with the possibility that they hooked up in case that's too dark? Weird lol

Seriously, it would have been far better if they just said that they went to Geneva and then the producer cuts in and says this recording was found in her apartment and they've had no contact since.

warlock7735 posted...

The beginning of the black tapes was incredible. It kept getting worse and the ending is just dumb. I read some stuff about it a while ago, but apparently one of the show runners just got tired of it and wanted to work on a new podcast.

I think the insistence on it not being fiction but instead a real podcast that they were putting out about real events fucked with it a bit. You can't ever have any real stakes because they wouldn't publish a recording where the main character gets murdered.

I listened to this one because I read that The Magnus Archive was somewhat inspired by it, but holy shit, this was garbage after the greatness that was TMA.

warlock7735 posted...

but apparently one of the show runners just got tired of it and wanted to work on a new podcast

I feel like that's basically what happened with Game of Thrones, too. The guys in charge were told by HBO they could basically do whatever they wanted and basically had a limitless budget, but they rushed through it because they didn't want to work on it for another five years or whatever.

im pretty sure that particular podcast group is pretty well known for just having horrible endings

but i dont think ive ever really seen a horror podcast stick the landing. limetown and the white vault both have great beginnings and then were victims of not knowing when or where to stop

actually i take it back, i am in eskew is great from beginning to end

ultimate reaver posted...

but i dont think ive ever really seen a horror podcast stick the landing. limetown and the white vault both have great beginnings and then were victims of not knowing when or where to stop

The Magnus Archives does a decent job. I didn't love it, but it was competently done and the journey there was top-notch.

ultimate reaver posted...

actually i take it back, i am in eskew is great from beginning to end

Oh, that's also by Rusty Quill. Maybe I'll check that out.

fucking lol. My former best friend was into this podcast.

He probably doesn't have an issue with it, but I hope it bothered him just a little bit.

pegusus123456 posted...

Oh, that's also by Rusty Quill. Maybe I'll check that out.

i didnt actually know it was rusty quill but yeah give it a shot if you like magnus. imo the level of writing is on a higher level than magnus ` maybe not plot-wise (it is imo but the plot is a lot more ephemeral and less grounded) but just generally prose-wise, its super well written cosmic horror