Out of (con)troll
Un(con)trolled review
Rating – 
A few days ago I got an email from someone asking me to listen to their podcast. I get quite a few emails now from big production companies. I’m not flexing, I’m on their contact lists. It’s very rare that a podcast creator takes the time to actually seek me out, via my contact page or not.
The last time this happened, it was from a right wing audiodrama, with lashings of AI thrown in (two things I don’t rate at all). The premise with this one sounded intriguing though, and the fact I had the whole series to binge, and it only had a running time of about an hour, I figured it was worth a punt. the fact it wasn’t right wing propaganda also helped!
So what’s it about?
Un(con)trolled is a semi autobiographical story I guess. Although, it’s more a story of what could have been. Written by Kimberly Renee, It follows social media creator Kenah. A series of online troll comments start to tip her past the point of passivity, and into a more “proactive” state of mind.
As her online investigations progress, she starts to uncover secrets in her friends’ lives too. As a result she gets caught in a downward spiral of paranoia and failing mental health. Is she really though? There a saying that *you’re not paranoid if they really are out to get you”. This is what sets this show apart from all the others I’ve heard. As soon as you get to a point that you think you’ve figured it out, the rug gets pulled out from underneath you.
Is it any good?
As the story develops, it starts to remind me of Mr Robot. This isn’t a bad thing, I loved Mr Robot. Whereas Rami Malek was a socially awkward loner though, our protagonist here seems sassy and extroverted. This can run the risk of getting irritating (as in The Foxes Of Hydesville), but here it stays entertaining.
At the end of series one, you are no closer to understanding exactly what is going on. This is a really clever tactic, because you are essentially in the same place as Kenah. Is this stuff really happening? Can you really trust your own memory?
The entire series clocks in at around an hour. This is good, because you can easily get through the whole thing, literally in between other podcast episodes. I do have to wonder though, whether this was a story that got made into a series, rather than a stand alone episode. You wouldn’t need to pad it out to make one long episode. There must be a reason for this, and to be honest, I don’t mind either way. It’s still a brilliant story that is well produced and well acted.
Final thoughts
If you have followed this blog for any amount of time now, you’ll know that the score I give is not related to production budget. There have been plenty of big budget podcasts that have been, quite frankly awful. Likewise, there have been some shows made on literally goodwill and enthusiasm that have been outstanding. If the story is good, then that is the most important thing.
This series blew me away. If I would have known about this sooner, then it would have won a Podcastgeek virtual trophy for sure. As of now, it’s on the shortlist for next year.
You can get Un(con)trolled here:
For more great reviews, I recommend GreatPods