Unpleasant yellow
The Pallid Mask review
Rating – 
This week’s post isn’t entirely a review. The podcast is only 2 episodes old, so this will also function as a bit of a heads up to everyone who likes this kind of stuff. I heard about this on Reddit, and as soon as I saw the title, I knew I’d have to check it out at the next available opportunity. Something which happened to be “immediately”.
There is always a hint of reluctance when I am about to start a show that is based on something I love. I obviously hope that it will live up to expectations, but I always prepare for the worst. As I’ve said almost since the beginning of this blog, “lovecraftian horror” is a term that gets used a lot nowadays, but what about “pre-lovecraftian horror”? Surely that title goes to Robert W Chambers, someone whose influence gets lumped in with HPL almost unknowingly. This problem brings me on to today’s show, The Pallid Mask.
So what’s it about?
The Pallid Mask is an adaptation of the book The King In Yellow, by Robert W. Chambers. This isn’t a faithful adaptation in the manner of London After Midnight was, but this series tips its hat to Julian Simpson and his brilliant (and much missed) Lovecraft Investigations series.
Kicking off in the present day, the story begins with author Dr. Molly Bedrock. After hitting a fallow patch in her career, she is searching for subject matter that will get her back into her publishers’ good books (pun very much intended). She hears tell of a mysterious play called The King In Yellow. Only fragments of knowledge exist about it, but the reputation is more than enough to set her on the trail to uncover the truth, and a copy of it, if it exists.
From there we jump back to New York in 1919, with a story of espionage, intrigue and conspiracy. This section lays the “film noir” style on thick. Thankfully it treads the line expertly, without falling into the realms of cheese. Of course, I’m not going to spoil anything here, but as all this is information from episode 1, I’m not feeling guilty about it.
Is it any good?
So far, the series is outstanding. The modern day section blends fact with fiction in a way very similar to The Lovecraft Investigations. Not even historical fiction either, there are some hat tips to very current events indeed. This grounds the show firmly in reality, and sets us up nicely for the adventure we are about to go on.
The voice acting is pretty good. There’s one or two slips I noticed, but overall it’s a solid performance from all involved. Likewise, I could be pedantic and pick apart the choice of music for the 1919 sections, but that would do little but make me out to be a fussy old sod. Which I am, but you don’t need to be burdened with that knowledge too.
The writing is the standout here though. I don’t envy anyone trying to adapt a well known work. Even more so when you are not just adapting it, but reimagining it too (as I mentioned in the opening paragraphs). Thankfully, there are no worries here. The writing is outstanding, so much so that the whole reason for this review is that it grilled me so completely, that I had to tell you all about how good it is.
Final thoughts
With the new series of The Lovecraft Investigations hitting its goals on Kickstarter, we won’t have to wait much longer for that. However, if you are missing that series too much, then you will absolutely love this one.
The fact that this gets a top rating after only two episodes tells you how good I think this show is, and with the next episode releasing on Nov 13th, it will be like an early birthday present. I can’t tell you how excited I am for it to drop!
You can get The Pallid Mask here:
https://www.greatpods.co/podcasts/the-pallid-mask-8061519
For more great reviews, I recommend GreatPods